The term “Mary Sue” became a lot more mainstream a few years ago - but around comic book websites like ours, and circles that were into writing and deeper fandom have been well versed with this for much longer.
The Mary Sue is a character who has abilities or positive qualities ...
Marisu
Banes at 12:00AM, March 9, 2023Frank Frazetta, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, March 4, 2023You Kids Are Testing My Limits
Banes at 12:00AM, March 2, 2023
I was reading a critique of a series, a successful series, of novels. I think it's an urban fantasy/horror thing where the main character has a specific paranormal ability, limited, but useful in her detective work. She had a love interest, who was maybe on and off, but ...
How it all began
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 25, 2023
I was supposed to write the last post on my ‘toxic’ character design series, but I've been deep cleaning the house all day and I'm exhausted. My brain refuses to think so that post will need to wait till next time. Instead, I'd like to talk about ...
Prose v Comics
Banes at 12:00AM, Feb. 23, 2023
When I first started putting together my story idea for Typical Strange many years ago, I imagined it to be an animated series. With a lot of time and effort and learning Toon Boom software along the way, I had a pretty strong idea of the main characters, and a ...
Tough Love vs. Abuse
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 18, 2023
Tough love is so cool, eh? It's going to magic the “whining” right out of you, won't it? You just need to stick out through the harshness, and then when you reap the benefits, you'll realize your tough loving benefactor had the right idea. You'll be ...
The Modern Classics: Die Hard
Banes at 12:00AM, Feb. 16, 2023
Die Hard was a surprise smash hit back in the day, and became famous in some circles as a template for screenwriters to pitch their stories (“It's Die Hard on a bus”…or a boat, or a jet, or in a house).
It's also talked about as a ...
Toxic Positivity, Toxic Acceptance (Part 2)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 11, 2023
So last time, in Part 1 of this discussion of …sunnier villains or antagonists, we had left off talking about how toxic positivity is all about the toxic person's comfort. And that this need to impose a certain behavior, dogma, and/or approach to reality in their environment leads ...
Shmuck Bait
Banes at 12:00AM, Feb. 9, 2023
Shmuck Bait is the name, I think coined by one of the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul writers, where a cliffhanger or shocking ending leads the audience to believe something major has changed. For example, the appearance that a major character has died. But when the next episode/issue/book ...
Overworking in webcomics
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Feb. 4, 2023
With the ever expanding influence of Webtoons, more and more people are flocking to webcomic sites to read comics. I say read, but really it is “consume”. In this day and age where content is being inhaled at an unprecedented rate, creators are being pushed further to create more. Longer ...