The Bestest Evar: Revisiting Mary Sues -
And a Contest!

Way back in the day our friend and my grizzled old mentor HippieVan did a post discussing Mary Sues - and we followed it up with a Mary Sue “contest”.

Many of us comic creator and reader types have probably known the ...

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Image from Genghis Khan by Miike Snow.

Sexual tension between characters is a great way to augment the conflict that drives a story. The audience really wants ...

Today is Easter and originally I was going to write a wholesome message about taking care of yourself (which you should) but then I was like “NAHHHH, let’s talk about characters dying and coming back.”

I know the wonderful Tantz_Aerine wrote an article on it here but I wanted ...

Not long ago, I wrote about utilising cliffhangers. This week it’s all about them stakes. When it comes to creating a comic, it is important to give a reason for the reader to care about it. Stakes are a pivotal part of that. Cutscene University explains what stakes are ...

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Image credit: There's Something About Mary, 20th Century Fox.

Empathy is like sympathy but you don't think about it. It's what happens when you ...

the cruel tutor himself, Pai Mei

One of my favorite character types is the gruff/grizzled old mentor. Tough as nails, mean or cranky on the outside but with great knowledge or support to offer when you know them, or when they know - and trust - you.

I've talked about ...

As webcomics are uploaded periodically, be that in pages, chapters or episodes, it’s imperative that we use all the tricks in the book to keep them coming back. One sure fire way to keep your readers coming back for more is by exploiting the cliffhanger device.

A cliffhanger is ...

Finding the perfect title for your comic is important. It is what people will use when referring to your work and is often the first thing that readers see. The name of your comic acts as an immediate snapshot of what’s to come. Getting it right is key. Although ...

Last week I talked about what kind of stuff to stick in the middle section of stories.

Here's a tangent I found myself on, about the actual halfway mark:

Well, the middle bit almost always contains the actual halfway point of the story. In many stories this is a ...

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Today we're talking fans! Isn't it great to have them? We're all fans of something, but as webcomicers having fans means they're a ...