One of the toughest tropes in any kind of narrative work, from novels to comics to movies is the Sacrificial Lion - but not for what might be an obvious reason: having to axe a top tier character. It's because the trope is something that will affect and carry through ...

There comes a time in any webcomic creator’s career where they have to be mean to their characters. And there is nothing meaner than letting the proverbial Sword of Damocles fall on a beloved (or equally unloved) character and watching their head roll to the chorus a shrill cries ...

The nominees have been announced and current volunteers have been given assignments. 

We still need more volunteers. There are 12 unclaimed presentations and 25 judging slots still left over.


2018 Finalists: Genre/Style Awards


My Life as An American Hero 2
Kitty Kitty Bang Bang
Mindfold
Steel & Manitou


Jay’s ...

Every hero goes up against a villain. Every protagonist against an antagonist. This is the main clash that drives your story, any story, forward be it slice of life or epic drama.

One of the elements that can make this driving force compelling, that will make the clash interesting and ...

Creating a Cast - in 1-2-3

One of the challenges…and maybe one of the greatest pleasures…of creating a series is populating it with a cast of heroes. I know I spend many weeks or months tinkering with characters and deciding who they're going to be. …And how many ...

Maureen is a happy go lucky student, just wanting nothing more than to go and see her favourite band with her best friend. But it looks like that's not going to happen… this is a world filled with super powered supervillains and only a tiny handful of heroes to ...

PT Barnum was a fascinating character, running “freak shows”, museums, and concert tours, and operating as an author and legislator/politician.

Apparently the phrase attached to him, “There's a sucker born every minute” is not necessarily something he
ever said.

As shocking as it is to modern sensibilities, Barnum ...

Iron Man and the multi film arc - revisited


There are spoilers below for the Iron Man and Avengers movies, Civil War, and Spiderman Homecoming


The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been breaking new ground in movies with their various interconnected films for about ten years.


The MCU began with Iron Man ...

Explode into the fantasy world of Demon Plague deep in the infernal regions of hell, where lava explodes out of the ground without warning and demons fight devils to the death. This is a dark world without mercy or respite but one brave soul, Iago, might yet be able to ...

Just like the table scene, the dance scene can be an invaluable story telling tool: a way to showcase where your characters stand without having to force them to speak about it or have someone else infodump about it.

This stance can be on the characters that dance (i.e ...