It goes without saying that the newly released movie, Across the Spiderverse, is one of the most popular superhero movies. The creators took one of the most divisive iterations of Spiderman, Miles Morales, and made him into a now beloved version of the titular character. They expand the Spider-lore through ...
Into and Across the Spiderverse - How to make a good comic book movie
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, July 1, 2023The Slippery Slope (Or How to Make a Great Villain Origin Arc)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 6, 2023
Villains are tremendously important for a story. They set the framework and standard for a lot of things in an unsaid but definite manner: how far your villain is willing to go sets up audience expectations for how big and how dire the stakes will be in the story.
If ...
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 ...
Yuppie Horror
Banes at 12:00AM, Oct. 6, 2022
the happy family with a tear/slash between them is the perfect visual for yuppie horror stories!
Yuppie Harra
This name for this category of horror is taken from the horror movie podcast, “With Gourley and Rust”, which I've been enjoying lately. I'm not sure if Gourley and ...
The AU
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 21, 2022
Anyone that has written or read fanfiction knows that the AU is the Alternate Universe: the placement of a given set of characters that come from a specific IP or franchise or book or movie into a completely different setting, timeline, or even genre.
The LOTR cast might be thrown ...
Inspiration/Plagiarism
Andreas_Helixfinger at 12:00AM, May 1, 2022
I’m taking a pause from the Fantastic Bestiary this week as I haven’t been my best healthwise lately. Also lately I’ve been distracted by something that has left me with this question poppin’ into my mind, And so this sunday I'm posting this question that perhaps ...
The Unicorn
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 30, 2022
No, this article isn't about the mythological beings. I wouldn't want to steal any single one from Andreas Helixfinger's awesome Sunday article series.
What I want to talk about is the metaphorical unicorn: a character that is too good to be true, too unlikely to be found ...
Being Unsure of the Ending
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 5, 2022
Unless you're winging it 100%, chances are that you have an ending in mind for your story. Perhaps you even have the entire ending scene plotted out in your mind, the layouts ready, even some of the lines or expressions your characters will say and have.
You might have ...
The Problem With Kid Dialogue
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 4, 2021
Often when there are children in a cast of characters, especially in sitcoms or certain types of movies, audiences groan because they tend to be immensely annoying. They are a very special type of uncanny valley in the way they are written to talk and react. Usually, we get one ...
Your Character's Politics
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Nov. 20, 2021
So there's an art to writing characters with strong political agendas when you also happen to be a creator that has a strong political stance. I happen to be a person with very strong political views and ideology and ironically in my comic Without Moonlight absolutely nobody shares my ...