In designing a good villain character there's a wide range of paths one can follow. From the grandiose villains that want to take over the world and live in volcano islands, waiting for the hero to fall into their elaborate death trap to humanized villains with complex backstories that ...

Resentment
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 15, 2025Creator Interview: Genejoke
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 15, 2025
We are finally back with interviews, and who better to kick it off than with Genejoke, one of the most prolific, helpful, and active creators in the Duck!
Genejoke is invaluable in many group projects, including our top event, the Drunk Duck Awards, and its side event the Red Carpet ...
Preventable Deaths
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 18, 2025
There's nothing more frustrating when a character dies from a situation that had no reason occuring except perhaps that the writers wanted to be edgy and make the story have more gravitas with a random death that's forced into the plot.
I've talked often over the years ...
The Break Into 3
Banes at 12:00AM, Jan. 16, 2025
Last Week we looked at the “Break Into 2”, the transition between the beginning of a story: The “Before” picture of the Protagonist and their world, and the “Upside Down World” of Act 2.
So, a little later in your average story will come the “Break Into 3”. This leaves ...
A Romance Trope I Hate
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 11, 2025
So this is just a purely rant article on my part.
I'm generally not a huge fan of romance… BUT, if it's done well, I am not a (complete) snow queen. I can melt accordingly and love it in a story. I even have some romance in my ...
Character Deep Dive: Vladimir Chekhov
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 28, 2024
It’s time for another Character Deep Dive, this within the amazing political war thriller The Second Crimean War by the awesome and proliferate The Doodler!
The Second Crimean War is an alternate history webcomic, of a different 1995 where, after the collapse of the USSR, the emerging, independent Ukraine ...
Not Because it is Easy, but Because it is Hard
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 12, 2024
In our Quackcast about Non-Linear storytelling this week, I had a tangent of a thought about the value of difficult or challenging fiction as opposed to stories that are easier to understand.
An unusual structure to a story can be challenging to understand, but if it's done well, the ...
Baby Steps
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Dec. 7, 2024
The end of the year is fast approaching. Per tradition these past few years, I have done an article focusing on setting comic goals or habits for the upcoming year. Last year, for instance, I had a whole bunch of goals to achieve, habits to establish and projects I wanted ...
Infatuation
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Nov. 30, 2024
How do you make a clever character stupid?
You give them an infatuation. A fixation. Something that completely overrides their critical thinking and better judgment. Something that drives them nuts like a switch is thrown.
And when that happens, they're dumber than a bag of rocks. (And they're ...