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It seems like every single “badass” in TV, Movies, books and comics is “ex-special forces” or something like it these days. It's become a meaningless cliche. Writers use it as a shortcut to show ...

Quackcast 742 - ex-special forces!
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, June 3, 2025An interesting exercise
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 17, 2025
I have found that an interesting, fun, and very helpful exercise when getting to know your webcomic's characters is to drop them in different settings and she what they'd be or what they'd choose.
So, for example, if your character is in a fantasy setting, what would ...
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome in Comics
Gunwallace at 12:00AM, May 15, 2025
The old 70s sitcom, Happy Days, is a mine of tropes. It's where we get the phrase “Jump the Shark” as there was an episode where The Fonz water-skied over a shark for some reason. Happy Days was also a spin-off generator, giving us Laverne and Shirley, Mork and ...
Resentment
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 15, 2025
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 ...
Against the Grain
Banes at 12:00AM, March 13, 2025
I love a character in an ensemble cast that runs counter to the rest of the people around them.
Really, it's the best way to make a character stand out. The one who has some kind of contrast to everyone else, in terms of their priorities, or beliefs, or ...
FAFO Reveal
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, March 8, 2025
So you might have a character that's generally very calm or stoic. They may appear weak, or just not intimidating. They may be the right gender, class, age, or any other parameter for their peers to assume they are easy pickings and thus a great target for harassment. Initially ...
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 ...
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 ...
Character Deep Dive: Robin Sinclair
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Nov. 2, 2024
Today’s character deep dive is on Robin Sinclair, the main catalyst of everything taking place in the supernatural comedy drama that is Blessed Days by Inky Moondrop!
Blessed Days is the story of a young woman that unexpectedly becomes a mom and must handle raising a child- that’s ...
Love languages
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Oct. 19, 2024
Love is an evasive concept to pin down. Everyone acts like they know what it is, but few can discern whether they're actually experiencing it. A lot of fiction and movies are to blame for that, since they often label as love toxic relationships, stalking, or even outright abuse ...