There is a poem by one of the most interationally famous Greek poets, Konstantinos Kavafis, called Waiting for the Barbarians. I invite you to give it a read (I've linked its translation) but here's the gist in a nutshell: It's about the Romans waiting for the Barbarians ...

What Will Happen Without the Barbarians?
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 8, 2025Quackcast 716 - Identify with characters?
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, Dec. 3, 2024 LISTEN on our player!
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/
Is it important to Identify with characters? This question occurred to me as I was watching a rather banal sitcom, Rules of Engagement. I love two of the stars, David Spade and Patrick Warburton, but it's ...
Video, Prose, and Comics
Banes at 12:00AM, Nov. 7, 2024
The telling of stories, in a big way, is about working emotions. A major reason stories have the power they do is that the great ones wring emotions out of us, and take us through some kind of emotional journey.
In a movie or TV show, things are different than ...
Freddy Krueger's special day and the Anthology of Dreams
Banes at 12:00AM, Sept. 26, 2024
We're jumping ahead a bit, here: I meant to do horror/halloween related articles throughout October, starting next week - but I caught a little video that reminded me of a special anniversary happening this year!
Freddy Krueger and his first final girl Nancy down for a 40th Anniversary reunion ...
Cynicism
Andreas_Helixfinger at 12:00AM, July 14, 2024
Cynicism. That is the inclination to believe that people are motivated in large by their self-interest and therefore cannot be trusted – at least not initially. I’ve found myself – as I’ve gotten older and encountered many different acquaintances and personal relations in my younger years – that I’ve become ...
Panel By Panel: Scripting (with examples!)
hpkomic at 3:53PM, July 5, 2024
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Panel by Panel, a periodic exploration of comic panels around The Duck. Last time, I asked about how you all scripted your comics and got a lot of interesting responses I wanted to run through here. So let’s run through all of them.
First ...
Social Issues in Fantasy (Part 2)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 10, 2024
Last time I'd talked about rather superficial and/or inappropriate attempts to weave commentary on real world social issues into a fantasy or scifi world. The discussion in the comments was FANTASTIC! I urge everyone to have a look if you haven't already.
The general consensus was that ...
Character Deep Dive: Khthonis from Tusk
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 13, 2024
Today’s Character Deep Dive is about the amazing Khthonis from Tusk by the awesome Fallopian Crusader!
What can anyone say about Tusk that hasn’t already been said?? It’s a simply gorgeous fantasy action comic centering around the adventures of an orc warrior lady named Khthonis. The art ...
A movie playing a movie disguised as another movie
Banes at 12:00AM, Nov. 23, 2023
There's a specific type of movie “trick” where we'll see something that seems as though it's really happening. I mean, it seems like it's “really happening” within the movie.
For instance, it'll be some kind of elaborate action sequence, or horror sequence, or whatever, but ...
Panel By Panel: Scavenger Hunt - Round 2 Results
hpkomic at 5:27PM, Nov. 17, 2023
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Panel by Panel, a periodic exploration of comic panels around The Duck.
We're checking out some examples of comics shared by users here on the Duck regarding the previous post's scavenger hunt. As a reminder, we are looking for a specific type of ...