Episode 739 - Deferring to Experts
May 12, 2025
When you're working on a project with other people, a comic collaboration for example, it's usually best to decide on different roles for everyone according to what they're best at (writer, artist, layout design, pencils, inks, colour, backgrounds lettering etc), and let them handle it. You don't micromanage and make decisions for them. Basically they're the “experts” on those things now so you wait and see what they do.
Topics and Show Notes
The idea for this Quackcast came to me after someone defended the super clunky Star Wars prequels with the old argument that George Lucas created them and he also created the original Star Wars so he must know best and certainly better than any “haters”. In reality though the prequels are an excellent example of why you MUST defer to people who know better. The original trilogy of Star Wars movies were created at a time when George was still a small fish in a big pond, he wasn't powerful or rich enough to have much control in the industry at that stage. He came up with great ideas (Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc), but had to rely on the studio system to get them made, which meant he had to collaborate with people who's job it was to make great movies: directors, script editors, Foley artists, casting directors, concept designers, model makers etc. As well as studio execs and producers. He had to compromise on what was feasible.
But after the massive success of the movies, making a mint off of the sale of IP and merchandising, and his SFX studio Industrial Light and Magic being the industry standard, many years later when Luca worked on the prequels he had unrivalled power. He didn't have to defer to anyone anymore, he didn't have to collaborate or make compromises. He was the last word and he knew best… Except he didn't. In the years since he made those initial movies he hadn't directed much or written many scripts and the Prequels show that all too well with bad dialogue, clunky direction, bad plot choices etc. He even got rid of his expert model makers and all the work they did and used CGI instead because it gave him more control.
TL,DR: The original Star Wars were good because they were made as collaborative projects by very experienced people while the prequels were mainly controlled by a guy who lacked a lot of expertise and it shows.
The Dunning Kruger effect makes us think we're experts in things we only know a little about, ALL of us suffer from it constantly, even me, but when you've had some success in a field: that gives you confirmation bias that “proves” you really ARE an expert. This was Lucas's position during the prequels.
I've worked in 2 collabs recently, Bottomless Waitress with Banes and Key of Dreams with Tantz and Banes. On both those projects we all have distinct roles and we stuck with them very easily! We worked within them and didn't ever bump into each other or try and take over anyone's role and so these are good examples of smooth collaborations which produce results people like. Bands are great examples of collaborative projects, especially when they're working with people who all get the chance to shine and handle their own roles. This is why I love Led zeppelin so much: back in the day Jimmy Page was the band leader and lead guitarist but he let each member handle what they were best at in their own way so it worked as a group of collaborative experts and you can really hear that in the sound!
I ramble because I'm tired and I have a headache but I think this is an interesting point: You can't be an expert at everything so when you work with others let them handle what they do best and you do what you do best. There are many examples of great collaborative projects where many people working on them are great at what they do and come together to produce something magical. Some of my faves are Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (rock opera), Led Zeppelin, The Life of Brian, The Empire Strikes Back and more… What are yours?
This week it's another best off from Gunwallace! The Jacket Comic - Wiry, punk, gritty, shiny and cool, this one jangles in on lyrical chords, sounding indie-rock with an almost Arabian flavour at times as the strings howl and echo up and down the scales. A rocky tune it for the coolest jacket in the world.
Topics and shownotes
Links
Featured comic:
Highly Devolved - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/may/06/featured-comic-highly-devolved/
Featured music:
The Jacket Comic - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Jacket_Comic/ - by RTHaldeman, rated M.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
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Episode 738 - Ensemble casts
May 4, 2025
Ensemble casts is the topic for today! But what do we mean by that? The way I'm defining it for THIS Quackcast is that you have a group of main characters where any of them can function in a chief protagonist role for part of the story, they're all on the same side and they can work together in smaller groups or in one big group. This is a common structure for modern sitcoms and a lot other things like The Avengers, Star Trek the Next Generation, or Lord of the Rings for example. They're not just a group, but a group made up of “main characters”.
Episode 723 - Changing tech and design
Jan 20, 2025
We're talking about how technology and design changes so much over the years and how that can change things with plot in story and it can also help pinpoint the date of something sometimes better than other things like fashion. The biggest one we talked about were phones, which have changed so much over the last few decades. Universally connected smartphones mean huge story changes- characters can all look up whatever they need at any time, communicate with people instantly, entertain themselves, take photos and videos etc. That can massively affect plots!
Episode 668 - Year in Review!
Jan 1, 2024
Happy new year. Happy 2024! We're doing a year in review show this time because what else do you talk about in the last recorded thing/first presented thing of the year? We chat a bit about the progress of Drunk Duck's massive update and we each talk about what we personally achieved with our own webcomics- Tantz with Verdant and finishing Without Moonlight, Banes with Kaiju Valentine, me with Pinky TA and Bottomless waitress with Banes, and our new 3 way group comic called Key of Dreams, which is still in the planning stages.
Episode 657 - The art of the tease
Oct 16, 2023
The art of the tease is what we're talking about here. It's something Banes and I work with on Bottomless Waitress and it's what you see in a lot of raunchy comedies, you also see it in other applications too, like in a slasher thriller where it's teased that a character will become a victim but they never do. My fave application though is the traditional sex comedy where there's never anything explicit even though that is the thing you're always led to expect is just around the corner. The art is to keep people hanging on with the internal expectation of seeing something, while never actually delivering on it and yet not pissing them off.
Episode 625 - Designing Women
Mar 6, 2023
Character design is a fun process but not without its challenges. Do you design the character or their story first? I've followed both of those approaches, they have pluses and minuses. On one hand when you create the character first that can make it a real passion project, you make a cool character and then create a story for them to live in and be themselves. But that can also lead to Mary Sues, wish fulfillment and self inserts, which makes for a weak story. Creating characters to fit a story can sometimes lead to using a lot of stereotypes and ending up with fairly generic and bland characters, which can make for a dull story. So it's best to use a bit of balance and judgment.
Episode 617 - Adventuring we go!
Jan 8, 2023
Adventure is a fun genre! Not as many things get made for it these days but it used to be hugely popular in the past. It's one of my favourite genres and this is what we're chatting about for the Quackcast. What IS adventure? I think it usually involves a whole lot of different things like exploration, action, discovery, heroic protagonists, rivals, travel, exotic places, fights etc. It can be set in the past or in the modern day. Good examples are The Mummy, Indiana Jones, the original Tomb Raider, the two new Jumanji films, Strange World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Ducktales, Tailspin, Jungle Cruise, Uncharted and so much more. I'd love to know your faves!
Episode 549 - Love stories
Sep 20, 2021
In today's cast we're chatting about LOVE stories! This isn't a subject we get into much but it's a huge genre so we thought we'd tackle it. We thought none of us even WORK in that genre till I belatedly realised that Banes and I sort of DO with Bottomless Waitress hahaha! There's all sorts of love in there… Sorry for the sound quality with this one I've no idea what went wrong.
