I've only been on for a few days, but from the many comics I've seen I've noticed most people tend to do their comics in a sort of "Far Side" way: they may use the same sprites, but it tends just to be different characters in different jokes every time.

Series do exist, but usually as self-contained things (clearly marked in the subject header) and often are made for comic competitions.

Now, when I first came on, it didn't seem a question to me to create a more "sitcom" comic, with regular characters, continuing and returning plots and so forth, but few other people seem to have them: unless you count Asian Girl appearances or Tobor cornholing, which I don't because I tend not to enjoy them much. They stopped being funny very quickly.

(Didn't stop me doing an Asian Girl strip, but, anyway...)

So, I was just wondering if people's decisions to do their comics as they have was conscious or, like me, something that just sorta happened. Plus, as with most people, I just want people to read my message then click to look at my comics sectio out of curiosity. :>

Oooh, fair point. I guess my strips fall into one of three categories. I've got my self contained one-off strips, then I do short series which are mostly character or situation based, then I've got ones which take a joke and run it into the ground but don't really form an actual ongoing story.

I don't think I could sustain a single ongoing narrative for any length of time here, I tend to be very scattershot and inconsistent, but some other people have got huge ongoing stories, like the Negro & White Person strips Obijo did. So I guess it's just a case of sticking to what you're good at.

I've done a few series, but in the past I've tried to stay away from them because I wanted people who saw my comics on the front page to be able to appreciate them as they were, without needing a whole lot of background. Now that the front page doesn't show a random comic anymore, I guess that's a bit less of a concern.

I don't do a "sitcom"-type comic such as you describe because I think I would feel locked in. I don't mind the burden of having to include adequate characterization in every strip.

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

When I first started, I had planned to make ONLY a "series", a la Fox Trot or Garfield, that would eventually contain a specific group of characters and/or situations and somehow still manage to be funny.

After one comic, I realized I didn't want to be locked in. I still intended to have a "series" (called Just For Fun, for some reason), but it would be less of a "Fox Trot" -ish series, and more comparable to "Tales from the Crypt", where I would tell a few strips' worth of a story in one "series", and then move on to new subject matter in another "series", all under the Umbrella title of "Just for Fun".

Of course, I failed to be funny then too.
And have dropped most of my strip-making.

I participate in some contests... but not much else.

Oh yeah, and I still hate Nate.

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This is not my empire.

I've noticed that's two people who said they didn't want to be "locked in" by the classic newspaper comic strip format and decided this very early on, which is curious. I'll certainly agree it can make you think more tightly about comedy ideas, not be able to experiment as much. However, a set background can sometimes help as well, especially if it stops you doing any cornholing jokes. ;-)

I also agree that the "don't want to confuse people who see the comics page" thing does affect the way I make comics: sure, I've been at this for a small amount of time, but after a mini-plot or a continuity joke I tend to do a throw-away thing just so the thing on the comics page is fresh and easilly accessible: I didn't do it the last time and it's bugged me for the small amount of time I've been offline. ;-)

We're supposed to have a strategy for making comics?

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

I just do what I do.

I hope that people read and enjoy them, but I will just as soon make a silly one-off pun strip as an eighteen page tragicomic series that is supposed to be autobiographical but meanders off with a life of its own (sorry ObiJo).

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This signature has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down.

I try not to think too much. So far I seem to have succeeded.

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What others say about boorite!

The comics just kinda make themselves for me.

But, barring that, I prefer a 'series' style of crap as opposed to true random crap.

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Needs more sodomy.

My comics actually have a regular set of characters that I try to use as often as possible, but if I think of something that doesn't fit, I go ahead and make the comic without them anyway. (Clearly denoted by "random comic," being the anal retentivite that I am.)

The problem with this format that people like Jim Davis and Bill Amend tend to fall into once they have an established strip is they rely on the audience understanding the persona of their characters as a pretense for their comics. Someone who's never heard of their comic can pick up the paper and not at all get the joke, rather like a new person here flashing through random comics here and being baffled by a "Tobor" punchline.

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"Old" is the old new.

I'm still in shock that you're new and not a troll.

When I first got here, I did a fair number of comics using the 'characters' from the actual comics. I had DS comics about Maura and Pete, and Goats comics with Jon and Diablo. Then I started making more of the single type of comics. I'm not much on series. To me the thing of it is that I'm not sure that it's really worth it. I don't actually read that many comics. I don't go digging through the hoards of comics most people have. If they toss it into the forums and it's in front of me, great. But I'm lazy, and that's about as far as I get.

Oddly enough, SC has become way less about comics for me than it has about just a place to hang out. Case in point: I didn't realize the front page changed 'cause all I ever do is read the forums.

Whatever the case, I suppose that I do have one 'series'.

[Click to view comic: 'Happy Wirthling Sucks Day']

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100 pounds of shit in a 25 pound sack.

Well, Scyess, I have to agree that a problem with doing a Garfield-esque regular strip (in my case, probably more Penny-Arcade-esque) is that even after a mere 65 comics, already there's more than one strip that's really only funny because of the established background: I like to think the "Cock And Goat" motif in my comic is funny, but if it's the first thing you see then it has no meaning at all.

I like the fact that you, as you say, do a more definite series (and include character bios in your personal info type bit to make strips easier to understand) but also have clearly marked random doodles. If I have a really, really good idea for a non-continuity strip, I would consider something the same, though I also think there's fun from working it into the world you've estbalished if possible, then letting it grow from that. Not every strip I do has to have a yellow or background2 background, after all. :>

DH-01: I know what you mean. The insanity of my comic feels more justified to me because I know it's a regular insanity. :-)

DexX: Your 18 part life story was brilliant stuff, I thought. The important thing abotu serials, I think, is to try and make each part end with a funny, like a daily strip: if you read each piece alone, there should still be something amusing waiting for you. This can make it hard to tell long stories, but I think it helps a strip overall. In your epic, I think you managed that, and it helps it out a lot.

Well, Scyess, I have to agree that a problem with doing a Garfield-esque regular strip (in my case, probably more Penny-Arcade-esque) is that even after a mere 65 comics, already there's more than one strip that's really only funny because of the established background: I like to think the "Cock And Goat" motif in my comic is funny, but if it's the first thing you see then it has no meaning at all.

I like the fact that you, as you say, do a more definite series (and include character bios in your personal info type bit to make strips easier to understand) but also have clearly marked random doodles. If I have a really, really good idea for a non-continuity strip, I would consider something the same, though I also think there's fun from working it into the world you've estbalished if possible, then letting it grow from that. Not every strip I do has to have a yellow or background2 background, after all. :>

DH-01: I know what you mean. The insanity of my comic feels more justified to me because I know it's a regular insanity. :-)

DexX: Your 18 part life story was brilliant stuff, I thought. The important thing abotu serials, I think, is to try and make each part end with a funny, like a daily strip: if you read each piece alone, there should still be something amusing waiting for you. This can make it hard to tell long stories, but I think it helps a strip overall. In your epic, I think you managed that, and it helps it out a lot.

When something inspires me to make a comic, I do so.

I fear there's no rhyme or reason beyond that.

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ken.kaufman@gmail.com

Thanks. :) My long stuff tends to not get a lot of feedback. The two tag team series I have done (one with crabby that seems to be finally finished after over 100 strips, and a still ongoing one with kaufman that is now well past 70) don't get a lot of comments in their threads. I think the download time scares most readers off.

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This signature has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down.

For a long time, the only inspiration I had for strips was the comic contests. Currently, I just make strips about random jokes that pop into my head every now and then, and seldom ever enter contests anymore.

I don't usually do series because I'm notoriously bad about losing any sense of direction once I've started down a course. As you might guess, this means I do a lot of the 'same person different character' type strips. If there's anything that tends reoccurs from strip to strip, it's a character's personality... not their name or their sense of history. WIGURoger plays the part of a total moron, for example. What makes me pick a certain character for a certain role in my strips, then? Mainly I just go for a character who has a *look* that I think characterizes them well. Once again, I think Roger looks like a total moron, hence I cast him as one.

As for making lots of one-note character strips, such as ones involving Tobor, I don't see anything wrong with it as long as the joke itself is funny. These things get beaten into the ground *because* they're funny, and repetition doesn't make them less so to me.

Did someone say series?

Nearly ALL of my comics are in series (apart from the Comic Competition entries that is), usually in batches of eight, as after eight I like to take a break. I hope to come back to the ones which I liked doing the best/which other people liked.

I do have stand-alone comics, but I keep them all under the title of 'Irregular Candy'.

And now for the shameless plugging...

The first Irregular Candy is here. More feature throughout my comic selection.

My most recent series is The Genie of the Lemon, and I have to say I enjoyed making it!

That's enough advertising for now, methinks...

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Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive. And don't ever apologize for anything. - Harry S Truman, 33rd president of US (1884 - 1972)

/\/\y c0mix @re b@sed 0n the true st0ry 0f my l1fe.

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Tempt th33 n0t my 733+ sk177z!!!

At first I started doing indivdual strips. Later, when I, uh.... ran out of ideas, I started doing a lot of limited series (Doppelgangerbang, Super Britainman, and so on).

I used to enter a multitude of strips into every contest, but now I tend to enter only in the ones that I actually have a good comic idea for. Which means that I'm either getting more picky or less funny.

The closest I've come to an ongoing "sitcom" type series is "Leave It To Tobor" -- which is intentionally modeled after a sitcom format.

I think that the variety of characters (especially ones from different strips with vastly different styles) makes doing a a regular ongoing series kind of hard. I know that if I were to do one I would want to have a certain visual consistency that isn't really possible without limiting ones self to a select few image catagories.

On the other hand, it took me a while to cut loose and start mixing characters (a three reasons character with a wigu chracter? No way!) so maybe that's just me.

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...Trot and Cap'n Bill were free from anxiety and care. Button-Bright never worried about anything. The Scarecrow, not being able to sleep, looked out of the window and tried to count the stars.

DexX: I know what you mean, the friend of mine who introduced me to this site gets scared when I tell him I've done another 24 strips since yesterday and can't be arsed reading them. I also imagine that knowing that my strips are a ongoing story per se, some people might think it too late (three days, but a good 60 odd strips down) to jump in.

I like to think my strips, as I said before, can each be funny in their own right: I do a smattering of general issue, Penny-Arcade style "Geek chat" ones. (Yes, I'm just using this attempt at debate to advertise by strip, go figure.)

Fuzzyman: yes, the fact that in my strip some characters can walk around freely while others can only stare or sit on a bench can cause some issues, and the black and white animals look a touch out of place, but I like to think that because most other strips mix so freely as well then no-one really notices. Bit like the fact nobody really lets the inability to do anything outside the alloted strip size get them down: it's just part of the format. Though I wouldn't say no to a "Sunday" strip ability.... :>

My first few comics were crap, I was just messing around with the site and thought it would be a weekend fancy, not something that would become a daily hobby.

From the comic called "the most fickle, idiotic, naive and shallow species on earth" to "The last Kajun Firefly strip ever" I had an ongoing sitcom style series, with a few random entries in between.

After "The last..." I switched over to the Geniu$ account and continued the story, but it became dragged out and boring, I finished it, but only because I felt I had to.

Once I had finished the series I switched back to the Kajun Firefly account, tried to apologise for fucking about, started to make random comics, a couple of series', and joined the forums. But I always kept my Kajun character and cast him as the hero in many different series, and occasionally brought back some of the old characters.

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Dad was flammable

Kajun Firefly: Yeah, fair enough, when I feel there's nothing else even vaguely amusing to be done with my characters I'll probably put them out to grass and try something new. But it's nice to know that I'm not the only person who's given a stab at the idea.

gabe_billings: I missed your message first time around, thank you very much for finding me a tolerable conversationist. :>

I tend to come up with and dispose of recurring characters fairly quickly. The only one I've really stuck with is Javier the Angry Wizard, and that's only because KKP threatens to kill me if I don't make a strip featuring him every fortnight.

And I'm quite disturbed by how well the Decepticons have caught on considering it was really just a lame way of finishing a strip when I couldn't think of a punchline.

I have a permanent cast in of famous people in a lot of my strips. Russell Crowe (gabe), George Bush (cowboy) and Tony Blair (scientist) are all recurring, and there's a vague attempt an overall story arc (which I'm planning on bringing to a head in the next few days). I also try to refrain from using characters reserved for cast members in other roles.
Most of my strips aren't concerned with the overall continuity, though - they're just silly wee, one-off jokes. Bit like The X-Files.

I'm not here to make comics. I'm here because DexX nagged me into visiting the site after talking about me to everyone else. People didn't believe that I existed. And then some people thought that we were the same person.

I do make comics, but they are few and far between. I just don't think in three panel format when I think of funny jokes.

My comics are generally all randomised stuff. The forum users are the only ones who stay the same "character", but that isn't always true, because I used LadyJ to represent me sometimes.