learnfromwebcomics

[learnfromwebcomics]

You kids remind me of people I knew back in the war.

We realized yesterday that learnfromwebcomics started following us, and spent a while discussing the horror that will be unleashed on their dash from our blog here.

Our shittywebcomics blawg here consists randomly of analysis and trolling, usually both combined into the same posts.  We do this intentionally so no one can tell if we’re actually offering criticism or just being jackoffs.

Because that’s how we like it.

[learnfromwebcomics]

Meanwhile, at shittywebcomics...

I'll handle this one over here where the grownups live. (link)

A strip buffer is when the artist has prepared more strips than they need to post, staying ahead of the update schedule. A buffer can be a double-edged sword. It keeps you from missing comics if you can't keep to your schedule for whatever reason, but it can also open you up to some hilarious gaffes.

How big a buffer should be depends on three things:

1. The nature of your comic. A political satire comic, or a gaming comic, or anything that references current events regularly, needs to be on the ball. If you make your post about a game two weeks after it comes out, you're late to the party and you'll look like a chump. Plus, since jokes in these comics are sometimes pretty obvious, the strip with the largest buffer comes away looking like a copycat. With a serial story comic, however, the reader can't really tell what the buffer's like.

2. How complicated your comic is. If your comic is elaborate and takes a lot of effort, then a larger buffer will be hard to build, but it will keep you out of the tank if your run up against your deadline. A stick figure webcomic, on the other hand, can just whip something up last minute.

3. Your update schedule. A comic that updates daily will need a larger buffer, because anything that throws you seriously off your schedule will likely not do it for just one day at a time.

A buffer will help you maintain your update schedule, something a lot of readers really look for in a comic. It also keeps you looking like a pro even when shit hits the fan in your real life.

Remember, though, to always re-read your saved-up strips. Newspaper comics go to editors a couple weeks before they're set to print, which means the author has no control over them from that point on. Many are the newspaper comics that started a storyline about a bank robbery coincidentally on the day a bank was shot up, or something similar. Make sure little coincidences don't make you look like a jerk.

[learnfromwebcomics]

Very important stuff! #2, in particular, is advice I give everyone I know when November rolls around.

My friends at Idiot’s Books posted this, very cool! Click for the article. 

[learnfromwebcomics]

I love stories, and really want to give writing a shot. However, I have no ideas I consider worth-while, and I end up find fifty flaws in any that are almost good enough for me. Do you have any advice on how to get at least the first sentence down?

You have to give yourself permission to suck. I mean, you've got my permission; you can write as badly as you want as far as I'm concerned. But, you need YOUR permission. Here's a few things you can tell yourself:

I'll re-read this later and tidy it up if I don't like it.

I don't have to post or publish this anywhere.

This first scene doesn't have to be important. I can delete it later.

If I don't write 2000 words today, I'll be devoured by something terrible. This horrible monster doesn't care if my writing is good.

Edit: Basically, the most important thing is that you write it. You can hide it, or destroy it, publish it, or edit it at your leisure once it's actually been created. You can write something really messy but with a good heart, and you can polish it into a wonderful story! But, you can't edit nothing. Your only option if you start with nothing is nothing.

[learnfromwebcomics]

Current Events - On Quitting

Recently, well-known cartoonist Andrew Dobson announced his retirement from art, citing online bullying as the cause. And, certainly, there was a thriving anti-Dobson community both on Tumblr and elsewhere that didn’t pull many punches. Dealing with the knowledge that people think so little of you has to take a toll on a person. But, that said, a lot of what he perceived as bullying was just genuine criticism of his flawed work; he had a long record of rejecting anything less than perfect praise.

It isn’t my place to say whether or not a person should stop writing, drawing, what have you. I don’t believe in talent, only in skill, so yes I do believe that, with practice, Dobson could have become a much better artist. His work was bad, but badness isn’t an inherent quality a person can’t escape from. You just ask any artist whose work you enjoy what those first few sketchbooks looked like; a bad artist can grow into a good one.

My place right here is to talk about what this sort of thing means, because I know most of you have wanted to quit at some point, or will. Maybe you’ve got a critic, or maybe you’re your own worst critic, or maybe you’re just not moving fast enough for your tastes, but it happens to all of us sooner or later. We figure life would be a lot easier if we could just stop caring so much about pacing that story perfectly, about getting the folds in that costume just right.

But, we can’t. That’s what it means to be an artist, after all. When it hurts that we’re not good enough, we put everything we’ve got into getting better, not just to ease the pain, but because being good at this matters to us.

Dobson quitting is a good thing. Not because his work wasn’t good enough, and not because I don’t like him much, but because art is about struggling to improve yourself every step of the way, and he didn't. When the pain you feel from the process outweighs the passion you feel for your work, then you owe it to yourself to step aside, because you’re just getting hurt for nothing. (I think Dobson passed that point a long time ago, by the way he dealt with even benign criticism.)

When you care about what you do enough that you find a way to use the pain, then you know you’re going places. Quitting isn’t going to help, not if you really love what you do.

[learnfromwebcomics]

See, this is why I give you guys homework. Because sometimes just doing things is the best lesson of all.

My webcomic Astral Aves will be turning a year old soon, so I thought it’d be a good time for a retrospective.

Here’s a quick comparison as to how things have changed from 2011 to 2012.

(I hope I got at least a little bit better)

I started Astral Aves in October of 2011 and by...

[learnfromwebcomics]

Feel free to tell your students that even the author of El Goonish Shive thinks Lesson Twenty is good advice. I am at least attempting to keep things under control these days, but I have indeed created something of a monster.

See, guys? Dan Shive endorses learning at his expense. (And is also a hell of a guy.)

Thanks for writing in, Dan. For what it's worth, every EGS fan I ever talked to likes your newer writing! Everyone can see that you've been working on it.

[learnfromwebcomics]

This is a smart thing for you kids to read. Speaking as a pro editor, the fastest route off my desk and into the garbage bin is awkward dialog tags, and here's a solid post on the subject.

But, to add something that wasn't really mentioned in the original post, you can often get away with not using any tags at all. If you're a good enough writer, the reader will be able to tell who's speaking by a character's voice. (I think voice was a lesson. Two? I don't know, but it was early, check it out.) If the stuff between the quotation marks is characteristic of the speaker, then your audience can tell who that speaker is!

"That's what," she said

I can’t find what I was about to reblog so I guess I’ll just make my own post about this. It’s a more in-depth explanation about why and when to substitute the tag “he/she/xe said” with another verb.  It’s usually best not to, but it’s more complicated than just telling someone to just use a wider variety of words.

Read More

[learnfromwebcomics]

Lesson Twenty

Today’s Lesson: Keep Moving

Today’s Teacher: Dan Shive (El Goonish Shive)

  El Goonish Shive is a transformation comic that’s been running for ten years. During that time, people have transformed with mad science, alien technology, latent mutant powers, magic powers, and side-effects from magical objects. The plot incorporates pretty much anything the author cared to include, from “hammerspace” to alien-human-animal hybrids, to elves, to immortals and aliens. It has a large central cast which grows with every passing storyline, either in size or in number of overall special powers.

It suffers from the same problem that I mentioned in Lesson 9 for the first couple story arcs, but once it settles into its groove and realizes what sort of tone it wants, it’s more or less consistent. The problem is that, as El Goonish Shive moves forward, it rolls like a snowball, constantly accumulating new mass. Every time the author gets a new inspiration, he mashes it onto his existing work and forces it into his storyline regardless of whether or not it fits. New characters, new magic systems, new metaplots.

Webcomics are especially bad for this, but even though it’s a problem less common in prose (due to precedents, mostly, which I’ll get into in a bit), first-time novelists run into it too.

Sometimes, you just have to stop and make something new. Instead of over-working an existing project by piling on detail and new elements, sometimes the best thing to do is wrap the project up, bring it to a graceful conclusion, and then move on to flesh out your next inspiration.

Look, guys, I can sympathise with you. When you make your first fantasy setting or project, it feels like a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Looking up to examples like Tolkien, it feels like there’s a bottomless well of things you need to do in order to flesh out your world. It sometimes feels like it’s your life’s work, like it’s the only thing you’ll ever be known for, so it’s easy to cling to it and paralyze yourself creatively by obsessively adding minute details. If you don’t paralyze yourself, then you can still wind up creating something like El Goonish Shive, so scattered that it’s got to be bogged down in exposition once an arc.

Let’s break some illusions here.

First of all, almost every author you know for a single project has created others. Maybe they weren’t published, maybe they were published at a smaller press and got less publicity, but you rarely see someone who’s succeeded on a first and only project.

Second of all, adding detail like names of cities and historical events and figures is easy. It’s workhorse stuff, and it takes time, but it doesn’t add any soul to your work. Remember Lesson One? Name-dropping things you’ve made up for the sake of making things up is bad writing. Worry about things that impact a person’s day-to-day life. Before that, though, worry about the stuff that makes your world interesting and unique. The name of the adventurer who founded the city of Dragonperch doesn’t matter; I could name ten fantasy cities right now, but I still wouldn’t have a work with any real human soul.

Finally, fans of your work are going to be disappointed if it ends, yes. But if they like your work, then they’re more likely to like your next work, too. Because they don’t like the names of your cities and your historical epochs and dynasties of rulers. They like your stories, your characters, your style. That’s all stuff you can pack up and bring to the next world you work in. The magic was inside you all along, you just needed the confidence to see it.

El Goonish Shive is full of characters who, frankly, deserve their own comics. Characters in EGS who are later additions to the cast, or who were introduced early but fleshed out later on, are usually more interesting, more fully-realized, and more worthy of their own space. When a work runs long, like EGS or any number of other long-running fantasy comics (pickin’ on Deegan again here), the author takes any new inspiration and just mashes it into the existing work, cramming it into the margins of an already overstuffed concept. Things a novelist or short story writer would use as the spark for a new work, a comic writer will often incorporate into the existing work, because comics are expected to run long. The graphic novel is still the exception; most people still consider comics the long-running serials of the superhero age, instead of self-contained stories with clear beginnings and endings. It’s bad writing even though it’s the norm, and the recent trend of rebooting old franchises is partially an attempt to shed excess continuity. (Many of these are, however, bad in many new and exciting ways I won’t get into now.)

Looks, guys, creating a world full of characters isn’t actually very hard. The first time you did it, it felt like a hell of an achievement, and it is. Every single time someone makes something that people respond to, it’s an achievement to be celebrated. But, that doesn’t mean it’s an achievement that can’t be repeated. Tell your story, tell it the best that you can, and then when the time is right, tell your new story, and give that new story everything you’ve got. Your first creation wasn’t a fluke; you have what it takes.

Practice: Make a world. That’s right. Do as much as you feel you need to in order to make a world you’d be comfortable writing in. Make a magic/science system, as simple or as complicated as you want. Draw a map, even if it’s just a simple little diagram, and make sure you’ve got some specific locations outlined. Come up with a culture, and try and think about why it grew to be the way it is. Think about what makes this world interesting or compelling.

Done?

Okay, scrap it. Make a second world, with one catch. It cannot be related in any way to the world you made in the first part. It can’t be another country or continent on the same planet, and don’t you dare try the fantasy staple of making a different “plane”.  Totally independent.

Trust me, you can do it. There’s no limit to the things you can dream up if you let yourself move forward.

[learnfromwebcomics]

On Tokenism - repost

Is there such a thing as TOO diverse? Is there ever a point where you read a comic or watch a TV show and say "Okay, they're trying way too hard."? Or is it better to take almost every character and try to not make them a white, straight, able-bodied, cisgendered man?

The only time things are “trying too hard” is when you indulge in tokenism. If a character’s just there so that your story has a gay character and is more diverse, then that’s really not doing anyone any good at all. The media is pretty much completely dominated by the viewpoints of straight white cisgendered men, to the point where many of us (even those of us who don’t fit into that category!) view it as the “default” setting. This is a damn shame, because everyone’s got a story worth telling. So, while I’m obviously never going to say never to write about this default setting (because as a rule I don’t tell you guys NEVER to write anything), it’s important to break out of it whenever you can so that other people’s stories can be heard too.

[learnfromwebcomics]

Is there such a thing as TOO diverse? Is there ever a point where you read a comic or watch a TV show and say "Okay, they're trying way too hard."? Or is it better to take almost every character and try to not make them a white, straight, able-bodied, cisgendered man?

The only time things are "trying too hard" is when you indulge in tokenism. If a character's just there so that your story has a gay character and is more diverse, then that's really not doing anyone any good at all.

The media is pretty much completely dominated by the viewpoints of straight white cisgendered men, to the point where many of us (even those of us who don't fit into that category!) view it as the "default" setting. This is a damn shame, because everyone's got a story worth telling.

So, while I'm obviously never going to say never to write about this default setting (because as a rule I don't tell you guys NEVER to write anything), it's important to break out of it whenever you can so that other people's stories can be heard too.

[learnfromwebcomics]

Lesson Nineteen

Today’s Teacher: Learn from Webcomics

Today’s Lesson: An Author’s Guide to Self-Defense

Now, I’ve spent a fair amount of time in webcomic criticism communities. I think this much should be pretty obvious by now, right? That means that I’ve seen a lot of authors called out on a lot of different things, and I’ve seen a ton of different reactions to criticism.

Everyone makes mistakes. The fact of the matter is that sometimes one just plain doesn’t think, especially when writing from a position of relative privilege.

So, let’s assume that you’ve made a mistake like this and the work went live. Let’s go on to assume that you were caught with your pants down. You sure don’t want to be one of those people who looks worse the more they try to dig out of the hole, so what do you do? Well, there’s a right and a wrong way.

Assess the Impact

First of all, take a look at the complaint. You should never dismiss any complaint about your work out of hand, but is it only one person? Does the writer give you the impression that they haven’t read the work? Sometimes it’s better to just let a complaint slide by than to respond to it publicly, especially if you feel it’s way off base.

This can be a bad habit if the complaints start to add up, so if a comment rings true or if you hear the same complaints registered from several people, it’s time to really think about what’s going on here.

Check Your Writing

If people are responding negatively to what you’ve written, then it’s something in your writing. This is pretty much common sense, right? But, a lot of authors seem to miss this fact, especially when defending themselves against accusations of racism or sexism. They just say “but I’m not racist!” without noticing the most important part of the whole affair.

If lots of people read your work and think you’re racist, then that means you are writing like a racist. Does it necessarily mean you are one? No, not necessarily, but, frankly, it doesn’t matter whether or not you are. What matters is that the work you are putting in the public eye reflects on you in that way. If your writing doesn’t reflect your true sentiments, or worse, reflects something you strongly oppose, that means you’re just straight up not writing well enough.

A lot of people pick on Tom Preston because he writes like an egomaniac. Frankly, for all I know, maybe he really isn’t one. Haven’t met the guy. But, if he isn’t an egomaniac, he needs to seriously look at the way what he writes makes him look like one.

When people have these extremely personal criticisms of your work, it’s always best to make sure that you’re not misrepresenting yourself. If you really feel like people are misunderstanding you and your work, then try in the future to express how you truly feel in your writing. Not out of bitterness or a sort of “there, see, I did it,” childishness, but because as a writer you should always strive to honestly reflect the world you see.

Own Your Writing

This is a problem I like to call “The Bayonetta Defense,” and it’s most often used to refute allegations of sexism or exploitative images of women in particular. I hear it most often used in the context of problematic depictions of women in comic books.

“That’s just who she is. She owns her sexuality.”

No. Wrong. Bayonetta is a fictional character, and cannot own anything. Her personality, as well as every other aspect of her being, is a complete fabrication. This is what it means to be fictional.

All the things that happened in your story happened because you constructed them that way. The world you’ve written was created by you, and so are all of the characters that populate it. Every event in the story was planned by you. Don’t ever try to shift responsibility for problems to in-world reasons, as though they were completely out of your hands.

“Mookie” Terracciano, in the arc that spawned Lesson Four, made this mistake. He set things up in-world to force a certain outcome, and then acted as though it wasn’t his fault.

Sometimes, it feels like characters “have a will of their own”. If this happens to you, well, then, congratulations. It’s a very good sign; it means that you’re comfortable enough with character building that you understand a character’s responses to situations without having to consciously think about it. It can be a real pain, like when your planned story requires a character to do something that she ordinarily wouldn’t. But, it still doesn’t absolve you of responsibility for things that happen in the story.

Remember that you are the author. In fiction, you will always have control over the people, places, and events in the story. In non-fiction, you have less control but you are still the lens through which reality is viewed, which is a tremendous responsibility. Either way, the buck stops with you.

Be Sincere

The fact of the matter is there are going to be people who aren’t going to forget. That’s always how it is. But, if you want to win as many people over as possible and avoid things getting any worse, the best course of action is just to be straightforward and honest.

If you genuinely feel like you did wrong, then admit it. Admit it and do your damndest never to make the same mistake again. (Really this applies to pretty much every apology you’ll ever make in your life.) Try not to make excuses or shift blame. Likewise, if you strongly feel that you didn’t do any wrong, then honestly say that what you said was your genuine sentiment. There’s nothing wrong with taking a principled stand if you truly care.

If you don’t understand what people are complaining about, then look into it. Ask a friend or, hell, ask one of the nicer of your detractors what’s going on. If there’s something you’re completely missing, you’ll benefit a lot from learning it. Then, depending on whether you agree or not with what you learn, carry on.

If you think people are misunderstanding you, then think about the ideas you’re communicating. These people must have got their ideas from somewhere, so try and identify what’s upsetting them. Can you change it? If not, can you change how you address it?

Today’s Homework: I seriously hope none of you guys have any homework related to this lesson. You know what? Go back and do the homework for Lesson 4 or Lesson 12 again. An ounce of prevention and whatnot.

[learnfromwebcomics]

I was wondering do you ever receive backlash from the comic you use? Do the author or fans of the author ever give you trouble?

Surprisingly enough, no. I think I've got like one negative mail on the subject?

Anyway, I don't care much either way. I don't consider myself a critic or a reviewer. I like to consider myself an educator first, so my only priority is you guys, my students. Sentimental like that.

(Also, thanks to everyone in my ask box who sent me mail saying how much I've taught them. I can't answer you all publicly but every single letter like that is completely wonderful and I'm glad you guys are enjoying this thing!)

[learnfromwebcomics]

Lesson Eighteen

Today’s Teacher: Andrew Dobson

Today’s Lesson: Perspective

Perspective is an artist’s most important tool. It adds depth, realism, and character to things that would otherwise seem flat or lifeless. In writing, it also keeps you from being this guy right here.

This comic was released on July 27, 2012, only seven days after a shooting in Aurora, Colorado left 12 people dead and 58 injured, including a three-month old baby. The Aurora shooting took place in a theater showing a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, and had more victims than any prior mass shooting in the United States.  In other words, the shooting is a big deal.

A big deal that Dobson cares about less than about his ability to review a movie without mentioning it even in passing only a week later. Here, I’ve drawn a venn diagram.

So, this man has drawn a comic, and a very long comic at that, about him exploding at a strawman for expecting him to acknowledge a recent tragedy. How dare the internet expect him to care about a recent mass murder? After all, it isn’t the movie’s fault that a gunman entered the theatre and opened fire on the crowd! So, people should just learn to be able to think about and talk about the movie without thinking about what that theatre full of people went through, and the sooner the better, because Dobson really wants to talk about a Batman movie without having to think about all that unpleasantness.

The worst thing about this comic is the anger. Dobson is completely enraged, not that someone could do such a callous thing to other human beings, but that people expect him to care about it. He likens it to the Titanic, because thinking about something that happened literally one hundred years ago is exactly the same as thinking about an incident in which many of the victims are still in the hospital. He likens it to an actor making a bad movie, because someone making something that isn’t entertaining for whatever reason is just like a crowd of happy people being ambushed with an assault weapon.

Oh also in his comments he made a whole lot more offensive comparisons. Let’s take a look!

You liked Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Be sure to mention that River Phoenix died! You loved The Dark Knight? Don't forget that Heath Ledger died too! Talking about the Spiderman trilogy? Be sure to mention the American flag and emo Parker! You love Disney movies? Oh be sure to mention all the untrue “subliminal messages” they insert into everything! You like the Ps3? Don’t forget to mention the internet blackout and lack of games! You love Simpsons? Be sure to give a shout out to Family Guy and South Park too! You love Zelda games? Keep reminding everyone about those god-awful CD-i games no one bought! You like Star Wars? Be sure to point out the prequels sucked and remind everyone about Jar-Jar!

These are all things that he considers equivalent to the biggest mass shooting ever to take place on American soil.

Look, okay, admittedly this is less of a lesson and more of a rant at this point, so let’s get educational.

Learn some perspective. Now, I’m not saying that you can’t say anything but the most important thing you have to say, nor am I saying that there’s no place in media for irreverence, because you all know those are absurd premises. This is a lot like Lesson Four, however, in that you need to understand that there’s a right and a wrong way to talk about serious issues that have had enormous impacts on people’s lives. If you’re going to challenge that, by all means, challenge it. If you want to write about sensitive topics, then do it, but don’t avert your eyes from their seriousness, and for heaven’s sake do it for a damn reason. Don’t throw a tantrum because you feel like other people’s responses to something have inconvenienced you.

Frankly, anyone who wants to review The Dark Knight Rises can. As a piece of film, it can and should be criticized. But, this comic wasn’t a review of the film; hell, it wasn’t even about the film. It wasn’t about the shooting, either, if you can believe that. It was about the fact that a tragedy connected with the film is overshadowing it.

You have the right to say whatever you want as a writer. That’s what free speech is, and if you publish, that’s what freedom of the press is, too.

But, today’s lesson should serve as a reminder that you should always ask yourself if it’s a good idea.

Today’s Homework: Damn, I don’t know. Have a moment of silence or something. Recognize that your desire to review a movie is less important than the fact that people were murdered in cold blood while they were out enjoying a movie with friends and family.

edit: Damn I'm rusty.

[learnfromwebcomics]

In regards to lesson 4, does this mean any work where the protagonist is both a rounded and evolving character and a rapist or a pedophile (etc.), like A Clockwork Orange or Lolita, is automatically reprehensible?

It's a fine line, that is for damn sure.

I guess the key here is that neither of the works you've cited portray the rape or pedophilia as heroic or laudable acts. They're treated as serious crimes in both, even though the perpetrator is technically the protagonist. It's okay for the protagonist to commit these sorts of crimes as long as the crimes themselves are treated with the gravity they deserve.

[learnfromwebcomics]

Midterm Review 1

All right, class, it’s time for the new feature, Midterm Review!  In it, I take a look at a student-submitted comic and then give a review as well as a suggested homework assignment.

You should all be doing your homework, of course.

Student: Tubartist

Comic: Soul Symphony

Best Lesson: Love What You Do (Lesson 7)

Needs Improvement: Think About It (Lesson 4)

Soul Symphony is a pretty young comic, and doesn’t take long to read through. It’s about a high school band nerd, Olivia, who is suddenly tasked, by a little floating spirit creature, with helping the people around her with their problems. 

Frankly, in the beginning, there are some originality problems. The first arc has very standard high-schooler-gets-powers dialogue, the sort you can see in about a dozen first episodes and comic arcs. But, as the series goes on, this improves a great deal, so it’s not really much of a problem anymore, especially since the creator decided to use a Flash visual-novel sort of interface for some of the exposition-heavy scenes. Saves space, since it’s all wrapped up neatly in one little parcel, even if it is one little parcel you’ve got to click through. The dialogue is otherwise pretty comfortable; it’s rarely show-stopping, but it’s smooth enough to work.

The reason I’ve cited “Love What You Do” as the best lesson here is because it’s a comic about band geeks, written by someone who obviously loves music. The author’s great at inserting details about music and band without drowning out the story, and it gives the comic a sense of heart in a really lovely way. Little things like Olivia’s paranoia about injuring her hands in the spirit world, like the way notes are drawn in the background. It’s sweet.

Unfortunately, if you’ve got a problem lesson, you really don’t want it to be Lesson 4. It’s not a full-scale Dominic Deegan problem, but the author has kind of a problem with stereotypes. The only confirmed person of color in the cast is Eric Sakai, an Asian student whose overbearing parents put too much pressure on him to succeed. Of the two women in the cast, one of them pretty much revolves her life around men she’s interested in (she’s established as a genius drummer, but she makes all her choices based on men) and the other, Olivia, is still prone to blushing more or less any time she’s in any proximity to a man.

So, here’s the thing. There’s nothing wrong with including characters like Eric and Ashley because, well, people like that do exist in real life. (Actually, Eric is one of my favourite characters. He’s a sweetheart.) The problem is that they’re the only minority characters, which means 100% of the confirmed characters of color in this strip are stereotypical, and 100% of the women are preoccupied with romance, 50% to an obsessive degree. So, it makes kind of a poor showing.

(I say confirmed, because the strips that take place outside the spirit world aren’t coloured, which means that there are several students who have only ever been seen in line art.)

On the other hand, the theme of the comic lends itself well to broader thinking about these things. Olivia, you see, is pretty much the worst. She’s a self-absorbed brat of a teenager who, until Carl the spirit comes along, couldn’t really be bothered even thinking of her fellow students as human most of the time. But, through going into other people’s spirit worlds, she’s starting to learn that everybody has their own problems to deal with, and I think that’s my favourite part of Soul Symphony. I love watching her learn that she's not the only one with troubles, and a heroine like Olivia was a good choice, since it highlights that theme nicely.

Since the moral of the story is that other people's lives are more complicated than we can know, having this many stereotypical characters kind of dims it. A setup like this is a great chance for a writer to think seriously about the problems the people around us could be facing, and to add unexpected dimension to characters. For the most part, a character's problems are pretty obviously based on their role. Ashley's worried about boys, Eric's stressed out by his family, Charlie the metalhead has a problematic relationship with his family.

So, overall, although I didn’t start enjoying it until the first arc was over and the dialogue improved as characters other than Olivia showed up, I did indeed start to enjoy it. It’s got a lot of heart, and you can’t really teach heart, but there’s a lot of room to grow. At the same time, it’s really got to work on characterization in general and representation issues in particular, and work hard.

Homework: Make a list of your own interests, worries, and pursuits. Are they all related to the same core "hub", or related to each other at all?

Thanks to tubartist, both for proposing the new feature and for starting us off! If you’ve got work that you’d like to submit for a Midterm Review, go ahead and let me know in a fanmail!

[learnfromwebcomics]

Would you ever consider taking requests for webcomic reviews? Personally I feel like I struggle more as a writer than an artist, and I feel like other creators like me would love to hear your thoughts on our work.

You know what? Sure. Why not? Felt like I was running out of subject matter anyway.

As long as somebody submitting understands that I'm a professional and I take editing damn seriously, I'll give it my best shot. New feature: we'll call it "Midterm Review"