I have a paragraph I typed out to vent in the main forums, but it concerned this comic. Reposted so all the snobby artists posting anonymously could see:
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This is extremely disappointing. Why would a community of artists be so snitty and rude to one another? Why would you question your actions, second-guess a simple critique or suggestion on making a piece of art better, or verbally attack someone because they manage to nab a top spot?

Grow up. Quit insulting others to make yourself look better. An opinion is an opinion, and no one is entitled to listen to yours if you give it--because the internet is founded upon, like a castle of cards, flimsy and fallible statements that hold no more merit than the next opinion spewed out a second later. Like a pretty face, it's easily replaceable. I hate to tell you, baby, you ain't special.

Like I always say: Art is the game of passion and improvement. Your attitude is what makes you lose. Stop trying to focus on the next person's art and concentrate on making your own better.

Here Here Kelly

I presume some artist think they 'know what's best' and just have to tell someone *and everyone else who reads the comic* how to 'improve' their comic artistry.

I for one see no point, people draw how they've learnt to draw and how they want to draw. I don't have any authority to critisise anyone as I have no drawing talent whatsoever :P

I've noticed people complaining that Lalia is drawn better than all the other characters and the backgrounds... they seem to forget that she is the main character after all :D

I'm also aware that 'simple' art could be used to speed up the comic process, with the tight schedules, real life happenings, and readers threatening to slice your hands off if you don't update on the day, no wonder Mr CC is 'cutting corners' to complete his masterpieces

Okay wake up you lot, I'm done ^_^;;;

I've refrained from commenting in Craving Control's improvement points thus far. I will say first, that as one reads along this series, they'll notice that he/she has quietly taken all criticism in for consideration, and adjusted their coloring procedures to receive a more satisfactory response from his/her viewers.

A plot exists. Sex is indeed the hook for this story, but I myself keep reading because there's a humor here I enjoy. I laugh at the boob jokes because I'm well endowed and can relate to what Lalia goes through. (I also eat like a pig and can relate to that as well, but we won't go there.)

The writing is good, but I want to learn more about the characters and their stories. I think Craving is afraid that if they include a script sans Lalia, the readership will go down. Overall, however, they should realize that most comics do go through a cycle, and that the top spot, no matter what happens, can't be retained forever. It's better to give your hardcore audience what they're looking for, plotwise, than to avoid it altogether for the sake of more hits.

But again, if Craving chooses to stay on the route they're going, then that's them. I probably would do the same. It's a fun story either way--I just think too many people are making a big deal out of this when they don't need to.

That's not to say that criticism is pointless, though. It's just that the way people have been going about giving that criticism totally defeats its purpose. No one is inclined to listen to rudeness, no matter how true it may be. That said, most of the critique on this comic has been ridiculous and unfounded, and it is as if people wish for the creator to cater to their every whim and desire. They make insane demands that no one in his right mind should, or perhaps even could, fulfill. I wish they would all stop, because it's getting annoying. I can't imagine how unnerving it is for the Author.

Thank you, Kelly Marie, G_I_John, and Marmalade Man, for those touching expressions of solidarity. I also have been surprised at the disgruntled tone of so many comments. Craving Control is meant to be sugary, escapist fluff. It's perplexing what a bad mood this puts people in. I'm not referring to the well-intentioned, thoughtful criticism offered by engaged readers, who flatter me with their insight.

In the end, it's probably all to be expected. I appreciate your involvement and hope the cantankerous minority doesn't prove too irritating for you.

Well it's just that. Either, they don't like the idea, and they think that their own idea is better.

Or their just jealous.

OR! It could even be the frequent customer idea. Y'know that one that always comes in, and has something new to complain about each time? As if they plan out what they could find wrong ahead of time? One of those deals.

And I enjoy reading it for what it is!

Allow me to state something you probably are too polite to point out: The disgruntled tone is the green eyed monster of jealousy, because Craving Control has been rating so highly in the Top Five.

There may also be some degree of pretentiousness; Craving Control is "sugary fluff", while the current Dark Age of comics we are coming out of--where Captain America was recently shot to death by a sniper, for example--may contribute to a general feeling of resentment toward the creator of an escapist, somewhat sexy, but always light and cartoony comic that doesn't take itself seriously.

Personally I love the comic's sporting approach to Lalia's gluttony...women are taught to diet, not to eat a lot where others can see them, etc...if you watch TV you will notice lots of food commercials and TV shows with food where women do not eat. Fat men will be guzzling beers and chowing down next to skinny actresses who do not eat. Look at the Disney cartoon films, like Beauty and the Beast or Pocahontas where the skinny heroines are surrounded by food and other people eating, and they never take a bite. It's a last-century cultural taboo.

So I find the gluttony itself very interesting, although I have no idea where, if anywhere, you are taking it.

Maybe it's just something that 'is what it is', like Snoopy dogfighting the Red Baron on his doghouse or Uncle Fester sucking on an incandescent light bulb.

Thanks TitanOne for your post, especially the points you made about women eating (or not-eating) in public and the taboo nature of female gluttony.

I think Lalia's reckless eating here represents her wholesome sanguine attitude: do what you crave for - not thinking about "propriety". It's not - if I get it right - really insensitivity, selfishness or anything like that; more or less it's a life-philosophy where your instincts and cravings are meant to be followed, because following them is good.

But, if we think solely the idea of female gluttony, it's interestingly sexual thing. You do't have to be a sort of a food-fetishist to feel this. Eating is a bodily funktion, where a woman satiates her desires by "taking in" food. Normally this is - of course - a totally non-sexual thing, but when displayed provocatevly, it's possible (depending on the viewer) to see some implicit sexual inclinations there.

In the history of prudence, a woman (more than a man, i guess) seeking to satisfy her desires is considered dangerous - so this could be some sub-conscious reason why Disney's princesses never eat.

I think the eating is sexual in a sense, like the biting of necks and blood-drinking are in vampire tales.

I don't actually see Lalia as being overtly sexual, however--I see her as being 'sexy', i.e., attractive, but not a 'wanton woman'. That's another facet of her appeal, IMHO. It's not hard for me to picture Lalia posing in a Gil Elvgren pinup from the 1950s.

I feel Lalia's eating is exciting because it's refreshing and shocking. Of course, people who like a woman with some meat on her bones probably make up 96% of the audience of this comic, and I'm sure that's a factor as well. Even when she's skinny,
she is not cut up with rippling abs like Supergirl and so many other unattractive post-90s comic book figures.

More to it, however, is the attitude...she's a sport! In the first few pages of the strip she seems somewhat mortified, but it seems that she relaxes and begins to embrace her eating around the time of her interest in cake-baking, and onward.

Yes, I love a woman with a healthy appetite!

Laila is a sweet and fun character and I'm eager to see what happens next.