Comic hang ups, or snobbery maybe. What will likely turn you away without giving it a fair chance?

By that I mean "urgh, superhero/poser/romance/LGBT/poorly drawn/retro comic, no thanks" as opposed to "I just read 50 pages of this comic and it's pants"

Are there any cases where you have gone against the grain and found yourself loving a comic you nearly dismissed out of hand.

Beyond listing your turn off's though can we try and explore exception and why they are an exception.

I used to really dislike poser comics and it was the now seemingly defunct Knossus by El Cid that made me give them the time of day. In fact I am using Daz3D these days to do some comics.
The problem is people use poser and Daz3D without enough thought to the fundamentals of comic story telling, it is easy to get lost in the software and time will tell how my efforts compare.

There are others but I will let others spill first.

I don't like superhero comics, and I don't like overly detailed "realism" style. (Like, I don't like to see muscles or all the creases in a face or anything.) That said, I looked past that to enjoy Shades , which is fantastically written, like a good movie, with relateable characters and fantastic dialogue. That was enough for me to look past the art style I don't really like and the fact that there were superpowers involved (even centered on).

I also don't get into comic strips at all (I'm very picky with my humor) with a couple very rare exceptions. Jonko's Picture Diary is the most noteworthy. Not only a strip but also autobiographical and roughly drawn. Those would usually be strong strikes against it, but all those things make it somehow all the more charming.

Actually, I could say similar stuff about most of the comics I follow. I'm not a big comic reader in general. But on DD, I started looking into comics to support their creators. I meet people with neat personalities, and I want to see what they create. Most of them are comics that I would usually not even pause to check out (either based on the art style, the concept, or both), but I find myself hooked pretty quickly. I guess most people whom I meet here and with whom I get on well have similar sorts of storytelling preferences regardless of genera or art style. That's probably why I get into them.



My main turn-offs are about writing. (I'm a writer and a reader by heart, not so much an art critic.) Massive and constant unreadable grammar and spelling errors, poorly written characters, and boring or completely uncreative plotline will turn me away without exception.

Pants?

anyways, anytime i see a comic bragging on its own front page i start off pissed at it. i don't care how good other people on the internet think it is, let me judge how good it is by itself.

also comics that have massive ad and/or event banners over the comic itself. there's no fucking webcomic celebrities.

also sprite comics, but that's justified.

Orin J Master
anyways, anytime i see a comic bragging on its own front page i start off pissed at it. i don't care how good other people on the internet think it is, let me judge how good it is by itself.

also comics that have massive ad and/or event banners over the comic itself.

That bit.

Orin J Master
also sprite comics

and this bit.

It's also hard for me to get into a comic with really crappy artwork.

Aaaaand, it's hard for me to get into a comic with popular modern comicbook style artwork as well- sharp inking, all figures have perfect bodies, exactly the same faces with very little variation, and all colouring is that airbrushed, soft overused gradient Photoshop look.
Really turns me off.

Stick figures. What's the point? They're the most laziest thing ever.
Sprite comics are one step above stick figures.
Super heros. Every take on this genre has been done and done to death.
Manga comics that are set in a japanese high school done by western artists. The worst offenders are those who go right to left.

My main comic turn-off is when the characters all look/act the same! I hate it when all the characters have the same face and body type, just with different hair and clothes. People seem to think this is perfectly ok. In my opinion, it is most certainly NOT ok! lol! It's no good if I can't tell the difference between the hero and the villain and end up cheering on the wrong guy now is it?!

And when they all act the same, when they're all perfect, or all mega angsty, or all whatever, it makes the comic unbeliiiieeevably boring. Incredibly so. No matter how good a story plot is, it's NOTHING without at least decent characters!

I feel as if a great weight has left my shoulders, having offloaded my opinion like that lol.

I absolutely cannot read Anime-styled comics. I've seen more terrible anime comics than I have terrible sprite comics, and now it's to the point where I really can't read them. It actually hurts my head to try and read the stuff. Sometimes there's exceptions, but I have to be hooked good to go past the first 2-3 pages.

Nothing against any anime artists out there, your comics could be great for all I know, I just can't read them.

I think I've become conditioned to giving every comic a chance, but there are some things I still see and cringe at. "Reads right to left!!!!" being the biggest one. Sorry, if I were reading it in Japanese then yeah, but you're just doing a fake manga style thing and making it harder to read. It's putting artifice before function, or something. I dislike it very much. I know we're supposed to mention exceptions but I really can't think of any. I'm not sure I've ever even featured a comic that has done that.

The other one is adult comics, or M comics with really gratuitous fanservice. I'm just not into that stuff. I do have an exception for this one though, and that's Oglaf because it is hilarious.

The other things that would turn me off are writing things or characterizations, which means I haven't dismissed it immediately, I've read some and given it a chance. :]

skoolmunkee
he other one is adult comics, or M comics with really gratuitous fanservice.

First of- Oglaf is awesome, true.
but isn't the whole "fanservice" thing sort of integral to the concept of adult comics? So it's not really gratuitous per se.

Adult comics are adult comics, but by "M comics with grauitous fanservice" I meant comics like Etherial Legacies with T&A everywhere for fun. I don't have any moral objection to it or whatever, it's just that pretty much signals to me that I'm not going to be interested in that comic. (Although I suppose on some level I'm usually disappointed to see female main characters depicted in such a way.)

Manga? bring it on!

Super Heroes? Hell, Yeah!

Stick Figures? Love Order of the Stick!

Sprites? Bob & George was the first Webcomic that I ever read.

Poser/3D? My comic is done with Poser.

LGBT? Big fan of Simply Sarah.

Gamers? Nothing is better than Penny Arcade.

I'm really open to read any project, since I think that everything is in the execution more than in the concept.

However, I have to say that I'm less open to read romantic stories than any other genre or aesthetic choice, probably because that I've seen more bad romantic comics than any other style.

Romantic is good as a side plot, but as main plot, it requires a really good writer IMO.

Well said.

Horror comics for the same of it, though I have to say Fullmoon Stories is the exception with me (it has this twisty Edgar Allan Poe feel that makes me forgive all the grizzliness).

I won't go looking for porn and will put it down if it turns out like this, as they are rather boring and repetitive plotwise. Sorry, no exceptions there :p

I also won't read sprite comics. I just can't relate to something that is too pixelated to have expression.

And unless there is excellent writing and an interesting plot, I don't read strictly romance stories either. They are full of melodrama, which is drama, but overly dramatically done. XD

anything that has nothing interesting going on in it (fights, sex, funny stuff, arguments, philosophical / political discussion, etc.) after reading 10-20 pages of it or something.

That is my major turnoff. I dont care how beautiful your art is.

Could make an exception if you got hot girls in it or something for me to... um nvm. :D

Sprite comics.
Awful art.
Stick figure comics where the humor ends up basically revolving around the fact that they're stick figures!
Furry comics where the entire point is that they're furries living in a furry world, so they don't require an interesting plot...?
Comics that remind me that they're comics, keep reminding me by making self-conscious jokes that break the fourth wall, or involve the author talking directly to the characters*.
The use of photos with edge detection or sketch filters as backgrounds, or nothing but screentones and gradients and filters.
A giant banner so I gotta scroll down every time I go forward a page.
Pale pencil drafts that are never inked or shaded.
*Not the case for comics where comments determine what will happen

Oh hey right, there are meant to be exceptions or redeeming features too >_>;
Even if the page format sucks, they're not drawing backgrounds, or the story's kinda vapid, I'll read for good art alone.
I'll read it if I like the author, oddly.
I'll read a 'furry' comic, like Harkovast , with a plot.
I'll read a stick figure comic like Happyface Comics where the humor isn't just "ha, look, stick figures!"

Ochitsukanai
A giant banner so I gotta scroll down every time I go forward a page.

Yeah, that too.

Also comics using the "homepage" feature. If it's REALLY good, I might check in despite that, but I'm most likely not going to leave any comments. If the creator makes it so hard to leave a comment (especially if the connection is slow that day), I figure they don't really care one way or another. -- For non-DD sites, this applies to any comic that doesn't have the recent update either on the main page or an easy to locate single click away.

Going along with that, basically any website faux pas will turn me away regardless of comic content. Stuff like annoying (esp. flashing) animations, more ads than actual content, broken images, eye-boiling colors, page errors, tortuous loading time, etc. That, of course, is a blanket rule for all websites not webcomics in particular.

Arrogant, emo, or uninterested creators will turn me away too -- maybe not from reading a comic I enjoy but definitely from following regularly or leaving any comments. I can't get excited over work when its own creator isn't. I do have exceptions as for as reading, but I don't leave comments or anything.

Just out of curiosity, how big is "giant" for you guys? I can't really tell how much you need to scroll on my comic since I use Firefox with Adblock Plus, and I'd hate to be driving people away.

Doodstormer
Just out of curiosity, how big is "giant" for you guys? I can't really tell how much you need to scroll on my comic since I use Firefox with Adblock Plus, and I'd hate to be driving people away.

No, something like this... http://www.drunkduck.com/The_world_of_Aeria/

Lovely comic, but that banner is excessive.
---------------

Sorry I forgot to mention exceptions... but it's pretty much implicit for me. Like Skool I check out anything in the pursuit of possible features.

Agreed with the mechanical issues. Big banners don't bother me so much, but when the pages are so big I have to use the horizontal scroll to see it all, or each page takes five minutes to load, I will leave no matter how interesting the comic is.

Sprite comics don't send me running right away, but there's a few things about them that will make me leave without giving them a chance.
-When all the characters, even well-established ones, have the author's voice.
-Actually this one applies for all comics, but when the icon doesn't match the actual art in the comic. I hate when I see this wonderfully drawn and colored piece on the front page and then get either sprites or sketch pages for the rest of the archives.

Lastly, vampires and zombies. I never understood the appeal of either one.

I'm pretty forgiving generally, I'll read most genres and styles, but there are some things that are instant turn-offs for me:

-Inappropriate fanservice. I don't mind fanservice in a comic that's clearly aimed at being a fanservice or 'ecchi' type comic, aimed at an adult audience, and where the characters wearing skimpy outfits or having wardrobe malfunctions are adults. Sure, I'm not personally into it, but sometimes it does suit a character. There are people in real life who dress skimpily or like to act sexy or work in strip clubs etc. But when we're seeing upskirt shots on schoolgirls, or yaoi with underage boys, it doesn't appeal to me. Nor does unrealistic sexualisation, where a character's personality and/or profession seems really at odds with their outfit and tendency to stand with their arse pushed out, pouting all the time.

-Opening to a massive narrative crawl. "The kingdom of Longnameaia was founded by the five ancient gods blah blah blah." You get like 5 pages of this with just full page images of castles and random extras fighting the obligatory big battle against the dark lord, or the ancient cataclysm that destroyed the world, or how they all used to live in harmony with the dragons...zzzz... in the background. As somebody way more interested in the plot on a subjective level and how it effects characters I care about, a comic set up this way can be very hard to engage with.

-Right to left. UUUUURGGHHHH. The only good excuse for drawing in this direction is if your first language isn't English, but something that reads right to left. I understand some creators have been raised reading books that read in this way, and so they naturally read and draw in this direction. I'm willing to read a comic this way if this is the case. But when somebody called say Jane Smith who is blatantly a born and raised English speaker and probably not asian in the slightest, says "I draw it right to left 'cause it's more authentic!" they have lost me. It shows a very shallow understanding of comics as a medium and what is worth learning from manga to apply to your own comics.

-HUGE PAGES! If your comic is over 800px wide, it is probably too big. I have a larger monitor than I used to, which is a wondrous thing, yet I'm still finding comics that require the dreaded double scrollbar action! Huge top banners are similarly annoying, and also any comic that makes its navigation really hard to find. The homepage feature is irritating as well. Basically when technical issues get in the way of reading the comic, I get irritated and don't want to read it!

Y'know what? This is an awesome thread for anyone who's always looking to improve. Like me.

My Hang-Ups:

Super hero comics. Yes I realize the irony, what with me being the creator of "Super Temps" and all. But the whole reason I created "Super Temps" was to poke fun at them. I guess the only reason why ST doesn't come off mean-spirited is because there was a time when I enjoyed them... well, that and mean-spirited parodies suck.

A comic that broke through that hang-up: Fusion . It's written like a semi-serious parody, and Fusion herself is cute both in personality and appearance.

Video Game Comics. I love video games, I hate video game comics because they all tend to use the same angles. Make your own bloody characters, write your own bloody story. Almost no exceptions except "The Many Deaths of Mario" which is morbidly creative.

Sprites. Mostly because the moment you have sprites you have a video-game comic. I detest them because sprite comics are lazy and the writing matches.

Gratuitous Fan Service. Again, yes I am aware of the hypocrisy of the statement, given Skull Girl's costume -- especially her original one. Although in my defence, it was meant to be a parody of 90's Psylocke whom I thought had one of the worst costumes ever, and is used in the joke that Skully wears it because it's uncomfortable, "making her cranky so she stays evil". Just don't use the joke that often so it's lost on a lot of people.

Shogen Jump Comics. Or however you spell it. Absolute garbage. It's like pro-wrestling but with worse writing and too much talking. No exceptions.

Anime/manga and anime/manga wannabes. This applies to comics who both accurately and feebly imitate the manga/anime style. Your comic better do something really special in the page I see to make me forgive it.

A comic that broke through that hang-up: Demon Eater . It's rather abstract so that saved it, and the concept is very original.

Poser Comics. Welcome to uncanny valley! They creep me out and I refuse to read them as a result.

Slow-loading Comics. The offender that comes to mind is the "Villain Next Door". Terrible load times, huge files, and massive headers that aren't necessary. The reason why I'm singling it out is while the concept isn't really that appealing the storyline was interesting enough for me to want to try to read it, only to be exasperated by the amount of load time, filler, and large unnecessary headers. It's not a bad comic, I just won't read it.

While we're on the subject of hang-ups, what hang-ups have been mentioned that you think might apply to your comic, and what would you do about it? Do they matter that you'd adjust them? Do you think they're valid?

I think there are a lot of good reasons for the hang-ups I've seen listed by everone. Some are just a matter of taste (which is just fine) but others are industry-standard divisions between "amateur" and "professional" and are really worth keeping in mind. Doubly interesting is that some of the hang-ups (fanservice for example) are long-established mainstream comic sins.

Stuff I think my comic might be guilty of:

"... all colouring is that airbrushed, soft overused gradient Photoshop look"

Hmmm.... maybe I should ditch the airbrushing shading I'm experimenting with for Super Temps. Right now I have the males hard-shaded and the females soft-shaded...

"Super heros. Every take on this genre has been done and done to death."

I don't think Super Temps ' take has. I'd be interested in your take on it, ZeroGee.

"really gratuitous fanservice"

Hope Skull Girl's summer costume didn't qualify. :(

My hang up is pretty much ugly art. I'd say I don't like such and such genre but i'll read it if the art is amazing, even furry comics.

Of course there are some times when the story is so vapid and retarded i just end up clicking through the pages without reading anything.

Far as humor comics go i hate "so randumb XD" humor. It's just not funny, it's not even humor, it's just... randumb.

Just thought of (got exposed to, I should say) another one:

Announcing gratuitous fan service in such a way that it implies we've been waiting for it as much as the creator has.

That's... just creepy. It makes me want to take a shower. Ugh... I mean, there's a way to do it in a lamp-shade hanging, self-depreciating way that's kinda funny... but... UGH!

smkinoshita
While we're on the subject of hang-ups, what hang-ups have been mentioned that you think might apply to your comic, and what would you do about it? Do they matter that you'd adjust them? Do you think they're valid?

Obviously, this:

smkinoshita
Poser Comics. Welcome to uncanny valley! They creep me out and I refuse to read them as a result.

Worst part is, I totally understand what are you talking about. Most of the Poser comics that I've seen do a very poor job on give a natural feel to the characters and fall securely into the "Uncanny Valley".

One of the things that I've work the hardest is precisely try to give my characters the most lively feel possible, but there has been time to time where my characters just turn out into mannequins.

However, a lot of the newer versions of the software came with enough tools to give the figures a way better use and the art ends up looking great, and I've seen a lot of very good Poser comics around (Death P0rn, for example, but that will creep you out for entirely different reasons, XD)

BTW, screw you, Pro-Wrestling is awesome... (kidding with the screw you, but Pro-Wrestling IS awesome)

Shonen Jump smkino.



I hate:
Bad comics.


I like:
Good comics.

I tend to like black and white art over color.

Stuff like Cope's Cerinthia makes me love it.




Stuff that annoys me:
-Most sprites or stick figure comics UNLESS they are like The Rub Goldberg Machine.
-story comics: I'd rather read jokes (most the time)
-supers-unless the art is different than the typical super comic
-some mangas that are really amateurish or loved for no reason.
-stupid stuff-unless it's Professor Dolphin or Imafunnyman or something weird like that I hate it.
-some poser: I don't get them sometimes but other times they're really detailed.

I tend to stay away fom comics where the artist is too lazy to draw backgrounds.

I also avoid most political cartoonists. They're usually unfunny, self-obsessed, condescending, and on top of that they're usually lazy artists.

Shameless cut and paste artists drive me away as well. People who just draw over photo references constantly are a hard sell to me as well.

Anyone who is trying to do a "grim, realistic" superhero story like Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns is going to have an uphill battle in order to win my interest. Those were both great comics, but like most success stories they inspired countless imitators that fell flat on their face.

I like a good number of dramatically themed comics, but I have a hard time getting into something that has no comedic content whatsoever. It doesn't have to be a total gag-fest, but I'll have an easier time with things if you bring the funny.

I have yet to read a sprite comic that made me want to stay with it past the second page.

Well, sprite comics of course. Everything about them is just terrible. Production value has to be at or better than Kid Radd. I read all of 8 Bit Theater. I passably liked it in the beginning but after a while, I was just seeing how long he was going to drag out that thing.

Author is a overrated cult of personality and/or barely touches his comic anymore. I find this most frequently happens on gamer comics, for some reason. VG Cats could win a Pulitizer at this point, and I'd still be content to give Scott Ramsoomair the finger. I'll particularly emphasize this one is the author is basically an art snob.

Superheroes. If its something really unusual (lone character with a fairly oddball power), maybe I'll look at it, but the whole Marvel/DC/Image scene is dead to me, along with everything associated with it. Even 'superhero parody' is pretty old at this point. While I like how The Venture Brothers approach it, the whole collusion between heroes and badguys like a fraternity is not fresh. I used to read more of this kind until I found they were all essentially repeating the same bemused approach.

Anything semi-dramatic that features characters with gigantic eyes. I can't take Bratz dolls in any form seriously.

Works that try to shock, either by gore or sacred cow humor. Ehhh. I'm thirty one, you gotta bring more heat than that. I was bored of this stuff back in the mid 90's!

Copy/paste comics. Hell no. As a former webcomic reviewer, I hated these the most of all.

Politics don't fly with me. Not even a vague slant. I'd rather drink Draino.

Most romance works, be it straight or GLBT. Too often, the characters are shallow and forced in their attractions. Additionally, not everyone needs to look like a model or a perfect anime character! These comics play more on the forbidden fruit angle than anything resembling a believable relationship or interaction between people. For the life of me, I do give a lot of these a chance, but they're almost homogeneous in their characterizations.

Most horror. Too much of a gore circus. I don't mind blood, but jaded revulsion is not another term for scary. Freak me out, thrill me, draw me into the story!

Yeah, I'm a hard ass. I couldn't take doing reviews after a while.

@Dark Pascual -- There's no way around it. Just about any poser-based comic is gonna creep me out.
@I Am The 1337 Master: Shonen. Thanks. ;)

@Air Raid Robertson: Have you ever looked at Gnoph ? Dramatic but avoids the pitfalls of many 'grim, realistic' comics. Basically, instead of being "dark, angry, bitter" they're more just survivors who "do what we have to".

@Chernobog -- I agree, if the author is an egotistical jerk I don't enjoy the comic. I think it happens to gamer comics because they can build up a niche audience the fastest. Buuuut the note I'm interested in is the Superhero genre. Any DD Super-Hero comics that pass your test?

Also, if you don't mind me paraphrasing your hang-ups, it sounds like what bugs you about comics boils down to three things:

1. Laziness
2. Lack of creativity
3. Politics

You disliked superheroes because "it's all been done". Same with shock. Same with romance, and horror. The standard roads all seem to bore you. I think that's it. You'd need a horror comic without death or gore. A romance comic where the couple is already married and older (rediscovering love is not done nearly as often).

As to super-heroes... well, I don't know if "Super Temps" would be your thing. Basically picture the super-world being more like pro-wrestling and the economy is based off it.

But how about a super-hero comic that draws more on the classic roots of super-heroes -- mythology and lore. (Superman is basically Hercules in tights) Such a comic would require a lot of creativity -- in classic lore, the hero really is just making his/her way in the world and isn't trying to save everyone. Heck, how about a super-hero comic where each time the hero replaces the villain in a continual cycle -- each character falling out of favour due to corruption or being 'too good' (let's face it -- how long would someone who 'always did the right thing' last in a government position, even if they were bullet-proof and saved the world?).

Hmmm... actually that sounds like a good comic. Ummm... anyone wanna take it on?

politics in comics, yeah not a fan of that really. and yeah that super hero idea has some merit.