Ok fan comics? what's the deal? are we aloud to do them on here or not? I'm not a big fan of them (ha ha see what i did there) but there are a few universes and characters i'd like to do fan comics about (most of them being cartoons from the 80's that kick ass). But when i say fan comics i mean starting from scratch, totally reinventing things, and creating our own mythologies for these characters. We could do it in teams to! Like writers and artists, pencilers, colourists, inkers, letterers, etc. so the load of the comic would be spread and it wouldn't interfear with our own comics too much. And we cud switch positions on the creative team like one issue i might write, the next i might draw, etc. This doesn't just go for fan comics, this could go for original comics! I got a million and one stories to tell and would love to work with others, so if anyones game let me know.

Fan comics i'd like to do: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Beast Wars, Power Rangers, Thundercats, etc.

Let's discuss this people, i think it's a realy cool idea.

Add your lists of fan comics you'd like to do!

I think that now is a better time than ever to do a fan comic for it and to reinvent the mythology of it completely; I'd like to start with TRANSFORMERS!

So, what do you guys think?

I dont really like fan comics....cuz its easy to gain a lot of popularity doing so, but its not your characters nor...your imagination thing...unmm...I started working fan comics, back when I was 9 -10...but then I started creating my original characters, and since then I have worked like that....but sometime, just sometimes, I want to do a fan comic, just for me...and for the question: well a fan comics, about:
- Bleach, MajinTantei Nougami Neuro, FInal Fantasy...n.n...
but still I like better to use my own characters n.n

I 100%ly agree with you. I have never ever done a fan comic, not even in my youth, but now, when i look back over all the things i loved as a kid sometimes i get the urge to do a fan comic about them or a parody, it's not so much to milk off of there success, but to pay tribute and to honour them and to do what i think they should have done with the story. I hate fan comics because your never going to get anywhere with them because you don't own the rights to the material. But then i think maybe it's good for fun, but then i think, it's a waste of time.....

I've got stories that I'd do if I had the chance to work with licensed characters. No fan fiction here, this is Brian Michael Bendis qaulity official fan stories. I even came up with a treatment for an ultimate book that I think would be great. Lets hope marvel feels the same way.

If I had to do a fan comic, it would be for grind or maybe Detective Fork. But I'm an e-mail away from a fan comic going to an actual comic published under their brand names.

I do use gay rapist murdering Spider-man in penis sometimes though. I guess that counts as a fan comic.

Yeah. it's excellent to pay a tribute to your favorite works in your own way, though fan-fiction or fan comics. =)

Although the whole idea that you'd never get anywhere with it is kinda untrue. For instance, there's been a few "unofficial" Fanfanfiction that made it official into big print with the permission of Marvel/DC and the other companies.

To name an example: did you know there's actually an X-men/Star Trek: Next Generation Crossover books out there? apparently it started off as Fan-fiction, but the guy who wrote it happened to have the chance to show it to both companies and they liked it so much because of how the characters were portrayed accurately, etc.

I've read it and surpsingly it was very good.

Fan comics? Hee hee, that's what I do! I have enough buffer pages now; once Ed finishes the banners I'm uploading them both. He's so slow...

I agree that unlike in Japan, fan comics will seldom get you anywhere. However, that's only if you care about profits.

Am I going to sell t-shirts and coffee mugs whether or not my characters are original? No. So what's the difference? I disagree that if the characters are copyrighted, that somehow your artistic integrity or the quality of your story is automatically less.

Aurora Moon
To name an example: did you know there's actually an X-men/Star Trek: Next Generation Crossover books out there? apparently it started off as Fan-fiction, but the guy who wrote it happened to have the chance to show it to both companies and they liked it so much because of how the characters were portrayed accurately, etc.

Interesting tidbit about that ... Patrick Stewart declined to have his face on the cover of one of those novels, because he jokingly said "I might want to play Professor X some day," not realizing that one day he would, in fact, play Professor X.

On the main topic, fan comics are fun and occasionally of excellent quality, but no, you can't really make any money off them in the states. It's a project to undertake simply because you love the story and want to show your respects to the original artists' creativity. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Whether or not you make the characters up yourself really has no bearing on how good the work is, in my opinion. Using established, well-known characters simply changes the set of challenges you have to overcome to make a quality piece of work.

So are we aloud to post fancomics/ fan fiction on here or is it frowned upon?

You can do it, but if the owner of the copyright finds out about you (unlikely) and decides to ask DD to take your stuff down (unlikely), DD will comply.

Unlikely, unless you do something close to the source (as in, "I'm gonna make a fan webcomic about that guy's webcomic!" ) and unless you get famous for it and stand a chance of making a profit.

mlai
Unlikely, unless you do something close to the source (as in, "I'm gonna make a fan webcomic about that guy's webcomic!" ) and unless you get famous for it and stand a chance of making a profit.

You kidding me? I think a lot of people would be flattered to have a fan-comic done about their comic, and most often the Web-Comic artist run their comics. It's the corporations like Marvel and stuff that get all over you.

Kohdok
You kidding me? I think a lot of people would be flattered to have a fan-comic done about their comic, and most often the Web-Comic artist run their comics. It's the corporations like Marvel and stuff that get all over you.

Making fan comics of paper comics is also "close to the source," because they're both comics. So Marvel/DC has more likelihood of shutting you down than if you make a fan comic about, say, Clue the boardgame.

So, a fan webcomic of a webcomic is as close to the source as you can get. I'm sure PvP or Penny Arcade will not like it one bit if you take their characters and make a fan comic. The only ppl who'll be flattered are those who don't have famous profitable properties, and those ppl usually aren't the ppl who are "homaged" anyways.

Kohdok

mlai
Unlikely, unless you do something close to the source (as in, "I'm gonna make a fan webcomic about that guy's webcomic!" ) and unless you get famous for it and stand a chance of making a profit.

You kidding me? I think a lot of people would be flattered to have a fan-comic done about their comic, and most often the Web-Comic artist run their comics. It's the corporations like Marvel and stuff that get all over you.

People get pissed sometimes. It depends on context. If someone is blatantly stealing from me, I go ballistic. Like how Bill Hicks felt when he watched Dennis Leary. If its something from my work thats credited, thats different. I get fan submissions on occasion, usually in the form of one of my guys showing up in someone else's comic with a link back, mention of my owning the character, etc, etc.

daniel_the_drummer
So are we aloud to post fancomics/ fan fiction on here or is it frowned upon?

I frown on it. I don't want to read what "some regular guy" wants to take characters I like, like Wolverine or Spider-man or the Star Trek guys. Its actually really lame that stuff where Spock falls in love with Worf exists on the internet. I just have no real respect for people that do that. I've got stories I'd like to do for the characters, but thats on a professional level. If it starts looking like I can't ever do those stories, I'll simply change the name and things that reference that characters history and adapt it into something else.

The closest I come is using recognizable characters in the background of one of my main comics in parody form.

The best I ever did of that was having Star Trek original series and Next Generation characters in show uniform as wait staff in a restaurant while two main characters of my comic had lunch in that restaurant. Having Scotty (in movie era uniform) take drink orders was a hoot! No one was mentioned by name, it was about 2 or 3 pages (in a 20-page superhero comic) and it was in full color.

Unfortunately, I don't have that stuff anymore or I'd post it for kicks...

I don't think I'd ever try to kick start a series that's over and done with, it just wouldn't seem right.

Yeah, this might be a bit of a shameless plug and all, but if you look at page 8 (currently the latest page) of my comic I, ah, display a bit of affection for a very recognizable structure from The Superfriends cartoon ...

Meanwhile, back at the hall of ... WAITAMINNIT!

Then again, everything in my comic is a parody, so ...

:)

Are there any current DD comics that are serious fancomics? As in, not cameos or parodies.

I'd be flattered if someone did a fan comic of my web comic. The only reason i can justify me doing a fan comic is because i do my own original work already.

I started to do a fan-comic before I restarted the webcomic I do now. It was a Digimon comic, but the only thing that would be recognizable would be the Digimon themselves. I had my own characters lined up, even made my own Digivice. My definition of a fan-comic is taking the elements that made that show/comic good and incorporating it into your own work, but have your own skeleton first. I mean the basics would still be there, "Hey this is a Digimon comic," but you can still make it your own. I don't frown upon it when it's done well and tactful.

mlai
Are there any current DD comics that are serious fancomics? As in, not cameos or parodies.

There was a serious Megaman fancomic I used to watch before the big crash - don't know if it was ever put back up. I don't remember the title. =(
Edit - I think this was it http://www.drunkduck.com/Rockman_5/

I started a NiGHTS Into Dreams fancomic myself, but it hasn't gone much anywhere -
http://www.drunkduck.com/NiGHTS_Into_Dreams_CLA

Meechi
I started to do a fan-comic before I restarted the webcomic I do now. It was a Digimon comic, but the only thing that would be recognizable would be the Digimon themselves. I had my own characters lined up, even made my own Digivice. My definition of a fan-comic is taking the elements that made that show/comic good and incorporating it into your own work, but have your own skeleton first. I mean the basics would still be there, "Hey this is a Digimon comic," but you can still make it your own. I don't frown upon it when it's done well and tactful.

I agree. That's exactly what i'd like to do with a transformers fan comic; make it my own by changing the stories, introducing my own characters, etc. The only recognizable with mine would be the transformers.

I'm not sure what to classify my comic other than it being Kingdom of Hearts-ish, which means there's original characters and villain which are the focus, but also contain characters you've seen from other works. For example, in the current running episode of American007, they're battling Robotnik and his apprentice, Shadow. However, they also deal with four original villains, and Fang/Nack from the Sonicverse. This is because my comic takes place within the video game universe, but in the future.

The fan characters are taken and given a new story that intertwines with the story established, the example being Amy Rose. She's much older, and married to one of the American007 (which according to established canon, makes her Amy Hahn) characters, and is the lieutenant of the team of heroes. So, it's almost like she's a new character, but her past reminds us that she once was Amy Rose.

In any case, as the comic advances, there will be an increasing focus on American007's original cast rather than the already known characters.

mlai
Are there any current DD comics that are serious fancomics? As in, not cameos or parodies.

Check out this:
http://www.drunkduck.com/VP_Fancomics/index.php
It's a fan comic for Sarah's http://www.drunkduck.com/Vampire_Phantasm

Holy cow, Ni'lala is crazy good.

Fancomics never really seemed right to me - not as in morally, but rater because when I'm working with other peoples' material, it doesn't work out so well because it's just not tailored to suit my own style of storytelling. At one point I had an idea of a "video games civil war", which basically featured just about every popular video game character you could think of, but something about it just never sat right with me.

Hapoppo
Fancomics never really seemed right to me - not as in morally, but rater because when I'm working with other peoples' material, it doesn't work out so well because it's just not tailored to suit my own style of storytelling. At one point I had an idea of a "video games civil war", which basically featured just about every popular video game character you could think of, but something about it just never sat right with me.

But what if you did them in your own style and everything instead of trying to mimic what's already been done. I am totally torn because i used to hate fan comics because they're usualy shitty manga renditions of popular characters (and boy do i hate manga, or most of it anyway), but then sometimes i think it would be really fun to do one.

So is still no one up for doing a transformers fan comic with me?

What is it that you like about Transformers?

Is it giant robots? If you like giant robots so much, wouldn't it be more fun to just draw it yourself?

And if giant robots take too much time and details to draw, then that means you don't like them as much as you think, and you should give it up.

Or, you should learn how to use animator/director programs and either make TF fan movie shorts or make 3D rendered comics.

daniel_the_drummer
But what if you did them in your own style and everything instead of trying to mimic what's already been done. I am totally torn because i used to hate fan comics because they're usualy shitty manga renditions of popular characters (and boy do i hate manga, or most of it anyway), but then sometimes i think it would be really fun to do one.

So is still no one up for doing a transformers fan comic with me?

Actually, the characters and universe were quite different from the ones they were torn from - for instance, the opening featured Mario snatching a sniper rifle from Ratchet and aiming it at Master Chief's head (It was actually a pretty sad moment in the story). Maybe it's more like what Mlai said - I still think it's a good idea, but I don't want to invest too much time something that's only partially mine.

In terms of what my actual stance is on fan comics, which is something I skimped on in my last post - I have absolutely no problem with fan comics, myself. But, I prefer to see an artist's work on their own original materials as their first priority, otherwise I feel that the artist, even if he's terrific at what he does - is shortchanging himself on his own abilities.

I'm not sure I agree with that assessment. For the most part, if I didn't tell you I'm doing a fan comic, you wouldn't even know I'm doing a fan comic.

This is not because I can't draw the characters. It's because I choose only characters which give me enough space to tell my own stories.

For example, maybe I'm using a superhero character, but for some valid reason or another, in my story he never puts on his tights once, and only uses his most obscure powers that ppl who aren't true fans have never even heard of.

The end result is, if I just took 5 seconds to change the character's name, and never tell anyone "This is actually Super-XYZ in a 1956 limited edition issue where he uses powers XYZ that were never used again," then I basically have an original comic.

So why do I keep it as a fan comic? Because to me, historical fiction and fan fiction are not different. Doing research in order to be faithful to the source material, as well as putting your own educated spin on the source material, is part of the fun. You're not seen as unoriginal if you do a historical fiction "What if Hitler won WW2?" So why should it be any different for fan fiction?

I can draw transformers. And yes i love giant robots. I just want to work with others on projects. I thought it would be fun to draw to someone else's writing or have someone else draw to my writing. But top priority is always going to be my own work (check out shark brain), i've already put months of effort into it and am very pleased with it, and just thought it would be nice to do something else for a little while to break thinks up, no matter how original or fan-fictional it maybe.

Well, technically, 12 of my characters aren't even my own, but are stol-- borrowed from religion and history. Does that make HVH a fan comic?

So anyone can anything else to say about this? I'd still be up for doing one if anyone else is interested.