I've always been really bothered by balloons with nothing but "...." I also don't like comics that are really about drawing snazzy cars and big guns. Some manga style comics bug me too because the detail on the characters is inconsistant with whatever prop they have, like the bridge of the character's nose isn't indictated but I can read the barrel markings on the gun they're holding. What will inevitably kill any interest in any webcomic I read is "specialized humor" like jokes about some video game that anyone who hasn't played the game won't understand, or jokes that you won't get unless you use Linux and so on.

most of the time, not getting paid

Tommie Kelly
I remember reading a comic either here on DD or smackjeeves and half way tru the first chapter, it jumped into the next chapter cos the creator was bored!

Sorry if this is any of you guys, but c'mon if you're bored how do you think your readers are? I don't think leaving out huge chunks of the story is going to help!

that's insane!! I mean, at least try to make some sort of transition-- one or two pages that can briefly set up the "exciting part".
imo, if a scene is too boring for me to draw, I change it. I know, not every update of mine is a beacon of endless wonder and hilarity, but every page usually has some humor and some drama. I mean, if the author doesn't like his or her story enough to draw it, who's gonna read it?

patrickdevine
I've always been really bothered by balloons with nothing but "...." I also don't like comics that are really about drawing snazzy cars and big guns. Some manga style comics bug me too because the detail on the characters is inconsistant with whatever prop they have, like the bridge of the character's nose isn't indictated but I can read the barrel markings on the gun they're holding. What will inevitably kill any interest in any webcomic I read is "specialized humor" like jokes about some video game that anyone who hasn't played the game won't understand, or jokes that you won't get unless you use Linux and so on.

None of those are 'fatal' errors though. That's just a list of stuff you dislike. In fact, the technique of having objects more realistic than people is extremely well explained in the book EVERYBODY should own: 'Understanding Comics' by Scott McCloud. Basically, the simpler looking a character is, the closer to a cartoon, the more it resembles our subconcious view of ourself and we relate to it, while the more detailed and real a person or object is, the more it becomes 'other' to us. That's why in many manga, villains (and often characters who are non-Japanese, especially if they're evil) are less cartoony looking than heroes, because you put your own self into a simple cartoon, while feeling a complex, detailed person is 'another' person. Go get the book for a better explanation.
The '...' balloon is often not understood, but there's a difference between a panel where the character doesn't speak, and a panel where the character says '...'. The '...' balloon signifies a 'pregnant pause', 'awkward pause' or 'loaded silence', it's often used because it's an easy way to depict somebody either making a statement through not saying anything, or to emphasise the fact a character isn't speaking for a reason. In Japan, silence is very important, especially silence when asked a question, it can mean a lot more than words in some cases.

It's not a 'fatal flaw' to make a comic for a distinct audience either. It would only BE a fatal flaw if you did a comic with a ridiculously specific audience (like made lots of private jokes only you and your best friend would get) or if you failed to appeal to the small niche you were aimed at.
Thre's a distinct difference between a 'fatal flaw', which is something which pretty much dooms a comic to failure, regardless of genre, ability, style etc, and a simple stylistic or genre thing that not everybody likes.

JillyFoo

StaceyMontgomery
My biggest "fatal error" complaint about webcomics is Bad Fonts. So many people use fonts that are hard to read or that are unpleasant to read. I hate it when a comic uses Arial or Helvetica for dialogue - and its' worse when it's some really ornate font with a brightly colored dropshadow and you can't even guess what the characters are saying...

Hahaha even if comic sans is overused at least people can read it.

I'm in graphic arts and I was told people often use fancy fonts because they don't have confidence in their artwork.

If your artwork is good enough, no one'll even take note of the font you use.

Besides a professional graphic arts rule is to use the simplest most readable fonts possible. Makes sense in this case too.

Most fatal of webcomic errors?

Three pages and then it stops. XD

reidavidson
Most fatal of webcomic errors?

Three pages and then it stops. XD

AGREE.
Just stop making your comic with no ending in general kills it.

Or cop out endings. Killing off all your characters in one to two pages and saying you're done. That's a way to perminatly mess up the comic. (Unless it's April Fools day.)

This has been a very educational thread to read through. It's made me realize that there are some things I'm going to have to be careful not to do as my comic progresses.

I can think of something that has caused me to stop reading a comic before. A few of them, in fact. One comic was pretty good and sweet and innocent. It was all-around enjoyable. Eventually the author decided he wanted to cater to a specific audience and he chose depressed mothers. Well, I wasn't a depressed mother, and since he was actually hitting that demographic pretty well, I found myself not enjoying the comic much anymore. It probably brought the comic a whole new fanbase, but it was bound to lose some of its old fanbase.

The other comic I stopped reading changed its theme. It used to be about fantasy magic and adventure, but it shifted into another topic completely. I didn't enjoy the new topic much.

I think the moral here is that when you change your comic, you're taking a risk. Your new direction may actually be better, but you do risk losing some of the old fanbase. And if your new direction isn't better, you may lose all of them. That would be a fatal error.

Sorry 'bout earlier then, sometimes it's hard not to rant. Guess that's my fatal flaw.

I thought of something!! Hopefully it hasn't been mentioned yet.
I hate it when character expressions are drawn too...flat. Even if the artist is really great, I end up not interested in checking out their comic simply because the character's faces seem lifeless and boring and never seem to change.....realistic styled or not...their should be some sign of emotion there, thus making it a fatal error.

I also believe this was mentioned already...but humor stuck in the moment things get serious, usually because the author is too scared to be serious very long, can be very irritating.

One of the things that turns me away from a comic are those that introduce more than twenty important characters in the first chapter. Memorizing 50+ names saps the fun out of reading it. It's even worse if the names are hard to memorize or very similar like Gigarraazanatthsan and Gizarraazannawasa

a long time between updates...or 3 months and then one big update.

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet... it probably has but that doesn't matter because it can't be mentioned enough:
Patronising your audience!

I don't mean with the content of your comic, I mean in author comment type things. It turns me off when the author or authors say things like: "hey kids, here's this week's update for ya"

What, you think you're talking to morons here!!? Grr...

That's my reaction, not to that line specifically, but just the general condescending patter that some authors go on with. You know, there are some people out there who talk to their audience like they're all retarded, and by showing them their crapy comic page they're doing their brain damaged audience a massive favour.

I'm not sure that's necessarily the intent of that particular wording, OO. Though you do have to be careful not to come accross as patronizing. It would suck to accidentally alienate your audience that way!

I'll have to agree with Hawk about what has killed several comics for me. Drastically changing what the comic is about, usually out of nowhere. There have been several gag comic strips that I used to read that have switched part way through to being story based and leaving much of the humor behind. I find it a pretty common occurance.

ozoneocean
I don't mean with the content of your comic, I mean in author comment type things. It turns me off when the author or authors say things like: "hey kids, here's this week's update for ya"
What, you think you're talking to morons here!!? Grr...

Same thing with the self serving rants. Like when people talk about how awesome they are and how their comic is a gift to the world. The most recent example would probably be Tim Buckley going on about how much his hands are insured for, because he has so much "talent".

I dunno, guys who brag like that usually suck. Big time.

ccs1989
I dunno, guys who brag like that usually suck. Big time.

...yeah, anyone remember that one guy from a WHILE back? He was a pretty good artist in general, but thought himself some sort of incredible art GOD. His ego was ridiculous and he talked down on everyone like crazy, so much that the only reason people came to his comic was to flame him for his comments. Also, his story in fact was boring and made no sense...and his characters were VERY flat looking. I don't remember his handle though...

If I remember right, most of his comic was just a futuristic anatomy lesson.

Yeah I think I know who you're talking about. He hasn't been around DD for a while now though. I wonder is he ever made it in the industry?

Egads, I use Arial font =(
I don't know a good font to use. I never thought it would matter if you could read it. =P

I also havn't updated for some time. I have a few pages ready and was going to upload a handfull at once. But it looks like that may not be a good idea.

I hanv't made web comics long but some of the things that turn me off are "lack of updates" (guilty), and mostly character development. People seem to spend too much time on their story and don't seem to realize that bland characters in an epic story makes the story bland. I know I don't build my characters as much as I would like right now but the 1st issues are the hardest because you have to balance story progress, character development, and interest.

Oh another flaw is trying a dual issue =P It doesn't translate well online. I am a fool HAHA

BTW feel free to give me low scores and/or tell me how to improve or what you really think. I am here to get better as well as have fun.

...yeah, anyone remember that one guy from a WHILE back? He was a pretty good artist in general, but thought himself some sort of incredible art GOD. His ego was ridiculous and he talked down on everyone like crazy, so much that the only reason people came to his comic was to flame him for his comments. Also, his story in fact was boring and made no sense...and his characters were VERY flat looking. I don't remember his handle though...

If I remember right, most of his comic was just a futuristic anatomy lesson.

Oh, you mean
this guy?

Back on topic, few things have ever really stopped me from reading a comic, not that I'm easy to please (I'm just hard to dissapoint!) but if something has personality, I'll enjoy it.
What bothers me in a comic however is total cop-outs and pandering to fanboy/girl whims, with no ounce of personal integrity whatsoever! Yes, it's great to take suggestions, but it ticks me off when a lonely, hopeless romantic-type character suddenly has a love interest *BAMF* outta nowhere, for no explicable reason other than "he/she was lonely and I wanted to try a romantic angle" I've had more than enough people suggest that I make a new character to be the girlfriend of one of my characters. Also I hate when character A and character B loathe each other with the flaming fury of a thousand hells, only to have the next page be "oops, I fell on you and we accidently kissed!" *blushblush* Arrgh!

Sometimes I really see no need to pair off the main character with the first reasonably available body of opposite (or same) gender just because it pleases the fanbase to see some lovins', or because you've been guilted into it. I love my readers and I consider them wonderful friends, but I'm not letting them write my comic for me either! (especially when yaoi gets suggested to me. No porn!)
I think another problem is with transition. Some people don't understand that the placement of speech balloons is crucial to the flow of your pages. I found a comic once that was adorable, had beautiful art...but it was a bear to read because half the time I was reading speech balloon 2 instead of 1, because it was placed right to left (or based on where the characters were standing only) and it was not in a manga format, mind you. The balloons were always directly over the speaker when they should have made use of the "tails". It gave away the punchline before the delivery.


I think another problem is an excess of pop-culture humor. Sure, the hot topic of the moment is funny, but everyone's doing a Spartaaaa! joke these days, and it gets tiresome. Plus, 2 years from now, (presuming the comic is up that long) who's gonna get that joke? I got a major trouncing for one of my comics being gag, pun and situation humor. At least my "lame" joke will make sense a year from now. Ever read Deadpool from the 90's? I know he's making wisecracks, but they aren't funny because I don't get them at all. Of course I admit to enjoying some of these sort of comics, but I do miss humor that takes a bit of intelligence to get(and doesn't require me to pay attention to mind-numbing pop-culture to get the point of it) Sometimes it's worse than comedians that do that lame "she was in bathroom a half hour and came out
looking exactly the same!" joke. Everybody has done it and it's still not funny.

Lack of updates doesn't make me stop reading a comic, it just makes me sad.

Hmmmm. Let's see.....

One of my pet peeves is when the writer, or writers, forgets to use proper grammar. Everywhere I look, it's:"liek OMG lolz." or "u is teh suck" or other crap like that. If you want people to read your comic, learn to write!

The art doesn't bother me that much. Heck, you could do a sprite comic and I'd still read it! So long as the story was good, the characters were interesting, and the grammar didn't suck.

Obscure references can be funny, if used properly. I love a good movie reference as much as the next guy. Heck, even more than the next guy! And I'd tell him that if he was here right now!....but anyway, if you go overboard, no one's going to know what's going on. If the whole one comic consists of stuff like "KHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!" and "NI!" and that's it, no one's going to read it.

As for the main character, I prefer mine to be heroic, abeit having a dark side, yet theatrical, and stylish. Why do you think I like V for Vendetta so much? 'Cause V had style and theatrics. He not only defeated his enemies, he destroyed them and their beliefs. He could've had all of England in the palm of his hand, and chose to give it back to the people. In my opinion, that's heroic.

What I don't like is when the main character either a.) becomes way too powerful in zero amount of time, and owns anyone who fights him/her, or b.) is a brooding, arrogant jerk who believes that everyone should listen to him/her. The hero winning is something we all want to see, but not all the time, or the story becomes predictable. If the hero is a bossy, arrogant little.....I don't know what to say. But, the point is is that if the character isn't very good, no one's going to want to read about that character.

But, when creating a webcomic, or any form of art, don't be too hard on yourself. Because I've learned that any artist's greatest critic is themself.

ZeroVX
Obscure references can be funny, if used properly. I love a good movie reference as much as the next guy. Heck, even more than the next guy! And I'd tell him that if he was here right now!....but anyway, if you go overboard, no one's going to know what's going on. If the whole one comic consists of stuff like "KHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!" and "NI!" and that's it, no one's going to read it.

I think that's a good point.

My take on it is that obscure references are fine, but the comic shouldn't rely on it. If you're doing a gag comic, place obscure references somewhere in the middle, but not as the punchline. That way, if people don't get it, the whole page isn't a waste.

Well, I have a few things to say, after reading some of this.

On the issue of obscure jokes, I think one way of making it work well is if you use a joke that people would find funny anyway and the people who do know where the joke is from will get that much more out of it. That's the kind of thing I like to see.

Also, someone mentioned something about exposition for about three pages and I must say that's one of my peeves, too. If I wanted to see nothing but writing, I'd go buy a Stephen King novel. Comics are Comics because of the visual element, and failure to use it effectively is what can kill many comics early on.

I must confess I use some exposition in the first three pages of my story, but it's more about the character talking about herself, and there is plenty of action involving her in the background. If you can make that exposition visually interesting, as well, then you can probably pull it off a little better. Even a picture of a group of faceless peasants is more interesting than just blackness. Another way you can do it is, like I mentioned above, have the characters talk about it. If you show one character telling the story, then the reactions of any other characters, then it is given a better sense of realism.

Failure to publicize it also hurts it quite a bit. I've already started posting some paper advertising at comic and gaming stores near where I live and am working on mentioning it on my forums to help up viewership, and it has definately helped.

The biggest error, not having fun making a comic.

.....surprisingly enough, that makes a lot of sense.

the most fatal error is being like a soap opera :\

it's like 'oh no (person) died! WHAT?!?!?!?! MY WIFE IS HAVING AN AFFAIR?!?!?! MY UNBORN BABY IS DEAD?!?!?!?!?!?!'

and it's like that on and on and on

I agree The most need ingredient is to have fun making it.

Hm. I learned a lot from this, too.

I can say that comics in black and white bug me, even if the art is incredible. It needs to be really unique to capture my attention.

I hate to see a good looking comic that's so long it'd take me forever to read.

Generic romances and righteous characters bother me. I purposely thought out Nadya's main character to have a questionable reason for her dying (which'll be revealed in the future) that will hopefully leave the reader torn as to labelling her good or evil.

Nadya's my first webcomic, and only has 10 pages so far, so I don't know if I made too many mistakes yet, but I have found plenty...

D0m
I can say that comics in black and white bug me, even if the art is incredible. It needs to be really unique to capture my attention.

You must've missed out on all the good manga over the years, then.

Well, actually I was really into Naruto until the timeskip, loved a few others and I think Berserk is probably the best manga out (with Death Note).

I just think color enhances, in most scenarios...

I'm fine with lower ratings, and I can take criticism. If I hadn't listened to a negative comment to someone; I wouldn't have decided to start typing on my comic, downloading a stylized text, and using speech bubbles with borders around them.

I don't really care if a comic is badly drawn or even drawn out, as long as...it keeps my attention. But I think that alot of people will look over a decent comic if it isn't drawn well. That's a pretty basic fact. It's like looking at a book and not liking the illustrator for the cover, you are likely to take a pass on that book. If I did that every time I saw a book with an unappealing drawing on the cover; I wouldn't have read some of my favorites. And the same goes for comics. I mean, 'filler' is badly drawn...but it's funny.

restarting a comic entirely, redrawing the pages and I mean the comics that already have pretty decently sized archives...that...irritates me. It's why I removied Vampire Phantasm from my favorites list. When it gets back to the point it was before the removal, then I'll consider reading it again.

Over-sized comic pages. I can't read a comic when I have to use the scroll bar to see the first panel entirely. But when I find these comics; I tend to make reccomendations for pixel ratios to help them out.

This may be a personal preference...but Sprite comics. I'm sorry; I can't read them. I've tried, I just...can't. 8 bit theatre maybe, but nothing else. And if you made your own sprites, it might be easier. But there are so many sonic, mario, and generally over-done video game sprite comics cluttering the recently updated stories list...that a lot of times, I can't find anything interesting to read.

Never having authors comments, it can turn some people off. They're fun to read! I personally enjoy seeing what an author has to say about a page he or she drew. But that's just me, and I tend to add jokes to my author's comments that make reading my comic a bit funner. Sometimes I don't know if my readers like the pages or author's comments better.

Threatening not to update if you don't get more comments. Yeah, some people do that...