*kept a tally while reading lists* So I'm guilty of the pregnant pause (almost every day!), fourth wall breaking, and randomness. hmm, not so bad.

Noob sprite comic cliches:
-Sonic, Knuckles, Mario, Luigi, Megaman, Bass, Dr. Light, and anyone in armor with a sword are all stupid. (Guilty)
-Bad resizing, bad textbubbles, a different font for every character, a different color text box for every character, no funny jokes, but will get sympathy 5's.
-Stealing jokes from Family Guy or Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
-The author is an omnipotent, all knowing recolor of Sonic or Megaman. Despite his godliness, he can't spell or use grammar.
-Roll and Amy are bitchy.
-Sprite comics come in fads; First it was Megaman, then it was Sonic, now it is Pokemon.
-Tournament comics which get 1 fight in, ask for more sprites, and then quit.
-A filler page at the beginning asking for sprite sites.
-Filler pages with sprite sheets of a recolor with a "DONT STEEL 0R I WILL KIL JOO!"
-Giving a new spriter criticism will result in a sniping of your comic and a reported comment. If said spriter has friends, they will join in the sniping.
-Hiatus after 5 pages, when spriter has no ideas after introducing characters.

Darth Mongoose
Ummm, dude....REKKI'S A GIRL! A masculine looking GIRL, not an effeminate looking guy! The whole point of her being a twist on the cliched 'bishounen with giant sword' or 'attractive busty heroine' archetypes.

BLAHAHAAga...

Alright, mistake there. Still, don't be too hard on these people. Sure, most webcomic artists could use some work, but we're all guilty of not being completely original at one time or another.

What the heck is originality anyway?

I steal material from Rodney Dangerfield all the time... mostly because I have a character who's basically just him, but still.

I think there was a topic on how many comics have the name random in it.

The list really is just a joke I wrote out when bored. I was thinking at the time, maybe I'd been a little on the harsh side with the tone, but I figured that everybody would take it for what it is. It's just a joke. Of course, like many parodies, it cuts a little close to the bone on those people who actually conform to these stereotypes to any extent. That's because I wrote it observing people.
The list was going to get longer, and was going to encompass more types, many of which would apply to me. Some of them there already, I'll leave which ones to your disgetion, already apply to me (Novella and Rantmaster2000 would be a good start...)
I am aware that SOME 'Cultists' DO just draw fancomics because they like that. I was thinking though about the people who do a fancomic which only makes bare nods to the original canon, and may as well be original. Or the people who make fanworks and want to get money off people for doing them through merchandise/printing/paypal donations. Not all cultists are like this, so perhaps that one needs altering.

I believe there's an old saying, 'there's nothing new under the sun', and a personal favourite of mine which I have misquoted slightly for making sense; 'if you see an idea you like, steal it! ...Because THEY did.' Of course my comic isn't free of cliches. I mean, being a middle class white student who does a manga on the internet and speaks Japanese? Doesn't that imply that I'm a stereotype myself?

Someone
"1. Most main characters are usually clueless about "love."

5. Most main characters are kind & forgive people easily
6. Most main characters are the go-happy (or is it go-lucky?) type of people"

Unfortunately, my main character (Theran) is largely guilty of all three of these; mostly because he's an utter doofus. A friendly, kind, happy-go-lucky doofus, but a doofus all the same. Although, admittedly, he's not so much "clueless" about love. He knows what it is, he just has no interest in it; smacking things with an axe is more fun, to him :D
But CnC will, I hope, conform to as few cliches as I possibly can. For example (those that I can partake without spoiling anything);
1) Elves have the "magic resistance" they sometimes have in other tales but, in CnC, this same resistance -stops- them using Magic altogether. Yes, you heard me. My Elves do not use arcane magic. Not one jot, iota or thaum. They are quite good warriors, however, and still dabble in Divine magics (spells and dweomers granted to them by a benevolent or malign entity or god/demon.)
2) My Dwarves are not Scottish.
They're German.
They also do not live for their mines, and whilst they do dig their homes from mountains, they don't do so because they enjoy digging up precious ores and forging mighty weapons and armor.
They do it because they are, largely, fond of exploration, and mountains tend to home quite interesting fossils and relics to dig up and poke. That, and they think the rest of the planet are a bunch of bloody idiots and want to stay as far away from them as possible.
They also do not thoroughly enjoy beer. Infact they think it's a bland and relatively uninteresting drink and would much rather have a mug of cool water, thankyou very much.
3) There is no such thing as an Orc in CnC. Nor, for that matter, are there any Kobolds, Vampires, Half-(powerfully magical creature/demon/angel)s or even dragons.
No dragons, I hear you say?
Yes, that's right. No dragons. No planet's ecosystem can sustain and support a bloody huge armor-plated fire-breathing lizard for long. If nothing else, it would run out of food. Generica (the planet CnC occurs on) is no different.
4) The bad guy (I can safely reveal) is not an ancient, re-awoken evil, nor is he at the beck and call of one - nor is he a mad wizard dabbling in long-forbidden magics, or any kind of demon/angel/monster. He's just a bog-standard human sorceror with a cruel streak and a fancy for ruling large portions of the world.
5) There will not be, at any point in the storyline, any occasion where two characters, of either gender, rescue one or the other from some horrible danger at great cost to themselves, nor save their lives and end up pulling them into a conveniently embarassing hug and/or kiss - or any other act or "coincedence" that results in a beautiful true love blossoming between two main characters. Infact, absolutely no inter-character romance is planned whatsoever, save for Jax thinking Theran's sister is "hot". Because let's face it, she is (or rather, will be once she's intro'd to the story) a fair looker.
6) This one should be plainly obvious to anyone who reads CnC, but for those who don't; the main character does not use a Sword of any shape, form or size. One secondary character uses a bastard sword (the size between a two-handed sword and a one-handed sword, which can thus be used either one or two handed, as the user prefers) and, later, another secondary character will acquire a longsword. The hero, however, much prefers a decently sized (not oversized) axe to cut chunks off the baddies, tee why vee em.
7) There is no ancient and all-powerful or god-given sword to be found anywhere in the world. There are numerous highly magical ones, but none of them have any kind of world-saving prophecy attached to them.

Mongoose just took away what was left of my childhood. Mainly because I remember being in 99.9% of everything on that list. Yup, everything except Yaoi.

Elcchh...

Time to start mass-rewriting scripts, stories, etc... And I better start using a ruler.
And afford a tablet... and stop complaining

Another cliche of most comics starter that never fails: The main character ALWAYS WAKES UP LATE in the morning and runs quickly to attend school, college, uni, competition... you name it.

Eunice P
Another cliche of most comics starter that never fails: The main character ALWAYS WAKES UP LATE in the morning and runs quickly to attend school, college, uni, competition... you name it.

You know what? I've never been guilty of having that happen in my comics. Lucky! (It would have meant drawing characters getting our of bed and running... and I'm far too lazy to draw that.)

awwwww, all this elf hate and I have an elf in one of my comics....
I'm so ashamed *runs away crying*

but is he really what he says he is?

*dun dun dun*

Excluding Yaoi, I hate comics with a gay character that's just too damn gay! I am gay and it just drives me crazy, that's why I used one, but didn't have him flamming, bouncing, or anything famboyant.

Yeah, I have to admit to having a gay character that was just painfully, flamboyantly gay. I've tried to normal him out a bit after he started dating another character, but it was a conscious effort on my part. My natural inclination seems to be writing him as a "fabulous" gay.

Another cliche of most comics starter that never fails: The main character ALWAYS WAKES UP LATE in the morning and runs quickly to attend school, college, uni, competition... you name it.

I've noticed that a lot in manga, particularly shoujo manga. For one of the comics I'm working on, I specifically told the author to start somewhere in the middle to avoid that particular cliche.

The other one I'm kind of sick of is starting with the character having a foreshadowing dream and then waking up to find everything is normal. This often leads into the character being late for school cliche, as well. I swear about 75% of magical girl manga starts that way.

Constant and perpetual rape seems to be a major cliche in many webcomics, most notably yaoi.

As I have always said, being original is copying what no one has ever copied before.

Darth Mongoose
'attractive busty heroine' archetypes.

I love reading those sorts of webcomics! ...As long as they're not done in the style of printed superhero comics, those are lame, the art sux... I don't like seeing what basically amount to barbiedolls on paper.

Bring on the busty heroine archetypes I say!

I prefer slimmer heroines myself. It's like a comparison between a cat and a cow. Women in manga/comics with large breasts are hampered by them practically and aesthetically, AFAIC.

Watching Air Master (anime) was painful for the above reason. If Maki (main heroine) wasn't so damned cool (and relatively slim - only because she's absurdly tall), I wouldn't have been able to bear it.

mlai
I prefer slimmer heroines myself. It's like a comparison between a cat and a cow. Women in manga/comics with large breasts are hampered by them practically and aesthetically, AFAIC.

Watching Air Master (anime) was painful for the above reason. If Maki (main heroine) wasn't so damned cool (and relatively slim - only because she's absurdly tall), I wouldn't have been able to bear it.

aww man, that's depressing. for girls in general. -_-. Like... a cow? Just cause a girl has big boobs? ... ... generally I don't take that into account when I read stuff.

Someone
Rantmaster 2000-
To the Rantmaster 2000, the comic is only a minor part of the work. The thing below or beside the comic takes much longer. They frequently accompany a page with an essay on their daily life. Nothing to do with the page at all. You could tell them to get a Blog, but chances are they already have one..."So then Tim came over and it was really great because I was so depressed about that guy last week who was mean because I draw comics..."

omg that's totally me!!!! For some reason when I start writing I can't stop, it's like some sort of sickness (I always make the page limit in essays though, wohoo!!) If I don't stop myself I'll go into full journal mode... and start talking about my life... (it's the teenage girl equivalent of "grandpa's talking about WWII again... *yawn*" )

omg though, someone wrote that it's a cliche to have an alien stranded on Earth! that's not a cliche!! that's the BRILLIANT PLOT of the film "The Man who Fell to Earth" which is one of my all-time favorite movies!! (mostly because David Bowie with orange hair... aaagghhh how can one man be so attractive?!)

And on the subject of yaoi, I personally have a very, very, very soft spot in my heart for it. Yaoi and I are like bffs. I love yaoi. nothing better. my favorite thing in the world. ever. So therefore, I don't think it's a cliche (although a particular yaoi cliche is, "omg I have a split personality and part of me is in love with this boy! and ... no, wait~! ALL of me is in love with him!" Seriously, I've encountered this exact premise more than once.)

The heroes NEVER have scars. The female characters NEVER have scars. Only bad guys have scars.

I've seen a lot of comics where the heroes have scars. Most often it's on the face. I would have to agree that scars on women are pretty rare, though.

Kristen Gudsnuk
aww man, that's depressing. for girls in general. -_-. Like... a cow? Just cause a girl has big boobs? ... ... generally I don't take that into account when I read stuff.

We're talking Dolly Parton sized - after she had breast enlargement surgery. That is just overboard.
For example, that female rogue who's dressed in red tights in Battlechasers. She's so huge it's incongruous. There's many readers who told Joe Mad that the character needs breast reduction surgery. Joe stuck to it and said oversized = hot. Idiot.

Dolly never had her bust increased. Well not back when she was most famous.
All though the 70s and 80s Dolly was all natural.
What's this about "surgery"? That sounds so icky... If a woman character is naturally big or naturally small it's fine. Rock hard artificial chest-boulders are the nasty ones.

Heh, Eye patches! Eye patches are a bit of a funny one.

We're talking about comic book characters. There's no such categorization as "natural."

Yes there is! ^_^
Marvel comics: very unnatural stupid looking bodies.
Druuna: Very natural GOOD looking bodies.
It's pretty straight forward.

milo manara's women

As far as I remember, Joe Mad said in a Wizard interview that he actually designed Red Monika to be a PARODY of the way most American comic book artists (himself included) portrayed women. He basically took Jessica Rabbit (already an overexaggerated caricature) and took her to an obviously impossible extreme. The fact that she quickly became the most popular character in the series for exactly THOSE two reasons leaves something to think about, I believe...

i heard that too

Yuck, I saw that character and the only good thing about her is her bum. Rebecca Rabbit is MUCH better looking than that rock-titted clone. The only thing different about her is that her perfectly spherical breasts are slightly bigger than the usual for a gal in an American comic, but smaller than Lady Death's... Apart from that she's utterly characterless in appearance. Jebus, manga characters have more individuality of looks... It's like they just use those KISS dress up dolls or something.

Let's see... Some of the cliches I've noticed have been sexy women in sexy clothing, extremely charismatic homosexual characters, and caricatures of the author present in the comic itself.

Oh, wait a minute...