I got the idea for this topic because there was something in my comic that dealt with a very sensitive subject.

I won't really go into detail, but it had something to do with school shooting. There was reason behind it, but someone told me that I should change it just in case.

That kind of made me think of the question, do you think it's okay to have touchy subject material in comics?

I'm talking about stuff like, terrorism, school shootings, rape, murder, all that.
Webcomics especially give us the freedom to talk about, and explore these kind of subjects. Do you think it's okay for us to still tell stories dealing with these subjects?

Or do you think it's something better left alone?

Please, explain your thoughts.

Depends on how you present it, a school shooting is a very mature and powerful subject to tackle, it can make or break your story. For example a female character can be raped(liek all alan moore's women)but if you're presenting it in a positive light or making fun of it you're bound to feel the wrath of some pretty pissed off people.

For example of a bad way is bleedmans Grimm tales where he pissed a fuckload of people off with his '9/11 was mandy's idea' page, the writing and presentation was very very poor and in the end he left it up to a poll that had a 64% approval of keeping the page up.

For good writing look at...non-webcomic Y:the last man. Every racist and gender slur imaginable is inside those issues yet his presentation of the characters is so likable it's only offensive when it's mean to be (When the bad guy calls out the n-word it's particularly spine chilling despite it being said many times before)

I think anything you write that's true from yourself and experiences is gonna be good.

Any subject, within the law, can be approached. That's fine. But you have to always think contextually.
-If you have a school kid writing about school shootings, there;s the possibility that he will get into trouble. There's nothing inherently wrong with the subject in his comic, but he's not doing that in isolation: he really does go to a school, that's a touchy subject there, people could see that work and take action against him.

Just like if someone did a comic with people from their real life in it, and say they have a fantasy relationship or do something strange and weird in there... They shouldn't be surprised if that did lead them into trouble if those people saw the comic.

As long as you deal with the topic in a mature and reasonable manner, nothing is really off limits.
Unless you are deliberately promoting a bad ideology (such as showing racist views to be correct or something) then just because a subject is tough doesn't mean it cant be handled.

School shootings are undoubtedly a touchy subject, especially in America, but clearly there is a lot to be said about the fact that these things happen, why they happen and the repercussions of them on society, in the media etc.

you can write about anything, so long as you're prepared to accept or deal with the reactions that come with it.

Ryu, I think because you're still a high school student people might react more negatively toward it- like they don't know whether or not it's just a story, and are afraid that it's foreshadowing/cry for help/whatever before you actually do go shoot up the school. Because school authorities and parents have been so damn clueless and careless in the past as to catching on to warning signs, I think it's developed into an oversensitive reaction to that kind of subject matter.

Because you're postin' it online, where anyone can see, it might cause you some trouble if certain people see it. I'd use your discretion as to whether or not you wanna take that risk. Personally, I've gotten into trouble on multiple occasions for that kind of thing- but that was before Columbine so they just assumed it was because I was disturbed or had been abused, and didn't take it as a cue that I'd perpetrate any kind of violence. If you wanna leave it in (and I would), you might write a disclaimer, or post an extra page at the beginning of the chapter, that explains how it's just a part of the story, and not a surrogate fulfillment of any kind of wish you yourself have.

As to my feeling on sensitive topics- I'm 100% anti-censorship, so long as the material isn't purposefully inciting harm against others. My opinion is that as long as you preface your work with a warning as to its content, so people who may be offended or upset with that kind of thing can avoid it, then nothing ought to be off limits.

Hyena, you make a good point.
You should probably put a disclaimer to avoid people thinking you are a psycho, Ryu!

Personally, and this is just my opinion... I wouldn't feel comfortable tackling a serious subject unless I had a good perspective on it.

Meaning, unless I experienced it myself or had talked to various people that went through the situation to get their perspective, I'd probably leave it alone.

You may think you have a good idea of the subject matter, but someone who has personally experienced it may think otherwise. Just my opinion.

Zaymac I would disagree on that point.
I don't think that only those who experience something can talk about it.
If someone does a lot of research they can do a good job of writing about it.
For example, Steven Spielberg was never in a nazi death camp, but he made shindlers list.
Another example, M Night Shyamalan has never been forced to kill himself by a tree, yet he dealt with this sensitive topic in The Happening...

Yeah, I do think that diligent research and extensive familiarity with first-person accounts of those types of things can compensate for a lack of personal perspective. I don't think Speilberg went into that film totally winging it. He probably had an army of consultants, researchers, etc. to make sure he got an accurate portrayal of the subject.

And as far as outrageous fantasy/sci-fi/horror stuff goes- of course no one's ever experienced it. That genre follows a different set of rules. I think we're talking more about the things that emotionally affect or motivate a person in these kinds of situations, like rape, abuse, trauma, mental illness, etc.

I think anything goes in comics

but as far as what you should do depends on you as a person and your target audience.

Nergal
I think anything goes in comics

but as far as what you should do depends on you as a person and your target audience.

100% agree...

The huge advantage in the webcomic media is that you have no censorship at all, so any topic is valid, as long as you are willing to touch it...

At the same time, that freedom comes with a huge responsability (thanks, Uncle Ben...) to touch the subject in a responsible manner...

You put the limits in your comic's themes, and you will touch it according of your sensibility...

A personal example, two themes that I probably will never touch on Shaman Quest are rape and abortion...I don't feel confortable writting about it and I certainly don't want to deal with the responses if somebody found it offensive...

If you're not doing it in an offensive way or you are willing to face possible negative responses...I say go for it...

Hyena H_ll
And as far as outrageous fantasy/sci-fi/horror stuff goes- of course no one's ever experienced it. That genre follows a different set of rules. I think we're talking more about the things that emotionally affect or motivate a person in these kinds of situations, like rape, abuse, trauma, mental illness, etc.

The wonderful thing about sf and fantasy is that you can explore outlandish concepts and at the same time, comment on reality around you. For example The Witcher, a series of fantasy novels written by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski (which later became a basis for the pc game) deals with things like politics, racism, progress, pollution, war etc. while at the same time telling a beautiful story. Early short stories also dismantle fables and fairytales in a rather postmodern way (for example in a story based on beauty and the beast, the beauty happens to be a vampire)...

Another Polish writer, Janusz Zajdel, during the 60s 70s and 80s (if I remember well) was writing novels criticising the current political system (we were under the control of communist USSR) disguised as SF. That was represented either as Earth being under control of aliens (who partitioned it into square areas regardless of natural terrain) or for example as an asteroid based city where everyone was under constant surveilance (so to avoid being arrested, conspirators invented a code based on poetry so that the computers couldn't understand them PLUS they sometimes walked backwards, as when they did it, cameras focused on the backs of their heads) etc. This way you could get around the censorship over here, because OBVIOUSLY you weren't talking about our "russian comrades" but about aliens or some totally foreign country/place.


Anyway... I agree with the "drop it or use a disclaimer" idea.

Aurora Borealis
The wonderful thing about sf and fantasy is that you can explore outlandish concepts and at the same time, comment on reality around you.

Word. That's what I aspire to, though with debatable results. :nervous:

I think Kurt Vonnegut did a good job of this- from human nature and culture to the more disturbing aspects of scientific and technological progress. I think he gets less credit for this than he deserves, on account of writing humorously.

Aldous Huxley, Anthony Burgess, George Orwell (in his two well-known works, mostly), are a few more that come to mind. although they overlap into the "high art" category of literature.

But this is kind of a tad bit off topic, ain't it? ;)

I concur with most of the above posters.

I think it is very possible for you to write about this subject in a personal way even if you haven't experienced it yourself.

One can take even the most outrageous characters and concepts and make them relatable to the reader. You just have to inject them with an aspect of yourself. In a way, you can't help but do something like this. The story is a product of your mind, and the characters will inevitably become a reflection of yourself.

Another thing you have to keep in mind is that there are going to be people who are going to have a problem with what you do. They're going to misinterpret your intentions, or they're just going to be idealogically set against it. This is true with just about anything. If you post a comic book about how much you like strawberry ice cream, there might be hate mail from some guy who thinks you're promoting obessity. If you make a comic book about how much you like going to the beach, there's going to be someone who thinks you're in favor of skin cancer. You could type "I like rasberries" and you'll get a petition from the Rasberry Defamation League telling you about how evil you are.

And, naturally, there are going to be people who just think that you can't write or draw worth a damn. (I got plenty of those already myself)

You're going to have to be able to deal with people who don't understand or simply hate your art. It's something that each and every one of us will have to deal with.

i should just copy paste my response from the racism thread into this...its pretty much the same thing. you can put anything in comics as long as theres a point behind it. if not it will just come off as cheesy shock shit and wont have any impact.

Air Raid Robertson
hate mail

Man, I'm sure there are plenty of people that hate me. But honestly, I look forward to the day I start gettin' actual hate mail. Then I'll know I've really hit the big time. >:)

zaymac
Personally, and this is just my opinion... I wouldn't feel comfortable tackling a serious subject unless I had a good perspective on it.

Meaning, unless I experienced it myself or had talked to various people that went through the situation to get their perspective, I'd probably leave it alone.

You may think you have a good idea of the subject matter, but someone who has personally experienced it may think otherwise. Just my opinion.

Nothing is better than firsthand experiences if you want to write about things like these, and the second best thing is talking to someone else who experienced it firsthand. Book research doesn't always cut it. Reading cold, printed words is different than hearing the voice of a survivor cracking and choking up as they tell their story. The closer you can get to an actual source of experience, the better you'll understand.

Sensitive subjects are hard. You run the risk of making a complete asshole of yourself. As Skullbie said, if you're taking these traumatic events and passing them off as "not so bad" or even "good", it's going to upset a lot of people. Even if it's a bad guy getting raped, if you make it seem like it's in any way a good thing,you're a dick, and people are gonna tell you that.

With school shooting, terrorism, and rape in particular, you have people who have actually survived it out there in your potential reader pool. And they are probably going to have at least a little PTSD. Reading your stuff could fuck them up. The better you can understand it, the less likely you'll be to hit their triggers, and if you show respect to their experiences, they may even like what you've written.

It's a challenge to write these things. There are more pitfalls, and oftentimes, fewer rewards. But it is important not to push these subjects under the rug and pretend they don't exist.

MAG-ISA has the following "sensitive" subjects covered one way or another. List includes mere mentions.
- religion (two of the protagonists are Catholic. But it doesn't mean I'm favoring one religion over the other. Its because I grew up in a Catholic background)
- spirituality (and other "nature of reality" kind of issues. Do we go to heaven or hell? Do we just die and cease to exist? Or do we reincarnate? What are we all made of? Does God exist? What is the meaning of life? etc.)
- pedophilia
- war in iraq
- insurgency in the southern philippines (commies vs government vs muslims)
- conspiracy of global enslavement orchestrated by demons, reptoids, and shadowy elite whose faces you'll never see in this comic.
- terrorism (which is mostly problem-reaction-solution)
- mind control / brainwashing
- microchipping of humans (aka mark of the beast in book of revelation)
- poverty
- unemployment and low wages
- immigration
- racism
- some stereotypes
- relationships
- school shootings
- bullying
- psychopathy
- and many more


Like I said in another thread.

Spit it out.

Yes to freedom of speech. No to censorship!

If you self-censor and try not to push the limits, you are like locking your mind in a cage.

And btw I don't claim to be accurate in representing things. I'm not perfect. I don't know everything.

I'm just very very interested in finding an explanation on how everything works.