I've checked out a few sprite comics & have come away wondering what the point is.

What am I missing? Why are there so many?

Why do those who read & enjoy them read & enjoy them?

To me at least they come across as lifeless & terribly unoriginal (I'm not say they ARE, just that that is my reaction to them).

Please show me the error of my ways.

Later,
Chip

They have their own following. Usually a group of fans of a certain game or buddies with in-jokes. They appeal to a specific/limited audience.

Unfortunately, many (more than drawn comics) are created by people who want to make a comic but have neither writing nor art skills and often no concept at all in mind. This isn't always the case. Some sprite comics have good writing and are well-planned and composed, but these can get lost in the sea of crap.

(My brother is a great writer and makes a sprite comic. It makes me laugh often, and I know nothing about the game he gets his sprites from: The Real N )

You're right. Your brother's strip is hilarious.

And thanks for the education. Seems my reaction to the genre wasn't that far off.

Thanks,
Chip

I can't say you're totally wrong, Chip. Comics like Internet Superbuddies, however (http://www.drunkduck.com/Internet_Superbuddies/) are top-of-the-line. That comic can tough it out like any other drawn one (I think it's because JoeRocks1981 writes, draws, and colors at a professional level anyway. He's not an amateur, in my opinion).

American 007 (don't have the link) is a good example what Sprite comics should look like consistently- they'd be more interesting if they were all done like that, methinks.

See? I can be nice to sprites.

Thanks for the mention, D0m.

In any case, you're not wrong, cs3ink. Lot's of people feel this way with sprite comics, including myself. Believe it or not, most people who make decent sprite comics are self-loathing of their genre. I know Yaoi's got it bad, but at least they don't have Author Orgy comics. Those are the height of shittiness.

So, the best way to take sprite comics is to choose wisely, if a sprite comic looks like it may look great, then feel free to jump in and check it out. If it sucks, then it sucks. If it's good, then you'll find yourself a new comic to get into. Believe it or not, 8 Bit Theater and Fortuna Saga are not the only good sprite comics left, there are plenty of unknown and not very popular sprite comics that are actually good and make a conscious effort to be good.

So, long story short, you just have to take the bad with the good. Most sprite comics do suck ass, but when you find a good one, then you truly appreciate that comic.

Thanks for the response, VS.

I checked out your book a while ago, & it's a creative approach to the genre (at least as far as I can tell from my limitted exposure to the genre).

Why, when you can apparently work with Photoshop, do you chose to produce your book in the sprite format? Why don't you take a more traditional approach. I'm not saying you SHOULD take a more traditional approach, but I am curious why you haven't. Though your book wasn't my cup of team, I definitely recognized that you had talent & a good eye.

Later,
Chip

Haha, well, believe it or not, most people use sprites as a creative medium when traditional art (such as drawing) fails them. Plus, if my comic became drawn, it would take away from some of what makes American007 great (at least, in other people's eyes), and that's being a sprite comic and doing things that sprite comics normally don't (or never) do.

(I know, by the banner, that A007 has some drawn characters, but that's actually the work of Teron, not me.)

However, I imagine American007 would be great as a drawn comic, and there's a lot of temptation to make me crack open several tutorials and learn how to draw. However, i've grown too attached to making a sprite comic out of American007. It's true, it has it's limitations, but they're breakable, and it's fun introducing a lot of drawn elements into my work, so it makes it worthwhile.

Anyway, thanks for your response and compliments bro. They're well appreciated.

As A sprite comic maker i got to say it is one of the lowest Comic style but i have fun in making them. Ya I can agree theres not enough good sprite comics. MOst doing the same thing over and over telling about a boy and his pokemon over and over. Thats why I did something wierd and made a story that will try to get better making it just difficult for people. I try making people happy about putting in famous charecters.


But yeah there are some good sprite comics... you just got to look for most of them.

The reason so many people feel this way about sprite comic is because, more often than not, they are lifeless pieces of junk. There is no character developement, the characters tend to be glued to personallities set by people who have made good sprite comics, and they are usually parodies/fan comics, so you have to have either played the game, or seen what ever show it is.

A007, as previously mentioned, is a great example of breaking the "sprite comic curse". There are orriginal characters, and by that I do not mean the author has inserted themselves or recoloured and renamed an existing character. The scratch characters really help the story. At the same time, existing characters from games like Sonic are included and given a new story. A007 also uses "camera angles", while most sprite comics use the same pannel over and over with (sometimes) an ocasional close up. In any case, if more spriters would do these kinds of things, sprites would not have such a crappy reputation.

I myself have just gotten into spriting, and hope to (by the end of next month) get it posted here on DD. I have taken a new aproach, as to not be glued to stariotypes and old plotlines. I have collected a number of megaman sprites from my older brother, and also found several game backgrounds from games like AVP and the like. You see, the only thing I know about megaman, is the characters' names. My hope is to create a new story, in which the only relation to the game/anime is the characters. I will post the link once it is up, if you like.

It's kind of a double-edged sword for me... on one hand, sprite comics can actually be a good thing. They can serve as outlets for writers who can't draw, but have some great talent behind their own craft. I've read plenty of sprite comics out there, and you can tell the writer really put a lot of time and devotion into his work. On the other hand, though, it can also be an outlet for the chronically lazy who don't want to invest the time to either write OR draw their own works, and they're out there by the bucketload. These webcomics usually drown out the good ones, which I think is pretty unfortunate for talented writers.