jgib99
Bad art and/or writing is also a big turn-off for me.

Ooh, yeah, bad writing, for sure. I've found that good writing does a better job of redeeming a comic than the art does. What I mean is, I've found several examples of comics that don't have particularly great art, but have an interesting enough story with good writing to help the comic hold an audience. It's harder to do that when you have good art and bad writing; it doesn't matter how pretty a comic is, if the writings sucks it won't be as good altogether.

dueeast
There's several types of comics I'm not into and don't usually read:

1. Adult - no exceptions, just not interested.
2. Sprite - with rare exceptions.
3. Boring :sleepy: - This is huge! If it's too slow a pace, even if it has good art, I lose interest quickly, regardless of genre.
4. Inanely Profane - If none of the characters can complete a sentence without cursing or if there's cursing in every single frame, it annoys me!
5. Gay/Lesbian-Centric - I've written gay characters before, but when that's the main point of the comic, it just doesn't interest me. I don't mind reading comic stories that happen to have gay characters, however.
6. Trapped In High School/Middle School (usually manga-esque) - Now, I don't mind a good manga at all, but I do get tired of perpetual high school jokes/situations. It would have to be awfully well-written and original with pretty good art to hold my attention.
7. Deliberate shock/offensive - Usually either sexual,racial, religious or political. All I can say is, ick. huh!?

Combinations of the above also exist and are "dealbreakers" for sure! :)

all of this and

Weird subject matter? - Depends on what you consider weird
Offensive? - I dont realy like to read comics from those who are highly 'ignorant'
Author is a jackass? - Big one there
Sprite? Furry? Genre? - not into them, and day by day Im disliking romantic comedies and high fantasy with no inovation
Style of art? - I have a certian level of acceptablity. so long as I dont have to decode what the art 'is'

Story? - realy important to be done as best as possible. Don't drag/rush the plot and add detail only through dialog. That is realy annoying, I want to enjoy the comic not just read a picture book with massive ammount of text

I'm game for just about anything! That being said...
I won't read comics that haven't updated in the past month or so unless there is a REALLY good reason for the break.
I'm not a fan of sprites (Arthur, King being a notable exception), but there are some out there with definite appeal and promise.
I'm vaguely tolerant of poor spelling (we all make mistakes), but the IM-speak (example: ur gr8t) unless used in jest makes my eyes catch fire. You simply can't read a comic with your eyes on fire - I've tried.

Weird Subject Matter?
Where else would I get good stuff
Amusement Galore

Author a Jackass?
Kick him in his own face
and laugh at him too

Sprite are all right
Just don't reuse storylines
Makes Brains explode

I don't like furries
Bunch of weird animals
Freaks me out to'tlly

Alright, enough of the haiku.

Basically, I saw this freaky sprite comic once about pokemon. It started off like: Hi, I am I will be pokemon champ soon. And after 5 pages, It was EXACTLY THE SAME AS POKEMON. All taken from the TV series and the game. Then I vowed never to read pokemon comics ever again. I hate ripped storylines.

(Will post in haiku again sometime)

Bashy
Author a Jackass?
Kick him in his own face
and laugh at him too

This reason is a HUGE one for me. Most of the people here on DD are pretty cool...However, there are a few people here that seem to be genetically engineered jackasses.

That aside, I give most comics a shot. Once they put on a prick suit...forget about it!

Skullbie
So what's an absolute dealbreaker for you when deciding to read a webcomic?
Weird subject matter?
Offensive?
Author is a jackass?
Sprite?
Furry?
Genre?
Style of art?

Post your personal thoughts on this please- :3

The way the comic is presented. The art, the content and general attitude about the comic/towards the subject matter. For me to keep reading a comic it has to catch my attention and the hold it. Speratic updates or constant fillers is a big turn off

cs3ink
er... not so much with the stick men.

:(

I'm surprised no one's said "Comic Sans font" yet. :P

(That's not a dealbreaker for me, by the way.)

Stuff that rubs me the wrong way...

Cliche plotlines (go to http://thomasoverbeck.livejournal.com/2004/01/28/ to see what I mean - I know I put that they were from movies & TV but they apply to comics too)

Poorly done word balloons

Huge gaping plotholes

Otherwise, I don't have many objections to webcomic particulars.

For me, the big comic turn off is the story itself. Just like how I enjoy certain types of movies or television, I enjoy certain types of comics. When I decide to explore a comic, I usually begin by being attracted by interesting art in someone's avatar, thumbnail, or banner. Then, I see if the comic plot is up to my standard of coolness. Genre and style aren't really factors, I enjoy all types.

If the creator of a comic is a jerk, I suppose I will avoid that person. But if their comic is still awesome, I'll probably still read it. I'm no entirely sure though, as I do not recall this actually happening to me before.

Weird subject matter?
- I actually like that.

Offensive?
- Depends how offensive it is. I'm not easily offended with comics though. You can spout your racist drivel for all I care.

Author is a jackass?
- Big deal. However I sometimes read the stuff of people I deem jackasses. Maybe it may provide an explanation on why they are a jackass. Reading someone's comic is like reading into their heads.

Sprite?
- It depends. If I am bored after looking at 20 pages of it I stop. I'm not particularly against this.

Furry?
- Again it depends. As long as I'm not bored reading it.

Genre?
- see previous answers

Style of art?
- I have this particular bias against stuff that look like its out of teletoon or nickolodeon. I also dont like if its oversimplified unless there is good reason to.

The super cartoony kinda stuff isn't much of an eye catcher to me. I cannot explain why but I'm more drawn to manga or marvel comics or realistic style.

usualy stick figures break the deal for me. some of em can be pretty witty, but when everyone and their mother has a stick figure comic, it looses it's charm. mighta been funny the first few times, but it's justeverywhere now and it's not funny anymore.sprites do too, but not as much, if it getes to the point where it's just two character's dialogue going back and forth and they're just standing on different sides of the screen. that's not cool either.
a lot of manga i wont touch either, but there are exceptions. i've seen a few amazing mangas in this site i'd actualy like to go back and fave. but when it's the same old drama with the same kind of art i see all the time, it doesnt interest me either.

PyThomas
I'm surprised no one's said "Comic Sans font" yet. :P

Ah, good one; I didn't think of that. Yeah, that's a biggie for me, too. ( I mean, nevermind the fact that it makes a comic automatically look unprofessional straight from the get-go, it's just not a very attractive font. I don't understand why so many people use it.)

Sprite comics...uh, I just don't get it?

Also, anything that looks 3-D rendered.

The whole point of comics, to me, is that this is a cartooning medium. Badly inked art, quirky art, etc...is still art. Someone drew it--it's alive. And one thing I really do like about most webcomics is that the art team and the writing team usually break down into one or two people. I much prefer to see an artist ink his own work or even do the whole thing at once.

Skullbie


So what's an absolute dealbreaker for you when deciding to read a webcomic?
Weird subject matter?
Offensive?
Author is a jackass?
Sprite?
Furry?
Genre?
Style of art?

Post your personal thoughts on this please- :3

Bad writing, pretty much. I can get along with awful art if the story's strong. (Or very funny.)

I'm not a huge fan of Sprite comics, but there are exceptions. Ditto with furries, both not being a huge fan, but there are exceptions.

Comics that take forever to navigate to GET TO THE COMIC!!!! The current Comic should either be on the front page or one click away.

Comics without clear navigation on the page. When I have to guess to find a "before" button. Don't try to be too clever on the website design, save THAT for the story.---Al

I've seen a few comments around the board, and i have to agree with these ones:

1. if the creator(s) is/are being assholes to their fanbase. There's no need for it, and even if your fans ARE suffering from a mild bout of stupidity, you should always try your best to at least be polite. (you dont have to let them walk all over you, but if they've done nothing wrong, don't be an ass. :P )

2. really poorly done, both in writing and art. I mainly go for comics that have good art (i like using them as guides in helping myself improve.), but there are several comics i read because, even though the art is poor, the comic itself is either seriously funny or really well written. it goes the other way too. if the art is really good, but the story is boring/makes no sense/ is just plain lame, i can't stand to read it.

3. when it's obvious the creator is just trying to get attention. things like throwing in guy on guy action or girl on girl action (or making an entire comic about really attractive guys/girls and having them get it on, just for the sake of popularity) when they really don't help the plot or overall story really irritates me. I mean, come on. YOu can totally still have that stuff in your comic, if it actually makes sense.

as far as wierd or offensive comics go, I guess there's really not a lot that actually offends me :P (hell, one of my favorite webcomics is Sinfest). but if the whole comic feels like a horny, immature, brainless teenager wrote it, no thanks. I like some level of intelligence in my reading matter.
a couple other things would have to be: makes no sense, and if the person is just copying someone else's style.

Weird subject matter?
It really depends on the level of weird. I'm a Tim Burton, Darren Aronofosky, Satoshi Kon fan so I enjoy many levels of weird, but I can to be in the mood for it. I tend to write weird things myself...>_>

Offensive?
It depends on the attitude of the comic, for example they can be sexist but it can be in a satirical manner that is used as social commentary. Very few things actually offend me now.

Author is a jackass?
If the author has gorgeous artwork and a nice storyline, I could care less about their attitude. I just wouldn't write/email them and I wouldn't endorse them either. ~_^

Sprite? Furry?
Sprite comics are uninventive to me - it's just copy + paste + word bubble + gag and there it is. I personally think it's creative plagiarism as well. As for furry comics...it's complicated. I am a huge animal lover so I enjoy drawing anthromorphs but furries...it really depends on the subject matter of the comic but in most cases "NO". Part of the reason is because furry comics run into logical issues for me, like - if they're furries, are they people or animals? If they're people, do they eat other animals? Is it considered cannibalism in their world, etc. etc. It causes problems in my brain. >_>

Genre?
I have to say that I ABSOLUTELY HATE "harem" genres, especially one girl and tons of girls. It's been done and beaten into the ground so many times, it's just stupid. I also hate copycat comics - where a certain comic (let's say Megatokyo) is popular and people copy that again and again and again. I'm also going to add most ninja/samurai comics when its obvious the author doesn't know much about Japanese culture and THAT alone irks me beyond reason.

I'm skeptical of most vampire based genres (this includes books) mainly because everything sounds like an Anne Rice clone to me but I've made exceptions. I like Charby and Vampire Phantasm.

Style of art?
I'm all for art of all flavors and styles. The only thing I probably won't like is something that purposely looks unfinished. Or if it was drawn on a napikin, but even then if it's interesting I still might glance at it.

I like to give people's comics a chance usually. There's not much of a reason I wouldn't view a comic except for some things

Weird subject matter?
My own subject matter is pretty.. different.. so I can't exclude that.

Offensive?
- This is a big one. There's a comic on here called cancerous aids or something and I refuse to view it based on the name alone. Sure it might be funny, but that makes me all the more wary of it since I deal with cancer everyday and can't find it or AIDS funny at all.

Author is a jackass?
- I've had this happen sometimes. Especially if the author doesn't even take the time to say hi to you back and ignore you came to their comic entirely. I realize some people are busy but its not that hard to drop a line if someone else did you the same courtesy.

Sprite?
I like Phoenix Wright sprites. Cuz I like Phoenix Wright. Guess thats it though. Doesn't really interest me.

Furry?
- I like furries, but they can't be pornographic, a little bit of nudity is fine, but thats all.

Genre?
- I don't usually go for political. It just makes me upset :p

Style of art?

I like most styles of art. I'm a manga fan, but love realism. I won't discount your art if the story is good. I'm not a great artist either so I can't talk ;)

allanah
Author is a jackass?
- I've had this happen sometimes. Especially if the author doesn't even take the time to say hi to you back and ignore you came to their comic entirely. I realize some people are busy but its not that hard to drop a line if someone else did you the same courtesy.

Aw that doesn't make the author a jackass, they probably have an ever-overflowing pq box so simple 'hi's can get a bit...tedious at times. I'm afraid I would know. u.u (though I always say thanks to a fanmail! :D )



I'm gonna add some small petpeeves-I wont not view the comic for it-but it's irritating:
When the author constantly crits there own art on every page. I've seen this happen twice-once I thought it was just another viewer like me, and I couldn't believe this terrible things he was saying about the comics art. I was actually thinking about sending him a pm to knock it off....when I realized it was the author! D:

Skull
When the author constantly crits there own art on every page. I've seen this happen twice-once I thought it was just another viewer like me, and I couldn't believe this terrible things he was saying about the comics art.

But what else are you gonna talk about in the Author Comments box, besides your thoughts on your own page? Some authors are extremely critical of their own work and often that's healthy.

Oh - I've thought of one! Side-scrolling!

It won't stop me trying a comic but, if I have to scroll every page sideways as well as down in order to read it, then I'm not likely to continue for long. It's the web equivalent of buying a print comic only to find you have to read every odd-numbered panel before starting to read the even-numbered ones. It's possible but it's a real barrier to enjoyment.

mlai
But what else are you gonna talk about in the Author Comments box, besides your thoughts on your own page? Some authors are extremely critical of their own work and often that's healthy.

Well sure, but I'm talking about literally every comment post is something negative about the page. Kinda makes me think 'wow the author doesn't even like it, why should I?'
The creator can talk about an opinion about what the comic page deals with, their personal life, fan-art, what they DID like, ask readers questions etc. Doesn't have to have constant negativity.

But It's just my petpeeve. ;)

Skullbie

allanah
Author is a jackass?
- I've had this happen sometimes. Especially if the author doesn't even take the time to say hi to you back and ignore you came to their comic entirely. I realize some people are busy but its not that hard to drop a line if someone else did you the same courtesy.

Aw that doesn't make the author a jackass, they probably have an ever-overflowing pq box so simple 'hi's can get a bit...tedious at times. I'm afraid I would know. u.u (though I always say thanks to a fanmail! :D

I have to agree with Skullbie on this one. Just because I don't leave you a comment or send you a pq right away doesn't mean I didn't notice. I personally make it a habit to read your whole comic, so I know what I'm talking about before I open my mouth and say something about it in a comment. And if you've got a 300+ page archive that can take me a while.

At the same time, I have a lot of readers who just check in once a week to see what I've done and a lot of them leave comments on previous pages that I don't always catch. I always try to say hi to folks, but it's not always possible to catch everyone.

That being said; I hate it when an author states an update schedule and then doesn't stick to it. I can understand if you have something that makes your page a few hours or even a day late once in a while, but if you say you're going to update every Saturday, you should be keeping your word and making sure it happens.

I personally hate anything that's not hand-drawn.

Like sprite comics for example. I don't know why, but I find them very...not good :P

But what else are you gonna talk about in the Author Comments box, besides your thoughts on your own page? Some authors are extremely critical of their own work and often that's healthy.

Just to expand on this, if you can't point out the faults in your own work, you're not a real artist. Everything I draw comes out really ugly and putrid and I can't stand it. My only motivation to continue is the hope that one day I may actually accept it but I know this day will never come (cue the never ending cycle of art).

angry_black_guy

But what else are you gonna talk about in the Author Comments box, besides your thoughts on your own page? Some authors are extremely critical of their own work and often that's healthy.

Just to expand on this, if you can't point out the faults in your own work, you're not a real artist. Everything I draw comes out really ugly and putrid and I can't stand it. My only motivation to continue is the hope that one day I may actually accept it but I know this day will never come (cue the never ending cycle of art).

That's practically how I feel.

My art is nowhere near perfect. I can tell that, but it doesn't mean that it's not good. No art can be perfect.

Unless Zeus draws it. But I doubt he'd do that XP

Zeus? What a weird choice. He's not known as an artist. Why didn't you pick Jesus or Chuck Norris?

I might have said "bad art" prior, or sprites (I think I definitely said sprites). But now that I think about it... no. What *really* makes me refuse to view would be any comic centering on:

Sonic
Mega Man
Pokemon

I have read comics with sprites and comics with bad art. But even if you hand-draw your comics with good art, if it's a Sonic/Mega Man/Pokemon fan comic I'm guaranteed to not read it. I'm sorry if the millions of sprite comics have ruined your legitimate fanship and dragged you down with them, but they have.

angry_black_guy
if you can't point out the faults in your own work, you're not a real artist.

That's exactly how I feel 100%, every page of mine I find tons of faults-Waaaaay more negatives things than something I like. But I never post those thoughts online for my personal reason.

I frequent art critique forums often, and ruthless ones at that (/ic/) I then take the suggestions from OTHER talented artists, not myself where i will notice small, insignificant things, and because of it my art improves dramatically with each page. :)

Sometimes I think when the creator posts negative things like that, they're just just plain fishing for compliments. :x

I get what you're saying. It does seem like their fishing for comments. I might stick in something about how the current page has a problem, and I'm unhappy with it, but its only rarely I'll completely use the author comments box to say that I hate the page and my art and life in general :P
Otherwise my comments are like novels cuz of all the medical jargon I need to explain and how I get to talk about some of my personal experiences.

Also, about my first post saying the author is a jackass, I only find that a pet peeve, not something to really say the author is a jackass. I just added my answer to the template question. I haven't really met an author who was a jackass. ^_^

Most of 3D comics scare me away as they look plastic. Since couple of years my visual taste is gravitating more and more towards "messy" art (think Ashley Wood, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave McKean, Paul Pope, Ben Templesmith etc. to give examples from printed comics) and 3D interests me less every year.

Also things with very small lettering. The story may be good, but if I have to strain my eyes to read it... just no. :P

Unfunny "funny" strips. Which often means game comics that don't know when to shut up. The longer it takes to tell the joke, the bigger the chance it'll fail :P

Weird topics are actually welcome, furries don't bother me (I grew up on bugs bunny so yeah, whatever), neither do adult themes (whether straight, homosexual or fetish oriented), nor the genre/topic. Offensive? Not really, no.

Also, about the negative comment thing. Ooops, I did it myself on couple of the pages that are waiting to go live, but not on everyone though. :D

zero rose
Genre?
I have to say that I ABSOLUTELY HATE "harem" genres, especially one girl and tons of girls. It's been done and beaten into the ground so many times, it's just stupid.

1 girl and tons of girls harem would be more original at least. ;)

I could go for yuri comics, as long as that's not the entire plot. Although I guess what's really annoying is love stories (which is what that would probably be). Romance genre in general isn't something I'd want to read. I'd probably avoid yaoi comics altogether.

I'm fine with a bit of fan service, as long as there's a story somewhere behind those anti-gravity short skirts.

I look for comics that have at least 20 pages. Usually I can tell from the first couple of pages whether I'll like it or not. I'll glance at the most recent page and compare how much they've improved. If there's too much text or not enough at the beginning, then I'll probably skip it. If the art is good (the better it is, the more likely I'll stick around) then that might keep me flipping through pages for longer. If it's difficult to follow the story because of panel/text positioning/contrast, then I'll skip it. If there isn't any varation in the characters (reusing the same pose, copy-pasting for several pages) then I might skip it. If the story is stale/slow/overly complicated I'll likely skip it.

Originality is something I look for.

Sprite comics seem to mostly be non-original art with non-original stories. What's the point of reading something when you can just go play the game? Two of the few sprite comics I've read and enjoyed were 8bit and Kid Radd.

Comics that are tackily colored. Use bright colors to show who's word bubble it is (I've been guilty of this). I feel like this is dumbing it down...if they position everything right I can understand who is talking. It also feels a little dumbed down if there's text (announcer?), or a character, telling something that's obvious. Unless it's something that happened way back and most readers would've forgotten...I guess that's kinda like cartoons that go "Last time on DBZ!" and then spend half the episode retelling what happened on the (most recent) previous episode...sorry, got into a bit of a rant there.

Furries/Anthros, I don't see why some people don't like them. Do some people take this to mean yiff?

I haven't noticed any artists being mean to their readers, I wonder if I read any of their comics. :\

Something about 3D bothers me. It seems stiff, and the word bubbles seem out of place. Overly realistic comics, and photograph comics, sometimes give me the same feeling.

Not into the abstract comics. Unless there's a story or a joke, I just don't enjoy it (guess I'm kinda dumb that way).

If a comic is overly offensive (language, graphic, racist/etc) I'll skip it. If it's crude and dumb (fart/penis jokes), I'll skip it. Euphemisms are okay.

Politics and religion are tricky areas. Usually fictional or metaphorical is more appealing. Serious discussion of politics and religion is annoying. I suppose this is because I want comics to be a get-away from reality.