Have Fan Made comics lost their audience?

Greetings to the forums. You might have seen me and some of my colleagues around. I just wanted to pose a question to the community here, I asked the same question in the Multi-Media Forum, where it seems the comics would belong, with very little response, seemingly because there is no 'art' posted in this thread, lol.

Fan made comic books, do you read them, do you like them?

We have created the City of Comic Creators a few years back, and have been pumping out comics right and left, also have created a wiki to archive, store, and collect all the COH Fan Comics into one resource (cohcomicindex.com). With the fall of COHComics.com (which we are recovering btw), we have gathered most of them back up.

Now some creators in our group publish monthly, some publish bi-monthly, and some like myself, publish multiple issues each month, sometimes 2-3 a week. I realize some people can say they aren't real comics, using screenshots instead of art. But isn't the dialogue art in itself? So Creator A can't draw, or creator B only publishes 2 comics a year, and Creator C publishes so many you can't keep up! But that's a great thing, it keeps the comics rolling for all our reading pleasure.

You may or may not like some of them, or all of them. But the biggest question here I think a few of the creators in our group wonder.

Do they get read and enjoyed? So often do we wonder when we publish a new one, did anyone even read it? Is this worth my time and energy to screenshot/render, write dialogue, block it out, create the pdf, upload it, tell everyone about it? Only to have no one care to read it, are we wasting our time? Of course not, because we love to do it, but as any artist of any type can tell you, if someone besides yourself is not enjoying it, somewhere deep it breaks our heart.

We have a thread stickied in Announcements that Avatea has been so gracious to lend space to us, for the publishing of our new books. You see posts here and there in the forums, for our new issues. And usually each creator will post the new issues in their own server forum too.

If you are a reader, even in passing, of any of the active members of our group, Kinetic_Kitten, Sin_Stalker, Battlerock_X, Night_Hornet, Golden_Girl. Please tell us, post here, give some feedback, constuctive criticism on issues, etc. Check out our site, COHComicIndex.com.

If you are a comic creator, and you wish to join our community and have yours added to the COH Comics Index Archive, or WIKI, let one of us know, and we can get you access to our forum here on the COH boards.

Thanks for your time all.

TechSpider/Kinetic Kitten

I had no idea about that web site. And is Sin_Stalker still publishing? Haven't seen anything from him in a long time.

WARNING: I bold names.

Personally I've glanced at a few of Golden Girl's comics and I find them pretty interesting. I've seen some of Night Hornet's work in the art forums and think it's pretty great, other than that the only fan comic I've been reading lately is Square Woot's webcomic pages which are really great and funny coming out with 2 pages a week.

I've read a couple of Golden Girl's comics because she's posted them here. Other than that, I was mostly not even aware of what people were doing.

I've seen and enjoyed quite a few of Battlerock_X's YouTube comic book line featuring Captain Catastrophe.

I'm very high strung and restless, so my attention span is my problem. I'm not a fan of reading. Audio and/or Video is needed to keep my attention.

I've been keeping up with Avatea's thread for CCC for the past year and a half, ever since I stumbled upon it. If you like comics and good stories, and you're not keeping an eye on these, then you're really missing out. The "art direction" in some cases was an acquired taste. But I'm a big fan of these fan-made comics. I guess it's hard for you to know that if I never speak up about them or show my support.

Speaking of support, it would be nice if there was a way to donate money to the CoH Comic Index, as well as to individual authors. Most of these comics use the City of Heroes game engine, but artistry goes into the camera work, and the game engine certainly doesn't write all the amazing, creative, funny and dramatic stories I've read. Many of these stories have been exceptional labors of time and effort.

I would like to see more cross-pollination between fan-made comics and Architect Entertainment, because there's nothing like interacting with characters you've grown familiar with in another medium. Lots of interesting things could be done with this, such as having to play the series finale to see how a "print" story arc ends. Don't take this suggestion lightly. You can't do cool stuff like that with traditional comics!

I would also like to see people talking about comics they enjoyed. The Comic and Hero/Villain Culture forum is exactly for this purpose. I'm not suggesting that comic authors should be allowed to saturate it with advertisements. But if I enjoyed a CCC comic, there's no reason why I, as a reader, shouldn't open a new thread to tell other people about it, beg an author for loose ends, complain, compliment, and so on.

I could never get into a lot of the fan-comics. Either they used slightly creepy-looking (IMO) CG, or they used the in-game models with lines hastily drawn around the objects and characters. I'm sure some of them were well written, maybe even a lot of them, but I kinda prefer drawn comics myself. Especially since most of the in-game screenshot comics can only draw from the same pool of animations, so the actual panels are visually uninteresting...

I'd totally love to see more drawn ones, though. Like I said, it's more of a personal preference thing.

Agreed on the CG front. Too often CG pieces fa- no, run, skip and throw themselves headfirst into uncanny valley. You REALLY notice it when you're an animation student >_<

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

While I'm generally not a fan of fan-made comics, that should come as little surprise as I'm not a fan of comic books in general. At times I enjoy the art, but I simply don't "get" comics as a story-telling device. I'm not saying they aren't, far from it. It's just not for me. Hell, I didn't even read any of the professional-made City of Heroes comic books either by Blue King or Top Cow. About the only I did read was Troy Hickman's Smoke and Mirrors, and even then it was a combination of Troy's writing with the art punctuating the writing's power.

Well, I lied. I also read the comic book where Sister Psyche is naked in the bath tub, but that's neither here nor there.

I do, however, know how disheartening it is to work and toil at something for days, then post it and have no-one comment on it. Ever. I don't make comic books, but I do write stories when the inspiration strikes, and when one of mine is met with dead silence, it's the sort of thing that makes me wonder why I even bother. I wish I could help you out, but it's just not my thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Most of the CoH Comics I have seen are pretty bad. Especially the ones that try and force-feed game mechanics down our throats as part of the plot. IE, the Top Cow where Synapse accidentally earned an exploration badge, or Positron rewarded Castle with some Enhancements. Or, most egregiously, the board lore when Positron was fighting Requiem and not only "respecced himself" before battle but physically "ate some inspirations."

The redeeming stories were, for instance, exploring the nature of heroism like Hickman did with Cyrus Thompson. Certainly not the Vanguard Mary-Sueing all over the Phalanx. Really? Howling Twilight? We might as well write the epic tale of how Oil Slick was used to defeat the evolved Hamidon.

The player made comics tend to be all over the board. One in particular, which is mentioned above, is just barely verging on the homoerotic ramblings of large-breasted individuals. You read it, and then you wonder if something bad happened.

This is all awesome feedback our group needs to keep dong these stories. I know personally that some of my stories have gone out there, like one was mentioned 'game mechanics', which is why I cancelled the title I was doing where a man from the real world was trapped in the game, and encountering 'game mechanics' each issue. I just try to make mine generally enjoyable.

I have seen many many comics made by fans in the last few years, and as a creator, I know I enjoy the stories that show my something different. I've seen ones that show the 'reader' how to play, and that is boring to me, I know how to play already. I see the ones that involve changing the 'mythos' of the game, and to a point that will always happen, but not to the extent of changing the lore.

Keep the feedback coming, our community is soaking it up, and taking it to heart. Currently I believe only 1 or 2 of us are VIP to be able to post in these areas. For those who have said they do enjoy the comics, please check out the Index (cohcomicindex.com) There is over 100+ comics there you may have never seen before.

Tech/KK

Please bear in mind that most of my criticisms are directed towards the "authentic" Blue King/Top Cow issues. Actually, the Blue King stuff was pretty good.

I have very little knowledge of player-made comics, which I hope to rectify with the link you have provided. Thanks!

Didn't even know these existed. I've seen GG's stuff once or twice but didn't realize they (and others) were archived here on the forums!!!!

Will check them out.

Maybe an announcement in the NCsoft Launcher from time to time would help get awareness out?

*looks at Zwill and Avatea*

I only looked at one and it was slow to develop. Seemed more like a "here's my character" than a comic book.

I don't have a problem with screenshots of the game. I liked the machinima contest they awhile back that was all bits from the game.

if I read a comic I want the characters to be interesting and the comic to be dynamic. A gripping storyline, and lots of action. If there isn't a fight by the end of page 2, I'm gone.

I really hate to belittle anyone, but a large number of the fanmade comics are really bad in one way or another...it's like AE, I don't want to wade through so much chaff to get to the good ones. So I don't even look anymore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Those are some great replies. I hope they keep coming.

I read them every time a new one is posted about in announcements...

I usually enjoy the hell out of them too... you guys are great writers in general and seeing what you do often with just the game engine is impressive.

Thanks, keep it up!

Elvnsword