yet another

okay brace yourselves i’m going to rant about COMICS.

specifically WEBCOMICS.

specifically fan feedback on webcomics.

okay, #1? webcomic creators love fan feedback. we really do. we especially love when fans give legit critique like “huh? why did they do that?” or “but what if XYZ happens!” because it makes us think. it makes us go “oh wait, i must not have explained something very well.” or it makes us go back and re-evaluate how we drew something, and make improvements the next time.

we love hearing what we did wrong. we love hearing what we did right. seriously. 

what we don’t love? is hearing YOUR idea of how we should tell the story. it’s our story, and saying “scene X doesn’t make sense to me” is all fine. that’s good. but when you go “you know you REALLY should have someone do ABC, ITD BE SO FUNNY!!!” or “you TOTALLY SHOULD PUT MY CHARACTER IN, ITD BE SO FITTING!!!”

well, then we just want to punch you in the face.

we’ll add what characters we want to add. if we need background characters, or WANT them, we will ASK for them. never start badgering an artist to include something just because you want it. stop. think to yourself. will your “suggestion” actually improve the story for EVERYONE? or will it only improve the story FOR YOU? if it’s just for you, keep it to yourself. 

Good feedback might go like this…

wow, this comic you read just arrived at some totally weird alien city! but so far, the artist seems to have a very mundane setup for the streets of the city…lamp posts? store front windows made of glass? cars? it doesn’t feel very alien to you, but maybe the artist doesn’t realize.

hmm. you know what might make it work? some implimentation of high technology we already have on earth. so real quick, you dash off a letter to the artist suggesting magnetic levetation cars, hd screens for store fronts, heads-up AR displays on some of the street pedestrians and a few other ideas. just some technological gizmos would really help drive home the point that this is an alien planet. and that would help ALL the readers, new and old. not just you!

however

unhelpful feedback would go more like this…

wow, this comic you read just landed on an alien planet! and it’s the planet you personally like the aliens from best. but you know, they’re not QUIET perfect.

because YOUR character isn’t present!

or YOUR invented species isn’t present!

time to bother the artist non-stop until they add you! surely they’ll be very thankful, and surely this will benefit everyone who reads the comic, and not simply be for your personal gratification.

this applies to all comics. the most obnoxious thing people can do is demand artists add their characters. the second most obnoxious thing they can do is DEMAND anything, PERIOD. if you so desperately want something to happen in the storyline, and nobody will benefit from it but you? write or draw it YOURSELF.

tl,dr: crit like “the way you draw cars needs work.” is spectacular. crit like “omg you need to include MY plot idea/character!” is GOD AWFUL.