new comic decision!

[Toreador]

Not really sure if this is the right place but ill place it here anyway and if it gets locked or moved then it gets locked or moved

So my current web comic is going well and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (the buffer will last till October so ill throw a few Alcon bits in here and there when September comes and goes) but that’s a
collaboration and so wont be my full on work project.

So I have come to the decision to do swashbuckled and from a list of 35 ideas I’ve narrowed it to the two above and I wanna know what would you guys read?
All opinions and input is appreciated since this is for research purposes before I acutely start it!

[Mercury Hat]

The trick to both those ideas is making them interesting enough to sustain a comic. It's hard to make a single setting like a coffee shop interesting for an extended period of time and most people don't have an interesting enough life for an autobiographical comic.

Here's a few comics from my bookmarks that would qualify as "slice of life", to me (they can be nsfw at times):
http://www.octopuspie.com/
http://anderslovesmaria.reneengstrom.com/
http://templaraz.com/

These sorts of comics are all character-based so the story and action comes from them. You need some pretty strongly developed characters to carry a slice of life comic.

[Metruis]

To write a good journal comic you have to be a danged good writer to make your boring life interesting. And if I want a slice of life I could just go, you know... outside.

Basically, either way, you need some really strong writing and strong characters to sustain it and make it interesting long term.

[Phact0rri]

The trick to both those ideas is making them interesting enough to sustain a comic. It's hard to make a single setting like a coffee shop interesting for an extended period of time and most people don't have an interesting enough life for an autobiographical comic.

well I figure 'setting comics' work more like situational comedies. Even though my coffee shop comic isn't the height of story telling or comic awesomeness.. using it as a back drop and having things occur allow for it to be fun to write.

[Killbert-Robby]

If its a slice of life comic, yeah, make a cast of interesting characters, none of this WELL, ONE'S THIS PUNK, and, uh, THIS GUY'S ALL GANGSTA, OH, THE MISCHIEF

[McDuffies]

Well, you could always tell us more about projects themselves. I'mpretty ambivalent about both genres, it's really the meat that you put on those bones that counts.

[Toreador]

hehe should have dropped more info right away, sorry was in a rush!

the auto bio comic would be basically some of the stranger or amusing things that happen in my life and my running off to conventions and having a ball (this year acutely going to be helping out around the cons so should be interesting) I would also use this format to free up my artwork slightly since I’ve been stuck on the 1/4/5 pannel strips and with this I could go full page

with the coffee shop/slice of life comic it would be using the coffee shop as a background for gag runs here and there but it would quickly evolve to acutely be more concerned with the lives of the staff and a handful of the daily guests to the coffee shop (yes guests were not allowed to call them customers in the uk anymore since its unprofessional apparently) the comic would still be gag/witty here and there but it would also follow relationships (both sides of the preverbal fence) and daily lives and troubles of the cast

[Killbert-Robby]

I'm also going to add - Just because something was interesting to you, doesn't mean it would be interesting to anyone else. I'd suggest running your first scripts past third parties to see how it clicks with them.

[Fishies]

I like coffee so I voted for that.

[Redtech]

I've always thought an "autobio" would be amusing if the character's "inner voice" literally was an avatar that had interactions with the world. Sort of how one's inner voice constantly shouts at you when you screw up, except this time, it's literally doing it as an external entitity, and then it interacts with other people's voices...

Hell I'd read a good comedy like that.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

I have to admit, when looking at a comic's summary before I decide to read it, these are two descriptions that make me... hmm. Underestimate how it will be, maybe? Nothing personal, just that a lot of people have done this very poorly (and not just in webcomics, look at TV for example, particularly sitcoms and such) because they excuse themselves with the idea that "It was funny when it happened" or a similar line.
These types of comic are also the kind that I think gets abandoned most frequently- person says "Hey me and my friends are real clowns! Let's make a webcomic!", joins up with CG or similar, starts, makes one... two... maybe three comics... then the ubiquitous "Sorry no update today, next week will be a good one promise pinky swear" and then dropped like last month's used adult diaper.
Maybe you actually do have the rip-roaringest, thigh-slappingest group in the whole world, or at least a contender, and for that reason I say go ahead and have fun. Just keep in mind that there's people like me out there who, if you put these labels on your comic and hold to that as your main selling point, may be a little less excited to click that link, because of past experiences.

[McDuffies]

Well of, I say, if you are outstandingly funny and have a great comic delivery, then go for the autobio comic. Because those are qualities that take to turn mundane daily events into something interesting. Even events that are interesting to experience usually aren't that interesting when you're trying to tell them to folks who weren't there. I've seen a few good autobio comics and they all succeeded because of how they were told.
If you aren't outstandingly funny and don't have a great comic delivery, go for the coffee shop because it'll be less painful.

[Phalanx]

Hm your topics got me thinking how I would do those two topics, if I were to have to choose between them.

I'd probably play around with the stereotype of those kind of comics and turn them on their heads.

Of the two the coffee shop one had the most potential to be reinvented.

Personally I wouldn't make it about the lives of the staff and the usual "stupid customer requests" jokes. And frankly, it's a very used premise, heck if I am not mistaken McDuffies comic is about something similar, but set in a fast food restaurant instead of a coffee shop.

What I'd probably end up doing would be using the coffee shop as a starting point, and the staff of the coffee shop as the constant secondary characters but never really develop them. I'd then have a shifting main cast per chapter, and the story would start in the coffee shop, probably based on a conversation there, follow them out of it into their lives and really varying, unexpected places, and end back in the coffee shop when the story winds down.

Damn... Now that I've written all that, I really wish I had more time I'd actually do that comic now.

[McDuffies]

Yeah I already did a "coffee shop" kind of story. It turned into a sort of surreal humor, bizzare adventury fantasy type of comic... which is mostly because at the time I was under the influence of numerous similar webcomics. Nowadays, I would probably only include less characters and reasonable amount of subplots.

If I was doing a autobiographic comic, it would probably be full of daily politics and social statements and cultural references, heavy on specifics of living in Serbia. It would also probably be sketchy. But I don't think I'd be willing to spill my private life on internet anyways.

[RPin]

What I'd probably end up doing would be using the coffee shop as a starting point, and the staff of the coffee shop as the constant secondary characters but never really develop them. I'd then have a shifting main cast per chapter, and the story would start in the coffee shop, probably based on a conversation there, follow them out of it into their lives and really varying, unexpected places, and end back in the coffee shop when the story winds down.

That's the entire plot of Bartender you just described there. It's quite good.

[Phalanx]

What I'd probably end up doing would be using the coffee shop as a starting point, and the staff of the coffee shop as the constant secondary characters but never really develop them. I'd then have a shifting main cast per chapter, and the story would start in the coffee shop, probably based on a conversation there, follow them out of it into their lives and really varying, unexpected places, and end back in the coffee shop when the story winds down.

That's the entire plot of Bartender you just described there. It's quite good.

Drat! Someone thought of that before me. *sulks*

Oh well, I need a new manga to read since I'd gotten to the end of One Piece and am tired of waiting for the next chapter anyway, thanks Pin!

[Toreador]

Hm your topics got me thinking how I would do those two topics, if I were to have to choose between them.

I'd probably play around with the stereotype of those kind of comics and turn them on their heads.

Of the two the coffee shop one had the most potential to be reinvented.

Personally I wouldn't make it about the lives of the staff and the usual "stupid customer requests" jokes. And frankly, it's a very used premise, heck if I am not mistaken McDuffies comic is about something similar, but set in a fast food restaurant instead of a coffee shop.

What I'd probably end up doing would be using the coffee shop as a starting point, and the staff of the coffee shop as the constant secondary characters but never really develop them. I'd then have a shifting main cast per chapter, and the story would start in the coffee shop, probably based on a conversation there, follow them out of it into their lives and really varying, unexpected places, and end back in the coffee shop when the story winds down.

Damn... Now that I've written all that, I really wish I had more time I'd actually do that comic now.

hehe thats fantastic so i have to do this:

doooooo it! doooooo it!!

and bartender rocks! one of the better ones out there, though im currently going on a Baccano! stint (do a youtube search )

the basics of the story is what i threw up i never think more than 3 weeks ahead of the story unless its a larger project with lasting results in the conternuity of the comic (if someone dies they stay dead dang it!! ill beat em with the shovel if i have too!) so god knows if it will even stay in the coffee shop and even follow my set charecters a year from now!
in fact im already thinking up a few out of the way stints for the charecters (though one of em is the guy falling asleep and its a dream its still an excuse to go running off cackling manicly with it)

[Phalanx]

*whimper* Arrrgh don't tempt me! Too many projects already!

And yes, I have to thank RPin. Bartender rocks my socks and will probably turn me into an cocktail-holic.

[RPin]

Bartender rocks my socks and will probably turn me into an cocktail-holic.

In that case, don't ever let me suggest you Ressentiment, it will turn you into me.

[Phalanx]

Bartender rocks my socks and will probably turn me into an cocktail-holic.

In that case, don't ever let me suggest you Ressentiment, it will turn you into me.

And that's a bad thing because...?