Wow, I was blogged Worst Webcomic Ever!

Jesslynstormheart · Post by **Jesslynstormheart** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:30 pm

I saw a blogsite in my referrals list so out of curiosity I clicked it. Much to my surprise, the blogger spent a painstaking amount of time ripping my webcomic to shreds and dubbing it "Worst Webcomic Ever". My initial reaction was that sinking feeling one usually gets under heavy scrutiny and just blatant trashing. Then the feeling shifted into, "Well, maybe I can read this and learn from it to somehow make my comic better." So here are the wonderful points of constructive criticism I purged from the blog.

1. The art is "Pretty Bad" (That wisdom is sure to help me improve)
2. The eyeshadow is "horrific." (Whatever)
3. Jesslyn's boobies are enough to give the blogger nightmares. (Looking back I do agree that some of the earlier pages needed some work in that department but I think there's been improvement. I can't fathom how her breasts are so bad that the blogger won't sleep well at night.)
4. Then there was a painstaking retelling of my complete story in an attempted comedy fashion. As if a female character (which they call feminist) trying to find success in a male-dominated society is the most rediculous notion the blogger has ever heard of.

Yeah, there were the initial hurt feelings since I've spent a lot of time creating this. I even wondered if I was wasting my time if that is what people really felt. Then I remembered that there are many regulars that keep coming back and complimenting it. So I wrote it off as another opinion. I soon found it all humorous when I realized that the blogger must have spent a couple of hours disecting my work. I was particularly amused after they got all of two responses back on their blog. One saying "Oooh, you're right, It's baaaad." The second one saying, "Oh, I'm going to have nightmares too." Both the comments were people that were directly off the blogger's rather small friends list. My humor soon turned to pity when I realized how much time this person, whom I don't even know, spent focusing their hate on me. As if there weren't more pressing issues in the world to get riled about instead of my little ol' comic.

Curiosity prompted me to google the phrase "Worst Webcomic Ever". I was pleased to find that people have made such claims in regards to 'Penny Arcade' and 'Cntrl-Alt-Del' putting me in elite company. And if Jesslyn Stormheart truly is the worst then that would be an elite accomplishment in itself. I'm sure many have actually tried to make a "worst comic." Maybe I'll get a cult following like "Rocky Horror Picture Show" has.

Anyone else had someone go out of their way to troll and trash your work?

Perk_daddy · Post by **Perk_daddy** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:40 pm

I've only one response to your being labeled "Worst Webcomic Ever."

Luckyyyyyy!

Black Sparrow · Post by **Black Sparrow** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:49 pm

Nope, never been labelled as such, but that's because people not interested in the material tend to steer clear. I have gotten some nasty comments though. Nothing as trashing as this, though.

Ever consider linking to the blog on your webpage? Might get an interesting response from the blogger... Sorry. That's my sadistic side showing.

Vorticus · Post by **Vorticus** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:07 pm

I've never understood the people who give unconstructive criticism. I doubt I'll ever be labeled "Worst Webcomic Ever" simply because too few people know about my comic to care that much about it one way or the other.

Kilre · Post by **Kilre** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:22 pm

There is no such thing as bad advertising! That said, I'm very tempted to read your comic now. After I slay my chemistry and geology studies.

I have had someone give me some actual constructive criticism on my tagboard...but the person never came back to expound on their short statements...which made me sad.

Grabmygoblin · Post by **Grabmygoblin** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:31 pm

Black Sparrow wrote:
Ever consider linking to the blog on your webpage? Might get an interesting response from the blogger... Sorry. That's my sadistic side showing.

I dare you to do it.

Kilre wrote:There is no such thing as bad advertising! That said, I'm very tempted to read your comic now. .

I'm reading it right now...

Kilre · Post by **Kilre** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:37 pm

grabmygoblin wrote:
Kilre wrote:There is no such thing as bad advertising! That said, I'm very tempted to read your comic now.
I'm reading it right now...

You try concentrating on comics and midterms at the same time

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:39 pm

I haven't had labels like that. I have a feelings that my comics don't evoke strong feelings from people, so they haven't been called "the worst", not "the best". What I usually get is "it's ok", phrased in different ways.

Dunno, I can't judge that blog since you haven't given a link to it, but there are definitely a few advices I'd give to him:
-Do not use terminal labels like "the best", "the worst", etc. They make you look like a person who hasn't read that many comics at all. If you have, you'd know that, whatever comic you label as the worst, you'd easily remember a few comics that are worse than that, by some criteria at least.
-Exagerating when reviewing makes you look like an amateur. If you often say that this or that in the comic gives you nightmares, one day when you really do encounter something that gives you nightmares, noone will believe you, they'll think you're exagerating as usual. If you really want to be a reviewer, stick to the facts and not to creatively exagerated personal impressions.

Warofwinds · Post by **Warofwinds** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:21 pm

I had the other kind of troll--the one who spent probably 5 seconds browsing the site and decided, and I quote "This one has crappy art, but the story looks to be in the early chapters, so I've let that pass. I'm hoping that the artist improves a bit as the story goes on." I dunno if this guy just looked at the first couple pages or something, but, I'm NOT in the early chapters, and I've had NO complaints in the art dept. for quite some time now, thanks. Jeez, rip my work apart, but for goodness' sake, back up your opinion, man!

Anyways, JSH, totally ignore this dude. Your story and your art are fine and are improving. *gets urge to go give this dude a swirly* grumblegrumble.

Ataraxia · Post by **Ataraxia** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:24 pm

NetPoet had a similar problem recently:
http://forums.comicgenesis.com/viewtopic.php?t=77000

I say be thankful for the free advertising. I wish I had someone calling my comic the worst ever... maybe I need to work on "nightmarish boobies", whatever the hell those are. Nuclear mutated waterfowl?

I think it's good that you tried to extract some useful criticism from the blog. Often it's tough to hear criticism of your work, even when it's given in a non-hostile manner. Of course it doesn't sound like there was much constructive advice to be taken from this particular blog. Still, it's a good thing that you tried.

One thing that I picked up on was the feminist comment. When I read your comic myself, I felt that you were being a little heavy handed with the "female character trying to find success in a male-dominated society" theme. In particular I thought the scene where the silhouetted men were plotting against Jesslyn was a bit overdone.

Of course we want Jesslyn to succeed- that's the moral outcome. However, morality is most interesting when there are conflicting needs. There's no such conflict in Jesslyn Stormheart; Jesslyn is good, the silhouetted men are bad, and the readers know it. When you set up such a simple moral dynamic your writing can come off as preachy, even if that wasn't your intention.

I don't know if the blog writer was trying to make this same point, or if he's just a sad little man who's intimidated by assertive women. Anyhow, that's my constructive criticism. If it makes you want to call Ataraxia Theatre the worst comic in the world... Thank you!

Linkara · Post by **Linkara** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:04 pm

Reminds me of two reviews I got for my first book once. While one was simply that it was bad and no one should read it, the other one was a pargraph long and said my characters were "offensive." To whom, exactly, I'm not sure, they didn't specify. ^_~

My webcomic, however, has yet to receive any hate mail. I look for it in eager anticipation... oh, unless you count Neko's comments to me in the chat about the horrible artwork.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:40 pm

I've never had any hate mail for any of my stories or anything. Shame, really. I think I'd probably quite enjoy it.

- Joel Fagin

Legendary · Post by **Legendary** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:54 pm

Yeah, I got a person saying that my webcomic was "not even funny. And it looks like a ripoff of that other crappy webcomic, The Order of the Stick (which is horribly politically correct as well)." on the Nuklear Power forums, and I thought that was weird. Although it gave me an idea about "Caucasian Mages."

And when I consider that that is almost the only negative feedback I've gotten out of maybe 25 people who've taken the time to say they like my comic, I'm able to deal with it.

Escushion · Post by **Escushion** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:06 pm

I've been dubbed "a travesty to the art world." I try

.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:13 pm

Aw nuts, I guess this means I'm out of the running.

I, for one, never get any feedback period. A blessing and a curse I guess.

LibertyCabbage · Post by **LibertyCabbage** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:23 pm

Wow... we've got the creators of the Worst Comic Ever and the Greatest Comic Ever in the same thread! Cosmic!

Post by **Mercury Hat** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:59 pm

Man, I really hate threads like these.

Circle the wagons, lads, webcomics are under attack!

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:03 pm

Mercury Hat wrote:Man, I really hate threads like these.

Well, don't blame us. You chose your own Halloween costume.

- Joel Fagin

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:17 pm

Joel Fagin wrote:
Mercury Hat wrote:Man, I really hate threads like these.
Well, don't blame us. You chose your own Halloween costume.

- Joel Fagin

Zing.

Which reminds me, I have no costume.....

Post by **Kisai** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:29 pm

I think some people also need to realize that this is the internet. It is not like you were reviewed by the CEO of some multibillion dollar company who was looking for stuff to buyout. No no, quote the opposite, every man, woman, child and their dog has a blog or five.

There are people I know that create a new blog every few months because they pissed off enough people with the previous one that they want another do-over.

Kinda reminds me of the "why children shouldn't have babies" argument. You can't stop them, you can't kill them, you can't lock them up, but ultimately the community is going to have to clean up after them.