Renaming A Comic

ArcoJawa · Post by **ArcoJawa** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:09 pm

I have come across a bit of a problem(well more just something I find illogical) with my comic which I intend to slowly come back to called Black Rhapsody arcojawa.comicgenesis.com. I've recently been on a break from that to work on other projects but am slowly trying to come back to it(I'm currently working mainly on the animated version with comics on the side).

My problem is with the name. Original it related to the main character who had black tattoos covering his body. For sometime now, however, I have been portraying him without the tattoos and it has essentially rendered the title useless, as it has nothing within the story it can be related to.

Now the thing is I'm terrible when it comes to thinking up story titles so I wanted to ask around for some possibilities. Based on the story synopsis I'm about to give I'd like to see what suggestions people give me. You'll have to forgive me about how straigtforward it is though, it's hard to describe the story without giving too much away:

Synopsis:
The story is set in the fictional galaxy of White Road in what is refered to as "Known Space", that is to say, all areas currently explored by 4 coroperating ruling bodies(NSAQ{north}, Monarchy of Tansin{south}, Altory A Vigrots{east}, and West Side{west}). In this time period most inteligent species have found at least 1 other creature in space they can interbreed with and over millions of years this has led to there being very few original races left(refered to as Ancients). Currently a trade dispute between East and West space is bordering on war. The leaders of North and South space are trying desperately to avert this conflict as a war on that scale would be utturally devastating.

Zeigrick, an artificial being made up of dna and parts from different powerful creatures, and Eckden, a member of an ancient race who seems to be somehow different from his race, are trying to find the creatures who created Zeigrick and originally raised Eckden, known as the Cravish, in hopes of discovering a way to combat a being known simply as "The Oracle" who is using demon birds known as Migory to hunt down and kill Zeigrick.

Salyavin · Post by **Salyavin** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:54 pm

Hm I dunno but White Road might work.

[geoduck] · Post by **[geoduck]** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:35 pm

Salyavin wrote:Hm I dunno but White Road might work.

That was my immediate thought as well.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:12 pm

Hm. As far as comics that are innapropriately named because the author changed direction go, yours isn't one of the worst examples.

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:08 pm

One of those rare moments were I agree with Sir McD. "Black Rhapsody" is vague enough that you could probably come up with something new and different for it to refer to in the comic.

Bustertheclown · Post by **Bustertheclown** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:05 pm

Jim North wrote:One of those rare moments were I agree with Sir McD. "Black Rhapsody" is vague enough that you could probably come up with something new and different for it to refer to in the comic.

Like, say, outer space? Hell, considering that the story sounds like a bit of a space opera, I'd go so far as to say it's actually a pretty fitting title, even more fitting than it was for the original reason for the title, which sounded a bit too much like an "emo manga" reason.

In summation:

Black Rhapsody because it's about a character with black tattoos? Lame.

Black Rhapsody because it's about people traipsing around the void of space, looking for reasons behind it all? Not bad.

ArcoJawa · Post by **ArcoJawa** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:48 am

Hmm, never thought about it like that, but there are also other things to consider. "Black Rhapsody" sounds like a name that might be taken or be confused with other name like "Rhapsody In Black". What are your thoughts on that? I suppose the comic might be able to distinguish itself~

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:18 pm

White Road sounds good here. It sounds meaningful, with all sorts of allusions and metaphors hanging on to it's coat tails.

Not least of all, Wizard of Oz.

- Joel Fagin

Drowemos · Post by **Drowemos** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:17 am

I would stick with "Black Rhapsody". It is an evocative name. Besides what is a "Sluggy Freelance" or a "El gonish shrive". The name doesn't have to tell the story it just has to symbolize it. I think "Black Rhapsody" does a good job of that.

Besides take it from me changing a comic's name is a nightmare. People get confused links get out of date. It took me two months to recover my readership when I changed the name of my comic.

Garneta · Post by **Garneta** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:57 am

I've always hated the name of my comic...it fits the story, but it just doesn't sound that good to me. But I figure that now that it's up there, I may as well stick with it to the end.

...I find that I like the sound of 'Black Rhapsody' best anyway, when it comes to yours. Are you keeping the original artwork up there, with the tattoos? You could just post something underneath the beginning strip that explains everything about the name.

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:23 pm

only downfall of Black Rhapsody, is that is sounds like an episode title for Cowboy bebop.

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 3:24 pm

That's a downfall?

Axonite · Post by **Axonite** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:17 pm

I wouldn't have thought so, but then I can't name a single episode of Cowboy Bebop, so...

("Black Rhapsody" sounds fine to me, but if you must change it, "White Road" does sound good.)

BrownEyedCat · Post by **BrownEyedCat** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:21 pm

Half the titles of Cowboy Bebop were already song or movie titles. Maybe all of them.

I mean, hell, is I recognized some of them . . .

ArcoJawa · Post by **ArcoJawa** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 10:38 am

Well, I suppose I'll stick with Black Rhapsody. Heh, I didn't expect the question to spin around this way but oh well, no need to complain about progress I figure. Now I just need to finish the animation, that will hopefully be the real kicker of the series~

Jekkal · Post by **Jekkal** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:14 pm

The sign of a good title is that it can be rearranged as necessary. Black Rhapsody is just vague enough to work.

Besides, it's not like I'm doing any better with Last Resort. Descriptive as hell with enough alternative meaning to suit, but you figure I could find a way to pick a more unique name...

Bustertheclown · Post by **Bustertheclown** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:35 pm

jekkal wrote:The sign of a good title is that it can be rearranged as necessary. Black Rhapsody is just vague enough to work.

Besides, it's not like I'm doing any better with Last Resort. Descriptive as hell with enough alternative meaning to suit, but you figure I could find a way to pick a more unique name...

Titles don't have to be unique. They have to be catchy, recognizable, and easily recalled in relation to the project. If you've got that going for you, you're golden.

Noise Monkey · Post by **Noise Monkey** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:38 am

axonite wrote:I wouldn't have thought so, but then I can't name a single episode of Cowboy Bebop, so...

("Black Rhapsody" sounds fine to me, but if you must change it, "White Road" does sound good.)

You are dead to me.

Axonite · Post by **Axonite** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:30 pm

Noise Monkey wrote:
axonite wrote:I wouldn't have thought so, but then I can't name a single episode of Cowboy Bebop, so...

("Black Rhapsody" sounds fine to me, but if you must change it, "White Road" does sound good.)
You are dead to me.

Well, I suppose I COULD name one, if I looked it up or something.

(Or was it the "Black Rhapsody"/"White Road" bit that killed me?)

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:24 pm

I think there was an episode of "Cowboy Bebop" named "That girl's boobs". Or did I just dream that?