What if...

[Polnareff]

Alright, so I'm pitching my webcomic here in hopes of some feedback and reviews.

The link: http://whatif.comicgenesis.com/
(please disregard the Hiatus page, and start at the beginning...we are dealing with some legal issues at the moment. Thanks.)
The Wiki: http://cgwiki.comicgenesis.com/index.php/Comic:What_if...

Description: The idea is simple: we ask typical, whacky questions, all beginning in "What if...", and then answer in a single-panel, comical manner. All the humor generally revolves around clever puns, some obvious, and some a little more obscure. A few of the strips are darker in nature, a couple with sexual connotations, but generally, I'd say the comic is suited best for mature teenagers. The themes of the strips generally cover a large range of topics, such as politics, the media, religion, etc.

The comic updates every Monday and Friday. We are currently at 30 strips, and have yet to miss one update (check the Archive for verification). Our team is composed of me, Adamo, and Ronan. I am generally the artist, while Ronan writes most of the content, although we've switched it up every so often, so some of them are written by me, and some others are illustrated by Ronan. The majority, though, follows the former template.

Here is the sample strip. Since the max size provided in the rules is a width of 550, I decided not to embed it, and rather just leave it as a link, since it is about 600 in width.
What if Batman was actually a little girl?

This specific strip represents one of the more simplistic jokes, and has more of an illustrated shock factor than anything else. Other strips are generally more clever.

I hope you guys enjoy reading them, and look forward to your feedback. Thanks a bunch =)

[Oblivion]

This is fairly unique I think, which is nice, and most of the strips are real winners.

Strips like the Rick Astley one are good plays on language, which appears to happen a lot, and some are just unexpected, like the Marshmallows one. Those were probably my favorites, but keep experimenting, and maybe deepen the art a little bit if you want to (like I'm one to talk), but it seems to be portraying what you want it to.

Bookmarked.

[Polnareff]

Thanks a bunch!

Yes, well I've been told on several occasions that the art was too perfect and rounded, and that there needed to be a more life-like jaggedy-ness to it (much like the strips illustrated by Ronan). I've tried to take these comments to heart, but I find myself having a harder time putting it into action. There's always the perfectionnist in me screaming "That line isn't straight! Fix it!" ^.^

But I may try improving the art by adding shading and shadows.

As for the actual comedy, we've tried to keep it varied to a certain extent, but we're still trying to figure out what kind of approach is best. To be honest, we prefer the more clever jokes, like the first strip (80's Music), or the Captain Planet one, and we've found that people seem to have the best response to these. All to say that it's very difficult to capture a single type of audience in a comic whose sole purpose is to touch base on all themes. You just naturally tend to get people who 'love some, hate some.'

[Montyandwoolley]

Well i was going to read your archives, but i went onto the website and the first strip was a large sign saying haitus...Probably not the best way of getting viewers after a pitch. So i went a comic back and found it a little crude....so i went a few MORE back and they were alright, didn't make me laugh though i'm afraid! - I'd offer suggestions, but are you even doing any more?

[EvilFlea]

Yeah, I think having the haitus pic is a bad idea. You're better off putting a comment up with the last comic to that effect.

I've still not made my mind up about this comic. It's a fairly strong concept, but not enough of them are funny enough. You need to be a bit tougher on yourself about what you post. (I'm probably as guilty of this as you are.) And the artwork is usually a bit wrong.

Though I do like this one:



A lot.

Again though I think you need to have stronger detail on the railings in the foreground. It looks a little bit wrong to have them so simplistic and then put a good amount of detail into the people stood behind them. Especially as Rik and the woman are possibly the best examples of artwork in your comic.

[Polnareff]

Yes, well you're probably right about that. It just so happens that I placed my comic review at a very bad time for the comic...we're struggling with some legal issues that can potentially end the comic all together.

To Montyandwoolley: It's unfortunate that you didn't read the whole archive, because to be honest, I think the first half of the strips are what really shine, while the second half falls just short of mediocre. Different periods of time, stress, and simply writer's block could be blamed for all that...but we've been trying to pick it up.

To EvilFlea: You're absolutely right, and that's what we'd been talking about just recently actually. We need more of a filter. I think the problem was that we wouldn't come up with very much content until the night before, and then be stuck with some half-assed pun. It's easier to dedicate yourself to the idea of a webcomic at its beginning, but it starts to feel like a hassel at some point, or at least it did for us. That's not to say we don't want to continue making webcomics - I think it was just the "What if..." that was bounding us unexpectedly.


In any case, if it doesn't work out, we'll be sure to start up a new webcomic, and we'll definitely be more careful with it. This comic was a learning experience for us...a good way to test people's humor.

[EvilFlea]

I know how you feel. I've just got to the point lately that I just can't be bothered as much as a couple of months ago. So I'm not even managing one a week, and it's become rather sporadic. I'm concentrating on getting story writing and sketch writing done, as well as my job, of course, which is hectic.

I've got to remember why I'm doing it. I'm doing it because I enjoy it, and when I got some cards printed it was because a few people thought it was a good idea. It just became a bit of a headache. So I'm not bothered too much about putting pressure on myself or sticking to a schedule, my comic's there to have a bit of a play. If a lot of people end up enjoying it, well, that's just grand.

Have you thought about playing with some other concepts as well so you haven't got such a narrow lane for ideas?

Hope the legal issues sort themselves out.

[Polnareff]

I also try to remind myself that we make the comic for fun...but both Ronan and I made sure that, at least for the first 30 strips, we wouldn't miss an update, and that in itself was probably the cause for the comic feeling more like a chore. Perhaps we should have updated once per week instead of twice. Also, I am not much of an artist, and so illustrating the strips often took very long and were not very self-satisfying. It is very depressing to put up a comic that you're not satisfied with.

We're currently in the process of brainstorming new ideas. We want to stick with a single-panel comic, as I mentioned previously, but we'll definitely head in a different direction, with more room for variety. We want to pick a theme that suits our type of humor best...but it's difficult to think of something original. Granted, we thought that the "What if..." idea was different, but it just ended up limiting us.

[Nutshellcomics]

I like this premise that you have and with two of you to bounce ideas off of, there are hundreds of situations that you should be able to come up with.
For myself, I know it is very difficult to create ideas out of whole cloth, that is why I rely on filler news stories to start me off on a tangent.
I also liked the idea you have of getting people to ask you questions they would like the answer to. have you had any luck getting usable suggestions that way?
The art is something that will evolve each time you try new things, look at the early Simpsons for proof of that.

in short, I'd like to say I have enjoyed what I have seen so far and always look forward to the updates.

David

[Polnareff]

Thanks a bunch Nutshell. The reader questions only seemed to bring in one e-mail, and it wasn't really a question we could use...it's a shame.

In any case, if you go back to the comic now, you'll see that we've been forced to shut it all down. I'll actually have to remove the comics within the next two weeks. It's alright, though, Ronan and I are already working on some ideas for a new webcomic. =)

Thanks a lot for all your feedback, we'll definitely use it when making the new comic.

[Kuthinks]

Ah, I've run across "What if..." even before I saw this! I enjoyed every one of them, they are very unique and they made me laugh.