How are you doing, comic-wise?

[RobboAKAscooby]

Lately I've been fighting the urge to start a new comic despite the fact I still haven't got my new site finished due to lack of time.

I've had a few ideas that have popped into my head but so far none of them have gotten me obsessed enough to spend massive amounts of time on them.

There is one idea that has been floating around my mind for a while now that could actually make a decent comic but it is also rather personal/introspective not to mention a little bit embarrassing.

All I know for sure is that if I do decide (like it's actually my choice, damn artistic addictions) to make a new comic it will be a different art style to my current projects, probably black and white (for time saving mostly).

[McDuffies]

Stick to the propositions. I don't know whether your function is as a jury or just sorting out entries, but in any case don't go beyond what you've previously agreed to.
Also what is BL?

"Boys Love" or Yaoi.

My job is to take the nominations that came in for a few categories and narrow them down to the 15 true finalists* for each category. All of the "ineligible" comics have already been taken out, whether they didn't have enough pages/hadn't updated recently enough at time of nomination/the creator didn't accept the nomination for that category. Like I said, the category in question has over 40 nominations, so I have a lot of fat to trim in that area. Mostly it's just me marveling over this comic whose literal and only claim to the thousands of fans it has is that it satisfies their craving for cartoon male-on-male "he liked it in in the end so everything's good" rape.

If it's under your jurisdiction to do some sort of quality selection then by all means do so.
If that's not the case, then, well:
1. Those always suck by definition.
2. All awards suck by definition.
3. If rules of the award allow for terrible comics to get awarded then the rules should be changed for the next time.
4. If a few terrible comics manage to sneak through, you've still achieved the goal of putting some good comics out there.
5. People always love things that suck.

It's not even like people pretend it isn't rape. People in the comments say shit like "Oh I love it when he gets all rapey! It's so cute!" or "[Character] looooves getting raped " I know A LOT of BL comics are like that but it leaves a sour taste in my mouth, and considering there literally isn't anything else good about this comic, on that level I don't have a problem excluding it from a list of comics that I'm supposed to be holding up to the community at large saying "HERE IS A GOOD COMIC YOU WILL ENJOY READING."

Christ. I do not envy your position, Cuddly. If I had to choose which comic best represented the "good rape" genre, I'd probably just make my own comic with one panel: just the giant words "YOU'RE ALL TERRIBLE FUCKING PEOPLE" and then nominate that. I doubt it would win, but it would rest easier on my conscience and it might even be a contender if I can court the non-rapist vote. Of course, there's the minimum page limit, but if we can allow shit like this to proliferate, I'd be willing to try and bend the rules a little.

If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of the idea of rape as fanservice. Or characters who casually talk about enjoying rape. These authors clearly don't know the definition of the word. And I realize this is the internet, and it's just one of the many naive fantasies that populate its dark corners, and at least they're (probably) not doing it in real life, yadda yadda, but everybody's gotta draw the line somewhere, and that's where I do.

Let us not get carried away.
What do you think about people who enjoy consensual SM relationships or roleplay rape scenarios? They are people whose turn-ons might seem sick to us, but they are not sick people themselves. In fact, these people do have a moral compass that would not allow them to enjoy a situation in which they know some other person is actually getting hurt. Knowledge that nobody is getting hurt is actually an important part of the fantasy, it's a sort of switch that allows them to enjoy it.
To me, reading a rape fanservice is not terribly different from rape roleplay. It is another way of indulging a certain fantasy, while fully aware that this fantasy has no consequences in real life.
You might say that people reading and commenting these comics are not roleplaying when they say things like "Oh I love it when he gets all rapey! It's so cute!" but that is not necessarily true. Internet is a place where our fantasy of who we might be blends with who we are. To an extent, we are all roleplaying, and these folks might as well be roleplaying too, while having better sense than to profess love for rape outside the internet.
The greatest difference to these two, it's that fans of rape fanservice aren't keeping their fantasies to themselves. Perhaps without fully realising it, they are displaying their intimacy for everyone to see, swayed, I think, by the impression that a certain forum where they're surrounded by people with similar proclivities is a safe zone. Yeah, a safe zone where any SA editor might stop by for material.
You might also say that these kinds of comments are offensive to certain people.

Human subconsciousness is a terrible, scary place. Just about everyone has some thoughts (fantasies, turn-ons) lurking in their consciousness, that would seem bizarre at best to just about anyone else. Any person's fantasy life would seem weird to other people. But this fantasy life is necessary, and as necessary it is, it is also necessary for a normal person that this fantasy life remains a fantasy. It is rarely a representation of what a person would actually want in reality - more likely it is a coping mechanism, a safety valve.
Also you might note that fantasies are usually social constructs. What we find attractive or desirable is usually a social construct of a time, a culture, a peer group. Now, as I understand yaoi with rapey (or incestuous or otherwise weird) overtones is a big thing in manga. Fans of manga, then, might start to get interested in it simply because it is something that's big with their peer group.

Now I understand that there is certain fear that popularity of this genre might trivialize the topic of the rape and then produce rapist simply because some people might not realize it's consequences. I'm not sure if that's how it functions, but having seen hollywood movies trivialize war and mass tragedies, I don't see anyone protesting Rolland Emmerich movies. I wonder what kind of impact might one obscure sub-genre loved by niche audience have.

I guess you could blame fans of such comics for having the bad taste, for validating crap, for supporting comics with dubious values, for liking comics that are so annoyingly out of touch with reality. We might say it's sad that, for the lack of imagination, they choose to indulge in others, pre-written fantasies hastily assembled from cliches, instead of creating their own fantasies.
I think it would be erroneous to call them sick, bad human beings, potential rapists or whatever, or to claim that they are actively hurting anyone, or that they harbor desire to hurt anyone.
I generally really dislike fiction that represents certain fantasies without ever aiming to challenge those fantasies in any way. I hate escapist literature. Rapey fanserive is, no more than, say, a neutered romance of something like Twokinds, an escape to fantasy that is never really interesting in any way because we always already know what happens next in our fantasy, right?

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

On the one hand, I can understand what you mean about people roleplaying and getting into S&M. I guess I just get kind of miffed at the cavalierness with which the word "rape" gets thrown around. You get readers asking the author "U better update again or I'm gonna rape u ^^" and then getting mad and defensive when someone tells them that isn't a cool thing to say to people. Were they really going to rape the author? Of course not. But that doesn't change that that's, on a very basic level, something that isn't socially acceptable to say to people. Of course, you also get the authors coming along saying in the comments "Don't you just love when [character] gets raped?" and encouraging it- again, again, I know, roleplay- who get mad when anyone says "Hey, that isn't cool."

Basically, there's something about rape fantasies that makes them a little bit different from even really gross other fantasies. You can talk about how much you love watching people eat poop off another person, and everyone else will think it's gross, but for the most part no one is going to feel threatened by that. You start talking about how much you love when [character] ignores [character]'s pleas to stop because you know he'll love it in the end, that's a social mindset that unfortunately in real life causes a lot of grief for a lot of people. I'm not saying people with rape fantasies aren't allowed to talk about them ever, I'm just saying that, of the fetishes, that's one that you need to be a bit more careful with swinging around, because it's something that really happens, in real life, to real people and with real consequences.

Idk how relevant this really is but here's a little discussion some of us had over at That Other Place. I talk a little bit in the first linked post about how yaoi comics are, for many young teenage girls, a stepping stone into sexuality the way a lot of mainstream porn is for young teenage boys. Like I said, some if it is relevant, most of it is not, but I figured I'd post it anyway to show I'm not a fuddy duddy who thinks the kids all need to repress their sexual urges and get off my lawn

(Well, I'd rather they avoid having sex on my lawn, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it)

[Sortelli]

they can have sex on my lawn instead, it's got cameras set up

for their protection of course

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

they can have sex on my lawn instead, it's got cameras set up

for their protection of course

your avatar really seals the deal on this post

[Cope]

As an Australian, I really wish it weren't pronounced "Yowie". That's wildly distracting.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

As an Australian, I really wish it weren't pronounced "Yowie". That's wildly distracting.

I always forget that you're Australian and not just a yeti.

[JSConner800]

I guess you could blame fans of such comics for having the bad taste, for validating crap, for supporting comics with dubious values, for liking comics that are so annoyingly out of touch with reality. We might say it's sad that, for the lack of imagination, they choose to indulge in others, pre-written fantasies hastily assembled from cliches, instead of creating their own fantasies.
I think it would be erroneous to call them sick, bad human beings, potential rapists or whatever, or to claim that they are actively hurting anyone, or that they harbor desire to hurt anyone.
I generally really dislike fiction that represents certain fantasies without ever aiming to challenge those fantasies in any way. I hate escapist literature. Rapey fanserive is, no more than, say, a neutered romance of something like Twokinds, an escape to fantasy that is never really interesting in any way because we always already know what happens next in our fantasy, right?

This thing. I don't actually expect these comics to turn people into rapists (especially since, as we've discussed, the biggest demographic here is teenage girls, who statistically don't do a whole lot of real life raping), I just hate the prevalence of this particular fantasy and it disturbs me that so many people get off on it. I have no problem with S&M or roleplay, but I don't think that's what's being represented here. It might be in the same ballpark, but the difference is that S&M is consensual, while rape, by definition, is not. Sure, it's all fiction anyway, and escapist fiction at that, but it's even more out of touch than most escapist fantasies and it's making light of one of the worst crimes a human being can commit. Like Cuddly said, this is a subject that happens in real life with real, horrible consequences, and it's something that shouldn't be thrown around like it's just a cute thing that cartoon characters do.

And yeah, there are apparently people who like to roleplay rape scenarios in real life. I don't get that. Reminds me of this Louis C.K. bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za7jQ1s1BV0. Somehow I doubt anyone who's "into that shit" has ever been actually been raped.

Anyway, all I'm saying is that I, personally, wouldn't be able to give a comic that promotes that kind of fantasy, without considering any of its implications, the time of day. If people are offended, tough. I'm openminded about almost everything, but this is an exception.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

And yeah, there are apparently people who like to roleplay rape scenarios in real life. I don't get that. Reminds me of this Louis C.K. bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za7jQ1s1BV0. Somehow I doubt anyone who's "into that shit" has ever been actually been raped.

I haven't watched the video, but it's not uncommon for people who have been raped/abused to develop a fetish around the concept in general. The difference being that, in the fantasy, they are obviously in control of the situation to at least a certain extent. I don't know the statistics but from my experiences talking to people, a lot of folks get involved in S&M because it allows them to work through a trauma and "take control" of the sexual aspect of their lives again. There's some people for whom vanilla sex is more difficult than S&M, and S&M lifestyle ends up actually being a doorway to committed, consensual, and caring relationships that allow them to feel comfortable with themselves sexually. (eventually sometimes working up to a relationship where they feel comfortable enough to have plain vanilla sex!)

Shifting back from sexual lifestyles
Going through this category is proving to be more easy than I thought. A lot of the comics are so low-effort it's not even funny. We're talking rough sketches that *maybe* someone adjusted the levels on. Scribbled in illegible dialogue, reading from right-to-left without any indication that this is supposed to be happening. Ignoring the style and anatomy entirely, a lot of it looks like the creators plain don't give enough of a shit to even clean up their scans. That's kind of insulting, really. I'm the first person to stand up and say you don't have to throw yourself into getting an art degree before you put out a webcomic, but have enough respect for your potential readers to (if you're not going to ink something because lord knows THAT would take too much time) clean your scans, and write legibly or download a font and do it in photoshop. Low-quality, washed out scans aren't a "stylistic choice." They're a lazy choice. *crosses arms*

On the bright side, the ones where the creators clearly DO have respect for their work and their readers are pretty damn good, and I'll be happy to see them go on to the voting step of the awards process. You guys, I found a comic where two gay guys hook up in a realistic, consensual, and STILL SEXY manner. I've found the crown jewel.

[RobboAKAscooby]

On the bright side, the ones where the creators clearly DO have respect for their work and their readers are pretty damn good, and I'll be happy to see them go on to the voting step of the awards process. You guys, I found a comic where two gay guys hook up in a realistic, consensual, and STILL SEXY manner. I've found the crown jewel.

OH MY GOD!!!......Anyone would think gay people are just like straight ones

Going through this category is proving to be more easy than I thought. A lot of the comics are so low-effort it's not even funny. We're talking rough sketches that *maybe* someone adjusted the levels on. Scribbled in illegible dialogue, reading from right-to-left without any indication that this is supposed to be happening. Ignoring the style and anatomy entirely, a lot of it looks like the creators plain don't give enough of a shit to even clean up their scans. That's kind of insulting, really. I'm the first person to stand up and say you don't have to throw yourself into getting an art degree before you put out a webcomic, but have enough respect for your potential readers to (if you're not going to ink something because lord knows THAT would take too much time) clean your scans, and write legibly or download a font and do it in photoshop. Low-quality, washed out scans aren't a "stylistic choice." They're a lazy choice. *crosses arms*

Worst part is that some of those comics probably have more fans that any of mine ever did

From what I'm noticing people with these (can't think of a nice way to say weird) fetishes don't really care about quality.

[McDuffies]

On the one hand, I can understand what you mean about people roleplaying and getting into S&M. I guess I just get kind of miffed at the cavalierness with which the word "rape" gets thrown around. You get readers asking the author "U better update again or I'm gonna rape u ^^" and then getting mad and defensive when someone tells them that isn't a cool thing to say to people. Were they really going to rape the author? Of course not. But that doesn't change that that's, on a very basic level, something that isn't socially acceptable to say to people. Of course, you also get the authors coming along saying in the comments "Don't you just love when [character] gets raped?" and encouraging it- again, again, I know, roleplay- who get mad when anyone says "Hey, that isn't cool."

Basically, there's something about rape fantasies that makes them a little bit different from even really gross other fantasies. You can talk about how much you love watching people eat poop off another person, and everyone else will think it's gross, but for the most part no one is going to feel threatened by that. You start talking about how much you love when [character] ignores [character]'s pleas to stop because you know he'll love it in the end, that's a social mindset that unfortunately in real life causes a lot of grief for a lot of people. I'm not saying people with rape fantasies aren't allowed to talk about them ever, I'm just saying that, of the fetishes, that's one that you need to be a bit more careful with swinging around, because it's something that really happens, in real life, to real people and with real consequences.

Oh, there's no doubt that there's a lot of jerks around internet, a lot of people with zero social skills and a lot of plain stupid people. Examples you mention are no doubt tactless fools who deserve the kind of judgement any tactless fool deserves, but no more than that.

I think, if there's a difference between rape fantasy comics and other creepy fetishes, it's that through codification in manga, they are now accepted in internet mainstream. There isn't a whole genre of comics about people eating poop off of other people, and if there was, I do think we'd be pulled back by many people saying things like "I love it when it's solid". And yet, no rape fantasy comic has reached the level of scorn and mockery that certain ghastrophilliac comics had, and you might argue that as far as fetishes go, this is one that's about as far from reality as possible.

It's weird that rape-themed fiction of all things has reached such level of acceptance (or at least resentful ignoring). Part of this is probably in peer mentality. I imagine that people who don't have taste for this kind of fantasy develop it when they are surrounded by people who like that sort of stuff. I personally would have liked if women in uniform webcomics were the new rape webcomics, but then again who asks me.

I'd be lying if I said that the fact that so many people get a kick out of such thing was not creepy. Yet the more I think, the more I can't find any trace of pathology here. Do they enjoy seeing people being hurt? Well they do, but then so do those who like Loony Tunes. Do they take actual social problem and turn it upside down for the sake of juvenile fantasies? Yes, but then so do people who like those war action movies. Do they enjoy a social injustice that is too close to home, too real?

Well, actually not. Rape fantasy comics are by rule very different from what rape might look like in real life. Take for instance, ahem, BL rape: in reality, there'd be slave-traders, fat western businessman, and the story would probably be happening in Thailand, in hardly imaginable poverty. By average, readers of rapey comics don't like to see any of that, not even if they're anthropomorphic animals.
All these comics follow ludicrous, cartoonish scenarios. Human relations are completely different. The need to have power over another human being, which as I understand is one of the major mothivations for rape in real life, is largely absent from these comics. They often have a happy ending, and often, noone is really hurt. To my mind, that signifies that people who read these comics don't get off on rape. Quite the contrary, that they enjoy these stories only if they're completely detached from reality and it's consequences, if they're cartoonish and only vaguely resembled it's "inspiration". They don't get off onstories where someone seriously suffered or was traumatized. It would be much more problematic if they got off on scenes of realistic graphical violence, like exploitation cinema fans did in 70ies.

It might be in the same ballpark, but the difference is that S&M is consensual, while rape, by definition, is not.

Reading comics with rape, however, certainly in consensual.
However while S&M is consensual, it's appeal actually comes from the fact that it does not appear consensual. The sadist part of the couple enjoys it because during the play, he feels the same kind of power over another human being that he would if the act was not consensual.
On the other hand, as I noted, it's important for a sadist to be conscious of the fact that the act is consensual. It's a fact that allows him ego to step back and let his id work, but it's also a fact that he represses during the roleplay.
As I said above, I think that, for a reader of a rape manga, it's very important that rape is represented as unrealistic and cartoonish as possible, even with a ludicrous happy ending tacked on. It's easy to see this as a trivialization of the crime, but to me it's a proof that readers are not, and indeed would not, get off on any actual rape, or realistic representation of it. They are simply enjoying pop-culture-coded scenarios that have long lost connection to reality that inspired them.

Sure, it's all fiction anyway, and escapist fiction at that, but it's even more out of touch than most escapist fantasies and it's making light of one of the worst crimes a human being can commit. Like Cuddly said, this is a subject that happens in real life with real, horrible consequences, and it's something that shouldn't be thrown around like it's just a cute thing that cartoon characters do.

Any given hollywood action movie is making light of the murder, which in my mind is a crime that's pretty much up there with rape. Most of war films are trivializing wars which, as we know, are the worst imaginable human tragedies. Blockbusters are often trivializing natural disasters in which thousands lose lives. Crime films are often trivializing crime by shoving it's participants into easy-to-understand black-and-white roles. Made for TV melodramas are trivializing family problems and disfunctions.
New Superman movie, as I've heard, has Superman causing about a few thousand deaths alone.
Apparently, most of entertainment trivializes some sort of social issues, often very serious issues that you'd think shouldn't be trivialized. I'm not saying it's good, but it's there and we often don't bat an eyelash about it.

And yeah, there are apparently people who like to roleplay rape scenarios in real life. I don't get that. Reminds me of this Louis C.K. bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za7jQ1s1BV0. Somehow I doubt anyone who's "into that shit" has ever been actually been raped.

One could also argue that people who complain about it the most weren't either.

And yeah, there are apparently people who like to roleplay rape scenarios in real life. I don't get that.

I get why people would want to roleplay scenarios that were forbidden to them in real life. Subconsciousness is a wild beast that wants to try everything. We function thanks to our consciousness' ability to reign this wild beast in, and it's consciousness that actually defines to which extent we are "normal", well-adjusted individuals.

[McDuffies]

Worst part is that some of those comics probably have more fans that any of mine ever did

I think it's obvious what you should introduce in your comic.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

I think in general you and I agree, but hey, if I can't make fun of creepy internet people to make myself feel better, who can I make fun of??

There isn't a whole genre of comics about people eating poop off of other people, and if there was, I do think we'd be pulled back by many people saying things like "I love it when it's solid".

I need to quote this because I laughed too hard to let it pass by.

Worst part is that some of those comics probably have more fans that any of mine ever did

From what I'm noticing people with these (can't think of a nice way to say weird) fetishes don't really care about quality.

I get a little bit of a feeling like that, too, schoob, but your second line explains everything really. If a person gets off on really graphic, dubiously consensual sex, and they find a low-effort comic that has that really graphic dubcon sex, they might choose to read it even though it's shite just because it's pleasurable for them.


I'll admit, sometimes I think to myself "Maybe you should just start putting fetish stuff in. Just start putting in stuff you think is sexy." Joseph Harper- Weak Legs, Strong Schlong, or Leon's First XXX-Mas?

[Sortelli]

really graphic dubcon sex

is that the nasty robot music kids are listening to these days I hate that stuff

edit: also holy shit I lost it at Leon's First XXX-mas

[Sortelli]

okay on the thread topic, I am absolutely thrilled with how using a tablet lets me make badly needed edits to pages as I am working on them:
http://sortelli.deviantart.com/art/Page ... -379714929

paper is deeeeaaaaad to meeeeee

[McDuffies]

I get a little bit of a feeling like that, too, schoob, but your second line explains everything really. If a person gets off on really graphic, dubiously consensual sex, and they find a low-effort comic that has that really graphic dubcon sex, they might choose to read it even though it's shite just because it's pleasurable for them.

I've also seen communities form around some very cruddy comics without sexual component and the only explanation I see is that people who make cruddy comics themselves feel that they should support other quality comics rather than good comics.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

edit: also holy shit I lost it at Leon's First XXX-mas

I'm partial to that one myself

I get a little bit of a feeling like that, too, schoob, but your second line explains everything really. If a person gets off on really graphic, dubiously consensual sex, and they find a low-effort comic that has that really graphic dubcon sex, they might choose to read it even though it's shite just because it's pleasurable for them.

I've also seen communities form around some very cruddy comics without sexual component and the only explanation I see is that people who make cruddy comics themselves feel that they should support other quality comics rather than good comics.

Interesting, kind of like the geeky kids all sitting at the same lunch table, because even if they don't like each other they feel a sense of obligation toward one another as outcasts?
The world of webcomics is a high school cafeteria where the popular kids do all the same nerdy shit the loser kids do, except they're dressed better.

[JSConner800]

I'd be lying if I said that the fact that so many people get a kick out of such thing was not creepy.

So here's where I'm gonna stop arguing with you, because we pretty much agree on the subject that we're arguing about, you just don't seem to approve of how I've expressed my opinion. That's fine. I didn't choose my words carefully at all. I don't think this is a great social evil and rapey comics must be censored in order to stem a tide of soon-to-be rapists from collectively leaving their computers and unleashing their deviant sexual urges on the world. It just creeps me the hell out, and all I meant was that I wouldn't want to be in Cuddly's position of choosing the "best" of the rapey BL comics on Smackjeeves. If the way I phrased this sounds offensive to people who are into those kinds of comics, then that's an unfortunate side-effect of my tunnel vision on this issue. I doubt that opinion is going to change any time soon, as I have a hard time equating Loony Tunes with rape comics, but then again, I grew up on the former, and should probably admit to never having read the latter, even after I began arguing against it. I probably should have done at least some research into what I was talking about, but I think I already covered the fact that I haven't been choosing my words carefully here.

Any given hollywood action movie is making light of the murder, which in my mind is a crime that's pretty much up there with rape. Most of war films are trivializing wars which, as we know, are the worst imaginable human tragedies. Blockbusters are often trivializing natural disasters in which thousands lose lives. Crime films are often trivializing crime by shoving it's participants into easy-to-understand black-and-white roles. Made for TV melodramas are trivializing family problems and disfunctions.
New Superman movie, as I've heard, has Superman causing about a few thousand deaths alone.
Apparently, most of entertainment trivializes some sort of social issues, often very serious issues that you'd think shouldn't be trivialized. I'm not saying it's good, but it's there and we often don't bat an eyelash about it.

While this is true to an extent, it really depends on what movies, TV shows, etc. we're talking about. People have been giving the latest Superman movie a lot of shit because of all the deaths he may have caused (I haven't seen it myself, so I can't comment personally). And while there are movies that make light of war, murder, and all that other good stuff, there are plenty who treat the subject with the gravity that it calls for. I'm not saying that it's okay to trivialize murder but not rape, and I'm definitely not saying anything that portrays rape is automatically trivializing it. I just think it's such a heavy topic that, like murder, it should be taken more seriously than these comics seem willing to do.

And believe me, I'm not saying that in a "these comics should conform to my exact opinions" kind of way, but in a "this is why I don't like or support these comics" kind of way. I don't expect my opinion on the subject to change anything, I just want to try and explain my beliefs rather than say "I hate this. Peace out."

One could also argue that people who complain about it the most weren't either.

One could argue that quite effectively, and use either me or Louis C.K. as fairly compelling evidence. That doesn't disqualify me from having an opinion on the subject, but it does heavily affect how seriously people should take my opinion.

I haven't watched the video, but it's not uncommon for people who have been raped/abused to develop a fetish around the concept in general. The difference being that, in the fantasy, they are obviously in control of the situation to at least a certain extent. I don't know the statistics but from my experiences talking to people, a lot of folks get involved in S&M because it allows them to work through a trauma and "take control" of the sexual aspect of their lives again. There's some people for whom vanilla sex is more difficult than S&M, and S&M lifestyle ends up actually being a doorway to committed, consensual, and caring relationships that allow them to feel comfortable with themselves sexually. (eventually sometimes working up to a relationship where they feel comfortable enough to have plain vanilla sex!)

Take this thing, for example. I didn't even know that. That's crazy. And it would make for a much more interesting comic if any of these rape comic artists bothered to put some effort into their work. But that would ruin the fantasy, and they would probably lose their disproportionately large reader base as a result. But I would be impressed! And that counts for something, right?
.
.
.
Who let those crickets in here?

Interesting, kind of like the geeky kids all sitting at the same lunch table, because even if they don't like each other they feel a sense of obligation toward one another as outcasts? The world of webcomics is a high school cafeteria where the popular kids do all the same nerdy shit the loser kids do, except they're dressed better.

Yeah, except apparently the loser kids are more popular than the well-dressed ones. Go figure.

[Komiyan]

okay on the thread topic, I am absolutely thrilled with how using a tablet lets me make badly needed edits to pages as I am working on them:
http://sortelli.deviantart.com/art/Page ... -379714929

paper is deeeeaaaaad to meeeeee

Same, I switched to full digital after getting one of these babies and I haven't looked back since. For speed, it just makes all the difference.

[Sortelli]

I struggled with a tablet for years. I mean, I owned one since before Elf Only Inn and just could. not. use. it. Even after starting No Scrying I was only using it purely to do shading. But then I finally had a breakthrough after redrawing a couple of panels on the fly and realized that I really could produce something decent looking start to finish.