The Master List of Webcomic Cliches

[Sippan]

The guy who can create any form of sci-fi technology (lasers, teleporters, etc).
Not in MY comic!

Universities.
Not in MY comic!

Talking pets
Only once in a single panel in MY comic!

Megaman and Final Fantasy sprites.
Not in MY coomic!

Fourth wall (lack of).
I have not inhibited myself either with constantly breaking it or never breaking it. My characters are free to talk to the readers when they feel like it, so there. ...In MY comic!

Manga.
I guess I'll have to plead guilty to the charge of pretending I can draw manga sometimes.

Lesbianism
Not in MY comic, at least not where it's a big deal (actually, I haven't even told the readers about the sexual preferene of most of my characters, so for all you know maybe all the girls are lesbians. Or not.)

The big dumb guy who means well
Not in MY comic!

The nerd that by all rights should not have a date but woman literally fall over
Not in MY comic! (But definitely in my real life, after a s/nerd/male chauvinist pig.)

An evil villain that acts like a buffoon
Not in MY comic!

Celebrity cameos
Not in MY comic!

Big-breasted ladies with loose morals.
Not really in MY comic!

And anything "goth".
Not explicitly in MY comic!

Naked furrys instead of a good story.
Not in MY comic!

"At least it can't get any worse" followed by something worse (yes, I got peevee on that)
Not yet in MY comic!

Wacky college roommates.
Not in MY comic!

Smart and reasonable but very bad tempered female character.
Not in MY comic!

Gaming references.
Not in MY comic!

Amorous robots.
Not in MY comic!

Parodies of superheroes.
Not in MY comic!

Parallel dimensions and a multiverse taken as a matter of fact, even as a "given".
Actively not in MY comic!

Fanboy references to Trek, Star Wars, or Buffy.
Not exactly in MY comic! (There was one Star Trek reference, but it doesn't count because I've never watched Star Trek, I don't have access to any TV channels that show it. Although I admit that I would be a huge fanboy if I could ^.^ )

Self-depreciating humor about how bad your art is.
Plenty in MY comic!

Young girl/boy DESTINED to be a princess/prince that saves the world and gets a gooey romance with some hot person
Not in MY comic!

The token fanservice character
Only once in MY comic!

ELVES!! BLOODY ELVES!!
Not in MY comic!

Seems like Jesus pops up quite a bit.
Only during Easter in MY comic!

ROOM MATES
Not in MY comic!

Computer game players who become heroes or otherwise extremely important to the fate of the <insert here>
Almost in MY comic, but then it turned out the mysterious girl could have done it all by herself.

[Psiogen]

Don't forget: some combination of Ninjas, Pirates, Robots, Zombies, Jesus, Monkeys, and Hitler...such as the dreaded Zombie Pirate Ninja Robo-Monkey Jesus-Hitler.

[K-Dawg]

Don't forget: some combination of Ninjas, Pirates, Robots, Zombies, Jesus, Monkeys, and Hitler...such as the dreaded Zombie Pirate Ninja Robo-Monkey Jesus-Hitler.

*looks at comic*
My main character is a monkey, the next chapter has pirates, ninjas show up eventually, maybe a robot...but no jesus that's for sure.

[Mr Ekshin]

Parallel dimensions and a multiverse taken as a matter of fact, even as a "given".
Actively not in MY comic!

Waaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiit a minute!

Weren't they in a parallel dimension when they went into that guys belly button?

[Waf]

Ok here are the ones that people do that just make me die alittle inside cause it is done too often.

They always have that comic where a boy and a girl go in a room. Then another guy passes by and hears them say things like "Oh god thats so good" "Oh it is so big" But then it turns out they were just painting them room or some other senseless thing.

Also the famous, I promise next monday to have the main hot girl character not wearing clothes in the comic. Then Monday rolls around and she is wearing a towel and the artist has some long newspost about how he is so clever yet everyone knew he was bluffing from the start.

If your going to use sex appeal in your comic do what Ghastly does and actually do it instead of insult all of our intelligents.

[Soap Soaperson]

I just thought of another one:

In a manga/anime-styled webcomic (written in English), the characters' speech sometimes RANDOMLY includes Japanese phrases, and sometimes even Japanese symbols for sound effects. Dang otakus.

[JPSloan]

Satire that isn't funny.

[War]

The guy who can create any form of sci-fi technology (lasers, teleporters, etc).
Well, yes, but he'll had many millenia to perfect his abilities.

Universities.
It got mentioned once, then promptly forgotten about.

Talking pets
No.

Megaman and Final Fantasy sprites.
Definitely no.

Fourth wall (lack of).
The fourth wall has technically never been broken. It's hard to tell because the main character is me, but the times I've addressed the audience have been as the artist, not the character.

Manga.
No.

Lesbianism
There might be, but there's very little sexual content in DW.

The big dumb guy who means well
Matt. But he's real, I don't have to make the stuff he does up (for those that are interested, he's doing a degree in astrophysics)

The nerd that by all rights should not have a date but woman literally fall over
Nope.

An evil villain that acts like a buffoon
Nope.

Celebrity cameos
Nope, just keenspace artists .

Big-breasted ladies with loose morals.
Well, I suppose my breasts are a tad big.

And anything "goth".
Nope.

Naked furrys instead of a good story.
No furries in DW.

"At least it can't get any worse" followed by something worse (yes, I got peevee on that)
Nope.

Wacky college roommates.
Sort of, but since I only mentioned university once or twice and they haven't been in their house for the last 18 months I guess that'll be a no.

Smart and reasonable but very bad tempered female character.
Not really.

Gaming references.
Nope.

Amorous robots.
No, but there are lots of robots.

Parodies of superheroes.
Nope.

Parallel dimensions and a multiverse taken as a matter of fact, even as a "given".
Well, DW operates on the snapshot theory of time. It's a system that allows free will and the ability to travel back and forth in time, but means you cannot affect your own timeline. This gives you infinite possibilities. I plan on expanding. A lot.

Fanboy references to Trek, Star Wars, or Buffy.
Nope.

Self-depreciating humor about how bad your art is.
Once.

Young girl/boy DESTINED to be a princess/prince that saves the world and gets a gooey romance with some hot person
Nope.

The token fanservice character
Not really.

ELVES!! BLOODY ELVES!!
Nope.

Seems like Jesus pops up quite a bit.
Nope, DW exists in a universe of pure science (yes, there are religions, but they're all wrong). There are no souls, life is a finite thing with a definite start and end (yes, I based DW on my beliefs).

ROOM MATES
Sort of.

Computer game players who become heroes or otherwise extremely important to the fate of the <insert here>
Nope.

[Alschroeder]

Oh, I know.
Megatokyo-inspired talk.
Sw33tness.
Pow3r.
Relax, we understand j00.
That kind of geekiness.---Al

[Mr.Bob]

My favourite one from the entire list:

- Joel Fagin

[Grayswandir]

lets see...what does my comic have...

Smart and reasonable female character with bad temper
Hell yes.

Fourth wall breaching
Not yet, but planned.

Manga
Mainly just the facial expressions.

Talking Pets
If you could call a chauvanistic, psychotic, cockroach armed with a full-sized 9mm handgun a pet, then yes.

Gaming references
So far only once, the "player has been splatter, shredded, and burnt all at once" kind of thing you see in first-person-shooters.

Roommates
Harry, May, and The Cockroach

Parodies
Well, there will be. A bunch of the villians will probably be parodies of your various stereotypical extreme fanatic of something. For example, currently Harry and May are after this anime fanatic who's snapped and taken over the local TV station because his favorite show was canceled. He is now showing the same show over and over again over all channels.

Sterotypes
See above.

[McDuffies]

Ok here are the ones that people do that just make me die alittle inside cause it is done too often.

They always have that comic where a boy and a girl go in a room. Then another guy passes by and hears them say things like "Oh god thats so good" "Oh it is so big" But then it turns out they were just painting them room or some other senseless thing.

Also the famous, I promise next monday to have the main hot girl character not wearing clothes in the comic. Then Monday rolls around and she is wearing a towel and the artist has some long newspost about how he is so clever yet everyone knew he was bluffing from the start.

If your going to use sex appeal in your comic do what Ghastly does and actually do it instead of insult all of our intelligents.

Hehehe, jackpot. I think those cannot be done well anymore.
*remembers his fanart for Bob* ...Uh... well maybe if it's very clever...

[Mr.Bob]

The exception makes the rule McDuffies! Always remember that!

[Toxic]

Parodies of superheroes.

Mine is a satire.




The guy who can create any form of sci-fi technology (lasers, teleporters, etc). Umm...yes

Universities.
No.

Talking pets
No.

Megaman and Final Fantasy sprites.
No.

Fourth wall (lack of).
...maybe...no...

Manga.
No.

Lesbianism
Gay male?

The big dumb guy who means well
No.

The nerd that by all rights should not have a date but woman literally fall over
No.

An evil villain that acts like a buffoon
Sort of...he's flamboyant.

Celebrity cameos
Rarely.

Big-breasted ladies with loose morals.
Big breasted men.

And anything "goth".
Rarely.

Naked furrys instead of a good story.
No.

"At least it can't get any worse" followed by something worse (yes, I got peevee on that)
Yes.

Wacky college roommates.
No.

Smart and reasonable but very bad tempered female character.
Yes.

Gaming references.
No.

Amorous robots.
Yes.

Parodies of superheroes.
I'm guilty.

Parallel dimensions and a multiverse taken as a matter of fact, even as a "given".
I've got my next storyline.

Fanboy references to Trek, Star Wars, or Buffy.
No.

Self-depreciating humor about how bad your art is.
Yeah...

Young girl/boy DESTINED to be a princess/prince that saves the world and gets a gooey romance with some hot person
No.

The token fanservice character
No.

ELVES!! BLOODY ELVES!!
No.

Seems like Jesus pops up quite a bit.
Sort of...

ROOM MATES
Sort of...

Computer game players who become heroes or otherwise extremely important to the fate of the <insert here>
No.

[Jim North]

- Highly intelligent sarcastic character surrounded by idiots.
- Characters who wear sunglasses all the time, so you never see their eyes.
- Ultra-violent female characters.
- Complete psycho weirdos.
- Dullard idiot characters who yell stuff like "MONKEYS!" and "PIE!" for no reason.
- Shy characters who rarely, if ever, speak, but gradually come out of their shell more and more as the story goes along.
- Super-hot babe that the main male characters have no chance of scoring with, yet they still try despite the fact that she treats them like dirt.
- Archnemesis. Does everyone really have to have an archnemesis? Can't they just have regular nemeses?

[Grayswandir]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the "Complete Psycho Weirdos" category...
I have about ten of them who will appear in my comic....and all of them are based off of real people...now thats scary...

[McDuffies]

The exception makes the rule McDuffies! Always remember that!

Maybe because that joke wasn't even intended to be there. It was at the end of writing that page that I realised that such joke would fit perfectly.

[RLC Davidson]

Y'know, nobody's mentioned the "dark and mysterious past" and "amnesia" cliches. As for the psycho character, yep. At least for now....

[Vorticus]

The guy who can create any form of sci-fi technology (lasers, teleporters, etc).
No.

Universities.
No.

Talking pets
No.

Megaman and Final Fantasy sprites.
No. I do my own sprites thank you.

Fourth wall (lack of).
No

Manga.
No.

Lesbianism
No, only females have been minor characters

The big dumb guy who means well
No.

The nerd that by all rights should not have a date but woman literally fall over
No.

An evil villain that acts like a buffoon
I have semi competant villains, but I'm not sure if they're evil or just greedy.

Celebrity cameos
No.

Big-breasted ladies with loose morals.
No. See Lesbianism.

And anything "goth".
None.

Naked furrys instead of a good story.
No.

"At least it can't get any worse" followed by something worse (yes, I got peevee on that)
A few times.

Wacky college roommates.
No.

Smart and reasonable but very bad tempered female character.
No. See Lesbianism.

Gaming references.
No.

Amorous robots.
No. Really easy because its a fantasy setting

Parodies of superheroes.
No.

Parallel dimensions and a multiverse taken as a matter of fact, even as a "given".
No.

Fanboy references to Trek, Star Wars, or Buffy.
No.

Self-depreciating humor about how bad your art is.
No.

Young girl/boy DESTINED to be a princess/prince that saves the world and gets a gooey romance with some hot person
No.

The token fanservice character
No.

ELVES!! BLOODY ELVES!!
Once, sort of.

Seems like Jesus pops up quite a bit.
No.

ROOM MATES
Hard to say, there's more than one of them and they live together in a huge castle.

Computer game players who become heroes or otherwise extremely important to the fate of the <insert here>
No.

Dark and Mysterious Past
I don't give much back story.

Amnesia
No.

Psycho Character
No one has totally flipped their lid, but many of them are silly at times.

Highly intelligent sarcastic character surrounded by idiots.
A few of the characters are obviously more intelligent than others, but none of them are very sarcastic.

Characters who wear sunglasses all the time, so you never see their eyes.
No.

Dullard idiot characters who yell stuff like "MONKEYS!" and "PIE!" for no reason.
No.

Ultra-violent female characters.
No. See all responses regarding female characters.

Shy characters who rarely, if ever, speak, but gradually come out of their shell more and more as the story goes along.
Nope. All my characters are extroverts to begin with.

Super-hot babe that the main male characters have no chance of scoring with, yet they still try despite the fact that she treats them like dirt.
No. See all responses regarding female characters.

Archnemesis.
No.

Which goes to show that you won't get any respect if you do a sprite comic, regardless of how many cliches you avoid.

[Asarea]

The guy who can create any form of sci-fi technology (lasers, teleporters, etc).
Errrr ..sort of. Both main characters manufacture their weapons. But only weapons ...

Universities.
No. Never! Its enough I have to go there every day.

Talking pets
No.

Megaman and Final Fantasy sprites.
No.

Fourth wall (lack of).
Huh? My dictionary don't gives me any sense with this term ... please explain this meaning.

Manga.
No.

Lesbianism
No.

The big dumb guy who means well
No.

The nerd that by all rights should not have a date but woman literally fall over
No. Buah.

An evil villain that acts like a buffoon
No. My evil villain is a smart bad boy.

Celebrity cameos
Does Lord W00t count as celebrity?

Big-breasted ladies with loose morals.
No.

And anything "goth".
No. Never.

Naked furrys instead of a good story.
GAH! No.

"At least it can't get any worse" followed by something worse (yes, I got peevee on that)
No.

Wacky college roommates.
No. See 'university'

Smart and reasonable but very bad tempered female character.
No. My main character is a calm one.

Gaming references.
No.

Amorous robots.
No. In a Star Wars setting that's impossible.

Parodies of superheroes.
No.

Parallel dimensions and a multiverse taken as a matter of fact, even as a "given".
No.

Fanboy references to Trek, Star Wars, or Buffy.
Well .. Star Wars setting. But no 'fanboy' clich