30 – If I were a God
In case anyone was curious, their college is in Michigan. The water they’re looking at is Lake Huron.
Forgive me if the style’s a little bit inconsistent for this one. I was trying out some brushes and different shading. I kind of wanted an excuse to try new things, and also to DRAW SOME MOTHERFUCKING ORCA WHALES FUCK YEAH.
ORCAS ARE LIKE THE ABSOLUTE BEST THEY ARE SMART AS SHIT AND DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT NOTHING.
Anyone who doesn’t fucking love orca whales is probably a piece of shit.
this is the strip that got me into this comic! its such a cool idea, and ive never heard it before. ^^ thanks for .. uh, posting this on imgur i guess? because now i have an entirely new god-theory to daydream about 😀
I really like this story, this chapter in particular since I thought about that exact thing before, really amazing to see someone that the same idea/random thought as I
This comic reminded me of an outstanding short story called “The Egg” it’ll come up first if you Google it. I think it’s by Andy Weir. About a 5 minute read.
Just thought I would drop a line, for two things.
One, really like the comic. Found it a while back, lost it accidentally when I lost allllll of my open tabs, and found it again recently.
Two, there’s another webcomic I read that this reminded me of, because in the setting of that comic? God actually WAS bored and lonely, and split into 777,777 pieces, each making an entire world in their multi-verse. They’ve got some seriously well planned-out world building over at “Kill Six Billion Demons,” and I recommend it. http://killsixbilliondemons.com/
I love these comics so much! You should totally do some stories with the characters- I know, I know, then you’d need context and you could no longer use them as “just gags”, but there’s already a setting and characters and it would be so easy to just make them into something more.. not necessarily something more serious, but it would be so cool to have little stories with actual plot. The day Kaia and Aiden met. The first fight between Kaia and Aidens friends. There’s some stuff like that, but not much and it’s so short. Not that I don’t like the concept of these short joke comics, but to me the characters have enough depth for actual story lines and I think you should use that! Anyway, love your work!
They’re both from a book I’m writing. 😛
The comics were kind of an accident – I drew a few to try out my tablet and uploaded them to imgur, and then they did well, so I made the site.
The book is, in fact, about how they meet and become friends. 😛
Thanks very much for your kind words!
THERE’S A BOOK. <3 -Where do I get it?
It’s not out yet, haha. I’m still in the process of editing it. I’ll post here whenever I get it sorted, though!
Is it a physical book? Id buy it.
If I could I would post a “take my money” gif and a Stephen Colbert grabby hands gif. I have a great need for this book.
Just finished rushing through the first thirty comics and checking out the other buttons!
The third friend who keeps appearing, is she going to get added to the character page? Is she just a convenient npc who can glomp Kaia without being punished? XD
I’ll probably add her soon. She’s more than a convenient NPC – she’s a friend of theirs, and in the books she has her own story intertwined with theirs.
Well I might be a bit harsh here, but I have some criticism.
(Originally wanted to write some on Imgur, but it has a comment limit and I like to go into details.)
As someone who reads a lot of webcomics I noticed quite a few problems with this one.
Starting with the biggest: The basic plot of a dumb guy-cynical girl is a really tired and overused trope/cliché. I seen it everywhere (from films to animation) and there is really few things new that can be done with the concept for a gag comic.
You are going to run/burn out really quickly (I’m saying this from similar experience), or if not than the inevitable comparisons and links to other webcomics that “done this joke before” will pop-up (and they will, it’s just a matter of time.)
And since it’s not obvious what relationship the main characters are, the “Will They or Won’t They” is also an overused trope.
What also help the “burning out” is your too much reliance on toilet humor & sex jokes. They going to get old and forced pretty fast. Like “Cyanide & Happiness” old, not the Oglaf kind.
What if there is someone who doesn’t find it funny, or only find it funny in certain context… Well sh*t, now 90% of your content “doesn’t work” and that’s pretty bad for a “gag comic”. A potential reader lost. You might be thinking “Well this is not for them anyway” but moving on…
These characters currently have little to no personalities. I know this is only a few comics in, but some sort of connection should be already forming. First impressions are especially important for webcomics for it to retain readers and this one hasn’t convinced me.
What do we have?
A guy who is a lovable “Too Dumb to Live” idiot, who makes inappropriate jokes, but you can’t really hate him even if he gets the short end of the stick sometimes. And we have a girl who is cynical, doesn’t buy into bullcrap, and just wants to do her job, but secretly has an emotional side.
Yep, that’s the cast of “VGcats” alright … I mean early “Ctrl+Alt+Del” Ethan-Lilah … oh I meant Two guys & Guy… Elan and Haley? … Fry and Leela?
And I can put these descriptions on a lot of other similar couples.
This is why I found it weird that you have these sudden sentimental comics (like #10 and #20). They are strong character development tools that I personally enjoy, but this early and with this shallow characters this is just fluff and no substance. I have no connection with Kaia! Her sentimental moments don’t mean anything to me!
And notice how in my “similar pairs” above, the good examples have other traits that help identifying them. Better backstories, more human traits, etc. Kaia is just “pissed from birth” as far as I can tell, and that’s too absurd for a slice-of-life type of comic. If she “has her reasons” I’m not really interested in it anymore, since the character is too shallow and petty anyway, it’s hard to sympathize with her. With characters like Cartman or Mr. Burns this “always an a-hole” works, because of the nature of the show. Here it doesn’t.
Overall, the comic has little focus & vision. It has zero personality. Firstly, you need to flesh out these characters a lot more, give them better personalities than “Adam Sandler caricature” & “Ramona Flowers wannabe”. Then you have to decide what you want to do with them, since I highly doubt your original vision for this was to be a “dime a dozen” webcomic (and Dog forbid landing it on the Bad Webcomic Wiki).
Do you want it to be a gag comic? (hard to do with this setup) A proper slice-of-life? Drama? Continuing adventures?
Or are you going to just f*** around with it? The “see what sticks” with a may-or-may-not-done-script in the drawer?
(I mean let me tell you: College Roomies from Hell, Looking for Group, Two guys & Guy are NOT the comics that should be looked up for inspiration and storyline progressions. They are prime examples of the latter case.)
I can only “rough guess” at what your inspirations for this comic were, but I still recommend you broadening your horizons a bit.
If you figure these outs than maybe it will have a chance on the internet. Otherwise I’m afraid it will quickly fade into obscurity; I mean “Imgur frontpages” can only work for so long, they “won’t gonna buy it” at one point.
Sorry if I was a bit harsh, but hopefully my criticism was constructive enough to be taken into your consideration. I’m not one of the “Great job there buddy” type of commenter, especially if the content has major flaws.
In my opinion, all artists need a reality check from time to time for them to evolve. And I want your comic to do well, but a webcomic without an identity on today’s internet is never going to cut it. If a meager number of followers and the knowledge that “you get some practice” is all you want, than that’s also perfectly fine and valid, but if you ever want it big you need to improve, learn and sacrifice in order to get there.
I have to completely disagree with what was just said. The criticism is beyond harsh, and just because you don’t like certain tropes does not mean they are bad. As for the topic of personality, I find there to be a fair amount for the number of comics that have been released so far.
I never said tropes are bad, I’m well aware that tropes are tools.
What I tried to point to is that these tropes are used in the straightest, “color by number” way which makes it boring and predictable.
There is nothing “challenging” about their personalities, so of course this makes them easily relatable: We have seen it before, countless times. It’s a stock character.
And even by “idiot standards” Aiden is too dumb and childish. He is like a human Spongebob with poop jokes. No real person would act like him, yet alone get into college! (and I seen my fair share of idiots in college.)
Hmm… Is it necessarily bad that there are comics like this everywhere? I mean… in music industry there is also plenty of artists under specific genre that sound repetetive and just like one another, yet they are still famous and people enjoy their craft.
My point is, just because the idea has been here before, doesn’t mean it has to be bad/not good enough to become big. I think this comic has much potential.
On the other hand, I don’t know much about webcomics and I’m pretty much new to the whole thing, and the reason I’m trying to defend it may be that I like it very much, so my arguments may not be that valid.
With all due respect, Dave, the comic is still young. Even if I agreed with your points, there is no point in criticizing something that has yet to come into it’s own.
I’m in the mindset that it’s better to not be lead astray early, than to head into a dead-end with full confidence.
Granted, I’m not easy to please, but I’m also not against the artist. I just generally seen other webcomic artists (who I’ll not name) that got caught up in the social media/image-site fame, than failed to deliver afterwards, because of lack of ideas, or stress, or personal problems, or the combination of these. It seldom works.
Got a lot of praise from others, so I told why I don’t like it, from my experience. It’s simple as that. My words aren’t “final judgments” or “unquestionable trusts” or other nonsense, it’s my simply my opinion.
Put something down the table, it will get critiqued. I would expect the same. I learn from someone pointing out the mistakes, not from what a great job I did.
And yes, generally it’s better to “have loved and lost…” but it’s also better to “learn from history” and “learn from others mistakes” and these mistakes have been done before. So learn from us and learn from them.
Even if the whole “dumb guy and cynical girl” trope is invoked in this, I would have to challenge your claim that its used in this comic flatly and predictably.
The characters are the most realistic characters I’ve ever encountered in a while. It’s not just “the guy is dumb” but that he does, in fact, have deep philosophical thought. And randomness, but that doesn’t mean that the idea should be overlooked. While there is always a joke at the end to play at the whole “he is dumb” thing, it’s still striking that many of his ideas are, past the humor, really thought provoking. I respect that.
You can’t call either of the characters underdeveloped, as the comic has just started out. There have been a few already detailing a bit of backstory; let the artist grow into their medium more until they are ready to give more of it.
Your criticism of Kaia is partly based on your opinion alone. “What makes a good character” varies from person to person and the medium and type of story itself, and if you can’t empathize with Kaia’s “emotional moments”, then that is based on your own opinion. If you think a perfect character is one with plenty of backstory into how they became who they are in the present, then that is your own opinion.
Also, the dynamic between the two opposite characters is what makes the trope work. The individuals may be fleshed out minimally, but it is what they create together with their own interactions that is the highlight of this comic. They compliment each other and get along, despite the fact that they have nothing in common being a good reason why they shouldn’t.
Right now, I feel as if the comic is new and is of a comedic genre that touches into deep things and fluff. It’s…quite enjoyable, like a breath of fresh air. There are plenty of stories and comics out there where there are no flashbacks or explanations to as why the characters are who they are- some can go without them and still be completely fine, like ones of this genre. It is in the hands of the artist on where they would want to go with how deep and far her backstory will go, and whatever they decide is staying true to themselves, and that to me is the most important thing for a story. The writers should be true to themselves, and not pressure themselves into forcing their characters to be a certain way because it is how to be “successful”.
If they want the comic to take a direction of staying how it is now; one-shots, “no direction” as you would call it, then I say they go for it. There are plenty of comics out there that have one shots that never tire or grow old, where each one is of the same quality as the last. It is possible, and to put someone down for following such a path and not the “successful” one is based on opinion alone.
A comic can have “no personality”, as you would put it, and still be successful because its no personality IS its personality. I get that you want to help the comic, and I do to, but trying to force it into something that may not be in the creator’s own idea for it will end up ruining it as well. Your review had very neutral language, and did have valid points. I do applaud you for that- I’m sorry if my own review of your review sounded aggressive, because I don’t mean it like that. Reviewers that don’t flame and actually offer good criticism are rare, and it’s clear that you know what you are talking about.
It’s just a really late night where I am and I felt that I could offer some input myself. Maybe I’m too drunk on sleep deprivation to have a clear, rational mind right now, so you can disregard anything that doesn’t make sense in my ramblings above. I respect you for what you’re doing, and I don’t mean any offense in typing this entire thing.
To the creator: being able to read and take parts of constructive criticism to heart without feeling insulted is one of the best traits one can have. I don’t know you, but I do know that you are the creator of something wonderful, and so I’m pretty sure you know this, but just be yourself with all of this. It’s something that is yours, first and foremost, and while you should listen to and draw inspiration and plans off suggestions, never let it stifle who you are and what you want with this.
“Maybe I’m too drunk on sleep deprivation to have a clear, rational mind right now” – Well considering what you wrote is in a large part “Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like your opinion man.” (The Big Lebowski) I can tell 😀 But no hard feelings.
So the things I expand upon – from what you said – is that I still think Aiden is not philosophical, and the complete opposite of a “breath of fresh air”. I can give any dumb character in media some smart thoughts, but that just make them a mouthpiece and not a genuine character trait. There is a thin line between a “smart character always acting dumb” and a “dumb character given smart thoughts for sympathy points” and IMO this is still the latter than the former case.
What is the thin line? For example: Respect. Here Aiden gets shot down immediately, and one can argue it’s “played for laughs” and because he ended with a stupid afterthought, but not even his initial thoughts were “agreed upon”, no comment nor change of facial expression, nothing. I can’t “imagine it” if it’s not shown (“Show, don’t tell”). The beat panel at the end only tells me that Kaia is thinking of a comeback/retort rather than what he said. He could have read it from a paper, or talk about today’s weather and the joke would have been the same. From a character that constantly talks about his “shit” out loud, this sudden wisdom comes as insincere and doesn’t feel like his own thoughts at all, which is why I said fluff. It’s early signs of character discrepancy.
And I “want a backstory” because it’s part of the character, even if it’s brief. It’s necessary for this type of setting. I don’t care about Tom & Jerry’s backstory, because they have base traits that stand on their own and the medium doesn’t require it, but I need *some* backstory to Rick Sanchez and why is he an a-hole, because otherwise he is just shallow and unlikeable, who only cares out of personal interest. Even the “implication of a backstory” is fine, just to let the audience know that “No, this character is not just a copy of Wednesday Addams” I don’t get this implication from Kaia, nor that Aiden is secretly smart (especially that his backstory currently always shows him being dumb from the start)
I dismissed backstories and these sort of things when I was younger, but not anymore. Stock (protagonist) characters without strong personalities are “replaceable”. Easily relatable? Sure – by the nature of them being an archetype – but also not memorable in any way.
I can be sympathetic to a generally mean character – even if it wouldn’t make sense in real life – if he is given a reason why, and if he/she shows genuine care. That’s the strength of “fiction”. As they say: “You won’t get brownie points for being a decent human being.”
Character-plot coherence is also important. It differentiates between: “Are these characters exists for the jokes only?” – in which case it’s a gag comic – and “Do these characters have a story or storyline?” – than it’s a slice-of-life or graphic novel.
But okay, you don’t need to feel like you need to defend these characters. Maybe I seen much more of their type, who knows. But if they are the protagonists they should stand a bit more on their own.
I saw your work on imgur before and was very happy to find you again! Thank you for your awesome comic, you have a wonderfully silly sense of humor and very beautiful philosophy.
Orca Whales are the heroes we deserve, but not the ones we need right now. So so hunt them. Because they can take it. Because they’re not our hero. They’re a silent guardian. A watchful protection. A dark knight.
Sounds like something Alan Watts might say, e.g. https://youtu.be/eotyc1OSROc
Awesome, what a profound thought. I agree with this, and I think there are some really good reasons to- this video has a compelling take on the subject: “Who experiences your life?” https://youtu.be/XhvUyeUeSdo
Indeed – that video’s very similar to the way I personally like to imagine existence. I don’t necessarily believe the way Aiden explains it as being a conscious decision by a God (though I find that idea interesting), but I do tend to gravitate toward the idea that consciousness is one entity, and that individual living things are just a “lens.”
The longer you think about brains and consciousness, the more the lines seem to blur in terms of what separates one person from another.