Comic Creator Challenge

I have the feeling the Comic Challenge has slipped from people's minds to an extent, so I'm going to extend the deadline for Round 12 to the 14th of September. I won't be able to sort out publishing the updates before then anyway so I'd rather give people more of a chance to take part. As ever, email your entries to fyshbowlcomics(a)gmail.com.

I've had several entries for this round, which will be updated over the weekend.

While we wait for that, what theme are we interested in next? Ztoical mentioned the idea of being inspired by songs, which is a very good idea - I'd chiefly avoided it having seen the kerfuffle caused when the guy who does Sluggy Freelance incorporated the lyrics to a Pink Floyd song in his strip and then had to remove them. (The issue being that the lyrics to a song are considered the intellectual property of the band/song author, and thus should not be reproduced or used without permission, although some bands care more about this than others).

I thought of two possible versions of this - either a round of comics inspired by well-known songs (where the song name can be mentioned but the lyrics cannot be used) or a round of comics based on songs by unsigned bands (where the song name and lyrics can be used, though preferably with the permission of the band involved). I like the second option simply because each comic could be accompanied by a link to the unsigned band in question and thus expose people to new music that they might not otherwise hear about. But it's nowhere near as easy as the first version, plus comics inspired by better-known songs are probably easier to make...

So that's one option that will be used at some point. What other options are there? The recent announcement of the upcoming Marvel Noir series got me thinking, and the idea of reinventing well-known characters could be a possibility - an albeit risky one, since legally it can only be done if:
a) the character/s are public domain, or
b) the reinvention falls under the fair use/parody clause (and even then I don't think that flies very well outside the US, so that might be out).

Another possibility would be something like "What happened at point x?", based on films - essentially a comic-strip "deleted scene" for a film of your choice. Again, potentially awkward but also interesting.

We can also use very specific things - Cliodhna's GOAL anthology shows that with a good choice of title, you can get a lot of interpretations out of a single starting point. Suggestions for titles are always welcome

I'm wary of themes that are overly restrictive, and one thing that I think has become apparent over time is that the formal restrictions I'd initially wanted to play with don't really work as I'd hoped. I'd hoped that thematic restrictions like having a round of silent comics or requiring people to use a particular colour would encourage creativity, but it seems not to be the case.

Right, the latest round is online now. I'm thinking the next round will start in October, but given that there's quite a bit on in October (Free Irish Comic Day, 24 Hour Comic Day, etc) I'll leave Round 13 run until the end of November. No theme set yet, so post up suggestions and we'll pick one in the next few days...

Howdy gang, as I mentioned to one or two people at 24 Hour Comics Day, the next round of the challenge runs from the start of November to the end of December. It's a bit longer than usual but that's because the theme, by popular demand, is a song of your choice. The only rule? You can't use the lyrics in the piece. Let us know what song you've chosen and who it's by, but don't use the lyrics in the actual comic. Beyond that, make it as long or as short as you like.

On a separate note, I'd appreciate it if all future submissions were sent at 300dpi or higher. JPEG is still fine, although if you specifically want to use another image format knock yourself out.

Saruwatari wrote: »

So... say if I choose "The End" by The Doors, I'd have to base what's in my comic on the theme of "The End", and not what the song is about?

The comic should be inspired by the song, be that specifically the lyrics or just a general feeling you get from the song. The ban on using the lyrics (ie no dialogue lifted directly from the lyrics or caption boxes with the lyrics) is down to the dubious legality of doing so - I know of at least one webcomic artist who was contacted about his use of a high-profile band's lyrics in his comic and he ended up having to remove the lyrics from the relevant pages, so I'd rather avoid that issue.

Round 13's entries are now online!

Seven entries this time around, although not really since two of them were single-page "joke" entries of mine. That said, Alan Nolan and Philip Barrett both sent in comics as well as a newcomer by the name of James Newell, so all in all there's a lot to like this time around.

I'll start a thread in the next day or two for discussing the entries and giving feedback/constructive criticism. I'll also post up a CBR file containing all the comics for those who want to read them all in one go.