TWCL

[4LS]

So, my Mum's significantly better at publicizing my comic in real life than I am (mainly because she can be all proud and complimentary about it, whereas I find it quite difficult to actually say 'READ MY COMIC IT'S AMAZING' to people, without feeling like a dickhead). Obviously she likes to pass on the comments she gets back, and apparently last week one of the guys at work came up to her and said:

'Your daughter's imagination is very weird' (pause) 'You're not like that, are you?'

Which made us both laugh a fair bit ... don't know exactly what disturbed him - possibly the dead golem in the car ...

Anyway, I was wondering if you guys have had any interesting stories of face-to-face comments from people who've come across your comic? Say, maybe it wasn't quite what they were expecting from you .... ?
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[natephoenix]

I actually have a little story that made me chuckle and/or made my day.

My fiancee decided that she was gonna sell her laptop and put the money towards a desktop PC. Her Laptop's background image was one of my webcomics main characters, Jazz and Jess.

So we take it up to the Computer Exchange Centre here in Exeter (I don't know if it's a chain or not, so i'll explain: You can take in laptops, DVD's, CD's, Games, etc etc, and they'll trade you store credit or cash for it).

Anyways, this little californian guy behind the counter opens up the laptop and fires it up to check that it works and all that. He sees the desktop background and starts flipping out.

"Oh my gawd, you read Jazz and Jess too?! I love that comic!"

So I thanked him and explained that it was actually me who created it, and he went on to tell me that apparently he posted several pages on 4chan, who seemed to like it, so he says "BTW, Anonymous likes your comic, dude."

And that was the day I met someone IRL, who wasn't a friend or a relative, that actually read my comic and liked it.

The end.
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www.JazzandJess.com <---May contain Boobies and Zombies.

[Sylvia]

4LS wrote:

So, my Mum's significantly better at publicizing my comic in real life than I am (mainly because she can be all proud and complimentary about it, whereas I find it quite difficult to actually say 'READ MY COMIC IT'S AMAZING' to people, without feeling like a dickhead).

Haha that's true about my mom too. She bought most of the comic books I've sold to give to her friends for Christmas!
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[katastrophe]

Not about the comic per se, but when I wrote my first novel at twenty I was still suffering under the illusion that Good = Serious and also probably Full Of Blood. I joined an online crit circle, as one does, and got some good advice, and made some good friends. A year later I had the chance to meet the best of those friends in real life. I was sitting in a breakfast place somewhere in London babbling about baby animals* and Shakespeare and statuary and my fascination with the London Underground and being the bubbly blonde that I pretty much am when I realized my friend was staring across the table in bemusement.

"Kat," he said, "are you absolutely sure you wrote that novel?"

I still find this incredibly funny.



* In my defense, that part was totally work-related.
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[ewomack]

I've had more than a few face-to-face comments, obviously mostly from friends, but I really like it when friends of friends or dating partners of friends say something... it seems more genuine... one friend of mine says he actually posts my comics at his workplace and gets quite a few comments from others. He said someone once shouted "who's posting the Get Milked stuff?"

Another time I went to dinner with a friend and his wife and she started talking about amniotic fluid bubble bath and kept looking at me... it took me a while to realize that she was referring to one of my comics and she finally said so...

Another former co-worker after seeing my site said he didn't know if I would become famous or infamous but he's putting his money on infamous...

I've had more, but I can't remember them right now...

As for my parents... I don't think they've ever even seen my site... if they have they've never mentioned it... I don't think they would appreciate it anyway...
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Ed Womack

[smbhax.com]

These are good stories. :) I can't think of anything particularly amusing I've heard from people about my own stuff, blah.
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[4LS]

natephoenix wrote:

And that was the day I met someone IRL, who wasn't a friend or a relative, that actually read my comic and liked it.

Embarrassingly enough, I occasionally daydream about this happening, but I've always assumed it was ridiculously unlikely. You've given me hope!

katastrophe wrote:

"Kat," he said, "are you absolutely sure you wrote that novel?"

HA HA HA! Brilliant.
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[Dutch]

My sister occasionally reads one every now and then, but other than that, no one I actually know in person really reads the strip, and only a few look at it every now and then.

And by every now and then I mean once or twice a year, maybe?

Even the bloke who created it with me at the start only reads it occasionally at the end of a year or so when he comes for a visit and I get around to sitting him down. We forgot to do that the other week, actually.



So... no. I have very few stories of this sort.

Yeah... I can't even get my family to read School Spirit.
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[Snotnarok]

I don't hear many comments in general as I'm still trying to get word out about my series however, one comment I'll probably always remember from my friend, who came over one day and said to me:
"Hey I hadn't checked your comic today and, dude did Neige use PEOPLE as a break? She...slowed herself, with people! ..That was ...wow"

Me not being terribly great at replying to complements just laughed because it was a funny reaction and it really came out of nowhere.
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[dlmx-13]

The best one I ever had was a few months ago. Someone came into the comic store where I work and during the course of our conversation they said they loved These Days, my old old webcomic from 2004. I couldn't believe ANYONE remembered that comic, let alone a person in real life!

[Koad]

My mother-in-law told me a bunch of old ladies from her church follow my comic. For awhile that made me extra conscious of content that's violent or sexual in any way. Got over it eventually though... I think...
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[Bernardery]

On multiple occasions friends have told me that my comic makes me look like a jerk. Turns out they thought the ginger character was supposed to be self-insertion.
I guess all gingers look the same to them.
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[Snotnarok]

Koad wrote:

My mother-in-law told me a bunch of old ladies from her church follow my comic. For awhile that made me extra conscious of content that's violent or sexual in any way. Got over it eventually though... I think...

Now that's funny, that'd make going to church awkward haha.
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[TralltNoodle]

Haha oh yes, IRL is part of the fun of webcomics, isn't it? A group of my students found out about my comic and got really into it. I never really discussed the comic with them, in fact I kind of tried to keep it on down low since I do work at a school, and the comic has some adult themes, swears, and dark humor. Not that it isn't anything they haven't seen/read, but still. They found it through some artwork on my Deviantart accounts.

Luckily, the school I work at is a very liberal performing arts institution, and my comic isn't any more "inappropriate" than half the books in the curriculum. I'm not too concerned about other teachers finding out about it, it was just a little weird knowing my students read it. Several students really got into the comic. One of them came up to me and showed me really cute pictures of my characters in her sketchbook. Two others cosplayed as my characters on Halloween. All in all, I was honored they liked it that much, and now I'm happy I have such devoted readers.

[Dutch]

Aw, I suppose I can mention the same sort of stuff. Kids in my grades used to draw their own versions of the characters and some of the events in the strip, but I sort of assisted that because I had some printed copies of the strip in plastic pocket books for them to read during silent reading.

A few staff know I do this, and one or two look at it every now and then, but I also don't tend to mention it much while I'm working.
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