My Webcomic - Band of Misfits

[fantomx11]

It's about a squad of marines in a sci-fi setting. I update twice a week (tuesday and thursday), and have been releasing since September 1st. For those of you who are bad at math, that means I have 11 episodes released now, with a few more in the buffer.

The main plot hasn't kicked in yet so it's mostly only gags so far, but I'd love to hear any criticisms. I have trouble taking the criticisms (or rather the general lack thereof) that my friends and family have given since I don't believe they are totally unbiased.

It can be found here (http://www.fantomx11.com/bandofmisfits/).

Thanks

[PhantomFox]

First off, I'd put the current comic on your front page, as well as a link to the first comic so one doesn't have to go hunting for it.

However, I must mention the most glaring issue....
Quit using copy/paste!

Seriously, it's very glaring and makes it look like you're putting no effort into this at all. A vast portion of your panels are identical except for dialogue. The human characters are drawn exactly the same, but with different styles of hair, except for one case where you added circles to her chest to indicate boobs. There are NO facial expressions at all, not even open mouths when talking, and I can count the number of different poses on one hand. Added together, it's creates the comic equivalent of putting on a puppet show by waving around action figures on a stage.

The jokes are a bit stale. A few of them are okay, but get buried in the sub-par expressionless telling. The rest are rather cliche (explosion happy demo expert, pronoun confusion, really bad puns, and 'leet' droid name translations)

The art itself if decent, if simplistic, but the total lack of effort reminds some bad sprite comics. If you're trying to make this a successful webcomic, you're going about it the wrong way. It just can't stand up on its own merits. If you're doing this just to amuse yourself, I guess that's fine, but I doubt you'll find much of a following outside friends and family.

[Trazoi]

I echo the "quit using copy/paste" statement (in fact all of FableFox's points, but that one particularly). The copy & paste is obvious to the point of unsettling, especially because all the human cast have the same blank grinning faces. Giving your cast a varied range of expressions will improve the comic a lot.

[fantomx11]

Thanks for the critiques. Oddly enough, the lack of expressions was the one criticism that I got from my brother and that has been rectified in strips that are in the buffer. I will see what I can do about your other suggestions. Edit: Also I would like to thank you for pointing out why they don't look right when talking. I knew they didn't, I just couldn't see why.

As for why I am doing this. It is really more for my benefit than because I want followers. I've never been what one would call creative. I'm extremely left-brained and I've always wanted to be right-brained (grass is greener and such). This is the result of me trying to exercise my right-brain for the first time since elementary school, but part of that is checking to see where I need to improve. Thus, my request for critiques.

I hope it's ok if I ask you guys critique me every once in a while.

[Chaos Nerd]

Well, I'm not much of one for being critical, btu ehre's my thoughts:

Although copying and pasting, in my opinion, isn't necessarily that bad, it does need to include a fair number of changes between panels. It seems to have potential, I'll give you that.

[Trazoi]

As for why I am doing this. It is really more for my benefit than because I want followers. I've never been what one would call creative. I'm extremely left-brained and I've always wanted to be right-brained (grass is greener and such). This is the result of me trying to exercise my right-brain for the first time since elementary school, but part of that is checking to see where I need to improve. Thus, my request for critiques.

I hope it's ok if I ask you guys critique me every once in a while.
No worries. I'm planning the same thing for similar reasons. You're one step ahead in that you've actually launched, while I'm still messing around with concepts and character design like I have for the past year (really need to bite the bullet and go with something).

Is there a particular creative skill you want to work on in particular - drawing, writing, something else? It isn't so bad if you skimp a bit on areas that you don't want to work on if it gives you time to focus on the areas you do.

[fantomx11]

No worries. I'm planning the same thing for similar reasons. You're one step ahead in that you've actually launched, while I'm still messing around with concepts and character design like I have for the past year (really need to bite the bullet and go with something).
Yeah I've been kicking around various ideas for a webcomic for quite a while (read years). I finally decided that if I waited until I had a concrete plan I'd never do it. Plus, I was hoping the fact that I now have a deadline would keep me focused, which it has. I have more ideas for the future than I ever did when it was just an amorphous idea in my head.

Is there a particular creative skill you want to work on in particular - drawing, writing, something else? It isn't so bad if you skimp a bit on areas that you don't want to work on if it gives you time to focus on the areas you do.
I'd really like to work on my writing first for a couple of reasons.

I have no artistic skill to speak of.
The reason everything looks like sprites is because I based it off of the Generic Reploid Construction Set. That should give you an idea of my artistic skill.
I've read comics that were engaging solely on the writing without great art
Order of the Stick is a great example of that. Not the greatest art, but I've never been stunned by any comic or book as much as I was when Vaarsuvius cast Familicide.

After I've honed my writing a bit I'll probably try to work on art.

Why did I choose a comic instead of prose when I wanted to work on writing? Because I like the denseness of the comic format. A lot of story can be conveyed in a 15 minute or half hour setting. This fits me well because, since I've become an adult, I've only rarely been able to focus on a book (comic or regular) for longer than that at any single time. To read a regular 300-400 page paperback takes me weeks at best.