Should comic strips have a season like tv shows do?
Someone posted a question on Facebook on a comics/cartoonist-related page. He was asking about seasons. He said, “I’m thinking about doing a TV-style release schedule for my comic. What I mean is this: instead of following a schedule the whole year (like XKCD does for example), divide my comics into “seasons” (i.e., Season 1, Season 2, …) and follow a schedule for a few months before going on breaks for a few months or so between seasons.”
I brought this subject up a couple of years ago in a post called, “ Can a comic strip have seasons?” where I bring up the fact that comics should have seasons and why. As long as you are creative and can keep your audience, why not take a break and enjoy seasons.
I have one comic strip that I haven’t published for awhile, but every day it gains dozens of followers on Facebook. It has a life of its own. So even though it isn’t being published right now, people are still interested, so I believe if a cartoon is on hiatus, fans will still be there when it returns to publication.
Also, regarding the process, someone mentioned that they are having an issue coming up with gags for their comic and also they cannot relate to the characters. They can’t find themselves (the characters, not the cartoonist).
I’m doing my panel now, so I don’t deal with characteristics, it’s a quick, in and out gag, but in the past when I did strips and recurring characters, they sort of found themselves fast. One who was in the background, would sort of take over the strip by default, he just popped out of the shadows. Others in another strip would easily pick up their characteristics as I drew and wrote for them. They defined themselves. In one instance, they almost wrote themselves, what I mean is, they sort of wrote their own gags and dialogue.
As for my Tomversation single panel cartoons, one thing that stands out for me is the names. I don’t wrestle with names, they just come out, like, “this one is called this and this one is called that.” I don’t sit and think of names, the names just fit the drawing or personality and I use the first one that pops into my head.
I don’t use names often, but some years back, it seem the thing to do in gag cartoons. Like this Ozempic cartoon. In the past I might have given the lady a name, the gag would say, “But hey, Martha, I lost 45 pounds!”
I did two things there — I named her and I gave her the name Martha, which actually popped into my head as I was looking at the cartoon.
With this one, “Benny” popped into my head when I looked at it, and it could be, “Five second rule, Benny!”
I like not having names now, it seems less pretentious.
In this instance, for some reason, maybe to emphasize the doctor’s concern, I think a name was need. “Mr. Reynolds,” seemed to fit as s name for some reason.
Originally published at tomversationtoons.substack.com.
