We're trying to fix up Drunk Duck, adding the the comic statistics back in, fixing forums, adding notifications to PQs and MORE, but we need money to do it. In this Quackcast, Ozoneocean, Banes, and Pitface talk about the improvements we want to have on DD, and what YOU can do to help us out.
Please consider donating to our Indiegogo fund-raising drive to help us pay our programmer:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/drunk-duck-webcomics-improvement-drive/x/4410947#/
There are a LOT of cool perks you can have including your own Quackcast interview all about YOU, original art from The creator of Modest Medusa, Charby the Vampirate and others, a 126 page Modest Medusa comic for only $10 and much more!
If you can't spare any change, please consider spreading the word to your readers.
Remember, these fixes are for everyone, by donating to DD you're helping yourself. :D

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Mindfold - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Mindfold/

Links:
Please contribute to help DD - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/drunk-duck-webcomics-improvement-drive/x/4410947#/
Quackcast 255 VIDEO - https://youtu.be/bweTzsgPDuY
Campaign Newspost: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2016/jan/19/help-us-fix-dd/
Campaign update: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2016/jan/23/drunk-duck-improvement-drive-update/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Pitface - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/

The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
Plymayer - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Plymayer/
It's title is 6! This is what Gunwallace has to say:
6 … is this a theme for a comic? … no! It could be a theme for X Up, it does have some Wah Wah guitar (the sexiest guitar) after all, but it isn’t. This is a theme for the number 6. That number that a certain user, plymayer, gives to comics all when he feels they deserve it. A 6. A 6 out of 5. This is a theme for a concept. The concept of a supportive DD’er. To plymayer … and to every 6 he has handed out. (Okay, so it’s also a theme for X Up … but don’t tell anyone).

OMFG you sexist PIG! Heh… today we talk about trying to recognise sexism in your OWN work, what to do about it, and WHY. It turns out it can be very hard to do, and if you DO acknowledged it the instinct is to rationalise it away, justify it, or just try and brazen it out in some kind of old fashioned, largely embarrassing, display. I frequently do all three.
How do we spot it? Well the Bechdel test isn't that useful, that's better for looking at broad trends not giving specific works a pass/fail - sexy outfits is one thing, if females are dressed minimally or in tight gear in CONTRAST to the males or vice versa - females ONLY having old stereotype roles (maiden/mother/whore archetypes, secretary, nurse, victim, maid etc), though this is context sensitive, i.e. it's more forgiveable if you're doing a historical story or something stylised like a fairytale or a noire story - Gender balance is another thing, it's context sensitive because certain stories will naturally have more of one gender (WW2 submarine crew, Girl's school, a prison story etc), and you don't have to have an exact balance anyway but it's definitely something to THINK about because there is no reason most stories should feature a majority of male characters and a minority of females.

WHY should you think about it? Why should you care? Well the audience for almost ALL types of stories, be they action adventure, romance, Scifi, fantasy, historical, even porn, is getting close to 50/50 between men and women these days (maybe it always was?), it really doesn't make sense to alienate or belittle half your audience just because you like to cling to older ways of doing stuff.

Gunwallace's theme this week reminds me of a cross between the Knightrider theme and Gunship- it's VERY retro-future. It's the theme to DDSR, a comic with cool custom “sprites”, AKA pixel-art.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Unbroken Seal - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Unbroken_Seal/

Links:
Quackcast 254 VIDEO - https://youtu.be/tv1shC_0KD4
Original thread: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177407/?page=1

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Pitface - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/

The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
DDSR - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/DDSR/ by RazorD9 rated T.

- See more at: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2016/jan/18/quackcast-254-sexism-in-your-own-work/

Doing stories that start with the climax, then flash back, tell what happened to get there: the old narrative style of switching the first few chapters around to make a more interesting story.
Sometimes it works GREAT because it throws you right into the middle of things and you have to work your way back to that point… It works very nicely in The Hangover for example!
Often it's used very badly- in anime particularly, where they use it for foreshadowing and a tease to try and get you interested in the rest of the story- but anime story structure is so formulaic that all it really does is give you a cheap spoiler. Other times it doesn't work well is when the writer isn't very good so the viewer loses their way in the plot… If the writer is GOOD though you end up with Pulp Fiction.
You'll love Gunwallace's theme here- a super funky jazz track for the comic Nothing Important Happened Today. Enjoy!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Aidana - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Aidana/

Links:
Quackcast 253 VIDEO - https://youtu.be/4-Xi7qQK_Xg
Original thread: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177404/

Contributors:
tupapayon - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/tupapayon/
KimLuster - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/KimLuster/
Vindibudd - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Vindibudd/
Genejoke - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Genejoke/
usedbooks - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/usedbooks/
irrevenant - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/irrevenant/
Call Me Tom - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Call Me Tom/
El Cid - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/El Cid/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Pitface - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Bravo1102 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/bravo1102/
Kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/

The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
Nothing Important Happened Today - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Nothing_Important_Happened_Today/ by RymanNoodles, rated T.

- See more at: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2016/jan/11/quackcast-253-narrative-order-and-the-flashback/

Happy new year! In this first Quackcast for 2016 we have Banes, Pitface and Tantz Aerine along to talk to us about Banes' neswpost topic of Wish Fulfilment in writing. It can be a good thing in that it makes the writer more interested and passionate about what they're doing as well as creating a very relatable ideal for readers with similar tastes. The negative side is that they make their world too perfect and too specific to themselves so that the whole thing just looks like an exercise in boring, pointless ego stroking.
Gunwallace's theme this time was for Professor Herbert and GEO, which was also the featured comic! It sounds a bit like the theme to an '80s cartoon, which exactly what the comic looks like it should be O_o

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Professor Herbert and GEO - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Professor_Herbert_and_GEO/

Links:
Quackcast 252 VIDEO - https://youtu.be/SYm2tQAn78M
Banes' Newspost: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2015/dec/02/wish-fulfillment/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Pitface - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz Aerine/

The theme song by Gunwallace this week was for:
Professor Herbert and GEO - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Professor_Herbert_and_GEO/ by csisk1, rated E.
- See more at: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2016/jan/04/quackcast-252-wish-fulfilment/