Today on the Quackcast we interview Hyena Hell!
You might remember the bombastic, punkrocker HyenaHell for her comic The Hub
She used to be very active on all of DD (forums, comics, everything), before life issues took her away from DD. But she was still a prolific poster on social media after that when she wasn't creating comics, posting interesting and thought provoking blog posts about art, life as an artist, and living in a changing New Orleans…
She has a unique art style- highly detailed, carefully inked drawings, which are quite similar to her work as a printmaker. You can see a great example of that in The Hub.

We have sad news and hap[y news… The wonderful Hippievan has retired from doing Friday newsposts on DD. The happy news is that HyenaHell is going to dive into the driving seat of this out of control juggernaut! HyenaHell has a long history with DD and an amazing personal perspective on art and life that I think would be good for the site. It's always good to listen to a new and interesting voice!
In the mean time, listen to Banes, Pitface, TantzAriene and I interview HyenaHell, who tells lascivious stories and her and I going into, Lipstixxx a stripclub in New Orleans…

Gunwallace's featured music for today was: Mechaniko - it's the sound of nodes on a neural network firing, connecting, and cascading with shared knowledge: Multilayered, technological robo-future rock!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Fatal Lullaby - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/jan/24/featured-comic-fatal-lullaby/

The one and only Hyena Hell!
The Hub - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Hub/
HH on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hyenahell/
HH on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/hyenathehardwayhell/

HippieVan leaving :( - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/jan/26/hippie-vans-last-ever-newspost/

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

Featured music:
Mechaniko - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Mechaniko/, by Yves Ker Ambrun, rated E.

Patriotism, flags, nationalism, religion, politics, national symbols hijacked by racists! These are some of the unique aspects of our cultural identity and national differences we chat about on this quackcast. I was inspired by HippieVan's newspost on Friday (about Cultural identity and how it defines our writing), to dive further into the subject of cultural differences. We all share the illusion of a single, global culture, but there are regional differences for all of us that mean we don't see things the same way, and often some of the stuff we mean in our comics is influenced by where we come from in a way that people from elsewhere would never quite get in the same way.
We chatted about how the use and wearing of national flags is very different depending on what country you're in. For example, in the USA proudly displaying the national flag is seen as normal and mundane, while elsewhere displaying the national flag can be seen as a sign of extreme conservatism or militant nationalism. Wearing the US flag in most countries is seen as something of a fashion statement, a very commercial one; wearing the flag of the USSR is seen as a statement of ironic rebellion; wearing the Union Jack is punk; but wearing the flag of your own country in Australia, Greece, Canada, Cambodia etc (and many other places) is seen as a gauche statement of too-overt patriotism, even though wearing the flags of the USA, USSR or UK is perfectly acceptable. These and other interesting facets of culture are what we chatted about.
Gunwallace's musical theme was for Ayla Speaker For The Dead, it's a sad, sepulchral, grieving dirge-like requiem, with an uncomfortable sting of evil jazzy trumpet.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Salamander - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/jan/10/featured-comic-salamander/

Links
Based on Hippy's newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/jan/12/cultural-background-and-comicking/

Canadians in Spaaaaaaaace!
Dee Reluctant Space Tourist - Hippy's comic: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Dee_Reluctant_Space_Tourist/

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

Featured music:
Ayla Speaker For The Dead - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Ayla_Speaker_for_the_Dead/, by JohnH985, rated M.

Chekhov's gun is the principal (as I understand it), that if you have some item, fact or piece of information introduced into your story that you draw specific attention to, then you'd better use it some how later on in your story. The simplest example is a gun: if it appears as a prop lying around in your story AND you draw attention to it, then by the end of the tale it should have gone off.
This is because you've set up the parameters for your story in the mind of your audience and they develop certain expectations, if you confound those then they'll be disappointed and think that your story was poor. Having a “gun” on stage isn't so important here, it's the fact that you drew attention to it somehow. It doesn't have to “go off” either, as long as it plays a role in the story somehow. You can trick the audience very easily with these sorts of devices, making them think one item or piece of information will be vitally important, only to make it important in a way they wouldn't expect or to use it to hide the fact that some other thing was important instead. So that's our topic of conversation today! All based off of Tantz's newspost on Saturday.
Gunwallace's musical theme was for Grow Up. It's repetitive, relaxing, punk reggae instrumental, with fuzz guitar. A lazy evening on a warm summer beach.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
My Pet Succubus - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/jan/02/featured-comic-my-pet-succubus/

Links
Based on Tantz's newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/jan/06/chekhovs-gun/

People mentioned:
Bavo1102 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/bravo1102
Udyr - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Udyr
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Usedbooks - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/usedbooks
KAM - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/KAM
KimLuster - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/KimLuster

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

Featured music:
Grow Up - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Grow_Up/, by akahnart, rated T.

What defines evil in fiction?
I say the simplest one is bad guys are selfish, good guys are selfless.
That is massively over simplistic but it's a good easy template for basic hero's and villains. Basic ones
I was just doing a quick thought experiment to work out an easy way to define “good” and “evil” characters in fiction. The more selfless someone is the more “good” they are: the more they think of others, want to help people, put the needs of the masses first, the more willing they are to reach across to their enemies etc.
The more selfish a person is the more “evil” they are: if they don't consider the needs or feelings of others, help out their own small group and let others suffer, help themselves first.
Of course there are many other more advanced aspects, especially if you consider the relative nature of these things: the idea that everyone thinks they're the good guy from their own perspective, being cruel to be kind, being too authoritarian and heavy handed in the use of power, NOT using power when you should, helping in a way that only SEEMS destructive and selfish, trying to help but causing destruction and chaos in the process, which brings us to the dreaded “unintended consequences”.

BUT, the selfless/selfish equation is a nice simple starting point to build from.
In the Quackcast we discuss these aspects as well as more advanced notions about what makes a good evil character, what makes a bad one, humanising evil, and weakening you evil character by humanising them too much.

Gunwallace's musical theme was for The Cull: Dark, haunting, and compelling- Eastern European Jewish, country and rock, reminds me of Tracy Bonham’s later work.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
RIGHTEOUS - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2016/dec/27/featured-comic-righteous/

Topics
Adventure time - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305826/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Chronicle (hero back stories) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706593/

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

Featured music:
The Cull - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Cull/ by Singring, rated M.
This is a brutal story about violence, tribalism, and redemption… I think :)