Merry Christmas one and all! And all that stuff. This year our release date falls exactly on the 25th! It was a busy year for us, lots happened.
But in this Quackcast what we chat about is something rather different: the difference between pros and amateurs, specifically when it comes to comics. There's this common misconception that an amateur is a novice that will produce work of a lower quality, while a professional is an experienced person who knows what they're doing and will always produce things of the highest quality… The REAL story is more complex than that.

Professionals produce work for a living. It has to support them. Because of this they need to develop a high level of skill and proficiency. They need to learn how to produce work reasonably fast and to a consistent level of good quality on a regular basis. Time, cost and quality are the main factors, the pressure is on them to make things relatively cheaply, relatively fast, and at a good quality. This is very hard to do so they learn to make compromises and take shortcuts to achieve that. “Quality” becomes “good enough”, or basically with enough tricks and shortcuts to convince you that it IS high quality. In terms of art that involves tracing, pre-rendered images, photo backgrounds with filters, gradient fill colouring, cut and pasting, use of 3D assets, reliance on standard models. For writing that means sticking to formulas and story outlines someone else has come up with; tasks are split and delegated to teams: pencilers, inkers, colourists, background artists, creative directors, writers story editors and so on.

Amateurs come in many flavours. On one end of the scale you have the beginners who are learning, then you have casual people with just enough skill to do the job, and finally you have people with an extremely high level of skill, higher than any professional. Amateurs lack the pressure to make a living out of their work which means they have far more time to produce it in and experiment. They have the freedom to learn, advance and perfect, far beyond what is available to people stuck in the professional world.

But of course it's not a case of either/or. Both worlds can learn from each other and frequently do. There are many helpful tricks that amateurs can pick up from the pro world and pros have a LOT to learn from doing projects at a more amateur level. I hope this Quackcast helps to dispel the old myth that Pro = great, while amateur = bad. Reality is frequently a lot more interesting and complicated! ;)

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Lost Honey. Something epic is about to begin! Chords full of portent rise and flood your ears, creating a gorgeous blue backdrop upon which play the golden notes of the piano, full of stinging melancholy, joyful exuberance and wistful reminiscence.

Topics and shownotes

VIDEO exclusive!
Only for Patrons who donate $5 or more, here:
https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck

Featured comic:
Urban Legend - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/dec/18/featured-comic-urban-legend/

Christmas Newsposts
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/dec/19/merry-quackmas/
Emma Clare - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/dec/20/winding-down-and-looking-back/
Tantz - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/dec/21/a-most-awesome-dd-year/
Pitface riding in a TIGER TANK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au8cImGEjhA&feature=youtu.be&t=948

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Lost Honey - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Lost_Honey/, by Fleebites, rated E.

On the 18th of December people who post things with nudity on Tumblr will be kicked off the site. That means all the adult bloggers, comicers and things that made that journalling site stand out above the rest of the vast sea of blog sites and image hosts are being screwed out of what they helped build up! The reason of course is to make the site more attractive to advertisers and so it can more easily fit the standards of puritanical companies like Apple and Google who have taken it upon themselves to scrub the world clean of anything that defines us as adult human beings.

Inspired by my newspost on Saturday (link bellow) this Quackcast has a look at the anti-nudity, anti-adult craze and the reasons for it, as well as censorship in general. We also strongly encourage any refugee adult webcomicers from Tumblr to make The duck Webcomics your new home and please tell anyone you know that we are there for them! Unlike Pornhub we are actually a proper webcomic host and unlike other comic sites we do not quibble about your content. As long as it's legal, it's a comic, you have permission to post it, and you rate it correctly, go to town!

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Terminal Velocity: The music builds a high altitude atmosphere… Floating through the sky free of gravity, clouds float by as weightless and unencumbered as you but infinitely more massive. All is stillness apart from your heartbeat and the wind whistling past, which builds up pressure as you feel the suction of gravity towards the earth far below and the world seems to speed up as you see the ground rush towards you. Then you fall into the cold grey heart of cloud and all is stillness again for a moment, leaving you alone with the sound of your pulse.

Topics and shownotes

VIDEO exclusive!
Here's a preview video of our Patreon exclusive:
https://youtu.be/0iOV1IbrKLQ
Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see the rest of it and other videos and perks:
https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck

Featured comic:
The Lightning Orb - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/dec/10/featured-comic-the-lightning-orb/

Based On my Saturday Newspost - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/dec/13/the-great-tumblr-censorship-exodus-dd-welcomes-you/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Terminal Velocity - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Terminal_Velocity/ , by Barry Corbett, rated E.

We mined Tantz's Saturday newspost for our discussion topic: Strong characters and how to write GOOD ones!
What is a strong character? Well it has nothing to do with physical ability, power, command, or anything so obvious and trite. Strong characters are well rounded and well realised, they're often active and opposed to reactive, they make things happen, the story hinges on them.
Failed attempts at “strong” characters or obvious and often result in Mary Sues, whether male or female. People hand them traits that they THINK will make the character strong: make them a general, make them a great fighter, make them royalty etc. The problem comes when none of that is ever logically backed up in the story. You can't just title a character something or have other characters talk about how great they are without having them demonstrate a reason for it, or else all you have is a pathetic paper tiger and a really shizzy failed part of your story.
Nothing worse than a character that can't live up to the hype! Anime does that a lot: you might have a huge muscular monster of a character that never properly uses that strength, so they always seem just a little disappointing, or a general, master ruler, expert strategist that never does anything of the sort.

I must apologise for my scatter-headed form, I was very tired at this stage! Tantz and Banes carried the Quackcast with grace, élan and great ability! They are strong characters who more than live up to their hype.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Akacya the Bounty Hunter - A blast of flame into the orange polluted skies over a desolate future world with no hope. This track conjures an ash grey plain on a distant world as it carves an intricate, multilayered soundscape… a hulking black city of glimmering glass and soaring steel towers rises over the horizon, glittering windows reflecting the rays of an ancient sun.

Topics and shownotes

VIDEO exclusive!
Only for Patrons who donate $5 or more, here:
https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck

Featured comic:
Through The Window - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/dec/04/featured-comic-through-the-window/

Links:
From Tantz's newspost here - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/dec/07/strong-women-strong-men/

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

Featured music:
Akacya the Bounty Hunter - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Akacya_The_Bounty_Hunter/, by Shinka, rated M.

This Quackcast was inspired by a newspost by Tantz. There seems to be this prevailing idea at the moment that serialised storytelling is better than episodic style stories. Tantz informs me that it's one of the many Twitterverse controversies! So let me explain what I mean here: Episodic story telling is when most of the story you're telling can be parcelled into the course of an episode: you can have a strong beginning, middle and satisfying conclusion in the course of your episode, whether that takes the form of a comic chapter, a page, a strip, or a half hour TV show. The Serial style has things stretching over multiple chapters or TV episodes. What we talk about in this Quackcast is that it's an utterly false dichotomy: You do not have to have either or, in fact most projects have elements of BOTH at the same time and it's a little foolish to think that one style could possibly be inherently superior to the other since they're just tools for telling a story. It is up to the creator to pick which one is right for their own work and the context in which it's going to be shown.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Belle Starr! A cold sun rising over an alien land, liquid fire spreads across the plain, chasing shadow, banishing darkness, lighting the way for our heroine… Belle Starr! gird your loins for battle, success is the only option!

Topics and shownotes

VIDEO exclusive!
Thank you very much to our patrons! You get to see our videos here:
https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck

Featured comic:
Lost Honey - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/nov/26/featured-comic-lost-honey/

Tantz's newspost on serials and episodes! - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/nov/30/serialized-vs-episodic-storytelling/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Belle Starr - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Belle_Starr/, by Jeff Salty, rated T.

We're all back together this week and we're chatting about audience expectations for characters versus the intentions of the creator. Which is more important? Well it's a bit of a balancing act… You don't want to pander to your audience because that's not fun and they won't enjoy it anyway, but by the same token you shouldn't just do whatever you feel like regardless. As a creator you build up a contract between yourself and the audience; if you betray that by subverting their expectations with characters in ways that are very “OUT of character” just because you feel like it then you can start to lose their respect and attention. Killing off characters all of a sudden can be a big responsibility too, try not to take that lightly.

Taking characters in unexpected directions is fine and can energise your audience, but you should try and set it up or give plausible reasons for it after the fact. As the creator it's tempting to just think of yourself as the absolute monarch-god-emperor of the world you've created, with license to make any changes and do whatever you want, but if you want people to read, follow along with, and enjoy your work then you have to take a little more care. Don't abuse your audience because without them, what's the point?

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Froggtree Comics. Slip into the shadowy club, sidle into a booth and watch the action on the dancefloor. Quiet, subdued disco. This track wants to party but not be too obvious about it… till it gets up the courage to join the throng and strut its stuff!

Topics and shownotes

VIDEO exclusive!
Only for Patrons who donate $5 or more, here:
https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck

Featured comic:
The Muscle Corps - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/nov/20/featured-comic-the-muscle-corps/

Links:
From Mks monsters forum thread here - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/178044/
Mks monsters - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/mks_monsters/

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

Featured music:
Froggtree Comics - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Froggtree_Comics/, by Skreem, rated E.

This is Quackcast 401! Error, error! Pitface and Tantz were absent so Banes and myself were left to go quietly off the rails and expostulate all sorts of radical, half formed, badly articulated thoughts. This is an interesting one! We cover the death of the great Stan Lee, titan of the comics and superhero world. Then we sidestream into talking about comedians trying to be political commentators (re: Bill Maher)… I must apologise for my Ad Hominems. And lastly our focus is on a “new puritanism” in some aspects of pop-culture. It all ties together, if a little awkwardly.

Stan Lee was instrumental in creating a unified fantasy universe populated by a pantheon of godlike superheroes with very human thoughts and failings. Not only that but he helped elevate comics as a medium to the mainstream. No longer are comics seen as something just for children. Cartoons, fantasy, Scifi, and comics have been rightfully elevated to the mainstream where they belong as valid forms of artistic expression. People no longer have to apologise for or feel ashamed of liking them either. You're free to consume or create the media of your choice and Stan Lee was a massive part of that.

This is why the remarks by Mr Maher about Stan Lee are problematic and ill-judged. He said that the veneration shown for a creator of comics, which are “only meant for children”, shows how the US has been dumbed down and why someone like Donald Trump could have been elected.
I'd contend that the reason for “Trump” and people's idea of politics being dumbed down is that we now get most of our political commentary through comedians. They have helped turn complex subjects into simplistic black and white caricatures because that's how comedy works. It's great for breaking down ideas and giving you a simple primer to understand them, but when comedians and partisan talking heads are your main sources then things are going very, very wrong. Bill Maher IS the problem, not people liking comics. If anything, Stan Lee worked to do the opposite; his characters weren't simple 2D cut-outs (like Maher's version of political figures), they were complicated and human. These were A-political characters who strived to do what was right outside of mere party affiliations.

Then we transition into my idea of the “new puritans”.
There's a slow tide of people coming out against sexuality in art. It comes from both the left and right so there's no real political platform. I feel it's very much related to the same point of view that Bill Maher has about comics: this is media for children and we must protect them from anything grown up. When in reality all we end up doing is insulting and infantilising adults when we attack sexuality in media, whether in games, cartoons, books, comics or movies.
This is no more clearly shown than in the word these people use most often: “Sexualise”
They claim that characters are “sexualised”. You cannot sexualise an adult or teen. By biological, physical definition we are ALL sexual past puberty. That doesn't mean we have or even want sex, it means we have sexual traits and that's all it means. You can “sexualise” a non-sexual thing like a toaster or a car but it's impossible to do that to a teen or adult. Sexual traits in adult characters are healthy and normal. I contend that the need to remove them is a perversion.

This is NOT to say that sexual traits in characters should be over-emphasised. What these people really mean when they focus on sexuality is “EROTICISM”, and that is a very important distinction. It has little to do with sexuality though so it's NOT a mistake that should be overlooked. There is a time and place for eroticism and we should never foist erotic depictions where they don't belong or onto audiences that should not be exposed to them. But we should also guard against hyper-vigilance or start attacking any depiction that shows sexual traits.
Ask yourself: Is the character sexual? If yes, then is the depiction erotic? Then is eroticism appropriate for the context of the work, its audience and where it is sold? Those are the questions to ask, not weather or not a male has a bulge or a girl has prominent breasts.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Quixote Coyote… Let’s get a little chaotic with this quixotic jazz jam for Quixote Coyote! Let the organs fill your body (no, not those sorts of organs), let the drums be your heartbeat, and the trumpet will chase the electric, eclectic thoughts in your brain.

Topics and shownotes

VIDEO exclusive!
Only for Patrons who donate $5 or more, here:
https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck

Featured comic:
Belle Starr - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/nov/12/featured-comic-belle-starr/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Quixote Coyote - - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Quixote_Coyote/, by cjoe1377, rated E.

This week in the Quackcast we were going to talk about fear in general. What are we afraid of? Why do we like or do not like media that may reflect these fears or lead us to new ones? How do such things inspire fear or similar reactions within us. DO we like horror because we like fear to an extent? It's that Halloween time of year once again so it's time to focus on such things. We had Emma Clare on board as well! Oh it was going to be so amazing and fun! Little did we know…
But I won't spoil it.
Do you remember Quackcast 99? That was the first time our whole team of me, Banes, Pit, and Tantz all got together to do a Halloween episode together. Good times. We were so young and naive then. Little did we know what would befall us…

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Tales of Schlock. A wakka, wakka, wakka, wak… A slow, effortlessly pacing cool, building up step after step, with a little flourish and a dance step every so often. This is music to strut your fine stuff to! Slip on your snakeskin boots, your purple velvet suit with the flared legs. Straighten your wide brim purple hat with the long orange pheasant feather, adjust your big blue bow tie, pull out your fluffy shirt cuffs and get out on the town!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Paladins - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/oct/23/featured-comic-paladins/

Quackcast99 - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/quackcast/episode-99-halloweens-a-commin/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Emma Clare - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Emma_Clare/
Pitface - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Tales of Schlock - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Tales_of_Schlock/, by Rampant404, rated A.

Amelius of the magnificent and eternal Charby The Vampirate returns to the Quackcast today! Amelius was the first person we every interviewed and Charby the Vampirate has been on Drunk Duck exactly as long as Pinky TA: since January 2004! Tantz and I chat to her about the new Patreon she has going for Charby and all the amazing bonus perks you can get on it. If you're a Charby fan you should definitely get in on that. Amelius has also agreed to join us on DD to do newsposts every week! So you will be seeing some cool content from her regularly. She has a LOT of comic making experience to impart.

For those of you who don't know Charby the Vampirate he's a quick synopsis: It's a horror-fantasy and often dark comedy, with a little bit of drama here and there. Charby is a cute little fella with big, red, jewel-like eyes, he's also a centuries old high ranking vampire. He lives in a little shack deep in the dark scary monster-filled woods, sharing it with a host of other cute, colourful and amazing characters. There's slice of life comedy, relationship stories, deep plots, high stakes drama, ancient evil, and everything in between. The art is colourful, cute, refined to a diamond edge and just plain beautiful.

Speaking of Patreon, DD has it's own now! Contribute here and get your name posted on the front page: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5127951
You can advertise on DD for $2 a day with unlimited impressions and your ad in all regions: https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/oct/11/advertising-with-us/

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Metamorphosis Protocal: Fallen sandstone ruins silhouetted against the hard blue sky, bright sun glares through the gaps. A hot breeze blows past, whistling, shifting loose sand… This tune is quiet and deceptively heavy, it creeps up to rock you…

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Smell the Roses - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/oct/09/featured-comic-smell-the-roses/

Links:
Listen to us on Stitcher ​​- https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=224306&refid=stpr
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/

Amelius Patreon perks - https://www.patreon.com/Charby/posts
Charby the Vampirate - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Charby_the_Vampirate/

Neilak20 pic by me - https://www.deviantart.com/ozoneocean/art/Secret-Santa-pic-for-Neilik20-46300082

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
Amelius - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Amelius/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Metamorphosis Protocal - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Metamorphosis_Protocal/, by Doorki, rated T.

Fighting ladies, female bad-ass characters… There are a lot more of them around now, but once upon a time they were pretty thin on the ground. I love a good badarse lady, my own comic character Pinky TA exemplifies that character type. There's something about a tough lady who can kick butt with the best of them that's especially compelling. They evolved from something a little more exploitative, ladies fighting in bikinis basically, then we had ladies that were just the female version of a male character (Batwoman, Supergirl etc), which is something we're starting to see a little more of unfortunately, but on the good side of things we ARE actually getting fighting ladies who're their OWN women: Original characters. In this Quackcast we talk about some of our faves and some of the earlier incarnations of the character type, from Robert E Howard's Red Sonya and Valeria, to Catherine L Moore's Jirel of Joiry, to Wonder woman, then later characters like Red Sonja (from the comics), She-Hulk, Sarah Conner, Ripley, Buffy, Xena, Aeon Flux…
What are some of YOUR faves?
Mine are Tank Girl, Lara Croft, Motoko Kusanagi, Garnet and many more :)

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Dolphin Bros: Jump, jump, jump up and down to this mad dolphin party scene. It’s all over the place but all it wants you to do is MOVE!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Glass Rafters - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/oct/02/featured-comic-glass-rafters/

Listen to us on Stitcher ​​- https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=224306&refid=stpr
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/

Fighting Girls:
Hit Girlz - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/HitGirlz/
King's Club - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Kings_Club/
Godstrands - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Godstrands/
Pinky TA - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Pinky_TA/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Dolphin Bros - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Dolphin_Bros/, by cjoe1377, rated E.

Nostalgia! - Where does it fit in the creative process? People are the product of their influences. For a lot of us the strongest influences happen when we're growing up and learning about the world and all the things IN it for the first time. As you get older the things you experience don't make as much impact, simply because your brain has already had most of its “first times” and it's already learned enough about the world to be fully functional and independent.
“Nostalgia” is strongest when you harken back to those formative experiences, many little “origin stories” so to speak. Art that references nostalgia can make you feel more connected to it, it can give you a mental rush when you recall how much you loved something and looked forward to it, it can transport you back to when you had a particular frame of mind and dwell on that.
Also, things are always cooler looking BACK than when you're actually experiencing them because your mind romanticises and embellishes memories, creating impressionist paintings of them…

The recent film Ready Player on (directed by Spielberg and adapted from a book) plays on pop-culture nostalgia heavily, as well as the nostalgia of formative experiences and contrasts it with the need to live in the present.
Of course nostalgia helped sell that film and made the book a hit. Films, books and comics can use nostalgia in many ways to draw an audience in. Creators can use it to make themselves get enthused for their work

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Metal Ice Cream, this sound is a spaceship full of mysterious, robotic, metallic, clunky and compelling dance beats. Grind your gears! Shake that chunky metal body till it rattles!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Drunk Duck Awards 2018 - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/sep/25/featured-comic-drunk-duck-awards-2018/

Links:

Listen to us on Stitcher ​​- https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=224306&refid=stpr
Or TuneinRadio

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Metal Ice Cream - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Metal_Ice_Cream/, by DanielLeister, rated T.

In THIS Quackcast we chat about shots! The kind you get from a camera… Long short, bird's eye view, worm's eye view, high angle, low angle, wide angle, fish eye, close up, ultra close up… You can use them to set the pace of the narrative, increase drama, reveal or conceal elements and so on. Shot types and angles are really important in story crafting. This was based on a newspost by Banes.
I was actually IN Athens in Greece sitting next to Tantz Aerine for this Quackcast. It was cool to be in the same place with at least ONE of our fellow casters. Banes was still in Canada and Pit was in London, making a very brief cameo appearance at the very end.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Salamander. This music blasts on like the plasma fury of a raging furnace, bathing your ears with vermilion heat, hot and dry. Heavy, distorted, layered guitar, and rocky drums create the feeling and the image. This is a hot, hot sound!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
FEATURED COMIC –> One Sixth Stories - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/15/featured-comic-one-sixth-stories/

Links:
Bane's Newspost about shots and scenes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/29/give-it-your-best-shot/

Listen to us on Stitcher ​​- https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=224306&refid=stpr
Or TuneinRadio

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Salamander - - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Salamander/, by Saint Bree, rated T.

In this Quackcast we chat about what interests we have outside of webcomics and we want to know what YOU do as well. What are your hobbies and interests? Our interests and hobbies really inform what we do as comic creators in all sorts of ways, it can be fascinating to learn about what drives a person and what led them to be where they are now. For Banes it was music, keyboards, drums, magic and ventriloquism. For Tantz it's writing and a fascination with surgery. For Pit it's archaeology, heavy metal, and art. For me it's making, art, costume and sewing. What about you?

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Starship Captain II, Launch into the depths of hostile space! The enemy aliens are after us! There are anomalies to investigate, new galaxies to explore and alien women to procreate with. Fire your proton beams and set phasers to stun!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Kirsha Brackets - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/14/featured-comic-kirsha-brackets/

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

Featured music:
Starship Captain II - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Starship_Captain_II/, by Dpat57, rated T.

This Quackcast was based on an idea from Banes. We chat about designing a group of characters with complementary temperaments. In Banes' own words:
“I like the idea of the line between a logical, left brained person and a creative, right brained person, crossed with a spectrum of a more active, extroverted, action taking temperament and a more nurturing, introverted type.

So if you cross the lines, you get four quadrants, just like in that Tvtropes link.

One type will be passive or nurturing and logical
One will be action-taking and logical/practical
One will be more creative/flexible and extroverted/action oriented,
and One will be creative/flexible and more passive and introverted.

Put these four characters together and you've got a pretty well-rounded cast of temperaments!”

This way you get a good personality mix with your characters which helps you make interactions far more interesting, people won't simply all react the some way to something and through those interaction you develop character.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Somnia. Creeping threat, urban cool, dynamic action! This music gets things started. It’s on the move and there’s no stopping it. 80’s action drama with 2000’s sophistication!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Ink LaRue - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/15/featured-comic-ink-larue/

Links:
Bane's Newspost about character traits - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/08/casting-characters-in-comics-larger-casts-personality-and-temperament/

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

Featured music:
Somnia - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Somnia/, by DannyBoyUltra, rated M.

What makes bad guy intimidating? Tantz Aerine made a great newspost about the question, carefully outlining various key bad-guy properties like confidence, composure, efficiency, and amorality. Banes, Pitface, Tantz and I stomp ALL over that, traipsing about like drunken, muddy rugby players, as we blather on about our opinions of the idea and finish up with no idea what we're talking about.
Seriously though it's a fascinating idea and it's really FUN to talk about some of our favourite really well constructed badguys that exemplify all the traits Tantz talks about! What are you faves? One of mine is James Earl Jones's character Thulsa Doom in Conan The Barbarian: He's utterly unflappable, even when Conan is literally cutting off his head, he's still convinced of his ultimate power over everything. Thulsa Doom is the best badguy ever.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Fluffy 500: Speed, progress, movement! We advance, never reversing. We forge ahead, never rehearsing.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Crypts and Cantrips - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/14/featured-comic-crypts-and-cantrips

Links:
Tantz Newspost: making bad guys intimidating - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/03/making-bad-guys-intimidating/

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

Featured music:
Fluffy 500 - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Fluffy_500/ , by IronHorseComics, rated T.

In this Quackcast we discuss the artistic coding used to represent males and females in comic art in a simple, minimal way. Pitface joins us, along with Banes and Tantz Aerine!
Much like an expert physicist is able to simplify enormously complex equations into something seemingly simple like E=MC2 a good comic artist simplifies the essence of what they're drawing into something that's immediately recognisable without a lot of complexity. We're mainly talking here in terms of drawing men and women. It sounds like the most basic, silly thing, but even pros with years of experience have trouble with it. Some of the art for the new She-Ra cartoon is a great example of that.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Mob ties… Creepy sounds, a shady villa. Mystery abounds, who’s the killer?
Shadows trick, run and hide. Badguys slick, get outside.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Faded Garden - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/14/featured-comic-faded-garden/

Links:
Cosmos song - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Cosmos_Song/

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

Featured music:
Mob ties - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Mob_Ties/, by Author Ninja, rated T.

In this Quackcast Tantz and I chat about the differences between working with historical settings and the different approaches we take. Tantz's comics (Without Moonlight and Brave Resistance), are both set in a real period of history: Nazi occupied Greece during WW2. Pinky TA is set in the 1920s in an alternative version of history, with Pinky coming from the fictional “Crimean Empire”. Tantz has to keep times, places, and details close to real history while with Pinky TA I can pick and choose the things from history I like the best and create my own idealised pastiche. The advantage of Tantz's approach is that everything is there, nothing has to be invented, just researched and reproduced, whereas my approach involves a lot of creation which slows things down and makes it harder. On the upside Pinky TA is much more flexible, I can easily fit whatever I want into the story, whereas Tantz's comics are bound by the rules of the history she's presenting.
Tantz mentions a story by Alki Zei called Peter's Long Walk, a story by a Greek author depicting a fictional account of WW2 in occupied Greece. It shows the value of using the historical fiction approach.
I mention Tanya of the Evil, an alternative history anime set in WW1, which shows the fun entertainment value of alternative histories.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to It's Permanent. This is Old school southern rock, laconic, melodic, hard drinkin’, late night, whisky, beer and cigarettes. Play your cards right and you’ll be going home with the prettiest cowgirl…

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Quixote Coyote - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jul/24/featured-comic-quixote-coyote/

Links:
Pinky TA - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Pinky_TA/
Without Moonlight - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Without_Moonlight/
Peter's long walk - http://www.alkizei.com/en/works/108-petros-war

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
It's Permanent - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Its_Permanent/, by UltimateZ, rated M.

In this Quackcast Tantz, Banes and I have a chat about the novels that influenced us when we were growing up. Each of us barely even touch on them but we do bring up some interesting titles… for Tantz it was the sexy comic Storm and the novel The gods of Foxcroft, for me it was the high fantasy of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, and later on SciFi by writer like Tanith Lee and her Don't bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine- both of which were very prophetic novels in the way they deal with hedonistic youth culture and the modern phenomenon of adults having extended childhoods while outsourcing more and more adult tasks to technology.
What were some of your most influential novels when growing up?

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Cataclysm 2: Welcome to a mysterious, exotic, magical place of dim shadows, deeply filtered sunlight, hanging bells, shimmering silks and the rich smell of spices…

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
One Heart - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jul/31/featured-comic-one-heart/

Links:
The cover of “Storm” - https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ52AtfB87QPGiNJ24xrSiKsRUd3McVeveOpU4rhcBOR6yh1KT9

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Cataclysm 2 - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Cataclysm_2/, by ArmandoB, rated M.

In this Quackcast we talk about where the line is for YOU in your work about what subjects and imagery are too far for you. What is too horrible, too controversial, too extreme for you to approach? Is it blood and gore, something controversial and political, swearing, religious, sexual? Maybe you have other borders… perhaps something is too cute, sickly sweet and saccharine?

We used Tantz's newspost for inspiration and read out all the comments of the fantastic DDers who told us about their own personal limits.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Ink LaRue. Oooooh yeeeaah, melodic vocals tied with a gentle pop funk sound. This is a sexy track that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It just wants to have a bit of fun.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Savannah Cat Adventures - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Savannah_Cat_Adventue

Links:
Tantz's newspost, Drawing The Line - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jul/13/drawing-the-line/

Contributors
Usedbooks - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/usedbooks
PaulEberhardts - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PaulEberhardts
Bravo - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/bravo1102
Mindcat- https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/mindcat
Genejoke - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Genejoke
Ironscarf - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Ironscarf
KimLuster - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/KimLuster

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

Featured music:
Ink LaRue - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Ink_LaRue/, by Unka John M.

You may have read about how a conspiracy theorist dug up some 10 year old tweeted jokes by director James Gunn and got him fired from Disney… Well that incident inspired this Quackcast, which is a re-take on the whole personal brand idea that we discussed in Quackcast 289.

We all increasingly live our lives exposing a good portion of ourselves to the internet: through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google, Apple, accounts on forums, blogs and all sorts of websites all over the place! Most of us do it mainly under one or two names so it's not too hard for people to connect all sorts of activity to us, especially thanks to the policies of Facebook and YouTube to force (or strongly encourage) you to use your real name.
We webcomic artists we are all especially vulnerable to this: we have to manage our online brand (ourselves) more carefully than ever before. Your work IS you and your ARE your work. It can work both ways, your comic could reflect poorly on you depending on the subject matter you deal with so you have to be careful to separate that from the everyday “you”, or like James Gunn YOU could reflect poorly on your work so you have to keep your everyday self separate from IT!

It doesn't really matter if you take your work seriously or not, it can still affect you. This reminds me of George Orwell's famous book “1984” and the quote “Big Brother is Watching”. People think “Big Brother” is the government but that's not the case: “Big Brother” is your friends and neighbours. That's who did the watching and informing in communist countries with totalitarian systems.

One idea is that we should behave online as we do offline and there will be no issues… Unfortunately that idea is a North Korean fantasy. No one behaves like perfect, polite, innocent angels offline all the time so it's ridiculous to expect them to behave in that way online. The big problem though is that things online are more public and will likely be remembered and visible for decades to come or even forever, so you HAVE to be more careful.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Electricity is her element. You’ll get a buzz out of this shocking soundrack! The sound of spacewhales, distant quasars and pulsars, coronal mass ejections of highly charged plasma suspended in a magnetic flux, photons shooting out into the distance… this music with set off flashes of light in the darkness of your mind.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Stop Watchers - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jul/17/featured-comic-stop-watchers/

Links:
Quackcast on managing your personal brand https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/quackcast/episode-289-managing-your-personal-brand/

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

Featured music:
Electricity is her Element - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Electricity_Is_Her_Element/, by Caliway, rated E.

The idea for this Quackcast came from a rant by the irascible PitFace. She was talking about how there's a trend in modern SciFi and horror movies to bash you over the head with constant action and it doesn't allow you time to relax and take in the story, you're just bounced from one relentless scene to the next. In the biggest classics of the genre like Alien, Ghost in the Shell (animated 90's version) or Blade Runner they DO allow the viewer slow moments of reflection and it helps to make the action feel more intense by contrast as well as allowing the viewer time to assimilate and understand all the ideas and themes they've been presented with so far.

This applies to comics of course! We call it a “decompressed” storyline. Banes asserts that's a negative term but I see it as neutral, “slow burn” is another term (The more compressed a story is the faster the action happens). If you take things too far and extend out your “slow moments” then you'll just make your audience bored as they wait around for something to happen, so be careful of that! Don't drown them in action, but don't bore them to tears either.

One of my favourite things about slow moments in films and comics is that it allows you to look down side-paths and to get to know the characters and their world a bit better, which helps with immersion (suspension of disbelief). In a lot of TV and movie DVD commentaries you'll hear directors talk about how they cut out this or that scene because it didn't help “advance the plot” while you as a viewer internally scream because you realise that it would have filled out the story so much better and help you understand the characters more.

Basically, a story should NOT always be beholden to the plot as the main driving force. Characters are what people generally fall in love with, this is especially important with long form webcomics! Don't be afraid of having slow moments.

Gunwallace gave us a lovely theme to Stop Watchers. It’s tiiiime to go! No time to great ready, just head straight for the door, you’ve dilly-dallied around enough already. It’s down to the crunch now. Get going. Now, now, now, now NOW!!!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Children Of The Gods - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jul/10/featured-comic-children-of-the-gods/

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/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Stop Watchers - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Stop_Watchers/, by StopWatchers, rated E.

This week we talk about maintaining suspension of disbelief: the way you have to convince people of the world you comic is set in and keep them there. Everything you do is done for that, to convince them your characters make sense and the world works. There's a very mistaken idea that this ONLY applies to fantasy or SciFi. No, it applies to ALL fiction and even non-fiction in the case of stories and jokes from your friends, biographies and autobiographies. You have to maintain a suspension of disbelief in all these things in order to fully enjoy and be a part of the story.
MANY things can knock you out of it or shake it, not just “magic and dragons” or spaceships and aliens. The story could be about a New York homicide investigation and you use incorrect procedure, or your syntax and slang is wrong… Something as simple as that can break you out of your immersion in the story. A notable instance from me was when I was reading the stories of Brigadier Gerard by noted Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle. They're about a Hussar in Napoleon's Imperial army. Doyle hadn't done his research and didn't know that a Brigadier in the French army was a very low rank unlike in the British army, Gerard was also supposed to be a towering, well built brute of a man, when French hussars were small, lightly built young men on light horses. Doyle was so fundamentally ignorant of his subject that suspension of disbelief was a struggle.
We chat about problems with Avatar, Indiana Jones, and also breaking the fourth wall: where you deliberately attack suspension of disbelief and in doing so strengthen it. We offer up some solutions for maintaining suspension of disbelief.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to RIDDICK Q LOSS TALES. This is fast paced cool, speedy jazz for the active person, wild and frenetic buzzing trumpets with an awesome rhythm section. It’s all happening here! The club is jumping and the music’s pumping!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Electricity Is Her Element - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jul/03/featured-comic-electricity-is-her-element/

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

Featured music:
RIDDICK Q LOSS TALES - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/RIDDICK_Q_LOSS_TALES/, by Moizmad, rated M.

We talk about all the new upgrades that DD has just gotten: the new comment notification and reply features (a huge thank you to all who donated and helped out with that!!!), our new notification icons, getting HTTPS on the site, moving to the new ad system after the fall of Project wonderful, maybe starting a Patreon for DD, and Tantz's Sunday Twitter features. We also chat about Tantz's latest newspost and Mks Monster's thread that it was based on: basically the idea of forcing creators into boxes. The idea that women should create certain kinds of work and men should create others.

Gunwallace gave us a lovely theme to Sky Commander. This is a very futuristic sounding track, at first glance it’s a little modern for the 1940s set comic but I like to think of it as the flight theme of the Sky Commander as he zooms through the clouds in his shiny metal Streamline Moderne gear, producing an expanding vapour trail behind him, crisp and white against the eggshell blue sky.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Bob and Rob - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jun/26/featured-comic-bob-and-rob/

Links:
Site upgrades! - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jun/28/upgrades/
Tantz's Twitter Features - https://twitter.com/DrunkDuck/status/1013540066390667264
Proving your Progressiveness (Tantz newspost) - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jun/29/proving-your-progressiveness/
Messing with creators (thread) - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177940/?page=1#latest

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/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Sky Commander - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Sky_Commander/, by Coydog, rated T.

Retro is GOOoooooooooood! Damn good. Don't underestimate the power of retro. Old material and the past is where pure gold hides. Mine that stuff for all it's worth! But it can be overdone and when it is it's like warmed over fish and chips, it becomes tired and stale… Lets not talk about that though. What we chatted about here was the idea of mining your old work for good stuff. What was great, showed cool promise, or was some awesome but forgotten thing from your old comic work? You are perfectly free to revisit it, shine it up and impress the world. Many of the great artists and musicians of the world made their mark with that.
Sometimes the world is not ready for your good stuff at the time you publish it, so many you're later you can go back and re-release it to one that is! Bands you to do that ALL the time. The past is a great place to look for inspiration.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Redneck: Bluegrass dubstep! Fast tasty beats, lyrical guitar and a bass that drops right onto your head! Disturbing, unsettling and yet strangely compelling.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Android Shenanigans - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Android_Shenanigans/

Links:
Comicsgate - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jun/14/finding-your-style/

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

Featured music:
Redneck - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Redneck/, by Metsuke, rated T.

We have community contributions for this Quackcast! Many DDers told us about their best work and we read that out and chat about in on the Quackcast. We talking about promoting comics through DD's Twitter account. The DD awards have begun, get in on them and get nominated! Tantz Aerine wants to promote comics so send stuff to her.The we had a really long and interesting chat about Comisgate and Mark Wade and then Pitface had a meltdown :D

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Completely unrelated. Slide into coooooool. This is crystal white acrylic decor, this is a level above, this is music for the sophisticated. Feel your stresses melt way as you float off with the smooth jazz. Pure pleasure.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
dreamcomicbookDOTcom - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jun/05/featured-comic-dreamcomicbookdotcom/

Links:
Comicsgate - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jun/08/on-being-militant/
DD Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/drunkduck
DD Awards FYC - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Drunk_Duck_Awards_2018/5570037/
Your best work thread - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177929/
Your best work Quackcast - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jun/02/quackcast-377-your-best-work/
Banes' best work thread - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jun/06/talk-about-your-best-work/

People's work
Ironscarf - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Awfully_Decent_Fellows/
Jerrie - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Tales_of_The_Heartless/
Avart - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Gloom/
Bravo - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Tales_of_SIG/
Usedbooks - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Used_Books/5404818/
Emevsa - https://www.facebook.com/emevsacomics/photos/a.1141599479306215.1073741828.1139380502861446/1294219277377567/?type=3&theater
Lightfoot - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Pulse_Comics/
Kim Luster- http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Godstrain/5505278/
RoberRVeith- http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Dragons_in_Civilized_Lands/5531641/
RoberRVeith- https://robertrveith.deviantart.com/art/Transit-FinalCover-407616704
Albino Ginger- http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Holy_Bible_the_Albino_Ginger_version/

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

Featured music:
Completely Unrelated - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Completely_Unrelated/, by Delicioustrifle, rated M.

In this Quackcast we're talking about your best work… Our best work in this case. What are YOU most proud off? Please share it with us so that we can promote it.
We all talk about some of the projects that we think came out the best for us. For me it was Pinky TA 6 which came out 12 years ago now! But I'm really quite proud of the art on each new page. For Banes it was the “Pop goes the World” chapter of Typical Strange. For Pitface it was ALL of Putrid Meat. And for Tantz it's the movie that she was a writer on, 731.
What is yours?
Please tell us and give us a link.
Describe the work you're most proud off and why you're most proud of it.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Captain Galactose. Fast, frenetic side scroller beat-em-up action! This tune slams into you, rolling with a flurry of quick punches and kicks, overwhelming you in seconds and moving onto the next levelboss!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Detox Camp - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/may/29/featured-comic-detox-camp/

Links:
Putrid Meat - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/PUTRID_MEAT/
Typical Strange, Pop Goes The World - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Typical_Strange/5454838/
Pinky TA 6 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Pinky_TA/4830267/
Tantz Aerine 731 - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6511378/?ref_=nm_knf_i2

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/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Captain Galactose - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/___Captain_Galactose/, by Captain Galactose, rated E.

kawaiidaigakusei makes a return to the Quackcast! Together with the crew we chat about some of our favourite comic making tutorials on DD. Yes, there IS a tutorials section on the site and people have created some amazing and clever tutes on how to both write and draw better when making your comics. There are some cool instructions on how to make better pages, write scripts, do rain effects, all sorts of shortcuts and clever tit-bits of info to have you creating like a pro.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Potato and Kraut. Feel the gigantic weight this music layers onto your shoulders. A synthesised torrent of gravity, followed by the heavy, deep notes of a piano dropping on top of you like frozen slabs. The torrent slowly eases, brings light and relief, then fades away.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Captain Galactose - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/may/22/featured-comic-captain-galactose/

Links:
Drunk Duck comic making Tutorials - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/

Ozone's choices:
Drawing Hair: The Basics by ShadowsMyst - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/332/
A Simple Lineart Tutorial by finalfantasyfreak_07 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/297/
Drawing the Ozone way by Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/334/

Banes' choice:
Screenwriting, The Banes Method by Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/478/

Tantz's choice:
The structure of a manga page by Lace - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/467/

Kawaii's choices:
Rain effects by Silentkitty - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/319/
Coloring a design presentation drawing by Fallopiancrusader - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/549/

Pit's choices:
Profesional lineart for traditional artists by Miu3 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/433/
Preparing Line Art for Colouring by Mister Spook - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/tutorial/429/

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

Featured music:
Potato and Kraut - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Potato_and_Kraut/, by NicAndBen, rated T.

In this Quackcast we chat about the categorisation of work by specific genres and how it makes it easier to promote your work to people, while for fans it makes it easier to find what you're into, but it can also be a bad thing when people categorise too specifically and narrow their audience to nothing or just pointlessly confuse the crap out of people.
I came to this topic because I saw a post on Facebook which was very badly explaining “Steampunk” and “Dieselpunk” while introducing the two utterly superfluous sub-genre names of “Ray-punk” and Atom-punk“.

Let me explain…
First there was ”Cyberpunk“. A sub-genre of SciFi that really started in the early 1980s, famously championed by William Gibson among others. The ”punk“ suffix originally referred to it's gritty nature and the fact that it focussed on young people and the technology of the streets. The characters also wore the punk fashions popular in the early 1980s, it tended to feature cybernetic body modification and focus heavily on computers and ”cyberspace“. It was largely inspired by things like Blade Runner and Tron. Obviously there was a need for this sub-genre categorisation because nothing like it had really existed before.

”Steampunk“ is mainly 19th century but can be set at any time. Steam and clockwork are the basis for all technology, the aesthetic is usually based in the 19th century with modern touches. It takes some inspiration from the works of Jules Verne and HG Wells. Again, this was a totally new style and needed a name.
”Dieselpunk“ is from about 1900 onwards and encompasses the time of the birth of the internal combustion engine which is used as a basis for high technology, just like Steampunk does with steam. Movies like Mad Max 2 among others can be seen as inspiration. Once again it was a new style.
Steampunk and Dieselpunk stole the style of their names from cyberpunk. They use ”punk“ to refer to the unusual hybrid nature of being pre-hightech SciFi as well as the fact they often include punk type fashions and body augmentation which was a popular feature in Cyberpunk.

Then we have ”Atom-punk“ and ”Ray-punk“, both of which are describe work that is already fully encompassed by conventional mainstream SciFi from the 1920s onwards. ALL Scifi including fantasy space Operas like Star Wars can be included in these (Apart from the original aforementioned ”punk“ styles). I feel that this type of categorisation is very, very pretentious, ignorant and counter-productive: since it dilutes and trivialises the ”punk" brand; imagines it does something novel while ignoring all the millions of works on the same theme; and confuses audiences precisely because it IS so dilute and superfluous. Dieselpunk and Steampunk by contrast are weird, they don't fit at all with normal SciFi and so need to be described in an unusual way.

Our guest Emma Clare offers up a spirited defence, so it's not all one sided and I don't have it all my own way on this! Listen to the Quackcast to see what she says.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to The Adventures of Tildie and Chewie. We’re greeted by the imposing strains of the Imperial march on heavy bass guitar… before we’re rocketed off into a pink heavenly dream cloud filled with rainbows and Teletubbies!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Tethered from Dusk to Dawn - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/may/15/featured-comic-tethered-from-dusk-to-dawn/

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

Featured music:
The Adventures of Tildie and Chewie - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Adventures_of_Tildie_and_Chewie/, by Patricklind, rated E.

In this Quackcast we have a chat about some ways to promote your comics and sell yourself. Emma Clare and Tantz have been doing cool stuff with the DD Twitter account. Hash tags are an important part of that, help them come up with a hash tag for DD! Who understands hash-tags on Facebook? Covers are one of my favourite ways to promote your work. They're tricky to get right but you need them to properly encompass your work and promote it, the form they take can depend on where your work is: Amazon, Drunk Duck, a convention, targeted ads etc. But be careful not to disappoint your audience with false advertising.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Coward of Valor. It's a Modern yet medieval, this tune strides in with great pomposity and deigns to dance for us. It pirouettes and swoops in all its beauty and extravagance then exits stage left with just as much flare.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Sune - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/may/08/featured-comic-sune/

Links:
DD Twitter account - https://twitter.com/DrunkDuck
Covers newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/may/11/designing-a-cover/
Advertising in comics newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/may/02/this-way-to-the-egress/
Promotion newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/may/09/the-sizzle-and-the-steak/
DD Twitter poll for a hashtag - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/may/10/quackaboutit-we-have-a-poll/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Coward of Valor - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Coward_of_Valor/, by Matt@Deadpen E.

Millennials are so dumb, Gen Xers are SO lazy, and those Baby-boomers are just greedy as hell aren't they? But seriously, in THIS Quackcast we chat about the different generations of webcomicers and what's changed and what we have to learn from each other. The first generation of real webcomics came in with Sluggy Freelance, 8 bit theatre and a few others. Webcomics started out in the mid 90s as the web version of “Zines”: independent creator driven personal projects.

The second generation came about in the 2000s. Sites like Drunk Duck and Keen Space were a huge part of that. It made it easier for creators to make the jump online. We'd seen what those first guys did and now it was OUR turn, there were a lot of copy-cats in this generation, but a lot of experimentation and creativity too, with sound, animation, interactivity and infinite canvas being a mainstay. Later there was an explosion in hosting sites like DD and comicers moved on to other formats like Tumbler and Twitter etc.

The pro comic publishers saw how things were going and tried to get in on the act with online comics too. I think the 3rd generation saw a lot of commercial focussed projects. Comicers saw it as a way to make money so we had a lot of slick, pro work flooding in.
In the 4th generation I think we have people doing comics for mobile devices or ON mobile devices. A lot of the comic hosting sites have far more limitations on work than they used to in terms of content and format, a lot of stuff has a bit of a pre-packaged feel, you see almost no experimentation with format now. On the upside though quality is a lot higher and comic sites will reliably work a lot better than they used to.

Styles have changed over the generations: In the old days most comics were fully drawn and scanned. Tablets were rare and very expensive and so were graphics programs. If you saw a fully digital comic back then you knew the artist was either a pro or they were at university with access to high level equipment - or it was dodgy work done with a mouse and Windows Paint. Those tools have become far more accessible now and the barriers have come right down. Most work is digital.
What generation are you?

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to DreamcomicbookDOTcom! Journey into a claustrophobically narrow electronic service tunnel, filled with high voltage wires humming with unimaginable power and mysterious cables running off endlessly into the dim, dark shadows in the distance. The creepy patterings and low hum of this music will take you there!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
SKY COMMANDER - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/may/01/featured-comic-sky-commander/

Links:
AmeliaP is a webcomicer that made the jump to pro - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Kings_Club/
Supermassive Black Hole, creative format - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Supermassive_Black_Hole_A_Star/
Elfwood, grand-daddy of web galleries - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfwood
Powerup Comics, making fun of gamer comics - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Powerup_Comics/
Shaye Saint John, used to be an interactive, creative website - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaye_Saint_John
Sluggy freelance, first generation webcomic - http://sluggy.com/
8 Bit Theatre, first generation webcomic -https://www.nuklearpower.com/8-bit-theater/


PLEASE TEST OUR COMMENT REPLY SYSTEM!
Comment reply notifications newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/23/test-the-comment-notifications-today/
Reply Notifications - http://next.theduckwebcomics.com/user/replies

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

Featured music:
DreamcomicbookDOTcom - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/dreamcomicbookDOTcom, by Btraven, rated E.

In this Quackcast we use the movie Avengers: Infinity War as an excuse to chat about grey characters and how that applies in the Marvel universe. In truth we don't touch much on that movie but we do chat about a few of the other marvel superhero movies and “grey” characters in general, Tantz is of the opinion that “grey” characters are rarely truly grey.. My favourite quote from Tantz was “It's hard to punch the bad-guy while you're punching yourself”. Do the Marvel movies follow the comics or do the comics follow the movies? We'd love to know!

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Alienated: This is as if Joni Mitchell wrote a classical adventure anthem. This tune urges you on into the vastness and glory of nature. You are Caspar David Friedrich, A Wanderer Over A sea Of Fog, with the world in all its awesomeness spread out far below you.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Potato and Kraut - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/apr/24/featured-comic-potato-and-kraut/

Links:
Ironman newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/apr/17/the-character-journey-of-iron-man-revisited/
Are grey characters truly grey? http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/apr/27/black-white-gray-part-3/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Alienated - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Alienated/, by Road Runt, rated T.

Everyone tends to have a strong opinion on Political Correctness so I thought why don't we try and have a chat about that and ask what people think. Can it be a problem in comics and other creative works? I was inspired by a video by Youtuber Metaron. He was talking about the decision to put a black actor in the role of Greek mythical figure Achilles in a BBC series about the fall of Troy and questioning the reasoning for it given that being a blonde haired incarnation of the sun-god Apollo is a huge part of the character. My main issue is that the actor is as bald as an egg! At least give him a blonde wig, I don't care how silly it looks. To be fair Achilles has rarely been portrayed well on the big screen, there was Brad Pitt's petulant version in Troy and an even balder Joe Montana in Helen of Troy! Do we spoil creative works by trying to be too inclusive or not being inclusive enough?

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Wanted dead or dead: Welcome to a much cooler version of the old west… we open on a widescreen panorama shot of a dry, dusty desert scene and a lone cowboy all in black, kicking his toe in the dirt. This music is as warm as the hot desert breeze, the guitar is as hard as gunmetal.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Empress Mother Earth's Handmaiden - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/apr/17/featured-comic-empress-mother-earths-handmaiden/

The things that inspired the cast:
Metatron's video on the subject of Black Achilles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZH35n7SxW8&t=0s
Troy: Fall of a City - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5103758/
Helen of Troy - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340477/
Troy - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332452/


PLEASE TEST OUR COMMENT REPLY SYSTEM!
Comment reply notifications newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/23/test-the-comment-notifications-today/
Reply Notifications - http://next.theduckwebcomics.com/user/replies

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Emma Clare - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Emma_Clare/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Wanted dead or dead - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Wanted_Dead_or_dead/, by MayelV, rated T.

In today's Quackcast we talk about a couple of subjects: Doing things at the last minute VS doing them slowly, over time. Sometimes you get that wonderful last minute energy cause by a deadline, your work can be inspired, or at least fresh and full of vibrancy. Other times it's rough and unfinished looking, amateurish.
Work done over a long time can be honed to a diamond edge, exquisitely put together like a Faberge egg, a work of art! Other times it can be like a warmed over mess, redone and redone till any spark of originality and freshness is washed out of the grey goop you're left with.
We chat about Tantz's Saturday newspost subject of Black and White Vs Grey: bad guys can be totally bad without humanising them and good guys can be totally good, without stain or tarnish and yet both can be interesting and the story can be great. Grey isn't always better.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Empress Mother Earths Handmaiden: A dark, intense foreboding and forbidding intro leads you deep into a beautiful rose coloured cave of glowing wonder and joy. We finish up with a lovely lilt on a harp!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Alienated - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/apr/10/featured-comic-alienated/

Links:
Black, White, & Grey newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/apr/13/gray-black-and-white-part-1/
Art of veiling - https://www.amazon.com/Art-Veiling-Awareness-Tantz-Aerine-ebook/dp/B00CRMM25K

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

Featured music:
Empress Mother Earths Handmaiden - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Empress_Mother_Earths_Handmaiden/, by NRG Comic, rated E.

This week's Quackcast was inspired by a newspost that Banes made about propaganda. We used that as a jumping off point to talk about political messages and social agendas in creative works- when it's deliberate and when it's not. Tantz Aerine made a great point that the world of the Federation in Star Trek is like showing us the world from the perspective of a fascist regime. It's certainly NOT intended that way but that IS an unintentional message. You'll have to listen to the Quackcast to hear her argument for that idea. A movie like Starship Troopers is brilliant at subverting the whole propaganda thing. :)

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Coga nito: Slide into some retro 1970s classic disco, with a modern twist! You’ll feel like your wearing shiny white polyester stretch flares with high white leather platform shoes, then rocket back into the present with the cool techno dance feel of the synthesised beats. Get onto the dance floor and strut your stuff!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
The Last Sheriff - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/apr/03/featured-comic-the-last-sheriff/

Links:
Propaganda newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/20/points-of-view-propaganda-and-marketing/


Creative works discussed in the cast:
Jesus 2016 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Jesus_2016/
A handmaid's tale - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid's_Tale
Star Trek - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek
Futurama - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama
The Simpsons - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons
Family Guy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy
24 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_%28TV_series%29
The 300 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_%28film%29
Mephisto - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082736/
The Beast - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094716/
Starship troopers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers
Doonesbury http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com/

PLEASE TEST OUR COMMENT REPLY SYSTEM!
Comment reply notifications newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/23/test-the-comment-notifications-today/
Reply Notifications - http://next.theduckwebcomics.com/user/replies

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

Featured music:
Coga Nito - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Coga_Nito/, by Toby Durr, rated T.

Welcome to another Quackcast! in this “blahcast” we talk about a lot of different subjects. This Quackcast also sees the arival of a NEW feature! It's the Princess January Show, by VinoMas! Where all the hot gos about popularity on DD is covered.
Pitface tells us that Fury is the greatest tank movie ever, I correctly state that Tankgirl owns that honour. We chat about mistaken criticism of a movie or webcomic based on what we WANTED it to be rather than what it was, Suckerpunch being a prime example, but also the Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Bad promotion also sinks projects especially films like John Carter on Mars. We chat about Star Wars The Force Awakens AGAIN! Which leads us to badly written female characters: a strong character is a well defined character that drives a story, not characters that are physically strong, they CAN be, but it has nothing to do with being a “strong” character. It's like the famous “survival of the fittest”: “fittest” does not mean “strongest”, it means the best “fit” for a situation. So those are some of the pop-culture things we “blah” about.

We have a university student doing a study on webcomics. Please consider filling out her survey, linked in our links section!

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Project Prince. The simple plucked wire chords introduce us to a dark future scene. Synthesised organ and gentle patter of brushes on cymbals tip us off to the action to come. Loud distorted electric guitars give us the feel of a late night 1980s SciFi action movie

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Yasu no Monogatari - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/27/featured-comic-yasu-no-monogatari/

Links:
The Princess January Show - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Princess_January_Show/
Webcomic Survey for a university study - https://www.umfrageonline.com/s/3e56c0d

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

Featured music:
Project Prince - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Project_Prince/, by Settha, rated E.

In this Quackcast we discuss a couple of things. First we chat about the prototype comment reply notification system that Alexey our programmer has just now come up with and people like Albino Ginger helped to pay for! And we talk about ways to make it more user-friendly, like having the first line of a comment show up on the comment notification pages… We'd LOVE more feedback on that! So please consider testing out the system and giving us your take on it.
Then we chatted about the art of the TITLE! Why do things have the titles they do? What are some good or bad titles? Why did you choose YOUR title? Star Wars is an example of a good title for a movie: it told people exactly what to expect in a time when there weren't many other films like it, this is why it was never called “A New Hope” or “Episode 4” the way we mistakenly call it today, because no one in 1977 would have gone to see it ;)
Happy birthday!!!!!!! Mr Banes! Banes Had his birthday DURING the Quackcast! Woot! Please show some love for this amazing guy ^_^

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Holy Bible the Albino Ginger Version: Wonder into the giant cathedral of our lord, the revered and sacred Albino Ginger, watch the dust motes dance in the multicoloured sunbeams, tinted into rainbow shades by stained glass windows depicting the mighty feats of the Albino Ginger god as he was creating our world… This is techno trance church music for a new age!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Demon Plague - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/20/featured-comic-demon-plague/

Links:
Titles newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/14/say-my-name-titles/
Comment reply notifications newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/23/test-the-comment-notifications-today/
PLEASE TEST OUR COMMENT REPLY SYSTEM! - http://next.theduckwebcomics.com/user/replies

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

Featured music:
Holy Bible the Albino Ginger Version - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Holy_Bible_the_Albino_Ginger_version/, by Albino Ginger, rated M.

We have a very special Quackcast this week. We interview Albino Ginger, AKA Bo Knowles, creator of the hilarious and subversive Holy Bible The Albino Ginger Version! Bo gave a VERY generous donation to our Indigogo fund-raiser to help us pay for the a new comment notification and comment reply notification feature, and his reward was a Quackcast interview which we were more than pleased to give. After reading his Holy Bible you'll understand why, it's very funny and quite naughty. We look forward to more chapters! Bo was fun to chat to and we all had a great time ^_^
READ THE GINGER BIBLE! There is just so much hilarity in there and sneaky jokes on flat earth theory, young earth creationism, evolution denial and many more. Read to find out ;)

This week Gunwallace has given us another theme to Cybertech! It's a slow panoramic introduction to a dark future, promising action and adventure across the dim blackness of space. You can listen to the first one on Quackcast 292.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Fluffy 500 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/13/featured-comic-fluffy-500/

Ginger links:
True version of the Bible - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Holy_Bible_the_Albino_Ginger_version/
Terminator with a twist - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Snow_Black/
The man of the hour! - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Albino_Ginger/
Feature of Albino Ginger Bible - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/jun/27/featured-comic-holy-bible-the-albino-ginger-version/

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

Featured music:
Cybertech - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Cybertech/, - by superzentredi, rated T.

Today we interview Princess January, supported by her ever dependable VinoMas! Princess January kicked off the interview in full patriotic fashion as she melded perfectly in commander in chief, wearing looks inspired by George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, and looked very fashionable doing it. The reason for US President Collection was of course to promote the DD fashion forum and the Pageant comic. You should all submit some designs to it. There's noting more fun than dressing your characters in fancy duds and getting waves of appreciation from all their admirers for the sartorial clothing choices! So what are you waiting for? Join the pageant today. Join it! Aren't you proud of how amazing your character's clothing is? Or just pop on over and admire the designs and creativity!

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Card Commander: American marching band military snare drums blast you into the the beginning of this track, closely followed by a complex interweaving of sound as it builds higher and higher towards the ultimate conclusion!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Kitty Kitty Bang Bang - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/05/featured-comic-kitty-kitty-bang-bang/

The beauty pageant comic - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Pageant/
The beauty pageant forum - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/13117/
VinoMas - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/VinoMas/
Ozone and Princess January - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/quackcast/episode-133-an-interview-with-everyone/
Interview with VinoMas - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/quackcast/episode-189-its-your-choice/

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

Featured music:
Card Commander - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Card_Commander/, by Card Commander, rated E.

All the planning and set up in the world will never count for anything if you never start your webcomic, so just put your own to paper and begin!
“Getting started on a webcomic” is what we chat about here. I was inspired by PitFace's newspost about a crappy horror film and how the creators just went for it. As a webcomicer that is what you HAVE to do! You can plan, research and gather resources for years, but the reality is that it just makes you more and more scared to take the plunge. You'll develop a LOT faster as a webcomicer if you throw caution to the wind and go for it. I'm not saying that research and planning are uneeded, it's just that most if it can be done while you're actually working. Do not worry about putting out a perfect piece of genius work from the getgo- your comic WILL get there regardless if you're dedicated and put the work in AS you work, but the first few pages or chapters don't have to be there. Your audience will appreciate the chance to grow with you a lot more than if you put out a polished gem to begin with.
Starting out at a place like Drunk Duck is your best bet. It's a nurturing, easy to use, creator run platform, focussed around promoting webcomics. So what are you waiting for?

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Flesh and Wires: Dirty and distorted electric guitar and determined fuzzy bass, weaving together over a haunting synthesized Melodica. Portentous and evocative, this music tells a story in it’s own runtime! The main riff reminds me a little of my fave part for We don’t Need Another Hero from Tina Turner.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Kawaiidolia - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/feb/27/featured-comic-kawaiidolia/

Pit-Face, Asshole in a mask - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/mar/03/all-you-need-is-an-asshole-in-a-mask/
How to get into webcomics - https://twitter.com/Blackmudpuppy/status/969773241198960640

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
PitFace - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Emma Clare - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Emma_Clare/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Flesh and Wires - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Flesh_and_Wires/, - by ngrootendorst, rated M.

Jason Moon, author of Crater's Edge, messaged me about some comments he had. He was perturbed about reader reaction to his storyline and wasn't sure how to handle the comments. I told him that those sorts of comments are the very greatest compliment an author can get, because once you get them you've reached the stage where people care about your work enough to get angry: they're invested emotionally in the characters.
Yes. It is initially confronting to have someone commenting like that but what you really need to do is step back for a moment and realise what a gigantic compliment it is in actuality. It means you affected them strongly, and that's quite an important thing to be able to do. It doesn't happen much but it's quite a GOOD thing when it does. It's not an easy thing to do to get people that invested. What it really means is you have succeeded as a writer and reached an important milestone.
We also have a chat about getting comments in general and also GIVING comments! Hopefully our new comment notification feature will be a boon for this kind of interaction.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Kitty Kitty Bang Bang: Multilayered Chinese video-game war anthem with a modern twist! That’s how I’d describe this complex little piece. It’s the final boss battle, you’ve got no spare lives, you’re down to your last powerup and time is running out!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Stringy and Mopy - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/feb/20/featured-comic-stringy-and-mopy/

Jason Moon's Crater's Edge - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Craters_Edge/
Comment notification Beta-testing - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/feb/07/youve-got-mailnotifications/

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

Featured music:
Kitty Kitty Bang Bang - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Kitty_Kitty_Bang_Bang/, by MoeAlmighty, rated T.

In this Quackcast we chat about all the different options for hosting your webcomic. At the moment it seems the fashionable new young kiddies on the block are Webtoons and Tapastic, but they're certainly NOT the only choices for webcomic hosts out there and certainly not the best choices. I think we make a good case here for why Drunk Duck is a better choice in many ways, but we also bring up other host sites like twitter, comic fury, comic Genesis (used to be Keenspace), Tumblr, Deviant Art, Smack Jeeves, Fur Affinity, self hosting on a Word Press site etc.

In the early days of the millennium there were just two hosts for your comic: Drunk Duck and Keenspace. Drunk Duck was a better choice for most since it was a lot easier to customise and it had a friendlier, smaller community. Keenspace had a two tier system: the picked comics with all the best stuff were in their “keenspot” site while the rabble were stuck with the slower hosting and slower updates. The main thing they had going was a gigantic member base. But they even changed the site's name from “keenspace” to “comic genesis” to further separate KeenSpot from the rabble, which left a sour taste in the mouth. By contrast Drunk Duck was always dedicated to being fully egalitarian. One of our main strengths is that we accept all without stigma: manga, furry, adult comic, sprites, American style, superhero, slice of life comedy, photocomics, professional published comics or stick figure amateur work and we welcome them all the same with the same level of enthusiasm.

The big young Webtoons and Tapastic have some of the same issues Keenspace used to have: a big community where you will be lost in the crowd. And no site has as solid and safe programming and hosting as Drunk Duck does. Plus we're community run so you're same from corporate oversight and interference in the content you're allowed to post.
You can read more about comic hosting sites in Emma Clare's news posts linked bellow.

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Odd Days. Sometimes you just have one of those days… or many of them in a row! Odd days. The sound here has a positive, optimistic theme overlayed with a harsh zigzag of electric guitar. This tune does well to illustrate the twisted euni, the off-balance and askew takes on everyday life and situations dealt with in this slice of life, humorous comic.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Flesh and Wires - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/feb/13/featured-comic-flesh-and-wires/

Emma Clare's webcomic host newspost 1 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/dec/05/mirror-mirror-part-1/
Emma Clare's webcomic host newspost 2 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/dec/14/mirror-mirror-part-2/

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

Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes

Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Odd Days - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Odd_Days/, by Nightmarelunatic, rated T.

Today we talk about where our characters began, not their origin stories or why we started writing them but rather what they used to look like! Pitface was inspired to create a thread based on this idea by Emma Clare's newspost series of origin stories. So we just HAD to have Emma Clare along with us to discus this too! Pit, Tantz, and Emma discuss their bishie origins and talk about maybe doing a bishie DD calendar… We HAVE to make them do that! Emma Clare of course does our Friday newsposts as well as the comic Puppets and Strings and is the artist on Constellation Chronicles. What did your character look like when you first started?

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme Wolf Moon - A slow, rich acoustic beginning lulls you calmly, then we roar into a rough, electric feast, a veritable tidal wave of sound washes over you and carries you out to sea.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Fallen World - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/feb/06/featured-comic-fallen-world/

Pit's Primordial Creations Thread - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177847/
Emma Clare's webcomic origin's newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/feb/02/the-origin-stories-of-webcomics-part-3/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
PitFace - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Emma Clare - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Emma_Clare/
Banes - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Wolf Moon - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Wolf_Moon/, by Selecia, rated E.

In this Quackcast I thought we'd chat about Emma Clare's great and thoughtful topic of webcomic origin stories:
Basically, what was happening to make you start your webcomic on DD, all that stuff in your life back when you first began posting… Emma's newsposts are a great read and they made us all think back to how we began. Pit, Tantz and I have a long talk about our comicing origins. What were YOU doing when you started webcomics? What made you begin?

This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to NanoCritters. It's a minimalist white expanse, dotted with mysterious little marks of sound. What do they mean, what do they represent, is it code? Read NanoCritters to find out!
Also included in the Quackcast are extracts from a lovely Starwars themed rap that Tantz's Greek students performed in English.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Red Banner - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/30/featured-comic-red-banner/

Emma Clare's webcomic origin's newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/feb/02/the-origin-stories-of-webcomics-part-3/
Origin newspost 2 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/25/the-origin-stories-of-webcomics-part-2/
Origin newspost 1 - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/18/the-origin-stories-of-webcomics-part-1/
last page of putrid meat! 11 years!!! - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Master The Tiger - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Master_the_Tiger

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
PitFace - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
NanoCritters - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/NanoCritters/, by NanoCritters, rated E.

Covers are a very important part of books and comics! They entice us to pick them up and read them, they encourage us to BUY them. But how much are they really needed for webcomics? You hardly ever look at the front cover and what you really want in a webcomic is the meat of it, not the packaging, they're not waiting on racks outside a shop… and yet we still make them anyway, not just for the front cover but also chapter covers as well! This was the idea behind a thread Pitface came up with in the DD forums and we thought it was an interesting topic.
Personally I love drawing covers, they give me a chance to break out of the comic format and be all arty and play with title text. How about you? What's your position on webcomic covers?

This week Gunwallce has given us the theme to Kawaiidolia: A dreamy journey into a world of green shade, damp, fresh air, and dapple golden sunlight. This is a pretty track , full of beauty.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Toni Kino Adventure - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/23/featured-comic-toni-kino-adventures/

Pit's Cover thread - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177842/
Without moonlight cover - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Without_Moonlight/5241132/
Banes' Typical Strange cover - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Typical_Strange/5395433/
Putrid Meat cover - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/PUTRID_MEAT/5443047/
Opening tune borrowed from “cover me” by Percy Sledge - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lE0oGYXUwY
What's in an OP, examining anime openings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAKs3rbtgAs&list=PLiA-wx1wjaKpFbymrAHhdgzqmWADswVyC

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

Featured music:
Kawaiidolia - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/KAWAIIDOLIA/, by Skepticalsquare, rated E.

This week we mine Banes's ideas about damaged protagonists. Does having physiologically damaged protagonists (as opposed to merely flawed), make them more realistic or relatable? I think we came to the conclusion that this isn't necessarily the case at all, in fact it can mean the opposite sometimes. Where that sort of “damage” can come in useful it making your character more interesting, in that they can make unusual choices that serve the story nicely and stop it being too predictable. Where “damaged” characters were used badly was in popular mainstream comics where the idea became something of a fad and therefore a cliche, and so uninteresting and trite.

This week Gunwallce has given us the theme to Doc2DWho. It has the apprehensive feel of oldschool Doctor Who, entering the darkness and unknown, this music is spatial and atmospheric.

THANKS AGAIN TO ALL WHO DONATED TO OUR INDIEGOGG!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
ArGH ZoMBiE - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/17/featured-comic-argh-zombie/

Banes's Damaged Protagonist newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/17/damaged-protagonists/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
PitFace - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Doc2DWho - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Doc2DWho/, by Skreem, rated E.

Sexy badguys: power vs confidence vs sexiness. That's what we chat about here. Why do we have sexy bad guys? Are all bad guys and girls sexy? What makes them sexy? Is power truly sexy in fiction or is it confidence? There are so many aspects to this and so many totally unexamined assumptions, misconceptions, and cilches. We try our best to examine all these aspects because we all love a sexy villain and we loved talking about them even better.

This week Gunwallce has given us the theme to Really? It's ultra poppy Daft Punk-like, bouncing with joy and enthusiasm, this one wants you to get up and go and it wants you to do it now! Really!

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Chunky Skunk - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/08/featured-comic-chunky-skunk/

MegaRdaniels' forum post - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177833/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
PitFace - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Really - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Really/, by hangryhermit, rated E.

**Help add notifications for new comments!**
Please donate to our our Indiegogo drive to raise many for the latest improvement to DD: Comment notifications! We know that everyone wants those.
Contribute here - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/drunk-duck-improvements-notifications-community-website/x/4410947#/
*Please* help us add this improvement to DD so you can get notifications for new comments and replies!

Look at the DD Redesign mockups - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177679/?page=3

READERS are a massive part of Drunk Duck! Actually readers are a huge part of ANY comic. But Drunk Duck tends to focus far more on creators than perhaps we should… This idea was inspired by a newspost of Tantz's. We talk about ways to make DD more accessible to readers, including highlighting comics in similar genres and guest representatives giving us recommendation lists of comics they like from a genre so we can promote them on the front page.
Emma_Clare has done some GREAT mockups for a redesign of DD and in those is an example of the DD front page where we highlight comics by genre!
We chat about comic listing sites like Comic Rocket, Top Webcomics and the brand new Archive Binge, along with other various topics like who are the best hosts for adult comics, cross promotion etc.

This week Gunwallce has given us the theme to Blood and water: Cool, quiet, and creepy. This one will have you on edge from start to finish. There’s an undertone of cool nonchalance that’s surprisingly at odds with the on-edge feel!

Please donate to our our Indiegogo drive to raise many for the latest improvement to DD: Comment notifications! We know that everyone wants those.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Invaded - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/02/featured-comic-invaded/

Tantz's Readers newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/05/creators-vs-readers/
DD Redesign mockups - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/177679/?page=3
Promotion via Twitter - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/jan/04/the-dark-broadcasting-experiment/
Archive Binge comic list - https://archivebinge.com/
Comic Rocket list - https://www.comic-rocket.com/explore/
Top webcomics list - http://topwebcomics.com/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Kawaiidaigakusei - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
PitFace - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Blood and water - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Blood_and_Water/, by Genejoke, rated M.

**Help add notifications for new comments!**
Contribute here - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/drunk-duck-improvements-notifications-community-website/x/4410947#/
*Please* help us add this improvement to DD so you can get notifications for new comments and replies!

Happy 2018 everybody! Another year passes and a new one has just begun. We recorded this Quackcast on the 30th of December so it was the very last Quackcast of 2017. Pitface was drunk and very entertaining, drinking beer from her new drinking horn, you can hear her entertaining ramblings at the start of the Quackcast.
Tantz, Pit, Banes and I all chatted about cliffhangers since the new year is the ultimate cliffhanger! It was based on Tantz's newspost of the other day. Cliffhangers are a great way to make a story compelling. But try not to abuse them…
Lets see, the only other thing is our Indiegogo drive to raise many for the latest improvement to DD: Comment notifications! We know that everyone wants those.

This week Gunwallce has given us the theme to Slither and Friends. It's down home, dirty, scratchy groove. Feel the outdoors and the sound of the country in this one. Cool, full bodied, and natural.

Topics and shownotes

Featured comic:
Et Spiritus Divino - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/dec/26/featured-comic-et-spiritus-divino/

Tantz's Cliffhanger newspost - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2017/dec/29/the-cliffhanger/

Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
PitFace - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/PIT_FACE/
Tantz Aerine - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean

Featured music:
Slither and Friends - http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Slither_and_Friends_Comic/, By Mister Spook, rated E.