I want to make a fantasy comic. I know there’s a lot of them and it’s a bit of an overdone genre, but it’s a lot easier and more fun for me to draw and write fantasy than sci-fi or contemporary settings. I’d like to make a comic that people would want to read, and stick around for. I have a few ideas, but I’m also kind of stumped so I’m taking suggestions.
What do you like to see in fantasy stories? What don’t you like to see? What do you think is overused or not used enough?
this isn’t an attempt to start a Yea Forums project, I just wanna see what kinds of plots/characters would be interesting to you guys.
half baked ideas and thinly veiled magical realms are welcome btw because that’s half of my pitches
Oliver Perez
When it comes to fantasy, I always gravitate to monsters. I like when said monsters are actually characters rather than just obstacles or soldiers or something. Maybe the hero's best friend is a cyclops for example.
I find there is actually a real lack of good fantasy comics outside of europe, they are they only ones that seem to really take the time and effort to develop them well. There are a few western ones but most fall flat.
What I want to see is full on world building, every issue should add a bit of the world to it. Also, something so many comics have missed about fantasy is map making, maps are extremely important to the fantasy genre and they should be included, sure it's an extra page but you can use it to add something about the setting they are in, or hell a recap if you want to do recap pages. BUT INCLUDE A MAP!
Connor Edwards
[post which pretends to be offering you story ideas innocently, but which is actually trying to trick you into drawing my fetishes]
Henry White
You know, I have always like fantasy comics that are set among islands or focus on oceangoing adventures. Something with a south pacific feel perhaps.
"A girl, a daughter of a chieftan is soon reaching the age when she will be married off to some man not of her choosing. One day a stranger arrives sailing a fabulous ship. He is obviously a man of great wealth and prowess, and claims he is a chieftain from another island. He says he has come looking for a wife.
"The chieftain's daughter is certainly impressed by him, but more than that she sees in him a chance to change her own fate.
"However this too-good-to-be-true stranger is far more than he seems and her involvement with him will take her to far away places. Maybe even to the dwelling places of the gods."
Or instead of south pacific or proto-polynesian, you could go with a fantasy empire like Atlantis or Lemuria. More of a Conan-esque, pre-historical forgotten civilizations fantasy.
>What do you like to see in fantasy stories? What don’t you like to see? What do you think is overused or not used enough? >not respectable 95% of what I read is furshit. I really, really want to read stories about non-humans that are normal enough to be likeable, but strange enough to change the story in ways human characters can't, like climb a tree with just their fingers or know immediately that a copper item was stolen because they can smell the sweat reacting with it
>respectable Lovecraft and the Lovecraft mood- it's not actually that humans are something small in an uncaring cosmos, not exactly, it's more that the universe is aggressively not here for your convenience- nothing in space is even vaguely human( everything is biologically immortal and usually reproduces through spores, for example), nothing actually makes sense if you assume it's all in one setting, and there's this weird undercurrent that rationalism is somehow some form of human arrogance. It gives the stories a feeling of severity. They feel more like very unique, dark fantasy stories rather than actual horror. Never got around to it but I wanted to ask /tg/ if you could spin old germanic fairytales as lovecraftian horror- they also usually involve bumblefucks intruding intruding into places that don't make sense.
Speaking of that, severity: Pic related is not a fantasy story, it's historical fiction about a westerner getting stuck in samurai politics. But it opens with his ship getting dashed on the rocks as most of the crew is dead or dying of scurvy and he can barely fight for his life. It annoyed me because that opening looked like it could be in any given fantasy story but it was better told than any fantasy book I read before. I can't do it, but genre fantasy feels like the sort of thing that could be redefined just by taking it seriously. ... Avoid gritwank, though, that seems like the next cliche everyone is going to hate.
The trap of fantasy, as far as I'm concerned, is being preoccupied with the fantastical elements and allowing them to eclipse the actual story component. Relying too much on the "What if" part of the genre gets off putting very quickly, for me. Fantasy allows for way more creative freedom than most people can make use of. Most fantasy webcomics you'll see become obsessed with being weird and outlandish--OR they go the way of Romance-Pretending-To-Be-Fantasy.
I enjoy fantasy for its ability to make expectations and preconceptions murky--I like things outwardly predictable, with the unspoken understanding that the fantastical is looming in the peripheries at all times, waiting for its moment.
That's a big reason why I like "historical" fantasy, if that's a thing. Not so much alternative history, but fantasy that is explicitly in the mold of real life history. I don't like Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies. I would like Master and Commander with sea monsters. I'm working on my own comic to that end--long form, big world, relatively low fantasy, and in all ways taking hints from history and meta-history.
Feel free to check it out. You said you had some ideas. Can you talk about any of them?
is monstress good? I'm okay with Liu's other stuff, currently I'm finishing 2000s Lucifer but I'm unsure what to pick next
Jaxon Gray
it's very long form so lots of Yea Forums doesn't like it also cause it's a matriarchy world, so it is written like fantasy novels and has a lot of build up. But she manages to have a really great pay off in the last two issues of an arc.
Zachary Nelson
This guy gets it. Tell a story where fantastic things happen. Think of a plot and characters and shit for them to do. Write a story where they do it. Literally do not draw a map or plan out any lore until at least the first book is done. Presto, you're already better than 95% of fantasy writers.
Isaac Diaz
thanks user, going to put it on my backlog for later I don't mind matriarchy, it's fantasy after all, kek
If your heroes are travelling you could include a map piece every time they decide where to go next.
Xavier Myers
>What don’t you like to see? the generic strong wyman character/protagonist who looks and acts like a men and overall blackwashing/feminist propaganda rewriting of European inspired settings where we end up with black female knights everywhere. IPs with traditional and realistic gender roles are way more interesting to me since they have become so raw in todays "woke" media
Joshua Garcia
if you like men hating sjw crap like most of Yea Forumsmblr sure
Parker Wilson
>I know there’s a lot of them and it’s a bit of an overdone genre Never again burden your mind with the thought that this matters.
Evan Edwards
OP here, got a lot of good replies and they’re very helpful, I love it when people talk about things they like.
My own idea is a combo of sword and sorcery and magical girl genres. It’s inspired by She-Ra and Amethyst Princess of Gemworld. It takes place in a fantasy realm protected by ancient gemstones; 6 of those gems have kingdoms around them. Each has a Gem Guardian. New guardians are chosen every 40 years, but our main villain refused to give up her power and turned on her team and people. Our villain tore open a portal in time and flung the Emerald Guardian into modern day earth where’s she’s found by a highschool girl. Old guardian is dying so she pulls an Abin Sur and gives the emerald to our MC naming her the successor, MC then gets transported to the world with no idea of what’s going on and has to learn a lot very quickly. Pic related, costume ideas for her
>Its overdone After 100 of years of cinema and comics, even more than 100 years of literature. Everything is overdone. The only genre i know that isnt overdone is prehistoric worlds.
But still good approach, fantasy brainstorm user.
Cameron Gomez
I love the idea of a pacific islander inspired world, Bionicle was one of my all-time favorite fantasy settings because of how rare Polynesian-inspired stuff is. Most of my fantasy ideas are in non-European settings, ironically the pitch I posted is probably the most “conventional fantasy-like” of all my concepts.
I agree about including a map, but as much as I love world building, it can be such a trap because I get so sucked into it that I forget to write the actual plot. Plot always needs to come first.
And yeah, to the user concerned about blackwashing/wammen power I get you, it can bug me too. My own pitch is mildly matriarchal, if only because the wielders of the world’s most important objects are always women, hope that doesn’t bother you too much. The designs are all going to be very cheesecake tho, so maybe that will balance it out.
Jaxson Murphy
I can tell you have never read Eudeamon.
Blake White
Are you trying to inject a bionicle fantasy? Clever user!
European is really overdone, all these wizards and orc with Tolkin is standard now. What is rare used is mediterean, greek or antic fantasy. Not Hercules or Zeus stuff, but borrowing from the greek pantheon.
Anthony Carter
This. Also want more fantasy stories that deal with exploration and traveling. Instead of blackwashing European fantasy I want to see the fantasy take on South American, Asian and Middle Eastern cultures and societies. Just what Avatar, Game of Thrones or Warhammer did. Using the designs of historical factions like the Inca or the mongols to flesh out monsters like lizardmen and ogres is awesome. I would also like to see fantasy stories that take a deeper look at religion. Instead of generic plot where the church is evil and bigoted or some evil god is trying to get resurrected I want a fantasy story about a traveling knight going from one county to the next to solve problems in the name of his god. Somebody who is driven by his religion to make the world a better place
Nathaniel Johnson
I would love a story where Elves basically are the romans/greek, humans/giants the nordic countries and the persians orks. That would be cool
Noah Collins
>magical girl genre Then you need a male character like tuxedo mask. Add a knight love interest who only shows up to save the day when things become really desperate.
Mason Williams
bump
Ryan Johnson
How about Romans = Elves Greek = Dwarfs Scandinavian = giants Germanic = Barbars Slavics = Satyrs north-east from black sea = centaurs Turks =orcs Persians = beast men egypts = divine beings Northern africa = demons Phoenicians = chaos
Sounds cool. I think Mystic from Crossgen might be interesting for you. Its a world where magic is their energy source. Its ruled by several guild houses, there are some lesser guilds too. The leader of the guilds have a guiding spirit from one of their first leaders. But the Mc is the sister to the new upcoming leader of her house, but by accident, she gets the spirit and is defacto the new leader.
German, the most caucasian ever, are barbars. Egypts, we know were black, are divine beings. Persians that have so many beasts and anthro myths are beastly. Yeah, it seems i am rascist, blame their language, geographic position and their myths, its all based on these points.
Henry Miller
not that user but Ron Marz does a lot of good work with women leads. I want to check this out.
Connor Perez
Honestly, all Crossgen female leads are good. I wished that we have the Crossgen diversity than the new Marvel wave!
"Fantasy" implies something fantastic, imaginary, and unrestricted by mundane limitations. I find it kinda boring when fantasy stories have to be a pseudo-medieval setting with a bunch of mythological beasts sprinkled in to justify its classification as "fantasy", or when everything's based on an existing human culture. The name of the genre makes it sound so wide and varied, but in practice people always seem to use it in such a narrow fashion. So, I'd like to see more stuff that strays away from the generic Tolkien-inspired settings and pushes the limits of what exactly counts as a fantasy story. And I'd particularly want to see more xenofiction where the protagonists have a mindset, culture or abilities that are truly alien compared to humans.
Aiden Murphy
It's more tell than show and the protagonist is your typical edgy teen with darkness inside her. Pretty much most of the characters have personalities that can be summed up as smug bitch, cold bitch, or nice without much else. Lots of the characters are never brought up again or could be removed.
Camden Bell
>"Fantasy" implies something fantastic, imaginary, and unrestricted by mundane limitations. I find it kinda boring when fantasy stories have to be a pseudo-medieval setting with a bunch of mythological beasts sprinkled in to justify its classification as "fantasy", or when everything's based on an existing human culture. The name of the genre makes it sound so wide and varied, but in practice people always seem to use it in such a narrow fashion. My negro. I agree that the scope of fantasy needs to be expended beyond Tolkien/DnD ripoffs and use more settings that aren’t Europe-based. Ironically the “diversity in fiction” people still usually limit their aesthetic to Europe just with more brown people, which baffles me because Black Panther was a massive success because it was set in an African world.
Justin Moore
I want a non-quirky, non-grimdark Image fantasy comic
