I've only been on for a few days, but from the many comics I've seen I've noticed most people tend to do their comics in a sort of "Far Side" way: they may use the same sprites, but it tends just to be different characters in different jokes every time.

Series do exist, but usually as self-contained things (clearly marked in the subject header) and often are made for comic competitions.

Now, when I first came on, it didn't seem a question to me to create a more "sitcom" comic, with regular characters, continuing and returning plots and so forth, but few other people seem to have them: unless you count Asian Girl appearances or Tobor cornholing, which I don't because I tend not to enjoy them much. They stopped being funny very quickly.

(Didn't stop me doing an Asian Girl strip, but, anyway...)

So, I was just wondering if people's decisions to do their comics as they have was conscious or, like me, something that just sorta happened. Plus, as with most people, I just want people to read my message then click to look at my comics sectio out of curiosity. :>

Oooh, fair point. I guess my strips fall into one of three categories. I've got my self contained one-off strips, then I do short series which are mostly character or situation based, then I've got ones which take a joke and run it into the ground but don't really form an actual ongoing story.

I don't think I could sustain a single ongoing narrative for any length of time here, I tend to be very scattershot and inconsistent, but some other people have got huge ongoing stories, like the Negro & White Person strips Obijo did. So I guess it's just a case of sticking to what you're good at.

I've done a few series, but in the past I've tried to stay away from them because I wanted people who saw my comics on the front page to be able to appreciate them as they were, without needing a whole lot of background. Now that the front page doesn't show a random comic anymore, I guess that's a bit less of a concern.

I don't do a "sitcom"-type comic such as you describe because I think I would feel locked in. I don't mind the burden of having to include adequate characterization in every strip.

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

When I first started, I had planned to make ONLY a "series", a la Fox Trot or Garfield, that would eventually contain a specific group of characters and/or situations and somehow still manage to be funny.

After one comic, I realized I didn't want to be locked in. I still intended to have a "series" (called Just For Fun, for some reason), but it would be less of a "Fox Trot" -ish series, and more comparable to "Tales from the Crypt", where I would tell a few strips' worth of a story in one "series", and then move on to new subject matter in another "series", all under the Umbrella title of "Just for Fun".

Of course, I failed to be funny then too.
And have dropped most of my strip-making.

I participate in some contests... but not much else.

Oh yeah, and I still hate Nate.

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This is not my empire.

I've noticed that's two people who said they didn't want to be "locked in" by the classic newspaper comic strip format and decided this very early on, which is curious. I'll certainly agree it can make you think more tightly about comedy ideas, not be able to experiment as much. However, a set background can sometimes help as well, especially if it stops you doing any cornholing jokes. ;-)

I also agree that the "don't want to confuse people who see the comics page" thing does affect the way I make comics: sure, I've been at this for a small amount of time, but after a mini-plot or a continuity joke I tend to do a throw-away thing just so the thing on the comics page is fresh and easilly accessible: I didn't do it the last time and it's bugged me for the small amount of time I've been offline. ;-)

We're supposed to have a strategy for making comics?

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

I just do what I do.

I hope that people read and enjoy them, but I will just as soon make a silly one-off pun strip as an eighteen page tragicomic series that is supposed to be autobiographical but meanders off with a life of its own (sorry ObiJo).

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This signature has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down.

I try not to think too much. So far I seem to have succeeded.

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What others say about boorite!

The comics just kinda make themselves for me.

But, barring that, I prefer a 'series' style of crap as opposed to true random crap.

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Needs more sodomy.

My comics actually have a regular set of characters that I try to use as often as possible, but if I think of something that doesn't fit, I go ahead and make the comic without them anyway. (Clearly denoted by "random comic," being the anal retentivite that I am.)

The problem with this format that people like Jim Davis and Bill Amend tend to fall into once they have an established strip is they rely on the audience understanding the persona of their characters as a pretense for their comics. Someone who's never heard of their comic can pick up the paper and not at all get the joke, rather like a new person here flashing through random comics here and being baffled by a "Tobor" punchline.

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"Old" is the old new.