InsaneJournal

New, Complex
I'm learning, through trial and error, about the cultures of different webcomic hosts.


Keensp--oops, Comics Genesis-- leans towards the "Gamers on a Couch" and "Anthromask" comics*. WCN was all full of actual adults who you can just tell probably think of themselves as capital-A Artists and half the time have the awards to prove it, 'cause they're all talented and enviable like that. And of course any hosting site has a fair population of teenagers working out their issues in the public eye with a charming lack of self awareness.**

But Smackjeeves has... maybe the kids should leave the room.

Ok, see, when a pretty boy loves an... even prettier boy... very much....

Well...it doesn't actually seem to get much farther than that most of the time, because see above about high adolescent comicker population. If these bishonen get to kiss, they're already pushing at the borders of their artist's personal expertise. Plus, yaoi fandom is of course heavily female, so even the more experienced artists are often incapable of first hand knowledge.***

And hey, that's not my thing, but there's nothing wrong with that. Whatever gets a person smiling.

But the Smackjeeves population, as a whole, is overloaded with this stuff. If the subculture were a person, it would be that friendly organized neighbor who watches the cat and brings you your mail who cannot stop talking about the hinders of those they find cute, and brings in teen magazines to swoon over the pictures. I've looked through the whole comic list, and maybe five hundred and ten percent of it boasts of "BL!" or "Yaoi!" or "Shonen -Ai!"****. It's oppressive, and bit frightening.

But hey, the municipal services are good, and the kitchen's new, so I'm just going to settle in, bake a cake, put on some grass metal, and try to ignore those noises coming from the next floor down. And up. And the room over...*****


*There's probably a real, or at least fanon, word for this-- Aesopeople? AINO (anthro in name only?) but I don't know it. But it means comics where the characters are inhuman just because the artist likes to draw nonhumans, and it affects their behavior not one whit, and it makes Carapace turn into the angry stinging bug.

**Seriously, I think it's awesome, even as I cringe for their future selves.Teenagers going public with their efforts is a great and daring thing.

***I imagine most girl-penned prettyboy comics are as ludicrous to the real thing as "lesbian" romance is to real lesbians, or Hollywood style "romance" is to any actual couple.

****Always with an exclamation point. Because clearly, these artists are excited.

***** I like footnotes.

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On the bright side, one of the Silent Readers from WCN has actually made himself known. Hi, Silent Reader! Come join the new and somewhat strange party!