Alternate Universes for our stories

[tomatobird]

Anyone have any Alternate Universe ideas for their comic? Maybe an ending where things turned out slightly differently or more nonsensically. Or maybe, if your comic is high fantasy, you have an AU where all your characters are in high school instead, or on a softball team, or the other way around!

For me, my comic takes place in first century Judea, so it's fun to imagine my characters if they lived in modern-day US, what would be the same and what would be different... how about all of you?

[phen]

Oh man, absolutely! Several alternate universe ideas and, as it would come to be, the main comic I'm working on is an alternate universe idea I just couldn't put down~ I've written a couple of stories about parallel dimensions and universes-in-tandem with one another... it's really awesome to open up your characters' psyches to a near-endless realm of possibilities. It helps so much to learn more about how they react in a wide variety situations/times, too.

But it's especially interesting to see how others' develop ideas based on throwing their characters into other timelines -- just as you imagine moving yours from first century Judea to modern-day US. THAT would be such a mind-bender, hah^^ Culture and time clashes to the max!

Wondering on the small, finicky things is just as intriguing, too (what kind of cell phone would they buy? Sneakers or boots? Would they be drawn to twitter or facebook more??) X]

[J.Lovelace]

I'm making AU's all the time, whether with friends or by myself. It's indeed a lot of fun, I love doing it.
A lot of my stories have a few different endings in storage too.

[tomatobird]

Omg yes– I have a character who's a scribe, so he carries around a tablet and stylus all the time to write stuff down, and in my Modern!AU he'd be more or less the same personality-wise, except with an iPad instead of a wax tablet lol! Just a few of some fun doodles I want to do for my comic extras XD

[zetina]

oh yes AUs are life. i don't spend much time w/ really out there ones usually but the exercise really gets you to question what the core of your characters is and what is molded by their environment (then maybe providing an AU version of what influenced them to become that way).

[tomatobird]

ah yes the different endings are definitely very tempting! My story has a very deliberate happy ending in mind, but i always like to imagine what i'd be like if certain things went differently and it ended up being sad Not what i'd want the final story to be, but interesting to imagine the possibility!

[tomatobird]

"really gets you to question what the core of your characters is" !!! Yes!! That's the most exciting thing about AUs, is seeing what ends up staying the same no matter how different their environment is, you nailed it on the head XD

[shazzbaa]

I, uh, for unexplained reasons, keep doodling a half-baked Modern Paranormal Investigators AU for my fantasy comic????

Severian is the character who ran into weird disfiguring magic early on, so he'd obviously be the Guy Who Had An Abduction Experience once and now suuuper believes in aliens. Jonan is a necromancer (of the zombie variety) originally so obviously in this he's a Professional Ghost Hunter. And then the cult works way too well as men in black...... if I had any experience with paranormal fiction at all there's a very good chance I'd start actually making this story;;;;

....of course, don't think I haven't deeply considered the classic highschool AU!! where I have determined that everyone except Tareth is in the marching band.

[J.Lovelace]

I agree, it's interesting : )
Oh yes, it's good to have good endings, what-if bad endings and even gag/what-the-hell endings XD
I like how Visual Novels execute that. Basically letting the player choose their own path, whether it's a good one or a doomed one.

From my own stories, I think my fav thing is where in a sci-fi story, one of my characters is a shady medic, but in a fantasy AU, he's a bard (and the best part is that he's not a good singer while at it XD)

[AnnaLandin]

I haven't got anything I've spent a lot of time thinking about, but I do have a vague idea of a modern world-setting for Grassblades.

Masahiro would be a ragged homeless man, Akane would be the kid he accidentally stumbles on, and the trio of secondary characters would be some form of law-enforcement officers.

It's a fun diversion. =)

[r0ckrabbi7]

My BFF and I made our characters interact and decided to have a part in our comics, where the two stories intertwine. And while that is still a thing, we also kept our character interactions going to the point where the stories we have planned and the interactions we made at later points are no longer possible - people still being alive, couples made up of people that never even meet during the storylines of our comics... So I guess it's unofficially an alt universe in itself.

Not to mention me having my own characters from different stories interact between eachother, while the rules of their respective universes might not allow them to.

[shaneoid77]

The 'Beyond' in the title of Heroes of the World and Beyond is all about alternate universes! I thought it would be a great way of keeping my comic fresh (even if just for myself) by being able to have alternate worlds easily accessible, and a good challenge to myself to draw things not of Earth!

[punkarsenic]

oh, man. so, my comic has a really unhappy ending - its also about two lesbians. thats my least favourite trope, but it was how the story went. so im thinking of adding a happy alternate ending at the end - smth like how at the end of wicked elphaba climbs out a hole in the floor and runs off.

besides that, thinking up alternate universes for my characters is my thing. i think i have a casual au idea for like, every piece of media i come across, crossed with my comic. it passes the time.

id also quite like to run a short low-stakes modern au sometime as a filler, if ever the need arises.

[spadesart]

My whole comic is technically an AU of an old tournament entry for my characters Cog and William. I have it up on my DA here but be warned it's a year old and the art/writing is super super rushed and messy it was my first time trying a comic tournament. Chapter 2 of my comic has a completely rewritten version of the first 3-4 pages of the audition segment. After losing round 4 I got way too attached to my characters to just trash them and decided to start my current comic.

[indagold]

I never had AUs except for the first part of my 2 part comic series: Forgive or Forget
It takes place in a fantasy dreamworld similar to Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, etc. and literally everyone who makes a story like that knows someone is gonna make it grimdark so I drew up a grimdark AU cover.


Maybe if I had free time i'd redo the whole series as a horror series.

[KSlinger]

Like most people here a modern AU is what I sometimes entertain myself with for West. I don't know how it would work, exactly (there are key elements of the story that simply wouldn't carry over) but I can imagine what jobs the characters would have, how they'd live, and how they'd all come across each other in the long run. Jed would still be a hunter, Serge would be some kind of researcher, Morris an IT/tech guy. Other characters have their place as well.

The only doodle I ever did for it was super scruffy, part of another AU thread on here. Maybe I'll do some more art for it if I have the time!

I made another! Couldn't resist.

[BlackMantaStudios]

I'd like to make an alternate universe version of my gag comic, except instead of pretty anime girls, the protags are Lovecraftian horrors. I'll call it Q'rhxumxizx the World-Gorger's After Hours

[tomatobird]

omg that would be amazing!

[vongcw]

LOL this would be such a funny idea for my characters I really have to consider it now. Aetherwar Highschool Dayz.

[mariusthered]

I have a alternate Society in my comictalesfromswipecity

they live by their own laws

And somethings are different such as if you pass the exam when you turn 16 you can leave school. (if not you have to repeat years until you do) also if you pass you get given a ticket to a dance.