Character bios?

[nerdybirb]

I don't see them done very often in comics and wondered if you guys have opinions on them / have drawn some?
(planning to do some for my comic but want to hear from a readers perspective cause it might detract from the story?? who knows)

[bakasama25]

I don't. I've seen artists stick those at the end of a comic after a new character is introduced. It just means you don't have to waste chapter space in the middle of a comic to explain why we should care about a character.

[apocryphagraphics]

There are some of us who do them. I actually put mine at the beginning of the story and add on to it as new characters come into the story.

[shaneoid77]

I think they work for some comics, and not for others. Mine's a Superhero comic so I think people would expect character bios. I've started a folder on my Deviantart for them. While I think @bakasama25 may have a point in some respects with why some people implement bios, I think they can also double up as a decent expansion to your comic, a well done one may lead new readers in to it.

[Greg_Dickson]

I really don't like them, personally. They feel really inorganic to the comic themselves, like a cheap way of explaining what a character is like or why we should care before having to invest the time reading to actually get to know them. I don't mind if someone does character bios on a separate series tab that they use to show off art and comics, but it's a real turn-off to me when I see them stuck in anywhere while reading the main comic. Especially the beginning. But that's just me.

[69Michi]

Personally I don't mind character bio, but I much prefer AFTER the characters have been introduced for a while and I already got to know them as a person. Or maybe as simple of a character bio as possible, you don't need tell me their personalities, what they like, what they hate, what is their goals in life, I much prefer finding that out by myself as the story progress.

I'm thinking of doing some character bios for the main casts in my series too, but mostly just to have a fullbody reference of them... and some side info like weight, height and some equipment they have. (Like Noah who has a health monitor choker that EVERYONE is curious about and I just need some extra space to explain how it works lmfao)

[graceroche]

I don't necessarily mind them in the comic itself, especially when the bio is shown as an in-world thing. I also enjoy it in settings where character bios/sheets are a tradition, like a D&D/tabletop story. c: I love D&D myself so I like character sheets that show equipment, skills, any fun details that don't necessarily spoil a characters whole backstory/etc.

When a bio is the only update for the week it can be a bit disappointing, especially if it happens multiple times in a row. Also might cause people to lose track of the story itself.

Having a different series is my favourite method; that way you can follow it if you like and it (hopefully) doesn't interrupt the story! c: I'm a huge sucker for 'cast' sections. That's the way I do mine, at least. I have an Extras series as a companion to my comic; I use it for character profiles, maps, mini-comics, world lore, anything that adds to the world. For my bios in particular, I've shared certain details and will update/add on to it as the story progresses.

[Sanz]

i love character bios! I write them...for almost every character even background ones. I never really put them together in a format tho....and after thinking about it I think i will. maybe just for the mains.

[Kayke]

I have them on my main website, but not on Tapastic anywhere.
I like having them for people who get confused about names and stuff shrug

[Vanzish]

I don't write em. I prefer to give the reader bits and bits of info every now and again, rather than serve a bio on the plate. I think it's a lot more fun to discover a character through the plot ^^

[shazzbaa]

I like them! I'm with @Kaykedrawsthings, I don't see them as a way to explain who the characters are; they're more an easy reference of the people you've met so far!
Plus I'm a dork who came up with birthdays and theme songs for everyone and enjoys little extras like that xD

But yeah, I don't put them in the comic itself -- I like to put characters on the cast page after we've met them, so there's not really a good place for it --- they get a cast page on my website (I still say an about page here on tapastic would be a good thing, shameless plug to my feature suggestion for that,,,)

I also like character bios because, outside of Tapastic, cast pages used to be one of the ways I'd figure out if I wanted to read a new comic. A little rundown of who the relevant characters are was a good way to get a sense of the comic and the people in it and whether or not I wanted to read an adventure with them. :>

[joannekwan]

I like them okay. I have some for Demon House but I have them on the comic's tumblr since I don't want to stick them randomly in the comic here on Tap.

[AnnaLandin]

I have a cast-section on Grassblades' main site! I add reoccurring main characters to it, so that new readers can look through it and get a handle on who is who before wading through all of the pages.

... Speaking of which, I should probably add a few new faces to it. ^_^;

I don't add a ton of detail to them - just a name, a brief description of their personality and starting-point in the story, and how they relate to each other. It's like meeting someone new at a party - you shake hands, you get their name, and you ask them what they do for a living, but you don't ask them for all of their biometric data and every single detail of their personal history.

[graceroche]

I also like character bios because, outside of Tapastic, cast pages used to be one of the ways I'd figure out if I wanted to read a new comic. A little rundown of who the relevant characters are was a good way to get a sense of the comic and the people in it and whether or not I wanted to read an adventure with them. :>

This, a thousand times this! The cast page is one of the first things I check on non-Tap comics. That, and the 'About' section. I find them super useful for first impressions.

[TrustyShamrock]

i really like seeing character bios in comics! i always pay extra attention to them. i just think its cool seeing a character get their own special page or somethin. i dont actually have them in my comic tho. i usually just post them in forums and stuff. but maybe i should have character bios in my comic now that i think about it....
but yeah i agree with most peeps. puttin them at the end of the chapter after the character gets a good intro is probably best

[UrMom]

Interest in bios depends on how much I like the character, normally I couldn't care less, but if I'm really interested in knowing them I'll take a glance at it. As far as making them, I rather enjoy it. It's a good exercise in fleshing out your characters, and I like to use them to document mental and physical ailments, and noting their physical appearance. (such as things you wouldn't see much during the comic, like scars, birthmarks, etc.) Sometimes adding tidbits of medical info I get from my research, it's kinda fun... even if I may be the only one who'd find learning that kind of stuff interesting. Lmao!
I didn't make one for my comic here, but there is a prototype one I made for a comic posted on another site. Bios aren't very relevant to the story, so if I were to make one for the comic here, I'd probably keep it to my blog and link to it for people who are interested.

I don't normally see a problem if I were to take a look, but sometimes the author doesn't really know what to put, so they have something useless like "she really loves ice cream!". To me, if you were to add an 'interests' section, I'd prefer to see hobbies, or things they do around town, like volunteering at animal shelters. Sorta like looking at a job application, minus the fake crap you put in to get the job.

[Shanny8]

I dont do them coz I may(not a definite) end up at a later point putting character bios in a printed edition of my webcomic as "extras" material.

[Michelle]

I'm personally not a fan, I feel like they're more for the creator's fun than they are for me as a reader. I appreciate them more as a bonus to read separately from the comic, if I'm already a fan and am interested in getting more into the behind-the-scenes stuff. But if I was a newcomer to a comic, I don't really care about their height or what their favourite food is. :B

They're ok to put into a comic if it fits the world, like a staff ID in a sci-fi lab setting or something. But I would be really put off if a new character were introduced and suddenly BAM full bio page. D: I like feeling immersed into a comic's world, and stuff like that makes me too aware that I'm reading a comic. It's kind of like playing a super-immersive video game and suddenly a giant score screen flies up in your face.

[tomatobird]

Hah I like them, as long as they're short, and mostly just for reference.....full page bios with the character's entire history is kind of hard to deal with, especially it's the sort of stuff I expect to get from the story.

[NickRowler]

This is how I feel about it, don't stick bios at the beginning, they are a bit pointless cus we haven't yet been introduced to them. However, I did feel bios were good when it came to reading the next volume (comics in book form) in a series.

Having bios appear later on is OK, but they shouldn't be major plot points (like revealing a secret about a character which wasn't established in the main plot).