11 / 183
Feb 2021


2 - Fates entangled with one to become their leader into the new era of mages that was forced upon mortals for their entertainment. Allura will make her stand for the victims regardless of the sides they once stood upon.
3 - From a published update: “We need to stand together, not apart! Or-or else... What will be left when the war ends?” From a future update: “THIS ISN’T ABOUT INSPIRING WORDS! This is about helping those in need! Preventing people from becoming victims! It’s about a better future for those we love!”
4- Writing is a sanctuary for me, and it has helped me to explore many limitations and freedoms. Creating series really means hope for me to have something I can be passionate about, I really hope I can thrive on it one day.

2- Series Logline
One brave angel rises to unveil the real meaning of life and fight for peace. With countless secrets and schemes to overcome, she stumbles on with death following her wherever she goes.

3- Quote
"In front of thousand eyes,
Faced with myriad lies,
I will not stop to rise,
to find my deeper ties." [Chapter 1]

"If there is one thing I will never do, it will be to give you what you want, Azrael! I am done playing your games, you are not my nightmare... And I am not your puppet!" [unreleased Chapter]

4- I have struggled with "women standards" my whole life. From living with an abusive father to not being able to get a decent college place for my dream job, all because "more qualified" men where more interesting. Because of childhood trauma, I was diagnosed with depression, a mental illness that a lot of young and old women struggle with. What I found helps me cope is writing. My story is my escape from reality, I use it as my fuel to be able to overcome my obstacles and struggles just like Seraphina does. In my novel, I want to display the countless highs and ups of life, the struggles, the low falls and the high rises. It's important to give people something that shows them a realistic way of life, with all it's ugly and pretty sides. I want to wrap it into the fantasy world of my novel to get the important messages across and comfort and help women like me. Because dark clouds will pass by and make place for sunshine, no matter how long it takes. Never give up fighting.

A question about the definition of strong for this topic. You mean strong in terms of power? (either physical, political, mental, etc...) or this also includes a strong characterization and inner strenght like a strong resolve?

Some stories may have a female character lead that is not strong at the beginning, but grows into someone stronger.

Logline: Tara Sparnak, a dejected American dancer impersonating an elite K-pop idol, struggles against the sinister ties of his group in a desperate attempt to avoid being wrongly convicted of his murder.

I placed myself between Min-Soo and the assassins, shielding him with my body as best as I could.

The writing industry has long been a male-dominated field, where women in the past even had to use male pen names in order to get their works published because it was once frowned upon for women to become authors. Being able to be a part of the webnovel industry nowadays is incredible for me as a woman because it showcases just how far we've come in the writing community as well as everyday life. By creating my own series, I'm able to share my voice with others through my characters and show that female leads can be just as strong as male leads in novels, even after facing countless hardships.

Hello. I am a woman webcomic creator and while the two main characters are men of my main series, their love interests are strong, brave women who assist them at saving the day rather than being damsels in distress. Hyde's girl is Lucy Harris. A beautiful steel magnolia who is toughened from being of the lower class and she managed to escape prostitution. Jekyll's love interest is a celebrity alchemist Dr. Katherine Vice who has a deformity, but her mind and strong will make up for it. She even joins them on missions under disguise. Then there is Jekyll's niece Emily who always urges him to better himself and isn't above reprimanding him when he goes too far.

1- https://tapas.io/series/MKs-The-Strange-Case-of-Dr-Jekyll-and-Mr-Hyde2/info2
2- A lighthearted and adventurous retelling.
3- By Lucy; "Then ya'll ain't sorry! A real man doesn't have 'buts' when he's sorry!"
By Vice; "I found a new purpose, Uz. Which is avenging my sister by stopping you and the board!"
By Emily; "It's not my uncle's fault you acted like a floozy! Why didn't you just say how you felt, Emma?!"
4- It means a lot to me for many reasons, but in the case of the women of the story, the original version and most adaptations don't do the women of Jekyll and Hyde justice. I take pride in making these women so strong and giving something meaningful to the story besides just being girlfriends.

Logline: Katareen, a princess in line to be queen, and her bodyguard Ryn, a one-armed elf, adventure around the world seeking wisdom and culture. Along the way they learn more about each other and discover that their destinies are more similar than they may have realized.

Quotes:
Kata: "It's my choice and no one else's! I don't want to hear anymore of your prejudices!"

Ryn: "I don't question my own abilities. I've come far. But I don't pretend that life is as easy as it was before."

4.As a queer woman in this industry, it has been difficult to truly express myself and write the stories that I want to see, for fear of being criticized or judged. It has only been recently that I've felt confident enough to post and show close friends, family, and the public what I've been making. I know that if I had seen or read about strong women as well as strong queer women as a child it would not have taken me so long to accept myself. I can only hope that even if my comic affects just one person then I've done my job.

Ohh hey, I fit all these requirements! This is awesome Tapas, thanks for these types of opportunities! :heart:

2) Kinley and her friends find ways to navigate and survive a supernatural society that now regrets their existence. Trouble begins when one of their own gets caught up in a situation bigger than anything they've ever faced and the group must determine how far they will go to protect their found family or do what is right.

3) "You wanna go to jail quietly or do we need to make a whole scene out of it?" - Kinley to an unamused criminal

4) I love creating this series and being a part of the webcomic community. Even though traditional comics are more of a male dominated industry, the webcomic community overall is much more accepting of female creators/strong female leads. I love that I can just hop on and create the types of stories/characters that I wanted to see more of as a kid! There's a lot of freedom that comes with self publishing on tapas so I really value having that! Unlike in other industries, I feel like being a woman hasn't gotten in my way and that I have the same opportunities here as anyone else!

2) Ahiko is a simple stable hand in Azeria when she receives an acceptance letter from the Aris Mage’s Guild. As she journeys to the Aris’ Guild, a surprise encounter with the mysterious Illocian Guild changes the course of her life forever. Accompanied by the sorcerer Rokuzo Barachi and artificer Enossa, Ahiko travels across the Azerian countryside to Acanium. Now working as mercenaries, the trio faces against the Illocian Guild to maintain peace in Azeria

3) Quote: “You made a promise to me, don’t break it.” chapter 3

4) I really love action comics, but I often find that they are written with male audiences in mind. And, I really hate seeing female characters with chests that would realistically cause sever back pain. I also hate seeing when a strong female character suddenly get pushed to the side for a male protagonist, and losing her status. So, by making my comic, I want to show powerful female characters who are strong in many ways, and not get pushed to the side. I often have my female protagonist clean up battles when the rest of the party can't and showing that they can pull though over and over again. In this way, I am making a comic I would have wanted to read when I was younger, to support young girls, showing that they are not going to be pushed to the side, and it is not ok to be pushed to the side.

There are many ways for a character to be strong! It can be from any characteristic that shows their inner strength (or physical!). For example, maybe your character would do anything to protect the people she cares about! That's only one display of strength. There are endless possibilities, and we'd love to see them! I hope that helps!

We always love character growth in series, so please post those as well.

  1. Logline: Every year, when the bell tolls for the New Year Roxanne hides in fear for the Night King comes to take away someone from the village. When her mother is about to be taken Roxanne must make the choice, to let her mother go, or to take her place.

  2. Quote: Because you took my heart… and I mean to take it back.

  3. I love telling stories. I've always loved creating and telling stories, and being able to do that here is wonderful. Growing up and (and now still :P), I've always loved a good female protagonist, someone I could relate to. Being able to write these female characters now and allow others to read and enjoy my stories is incredible. :3

  1. Nasty creatures need to understand this: You don't mess with little old ladies protecting babies.

  2. "Tonight's plan was to do nothing but observe. Not that that isn't what they had been doing, but this time with both of them focusing at the same time they hoped to come away with enough matched observations that they could actually formulate a plan as to the best way to kill the creature. She sighed, in her old age she had become a killer. The little old neighborhood lady who fed the birds and squirrels and found homes for stray cats was now a stone-cold killer. The thought did not sit well with her, never mind that the creature was after the neighbor's baby."

  3. As I've been writing all my life creating series for me is a continuation of that activity. I do not look at "women" writers or "male" writers. I'm a writer first, above everything else in life, I am a writer. I'm fortunate in that that's how my friends, male and female, who are writers look at me... as a writer, nothing more, nothing less.

Hey there! This is awesome and I love it and I want to humbly submit my story for this opportunity:

Logline: When Ira, a powerful and ruthless mafia queen, falls in love with a beautiful and charming man, a whirlwind romance begins. However, when his connection to her arch nemesis is exposed, Ira goes through extreme lengths in order to make her his. Whether he wants her to, or not.

Quote: "My rules are the law. This Island is my property. Everything on this Island is my property."

I have never been content to be a side character in my story. Growing up, I have always been entranced by the strong woman, the powerful woman, even if that woman is the inevitable villain of the tale. The Witch. The Evil Queen. The Cruel Step Mother. They have the best clothes, the best songs, the best powers, and yet often those women are portrayed as evil simply for wanting something that has been held as Man's domain.

Power.

Independence.

A life dictated by their own terms.

In the 90s, there have been plenty of women in the media I consumed that pushed boundaries while not being seen as villainous, which furthered my own drive and independence. Lina Inverse from Slayers, Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth, Ororo and Rogue of X-Men are all characters I looked up at too. I also very much loved Sailor Saturn and Sailor Galaxia of Sailor Moon; one character is physically weak but terrifying in power, and the other, while villainous, is uncompromising and sacrificed her soul in order to save what she loved.

I have worked very hard in my education and career to become a successful engineer in a field that is STILL portrayed as male dominated, STEM. Now, I want to share my creativity to the world and use the women, heroic and villainous, as the basis for the stories I write and the images I draw. My women are not simply content to wait on the sidelines. My women are still feminine and confident in their beauty and sexuality while also aiming for high goals. Heck, sometimes my women are princesses who are kind, and yet their power still brings fear. My characters won't compromise and neither do I. I have often been described as aggressive, smart (and smart-acting), and intimidating, which is just fine. My role models are often described the same and my characters will reflect that influence. If that makes people in the male-centric industries I work in uncomfortable, so be it.

Oh hey, this is exactly why I started making comics!

Logline: A young explorer must travel to unknown space and solve a cosmic mystery to bring her missing mother home.

Quote: I will find all the secrets of the UNIVERSE! (Prologue, pg. 7)

I was a child in a family of scientists - curiosity about our world had been instilled in me since before I could walk, so I always gravitated towards the narratives that features characters who were curious about the unknown. That lead me to sci-fi, which, just like comics, was a very male-dominated genre and I did not see much of my humanity reflected in my favourite stories. As a result, I wanted to tell a story that represented my humanity, tenaciousness, curiosity and passion for all that is unknown about the world - and I wanted to tell it visually. That meant comics; that meant another outwardly male sphere. I wanted to show a girl who is smart, who loves to tinker and engineer, but who also is not ashamed of her femininity, but rather who openly embraces it. I'm hoping to write a story that would inspire lots of girls to ask questions and stand strong, and for boys to see those girls, and look up to them as their heroes.

1.


2. A modern, queer retelling and deconstruction of the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, in which a sculptor falls in love with her statue.
3. (After the sculptor has given eyes to her statue, hoping to make them equal.) "There. Now you see me too."
4. I've aspired to be a writer and artist since I was very young, and have always been fascinated by comics. By the time I was old enough to realise that being a woman would make it more difficult to succeed in such a field (and in many fields, let's be honest), I was in too deep and loved it too much to pull away. Being able to publish my work on a website like Tapastic and seeing other webcomics and webnovels with complex and diverse female characters has been fantastic. I'm so glad to be able to add to this community and tell a story that really means a lot to me and that includes the kinds of complex female characters I have always loved to see in media.

"After four dragons failed to protect humanity from a swarm of toxic alien bugs, they granted their powers to as many as they could so the people could survive. That was a century ago, and the vast majority live on in the relics of modern civilization, simply content to survive in small groups that quickly become like family. But what happens when this fragile normalcy is taken away, and your survival becomes bigger than just you?"

"And so, humanity cautiously lives on in the rubble of their successes." -Draco Modifier, Prologue

I take initiative when I want things to change, meaning I make the things I want to see more of creatively myself instead of hoping or even asking for someone else to make it for me. In general, I'm a firm believer of the "You want something done right, do it yourself" policy. I carry this sentiment over to my protagonist Amy.

In the first chapter for example, she's still far away from getting to the town where she'll be safe from the swarms of deadly poisonous bugs outside and was abandoned by her group, left with nothing to defend herself with but a pocket knife. Even still she's still determined (even if shaken by the possible consequences of failure) to get to the town as soon as she can.

I know so many people who would just accept their fate or try to hide until another group comes along in hopes they'll let them join up in that scenario, but I would simply give my all to make it to the town as quickly as I could once I've taken a moment to gather courage, and so does Amy. So if there's anything I really hope this comic can do, it's to spread that initiative and drive to do and be better to others.

2_ Mio is one of the protagonists, and she has a "curse" that allowed her to be the strongest huntress that any one has ever seen! In this world of fantasy modern, Mio and Miguel work together to protect it at same time that the truth about them is reveled.

3_ "If you call me monster again... I'll show you a true monster!"
(This from the eps7 but this gonna be release only in Mar 14!)

4_ I always liked shounen animes, but after a while I started to notice that most animes were making female characters like "damsels in danger that need to be saved" or "too delicate characters to face a terrible monster". And the female characters that break this are few. I always wanted to make stories that show the opposite of that, female characters as protagonists capable of fighting and being stronger, making that as a woman I can feel represented in a story! I'm starting out as a comic artist but I still intend to do a lot!

@victoria1 thanks a lot for the reply.

Another question: I know some male creators who have a story with a female lead that is either strong or growing towards becoming strong, is okay if i recommend some of their comics on this topic?

Thank you for this opportunity, Tapas. I love the outreach you have been doing lately!


Logline:
Four unlikely candidates find themselves in one dysfunctional segment of a failing government program: Future Agents. After stumbling upon the nation's most extreme case of cyber-terrorism, they may just hold the key to stopping the most notorious criminal in Chicago: Yellow Jacket.

Quote:
"I am a creature of habit, molded by the expectations of those around me. Tonight shouldn't have been any different... but it was."

Quote (from a future update):
"The last person who called me a coward didn’t get a chance to call me a coward a second time."

I've noticed that not many gritty sci-fi stories are a.) created by women and b.) feature multiple strong female characters. As a woman, I wanted to take a chance and change both of those by creating a sci-fi story that emphasizes the strength and resilience of women. But I also wanted to approach Future Agents from a place of growth and show how over time, strength can be found from within regardless of gender, sexual orientation, and background. While this story is just in its beginning arc, these female characters end up becoming some of the strongest in the cast.

Throughout the years, I have had multiple people assume that I am not a girl just because of the subject matter of my series. And I just want to prove that girls can make badass sci-fi/tech series too!


2. Kit Dower has always felt at home within the villainous gang, the Faction, that terrorizes the NYC borough of Perdition. When she meets more mutants like her, will she be able to change her ways before she drags everyone she loves into the dangers that lie within her mysterious past?
3. I don't have any direct quotes that would work out of the context of the panel, so here's a panel of Kit taking on the society that calls her a freak. Actions speak louder than words anyway.


4. Creating my comic as a woman has always been a means of coping to me. When I was younger, I always wanted to have woman figures to look up to in books and shows, but so often, all the action, kick-ass roles were given to men. I don't want other girls to look at themselves and wonder why they don't look like the badass superhero men they read about. I also don't want girls to only have sexualized, women superheroes to look up to. I wanted to create characters that feel the anger they do. The rage at a society that considers them weak, that their empathy can't be badass, and that they can only be seen as a love interest. And as a bisexual woman, I want young girls (as well as boys and nonbinary kids) to have badass superhero characters that are also LGBTQ+.
Creating a comic as a woman means I get to make the women characters I wanted to read about and watch when I was growing up.