Is Tapas an appropriate place for a comic set in a real life war?

[USERGORE]

Hello everyone! I am an indie artist developing an IP with a few other artists online. My IP has a small but dedicated following.

I am an illustrator, but considering branching out to comics in hopes to develop our characters more and bring more fans in.

My question is if you can recommend Tapas as an appropriate place for it.

Our IP is about real life war, specifically the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I am Ukrainian, and our IP focuses on Ukrainian characters, less the “we are fighting against Russians” aspect and more on humanising Ukrainian soldiers and telling how things are like for people in Ukraine. Our main objective is to tell stories about average civillians and soldiers in hopes it will interest people abroad.

The comics and the artworks are focused on character interactions and day to day war and frontline troubles rather than ideology. As an example:

Although some characters are related to real life units, something that we might change in the future to keep things tidier.

My audience age is usually from 18 to 34.

I would like your honest opinion if something like this has a place on Tapas as I know little about the site. I’m looking for a place I can work hard at to spread my IP further. I’m not sure if alternative suggestions are allowed on the forum, but if they are and you know something that’d fit us better, I’d very much appreciate your input.

Thank you.

[Lensing]

I think topics like that fit perfectly on Tapas

[moontokkym]

I think it'd be an excellent place to talk about how the invasion has affected you and your fellow ukrainians in a very human way. I wish you the best of luck 🫂

[kyupol]

Definitely something I'd read go for it. One of my comics had a scene set in a real life war (Islamic and communist insurgency in the Philippines)

[USERGORE]

Thank you for your kindness. We Ukrainians really appreciate anyone from the outside who still cares.

I see you are a creator here on Tapas. If you don't mind, I have one more question for you and anyone else who's willing to comment.
As our operation is small right now, I can't commit to a full story comic immediately, although this is a goal in the future. For now, I would like to make a series that will be a collection of random interactions of our existing characters. I'd draw an introduction explaining what our IP is, where the characters will take turn introducing it, and the next 'chapters' would be standalone comics in no particular order + an image of a short biography of characters that show up in those comics.

I have drawn very short 2komas like this before. .

My question is, will those qualify as a proper first updates, or not really, considering it's only a 2 frames comic?
I understand it may not be forbidden by the rules, but I'm interested in your perspective as both reader and creator if first issues like this would harm potential interest or not.

[USERGORE]

Thank you. This is reassuring to me.

[wolflu66]

No problem at all. Good luck~ I'm really looking forward to seeing your comic~

[applebun]

There are a lot of comics on Tapas that only consist of 1 to 4 panels per episode, and your premise seems ideal for that, so I’d say go for it. If you do end up making a full story comic with these characters eventually, you could turn this one into a behind the scenes kind of thing, I’ve seen people do that and it seems to be successful.
On the topic of real life war being appropriate: my own comic is set in 1930’s Asia, with WW2 breaking out towards the end, and it leans into heavy topics like war crimes that were happening at the time. I put up a huge content warning for it and so far, I haven’t had any problems (though it only has one episode so far, it might change in the future). I’ve seen people make comics about current wars and conflicts as well, so I think you should be okay.
Also, as some other creators here already said, definitely something I’d give a read. Your character designs are adorable and I think a comic like this would be perfect for raising awareness and support for you and your fellow Ukrainians Good luck!

[GamerPrincessXI]

Your art style is sooo pretty .

[jwabeasley]

Based on the image, it should fit in just fine. Tapas tends to reward cute humor better than other comic websites, which is one of the reasons I made it my primary host for my webcomic. Shortform humor also does well here. If your comic is about finding the humor, humanity, and absurdity of the situation, it should do just fine.

Let us know when you post your comic, I'd love to subscribe!

[lerasycamore]

Damn, Слава Україні!!!

The comic looks amazing and the idea behind it too! As a fellow Ukrainian, I will support the hell out of it! If you need any help with posting, reach out, I'd be glad to explain whatever I can (though I'm pretty new here myself and only post novels)

I'm so happy to see my fellow Ukrainians here mannnn you made my day!! Hope your team stays warm <3