Is there such thing as too much gore?

[Chocolate]

Hi people!
So, I've been wanting to ask this for a while now... What do you guys think of excessive gore in movies, books, and games? A perfect example of this is Mortal Combat and Games of Thrones. I've been a huge fan of the gore genre for quite a while and would like to incorporate it into my comic. The thing is: should I only include gore when it is revalent to the plot? Or can I just do what I like? Should I censor/blur the NSFW images? Oh and Btw: can you get your comic remove if it contains too much NSFW/gore? Thanks. :))

[AnnaLandin]

Personally, I think there's such a thing as too much gore. But I'm a scaredy-cat, and should probably not be used as a measure for the rest of hte population.

As for your last questions...

1.) You're free to do whatever you like. It's your comic!

2.) Again, you can do whatever you like, but it's an old horror-movie rule that the monster (i.e: that thing that is supposed to scare/unsettle you) is the most scary before you see what it looks like. It's probably scarier/more unsettling to imply what's happening than it is to draw a detailed picture of every internal organ.

3.) If you're going to post your comic on Tapastic, you're going to have to adhere to the Content Policies, which state the following regarding NSFW-material:

Adult Material: Tapastic ALLOWS mature content featuring nudity, non-graphic sex, extreme violence, and strong language as long as it is behind our NSFW filter. Tapastic DOES NOT ALLOW pornography or hateful content that targets a specific person or group of any kind. Any content deemed unsuitable that is not behind our NSFW will be requested to take action. Failure to comply with this request will result in the image being taken down. Repeat offenses will result in the suspension or removal of the user’s account.

So you can post it here, but you have to put it behind an NSFW-filter. There's a button for this when uploading your comic-page - it looks like this:

And if you're drawing the kind of violence/gore that would not appear in a PG-13 rated action movie, you probably should consider putting it behind the filter.

[WednesdayAsh]

When writing/drawing anything in fiction it comes down to this question:

"Is it necessary?"

You look at your gore and ask yourself "is it necessary"? Subquestions: What is your motive? To shock? To establish beastliness of a character? Is the gore purposeful?

If it has no reason of being, its too much.

[demthorshie]

Pretty much what Anna said. I think it is possible for there to be too much guts and gore where comics can be concerned! I think if the ultra gory scenes play an integral or pivotal part of the story it's fine, but the Tapastic policy specifically states that it needs to have the NSFW notice included on the pages that contain the said gore scenes.

[SpavVy]

Honestly I think it's best to only add it if it's relevant to the plot because personally I don't just want to see guts flying everywhere all the time to the point it becomes distracting, but that's just my two cents. You can do whatever you want really as long as you follow the Tapastic guidelines.

And as for censoring the NSFW images that's completely up to you but what you could do is maybe upload a small page with a warning about the gore or whatever else you may add (You still need to tag it as NSFW obviously.)
Another thing to keep in mind is there are children on this site as well, the youngest I've seen had to be about 10 or so.
But then again kids are exposed to a lot of this stuff nowadays.

[KSlinger]

Yeah, personally I think it's possible to overkill on gore and violence, but, as with the hot-headed character thread being discussed a few days ago, enough substance between flinchy bits would be enough to balance things out. Don't know anything about Mortal Combat, but GoT isn't 100% blood and bone-- there's humour and silliness and drama interspersed in there too-- so the gory parts are welcome and way more impacting when they crop up.

If you want to make a gory comic, go for it! Just make sure you disclose the level of violence to your readers before they set off reading. As @AnnaLandin has shown, there are many ways you can do this. Honesty is always the best policy, so be upfront and you should be fine. And remember, gratuitous amounts of anything can be meaningless without sufficient justification. Too much swearing, romance, weepiness, confrontation-- it doesn't matter-- just balance it out. And don't worry too much. It's your sand pit, after all.

[MarineHaddock]

As a fan of gore, I do believe there is a thing as too much gore. Though maybe not too much gore as too much shock factor, too much gross out factor, too much "I wanted to seem dark and edgy so I'll just throw gore everywhere for no reason". Perfect examples of this; Human Centipede, Hostel, The Corpse Party Anime, etc.

Corpse Party's fault though is more on lingering on the gore for too long, 2 minutes of seeing someone's cut off tongue isn't effective and after 5 seconds everyone just wants to get back to the rest of what's actually happening in the series.

It chases away squeamish readers and makes gore fans roll their eyes.

Keep your gore relevant, give it a purpose to be there. People will react better to relevant gore that fits in well. If you really want to throw some gore in there, I'd say psychology is your best friend. Gore filled nightmares and such.

In the end though, that's just my opinions on the subject. You're welcome to have as much gore as you like.

[mariusthered]

yes I think there is.

I know this is hypocritical of me to say considering i write a crime/ domestic drama comic, but i have been thinking it over for a while now how much we enjoy crime and violence as entertainment and have done for decades. is it any wonder that our society is so crazy? as for gore itself well yes even in the art form it can be pretty effective in twisting the mind, especially in the minds of the young and impressionable. I don't recall his name but the guy who did the original artwork for Alien had some very disturbing drawings (impressive but freaky)

I think as artist we have a responsibility to consider what ideas we are putting into the world, especially to the younger generations.

[ashriott]

I don't mind gore, but excessive gore for the heck of it is unnecessary. GoT is violent, but wouldn't quite consider that too gorey. When you mentioned gore, the first thing I thought about was that anime series called Blood C. I never watched it, and only saw some scenes. Those who've seen them know what I'm talking about it. It's attempts at gore are totally over the top and ridiculous(blending girls into juice via monster blenders etc...) I like a bit of gore+black comedy, but Blood C is something else xD

[gateofselidor]

If you're going for shock value and you're willing to accept sacrificing a broader reader base, then no, there's no such thing as too much.

If you're simply aiming at adults and want to tell a violent story, then you might want to hold back. A lot of readers will draw the line at explicit gore, and would dismiss your work as tasteless.

[BraveHeartTatsumaki]

Blood C for me is the best comedy ever, because it's so ridiculous I can't even take seriously the plot, actually the gore made me forget the plot xD.... the bunny scene with the "milkshake" is a glorius episode tho.

I think there is a thing as too much gore, as everyone said, some scenes really call for gore like for example, an X character got his arm chopped off, it would obviously be correct to put a lot of blood because of hemorrhage and the implications with veins and arteries.
Higurashi no Naku koro ni works ina different way the gore, gore is part of the plot but at the same time is not more important than the plot, here you don't see human parts flying out of nowhere or tons of blood all the time, but it does play with the torture and the characters are very likeable so seeing them suffering also affects you, it's a different game here, but effective to reach the audience, specially when you want to know what the hell is going on nad by watching the second season you understand the things about it.
So with this I wouldn't tell you to not use gore, but you have to use it properly so it won't be like "oh ok, blood, sure, whatever.... uhmm what's happening again?" Just use it when the scene calls for it.

[MylCreates]

Gore doesn't bother me at all, I've been brought up numbed by all the violent content since I was little. Sometimes it's a bit of a game to see just how much gore it takes to actually disturb me. That's looking at it blank on, now if it was set up as a terror/thriller kind of thing that's meant to catch you off guard then that's a different story. Too much of it can actually bore me. Reminds me of the time my mom fell asleep during one movie even though 80% of it was ear-wrenching gunshots and guttural screams. It just becomes numbing after a while. So make it a bit more spaced apart and with meaning.

I've seen some comics NSFW filter kissing scenes, to intestine-gouging scenes, pages with swears, nudity, etc, and others that did not. I've never seen a comic flagged for not filtering a page. I guess if you believe your readers are not expecting it or if you know what your readership is, perhaps a NSFW filter or blur out would be a good idea. Also ofcourse different countries also put certain things higher on censorship than others. Like in the US it's totally fine to see mass-murding bloody scenes, but if you whip out a nipple all hell breaks loose, but also a crowd that's like "ooo the forbidden nipples.... must see" XD. All up to your discretion, worst that can happen is that you get warned to watch what you post or the page gets flagged until put up with a filter.

I'm ranting now, I'll stop 6w6

[shazzbaa]

What do you guys think of excessive gore in movies, books, and games?

It's a turn-off for me personally! I can't and don't watch anything that gets really violent. I don't mind it as much in comics, but I'm not really attracted to a story that's splattering guts everywhere.

The thing is: should I only include gore when it is revalent to the plot? Or can I just do what I like?

Like.... you can do what you like! No one will stop you! But will it help your comic?

And to me, the real question is, what are you trying to do? If your goal is an interesting drama a la Game of Thrones and you just don't wanna hold back on the violent bits, then yeah, smashing some gore in there where it's not relevant is just gonna distract from your story. But if your goal is more of a Saw-type situation where the whole reason people are watching is to see what kind of horrible situations you put your protagonists in, then it wouldn't be out-of-place for those situations to be relentlessly gory and horrible.

The more over-the-top your gore gets, the more you aim towards an audience who finds it funny rather than horrific. Again, if this is what you want to do, that's great! But if you're trying to make an intense drama, this would get in the way.

[Vikiro_Hop]

I'd say do as you like, but try and present it in a way that makes sense. Ignoring how the audiences feelings towards gore keep in mind if every other page has dismemberment and guts flying everywhere it will lose its impact over time. It's not really about what is too much and more of a question of dynamics. No matter how messed up you make things you if it happens to often you are either going to keep one upping yourself (which will eventual just get comical) or have people become used to it.

As weird as it sounds I enjoy gore in comics but I can't handle seeing excessive blood or injuries in real life without getting woozy. (If i know its obviously fake then I'm completely fine. I.E Quentin Tarantino movies.)

@aronthemason Yeah that would be H.R Giger, I've known a few artists that take influence from him.

[kazukitakamura126]

You can add as much or little gore as you want. If its an excessive amount of blood (where they are shooting blood out like a fountain I think you should a NSFW label on it.I am personally not a fan of gore, but its used sparing I am able to tolerate it.

[nobody]

To give a very general advice, I would say that everything you put into your story should feel relevant somehow, but it's your story, so you do what you want! If you really want to add lots and lots of gore to your story, you can, just remember the NSFW filter

I think in the end it depends on what kind of story you want to tell, and what importance you want to put on the gore. Remember the shock effect wears off if you use it too frequently - instead of people having a strong reaction to it, it will simply leave no impact (or they might even get bored of it). But if your point isn't to produce a shock effect, but rather appeal to an audience that simply enjoys gore for the sake of gore, then you can get away with using it a lot more I think.

[winglesscomic]

too much gore bores me. the effective way is to do it quickly. like @MylCreates said if the whole damn thing is about people shooting each other and blood flying everywhere, it's a wasted effort and becomes boring. that's why I think it's good if it's done in spurts.

I consume guro content like food and I would rather not read a manga that has page by page of nothing but people's heads flying everywhere. where's the fun in that if it happens all the time?

As for censoring it's up to you. I personally post censored non-bloody pages on Tap and then I post both censored/uncensored on my main site since people have the choice of whether they want the gory version or not... but on Tap I just try to play it safe. There are other comics here that are far more violent but they just use the NSFW filter.