I actually really love when series start out light hearted and then get serious. Unchanging tones get boring really fast.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Prime example of a series looking cute and light-hearted and then going from 0-100 in a fraction of a second.
I like serious, or light-hearted to serious. Not a huge fan of purely fluffy light-hearted stuff.
Another good example of light-hearted to serious is Oyasumi Pun Pun. That one's more of a slow drip of serious throughout that eventually goes full-on disastrous.
The kind of light-hearted to serious I don't like is when you take cutesy fluff characters and thrown them into grotesque or shocking situations just to get a reaction, a la Happy Tree Friends. It feels a little too xX-edgy-Xx for me. :u
I think that it depends on the story you want to write. I agree with @naughtingwell, whether if it's lighthearted or serious, it has to make sense.
I also think that the tone shouldn't stay the same throughout. Something that is the same tone of grey, is not very interesting to look at.
I tend to prefer light-hearted!
Though I guess I wouldn't interpret "light-hearted" this way? Like, I'd consider my series to be light-hearted thus far, despite the fact that some scenes do get intense and there are definitely conflicts -- it still hasn't gotten capital-S Serious. There's still a lot of fun in the stories and relationships, even when scary things happen. When I think of an ideal "light-hearted" story, I'm not thinking of pure fluff -- I'm thinking of a story where fun and light moments aren't ultimately overwhelmed by heartache or strife.
Honestly, even things like Steven Universe tend to get far too intense for me, emotionally -- I start out loving the genuine, honest relationships in both their fun moments and their harsher conflicts, but when the themes turn more intense, I have trouble sticking with it. Powerful emotional moments are great! But a total tone shift starts being hard to look forward to. Looking at the trends of modern TV, though, I think I might be in the minority. xD
Cerebus the Aardvark was a comic that started out intending to be a Funny Parody and later on started telling its stories as Serious Drama instead. Cerebus Syndrome5 is the term used for when a comedy series tries to turn serious, losing all the humour and light-heartedness of its earlier episodes. It's not usually a compliment -- this term is usually used for when that's done badly and feels like mood whiplash.
Ah yeah, I don't think a story needs to have "capital S-serious" moments to qualify as a blend of serious and light-hearted. I'd say your comic is a good balance between light-hearted and having serious things at stake, though it's definitely more towards the light-hearted side. I was referring to like, slice-of-life stuff that never delves into anything too real and stays firmly on the side of cute and campy. Which isn't a diss, I just don't get much out of it personally.
On that note, I don't think lighthearted-to-serious should be a linear progression either. It's good to mix in some sweet moments when there's a lot of tension and drama. It often makes those light-hearted moments even more rewarding. :>
You can have a little bit of both I guess, actually I think the mix of both can have awesome results.
TV shows like Steven Universe tend to play with fun lighthearted stuff to spin to serious topics when it's requiered using one to lead to the other.
The longer a series goes, the more variety in tone I prefer. The oscillation between light to serious keeps tension, allows for breathers, and keeps the reader on their toes
Personally, I prefer more serious storylines that have lighthearted moments but a progression from light to darker elements when executed well can be a good way to ease into increasingly dangerous waters
Depends really, but I'm way more likely to stick with a story that has tone changes overtime rather than straight up fluff/light episodes all the time. In general it's why I don't read any gag manga/webcomics, light stuff gets boring very quickly to me.
Speaking from experience doing a comic that was originally mainly to be a lighthearted gag-a-day comedy series that then turned into a more 'slice of life' comic with serious moments, I'm fine with both if done right and they meld together well. (Option number 3)
My comic, POW! Right in the Nostalgia2, still does a lot of lighthearted/comedy stuff for the most part, but I also throw in serious parts through story arcs I do time to time to help flesh out my cast and make them more human.
For example, my main character Charlotte (short blonde haired girl with green eyes), is most often shown as being a big nerd for retro stuff and enjoys excitedly talking about the stuff or showing it off to friends and her fiance's niece with usually comical results happening.
However, in the story arcs, I've also shown she also has a seriously strained past with her parents that has came up many times over the course of the comic's almost 3 year run that caused her extreme anger and lashing out at them even being brought up, and now am doing an arc where she finally confronts these issues.
I really think the right mix of lighthearted with serious helps kept readers both on edge as well as give them brief sighs of relief.
Don't just have everything all rainbows and unicorns one panel and suddenly demons brutally slaughtering everything in gory fashion on the next basically.
It really depends on your tastes and the type of story you want to tell! I think it's really important to cater your writing to what YOU like so that you can enjoy writing your comic. After all, it's something you'll spend countless hours on! There's always an audience out there for your work : )
Personally, I have really broad tastes; I enjoy anything from cartoons to true crime, as long as the characters are strong. Tone isn't a huge factor to me, honestly, unless it gets in the way of the story. (ie too much heavy stuff with no breather, or a story that's too afraid to be genuine) Part of good pacing is tone!
My comic, Starry Days, starts out VERY lighthearted because the beginning is supposed to be like a storybook. However, because the overarching theme is much more serious, (I want to explore mental illness in a general-audiences friendly way) it will definitely shift in tone as it progresses.
