Parents/Family Members Reading Your Comic

Well I won't be afraid my children will be reading my comic because I don't plan on having any. Unfortunately my parents and sister sometimes do read my comic so I keep that in mind. I sometimes make a comic and get some reactions from them haha

I dont have the luxury of them not knowing about my series, though its not like my series isnt something I'd feel uncomfortable showing them. I cant say too much about all of them but my little brother seems to be into mine. At least I guess

I am LC with my parents, so I didn't tell them when I started my comic. However, about a year in, they blew my phone up one morning because my dad saw some of the comics on Bored Panda and recognized the characters as me and my two dogs, so they wanted to verify that it was me.

...then they didn't say anything until the next time they saw more comics in Bored Panda, several months later.

Them knowing does not change how I create my comic. Also, the bloodline will likely end with me, so I have zero concerns about kids/grandkids.

My mom probably wouldn’t even want to read my novel. Firstly cause it’s in English, secondly cause she doesn’t like supernatural stuff. I’m thinking about letting my mother in law read it tho. My husband reads it first before anyone else, and he’s very into it.
I don’t really mind if family members read tho, my family are just not that fluent in English.
I would love for my kids to read it one day when they are a bit older, they already know all about my talking skull character and find him really funny My 6 year old has requested many drawings of the skull lol

Oh absolutely not. My mom wouldn't be interested in something as cartoony as what I write. My dad would, but I think he would hate it once, uh, certain things are revealed about the characters. Not to mention the personal questions I'd probably get if anyone I knew were to read that far in. Not worth it.

I've been reading this for the past few days, and I'm really surprised how many people's family reads their work. It's kinda cool.

Only my little brother is interested enough to read my comic & being supportive, he seems to like it but I haven't got any comments from him.

Oh my god this bothers me so much. My family follows me on instagram so I always feel weird posting my characters being all sexy and stuff which is what I like to draw x_x (pinups, romance, nsfw etc) Now I've started my comic and I'm too scared of letting people know on my instagram. I already feel weird about having people I know (and strangers too) reading it, because it's my first one and I just feel like people are looking into my soul or something. I can't deny some of it is based on my experiences of course but ugh. I haven't posted on IG for many months, I don't know what to do, but I can't show them. I already asked my brother not to follow me on twitter, where I post most things (and I haven't even came out properly as bi to family).

It's good to read about other people's experiences with this though so thanks for the thread!

I love it when people look into my soul Just ... not family XD Or anyone with a personal stake in my life :'D Unless they decide to invest a personal stake in my life after they see my soul

Oh hell no!... is what I would like to say. Unfortunately a good few know, and have read it, some even having physical copies.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the support, my comic just isn't something most people would be into, also the themes are a little... not family friendly. It's kind of embarrassing trying to explain why the story is what it is to them specifically without bringing up mental health stuff or known experiences (Because I don't want to deal with that drama.), plus I feel like they'd misread it more than those in my comic's demographic. Like my mom telling people it's exclusively a queer experience thing when I intended it to be a general human experience thing with some queer specific topics. Abuse and mental health struggles aren't exclusively queer, anyone can experience them, it's a bit obnoxious seeing that fly over her head and mislead other people. (Especially since some of the abuse stuff was originally based off her experiences.)
Plus it's just awkward sitting there while they're reading it, knowing it's not gonna be their thing. Makes the situation feel like some kind of interview or evaluation. Especially so after my mom is like "Did you read it?? What do you think??" Like, chill bro!

The joys of being an adult living with their parent(s), I guess.

To answer the other questions, no. I don't really care if they don't like my comic, or if certain things in it offend them. My comic is for me, and people like me to a smaller extent, I wouldn't change a thing to fit their preferences or comfort.

It's a novel not a comic but funny story, the first person to ever read the short story that would become Part 1 of my novel was my mom. She's an inhumanly fast reader so she got through the whole thing in like an hour. She actually read the more questionably written and angstier un-edited version too so... yeah.

I gave my mom a physical copy. This is a paraphrase of her reaction:
Mom: So this happens because the princess keeps getting kidnapped?
Me: Yes and no one can stop it.
Mom: Then write it so that the kidnappings stop.
Me: Then there wouldn’t be a story anymore!!

She likes it.

Other people have checked it out too. My pastor is unironically becoming a fan and even bought one of the tshirts. My friends tell me they like it because sometimes it’s hard for them to find happy and colorful comics that also interest them. I even did a live, translated reading for my grandma while she was sick before she passed away.

I understand why a lot of people may get concerned about sharing their comics, and everyone’s situation is different so I can’t judge. But in my situation it’s been nothing but good.

My parents have read my comics in the past, and they both enjoyed them.

My younger brother helped me color parts of my CTA entry. He also helped me come up with some of the visual gags and improve pacing in other sections. It's funny, I always feel weird talking about my characters and my story with anyone irl, but he is just so casual about it, it makes me feel like maybe I should be more relaxed about it too. As far as changing things to suit my family, I gave a character a more prominent role in the cast because my brother came up with a lot of fun ideas for her in the early stages of my comic.

No one else in my family has read my stuff though. My older brother knows I made a comic for a contest, but he didn't seem too interested in reading it the last time I saw him. I know my mom would enjoy it, but I think she thinks I still make cute looney tunes knock-offs like I made as a child

No one from my personal life (family nor friends) know about my comic haha. I'm sure some of them would be incredibly supportive and even want to help promote my work, but I value the creative freedom that anonymity grants way too much. It feels great when you don't have to walk on eggshells or feel self-conscious of your artistic decisions. Art is also just an incredibly private and personal thing for me, so it would honestly feel like handing my diary to someone I know irl XD

I kept my comic to myself for a couple of years, but then my parents were really curious to know what I was working on all the time on my laptop, so I showed them just the 1st chapter (nothing too out of the ordinary happens yet, but I was still self-conscious about showing people my art).

My dad is generally supportive of my art, and my mom was also positive but for some reason tried to relate each of my characters to people in our family? Ex: "Is this supposed to be you?" um...no?? we don't look/act similar at all?? "Is this character based on your dad?" etc. Sometimes I show my dad new panels I'm proud of, but super zoomed in so that he can't see the whole page.

Then I unexpectedly ended up showing the 1st 4 pages to one of my Spanish professors. She was writing a letter of recommendation for me, and I mentioned that I was drawing a comic and translating it into Spanish so she asked to see it. I sent just the 1st 4 pages (no characters show up yet :P) and she asked how the rest of the story went so I gave a quick summary.

Ahhahaha this is my worst fear tbh Probably because in my case ... it might be kind of true? I do actually base my characters off of aspects of myself and people I know, and I can't confidently claim "no they're not me 'cos see we don't look/act similar at all" with a straight face because I know full well I deliberately make the characters superficially very different to who they're based off as a smokescreen/obscuration tactic

@TheLemmaLlama I also put character traits from myself/real people I know into my characters! Honestly, I think that makes them more realistic. I can imagine that it would be nerve wracking to reveal personal things about yourself through your characters and then have people figure it out! I was just lucky that my mom made wildly wrong guesses Literally the only thing I have in common with the character she thought was supposed to be me is glasses... My dad also thinks one of the characters looks like him, but I don't see it. Although I borrowed the fact that he uses "beware of dog" signs as a security system despite not actually having a dog.