What Grabs Your Interest?

[MidZM]

I recently released a sneak peek picture from an upcoming page of my comic Marked and it got me thinking, what grabs your attention when it comes to a comic? What I mean by this is, what in they story grabs your attention, whether it be a certain character, a love story, the action scenes. For example, my sneak peek:

In the Mature Anime Highschool DxD the major thing that grabbed my attention was the armor that Issei and the white dragon wore, it was one of the coolest things I'd seen in an anime at that point in time. And Issei's armor actually inspired one of the armors that appears later in the series.

So back to the question at hand, what in anime, manga, or a webcomic grabs your attention that you can't wait to see?

[ChipGod]

witty jokes and puns

[Valalaraptor]

Honestly? I'm a huge sucker for good color theory. It's weird, I know, but dose good eye feels, man.

[Michelle]

I'm drawn to comics that have a competent, unique art style. So something that's well-drawn, and doesn't look like a style I've seen 100 times before.

Also anything that has an interesting premise and excellent writing that piques my interest in the first 1-3 pages. If I spot too many writing cliches in the beginning, or I read like 10 pages and nothing's happened yet, that's usually a deal-breaker.

[Shanny8]

Clean line style, nice colors, great dialogue & story flow, superb action.

[MidZM]

While I agree that writing cliches are kind of a nuisance I have to say only reading about 10 pages with nothing happening breaking the deal (unless the art style is just not doing it for you in the slightest) to be kind of odd, take my comic for example, the first chapter is just set up for my main protagonists background, he's alone in the world with no friends or family and he's getting bad grades from an extremely biased teacher and it's not until the last couple of pages that something interesting happens in which he meets an emotionless "kid" who calls him into a holy war.

But to each their own I guess

[Michelle]

I donno, if you can go 10 pages with literally no interesting plot points happening, that's a pretty poor start. I'm not saying "I need to know the majority of the first chapter's plot in 10 pages", but you should be able to get me to a least care about the protag in that space of time (without boring backstory info-dumping).

[JessJackdaw]

After what @Michelle said, I don't have much to add. XD Certainly comics with a strong start and interesting characters are a must have, but I also have a weakness for monsters. If I see a cool creature design on the cover or icon, I insta-click. I just can't help myself! I gotta' know how that creature fits into the story.

Although, usually I end up disappointed when it's just a tropey villian with no character development.

[shazzbaa]

Oh dude, 10 pages was actually my marker, too! I had read a whole ton of webcomics as research back when I was first thinking of starting my own, and I'd noticed over and over that if it was still waffling around after the first 6-10 pages, I'd think "huh, that has promise," but I rarely ever came back to read more. So one of my major goals in my own comic was to get the first Major Thing That Happens to show up in the first ten pages.

I mean, if you can't grab me in ten whole pages, why would I expect individual updates to be able to grab me later on?

For me, it's absolutely character interaction and characters with personality that do me in. I rarely watch movies, but I went to see Finding Nemo based solely on that first ad, that was just Marlin and Dory in a featureless ocean arguing about directions and whales for several minutes. The characters were fun! That's all it took to grab me.
I also recently read all of Demon House without meaning to just because Tula is amazing. I got up to her response to the weird goings on in the "haunted" house and suddenly realised, "....well dangit apparently I'm gonna read this whole comic."

Also, if your story includes a character that is specifically up my alley, I'm probably shallow enough to give it a try. I got into homestuck solely because I found out there was a character in it who lisps. I'm not too proud to admit it --- characters that cater to my odd idea of attractive are kinda rarer so I'll absolutely check something out just because a character is hot. xD

[niinasalmelin]

For me it's either art style that pleases my eye, interesting premise or if I find the characters and their interactions believable. Also what @Michelle said about making it in 10 pages.

[AnnaLandin]

My initial attention is grabbed by an interesting art style. And it doesn't have to be super-polished or extremely technically accomplished - I read comics that other people might think look like children's scribbles. It just has to be interesting and suit the story they're telling.

What keeps my attention is a combination of good artwork and a solid storyline, or themes I like, or character-types I enjoy, etc. I was working on a pitch for a comic of my own earlier this year, and wrote myself a reminder-list of stuff I like in stories, and it lists things like "found families", "inevitable doom", "unexpected triumphs", "female friendship", etc., etc. So there are a lot of hooks to throw out for a creator to catch me on.

But like @Michelle and @shazzbaa said - a comic gets a limited number of pages for me to get interesting. If, by page 10, it hasn't shown some glimmer of potential, I drop it. If by page 10 there is something there, but it hasn't found its legs yet, I'll give it to page 20. If it still isn't finding its tone by then, I'm likely to drop it. I'm a very picky reader, so a lot of good comics don't make the cut for me.

[dojo]

For me it's mostly art style that gets me interested. I like art styles that are pretty unique, stylish, and out there and won't always keep reading if the style doesn't grab my interest. It's EXTREMELY rare for me to get interested in a story if I'm not into the style. (not saying I won't read anyway, especially right now when I'm trying to focus on making connections with folks regardless of their style, but once I'm more settled it'll probably be more rare since I just don't have that kind of time to keep up with stuff I'm not feeling)

Subject matter also matters a lot to me. There are a lot of genres I just straight up don't care about. They could be the most well written thing in the universe, but it'll be very hard for me to care about it simply because of the genre. Give me something from a genre I love and it won't matter how stupid the story is.

I've just seen so many films and ready so many books and played so many games that I kinda hit a point where I'd just rather see things I don't feel like I've already seen a thousand times over.

Also the weirder it is, the better. So basically, if it's weird, has a unique style, and isn't a genre I dislike, you'll have my attention. If you don't, though, it DEFINITELY does not mean it's a bad comic or anything, nor would I call all the ones that do, good. I just have very specific preferences that a lot of comics just don't hit the mark on.

[J.Lovelace]

My soul is sold to a series when I find that one character that I love. There are many cases when I picked up a series just because I happened to stumble upon a character somewhere that was visually pleasing, and I wanted to know more of them immediately XD
That one time I suffered through a Visual Novel with a genre that I disliked with elements that I disliked even more, but I was rewarded with knowing more about that one guy that caught my attention, so I (almost) don't regret reading through it. (cannot unsee some disturbing stuff)

[shaneoid77]

Superheroes. Love 'em

[eslameldeeb]

Amen!
It's boring and frustrating to see a lot of repeated art styles, even if story and writing are great

[perfectboy]

oh man, i would have to say that when the art work creates a very clear flow, and intentionally leads the eye all over it, so you naturally are drawn to look at the whole image. I find that I really speed through comics that don't have this and end up missing a lot of the story, but when you get the artists that do think about it, it doesn't even matter how technically good their art is, i'm still looking at all the details and really taking in the whole story!

[timinabox24]

it has to have just the right amount of text and something that will make me go ha!

[Kamikaze]

My attention is caught by an interesting art style - doubly so if it has strong composition and color theory! However, great art will not save a weak story and hollow characterization. If it's not well written AND well lettered (for real, the more I've learned about lettering the more I get REALLY put off by sloppy lettering work) that comic gets put down and likely never picked up again.

[williamjbowles]

What I look for most (in any story-telling media, really,) is probably a creative world-setting and good characters. It doesn't necessarily have to be a far-out fantasy or sci-fi world. Even modern-day earth (like) settings can be original. For example, Kurisquare's Postcards in Braille seems like a normal modern day setting, but there are some unique aspects, like a cultural trend to name children after Greek letters, and "Composer!" as an exclamation (their word for God). There are also other elements that hint at a world setting that is deeper and more creative than just 'modern day, earth as we know it'.
Good characters are also important, in my opinion. Those who are likable, relatable, interesting, sympathetic, or with some kind of plot hook aspect to them. There are many way to make a character compelling.
A good story line is also a big plus, although not all stories are plot-centric.
Quality artwork is also important, but honestly I'd rather read a good story with average artwork than a boring story that is well illustrated.
But that's just me.

[punkarsenic]

i think when art is doing something different, that really catches me - like hiddenfolk's linocut style or the dynamic angles and poses in spire. when its not just nice to look at, but interesting. as a nerdy artist, thats the key to my heart.

also, honestly, lesbians. anything with lesbians. any girl who romances girls, for that matter. it sounds shallow but in a world of hetmance and dead lesbians im starving

concepts are a big draw too - a very generic slice of life could have amazing characterisation, but i could never notice because the concept has nothing special. my favourite is probably when people take a common story and twist it, giving it a new lease of life (cough cartoony scifi vampires vs robot slayers cough) OR when it reminds me of stuff i really loved, that probably didnt do its concept justice. (like zildren reminds me of the sparticle mystery from cbbc)