What sets your story apart from others?

I think my comic mixes in the usual sword and sorcery fantasy, with the fun worlds and compact adventures of saturday morning cartoons, by not using only the usual fantasy stereotypes, and going into the consequences that a lot of those stories gloss over. The story about the clash of evil and good required cleanup, and as most western cartoons, it didn't have it; but now there's a growing problem because the underlying issues were never resolved.

I don't know if it's enough to set it apart, but I think my comic is definitely looking different because I've read only a very few comics (traditional or web) before drawing it (I do now).

Obviously, this means a lot of flaws, as extremely evident things for comic readers are all new things for me, so I have much more learning to do that the average comic artist; however, as a creator, I enjoy the freedom it gives me, in the sense that I have no fear of unconscious plagiarizing, or simply of falling for the easy path of common tropes, or being limited by the expectations my potential readership.
It's VERY freeing.
(I don't know how much - if at all - it is enjoyable for the reader, though. At this point, all I know is that that difference is a positive thing for ME, which may be a bit off topic?).

My shonen protagonist is an inanimate rock

So my story Shackles is a mixture of romance, action, and political back-stabbing. It also involves a mysterious soulmate system which adds a fantasy element that has moral and societal implications, which was fun to brainstorm!

My recent series is a collection of science fiction short stories. I think what sets it apart is how it tackles different technological issues (e.g., virtual reality, surveillance systems, bioengineering) and the settings that it takes place in (e.g., zombie-infested world, futuristic dystopian society).

By virtue of it not being BL/Romance I think my comic stands apart from, like, 90% of Tapas.

Seriously though, "Misplaced" is a supernatural/mystery story about a girl being thrown into a terrifying situation. I chose a child as protagonist because I wanted to do three things:

1. Pair her up with an unlikely ally, the kind that adults would immediately turn and run away from (or attempt to stab)
2. Put her in situations where she is way too comfortable because she doesn't fully understand the danger she is in
3. Come up with silly problems that could only occur to a child which could lead to bigger, real problems (example: what if she lost her teddy bear and now must walk into a demon-infested town to get it?)

I haven't seen or read many stories using this format and it makes me excited to brain storm ideas, far more than if I had chosen, say, a battle-manga-like story (which was my first go-to option).

I'd say that Errant is so different from other comics that it can be sort of hard to market. It's got a lot of features you'd associate with shounen manga, like big flashy fights against monsters, but it's heavily focused on character development and interaction and particularly of female characters, so you might say it's a bit like Lumberjanes, but the characters are older (or will be... one more update to get out of this prologue....just one more...) and it's more intricate and political. You might say it's like Scott Pilgrim, but it's a bit less absurd and is straight fantasy rather than magical realism... It's probably closest to something like Legend of Korra or Netflix She-Ra (including the F/F romance and multiple lgbtqia characters) but with a rainy, British, authority questioning attitude.

I don't read many published comics, so I have no idea. Webcomic wise, though? I guess everything about it?

My comic doesn't have any escapist or fantastical elements, it's a slice-of-life, character study type of psychological drama focusing on mental health, bad people and bad relationships. It has no romance and has some elements of horror due to one of the character's psychological state as well as later on events. It also deals with a lot of heavy subjects from abuse and trauma, to bigotry. None of my characters are reliable or competent in any way, and are assholes most of the time, intentionally and unintentionally.
I'm not trying to brag, someone told me on Twitter out of the 200+ comics they sifted through on a webcomic promo thread, mine was the only one that stood out and fit their interest, which was actually really flattering. Not gonna lie. (The person in question didn't want comics with any fantastical elements or romance.)

Another thing that sets it apart is that the comic is entirely traditional and in full color, while there are some comics like mine in that department (Lost Honey is a great traditionally example. Toilet Genie also has some pages in all watercolor), it is still really rare. Rare enough that there are some people who've told me that they won't read my comic because it's not polished enough, or that my comic would look better if it were drawn digitally.

My comic overall is extremely niche, making it not very palatable to a lot of people. But I have a very specific story I want to tell, and even though it will never get as many readers as other comics, I still very much enjoy working on it.

Edit: Eeeh I guess I should promote my comic since everyone else is using this as a promotion thread.

I think the combination of genres I use in one of the main comics I’m focusing on this year isn’t one I see a lot in webcomics. Also my style of drawing is very underrepresented in the webtoons/tapas area of webcomics and I think it helps me stick out a bit.

I’m working in like a horror/comedy/myster-ish genre but at first the comic sort of reads like it could be a slice of life about a couple of ditzy pals then gets darker and more serious as events unfold.

It’s been really fun to watch readers go from “haha lol” to “what the fuck does this mean?”

I think my other comics have a lot of unique qualities but this is the main one I’m focusing on for the sake of this thread.

I can't tell you. Someone please tell me what my comic is about?

The simplicity and the art style. It's like a Saturday morning cartoon that doesn't take a lot to get into but you like because the characters are fun and the concept is interesting. I've had plenty people tell me the art is unique and looks good so you can look forward to that.

I struggle a lot to figure out how to even explain my comic or how to make it sound interesting to readers because it doesn't really follow any kind of set genre or formula, so that's what makes mine stand out. It's just kind of a story about friends talking about life and that's about it. Setting myself up for a small audience but it's a story I really want to tell. My art style is also lineless which isn't super common.

Thanks! It's good to know!
You also have a different approach on comics, and I'm impatient to see more of it

Well for one, the setting. That's a given. There's lots of fantasy comics that take place in another world, but none of them that I've found are quite like Kehuegonea (Kiwigonia). The races and species are especially weird. They are a parallel universe to our own, and they have all the same species as us, but their versions look and behave differently (with the sole exception being the kiwi bird).

For example, Earth stoats are fuzzy little adorable weasel babies. Kiwigonian stoats are horrendous two legged raptor/kangaroo-like monsters with serrated teeth and the instinct to kill most anything on sight. In addition to that, many animal species are actual talking, functioning, bipedal races there. Ontop of that, the majority of them can hybridize. So you might encounter things such as fox-raccoon hybrids or dog-ferret hybrids.

Other than that, the relationships my comic focuses on are a bit different than your typical flowery romances. The two main relationships that flourish in the comic are a friend/friend relationship, and a father/daughter relationship. That's not to say there's no romantic or sexual relationships, because their definitely are. But those relationships are troubled and realistic, they're not sweet and sappy soulmate type stories.

I really want to believe my comic is unique at least when it comes to the plot, but I'm also afraid that someday someone is going to say something like "oh, this is the same idea/plot as in [some popular comic, movie or show I've never watched]"

That's when you turn around and tell them the same thing about their face

I've asked myself this several times, and I try to tread lightly on the subject. But I can tell what I do well. I think I've created decent characters with the heart to flesh their own personalities, with the ability to make the right or wrong decisions based on their growth through the course of the story, to allow them to stand and be as is and not control them for the sake of plot. Simply put, to become a chronicler of the story than a writer, to believe that it was once the truth and not fantasy. I've enjoyed every moment making a story like this.

Perhaps the best result from such a train of thought is the idea of how perspectives work. While the story is focused on a protagonist, the side he's on is more accidental than good. Different groups and races, all trying to attack and solve the same problem with a different approach; who's right? Who's wrong? It's really perspective. I imagine people siding with or perceiving a group as good, while others perceive it as bad. I think that's what makes it unique. This is how I imagine it.

Do take the time to explore and verify it!