What would you not do in your comic?

[trivialtales]

Creepy fanservice(it's about second grade girls, so idk why anyone would want that, but this is the internet)
Be too preachy (I have broached serious topics in the past, some of which I have a clear perspective on, but I try to find the funny even if I'm taking a clear stance)
Be too serious (I don't have time for edgy comics)
Memes (they're funny, but I just don't use them)
Pander to gain views and likes(like what your friends are reposting on facebook and tumblr right now)
Be funny (no jokes, or laughter, or fun in my comic, I'm above such nonsense)

[carloswebcomic]

Be funny (no jokes, or laughter, or fun in my comic, I'm above such nonsense)

[trivialtales]

I'm joking, but it's my first day on the forum, I dunno how to act

[zelkats]

Reraser:
We can all think of an unfortunate sex/makeout scene in a movie that just does noooot need to be there. Some of us have even watched them with family in the room, because that kind of scene wasn't expected-

on that note... it becoming more common to throw sex scenes into video games... every time, every god damn fucking time... someone walks in. Even worse when it's interactive...

Mom: What the hell kind of game IS this???Me: I AM TRYING TO SAVE MY IN GAME SON FROM A SERIAL KILLER MOTHER!Mom: But what does this have to do with it???Me: DO NOT QUESTION MY MOTIVES!!Mom: You pressed the wrong button, you failed to take her bra off. This is why your girlfriend dumped you.Me: MOTHER!!!

later, at some scene where I play a female character and interactively have to strip down and porn dance for some dudeMe: Omg... really...?Little Brother: ... what kind of game is this??????Me: Where the hell did you come from?? I am doing this for my son... or no wait... he's not this character's son he's the other characters... eh whatever it's all part of the plan I guess.Dad: What da hell?Me: oh my god why...?Dad: Your mom know you play this???Me: Dad... I am over 20... I don't need mom's permission to play this game...

God, Heavy Rain is such a huge mess, lol.

[trivialtales]

Did your mom really go immediately from chastising you for playing it into telling you you suck at it? Either way, that exchange is hilarious.

[yoshizawaart]

Unnecessary fan service. I can't stand it. It just feels like a cheap way of trying to keep readers invested. Also using "Friendship is Magic!" or "The Power of Friendship!" as the reason why the good guy triumphs over evil. Again it's cheap and completely overdone.

[ErithEl]

Since Burning Bright is a pretty serious story, the one thing I will never do is make everything be fine and dandy in the end.
I'm not saying that the ending is going to be super depressing – I am actually planning on a good, solid, satisfying ending – but it 100% won't end up with the characters going back to their lives like nothing even happened.

And, oh God...no love triangles. And no romance thrown in there just for the sake of having a romance thrown in there. I like writing love and romance of any kind, but it has to occur naturally within the story.

[defineprog]

To me, the greatest sin you can commit as a comic artist/writer is the "wall of text." This is a visual medium, and the art should always work in tandem with the story. Here's an example, if you're fortunate to have never experienced it.

Pages like this just destroy pacing, and can sometimes discourage people from reading any further.

[jasperlizard]

I don't have a lot of solid limits, since my biggest promise to myself in terms of writing is to never censor myself. I've seen writers that try to restrict their own content, from not having curse words to stopping story lines they've already started because they don't feel its "appropriate". I can always tell when someone is straining against their own self-imposed boundaries, and that's something I never want to do to my own stories/art.
HOWEVER I don't tend to depict heavy gore or explicit sex in my works. With gore, I just believe that what you keep off-screen is infinitely more grotesque/effective to the reader than something you just show 'em. Imagination is a wonderful/terrible thing! With sex scenes, I just haven't written a story yet that's needed an explicit sex scene, and I'm not gonna put in a scene that I don't need.
As well, sensitive topics (most mentioned on this thread is rape, stuff in that area) is stuff I don't really want to write, mostly because when its written badly it can be REALLY REALLY bad and I don't want to hurt someone seriously with my work, plus I don't think its my place.
I do have one tiny silly self-imposed rule which is to never make a character's last words "I love you"...its so overdone and for some reason it's a big pet peeve of mine? So I don't do that.

[marcoalexandroparra]

Do not be too on the nose with yourself, nor bring yourself down with that kind of "self hate" humor. Example: A comic about "I will exercise and be productive! Next panel: in bed with ice cream and Netflix. These kind of jokes are way too abused, they are ok every once in a while but I try to avoid them entirely. Don't get lazy with jokes, like "haha puns on purpose, it's bad on purpose" because eventually it becomes lazy for real,

[Michelle]

It's interesting to see how many creators say they won't depict something they disagree with (barring obviously terrible things like glorifying rape/murder/etc).

For instance, I can't stand smoking-- I think it's unhealthy, unattractive, and I'd never do it. But I have a character who is a heavy smoker, and it's important to that character because it plays into how they handle their insecurities and stress. I'm asexual, but I write characters who are involved in sexual relationships and of varying orientations. And some characters I write are just completely unlike me and my morals/preferences in every way. Not like moustache-twirlingly evil, I just probably wouldn't be great friends with them. :u

Of course sensitive subjects should be handled with care and not just thrown in to create drama. But in my opinion, as storytellers we should be able to step outside ourselves and write characters we don't align with in terms of morals or lifestyle.

[Kura]

Did your mom really go immediately from chastising you for playing it into telling you you suck at it? Either way, that exchange is hilarious.

Oh yeah, she's pretty notorious for not being able to focus on her conversations and have them head in all kinds of directions.

[Fox_Den7]

The thing I wouldn't do in my comic is that death, and those typical stories where the character finds out their some kind of god! A little too anime cliche.

[tayo_rafferty]

• Unbeatable protagonists who never seem to fail. Or characters that
  seem to have no weaknesses or flaws.
• Those characters who are nice to everyone for no reason except
  that they're the 'good guy'.
• Characters 100% dying and then being resurrected 'because story.'
• Blatant villains who do villainous things because they're villains
  and for no other reason.
• The main character waking up from a dream which foreshadows the story
  (at the beginning of the story.)

And many many more.

[WhatAHero]

weird fetish stuff.

like i'm talkin' real deep niche things that would only pop up in the privacy of someone's home.

otherwise shitty age-old tropes and cliches included, everything's a-ok with me.

[NickRowler]

-Christmas. (Personal reasons)
-Being anti-[religious group]. I can not stand it when people argue about religion (or lack of religion). If I do depict a religious person who does something wrong, it's not to be interpreted as everyone within that religion.
-Memes or meme based culture.
-Disown pink. Oh poor pink, you are so lovely but people loath you so much.
-Graphic fetish material. It doesn't matter if I like it or if some of my fans like it, I think in general people should keep fetishes to themselves.
-Encourage racial segregation. Which means, I will not only have people having relationship within their race. I will not discourage adoption of children from a different race than the parent. I will not encourage us vs them racial mindsets. I know some people are thinking "well duh" but I feel there are still people today (and not only white people) who think this way.

I used to promise myself that I would never depict kissing in my comics or art BUT I recently broke that one.

[mayday]

I would never include memes in my work. Not because I think memes are stupid (I mean they kinda are but I like them), but because your story will become aged and cringeworthy very quickly. I saw a John Cena joke in a comic (it wasn't even a gag-a-day strip) earlier today and it honestly hurt me inside. I'm sorry but dude, that hasn't been funny for like a year (arguably it was never funny).

Also using memes is a sorry excuse for humor. Do that stuff on Twitter or something, but don't do it in a comic you worked hard on because it isn't doing you any favors.

[joannekwan]

It also horribly dates your comic, and since memes are so fleeting, who's to say the joke will even be relevant in a few months...

[indagold]

I put maybe 4 memes subtly hidden in old work of mine from 2011 i'm uploading on here before memes became unfunny...
memes not even once

[shaneoid77]

There were a few things I am adamant I will not do in my superhero comic

No dead characters returning (unless it's part of the story line)
No rebooting the Universe
No Atlantis! No 'king of Atlantis' characters. My water-based characters will be attempts at being original.
I'm really up for exploring the sex lives of my characters, and I like something a bit cheeky, but I'm not up for anything too graphic.
I like clichés if they're done tongue-in-cheek