well besides now havin second thoughts about my comic "The Chosening Reckoned One" i been havin this huge pet peeve in a lot of scifis lately where they gotta poop all over the idea of magic. like they'll stand by alien cyborg princesses with scorpion tails and 18 butts being totally legit but whenever they have a character who believes in magic they'll be like "PSHA thats rediculous. magics not real you ding dong! thats just cosmic string theory and universal vibrations" like why you gotta fantasy bash like that jeez
so my comic6 is a scifi but i have the characters a lot of the time be like "maybe it was magic" whenever they cant explain somethin

Things I Would Not Do:
Torture porn. Have anyone called the Chosen One or Foretold or Prophecy crap. Its a crutch that rarely is good, and only when you turn it on its head is it of any value. Mary or Gary Sues. Mockery of any religions just for shock value or to be a jerk. I will question religions if need be. Bring anyone back from the dead permanently. Dead is dead, but guest cameos are okay. And some other stuff...

I would never make something nsfw. or scifi, probably. or anything serious, really. I like cartoony, colorful and fun. not saying anything is wrong with those things, at all - they're just not for me.

I dont know. If I feel it is essential to my story then I'd probably do it. The whole thing for me is that people tend to misinterpret the media; a writer writes, an artist draws. Just because a writer writes some type of material doesnt mean that he is in favor of whatever it is(hense the disclaimer "the _________ is/are not the views of ________"). Sometimes art imitates life, life imitates art.

I dont have a "chosen one" per se, but I do have a "protectorate"- and I have every intention of making this character fit their title.

I would not do something that simply doesn't fit with the story just beause...!... Well, I probably wouldn't bring people from the dead too...

About the chosen one... What about the "chosen one" to have one hell of a life? :x

This topic actually caused me to do a lot of thinking on the subject, because there's the obvious ones like "won't talk down to my audience" or "won't be a RACIST" and then there's the ones that actually contribute to thoughtful discussion.

I would never put a prophecy in my comic, whatever the story. A lot of the tropes I dislike are in a whole separate realm from the sci-fi comedy comic I'm running, but even if I were to go into those other genres, the principle remains the same; if you've played Fallout 4 and met Mama Murphy, lemme tell you I instantly tried to remove her from the story. A prophecy is just the end of a script being recited by a character in the beginning of that script, only now it exists in the canon.

Secondly, and this is more personal preference: Being too open-ended. This is because I consider myself a dummy, and so I hate stories that require too much piecing together of cryptic character dialogue and having the story end with no real climax or resolution, simply being left "open to interpretation."
The exception I take to this is the horror genre, but even then I prefer more solid elements to dig into, rather than to toss a character into a museum of frights and at the end make the viewer go "Makes you think, huh."

No romance between my Male and Female leads for the current comic I have now. So often I see the two battle worn teens end up falling for each other, that I can't stand it. Especially when it becomes a love triangle (she can pick who she wants AFTER the battle is done not before not during, AFTER) While they certainly become close, they are not gonna be kissing or falling in love.

Also, I would never sexualize my characters, unless that is the point of whatever arc I have. Like if you have a succubus or incubus character, give us all the booty shots you want, but I ain't going to do what so many animes do with random panty shots or close up on the boobs when it makes no sense.

I don't really limit myself... Actually I've never thought about what I wouldn't have! Personally, I think when you limit yourself, you don't achieve what you really want out of your work. Maybe you do want the title to be the 'The Chosen', because the main character has been chosen to eat as many hotdogs to prevent the world from ending! If you look at a lot of media that's classed as 'insulting' you'll find that they are very successful.
There's nothing wrong with doing something 'wrong' as long as you, the artist, are comfortable with it. Plus, publicity, man! People love to complain! But also love to look at something wrong! I have a very saucy part right at the beginning of my story, watching peoples reactions or reading what they have to say has always been entertaining- And I've had negative! Because no ones seen the human body before, clearly! But of course, that's not compared to religion... I haven't got the that part yet! To me, there're no limits. The only limit is your ability. If you're comfortable doing it- Then do it!

No fanservice. If the character's personality dictates that they're sexy or flirtatious or whatever, okay. Not what I'm into, and probably not gonna come up a lot in my work. But it's really uncomfortable to me when there's needless fanservice like voyeuristic panty-shots.

I'd never put hentai in my comic, I'd rather imply two characters did it but never show it, cause it's not the point of the story. Though if it's to show these characters as a couple they develop their relationship, then again I'll just imply, like those two are in the same bed, what could possibly happen there? :'u
I'd play with fanservice if the character it's a flirting one and it's using his/her "attributes" to attract the other one, but like, that would be all, and always keeping those things for especific situations, and never make them become more important than the plot.

interesting topic. and it's a bit of a flip coin..

I have already said "anything can happen in swipe city" but saying that there are a few things I would not do. Religion is one thing i tread very carefully around so if i did a story line that covered this topic it would be done most lightly. the other thing I would not do is very strong sex content. While I am happy to hit few grey areas, i don't want to do anything that will get my comic pulled after all the work I have done.

On the other hand covering taboo topics can sometimes allow people to see things from a different POV but as the saying goes it's not what you do....

Rewrite the story to include scenes that would cater to someone foot fetish or hiccup fetish (or whatever else it was that I can't remember). This is something that I have been asked to do a number of times too, just a PM with "hey do you think to could redo the scene for chapter 3 and include some ____ in it? It's my kink so it would make my day to see it in your webcomic"

End the series with the sad excuse shit plot twist of 'it was all just a dream'

Wtf why do people think this is remotely ok? It seems to be really common behaviour on DeviantArt and I can't understand why people so rampantly push their fetishes onto others.

It's funny you bring up titles, @carloswebcomic - I have a firmly held resolve to NEVER name a story after the good old classic fantasy-trope-y "The [Thing] of [Thing]"-formula. No The Sword of Truth or The Throne of Shadows or The Queen of Light or whatever in MY stories.

It's not a terrible thing to do, but having grown up reading a metric ton of fantasy - and browsing through bookstore shelves filled with even MORE - I just find it so very, very boring.

What else would I not do....

Grassblades has a lot of swordfighting, but you're never going to find me drawing excessive gore of the kind that depicts internal organs. Partly because I want to keep below the NSFW-limit, and partly because that sort of thing makes me feel a bit sick while drawing. Also, it would lead to some CREEPY browser-history if I tried to find useful reference photos.

You're also unlikely to see graphic sex-scenes in my work. Not out of any sense of morality/religion - it's just that I don't find it very interesting to draw. I'm on the asexual end of the spectrum - sex just isn't that interesting to me. I have no problem drawing nudity when the situation calls for it, but there probably won't be obvious sex-scenes.

Also, no prophecies unless I can reverse the trope and make it a prophecy so vague that EVERYONE misinterprets it and starts fighting about it and I get to write a story about internal religious politics, and NO LOVE TRIANGLES.

I think the only serious thing I wouldn't do is anything involving minors shown in a sexual manner. Other than that I think risky topics are important and that risking offending a few people on the Internet is worth it if it means you're saying a message important to you. Not included in this would be that your message is hateful. But being able to talk about sex or bad religious experiences or bad drug trips or anything else that probably offends a few people is important and I wouldn't ever want to not pursue any morally ambiguous topics.

Things I wouldn't do out of principle: any sappy romance movie cliches, any offensive token type characters, anything preachy....

Stupid small thing I wouldn't do: put a reference to popular culture without checking the date for it 20000000000 times

I will never draw characters who smoke. I think it's an awful habit, and I just couldn't enjoy drawing or writing a character who does it, nor do I want to promote it as an acceptable habit.

I won't depict most other kinds of drugs either. I might show characters drinking a little alcohol (but probably not to the point of getting drunk), and I might show characters using drugs for religious rituals if I felt it necessary, but generally speaking it's something I avoid.

I mainly hate discrimination so I won't allow any of my characters to discriminate someone n let him live without a consequence.
THE LAST SAMURAI

• no using rape to create dramatic/traumatic backstory. It seems to be used too often/poorly in fiction, and i think it would be good to keep myself from choosing the easy (and often offensive) plot point.
• on that note im not going to depict explicit sex, partly out of being raised catholic and partly out of being asexual. i can draw nudity if doing anatomy studies, but the moment i have to show any character showing skin then i chicken out. :B
• no dramatic love triangles.
• wanna avoid having a clear split between the good/evil alignment. i'd prefer for all my characters to have a motivation for their actions, have something a little selfish about them and something a little redeeming about them. no characters purely to root for/hate on.

there's not too many things i would say i absolutely would not depict in a comic. i actually sometimes like being repelled, and a story being repelling just for the sake of being repelling is better than a story being repelling because the creator themself is repelling.

of course, the limitations depend on the kind of story being told. swearing, political intrigue, and copious blood and guts, while i'm not opposed to any of it, would look somewhat out of place with my current comic, whose protagonists are mainly children in a subdued society.

Same! It's unfortunate, but there are a lot of stories out there that romanticize abusive and controlling behaviour. I'm definitely trying to avoid that!

... is.. is this a thing? I had no idea.

Fillers?

Obvious tropes and cliches, you can have words of power that aren't the obvious tropes, but it's very hard to make them.

Porn, that includes no weird fetishes you only see on Deviantart

And discrimination

@joannekwan ...Do I dare ask what Cake-farting is? lol

I'm not sure if I want to say there's something that will forever be off limits for me.

However I would make sure that if I ever pick up some shadier topic, I wouldn't downplay it in any means (like it wasn't that bad because they love each other now TEEHEE). Also like @joannekwan said about portraying racism, abuse etc. I don't like to see those things romanticized, which is what happens pretty often.

Also the pure evil vs pure good is something, like @noctuidae, I don't think I'll ever want to feature in my stories. Grayscale is something I like when it's about characters and their morals. I'm not saying it can't be done well, but it's not something I'm interested in making. At least for now.

I think most important is to be aware of things you put in to your comics and for what reason.

Things I'll never do in my comic:

I'll never mush two characters together just because they are being shipped.

I'm not going to spare a character just because a lot of people like them, if the character is destined to die in the story, then they are going to die.

Like Joannekwan, I won't depict rape, abuse, bigotry, racism and so on in a positive light.

-Scatologic humor or porn (all right with other kinds of porn XD)
-"And in the end it was all a dream"
-Involve in social topics that I don't have clear... Or take party in a war conflict between two countries... If it's necessary I'd try to show all the complexity of the matter wothout taking party.
-I try not being maniqeist (good vs evil)
.I think I'd never show a character taking drugs...

Now I remember somethong that made me real mad, when I was watching Terminator Salvation SPOILER ALERT when the good cyborg sacrificates himself to save John Connor, and John Connor (who is a good guy, the hero, the savior, a model to follow =_=) ACCEPTS HE DONATES HIS HEART AND DIE. JOHN YOU BE SUPPOSED A GOOD GUY. Well, I hate the thing "this really really bad thing must be made for the sake of a supposed supreme GOOD". That is something that I never want to put in a story.

It really depends on the story for me. When i do commissions my gimmick is that there is "nothing i wont draw" and there's not....and let me tell yah ive got alot of messed up stuff. But comic wise "if it fits it ships" BUT if i know what people will freak out about and i wont include those things.

Haha, I SAW IT JUST A WEEK AGO. Oh, in Bambi's movie, SPOILER ALERT Bambi's mother dies.

I don't think that the opinions people are expressiong could be called aversions to sex; I think we're all adults about its existence, but that we're trying to avoid participating in its... Unnecessary overabundance in stories that are not ABOUT sex. 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- thank goodness I'm not talking about me here. My heart goes out to those that HAVE gone through that though.

As for fanservice, I think probably that's a matter of objectification. It's such a broad term that could be used to excuse a lot of choices that could be dumb for any given story. Some comics are intended for fanservice, but others are an actual piece of media trying to tell a multi-layered story, yet for some reason the artist also has all the women in skimpy gear no matter the setting. It's just cheesey in a lot of cases where fanservice isn't the joke/the point.