GRAPHIC (A comics set)

[UlyssesInvictus]

This is a very preliminary announcement for what might as well be another set for the Clearinghouse thread, except I want to write a lot of questions, and give myself some structure while doing it:

Gosh! Raynor's Artfully Profiled His Ideal Comics, or
GRAPHIC

It should be an expected 3 or 4 packets of 20/20 questions on comics. I can't stress enough how preliminary this is: I might decide to write a single packet, and it's ready in a month, or I take a couple months to write a proper 9 or 10 packets. If you are interested in this set, do please comment, so I can see how many packets I should go for. If there's a lot of interest, I also wouldn't mind a collaborator; as much as I love comics, I admit I'm only a relatively mild fan, and I'm sure there are people on the board with far greater comics experience than me. Questions will be 5-6 lines, and could theoretically appear on their own in ACF Regionals packets.

What I do know is, I'm taking an English (!) class on Graphic Novels right now, and it's inspired me to indulge my comics love, but also do so from a slightly more scholarly perspective. It'll be written with academic study in mind, as well as the kind of comics people tend to read nowadays. So without further ado, here's the distribution, with a fuller explanation below it:

• 4.5/4.5 Marvel (main universe focus)
• 4.5/4.5 DC (main universe focus)
• 2/2 other comics (fantasy, science-fiction, non-marvel/non-dc superheroes)
• 1/1 other comics (realistic, semi-realistic)
• 1/1 other comics (comic strips, sunday funnies)
• 1/1 webcomic
• 1/1 manga
• 1/1 other media adaptations
• 3/3 misc/common link (respectively 1/3 superhero, 1/3 tangential subjects, 1/3 common link)
• 1/1 history/technique (historically important artists, writers, works, events; medium, philosophy)

Explanations:

• By "main universe focus," I mean entities well-integrated into the shared Marvel and DC universes. I'm aware these companies own quite a few properties, and also occasionally use characters far better known in their own right, not involving said universes (Sandman being the first example I can think of); this distribution excludes those examples.
• The "fantasy, science-fiction" category includes generally unrealistic scenarios. It tends to be published in a serialized format and be best known for entertainment value.
• The "realistic" category includes things like memoirs. It tends to be published as single graphic novels and be best known for artistic value.
• "Other media adaptations" means things that originally appeared as comics, but have become well-known in their own right as works of art/entertainment (the MCU for example).
• When I say anything's fair game for misc, I mean it.
• I'm completely open to suggestions on the distribution. I feel like I tried very hard to curate a proper selection, that's respectful of comics and cartoons as a medium, but your mileage may vary.

Caveats in general:

• This might take a really, really long time to happen. Hopefully I don't eat crow and at least something gets written.
• There will probably be a lot of crossover between categories, so that at times it feels like a category is missing; I doubt anyone is counting on category count to enhance their playing performance, so that seems fine.
• There will probably be an American focus, other than the manga category.
• There will probably be some bad questions. Okay, some really bad questions. Sometimes you get your Kraven's Last Hunt, and sometimes you get One More Day.
• When this does get written: I'm not intending for this to be used as anything beside perhaps IRC fodder, but if you would like me to hold off on doing that so you can read it somewhere else, I'm okay with that.

[UlyssesInvictus]

Hey everybody! I feel a little bad, since I feel like I just held this set hostage unless people promised to "want" to play this, but I really did think less than 5 people were interested.

Anyway, I can promise that this is happening now, with at least 5 packets of 20/20, to be completed sometime in August, before whenever the "Summer Open" is (if it occurs).

I'm going to reiterate that I'd love a collaborator, especially on the Marvel/DC distribution. If I can get one, I'll probably up this to at least 7 packets. If this makes any money, I'll split it with you, more-or-less in proportion to how many questions you write and how much editing I need to do with them.

And to clarify that money thing: I'll formally offer this to be "mirrored," with a going price of 66% of whatever you make. (Noting that 66% of $0 is $0, should you decide to mirror it free of charge).

[Cheynem]

YAAAAAAAS QUEEN

[Blackboard Monitor Vimes]

Yaaaaaaay!

[sonstige]

...I'm sure there are people on the board with far greater comics experience than me...

Not sure if you need a collaborator, or at the very least someone to read through your set / playtest it...but former UF great Aaron Kashtan I imagine would be highly interested in this, with his PhD in comic book studies and whatnot.

PM me if you'd like his help, and I'll pass along his contact info.

[UlyssesInvictus]

A couple updates:

- Bad news first: unfortunately, due to slow progress, I'm making this (6 rounds of) tossups only for the side-events planning to host it. I hope to finish bonuses eventually, and release packets in those form, but if we don't finish before school starts for me the delay could be made exponentially worse.
- Better news: I'm officially making this "humble bundle" for any sites that decide they want to mirror this i.e. pay what you want to the people running it, or any members of the writing staff: me, Jarret Green, Aaron Kashtan, and Erik Owen.
- Best news: Brie Larson is Captain Marvel wooooooo

[UlyssesInvictus]

6 packets of 20 tossups have been completed and emailed to the VCU and Michigan sites. If you'd like a copy of packets (for any reason), please PM me.

The final distribution was something* like:

4.5 Marvel
4.5 DC
1 Marvel/DC misc
1 Webcomic
2 Other (Sci-Fi/Fantasy)
1 Other (Non-Fiction)
1 Strips
1 Manga
1 Other Media
2 Misc
1 History/Theory

*"something" because some categories were rather ill-defined, when it came down to it.

I'm starting to realize that I really may not get a chance to finish the bonuses in a timely manner, but I really would likely to complete them, since I think most of the historical, theoretical, and non-superhero stuff will be appropriately fleshed out in there. I'll have to call bonus completion TBD for now.

I had a lot of fun writing this set, and I really appreciated the chance to learn about it as I went. If anyone in the qb community would ever like to talk comics with me, please hit me up, and we can geek out a little. It's a very broad world, that stretches from the culturally omnipresent to the esoterically nerdy to the estoerically artistic.

I plan to read several packets of this on the IRC, which I plan to do sometime soon, possibly over the weekend or early next week; look out for a post in the Clearinghouse thread.

[UlyssesInvictus]

It's a bit niche, but mods: could I get a private forum set up for this?