The anti-hero

An anti-hero is a hero with unheroic qualities; such as Batman. Batman undoubtedly does good, as he swoops in and "BOW, WHAP, POK!s" his enemies, but he's got a huge dark side. He dresses as a black bat, will resort to violent torture methods, is occasionally obsessed with his alter-ego. He's been on the other side of the law, if only for a little while.

Anti-heroes are very flawed; it's what they are. They have deep doubts, or deep trauma, and it shows. They either persevere through it and come out a better person, or they fall to the dark. Undoubtedly to come back again, but it's still a story arc.

Anti heroes can be written really well, but it takes some skill to get an anti-hero above adequate. You have to make sure the audience cares about him and wants him to get better, but also have the audience revelling in the drama of his ups and downs.

Don't overdo the anti-hero. There have been a lot of anti-heroes in fiction as of late, and the reader will see right through the anti-hero's typical plotline if you don't stray from it.

I'll put a cliche warning here: ever heard of a good guy going evil, and then the rest of them go "Oh god he's evil now! Come back!" and the previously good but now evil guy goes "I can't." but he's obviously thinking about it, and then at the perfect moment he rebels, and the good guys win?

Avoid that. And other anti-hero cliches you see, for that matter.

My verdict: anti-heroes in moderation.

Connect with the readers

Ever read a comic or a book and think, "Wow! That's just like -whatshisname-! And this is just like -rememberthattime-!" Well, that's what you're going for, connecting with the reader.

Believability is also a factor here. You've probably heard this before, and if you haven't, read more writing books: humanize your characters. Yes, he's a dragon rider, but he's a dragon rider who has marital troubles, or is plagued by depression, or any of those earthly devices. It makes the reader care about the character.

Some basic pointers

Here's some general advice on comics;

READABLE TEXT: Without readable text, your joke won’t exist. (Well, technically it will, but just as technically as a tree falling in the forest with no one to hear it) Take your time with text, do plain print, and use computer text if you can, unless your handwriting is superb. Also, be careful with those speech bubbles. Put them strategically, not willy-nilly.

BREAK THE MOLD: Or at least change it around a little. Straight man and off-the-wall guy is done a lot, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it just means you have to change things around a little. Leader desperately tries to get his group to stop doing random stuff? Or group tries to get the leader not to lead them into the random stuff?

WORK ON THE ART: Yep, it's true: everyone can draw. (disclaimer: those with no hands may not find the above true) Some have more natural talent than others, but it's a matter of practice. You'll probably find that you can draw in cartoonish styles, but not realistic, or vice versa. If this happens and you really want to use that style, it'll take a lot of willpower from you to work extra hard to get up to par in that drawing style. Or, you can collaborate with a drawer.

PRACTICE: When you first start, chances are that your comics will be, um, not good. So start writing comics, write them often, and maybe show them to family or friends, until you feel secure enough with them to start making some for the world. The internet can be a harsh place, and you don't want to get caught unarmed.

Questions to ask yourself

Here I must do one of the original sins: explain a joke. Or rather, in this case, a comic.
I find that the best way to tell how your comic’s going to be is answering a few questions:

Is your style of drawing realistic, cartoon, or manga (this actually has a big impact. Realistic, not as silly. Cartoon, silly. Manga, can wildly switch between silly and not silly and no one will care because it features long spiky hair)

Does it have a coherent plotline going on? (Penny Arcade, the most popular comic in existence, refers to storylines as “dreaded continuity and try to avoid it. Coherent plotlines are necessary for realistic and manga comics, and cartoon comics can pull it off quite well if they put their minds to it)

Are your jokes for a niche audience? (such as the popular gamer comics, or political comics. Generally, you can pull off a few niche comics if you make sure that it’s funny, just not as much, if someone doesn’t get it, and you don’t do it often)still

Are your comics frequently one slide (often a visual gag with a tagline under it), a three panel (affords some dialogue), or larger? Non-continuity comics often have one slide or three panel comics.

Can you draw well? Guess what, you don’t need to. What you do need is to be able to make recognizable (if not realistic) objects, and have a good grasp for facial expressions. Facial expressions are a must, they add character to your comics. Also, make sure your characters don’t all look the same, it leads to confusion.

Do you use characters when you feel like it, erratically switch between one-panel, three panel and bigger on a whim, and insert continuity stories when you feel like it? That’s fine, it’s a comic for Bob’s sake.

Do you want to commit to a schedule? If you're doing a webcomic or a syndicated comic, you'll have deadlines. You can get away with filler (a short comic or a drawing) instead of your scheduled comic a few times, but your readers will fast lose interest. Also, if you're a new webcomic, you'll want to leave updates at least twice a week. If you feel like that's too strenuous, try writing a lot of comics in advance, at your leisure, and then using them one by one. You'll have leeway that way.

That's some questions to ask yourself. One of the biggest parts of comic is your uniqueness; find it and cherish it.