I don't know how to deal with swearing in my own comic. I can swear in public but swearing in a comic feels forced to me.
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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
Swearing in comics
I'm comfortable with other people cussing, but don't swear myself. If I started, I'd probably swear all the time. It's a self-control thing, not a moral stance. But I extend that to my comic too, for consistency.
Personally, it depends on the type of comic. It gives me tone whiplash when I'm reading some cute all-ages thing and someone drops the S bomb, not because I'm offended by the word, but it feels out of place!
Have you seen the Netflix Castlevania? If you haven't I'd say don't bother past the first season (which is retroactively ruined for me because of how much the latter ones suck and my god do they suck) but if you happen to catch a clip of the vampires talking to absolutely anyone, it's dead serious sounding like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChuqGwSWTUI
(How the hell do I embed a video in post? I tried and it noped me hard!)
Just don't do it like Netflix Castlevania and you're probably fine. The only time I find swearing forced or corny is when it's just trying a little too hard to be edgy, like it's out of place for the situation. If someone gets hurt or is royally pissed, I expect some spice in that language. Someone in a slice-of-life just talking casually and peppering in every profanity is like listening to hipsters talk, unless the point is the character is an insufferable dork who thinks saying F words makes their arguments sound more intelligent.
There are certainly times where it's totally called for, like a gritty setting with rough characters absolutely. If Conan the Barbarian says a naughty word, I'm not surprised by it. The reason that kids sound awkward when they swear is because they haven't figured out how to use it tactically.
As a primarily comedy comic I try to find ways to censor swears in amusing ways. I like to use made-up swears from other media like Bastich/Bastage,Icehole, Gorram, Frell, Frak,Fargin and one my husband came up with, Frex. Others I take a word close enough that people get the idea: bullsnot, muffintrucker, fudge. If I am being more serious, I'll slap a black splatter/squiggle over the alleged swear (it's always something tame under there anyway). I don't write what I wouldn't say out loud. I could have shown my characters flipping off bad guys, but then I wouldn't have had multiple people tell me how funny they found what I did instead. I can only point out that censoring hasn't harmed my work in any way, and I've had more than a few readers tell me they appreciate it.
Apparently, even Dr. McNinja has a running gag of whenever someone swears, another character's dialogue balloon blocks it out to say "He said a bad word!" and that's a comic wildly more popular than mine.
Honestly, I don't think it harms things to censor at all. Some people think having restraint is stifling to creativity, but it's the opposite.
Some of the most brilliant stuff has come from people getting around limitations imposed on them or even self-imposed. When I watched an uncensored episode of The Venture Brothers, it just wasn't as funny. Blurred-out willies are funny, seeing the whole thing was completely awkward and uncomfortable. Some things really are better existing as abstract concepts.
In the end, I just say go with what feels right and not worry too much about it. People swear so much these days it almost seems quaint that people are offended by it. I've noticed an uptick in casual swearing in so many webcomics, I can't recall the last time I've seen any aside from a mega-popular one that censored out even minor swears.
I do mature comics and for the most part I treat swearing as characterization. If a character swears, they swear. I was in the Army for ten years, I have heard every iteration of profanity imaginable. My first sergeant referred to all women as c***s and the British and Australians are very free with that word for all kinds of things.
There is a whole chapter in Wartime a study of WW2 culture that goes into profanity. It's an interesting read. It's about the people and where they are. So in a foxhole f***ing f***ers f***ed is expected. But in a teen comic about magical girls? No. Profanity is characterization and context.
If there's a character or situation where someone uses profanity and with the applicable rating-fine. Otherwise as Amelius said so eloquently there are alternatives.
Don't do it to just do it, unless that's the character and situation. Proper context. You can have some very offensive speech without one swear word. Just look at Kevin Smith's Clerks versus Mallrats
Amelius wrote:Yup :(
Maaaaan, what the hells is going on? I wasted my social battery responding to stealth spammer or something? (ノಠロಠ)ノ I just wanted to be helpful!
But it was a really good comment so rather than deleting the spammer and killing all the comments I just changed their name and login info so I could keep the thread here and hopefully they can never use the account again :)
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