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Growing the Beard/Web Comics: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
* The beginning of ''[[Dan and
* ''[[One Over Zero|1/0]]'' had no point save getting a girlfriend when it started, nor did Tailsteak have any art experience, and it shows. The reason there was [[No Fourth Wall]] was that Tailsteak never bothered to put one in, and found he couldn't do much in the way of jokes with one. Then he started taking ''real'' advantage of its absence, using it for creative character interactions. Then said characters started spiraling out of control in ''just'' the right ways.
* ''[[
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' grew a beard with the Vampires arc, [[Cerebus Syndrome|the first truly serious one in the series]], and while it still maintained the humor that was popular with fans, it also showed that it was able to sustain drama and tension.
* The beginning of ''[[Bob and George]]'' is all but a mess. Random filler strips, jokes that don't quite take off, and the occasional hint that, at some point, there would be a drawn webcomic with Bob and George. Once the last part was completely eliminated and the "Just Another Day" arc started, it finally got into its true plot and humor.
* ''[[
* ''[[Megatokyo]]'' starts off as a fairly standard 4-panel comic with two video game guys getting into hijinks. It takes about fifty strips before it gets into the ridiculous multi-person romance and off-the-wall zombie-robot-Godzilla adventures at the same time.
* ''[[Brawl in
* [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0647.html Lampshaded] in ''[[
** It also grew a beard when the comic developed a story line instead of stand-alone gags about the rules of D&D.
*** A more exact change for the improvement of the comic would arguably be either the fight against Xykon on the first dungeon or the whole Azure City War, moments by which the comic stopped being just another gag-a-day comic and showed an actually interesting storyline in its whole right while still keeping the jokes and the silliness which the storyline only helped making more funny.
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* The exact moment ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' started being funny can be narrowed down somewhat definitively to [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/06/19/ "Claw Shrimp."] It's definitely the oldest strip you'll hear ''referenced.''
* Although ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'' was pretty funny when it started out, the gradual [[Art Shift]], combined with the accumulation of parody [[Solve the Soup Cans]] puzzles (each [[Beyond the Impossible|more impenetrably complex than the last]]), strange characters, downright [[Guide Dang It|bizzare game mechanics]], [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshades]], [[Chekhov's Gun|Chekhovs Guns]] and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Crowning Moments]] eventually elevated the series to [[Troperiffic|absurd levels of]] ''[[Troperiffic|awesomeness]]'' by the time the [[Final Boss|Final Boss Battle]] rolled around.
** Something similar happens in ''[[
*** The definite beginning of the comic's "beard" is the end of Act 3, when [[Wham! Episode|[S]: Enter]] displays just how incredible the flash format could be.
* Though it took off quickly, the first few storylines of ''[[
* ''[[Dead of Summer]]'' grew its beard around the halfway point of Book 1, as they focused less on the [[Ludicrous Gibs]] and more on [[Character Development]]. The [[Art Evolution]] happened around that time too, resulting in more detailed, clearer drawings. The beard was fully grown by the time Book 2 rolled around; things soon became ''very'' character-driven. {{spoiler|And then [[
* ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' started out kind of shaky and awkward, as none of the characters really settled into their grooves. [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/05/28/episode-035-there-can-be-only-one-plus-three/ This is the earliest comic where the writing started picking up, with more original character-based humour.] The art improves ''massively'' over the Garland arc.
* ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'': The strip began as a one-shot for a group of TF <s>fetishists</s> [[I Read It for
* ''[[Two Evil Scientists]]'' started as a fairly decent Sonic and Mega Man crossover comic, with the first few arcs showing the heroes of the Sonic and Mega Man series battling the titular scientist's robots. The story took a unique turn following the Metal Devil arc, and the quality's been going up since then with no sign of stopping.
* [[Black Adventures]] really got its act together in the third chapter when the story became more tied in with the games and the writing got more consistent.
* Some fans would state that [[Slightly Damned]] grew the beard when {{spoiler|Rhea and Buwaro escape from the Ring of the Slightly Damned and meet Kieri}}. This is not only when the storyline really picks up, but when [[Art Evolution|the improvement of the artwork]] starts becoming more noticable.
* The [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=500 500th strip] of ''[[Questionable Content]]'' is universally recognized as a turning point, when the strip began focusing less on one-off gags and introduced some real character development and plot arcs. The art was also steadily improving throughout the series.
* [[Boxer Hockey]] started off with sub-par to decent art, had a cast of generally cliche characters<ref> A dumb character, who shared a nickname with the author, the jerk, [[The Big Guy]], the [[Only Sane Man]], and their coach.</ref>, and sometimes relied on [[Dead Baby Comedy]] and gay jokes. During the strip's four-year life, Tyson Hesse, the author, attended college. Over the years, it resulted in the cast having heavy [[Character Development|development]], well thought-out jokes, and absolutely '''beautiful''' art. Tyson Hesse is now considered a professional artist, and is doing freelance jobs for [[Skullgirls
* ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'', about 80 or so pages in. The characters look less wonky and the story starts to seriously move.
* [[A Loonatics Tale]] began in 2007 as a comic the artist/co-writer drew in her spare time at school, with poor art and writing and awkward layouts that culminated in a style switch (including dropping colour from the pages) halfway through the third storyline. Then the comic went on a several-month hiatus during which the artist entered a few Original Character Tournaments, started attending art college and generally worked on improving her craft. Now the comic is back in full colour, and both writing and art have greatly improved in quality.
* While writing the first few comics of ''[[
* ''Twisted Kaiju Theater'' started as a small time comic strip with endless toliet humor. It ended up becoming one of the longest running web comics ever and dealing with many dark, mature themes while never losing it's comedic value.
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