Question! Please answer honestly !

[butter]

Original for the most part. Not to say that I don't like any fan comics at all, but I like it when it's short and sweet and usually only when it's re-interpreting something that's happened, exploring different possibilities, or trying to illustrate something that could have happened but didn't at all. Most of what I read is no more than a handful of pages (I'm thinking about short doujins on pixiv in particular). I generally don't care for huge stories that are continuations of what's already been made or stories using the same concepts with a new cast of characters. I'd be willing to make exceptions.

[Grotesque]

IMHO, I get more curious on checking out original stories. But I am an avid fan of parodies and cameos of other series/pop cultures, especially on manga/anime.

[Fyrebrand]

I'd much rather read original material, hands down.

There are some exceptions. Would gaming comics like Penny Arcade or VG Cats qualify as fan comics? They're never pinned down to any one game, so maybe they're more satire of a medium, rather than a fan comic.

Anyone ever check out Garfield Minus Garfield? That skirts the line a little closer, but even though it's barely an alteration of the original Garfield comics, the result is so different from the original that it qualifies as novel in my book. Also, actually gets me to laugh at a Garfield comic, which is saying something.

[C_You]

I acknowledge that there are some good fan comics out there, but I have s strong preference for original stories. I'm not likely to give a fan comic a second look if I didn't like the work that it was based on. Most fan comics don't make a whole lot of sense if you are not familiar with the story that they are based on.

[Bluewyrm]

Original stories are awesome, period. It takes a lot of guts to make one and put it out there for people to notice.

Fan comics are also awesome. They just need original ones to exist.

[Jeremy Ray]

On Deviant Art the fan art stuff I've posted has been far more popular than my original art. Far. More. Popular.

People are out there searching for the stuff they know about.

[[Takuya]]

Mostly agreeing with others, originals are usually better, whereas some fan based stuff that doesn't involve known people is very amusing too (that makes it almost original). I ignore pixel comics,bl and nuzlocke.

[maplebee]

I only read original stuff. I absolutely hate fan series. I think it's lazy and unfair to the original creator that people take existing works and write their own based on them (more often than not completely bastardizing the characters, anyway, so they may as well have written original characters). I don't mind if people want to practice writing with fan work that doesn't see the light of day, but too often people make money by piggybacking on someone's original, copyrighted work.

I'm personally only interested in seeing what the original creator does with the work (or someone who has their express permission to work with it).

I just can't help but see fan works as a cop-out -- why not put the time and energy into creating a totally new work that's inspired by the things you love.

[robybang]

I just can't help but see fan works as a cop-out -- why not put the time and energy into creating a totally new work that's inspired by the things you love.

I agree, despite being a maker of fan works like Nuzlocke's, CYOA's, and Sprite Comics. I make them for fun and as exercises in plotting, dialogue, etc. I realize I can't make any money off them and they'll never top the original works, but I'm also kind of hoping that fans of my fanstuff will start looking at my original works. However, I don't know if it's working; Jesus' Blue Nuzlocke has 16 fans, 5 pages and pretty high stats in readership, T-Minus has 3 fans, 20 pages, and a smaller amount of readership.

[[Takuya]]

fans of my fanstuff will start looking at my original works

This is very important, I agree with it

[Jeremy Ray]

Fanfic can be good. I liked "The Last Ringbearer" as well or better than "The Lord of the Rings."

[xiaa]

I love fancomics / doujinshi. I'm a huge ff7 fan, so I enjoy reading fanfic, looking at fanart, making fancomics, reading other people's fancomics. It's just a lot of fun seeing the characters doing different things and just a way to still enjoy the stories from the series even after you've finished with them. To me, it's not because the artists/writers are too lazy to come up with their own stories, it's because they are expressing their love or paying homage to a series they love. I love FF7, I can't get enough of it, I have all of the games, the movies, the merch, the artbooks, interview books, but... it's not enough. I love talking to other fans too so it's a plus XD I also love Tiger & Bunny, Durarara, Baccano, FF8, FF9, DOGS, Reborn, Pokemon etc... a bunch of series. It's just nice to read a different take on something you're familiar with, and show that you love something.

Although a lot of original comic artists seem to get bitter about this because their original stories don't do as well as fancomic stories.

Heads up, most people that do fancomics aren't out to get you original artists or looking for popularity. They are doing it for fun. They aren't going to sell it one day (well, for the most part) and you know those doujinshi Japanese people make? They only sell those books at the cost it took to print them, so most of them LOSE money from making those books. Especially when they can't sell every book they printed. Add the costs of transportation to their doujinshi conventions and for the table at the convention, and they really don't make money.

I don't mind original stories, but most of them are hard to get into until there's a good chunk of pages or unless the beginning is really gripping. My standards for keeping up with an original story is higher than it would be for a fancomic, so I can see where original artists would get frustrated or would think that fancomics are a shortcut.

[finalformsora0619]

I like original more, but a good fan comic is a nice read for me as well.

[Ultima527]

If it was one or the other, I'd say original. My take on fan work? It's more for the author's themselves than whoever reads them. Please understand, I'm not insulting fan work with this statement; as a matter of fact, it applies to me. I am currently the author of a Kirby-based comic, but I hardly ever read any other Kirby comics (I think, like, 3 out of 40 or so of my favs are Kirby based). I think people should try to be as original as possible, but it's fun to express your love of something else once in a while.

Personally, even if I like something, I won't necessarily read fan work based on it. It would have to be something I love so much, just seeing the characters is enough to make me extremely happy. All in all, I believe there's a time and place for fan work (because when you think about it, even a hollywood movie based on something could be considered "fan fiction"), but ultimately, I prefer original works. It means there's a higher chance the author thought harder about it, and therefore, put more effort into making it good.

There are the occasional fanworks I enjoy. SMBZ is one of my favorites, mainly because of the action but also because Alvin manages to make all the characters act so believably. He's great at keeping everyone in-character.

This is an exception to everything I just said. I like SMBZ better than most movies. It's awwwwwesooooome!

[LuluPanda]

Coca cola stayed original for a reason