R.I.P. Sinfest

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How not to add value to a character

Ishida wasted no time trying to make Kate relevant to the story. The first thing he did was create a new setting, a Witch Academy, where Kate, Nana and Lilith used to be friends.

He probably did this so that Kate could interact with Lilith, a very relevant character to the story.

Backstories can be very effective to add value to your characters. When used correctly, they can offer a lot of valuable insight to the character’s current predicament, explain motivations, etc. Problem is that instead of drawing/writing more meaningful interactions between Kate and Lilith, Ishida makes them as trivial and unremarkable as possible, just a bunch of forgettable jokes.

I guess the type of conversation they’re having implies that there’s a level of trust between them, but honestly, of all possible scenarios, this is the best he could come with?

Unexpectedly (and unceremoniously), nearly three years after her introduction, Ishida revealed that Kate is more than a witch, she's actually a Greek Goddess: Hekate.

Sadly, this revelation doesn’t make Kate any more relevant or important to the plot, and while it may explain why the character is so powerful, there are more urgent matters Ishida should focus on.

You can’t just make your character a Goddess and expect that to automatically benefit your story, you need to do something with it! 

Ishida fails to understand this, and makes the same mistake again: 

You know what would be interesting? To see Kate interact with her son. Instead, Ishida simply draws a portrait of Kate and a young Vainglorious and calls it a day.

That strip was posted back in August 25, 2019. It would take at least 9 months for this to be addressed again:

It’s frustrating to see ideas that have potential to be good storylines being executed so poorly (if at all). 

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How not to resolve a conflict

Steal: to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force.

At one point in the story we learn that Kate is having financial issues.

Now, a competent writer would actually show Kate struggling financially. Maybe have The Witch Inn in a state of decay, or Kate unable to buy stuff (like a broom, a cauldron, anything) because she can’t afford it.

Unsurprisingly, Ishida uses a lazier simpler approach:

What does Kate do in order to save her business? She starts stealing from any unfortunate soul who happens to be in her forest. 

You know, things you’d expect from a villain/bad guy, not a character the author wants you to root for.

It’s impossible to justify something like this, and yet, Kate never suffers any kind of repercussions for her actions, she gets to keep all of her victims’ money while the three Fembots mock their victims and celebrate. To make matters worse, the ending implies that there will be more victims. What kind of messed up conclusion is this?

After further analysis, there may be more to this story than Ishida is willing to admit.

AdmiralTigelle sums it up pretty well:

As I put this in, I realized something I hadn't before which is an even harsher slap to the face of anyone who ever donated to Tatsuya's patreon. Keep in mind he started his Patreon in January of 2018. Tatsuya, portraying his former supporters as Johnbie's, wrote these strips:

https://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2018-08-14 (His fans telling him what to change)

https://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2018-08-15 (Tatsuya denouncing his old fans via mouthpiece)

https://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2018-08-16 (Tatsuya taking the money from his former supporters)

https://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2018-08-17 (Another mock)

https://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2018-08-18 (A final diss to his former Patreon supporters and a command to leave)

What a douche

Source

Coincidence or not, this is a terrible story and a good way to make your character unlikeable. Up until that point I simply thought that Kate was merely unremarkable/forgettable. This story is what made me dislike her.

In a shocking twist, Kate would eventually find success. 

Despite struggling to land customers for nearly three years, The Witch Inn suddenly became popular among witches. No explanations offered.

I’m sure this was done intentionally by Ishida as some sort of damage control after that childish outburst. I believe he realized (a little too late) that stealing is wrong, or maybe he was advised by his fans that stealing from innocent bystanders didn’t paint his characters in a good light.

The reasoning behind this decision was most likely to absolve Kate from her crimes. He returned back to the root of the problem (money), and gave Kate the customers she needed (which is what he should’ve aimed for in the first place), that way there wouldn’t be any need to steal.

Sadly for Ishida, that’s not how things work. You can’t just present a conflict and resolve it offscreen without offering any kind of explanation, that’s not how storytelling works. At the same time, this doesn’t absolves Kate for her crimes. Yeah, I can assume that she no longer steals from Johnbies because there’s no need to, but that’s not enough to redeem the character.

Overall, Ishida had the opportunity to paint Kate in a more sympathetic light (2 years late) by creating a conflict a lot of people are forced to go through. Sadly, due to his pride and ego, rather than make a satisfactory story where he could make Kate more relatable/likeable, he chose to resolve the conflict poorly just for the sake of mocking his own fanbase. 

To quote AdmiralTigelle, what a douche...

User hayate666 made two threads in the Sinfest Subreddit:

History of the changes in Sinfest part 1: the appearance of Trike Girl

History of the changes in Sinfest part 2: the Rogue Fembot and the birth of a meme

Both of them excellent threads. 

Also, AdmiralTigelle made a thread dedicated to the fall of the original Sinfest Forum, it’s also a great read:

Ever since her introduction, Aunt Kate has been a baffling addition to the cast and I do not understand why she’s in the comic.

I have a theory that she’s merely a replacement for Nana, Xanthe’s grandmother. Ishida had toyed with the idea of adding witches since 2015, but I guess he thought that an old lady who owns a bakery seemed too bland when compared to a younger, more attractive witch who lived in the middle of the woods.

It makes sense when you think about it, both characters are witches, they have their own respective businesses (Nana a bakery and Kate an Inn), and both characters have hosted characters who were running away (Nana hosted Fuchsia when she escaped from the mansion while Kate hosted Liberty and her Fembot after an accident).

Replacement or not, spooky Aunt Kate is easily one of the worst additions to the comic and a very good example of how NOT to write a character.

In this article we’ll explore three very important subjects:

How not to introduce a character

Ishida gets two things right during Kate’s introduction: the setting and her design. He does a good job creating a creepy atmosphere that would scare anyone, and I think he did a good job with Kate’s design, she looks pretty cool.

Generally speaking, when introducing a new character you need to give your audience a reason to like it, root for it and look forward to future appearances. At the same time, when writing a story, the last thing you want to do bore your audience, make them feel that you’re wasting their time. Ishida fails two achieve any of this, as he does a bad job making Kate interesting or even likeable, and the pacing is a complete mess, this introduction didn’t need to last two weeks.

Like I mentioned, Ishida does a good job in the first half of the strip setting up the spooky theme, however the second half is wasted on Kate walking down the stairs. He probably wanted to build tension and give the three Fembots a reason to fear her presence, but the setting alone was more than enough to get that reaction.

While Kate does have valid reasons to distrust the three Fembots, a single strip was more than enough for her to inspect them. Instead, Ishida makes this whole sequence as excruciatingly slow as possible. Things go from bad to worse when we get this:

I’m not kidding, it’s been only three pages,and Ishida decided to move the story somewhere else. The fact that Kate wants DevilTech destroyed does not justify these pages as they have absolutely nothing to do with the character. It would take an entire week to get back to Kate. Was it worth it, though? Not really, all she does is prepare some tea while her Fembots look for a charging station. Easily one of the most unremarkable introductions I’ve seen in my life.

I mean, does anyone remember when the character interactions were actually funny and/or interesting?

Back when their actions revealed more about their personalities...

Instead, now we get this:

I mean, what the hell am I supposed to get from this? That she likes tea?

When you think about it, even Xanthe’s introduction was better handled...

... in a single strip we’re told everything we need to know about her character: a little girl who is passionate for feminism.

As per tradition, year 2018 ended with a story featuring a personification of the current year. Unsurprisingly, despite being highly inebriated, XVIII managed to easily defeat her enemy, a giant pimp robot.

Despite the damages it suffered, the robot was still functional and, due to the amount of resources they invested on it, a very valuable asset for DevilTech. They immediately dispatched some Drones to recover the remains of the giant robot. 

The Rogue Fembots also took notice of this and, knowing full well that they could use it for their own purposes, arrived for their prize.

Those strips were posted back in January 2019. It’s been a year already and there hasn’t been a single mention or even a reference of this incident. No News Channel reporting this, no reactions from the witnesses, nothing at all.

Even Seymour, who was at the scene, seems to be unaware of this. Next time we see him he’s making crispy treats for Lil’E and Tangerine.

I’m willing to bet that most readers don’t even remember this happened. I’d hardly blame them, at this point the story is so convoluted it’s easy to forget/dismiss events like this.

One of the biggest issues with the current Sinfest is the amount of storylines it has to deal with at the same time. Back in the day Ishida focused all his attention in a single storyline and concluded it satisfactorily. 

A good example is Slick’s first date:

No pointless distractions, no additional storylines, no frustrating cliffhanger, from December 24, 2001 until January 13, 2002 it was all about Slick and his date.

Another good example is Criminy’s date with Amber:

There are some strips featuring Monique and Slick discussing the possible outcome of the date, their expectations, etc. It’s actually funny to see these two argue and it doesn’t feel like a waste of time because their discussion is related to Criminy’s date.

To quote Mr. Plinkett in his Star Wars: The Phantom Menace review:

“Ironically the simplest endings of the first two movies (A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back) with the least locations and events are vastly more interesting because the plot is built up to them and we can focus on the one thing.”

It’s not impossible to have multiple storylines in a comic, with good organization a competent writer can make it work, but the way Ishida is handling it is beyond awful. 

Like I mentioned at the beginning, we have the rogue Fembots with their new acquisition, Woke TV (which even to this date I don’t understand what’s the point of it), Lil’E and Tangerine at the mansion, Vainglorious preparing his personal army, Lilith’s ghost appearing at Lil’E’s house, Lil’E’s puppy getting captured and sent to the city pound, Amber offering Fuchsia an opportunity to host her own show, a zombie prostitute, the new pimp trying to capture Liberty, XIX fighting a zombie pimp... it’s just a mess.

It’s been 7 months since I read Sinfest. The last story I read featured Theo and Miko, and it was pretty bad, even by Ishida’s (already low) standards.

Theo just so happened to admire a Barbie doll when he’s taken to a Gender Camp. At the camp, his captors decide that he isn’t masculine enough and needs to be reassigned to a Girl Camp. After a series of unremarkable events, Miko saves him and another kid and they escape.

The last straw for me was the revelation that Theo and Miko were merely playing a video game.

At this point I wasn’t even upset, just tired, considering Ishida pulled a similar plot twist in the previous story.

It didn’t help that Ishida admitted that he’s purposefully making the comic confusing. 

With Ishida constantly proving that he can make Sinfest worse and worse, I simply gave up and moved on with my life. In an effort to distance myself from the comic, I deleted my original account.

One day, against all my expectations, I noticed that Ishida’s Patreon earnings started to drop. He still earns a very respectable amount, but your earnings don’t drop nearly 1/3 for nothing.

After contemplating it for some months, I decided that, no matter how bad this comic has gotten, it’s something I grew up with, and it’ll always be a part of my life, whether to make me laugh, or serve as a warning of how far ego can take you.

As expected, nothing has changed. Ishida’s hatred towards his own audience is as strong as ever. 

I was under the impression that he would be smart enough to avoid offending his Patreon supporters, but after reading some of his most recent strips, it’s clear that they mean nothing to him. Rather than do some damage control, he mocks them.

The story is still a broken mess and I don’t see any signs of change.

At this point I honestly doubt Ishida enjoys making Sinfest, it’s just a soulless comic made by a man who’s passion died a long time ago. It’s extremely common to find strips where nothing happens, stories that lead nowhere, characters who can’t justify their existence, etc.

1. Introduction

2. Slick

3. Sleaze

4. Seymour / Xanthe

5. Miko

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Unlike Miko, the character isn’t used to mock an audience. Surprisingly there’s even a critic character in the comic, and despite being a little snobby from time to time, most of his appearances in the comic are just for comedy purposes and not to attack his critics/detractors. Shocking, I know.

Unlike Aunt Kate, Vainglorious has an actual purpose in the story, as he is a challenger to the throne and not just a random addition Ishida immediately forgot about. Yes, I’m aware that we’re still at square one when it comes to story progression, but even the short stories featuring Vainglorious are better executed in comparison to the stories featuring Kate.

Despite dragging a little too long, I actually enjoyed it when Tangerine and Lil’E went to one of Vainglorious’ art expositions and chaos ensued.

Although it was predictable that the critic would confuse their brawl with art, it was funny none the less.

There’s also Vainglorious’ attendant, “Slenderman”, which I think is a decent addition. Just like with Vainglorious, most of the strips that feature him succeed at comedy…

… or at the very least attempt to be funny.

These past 8 years we’ve met many new faces. While it’s natural, and in a way even necessary to add more characters on an ongoing series, the actual implementation through the years has left a lot to be desired.

One of the main issues with all these new characters Ishida brought after changing the tone of the comic is that they add little to nothing to the story, or have unlikeable personalities.

The greatest irony is that despite terrible additions like Xanthe, Miko, Kate, etc., Ishida is still capable of competently writing good, likeable characters.

Vainglorious may not be able to repair all the damage Ishida has brought to his lifework, but he’s probably the only good thing that remains in the comic, as the character is likeable and most of the strips that feature him are pretty decent. They remind me of what Sinfest used to stand for: a comedy webcomic.

Brought into the comic under the promise that Sinfest would have a deeper story, Vainglorious was first teased in mid-2014.

In his first actual appearance, he walks into the Reality Zone with little to no effort, a feat no other demon character has been capable of.

While he does require a force field in order to survive there, it’s still an impressive feat that shows how powerful he is.

Vainglorious is a critically acclaimed artist known for his extravagant/macabre art and a challenger to the throne.

So what makes Vainglorious succeed as a character when most of the new additions have failed in the past? We’ll need to compare him to the biggest offenders on the list:

Unlike Xanthe, the character isn’t used to boost any sort of agenda. At the same time, most of his interactions with the rest of the cast are actually pleasant. He treats his fans and attendant with respect.

Despite his amazing abilities and his talent, the character is not without his flaws. He reacts poorly to any negative criticism he receives, and suffers from a massive ego.

Ishida is fully aware of all these negative traits, and uses them for comedic purposes.

There’s also the time he noticed that Fuchsia wanted to enter the Reality Zone, and gave her some useful advice. Wanting to succeed on her own terms, Fuchsia rejected his advice. Vainglorius then entered the Reality Zone, leaving a frustrated Fuchsia behind.

Judging by the way he entered the Reality Zone, he’s pretty much mocking Fuchsia for rejecting his advice. That being said, it never felt like something malicious, and more like a childish way to brag that he can cross with no problem.

Regardless, he eventually found Fuchsia’s lost sketchbook and returned it to her, and due to their passion for art both characters continued to interact through the years on friendly terms.

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Miko is Monique’s number one fan, she owns all her merchandise, has recorded all her old performances, created a fan forum where fans can talk about her, goes to all her shows and even bothered to build a tomato detector (yes, really) to show her support. Suffice to say, she’s obsessed with Monique, her only purpose in the comic is to blindly praise and support her, no matter what.

After that disastrous performance, Miko would meet her idol for the first time.

Trying to impress her, and not knowing that Monique was brainwashed by The Sisterhood, Miko would try to imitate one of her old performances. Monique is horrified at this, realizing the effect that she’s had on this little girl.

She explains (poorly) why she chose to change her act, and compliments Miko, telling her that she’s cool.

Miko would then create a website solely dedicated to Monique, where people could watch all her old performances and talk about her in the forum.

Predictably, Ishida would portray all his critics and detractors as trolls, demanding to see Monique shake her ass again, resulting in Miko banning them immediately. 

At one point, Miko gets some Sisterhood glasses (Patriarchy blockers), which can prevent people from being brainwashed by The Patriarchy.

The Patriarchy Blockers can also decipher hidden messages, like in the movie They Live. For example, one day Slick, tired of all this madness, grabs a sign and starts walking through the street, demanding that Monique is “fun and cool” again. The sign Slick carries says “Bring Back Old ‘Nique”, but once Miko turns on her glasses, the sign actually says “Me My Needs Mine Me Me”.

The glasses would have a similar effect on any post that offered criticism.

It’s especially hilarious when Miko gives a clever response before banning anyone who dislikes Monique. Basically Ishida is “proving” that he’s right and “defeating” his detractors.

Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to write a character whose only purpose is to mock a specific audience. I’m well aware that it’s impossible to please everyone, and there’s no doubt in my mind that there are people who disliked the old Sinfest, but there’s a difference between that and purposefully dividing your audience.

Like in most straw man comics, the author completely misses the point/chooses to ignore valid criticism. He glorifies his own views while antagonizing anyone who holds a different opinion. People dislike these type of comics for very valid reasons.

When Ishida realized that the fans didn’t like Xanthe and the new themes, he could have simply played it safe for a few weeks/months, give the fans what they’re used to and try to address the main issues, find a middle ground where everyone could enjoy Sinfest. It wasn’t too late to stop this and move on. Instead, he embraced everything the fans disliked, and allowed this madness to continue for years to come.