Are you referring back to the Sickest comics and artists like Zerns? I could see some being into that, but I really was turned off by the mutilation, not to mention the murder. Slasher still does off characters---in Missing Sorority Sisters he directly dispatches one (off frame) and it is implied that all the others will also meet a grisly fate. So yes, he has gotten softer than the Sickest days, but he is still more openly depraved than his contemporaries.
However, maybe I am not getting the true nature of your drift. What policies and such are you referring to?
I imagine he's referring to the no-list that's been mentioned before:
* ‘_ape(d)’, ‘_apist’, ‘forced (sex)’, ‘(_hloro)form(ed)’, ‘_idnap –er –ped –ping’, ‘_ncest’,
* No bestiality at all.
* No underage (18)
* No extreme violence, extreme pain, extreme flogging (severe beating) leading to bloodshed or bleeding. This includes serious bodily injury, self inflicted body mutilation or that inflicted on others, live piercing, cannibalism, blood consumption, gore, vampire fetish, etc.; be it real, simulated or implied.
Some of it is also just a tendency that I see in specialized porn to go more mainstream as time goes on. I mean look at kink.com these days. Fact is, most people are pretty vanilla, so things tend to go in that direction simply because that's where the biggest piece of the pie is. People vote with their wallets, and more people are paying for the vanilla male-female scenario than the more specialized stuff, so that's where the market goes.
I'm somewhat of the same persuasion: I think things have gotten too tame. But there's not a lot I can do to change things on my end, not being all that interested in the drawy-drawy parts and people not exactly breaking down the door to read text-only stories. I submitted a script to Bego a while ago, but no one's picked it up yet, so it's still in limbo. It would be quite a bit different than what we've seen lately.
Personally I've never been of much interest as far as the Sickest comics went. I liked the idea, but the execution never really got me in the right way. I think it's one of those things where you-think-you-want-it-but-when-you-really-get-it-it's-not-what-you-wanted-after-all kind of things.
For my part, I'm trying to include more "extreme" stuff, but there's only so much I can do about that.
Dear friends!
Yes, I know Videogeddon came out a little tame, but I think it's a good read:). To tell you the truth I couldn't fit the whole story within 40 pages, so my plan is to make a sequel where our two filmmakers evolves and becomes more brutal.
[quote="Slasher"]Dear friends!
Yes, I know Videogeddon came out a little tame, but I think it's a good read:). To tell you the truth I couldn't fit the whole story within 40 pages, so my plan is to make a sequel where our two filmmakers evolves and becomes more brutal.[/quote]
Go for it, brother! Make them suffer! BTW, love your work...
P.S. Never was a big fan of Sickest, but "let a hundred flowers bloom"...
Sooo...the "no-no" list that Naj posted, is that a hard and fast legal "no-no" or is it a policy on DoFantasy's part to try to avoid litigation and being shut down? I am confused. I feel as if I've seen some of those things on the "no-no" list recently, but then again, they all seem to blur together and I only really closely follow a handful of the artists on this site. Can someone clarify this further for me?
Once again, I'm not Bego or anyone on their legal team, so I can only speak from observation and personal experience. Of the comics I've worked on, the rules are followed pretty closely as far as the illustrations. The "forbidden" words for text is a lot more patchwork, but I think that's due to a lack of manpower toward making sure the rules are followed strictly. In all the time I've worked doing both textwork and editing, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen blood, and it was so subtle I only noticed it on the second pass. A lot can be implied, but I don't remember seeing it actually shown in explicit detail.
I would imagine it's to protect the Dofantasy corporation from legal issues, but that's pure speculation on my part. If Roberts is anything to go by, a search into any one of his extensive opinions on government and banking "regulations" should be more than enough to educate oneself as to why this is the way it is. I'm not going to repeat it here.
I'm not going to say who does and does not follow the rules regarding textwork because I kicked that hornet's nest once, and that was enough for me.
Go to the "Off Topic" forum and then go to the topic "So where does the line get drawn?" That contains the discussion by Gary Roberts that Naj is referring to. It's a really informative and entertaining read in regard to censorship and "THE MAN" (Roberts goes on quite the rant, but he ought to know being that he is one of the pioneers).
It is possible to get away with it by being very artful. For instance, a lot of the "live piercing" actually is a panel showing the piercing tool > girl's face clenched and her screaming > freshly pierced, bloodless nipple/whatever! Your mind fills in the blanks, but we don't "officially" show it.