Early Comic - "sponsored content"
After starting to draw this, I looked up something about sponsored content and happened to find a South Park episode with a character who turns out to be an ad. Im a South Park fan, but don't watch it religiously, so this one flew under my radar.
Anyway, after finding out about the episode (and subsequently watching it), I debated about just scrapping this comic. But ultimately decided that while the premise is similar, I go in a different direction with it, so it's fine.
In the episode, the main joke is a blade runner parody with an ad that somehow evolved into a little girl. In later episodes, the character is mainly used to comment about the commodification of PC culture (I think. I just watched some clips and read some summaries). In my comic, I keep the sponsored content character more ambiguous, and the main joke hinges on Brittney's reaction to finding out that her relationship is a lie (it's light commentary on parasocial relationships, and creators who try to bury their ads)
All this being said, I fully expect at least one person to accuse me of plagiarism in the comments when I post this, and do not intend on explaining any of this to them.
Comments (5)
For a quick gag at a glance I'm sure it's been done before in some capacity. Unrealistic to think two people won't have similar humorous thoughts. You'd have to be aware of all jokes everywhere ever made to avoid it . For me my connection to Brit as a reoccurring character who still is unlucky in love is what makes this comic all the more better. You can't steal that. Did I just say I connect with a comic character? You bet I did! I'm cheering Brit on. She'll find Mr. Right someday.
TWIST! Despite the south park thing, some people on instagram are saying I stole this from community, a show I watched sporadically when it was on 45 years ago..... Didn't see that coming. But honestly, I'm pretty sure if I set a comic in Texas, people would say it's a king of the hill reference or a Dallas ripoff. It's exhausting
At least it isn’t that swill Dr. Peep.
Dude..... It's totally fine. Even Southpark has a "The Simpsons did it" episode if I remember correctly. Two people can up with the same idea separately. It's not a big deal.
For sure, parallel thinking is definitely a thing. But it can still be a bad look. And I just want to put my thought process out there when something like that happens. Plus, I always like to make sure that I wasn't accidentally inspired by something that I half remember. Which definitely isn't the case for this one. But one time I drew a comic with squirrels forcing people to work in nut mines, and then found a Dilbert with the same joke. Was it parallel thinking? Or was it a joke that I filed away in my head, and then forgot that I didn't come up with it? I really don't know. I haven't read Dilbert in literally 15 years (I don't know why I read so much Dilbert as a child, but I did), but the joke is so similar. So just to be safe with that one, I don't repost it anymore.