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The QuackCast

The QuackCast

By: Michael Morris
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 The QuackCast features Ozoneocean, Banes, Tantz Aerine, and Pitface, talking about writing, movies, webcomics, art, politics, philosophy, sexuality, and everything else! We're the hosts of the oldest webcomic host on the net, Drunkduck.com, aka theduckwebcomics. 20 years this year!WOWIO, Inc. Art
Episodes
  • Quackcast 754 - The role of dialogue!

    Quackcast 754 - The role of dialogue!
    Aug 26 2025
    Dialogue is used for more than just simple speech, it moves the story forward, it indicates what characters want, what they feel, what they want others to feel and more. But it's used a bit differently across different media. Comics have their own particular ways of doing things and it's quite interesting! We thank Banes for coming up with this topic! In pure prose the world is all relayed in text so dialogue is king there, characters can talk and talk forever and everything can be relayed through their speech if the author wants. Radio plays are much like prose, but actors help out with their performances, SFX has a role, and time is a factor. Plays are a different thing, settings, scenes and props are limited so a LOT of work has to be taken up by the dialogue, but it's all governed by linear, limited time, so once something is said it's gone, you can't linger on it or go back over it, so it has to do its job in the moment (this isn't a disadvantage though), but the actors can do all the work of showing expressions, tone, emotions, humour, physicality and many other things. Movies, TV, and games are different again, they're also limited by time (though you can go back if you like), the actors can do a lot of the work and massive amounts of work can be done with the visuals. Lastly we have comics where like prose they are not limited by linear time, and like film visuals can do a huge amount of the work. Dialogue in comics can work very well when there's a symbiosis between the visuals and what is written in the speech bubbles. Like film you can offload a lot of work of the dialogue to the visuals. When I do a page I write out what the text should be but I don't finalise it till I have the page art done, though I know what the characters need to say and how the story should go. When the page is done then I whittle down the text to make it work with the visuals, so a character might just say a single word, but because of the art it can be like a full paragraph of meaning. When I work with a pre-written script like in Bottomless waitress or The Key of Dreams I can't change the dialogue so I make sure the way I draw the scene and the characters delivering it enhances what's said and even helps it say much much more. I also letter things in such a way that it tweaks the delivery of the dialogue, so the characters are “acting” it out in a specific way, like giving each sentence its own bubble and placing them in specific ways, closer together or massively spread out, making them different sizes, colours, or shapes etc. How do you approach dialogue in comics? And how do you prefer to see it as a reader? Next week we're tacking “endings”, mainly when fans or IP owners demand an author get around to ending their work and suggest other to take over that role. This week Gunwallace has given us a musical theme inspired by Stiletto - The coolest of the coo. Step into the warm, cozy, underground lounge and sip an espresso martini. The bass thrumbs a tune out of dark wood, the piano does the tango, the guitar floats on a sunny, serene pool, and the percussion sneaks into a corner to be alone and snuggle. Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: Orcs Company - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/aug/19/featured-comic-orcs-company/ Featured music: Stiletto - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Stiletto/ - by VinoMas, rated T. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/ Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS
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    1 hr
  • Quackcast 753 - driven by internal struggles

    Quackcast 753 - driven by internal struggles
    Aug 19 2025

    Banes was the brains behind the Quackcast this week! His idea is that a character's internal struggle and how that conflicts with the realities they face can be a great driver for a story. -cribbed from listening to Vince Gilligan of Breaking Bad fame. Banes is a much better story writer than me so I can't explain it as well, but a good example is Walter White from Breaking Bad who starts off as a mild mannered dad and struggling chemistry teacher who moonlights at a car-wash to make ends meet- his internal struggle is that he actually sees himself as an unrecognised genius and someone who was unfairly wronged in life and so never reached his full potential. With his cancer diagnoses, the debits and worries that introduces into his life and the opportunity to fix everything by breaking the law, that interacts with his internal conflict to turn him into a drug kingpin/mafia boss/evil villain.

    It's a very interesting way to do character development! It can really inform how you change and craft your characters in interesting ways. Unfortunately I had taken a strong painkiller for toothache before the cast so I was not mentally able to understand the topic correctly haha! Part of the Quackcast I talk about how internal struggles are not needed for all characters and that James Bond is a good example of that- he's better when he as no conflict between his internal struggle and an external conflict and he's just supremely confident. Examples of Bond where he does have internal struggles are weaker versions of the character.

    Have you given your characters internal struggles to help them develop and change the story when that internal struggle conflicts with the challenges they face? Or can you look at your stories and see that in your characters?

    This week Gunwallace gives us a lovely musical theme to The Art of Running Away - A thoughtful early morning cup of coffee in a cold, empty room, alone. Contemplations on life, mortality, and the dancing motes of dust in a stray beam of sun, illuminating a disk of warm light on the floor, occupied by a single, happy cat.


    Topics and shownotes

    Links

    Featured comic:
    The Light Thief - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/aug/11/featured-comic-the-light-thief/

    Featured music:
    The Art of Running Away - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Art_of_Running_Away - by Portocor, rated M.

    Special thanks to:
    Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
    Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
    Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
    Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/


    VIDEO exclusive!
    Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks!
    - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck
    Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts!

    Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Quackcast 752 - Censor 3, how it works on DD

    Quackcast 752 - Censor 3, how it works on DD
    Aug 12 2025
    This is the 3rd and final part of our censorship trilogy, you'll be glad to know! We tackled censorship past in the first one, then censorship present in the second, and now it's time for censorship future… as it applies to us, sticking our money where our mouth is. How do we tackle “censorship” on our comic hosting site? Spammers get their accounts deleted right away, people who steal art and claim it as their own are not welcome either, posting illegal adult content is a no-no, making accounts to harass other members, encouraging hate or violence against other groups, or posting real images of violence or death against humans or animals is also not welcome. We have an old TOS (terms of service) that you agree to when you join the site, plus our old site etiquette document that both ask people to behave nicely on the site and warn that things that aren't appropriate can be deleted. Apart from all that we're actually very open, one of the most open and accepting comic hosts online. We don't police your political or religious views and adult content is fine here. Showing genitals, using harsh language, fair use parody and satire etc. is all OK and we welcome them! We like to think of ourselves a objective and culturally agnostic. Apart from that our main concern above everything else is the health of the community and the preservation of our website, because if there's no community or no site to host it then there's no point to anything, is there? My small team and I have struggled for YEARS to keep this site going, I have personally paid thousands of dollars of my own money and our community have also paid thousands to keep us going through our Patreon and our other community drives. We have put love, many thousands of hours of constant work and vigilance week, after week, after week after week for over two decades to keep the site running and to keep it as a place you can always come back to where your hard work is safe. If something or someone jeopardises that we have to take it very seriously because it's so easy for the site to be damaged now that the internet is so limited by companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta. By the same token those who make snap decisions about our entire site based on the momentary and ephemeral actions of some miscreant who has temporarily fallen through the cracks and posted inappropriate content, and ignore the struggle, the work, the money, the compromises, the effort, the vigilance, the pain, and everything that goes into keeping this oldest of the free comic hosting website communities running are almost as bad as those miscreants who create the problems in the first place unfortunately. This week Gunwallace has given us a musical theme inspired by Mister Man Eater - a magically expressive carillon. Warm yellow and pink light sparkles as it flows from one side of the room to the other in a mystical swirl. Topics and shownotes Links DD forum topic on the subject - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/180055/?page=1 DD TOS (Terms of Use) - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/terms/ DD Site Etiquette - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/etiquette/ Featured comic: Le French Ninja A True Story -https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/aug/05/featured-comic-le-french-ninja-a-true-story/ Featured music: Mister Man Eater - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Mister_Man_Eater/ - by Jiie, rated M. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/ Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS
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    1 hr and 1 min
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