History SelfDeprecation / WebComics

* [[Webcomic/AwkwardZombie Katie Teidrich]] notes that SelfDeprecation is [[https://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic/a-brief-interlude the best way to get undying praise]], any ''real'' artist's bane. Jackie Lesnick, in response, obliged by offering advice on how to improve her puppy-kicking technique.

* ''Webcomic/TwistedKaijuTheater'' has frequently made jokes at the expense of the webcomic's creator Shin-Goji, such as calling him "talentless" and quipping about his inability to get laid.

* ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'' features Rose, a ForcedTransformation / [[CloningBlues Clone]] of [[spoiler:Willa]]. At one point, Rose told her that she's "the real adventurer" to encourage her. It didn't work and just made her uncomfortable.

* ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'' features Rose, a ForcefulTransformation / [[CloningBlues Clone]] of [[spoiler:Willa]]. At one point, Rose told her that she's "the real adventurer" to encourage her. It didn't work and just made her uncomfortable.

* ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'' features Rose, a BalefulPolymorph / [[CloningBlues Clone]] of [[spoiler:Willa]]. At one point, Rose told her that she's "the real adventurer" to encourage her. It didn't work and just made her uncomfortable.

** In one comic, Black Mage gives a [[RantInducingSlight Slight-Induced Rant]] about all the {{Anti Climax}}es they've been through and finally says ScrewThisImOuttaHere.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': [[Creator/PhilFoglio Phil and Kaja Foglio's]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090817 Hugo Award acceptance speech.]] Phil's in-story avatar is a storyteller who renders anyone forced to listen to one of his stories comatose with boredom.

* [[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=980203 This]] ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' strip joked that a (fictional) wrongful hiring scandal had drastically hurt the strip's viewership. "Two people used to read ''Sluggy Freelance''. Now only one does. In percentage terms, this is devastating for the comic."
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0541.html this strip]], one of the demon roaches says, "They'll let any old hack write a sourcebook these days" in reference to the strip's acid-breathing shark. The acidborn template, with the specific example of the acidborn shark, appears in the ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' sourcebook ''Dungeonscape'', co-written by [=OotS=] author Rich Burlew.
** Each print compilation of ''The Order of the Stick'' comics opens with a Foreword by one of the characters. Typically they spend the Foreword mocking the concept of the strip, the writing of the strip, the art style, and [[TakeThatAudience the reader's intellect]] for having wasted their money on an amateurish comic they could have read for free.
** In ''Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales'', the Order is telling stories to one another. In Belkar's, the heroes die, which doesn't amuse the rest of the group:
--->'''Elan:''' Belkar, I can't think of a single story where the protagonist dies.\\
'''Roy:''' [[BackFromTheDead Ahem]].\\
'''Elan:''' Well, at least, not any that are worth the paper they are printed on.
** When Haley pulls an ImpossibleTheft and steals the diamond from the cast page, she notes that the cast page is pretty outdated and that they "all look deformed".

* [[Webcomic/AwkwardZombie Katie Teidrich]] notes that SelfDeprecation is [[https://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic/a-brief-interlude the best way to get undying praise]], any ''real'' artist's bane.
** Jackie Lesnick, in response, obliged by offering advice on how to improve her puppy-kicking technique.
* ''[[http://www.eskimobob.com/ Eskimo Bob]]'' did this with "[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/26756 Eskimo Sucks]]".
* ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' occasionally features Choo-Choo Bear "off-stage" to address the reader directly, declaring that his author is a lazy, talentless hack who can't get his act together.
-->'''[[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/life-according-to-s-p-pt-1/ Choo-Choo Bear]]:''' Alas, dear readers, you know when you see me Randy is planning something "special." It'll be over quickly, I promise ... And if you hate it, don't worry. It's not like this will be the project Mr. "I swear I'll update ''Midnight Macabre''" [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder will actually finish]]."
** In another strip, Milholland gives a nod to the FourthWall when [=PeeJee=] asks, "Why does everything around here revolve around sex?" and Davan, who's reading a book, mutters, "Bad writing." When glanced at in curiosity, he says, "I'm reading a Creator/JohnGrisham book, worst writing I've ever seen." Milholland also draws filler strips with himself in them, usually self-deprecating in some way. This version of his AuthorAvatar even has a razor blade with hands and feet as his muse, who constantly says/does whatever he can think of to make Milholland miserable or want to kill himself.
** And then there's [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/stuck-on-friend-duty-pt-4/ this]] strip. Technically, Milholland did subvert a little of what the character predicted. A little.
* ''[[http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com Jayden and Crusader]]'' ''embodied'' this trope for much of its early stages. Later the self-deprecation slackened a little, but it's still there.

* ''Webcomic/PolkOut'' tends to rely on self-deprecating humor.
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': [[Creator/PhilFoglio Phil and Kaja Foglio's]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090817 Hugo Award acceptance speech.]]
** Also Phil's in-story avatar is a storyteller who renders anyone forced to listen to one of his stories comatose with boredom.
* Al Schroeder did it twice in ''Webcomic/{{Mindmistress}}'', making fun of his artwork.
* See [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-11-09 the title of this]] ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' comic.
** And [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-04-26 this one]], which is mostly LeaningOnTheFourthWall about why the current storyline is a bad idea, because "any writer who takes something ''[[SuspensionOfDisbelief no-one was questioning]]'' and tries to ''[[DoingInTheWizard explain it]]'' is a ''hack''."

* When ''[[http://www.tangcomic.com/ Tang Ho]]'' needs someone to function as a ButtMonkey, his first choice is generally his own AuthorAvatar.

* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'': there's [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] the metric buttloads of {{Filler}}, and then there's his footnoted clarification of a point about "most consistent work you've ever seen online."
-->''Terrible work is still consistent work.''
** Strip 1,000 was called "I can’t believe someone was asshole enough to make 1,000 sprite comics." Strip 1,001 was called "I can’t believe someone was asshole enough to make more than 1,000 sprite comics."
** In another comic, Black Mage gives a [[RantInducingSlight Slight-Induced Rant]] about all the {{Anti Climax}}es they've been through and finally says ScrewThisImOuttaHere.
* The author of WordSaladHumorTragicDeaths is also the main character, and he dies almost OnceAnEpisode

** And later, [[HostileShowTakeover Doc Scratch]] calls the {{Author Guest Spot}}s "self-indulgent rubbish."

** And then there's Hussie making fun of Vriska's CreatorsPet status by having his AuthorAvatar propose to her...only to get clocked in the face and turn up sobbing pathetically later on.

** After reading his blog posts, it seems he really does. He praises his collaborators and insults himself often.
* Much of ''Webcomic/TheWayOfTheMetagamer'', particularly during its self-[[{{MST}} MSTing]].
* The ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' voteys often engage in this; a common theme is to depict a naked Zach ironically praising the joke or subject matter of the main comic.
--> "Ha! Any use of "decontextualised" is funny!"
** Another common one is to have Zach's girlfriend/wife/family looking angrily over his shoulder while he's drawing and maybe commenting. [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-12-07 One time]] she ''likes'' the strip a lot -- and Zach calls her weird.
** When he went back and did voteys for the first few years of strips ten or more years later, a large number of them ended up as variations of "I don't get it" and "WhoWritesThisCrap" Once, in reference to the previous point, we have older Zach looking over young Zach's shoulder angrily.
** There are also several voteys talking about how comics suck.

* When ''Webcomic/PvP'' wins an Eisner award, ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' takes some time off from making fun of Scott Kurtz to [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/04/15/ make fun of themselves.]]
** ''Webcomic/PennyArcade:'' "Cartoonists are [[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/06/17 society's waste products]]."

* ''Webcomic/BecauseImDepressed'' frequently jokes about how webcomics require no artistic or writing skill to make, [[CreatorCareerSelfDeprecation and how their creators are untalented losers.]]
* ''Webcomic/DorkTower'' creator Creator/JohnKovalic sometimes couples this with BreakingTheFourthWall to poke fun at himself.
-->'''Ken:''' "Let's admit it, Kovalic's about as organized as a wet mound of marmots."
* In the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Jack|DavidHopkins}}'', Artie Sullivan dislikes an author for being too gory when he's not being too preachy. The author is (who else?) David Hopkins.
* LDS cartoonist Howard Tayler pokes fun of his own religion, with a joke about Mormons being teetotal in [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-11-10 this]] strip from ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''. Early strips also contain jabs at the initial poor quality of the artwork.
** And occasionally the plot, as in [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-04-25 this strip]].
-->'''Kevyn:''' Look at it this way, guys. If you have an [[MonkeysOnATypewriter infinite number of monkeys banging on an infinite number of hypernet terminals, for an infinite amount of time]], eventually you'll crank out all the great works of Howard Tayler.
-->'''Narrator:''' Note: This can actually be done with three monkeys in fifteen minutes.
* Doc Nickel, of ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'' fame, takes a swing at himself in [[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autotwbaf10.html this]] AprilFoolsDay strip, on the subject of OnlySixFaces[[note]]see the top and bottom right corners[[/note]].
* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' creator Jeph Jacques introduced the character of Yelling Bird into the comic, whose sole purpose is to [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1140 berate him]] when he is unable to get the comic up on time for various reasons. Yelling Bird doesn't [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1456 stop there]], though.

* ''{{Webcomic/Sarilho}}'': Whatever Nikita's got going on [[https://sarilho.net/en/arquivo/comic/ch4p42 in this page]].
* A slightly more subtle version in ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}''. Protagonist Super Heroine Heather admits to hating manga-style comics. Odd considering the general art style of the comic.
* During chapter 58 of ''Webcomic/WelcomeToTheConvenienceStore'' one character is showing off short (yet true) stories that have happened. At the end, the manager says that the artist/writer was just being incredibly lazy.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', one character reads ''Sinfest''. Criminy's anthropomorphic feminism book [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4143 reacts badly.]] Also a regular staple for whenever the AuthorAvatar character shows up.

* David Morgan-Mar, author of ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'', periodically mocks his own drawing skills and penchant for awful, awful puns. He even once convinced Jane Goodall to pretend to slap him for how he portrayed her LEGO alter-ego. (Well, actually, he asked her to pretend to punch him - she convinced him a monkey-slap would be more in-character for her!)
* ''WebComic/DragonBallMultiverse'': Raditz makes a comment about Dabura "being affected by such a simple technique." The technique in question: the Makankousappo.
* ''WebComic/BasicInstructions'': [[http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2010/12/7/how-to-utilize-research-to-maximize-chances-for-success.html How to Utilize Research to Maximize Chances for Success]]
--> '''Ric:''' ''I searched for a field of endeavor that anyone, regardless of their lack of skill, talent or taste has a chance of success. I chose webcomics.''
--> '''[[AuthorAvatar Scott]]:''' ''Of course.''
* Mark Shallow of ''[[Webcomic/{{Adventurers}} Adventurers!]]'' took a potshot at his older artwork towards the end. In a flashback during a conversation between Khrima and Cody, he briefly reverted to the old art style. Then had Khrima insult it.
--> '''Khrima:''' Hey! My head was ''not'' that square, and I believe you had ''fingers''.
* Webcomic/OzyAndMillie creator Creator/DanaSimpson also does some songwriting. One strip had the lyrics to one of her songs appear, and Felicia mocked the heavy use of overly emotional metaphors.
* Chapter 4 of ''Webcomic/ApricotCookies'' starts with a ''barrage'' of this as Apricot and Starlet are discussing the comic book that the latter created:
** The comic reads left-to-right, the opposite direction of what would be expected, which Apricot describes as "dumb and confusing".
** After Starlet decides that it's too late to change the reading direction, Apricot suggests making it into "a funny meta-joke in a later chapter"—which is what Louistrations ''just did''—and Starlet dismisses the idea in order to not be seen as a "smartass".
** Then Starlet rails on anyone who would make their comic in full color, shown above.
* Several comics of ''Webcomic/ThePetriDish'' have the characters calling the cartoonist lazy.
* ''Webcomic/ASimpleThinkingAboutBloodType'' portrays Type O as being the most [[ButtMonkey prone to misfortune]], and often receives brunt of Type AB's BrutalHonesty and snide remarks. The author/cartoonist is a Type O himself and has admitted that the character is based on himself.
* ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'' features Rose, a BalefulPolymorph / [[CloningBlues Clone]] of [[spoiler:Willa]]. At one point, Rose told her that she's "the real adventurer" to encourage her. It didn't work and just made her uncomfortable.
* ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'': In one comic Alan Foreman's characters give him a "How to Draw Comics" book as a joke, he responds by turning them into stick figures.

* In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0541.html this strip]] of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', one of the demon roaches says, "They'll let any old hack write a sourcebook these days" in reference to the strip's acid-breathing shark. The acidborn template, with the specific example of the acidborn shark, appears in the ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' sourcebook ''Dungeonscape'', co-written by [=OotS=] author Rich Burlew.
** Which begs the question of whether Rich first dreamed up the acid-breathing shark ''for his webcomic'', and included it in the sourcebook merely to lay the groundwork for his TakeThatMe...

* [[Webcomic/AwkwardZombie Katie Teidrich]] notes that SelfDeprecation is [[https://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic/a-brief-interlude the best way to get undying praise,]] any ''real'' artist's bane.

* Al Schroeder did it twice in ''Webcomic/{{Mindmistress}}'', making fun from his artwork.

-->I will be attending ECCC in Seattle this weekend. If you would like to come see your favorite cartoonist ever, this could be your chance. And if you go there and find your favorite cartoonist is unavailable, you can always come see me instead. I will console you. This kind of humor is known by professionals as "self deprecation" and as you can see I'm quite good at it.

* A slightly more subtle version in ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}''. Protagonist Super Heroine Heather admits to hating manga style comics. Odd considering the general art style of the comic.
* During chapter 58 of ''Webcomic/WelcomeToTheConvenienceStore'' one character is showing off short (yet true) stories that have happened. At the end the manager says that the artist/writer was just being incredibly lazy.

-->'''[[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/life-according-to-s-p-pt-1/]]:''' Alas, dear readers, you know when you see me Randy is planning something "special." It'll be over quickly, I promise ... And if you hate it, don't worry. It's not like this will be the project Mr. "I swear I'll update ''Midnight Macabre''" [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder will actually finish]]."

-->'''[[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03012009.shtml Choo-Choo Bear]]:''' Alas, dear readers, you know when you see me Randy is planning something "special." It'll be over quickly, I promise ... And if you hate it, don't worry. It's not like this will be the project Mr. "I swear I'll update ''Midnight Macabre''" [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder will actually finish]]."

** And then there's [[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp02112004.shtml this]] strip. Technically, Milholland did subvert a little of what the character predicted. A little.

* [[Webcomic/AwkwardZombie Katie Teidrich]] notes that SelfDeprecation is [[http://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic1-090108.php the best way to get undying praise,]] any ''real'' artist's bane.
** Josh Lesnick, in response, obliged by offering advice on how to improve her puppy-kicking technique.

* ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'' features Rose, a BalefulPolymorph / [[CloningBlues Clone]] of Willa. At one point, Rose told Willa that she's "the real adventurer" to encourage her. It didn't work and just made her uncomfortable.