Line #42 EarlyInstallmentWeirdness/WebComics


1	* ''Webcomic/{{Achewood}}'''s early installments are virtually unrecognisable. Strips tended to rely on non-sequitur humour. Mr Bear wasn't the elderly sophisticate he would be established as later on. Philippe was described as "retarded" rather than simply being 5 years old. Characters like Pat and Lie Bot were far more prominent, the former being more of a beatnik. Ray and Roast Beef were minor characters, the former established as being quite poor. The fact that Philippe, Teador, Lyle and Mr Bear were stuffed animals was a major recurring element. Basically, pretty much everything apart from the characters' names was retconned out.
2	* ''Webcomic/AkumasComics'': The early comic had a number of stereotypes with sprite comics; an AuthorGuestSpot, BreakingTheFourthWall, Sonic being considered stupid and [[PaletteSwap Pallette Swaps]]. Over time it became more story and character-focused.
3	* Despite ''Webcomic/BecauseImDepressed'' overall being pretty grounded in reality and having a strong continuity, a couple of early strips feature Diego successfully killing himself and Eve apparently [[ItMakesSenseInContext murdering someone so she could sell his blood.]]
4	* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'': in the early stages, the Mega Man jokes were only there to fill in until a hand-drawn strip could be introduced, but after a couple of false starts, the hand-drawn part was dropped entirely and it was retooled into a full-time Mega Man sprite comic. There was also character-related oddness such as Bass having a decent IQ (later he became TheDitz even by comparison to Mega Man).
5	* ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' had a much cruder art style, and largely revolved around jokes about Kirby eating random things rather than the deeper plot lines and characterization in later issues. The comic also initially included quite a few {{Take That}}s (such as one directed at Creator/ElectronicArts), in contrast to the later strips mostly avoiding potentially controversial topics for the sake of concentrating on the comic's signature cute, universally humorous gags.
6	* ''Webcomic/BreakpointCity'' begins with poor continuity, flimsy logic, dumb jokes, and not much plot. It has since developed story arcs, better continuity, better humor, and actual semi-plausible (considering the TimeTravel, aliens, and what not) logic.
7	* In the prologue of ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'', Almond complains "we haven't had a decent fight [[BreakingTheFourthWall this whole chapter]]!" Later points do have characters LeaningOnTheFourthWall (eg by causing {{Odd Shaped Panel}}s, or the Dream Oracle batting away some end-chapter narration) but it's never been outright punctured since then.
8	* ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'' initially opened with it being quite clear that the characters were derived from the early MMO ''VideoGame/{{Furcadia}}'', but then moved to being a more fleshed out world of its own, even if still retaining some of its old "MMO made real" elements – Alexis' Banhammer became a magical greathammer, the Twinks become a "normal" organized crime gang, etc. And there are also other elements that linger a while before being more or less phased out – for example, [[BewareTheNiceOnes Lorenda]] was introduced having saved Jyrras from muggers by eating them, got evicted because she'd ''eaten'' her neighbors and then proceeds to eat several door-to-door salesmen. While she was admittedly self-proclaimed as preferring not to eat people, and this was a common source of friction with her mother, it hasn't been mentioned for hundreds of comics. In fact, neither has her much more predatory mother's tendency to eat people.
9	* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' starts out much like ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' by mocking roleplaying conventions and bad dungeon-mastery. The first campaign revolves mostly around Jim and Ben's increasingly bizarre antics as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. This is mostly due to the comic's roots in ''Webcomic/DMOfTheRings''. Almost as soon as the first campaign ends however, everything starts slowly shifting into a more mature exploration of the emerging storylines, along with a constantly-increasing emphasis on the lives of the players themselves and their relationships with one another.
10	* ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' was originally set in the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms setting, and was a lot more explicit about sexuality, deliberately introducing [[{{Squick}} Squicky]] details about the drow sex lives to [[DeliberateValuesDissonance intentionally weird out the readers]] and showing Ariel as a more outright VillainProtagonist. Later on the first several chapters were redone to make the tone and setting more internally consistent with later story arcs.
11	* In ''Webcomic/{{Educomix}}'', the characters all speak strangely, but only slightly, and some more recent strips only have dialogue that would make sense in real life. However, the first few strips contained some of the strangest dialogue, e.g.:
12	-->'''Dave:''' I would like to apply for a job descriptions of the fire engine, ma'am.
13	** Also, the first four strips used a different font to the one which became standard in strips 5-200.
14	* Early in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', awareness of stats and its RPGMechanicsVerse traits was a lot more widespread than in later stages. While it still roughly retained the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' elements in later stages, such as the passage of time being [[RuleOfFunny intermittently]] tied to inn visits, as time went on only Red Mage really focused on stats and skill points, and the rest of the cast tended to treat him like a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} crazy person]] when he talked about them.
15	* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''
16	** The earliest comics had copious FourthWallBreaking, little or no backgrounds, poor story arc planning (some of which still poses a problem), and Tedd not having a permanently visible mouth.
17	** Quite a few characters ended up being subjected to [[CharacterizationMarchesOn Characterization Marching On]] compared to their previous personalities. Elliot was just as much of a pervert as Tedd (he's now incapable of even thinking dirty thoughts while ''trying'' to), Tedd was more a straight pervert instead of a ChivalrousPervert, and Sarah was much more of a feminist (before the feminist part was shifted over to her friend Susan). The early portrayals usually go completely unmentioned later on, but have been explained on rare occasions; one such example is Grace, who was aware of the sexual implications of wearing nothing but a trench coat in her debut, but afterwards became the InnocentFanserviceGirl without a nudity taboo - this was eventually questioned in-universe, and Grace promptly explained that she had been specifically told by one of her brothers that people who wear trenchcoats and nothing else are perverts, with no context and little elaboration.
18	** When the "Elliot gets turned into a girl" arc was first published, Sarah and Susan both seemed cheerfully willing to make out with her if she was interested. Though there was a justification (pheromones), the author eventually realized the UnfortunateImplications of the whole thing, so a few lines and panels were quietly changed.
19	** On a related note, the way the early comics dealt with the frequent GenderBender aspects was significantly different and less informed from how it eventually came to deal with UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} themes.
20	* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': When the Unstoppable Airman Higgs makes his [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070406 first appearance]] he isn't ''that'' unstoppable. He keeps going, sure, but he's more a {{Determinator}} who refuses to give up despite two broken arms and an infected leg, rather than his later portrayal as an ImplacableMan who can somehow just shrug such things off [[spoiler: because he's secretly a Jägar. Since his first appearance is recounted second-hand, of course, it could have been downplayed as part of his cover]].
21	* Early ''{{Webcomic/Goblins}}'' strips often involved back and forth interaction between the adventurers and their oversensitive DM. As the series went on, that was increasingly dropped in favor of more internally consistent worldbuilding and character interaction.
22	* ''Webcomic/GuildedAge'': Early chapters had the characters engaging in a load of pop-culture references as casual dialog, Frigg more so than anyone else, when they weren't all living in a WorldOfSnark. This faded over time as the setting developed into its current and somewhat more serious state.
23	* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'':
24	** In Chapter 2, Annie and Kat find the Cretan minotaur (who goes by Basil) in the school library and enlist him to recount [[FracturedFairyTale his own version of the myth of Theseus]] for their first group assignment. The author has admitted that the second chapter doesn't fit with the rest of the comic, because he was still figuring things out, but left it in place because readers enjoyed it.
25	** Then there's later the technologically average Annie building a robot out of spare parts in Chapter 1 (later retconned as requiring no skill due to modularity of the Court robots) and notoriously antisocial and reclusive Zimmy willingly and eagerly participating in a school science fair in Chapter 5.
26	* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':
27	** The first month consisted of [[KidHero John]] hanging around in his room and house and getting nothing done, and that was followed by a few months of mucking around with [[TheGamePlaysYou Sburb]]'s ability to let them them to build and manipulate objects in each other's houses. ''Then'' things get more intense, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt to say the least]]. This can be [[JustifiedTrope chalked up to the fact that]] at that point, ''Homestuck'' was still driven by [[InteractiveComic reader commands]] and they'd just come off the tail of the incredibly silly ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'', so this is what people knew to do; the suggestion boxes were closed partway through and that's when the series is generally considered to have [[GrowingTheBeard grown its very strange beard]]. A common symptom of this is people [[SlowPacedBeginning finding it difficult to get into]] ''Homestuck'' because of how long the first few months of hanging around is (though said first few months includes ''loads'' of {{Foreshadowing}}, {{Chekhovs Gun}}s, and subtle set-ups if you know where to look).
28	** When the trolls are first introduced, Karkat makes comments such as "quit playing a girl's game", or making fun of Sollux by implying he's never had any relationships with a girl. Lines like this were written before Andrew Hussie decided upon a lot of the WorldBuilding for the trolls (namely that [[EveryoneIsBi gender is arbitrary]] to most of them).
29	** The first time a troll (namely Karkat) is [[TheReveal shown onscreen,]] he is standing in [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003255 a room with light gray walls, with a twelve-paned window in an octagonal frame]]. When they get their proper introduction, Karkat's house (and troll houses/hives in general) take on their better-known appearance, [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003894 with frameless windows and dark gray walls.]]
30	** Lord English's name was not [[PaintingTheMedium written]] with a small [=.GIF=] of a cycling billiard ball replacing the "o" until Act 5. In the Intermission prior (which was between Acts 3 and 4), it was "just" written in all-green, like the rest of the Felt.
31	** John had an ExpressiveShirt at the beginning of the comic that copied his reaction to being named "Zoosmell Pooplord." Outside of one instance in Act 3, his shirt's expression never changes again. Shirt icons are only animated if they are explicitely said to be part of technology (such as Jade's icon changing from her Wardrobifier), with the exception of Dave's icon turning from a whole record to a slashed record after his duel with Bro.
32	* Early in ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'', all the "adventure" themes were [=RPG=]s with DMM as the GM, which is why they're mostly named after ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' genre books. While this remained a staple of Fantasy for much of the strip's run, and was still in the background of Space even if it was rarely referred to, it quickly stopped being referenced in Cliffhangers and was never really invoked in Espionage or Pirates.
33	* ''Webcomic/{{Keiki}}'' felt more like a SliceOfLife comic in its early years, while the plotlines gradually became more outrageous.
34	* In the few years of ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', it occasionally indicated the existence of fantasy creatures, including gnomes, the Tooth Fairy, and literal trolls. Since they did not appear (completely) onscreen, we could not tell whether they were as humanoid as conventionally depicted. The author later decided that his furry comic was weird enough without them.
35	* ''WebComic/TheLastDaysOfFoxhound'':
36	** The very first strips are the only ones featuring a character from outside the Metal Gear Solid universe (save for very occasional gag strips), specifically ''ComicBook/XMen'''s Cyclops. The author says that it's probably because it was 2003 and the second X-Men film had just been released.
37	** In the earlier comics, Ocelot is portrayed as, while still devious and skilled, much more of an idiot and as actively trying to kill Mantis. Later strips would portray him as being [[TheChessmaster so many moves ahead of everyone forever]] that his earlier version - who would periodically get so tripped up by his own paranoia that he became stupid, and needs things spelled out for him in graphic detail - is either weird in retrospect or proof that Ocelot is ''so'' manipulative that he was actively fucking ''with the reader''..
38	* In ''Webcomic/LittleNuns'', Several things were quite different during early strips:
39	** The convent appears to be more poverty ridden and rustic compared to current strips where it looks more spacious and lavish.
40	** Religious symbols such as rosaries and crosses used to appear frequently.
41	** Various random nuns (that could be earlier designs of the characters) appeared once or twice, only to be never heard from or even acknowledged again.
42	** Certain characters did not have their typical trait pronounced yet.
43	** Hungry nun was not always the glutton she is now.
44	** Bunny nun did not have her signature expressive bunny ornament, instead carrying a stuffed bunny.
45	** Froggy's obsession with frogs and her troublemaking tendencies started much later.
46	** Father came off as a strict man in his initial appearance, rather than the NoRespectGuy he's now.
47	** And last, but not least, there were no ducks or chicken (although Diva later posted revised versions of the early pictures with added chicken to pixiv).
48	* ''Webcomic/TheLittleTrashmaid'': The comics up to "Mighty Twine" uploaded to Website/DeviantArt as well as the animated teaser avert the BlandNameProduct trope seen in later comics, so Tidy's main top is clearly a 7-Eleven bag, and her father is wearing a Burger King crown.
49	* ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' got its start as a straight-up ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' parody. It was much more cartoonish in both drawing style and narrative, with Richard burning Kale to ash in his first appearance, then having a conversation with him as a pile of ashes in a pouch while seeking out the priestess Ben'Joon ("Benny") to resurrect him. In the years that followed, the comic has developed its own unique world. It remains comedic but has lost its more cartoonish elements.
50	* In ''Webcomic/{{Loserz}}'', this meant that Ben didn't always act like he was struck with HollywoodTourettes when around girls. [[http://the-qlc.com/loserz/go/13 See here.]]
51	* One of the first strips in ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' has Emily flipping the bird. Later strips show that she is not the sort of person to do that. Though it's been mentioned several times that prior to the titular misfile she [[CharacterDevelopment used to to have a mean streak]]. Also, she was in a pretty crappy mood at the time; it was the day she woke up and found that the two years she'd spent working to get into Harvard had just been erased.
52	* [[{{Webcomic/Morphe}} morphE]] is a unique example. It is entirely coded and developed in Flash and it is painfully obvious that the creator's ambition out-reaches their abilities in the first 60 or so pages, particularly with the jerky "fighting" animations. [[http://morphe.thewebcomic.com/comics/1694220/page-22-a-flurry-of-futile-fists/ Compare this offering]] to [[http://morphe.thewebcomic.com/comics/1790280/chapter-2-page-19-sweet-dreams/ this recent animation]].
53	* The initial focus of ''WebComic/NeglectedMarioCharacters'' actually wasn't comics, but instead humorous biographies and fact sheets for various obscure Mario characters. Then Jay Resop created a comic based on the end of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', and from there the site gradually changed...
54	* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
55	** The first 13 comics have no plot and take place in a blank featureless dungeon. Then they introduce the ExcusePlot of having to kill an evil lich. Around the 120th strip they finally get out of the dungeon, but there still isn't much emphasis on plot. Around page 300 however, things start to [[CerebusSyndrome heat up...]]
56	** The first comic focuses on the characters being upgraded with the various tweaks that ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3.5 brought to the table, an early joke has Haley claim that her dad was a Thief in 1st Edition, and the first Linear Guild arc has the characters run into a bunch of monsters that didn't make the jump to 3rd Edition (with them being explicitly leftovers from those days), suggesting that the world of the comic went through the same updates that ''D&D'' did. Later stories ignore this, and it seems that 3.5 has been the ruleset of the setting's RPGMechanicsVerse for about as long as it's existed. The comic conspicuously did not update to 4th Edition when that rolled around.
57	* An early ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'' strip had Millie trying to petition her parents. Not too long later she had a single mother.
58	** Also, Millie once asked Ozy to holler if anyone came to the girls' restroom while she was doffing her overalls (to dry them with the hand dryer). For most of the comic's run thereafter -- perhaps due to her {{Flanderization}} into more of a CloudCuckoolander -- she [[NakedPeopleAreFunny didn't need much of a reason to get naked in public]].
59	* ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'' was originally pitched to NewspaperComic syndicates, and early installments reflect this. There's much less sense of the passage of time; character development ranges from slow to absent; the pets Charles and Finister are featured much more often; details about the setting are purposefully obscured to the point that the series could have taken place in Canada, and the LesYay, aside from one bit of LoveLetterLunacy, is basically absent, even Sara in one strip being ''noticeably attracted to a boy''; the {{Retcon}} of this makes it a plot point.
60	* ''Webcomic/ThePetriDish'' started out pretty much the same as it is now, only the art style was much sketchier.
61	* Early ''WebComic/PvP'' is almost unrecognizable. The art style is different, the comedy style is different, and half the cast is different.
62	** Also, it used to alternate between two series. The A-strips evolved into the current comic; the B-strips were set in a D&D-style universe and disappeared after a while.
63	* One of the first plot arcs in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' involves an aborted romance between Marten and Faye's coworker Sara. Sara [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome vanished completely]] after strip #66; as Faye and Dora became the female leads.
64	** Hannelore's introduction in [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=515 this strip]] contrasts pretty sharply with her later characterization. [[{{Retcon}} Retconned]] by her explaining she was on strong anti-anxiety meds at the time.
65	** [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=16 This very early strip]] is a weird non-plot-advancing rant, a form that is never seen in the comic again.
66	* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' introduces several pieces of hardware as new or exceptional, then pretends that they were normal all along. The captain needs to be told what a fabricator ("Fabber") is, but later we see that they're widespread, important and something Tagon should probably know about. Even more odd is the fact the mercenary company doesn't start out wearing armor, either low or high profile, until they encounter a unit wearing some.
67	** The latter is potentially acceptable as Tagon's company was very new when it was taken over, and so may not have been able to ''afford'' armour.
68	** And then there was the copious [[BreakingTheFourthWall Fourth-Wall Breaking]], with the narrator frequently getting pulled into the action. The last time the Fourth Wall got broke was in 2006, with the author making a personal appearance during a near-death dream-sequence – one is forced to assume that they finally had that wall reinforced with fullerene armor, or possibly some nice hullplates...
69	** Also, the 'Grunts' used to be so stupid they could barely talk without resorting to HulkSpeak. Nick couldn't count past 7 because he lost 3 fingers on one hand during an accident. While they're still [[DumbMuscle not exactly brilliant]] – with Nick in particular being prone to not understanding figures of speech or long, complicated words – they've at least reached the point where they're BELIEVEABLY stupid.
70	* ''{{Webcomic/Sire}}'' starts before the main character receives her distinctive facial scar. The cover of the first chapter stands out as it's used in all the banners and promotional material and does not feature the scar.
71	* ''Webcomic/{{Sunstone}}'' used to be a collection of pin-up images consisting of Ally dominating Lisa and Anne. Many of these featured descriptions of Ally enslaving them and subjecting them to unsafe punishments, as might be expected of a pure fantasy scenario. Since deciding to write ''Sunstone'' as a serious story aiming at debunking popular misconceptions of BDSM the author removed most of the problematic strips...
72	** ...for them to later reappear [[DaydreamSurprise as fantasy sequences of main characters. ]]
73	* ''Webcomic/TerrorIsland'': In the first strip, Sid imagines people from five years ago speaking in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe. This is portrayed as a sign of his [[CloudCuckooLander bizarre thought process]], and Stephen is clearly confused by it. Later strips would establish that this is the normal way to think about any past events in-universe, to the point that thinking any other way would be considered a sign of demonic intervention.
74	* ''Webcomic/ThinkBeforeYouThink'' is about Brian, a nice guy who's a powerful telepath but tries to keep his powers secret. In the first few comics, however, he shows off his powers blatantly and acts like kind of a jerk.
75	* ''WebComic/TwoKinds'' used to have a SuperMode for keidrans, where they switched from to have a more animalistic appearance. It hasn't shown up in years. It also used to have devices called "towers", which looked like high-tech knockoffs of Barad-Ur, until they showed up in the Basitin Isles arc, where they look like ordinary wall turrets.
76	* ''Webcomic/UserFriendly'' had a long list of cast members we've never seen or heard from again in its first year or two, including a few female staffers, with Miranda being a standout as the only female ''tech'', not the only female in the company at all. Pitr doesn't speak with a Slavic accent, Sid is not there at all, and the Chief's hair has to be seen to be believed.
77	* Even outside of CerebusSyndrome and the GenreShift, early ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'' still had narration, which was absent from later strips as well as characterization that differed from what would come later.
78	* At the start of ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'', the main cast was treated as something unusual in a human world. The author soon dropped the "something unusual" angle as not really being where he wanted to take the webcomic, and since then has gravitated over time towards making more of the characters anthropomorphic animals.
79	* ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'' initially wasn't even a webcomic, it was a site for Munroe to upload random sketches.
80	* ''Webcomic/ZebraGirl'' started with very random magical hijinks and lots of postmodernist jokes that made absolutely no sense and were only funny because of how unexpected, and out of place they were, even during its first serious story arc.
81	* The older version of ''WebComic/TonyComics'' were like this. Among the things that showed up were things like sentient/talking inanimate objects and humans existing in a world otherwise inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. These things were phased out in the newer version.

Context EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / WebComics