Line #39 Main/AuthorGuestSpot


1	Authors of webcomics are fond of, whenever they want to address the reader more directly, [[AuthorAvatar inserting themselves]] right into the strip. Often they use an exaggerated, partially fictionalised version of themselves, especially if they "appear" frequently. Of course, this is not merely a webcomic trope, but [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness more 'professional' or serious works]] tend to shy away from it. (Except for ComicBook/AnimalMan.)
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3	A sillier and less FourthWall-threatening version of this trope is the AuthorAvatar. If the author or other staff are playing characters instead of being themselves (or an Avatar thereof), it's a case of DescendedCreator.
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6	!!Examples:
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8	* When Pete Abrams of ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' addresses his audience personally, he draws himself as a faceless, supernaturally glowing, godlike being (possibly as a parody of the depictions of God in certain Jack Chick tracts).
9	** In [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=070130 a guest artist's story line]] in late January 2007, the glowing faceless Pete was given the "[[Film/TheWizardOfOz Wizard of Oz]]" treatment.
10	* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': Especially during the earlier days of the strip when the Fourth Wall was much more permeable, artist and author Howard Tayler occasionally appeared in the comic, [[spoiler:including one time as the equivalent of Saint Peter when Kevyn Andreyasn died, in ''The Sharp End of the Stick''.]]
11	* Illiad of ''Webcomic/UserFriendly'' usually turns up in his thirty-second "nag strips", politely begging for donations, with a paper bag over his head.
12	* Amber Williams of ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'' often appears outside the context of the comic to lampshade events happening within the strip, [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_922.php such as here.]]
13	** She'll also pop up at random to answer questions from readers in strip format.
14	* Randy Milholand often addresses the audience directly in ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'', though he never interacts with his other characters, appearing with his {{jerkass}} muse Rippy the Razor in [[http://www.rhymes-with-witch.com/lwr112005.shtml "Life With Rippy"]] strips.
15	* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Dan Shive has a special "meddling squirrel" avatar character (who is known to change his own gender (and that of other people!) at whim) for when he addresses the readers directly.
16	* The 'real life' Anne Onymous and Robin Ericson of ''Webcomic/TheWotch'' had to create separate avatar characters whose appearances were distinct from the [[LifeEmbellished characters of the same names]] in the series when they had a reason to address the audience.
17	** And Anne's gets lampshaded that it's just the character with a beret.
18	* The two male leads of ''Webcomic/{{Megatokyo}}'', Piro and Largo, were named after the nicknames the creators were using at the time. Whenever Fred Gallagher speaks to the readers in a [[FillerStrips DPD or OSE]], he does so using the image of the "Piro" character as his avatar, sometimes with rectangular glasses for distinctiveness. At the end of most chapters, his wife, Sarah ("Seraphim") does this with ''her'' avatar character as well.
19	* Erin Lindsey often does strips like this in her comic ''Webcomic/VenusEnvy''.
20	* The author of ''Webcomic/StickmanAndCube'' occasionally appears in disembodied voice form, usually to reveal whatever new tack he's trying to milk more money and pageviews out of the readers. The two title characters are usually quite unimpressed.
21	* Shivian of ''[[http://www.ohmygods.co.uk Oh My Gods!]]'' speaks occasionally with his characters, but only as speech bubbles. The characters also often reference his (lack of) social life.
22	* Erik Schoeneck, author of ''Webcomic/{{Loserz}}''. [[http://the-qlc.com/loserz/go/159 For example, here.]]
23	* So does the author of ''WebComic/SabrinaOnline''.
24	* Ian [=McDonald=], of ''Webcomic/BrunoTheBandit'', occasionally appears in the strip as a very, very muscular DeusExMachina.
25	* ''WebComic/GirlGenius'' artist and co-writer Creator/PhilFoglio makes [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060927 a few]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070226 guest appearances,]] including [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104 the very first page.]] As does [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070827 Kaja Foglio,]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080204 his wife]] and co-writer.
26	* Jennie Breeden of ''Webcomic/TheDevilsPanties'' occasionally appears alongside her [[http://www.thedevilspanties.com/d/20040410.html comic persona.]]
27	* One of the themes in ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' is called "Me", starring creator [[{{Tropers/Dmmaus}} David Morgan-Mar]], although he stated that the character is not him and does not necessarily represent his opinions. Gets particularly bizarre when [[spoiler:he dies and interacts with the characters from his webcomics, as a live action person among Lego figure [[TheGrimReaper Deaths]]]].
28	** It's even weirder as [[spoiler:his murderer is himself from the future.]]
29	*** It gets weirder. [[spoiler:When he chooses not to murder himself when he time-travels to the past, he causes a TimeParadox that ended up destroying multiple realities from nearly all the themes except the "espionage" theme.]]
30	* Brain Clevanger has inserted himself into ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' with a sprite that looks a bit like Megaman except in a pants and T-Shirt, but never in the canonical setting.
31	* It took a while for Mat Sherer to appear in ''Webcomic/BadlyDrawnKitties'', but he finally did, proving [[http://badlydrawnkitties.com/OldComics/20030507_gif_view.htm he's not a transexual or something.]]
32	* David Willis has been seen a couple times in ''[[Webcomic/{{Walkyverse}} Shortpacked!]]'', once getting in a fight with Ethan over an Administrivia/EditWar on the [[Website/TFWikiDotNet Transformers Wiki]].
33	* Mark Shallow a.k.a. Webrunner occasionally inserted himself into ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}'' but [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20050721.html never interacted with the characters.]]
34	* Tim Buckley of ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel''.
35	** He's also had Mohammad Haque, creator of ''Webcomic/AppleGeeks'' and friend of his, appear in his comic.
36	* Not a webcomic, but Creator/GrantMorrison did this to top off twenty-six {{mindscrew}}riffic issues of ''Comicbook/AnimalMan''.
37	* In the ComicBook/AllAmericanComics story "Creator/SheldonMayer meets the Red Tornado", Sheldon Mayer, the writer, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin meets the Red Tornado]], as well as various other creations of his, and is so disheartened by their criticism that he actually tries to commit suicide! (The Red Tornado saves him.)
38	* ComicBook/MonicasGang writers and artists pretty much have ''carte blanche'' to do this whenever they feel like it. Sometimes they're outside the 'comic' they're drawing, having to answer the characters' criticisms of where the plot is going. Sometimes, they appear within the comic itself. Sometimes they just appear as {{Lemony Narrator}}s or {{Speech Bubble}}s that are going outside the panels.
39	* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' took this to a logical extreme, with several plots hanging on the manipulations of the Author (a purple Mega Man recolour).
40	* In the newspaper comic strip ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'', cartoonist Stephan Pastis shows up as himself from time to time.
41	** On one occasion, he collaborated with Darby Conley, cartoonist of ''Webcomic/GetFuzzy'', for a brief arc in which Conley saved himself considerable work by pasting clippings of his own characters over the main characters of each day's ''Pearls Before Swine'', and [[SelfDeprecation painted Conley as an apathetic jerk]] who was more interested in the extra free time he got from ripping off Pastis' hard work. You guessed it, Conley (and Pastis!) appeared in ''Get Fuzzy'', as Steven tried to get Darby to go back to doing his own work.
42	* Mae Dean of ''Webcomic/RealLifeComics'' regularly interacts with her characters as a Voice Of God style speech-bubble-from-above. The characters are shown completely self-aware of their status as comic characters during these exchanges, and frequently abuse and berate her for the ridiculous scenarios she puts them through.
43	** This is made more interesting by the fact that the main character is herself a fictionalized version of Dean. Combined with the fact that the "voice of Author" is sometimes herself somewhat fictionalized, this creates a dizzying spectrum of fiction and metafiction.
44	** She will also ''appear'' in the strip, manifesting as comic-Mae, but wearing brown instead of blue.
45	* in Triquetra Cats whenever the author(s) need to address the audience they show up in a stylized (and sometimes [[AnthropomorphicPersonification anthropomorphized]] version of their appearance speaking in fonts made from their own handwriting.
46	* Chip Dunham's newspaper strip ''Overboard'' has frequent appearances by the cartoonist (kept anonymous but presumably based on Dunham himself), who occupies an office marked "Overboard, Inc." aboard the pirate ship that serves as the comic's setting.
47	* ''Webcomic/MyCage'': Ed Porker and Melissa [=DeHaresus=] appear in the [[http://www.seattlepi.com/fun/mycage.asp?date=20091101 "Meet]] [[http://www.seattlepi.com/fun/mycage.asp?date=20091108 Your]] [[http://www.seattlepi.com/fun/mycage.asp?date=20091115 Maker"]] story.
48	* ''The Perpetual Aquarium'' has the author occasionally appear as a ball of light to talk to the audience or the characters directly. There are also occasional parenthetical comments which reference something outside the comic, usually a specific fan or event, of which the characters would not have any reason to be aware.
49	* Creator/JhonenVasquez has inserted himself into ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'' and ''ComicBook/{{Squee}}'', each time with liberal {{Take That}}s against some of his fanbase, especially those who compare him to Johnny C.
50	* ''Webcomic/OpeyTheWarhead'' has Zac Crockett insert a self-depreciating version of himself at the end of every Opey the Warhead chapter.
51	* Lora Innes of ''Webcomic/TheDreamer'' sometimes inserts herself and friends/family into the background.
52	* In Creator/ScottMcCloud's ''ComicBook/UnderstandingComics'', Scott [=McCloud=] is the narrator and delivers most of the dialogue. Essentially justified, since that's the point.
53	* Creator/AndrewHussie has appeared several times in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' to deliver explicitly-fourth-wall-breaking {{Recap Episode}}s and other occasional [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment side gags]], and near Act 5.2's conclusion embarked on a sidequest to wrest back control over telling the story from [[UnreliableNarrator Doc]] [[WickedCultured Scratch]].
54	* DanielClowes did this with a visit to "Planet Eightball." His characters live there, treating Clowes as a Hollywood agent, trying to get him to draw them into more comics.
55	* CarefreeShadow appears occasionally in his comic ''Webcomic/LaserFeet'' as a bearded man who has the ability to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin turn his feet]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext into lasers]].
56	* The artist of ''Webcomic/EarsForElves'' draws herself, in the style of the comic, when making announcements, doing Q&A pages, and sometimes in filler strips. She also drew Archmage (the site maintainer) in the [[http://www.earsforelves.com/archives/321 Halloween cosplay filler]], by which he wasn't impressed.
57	* When ''Webcomic/{{Catena}}'' was still active, [[CreatorCouple Tracy and/or DeBray Bailey]] occasionally appeared in strips, usually when announcing a hiatus or convention appearance. Tracy occasionally wore a Darth Vader mask in her appearances.
58	* In ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'', Creator/MaryCagle used a purple amorphous version of herself (think The Purple One but with Mary's glasses) to promote her appearances at comic conventions, guest comics, or her Kickstarters. Not to be confused with Ms. ''Cable'', Cagle's CreatorCameo, who's Tessa's new teacher.
59	* Paul Gadzikowski made a point of ''not'' doing this in ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'', the closest being characters reading notes from "the Management", despite Guenevere [[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0971.htm pointing out]] that author inserts were a tradition of both webcomics and Arthurian romance. He finally broke this rule for [[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/3512.htm the announcement]] that he was wrapping it up.
60	* Shaenon Garrity sometimes used the Sunday strips of ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' to address the reader directly. This continued in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'', with her sharing the stage with co-writer Jeff C. Wells.
61	* Sophie Labelle of ''Webcomic/AssignedMale'' sometimes just draws herself into certain strips, such as [[https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/serious-trans-vibes/hate-crime/viewer?title_no=206579&episode_no=1063 this one.]]
62	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
63	** Two of the fish who adopt pets from Plankton in "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS11E2SpotReturnsTheCheckUp Spot Returns]]" are [[https://twitter.com/JohnTrabbic/status/892769375974903809 modeled after]] Brian Morante and Fred Osmond, storyboard artists from the show.
64	** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS11E22GoonsOnTheMoon Goons on the Moon]]", Squidward has a brief run-in with his voice actor, Creator/RodgerBumpass.
65	** In "King Plankton", Karen watches a live-action soap opera. The woman acting in it is Creator/JillTalley, Karen's voice actor.
66	** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS12E13SpongeBobsBigBirthdayBlowout SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout]]", two of the fish on the bus are [[https://twitter.com/BrianMorante/status/1149765205041152000 based on]] Morante's wife and daughter.
67	** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS13E20FriendiversaryMandatoryMusic Friendiversary]]", we see a magazine with a [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/spongebob/images/3/38/Friendiversary_075.png shot of Squidward attending a Kelpy G concert]]. Two audience members, a moray eel and an anglerfish, are actually [[https://twitter.com/SterlingScarlxt/status/1694850280972554252 versions]] of background designer Sterling Richter and her friend Sara 'Serval' Fisher (an animator on ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'' and ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'').

Context Main / AuthorGuestSpot