Line #35 Main/GuestStrip


1	[[quoteright:207:[[Webcomic/TheCallOfWhatever https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guest_artist_9.jpg]]]]
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3	A Guest Strip is a episode of a webcomic that was not drawn or written by the current authors of said webcomic. Due to the communal nature of the Web and webcomics culture, this is much easier to organise than in other media. It is, perhaps, ascended FanArt.
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5	Usually, guest strips are [[CanonDiscontinuity Non-Canon]] and posted as FillerStrips. Entire "Guest Strip Weeks" are often invoked by webcomic authors when they need back surgery, a week in Tahiti, an opportunity to deal with familial issues, or a chance to attend a [[FanConvention Con]]. Other comics, usually dailies, post a guest strip on Sundays in lieu of an elaborate SundayStrip.
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7	Nearly ''all'' webcomics have done this at some point.
8	----
9	!!Examples:
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11	* ''Webcomic/BubbleFox'': Over the course of the series' run, there have been quite a few strips that were done by people other than Jon himself, including [[https://bubblefox.thecomicseries.com/comics/998 one by Scott Warren]] of ''Webcomic/CrunchyBunches'' fame, and several by Jennifer Cuthbert, [[https://bubblefox.thecomicseries.com/comics/1000 such as this one]].
12	* ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' uses this to not only lessen the work load on the main artist of the comic, but to use the different art styles to fully show off the current narrative. These strips are just as professional grade as the main comic and just as canon as art done by the main artist, advancing the story along in their absence.
13	* One special event in the history of guest strips occurred on September 17th, 2007. During the previous month, webcomic author Ryan Estrada drew an entire 48 guest strips for 48 different webcomics - by itself an impressive feat. What's more, he contacted all 48 authors of the 48 webcomics and got them to post each of his guest strips ''on the same day''. So it was that, on a bright sunny morning in September, many webcomic fans woke up to find Ryan Estrada's artwork on dozens upon dozens of their favourite webcomic sites.
14	** He did it again on September 18th, 2008 - but with ''70'' guest strips this time. One of those guest strips was for a [[ShowWithinAShow Comic Within A Comic]]. One of those guest strips was for a ''[[CurrentEventsBlog news blog]]''.
15	* ''Webcomic/FreddyFox'': One of the strips, namely the [[https://www.furaffinity.net/view/14893670/ 2014 Halloween Special Strip]] featured artwork that was drawn by [[https://www.deviantart.com/stu-jojo Stu-Jojo]].
16	* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'':
17	** Inverted in xkcd's [[http://xkcd.com/141/ Parody Week,]] where Randall Monroe drew five [[TheParody parodies]] of some of his favourite webcomics and posted them as part of his own webcomic.
18	** XKCD did a guest strip week in November 2010, when Randall was struggling with a family illness.
19	* ''Webcomic/AndShineHeavenNow'' has never missed a day in part because every break on the author's part is filled with guest strips. This has the interesting effect of limiting the length of any hiatus to the number of filler strips the readership can be coerced to produce.
20	%%* ''Webcomic/{{Avalon\|1999}}'' was once advertised in the Keenspot newsbox as featuring "the most comics drawn by other people."
21	* In the twelve or so year history of ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'', the need for a guest strip has only come up twice.
22	** Once was after a PAX convention where the artist came down with swine flu (and then only because he was physically incapable of lifting a pencil to draw). The illness was incorporated into some of the strips.
23	** Half a year later another was posted, with the explanation "There was a point after PAX East had come to a close and the second leg of our book tour was underway that we began to understand we had fucked up."
24	%%* ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'' has a guest week once a year or so.
25	%%* For some reason ''Webcomic/BillTheBarbarian'' has a '''truckload''' of these.
26	%%* ''Webcomic/FiveColorControl'' uses them occasionally.
27	* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' had [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?arcid=61 a week of them]] after the Painted Black arc and [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-10-02 another]] after the Birthday Party arc. Dan has done [[http://litbrick.troutcave.net/comic.php?date=2011-01-08 three]] [[http://litbrick.troutcave.net/comic.php?date=2011-10-24 of]] [[http://litbrick.troutcave.net/comic.php?date=2011-10-28 them]] himself for ''Webcomic/LitBrick''.
28	* Inverted on ''Webcomic/TheWordWeary'': After weeks of asking for guest comics and presumably getting no replies, John Kossler, the author, made three guest strips for himself and posted them under different names. At the end of the week, he [[http://wordwearycomic.blogspot.com/2011/10/9-october-2011.html admitted as such.]]
29	%%* ''Webcomic/{{Femmegasm}}'' has had several due to the creator's health problems.
30	* ''Webcomic/EvenInTheDeepestHeartOfChaosAGlimmerOfOrderCanBeFound'' has a lot of these, since any random person can create one, as the comics are an auto-generated selection of photos found on Flickr with captions written by the enterprising author.
31	* There have been two guest strips in ''Webcomic/EarsForElves'' so far, with the characters but nothing related to the plot. [[http://www.earsforelves.com/archives/578 The first]] was an "exchange" with the artist of ''DoodlingAround'', so Naarie also drew a guest strip for that webcomic; [[http://www.earsforelves.com/archives/630 the second]] was a comedy strip by the artist of ''SuckerPunchToMyEmotions''.
32	%%* [[http://www.anticscomic.com Antics]] by Stephen Gillian has had a few: [[http://www.anticscomic.com/?p=265 here]], [[http://www.anticscomic.com/?p=267 here]], [[http://www.anticscomic.com/?p=974 here]], [[http://www.anticscomic.com/?p=1025 here]], and [[http://www.anticscomic.com/?p=1082 here]].
33	* ''Webcomic/TheDailyDerp'' has on two occasions featured fan comics from Platform/DeviantArt. There was also [[http://dailyderp.tumblr.com/post/34218118360/tetrapony-late-daily-derp-provided-by-a-great a comic drawn by the author's friend]] and [[http://dailyderp.tumblr.com/post/37314419567/luna-thou-going-to-share-thy-muffin another drawn by Tsitra360 when the author was sick.]]
34	* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' did a strange example where ''the characters'' made [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1168 a series of guest strips]] mutually forming the third installment of "City Face," the surreal adventures of a talking pigeon. Bringing things up to total MindScrew level, [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1176 one of the guest strips]] was done by the author of the comic.
35	-->"Today's update was written by me, Tom."
36	* ''Webcomic/{{Precocious}}'':
37	** During the "Party crashers" arc, while Chrispy had a broken finger. The guest artists included Matt Dawson (''Webcomic/SometimeAlone''), Brooke Eggleston (''Webcomic/AlsoBagels''), Irene Pitcairn (''Webcomic/SunElves''), [[http://www.soulgamer.deviantart.com/ Robert McConnell]], Carl Sjostrand (''Webcomic/GingersBread''), [[http://ndunlimited.com/ Terrence and Isabel Marks]], John Peters (''Webcomic/GypsygirlPress''), and [[http://www.nox07.deviantart.com/ Roman Utkin]] (who does a [[http://furries.ru/precocious/ Russian translation]] of ''Precocious'').
38	** A new set of guest strips began in March 2013, with a couple of twists on the theme.
39	* As an April Fools joke for 2013, ''Webcomic/BreakpointCity'' and ''Webcomic/CrunchyBunches'' switched artists, with Scott drawing ''[[http://www.breakpointcity.com/archives/2013/04/01/syrup-up-and-away/ Syrup, Up, and Away,]]'' and Brian drawing ''[[http://www.crunchybunches.com/comic/a-normal-april-comic/ A Normal April Comic]]''.
40	* Sam Logan occasionally holds [= O-GAWDs =] (Obligatory Guest Artist Webcomic Duration), week-long sessions of ''Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy'' strips drawn by a variety of other artists, such as ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' 's Jeph Jacques, or ''Webcomic/WastedTalent'' 's Angela Melick.
41	* The 57th and 87th strips of ''Webcomic/{{Sergom}}'' were respectively guest drawn by CabooseRIF and Timmiboy.
42	* ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'':
43	** On [[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autobutton05.html this page]] there's not only the regular strip by Doc Nickel involving a big red SchmuckBait button, but an additional, related strip by ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'' writer Scotty Arsenault.
44	** Kathy Garrison of ''Webcomic/CarryOn'' contributed several strips to hold things over while Doc Nickel was having computer problems, resulting in a week of non-canon strips featuring one of her ''Carry On'' characters, who had been given a cameo in [[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autotwb1879.html this strip.]] [[note]]The guest strips are currently unavailable on the main site, but Doc N has said that he'll put them up on the [[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/sketchbook/index.html sketchbook page]] when he gets a chance.[[/note]]
45	%%* * ''Webcomic/TheKAMics'' does this occasionally.
46	%%* ''Webcomic/TheCallOfWhatever'' discusses the topic [[http://tcow.comicgenesis.com/d/20011224.html here.]]
47	* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': The comic frequently features a [[BreatherEpisode lighthearted]] guest page or two between chapters. Notably, many of these pages are still written and {{storyboard}}ed by the series' [[Creator/MaryCagle regular author]], and feature the guest artist to illustrate the finished page. As such, most of the guest strips are still considered {{canon}} -- though there are, of course, [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/guest-comic-ayme-sotuyo exceptions]].
48	* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' runs guest art between story arcs, frequently provided by other webcomic artists such as Ed Gedeon of ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes,'' Jackson Ferrell of ''Webcomic/SketchComedy,'' and Aristide Twain of ''Website/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids.''
49	* ''Webcomic/LightningMadeOfOwls'' runs entirely on guest comics, with every submitter having a different art style. They all pull from the same cast of characters, though, with each having a distinguishing feature to ensure they're recognizable in any format.
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51	!!Non-webcomic examples
52	* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_strip_switcheroo Comic Strip Switcheroo]] of April 1, 1997, where 18 pairs of cartoonists drew comics for each others' strips as an April Fools' joke.
53	** To give an example, ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' was drawn by Stan Drake, the then-current artist for the ''ComicStrip/Blondie1930'' strips which featured Jon and Garfield moving in with Blondie and Dagwood until the paint dries in their house, Jon and Garfield are also drawn in a different style to fit in with the other strip.
54	* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' had [[http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Guest%20Cartoonist a week of guest strips]] in 2003.
55	* ''ComicBook/FishPolice'', while under the publication of Comico, had guest strips in the back called "Fish Shticks". These were still written by Steve Moncuse, but drawn by guest artists.
56	* ''ComicStrip/CulDeSac'' had several weeks of guest strips in 2012, as Richard Thompson was getting treatment for Parkinson's Disease. (Thompson would end the strip later that year.)
57	* For a week in June 2014, Bill Watterson returned to newspaper cartooning by guesting on ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine''
58	* Fanfic example: Fanfic/TheOfficialListOfUnofficialRules has rules written by guest authors mixed in.
59	* A television example in the form of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', which had four of its episodes written and directed by different guest animators in their signature styles, in addition to a special {{bonus episode}} that was co-produced by [[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} Mojang]].
60	* An advertising example was used in 2014 for the Advertising/MonsterCereals, as part of their yearly gimmick. The boxes were guest drawn by Creator/DCComics artists. Terry and Rachel Dodson drew Count Chocula, Creator/DaveJohnson drew Frankenberry, and Creator/JimLee drew Boo Berry.
61	* Multiple television examples from the more recent seasons of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. From time to time, the couch gag or even the entire opening sequence is done by a guest animator, including...
62	** An infamous couch gag by Creator/{{Banksy}} which portrayed the animators as being in an utterly bleak sweathouse ([[CreatorBacklash much to the chagrin of]] [[Creator/{{AKOM}} the actual animators]])
63	** Two couch gags from the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' crew
64	** A whopping '''six''' from Creator/BillPlympton (including a ShotForShotRemake of [[WesternAnimation/YourFace one of his own shorts]])
65	** A crossover with ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''
66	** A couch gag by Creator/DonHertzfeldt which has Homer being transported to the far future and witnessing millennia of SeasonalRot in action (''"The Sampsans"'' degraded to surrealistic nonstop catchphrases, merch-shilling, and subliminal propaganda for the moon lord)
67	** And an homage to Walt-era Disney done by Disney animator Creator/EricGoldberg.
68	** Creator/JohnKricfalusi, in spite of being a vocal critic of the show, did two couch gags.
69	** In a similar vein the Treehouse of Horror comics occasionally had guest artists, like issue 5 features a story drawn by VideoGame/EarthwormJim creator Doug TenNapel, and issue 11 features stories illustrated by comic book artists Gene Colan and Bernie Wrightson who specialized in drawing horror themed comics.
70	* Some Franco-Belgian comic book series have contributions by guest authors/artists which don't necessarily count as {{Canon}}.
71	** ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' got two compilations with rather short guest stories.
72	** Since 2016, ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' got five full guest issues.
73	** Similarly, some of the ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'' "special issues" are guest contributions, including most of the "One-Shots" as well as ''Spirou in Berlin''.
74	* ''ComicStrip/{{Crabgrass}}'': The [[https://www.gocomics.com/crabgrass/2022/08/14 August 14, 2022]] SundayStrip was drawn not by Creator/TauhidBondia, but the 12-year-old son of a friend of his, who is an aspiring cartoonist.
75	* During the weekly release of online ''Toys/WackyPackages'' purchases, each week would contain a "guest sticker", a parody designed by a guest artist.
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Context Main / GuestStrip