Demonology 101

Last updated
Demonology 101
Demonology101 art.jpg
Author(s) Faith Erin Hicks
Website faith.rydia.net
Current status/scheduleConcluded
Launch dateAugust 1999 (1999-08)
End dateJune 2004 (2004-06)
Genre(s)Fantasy/Drama

Demonology 101 (sometimes abbreviated as D101) is a webcomic written and drawn by Faith Erin Hicks from August 1999 to June 2004. It tells the story of Raven, a 16-year-old demon being raised by a human in ordinary human society. Hicks' first public work gained attention as an early story-focused webcomic, and ran for 700 pages before being concluded.

Contents

Development

Hicks was inspired Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the creation of her first webcomic, alongside Jeff Smith's comic Bone and the Gabriel Knight video game series. [1] Hicks launched Demonology 101 in August 1999 with its first episode. By 2003, the webcomic consisted of five self-contained stories. Hicks redrew the entirety of Episode 1 in 2002. Demonology 101 is manga-influenced, and nearly the entire webcomic is rendered in black-and-white with heavy grey shading. [2] Hicks drew her webcomic on printer paper she took from her parents. [3]

Hicks completed Demonology 101 in 2004, after having created 700 pages. [3] After the conclusion of Episode Five, Hicks also wrote two short character-based stories, as well as a flashback webcomic titled A Distant Faith.

Because there were relatively few story-focused webcomics available in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Demonology 101 very quickly acquired a small readership anticipating its weekly update. Hicks was very critical of her own art, but later said that Demonology 101 "was so important to me. ... it was all mine and that was wonderful." [4]

Synopsis

Demonology 101 is centered on seemingly "normal" girl named Raven, who is actually a 16-year-old demon who had been adopted by a human. Raised in isolation, Raven is eager to join the outside world and enrolls in high school. Although Raven is nominally the main character, the supporting cast is well-developed, adding depth to the world and highlighting the themes of the webcomic. The character Raven is mainly concerned with figuring out her own nature and fate, and Demonology 101 largely explores these questions through her family ties and relationships. Demonology 101 also explores the ideas of "good" and "evil" through its complex cast of characters. [5]

Awards

Demonology 101 won two Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards in 2004, in the categories "Outstanding Dramatic Comic" and "Outstanding Long Form Comic". [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Fetus-X</i>

Fetus-X was a weekly romantic horror comic written and drawn by Eric Millikin and Casey Sorrow. Millikin is an American artist and former human anatomy lab embalmer and dissectionist. Sorrow is an internationally known American illustrator and printmaker.

<i>Questionable Content</i> Webcomic by Jeph Jacques

Questionable Content is a slice-of-life webcomic written and illustrated by Jeph Jacques. It was launched in August 2003 and reached its 5,000th comic in March 2023. The plot originally centered on Marten Reed, an indie rock fan; his anthropomorphized personal computer Pintsize; and his roommate, Faye Whitaker. However, over time a supporting cast of characters has grown to include employees of the local coffee shop, neighbors, and androids. QC's storytelling style combines romantic melodrama, situational comedy, and sexual humor, while considering questions of relationships, sexuality, dealing with emotional trauma, and artificial intelligence and futurism.

<i>Real Life</i> (webcomic) American webcomic by Maelyn Dean

Real Life is an American webcomic drawn and authored by Maelyn Dean. It began on November 15, 1999, and is still updated, after breaks from December 10, 2015, to September 10, 2018, and again from July 16, 2019, to June 15, 2020. The comic is loosely based around the lives of fictionalized versions of Dean and her friends, including verbatim conversations, as well as fictional aspects including time travel and mecha combat. Characters regularly break the fourth wall. Real Life focuses on humor related to video games and science fiction, and references internet memes.

<i>VG Cats</i> Webcomic by Scott Ramsoomair

VG Cats is a webcomic written and drawn by Canadian cartoonist Scott Ramsoomair. Published on its own website, it follows the adventures of a pair of anthropomorphic cats, who often played the roles of characters in popular video games that are parodied in the strip.

<i>Scary Go Round</i> 2002 webcomic by John Allison

Scary Go Round is a webcomic by John Allison. Running from 2002 to 2009, it is set in the fictional North Yorkshire town of Tackleford and follows university students battling fantasy and science fiction threats to the town. The comic was a successor to Allison's first comic, Bobbins, and was followed by Bad Machinery, all of which take place in the same general setting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaenon K. Garrity</span> American writer and critic

Shaenon K. Garrity is a webcomic creator and science-fiction author best known for her webcomics Narbonic and Skin Horse. She collaborated with various artists to write webcomics for the Modern Tales-family of webcomic subscription services in the early 2000s, and write columns for various comics journals. Since 2003, Garrity has done freelance editing for Viz Media on various manga translations.

A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible (ALILBTDII) is a webcomic drawn by David Hellman and written by Dale Beran. Ted Rall described the comic as "explor[ing] the limits of pessimism and fatal consequence in a universe that would be difficult to imagine on the printed page." David and Dale are the primary characters, although they do not appear in every episode, and there is a small cast of real-life supporting characters, including schoolfriend/mad scientist Paul, Dale's sister Sally, and David's mother, Debby Hellman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Rowland</span> American artist and author

Jeffrey J. Rowland is the author and artist responsible for Wigu and Overcompensating, two popular webcomics. Originally from Locust Grove, Oklahoma, Rowland now lives in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where he continues to work on the two projects, while running TopatoCo, a company which sells merchandise based on his and other artists' comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brad Guigar</span> American cartoonist

Brad Guigar is an American cartoonist who is best known for his daily webcomic Greystone Inn and its sequel Evil Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faith Erin Hicks</span> Canadian cartoonist

Faith Erin Hicks is a Canadian cartoonist and animator living in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Wondermark is a webcomic created by David Malki which was syndicated to Flak Magazine and appeared in The Onion's print edition from 2006 to 2008. It features 19th-century illustrations that have been recontextualized to create humorous juxtapositions. It takes the horizontal four-panel shape of a newspaper strip, although the number of panels varies from one to six or more. It is updated intermittently.

<i>Dresden Codak</i> Science fiction webcomic by Senna Diaz

Dresden Codak is a webcomic written and illustrated by A. Senna Diaz. Described by Diaz as a "celebration of science, death and human folly", the comic presents stories that deal with elements of philosophy, science and technology, and/or psychology. The comic was recognized in 2008 at the Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards for Outstanding Use of Color and Outstanding Use of The Medium.

The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCA) were annual awards in which established webcartoonists nominated and selected outstanding webcomics. The awards were held between 2001 and 2008, were mentioned in a New York Times column on webcomics in 2005, and have been mentioned as a tool for librarians.

<i>Ctrl+Alt+Del</i> (webcomic) Webcomic and animated series

Ctrl+Alt+Del (CAD) is a gaming-related webcomic and animated series written by Tim Buckley. The name of the comic refers to the Windows command Control-Alt-Delete. Premiering on October 23, 2002, the comic's focus has gradually shifted away from single strip gags towards longer story arcs and greater continuity through the use of video game references. Ctrl+Alt+Del currently is updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

<i>Digger</i> (webcomic)

Digger is a webcomic drawn and written by Ursula Vernon, and published in print form by Sofawolf Press. It has drawn comparisons to Bone, Cerebus, and Discworld. Digger won the Hugo and Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, and was nominated for an Eisner Award.

<i>The Last of Us: American Dreams</i> Comic book series

The Last of Us: American Dreams is a four-issue comic book series based on the video game The Last of Us. It was written by The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann and cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks, with illustrations by Hicks and coloring by Rachelle Rosenberg. The series was published by Dark Horse Comics between April and July 2013, and a collected edition was published in October 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gisèle Lagacé</span> Canadian cartoonist

Gisèle Lagacé is a Canadian comics writer and artist, writer and illustrator of webcomics. She is best known for her series Ménage à 3.

Notable events of 2002 in webcomics.

Notable events of 2004 in webcomics.

References

  1. Hicks, Faith Erin. "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS". faith.rydia.net. Archived from the original on 2008-04-01.
  2. Cooper, Kelly J. (2003-03-23). "Demonology 101 by Faith Erin Hicks, Reviewed". Comixtalk.
  3. 1 2 Ayres, Andrea (2018-03-24). "WonderCon '18: Faith Erin Hicks Shares Her Tips for Becoming a Cartoonist". Comics Beat .
  4. de Guzman, Jennifer (2016-02-25). "There Is No Greater Thrill Than Making Something That's Yours: An Interview with Faith Erin Hicks". Comics Alliance .
  5. Malnassy, LK (2002-12-01). "Demonology 101". Sequential Tart.
  6. "2004 Results". Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards . Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.