No, I'm receptive to actual criticism, not endless gay mewling from anonymous retards about how Tim Lim or Doug TenNapel deserves it more for reasons.
Calling CYBERFROG a "rehashed" character isn't criticism. PLASTIC MAN is a "rehashed" character, then. So is the SHAZAM Captain Marvel. Fuck it, so is WONDER WOMAN. So is AQUAMAN. So are Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. Characters that ceased publication, and then were picked up again for a new revamped series are traditional in comics. There was no aspect of ComicsGate that suggested that I needed to create something new, and CYBERFROG was never popular. There was no advantage to choosing to pick up his adventures again, it was simply the project I wanted to do the most.
And I'm glad I did! $3.7 Million later, it seems obvious in hindsight! Thanks to everyone who supported ALL CAPS COMICS!
Here's my Cyberfrog Critical Theory.
"Rehashed" was my own personal touch, but the point remains. If Cyberfrog's current popularity has less to do with how he's written, or if he's even a B or C level comic book character than who draws him and how well he's drawn, and how many parallels can be made between the creation (CF) and the creator's (EVS') real life circumstances, then I think it's fair to say it's a direct reflection of your personality, or in this case the personality you only want the world to see with no weaknesses to speak of and surface elements that seemed toggled on without having much in the way of development or potential to be something truly unique.
It's almost as if you took a character that had little to no appeal for decades (arguably for good reason) and infused it with the power of the Comicsgate narrative. What was that power exactly? The CG narrative as it turns out is primarily about your persecution and your triumph. It's really all about you. Fair enough, write what you know! I wonder what kind of message you really wanted us to know about. Most people who follow you should be able to recall an often-repeated recollection of an incident from your teenage years where a girl gave you a frog figurine as a cover for cucking out her boyfriend over you. For some sociopathic reason, the fusion of forbidden sex with manipulative behavior in the symbol of the frog garnered personal significance for you. The power of having other people crushed just to have access to you seems to have left a lasting impression. It's a pattern you seem keen on replicating. You must think it's cool.
What is different from all those other characters you mentioned is partly what the industry was then, needing to sell the character based on what kids saw at first glance, and partly what it developed into over the years with multiple creative teams adding onto the lore and making them deeper than the paper they were printed on. Your character is a joke or a parody at first glance, and now thanks to this brave new world of indy publishing, it will likely never be passed on to anyone else who might have better ideas, or a clue on how to both establish and develop a character. I'm looking at those figures and I see a frog with metal clown shoes and a character that has no real hook... other than drawn by Ethan Van Sciver who used to draw really cool characters in a great way once upon a time.
I see a sentient alien spaceship decide to take two of the weakest and dumbest animals on earth and turn them into anthropomorphic super cyborgs for no apparent reason, with no particular purpose, and no consistent design cues. Why fully replace the frog's strongest attributes? Aside from the head and the feet, what remains of the actual frog? He doesn't even seem to use his tongue like one either. If his personality came from the animal, where are meditations of his own self before the transformation? If his personality is primarily from the alien technology, how is it the mothership is still a non-entity after what, 30 years in your storied career? If this isn't supposed to be a joke at someone else's expense, it doesn't stand on its own merits.
I think that your first instinct whenever you or your comics get criticized is to go straight to the money receipts and it proves that you are intellectually bankrupt. The hysterical exaggerations of the threat your facing also proves to me that you've put way too much of yourself into this thing and all the weird baggage you thought you could lose at the airport will circle right back to you. The CG shitshow is by far more interesting and compelling than anything you've committed to paper or ever will, and maybe one day you'll realize that what you've lost was worth a lot more than anything money could quantify.
TLDR: But back to my point, aside from Ethan's personal CG story and how much money Ethan's made, and how detailed and dynamic (if late and overpriced) he draws his panels, what is the inherent appeal of Cyberfrog?
