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    Sinfest

    From Wikipedia - Reading time: 8 min

    Sinfest
    Author(s)Tatsuya Ishida
    Websitewww.sinfest.xyz
    Current status/scheduleDaily
    Launch dateOctober 16, 1991 (1991-10-16) (Daily Bruin newspaper)
    January 17, 2000 (2000-01-17) (web publication)
    Genre(s)Comedy, satire

    Sinfest is a long-running daily American webcomic by Tatsuya Ishida. It originally appeared in the Daily Bruin student newspaper between 1991 and 1994 as a four-panel comic strip relying on dark humor[1] and pop culture references. Since its relaunch in 2000 it has been self-published online, with Dark Horse publishing two of its five physical collections. Over its first decade as a webcomic it evolved into a more serious work, with a large cast of regular characters commenting on such themes as organized religion,[2] American exceptionalism,[1] and economic insecurity.[3] It abruptly shifted focus to radical feminism in 2011,[4][5] tackling issues such as slut-shaming, misogyny, and street harassment.[6]

    History

    [edit]

    In an interview with Publishers Weekly,[3] Ishida stated that he knew he wanted to become a comics author ever since he read a Peanuts paperback as a child: "[S]omething about the simplicity and solitary nature of the medium appealed to me."[3] Ishida briefly worked as penciller for Dark Horse Comics' G.I. Joe Extreme in the early 1990s. He said that he botched this job, noting that "several [of his] pages were so poorly drawn they had to get another guy to redo them entirely".[3]

    Launch and transition from print to online publication

    [edit]

    Sinfest was initially published by the University of California, Los Angeles' Daily Bruin from 16 October 1991 to 1994.[7] In 2000, Ishida taught himself HTML, put together a Geocities web page, and started uploading Sinfest strips seven days per week. Ishida stated that he managed to sustain this strict schedule during the first seven years purely through "coffee and revenge".[3] Ishida is rather private and has little interaction with his readership.[8]

    Over the years, Sinfest has gone through many shifts in tone.[9] Sinfest was nominated for three Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards in 2004.[10]

    Sinfest's characters included God and the Devil.[11] Ishida self-published three print volumes of Sinfest between 2002 and 2005. Two volumes of early Sinfest have been published in print by Dark Horse Comics. The first of these was released in mid-2009 and reprints the entire first year of the webcomic. The second volume, a 2011 collection titled Viva la Resistance, covers the webcomic's run from 2003 to 2004, featuring over 600 pages that were previously uncollected.[8] Sinfest has also appeared in the Norwegian comic magazine Nemi.[12]

    During the 2008 United States presidential election, Sinfest incorporated more political themes.[3] Critic R. C. Harvey said in 2009 that "It borders on the blasphemous, but uproariously so. Surely we deserve to be offended in so hilarious a fashion."[13] Ishida stated that he switches between characters and situations in his webcomic "pretty much on a whim",[8] claiming that the longer storylines of the comic help to tie it all together. In 2011, Ishida started to produce weekly colored strips on Sundays, giving readers, in his words, "something extra fun and engaging".[8]

    Later shifts in tone

    [edit]

    In October 2011, the comic abruptly shifted in tone, focusing heavily on radical feminist themes.[5][6][4] Ishida introduced new characters to explore these new themes, and to confront the humor in older strips.[14]

    Shaenon Garrity's 2012 review in The Comics Journal observed that "raunchy strips about strippers are followed by cute cat-and-dog gags are followed by religious humor are followed by autobio strips are followed by shit-stirring political cartoons are followed by spoken-word poetry are followed by lessons in drawing Japanese kanji, one of Sinfest’s signature running features", and that "Sinfest is always, first and foremost, about what Ishida wants to cartoon at any given moment."[14] PC Magazine listed Sinfest among the best webcomics of 2015.[15] Ishida said in 2017, "Over the years [Sinfest] has gone through many changes, to the delight of some and dismay of others. I hope to continue polarizing audiences for many years to come."[4]

    By the 2020s, Sinfest had changed direction again. Author Sean Kleefeld said in 2020 that "The message of social justice through radical feminism is still the strip's raison d'etre, but it's a message of safety and inclusion rather than one of outreach and education."[4] In September 2022 Ishida was locked out of Twitter for "hateful conduct", in reference to his September 3 strip.[16][non-primary source needed] On December 7th, 2022, Patreon banned Ishida[17] for promoting "sentiments of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation";[18] he had started the "sinfest" account on January 8th, 2018.[19]

    In 2024, Kleefeld wrote that when catching up on Sinfest strips, he "wasn't understanding them", and that the comic had gone into a "downward spiral".[20]

    References

    [edit]
    1. ^ a b Rosberg, Caitlin (2016-11-11). "Required Reading: 40 of the Best Webcomics". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Originally a four-panel comedy strip with a dark, biting sense of humor aimed at pop culture, Sinfest has recently become a more specific and pointed criticism of the most toxic parts of American exceptionalism. […] [Ishida's] sharp use of The Matrix as a visual metaphor for the ways in which people are blinded has proven particularly poignant during this current presidential election cycle. (Slide 35 of 40 in ref-link)
    2. ^ Orndorff, Patrick (2009-08-10). "10 Great Webcomics You Should Not Share With Your Kids". Wired. Archived from the original on 2016-12-22. This comic takes a very irreverent view of organized religion and should not be viewed by the overly devout or by the closed-minded.
    3. ^ a b c d e f Hudson, Laura (2009-06-09). "The Wages of Sinfest". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 2016-01-09. The first seven years it was coffee and revenge. That's what kept me going. My attitude was, 'I'll show them. I'll show them all!'
    4. ^ a b c d Kleefeld, Sean (June 25, 2020). Webcomics. Bloomsbury Comics Studies. pp. 82–3. ISBN 1350028177. A more dramatic shift occurred in Sinfest when creator Tatsuya Ishida switched his focus after a decade from, as one reviewer described, "jiggly pimps-n-hoes humor" (Garrity, 2012) to a more overtly radical feminist message. The change in direction was fairly abrupt and unannounced, surprising many readers.
    5. ^ a b Ishida, Tatsuya (2018-07-01). "Notes from the Resistance: Take The Long Way Home". Sinfest. I'm launching a new forum for people who like the message of my comic. The new forum will be anti-pornography, anti-prostitution. It will favor the radical feminist perspective over a liberal or conservative one. So if you'd like to participate in a forum environment more in harmony with the comic, I invite you to join.
    6. ^ a b Polo, Susana (2013-08-14). "40 Webcomics You Need to Read". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on 2017-07-07. Over the past year or so, however, the strip has gone through a revolution of sorts, tackling numerous feminist concepts like slut-shaming, misogyny, problematic porn, and street harassment, sometimes requiring great personal adjustments from its main characters.
    7. ^ Sinfest, vol. 1, no. 1 (2009). Dark Horse Books.
    8. ^ a b c d Carlson, Johanna Draper (2011-01-24). "Tatsuya Ishida Speaks on Sinfest, Jesus, and Fans". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 2017-02-04. Less socializing means I can concentrate more on the strip.
    9. ^ Ishida, Tatsuya. "Tatsuya Ishida is creating Comics". Patreon. Archived from the original on 2018-03-10. Hi, I'm the creator of Sinfest, an online comic that's been running since 2000. Over the years it has gone through many changes, to the delight of some and dismay of others. I hope to continue polarizing audiences for many years to come. Your support is greatly appreciated.
    10. ^ "2004 Results". Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards. Archived from the original on 2014-10-27. Outstanding Black and White Art […] Outstanding Character (Visual) […] Outstanding Short Form Comic.
    11. ^ Strömberg, Fredrik (2005). The Comics Go to Hell: A Visual History of the Devil in Comics. Fantagraphics Books. p. 259. ISBN 978-1-56097-616-5.
    12. ^ Garvik, Bodil (2005-01-14). "Debuterer i Tommy og Tigeren". Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Nå fremhever hun amerikanske Tony Millionaires Maakies og Sinfest av japanske Tatsuya Ishida, som går i Nemi [She now highlights the American Tony Millionaire's Maakies and Sinfest by Japanese Tatsuya Ishida, which appears in Nemi].
    13. ^ Harvey, R. C. (2009). "Why 2008 was a very good year". The Comics Journal. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-56097-986-9.
    14. ^ a b Garrity, Shaenon (2012-04-23). "The Sisterhood of the Pimp Ninja Sluts". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
    15. ^ Griffith, Eric (2015-02-14). "The Best Webcomics 2015". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 2017-10-09. Tatsuya Ishida's perfect line work is a beauty to behold […] as is his bravery to cover the topics of religion, patriarchy, sex, and drugs, all in a humorous fashion.
    16. ^ Tatsuya, Ishida (2022-09-21). "Twitter Lockout". Sinfest forums. Archived from the original on August 21, 2023. Just got locked out of Twitter for this comic [2022-09-03]. They say it's 'hateful conduct.'
    17. ^ Tatsuya, Ishida (2022-12-08). "Singing for my Supper". Sinfest blog. I got kicked off of Patreon so please support me at one of these platforms […]. Thank you!
    18. ^ Tatsuya, Ishida (2022-12-14). "Patreon removed my Account". Twitter. Patreon removed my account for promoting 'sentiments of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.'
    19. ^ Tatsuya, Ishida (2018-01-08). "This Is My Winter Song To You". Sinfest blog. Hi. I made a patreon. Happy New Year!
    20. ^ Kleefeld, Sean (April 8, 2024). "On Tatsuya Ishida". Kleefeld on Comics. Archived from the original on May 4, 2024. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
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