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I rarely treat myself after having an awesome day, for the awesome day itself is the treat.  It’s when I’m having a lousy day that I’ll make a small but therapeutic purchase.

More often than not, that purchase turns out to be food.  When I’m in a bad mood, I want fried foods and baked goods.  My idea of a perfect pick-me-up meal is something like fried chicken strips with french fries (preferably with some kind of fancy dipping sauce for both - ketchup just isn’t fabulous enough for my luxurious taste buds) followed by a slice of cake or something.

However, I might also go and buy a used game at Gamestop to keep me company for the night.  Usually I’ll go to the grocery store and get a frozen pizza to accompany that game, since pizza and video games are the perfect combo (but I rarely order a pizza because it’s pricy even if it’s tastier).

Thanks, Brandon.  You just made me REALLY want fried chicken.  I could really use it right now, too.  :/

It can be right.  It can also be really wrong.

The type of language that you use in your comic really depends on what you’re going for.  Are you looking to make something meant to appeal to all ages (or even just kids)?  Avoid most, if not all, foul language.  Is your comic supposed to be aimed at an older, adult audience?  You have a little more freedom to use words like the ones you mentioned.

Well…sort of.

The characters in The Super-Gay Adventures of Ross Boston will eventually acknowledge that sex is a thing that happens (or often doesn’t, if you’re in a bad relationship like Ross is).  They can be flirty and suggestive, they can be a little dirty, and they can say mean or unpleasant things.  Ask most people and they’d probably say that I have liberty to use adult language for this comic.  My response, though, is that these characters in this setting and these situations are not characters that would say those words.  And frankly, in this situation, fake curses are funnier.  You’ll often find that some of the more put-together and savvy folks in the book (like Wayne and Nicki) will substitute the expletive “Fuck!” for something like “Frug!”  It’s more appropriate, all things considered, and it adds to the kind of humor that the story employs.

Additionally, it’s important to me that people of many different ages (if not exactly young kids) have access to and are able to enjoy my comic.  There is something unsettling to some younger readers when heavier curse words like “fuck” or “shit” are used.  Call me a pansy, but I wasn’t a fan of it when I was a kid.

In contrast, adult language is not always a negative thing.  Real curse words, even the bigger and nastier ones, could be just the thing to enhance the kind of comedy you’re looking to use.  OR, they can add a dash of realism (though I don’t want you to mistake “gritty and dark and suggestive and vulgar” for “real,” but what living and breathing adult doesn’t occasionally get pissed and say “dammit!” or “fuck!” or any one of the rainbow of colorful sentence enhancers - thank you Patrick Star - that we’ve all come to know and love?).  Adult language can make some characters seem more foreboding or dangerous -for better or worse - in contrast to characters who do not use those words and phrases.  It can be good for the funny or good for the serious.

I also have to say, at the risk of sounding a little mean, that I’m surprised this question is being asked.  To suggest - even by questioning - that heavier curse words are just flat out “wrong” for comics would be the same as suggesting that they’d be wrong for movies or music or books or video games.  Comics as a medium is not just for the kiddies anymore.  EVERYONE is reading them, be it in print or on the web, daily or weekly or monthly.  There is a comic out there for you and there is a comic out there for your mom and your dad and your dirty older brother and your little sister that loves talking cupcakes and unicorns.  Not all of them will or should have adult language, but some do and sometimes those comics are better off for it.

I guess to reiterate, the answer is a big, disappointing “it depends, and it’s up to you to decide.”  Welcome to comics!  The possibilities are endless, and so are the choices that you have to make.  Have fun with it!

Oh my god, I just did this thing where I inhale a lot out of excitement!  I LOVE it!  Do you think I could post it in the fan art section of the website?