One thing I've always admired about your run on Secret Six was how you managed to weave the crazy (the get out of hell free card for example) and the tragic (Ragdoll's origin for another example), as I'm currently developing a comedic webcomic about the po

Okay, well, here’s the thing. I LIKE the emotional roller coaster of tone changes, but they have to be done with care. Life is like that…a few days ago, we were crying because of some bad health news of someone close to my family, but when she came over, we started joking and laughing and sadness became something else, still sad, but also grateful and laughing.

That’s really what I think storytelling is, you want to engage more than one connection, you want to have more than one speed in your gearbox. Don’t be afraid to put some funny in your tragedy, or some sadness in your joy. Emotions are polyphonic, you don’t have to play just the melody, you can play the chords that support it, as well.

One way to do this is with people who have a difference in POV. If one character laughs at a sight (say, Ragdoll) and another cries a the same sight (say, Scandal), then you are already showing emotional complexity.  Every character has a different level of awareness and self-awareness, don’t forget that. You don’t have characters react the way YOU would react, you have them react the way THEY react.

Tone is kind of like the horse you have to tame. Look at what you want to convey with your story and aim towards that always. But you can have your characters REACT differently, and that will provide the complexity we are talking about.

I will say, I love comedy, I love funny stuff even in sadness, even in horror. But what I don’t love is zany. When the characters are acting zany, I just find that lacking in discipline, as a rule. My least favorite Deadpool stories are just going straight for laughs, no drama, no wit, just, HEY! Here’s Deadpool with a banana up his ass! or whatever. I would say in most cases, if your characters are being zany, as opposed to funny, you’re probably deep in the realm of desperation and maybe should retreat immediately. ;)