Sinfest
{{Short description|American webcomic}}
{{Update|date=December 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox Webcomic|
| title = Sinfest
| image = File:Sinfest_logo.gif
| caption =
| author = Tatsuya Ishida
| url = {{URL|www.sinfest.xyz}}
| status = Daily
| began = {{Start date|1991|10|16}} (Daily Bruin newspaper)
{{Start date|2000|01|17}} (web publication)
| ended =
| genre = Comedy, satire
| ratings =
}}
Sinfest is a long-running daily American comic strip by Tatsuya Ishida. It originally appeared in the Daily Bruin student newspaper between 1991 and 1994. Ishida relaunched the comic strip in 2000 by self-publishing it online as a webcomic. Sinfest has also been collected into five printed books; Dark Horse Comics published two of them, in 2009 and 2011.
The comic has received mixed reactions over the years on its inclusion of topics such as race, feminism, politics and sexism. The themes and tone of the comic have shifted multiple times over the years, with the 1990s incarnation being regarded as especially crass. The 2000s comics are often black comedy, with references made to pop culture, and in 2008, the comics began incorporating even more political and ideological themes, including radical feminism (starting in 2011). In 2022, the comic's content caused the author to be banned from Patreon and Twitter for hateful content.
History
=Launch and transition from print to online publication=
File:Sinfest comic from 2000-01-21.gif. Sinfest has been described as "insulting and degrading" and as "including racial caricatures."]]
Sinfest was initially published by the University of California, Los Angeles' Daily Bruin from October 16, 1991, to 1994.{{cite comic|url=https://comics.lib.msu.edu/rri/log/1005log.htm|title=Sinfest|volume=1|issue=1|publisher=Dark Horse Books |date=2009}} Publishers Weekly described these strips as even "raunchier and harsher" than Sinfest comics from the early 2000s. In 2009, Ishida said he wanted to create comics after reading a Peanuts paperback as a child, due to "the simplicity and solitary nature of the medium." Following this phase of Sinfest, Ishida briefly worked as penciller for Dark Horse Comics' G.I. Joe Extreme (published 1995–6).{{cite web |title=Search :: Dark Horse Comics |url=https://www.darkhorse.com/Search/Browse/%22Tatsuya+Ishida%22/PpwNwkt8 |website=www.darkhorse.com |access-date=7 February 2025}}{{efn|Ishida 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".}}
In 2000, Ishida taught himself HTML, put together a Geocities web page, and started uploading Sinfest strips seven days per week. By April of 2000, Sinfest was being hosted on the webcomics site Keenspot.{{Cite web |last=Ishida |first=Tatsuya |date=2000-10-21 |title=Notes from the Resistance |url=http://sinfest.net/resistance.htm |access-date=2025-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001021162340/http://sinfest.net/resistance.htm |archive-date=October 21, 2000 }} Ishida has said that he maintained a 7-day-a-week schedule during the first seven years through "coffee and revenge".{{cite web |last=Hudson |first=Laura |date=June 9, 2009 |title=The Wages of Sinfest |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/11606-the-wages-of-sinfest.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109133859/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/11606-the-wages-of-sinfest.html |archive-date=January 9, 2016 |work=Publishers Weekly |quote=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!' ... a much more political turn during the 2008 presidential election}} In 2013, Author Sean Kleefeld described some of the earliest strips as using "racial stereotypes" that are "racially insensitive at best" and "insulting and degrading."{{Cite web |last=Kleefeld |first=Sean |date=April 8, 2013 |title=Growth As An Artist |url=http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2013/04/growth-as-artist.html |access-date=2025-02-02 |website=Kleefeld on Comics}} Ishida, who lives a private life and has little interaction with his readership,{{cite web |last=Carlson |first=Johanna Draper |date=January 24, 2011 |title=Tatsuya Ishida Speaks on Sinfest, Jesus, and Fans |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/45885-tatsuya-ishida-speaks-on-sinfest-jesus-and-fans.html |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204203839/http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/45885-tatsuya-ishida-speaks-on-sinfest-jesus-and-fans.html |archivedate=February 4, 2017 |work=Publishers Weekly |quote=it was canceled due to poor sales performance ... gotten an earful over the political content ... Less socializing means I can concentrate more on the strip.}} has said that Sinfest has included political views that have led to reader complaints since its early comics. Writing for The Comics Journal, comics-writer Shaenon Garrity has described how the comic has included "a lot of offensive material over the years, including racial caricatures, sex and drug humor, and lots of sexism." Writing for The Comics Beat, journalist Laura Sneddon stated that, during this period, "the comic was indeed a Sin-fest, stuffed with black comedy and poking outrage for humour".{{cite web |last1=Sneddon |first1=Laura |title=24 Hours of Webcomics: Sinfest |url=https://www.comicsbeat.com/24-hours-of-webcomics-sinfest/ |website=The Beat |access-date=7 February 2025 |date=24 May 2013}} Paste magazine described it as a four-panel comic strip relying on pop culture references and dark humor.{{cite web |last=Rosberg |first=Caitlin |date=November 11, 2016 |title=Required Reading: 40 of the Best Webcomics |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/11/required-reading-40-of-the-best-webcomics.html |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202032914/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/11/required-reading-40-of-the-best-webcomics.html |archivedate=February 2, 2017 |work=Paste Magazine |quote=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)}} Sinfest was nominated for three Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards in 2004.{{cite web |title=2004 Results |url=http://www.ccawards.com/2004.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027235626/http://www.ccawards.com/2004.htm |archive-date=October 27, 2014 |access-date=15 February 2025 |work=Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards |language=en |url-status=dead |quote=Outstanding Black and White Art […] Outstanding Character (Visual) […] Outstanding Short Form Comic.}}
The comic's art-style resembles chibi. According to Garrity, it can get away with offensive material for being "darn cute", and she and Kleefeld both commended the art-work. Early characters included Slick, something of a main-character and a hedonistic womanizer, resembling Bill Watterson's Calvin. His side-kick was it girl Monique,{{cite magazine |last1=Cornog |first1=Martha |title=Graphic Novels |magazine=Library Journal |access-date= |date=15 September 2009|id={{ProQuest|196880639}}}}{{cite magazine |last1= |first1= |title=Comics |magazine=Publishers Weekly |access-date= |date=6 July 2009|id={{ProQuest|197091639}}}} Garrity describes her as a "sexy coffeehouse poet" and recounts her spending "one of her earliest strips in a bikini, showing her ass to the reader". Other early characters included God and the Devil.{{cite book |last1=Strömberg |first1=Fredrik |author1-link=Fredrik Strömberg |title=The Comics Go to Hell: A Visual History of the Devil in Comics |date=2005 |publisher=Fantagraphics Books |isbn=978-1-56097-616-5 |page=259 |url=https://archive.org/details/comicsgotohellvi0000stro/page/258/mode/2up?q=sinfest |language=en}}
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 first year of the webcomic. Dark Horse planned another book release in late 2009, but that book was cancelled due to the poor sales of the first book. The second volume, a 2011 collection titled Viva la Resistance, covers the webcomic's run from 2003 to 2004. Sinfest has also appeared in the Norwegian comic magazine Nemi.{{cite web |url=http://www.bt.no/bergenpuls/litteratur/Debuterer-i-Tommy-og-Tigeren-2285615.html |work=Bergens Tidende |title=Debuterer i Tommy og Tigeren |last=Garvik |first=Bodil |date=January 14, 2005 |language=no |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611141712/http://www.bt.no/bergenpuls/litteratur/Debuterer-i-Tommy-og-Tigeren-2285615.html |archive-date=June 11, 2011 |quote=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].}}
During the 2008 United States presidential election, Sinfest incorporated even more political themes. Critic R. C. Harvey wrote in The Comics Journal in 2009 that it was the best webcomic around, and that "It borders on the blasphemous, but uproariously so. Surely we deserve to be offended in so hilarious a fashion."{{cite magazine |last1=Harvey |first1=R. C. |authorlink=R. C. Harvey|title=Why 2008 was a very good year |date=2009 |magazine=The Comics Journal |isbn=978-1-56097-986-9 |page=117 |url=https://archive.org/details/comicsjournalno20000unse/page/116/mode/2up?q=sinfest+ishida}} Ishida has said that he switches between characters and situations in his webcomic "pretty much on a whim", saying that "the longer storylines help to pull it all together." In 2011, Ishida started to produce weekly strips in color on Sundays, giving readers, in his words, "something extra fun and engaging".
=Later changes in direction and themes=
In October 2011, the comic abruptly shifted in tone, focusing heavily on radical feminist themes.{{cite web |last=Ishida |first=Tatsuya |date=July 1, 2018 |title=Notes from the Resistance: Take The Long Way Home |url=https://sinfest.net/news.php |website=Sinfest |quote=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.}}{{cite web |last=Polo |first=Susana |date=August 14, 2013 |title=40 Webcomics You Need to Read |url=https://www.themarysue.com/40-webcomics-you-need-to-read/2/ |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707021326/https://www.themarysue.com/40-webcomics-you-need-to-read/2/ |archivedate=July 7, 2017 |work=The Mary Sue |quote=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.}}{{Cite book |last=Kleefeld |first=Sean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggTdDwAAQBAJ&dq=Webcomics+%22Sean+Kleefeld%22+%22ishida+switched+his+focus%22&pg=PA82 |title=Webcomics |publisher=Bloomsbury Comics Studies |isbn=1350028177 |publication-date=June 25, 2020 |pages=82–3 |quote=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.}} Ishida introduced new characters to explore these new themes, and to confront the humor in older strips. 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,{{cite magazine |last=Orndorff |first=Patrick |date=August 10, 2009 |title=10 Great Webcomics You Should Not Share With Your Kids |url=https://www.wired.com/2009/08/10-great-webcomics-you-should-not-share-with-your-kids-geekdad-wayback-machine/ |url-status=live |magazine=Wired |quote=This comic takes a very irreverent view of organized religion and should not be viewed by the overly devout or by the closed-minded. |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222023014/https://www.wired.com/2009/08/10-great-webcomics-you-should-not-share-with-your-kids-geekdad-wayback-machine/ |archivedate=December 22, 2016}} American exceptionalism, and economic insecurity. It abruptly shifted focus to radical feminism in 2011, tackling issues such as slut-shaming, misogyny, and street harassment. In this period, Monique cut her hair and began questioning gender roles and patriarchy as a system of oppression, the latter depicted as a Matrix-like oppressive simulated reality. Sneddon compared the comic's themes in this period to I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space, another feminist webcomic, noting that Sinfest had a larger audience—inherited from before the change in direction; however, some of these old fans were outraged by the changes to Monique.
Garrity said in 2012 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."{{cite magazine |last1=Garrity |first1=Shaenon |authorlink=Shaenon K. Garrity |date=April 23, 2012 |title=The Sisterhood of the Pimp Ninja Sluts |magazine=The Comics Journal |url=https://www.tcj.com/the-sisterhood-of-the-pimp-ninja-sluts/ |access-date=October 28, 2024}} PC Magazine listed Sinfest among the best webcomics of 2015.{{cite web |last=Griffith |first=Eric |date=February 14, 2015 |title=The Best Webcomics 2015 |url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399081,00.asp |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009173445/https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399081,00.asp |archivedate=October 9, 2017 |work=PC Magazine |quote=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.}} 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." Kleefeld wrote 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."
In April 2022, Journalist Ryan Broderick noted the addition of "long-running internet conspiracies, like the Illuminati and the Bilderberg group" (by the early-2010s), the MAGA movement (2016+), anti-trans storylines (2019+), and QAnon (2021+), and opined that "as of now, the comic is a Christian fascist slurry of random internet nonsense."{{cite web |last1=Broderick |first1=Ryan |date=April 29, 2022|authorlink=Ryan Broderick|title=The Long, Strange Journey Of Sinfest |url=https://www.garbageday.email/p/the-bad-man-pipeline-is-confusing |website=Garbage Day |access-date=1 February 2025 |language=en}} In September 2022, Ishida wrote that he was locked out of Twitter for "hateful conduct", in reference to his September 3 strip.{{cite web |url=http://sinfest.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=686 |first=Ishida |last=Tatsuya |date=September 21, 2022 |title=Twitter Lockout |website=Sinfest forums |quote=Just got locked out of Twitter for this comic [2022-09-03]. They say it's 'hateful conduct.' |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821134322/https://sinfest.xyz/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=686 |archive-date=August 21, 2023}}{{primary source inline|date=January 2025}} In December 2022, Ishida wrote that he was banned from Patreon for promoting "sentiments of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation";{{cite web |last=Tatsuya |first=Ishida |date=December 8, 2022 |title=Singing for my Supper |url=http://sinfest.net/news.php |website=Sinfest blog |quote=I got kicked off of Patreon so please support me at one of these platforms […]. Thank you!}}{{cite tweet|user=TatsuyaIshida9|number=1600533238325256192 |last=Ishida |first=Tatsuya |date=December 7, 2022 |title=Patreon removed my account for promoting 'sentiments of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.'|access-date=December 14, 2022}} he had started the "sinfest" account on January 8, 2018.{{cite web |url=http://sinfest.net/news.php |first=Ishida |last=Tatsuya |date=January 8, 2018 |title=This Is My Winter Song To You |website=Sinfest blog |quote=Hi. I made a patreon. Happy New Year!}}
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".{{Cite web |last=Kleefeld |first=Sean |date=April 8, 2024 |title=On Tatsuya Ishida |url=http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2024/04/on-tatsuya-ishida.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504074004/http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2024/04/on-tatsuya-ishida.html |archive-date=May 4, 2024 |access-date=May 4, 2024 |website=Kleefeld on Comics}}
Awards and nominations
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{wikiquote}}
- [http://www.sinfest.net/ Sinfest website]
- [https://archive.org/details/ucladailybruin137losa/page/n469/mode/2up 1991 issues] of Daily Bruin, including the first Sinfest strip from October
- [https://archive.org/details/pubmed-PMC4076615/page/n1/mode/2up?q=sinfest The architecture of visual narrative comprehension], 2014 Frontiers in Psychology article by Neil Cohn, using Sinfest as an example of narration in comics
Category:Web Cartoonists' Choice Award winners