Best of Friends

Writers Strike Contest




I am on strike! I refuse to write BoF #106. I WILL NOT write the next comic . . . But YOU WILL!!!! That is right, you the loyal fan, will take the provided JPG and using Photoshop, MSPaint, or whatever you have on hand, change it around by adding in text to bring it to life.

Once you have the strip finished, e-mail it to jswiggum@gmail.com, Subject: Writers Strike Contest. I will then select one comic strip out of all of the entries to become BoF #106, post it on the web site, have it become canon, include it in whatever BoF book archives #106, everything! I will also post some honorable mentions in the BoF LiveJournal.

In Addition, everyone who sends in a strip will also be entered into a random drawing for a BoF book or T-shirt (winner's choice.) So don't think that your idea is not good enough or that someone else must have done the idea already, just make up something fun and enter!!! Everyone has a chance to win!!!

See the following rules on how to enter, and please read the Important Information for Submitters note.
Any questions can be sent to jswiggum@gmail.com Subject: WSC Question.


Contest Rules
1) One entry per person, per e-mail address please.
2) You must use the JPG provided as the base for the comic. Please keep the original size of 7" wide, 3" high, a resolution of 300, and in JPG format.
     http://www.bofcomic.com/BoF_Contest.jpg
3) You must add text. Preferably in 10 point font Arial with Jesus’ text being bold and Buddha’s text being bold and italicized.
      Comics submitted that are not in the preferred text format will still be accepted.
      Your entry will not be downgraded in any way if you can not match the font I use for BoF.
4) You may (but do not have to) add other props, characters from BoF, and/or other people and things.
     JPGs of some BoF characters are provided here.
5) You must “sign” the comic by placing your name in the place where I normally put my “-j-.”
     You do not have to place your real name. Nick names, online handles, etc are accepted.
      If your signature is different than your Live Journal name, please include your LJ name in the e-mail.
      I always like to know who my die hard close fans are.
6) You must agree with everything listed in Important Information for Submitters.
     Entering the contest signifies that you have agreed to these conditions.
7) If you have no photoshoping skills, you can have someone else create the comic for you and enter it yourself, that is fine.
     Typed scripts will not be accepted, the end product must be a finished comic strip in JPG format.
8) To enter, send your comic in an attachement to jswiggum@gmail.com Subject: Writers Strike Contest
      Entries will be accepted until Saturday January 12th 2008, midnight, central.
      The winners will be announced Sunday night, and the Grand Prize Winner will have their comic posted as BoF #106 on 1/14/08.

Character Page

Base Comic JPG

Important Information for Submitters
By entering this contest and submitting a comic, you are agreeing to allow me the following rights concerning your work:
1) The right to save, archive, and repost your comic on www.bofcomic.com, the BoF LJ, and the BoF MySpace.
2) The right to print your comic in any future BoF books.
3) Any reprinting / reposting will be credited per the name signed on the comic unless otherwise requested by the submitter.
4) No monetary value will be given to the creator of the comic at any time. This is just for the chance to have the braging rights to say that you wrote #106.


Helpful Tips

The following are not a list of rules or must do sort of things. This is just showing you how I think so you have some things to keep in mind while making the strip. Again, these are not rules. Maybe someone will turn in a well done fart joke that I will really really like and I’ll pick that one, but I doubt it.
Anyway, things I will be looking for:

Humor: I am sure every entry will make me smile, smirk, or laugh in some way. The more the better. The best references I can suggest for my style of humor are the BoF Strips themselves.
Bonus: Humor with a message. This is not needed, but my favorite comics tend to be the ones that are funny AND make you think, like the “Hello, I’m a Christian and I’m a Buddhist” strip or the “Logic ©” one.

Consistency of Characters: I encourage you to instill your own brand of humor into the strip; however, if it seems completely out of place for BoF I may not pick it as BoF #106.

A Good Looking Strip: Of course the easiest thing to do will be to take the picture I provided and just add text, and that is perfectly fine. (In fact, 44 percent of the comics as of Bof #101 have been exactly the same as BoF #1 but with different text.) If you do add some other props or characters, hopefully you try and make it look good and have it fit with the style of the other strips. I’m not going to touch the comic before I post it (accept to appropriately resize it,) so make sure the pic you send in is a good, cleanly put together piece. Make sure to pay attention even to little things like the mouth open or mouth closed versions of the characters depending on if they are talking or not.

Originality: The strip I am supplying you with is set up for some pretty obvious jokes and I expect those jokes to come in and I am looking forward to and welcome those jokes, however it is probably the jokes that go off in some unexpected direction that might catch my attention.