Editing Sinfest (section)

===Launch and transition from print to online publication===
[[File:Sinfest comic from 2000-01-21.gif|thumb|A 2000 ''Sinfest'' panel including an anti-African American racist [[fried chicken stereotype]]. ''Sinfest'' has been described as "insulting and degrading" and as "including racial caricatures."<ref name="Garrity-2012" /><ref name="Kleefeld-2013" />]]
''Sinfest'' was initially published by the [[University of California, Los Angeles]]' ''Daily Bruin'' from October 16, 1991, to 1994.<ref>{{cite comic|url=https://comics.lib.msu.edu/rri/log/1005log.htm|title=Sinfest|volume=1|issue=1|publisher=Dark Horse Books |date=2009}}</ref> ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' described these strips as even "raunchier and harsher" than ''Sinfest'' comics from the early 2000s.<ref name="Publishers Weekly 6 July 2009" /> 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."<ref name="Hudson-2009" /> Following this phase of ''Sinfest'', Ishida briefly worked as [[penciller]] for [[Dark Horse Comics]]' ''[[G.I. Joe Extreme#Comics|G.I. Joe Extreme]]'' (published 1995–6).<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="Hudson-2009" />{{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".<ref name="Hudson-2009" />}}

In 2000, Ishida taught himself [[HTML]], put together a [[Geocities]] web page, and started uploading ''Sinfest'' strips seven days per week.<ref name="Hudson-2009"/> By April of 2000, ''Sinfest'' was being hosted on the webcomics site [[Keenspot]].<ref>{{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 }}</ref> Ishida has said that he maintained a 7-day-a-week schedule during the first seven years through "coffee and revenge".<ref name="Hudson-2009">{{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}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Kleefeld-2013">{{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}}</ref>  Ishida, who lives a private life and has little interaction with his readership,<ref name="Carlson-2011">{{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.}}</ref> has said that ''Sinfest'' has included political views that have led to reader complaints since its early comics.<ref name="Carlson-2011" /> Writing for ''[[The Comics Journal]]'', comics-writer [[Shaenon K. Garrity|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."<ref name="Garrity-2012"/> 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".<ref name="Sneddon 2013">{{cite web |last1=Sneddon |first1=Laura |title=24 Hours of Webcomics: Sinfest |url=https://www.comicsbeat.com/24-hours-of-webcomics-sinfest/ |website=[[Comics Beat|The Beat]] |access-date=7 February 2025 |date=24 May 2013}}</ref> ''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]'' magazine described it as a four-[[panel (comics)|panel]] comic strip relying on [[pop culture]] references and [[dark humor]].<ref name="Rosberg-2016">{{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)}}</ref> ''Sinfest'' was nominated for three [[Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards]] in 2004.<ref name="2004WCCA">{{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.}}</ref>

The comic's art-style resembles [[Chibi (style)|chibi]].<ref name="Garrity-2012" /><ref name="Library Journal 2009" /> According to Garrity, it can get away with offensive material for being "darn cute", and she and Kleefeld both commended the art-work.<ref name="Garrity-2012" /><ref name="Kleefeld-2013" /> Early characters included Slick, something of a main-character and a hedonistic womanizer, resembling [[Bill Watterson]]'s [[Calvin and Hobbes#Calvin|Calvin]]. His side-kick was [[it girl]] Monique,<ref name="Library Journal 2009">{{cite magazine |last1=Cornog |first1=Martha |title=Graphic Novels |magazine=[[Library Journal]] |access-date= |date=15 September 2009|id={{ProQuest|196880639}}}}</ref><ref name="Publishers Weekly 6 July 2009">{{cite magazine |last1= |first1= |title=Comics |magazine=[[Publishers Weekly]] |access-date= |date=6 July 2009|id={{ProQuest|197091639}}}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Garrity-2012" /> Other early characters included [[God]] and the [[Devil in Christianity|Devil]].<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Ishida [[Self-publishing|self-published]] three print volumes of ''Sinfest'' between 2002 and 2005. Two volumes of early ''Sinfest'' have been [[Webcomics in print|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.<ref name="Carlson-2011" /> The second volume, a 2011 collection titled ''Viva la Resistance'', covers the webcomic's run from 2003 to 2004.<ref name="Carlson-2011" /> ''Sinfest'' has also appeared in the Norwegian comic magazine ''[[Nemi (comic strip)|Nemi]]''.<ref>{{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].}}</ref>

During the [[2008 United States presidential election]], ''Sinfest'' incorporated even more political themes.<ref name="Hudson-2009" /> 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."<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Carlson-2011" /> In 2011, Ishida started to produce weekly strips in color on Sundays, giving readers, in his words, "something extra fun and engaging".<ref name="Carlson-2011" />