History ComicBook / BuckGodotZapGunForHire

* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[spoiler:Hyraxx d'Mofiti]], upon discovering that the Prime Mover entrusted Humanity with the Winslow [[spoiler:in exchange for actively preventing their extinction]], was the one who proposed -- in ''[[IWasJustJoking jest]]'' even! -- that someone could locate it by destroying Earth with fractal bombs; weapons that reduce all known forms of matter to ''monoatomic dust.'' This would leave the MadeOfIndestructium Winslow as the largest remaining object. Earth's leadership somehow heard this proposal, and realized [[spoiler:the agreement only protected Humanity as a ''whole'', not every individual planet]], which is why they gave up ownership of the Winslow. [[spoiler:The Pogs released the mind-sapping virus because they discovered that humanity planned to do this, but misjudged exactly ''when'' they would do so]]. The whole galaxy-shaking plot only occurred [[spoiler:as part of an [[InsistentTerminology infotainment-like art product]]. One that was only ''proposed'' as opposed to created]].

* AtopAMountainOfCorpses: In ''The Gallimaufry'', Hyraxx de Mofiti does this in one panel, standing on top of a pile of assassins she fought to get to Buck.

** Thuxians are the "capitalist aliens," considering even betrayal and attempted assassination forgivable as long as it was just business; they predate [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration the Ferengi]] by [[OlderThanTheyThink several years]]. With a sideline in badassery: a Ferengi assassin is a [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Ferengi_%28episode%29 punchline]]; a Thuxian ''bartender'' is more than capable of fending off an assault by a pissed-off HiveMind.

* NoTranshumanismAllowed: Subverted. Humans like to tinker, resulting in numerous HumanSubspecies. PlayedWith in that other species ''don't'' and were Very Unhappy when a bunch of humans managed to wipe out a star system in an attempt to turn themselves into Winslows. Nowadays when someone wants to attempt to create more subspecies, they need everyone else's permission first.

** And he pulls one even more complex to resolve ''The Gallimaufry''. [[spoiler:He offers the Pogs an increasingly ridiculous plan because he knows they'll go along with anything to get the Winslow, and ''also'' plays into his expectations of how Par will react (and that the Beemahs can get anywhere they want to, in the nick of time). No matter what, the Beemahs (who consider the Winslow worthless and are under a kill-on-sight order) would deliver the Winslow to the Prime Mover (who already had an agreement with Godot to fix everything if the Winslow was found). Par and/or the Pogs giving up would have just caused ''less'' trouble.]]

NOTE: It appears that he's taken down the free access to the comic therefor all the links below are currently inactive, going to an error message instead.

* InterspeciesRomance: Subverted by Buck/Louisa (Hoffmanites find humans underdeveloped and also "a wee bit... delicate") and Buck/Tal (since she's a reptilean alien, as Buck points out, even if he were inclined to perv he wouldn't know what to look at. [[spoiler:Turns out he's lying]].)

** And he pulls one even more complex to resolve ''The Gallimaufry''. [[spoiler:He offers the Pogs an increasingly ridiculous plan because he knows they'll go along with anything to get the Winslow, and ''also'' plays into his expectations of how Par will react (and that the Beemahs can get anywhere they want to, in the nick of time). No matter what, the Beemahs(who consider the Winslow worthless and are under a kill-on-sight order) would deliver the Winslow to the Prime Mover(who already had an agreement with Godot to fix everything if the Winslow was found). Par and/or the Pogs giving up would have just caused ''less'' trouble.]]

* NoTranshumanismAllowed: Subverted. Humans like to tinker.

** And he pulls one even more complex to resolve ''The Gallimaufry''. [[spoiler:He offers the Pogs an increasingly ridiculous plan because he knows they'll go along with anything to get the Winslow, and ''also'' plays into his expectations of how Par will react (and that the Beemahs can get anywhere they want to, in the nick of time). No matter what, the Beemahs would deliver the Winslow to the Prime Mover, who already had an agreement with Godot to fix everything if the Winslow was found. Par and/or the Pogs giving up would have just caused ''less'' trouble.]]

** The way Buck resolves his problem at the end of ''[=PSmIth=]''. [[spoiler:Alternatives: If Der Rock had surrendered the device to [=PSmIth=] and hidden, [=PSmIth=] summons "He-Who-Must-Be-Watered", everything is explained (HWMBW knows Godot and his reputation), Godot is paid after HWMBW leaves again. If [=PSmIth=] hadn't attacked Der Rock for the device, Der Rock would have to pay Godot or suffer a blow to ''his'' reputation. And, finally, if/when [=PSmIth=] discovered 'he' had the fake? Well...he didn't have a business relationship with Godot, and everyone knows it's Der Rock who has the real device...so Der Rock would take the fall. HWMBW has no reason to be miffed a Buck.]]

** The way Buck resolves his problem at the end of ''[=PSmIth=]'' has to be seen to be believed. [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070927 Starts here.]]
*** [[spoiler:Alternatives; If Der Rock had surrendered the device to [=PSmIth=] and hidden, [=PSmIth=] summons "He-Who-Must-Be-Watered", everything is explained(HWMBW knows Godot and his reputation), Godot is paid after HWMBW leaves again. If [=PSmIth=] hadn't attacked Der Rock for the device, Der Rock would have to pay Godot or suffer a blow to ''his'' reputation. And, finally, if/when PSmIth discovered 'he' had the fake? Well...he didn't have a business relationship with Godot, and everyone knows it's Der Rock who has the real device...so Der Rock would take th fall. HWMBW has no reason to be miffed a Buck.]]
** And he pulls one even more complex to resolve "The Gallimaufry," [[spoiler:offering the Pogs an increasingly ridiculous plan because he knows they'll go along with anything to get the Winslow, and ''also'' playing into his expectations of how Par will react (and that the Beemahs can get anywhere they want to, in the nick of time).]]
*** [[spoiler:No matter what, the Beemahs would deliver the Winslow to the Prime Mover, who already had an agreement with Godot to fix everything if the Winslow was found. Par and/or the Pogs giving up would have just caused ''less'' trouble.]]

*** [[spoiler:Alternatives; If Der Rock had surrendered the device to [=PSmIth=] and hidden, [=PSmIth=] summons "He-Who-Must-Be-Watered", everything is explained(HWMBW knows Godot and his reputation), Godot is paid after HWMBW leaves again. If [=PSmIth=] hadn't attacked Der Rock for the device, Der Rock would have to pay Godot or suffer a blow to ''his'' reputation.]]

* SmokingIsCool: Enough to make Pogs look {{Badass}}. [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20090409 See attached.]]

* {{Badass}}:
** Cat-ninja Martin in ''The Gallimaufry'', who boldly plunges into the tunnels where two Security members of the Human Delegation were not only nearly killed but a '''Law Machine''' was utterly destroyed(...!); he actually completes the mission that the others couldn't (and which he assigned himself, as a true Badass does), and emerges fully scathed, battered and shaken: "[[IronicEcho Am I...am I not a thing of...of mist and shadow?]]" -- but alive, which under the circumstances is quite badass enough.
** The [[spoiler:Tax Notifier]] at the beginning of ''The Gallimaufry''. He puts Buck through his paces harder than anyone else has so far in the series, making Buck work hard just to [[spoiler:keep from hearing that he's been officially summoned to perform his tax service to the government of New Hong Kong]]. [[{{Determinator}} The man does not give up]] and Buck isn't in the clear until he's getting on a ship to depart the planet. [[spoiler: And then the Notifier gets on the boarding announcement system to deliver the summons to Buck in front of the whole ship.]]

** Thuxians are the "capitalist aliens," considering even betrayal and attempted assassination forgivable as long as it was just business; they predate [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration the Ferengi]] by [[OlderThanTheyThink several years]]. With a sideline in {{Badass}}ery: a Ferengi assassin is a [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Ferengi_%28episode%29 punchline]]; a Thuxian ''bartender'' is more than capable of fending off an assault by a pissed-off HiveMind.

* GambitPileUp: [[spoiler: The Station Chief's oppression of the Beemahs, which led to the Beemahs interfering in the Pog's plans to infect humanity with a will-sapping virus, which was messed up by the humans giving up the Winslow voluntarily. All of this was because of a very minor gambit of one reporter suggesting Fractal Bombs to locate the (indestructable) Winslow.]]

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Yelling "Move aside and you will not be hurt! I am only after the fat man!" on the streets of New Hong Kong is liable to get you [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070714 gunned down by everyone in earshot]].

** Humans are basically the [[TrademarkFavoriteFood popsicle-makers to other species]], but otherwise share the general hat of the rambunctious, noisy young species that bursts on the scene and is liable to burn out (or get burned out) sometime soon. The older species have seen this a lot already. On the other hand, the SufficientlyAdvancedAliens find humans to be "[[TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer people who get things done]]", and useful for a number of jobs they wouldn't entrust to members of any other race -- such as [[spoiler:safeguarding or investigating the Winslow]].

* AllCrimesAreEqual: {{Deconstructed}} with the Law Machines, NighInvulnerable robots which summarily cart off lawbreakers to an unknown fate like VideoGame/UltimaOnline guards. Surprisingly, this isn't as bad as it sounds. Not only are the laws they enforce still democratically voted on, they are ''enforced'' equally - that is, they are applied to government employees to the exact same extent as citizens. Thus, after the Laws summarily wiped out a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny, most humans became quite tolerant (and even ''admiring'') of them. The rest simply move to worlds where fewer of the Laws have been passed.

** [[spoiler:Humans just think it's an idiot, which is why the Prime Mover was willing to entrust it to them. Beemahs share that opinion, which is why humanity was allowed to pass it on to them.]]

* MacGuffin: The Winslow, so very much -- he could have been an inert lump of [[MadeOfIndestructium indestructium]] for all the difference it would have made to the plot. Given a great big LampshadeHanging, with much discussion of the fact that although everybody knows he's very important, there's no general agreement on exactly ''why''.

Following the success of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', the original series was released online in [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buck.html web-comic form]]. The last installment of ''The Gallimaufry'' went up on June 20th, 2009. The following week saw a reprinting the three-page "True Story of the Winslow". And that appears to be that. ([[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20091101 Almost.]]) One of the original short stories (the one with nudity) is not included at the above site. We're sure you can find it if you look hard, though ([[http://www.drivethrucomics.com/product/123252/Buck-Godot-Zap-Gun-for-Hire-Volume-1?filters=0_0_0and by 'look' we meen 'give' and by 'hard' we mean 'Phil Foglio your money']]).

Following the success of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', the original series was released online in [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buck.html web-comic form]]. The last installment of ''The Gallimaufry'' went up on June 20th, 2009. The following week saw a reprinting the three-page "True Story of the Winslow". And that appears to be that. ([[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20091101 Almost.]]) One of the original short stories (the one with nudity) is not included at the above site. We're sure you can find it if you look hard, though.

* WretchedHive: New Hong Kong is a Lawless planet where nobody thinks anything of people being shot down in the streets, and a place like Asteroid Al's Bar, which would be a BadGuyBar on most other planets, is just an average local hangout.

* HangoverSensitivity: The hive-mind bounty hunter Psmith(s) after having 138 drinks in alphabetical order from Asteroid Al's Bar menu.

* HideousHangoverCure: In the Psmith storyline, there's "Thank Prime", a mixture that we never learn the ingredients for, but it's apparently ultra-effective, instantaneously curing a hivemind-sized hangover with no side-effects... its taste is never brought up.

** Psmith.
** He-Who-Must-Be-Watered.
--->''[[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070922 hiya, buck]]''.