Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
Not to be confused with a VideoGame by Ubisoft.
to:
Not to be confused with a the VideoGame by Ubisoft.
Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
* AristocratsAreEvil: Miranda Cross, Baroness of Kharibast
to:
* AristocratsAreEvil: Miranda Cross, Baroness of KharibastKharibast.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
[[quoteright:232:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ruse_5262.jpg]]
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* SerialKillerBaiting: Emma attempts to draw out the Dollymop Murderer by posing as a streetwalker, with [[BruiserWithASoftCenter Pete Grimes]] standing by to intervene when the murderer shows up. The plan doesn't work out because Pete keeps jumping the gun and immobilizes every man who comes near Emma before she can assess the suspects' intentions.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** A carriage can be seen with an advertisement for "The [[Webcomic/PennyArcade Penny Arcadian]]".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* SherlockHomage: It is hard not to see Archard as an interdimensional counterpart of Franchise/SherlockHolmes.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* SuicideNotMurder: The opening scene has Simon Archard declare a nobleman's death suicide, not murder, despite the fact that he was stabbed several times in the stomach and his ''head was cut off''. He cited evidence such as a lack of defensive wounds, the discoloration of the man's skin and blood, a faint but distinctive odor, and ink stains on his hands -- which indicate that he hastily wrote a suicide note and did the deed with cyanide, after which the first person to discover the body staged it as a murder to avoid scandal.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 57 (click to see context) from:
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The city in which Archard lives and works is closely modeled on Victorian London. One issues has him and Emma traveling to a fantasy counterpart of Romania and fighting a menace that is ActuallyNotAVampire.
to:
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The city in which Archard lives and works is closely modeled on Victorian London. One issues issue has him and Emma traveling to a fantasy counterpart of Romania and fighting a menace that is ActuallyNotAVampire.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 44,45 (click to see context) :
-->"You-- you're ''insane''!"\\
"No. But I ''am'' petty."
"No. But I ''am'' petty."
Changed line(s) 59,60 (click to see context) from:
%%* FantasyCounterpartCulture
%%* FlatEarthAtheist: Archard.
%%* FlatEarthAtheist: Archard.
to:
%%*
* FlatEarthAtheist:
Changed line(s) 104,105 (click to see context) from:
%%* YoureInsane
to:
-->"You-- you're ''insane''!"\\
"No. But I ''am'' petty."
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Example Indentation In Trope Lists. Word Cruft. Zero Context Examples. Don't reference other examples or parts of the page.
Changed line(s) 22,23 (click to see context) from:
* AbortedArc: The main internal arc involving Emma's secret mission managed to get resolved before [=CrossGen=] collapsed, but a lot of questions about the series's links with the wider 'verse were left hanging.
** Among other things, leaked info suggests that [[spoiler: Miranda Cross was a Lawbringer of the Negation]], and that [[spoiler: Simon's Sigil came from Danik, not Solusandra]].
** Among other things, leaked info suggests that [[spoiler: Miranda Cross was a Lawbringer of the Negation]], and that [[spoiler: Simon's Sigil came from Danik, not Solusandra]].
to:
* AbortedArc: The main internal arc involving Emma's secret mission managed to get resolved before [=CrossGen=] collapsed, but a lot of questions about the series's links with the wider 'verse were left hanging.
**hanging. Among other things, leaked info suggests that [[spoiler: Miranda Cross was a Lawbringer of the Negation]], and that [[spoiler: Simon's Sigil came from Danik, not Solusandra]].
**
Changed line(s) 43 (click to see context) from:
** Emma also has her moments.
to:
** Emma also has her moments.
Changed line(s) 47 (click to see context) from:
* DetectiveDrama
to:
Changed line(s) 60,61 (click to see context) from:
* FantasyCounterpartCulture
* FlatEarthAtheist: Archard
* FlatEarthAtheist: Archard
to:
Changed line(s) 64 (click to see context) from:
* GreatDetective: Simon Archard
to:
* GreatDetective: Simon ArchardArchard.
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* MasterOfDisguise: Archard
to:
* MasterOfDisguise: ArchardArchard.
Changed line(s) 83 (click to see context) from:
* SerialKiller: The Dollymop Murderer
to:
* SerialKiller: The Dollymop MurdererMurderer.
Changed line(s) 102 (click to see context) from:
* TheVamp: Miranda Cross
to:
* TheVamp: Miranda CrossCross.
Changed line(s) 104,106 (click to see context) from:
* TheWatson: Emma
* YoureInsane: See quote above.
* YoureInsane: See quote above.
to:
* TheWatson: Emma
* YoureInsane: See quote above.
Emma.
%%* YoureInsane
* YoureInsane: See quote above.
%%* YoureInsane
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Useful Notes/ pages are not tropes
Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
''Ruse'' is a Creator/CrossGen comic book series by Creator/MarkWaid featuring the adventures of a Franchise/SherlockHolmes-esque detective in a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of VictorianBritain.
to:
''Ruse'' is a Creator/CrossGen comic book series by Creator/MarkWaid featuring the adventures of a Franchise/SherlockHolmes-esque detective in a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of VictorianBritain.
UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain.
Changed line(s) 110 (click to see context) from:
* RetCon: The relaunched series is set in the actual VictorianBritain, not a fantasy counterpart.
to:
* RetCon: The relaunched series is set in the actual VictorianBritain, UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain, not a fantasy counterpart.
Deleted line(s) 112 (click to see context) :
* VictorianBritain
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* LadyOfAdventure: Emma Bishop is described as "A fetching beauty whose spirit craves adventure." Her day job is as assistant to a danger-prone InsufferableGenius Victorian detective ([[Franchise/SherlockHolmes sound familiar?]]), compensating for his lack of social and linguistics skills. [[spoiler: Not mentioned: mysterious time-stopping powers, which she's not supposed to reveal under any circumstances...]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 85 (click to see context) from:
** One of the wild theories about the Dollymop Murders is that they were committed by a trained monkey. This was the actual solution (except that it was an orangutan) in a famous classic detective story. ([[ItWasHisSled You probably know already]], it was [[spoiler:Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'']].)
to:
** One of the wild theories about the Dollymop Murders is that they were committed by a trained monkey. This was the actual solution (except that it was an orangutan) in a famous classic detective story. ([[ItWasHisSled You probably know already]], it was [[spoiler:Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'']].''Literature/TheMurdersInTheRueMorgue'']].)
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 86 (click to see context) from:
** The Dollymop Murders case (a murderer targeting prostitutes) was obviously based on JackTheRipper.
to:
** The Dollymop Murders case (a murderer targeting prostitutes) was obviously based on JackTheRipper.UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
supplanting a redirect name by actual trope name per Administrivia.Sinkhole, moving to new alphabetical place
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Emma is occasionally having to assert, to people who doubt it, the ''purely professional'' nature of her relationship with Archard.
Deleted line(s) 103 (click to see context) :
* WeAreNotAnItem: Emma is occasionally having to assert, to people who doubt it, the ''purely professional'' nature of her relationship with Archard.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
not enough context
Deleted line(s) 69 (click to see context) :
* LadyInRed: Miranda Cross
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 32 (click to see context) from:
* CulturedBadass: Archard. Though he doesn't have a SwordCane, perhaps because there wasn't room for in there for a sword after he'd built in the GrapplingHookPistol, the lock-breaking kit, and the flash powder device for blinding pursuers.
to:
* ClassyCane: Archard has one. It ''isn't'' a SwordCane, perhaps because there wasn't room for in there for a sword after he'd built in the GrapplingHookPistol, the lock-breaking kit, and the flash powder device for blinding pursuers.
* CulturedBadass: Archard. Though he doesn't have a SwordCane, perhaps because there wasn't room for in there for a sword after he'd built in the GrapplingHookPistol, the lock-breaking kit, and the flash powder device for blinding pursuers.
* CulturedBadass: Archard.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
namespace
Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
''Ruse'' is a Creator/CrossGen comic book series by MarkWaid featuring the adventures of a Franchise/SherlockHolmes-esque detective in a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of VictorianBritain.
to:
''Ruse'' is a Creator/CrossGen comic book series by MarkWaid Creator/MarkWaid featuring the adventures of a Franchise/SherlockHolmes-esque detective in a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of VictorianBritain.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 11,12 (click to see context) from:
Like most of CrossGen's titles, ''Ruse'' was set in a small corner of a massive SharedUniverse. Unlike most, it didn't make any explicit references to the MythArc during its run, although readers familiar with the mythos could make educated guesses about, for instance, the source of Emma's powers and the background of the recurring villain Miranda Cross.
to:
Like most of CrossGen's Creator/CrossGen's titles, ''Ruse'' was set in a small corner of a massive SharedUniverse. Unlike most, it didn't make any explicit references to the MythArc during its run, although readers familiar with the mythos could make educated guesses about, for instance, the source of Emma's powers and the background of the recurring villain Miranda Cross.
Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
* ArcSymbol: The emblem on Archard's tie-pin and the head of his cane is the Sigil, which appears in all CrossGen's MythArc books and usually has a mystic significance. Its precise significance in Archard's case is one of the things left hanging.
to:
* ArcSymbol: The emblem on Archard's tie-pin and the head of his cane is the Sigil, which appears in all CrossGen's Creator/CrossGen's MythArc books and usually has a mystic significance. Its precise significance in Archard's case is one of the things left hanging.
Changed line(s) 36 (click to see context) from:
* DaysOfFuturePast: It never comes up within the series itself, but in the context of the wider CrossGen 'verse Archard's world is another planet in the distant future.
to:
* DaysOfFuturePast: It never comes up within the series itself, but in the context of the wider CrossGen Creator/CrossGen 'verse Archard's world is another planet in the distant future.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
''Ruse'' is a CrossGen comic book series by MarkWaid featuring the adventures of a Franchise/SherlockHolmes-esque detective in a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of VictorianBritain.
to:
[[quoteright:232:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ruse_5262.jpg]]
''Ruse'' is aCrossGen Creator/CrossGen comic book series by MarkWaid featuring the adventures of a Franchise/SherlockHolmes-esque detective in a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of VictorianBritain.
''Ruse'' is a
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
Not to be confused with a VideoGame by Ubisoft.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 95 (click to see context) from:
* TranslationConvention: ''< Translated speech is in italics and marked with angle brackets. >''
to:
* TranslationConvention: TranslationPunctuation: ''< Translated speech is in italics and marked with angle brackets. >''
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
namespace move
Added DiffLines:
''Ruse'' is a CrossGen comic book series by MarkWaid featuring the adventures of a Franchise/SherlockHolmes-esque detective in a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of VictorianBritain.
Simon Archard is the great detective, an unbeatable thinking machine with no emotions (that he'll admit to) and no people skills (he's described at one point as possessing "all the crimeside manner of a cactus"). One of his quirks is that, being a devotee of rationality and scientific method, he refuses to believe in magic even as it goes on around him. It's not that he denies the ''phenomena'' (after all, what detective would get far denying his own observations?), but after studying the problem and producing a clever solution, he will also produce a complicated explanation of how it was really just a side-effect of quantum mechanics, or an interaction between drugs and the planet's magnetic field, or whatever.
Archard's Watson is his assistant Emma Bishop, who possesses all the humanity he lacks and is often called on to smooth ruffled feathers. It's revealed to the reader early on that she has an additional ulterior motive for associating with Archard, and secret magic powers that she's forbidden from using overtly. (In the scene where this is revealed, and again later, she is almost driven to using them, but chooses to trust that Archard will be able to save the day in some unexpected but awesome fashion; which he indeed does.)
As the series opens, Archard is suffering badly from boredom: his life has fallen into a rut of Police Baffled, Archard Solves Case In Moments, Yet Another Thrilling Rooftop Chase, etc. Things perk up with the arrival in town of the mysterious foreign baroness Miranda Cross, and unrelatedly (or is it?) a baffling murder that he ''can't'' solve in moments...
Like most of CrossGen's titles, ''Ruse'' was set in a small corner of a massive SharedUniverse. Unlike most, it didn't make any explicit references to the MythArc during its run, although readers familiar with the mythos could make educated guesses about, for instance, the source of Emma's powers and the background of the recurring villain Miranda Cross.
The series debuted in 2001, and ran for 26 issues before [=CrossGen=] collapsed in 2004. Two collections, ''Enter the Detective'' and ''The Silent Partner'', were published before the collapse.
In 2011, ''Ruse'' was revived by Creator/MarvelComics under a new "Crossgen" imprint, once again written by Waid. Now set in Victorian England, and without the supernatural elements of the original, the four-issue mini-series nevertheless assumes that the {{broad strokes}} of the original's story are still canon, and serves as a loose sequel to it.
----
!!The original [=CrossGen=] series provides examples of:
* AccidentalMisnaming: Everybody knows the great Simon Archard and his assistant... Ella? Irma?
* AbortedArc: The main internal arc involving Emma's secret mission managed to get resolved before [=CrossGen=] collapsed, but a lot of questions about the series's links with the wider 'verse were left hanging.
** Among other things, leaked info suggests that [[spoiler: Miranda Cross was a Lawbringer of the Negation]], and that [[spoiler: Simon's Sigil came from Danik, not Solusandra]].
* ActuallyNotAVampire: In the {{Uberwald}}ean story arc.
* ArcSymbol: The emblem on Archard's tie-pin and the head of his cane is the Sigil, which appears in all CrossGen's MythArc books and usually has a mystic significance. Its precise significance in Archard's case is one of the things left hanging.
* AristocratsAreEvil: Miranda Cross, Baroness of Kharibast
* ArtifactOfAttraction: The Enigmatic Prism, which is reputed to drive its possessors mad with jealous desire. Archard maintains that it's really just people succumbing to their own emotional weaknesses.
* BabyTalk: The precocious Adeline thpeakth [[LittleProfessorDialog Little Profethor Dialog]] with a definite lithp.
* TheBigGuy: Pete Grimes, one of Archard's associates, an ex-boxer.
* BlatantLies: "The deductive mind has no use for anger. Therefore, I am not angry."
* BrokenPedestal: Archard's mentor, Malcolm Lightbourne [[spoiler:fell victim to the Enigmatic Prism and became a Moriarty-like evil genius. Archard took it especially badly, since he can't excuse Lightbourne's actions by blaming the curse he doesn't believe in, and it's one of the reasons he keeps his own emotions so tightly buttoned]].
* CulturedBadass: Archard. Though he doesn't have a SwordCane, perhaps because there wasn't room for in there for a sword after he'd built in the GrapplingHookPistol, the lock-breaking kit, and the flash powder device for blinding pursuers.
* CunningLinguist: Emma speaks multiple languages, which is one of the other ways she supplies Archard's deficiencies.
-->'''Emma, narrating:''' Even for all the knowledge in Simon's head, he simply won't bother to learn foreign languages. He argues that the art of communication is one best mastered on a subtle, non-verbal level. I disagree. It's a quarrel difficult to win seeing as how, in general, people don't really enjoy talking to him.
* CurseCutShort: The first time Emma gets the better of Miranda Cross.
* DaysOfFuturePast: It never comes up within the series itself, but in the context of the wider CrossGen 'verse Archard's world is another planet in the distant future.
* DeadpanSnarker:
** Archard is rather good at deadpan sarcasm, for somebody who despises extraneous emotion.
--->'''Archard:''' Thank you for your assistance on the Humbert murder.\\
'''Emma:''' Simon! I didn't hear you-- Wait. I wasn't helping with that. I was here.\\
'''Archard:''' You don't say.
** Emma also has her moments.
* DeathTrap: A recurring obsession of [[spoiler:Lightbourne]], who was reportedly a master escape artist himself before he went bad. An interesting touch is that they're all designed to bait Archard into stepping into them of his own free will knowing that they're traps.
-->"You-- you're ''insane''!"\\
"No. But I ''am'' petty."
* DetectiveDrama
* DidYouDie:
-->'''David Kingsley:''' ...with my final burst of strength, I swing her up onto the bridge to safety!\\
'''Emma:''' And what about ''you''?\\
'''David:''' I fell to my death.\\
'''Emma:''' You ''did not''.\\
'''David:''' No, but it makes a ''much'' better story.
* DirtyHarriet: One of the lengths Emma is obliged to go to to catch the Dollymop Murderer.
* EloquentInMyNativeTongue: Miranda Cross is quite eloquent in English too, but she has trouble with grammar or vocabulary just often enough to remind us that she's a mysterious foreigner.
* EmotionsVsStoicism: Comes up in the context of Archard's character development. The series promotes a balanced view: calm intellect is valuable, but the heart should be for more than just keeping the brain alive.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: In issue 8, someone who meets Archard for the first time after having to put up with one of his enemies ranting about him for weeks on end.
* ExpositionVictim: Subverted -- she knows exactly what she's doing, and there's backup lurking just out of sight.
* FalseReassurance: "The poor man simply went to pieces," said the axe-murderer.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture
* FlatEarthAtheist: Archard
* FullNameUltimatum: "Adeline Bethesma [=DeWinter=]! What have you gotten into ''now''?"
* GrapplingHookPistol: Archard has one built into his cane.
* GreatDetective: Simon Archard
* InadvertentEntranceCue: Miranda Cross's first appearance is immediately preceded by a character, pondering a recent crime wave, asking rhetorically "Whatever new evil will visit us next?"
* InevitableWaterfall: Emma gets out of the river in time to avoid going over it, but it [[ChekhovsGun comes in handy later on]].
* InsistentTerminology: Emma is Archard's [[strike:secretary]] [[strike:assistant]] ''partner''.
* KissOfLife: Archard to Emma. She rebukes him for [[LampshadeHanging skipping the]] [[ShownTheirWork chest compressions]].
* LadyInRed: Miranda Cross
* LastSecondWordSwap:
-->'''Emma:''' Simon, in case we don't make it, there's -- there's something I want you to know! I --\\
'''Archard:''' Well?\\
'''Emma:''' *sigh* Your handwriting is '''atrocious'''.
* LeyLine: There's a particularly powerful one running through the city, apparently, which Miranda Cross makes use of in one of her schemes.
* LittleProfessorDialog: The precocious Adeline
* LostWillAndTestament: The murder of Lionel Oxford-Collins and subsequent disappearance of his will.
* MasterOfDisguise: Archard
* MembershipToken: In one issue, Archard identifies a murder victim as a private detective from the ring he's wearing, which is the membership token of a particular detective agency.
* NotHimself: The police commissioner when he falls under Miranda Cross's control.
* PortraitPaintingPeephole: There's one in Archard's office, in case he ever needs to see what people do in there when they think he's not around.
* SadisticChoice: "Partington... or your partner?"
* ScreamingWoman: The hostage in issue 1.
* SerialKiller: The Dollymop Murderer
* ShoutOut:
** One of the wild theories about the Dollymop Murders is that they were committed by a trained monkey. This was the actual solution (except that it was an orangutan) in a famous classic detective story. ([[ItWasHisSled You probably know already]], it was [[spoiler:Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'']].)
** The Dollymop Murders case (a murderer targeting prostitutes) was obviously based on JackTheRipper.
** A portrait in Archard's house, featured prominently in issue 5, bears a striking resemblance to Creator/ArthurConanDoyle.
* {{Streetwalker}}: Several feature, living or dead, in the Dollymop Murders story.
* SummationGathering: The first issue opens with one; Archard's so bored that he skips TheSummation entirely and goes straight to pointing and saying "Him." We get a proper one later on, during the Oxford-Collins murder case.
* SureLetsGoWithThat: Emma is covering for Archard, who has disappeared:
-->'''Emma:''' Simon is on... special assignment.\\
'''Sekowsky:''' From the gummint?\\
'''Emma:''' ''(sotto voce)'' All right.\\
'''Sekowsky:''' Pardon?\\
'''Emma:''' I mean... Yes. From the government.
* TemptingFate:
-->'''Emma:''' I said, "I'm alive" -- and, I might add, perfectly composed and on my feet -- unlike a certain detective I could -- aaaah!
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: "'Mr. Kingsley' was a thug who raised a boy fond of Cops and Robbers. Call me David."
* TragicKeepsake: Archard's cane is revealed in a flashback to have previously belonged to his mentor.
* TranslationConvention: ''< Translated speech is in italics and marked with angle brackets. >''
* TheVamp: Miranda Cross
* {{Uberwald}}: Complete with sinister gypsies and possibly-vampires.
* TheWatson: Emma
* WeAreNotAnItem: Emma is occasionally having to assert, to people who doubt it, the ''purely professional'' nature of her relationship with Archard.
* YoureInsane: See quote above.
!!The relaunched series provides examples of:
* BeastlyBloodsports: In #1 of the Marvel mini-series, Simon pursues a suspect into a rat-baiting contest, where terriers compete to see which can kill the greatest number of rats.
* RetCon: The relaunched series is set in the actual VictorianBritain, not a fantasy counterpart.
* ShootTheRope: Lightbourne shoots himself of Simon's snare in ''The Victorian Guide to Murder''.
* VictorianBritain
----
Simon Archard is the great detective, an unbeatable thinking machine with no emotions (that he'll admit to) and no people skills (he's described at one point as possessing "all the crimeside manner of a cactus"). One of his quirks is that, being a devotee of rationality and scientific method, he refuses to believe in magic even as it goes on around him. It's not that he denies the ''phenomena'' (after all, what detective would get far denying his own observations?), but after studying the problem and producing a clever solution, he will also produce a complicated explanation of how it was really just a side-effect of quantum mechanics, or an interaction between drugs and the planet's magnetic field, or whatever.
Archard's Watson is his assistant Emma Bishop, who possesses all the humanity he lacks and is often called on to smooth ruffled feathers. It's revealed to the reader early on that she has an additional ulterior motive for associating with Archard, and secret magic powers that she's forbidden from using overtly. (In the scene where this is revealed, and again later, she is almost driven to using them, but chooses to trust that Archard will be able to save the day in some unexpected but awesome fashion; which he indeed does.)
As the series opens, Archard is suffering badly from boredom: his life has fallen into a rut of Police Baffled, Archard Solves Case In Moments, Yet Another Thrilling Rooftop Chase, etc. Things perk up with the arrival in town of the mysterious foreign baroness Miranda Cross, and unrelatedly (or is it?) a baffling murder that he ''can't'' solve in moments...
Like most of CrossGen's titles, ''Ruse'' was set in a small corner of a massive SharedUniverse. Unlike most, it didn't make any explicit references to the MythArc during its run, although readers familiar with the mythos could make educated guesses about, for instance, the source of Emma's powers and the background of the recurring villain Miranda Cross.
The series debuted in 2001, and ran for 26 issues before [=CrossGen=] collapsed in 2004. Two collections, ''Enter the Detective'' and ''The Silent Partner'', were published before the collapse.
In 2011, ''Ruse'' was revived by Creator/MarvelComics under a new "Crossgen" imprint, once again written by Waid. Now set in Victorian England, and without the supernatural elements of the original, the four-issue mini-series nevertheless assumes that the {{broad strokes}} of the original's story are still canon, and serves as a loose sequel to it.
----
!!The original [=CrossGen=] series provides examples of:
* AccidentalMisnaming: Everybody knows the great Simon Archard and his assistant... Ella? Irma?
* AbortedArc: The main internal arc involving Emma's secret mission managed to get resolved before [=CrossGen=] collapsed, but a lot of questions about the series's links with the wider 'verse were left hanging.
** Among other things, leaked info suggests that [[spoiler: Miranda Cross was a Lawbringer of the Negation]], and that [[spoiler: Simon's Sigil came from Danik, not Solusandra]].
* ActuallyNotAVampire: In the {{Uberwald}}ean story arc.
* ArcSymbol: The emblem on Archard's tie-pin and the head of his cane is the Sigil, which appears in all CrossGen's MythArc books and usually has a mystic significance. Its precise significance in Archard's case is one of the things left hanging.
* AristocratsAreEvil: Miranda Cross, Baroness of Kharibast
* ArtifactOfAttraction: The Enigmatic Prism, which is reputed to drive its possessors mad with jealous desire. Archard maintains that it's really just people succumbing to their own emotional weaknesses.
* BabyTalk: The precocious Adeline thpeakth [[LittleProfessorDialog Little Profethor Dialog]] with a definite lithp.
* TheBigGuy: Pete Grimes, one of Archard's associates, an ex-boxer.
* BlatantLies: "The deductive mind has no use for anger. Therefore, I am not angry."
* BrokenPedestal: Archard's mentor, Malcolm Lightbourne [[spoiler:fell victim to the Enigmatic Prism and became a Moriarty-like evil genius. Archard took it especially badly, since he can't excuse Lightbourne's actions by blaming the curse he doesn't believe in, and it's one of the reasons he keeps his own emotions so tightly buttoned]].
* CulturedBadass: Archard. Though he doesn't have a SwordCane, perhaps because there wasn't room for in there for a sword after he'd built in the GrapplingHookPistol, the lock-breaking kit, and the flash powder device for blinding pursuers.
* CunningLinguist: Emma speaks multiple languages, which is one of the other ways she supplies Archard's deficiencies.
-->'''Emma, narrating:''' Even for all the knowledge in Simon's head, he simply won't bother to learn foreign languages. He argues that the art of communication is one best mastered on a subtle, non-verbal level. I disagree. It's a quarrel difficult to win seeing as how, in general, people don't really enjoy talking to him.
* CurseCutShort: The first time Emma gets the better of Miranda Cross.
* DaysOfFuturePast: It never comes up within the series itself, but in the context of the wider CrossGen 'verse Archard's world is another planet in the distant future.
* DeadpanSnarker:
** Archard is rather good at deadpan sarcasm, for somebody who despises extraneous emotion.
--->'''Archard:''' Thank you for your assistance on the Humbert murder.\\
'''Emma:''' Simon! I didn't hear you-- Wait. I wasn't helping with that. I was here.\\
'''Archard:''' You don't say.
** Emma also has her moments.
* DeathTrap: A recurring obsession of [[spoiler:Lightbourne]], who was reportedly a master escape artist himself before he went bad. An interesting touch is that they're all designed to bait Archard into stepping into them of his own free will knowing that they're traps.
-->"You-- you're ''insane''!"\\
"No. But I ''am'' petty."
* DetectiveDrama
* DidYouDie:
-->'''David Kingsley:''' ...with my final burst of strength, I swing her up onto the bridge to safety!\\
'''Emma:''' And what about ''you''?\\
'''David:''' I fell to my death.\\
'''Emma:''' You ''did not''.\\
'''David:''' No, but it makes a ''much'' better story.
* DirtyHarriet: One of the lengths Emma is obliged to go to to catch the Dollymop Murderer.
* EloquentInMyNativeTongue: Miranda Cross is quite eloquent in English too, but she has trouble with grammar or vocabulary just often enough to remind us that she's a mysterious foreigner.
* EmotionsVsStoicism: Comes up in the context of Archard's character development. The series promotes a balanced view: calm intellect is valuable, but the heart should be for more than just keeping the brain alive.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: In issue 8, someone who meets Archard for the first time after having to put up with one of his enemies ranting about him for weeks on end.
* ExpositionVictim: Subverted -- she knows exactly what she's doing, and there's backup lurking just out of sight.
* FalseReassurance: "The poor man simply went to pieces," said the axe-murderer.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture
* FlatEarthAtheist: Archard
* FullNameUltimatum: "Adeline Bethesma [=DeWinter=]! What have you gotten into ''now''?"
* GrapplingHookPistol: Archard has one built into his cane.
* GreatDetective: Simon Archard
* InadvertentEntranceCue: Miranda Cross's first appearance is immediately preceded by a character, pondering a recent crime wave, asking rhetorically "Whatever new evil will visit us next?"
* InevitableWaterfall: Emma gets out of the river in time to avoid going over it, but it [[ChekhovsGun comes in handy later on]].
* InsistentTerminology: Emma is Archard's [[strike:secretary]] [[strike:assistant]] ''partner''.
* KissOfLife: Archard to Emma. She rebukes him for [[LampshadeHanging skipping the]] [[ShownTheirWork chest compressions]].
* LadyInRed: Miranda Cross
* LastSecondWordSwap:
-->'''Emma:''' Simon, in case we don't make it, there's -- there's something I want you to know! I --\\
'''Archard:''' Well?\\
'''Emma:''' *sigh* Your handwriting is '''atrocious'''.
* LeyLine: There's a particularly powerful one running through the city, apparently, which Miranda Cross makes use of in one of her schemes.
* LittleProfessorDialog: The precocious Adeline
* LostWillAndTestament: The murder of Lionel Oxford-Collins and subsequent disappearance of his will.
* MasterOfDisguise: Archard
* MembershipToken: In one issue, Archard identifies a murder victim as a private detective from the ring he's wearing, which is the membership token of a particular detective agency.
* NotHimself: The police commissioner when he falls under Miranda Cross's control.
* PortraitPaintingPeephole: There's one in Archard's office, in case he ever needs to see what people do in there when they think he's not around.
* SadisticChoice: "Partington... or your partner?"
* ScreamingWoman: The hostage in issue 1.
* SerialKiller: The Dollymop Murderer
* ShoutOut:
** One of the wild theories about the Dollymop Murders is that they were committed by a trained monkey. This was the actual solution (except that it was an orangutan) in a famous classic detective story. ([[ItWasHisSled You probably know already]], it was [[spoiler:Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'']].)
** The Dollymop Murders case (a murderer targeting prostitutes) was obviously based on JackTheRipper.
** A portrait in Archard's house, featured prominently in issue 5, bears a striking resemblance to Creator/ArthurConanDoyle.
* {{Streetwalker}}: Several feature, living or dead, in the Dollymop Murders story.
* SummationGathering: The first issue opens with one; Archard's so bored that he skips TheSummation entirely and goes straight to pointing and saying "Him." We get a proper one later on, during the Oxford-Collins murder case.
* SureLetsGoWithThat: Emma is covering for Archard, who has disappeared:
-->'''Emma:''' Simon is on... special assignment.\\
'''Sekowsky:''' From the gummint?\\
'''Emma:''' ''(sotto voce)'' All right.\\
'''Sekowsky:''' Pardon?\\
'''Emma:''' I mean... Yes. From the government.
* TemptingFate:
-->'''Emma:''' I said, "I'm alive" -- and, I might add, perfectly composed and on my feet -- unlike a certain detective I could -- aaaah!
* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: "'Mr. Kingsley' was a thug who raised a boy fond of Cops and Robbers. Call me David."
* TragicKeepsake: Archard's cane is revealed in a flashback to have previously belonged to his mentor.
* TranslationConvention: ''< Translated speech is in italics and marked with angle brackets. >''
* TheVamp: Miranda Cross
* {{Uberwald}}: Complete with sinister gypsies and possibly-vampires.
* TheWatson: Emma
* WeAreNotAnItem: Emma is occasionally having to assert, to people who doubt it, the ''purely professional'' nature of her relationship with Archard.
* YoureInsane: See quote above.
!!The relaunched series provides examples of:
* BeastlyBloodsports: In #1 of the Marvel mini-series, Simon pursues a suspect into a rat-baiting contest, where terriers compete to see which can kill the greatest number of rats.
* RetCon: The relaunched series is set in the actual VictorianBritain, not a fantasy counterpart.
* ShootTheRope: Lightbourne shoots himself of Simon's snare in ''The Victorian Guide to Murder''.
* VictorianBritain
----
