History Comicbook / StrangersInParadise

* GenreBusting: It's a SliceOfLife story, mixed [[GirlsLove lesbian romantic comedy]], [[TheSyndicate crime drama]], and on occasion a Series/{{Xena|Warrior Princess}} parody.

First there is Francine, a nice but insecure girl who dreams of a perfect marriage and cannot quite let go of her JerkAss ex-boyfriend. Next there is Katchoo, her [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and edgier]] best friend who is madly in love with her. Finally there is David, a sensitive young man who is in love with Katchoo despite her constant (and harsh) rejections.

'''Francine:''' [[KickTheSonOfABitch Well, now you’ll never know, will you?]]

* HasTwoMommies: In ''XXV'' Francine and Katchoo's respective daughters Ashley and Koo are both raised by Francine and Katchoo together.

* PolarOppositeTwins: Tambi and Bambi Baker fit this to a T: Tambi is calm and stoic, not to mention more calculating and ambitious, while Bambi is more hot-headed, impulsive, and emotional.

* IdenticalTwinIDTag: Tambi and Bambi Parker are both tall, blonde bodybuilders with extremely long hair, with only one detail differentiating them: Tambi has [[SelfHarm]] scars on her hands.

* GenreBusting: It's a SliceOfLife story, mixed [[GirlsLove lesbian romantic comedy]], [[TheSyndicate crime]] [[TheyFightCrime drama]], and on occasion a Series/{{Xena|Warrior Princess}} parody.

* DarwinistDesire: After Darcy Parker's death, Katchoo's half-sister Tambi demands that Darcy Parker's half-brother David have a child with Katchoo to ensure her family line will have a legacy in the Parker empire. To her shock, [[BadassPacifist David]] turns the tables and offers to make Tambi the mother instead, which would leave Katchoo free to pursue Francine. Later, we see it didn't work, but she had a great time trying.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** "Molly and Poo", a dark psychological thriller.
** "Princess Warrior", a ''[[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess Xena]]'' parody in which Francine is cast as Xena while Katchoo plays Gabrielle. David, of course, gets into the act as Joxer.
** "Not With My Cape, You Don't", nominally a superhero parody, but one that keeps going off the rails and being more about the comically awful relationship between waitress Casey and loser supervillain Freddie, with Katchoo as an amnesiac superheroine who accomplishes nothing except falling off a skyscraper (she forgot she couldn't fly), before Freddie accidentally blows up the world, leaving everyone arguing with each other in the afterlife. It's AllJustADream.

* AbortedArc: Frequent. Some loose ends are left loose forever, and some seemingly important insights and revelations are never mentioned again. The TimeSkip moments were believed to fall under this banner until Francine explained that they were her psychic visions and / or speculations of the future based on her choices.

-->'''Francine:''' Did you ever ask me to do anything I couldn’t handle? If you wanted to be with another woman, [[StatingTheSimpleSolution why didn’t you just ask me instead of going behind my back?]] I might have said ''yes''. [[DidntThinkThisThrough Did you ever think of that?]] Maybe I like women too. We could have had a three-way.\\
'''Brad (stunned):''' [[AThreesomeIsHot ...Really?]]

-->'''Francine:''' Did you ever ask me to do anything I couldn’t handle? If you wanted to be with another woman, [[StatingTheSimpleSolution why didn’t you just ask me instead of going behind my back?]] I might have said ''yes''.
[[DidntThinkThisThrough Did you ever think of that?]] Maybe I like women too. We could have had a three-way.
-->'''Brad (stunned):''' [[AThreesomeIsHot ...Really?]]
-->'''Francine:''' [[KickTheSonOfABitch Well, now you’ll never know, will you?]]

** "Not With My Cape, You Don't", nominally a superhero parody, but one that keeps going off the rails and being more about the comically awful relationship between waitress Casey and loser supervillain Freddie, with Katchoo as an amnesiac superheroine who accomplishes nothing except falling off a skyscraper, before Freddie accidentally blows up the world, leaving everyone arguing with each other in the afterlife. It's AllJustADream.

** JerkassHasAPoint: Ok, Freddie Femur is a jerkass of the first water; he's a creepy obsessive patronising sleazebag who treats women like sex objects, has all the tact and charm of brain surgery performed with a hammer and chisel, he thinks he's hilarious while he's just slimy and cheeseball, and he has hairplugs to boot. No arguments - he's a repellent little man. But, when [[spoiler: Casey is about to leave for home after being revealed to have been working as a Parker Girl all along in David's will]] his attempt to convince her why she should stay after all is actually kind, pretty endearing and most of all honest and completely correct - and lo and behold it helps work everything out. Ok, [[spoiler: he makes a pass at Casey while he does it]] might just be showing form on his part, but it seems more likely he's actually trying to be a nice guy while making a joke at his own reputation as a horndog jerk to his ex-wife.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: With everything he does, Freddie also goes out of his way to try and get a rapist convicted because it's the right thing to do, (rarely) helps people because why not, and [[spoiler:successfully recovers David's inheritance, fully knowing that Katchoo, who he barely tolerates, is going to inherit it, out of respect for the trust David had in him when he gave him the job]].

* EveryoneIsBi: Seemingly all of the women. Oddly, none of the men.