Line #36 ComicBook/CreatureTech


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Creature_Tech_cover_1290.jpg]]
2
3	->''"I'm covered in [[NinjaPirateRobotZombie demonic cat pee!]]"''
4	-->-- '''Dr. Ong''', our hero
5
6	''Creature Tech'' is a ComicBook produced by Creator/ImageComics, written by celebrated author Creator/DougTennapel, that takes RuleOfSymbolism to the max.
7
8	Dr. Michael Ong, former seminarian-turned-atheist-scientist, is assigned to a government warehouse in his hometown which the locals have dubbed [[TitleDrop Creature Tech]]. Ong's job is to categorize boxes of mysterious artifacts, as the government doesn't know what to do with the artifacts. Unfortunately, Jameson, an English ghost, is after one of the boxes, which contains the ShroudOfTurin. Ong and company have to stop Jameson before he enacts his fiendish plan to resurrect a giant space eel.
9
10	----
11	!!Tropes:
12
13	* AffablyEvil: Jameson, also LaughablyEvil. What little we see of Hellcat is more subdued, but still seems fairly amiable.
14	* AmbiguouslyGay:
15	-->'''Dr. Ong:''' Jameson! [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Come out of that closet right now!]]
16	-->'''Jameson:''' In this town? Are you crazy?!
17	* Area51: RTI/"Creature Tech" functions as this.
18	* BadassLongcoat: Lampshaded by Ong's father. [[spoiler: Justified, since it's to hide the symbiote.]]
19	* BackFromTheDead: The Shroud's ability to raise dead people and creatures becomes a driving force of the plot. Also, [[spoiler:Blue]] gets killed by a cat-monster, and his soul is briefly shown in [[spoiler:insect]] Heaven, but he gets sent back by God because his friends on Earth need him.
20	* BatmanGambit: Ong defeats Jameson because he understands that the alien symbiote is an intelligent, moral creature, and thus is able to anticipate its reactions. [[spoiler:Ong allows Jameson to punch a hole in his chest and crush his heart--at which point the symbiote leaves Jameson and reattaches itself to Ong, because it likes Ong better.]]
21	%% * BetterThanABareBulb: Oh, ''yes''.
22	* BigCreepyCrawlies: Blue, the giant CIA-trained mantis. [[spoiler: Apparently they never quite curbed his predatory tendencies.]]
23	* BookEnds:
24	** The comic begins and ends with a SplashPanel of giant eels in space.
25	** The intro states that Pastor Ong rebelled against his religious family and became a famous scientist before returning to religion when he had "questions science couldn't answer". At the end of the comic, Dr. Ong, who rebelled against his religious family and became a famous scientist, is reexamining his own faith.
26	* CatsAreMean: Played with. Jameson gains his powers from a cat devil, and one of those powers is the ability to turn any cat into a monster under his thrall. However, when Jameson turns Katie's cat into a monster, it eventually rebels against Jameson and dies trying to save Katie.
27	* ChekhovsGun: The fake alien mummy at the museum [[spoiler:which turns out to not only be real, but the space eel's rider.]]
28	* CursedWithAwesome: Ong really doesn't like having the alien symbiote attached to him. Even after discovering the superpowers that it gave him, he still intends to remove the symbiote and attach it to a dog after the whole Jameson incident blows over.
29	* DamselInDistress: When Jameson goes into Levi's museum he turns Gordon, Katie's cat, into one of his minions and orders Gordon to grab her so that he can use her as a hostage when Ong goes to stop him from reviving the giant Space Eel.
30	* DealWithTheDevil: Dr. Jameson trades his soul and his hand for knowledge, magic power, and a devil's hand.
31	* DeathFromAbove: Happens twice. In the opening scene, Jameson's giant space eel attractor [[GoneHorriblyRight works a little too well]], causing a giant space eel to crash into his laboratory with the force of an asteroid. [[spoiler:"That's A MORAY!"]] At the end [[spoiler:Jameson rides on the back of the resurrected space eel and summons lightning to destroy Turlock.]]
32	* DemonLordsAndArchdevils: Jameson's aforementioned deal is made with a demon named Hellcat.
33	* DisintegratorRay: Creature Tech has a large one. It doesn't see much use because it takes six months to charge up.
34	%% * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: See AmbiguouslyGay and DrinkingTheKoolAid on this very page for quotes.
35	* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:Jameson's final fate.]]
36	* DrinkingTheKoolAid: Alluded to.
37	-->'''Dr. Ong:''' I always feel weird drinking Kool-Aid at church functions.
38	%% * ExtranormalInstitute: RTI.
39	* FaceDeathWithDespair: [[spoiler:At the end of when the revived Giant Space Eel is reunited with its original, revived, (alien) rider, [[BigBad Jameson]], who wanted to use the eel to destroy the world, tries to kill [[TheHero Dr. Ong]] for ruining his plan. When Ong manages to get the Symbiote that Jameson is wearing, which gives its host superpowers, [[BatmanGambit to kill him]], it rejoins him (the Symbiote liked Ong better). As Jameson brags that [[DealWithTheDevil his demon hand, which he got for selling his soul]], would keep him from going to hell for his sins, Ong uses the Symbiote to chop off the hand. When the demon shows up with several companions, [[DraggedOffToHell Jameson's taken to hell]], and he fearfully states "I regret" as he's about to be eaten.]]
40	%% * FlyingSeafoodSpecial
41	* GiantFlyer: Giant space eels.
42	* GoingNative: Blue the mutant mantis winds up at the home of rednecks Ed and Al...and quickly becomes their brother.
43	* HatedHometown: Dr. Ong hates Turlock, CA, because of the rednecks and the religious. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs And the religious rednecks]]. And [[PreachersKid his father]].
44	* HeroicHost: [[TheSymbiote The alien symbiote]] that serves as Ong's new heart also provides him with extra limbs and kung-fu skills, and even stranger powers when he gets angry.
45	* HealingPotion: The folks at Creature Tech realize that the ShroudOfTurin is the real deal when the blood on the shroud heals the injuries of anyone who touches it.
46	* HorseOfADifferentColor: The giant space eel even has a saddle on its back. [[spoiler:When Jameson tries to destroy Turlock with the eel, Ong foils him by finding and resurrecting the eel's original rider, who's able to convince the eel to immediately ditch Jameson.]]
47	* IfJesusThenAliens:
48	** Very pointedly avoided. Mike Ong has no difficulty accepting the existence of the paranormal artifacts he's cataloging while rejecting Christianity. Even when he realizes that the Shroud of Turin is the real deal -- and that Jesus must have really been the Son of God -- it still doesn't compel him to actually convert.
49	** On the other hand, Pastor Ong was driven by the strange things he studied to turn to religion, so he plays the inversion straight: If aliens, then Jesus. He also objects that the Shroud of Turin can't be what it seems, since having conclusive ''evidence'' of Jesus' divinity would deprive people of the right to ''choose'' whether to believe in Christ.
50	** Michael does convert eventually, but only upon witnessing [[spoiler: the death of an alien Christ analogue on another planet. If alien Jesus, then human Jesus]].
51	** It's probably safe to say this trope drives the plot of ''Creature Tech''.
52	* JustDesserts: The last we see of [[spoiler: Jameson, he's about to have his soul devoured by demons.]]
53	* KissOfLife: A rather bizarre example with Blue. Since he's a mantis, they have to blow air into his spiracles rather than giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
54	* LampshadeHanging:
55	-->'''Secretary:''' Fluffy's in there!
56	-->'''Dr. Ong:''' facepalm Don't tell me... Fluffy's a ''cat''.
57	-->'''Jameson:''' finding the cat ''Deus ex machina!''
58	* LiteralChangeOfHeart: Dr. Ong gets one courtesy of an alien symbiont.
59	%% * MadScientist: Dr. Jameson.
60	* MamaBear: Appears in a brief scene:
61	-->''[A suburban family has said grace and is beginning to eat dinner. Dad notices a cat monster looking in the window.]''\
62	'''Father:''' What in the sam ''hell'' is that?\
63	'''Mother:''' Dear! Don't use that language in front of the children!\
64	''[The cat monster reaches through the window and grabs the baby out of the high chair.]''\
65	''[There is a look of abject horror on the mother's face, then she grabs a steak knife and lunges towards the monster.]''\
66	'''Mother:''' ''Get your hands off my baby, [[HypocriticalHumor you son of a bitch]]!''
67	* MetaGuy: Jameson spends most of his non-Turlock-destroying time making puns, {{Shout Out}}s, [[LargeHam chewing the scenery]], and [[LampshadeHanging hanging lampshades]] [[BetterThanABareBulb anywhere they'll fit]].
68	* MixAndMatchCritter: Jameson mixes a cat and a dead bat to create:
69	-->'''Jameson:''' [[Series/Batman1966 Danananananananana, BATCAT!]]
70	* MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual: Not Creature Tech itself, but another local tourist trap displaying (and selling) items that are alleged to be, for example, a South American mummy, Excalibur, and the face of Jesus on a cinnamon roll.
71	* NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus: [[spoiler:Averted. It's the entire reason why Ong converts.]]
72	%% * ObliviousToLove: "Something about that girl..."
73	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The terms of his deal with the devil specify that Jameson won't enter Hell as long as he has the demon hand given to him by Hellcat. As a result, he remains on Earth as a ghost after his body dies.
74	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Jameson is basically a revenant after he uses the Shroud to raise himself from the dead. He has full intelligence and mobility, but still looks partially-rotted.
75	** Arguably, the Meat Man, who formed from a composite of animal meat cuts given life (and apparently sapience) by the Shroud.
76	%% * ThePlace
77	* RaisingTheSteaks: The steak is very happy to be alive and goes off to "find himself" but then gets hit by a truck. Which leads to the immortal gem:
78	-->'''Jameson:''' He went to meat his maker.
79	* RedRightHand: Jameson gained demon powers by trading his hand for Hellcat's. Among other things, it prevents his soul going to Hell for his sins [[spoiler: until Dr. Ong wises up and cuts it off.]]
80	* SecretGovernmentWarehouse: Creature Tech, although it fails in the "secret" part. Sort of justified in that part of Turlock's stipulations for allowing the facility to operate a nuclear power generator within city limits was that the place had to be staffed by locals.
81	* SouthernFriedGenius: Jim is a self-taught quantum physicist, and also handy with electronics and alien technology. To Ong's surprise and confusion, he's also deeply religious.
82	* SpaceWhale: Giant space eels. Same difference.
83	* SpeciesSpecificAfterlife: Blue dies in the third act but gets sent back to life because he's still needed. He's shown relaxing in insect heaven before he gets the memo to go back.
84	* StrawAtheist: Dr. Ong, at the beginning. Over the course of the story (and a personal encounter with [[spoiler:Alien Symbiote Jesus]]), he reexamines this position and ultimately converts.
85	* TaughtByTelevision: The alien symbiont saves Ong's life by employing kung-fu that it learned from watching a movie. [[HilarityEnsues Including the cheesy dialogue.]]
86	* TooDumbToLive: Jameson will come back from the dead as long as his hand is attached. Probably not a good idea to say that in front of the heroes so they can [[spoiler: cut it off and send you to Hell.]]
87	* YoureDrinkingBreastMilk: Happens to Ong at the picnic.
88	* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: [[spoiler:The parasite gives Ong an EleventhHourSuperpower when he gets overwhelmed by a horde of demon cats.]]

Context ComicBook / CreatureTech