Line #71 Webcomic/HeroByNight


1	''[[http://herobynight.keenspot.com Hero by Night]]'' is a comic series created by D.J. Coffman.
2
3	Steel City, Pennsylvania, [[MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks September 1945]]. World War II veteran lt. David Day is finally ready to start turning the mysterious [[AppliedPhlebotinum Vitalogy Ring]] he's found in Europe to good use - making the world a better place in the [[TheCape caped]] guise of [[CodeName Hero by Night]]. With the ring-granted NighInvulnerability, SuperStrength and [[GadgeteerGenius smarts]], he's going to patrol the streets of Steel City for the next decade or so, defending the innocent from petty crooks and villainous Iron Talon alike. He'll gain allies, make friends, form ties with the [[BenevolentConspiracy Secret Society of Shadows]].
4
5	Then, one fateful night, he'll vanish from the face of the Earth. Why? And is the simultaneous vanishing of the Iron Talon connected somehow?
6
7	Steel City, [[MediaNotes/TheModernAgeOfComicBooks present day]]. Jack King gets a new job as a superintendent of "the Brick", an old residential building, and while cleaning up his basement flat discovers the hidden lair and belongings of a long lost super hero from the 1940's/50's. Pretty cool, huh? Obviously he'll [[TakingUpTheMantle take up the mantle]] and... what do you mean, [[SubvertedTrope sell the hero's journals to the highest bidder online]]?
8
9	Nah, of course [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality he won't]].
10	----
11	!!Tropes:
12	* AlliterativeName: David Day, Walter Watkinson, Saul Simon...
13	* AlchemyIsMagic: Very powerful magic. Hence, Not a Toy.
14	* AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome: The [[SuperStrength Golden]] [[NighInvulnerability Glove]] seems just that. No strings, like you'd have with a Vitalogy ring.
15	* ArchEnemy: Iron Talon, for the Hero.
16	* TheAtoner: Marshall Jones. Takes a [[TookALevelInBadass couple of levels in badass]] in the process.
17	* BadassCrew: The Heroes by Night, formed by Marshall Jones to stand in for and generally help their Hero when he's abroad.
18	%%* BigGood: Doctor Nowhere. We hope.
19	* BigDamnHeroes: How David and Golden Glove became pals.
20	* BrainsAndBrawn: David and Walter, at least until David becomes a GeniusBruiser.
21	* CaptainGeographic: Captain Kremlin [[spoiler: still counts after becoming America's Freedom Fighter]].
22	* TheCape: David, Jack is more of a DorkKnight.
23	* ChestInsignia: Hero as well as some others.
24	* ComesGreatResponsibility: David's stance - Jack's growing into it.
25	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Is Tommy Rose one? [[spoiler: Yes. Yes, he is.]]
26	* DeceptivelyHumanRobots: The Jack era minions of Iron Talon. Very snarky for MechaMooks.
27	* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: Even the Iron Talon didn't want anything to do with genocide, despite the bloodshed necessary to create a properly functioning ring. Pity that by the time he drew the line, the Holocaust was well underway and the Nazi alchemists he had trained had already created several flawed rings.]]
28	* FlyingBrick: Both Dr. Justice and America's Freedom Fighter.
29	* FreakLabAccident: Origin of Saul Simian and partially, Iron Talon. Upon meeting Steel Phantom, who used to be [[spoiler: humble professor Watkinson]] Jack [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] how this just keeps happening to alchemists.
30	* FunctionalMagic: At least two kinds: [[AlchemyIsMagic alchemy]] and what the druids do. Probably more.
31	* GangOfHats: The Street Pirates. They wield tommy guns while wearing full piratey getup. Complete with a cutlass.
32	* GeniusBruiser: Wearing a Vitalogy Ring will turn you into one sooner or later. David [[GadgeteerGenius built all his own gadgets]], then went on to contemplate the universe.
33	* {{Ghostapo}}: In David's era. [[spoiler: They're reponsible for the ring being forged in the first place]].
34	* GoodOldFisticuffs: That's how you fight when you possess the Golden Glove.
35	* GreatBigBookOfEverything: David's diaries, detailing his exploits, observations and deductions on his enemies and development notes on his gadgets, are practically a superheroing textbook for Jack. And a nice artifact for the villain to covet.
36	* GreenThumb: Seems to be a power of the druids.
37	* HeroDoesPublicService: David worked in a soup kitchen, Jack has a strong sense of community as well.
38	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Golden Glove]] to save David, which feeds the SurvivorsGuilt he already has. Later [[spoiler: David himself attempts to sacrifice his life]], [[TakingYouWithMe in the process of getting the world rid of Iron Talon]].
39	* HeterosexualLifePartners: David Day and [[TheSmartGuy Walter Watkinson]].
40	* HumanResources: [[spoiler: Used to make the Rings]].
41	* InASingleBound: Hero By Night's primary mode of moving around, although it needs some practice to learn.
42	* IWasBeatenByAGirl: Jack WouldntHitAGirl, but girls have no such qualms.
43	* JokerImmunity: Iron Talon. He's a villain obsessed with living forever, so we can call it JustifiedTrope. In a pinch.
44	* JustLikeRobinHood: The feminist trio of thieves who steal only from manly chauvinist pigs, or so they say.
45	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler: Present-day David thinks he's just an old war veteran in a retirement home... until he starts to remember]].
46	* LegacyCharacter: Jack first takes up the mantle to rescue Roz, and promises to give it up. Afterwards he finds that he just can't stay away from the heroing, though.
47	* LuredIntoATrap: David gave his friends beacons to summon him in need. It really was a matter of time before the BigBad thought to use it this way.
48	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The entire mess with the journals is Jack's fault.
49	* NighInvulnerability: David was shot at at least once. [[ImmuneToBullets It ruined his best spandex]]. Also, the Golden Glove seems to grant it (as RequiredSecondaryPowers, most likely).
50	* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: [[BenevolentConspiracy Secret Society of Shadows]]
51	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Walter Watkinson.
52	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They have a HiddenElfVillage in the [[AbsurdlySpaciousSewer sewers]] ([[UndeadLaborers with "ghouls" to defend it]]) and are, by and large, uninterested in the surface world.
53	* PaintingTheMedium: David's part of the story, set in the past, are told by [[FictionalDocument his journals]], old and yellowed, with newspaper clippings, photos, development notes for all the [[CrazyPrepared gadgets]] and so on. When [[spoiler: David gets hurt by KryptoniteFactor wielding Iron Talon]] the pages are stained with blood.
54	* PhlebotinumBattery: The Vitalogy Rings give you a broad set of powers and abilities. Of course, there's [[PowerAtAPrice a small problem of]] the ring [[spoiler: poisoning your blood]] and making you [[AmuletOfDependency dependent on itself]].
55	* PopCulturedBadass: Jack's internal monologue follows the great example of [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker]].
56	* PunnyName: Scott Free. [[IncrediblyLamePun Really]]!
57	* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: Doctor Nowhere, the bowler-hat-and-magical-scarf-wearing, [[TheChessmaster meticulously planning]], distinguished traveller to [[AnotherDimension alternate dimensions]], whose means of transportation, while unimpressive at the first glance... [[DoctorWhomage wait...]]
58	* ScrapbookStory: David's diaries comprise the Fifties part of the narrative. In the story proper, Jack blogs. The diaries are also a handy GreatBigBookOfEverything Jack needs to know, and a nice artifact for the villain to covet.
59	* SecretIdentity: It's a superhore story, so it's a given. Hero by Night has been David Day at first, and now Jack King is taking up the mantle.
60	* SecretKeeper: R.T. for Jack. As well as his personal pep-talk giver.
61	* ShootingSuperman: David has been shot at. It ruined his best spandex.
62	* ShoutOut: [[spoiler: At the retirement home,]] David wakes from a CatapultNightmare, yelling
63	-->'''David''' :[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings The ring]] must be destroyed!
64	* SuperheroesStaySingle: David used to have something with [[spoiler: the Elementress]] which might have been DatingCatwoman, but Roz isn't thrilled at the thought of being superhero's girlfriend.
65	* SuperheroesWearCapes: Most of them do, even though they're impractical.
66	* SuperTeam: The oficcialy sanctioned First Five in David's UsefulNotes/ColdWar story arc consists of him, [[SmurfettePrinciple the Elementress]], Dr. Justice, America's Freedom Fighter and [[SuperheroPackingHeat Codename: the American]].
67	* SuperVillain: The [[MadScientist Iron]] [[ImmortalityImmorality Talon]], [[AlchemyIsMagic medieval alchemist]] and the mastermind behind some of the [[HumanResources III'd Reich's crimes]].
68	* TakingUpTheMantle: Jack, after David. Golden Glove also passes from father to son [[spoiler: or from brother to brother]].
69	* {{Telepathy}}: [[spoiler: David has caught a telepathic spy once]].
70	* TrappedByGamblingDebts: Marshall Jones, when we meet him.
71	* TripleShifter: One of the perks granted by Vitalogy Rings is that the user no longer sleeps. [[BlessedWithSuck At all]]. David took up meditating to be able to rest.
72	* UtilityBelt: Part of the Hero by Night suit. Holds: small explosives, lockpicks, first aid supplies etc.
73	* WarIsHell: David's experienced it and can attest this.

Context Webcomic / HeroByNight