Line #24 Webcomic/Catena


1	''[[http://www.catenamanor.com Catena]]'' was a weekly webcomic produced by [[CreatorCouple DeBray and Tracy Bailey]]. Tracy began it in 2003, before their marriage, and afterward became a team effort. It follows the adventures of a household full of anthropomorphic cats. Rarely serious, the strip includes abundant pop culture references and snarky, punny humor.
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3	The main cast includes:
4	* Treiss — A mild-mannered but quirky snow leopard, who moved to California because she hates the cold. She's essentially the protagonist, and the world is mostly seen through her eyes.
5	* Belle — The chatelaine of the feline manor. Beautiful, confident, and a bit of a {{Tsundere}}; it's anybody's guess why she tolerates her boarders.
6	* Bear — A thick-chinned black-and-white Manx cat with aspirations of world conquest.
7	* Patches — Bear's younger sister, a less-than-brilliant blonde who seems to think it's permanently 1984.
8	* Buddy — A surfer dude Maine Coon, Bear's best friend.
9	* Beau — Buddy's older brother, one of the angels who hangs around the house.
10	* Mr. Cuddles — A purple tarantula who is theoretically Buddy's pet. He wants to free his fellow spiders from oppression and return them to their rightful place as the dominant species.
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12	Other recurring characters:
13	* Bryony — The other angel, Patches and Bear's sister. She has pink wings.
14	* Hank — The friendly dog next door, who hangs out with the guys a lot.
15	* Ivy — An old schoolmate of Bear and Patches, now an actress.
16	* Annie — The daughter of the pet shop owner from whom Buddy purchased Mr. Cuddles. She's younger than the other characters and doesn't show up as often.
17	* Reaper — As in the Grim. Other than as the object of Bryony's affections, it's hard to say why he's here. It's okay, though, because he doesn't seem to understand why he's here either.
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19	In fall 2011, the comic went on hiatus as the creators prepared to give it a ReTool. The revamped comic returned to regular updates in August 2012, with a more consistent, less pun-driven storyline; additionally, the angelic characters were remade as being alive, while Mr. Cuddles appears only as a plush animal. This new format did not last, however, and due to the increasing demands of the creators' other projects, the webcomic stopped production in 2015. Tracy has since joined the team at ''Webcomic/TheDreamlandChronicles''.
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21	As of September 2015, the original strips no longer show up in the archives, but may still be found through the ''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20040604193121/http://www.catenamanor.com/comics/ Wayback Machine]]''.
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23	It's also available at ''[[https://comicslate.org/ru/furry/catena/manor/0001/ comicslate .]]''
24	!!''Catena'' provides examples of:
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26	* AnachronismStew: The strip takes place in modern times, but Patches has yet to notice that TheEighties are long gone, and Treiss regularly dresses like she's just come from the Renaissance faire.
27	* AnimeHair: All of the cats were originally drawn with this, before the series began; of the original cast, only Belle and Bear kept the look. Bryony, Annie and Ivy, who all came in later, also have it.
28	* ArtEvolution: Originally, the characters were drawn in a slightly more cartoony, slightly Disney-esque manner, and the strip was in black and white. First, color was added in, and eventually there was a rather dramatic style shift to a slightly more anime-esque style. The most noticeable aspect of the shift was Bear, who went from simply having a slightly large chin to having a chin that makes up half the volume of his head.
29	** After the ReTool, the strip was drawn in grayscale, with a more realistic style.
30	* ArtShift: Seemingly at random or when someone is dreaming.
31	* AttractiveBentGender: Belle in a flashback had squealing girls.
32	%%* BarefootCartoonAnimal
33	* TheBeautifulElite: Belle is one of these. Just ask her.
34	* BigBrotherInstinct: It is... ''unwise''... to speak badly of Patches, or to even give Bear the idea that you're thinking negatively of her. She drives him crazy, but you don't mess with Bear's sister.
35	* BigBrotherMentor: Beau. He actually ''is'' Buddy's big brother, but also tries to be one to the rest of the crew at times, which they don't always appreciate.
36	* BigFancyHouse: Catena Manor, judging by Treiss's initial reaction.
37	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Well, almost. Patches is blonde; Treiss is a brunette; Belle has ''pink'' hair.
38	* CallBack: In the very first strip, Treiss reads an ad for a vacancy in Catena Manor, which leads to her living with the housemates. In the first strip of the ReTool, she reads the exact same ad - and scoffs at it, wondering who would fall for a setup like that.
39	** She later gets side tracked by a couple of pretty outfits in a store window... namely, her old outfits from before the retool.
40	%%* CampGay: Harry the hairdresser. All but confirmed later.
41	%%* CatsAreMean: Generally averted, although Belle has her moments.
42	* ChristmasSpecial: Every year. There were usually special strips for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and occasionally Valentine's Day and Easter as well.
43	* ClingyJealousGirl: Ivy behaves like one of these when she realizes Bear is paying attention to another girl.
44	* DadaComic: The comics during Patches's dream possibly count. It gets weirder as it goes.
45	%%* DeliberatelyCuteChild: Annie
46	%%* TheDitz: Patches
47	* DreamSequence: Bear has a rather epic one in which he's in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' with Buddy. Later in the series, Patches takes the entire cast on one through various {{anime}}.
48	* FanService: The beach scenes in particular.
49	* FluffyTheTerrible: Mr. Cuddles the vicious tarantula. He's not as vicious as he actually wants to be, though, crossing this with DeathbringerTheAdorable.
50	* FunnyForeigner: Treiss is of some unspecified Eastern European background, a fact which only becomes evident when her wacky parents come to visit.
51	* GamerChick: Subverted. Annie isn't a very good gamer, but she's enthusiastic, and eventually "bribes" her way into Bear's gaming group... [[LittleMissBadass with a medieval flail]].
52	* GenreSavvy: When Bear falls asleep playing ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', he dreams he is in the game. He almost immediately realizes what's going on:
53	--> '''Bear:''' Oh. I get it. This is like when Gilligan falls asleep and there's a humorous DreamSequence where everyone else on the island is some wacky character in his dream. ''{{beat}}'' I always '''hated''' those episodes. Fortunately, I'm a master of lucid dreaming. Time to have some fun...
54	--> Emperor Uriel Septim VII (who is voiced by Creator/PatrickStewart) appears
55	--> '''Bear:''' Say "[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Make it so]]"! Just once! '''PLEASE?'''
56	* TheGlomp: Bryony is, according to Beau, the only one who has ever dared to do this to Reaper.
57	--> '''Beau:''' Poor fellow has this dreadful twitch now.
58	* TheGrimReaper: Looking a bit like an oversized blue-eyed [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 Orko]], he appears for comedic effect at odd moments.
59	* HalfIdenticalTwins: Litter-mates Bear and Bryony are extremely similar in appearance, except for Bear's chin and Bryony's pink wings.
60	* HeroicBSOD: Bear has one when Beau tells him of the existence of his sister Bryony.
61	* ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: Annie turns into a little pink cyclone when she eats too much sugar. Literally.
62	* InsistentTerminology[=/=]InSeriesNickname: Bear refuses to refer to or address Treiss as anything except "chinchilla." This is a CallBack to how they met.
63	* InterspeciesRomance: Treiss, a snow leopard, has feelings for Hank, a German shepherd, who is clueless. Bryony has a fairly obvious crush on Reaper, who doesn't seem to know how to respond.
64	* JumpedAtTheCall: Treiss did this to start the strip. The call came in the form of Belle's newspaper ad, trying to find one more tenant for the household.
65	* LamePunReaction: The creator herself has one in a corner of a strip where Bear and Buddy observe some hens wearing biker duds.
66	-->'''Bear:''' Look! Biker chicks!
67	-->'''Tracy:''' sobs I didn't write that!
68	* LateToThePunchline: The recurring feature "You Had To Be There!"
69	* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: Beau invokes this trope to describe the bickering and teasing between Bryony and Reaper.
70	* MallSanta: Beau performed a stint as one in the first year of the comic. It was a small CMOH.
71	* MsFanservice: Belle does it both willingly and unwillingly. A lot.
72	* MustHaveCaffeine: Belle is a savage beast until she has her morning coffee. Literally.
73	* NoFourthWall: The characters occasionally address the readers directly, usually to announce hiatuses or for other similar purposes.
74	* ObliviousToLove: Hank the dog is completely unaware that Treiss has a crush on him.
75	* OfCorsetsSexy: Treiss wears one just about every day, and in one storyline, Belle drags her to the mall for a more modern one.
76	* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Beau and Bryony aren't exactly standard angelic fare.
77	* ThePlan: Bear comes up with one on the spot to end up watching the Super Bowl on Hank's television. It works.
78	* PokeThePoodle: The 'angels' in a ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' parody literally do this.
79	* ShipperOnDeck: It's made clear at times that Beau is sort of a closet Bryony/Reaper shipper. Ivy is also perfectly happy to jump to conclusions.
80	* ShirtlessScene: Sort of inverted. One has to wonder if [[WalkingShirtlessScene Bear or Buddy]] even ''own'' shirts. [[note]]They do, but you can count the strips in which the shirts appear on the fingers of one hand.[[/note]]
81	* ShoutOut: Often. Past shout-outs include those made to ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Franchise/StarTrek,'' ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', and ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''.
82	** ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'': Patches and Bryony play with these, as does (on occasion) Mr. Cuddles.
83	** ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': Buddy recreates the menu from ''A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving'' as a welcome dinner for new neighbor Hank.
84	* StealthPun: In one strip of the reboot, they show a moving van with the silhouette of a mule on it... ''pack mule,'' anyone?
85	* TakeOverTheWorld: Both Bear and Mr. Cuddles the tarantula have this as their basic life goal.
86	** Buddy is Bear's second-in-command-in-training, by the looks of it.
87	* ThoseWackyNazis: PlayedForLaughs when Treiss's parents came to visit. Hank, who is [=LARPing=] with Bear, is wearing a Nazi SS uniform. Then again, [[RuleOfFunny it was pretty funny]].
88	** Surprisingly though, it's also an example of NoSwastikas, as while Hank is shown wearing the little red armband, the swastika itself is never shown, with the arm its on being not in frame, or being covered by something else. The most you see of it is a little black squiggle in the center of the white circle.
89	* TotallyRadical: Buddy tends to speak like this.
90	* JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife: Mentioned InUniverse-- One of the comments on a filler comic specifically noted, "tvtropes.org ate my brain."
91	* UnsoundEffect: BEEF! and EMO - among others.

Context Webcomic / Catena