Line #9 Webcomic/Chimneyspeak


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_chimneyspeak-header_4100.png]]
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3	''Chimneyspeak'' is a webcomic by Jack Cayless taking place in America and England during the late 19th century. It focuses mostly on Elgie Piddlebottom, a [[PintsizedPowerhouse dwarf enforcer]]; Alice [=McKenzie=], madam of a prostitution ring with a complicated relationship with Elgie; and Chelsea Grinn, a completely insane serial killer out for Elgie's blood.
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5	The comic has four lengthy chapters, and concluded on October 2, 2013. Cayless took the comic's website down in early 2014, citing the cost of maintaining it, but mentioned that a PDF version might be made available at some point in the future. A sequel to ''Chimneyspeak'' was mentioned as being in the works but it's not certain if this is still the case. A prequel involving UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper and featuring Elgie and Alice near the start of their relationship was reported to be in the development stage. Cayless originally put character designs for the new series[[note]]most of which are very NSFW[[/note]] and some early pages on his Tumblr, but has since created a separate Tumblr devoted to its development.
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7	The story frequently features graphic violence (edging into {{Gorn}} at times), nudity, and sex scenes. While the comic's website was active, Cayless also provided a number of side stories which expanded on the background of the setting, which cost a modest fee. These side stories also frequently featured outright pornographic content, which the actual comic never crossed into.
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9	Mr. Cayless's other webcomic, ''Webcomic/{{Redd}}'' also disappeared from the Web some time in 2015 though Cayless's personal tumblr is still active. Both comics may be found by searching for bumrushcomics.com at archive sites. Some ''[=ChimneySpeak=]''-related material remains on the artist's Deviant Art account as well.
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11	----
12	!!This webcomic provides examples of:
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14	* AxCrazy: Chelsea's body count is in the hundreds.
15	* BallisticDiscount: Done by Chelsea Grinn.
16	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted ever so much. Chelsea used to be the most beautiful character in the comic, and was convinced she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Now...well, she's still ''cute'', but in a ripped-up teddy bear kind of way.
17	* BilingualBonus:
18	** Suka's Russian (which is pretty accurate) and her tattoos.
19	** Elgie's French-speaking absinthe fairy.
20	* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:Alice]] shoots [[spoiler:Suka]] right between the eyes after [[spoiler:Suka gut-shoots Elgie.]]
21	* CatapultNightmare: Elgie's dream about [[spoiler:all the boys that fit his description that were killed by bounty hunters looking for Elgie]].
22	* ColdSniper: Alice employs two, [[spoiler:Question Mark and Tabby]]. They're ''kids''.
23	* CrapsackWorld: Most definitely. Even the supposedly most sympathetic characters are still remorseless killers who have done terrible things.
24	-->'''Alice:''' Do you remember how we first met?\
25	'''Elgie:''' You were a kid who'd taken to whoring herself out.\
26	'''Alice:''' [[BreakingSpeech And you were a thief slitting innocent throats for pennies. And yet you seem to think you're the good guy? Is all that tipple messin' with your little head?]]
27	* DeadpanSnarker: Several characters, especially Chelsea. ''To herself.''
28	* {{Determinator}}: Chelsea's murderous insanity (more specifically, the personality that embodies that insanity) drives her to get up and keep going, no matter how badly she's hurt. It has been theorized that her body massively overproduces adrenaline, allowing her to ignore the crippling effects of the injuries she's sustained.
29	* DisproportionateRetribution:
30	** Why did Chelsea slaughter her way through England, find her way to America, and start killing her way through town (twice), racking up enough wounds that she has more scar tissue than non? Elgie ran past her one night and accidentally tripped her, causing her to fall and get a small scar on her face. She went ''ballistic''.
31	** Suka had a pretty good one as well [[spoiler:after Alice's husband left her]].
32	--->'''Suka:''' Are you sad? '''Why are you sad!? Mikhael! Kill everyone!'''
33	* DrowningMySorrows: Elgie does this enough that his absinthe fairy is practically a character of her own.
34	* DynamicEntry: Chelsea. First when she rams a boat into [[spoiler:an English dock on her return from Australia]]. Shortly thereafter, she goes into a tavern to track down Elgie. [[spoiler:The blood of the people upstairs soaks through the floor and [[DroolHello begins to drip on the people in the basement]]]].
35	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Elgie will murder all the adults you want him to kill, but children are off limits for ''anything''. And most of the people he kills are utter depraved lunatics or total bastards.
36	* EyeColorChange: Chelsea Grinn's eyes change colors depending on which of her personalities is in control. When she gets red rings around her pupils, everyone around her tends to die horribly.
37	* EyeScream: At the end of their fight in the street, [[spoiler:Chelsea cuts Elgie's face open with his own knife, damaging his left eye]].
38	* FadeToWhite: Soon after [[spoiler:Elgie gets shot]]. There's a small "...Ouch..." in the middle of the white space.
39	* FanService:
40	** Suka and Alice get a ''lot'' of screen time in various stages of undress. Alice even spends most of her time in the last part of ch. 4 wearing nothing but a shirt tied around her waist.
41	** The Working Girls are frequently shown plying their trade.
42	** Chelsea gets her fair share as well, but is more FanDisservice because of her scars.
43	* GlasgowGrin: [[PropheticNames With a name like Chelsea Grinn]], it would have been [[SubvertedTrope a surprise]] to anyone in the present if she ''didn't'' have this. The side story "Smile" reveals how she got it.
44	* GoodScarsEvilScars: Chelsea's first scar actually falls into the "cute but warlike" top-of-page example on the trope page, and it's solidly within the good scars rage on her "good" [[SplitPersonality mental construct]]. The rest of her scars, on the other hand, especially the cheek scars that never healed right...
45	* GratuitousFrench: Elgie's absinthe fairy, and Elgie when she's around.
46	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Apparently, random murder is OK, but pimping kids isn't.
47	* HeterosexualLifePartners: {{Invoked\|Trope}} by Alice in ch. 4, strip 53, in reference to Elgie, although they're really PlatonicLifePartners (see below).
48	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: A climactic example in ch.4, when [[spoiler:Chelsea]] is (apparently) killed by the very sword used to kill [[spoiler:Angus]] only a few panels earlier, thanks to some very unfortunate position shifts and [[spoiler:Angus]] not having the good grace to fall down immediately after being impaled.
49	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Subverted. She engages in child prostitution, got her position by hiring a man to kill her predecessor's husband, and taking over when she broke down. She also employs children [[spoiler:as snipers]].
50	* IgnoreTheFanservice: This comes up both in the original comic and the prequel. Elgie's been around Alice and the Working Girls so much that nothing about their attire (or lack thereof) or what they do in their "work" fazes him, and he appears to be similarly unmoved by seeing Chelsea in the altogether.
51	* ImpaledPalm: Happens to [[spoiler:Chelsea]] during [[spoiler:her fight with Elgie]].
52	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: This happens to several people over the course of the comic, but the most significant instance happens in ch. 4, when [[spoiler:Chelsea]] puts a claymore all the way through [[spoiler:Angus]]. Shortly after, since [[spoiler:Angus]] has a sword blade sticking out of his chest but is still standing, [[spoiler:Bonnie]] kicks him in the back. [[spoiler:Chelsea, who has moved around in front of him, gets skewered, apparently through the heart, which ''finally'' kills her]].
53	* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: A brutal fight between Elgie and Chelsea is intercut with panels showing Suka and Alice having sex, which is happening at the same time elsewhere.
54	* InTheBlood: The queen of England claims that all the Grinns are as bloodthirsty as Chelsea, although there is evidence that they know exactly what they're doing. Not Chelsea, though. She's just crazy.
55	* KarmicJackpot: Chelsea spares an entire ''group'' of people in the basement of a bar that she had planned to slaughter gleefully, all because she recognizes one man there who had given her a single genuine compliment six years earlier. And yet she still blows a guy's head off for ''telling her what she wanted to know'' (just because some ''other'' guy vowed to kill him once they got out).
56	* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:Chelsea (depending on how you interpret what happened to her during the climactic swordfight) and her parents]], based on the fallout from strip 44 and strips 54 and 55 of ch.4. [[spoiler:The mask-wearing man is wearing Mr. Grinn's coat and carrying his sword]], and cooks up a plot to squat in [[spoiler:the Grinn's mansion]]. His cohorts also mention doing a good job with the graves.
57	* TheLadette: Suka ([[LesYay except when she's with Alice]]).
58	* LetsYouAndHimFight: The Russians and the Scots all arrive at Chelsea's manor with killing intent, but promptly engage each other.
59	* MadeOfIron:
60	** Elgie is 2 feet tall, and shrugged off having a horse thrown at him and being kicked and thrown around by Chelsea. He also survived [[spoiler:Suka gut-shooting him]], although it was touch-and-go for a while.
61	** Chelsea's survived being impaled and having multiple point blank gunshots to the chest and torso. The current theory is that her body overproduces adrenaline constantly (so much so that her usual low point is where most people are when they're on an adrenaline high). [[spoiler:That said, she doesn't survive the ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice instance above, since it appears to go through her heart.]]
62	* MadeOfPlasticine: Bit characters. Chelsea or Elgie are both more than capable of ripping or cutting an InnocentBystander or {{Mook}} in half without breaking a sweat.
63	* MeaningfulName:
64	** Chelsea Grinn sports a GlasgowGrin, also known as a "Chelsea smile".
65	** "Suka" means "bitch" in Russian (in both the "dog" and "not-nice-behavior" senses), and also something like "traitor" or "informer" in Russian prison-speak. [[spoiler:Alice kills Suka and the comic ends without revealing if the latter is meaningful. No word yet on whether or not the prequel will go into this.]]
66	* MercyKill: Chelsea to Heinrich, after he tells her where Elgie is. Alice's pet American tells Heinrich "You're a dead man", by which he probably meant a brutal murder. Chelsea kisses Heinrich on the forehead and shoots him in the base of the skull, through the mouth.
67	* MoreDakka: Ivan states that the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_gun Maxim Gun]] needs more Dakka.
68	* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: Suka and her men.
69	* NakedOnArrival: Chelsea is introduced stark naked, and she murders a sailor for his clothing.
70	* NamesToRunAwayFrom/NotoriousKillers: Elgie is referred to by the surname of "Mr. Ripper" early on in the series, and [[CanonImmigrant the story from which he originated]] connected him to the Jack the Ripper murders. [[spoiler:The author's commentary places this story as [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]] to ''Chimneyspeak'']]. Alice confirms in the third chapter that [[spoiler:Elgie killed Jack the Ripper]]. The prequel will, in part, revolve around Jack the Ripper tangling with Alice and Elgie.
71	* OutWithABang: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with.]] [[spoiler:The comic ends with Elgie about to go down on Alice...again.]]
72	* PantsFree: Chelsea on plenty of occasions.
73	* PintsizedPowerhouse: Elgie's a midget but is exceptionally strong and agile for his size.
74	* PlatonicLifePartners: Alice and Elgie have known each other since Alice was a teenager and, despite the bad blood that crops up between them over the course of the comic, are about as intimate as a man and woman can be without actually being...intimate. [[spoiler:Eventually subverted; at the very end of the comic they're anything but platonic.]]
75	* ProudWarriorRace: The Scots, which is a pretty good summary of the real life version from the time.
76	-->'''Chelsea:''' These men will be remembered as heroes. These men that shot blindly into the smoke. These men that screamed and cried and ran. These men who couldn't kill one little girl. Honestly, I'm disappointed. Are these the best soldiers that England has to offer?\
77	'''Highlander:''' Aye, lass. Those were the best that ''England'' has tae offer.
78	* ScarsAreForever:
79	** All of Chelsea's scars, but most importantly the first one. Justified: she's a noblewoman, and delicate skin scars very easily.
80	** Elgie ends up with a couple of impressive facial scars (especially the slash through his eye), and the scar on his belly from being shot.
81	* ShootYourFriend: One of the causes of Elgie's nightmares.
82	* ShownTheirWork: All the slang is correct, as are the foreign languages and the weapons used. Oh, except that the Highlanders use the wrong type of sword, but that's fine:
83	-->'''The Rant:''' Yes yes, sword nerds. We all know that during the 17th century onwards, Highlander officers preferred the basket-hilted broadswords. [[RuleOfCool But fuck it, they ain’t nearly as terrifying]]. And they have an Italian flare that leaves a foul taste in the mouth when it comes to the brutish juggernauts the Chimneyspeak Highlanders need to be!
84	* TheSpeechless: [[spoiler:Question Mark]], on account of having his tongue cut out.
85	* SplitPersonality: Chelsea has several personalities, representing how she was before the accident, how she could have been (if she had just accepted her first scar as an unfortunate accident and gotten on with her life), and how she is now. And then there's the last one, [[AxeCrazy which even the others are scared of]].
86	* {{Squee}}: Suka's reaction to Alice's freckles.
87	* TalkingToThemself: Chelsea did this out loud in the early strips, bouncing back and forth between first, second, ''and'' third person depending on which personality is doing the talking.
88	* TattooAsCharacterType: The Russian mobsters have large tattoos on their arms and hands as a status symbol. Suka's tattoos cover most of her back as well.
89	* {{Underboobs}}: Chelsea shows them off.
90	* VSign: Elgie gives [[spoiler:Chelsea]] the palm-inward version when [[spoiler:she basically tells him to come with her on her quest to take over England]].
91	* VictorianLondon: Large portions of the comic are set there.
92	* WeaponTombstone: In ch. 4, the dead Highlanders' graves are marked with their swords as well as name plaques.
93	* WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt: [[GlasgowGrin Chelsea Grinn]]'s parents could hardly be blamed for [[PropheticNames naming their child after a slang term for certain facial scars]] that wouldn't show up in British parlance until many decades later.
94	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Or, as the author put it: "Why do I keep making all my serial killers so cute?"
95	* {{Yandere}}: Suka is one for Alice, which fuels her hate of Elgie. [[spoiler:Her abusive behavior toward Elgie is what finally leads Alice to kill her.]]
96	* YouHaveFailedMe: {{Inverted\|Trope}}. After [[spoiler:Elgie and Chelsea]] succeed in [[spoiler:acquiring Chelsea's deed from them]], Suka's cohorts abandon her, claiming that associating with Alice has made her soft.
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Context Webcomic / Chimneyspeak