[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blackcherry_6411.jpg]]

->''"A lurid tale of sex, violence, and the supernatural."''
-->-- Blurb from the cover

''Black Cherry'' is a graphic novel by Creator/DougTenNapel. The story is, initially, a rather simple hardboiled crime plot: Eddie Paretti is your basic mook working for the city's local Mafia don. Our story opens on one fateful night where Eddie's sense of ambition gets the better of him; the head of a rival gang offers him big money in exchange for stealing a body from his boss's mansion.

The job goes farily well, but the aftermath is far more complicated than Eddie could have ever guessed. For one thing, it has brought him back in contact with his old flame, a stripper named Black Cherry. For another, this apparently-simple job has changed the infrastructure of the city's entire criminal underworld. For yet another, Eddie's stunt has inadvertently [[GenreShift revealed the existence of extraterrestrial life]].

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!!This Comic Contains Examples of the Following:
* AbusiveParents: Part of Eddie's not-so-pleasant back story, [[spoiler:and it becomes very important at the climax]].
* AlienInvasion: Based on various lines of dialogue, it's likely either Type 1 or Type 3.
* AntiHero: Eddie is a Type V, [[spoiler:though he eventually becomes a Type IV and the ending has him well on the way to moving further up on the ladder]].
* BadassInANiceSuit: About half of the characters. Even Tail does this.
* BadassInDistress
* BigBad: Tail.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The Candle.]]
* ClusterFBomb:
** Possibly done to compensate for the fact that the book [[SceneryCensor is extremely coy about female nudity]].
** Doug's foreword also mentions that although religion plays a significant part in the story, many of the characters are scuzzy lowlifes and thus hardly the kind to censor their own language.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Maleficus.
* DarkAndTroubledPast
* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to almost all of [=TenNapel's=] other stuff. As of 2011, the only thing that surpasses it is ''ComicBook/{{Gear}}''.
* DeadpanSnarker: Eddie
* DefectorFromDecadence: Harold Mars.
* DemonicPossession
* DidNotGetTheGirl: Twice with the same two characters. The second time was deliberately invoked, however, as a sort of Does Not Want The Girl Yet setup.
* DisappearedDad: Mary's father. Also, Eddie's father is presumably dead by the time the story begins.
* {{Expy}}: Fat Mickey to the Butcher in ''ComicBook/CreatureTech''.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Eddie
* GenreShift
* GoshDarnItToHeck: Brick, [[spoiler:[[JustifiedTrope and]] [[OurAngelsAreDifferent there's a reason for that]].]]
* HalfwayPlotSwitch
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:[=McHugh=] and Brick.]]
* HybridMonster
* HypocriticalHumor:
-->'''One of Don Mauro's Men (finds a porn mag):''' Who left this ''filth'' here?!\\
''[BeatPanel]\\
[Starts reading it.]''
* LadyDrunk: Mary's mom.
* NonHumanSidekick:
** The Squirrel
** The Candle, or as Eddie calls him, "Little Candle Buddy".
* NotSoStoic: Eddie.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent
* OurMonstersAreDifferent
* PrivateEyeMonologue
* RedRightHand: Don Mauro's hair sticks up unnaturally [[spoiler:when possessed by Tail]].
* SceneryCensor: [=TenNapel=] just won't take the nudity to Creator/FrankMiller levels, although he seems to compensate by making his characters more foul-mouthed than Miller's.
* SecondaryCharacterTitle
* TheSixthRanger: Eddie himself is this, in-universe, to Father [=McHugh's=] group.
* TheStoic: Brick.
* TeamDad: Father [=McHugh=].
* TopHeavyGuy: Eddie.
* UrbanFantasy
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Tail claims to be this, but this is dubious at best. Eddie doesn't care if he's telling the truth one way or the other.
-->'''Tail:''' I just want to save the world.\\
'''Eddie (punches him):''' Here's what good intentions get you!
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