A webcomic by Tropers/BTIsaac, about the adventures of some misfit high school kids. Also includes the Sheyleron Saga, a side-comic that is so far independent from the main story. The comic was launched on the 23rd of July 2007, and is currently running its fourth episode. ''The FAN'' is hosted at Shastrix.com, and can be found on the other side of [[http://www.shastrix.com/thefan/index.php this link]].

Most characters are more or less based off people the author has known personally during his time in high school. Important characters include the following:
* '''Tom''': [[ThisLoserIsYou A less than glamorous]] character and so far, the closest the comic has to a protagonist.
* '''Simon''': Tom's [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] best friend, who's never seen without his guitar.
* '''Adelheid''': A... not too slender girl, who nevertheless seems to be quite strong physically. She can also heal people due to an unlikely incident.
* '''Yuki''': A transfer student who somehow ended up living in Tom's home. Yeah... who writes this anyway?
* '''Marsha''': This girl is somewhat a seriously self-loathing [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]].
* '''Keysha''': Marsha's frequent companion. She's cute, and has a large hammer. [[spoiler: Also, she's apparently a {{Catgirl}}]]
* '''The Juniors' League''': a team assembled by the school's IntrepidReporter wannabe, Bobby. It includes Buck, a card collector, Keysha's boyfriend Pete, Bobby's friend, Dot, and the above mentioned Keysha.
* '''Hajime''': mysterious [[TheMenInBlack Man In Black]] working for a somewhat JidaiGeki themed organization that is somehow connected to Yuki.
* '''The Agents''': A trio of [[TheMenInBlack Men In Black]] working for a different organization called Meta Net Corporation.
* '''Ginger the Cat''': A very oddly colored and apparently sentient two tailed cat that followed Tom to school, and is currently Keysha's pet. She spends most of her screentime sleeping.
* '''Mrs Duckins''': Tom's homeroom teacher and a part time witch.
* '''The Hermit''': A mysterious old woman aiming for the role of TheWatcher. Not much else is known of her, except that she thought Mrs Duckins magic, and somehow [[spoiler: gave the juniors' league their super powers]].
* '''Darren Blake''': Xenophobic JerkAss, who may or may not have a [[JerkWIthAHeartOfGold heart of gold]]. [[spoiler: Also implied to be behind a series of vigilante killings.]]

No relation to [[Creator/TonyScott Tony Scott's]] [[Film/TheFan film]] starring Creator/RobertDeNiro and Creator/WesleySnipes.
----
!!''The FAN'' contains examples of the following tropes:
* AlternateHistory: Brought up a few times, but so far, it's left untouched.
* ArtEvolution: ''Very'' noticeable. Both the quality and the style have gone through major changes.
* ArtShift: More action packed scenes are completely Black and White, and utilize crosshatching.
* AuthorAvatar: A guy in a red bath-robe. Tom was originally intended to be an in-universe one, but that changed.
* CoolSpaceship: The Sheyleron saga has a [[OneShotCharacter single appearance]] from the Pathfinder. The Mikaboshi, while ObviouslyEvil, may also be seen as cool, in it's own way.
* CrystalDragonJesus: Galion, Dragon of Light.
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Blake has both golden hair and gold eyes.
* EinsteinHair: Professor Zweistein, obviously.
* ElementalPowers: Two characters have them at the moment.
** BlowYouAway: [[spoiler: Dot]]
** DishingOutDirt: [[spoiler: Pete]]
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: It looks like Tom's been fantasizing about being strangled by Blake.
* {{Expy}}: Maelstrom was roughly modeled after Eddie the Head, Music/IronMaiden's mascot. Professor Zweistein is ... uh, you can figure this one out.
** Xeletor bears a superficial resemblance to [[VideoGame/{{Blood}} Caleb]]. His name is meant to sound a lot like [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 Skeletor]].
* EvilIsNotWellLit: It seems like the only lights inside the Mikaboshi are either dark red, or dim sickly yellow.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: It has been implied that there are several of them, but as of yet, the strongly European Callista is the only one featured.
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: The Sheyleron Saga has little to no relation to the main story. Or the world it takes place in for that matter.
* HellBentForLeather: Blake's wardrobe consists of leather pants and a west.
* HotbloodedSideburns: Three characters have them so far. Two high-schoolers and one adult, though only the last one comes anywhere near to having the associated personality.
* IdiotHair: Keysha has one. It seems to be magical.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: The titular FAN Yuki uses. Of course it's a war fan so that's justified.
* IstanbulNotConstantinople: Japan is now called Yamato. China's name is Shenzhou.
* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: Apparently, watching anime can turn you into an anime character. Or maybe not. But at least people will believe it.
* MundaneUtility: Averted. Dot finds out the hard way, that [[spoiler: being able to control wind]], won't make dusting easier.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Xeletor from the Sheyleron Saga strips is quite a literal example. Robot? Check. Ninja? Check. Zombie? Well, skeleton so it's pretty close. Pirate? Well, no. But he does look like a gangster. And he's always smoking.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: a form of psychic parasites that are born out of negative emotions, and drain their host of magical and psychic energy, which allows them to grow more powerful, and eventually self-aware, then proceed to completely take over the host's body.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Dragons are god like beings. they are never described or shown on-panel, but the one statue of Galion depicts him as rather intimidating humanoid.
* PaintingTheMedium: Speech bubbles are actually just the text with a very thick white stroke and a black outline. the stroke gets a different color when the character uses telepathy, becomes more transparent when the character is talking in the background, or disappears completely and is replaced with a white glow, when the character is on the other end of a phone line or some other communication device, and on one instance, it turns into a red splatter whith a different font when a character gets [[LetsGetDangerous really pissed off]]. Some characters also have custom speech bubbles: SK-49 has red text with a black stroke and red outline (along with an Arial font), General Zarro had white lines with black stroke and white outline, Captain Nil uses a distinct, edgyer font with a grainy black cloud, and the Mastermind uses green lines in a transparent black box with magenta outline.
* PhotographicBackground: Done in the latest episode with photos of the actual real life locations the scene is taking place at.
* PowerMakesYourHairGrow: [[spoiler: Pete's]] hair grows ridiculously long when his powers are activated and falls out when they are deactivated.
* ShoutOut:
** The Administrator's entry is taken almost directly from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''.
** The Vengador shares it's gimmick with a "monster from Tom's favorite anime show". That show is Manga/{{Bleach}}, the monster is called Allon, and the gimmick consists of their deceptive facial features.
* SuperEmpowering: Implied to be done by Daemons. Empowered people are referred to as 'gifted'.
* TouchedByVorlons: The Gifted. This is how [[spoiler: the Juniors' League]] have gotten their powers.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: Xul'kgmarhin aliens have two voices that speak in tandem.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Demons are banished when you take their picture with a digital camera. This being a TroperWork, the trope is [[LampshadeHanging mentioned by name]].
** This is later revealed to be the result of [[spoiler: Bob getting empowered by the Hermit]]
* WebcomicTime: Lampshaded [[http://www.shastrix.com/thefan/index.php?comic=210 here]].
* WorldOfWeirdness: That doppelganger that assumed Tom's appearance seems nothing out of the ordinary. The fact that he's a mercenary hired by a shady organization is much more unnerving. Telepathy is also a mundane trait.
----