"I bet 90% of you are asking how did I get in this situation? But 10% are thinking how will I get out?"
—Enrique
Five Weapons is a comic book written by Jimmie Robinson, creator of Bomb Queen.
In a world where assassins are celebrities of the highest honor, Shainline, one world's deadliest assassins, finds out his worst enemy is about to come to his town. To protect his family, he has his servants masquerade as them while they go into hiding. This includes having their son, Enrique, go to the School of Five Weapons and pretend to be their son, Tyler.
Launched in February 2013, the series was cancelled after only ten issues, forcing the story to a quick conclusion and leaving a number of developing plotlines unfinished.
This comic book series provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Tyler's revenge against Enrique and the conflict with the Psionics class had to be hastily wrapped up due to the series being cancelled. The history of the Old War was also being built up but had no chance to develop.
- Berserk Button: Talking to Featherwind about the arrow in her face, or even using the word face around her. The school lost a janitor and two plumbers because of it.
- Clark Kenting: Enrique can easily impersonate Tyler Shainline mainly because no one at the school has actually seen Tyler except kindly school nurse.
- L'Harma claimed to have saved Joon's grandmother in the "Old War", but as Enrique points out she would have to be in her seventies in order to be in the war and, despite wearing a burqa, a quick examination of her could tell that she was nowhere near that age.
- Clear My Name: Principal O was supposed to be on the same doomed field trip as "Shainline" but she cut class and let Vera take her place. When the bus crashed O's reputation was destroyed. Her family faked her death and hid her, but when they died she was unable to inherit their estate. She found out that Vera survived and that there was evidence in the School of Five Weapons that she wasn't on the bus, so faked her credentials and became the school principal.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Invoked by Joon.
- Crapsack World: For some reason, at some point a class system was established and assassins were able rise from working in the shadows and became political leaders, celebrities and apparently the military. Also said assassins are able to murder people for slights made against them. Children of the assassins are sent to schools that teach them how be assassins. Then there's the fact that anyone in the servant class are basically serfs and it's against the law for them to fight or own weapons.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Shainline himself used to be a servant. The real Shainline died in a bus crash, however one of the school's servants who survived the crash looked just like him and after all the injuries and plastic surgery he was accepted by Shainline's family.
- The Dreaded: Shainline. No one wants to harm Enrique(disguised as Shainline's son, Tyler) because they fear if they do, Shainline will kill them. However, nothing about Shainline's personality implies he would do something like that.
- Dysfunctional Family: The revelation that Mr. Shaneline was faking his identity for most of his life ruined the Shaneline family.
- Expressive Accessory: Joon's eyepatch. Thanks to her psionic powers.
- Fantastic Caste System: A strange and undefined version of an elitist serfdom. Assassins are at the top of the social ladder as cultural celebrities and also as community and political leaders. Beneath them are civil workers and domestic servants, the latter of whom can find themselves in servitude of Assassins and it is against the law for them to even fight and bear weapons.
- Fantastic Racism: Psionics, assassins who have special abilities such as telekinesis and telepathy, are rejected by the assassin community in favor of assassins with weapons. The new generation after the Old War was brought up believing that psionics were just superstitious fairy tales.
- Tyler hatred towards Enrique gave him a prejudice against the servant class.
- High-School Hustler: Enrique shows up the five weapon club at the school without fighting or using weapons but not actually breaking any rules, earning him the scorn of the teachers and the respect of his peers.
- Tyler becomes this also in order to get revenge on Enrique for ruining his family.
- Ms. Exposition: The Nurse
- Noodle Incident: Principle O and the Nurse apparently went on mission together where O lost her eye and the Nurse apparently had to save her, losing her nose in the process.
- School Clubs Are Serious Business: Exaggerated when you consider the weapons clubs are the actual classes in the School of Five Weapons.
- The Unreveal: The Nurse was going to reveal her mission with Principal O that cost her her nose in Issue 7, but she was interrupted by Principal Z.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Throughout the series, we learn bits and pieces of "The Old War" that happen fifty years ago. We don't actually know what the war actually was about, but we do know it ended with Psionics being repressed for some reason and they've plotting to start a New War in secret ever since.
- What You Are in the Dark: Enrique is in the servant class of society. It is illegal for him to use weapons or even fight. Even when he was playing with Tyler, his father made him promise never to touch a even weapon. When Enrique agreed to impersonate Tyler for the Shainlines, he was enrolled in the School of Five Weapons, a place where students are taught how to fight with weapons. Since no one knows who he is, he could easily just choose to join of the five weapon clubs and no one would be the wiser. Even if he was found out, no one could blame him given his situation. However, Enrique decides to use his skill to defeat the five weapon clubs without fighting or actually using a weapon.
- Inversely, "Shainline" stole the real Shainline's identity and built his entire reputation on his name, but it weighed heavily on his mind. He reveal his true identity when Vera returned.
