The Ludocrats is a comic book written by Kieron Gillen and Jim Rossignol, illustrated by Jeff Stokely with color by Tamra Bonvillain. It tells the story of Baron Otto von Subertan and Professor Hades Zero-k, two of the titular Ludocrats, who now find that their world is becoming less ludicrous and many of their contemporaries have gone missing.
One of these things is far more concerning than the other, of course. Kidnappings and murders happen all the time, but ludicrousness is important.
The series was very much a labor of love for Gillen and Rossignol - it's rooted in characters and situations the two authors wrote into fictional letters in 2002, when they were both working as journalists. It was announced as a comic in 2015. And it was finally released, via Image Comics, in 2020.
The first issue was released 20 May 2020.
This series contains examples of:
- Art Shift: In the final issue, after Pardy purges the universe of ludicrousness. The art shifts to black and white, with a far more realistic style for a few pages. And then Otto and Hades get bored of that, so return to smash it up.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Ludocrats exemplify this. Good? Bad? Who cares! Meaningless measures! But is it ludicrous and original? If so, it’s admirable.
- Big Bad: Pardius Haemoglandulum von Subertan, Hyper-Pope and Supreme Ludocrat is behind the deaths and conspiracy. Although he’s more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist, and once he explains his motives to Hades and his brother Otto, they seem to view him as the Big Good again.
- Cain and Abel: Otto is a cheerfully murderous, lusty brute with a huge collection of axes. His brother Pardy is the hyper-pope. And Pardy’s the Cain in this analogy, as he’s the one who’s been killing Ludocrats and plotting to homogenise reality.
- Character Narrator: Doctor X-Position exists almost solely to fulfil this role. The other characters find it extremely annoying.
- Chronic Back Stabbing Disorder: Voldigan the Perfidious is famed for (and justly proud of) this.
- Creative Closing Credits: Otto and Hades tear a hole in the credits page before escaping via the cover gallery and bibliography at the end of the last issue.
- Destructo-Nookie: Otto and Gratty. To the point where Hades has the Congress Alarm sounded and civilians are asked to move to the designated shelters until it’s safe again.
- Exact Words: When Voidigan helps Otto and Hades in their final escape, he swears it’s not a trap. He then falls back on this after Otto defeats the huge tentacled horror that was waiting to kill them. It wasn’t a trap, it was an ambush. Totally different thing. Hades seems unconvinced by this logic.
- Facepalm: When Otto starts thinking about finding a consort, Hades reminds him that any prospective Madame von Subertan "would have to be ten feet tall, with a mind devoted to the darker arts of the flesh and a pneumatic steel pelvis", so he might as well resign himself to bachelorhood. Then Gratty the steam-judge appears in the next panel. Otto’s very obvious reaction triggers a despairing facepalm from Hades.
- Fake Defector: Professor Hades betrays Otto to the Hyper-Pope’s forces. But only as part of a larger plan. Which she hasn’t told Otto about.
- Fan Disservice: The first issue starts with a splash page that shows Otto, portly and bearded, stark naked. His back’s to the reader and his genitalia’s visibly dangling. Oh, and he’s completely soaked in someone else’s blood. To the extent that even his beard’s a wet, glossy red.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Doctor X-Position eventually gets vertically halved by Otto.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Otto and Hades. Otto's both tall and rotund, with Hades slim and a more normal human height.
- Love at First Sight: Otto is immediately utterly smitten with Gratty. The herald listing her titles and achievements and announcing that she discovered "four new species of orgasm" probably doesn’t help. It's not quite so immediate on her side, but she is clearly not averse to the idea.
- Mondegreen Gag: Someone mistakenly hears Otto ask for trial by wombat. A wombat duly appears as one of the prosecution witnesses and promptly declares him guilty.
- Not His Blood: When Otto boasts about the resplendence of his blood gown, Hades asks if it’s actually his blood. His slightly sheepish reply is "Not all of it".
- Off with His Head!: Otto decapitates Lord Pulderwart with an axe as soon as the unfortunate Lord is married.
- Only Sane Man: Professor Hades is disturbingly sensible, especially by Ludocrat standards. The others are predictably reluctant to listen to her good ideas.
- Really Gets Around: Otto. When he’s moping about the lack of a Madame von Subertan and his wish to father a suitable heir, Hades points out that he already has nineteen children by various mothers.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: The unfortunate Lord Pulderwart is married to Elaina Triptych (despite his objections) purely so that she can inherit his lands and wealth. Otto handles the actual murder, though, and promptly decapitates him with an axe after the vows.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Otto’s brother Pardy, the Big Bad. He’s done a lot of horrible things, even (or perhaps especially) when viewed in light of the Ludocrats' Blue-and-Orange Morality. But he makes a convincing case that destroying all ludicrousness would be the most ludicrous thing he can do, which is very much in his job description as hyper-pope and Supreme Ludocrat.
