Pictopia II is a fanfiction by Dark Mark based on Alan Moore and Donald Simpson's story In Pictopia, published in Fantagraphics Books magazine Anything Goes #2 (1986).
Many decades ago, Nocturno, Smash, and Phantasm were popular heroes whose thrilling adventures were followed by millions. But their comic strips were replaced by bloodier, sexier, and more colorful comic books and the trio was gradually forgotten. After their strips were cancelled, they were dumped in Pictopia, a decaying, colorless pocket dimension that serves as a retirement home for forgotten superheroes.
So, what do they do when they are told the flashier superheroes have gone missing? Jumping into action and helping their pals, of course.
The fanfiction used to be available in Dark Mark's Marvel Fanfiction site
, but some links seem to be broken and cannot be retrieved by the Wayback Machine. Fortunately, it is still stored in this archive. Links to individual chapters: part one, part two and part three.
Tropes:
- '90s Anti-Hero: Deconstructed with Judge Doome -a Judge Dredd expy- and the Regulator, two trigger-happy, brutal, crime-fighters who will happily bully alleged criminals and will shoot them and their pets if they dare to protest.Once upon a time, I suppose, in their own venue, they'd been crime-fighters...of a sort. But the nastiness was there, even at the beginning. They didn't defend the law, they defined the law, in any restrictive, brutal, fascist way they preferred. All the Power that Be cared about was the results. And all the Powers above them cared about were how much their books sold.
I wondered where the chain of bastardy stopped. - Alliterative Name:
- Freaky Feline, one of the Pictopia residents who starred in a "funny animals" strip.
- Flexible Flynn and Wonky Whizz are a crime-fighting duo.
- Molly Moil, one of the waitresses who is assigned to the heroes' table.
- Badass Normal: Wonky Whizz talks the trio into saving the younger heroes is not keen on joining them on the basis of being useless against Flying Bricks characters. Annoyed, Nocturno reminds him all of them are street-level heroes.Wonky Whizz: "Uh, guys, you really don't need me along for this part. I mean, I'm not much good in a brawl, especially between some of those speeding-bullet-'n'-locomotive guys."
Nocturno: (irked) "And we are?" - Bring My Brown Pants: Nocturno fears he is about to soil his pants when he and his friends run into two brutal vigilantes called Doome and Regulator.
- Bystander Syndrome: In the backstory, Nocturno was visiting Red Bumsteer, a friend's wife who had fallen on hard times, when Judge Doome and the Regulator came to arrest Red for prostitution. Nocturno did absolutely nothing when they shoved him aside and took Red away from her children, and he never forgave himself for it.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Wonzy's nervousness when the group are about to break out of Pictopia leads him to repeating himself unconsciously.Nocturno: "But we must try."
Wonzy: "Yeah. At least, I think yeah. You try, an' I'll try to try." - Domino Mask: Phantasm wears a little black mask which hides his eyes fully.
- Experienced Protagonist: When Judge Doome engages in a fistfight with Phantasm it soon becomes obvious he is painfully outmatched. After all, Phantasm had been fighting all kind of people long before Doome was created.
- Expy:
- Nocturno the Necromancer and Phantasm are Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom expies, respectively.
- Flexible Flynn and Wonky Whizz are Pictopia's version of Plastic Man and Woozy Winks.
- Judge Doome, a blood-thirsty gun-toting vigilante whose motto is "The Jury is ME!" is based on Judge Dredd.
- Red Bumsteer is Blondie Bumstead.
- He's Back!: Nocturno, Smash and Phantasm became forcefully retired when their strips stopped being popular. Wonky's plea for help springs the trio back into action.
- I Was Young And I Needed The Money: Nocturno's friend Red Bumsteer needed to bring in some money to support their kids and dogs when her husband was locked in a mental hospital, so she became a prostitute.
- Jumped at the Call: When their old friend Wonky Whizz asks them help to find all disappeared heroes, Nocturno, Smash and Phantasm immediately agree to help him.Smash: "Somebody's gotten rid of all the heroes?"
Wonky Whizz: "Yes."
Phantasm: "And they expect us to come save their chromacolored carcasses? After them stuffing us in this ghetto, behind those wire walls, and tearing up Funnytown, and keeping us away from outer space, and Africa?"
Wonky Whizz: (crying) "Yeah."
Nocturno: "Well, in that case, Wonky, you came to the right place." - Kick the Dog: Judge Doome and the Regulator, the brutal and self-styled Pictopia's law-enforcers, were attacked by Mrs. Bumsteer's dogs when they were taking her away. So, they shot the dogs.
- Master of Illusion: Nocturno can cast hypnotic illusions. At one point, Phantasm asks him to make a waitress look like Smash's departed love interest, so their partner stops weeping.
- The Mourning After: The mere mention of Delia's name is enough to make Smash burst into tears.
- No Fourth Wall: The characters are completely aware that they are fictional characters. In the opening paragraphs, Nocturno are pondering how their world is decaying because their gradual popularity' loss led to their strips' cancellation. A shortly later, Wonky states nobody can help them rescue the disappeared heroes because there is "only supporting characters and crowd-sceners left anymore".
- The Place: Pictopia is the name of the pocket dimension where forgotten comic strips heroes have been dumped in.
- Punch Catch: When they fight, Phantasm catches Doome's fist to highlight how outmatched and screwed his adversary is before knocking him out in a single punch.
- Retired Badass: Nocturno, Smash and Phantasm's days of adventuring were long behind them when Wonky appeared.
- Symbol Swearing: As heading out of Pictopia, Nocturno notes his friend "Wonky was wobbling along under his big straw hat, with a chicken*** expression".
