Fiona:"You're the first person to say it that way... back where I belong, I mean. Everyone else says home."
Hall:"Well, it's not the same thing, is it? Only you can know what is home for you."
Supernormal Step is a Alternate Universe fantasy webcomic by Michael Lee Lunsford that updates Mondays and Thursdays. Central to the comic are two universes: our normal 'Verse and the Supernormal 'Verse. Fiona, a blue-haired but otherwise normal girl from our regular 'Verse, is accidentally pulled to the Supernormal 'Verse by two men: Jerk Ass Jim, who is cursed to transform into a stuffed bunny whenever he does something malicious, and Charmer Van, who is following/helping Jim ostensibly for shits and giggles, but really out of a sense of responsibility.The comic follows Fiona's efforts to return to where she belongs as well as the effects of Fiona's arrival on the Supernormal 'Verse. Although at first the 'Verse appears quirky and strange, tensions boil between de facto president Cavan Henderson, whose heavy hand is felt through the omnipresence of Henderson Security, and The Nameless, a mysterious anti-Henderson organization with eyes everywhere. Both sides feel that Fiona is vital to their respective causes, but Fiona isn't interested in the problems of a universe she doesn't fully understand. And with the machinations of other strange villains in the Supernormal 'Verse, including the bizarreMr. Kite, it seems that getting back to the normal 'Verse will be difficult at best.Fortunately, she has the teachings of her Crazy Prepared dad, her developing combat skills, and a plethora of potential allies, including Hall, an affable Henderson Field Marshal muddling through a troubling journey of his own. With some help, Fiona may yet find her way back to where she belongs - or find her way home.Now has a Character Page.
Alternate Universe: Supernormal Step takes place on an AU Earth with magic and fantasy creatures. However, Earth is virtually unrecognizable - Fiona only figures it out when she sees a map that looks like America.
Fiona's reaction to learning that Jim was trying to pull her dad into the universe, seen here.
Art Evolution: Comparing current pages with the first few shows a clear improvement over time, especially in proportions and shading. Compare Hall and Eva from their first appearance in Chapter 1 with the first page of Chapter 5, and then with page 277.
Berserk Button: Derry, as a Mood Swinger, gets angry at the mere mention of Henderson Security, but he loses it completely when Fiona mentions that the Hendersons made her an offer, and he gets even angrier when Hall rescues her.
Jules: Come along then. You can be my apprentice... or squire... or... whatever. Van: What does a squire do, Jules? Jules: I don't know; he squires. We'll look it up in the dictionary later.
Also, Eva.
Eva: Hall is off investigating stuff on his own again and being generally nonconformist. Me go do with the sneaky sneaky follow time yes?
Clothing Damage: Hall here, after Eva stabbed him with a pipe. In retaliation to his stabbing her with a pipe.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Low-ranking Hendersons wear colored bandannas on their gas masks to denote rank. Red is the lowest, and yellow is apparently equivalent to major. The eyes of the masks coordinate in color to the bandanna.
Continuity Reboot: Supernormal is a reboot of Lunsford's older comic "Stuffed Jim," which can be found here. It's interesting to compare the two. Some interesting changes: Dave Gold, a minor character in Supernormal, filled Van's role in "Stuffed," and Hall and Eva were subordinates of Mr. Kite.
Conveniently an Orphan: Van was orphaned, but this revelation only prefaces his flashback to meeting Jules.
Cool and Unusual Punishment: Jim's curse. Who would think of turning someone into a stuffed bunny when they act like a jerk? Someone cool, that's who.
Cool Bike: Fiona procures a hoverbike when she ditches Van and Jim.
Crazy Prepared: Fiona's father had a large set of rules and procedures which he taught to his daughter to prepare her for any situation. They have been very helpful, but only in a general way—no one really expects to be pulled into a fantasy world, after all.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Fiona's spar with Van is over in less than a minute.
Jim makes fighting hordes of ghouls and vampires look easy.
Curtains Match the Window: Many of the characters, including Fiona if you count her natural hair color.
And another funnier, slightly disturbing one here.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: Played with. When Fiona becomes the hero of Sandy Lake, she gains the adoration of an entire town - but she also feels like her privacy is being invaded and like others are exploiting her fame.
Fingerless Gloves: Gloves are HUGE in the Supernormal universe. They look cool, but apparently they have a function as well: focusing on the gloves, especially high-contrast ones, helps a magic user channel magic into his/her hands.
And the joke continues. Even Akela snarks about it.
Fiona: Fill me in later when you can control your accent!
Fun with Acronyms /Overly-Long Name: The Office of Acquisitions in Benefit of One and Once More the Good Mr. Kite. Catastrophe Incorporated in the Manner of Manners.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Played with. Hall and Eva are by no means made unattractive by their scars, but the scars hardly match the standard "good" scars. Sure, Hall's got the typical cool eye scar, but the rest are far from typical. Same for Eva, albeit less so. Notice how their scars are not smooth to the skin.
Hands Off Parenting: Jules, to some degree. He told Van not to leave their house, but he doesn't really enforce it, and he's perfectly okay with Van getting piercings and tattoos.
Van:*about his sneaking out* Where did you think the piercings and tattoos came from? Jules: I... thought you might have done them yourself? I'm less impressed now.
Immortality Begins at Twenty: Hall and Eva were immortal since birth, but they aged normally and are both twenty-five. There is no evidence that they'll stay this way, however.
Although not really Insistent Terminology, Hall and Fiona draw a line between "where one belongs" and "one's home" on page 127 that makes it difficult to keep saying, "Fiona wants to go back home."
Jerk Ass: Jim. This is also the reason he was cursed, though the specifics haven't been made clear yet.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Subverted; Jim can be changed back to a human by committing a good deed, but he's pure Jerk Ass and has to go out of his way to be nice.
Kryptonite Proof Suit: Vampires can wear full-body suits to go out during the daytime.
MacGuffin: Supernormal Steps, the highly coveted book Van and Jim used to pull Fiona to the Supernormal 'Verse. Currently, Henderson Security has the last remaining copy.
The Mad Hatter: Mr. Kite and Beatle seem aware that they're... a bit off.
Magic A is Magic A: It's not clear how magic works in the Supernormal universe. It's confidence-based - according to Cecilia, anyone who 100% believes they can do it can use simple magic - and it generates an electromagnetic field but it's never explained where it comes from.
Van: You don't get how magic works? It- It's magic!
Word Of God states that the prominent scar under Hall's eye is from "Eva and an ice cream scoop".
The rare explained Noodle Incident: In response to a deviantART commenter, whose comment was essentially "I bet he took the last of the ice cream and Eva stabbed him in the eye":
Lunsford: Think more unreasonable, like he came back from the store and told her they were out of strawberry.
Sharp-eyed readers will note that the guy from this page is the skeleton in the yellow shirt here.
One of Us: Sort of. Michael Lee Lunsford linked to this page after a ton of work was done on it, so he's at least aware of Tv Tropes (might have something to do with this page being the fifth link when you search "supernormal step" in Google). So... thanks!
While Eva and Hall are a very straightforward example, Jim (red) and Van (blue) get a bit more complex. Jim is "red" in the sense that he is more "passionate" (read: irritable), defiant, and brawny; however, he lacks the enthusiasm and zest for life also associated with the red oni. Van is "blue" in that he is laid back, responsible, and somewhat more intellectual; however, he is not even remotely cold, aloof, or stoic.
Refused The Call: Fiona refused to select a side in the Henderson/Nameless war.
Robot Buddy: A villainous example: Beatle, Mr. Kite's robot assistant.
The Runaway: Van ran away from foster care and was taken in by Jules.
Fiona ran away from home after her dad died. She also runs away from her problems when they're too much for her to handle.
Scars Are Forever: And since Hall and Eva are both immortal, they're really forever.
Sealed Evil in a Teddy Bear: Jim. In his human form, he can "kick people into the stratosphere," but in his stuffed bunny form, he's pretty much limited to shouting expletives.
Van as well. Apparently, Jules insisted that Van have fashion sense.
Ship Tease: Eva constantly harasses Hall for his generally platonic interest in Fiona. This doesn't come to much of anything until this page, when it becomes clear that Eva may be on to something.
The Stoic: Hall has elements of this. Although he shows a full range of emotion, he's usually calm, cool, and collected. His mildly amused expression is roughly equivalent to Eva's childish glee. Until...
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