Demon Aid
was a Fantasy Webcomic by Gina Biggs, the author of Red String, that ran from October of 2013 through May of 2014.
Esta is a young "demon mediator" who troubleshoots magical problems, such as infestations of fairies and supernatural afflictions. Although her ministrations make her popular in town, they do not sit well with her Rich Bitch stepmother, who would really prefer she dress and act like an indolent aristocrat.
One evening, entering her late mother's dressing room, she finds a secret door leading to caverns below her family mansion. There she inadvertently awakens Luft, a blue-haired, handsome demon, who claims to have been in her mother's service, and now appoints himself her companion. However, his lack of a concept of personal space, Jabba Table Manners, and Immortal Immaturity are going to make her life interesting.
Now an Orphaned Series, as Biggs cancelled the title due to low readership and personal issues with the quality of the final product. Her next project, Love Not Found, debuted a few weeks later.
Demon Aid contains examples of:
- The Cameo: Characters from Gina's other comics pop up as Funny Background Events, such as Miharu and Makoto in the first panel of this page.
- Death Glare: Luft and Esta's stepmother get into a hilarious glare duel when they first meet.
- Fantastic Racism: Seems to be some against demons. On her way home Esta gives money to one on the street with a sign reading "Will magic for food," and when her stepmother spots Luft she wants "that demon" out of the house, pronto.
- Left Hanging: The sudden cancellation of the series came on a page that revealed that Esta's mother is still alive and Luft is not what he seems. The author has however provided a text verion of what she had planned out (though somewhat incomplete due to being a draft rather then a final product)
- Orphaned Series: Though Biggs had previously announced the project would be put into a once-a-week backburner while she spun up another project, the May 14th, 2014 update suddenly revealed that the series was actually cancelled after only its first chapter due to various issues the author saw with the series, which she detailed in a follow up post, as well as low readership she attributed due to these self-perceived issues. She originally described the issues as "Falling into every trap [she] warns new authors of"
- Schmuck Bait: The hidden door has "GREAT PERIL WITHIN DO NOT ENTER" carved on it... and its key hanging on a string.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: In chapter 1, we see one of Esta's cousins get caught by Esta while wearing a male uniform. She confesses that she feels more comfortable dressing as a man than as a woman and she was sent to the estate to try and break her of it. After the cancellation, the released outline for Chapter 2 would have taken her into this trope when Esta encourages her to attend a ball in male clothes and this leads to her posing as a boy named Apollo. She takes on this identity full time as events on the family estate take a darker turn.
- Tsundere: Luft seems to be good at bringing out such tendencies in Esta.
