Webcomic / Alone in a Crowd

Alone in a Crowd was a webcomic by Thomas D. Szewc. It revolves around the lives of, among others, Faith, her friend (now adopted sister) Hope and their older sister Sara. The comic as a whole is fairly cheerful and innocent (if not a bit silly), though it will sometimes dip into more serious plots like Aunt Desirae's career in the porn industry and Hope's less than stellar family life (or lack thereof).

In March 2013, the webcomic went on an indefinite hiatus and in June 2014, the author started working on a new comic that concluded on March 2015. The site itself went down sometime in 2017. Note that a sizable chunk of the comic is still available on Wayback Machine.

Not to be confused with the trope of the same name.

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This webcomic provides examples of:

• All of the Other Reindeer: Faith is bullied because she was born with a pair of cat ears.
• Animesque: The style is clearly influenced by manga.
• Bad Boss: When Desirae was starting out, the owner of the studio where she worked used a hidden clause in her contract to force her into making degrading films.
• Ban on Politics: The Morgan family and the AITC comic claim trying to keep themselves strictly apolitical. They don't succeed.
• Berserk Button: Don't criticize Sara's cooking or else.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Florence is a beloved (if very timid) member of the Passion Studios cast and crew, despite her weight... or rather, because of it. Desirae had wanted to tap into the BBW market.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Hope wants to reward the audience with Sara nekkid & uncensored, but it turns out to be a lie.
• Break the Cutie: For all her time as The Pollyanna, Hope is very broken-hearted when her parents abandon her.
• Breast Attack: Kayla twists Sara's nipples after hearing her having taken in Hope without thinking about all the consequences.
• By the Hair: Kayla does this to Hope after she tried to order a 30 lbs (13.61 kg) ice cream serving for 49.99 $.
• Cat Girl: While she isn't a traditional example, Faith was born with cat ears. She also has purred when her head was rubbed on one occasion and her ears are vulnerable to ultrasound. The how and why of all this has yet to be explained.
• Censor Box: To censor placate the lawyers when Mickey Mouse had a cameo in the comic.
• Character Development: Discussed and lampshaded.
  Hope: What? You guys had a character growth moment without me? No fair! I wanna have one too!
  Faith: Uhhh, sorry? I'm not sure they're something you can force.
• Cheerful Child: Hope.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Hope tends to be overimaginative. Very overimaginative.
• Comically Missing the Point: Aside from Hope doing this quite frequently, Sara does it once, when getting lectured by Kayla.
  Kayla: Just please do me a favor and try to think about yourself now and again, otherwise your life's gonna pass you by before you know it.
  Sara: You know, you're right! I'm gonna go out and finally buy "World of Warcraft"! I earned it!
  Kayla: NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!
• Conspicuous Consumption: Hope's parents were very very guilty of this. Then they discovered gambling.
• Cute Bookworm: Faith's cuteness-level is well Over Nine Thousand and she adores books too such a degree, that the perspective of going to a library sends her off to an animé version of the Disney Acid Sequence (Yomiko would be proud!!).
• Cuteness Proximity: Sara in Hope's and Faith's proximity.
• Fiction 500: Implied that Hope's parents were this, as Hope casually drops the names of famous musicians like the Foo Fighters and Lady Gaga.
• Flipping the Bird: Sara does this to the audience as part of an April Fools joke strip.
• For Science!: The reason, why Hope filled the piano Ben Fold and Nick Hornby with Tapicoa Pudding.
• Friends with Benefits: In one comic, Desirae suggested that Sara and Marty become this much to their mutual annoyance.
• Genki Girl: Hope yet again.
• Godiva Hair: Used after Faith and Hope went skinny-dipping in a forest lake.
• Guest Strip: Has them from time to time.
• Jerkass: Before Hope's parents eventually abandoned her for good, it is heavily implied that they never wanted her in the first place and that she was just another possession to them.
• Kids Are Cruel: Faith is constantly made fun of because of her cat ears.
• Lethal Chef: Sara, to the point where nobody is willing to eat her food...except Hope.

• Loners Are Freaks:
  • In some of the early comics, it is implied that most of the other children Faith's age either tease, bully or just plain avoid Faith due to the fact that she has cat ears.
  • Later, it's revealed that Desirae sees this as Sara's main problem.

• Jewish and Nerdy: Martin is nerdy and claimed to be Jewish, although that could've been only a pretext not to kiss Sara under a misteltoe.
• Meaningful Name: Hope, Faith, Desirae Passions (yes, her last name is Passions).
• Ms. Fanservice: In nearly all of her appearances in comic so far, Desirae has been shown wearing something that is either skimpy or revealing.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Hope loves to invade Faith's personal space, just like Sadia love to with Sara's.
• Oh, Crap!: When Sara realized, that she took the responsibility for Hope without thinking.
• Orphaned Punchline: Hope delivers one as part of telling a story to Faith.
  Hope: The next day I woke up in a petting zoo dressed like a Power Ranger. And that's why I'll never drink that much "Mountain Dew" again!

• Parental Neglect: Hope's parents abandoned her, just the house staff she was raised by. Sara took her in.
• Prefers Going Barefoot: Hope usually prefers to go barefoot because, as she explained in one comic, she loves feeling and exploring what nature has to offer with her feet. However, she does wear shoes when she needs to.
• The Pornomancer: Sadia is one, she claims, with a lot of credibility, that she can get into any girl's pants and that there are no straight girls, only the ones who didn't sleep with her yet.
• Promotion to Parent: When their parents died, Sara put her life on hold so that she could look after Faith.
• Proud Beauty: Desirae isn't shy about showing people, either. It must come with being a porn star.
• Scenery Censor: Used after Faith and Hope went skinny-dipping in a forest lake.
• Shout-Out:
  • Faith and Hope cosplay as Lucky Star characters singing "Motteke! Se-ra-fuku". Watch it on here on YouTube.
  • Sara has a Dream Sequence as Chun Li.
  • Stupid is as stupid does.
  • For Halloween 2010, Hope cosplays Chihiro from Spirited Away, Sara Nausicaa from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Faith San from Princess Mononoke.
  • Martin has a Dalek air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror.
  • One night, Hope and Faith [[Ghostbusters go ghostbustin.
  • In that panel, Faith cosplay Holo from Spice and Wolf, Sara Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club and Hope Ed from Fullmetal Alchemist.
  • For Halloween 2012, the cast cosplays as characters from Sailor Moon.
  • Hope the ninja, doing the "Hope-nu-Jutsu", probably a Shout-Out to Naruto.
  • Strip #257 contains clear references to the 1989 Batman movie.
• Shrinking Violet: Florence Oliver, the pr0n star. When Martin is praising her accomplishments in film, she literally tries to crawl away from sheer embarrassment.
• Spit Take: Faith's response to finding out Hope did better than her on a pop quiz.
• Splash of Color: To emphasize Faith's adoration for public libraries.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: Faith and Hope, respectively.
• Super-Senses: Faith has a cat's superior hearing to go with her cat ears. This includes being able to hear ultrasonic frequencies.
• Symbol Swearing: Sara indulges in this at one point.
• Tempting Fate: Courtesy of an overnight "ghost" hunt:
  Sara: I'm just happy that I can finally get back to sleep...
  BEEP BEEP BEEP
  Hope: What's that beeping noise?
  Sara: My alarm clock telling me I have to get up for work now.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Sara and Martin, even when they and the author of the comic want to deny it.
• Unsatisfiable Customer: Sara runs into a lady who doesn't like sloppy newspaper deliveries. And by sloppy, she means anything not placed directly (and neatly) on her front porch.
• Unusual Ears: Faith has cat ears, and she is quite sensitive about it at times.
• Word Salad Title: An in-universe example. One of Desirae's films was titled "Ultra Bang Force 3: Legend of the Spanking Orc".
• You Need to Get Laid: Desirae is of the opinion that Sara could desperately use a good ride. It turns out Sara came to that conclusion by herself.

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