Here you will meet demons, Ravens, crazed pirates, and were-sharks. Enjoy the ride!
Credenza: I wasn't trying to be a hero. I just saw they needed help. How could I turn away from that? I can't just look the other way and pretend there isn't evil at work here. Dragonfly: I've heard enough. Credenza, I think you might be just the person I've been waiting for. — Book 5, Page 80.
A webcomic by H. L. Devera.One cold night, Credenza discovers a man named Blitz washed up on the shores of Ruin Island. Blitz is wounded and on the brink of death, but with Credenza's help is able to recover. The only problem? Blitz has lost his memories as well as his sanity. Archipelago follows Credenza and Blitz's story as they become involved in a colossal battle between good and evil, journey to new parts of the titular Archipelago, and make a few friends along the way.This webcomic can be found at the official site as well as the creator's deviantART page.
Aerith and Bob: Considering the fantasy setting, not terribly shocking.
Affably Evil: Captain Snow is this most of the time, making jokes and snide comments; he's probably very capable of dropping it, though.
After the End: In the back story. There was a Magitek civilization that built the machines like Snow's arm, guns, the submarines, the dragon the archipelago is built upon, which the Great Raven, Dragonfly and 4 other Magitek A.I.s ran.. And duct tape! Also genetically engineered the were-animals like were-sharks and probably the others as well.
Hints that this may be a far-future or alternate Earth, given that the common language is descended from English (retaining the name, but about as intelligible to modern English speakers as modern English would be to Old English) and characters have read aloud from real written works.
All There in the Manual: The cast page explains a number of details about the characters' backgrounds and abilities that otherwise don't get a lot of detail in the story.
The Listing of Names could also count as an in-world example.
The Author also on occasion leaves notes with certain strips that pose as a sort as insight into the makings of individual characters or elaborations on elements of the Archipelago world i.e. information about the inner workings of magic in this setting.
And I Must Scream: Those who are posessed by a raven spirit but are captured or simply no longer useful may be Soul Sealed. Essentially the subjects soul is sealed deep within their body and while they remain alive and aware, they cannot move or act in 'any' way at all.
Anti-Hero: Based on what people who knew him say, Anthony was an Anti-Hero.
Also, Raven could qualify as a type II or III.
Anti-Magic: Knull's gift. Possibly the only reason Snow didn't kill him along with the rest if his family. Either that, or because he makes good tea.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Credenza would like for us to know that Captain Snow is a filthy coward, inexcusably evil, and poorly dressed.
Artificial Limb: Snow has a cyborg arm (which is quickly growing in a cyborg body because he keeps getting injured). For a more bizarre example, Anansi uses scarfs for arms.
Author Appeal: In the creator's own words, "In case you haven't realized, Archipelago is pretty much one big excuse for me to draw strange animals."
Badass Preacher: Miss Tabitha is a nun. A rather elderly nun. Do not be fooled by appearances. Do not threaten her abbey's residents. Do NOT tear books in her library!
Badass Abnormal: Due to the high individual nature of magic, everyone in the band has a different sort of magic, because of the nature of their mission they are also very powerful.
Bad Dreams: Credenza sometimes has these about her childhood
Ballroom Blitz: Book 6. Snow and an army of Ravens attempt a hostile takeover of the Quillotia Castle while King Mikel is hosting a party to welcome home his long-lost cousins, the Luck brothers.
BFS: Riley's sword, The Jawbreaker, is so heavy only someone with a (half-)wereshark's strength can lift it.
Beast Man: Even referred to as such, or werebeasts. Known races include werecats (Miss Tabitha the nun), werehyenas and other canines (Kurr), weresharks (Tuff and Riley are half-wereshark), and wereorcas.
Blind Seer: ...Kind of. Anansi Padma is blind in one eye, but it doesn't seem relevant at all to her seeing the future. In fact, it was her trying to stop the future from happening that caused her to become blind in one eye and lose her arms.
Blowing a Raspberry: Blitz, to Captain Snowafter tearing his mechanical arm off.
Cassandra Truth-No, Blitz didn't kill her. He also didn't kill that guy whose body he was found standing over, literally caught red-handed. Seriously, he didn't kill them.
Chekhov's Gun: On this page, and observant reader will notice that when Charlie licks Credenza's cheek, there's a tiny blue magic flash and her scratch is suddenly gone. In the next chapter,thishappens.
Cordon Bleugh Chef: This or possibly a combo of it and Lethal Chef describe Riley's cooking. His signature dish is best described as fish still-kicking cooked into a pancake batter. Both of these tropes are actually averted, as his dish is delicious, loved but lost by the Pintur family.
Deliberately Monochrome: Color is reserved for magical effects, lending them extra strength and making climactic fights bright and dramatic. The side story about Snow, Snowflakes, was also done in full color.
Also, flashbacks are given the color treatment.
Demonic Possession: The Shadomandyr Queen uses Simon this way. When the Raven sees Dragonfly he posses Snow so he could kill Dragonfly personally, Snow is angry about this because the terms of the his deal stated no possessions. Oh, and The Raven causes Snow to change into a massive raven with a shock of white feather on his head.
Duct Tape For Everything: You're in the middle of nowhere, and the heart crystal, the only thing that can keep your sub going, is falling apart. So you put it back together with... DUCT TAPE!
Dull Surprise: Lucinda, to pretty much everything. Justified since she's emotionless.
Dynamic Entry: Credenza is on the beach, surrounded by shadowmandyrs, and then, suddenly.... Blitz emerges from the ocean. Smashing the shadowmandyrs. While riding a hammerhead shark.
Eldritch Abomination: The Raven, somewhat. Riley's dish that combines fish and pancakes but is so raw that that the fish still move, more so.
Also, Riley's attempt at transforming into a wereshark.
Emotionless Girl: Lucinda. Justified: she had her heart broken (by a man hinted at having something to do with the Raven, no less), and her price for joining the Raven was to have her heart really broken, so she couldn't feel pain anymore.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In Snowflakes, we have Noemi, Captain Snow's wife, and Yula, his daughter.
Snow also seems to be oddly protective of his nephew, Knull.
Averted, also in Snowflakes when we see Snow kill his mother in a flashback.
Even Evil Has Standards: Snow loves tea, and once berated his crew for trying to burn down a tea house. Though he still refrained from warning them when the shop owner proceeded to poison every cup (even his).
Evil Genius: Snow claims to be trained as a doctor, has jury rigged medical implements using advanced tech, can use magic, and at one point animates bone skeletons.
Eye Scream: Ravens enter through your left eye to possess you. Not only that, but Blitz (back when he was Anthony Solair) stabs his own eye out in a effort to keep Raven from possessing him.
Fainting Seer: According to Tusura, it often takes a bucket of cold water to snap Paollo out of his visions.
Fantastic Racism: Usually directed against weresharks and related half-bloods. Weresharks are seen as predatory monsters (and culturally, that's not far off the mark) who are better off dead. Tuff and Riley Luck, as half-bloods (they had a human mother), face all the prejudices ascribed to sharkmen, and even their shark kin would kill them as abominations. It's especially bad in Quillotia, the Luck brothers' home city, which is home to a large population of wereorcas, who hate weresharks more than any other race.
Raven: I am an ancient spirit of the dark. You think you can bribe me with a mere pastry?
Credenza: You're a little man made of ectoplasm. And you have a sweet tooth.
Raven: I should never have let you give me candy.
Frameup: Just before the story actually begins, Anthony/Blitz was blamed for the death of his captain's fiance. Turns out it was actually the captain himself who killed her when she discovered he was shipping illegal goods.
Friend to All Living Things: Credenza, though she makes a special exception for Captain Snow, whom she would gladly personally throttle.
Fore Shadowing: This page shows some of the characters from Book 8 before they are introduced.
Book 2, page 47, Blitz says "Even if they throw me in the ocean, I'll just swim and swim until i find you again." Fifteen pages later, guess what happens.
Funny Background Event: Though the moment where Snow steals Credenza's soul is very intense, it's hard not to laugh at the picture of the pterodactyl with a laser beam coming out of it's mouth in the background. Here.
Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Alice is trying to untie a bag rather urgently. It's got lots of tight knots. So Alice, a girl raised around sailors, starts swearing at it like only she can:
Alice: Crumbs! Toast crumbs! Toast crumbs with butter and jam you stupid bag!
Word Of God says that it's hard to come up with G-rated swears.
Half-Human Hybrid: Beastmen can mix with humans, though it's rare. Tuff and Riley are half-wereshark. A hybrid can get some beneficial traits like strength, danger-sense, or a powerful sense of smell, but shapeshifting into a more animalistic form is generally right out — they can try, but it won't be pretty and is probably lethal. Tuff describes the result as looking something like tuna casserole.
Humanity Ensues: All the A.I.s but The Great Raven in the back-story, Raven starts at the end of book 6 from Credenza's magic overload, and finishes in book 7, triggered by strong emotions.
Human Shield: The Shadomandyr Queen uses Simon as one.
I'm Crying But I Don't Know Why: Blitz does it here and here. Turns out that the first time he's crying the first time because before his memory loss, he had a wife who died in childbirth. The second time, we know about this... But he doesn't. He had just woken up from a dream which was a memory of his wife. Word Of God says Blitz doesn't understand his dreams, they just make him sad.
In Love with Your Carnage: Riley sprouts lots of little hearts watching the "three time champion of the Ladies of Quillotia Wrestling Federation and Book Club" in action.
Snow and Yula, though Yula was not particularly good, and willingly joined Snow.
Mind-Control Eyes: Those controlled/hypnotized by Vaniji. They don't always look like it though.
Morality Pet: Stretching the definition almost to the breaking point, but Captain Snow's nephew Knull and his widow Noemi and their daughter Yulalia, who was born shortly after Snow died.
Noodle Incident: Nim, after rescuing Willium from the belly of the Shadomandyr Queen, states simply "That was definitely the third weirdest thing to ever happen to me."
We're not sure what happened at Mikel's 21st birthday party, but when he brings it up in comparison with Snow's attack on Castle Quillotia, you know it has to have been crazy.
Not Using the Z Word: The Darkeyes. Not all of them are actually dead bodies, as Snow can form them from whatever material is handy, but they look like human corpses.
Ocean Madness: Blitz. Apparently he was already going mad as it was- Raven simply hurried the process along.
Painting The Medium: Each character has a specific font in their speech balloons to represent their "voices."
Also, people with a raven spirit are drawn with red eyes.
Parental Abandonment: Tuff and Riley's wereshark father disappeared while they were still quite young, and their mother took off to try to find him once they turned 16.
People Jars: Dragonfly is in one of these when the gang finds him.
Sense Freak: Raven after becoming fully human. More specifically, he's interested in taste. Word Of God says he has a very detailed diary of everything he's ever eaten and whether he likes it or not.
Shark Man: A whole species of them with a culture that all about violence and blood. Tuff and Riley's dad was a nicer one.
Slap-Slap-Kiss: From Noemi, Snow's wife, to Snow, and followed by another slap.
Slave Brand: Captain Snow has one he occasionally uses on slaves or underlings. Credenza has the brand on her arm.
Smells Sexy: When they meet him, Dragonfly gives Riley the scent of his mate. Later, he finds the person with that scent, who also happens to be an heir.
Start of Darkness: Snow as a kid took animals apart to see how they worked and because he thought they did nothing useful. A lot of sociopaths in the real world also start by killing animals, so it isn't too much of a stretch.
Strong Family Resemblance: Credenza looks a lot like her parents. She also looks like the younger Dragonfly, and both have the same magic. Even her soul has dragonfly wings.
Between Knull and Snow and Yulalia.
And also, Claire looks a lot like her mother Chesska and her father Blitz/Anthony.
The Lost Lenore: Depending on how you look at it, Chesska's death kickstarts the entire plot. If she hadn't died, Anthony/Blitz probably wouldn't have gone off to join the navy, get framed for the death of the captain's fiance, been possessed by a Raven and gone completely insane, meet Credenza, and cause them to leave the island by sneaking aboard Paollo's submarine.
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Avians average maybe a meter in height. Word Of God says that a "running joke in the Archipelago is that the only reason the Avians haven't wiped out all competing humanoid races is that they like tall women."
Transformation Trinket: Dragons use these to switch between their human forms and their dragon forms. Blitz's is his watch
Trauma Induced Amnesia: Blitz. Eventually explained as something far deeper than as normally presented: when Raven came to possess him, he slashed out his own eye, an act which cut off Raven's escape route and damaged the spirit, which in turn damaged Blitz's mind. He's got almost no hope of getting his original memory back (which may be for the best).
Voluntary Shapeshifting: All full-blooded werebeasts have a human and animal form. Half-bloods could, in theory, but it would probably kill them. Han pulls off a simpler version with his appearance through garments sewn from magical materials.
What Could Have Been: On at least one occasion the author has stated that Raven was originally going to be an occasional mook who would pop up now and again to throw a wrench into the situation for our intrepid heroes but that the author than pictured him and Credenza conversing and that his present character personality and role there in, evolved from that.
White-Haired Pretty Boy: Han, when he's portrayed in black and white. In color he's actually blonde.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Snow had already died when the Great Raven conscripted him into service, and part of their deal is now that he can't die again. He finds this takes a great deal of excitement out of his second life.
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