Hey there Little Red Riding Hood...
Bad Moon Rising
is an Urban Fantasy/Horror webcomic by K.A. Maples and Mary Sneddon.Madison Lewis is a Wolf Blood, the child of a werewolf who is not a werewolf herself. While she lacks the powers of her fur bearing kin, she's significantly tougher than your average human. Possibly out of sheer boredom, she spends her time hunting vampires. She's aided in this by a small circle of friends, including:
- Chloe, Madison's werewolf girlfriend
- Peter, Madison's half brother, a werewolf who has yet to allow his lack of legs to slow him down
- Pavel and Terry, fellow Wolf Bloods who run the research side of things
- Nike and Dale, another werewolf/hunter couple who are in Madison and Chloe's orbit mostly because other hunters shun them for their mixed marriage.
Bad Moon Rising started life on Tumblr (which they still use for announcements and Q&A), but moved to the Spider Forest collective, where it remains.
No longer updating. Domain has expired.
Bad Moon Rising contains examples of:
- Ambiguously Brown: Chloe. There's some debate, in-universe, on the identity of Chloe's maternal grandfather, and both Chloe and her mother Cassie are noticeably darker than their known relatives.
- Asian and Nerdy: Pavel, professional artist, pop culture junkie, and go-to researcher for Madison and Chloe. Dale is more of an aversion; while perfectly intelligent, he'd nowhere near as steeped in lore.
- Author Appeal: As per usual in webcomics. Very tall women, tattoos, Action Girl main characters, werewolves, and vampires are all much loved by the creators.
- Bad Guy Bar: The first story introduces readers to Lee's, a popular hang out for hunters, with rules prohibiting weapons, magic, and mummies. These rules are rarely obeyed.
- Beleaguered Assistant: Pavel and Terry are this to Madison and Chloe.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: Chloe's family, the van Kolymas, certainly qualify.
- Blood Knight: Madison, full stop. In universe, people tend to assume this about Chloe.
- Blue Blood: The Marroks, who claim to be descended from the same-named Arthurian Knight, also take great pride in being the scions of various European royal bloodlines, though most are descended from petty tyrants and minor warlords who styled themselves 'kings'.
- Boarding School of Horrors: Sokolov Academy, the school Chloe, Madison, Pavel, Terry, and Peter all attended. Beast Born were kept locked in the basement except for the few times a month when they were allowed outside, bullies ran rampant, the Headmaster kept children as hostages there for the sake of political advancement, and at least two teachers in it's history took advantage of their position to have sex with their students.
- Break the Cutie: You're gonna be hard pressed to find a character who hasn't gone through this process in their backstory. Dale is, thus far, the only notable aversion.
- Brother–Sister Team: Madison and Peter. Very much averted with Chloe and her brothers; their relationship tends to fall under Cain And Able.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Madison is small, cute, and incredibly girly, with an interest in fashion. She is also an incredibly ruthless and effective hunter who can take a vampire twice her size apart without smudging her mascara.
- Cain and Abel: Chloe's relationship with her brother Derek in a nutshell. A recent flashback has shown Chloe shoving him into a campfire.
- Class Reunion: The second story arc revolves around one of these, though it's clear that most of the cast is only going for the chance to burn their Boarding School of Horrors down.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Persephone is very much this to her brother Hyacinth. An argument could also be made that Chloe is this to Madison.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The norm for headmasters of Sokolov Academy.
- Founder Vasily Sokolov (the First) was pushed off a cliff by a runaway student.
- His successor and son Sasha was shot through the head with an arrow.
- Igor Sokolov was drowned in an outhouse
- George Radcliff (son-in-law of Igor Sokolov) was murdered by a mob of angry students.
- George Sokolov was accidentally poisoned on a school camping trip.
- Andre Sokolov was castrated and stabbed to death by a student.
- Stephan Sokolov was killed in the explosion that finally lead to the closure of the school.
- Death By Child Birth: The fate of Chloe's sister Ursula, first seen in a voting incentive. It's up in the air if the exact cause of death was that she was only 13 years old, or the fact that her baby was a werewolf born in full Wolfman form, known in universe as being Beast Born
- Dying Town: Kirkman's Peak embodies this trope. A small town before the closure of Sokolov Academy, there are now only a handful of residents left.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Persephone Lee certainly qualifies when dealing with ghosts, but most of the time she falls more under Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
- Face Palm: Dale seems to be prone to these.
- Family Theme Naming: The Lees are, in birth order: Polyphemus, Hyacinth, Hebe, and Persephone.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: We’ve got werewolves, mages, ghosts, vampires, and all sorts of things that go bump in the night.
- Feet-First Introduction: Used a few times in the first story arc; first for Madison and Chloe's arrival at the bar, and then again for Persephone.
- The Gadfly: Chloe can be seen to enjoy needling people, from her lover Madison (who is painfully jealous of Persephone) to mocking her friends for being social rejects amongst their werewolf relatives, and even going so far as to make fun of a man's dead relatives — including his father and brother — to his face.
- The Giant: Chloe, who towers over the rest of the cast at seven feet.
- Grave-Marking Scene: Chloe can be seen clearing weeds away from a crude gravestone during her visit to Sokolov Academy.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Both Nike and Madison have one Human parent and one Werewolf parent, and technically any Wolf Blood might qualify.
- Handicapped Badass: Peter is introduced hanging from a sewer pipe throwing molitov cocktails at vampires. Peter was born without any legs, and forgoes use of his wheelchair except when playing murderball or left with no choice BUT to use the chair. The majority of the Beast Born (werewolves born in their half-human/half wolf form) also qualify.
- Huge Schoolgirl: Again, Chloe in the back story. She was well over six feet tall by the age of 15.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Several minor characters share first names, and a few share both first and last names.
- Only Sane Man: The role switches depending on the situation, but Dale seems to be the Sane Man in any group he's in.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Born rather than bitten, able to change form at any time, and can be affected by religious symbols depending on their ancestry.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Nike and Dale, leading them to be unpopular in both hunter and werewolf communities. Though the problems with the werewolf side might have more to do with the fact that Nike's mother is still picking silver bird shot out of her hide.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Madison. Peter may also qualify, but he would be of average height if he had legs.
- Regal Ringlets: Chloe can be seen sporting a set of them in her youth.
- Smart People Know Latin: Peter demonstrates at least a tiny passing knowledge in Latin, as well as enough knowledge to know that the quote in question has been mangled, and should be in Italian
- Skin Walker: These appear briefly in flashback in an early page of the comic, being exterminated by Madison and Chloe.
- Statuesque Stunner: Nike certainly qualifies at six feet tall, and Chloe is 'even taller.
- Teen Pregnancy: Shows up a few times, mostly centered around the van Kolyma family, and resulting in the death of Harrison's mother Ursula, who was only 13 at the time.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Nike and Dale are this, with Nike being One Head Taller than her husband. Peter is this by default with any girl he dates, due to not having legs.
- Tiny Tyrannical Girl: Madison, who is noticeably shorter than most of the cast and gleefully bullies people about to get what she wants.
- Toplessness from the Back: Seen in this early promotional image.
- Tuckerization: Bartender Lee gets both his name and appearance from writer K's father.
- Unwitting Pawn: Terry was sent to Sokolov Academy in order to further his mother's investigation of the van Kolymas, not that he was aware of this at the time.
- Urban Fantasy: Legless werewolves who play murderball, tech-savvy monster hunters, poltergeists thwarted by childlocks….
- Where I Was Born and Razed: There are strong hints that this is what Pavel and Chloe have planned for Kirkman's Peak.
