"Elator's Archetype though, pegs him as being able to stumble his way through any situation none the worse for wear."
— Sal (who could be referring to anyone in the cast)
Dubious Company is an adventure comedy comic written by Ben Hsu (AKA Tagalong) and drawn by Elaine Tipping (AKA Tria).It follows Captain Walter Herindale and his best buddy Tiren as they build an assorted quirky crew in order to do... something, mostly heavy drinking. All the while they spoof and play with every trope, cliche, and genre they come across. Oh, and dealing with Emperor Kreedor's Elite Guards.Can be found hereAlso see the Crowning Moments and Character Page!
This Web Comic contains examples (by story arc) of:
Magic Versus Science: sort of. The Imperial Elites rely heavily on magic, with limited technological understanding. The pirates are heavy on the technology, and have no access to magic. Both sides are presented with advantages and limitations.
Schedule Slip: In the beginning. Now is faithfully updated twice a week.
Took a Level in Badass: Everyone, very subtlety through-out the run. Originally, the pirates were only able to defeat the Sues by attacking them in their sleep and still needed to fight dirty and outnumber them. During the rematch at Kreedor's castle, they were only slightly outmatched while going one-on-one.
Unsound Effect: sound effects for gestures are common. Such as "nod" and "stand".
What Did I Do Last Night??: The series starts OFF with Tiren wondering that. Walter found her as a stowaway while she was sleeping. It happens a few more times in the story. (Hey, they're pirates. They get drunk)
Head Desk: Mary and Sue use their Twin Telepathy to debrief each other. When Mary goes off on a tangent about Elly, Sue does this to shut it off. It gets worse when Sue "calls" Mary and realizes she's talking to someone about when they went through puberty.
Bad News in a Good Way: Sue acting as Uhura for Izor has bad news: Mary has captured Tiren instead of Sal. As she starts to apologize, Izor becomes overjoyed that the pirates defenses are now severed.
Mistaken for Gay: Sue thinks this of Mary until she learns Elly is male.
This Is No Time For Drinking: After getting the tech needed to find Tiren, Walter goes on a drinking binge, much to Leeroy's chagrin. Several strips later, Walter reveals that the engine runs on drunkenness. So Walter needed to be sufficiently plastered to work with it.
Noodle Incident: Leeroy did something with oranges and noodles. Lampshaded by Sal when she uses it as blackmail.
Drunk Driver: Subverted. Due to Walter's quirkiness and Applied Phlebotinum, the Cool Ship can only be driven while drunk. And he flys it perfectly well, until Marty makes Walter fly with his hands tied behind his back.
Enemy Civil War: a minor one between the Sues and Stus breaks out during a hostage crisis. The pirates are toostunned to take advantage of it. Also involved in-universe Ship-to-Ship Combat.
Forgot You Could Fly: "I appreciate the thought lass, but I 'ave wings. Ye don't."
Word of Gay: Namely that Marty is straight. He's just absolutely sure that Elly is a girl.
Izor's Amazing Plan (Of Amazement)!
Batman Gambit: Izor pulls this with Sal in order to overthrow Kreedor. It involved Sal being sacrificed only to be "reborn" as the spirit of a god to grant Kreedor godhood. Izor would later assassinate him while his guard was down.
Dare to Be Badass: Part of Izor's We Can Rule Together speech to Sal. If she follows his plan, the world conquering stops, if not more people will die.
Properly Paranoid: Kreedor knows that Tiren is the best fighter. So, she is locked in a metal box, with all her weapons removed, and that box is suspended in air.
Raccoon In The Works: Not only does Izor's plan go horribly wrong by the timely intervention of the raccoon, but by himself when he alters an overly complex ritual. Izor knows nothing about magic theory. Unaltered the ritual would have killed Sal and nothing more. By altering it, the pirates' intervention, and the raccoon becoming an accidental substitute for Sal, the ritual flung everyone into another dimension and caused... well... we still don't know.
Your Mind Makes It Real: the exposition on the island's inner workings. Which may justify the walking fanservice scenes and delve deeper into the psyche of certain characters than they may wish.
Manipulative BitchIn Sheep's Clothing: Mary and Sue meet Sakura and instantly hate her. So they yank at Tiren's newly developed heartstrings with bad dating advice. That way Tiren will take Sakura out without them getting their hands dirty. Sakura herself did nothing to deserve her mistreatment, short of being Genre Blind.
Reality Ensues: Sal just revealed who was the real king after the Queen threatened to kill the imposter. The first thing the Queen does is order Elly arrested to face trial (and death)
Title Drop: "I forsee this coming Celebration of Veils will be beset by... Dubious Company."
Loving Force/Double Standard: Rape—Female on Male: Invoked and played straight by Raque on Elly, but it is swiftly averted and deconstructed. The readers are left feeling deliberately uncomfortable.
Star Something? (Title pending)
Adaptational Villainy: Walter is the pirate he always dreamed of becoming, and the Space Marines take him as a serious threat. In the epilogue, he and Tiren become an Outlaw Couple, if the title "Fanservice" is anything to go by.
Combat Pragmatist: Tiren has never been shy about her love of fighting, but she kills the villain by taking one of the Prince's swords and kills the villain in mid spellcast
Memetic Mutation: An errant comment that one of Sal's poses looks like a pin up has lead to a discussion about doing a pin up calender for the Crew. invoked
Also see the Crowning Moments and Character Page!
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