"I know I am predisposed to being nervous, and I hope I am simply imagining things yet again, but still...it is disturbing me. "
— Gideon
Gideon's noodle obsession manifests in some strange ways...
Krazy Noodle Massacre
is a psychological horror webcomic created by Lutzbug. It launched on November 19, 2017 and is currently hosted on ComicFury.
Rhodes and Dempsey are a young married couple who are just getting started in life. They'd like to move forward with their own careers and goals, but they keep getting distracted by everything from cutesy video games to tasteless late-night shows about serial killers. Late one night, Dempsey comes home with a wild story about running into a jittery man at the grocery store who buys almost nothing but a generic macaroni product called "Krazy Noodles." Much to Rhodes' hesitation, Dempsey comes up with a plan to go spying on him the following week so that Rhodes can see him for himself. They might think they're just going on a funny little adventure, but neither of them have any clue how much trouble they're about to cause—not only for themselves, but the guy they want to stare at.
Meanwhile, Gideon wants to be left alone so he can build his noodle sculptures in peace, but his worst fears come true when he realizes that he's being followed around by two strange guys at the grocery store. It doesn't help that he's being haunted by a psychic vampire incubus named Gabriel, who pretends to be his best friend but encourages his worst paranoid tendencies. He already deals with suffocating anxiety—how will he cope with being viewed like a zoo animal?
The comic contains strong overarching themes about mental illness, paranoia, trauma, emotional abuse, and anxiety. It's definitely not for little kids.
Tropes that show up in this comic:
- Art Evolution: While the art quality remains fairly consistent throughout the story, the author stopped working with traditional media partway through chapter 2 and started drawing with an iPad instead.
- All in the Eyes:
- In chapter 2, a shadowy figure with luminous green eyes follows Gideon around his house.
- When Gabriel is introduced, he's dramatically backlit and his eyes glow green.
- Always Night: Every scene so far has taken place in the dead of night.
- Ancient Evil: The cast page of the comic lists Gabriel as being "unknown, potentially thousands of years old." How he maintains his youthful vigor is a mystery...
- Beast Man: All characters regardless of gender belong to the same species of bovine humanoid.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted. Gabriel is the most attractive member of the cast despite being the most evil. Everyone else is an awkward nerd.
- Big Beautiful Man: Rhodes is short and chubby, but portrayed as an attractive, if dorky character. He wanders around in an open vest in chapter 1 with his Carpet of Virility hanging out.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Every character has thick, prominent eyebrows, regardless of gender.
- Body and Host: Gabriel is described as a brain parasite who feeds off Gideon's negative mental energy.
- Cast Full of Gay: Every character in this comic is queer. Every. Single. One.
- The Chessmaster: Gabriel sees people as pawns in his game and manipulates situations to benefit himself.
- Creepy Basement: Gideon's basement isn't creepy because it's dark and dirty—it's actually quite organized and well-lit. It's because it contains eight-foot-tall monstrosities made out of noodles.
- Creepy Doll: Sock-Puppety Bob. She is Gideon's favorite comfort object, but has a wall-eyed Blank Stare and is kept under the bed. Gabriel hates her for reasons he won't explain.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It's insinuated that Gideon has trauma of some sort.
- Ditzy Genius: Dempsey is skilled with computers, video games, and software, but he's also an impulsive dork who wants to go on stupid adventures all the time. His rashness can get him into trouble.
- Don't Go in the Woods: You have to drive through miles of dark, creepy woodland just to get to Gideon's house.
- Doppelgänger: Gabriel molded himself to look like a more beautiful version of Gideon, perhaps to make him jealous in some strange way.
- Emotion Eater: Gabriel gains nourishment from Gideon's pain, paranoia, and negativity.
- Endearingly Dorky: Applicable to the entire cast, but especially Dempsey. He has huge glasses, buck teeth, and is unapologetically enthusiastic in the most awkward way possible.
- Enemy Within: Gabriel secretly lives inside Gideon's head and wreaks havoc when he's not looking.
- Eye Glasses: Dempsey's glasses behave like eyelids, with the frames being able to move with his expressions.
- Faux Affably Evil: Gabriel tells you what you want to hear and makes you feel good, then he ruins your life.
- Fictional Video Game: Rhodes is shown playing a video game called "Hopper Goes to Dolphin World" in the beginning of the comic.
- Fiery Redhead: Rhodes is good-natured overall, but is still grouchy and quick to agitate.
- Gaslighting: Gabriel plays into Gideon's paranoia and convinces him that everyone really is out to get him.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Gideon's life is so isolated that his mental health and social skills have deteriorated significantly.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: Gideon's bizarre noodle sculptures are revealed in lurid detail when he turns on his basement lights.
- Guilty Pleasure: Rhodes watches "Murders, Mysteries, and Mayhem" because it's cheap and horrible.
- Happily Married: Rhodes and Dempsey are a married gay couple with a close relationship.
- Height Angst: Gideon is self-conscious about how much taller he is than everyone else.
- Horned Humanoid: All characters introduced so far have horns of moderate size on their heads.
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The story opens after a rainstorm and it's raining heavily when Gideon meets Dempsey.
- Mad Artist: Gideon builds gigantic, somewhat frightening noodle sculptures in his basement.
- Nerd Glasses: Dempsey is a computer geek who wears square, black-rimmed glasses.
- Nervous Wreck: Gideon is so neurotic that it hampers his life. He beats himself up for having anxiety, which makes him even more distressed, and the cycle continues.
- No Social Skills: Gideon pops up behind Dempsey when he sees him at the grocery store, scares the living daylights out of him, and tells him that his teeth make him look like a gopher. The worst part is that he's trying to make friends with him. He beats himself up for his gaffes later.
- Obliviously Evil: Dempsey hasn't considered that viewing someone like a zoo animal is not very nice.
- Off the Grid: Gideon's home has its own power and water supply, and is so far away from everything that you need to know the area to be able to find it. Unfortunately, Gideon doesn't know much about subsistence farming, which means he has to go into to town to buy supplies—and his beloved Krazy Noodles.
- Only Friend: Gideon has only one friend: Gabriel. Gabriel wants to be sure it stays that way.
- Personal Horror: Gideon has frequent paranoid flashbacks about how stupid he thinks he acts around other people.
- Psychotic Smirk: Gabriel often wears that sly smile.
- Shirtless Scene: In one scene, Gideon sits absentmindedly in his tub with his Carpet of Virility prominently displayed.
- Show Within a Show: Rhodes watches a tacky late-night show called "Murders, Mysteries, and Mayhem." It purports to be a documentary series, but many of its subjects are questionable at best, outright fake at worst, and sensationalized to the point of absurdity. It revolves around gruesome murders, strange people, supernatural phenomena, alien abductions, Bigfoot stealing lasers from Area 51 and destroying an orphanage...you get the idea.
- The Shut-In: Gideon does go on walks around his property, but he only goes out in public for basic necessities.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Rhodes has bright red hair, green eyes, and freckles.
- Small, Secluded World: Gideon's house. It's so far away from neighbors and facilities that it feels like it's in its own pocket of the universe.
- Spooky Painting: A shadowy figure appears in a picture frame to stare at Gideon when he has his back turned.
- Suddenly Shouting: Gideon can't hold in his emotions to save his life, so he SCREAMS OUT OF NOWHERE!!!
- Stalker Shot: A shadowy figure appears in the mirror after Gideon turns out the lights and leaves the bathroom.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome:
- Gabriel is intimidatingly tall, with sharp eyes and dark skin.
- Gideon is equally tall and dark, but not as conventionally attractive.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Gideon's paranoid flashbacks are notably distorted and frightening.
- Toothy Issue:
- Dempsey is self-conscious about his buckteeth making him look like a gopher.
- Gideon's teeth aren't perfect, either. They're crooked and gappy.
- Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Gideon's default expression, unless he's feeling sentimental or tired.
- Wild Hair: Gideon hasn't seen a barber in a long, long time.
