The Commune
is a Psychological Horror webcomic written and illustrated by smokesalty The work began publishing in January 2022 and is still ongoing.
407, a young boy finds himself in mosquito man Anopheles' cult, serving as an escape from his abusive family. The comic begins with a blood ritual, where 407 promises to be 'loyal, committed and trustworthy' to the leader, who appears to be kind and loving to him. 407 is then told he is to attend a mission with his close friend 267 as an opportunity to see the outside world.
However, with the horrors of the outside world and 'deceivers' as Anopheles calls them, 407 swears to never leave the commune again. After all, the commune serves to keep members in and the world out, leaving 407 with only his loving community and leader to guide him.
The comic follows 407 as his love his leader starts to come into question with Anopheles' increasingly abusive punishments towards members who step out of line. While it seems there's a way 407 has stayed on his good side, it's only a matter of time until he faces his blind wrath.
Tropes in The Commune include:
- Affably Evil: Anopheles is nice so as long as it fits his plans and doesn't get in the way of his ego. He is shown to be annoyed at 267 for looking out for 407 as he was waiting in the wrong area and at 01 for wrecking the photographs he gave them for the mission.
- Commune: The comic's main location is situated in Anopheles' commune.
- Cult: The main premise of the comic.
- The Bad Guys Are Cops: The police are shown to have returned 407 to his abusive home after he ran away. They're despised by Anopheles for trying to find him and his cult, leading him to murder them later on.
- The Bully: 24 enjoys snitching on cult members and watching Anopheles hurt them.
- Dark and Troubled Past: 407's abusive father is shown to be the reason he's missing an eye.
- Deadly Doctor: Anopheles states that he was previously a surgeon in chapter 1. He says he has better use of that knowledge to "help others." This scene occurs after he's cut 407.
- Destroy the Abusive Home: 407 runs away twice from his abusive father; the second time led to him being in Anopheles' cult.
- The Fundamentalist: If you disagree with Anopheles, you are wrong. That's just how it works.
- Kill the Lights: Due to feeling ill, 407 ends up completing his duties past his bedtime, which leads to all the commune lights to be switched off by Anopheles.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Anopheles wears a mosquito mask, hiding his face.
- Nice Day, Deadly Night: While Anopheles still enacts abusive behaviour during the day, his night-time activities are a mystery to the cult members. Later on it is shown that he goes down to the basement each night to deal with the kidnapped people from missions.
- Obliviously Evil: Anopheles is abusive, but believes his actions are justified because he is helping "fix" his cult members and preventing them from becoming corrupt. Even with being told the impacts of his actions, he is dismissive and defensive.
- The Power of Blood: Anopheles makes his members wear necklaces that contain their own blood. He is shown to be able to smell and identify his members by the scent of their blood in chapter 1.
- Psycho Knife Nut: 24 is shown to like using knives.
- Sadist: 24 is shown enjoying seeing other cult members abused. This can be with Anopheles' punishments, or his own, such as him stabbing 01 in the leg, cutting 407's back with a knife.
- Serial Killer: Anopheles has killed the people his members kidnapped for him.
- Slasher Smile: 24 is seen with an exaggerated smile every time he sees another cult member in pain.
- Unnervingly Heartwarming: Anopheles congratulates 407 on his ceremony and for being brave, which is contrasted by the fact he cut him in order to use 407's blood in the cult necklace he wears. Anopheles also frames his distain for the outside world as caring for 407 and wanting him to abide by commune rules.
