Shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union, ethnic-based violence led by Bohdan makes the newly-independent Ukraine start sliding into all-out civil war. Trying to survive, a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, including a Ukrainian farm girl (Yana Korelenko, who calls herself "Yuri" when she's disguising herself as a teenage boy), a hard-bitten veteran of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan (Iaroslav Kossak), a confused American (John Silver), and five Crimean Tatar brothers (Berkir, Veli, Inalcik, Kayyum, and Ismail Cemilev). But in a country with lost nuclear weapons just waiting to be found by anyone who comes along, things can only get more interesting...
It can be read here
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The Second Crimean War provides examples of:
- A Father to His Men: Bohdan. Iaroslav used to be one, too, and later becomes one to the refugees.
- Anime Hair: Bohdan is an example, as is Yana. The other characters tend to be more realistic.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy:
Word of God has it that Iaroslav was this in the sixties. - Art Evolution: The style gets more realistic and detailed, and the pages become more tightly filled.
- Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Played for laughs with the English-speaking John: [1]
- Ethical Slut: While Iaroslav is implied to have hooked up with two women he met in a bar in a way that suggests that this is standard for him, he is disgusted and offended when the (much younger and recently revealed as female ) Yana thinks for a moment that he's pressuring her into sleeping with him. Iaroslav continues to treat her essentially the same as before he learns her true gender. [2]
- Fish out of Water: John Silver, from Miami
- Foreign Cuss Word
- Former Regime Personnel: Silver has a mild freak-out when he finds out about Iaroslav's past job in the Spetsnaz.
- Gargle Blaster: Iaroslav's ice-distilled vodka
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Subverted by Bohdan, the Big Bad, who has a small, pale, x-shaped scar on his cheekbone.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Iaroslav, all the way.
- Lighter and Softer: The author herself state the webcomic as "family-friendly", which considering the subject matter is somewhat atypical. Though everyone drinks, there is little (English) profanity and sexual content to speak of, and most of the action is non-lethal hand-to-hand combat.
- Noodle Incident: "Even stupider than that thing with the snowmobile and the ice-distilled vodka..."
- Possible War
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Subverted when Bohdan's militia raid an ethnic Tatar/Russian town. They take all the food and torch a few cars, but are ordered to leave the rest alone.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Several Muslim characters drink, which is Truth in Television for some forms of Islam.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Bohdan and Yana both have these. Bohdan's is nearly always accompanied by a Dramatic Wind.
- Scenery Porn: Especially as the art improves.
- Sergeant Rock: Iaroslav does need to keep fifty starving refugees under control, after all.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Iaroslav, after his squad was wiped out in Afghanistan. Kiev's order to shape the refugees into his care into a militia army does not sit well with him.
- Shown Their Work
- Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility — Of the "hard" variety, sticking solely to things that could plausibly happen in Real Life. And as of 2014/15, unfortunately actually quite a few of them happened, about 20 years later in our real continuity than in the alternate timeline of the comic.
- Snowball Fight: Yana uses a snowball as weapon in a potentially lethal fight.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Yana, in some situations
- Sword Lines: Only with a shotgun being used as a club.
- The Infiltration: Yana does this with the Big Bad's army to siphon off food.
- Training Montage: Yana spends her first months with Iaroslav practicing barehanded fighting.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Bohdan and his sister Anastasiya
- What If?: Essentially the whole premise
- White-and-Grey Morality: Though the country does seem to be in a bad shape, none of the characters introduced so far is outright evil. Even the bad guys are largely made up of ordinary people who just want food and shelter, and do their best to avoid unnecessary casualties on anyone's part.
