Jenny (left) and Sammie (right), about to kick some undead ass
"Years after the crippling outbreak that turned most of the human population into undead, a small community of survivors have taken up residence on an island, home to the abandoned facilities of the Argus Research Campus."
Art Evolution: In the early chapters, the character designs were simpler, with some Animesque stylistic conventions, particularly during comedic moments. Beginning at Chapter Three, and coinciding with the plot's turn for the dark, the designs become more realistic and the atmosphere more gritty and detailed.
Art Shift: The details get cranked up to 11 whenever a zombie shows up. On the other hand, Animesque facefaults still manifest at given comedic moments.
California Doubling: Romanchuk uses Sault Ste. Marie Ontario for wherever her Hunters travel.
Casual Danger Dialog: Jenny and Sammie, to the point where other characters start asking them to shut up.
Chaotic Stupid: Chaotic Shortbus; one of the Red Halo guys riding with Maureen levies this accusation against Jenny and her cadre in the first arc. Maureen doesn't disagree.
Cloud Cuckoolander: Katie, again. She's always been a little off, but it's recently been revealed that she's a severe PTSD-case and hallucinates zombies when frightened. Her style of beingfriendly is likely a result of this.
Cluster F-Bomb: Take out the profanity and the script gets a lot shorter.
The Dead Have Eyes: A new Basilisk zombie who has had his entire face eaten off is still able to use a paralyzing gaze on his victim, employing only his empty eye sockets.
Deer in the Headlights: "Freezing up" in in-world slang. The characters have started taking bets over whether newbie zombie hunters will do this when confronted with the slavering hordes for the first time.
Everything Is Trying to Kill You: Life as a Zombie Hunter is usually measured in hours—days if you're lucky. And like any good Zombie Apocalypse story, zombies are only the most obvious of the Everything. Fellow humans are nearly as bad.
Fantastic Caste System: The infected live in roach and rat infested barracks, unlike the more mobile noninfected, and only the infected are expected to serve as Zombie Hunters.
Foregone Conclusion: Milo will die. We already knew this because we are introduced to him after he's died. We see him only through flashbacks. A lot of them. Actually, now he HAS died.
The Heart: Sammie. She can sometimes appear like it. Subverted, as she is not this.
Hero Antagonist: The main cast is often right off Anti-Hero generally. The Red Halos and zombie hunters don't get along. The main Halo we see is Jasper, the resident Jerkass guy.
Infant Immortality: Averted. A short strip details a kid running away from the zombies after the initial outbreak. Eventually they find an abandoned house in the woods, the kid goes to sleep hiding under a bed and is woken by a zombie dragging him out. It's heavily implied the kid is killed.
Is That What He Told You?: Jenny has one of these going on in regard to Milo's death. Arthur refers to it as an "accident," when really he ordered the hit himself.
Charlie can be an uptight, surly jerk to pretty much everyone around him, but it's hard not to feel sorry for the poor guy as he earnestly tries to get along and relate to his new squadmates as they coldly rebuff him. Megan's pretty much the only real friend he has, and the only person who treats him like a human being.
Mrs. Walters. Considering the only family she had left is dead, and all.
Man in White: The half-zombie is dressed in bright white - and manages to stay that way - despite his constant wading through blood and gore. He explains how this is possible while during a "fan mail" strip : he uses Gain laundry detergent between every panel.
A decently-likely necessity if you survive being — played with — by Berserkers.
One of type of zombie is called a Mercy. They actively seek out the suffering, protect them from other zombies, then put them out of their misery while gently cradling them in their arms. It's both touching and terrifying.
Mismatched Eyes: Charlie. Normally he wears contacts so he doesn't freak people out, but he lost one of them during the opening sequence.
Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: A child's doodles feature bloody monstrosities labelled "Mom" and "Dad" eating his sister and dog. It's that trope's picture.
Ninja: Functionally, Hunters. Excerpt from the Hunter entry:
Noisy Guns: Averted: a gun runs out of ammunition with no accompanying sound whatsoever
Noodle Incident: "The Accident," the cast's shorthand for referring to how Milo died. Turns out Japser murdered him.
Not Good with People: As the cast page notes, Charlie has trouble understanding why pointing out the flaws in his teammates' plans doesn't get him any respect.
One of Us: When Romanchuk found TV Tropes (and this page), she liked it so much she saw fit to gush on Facebook. Fans knew this already, as it is mentioned several times in the non-canon side stories that Jenny (Both the comic version and the real life version) is a Firefly fan.
Our Zombies Are Different: There are at least seven different types of zombie, ranging from the shuffling, pathetic Crawler to the deadly efficient Hunter. Two other types have superabilities to paralyze or incapacitate humans, and yet another exists to give a sickeningly gentle Mercy Kill to the suffering. Perhaps the most feared are the Berserker zombies, which have near-human intelligence, are insanely strong, and like to kill slowly and creatively.
Put on a Bus: Daniel. He hasn't been seen since the comic began its epic flashback storyline. Justified in that he was apparently a new addition to the group—ala-Jameson—at the start of the story, and the flashback hasn't caught up to his introduction yet.
The Reveal: It turns out Jasper killed Milo, apparently under Arthur's orders.
Rule of Scary: Why do zombies want to eat you? Why do some want to torture you to death and others want to give you a nice deadly cuddle? Because it's fucking scarier that way, that's why.
Scarpia Ultimatum: Apparently part of the deal Maureen makes with Jasper to get her friends to safety after a botched mission.
Sour Supporter: Charlie, chafing against his position as Older Sidekick and the foolhardiness and immaturity of his more seasoned, but much younger teammates.
Subtext: Several places. The subtext corners the text in a dark alley, beats it up, and steals its lunch money in the sequence of strips starting here.
Team Dad: Charlie is a dysfunctional version towards Jenny, lecturing and yelling orders he knows will go ignored, but when his teammates are threatened, he becomes brutally efficient.
Write Who You Know: Jenny and three other Hunters were initially named and based on the author and her friends. Very quickly, the characters developed beyond those roles.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Sammie's is an indeterminate dark blue, or possibly an artistically-represented black.
Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: The opening arc finds the Zombie Hunters led astray into a zombie-dense "red zone," for three days straight, because the young team captain felt like doing a little looting.
Zombie Gait: Some zombies do the requisite shuffle and moan, but others are swift, silent, and lethal. Mercies are graceful and patient, while Berserkers are swift, loud, cruel, and lethal.
Zombie Infectee: Infected humans "turn" shortly after death. The introduction of zombie saliva into the bloodstream (usually through a bite) causes an active infection which is fatal within hours. But contact with any other bodily fluid merely causes a latent infection in which the Virus remains dormant and has no real effect on the victim's health. Infected humans may spread the Virus to others but they will not die of it themselves.
is a Science Fiction-Horror Webcomic by Jenny Romanchuk, running since late 2006, set in the years after the Zombie Apocalypse. Originally conceived as a private self-insert comic for herself and friends, after they featured in a funny dream involving zombies, Romanchuk posted some strips online, then decided to expand on the concept when they were well-received. It updates weekly on Mondays and occasionally Thursdays. It can be read here.
0 reviews