White Noise
is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi webcomic by Melinda Timpone, aka madsniper. It follows the story of Wren, a genetically engineered experiment. Following an attack on his colony, Wren must leave the underground Deadlands and venture out into the world, seeking the truth of his origins. Although, with mysterious forces after him and those who would kill him for being a Deadlander, he may have enough of a challenge just surviving.
White Noise updates on Mondays and has full-color art. After a two-year hiatus starting in February 2018, the comic returned to updating at the end of July 2020. It's worth a look for fans of the superhero, sci-fi, or post-apocalyptic genres.
Now has a character sheet which could use some love.
Not to be confused with the postmodern novel of the same name by Don DeLillo (which was adapted into a film), nor the 2004 film starring Michael Keaton. Also not be confused with another webcomic of the same name.
This webcomic provides examples of:
- After the End: Humanity was reduced to a few thousand, at most, survivors during the invasion. The Earth was reduced to a barren wasteland with roaming clouds of poisonous Murk on the surface.
- Apocalypse How: Class 4. The aliens stopped the rotation of the Earth, causing everything not directly attached to bedrock to be thrown into the atmosphere and the air itself to ignite due to the massive friction. The only survivors were on (three) space stations. In the present, Earth is habitable, but barely; most of the planet is a dead wasteland due to irreversible alien terraforming.
- Aside Glance: In a moment when he's caught off guard, Lawler seems to look directly at the audience in shock. Since he's also the resident crazy, for him to be Breaking the Fourth Wall seems pretty acceptable.
- Berserk Button:
- Wren, when he sees Lawler wearing a watch looted from the body of his dead friend.
- Also continues element of Superpowered Evil Side and Split Personality.
- Bolivian Army Ending: How Lohaun exits the story. So far, her fate has not been resolved.
- Brick Joke: "What if I'm some psychopath who melts things with my mind?Cue: melting gun
- Cozy Catastrophe: In spite of the world being in very bad shape, living comfortably seems possible.
- Cry into Chest: Wren breaks down in Anna's arms.
- Cryptic Conversation: Winter talks at Wren this way. Wren rarely understands.
- Death of a Child: The flashback showing the destruction of Earth shows the death of a child of about 5 or 6.
- Doomed Hometown: The underground colony where Wren lived.
- Establishing Character Moment: Anna doing her belly dance for the sake of making Wren blush, and then offering him a food bar when she notices his hunger, establishing her as The Tease and a Nice Girl.
- Eviler than Thou: Gideon manages to be an even worse psycho than Lawler by treating him like shit just minutes after he remote-detonated the explosives Lawler was busy smuggling.
- Fanservice: Anna's belly-dancing scene, and Anna and Wren's Christmas backgrounds. Lawler's superior, Hebe, is also seen completely nude before getting in the shower.
- Faux Affably Evil: Gideon comes across as friendly and personable, even greeting Hebe with a bear hug, but he immediately drops the act.
- Fish out of Water: Wren is rather out of place in the city.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Gideon, who ordered the attack on Wren's home.
- Freakiness Shame: Wren has a long, fluffy, white Prehensile Tail, but in the States, anything that marks one as a mutant is a killing offense. Anna reacts with a Squee when she touches it when Wren is sleeping.
- Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Wren's superlative fighting skills probably came in part from the engineering done by GECOW. His tail and superior balance definitely did. Lohaun says they were attempting to make human weapons.
- Great Offscreen War: The Alien Invasion is only glimpsed through a flashback.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The aliens who invaded and left Earth in its current state. So far, they have taken no active role in the plot, but the possibility of their return is the main reason for the experiments that led Wren's existence.
- Guile Hero: Ashton, who attempts to talk the local bounty hunters out of going after Wren when he gets listed as a mark.
- Hostile Terraforming: The comic had this happen in the backstory. The aliens who killed off everyone on Earth's surface then attempted to terraform the planet to suit them, resulting in windstorms of toxic Murk that roam the surface.
- Humans Are Special: Subverted. The aliens came to Earth because there is something special about our DNA, and they apparently wanted to create god-like beings from it. Sadly, this specialness wasn't even close to enough to stand a chance against them when they resisted the invasion.
- Le Parkour: Wren is apparently a practitioner, at least of the Parkour Tic-Tac.
- Little Bit Beastly: Wren has a fluffy white tail as a result of the genetic manipulation done to him. If this has any connection to the identical tail found on Winter, it has yet to be revealed.
- Oh, Crap!: Lawler's face when he accidentally hits Wren's Berserk Button. An especially powerful moment considering it's Lawler that's being scared shitless.
- Parental Abandonment: Wren parents are never mentioned. This could be because he doesn't know who they are, they don't even know they are parents (see Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke), or he didn't have biological parents at all.
- Punched Across the Room: Lawler gets, well, thrown across the room- er... rooftop. Possibly by telekinesis, or some kind of forcefield - but still technically by Wren's hands.
- Recurring Dreams: Wren has recurring dreams during which he visits with Winter.
- Super-Soldier: It's heavily hinted that Wren might be this. He manages to fight off several armed guards despite suffering from starvation, dehydration, exhaustion and murk poisoning. In another fight Lawler remarks "You must be running on fumes, if you were at 100%, even 50% I'd be toast already."
- Talking in Your Dreams: It's implied that Winter may be real and that the dreams are how he communicates with Wren.
- Terraform: The aliens attempted to terraform Earth after destroying everything on the surface. Their efforts resulted in the poisonous (to humans, anyway) clouds of Murk that roam the surface.
- Took a Level in Badass: What seems to have happened to Wren here. Although he has also proved quite capable when not being taken over by his imaginary friend
- We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill: The aliens who visited Earth a century ago wanted to do genetic experimentation on humans. When the humans resisted, they killed every last one on the surface. Oh, and everything else living on Earth, too.
- The Wall Around the World: The Wall around the States. The citizens within hate and fear those who live outside and only bounty hunters are allowed in or out.
