History ComicBook / MuktukWolfsbreathHardBoiledShaman

* HurtingHero: The Vertigo story involves Muktuk running into his old student--and lover--Nusqua, whom he still has feelings for.

* AllForNothing: In the past, Muktuk took on Umiak Birdbutt in order to keep from being kicked out of his village. One [[CurbStompBattle ass-whupping]] later, the black shaman had humiliated him in combat, nearly tore his souls to shreds, ''and'' stole the souls of Muktuk's wife and child. To top it all off, Muktuk left the village ''anyway'', since there was nothing left for him.

* AllForNothing: In the past, Muktuk took on Umiak Birdbutt in order to keep form being kicked out of his village. One [[CurbStompBattle ass-whupping]] later, the black shaman had humiliated him in combat, nearly tore his souls to shreds, ''and'' stole the souls of Muktuk's wife and child. To top it all off, Muktuk left the village ''anyway'', since there was nothing left for him.

* ArchEnemy: Birdbutt, who killed Muktuk's wife and child, and is happy to make life bad for Muktuk yet again.

* BerserkButton: Sedna '''hates''' sins. [[spoiler:And she '''REALLY''' hates being tricked into helping someone cover a sin up]].

* NoSell: Apparently spirits can't possess someone who'd been brought BackFromTheDead., [[spoiler:Weasel says as much after he fails to do so when Rooka runs the risk of ruin Muktuk's and his plan for dealing with Nusqua]].

* DemonicPossession: The story "The Body Snatcher" involves the ghost of an evil shaman who deliberately makes a girl sick so another shaman (in this case Muktuk) will show up to heal her and he can steal the body. Fortunately, the possessing spirit is so bust boozing it up and boinking the aforementioned girl that he doesn't get the chance to damage more than Muktuk's reputation.

* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: It's possible to deceive the gods, but Muktuk notes that the ones skilled enough to do so generally know better than to try. [[spoiler:Nusqua shows exactly what can go wrong with one of these deals when she misuses Sedna's power to conceal a grievous sin (sin being Sedna's BerserkButton) and gets dragged to hell when the betrayed goddess sends a demon after her]].

These comics are notable for recycling FilmNoir tropes in the context of Siberian tribal life. As [=LaBan=] put it, "the realization that shamans were kind of like detectives, in that they brought about change by discovering the source of problems, clicgets ked with that classic [[HardboiledDetective hard-boiled]] voice, and, suddenly, there was an idea for a character." The title character and provider of the [[PrivateEyeMonologue monologue]] is a jaded but very capable shaman who takes on supernatural cases, solving them successfully but taking a battering in the process.

* GladToBeAliveSex: Prior to the Vertigo Story, Nusqua's flawed spell killed her and ripped apart her soul. Muktuk descended into the lower world to find it, then put together the pieces and brought her back to life. They then had a whole bunch of Glad To Be BackFromTheDead Sex.

These comics are notable for recycling FilmNoir tropes in the context of Siberian tribal life. As [=LaBan=] put it, "the realization that shamans were kind of like detectives, in that they brought about change by discovering the source of problems, clicked with that classic [[HardboiledDetective hard-boiled]] voice, and, suddenly, there was an idea for a character." The title character and provider of the [[PrivateEyeMonologue monologue]] is a jaded but very capable shaman who takes on supernatural cases, solving them successfully but taking a battering in the process.

* DeathOfPersonality: Muktuk mentions that the inevitable result of taking on a god's persona is getting dissolved in it. [[spoiler:Implicitly, this may be why Nusqua thought she could get away with using Sedna's power the way she did]].

* DeliberateInjuryGambit: Muktuk gets riles up Nusqua so she'll start blasting him with the power she borrowed from Sedna [[spoiler:alerting the demon Sedna sent to drag her to hell to Nusqua's exact location]].

* Sizeshifter: Since physical spacxe means nothing to spirits, Muktuk can shrink and ride Weasel when he's astrally projecting.

* AGodAmI: Shamans can make deals with gods to be able to take of their persona and use their power, but Muktuk notes that the ones skilled enough to do so generally know better than to try. [[spoiler:Nusqua shows exactly what can go wrong with one of these deals when she misuses Sedna's power to conceal a grievous sin (sin being Sedna's BerserkButton) and gets dragged to hell when the betrayed goddess sends a demon after her]].

* {{Flight}}: Muktuk can levitate.

* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: [[spoiler:Trapped in a cave by a snowstorm, Rooka was forced to eat his teenage son and told the village a tiger killed him]].

* ImpersonationGambit:[[spoiler:Muktuk uses Nusqua's amulets and hair decorations to pass himself off as her to Sedna. The goddess can't see faces, but recognizes "Sedna" by her power. This allows him to reveal the truth behind Nusqua's actions]].

* AGodAmI: Shamans can make deals with gods to be able to take of their persona and use their power, but Muktuk notes that the ones skilled enough to do so generally know better than to try. [[spoiler:Nusqua shows exactly what can go wrong with one of these deals when she uses Sedna's power to conceal a sin and gets dragged to hell by a demon]].

* DeathOfPersonality: Muktuk mentions that the inevitable result of taking on a god's persona is getting dissolved in it. [[spoiler:Implicitly, this may be why Nusqua though she could get away with using Sedna's power the way she did]].

* BackFromTheDead: Apparently this is a pretty normal thing for Muktuk to do. He brought his future student Nusqua back after her untrained magic got her torn to pieces, for example. Judging from what he says during the Vertigo storyline, sometimes people come back insane, but otherwise there seem to be no ill-effects.

%%* HurtingHero

* BadDreams: Muktuk has recurring nightmares about his wife and son having their souls eaten by a demon.

''Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard-Boiled Shaman'' was originally a limited-run comic book by Terry [=LaBan=] (artist of the newspaper comic, ''Edge City''), published by Creator/VertigoComics in 1998, that recycled FilmNoir tropes in the context of Siberian tribal life. As [=LaBan=] put it, "the realization that shamans were kind of like detectives, in that they brought about change by discovering the source of problems, clicked with that classic [[HardboiledDetective hard-boiled]] voice, and, suddenly, there was an idea for a character." The title character and provider of the [[PrivateEyeMonologue monologue]] is a jaded but very capable shaman who takes on supernatural cases.

Some years after the print comic's run ended due to weak sales, [=LaBan=] published another Muktuk story, ''Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard-Boiled Shaman: The Spirit of Boo,'' as a Webcomic. This has since disappeared from the Web, but those strips were collected into a book, which is still available in print and PDF forms. So ''Muktuk Wolfsbreath'' is best treated as a set of comic books that were once a Webcomic for a while.

%%* ArchEnemy: Birdbutt.

* FunctionalMagic: For those who know how to use it, magic is quite functional indeed. Muktuk even has an enchanted cat skull that works like a GPS in the spirit world.

* HardboiledDetective: Reimagined as a Hardboiled Shaman.

* RecycledInSpace: FilmNoir recycled in tribal Siberia.

Some years after the print comic's run ended due to weak sales, [=LaBan=] published another Muktuk story, ''Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard-Boiled Shaman: The Spirit of Boo", as a Webcomic. This has since disappeared from the Web, but those strips were collected into a book, which is still available in print and PDF forms. So ''Muktuk Wolfsbreath'' is best treated as a set of comic books that were once a Webcomic for a while.