History Comicbook / TheBackstagers

* RelationshipUpgrade: After a healthy amount of ShipTease, along with a parental roadblock, [[spoiler: Jory and Hunter start dating at the end of the series.]].]]

The comic ran between 2016 and 2017, and consists of eight issues (labeled Acts), broken into two trade volumes of four. There were holiday special comics released for Valentine's Day and Halloween (collected in a third trade volume), along with a 3-book [[MiddleGradeLiterature middle grade]] prose novels that consists of:

* CareerVersusMan: Hunter and Jory's main conflict in ''The Backstagers and the Ghost Light'', as Hunter trains to be main stage manager while balancing being a boyfriend to Jory.
* CastFullOfGay: Out of the main cast, Jory is bi, Hunter is gay, and Sasha is described as "anime," though it's indicated that he is attracted to men, (specifically, showing attraction towards a tool rat that turned into a handsome prince) in the Valentine's Intermission issue. Aziz is the only cis and straight guy of the cast, since while Beckett is also into girls, he's trans. The supporting cast has the male stage managers Timothy and Jamie as a couple, and faculty advisor Rample is also gay. [[spoiler: Polaroid was gay as well, as he was Rample's boyfriend who died in the Arch-Theater and was brought back to life using the magic sketchbook.]]

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: What fuels the Backstage and the Arch-Theater is the audience's love of theater through their WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief to enjoy the story, characters and songs.

* CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler: Chloe Murphy from the ''Ghost Light'' novel has a deceased little sister, and in trying to return her back to the living, goes to "extreme" levels in order to bring her back, something out of character for her.]]

* GadgeteerGenius / MadScientist: Straddling the line between them when up in his booth, Beckett is good enough with his lights that he is able to run a show from a single handheld control pad, as well as set an entire show's light cues to run on autopilot while Beckett runs into the Backstage. Before his transfer, he helped one of the Angels with something called a "Stitch-o-matic".

* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler: Tommy aka Polaroid for faculty advisory Elliot Rample. Rample was part of the lost stage crew in 1987 and while he eventually found everyone and made it out, Tommy was lost for months and died and Rample found his body. Rample ends up drawing him in the magic sketchbook so he can be alive somehow.]]

* MyGreatestFailure: Elliot Rample or [[spoiler: "Monkey," managed to get the 1987 crew out of the tunnels one by one... except for Polaroid, who was too far back, and by the time Rample found him, Polaroid was long dead. The Valentines Day issue reveals that Rample keeps a photo of himself and Polaroid with him, and every Valentines Day he retreats backstage to the lights room to remember Polaroid.]]

* OlderThanTheyLook: Sasha is actually a juinor and the second oldest in the group, as revealed in ''The Backstagers and the Ghost Light'', it's just because of his short stature and child-like demeanor, everyone treats him like a kid.

* TakeThat: When the theater club puts on a play named ''Lease'' (a reference to ''Theatre/{{Rent}}''), the characters give a pretty negative impression of it, calling it "the most touching musical about exploiting the poor and never having to be accountable for your actions".

* YearOutsideHourInside: The Backstagers and the Penitent Angels thought they were only in the the Arch-Theater for a couple hours. [[spoiler: Turns out they were back there for a couple MONTHS.]]

* HasTwoMommies: Timothy, who off-handedly mentions his two fathers in the Halloween Intermission.

* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler: Jory and Hunter, who start dating towards the end of the comic series.]]

* TheyDo: After a healthy amount of ShipTease, along with a parental roadblock, [[spoiler: Jory and Hunter start dating at the end of the series.]]

* SignificantSketchbook: A sketchbook Jory finds as also magical as it can alter some of the Arch-Theater's properties as well as create things inside of it. [[spoiler: Rample draws Tommy in it after he dies because he couldn't stand the thought of him being dead.]]

* JerkJock: Kevin and Blake [=McQueen=], the high school drama club version of this. They are to the Backstagers what actual jocks would be (and were) to THEM.

The comic ran between 2016 and 2017, and consists of eight issues (labelled Acts), broken into two trade volumes of four. There were holiday special comics released for Valentine's Day and Halloween (collected in a third trade volume), along with a 3-book [[MiddleGradeLiterature middle grade]] prose novels that consists of:

* TakeThat: When the theater club puts on a play named ''Lease'' (a reference to ''Theater/{{Rent}}''), the characters give a pretty negative impression of it, calling it "the most touching musical about exploiting the poor and never having to be accountable for your actions".

The comic ran between 2016 and 2017, and consists of eight issues (labelled Acts), broken into two trade volumes of four. There were holiday special comics released for Valentine's Day and Halloween (collected in a third trade volume), along with a 3-book [[MiddleGradeLiterature middle grade]] series that consists of:

* SuppressedMammaries: Beckett wears a binder, which is displayed in issue 3.

[[caption-width-right:350:Rebels Without Applause]]''The Backstagers'' is a comic published by Boom Studios (under the Boom! Box label). It is written by Creator/JamesTynionIV (writer of ''Comicbook/TheWoods'' and ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth'', and primarily illustrated by Rian Sygh.

* DoggedNiceGuy: Beckett, for Bailey Brentwood. He's hopelessly in love with her, but can't bring himself to ask her out. The subtext is that it's all in his head that Bailey will reject him due to him being trans, though Bailey hasn't shown herself to be judgmental towards Beckett's identity at all. Her outfits even have the color palette of the transgender pride flag.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: A bit of ditz, Sasha is more than happy to make friends with tool rats given the first opportunity.
* GadgeteerGenius / MadScientist: Straddling the line between them when up in his booth, Beckett is good enough with his lights that he is able to run a show from a single handheld control pad, as well as set an entire show's light cues to run on autopilot while Beckett runs into the Backstage. Before his transfer, he helped one of the Angels with a "Stitch-o-matic".

* JerkJock: Kevin and Blake [=McQueen=], the high school drama club version of this. They are to the Backstagers what actual jocks would be to THEM.

See ''Comicbook/{{Lumberjanes}}'', this book's DistaffCounterpart, which is an also all-ages book that highlights young LGBT characters and their relationships.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Beckett is based on the comic's illustrator Rian Sygh; both are trans guys and both have the same fondness for Diet Coke.

* AscendedExtra: Adrienne,the deaf Backstagers of the Penitent Angels, becomes a huge part of the second middle grade novel.

The comic ran between 2016 and 2017, and consists of eight issues (labelled Acts), broken into two trade volumes of four. There were holiday special comics released for Valentine's Day and Halloween (collected in a third trade volume), along with a 3-book middle reader series that consists of:

* CastFullOfGay: Out of the main cast, Jory is bi, Hunter is gay, and Sasha is described as "anime," though it's indicated that he is queer, (specifically, showing attraction towards a tool rat that turned into a handsome prince) in the Valentine's Intermission issue. Aziz is the only cis and straight guy of the cast, since while Beckett is also into girls, he's trans. The supporting cast has the male stage managers Timothy and Jamie as a couple, and faculty advisor Rample is also gay. [[spoiler: Polaroid was gay as well, as he was Rample's boyfriend who died in the Arch-Theater and was brought back to life using the magic sketchbook.]]

* NiceGirl: Bailey Brentwood, the apple of Beckett's eye. She's funny, smart, a great actress and stands up for herself against the [=McQueen=] twins.

The comic ran between 2016 and 2017, and consists of eight issues (labelled Acts), broken into two trade volumes of four. There were holiday special comics released for Valentine's Day and Halloween, along with a YoungAdult novel, ''The Backstagers and the Ghost Light'', released September 2018.

* CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler: Chloe Murphy from the ''Ghost Light'' novel literally has a DeadLittleSister, and in trying to return her back to the living, goes to "extreme" levels in order to bring her back, something out of character for her.]]

* CastFullOfGay: Out of the main cast, Jory is bi, Hunter is gay, and Sasha is described as "anime," though he has shown attraction towards males (specifically, a tool rat that turns into a handsome prince) in the Valentine's Intermission issue. Aziz is the only cis and straight guy of the cast, since while Beckett is also into girls, he's trans. The supporting cast has the male stage managers Timothy and Jamie as a couple, and faculty advisor Rample is also gay. [[spoiler: Polaroid was gay as well, as he was Rample's boyfriend who died in the Arch-Theater and was brought back to life using the magic sketchbook.]]

The book, much like ''Comicbook/{{Lumberjanes}}'', is an all-ages book that highlights young LGBT characters and their relationships. So much so, that it's often refered to the SpearCounterpart to ''Lumberjanes''.

The comic ran between 2016 and 2017, and consists of eight issues (labelled Acts), broken into two volumes of four. There are holiday special comics released for Valentine's Day and Halloween, along with a YoungAdult novel, ''The Backstagers and the Ghost Light'', released September 2018.

The comic ran between 2016 and 2017, and consists of eight issues (labelled Acts), broken into two volumes of four. There are holiday special comics released for Valentine's Day and Halloween, along with a YoungAdult novel, ''The Backstagers and the Ghost Light'', released September 2018. The book, much like ''Comicbook/{{Lumberjanes}}'', is an all-ages book that highlights young LGBT characters and their relationships. So much so, that it's often refered to the SpearCounterpart to ''Lumberjanes''.

[[caption-width-right:350:Rebels Without Applause]]''The Backstagers'' is a comic published by Boom Studios (under the Boom! Box label). It is written by James Tynion IV (writer of ''Comicbook/TheWoods'' and ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth'', and primarily illustrated by Rian Sygh.