History Literature / NuklearAge

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The Silo of Solitude runs off this trope: the technology is constantly updating itself to reflect how people perceive the future ten years from the present. Eventually, it reaches a point where [[AIIsACrapshoot technology starts]] [[RobotWar to rebel]] but the robotic servants realize that since they're ten years early, they can't do much beyond be snarky and go on strike.

A novel by Creator/BrianClevinger, author of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''. The book is a parody of comic books in general, following a HeroicComedicSociopath manchild known as Nuklear Man and his sidekick Atomik Lad, as they fight against the evil Dr. Menace and a host of baddies that crowd the streets. They are joined by the Mighty Metallic Magno Man (Norman), a tungsten superhero that attacks with his "Magnosmash", Angus the Iron Scotsman, a berserk (short) Scottish warrior that attacks with his bagpipe-rocket-powered Dwarf-a-Pult, and Rachel, Atomik Lad's non-powered girlfriend. Notably, they battle Crushtacean, a prehistoric crab formerly frozen in ice that is... attracted to the sounds of Angus's bagpipes, Superion™, a super-powered individual created by Dr. Menace after Nuklear Man is temporarily jailed, and Nihil, whose motivations would have to be spoilered. The writing style undergoes a rather dramatic shift between Superion™ and Nihil, becoming much more serious.

* CourtroomAntic: In an attempt to disrupt the trial, Nuklear Man gets Norman to unleash five dozen monkeys into the courtroom.

* AwesomeButImpractical

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Nuklear Man

* DistantFinale
* DoorStopper

* EasingIntoTheAdventure

* HeroKiller: Nihil
* HomeBase: The Silo of Solitude.

* [[spoiler: KillTheCutie]]

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: [[StreetFighter Turbo Fighter Street Edition]]
* LetsGetDangerous: Nuklear Man

* XtremeKoolLetterz

* KnightOfCerebus: Nihil, and Superion™ to a lesser extent. While his arc has its laughs, Superion™ is the first villain to be treated seriously.

A novel by Creator/BrianClevinger, author of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''. The book is a parody of comic books in general, following a HeroicComedicSociopath manchild known as Nuklear Man and his sidekick Atomik Lad, as they fight against the evil Dr. Menace and a host of baddies that crowd the streets. They are joined by the Mighty Metallic Magno Man (Norman), a tungsten superhero that attacks with his "Magnosmash", Angus the Iron Scotsman, a berserk (short) Scottish warrior that attacks with his bagpipe-rocket-powered Dwarf-a-Pult, and Rachel, Atomik Lad's non-powered girlfriend. Notably, they battle Crushtacean, a prehistoric crab formerly frozen in ice that is... attracted to the sounds of Angus's bagpipes, Superion™, a super-powered individual created by Dr. Menace after Nuklear Man is temporarily jailed, and Nihil, whose motivations would have to be spoilered. The writing style undergoes a rather dramatic shift between Superion™ and Nihii, becoming much more serious.

* NorseMythology[=/=]OhMyGods: Nuklear Man has a tendency to swear by the Norse gods ("Odin's Beard!" for example).

* CerebusSyndrome: An extreme case. The book starts off as a nice, silly superhero romp. The ending is amazingly depressing. This is because the book is modeled after the comic book industry itself: It starts off [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks over the top and goofy]], then moves to [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks over the top and kinda awesome]], and ends up [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks over the top and horrifying.]]
* CerebusRetcon: Again, played with as per comic book tropes. Nuklear Man's use of NorseMythology for exclamations (see below) turns out to be because [[spoiler:he may or may not actually ''be'' a Norse god, or at least was created by one.]]

!!This work contains examples of:

* CerebusSyndrome: An extreme case. The book starts off as a nice, silly superhero romp. The ending is amazingly depressing. This is because the book is modeled after the comic book industry itself: It starts off [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks over the top and goofy]], then moves to [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks over the top and kinda awesome]], and ends up [[DarkAge over the top and horrifying.]]

* CapePunk: Does't appear to be this. [[spoiler: Until the very end.]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Half the named cast, including Atomik Lad's girlfriend]] have this happen to them in the last few chapters.

* EnemyMine: Dr. Menace works with the heroes to stop Superion™ and Nihil, the former of which was rogue minion of Menace's.

* {{Brainwashed}}: Thanks Superion's Superior Mind Tricks™, everyone in the city gets this done to them, to the point where they elect him to every public office possible at once.

* HypercompetentSidekick: Atomik Lad, though Nuklear Man can be just as compotent when he wants to be.
* INeverToldYouMyName: Atomik Lab only gets more suspicious of Superion™ when he mention's Rachel after he had been careful not to mention her name around him.

A novel by BrianClevinger, author of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''. The book is a parody of comic books in general, following a HeroicComedicSociopath manchild known as Nuklear Man and his sidekick Atomik Lad, as they fight against the evil Dr. Menace and a host of baddies that crowd the streets. They are joined by the Mighty Metallic Magno Man (Norman), a tungsten superhero that attacks with his "Magnosmash", Angus the Iron Scotsman, a berserk (short) Scottish warrior that attacks with his bagpipe-rocket-powered Dwarf-a-Pult, and Rachel, Atomik Lad's non-powered girlfriend. Notably, they battle Crushtacean, a prehistoric crab formerly frozen in ice that is... attracted to the sounds of Angus's bagpipes, Superion™, a super-powered individual created by Dr. Menace after Nuklear Man is temporarily jailed, and Nihil, whose motivations would have to be spoilered. The writing style undergoes a rather dramatic shift between Superion™ and Nihii, becoming much more serious.

It's known for having a ''thoroughly'' depressing ending, which Clevenger considered the novel's big "joke" (in the sense that a joke subverts your expectations). Knowing just how this would go over, this is one of the few books which contains an apology by the author rather than an epilogue or an afterword.

* RealityWarper: Nihil, which is what makes him so dangerous compared to the other villains, as he could do almost anything he wanted. [[spoiler:It took an especially powerful Plazma Beam for him to finally be destroyed.]]

* RealityWarper: Nihil, which is what makes him so dangerous compared to the other villains, as he could quite literally do almost anything he wanted. [[spoiler:It took a Plazma Beam so powerful it went BeyondTheImpossible for him to finally be destroyed.]]

A novel by BrianClevinger, author of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''. The book is a parody of comic books in general, following a HeroicComedicSociopath manchild known as Nuklear Man and his sidekick Atomik Lad, as they fight against the evil Dr. Menace and a host of baddies that crowd the streets. They are joined by the Mighty Metallic Magno Man (Norman), a tungsten superhero that attacks with his "Magnosmash", Angus the Iron Scotsman, a berserk (short) Scottish warrior that attacks with his bagpipe-rocket-powered Dwarf-a-Pult, and Rachel, Atomik Lad's non-powered girlfriend. Notably, they battle Crushtacean, a prehistoric crab formerly frozen in ice that is... attracted to the sounds of Angus's bagpipes, Superion™, a super-powered individual created by Dr. Menace after Nuklear Man is temporarily jailed, and Nihel, whose motivations would have to be spoilered. The writing style undergoes a rather dramatic shift between Superion™ and Nihel, becoming much more serious.

* AndYourLittleDogToo: Superion™ showing Atomik Lad a brainwashed Rachel (cue explosion), Superion™ trying the same thing on Nuklear Man with a few of his other allies (cue explosion as Nuklear Man casually blows them out of the way), and finally Nihel cold-bloodedly [[spoiler:killing Rachel]], (cue massive explosion followed HeroicBSOD)

* ApocalypseHow: Nihel pulls off a [[spoiler:Class 1 (Human Die-Back) apocalypse when he single-handedly causes every other human on Earth to drop dead, then knocks pretty much all of the satellites orbiting Earth into all of the major cities.]]

* CombatCommentator: Variel to Safriel, in the battle against Nihel's homemade minions.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: Nuklear Man [[spoiler:regains his full power for the outerspace battle with Nihel when he recovers his old memories.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: After Nihel is unaffected by Atomik Lad's attacks, the Mighty Metallic Magno Man takes off for help. [[spoiler:Angus and Shiro are left behind, but Angus manages to get Shiro to leave him and charges Nihel head on, a second before Atomik Lad's would-be death. He continues fighting even after his own club is smashed through his stomach. Later, Atomik Lad throws himself in front of Nihel's death beam to save Nuklear Man, although he somehow survives.]]

* LastStand: Dr. Menace attempts a last, seemingly hopeless attack on Nihel.

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Nihel's minions.

* SerialEscalation: Nuklear Man repeatedly tops himself. In the first fight he uses a Plazma Beam to liquefy a blaster; later, he's enraged enough by his torn cape to unleash a "Nova Beam" upon Crustachean, which quite literally cooks the giant crab and flings it several blocks away; [[spoiler:and upon Superion™'s Nega Crush attack failing to kill him, he goes into "NOVA RAGE" and fires a huge beam that releases more energy then the sun gives off in a week at once at his opponent, utterly obliterating nearly an entire city block (which is impressive in itself as the beam could have probably destroyed the planet uncontrolled). Finally, in the superpowered duel to the death with Nihel, Nuklear Man pulls enough energy out of his surroundings to momentarily dim every star in the galaxy and unleashes it all at once, tearing the fabric of reality itself away from Nihel and defeating him.]]

* YouCantFightFate[=/=]ScrewDestiny: According to Nihil, while the fate of the gods is set in stone, individual mortals can do whatever they want with their lives, which infuriates him. [[spoiler:This explains Nuklear Man's backstory: He was created in a fit of defiance by the god Loki, as even though he has the powers of a god, he can do whatever he wants. This is also why Nihel attacks him; he wants to use Nuklear Man's powers to fight off his own inexorable destiny.]]

A novel by BrianClevinger, author of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''. The book is a parody of comic books in general, following a HeroicComedicSociopath manchild known as Nuklear Man and his sidekick Atomik Lad, as they fight against the evil Dr. Menace and a host of baddies that crowd the streets. They are joined by the Mighty Metallic Magno Man (Norman), a tungsten superhero that attacks with his "Magnosmash", Angus the Iron Scotsman, a berserk (short) Scottish warrior that attacks with his bagpipe-rocket-powered Dwarf-a-Pult, and Rachel, Atomik Lad's non-powered girlfriend. Notably, they battle Crushtacean, a prehistoric crab formerly frozen in ice that is... attracted to the sounds of Angus's bagpipes, Surperion, a super-powered individual created by Dr. Menace after Nuklear Man is temporarily jailed, and Nihel, whose motivations would have to be spoilered. The writing style undergoes a rather dramatic shift between Surperion and Nihel, becoming much more serious.

* AndYourLittleDogToo: Surperion showing Atomik Lad a brainwashed Rachel (cue explosion), Surperion trying the same thing on Nuklear Man with a few of his other allies (cue explosion as Nuklear Man casually blows them out of the way), and finally Nihel cold-bloodedly [[spoiler:killing Rachel]], (cue massive explosion followed HeroicBSOD)

* BeamOWar: Surperion has the power to reflect attacks such as Nuklear Man's Plazma Beams, and fire his own Surperior Beams. This results in a firestorm of energy shooting back, including a point where two of the blasts end up pushing back and forth.

* {{Brainwashed}}: Thanks Surperion's Surperior Mind Tricks™, everyone in the city gets this done to them, to the point where they elect him to every public office possible at once.
* BittersweetEnding: Oh, GOD. The sheer depression you'll get from reading the ending is so bad you may forget the good guys won.

* CallingYourAttacks: Pretty much everyone does this. For example, Nuklear Man's cry of "Plasma Beam", Superion's "Superior Beam", and Angus's "Dwarf-a-Pult". The MMMM even discusses how hard it is to time your call to your attack when you're moving faster the the speed of sound.

* EnemyMine: Dr. Menace works with the heroes to stop Superion and Nihil, the former of which was rogue minion of Menace's.

* FakeUltimateHero: Superion.
* FreudianExcuse: Deconstructed. Superion was the son of a famous superhero who never really had time for him. When he decides to whine about this, he does so towards a guy who has ''far'' worse daddy issues then him, yet is fairly stable.

* HurlItIntoTheSun: Nuklear Man uses this to take out the trash. Later, [[spoiler: it turns out that doing this to Nuklear Man (or at least putting him somewhere just as hot) is the only way to kill him, since he is powered by suns.]]

* INeverToldYouMyName: Atomik Lab only gets more suspicious of Superion when he mention's Rachel after he had been careful not to mention her name around him.

* KnightOfCerebus: Nihil, and Superion to a lesser extent. While his arc has its laughs, Superion is the first villain to be treated seriously.

* MeaningfulName: Dr. Ima Genius, Dr. Menace, Surperion, Angus Mc-Dougal (he's Scottish), Count Insidious, Katkat,

* NothingCanStopUsNow: Surperion, after having his invincibility apparently confirmed .

* RealityWarper: Nihil, which is what makes him so dangerous compared to the other villains, as he could quite literally do almost anything he wanted. [[spoiler:It took a Nuklear Beam so powerful it went BeyondTheImpossible for him to finally be destroyed.]]

* SerialEscalation: Nuklear Man repeatedly tops himself. In the first fight he uses a Plazma Beam to liquefy a blaster; later, he's enraged enough by his torn cape to unleash a "Nova Beam" upon Crustachean, which quite literally cooks the giant crab and flings it several blocks away; [[spoiler:and upon Superion's Nega Crush attack failing to kill him, he goes into "NOVA RAGE" and fires a huge beam that releases more energy then the sun gives off in a week at once at his opponent, utterly obliterating nearly an entire city block (which is impressive in itself as the beam could have probably destroyed the planet uncontrolled). Finally, in the superpowered duel to the death with Nihel, Nuklear Man pulls enough energy out of his surroundings to momentarily dim every star in the galaxy and unleashes it all at once, tearing the fabric of reality itself away from Nihel and defeating him.]]

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Thanks to a KangarooCourt trial and a handy bar graph or two, Dr. Menace manages to convince the public that she is the victim and that the heroes are evil; except, of course, for her own homemade superhero Surperion.

* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler: Atomik Lad.]]