Line #8 ComicBook/Fathom


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fath210c.png]]
2
3	''Fathom'' is a comic book created by Michael Turner and originally published by Creator/TopCowProductions. It debuted in 1998 and was Michael Turner's first creator-owned comic book series. It ran for four years before Turner was diagnosed with bone cancer. After his remission, he left Top Cow and formed his own company, Aspen MLT, which resulted in a lengthy legal battle with his former employer as to who owned the rights to the comic.
4
5	The suit was settled out of court, and Turner relaunched the series in 2004 with Aspen MLT, where it remains to this day. Even with Turner's passing in 2008, the series has continued on, with Volume 8 releasing in 2019.
6
7	The plot of Fathom follows Aspen, a girl involved in a mysterious cruise ship disappearance only for the ship to reappear out of thin air ten years later. She would be later be adopted by Captain Matthews, a naval officer investigating the disappearance. Throughout the series, she learns about her heritage, her powers, and her destiny as she has to deal with events and people both below and above the surface.
8
9	----
10	!!Tropes associated with this work include:
11
12	* AlliterativeFamily: The brothers Chance and Chris Calloway.
13	* ApparentlyHumanMerfolk: The Elite Blue (and even the Black, underneath their armor and masks) are perfectly normal human-looking underwater dwellers that can shapeshift into water as well as control it.
14	* CoversAlwaysLie: Aspen or another female character [[FanserviceCover will appear on the cover in an extremely skimpy string bikini]] (if she's even [[SceneryCensor wearing that much]]). On the inside, though still in a two-piece suit, it's often a far more modest athletic bathing suit.
15	* ElementalShapeshifter: Aspen, as well as many of the Elite Blue, have the ability to transform their body completely into water.
16	* EmergencyTraineeBattleDeployment: Kiani has recently reunited with her younger sister and they are under frequent attacks by Admiral Maylander, who believes them to be enemies of America. Kiani keeps sending Anika off to guard the village while she fights, then when Admiral Mayhab brings out his latest weapon, hydrophagic engineered soldiers, Kiani says that "both of them are needed" to fight this new threat.
17	* {{Fanservice}}: Lots of it. Slightly justified by the fact that the vast majority of the series takes place in or or near the ocean, but it's usually a tropical zone. Just do an image search for "Fathom" (nothing else needed) to see just how much of it there is.
18	* HiddenElfVillage: At the start, both the Blue and the Black preferred to keep to themselves than get involved with the surface. With time, the Blue would come to work with the surface on multiple occasions, even establishing a liaison with the human world in Cannon Hawke. The Black did the opposite, coming very close to [[ApocalypseHow destroying entire cities]] in the 2008 volume before Aspen, with the help of humans and the Blue, intervened.
19	* MilitaryMashupMachine: An amphibious jet-fighter, based on a recovered fighter from the race the titular character is from. Semi-F-14ish with variable wings, but mounted with a forward sweep design.
20	* PrefersGoingBarefoot: Members of the Blue are like this, though, Characters like Kiani are more of an EarthyBarefootCharacter. Aspen Matthews lives in modern society and likes to ditch her sandals whenever she can.
21	%%* RuthlessModernPirates
22	* SharedUniverse: Back in the early days of Fathom, Aspen found herself sometimes teaming up with Lara Croft (of Franchise/TombRaider fame) and Sara Pezzini (the original holder of the {{ComicBook/Witchblade}}). This was due to all three comics being published by Creator/TopCowProductions. This is no longer the case with the soft reboot done when Turner left the company. Now, Aspen crosses paths with the characters from {{ComicBook/Soulfire}} (also under the Aspen MLT banner).
23	* ShoutOut: One of the earlier issues in 2017 [[https://twitter.com/HiTechControl/status/829889537115553794 had a page referencing]] political figures from social media like Anita Sarkeesian, Paul Joseph Watson, The Young Turks, Milo Yiannopoulos, Chris Ray Gun and Shoe 0n Head.
24	* TakeOverTheWorld: Both the Blue and the Black keep switching between this and KillAllHumans throughout the series.
25	* TeamUpSeries: Back when Fathom was being published by Top Cow, Aspen did a crossover series with [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]] and [[ComicBook/{{Witchblade}} Sara Pezzini]], both also properties of the company. This got discontinued when Michael Turner, the creator of Aspen Matthews, left Top Cow in 2002.
26	* TransformationTrinket: A mild example. In the 2017 volume, Aspen gets a collapsible glaive from an assailant who attacked her. While it doesn't give her any new powers, it does give a set of coral armor like the Blue wear. In the original version, her necklace was modified to generate a white winged suit of armor which amplified her powers significantly.
27	* UnderwaterCity: Muria, the main hub city for the Blue. Most Blue colonies, regardless of their scale tend to be underwater.
28	* WeaksauceWeakness: The Blue in general are vulnerable to electrical energy. An AOE electrical field can disable their powers, while a high level direct shock will be fatal. But don't try that on the Black or Aspen, who will absorb the electricity and [[ReverseThePolarity send it back]] to the [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard enemy holding the taser weapon]].
29	* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Certain locales and cities are mentioned (like San Diego where Aspen calls home), but the actual location where Muria is located (other than the Pacific Ocean) is never specified.
30	* YouHaveGOTToBeKiddingMe: Aspen's reaction to when she found out how people on social media were [[SkewedPriorities arguing about her outfit or if she was an illegal migrant]] instead of talking about how she battled a supervillain on top of a giant tsunami and saving hundreds of people.

Context ComicBook / Fathom