Line #47 ComicBook/North40


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/north_40_complete.png]]
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3	Comic book miniseries from 2009, written by Aaron Williams and illustrated by Fiona Staples. It could best be described as "magic hillbilly superheroes fight Cthulhu."
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5	It starts off with a couple of high school kids in a small town getting an eldritch spellbook through Interlibrary Loan. They read it, everyone blacks out, and when they wake up, the county is cut off from the rest of the world, and half the people have been turned into monsters. Some people use their new abilities to do evil, some to do good, and some just focus on trying to live their lives as normally as they can.
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7	----
8	!!This series provided examples of:
9	* AchillesHeel: Wyatt is as tough as any other FlyingBrick, but he still needs to breathe. This becomes an issue when he's attacked by one of the townsfolk who has become a cloud of living smoke.
10	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Wyatt Hinkle and Amanda Walker are both looked down on by the other townsfolk. Wyatt because they perceived him as [[TallPoppySyndrome a hick trying to rise above his station and therefore the rest of them]], Amanda because she's biracial. They're both altruistic forces in the story regardless.
11	* AngerBornOfWorry: Sheriff Morgan as Wyatt wakes up from the attack on his AchillesHeel:
12	--> '''Sheriff Morgan:''' You try quittin' this job without my say-so again, I'll dock a week's pay.
13	* AnimalEyeSpy: Luane, a waitress at the diner, is able to see through the eyes of birds, squirrels, and cats. She can also control them to some degree, and she's prone to fainting spells whenever an animal she's possessing gets killed.
14	* ApatheticCitizens: Once the chaos happens the townsfolk all settle into their same cliques but much more unscrupulous. There isn't much screentime minding anyone reacting to the changes, everyone just sorta rolls with it.
15	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Unlike [[GoodIsNotNice the other heroic characters]], Wyatt is a genuinely nice guy: humble, polite, and helpful even after his FlyingBrick powers kick in. But the UngratefulTownsfolk just keep ''pushing'' him. They're lucky he can work out his frustrations by crushing zombie skulls and smashing Denny Pittman's [[HumongousMecha humongous mechas]].
16	* BewareTheSillyOnes: Aren't the Atterhulls funny with all their drunken, inept redneck antics? Then, the ''exact'' second they gain even a scrap of power, they start kidnapping women to rape and trying to murder anyone they have a grudge against. Fortunately, the number one person on their hit list is Sheriff Morgan, who is more than capable of defending himself. Considering that they were packing heat before they gained superpowers, it probably wasn't safe to take them lightly even then.
17	* {{BFG}}: A downplayed example in the "Moose Stopper". It's huge for a pistol, too big and heavy for most people to wield properly, which makes it a perfect match for Wyatt's strength.
18	* BigBad: Dyan is a misanthrope that hates the town and is the cause of the deformations suffered in the series. Most of the beneficial superpowers and the town being sealed off are attempts to counter her actions.
19	* BodyHorror: So many characters, ranging from serious villains to everyday folks in the background.
20	* BrotherSisterIncest: Some Atterhulls from a previous generation messed around in Marguritte's magics and ended up dead. Marguritte suggests that they might have been strong enough to survive if they hadn't been born from this.
21	* ClosedCircle: The borders of the town are sealed off from exit. Luane's animals die when they try.
22	* CoolOldGuy: Sheriff Morgan is one of the older characters in the series and kicks as much ass as anyone.
23	* ComesGreatResponsibility: Wyatt is given the choice between using his powers to save the town and the world, or leave them to destroy themselves after their mistreatment of him. He chooses the former.
24	* CosmicHorrorStory: Downplayed; It's implicit that the awakening of the EldritchAbomination is an eventuality, but the [[FightingAShadow piece of it]] being stirred awake is before such a time, and is preventable.
25	* CripplingOverspecialization: Of a kind. Robert invests a ''lot'' of energy into making Wyatt very powerful, with the result that he has very few heroes compared to Dyan's monsters.
26	* DarkIsNotEvil: Several (but by no means all) of the people monsterized by Dyan remain decent people despite their freakish new looks and abilities.
27	* DeepSouth: Conover County seems to be set in a generic version of the South.
28	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The climax of the tale has something very much like Cthulhu preparing to rise from a local lake and getting punched back into its endless slumber.
29	* DisproportionateRetribution: The Atterhulls are a clan of ne'er-do-wells, and Sheriff Morgan has naturally sent many of them to jail. They're very much guilty of the crimes he arrests them for, and he doesn't use any undue force to do so, but they still take him doing his job as a personal affront, and attempt to ''murder'' him as soon as he's cut off from outside help and they have a bit of power.
30	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The Atterhulls are devoted to their granny.
31	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: For all their faults, the Atterhulls really do care about each other. In fact, their strong clan ties are a big part of what makes them so dangerous once conventional authority breaks down.
32	* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Robert is in love with Dyan and desperate to please her, which is why he acquired the TomeOfEldritchLore for her in the first place. Even once he realizes how evil she really is, he still can't bring himself to oppose her directly. She takes shameless advantage of this.
33	* ExtraEyes: One of the customers in the diner ends up with eyes all over his forehead. Miss Sparks insists he's a demon, but he [[MustHaveCaffeine just wants his cup of coffee]].
34	* EyelessFace: Granny Atterhull, the matriarch of the Atterhull clan, has her eyes replaced with what look like sea urchins.
35	* {{Flight}}: A number of characters get this power, but Wyatt Hinkle is the most prominent one.
36	* FlyingBrick: Wyatt is empowered with the general powerset of flight, super strength and high durability as a designated defender against the more monstrous townsfolk.
37	* ForcedTransformation: The deforming transformations are not accidental, they were deliberately inflicted by Dyan to torture the town and sow chaos.
38	* TheFundamentalist: Miss Sparks, who runs the diner, assumes almost all the transformed townsfolk are in league with Satan.
39	* GoodIsNotNice: Sheriff Morgan is willing to threaten to shoot Fred Atterhull to make a point, Amanda is sardonic and threatening even while rescuing people, and Marguritte is a cryptic and pragmatic witch. They're all more or less heroic and working to prevent great evil from prevailing.
40	* {{Goth}}: Dyan, pictured above. She helps start everything off by reading from an evil spellbook.
41	* GothGirlsKnowMagic: The event that kicks off the story is resident goth girl Dyan getting her hands on a book of eldritch lore and using it for some seriously evil stuff.
42	* GreaterScopeVillain: The Cthulhu-like EldritchAbomination is the driving force behind all the evil in the series.
43	* HalfBreedDiscrimination: A mundane example: Amanda is clearly of mixed White and Black ancestry, which means the town's significant number of White supremacists either don't want her around or think they can do whatever they want to her, nor do the also-racist African-American Pittman clan care to protect her. Fortunately she becomes more than capable of protecting herself early on, and quickly gains a group of TrueCompanions, which include Wyatt and Sheriff Morgan.
44	* HatsOffToTheDead: When Wyatt's father has apparently died (it's hard to be sure considering [[ElementalEmbodiment what he's become]]), Sheriff Morgan takes his hat off to pay his respects as Wyatt mourns.
45	* HighSchoolDance: The dance turns into a bloodbath when zombies invade and the monsterized classmates start tearing them to pieces.
46	* HorrorHunger: At the end of the series, Stacy gets cursed with a need to transform people into more {{Humanoid Abomination}}s or die, then sent through the barrier around the town in order to bring more victims to Dyan.
47	* HumanoidAbomination: So very many characters.
48	* HumongousMecha: Local junkman Denny Pittman starts building them.
49	* ILoveTheDead: A bit of a reversal. Jenny is in love with Bradley. She dies and gets turned into a zombie. She pursues him to the point where she corners him at a dance and makes out with him.
50	* IWasQuiteALooker: Granny Atterhull, if the pictures her grandson prints up for her SinisterSurveillance powers are any indication.
51	* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: The "Moose Stopper", a [[{{BFG}} huge]] custom revolver that fires only custom rounds and was supposedly made by Sam Colt himself. Marguritte even [[MagicalWeapon enchants it for the final battle]].
52	* ImprobableAimingSkills: Apparently part of Wyatt's powers, possibly as a result of enhanced senses and dexterity.
53	* LovecraftianSuperpower: Almost everyone has one.
54	* MagicPants: Averted; Dave ends up naked with his pants tied around his waist after his transformation. Afterwards he's seen with pants clearly made from multiple pairs sewn together along with an ill-fitting A-shirt too small to cover his midriff, and he's constantly barefoot.
55	* MassSuperempoweringEvent: It kicks off the series. Spells are recited, everyone passes out, and afterwards, half the citizenry have monstrous superpowers.
56	* MonstrousCannibalism: After transformation a lot of the townsfolk develop [[HorrorHunger appetites]] and are wont to devour each other.
57	* MundaneUtility: Granny Atterhull hangs a picture of herself around her neck so she can use her SinisterSurveillance powers to read a book.
58	* MusclesAreMeaningless: As a farmboy, Wyatt is probably quite strong even before he gains superpowers. Even so, he's skinny and unintimidating. Then his FlyingBrick powers kick in, and he becomes by far the strongest character in the story.
59	* NighInvulnerability: Wyatt Hinkle and Dave Atterhull, though Dave is probably a bit less invulnerable than Wyatt.
60	* NonActionBigBad: Granny Atterhull is very old, very heavy, and blind except for her SinisterSurveillance powers. She sits at home and directs her family in their feud against Sheriff Morgan while Fred acts as field leadership and Dave acts as muscle.
61	* [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Not So Harmless Villains]]: When the story begins, the Atterhulls seem to be an inept and comical clan of drunks and petty criminals. Then several of their members develop super powers and Sheriff Morgan is cut off from all outside backup, and the first thing he has to do is rescue a girl they've kidnapped [[SexSlave "for later"]], after which he spends the rest of the story one step ahead of their attempts to [[DisproportionateRetribution MURDER him for all the times he arrested family members for their drunkenness and petty crime]].
62	* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler: Marguritte De Vris and Sheriff Morgan are both a few centuries old.]]
63	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Jenny is explicitly stated to be different from the other zombies -- she raised the rest of them from their graves, and she's far tougher and more intelligent than they are.
64	* PapaWolf: Do not threaten Wyatt, his father will literally raise up the earth to devour you.
65	* PetTheDog: When Dave Atterhull stumbles back to the trailer park after the MassSuperEmpoweringEvent, naked, confused, and famished by his transformation, Fred helps him get to shelter and gets him some food. The next time we see him, Dave is wearing an outfit that was probably sewed together by one of the female Atterhulls. This is the primary example of how the Atterhulls, for all their faults, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes really do take care of each other]].
66	* PlayingAgainstType: Writer Aaron Williams is best known for more light-hearted comics like ''ComicBook/{{PS238}}'', ComicStrip/{{Nodwick}}, and ''Webcomic/FullFrontalNerdity''.
67	* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Sheriff Morgan isn't usually one of these, which is why it's a bit shocking when he refers to a wheelchair as a "cripple cart". He's being deliberately insulting because the person in it is a Jerkass who got there entirely through his own bad choices, but still.
68	* PoweredByAForsakenChild: Denny Pittman's giant robots all have severed, screaming human heads as their power sources.
69	* SequelHook: Dyan sends out an enthralled Stacy into the world, cursed to afflict more people and send them back to town or she dies.
70	* SinisterScythe: Amanda Walker carries one around. She uses it as her magic staff.
71	* SinisterSurveillance: In place of her own eyes, which are gone, Granny Atterhull now sees through the eyes on pictures of her. She has her grandson print up lots of them so they can be posted up everywhere.
72	* SuperheroPackingHeat: Wyatt doesn't have heat vision or any other ranged attack, so Sheriff Morgan gives him first an ordinary sidearm, then the [[{{BFG}} "Moose Stopper"]].
73	* SuperStrength: Dave Atterhull is immensely strong and built like a tank.
74	** By all indications, Wyatt is even stronger.
75	* TomeOfEldritchLore: The book that gets the whole story started. It's cover is fleshy and has blinking squid eyes.
76	* ATruceWhileWeGawk: The Atterhulls and Sheriff Morgan are having a confrontation, with Fred and the Sheriff having words, when one of Denny Pitman's [[HumongousMecha Humongous Mechas]] attacks. Dave tries to fight it [[CurbStompBattle and is promptly sent flying]]. Fred and Sheriff Morgan pause in their argument to watch Dave fly past.
77	* UngratefulTownsfolk: After saving Prom from an invasion of zombies all the witnesses pin the blame on Wyatt to the Mayor, who organizes a posse to convict him. None of them care for the protagonists to maintain order and stop evil and turn tail immediately when threats show up.
78	* UnusualDysphemism: Wyatt's father probably means for it to be an UnusualEuphemism when he refers to the dirty magazines he wants Wyatt to pick up as "my mail-order brides". As Wyatt points out, his "euphemism" is actually much worse.
79	* ZombieApocalypse: Jenny starts a small one to try and reunite with Bradley.

Context ComicBook / North40