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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_couriers.jpg]]
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3''The Couriers'' is the first comic series by BrianWood, later to become more famous with titles like ''ComicBook/{{Northlanders}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Demo}}'', ''ComicBook/{{DMZ}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Local}}''. Many of Wood's later works are known for their serious and downbeat treatment of violence and its consequences. ''The Couriers''... Er, [[RuleOfCool Not]] [[WorldOfBadass so]] [[HeroicBloodshed much]].
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5The series started with what was meant to be a one-off graphic novel, ''Couscous Express'', with art by Brett Weldele. Wood then produced three further graphic novels about the same characters with art by Rob G: ''The Couriers'', ''Dirtbike Manifesto'', and ''The Ballad of Johnny Funwrecker''. They were all originally published by [=AiT=]/Planet Lar, but a 2012 combined volume came out from Creator/ImageComics.
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7The series revolves around Moustafa and Special, two young "couriers" who specialise in the kind of loads that normal courier companies don't handle because they are illegal, or so in demand that they're likely to attract every gunman in town to try to steal them at gunpoint. Usually, it's both. Oh, and they also do general bodyguarding and occasionally just shoot people for money.
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9----
10!!''The Couriers'' provides examples of:
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12* ActionGirl: Moustafa's girlfriend Olive doesn't usually get mixed up in his and Special's business, but when necessary she can defend herself pretty well.
13* ArtImitatesArt: The original back cover of ''The Couriers'' depicts the major characters in the style and poses from the iconic poster of ''{{Film/Trainspotting}}''.
14* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Johnny Funwrecker has a mild case of this.
15* BalladOfX:''The Ballad of Johnny Funwrecker''
16* BastardUnderstudy: Special to Johnny Funwrecker.
17* TheBigRottenApple: Although the characters like it that way.
18* BodyguardBabes: Deconstructed with Johnny Funwrecker's hot young female bodyguards. Everyone knows they're just to indulge his fetishes. Special is the only competent one among them, and she destroys his organization and moves into the vacant space because she's fed up with him seeing her only as eye candy.
19* BulletProofVest: Moustafa resorts to one when a PLA special forces team comes after him. He still gets mocked for it.
20* CarFu
21* CharacterOverlap: Jennie from Wood's story ''Channel Zero'' makes a cameo in ''The Couriers''.
22* CollectorOfTheStrange: The General.
23* ComicBookFantasyCasting: A walk-on ally of Special's is based on Wood's art collaborator on other work, Becky Cloonan.
24* CoolBike: Mous's dirt bike, and Olive's Vespa.
25* CoolCar: Special's 1967 Chevy Camaro SS
26* {{Courier}}: Naturally.
27* DarkActionGirl: Special. And she's one of the protagonists.
28* DesignatedGirlFight: Special and Becky
29* EvenEvilHasStandards: Moustafa and Special won't touch anything involving human trafficking.
30* EveryScarHasAStory: Subverted, as Special always refuses to explain the scar on her cheek to anyone. [[spoiler:It's finally revealed that she got it in a gun battle with a murderous ex-boyfriend.]]
31* EveryoneIsArmed
32* EvilCounterpart: Becky, the militia's SmallGirlBigGun, to Special, although Special is arguably pretty evil herself.
33* GangOfHats: The Turkish Scooter Mafia. Literally, as they all wear fezes.
34* GenericEthnicCrimeGang: The Turkish Scooter Mafia
35* TheGhost: Hot Sauce
36* GunFu
37* HeroicBloodshed: A US comics version of the genre.
38* KnowledgeBroker: Hot Sauce
39* MultipleChoicePast: In ''Couscous Express'', Moustafa's first-person narration suggests that he grew up in a rough housing project as Olive's neighbour. ''The Ballad of Johnny Funwrecker'' instead depicts him as the rebellious son of extremely wealthy but neglectful and abusive parents.
40* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Olive after her impulsive grenade attack on the Turkish Scooter Mafia ignites a full-on gang war and nearly gets her parents killed.
41* NominalHero: On the very borderline between this and VillainProtagonist.
42* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Moustafa taking out all the PLA goons who storm his apartment.
43* OriginsEpisode / WholeEpisodeFlashback: "The Ballad of Johnny Funwrecker" explains how Mous and Special first met and started their partnership.
44* PlatonicLifePartners: Mous and Special
45* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The militia types in ''Dirtbike Manifesto'' make their opinion of Mous's Middle Eastern origins pretty clear.
46* ProductDeliveryOrdeal: Naturally, for a comic series about two characters who smuggle dangerous goods, their deliveries tend to be very action-oriented and hyper-violent as they have to overcome any and all obstacles that get in their way.
47* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: The other side in ''Dirtbike Manifesto''.
48* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: ''Dirtbike Manifesto'' revolves around Mous and Special going after an upstate redneck militia who killed one of their friends and occasional helpers.
49* RollerbladeGood: Mous and Special at times.
50* SatisfiedStreetRat: Special
51* SmallGirlBigGun: Special and several other characters.
52* TattooedCrook: Mous has tribal tattoos all over his shoulders, Special has a smaller one on her shoulder blade, and Johnny Funwrecker is heavily tattooed all over.
53* TokenCompetentMinion: Special is a subversion. She is the only one of Johnny Funwrecker's BodyguardBabes who is any good at her job. However, she gets so fed up with him and random third parties assuming that she's just a schoolgirl-fetish sex object like the rest that she turns on him, utterly destroying his organization.
54* TrainingFromHell: Delivered by Special to Mous in ''The Ballad of Johnny Funwrecker''.
55* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: Johnny Funwrecker, and the General's lackies in the first part of ''The Couriers''.
56* TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour: Mous and Special were respectively 12 and 15 when they first joined Johnny Funwrecker's gang, and Special at least was already a highly experienced hood.
57* WalkingShirtlessScene: Johnny Funwrecker

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