Line #4 ComicBook/Unnatural


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unnatural_01_1.png]]
2	Leslie is a simple [[PigMan pig girl]]. She loves sushi, she's stuck with a job she hates, and she lives under a brutal totalitarian government—one that punishes transgressors for anything deemed "unnatural." Leslie dreams of something different for herself. But those dreams are becoming dangerous...
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4	This hit Italian series by Mirka Andolfo (''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'', ''ComicBook/HarleyQuinn'', ''ComicBook/DCComicsBombshells'') will transport you into [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals a colorful but terrible world—full of anthropomorphic creatures]], but light on personal freedoms—by way of a breathtaking plot that travels between thriller and fantasy, with a hint of sensuality.
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6	Published by Panini Comics. An English translation is currently in publication by Creator/ImageComics.
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8	----
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10	!!This work provides examples of:
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12	* AlienBlood: [[spoiler: In Issue 5, Khal's blood is revealed to be blue as a sign of his supernatural abilities. And so is Leslie's. Once the Albino's spirit leaves her after she's stabbed by Maxime, it turns back to red as a sign of her being BroughtDownToNormal.]]
13	* AnimalisticAbomination: The Albino is a wolf-like supernatural apex predator that spread fear in the world. Due to his loneliness, the inhabitants of Tijoux made a pact with him where they offered a VirginSacrifice to him in return for safety from him. Eventually, one such consort Bes attempted to slay him once and for all, leading both to kill each other. Eventually they both reincarnated, Leslie being the reincarnation of Bes and Khal destined to act as the Albino's new body.
14	* AwfulWeddedLife: The reason why Les is so apprehensive with being paired off with another pig via BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage is because [[spoiler:she caught her mother cheating on her father with a lion, overhearing how much she hated her husband and how she saw Les as "her problem".]]
15	* BadBoss: Mr. Hans is crass and uncaring of the well-being of his employees, changing the uniform of his female employees into skimpy [[FrenchMaidOutfit French Maid Outfits]]. When Leslie complains that the uniform she got was too small for her, he fat shames her instead of getting her a bigger uniform before [[DirtyOldMan feeling her up sexually]].
16	--> '''Leslie:''' Ahem... Mr. Hans... about those new uniforms. They're--\
17	'''Mr. Hans:''' For the clients' pleasure, Leslie. Not yours.
18	* TheBeard: Derek tries pairing Leslie up with [[spoiler:his pig boyfriend Max]] as a means of lowering their taxes and [[FlyingUnderTheGaydar hiding their relationship from suspicion]].
19	* BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage: Downplayed. While the government does not force its populace into same-species heterosexual marriages, it does everything it can to encourage this, both in rewards (like government subsidies) and punishments (with single individuals having to pay 25% higher taxes than married couples, only increasing over time).
20	* BigBeautifulWoman: Leslie, definitely.
21	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Maxine, Jones, and his father Napoleon are all dead, and the Albino is destroyed. [[TimeSkip A year later]], the cult has dissolved without its leadership, the Reproduction Program has been abolished, Carol is running for Mayor, and Leslie and Khal are in love and raising Shea together. However, none of it changes the fact that Trish, Derek, and Pif are dead, there's no indication that Trish's parents don't still hate Leslie, and she has to live with the fact that she killed her mother to save the world. There are also still people who frown on InterspeciesRomance and homosexuality, and there probably always will be; such deep-seated prejudices don't just disappear overnight, after all. And on top of all of that, [[TheEndOrIsIt it's heavily implied that the Albino is still around]]. But come what may, Leslie has hope for the future and she won't be facing it alone.]]
22	* CrapsaccharineWorld: Despite the wacky WorldOfFunnyAnimals setting, the government of this world is incredibly strict on who the citizens date and procreate with. Marriage is very regulated, with same-sex relationships and InterspeciesRomance [[FantasticRacism banned]] and referred to as "unnatural." Couples that fit the parameters of the Reproduction Program are encouraged, even providing government subsidies to same-species couples that marry in under two decades.
23	* CrocodileTears: Fittingly enough, Mr. Hans. [[spoiler:When he is being interviewed over the deaths of Derek and Trish, he cries obviously fake tears whilst portraying himself as a kindly boss mourning the deaths of the two victims. All the while shamelessly promoting his diner.]]
24	* DarkestHour:
25	** [[spoiler: The end of Issue 3. Leslie's arranged date, Jones, is actually in a cult, who kidnap and use her in some kind of ritual. When she wakes up in her apartment the next day, Trish is nowhere to be found and the police are at the door. They tell Leslie she's in a lot of trouble because she never showed up for the date and that Trish is dead. And since Leslie doesn't have an alibi for where she was when Trish was murdered, [[WrongfullyAccused it seems she's their number one suspect.]]]]
26	** [[spoiler: Issue 4. Leslie is evicted from her apartment, and while staying with Derek, she realizes the dream she's been having is actually a memory from a past life, and the cult's ritual has begun to awaken more memories. [[SpiritAdvisor The spirit of the wolf man from her dream is bound to her,]] and through him, Leslie learns the cult blackmailed Derek into spying on her by kidnapping his boyfriend. Derek is shot dead by Jones, but Leslie's saved by the hooded stranger who's been stalking her since Issue 1, revealed to be a wolf who's the spitting image of the one from her dream. Both of Leslie's friends are now dead, and the cult's leader, known only as "The Glance", who has been watching through a hidden camera, vows that Leslie's life will now be "a maze of constant panic".]]
27	*** [[spoiler: The Glance isn't joking either: By the start of Issue 5, the cult has used its influence to turn Leslie into the most wanted criminal in the city, with the news blaming news blaming her for being a PsychoLesbian [[IfICantHaveYou who killed Trish for not reciprocating,]] [[TheyKnowTooMuch then killing Derek when he found out.]] Even Trish's parents think Leslie did it, and she has no choice but to work with Khal and his comrades to prove her innocence.]]
28	** Issue 8. [[spoiler: Tijoux has been turned into a dead-end tourist trap, Bes's remains were destroyed after she died, and Khal has been stabbed with a sacred dagger. Leslie nearly kills herself out of despair before Jones shows up, takes Khal and Saya hostage, and reveals that the cult is keeping Khal's sister, Shea, prisoner. To save Khal and Saya, Leslie allows the Albino to possess her, using his powers to kill Jones and his flunkies and vowing to take the fight to the cult. But right before he dies, Jones reveals the Glance's identity. '''[[ArchnemesisMom It's Leslie's mother.]]''']]
29	* DeconstructiveParody: Of WorldOfFunnyAnimals stories. In RealLife, only certain animals can procreate with certain species outside of their very specific genus (like horses procreating with mules), and even then such hybrids can be sterile or possess other health problems detrimental to their parent species. If those animals can walk and talk and form a human-esque society, [[RepressiveButEfficient it makes sense]] that laws would be in place to prevent population decline due to InterspeciesRomance, with a ban on same-sex relations being a by-product of that system. This also seems to have a detrimental effect on gender equality as well, if Leslie's GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity is any indication.
30	* EroticDream: Leslie has a recurring dream of [[spoiler:having sex with a [[NobleWolf hunky, handsome]] WolfMan. In the 4th issue, it's revealed that they aren't dreams, but memories of a past life.]]
31	* EyeScream: [[spoiler:The Albino's power only works through the gaze of his host. Once Leslie gouges out Maxine's eyes, she loses her connection to the Albino and turns to dust.]]
32	* GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity: Mr. Hans acts as though he can do whatever he wants with his employees (dressing them in [[FrenchMaidOutfit French Maid Outfits]], fat-shaming and getting grabby with Leslie) and getting away with it by threatening to fire anybody that complains.
33	* HiddenElfVillage: Tijoux, a tribal civilization where InterspeciesRomance is considered normal. It is proclaimed by many to be a myth, but some like Mr. Gambots, who made it his life's-work to prove its existence, believes it is real. [[spoiler:Issue#5 confirms that it does exist.]]
34	* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: It is implied that out of all of the women offered to him, the Albino favored Bes most of all because she conspired to kill him instead of blindly fulfilling the pact.
35	* InTheHood: The mysterious figure who's been stalking Leslie wears a hood that conceals his face in shadow.
36	* LampshadeHanging: In Issue 5, Les [[{{Pun}} hogs]] on left-over food due to hunger. Khal appears and snarks that she's playing into the stereotype of pigs being sloppy eaters.
37	* MsFanservice: Leslie is often seen scantily clad or [[BigBeautifulWoman in clothes a size smaller than fits her]].
38	* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Mr. Hans is Leslie's alligator boss. He is also a pervert and an asshole.
39	* PigMan: The main character Leslie is an anthropomorphic pig.
40	* PrimalScene: [[spoiler:When she was younger, Les accidentally saw her mother cheating on her husband with a lion.]]
41	* PropagandaMachine: The government's same-species, heteronormative agenda can be learned through televised cartoons, with signs about the Reproduction Program plastered everywhere in downtown.
42	* PuppetKing: [[spoiler:In Issue 6, it is revealed that the Koala Leader is a puppet for the cult.]]
43	* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: Leslie is forced to wear a skimpy FrenchMaidOutfit two-sizes too small as her uniform, with [[GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity threats of getting fired being the only thing that prevents her from complaining]].
44	* RiddleForTheAges: We never really find out [[spoiler:why Bes managed to fight back against the Albino when everyone else failed]].
45	* StraightGay: Derek, no doubt out of necessity [[FlyingUnderTheGaydar due to the dangers of being gay in a restrictive, heteronormative society]].
46	* StrongFamilyResemblance: [[spoiler:Les's mother admitted to her lion lover that she [[AwfulWeddedLife hated her husband]] so much that she becomes angry just by looking at their daughter due to her resemblance to him.]]
47	* TraumaCongaLine: Since the first issue, Leslie's situation has pretty much gotten from bad to worse.
48	* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler: Issue 4: Trish is dead, and Leslie is the police's main suspect. While staying at Derek's, she has the dream about the wolf man again, but then realizes that not only is the dream a memory from a past life, but that the spirit of the wolf man is bound to hers. It's at this point that what started as a story about a girl trying to navigate a utilitarian society's marriage and sex laws, with the beginnings of a murder mystery and conspiracy thriller, [[GenreShift takes a sharp right turn into supernatural territory.]]]]
49	* WhamLine: [[spoiler: When the police show up at Les' apartment at the end of Issue 3, they ask her, among other things...]]
50	-->[[spoiler: '''Cop:''' Where were you when your roommate, Trish Friha, was ''murdered''?]]
51	** [[spoiler: Right before he dies at the end of Issue 8, Jones drops a bombshell about the Glance's true identity.]]
52	--> [[spoiler: '''Jones:''' What kind of daughter... would raise a hand against her own [[ArchnemesisMom MOTHER?]]]]
53	* WhamShot: [[spoiler: Two in quick succession. Leslie's dream grows more intense partway through Issue 4, and when the wolf man pulls her into a hug, he rips her throat out. Then Leslie, or "Bes", as the wolf calls her, [[BloodMagic conjures a knife from her own blood]] [[TakingYouWithMe and stabs the wolf.]]]]
54	* WorldOfFunnyAnimals: The world is populated with anthropomorphic animals.

Context ComicBook / Unnatural