Line #18 ComicStrip/SlylockFox


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slylock.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:How does Slylock know the painting is a forgery?[[labelnote:Answer]]Because salmon don't swim downstream.[[/labelnote]]]]
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4	''Slylock Fox and Comics for Kids'' is a newspaper comic strip by Bob Weber Jr., which consists of the Slylock puzzler and a number of other activities. The puzzler consists of the professional detective Slylock Fox and his assistant, Max Mouse, solving a number of mysteries, usually stopping a number of recurring villains. [[https://deadline.com/2022/09/slylock-fox-animated-film-based-on-comic-strip-in-works-from-king-features-1235119157/ A feature film is in development.]]
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6	----
7	!!Tropes:
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9	* AffectionateParody: There's one strip (not official) which has a Satanic accused of stealing a book from the Islamic Book Store. Said book is called "The Satanic Verses". (It also features the only animals wearing shoes in the strip.)
10	* AllDesertsHaveCacti: In one puzzle, the presence of a saguaro cactus is the proof that Slylock is trapped in Count Weirdly's hologram chamber, and not stranded in the Egyptian desert.
11	* AlliterativeName: Most of the non-Slylock characters
12	* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: All of the recurring villains.
13	* BarefootCartoonAnimal:
14	** Slylock and most of the rest of the characters.
15	** Averted in one strip where two birds were accused of walking on wet cement, and Slylock had to determine who was guilty by the way the footprints were arranged, since they were wearing identical shoes.
16	* TheCameo: One strip has [[ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine Rat]] as the culprit, in response to ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' taking a stab at Slylock.
17	* CardCarryingVillain
18	* ClockDiscrepancy: On occasion, how villains get busted. One example has Shady Shrew claim he was at home as an alibi and has a photograph of himself standing in front of a clock with the exact time, noon, that he was accused of committing an offense. Slylock knows Shady is lying [[ConvictionByContradiction because the sun outside is shown rising]].
19	* ConvictionByContradiction: All the time; proving that the accused is lying about ''something'' is the same thing as proving their guilt.
20	* ConvictionByCounterfactualClue: Sometimes the "contradiction" isn't actually wrong. In the picture, Slylock deduces that the painting is a forgery because [[spoiler:salmon don't swim downstream. Never mind the fact that some salmon do swim downstream, or that the artist may have not known about salmon, or that they might have just wanted to paint something unrealistic]].
21	* CrossOver:
22	** ''ComicStrip/MyCage'' did a [[http://www.gocomics.com/mycage/2011/10/17 storyline]] wherein Cassandra Cat was hired and stole money from the company, with Slylock himself appearing later. WordOfGod states that Max from ''My Cage'' was meant to appear in ''Slylock'', but an editor refused it.
23	** [[https://theslylockfiles.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/jan14.jpg One strip]] had Count Weirdly use his TimeMachine to travel into a 1927 ''ComicStrip/KrazyKat'' comic.
24	* DeathTrap: Count Weirdly occasionally subjects Slylock and Max to these.
25	* DullSurprise: Regardless of if he's helping a character retrieve a $10 bill or escaping a death trap, Slylock has the same emotionally detached expression.
26	* {{Fanservice}}: The [[http://joshreads.com/?p=1222 Cassandra Cat]] shirt that Bob made for ''Blog/TheComicsCurmudgeon''.
27	* {{Funny Animal}}s
28	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: A running joke is Max getting into trouble in the background. If he's not part of the investigation, he's probably being pinched by a lobster or [[http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/2981/applecn.jpg bonked by a falling apple]].
29	* FurryConfusion: Sometimes the Slylock puzzles show anthropomorphic suspects, victims, and investigators while non-anthropomorphic animals of similar species hang out in the background.
30	* FurryReminder: The FunnyAnimal characters are usually human for all intents and purposes, but some riddles are based around a suspect's species making them capable or incapable of committing the crime.
31	* GoKartingWithBowser: One strip has Slylock and Max time traveling with Count Weirdly. It's mainly a tool to dispense facts about dinosaurs, but Slylock and Weirdly seem bizarrely friendly to each other.
32	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Slylock and Max. Depending on the strip, they even live together.
33	* HouseSquatting: Encountered in some puzzles when criminals are believed to be hiding in a house while their owners are away. A specific example had the police unable to find any trace of a criminal hiding in someone's house until Slylock notices the air conditioner has a puddle of water below, indicating it had recently been used.
34	* IAmNotWeasel: A real-world example, is how many people as kids (and even adults today) mistakenly called Slylock, "Shylock"
35	* ImpliedLoveInterest: Slylock and Max occasionally entertain [[DistaffCounterpart Tiffany Fox and Melody Mouse]]. There's no evidence that they're in love, except for when Max spent the night with Melody, mentioned above.
36	* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: While most comics depict Slylock's world as a WorldOfFunnyAnimals, a few recurring or background humans will sometimes show up, such as Count Weirdly.
37	* MadScientist: Count Weirdly.
38	* MeaningfulName: Slylock and every recurring villain, though they might be nicknames.
39	* MoonLogicPuzzle:
40	** More often than not, the answer to a Slylock puzzler is an obscure real-world fact or a tiny clue in the drawing.
41	** One puzzle whose answer is unlikely to be figured out unless you know the answer's logic: A prisoner escaped and hid in a movie theater. The police found his location and surrounded all exits. How did the prisoner escape? [[spoiler:Through the ''entrance''. Never mind that if it's possible to leave through the entrance, it should fit the definition of "exit" and be guarded by the police.]]
42	* NoMouth: Slylock and Max are usually mouthless, unless speaking or emoting.
43	* PokeThePoodle: Most of the crimes committed are these. Arguably the biggest criminal would be Koppy Kat, an art forger, but he leaves behind blatant errors in his paintings that gives him away.
44	* RoguesGallery: Count Weirdly, Wanda Witch, Slick Smitty, Cassandra Cat, Shady Shrew, Harry Ape, Reeky Rat, Buford Bull, Bruno Bulldog, and Koppy Kat (seen in the above image).
45	* RuleThirtyFour: Josh Fruhlinger, a.k.a. ''Blog/TheComicsCurmudgeon'', [[http://joshreads.com/?p=1106 linked to a Rule 34 of Cassandra Cat]] in his blog (the pic also had Slylock and two of the other characters). Bob Weber Jr. found out after it was posted, and was a surprisingly good sport about it — he thought it was funny, but [[http://joshreads.com/?p=1106#comment-254899 politely asked it to be taken down]] so that kids couldn't find it.
46	* ShamelessSelfPromoter: One strip had Max Mouse about to visit "one of his favorite Web sites". The site was www.ohbrothercomics.com, the Web site of ''Oh, Brother'', Bob's other comic.
47	* SpeciesSurname
48	* ShoutOut:
49	** In an unintentional case, the fan-submitted drawing for one strip was a drawing of Webcomic/{{Sonichu}} — the same one that's on the work's page.
50	** [[http://i.imgur.com/TD2vh.gif Another comic]] had a fan draw [[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} Terezi Pyrope]]. And yet another has [[https://theslylockfiles.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/jan25.jpg Dave Strider]].
51	** And another one had a drawing of [[Anime/{{DigimonAdventure}} Greymon]].
52	** Animal versions of WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy appear in one comic as apple juice vendors.
53	* TimedMission: Some "puzzles" ask the reader to find a number of hidden objects in a scene within a time limit.
54	* TokenHuman: Count Weirdly is the most-featured example, along with Wanda Witch and Slick Smitty.
55	* ViewersAreGeniuses: Debatable, as many of the alleged "crimes" are solved [[MoonLogicPuzzle through the oddest of means]]. Even then [[SolveTheSoupCans they don't always make much sense]], or [[InsaneTrollLogic even point out a crime in the first place.]]

Context ComicStrip / SlylockFox