Line #13 Webcomic/Bandette


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bandette_comic.jpg]]
2	''Bandette'' is a comic series written by Paul Tobin, with art by Colleen Coover. Serial issues are sold in digital format only by [[https://www.comixology.com/Bandette/comics-series/8519 Monkeybrain Comics via Amazon's Comixology subsidiary]], with paper collections published by Creator/DarkHorseComics.
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4	Bandette is a teenage girl superthief of art and antiquities, whose adventures are set in a lightly fantasticated Paris influenced by ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' and the more romantic and playful end of UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave cinema. She has a band of helpers known as "the Urchins", friendly rivals in older thief Monsieur and cop Inspector B D Belgique (who she sometimes outright helps to catch nastier criminals), and a serious enemy in the malevolent secret society known as FINIS.
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7	!! This webcomic provides examples of:
8	* AssholeVictim: Bandette explains to a dog that the guy she's stealing from in the first issue is a nasty man who sells weapons to other nasty people.
9	** Essentially, Bandette very, ''very'' rarely steals from anyone who doesn't clearly deserve it, [[spoiler:except in cases when she needs leverage from the hoi paloi of Paris to help find Daniel]].
10	* BadBoss: Absinthe to anyone who fails him, generally, or anyone who remotely displeases him in any way.
11	** His former mentor, The Voice is worse, making his failed henchmen [[SadisticChoice randomly pick how he deals with them via a set of cards]]. Black cards indicate death by poison gas, and [[FateWorseThanDeath anything else]] [[AndIMustScream is ''worse''.]]
12	* BadassBookworm: Both Bandette and Monsieur love literature and books as objects, and Monsieur's secret identity is as the owner of an antiquarian bookshop.
13	* BeardOfEvil: Absinthe, FINIS's leader.
14	* BlindfoldedTrip: B D Belgique gets one when Bandette invites him to see the film of Madame Presto.
15	* BloodKnight: According to Michael the Brute and other underworld figures, Il Tredici has no vices or alternative motives for doing what he does, and his entire existence is centered around killing and nothing else. Bandette jokes that without murder, Il Tredici would simply not exist.
16	* CarnivalOfKillers: The concept of "The Six-Finger Secret" is a non-fatal one -- a variety of superthieves of different varieties have been simultaneously hired by different clients to steal the same painting.
17	* CartoonBomb: A genuinely dangerous one is used by The Voice to force Bandette to stop chasing him and save a crowd from being blown up.
18	* CasualDangerDialogue: [[spoiler:Bandette and Matadori have a cheerful conversation while trying to kill one another, including which sewing supply store Bandette got the fabric of her cape from.]]
19	* ChekhovsGunman: Did you see those posters with the assumed vaudeville magician Madame Presto in Bandette's hideouts? [[spoiler:It's alluded that she's deeply connected with the Plouffe family and is key to uncovering a treasure known as The House of the Green Mask.]]
20	* ClassyCatBurglar / GentlemanThief: Bandette and Monsieur. They are highly cultured and implied to be from respectable backgrounds. Bandette is much less sexualised than the usual ClassyCatBurglar, though.
21	* ComicBookFantasyCasting: The second hardcopy collection includes notes on which actors inspired certain characters: for example, Bandette is a blend of Creator/AudreyHepburn and Creator/AudreyTautou, Monsieur is an older Creator/CaryGrant, and Il Tredici is a blend of Creator/LeeMarvin and Creator/HenryFonda in ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest''.
22	* CoolOldGuy: Monsieur appears to be over sixty, but is still out there RoofHopping.
23	* DoggedNiceGuy: Daniel to Bandette, sympathetically portrayed.
24	* DominoMask: Both Bandette's and Matadori's costumes (Monsieur prefers a half-hood.)
25	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Practically all the sympathetic characters, who are happy to steal valuable objects from rich and unsympathetic collectors or museums that don't put them on public display, but would never commit a crime that seriously harmed an innocent.
26	* TheFaceless: The Voice is this, and while the first time you actually see him it's because he's standing in front of a spotlight, it's shown that he looks just as shadowy and faceless out in daylight as well.
27	* FriendlyRivalry: Monsieur to Bandette. They have quite a friendly relationship, although they disagree over FINIS, with Monsieur thinking that she doesn't take them seriously enough, and Bandette thinking that he's too paternalistic.
28	** This later occurs with [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn former-assassin Matadori]], after teaming up with Bandette to take down Absinthe]].
29	* TheGambler: The Voice arguably has shades of this with his color-coded random cards.
30	%%* GayParee
31	* HighHeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Matadori undergoes this after Absinthe tries to kill her. Absinthe's FemmeFatale, Margot, was a twist on this from the beginning, but she is this trope fully now.]]
32	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: This is the reason [[spoiler:Bandette's "fight" with Dart Petite ended within seconds]].
33	* IAlwaysWantedToSayThat: When Bandette is attacked by Matadori:
34	-->'''Bandette:''' And '''so'''. We meet at last. Yes! I've always wanted to say that!
35	* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: FemmeFatale Valentina falls for Michael the Brute, the only man who didn't fall for her charms.
36	* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: B D's sidekick Heloise is secretly in love with him.
37	* InterruptedIntimacy: The opening burglary in the first issue ends when Bandette discovers that the guy she thought was out was at home making out with some woman.
38	* KarmicThief: Bandette is this far more often than her rival Monsieur, usually reclaiming already stolen artifacts and returning (most of) them to their original owners.
39	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Bandette appears to be this from Daniel's point of view.
40	%%* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: Bandette to Daniel.
41	* MeaningfulName: FemmeFatale thief Valentina uses her charm and sex appeal to steal.
42	%%* NebulousEvilOrganisation: FINIS.
43	* NonStandardCharacterDesign: B D Belgique is drawn in a more "cartoony" style than the other characters, with a huge round nose similar to those of ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' characters.
44	** Adversely, characters like Il Tredici and Dart Petite are drawn in a subtly different way to accentuate their maliciousness.
45	* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[spoiler:Michael the Brute, one of the hunters of The Artist's Studio painting]] intentionally fakes idiocy to let people's guards down, although [[spoiler:TheBrute isn't in their name for nothing]].
46	* PoirotSpeak: Some common French words are used, and the dialogue in general is deliberately written to sound as if it's been translated from French.
47	* PunnyName: "B D Belgique" literally means "Belgian Comics" (via the common abbreviation BD of "bande dessinée").
48	* RagTagBunchOfMisfits: Bandette's Urchins.
49	* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Played with. Bandette's costume is mostly red and black, indicating her criminality, but it's lightened by the primrose yellow lining of her cape, which shows that she isn't that evil. However, this is played absolutely straight with Il Tredici.
50	* RomanceInducingSmudge: Bandette jokes about this before kissing Daniel after rescuing him in a PG-rated version of GladToBeAliveSex.
51	--> '''Bandette''': You have something on your face.
52	--> '''Daniel''': I do?
53	--> '''Bandette''': ''Oui'', it is Bandette. ''(Kisses him)''
54	* RoofHopping: Bandette does this a lot.
55	* ShoutOut: A carnival scene has panels on the same page featuring stalls called "Goscinny's Paper Banners" and "Uderzo's Candies". The stallholders are caricatures of Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, the co-creators of ''Franchise/{{Asterix}}''.
56	* SoundOnlyDeath: [[spoiler:The apparent killing of Matadori by gunshot.]]
57	* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: B D Belgique and his partner Heloise.
58	* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Bandette does this '''all the time'''.
59	* TheUnfettered: Bandette even stoops to extortion when Daniel is kidnapped by The Voice.
60	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Bandette and her beloved candy bars.
61	* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Not exactly a saccharine show, but more of a comedic romp inspired by Tintin. That doesn't stop FINIS and a good number of its hired assassins to fall under this.
62	** [[FauxAffablyEvil Absinthe]], who runs a ''[[AWolfInSheepsClothing supposedly benevolent]]'' society that's secretly responsible for almost all crime in France in the last twenty years.
63	** [[TheDeterminator Il]] [[ProfessionalKiller Tredici]] also qualifies with his gaunt appearance and his brutal methods of dispatching his targets- they don't call him "The Strangler" for nothing.
64	** Then comes along [[TheChessmaster The Voice]], who turns out to be the one who had originally trained Absinthe making him the GreaterScopeVillain of the first story arc. In addition, he makes his subordinates choose how they die, [[spoiler:threatened Margo and her family into making her a complicit pawn, and kidnaps Daniel from right outside Bandette's hideout and has his chief henchwoman torture him for information]].
65	%%* WaifFu: Bandette's preferred combat technique.
66	* WigDressAccent: Bandette wears a curly red wig over her natural short black hair as her disguise.
67	%%* YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler:FINIS to Matadori]]

Context Webcomic / Bandette