Line #40 Webcomic/Nefarious


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cover_83.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: Everyone's favorite villain is back. ]]
3	A year after its 2017 release, ''VideoGame/{{Nefarious}}'' introduced a webcomic going more in depth about the game's world. Taking place after where the game ended, it follows Crow's further adventures as a CardCarryingVillain, with all the stresses of the job that entails. However, due to Crow's empire getting throttled, it instead follows him as a "Villain for Hire": he, like his Rent-a-Hero counterparts, gets jobs helping other villains out or doing some kidnapping when a hero is out of commission. Naturally, this series is rife with spoilers for the game, so consider yourself warned. Josh Hano returns as the story writer and artist, compiling arcs into comic book-like "issues".
4
5	The comics can be read [[http://nefariouslair.com/ here]], though his patrons can get previews of later arcs and other bonus goodies [[https://www.patreon.com/JHano here]].
6	! Tropes:
7	* AbusiveParents:
8	** The Fairburns, Chickadee's biological parents, are all but stated to be this in ''Fracture''. Emperor Penguin found her near a dumpster, at night. That and the fact that they apparently never searched for her after he took her in heavily implies they couldn't have cared less about her and only remembered she even existed when being her parents turned out to be profitable for them.
9	** Buzzard, which is only fitting for the patriarch of an evil empire. ''No-Clip'' starts with him letting Crow get abused by his maid, then thrown out of the aircraft (though to be fair, he does give Crow a parachute). He also makes it very clear that he doesn't feel guilty for ratting Emperor Penguin out to the Council of Virtue or for arranging a marriage for Crow without the latter's knowledge or consent.
10	* AppeaseTheVolcanoGod: Kyuutopian natives used to make volcano sacrifices, but for the purpose of rainmaking rather than appeasing a deity. Even Crow agrees this is "messed up".
11	* ArtShiftedSequel: Rather than the poppy visuals of the original game, the comics use Josh Hano's original art.
12	* BackFromTheDead: Mack and Foxglove get revived by Mack's sword at the end of ''x99 Lives''.
13	--> '''Foxglove:''' Ha-Ha! Boomjams! No consequences for my actions! Woo!
14	* BlackComedy: Crow loses a lot of minions, but almost all of them are played for laughs.
15	* BrickJoke: Crow suggests that Mack's sword is able to talk. [[spoiler:Sure enough, it says [[OhCrap something]] at the end of Prism, just as Mack and Foxglove are about to be destroyed]].
16	** On a similar note, the Doomerang.
17	* CasualDangerDialogue: Death By Paperwork is told by Becky while holding Dr.Cackle over a vat of acid. Of course, Becky herself not being in danger might be why she's so casual about it.
18	* CerebusRollercoaster: The series jumps all over the spectrum of comedic, dark, and darkly comedic. A good example is Painbow Road. On one end, you have Malachite going through serious emotional pain over having to fight his own sister or risk losing everything he has with Aurelia and letting the war between the Dwarves and Ogres pick back up where it left off. On the other end, Crow is being the usual comedic sociopath we all know and love him for. That said, the webcomic is DarkerAndEdgier overall compared to the games.
19	* CharacterDeath: Mayapple is forced to kill [[spoiler:Farrah Day after she went homicidally insane.]] It sticks.
20	* CreateYourOwnVillain: A very weird example, given the tendency to play around with heroism and villainy in the series. If Crow had [[spoiler:allowed Foxglove to join him as a villain at the end of her first outing, instead of turning her over to the evil Emperor, she never would have become ''as bad'' of a villain as she eventually does and gotten Mack apparently KilledOffForReal.]]
21	* CuttingOffTheBranches: The comic takes place after the game's good ending, with Crow trying to rebuild his empire, and Princess Mayapple having become the hero of her Kingdom.
22	* DatingCatwoman: As shown on [[http://nefariouslair.com/comic/trouble-in-paradise-p-20/ page 20]]: Not with who you'd think: Mayapple ends up in a committed relationship with villainess Malice. [[spoiler: The way Malice looks at her crown, however, implies [[FalseFriend a different trope]] is at play...]]
23	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
24	** Dash drags Mack to place where people can pay to rescue damsels, and it's ''not'' on the good side of town. Adding on to that are the "power rings" that have some very drug like side effects.
25	** At the start of the comic, Kyuutopia is an island paradise with grass-skirted inhabitants that has only recently been modernized. Its current female ruler has become massively unpopular because she's forced to allow foreign corporations to develop their land and pass laws that strip the natives of rights to keep the country from being destroyed. This was, in effect, the situation in late 19th-century Hawaii, prior to its annexation by the US.
26	* DeathIsCheap: As the equivalent of a Video Game Protagonist in an RPG world, Mack is resurrected a few days after he is killed, [[spoiler:thanks to his EmpathicWeapon. Unfortunately for Foxglove, the sword is less than tolerant of 'hitchhikers', and initially plans on ''erasing her''.]]
27	* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The very first two panels show off massive inequality and the possible implication of Kyuutopia's natives having to turn to prostitution ("honey for money" from two native girls), establishing that [[ArtStyleDissonance despite the cheery art, it's not for kids]]. This is followed, immediately, by Crow creating havoc.
28	* {{Expy}}: Going off of Dash's Sonic parody we have his new sidekick Nails the One Tailed Rat as his version of Tails.
29	* FacelessMooks: Crow has started using less and less of these, which is a major hassle as there's a rule for heroes against killing faced mooks.
30	* FloralThemeNaming: As with Mayapple, Foxglove is named after a poisonous plant.
31	* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:During Mack's funeral at the beginning of "Killjoy"]], Crow dares that if he busts out a giant robot Mack will arrive at the last minute to stop him. [[BackFromTheDead An arc later and sure enough...]]
32	--> '''Crow:''' [[LampshadeHanging I knew it! I knew it!]]
33	* GambitPileUp: The ArrangedMarriage between [[spoiler: Princess Molotov]] and [[spoiler: Crow]] was established from the start to be something no one (except for Princess Virtue and Buzzard) actually wanted to see happening, including the bride and groom. As a result once the wedding rolls around in ''Bridal Royale'', nearly everybody present has a plan in motion to sabotage it, prevent it and/or marry one of the participants themselves. Chaos ensues.
34	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen:
35	** Princess Foxglove is treated as such by her subjects, to the point where there's no hero for Kyuutopia because they'd gladly let a villain ''[[YouCanKeepHer keep]]'' her if the situation arose. She's actually much more benevolent than her subjects would believe, but neglecting the natives and cutting a deal with their invaders was only done to [[IDidWhatIHadToDo keep the kingdom out of the red]]. Having a ZeroPercentApprovalRating from apparently everybody erodes her remaining benevolence and sanity. [[spoiler:It gets worse when she kidnaps Farrah Day and starts using her power to take over the world. Her people tell her they just want freedom, but Foxglove demands they go for world conquest. And then Farrah Day, who was meant to become a Robot Queen, goes DrunkWithPower.]]
36	* HeelFaceTurn: Of all people, [[spoiler:CROW had a brief life as a hero as Mack's Player 2. It's obviously short lived as Crow is only in it for the fame]].
37	* HeirClubForMen: All but outright stated to be the case with princesses at the Council of Virtue. Everyone not part of Mayapple's group finds Malachite's inclusion at the council strange, and Virtue herself misgenders him when he rises to speak about his kingdom's situation.
38	* IronicEcho: As seen [[http://nefariouslair.com/comic/prism-p-7/ here]] contrasting how no one would give Foxglove the time of day when she was a good guy vs. having everyones attention as a supervillain.
39	* MustHaveCoffee: Becky will literally kill people if she can't have her coffee.
40	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Crow ended his hero career this way by trying to make the bomb he was supposed to protect "worth stealing" and accidentally killed its creator]].
41	* NotMyDriver: Inverted, Crow manages to escape custody after Macks funeral by replacing the police car he was supposed to get driven away in with a booby trapped replica that knocks out the driver.
42	* NotSoAboveItAll: Mayapple makes some very ungraceful facial expressions when she finds Crow kidnapping Foxglove -- who goes from indignantly protesting being kidnapped to rubbing it in.
43	* OhCrap: When Foxglove realizes [[spoiler:that the space station she's on really is going to self-destruct and she just locked herself out of the last escape pod, she's overwhelmed by horror and despair at the realization she's going to die. Mack shows up with literally seconds to spare just in time to give Mayapple a HopeSpot... before the space station explodes and kills all of them]].
44	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Crow bought out Becky's service in Death By Paperwork, though it remains to be seen if that's still the case.
45	* PragmaticVillainy: The main reason for Crow taking the "for hire" route is mostly done out of the need to have a steady source of income. He'll still act as petty as he pleases though.
46	* PrecisionFStrike: [[spoiler:Just before the station self-destructs, [[EmphaticWeapon Mack's sword]]]] lets out an "Oh, shit."
47	* PrincessesRule: As in the game, parodied. The princesses have their own yearly kingdom summit, Malachite's position on the throne is seen as an oddity, and, as shown on "[[http://nefariouslair.com/comic/it-came-from-the-wa-verse-p-1/ It Came from the Wa-Verse Page 1]]", the villains can't for the life of them figure out what the letters "Q" and "K" are referring to on their playing cards.
48	* ShaggyDogStory: After several issues trying to fight for their freedom and independence, the Kyuutopians are ultimately happy to be [[spoiler:annexed by Mayapple and the Council of Virtue]] as they'd grown weary of the megalomania, madness, and anarchy that resulted in their attempts to keep their land. In fairness, at least these attempts accomplished ''something'': [[spoiler:they are no longer literal slaves, anyway.]]
49	** Poor Dr. Cackle. [[spoiler: He made both a backup A.I of his consciousness and a HotterAndSexier physical clone essentially meaning he made 2 separate backups of himself. His main goal was to find, rescue, and reinstate Princess Apidae and the leader of Insektia. Except it turns out she contracted some form of mental illness leaving her pretty much an insane shell of her former self spending her days in a nursing home out in the middle of nowhere. So now Cackle has no clue what to do.]]
50	* ShoutOut:
51	** Emperor Hacken Slash is an {{expy}} of [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]], being a horned reptilian creature who rules over an empire of similar reptilian creatures. One of his minions, Yorsh, even resembles a buff [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi]].
52	** In keeping with the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' references, the Wa-verse is as disgusting, rotten, and vile as [[VideoGame/{{Wario}} a certain money-grubbing Nintendo villain]]. The titular character of the "It Came from the Wa-verse" arc even sports Wario's iconic mustache.
53	** One of the Wa-Demons is clearly based on the ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' version of Waluigi.
54	** We finally see what Mayapple's go-kart races look like. True to form, the first track they're shown to be racing on is a pastiche of [[VideoGame/MarioKart Rainbow Road]]. Tephra's kart is even the classic pipe frame model from the early days.
55	** "Lineage of Tyranny" reveals that Crow has seven siblings, with the youngest one being a Bowser Jr parody while Crow and the others were part of a group based off of the Koopalings (though Crow's siblings actually resemble them).
56	*** And on that note, Rook mentions that they kept getting beaten up by "a fat carpenter" -- a reference to Mario's [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong earliest job]].
57	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: As said in "[[http://nefariouslair.com/comic/it-came-from-the-wa-verse-p-7/ It Came from the Wa-Verse Page 7]]", Malachite may have ended a hundred year war when he usurped Tephra's reign, but Sukochi is on the verge of economic turmoil since its main income came from all that warmongering. Plus, nobody on the council is willing to help his kingdom out since they don't believe it could change that much overnight.
58	** Some of Crow's villainy retired siblings aren't in the best of places. After all, who would hire the kids of a major bad guy who willingly helped their old man? His sister Lark has even been sent to an insane asylum.
59	* TookALevelInBadass: Mayapple is now the hero of her own kingdom and does it quite well.
60	** Crow decided to start switching out his grenade arm for things like a giant spiked ball and a drill. He even manages to fight Mack evenly on foot while using the latter!
61	* TookALevelInJerkass: After losing his job to Mayapple, Mack's been reduced to a petty brute that wants nothing more than to see Crow dead.
62	** Foxglove takes one too many after Crow sells her out instead of taking her on as an apprentice.
63	* WhamShot: [[spoiler: Dr. Cackle is given the coordinates to Apidae's last known location. In his mind, he was expecting a prison. What does he find? A psychiatric hospital where his beloved princess is now completely insane and cared for.]]
64	* WouldntHurtAChild: "Fracture" reveals that both the Syndicate of Malice and the Council of Virtue have strict guidelines and protocols when children are involved.

Context Webcomic / Nefarious