Stan the Crow, stealing Farmer Giles' corncobs since 1996
Granitoons (or HRAM Comics) is a web comic series by Aberdonian cartoonist Andrew 'Andy' Morrice, who now has a DeviantArt account
(active since Dec. 2006) where he publishes his works and is also a Troper. His characters include Astro Cat, Stan the Crow, Farmer Giles, Hot Dog and April, May and June. Andrew mostly draws in the old-skool cartoon style and is a huge fan of Hanna-Barbera cartoons among others. Now, the characters are living with Topper Hay's characters within the new series of HRAM Comics.
This series provides examples of the following:
- Berserk Button: Farmer Giles when Stan the Crow steals his crops or even shows up for that matter.
- Crosscast Role: 1960's spoofmerical Coffee Suds sees Andrew Morrice portray the housewife Mrs. Scatterbrain and Hayley Russell the husband.
- Curse Cut Short: When April slips on the discarded human heart in "Forehead Follies" (drawn by Andy's wife Hayley Russell, aka TopperHay, using the April, May and June characters), she yells "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-" before causing a bloody mess.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: In "Crazy Chases", Snide and Snout decide to cheat by setting a trap which involves a candle, scales, anvil, seesaw, brick and cement. In the end Snide is the one who gets cemented.
- Dumb Blonde: May of April, May & June, though she is at least aware that she's not that bright.
- Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Cedric Snide, who is rarely ever appearing improperly dressed, complete with eyepatch.
- Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: Stan the Crow is prone to trying these out with Farmer Giles often being a target or an obstacle.
- Happily Married: Andrew Morrice and Hayley Russell married on 24th September 2014.
- Heartwarming Orphan: In the Christmas story "Mistletoe and Whine", April, who has no festive spirit, goes out for a sulk. She discovers a little boy who points up to the sky to make it appear that his parents have died and gone to Heaven. April feels sorry for the boy and decides to treat him as if she were his auntie, and also lets him live in her flat and sleep in her bed. It turns out that the kid had wandered off the holiday plane headed for Thailand thus averting this trope.
- Hook Hand: The crazed feline Nelson the Cat has a hook in place of his right front paw, a la Captain Hook. And he also wears a paper hat.
- Lemony Narrator: Hot Dog takes this role as the Fairy Dogmother in the Christmas specials.
- Long Runner: Andrew Morrice has been cartooning since his late teens.
- Meaningful Name: Tim Curry in "Tim's Curry" who hands out South Eastern Asian cuisine to most of Barnton's residents, with disastrous consequences.
- Constable Beaner the plump policeman who does April's head in with his truncheon in "Odd-Jobbers".
- Pantomime: The style of the yearly Christmas specials done in conjunction with TopperHay - such as Derpyrella (Cinderella), Stan-Laddin (Aladdin), Ashlyn in Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland) and The Windsor of Oz (The Wizard of Oz) ...
- Political Overcorrectness: In an early Stan the Crow strip, the cartoonist censors anything that sets bad examples to the readers including Stan's corncob which promotes thievery and Farmer Giles' shotgun which promotes violence.
- Running Gag: Farmer Giles' ongoing rivalry with Stan the Crow.
- Cedric Snide's criminal plans always going awry, and his assistant and partner in crime Arthur Snout doing little to help.
- April, May and June, as Andrew Morrice says it "sodding things up", usually when instructed to do a task.
- Andrew's usual "sketch dumps" at the end of each month. (which he ripped off from TopperHay in terms of keeping it themed by month.)
- Sexy Whatever Outfit: When April, May and June go shopping for Halloween costumes, they are NOT happy to see that the costumes they have selected are skimpy enough to make them look like floozies.
- Spikes of Villainy: Sir Lustalot sports these on his suit of armour.
- Spy-Tux Reveal: Inverted twice by Astro Cat when he reveals his spacesuit from underneath his tuxedo in 'Cruise to Disaster' and the James Bond Spoof 'Mooncrater.'
- Straight Man: Or in this case woman - Lt. Ashlyn in 'Astro Cat'. She seems to be the closest to 'normal' out of the cast.
- The Silent Bob: June of April, May & June never says a word, yet somehow is able to communicate to her friends with ease. It's also implied, but never shown, that she might be something of a chatterbox 'off-screen.'
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Or rather Antagonist, Cedric Snide.
- Wacky Racing: The story "Crazy Chases" wholly parodies the US cartoon Wacky Races, with the Dick Dastardly and Muttley of the strip being Snide and Snout. The race is won by Artimus and Livingston from FAC-AgentC in the Savannavan.
