Webcomic / Claude & Monet

Claude & Monet is a sci-fi webcomic created by Rob Barba and Ayne Hart, updated with a new page every Tuesday and Friday (originally Tues and Thurs).

Mostly a caper comic featuring a team of "professionals" (soldiers-of-fortune) in a galaxy torn apart by war.

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Tropes seen in this webcomic:

• Absent Aliens: None at all.
• Action Girl: Monet, Miki, and Ambika.
  • Monet definitely falls into the Girls with Guns subtype.
• Animesque: Both creators frequently acknowledge an overly long exposure to the medium as inspiration.
• Artificial Limbs / Neural Implanting / Super-Senses: Monet is shown using her artificial eyes three times so far.
  • Additionally, Claude and Monet both use built-in neural communication devices as opposed to Miki, who uses an earpiece.
• Being Personal Isn't Professional: Averted in a big way, at least with Monet and to a lesser extent Miki.
  • Claude, however, Hates Small Talk over the comm channels during a mission.
• Chekhov's Exhibit: The vase from in the first story arc.
• Classy Cat-Burglar: Monet mostly, but in general the organization she, Claude, and Miki work for.
• Clothing Damage: Monet ends up with this after an attempt to cause a distraction Goes Horribly Wrong.
  Miki: "Um...you're a little under-dressed for the weather."
  Monet: "The flaretapes were supposed to be distraction outside the biosuit - not inside."
  • Monet, of course, solves this problem by stealing Ambika's clothing and throwing away the assassin's undergarments...after spiderlining her to the nearest pole.
• Deadpan Snarker: Monet even taunts Ambika for her lack of quipping.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Monet really, really, really doesn't like her first name Lily.
  • For her, at least, it's a case of an Embarrassing First Name.
• Gratuitous Ninja: Miki.
• I Know You Know I Know: Brenner knows that Monet knows what he's up to and vice versa.
• Morality Kitchen Sink: So far, all the characters presented seem to fall somewhere in the nexus of this complexity.
  • Monet didn't kill any of her opponents but had no problem stripping Ambika down to nothing in the winter cold.
  • Brenner, on the other hand, ordered Monet killed, but takes care of his subordinates even if they fail.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Yin-Feng seems to be the Yamato Nadeshiko (despite being of Chinese ancestry instead of Japanese), while her identical twin Yun-Feng is a Wrench Wench and pilot.
• Post-Cyberpunk: The creative team have stated the world is designed with a lighter Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex feel.
• Psycho for Hire: Ambika. Just...Ambika.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Lampshaded in both the distance and time senses in that that hyperspace travel is so confusing the average person can't figure it out in their head.
  Yin-Feng: Oh, we started about four hours ago, sir. That or two days ago. You know how hard it is to tell time between star systems.
• Shout-Out:
  • At one point Claude steals a car belonging to a celebrity with a peculiar name.
  • The creators have a fondness for retro brands as seen in the fact that PanAm and Eastern Airlines are two competing transport shuttle companies.
    • The PanAm one is a meta reference in particular for the PanAm Clipper named "Clipper Sunahara"
• Silver Fox: Brenner is well into his fifties and is in better shape than most of the people half his age.
• We Help the Helpless: Both Claude & Monet's parent organization and Brenner's organization fit this trope. Sometimes.
• Xanatos Speed Chess - Brenner was already several steps ahead of the game. Possibly more.