History Webcomic / DailyGrind

%%* The snake, Howlett Creager, is the founder of Daily Grind. As the leader of the group, he usually barks out strategies and orders once a chapter, with groundbreaking results. He's also a good negotiator, having studied multiple fields in sociology. He's also a CelibateHero, not only because his [[LoveInterests love interest]] is a mammal and Howlett seems uncertain how that would work physically, but also because, even though he's only five years older than the aforementioned love interest, he was her [[WifeHusbandry legal guardian]] for the five years before she turned 18. So thinking about sex with her gives him a bit of the {{Squick}}. Of course, that doesn't stop him from replacing "pitching and catching" with "warm and snuggly bear hugs", which works just as fine. A variation on the theme: Howlett's love interest is TheBigGuy - or Big Gal in this case - rather than TheChick.

%%* The moth is Constance Teasdale. She's a LadyOfWar and a DeterminedWidow, leaving the others and going off on her own like TheLancer if she thinks that's the best approach. She's almost literally a BlackWidow, too, due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding her husband's death, becoming an IceQueen as a result — though she's begun [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting]] lately due to the attentions of Alban Sathmont, [[OurFairiesAreDifferent a prince of the Fae]] who's been courting her.

* NiceHat:
** Mab has Link's giant hood-hat.
** Awkwat wears a fez.

* MagnificentBastard: Howlett Creager, full stop, though he'll call it being a "crap artist." How much the magnificent part versus the bastard part is on display depends on the situation.
--> '''Sowhen:''' You really are a bastard, Mr. Creager.
--> '''Howlett:''' I take my lead from those around me, Lord Sowhen.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The cast has grown steadily since the beginning; though the core has always been the five of Daily Grind, the ancillary cast gets new additions in every book, and many of them become ''frequently'' recurring characters.

%%* The squirrel is Jolene. Short but stronger, faster, and more neurotic than all the other characters combined, she's an ActionGirl and a not-that-cute CuteBruiser who tries her hardest not to be a BrokenBird. She's madly in love with Howlett but is violently [[{{Asexuality}} asexual]], something Howlett is absolutely fine with. She needs to take Chalko's pills to suppress her neurosis on a regular double-daily basis, something she has trouble with. She also recently discovered on her 18th birthday that she's inherited a legacy as a MagicalGirl, and she's dealing with that.

* {{Asexuality}}: Jolene does not like the idea of sex since [[spoiler: her father sexually abused her]], though she still experiences urges. Tharka is literally asexual as a consequence of Scratch's influence.

* ButterflyOfDoom: Scratch does this on a regular basis, using chaotic events (he once caused a ForWantOfANail effect) and subtle half-truths (by barging into someone's conversation in an explosion and shouting a very stupid devil's deal while obscuring his true motives) to cause mayhem in the near future. Luckily for the protagonists, his lack of a general plan means that he frequently ends up screwing himself over, especially since he has overused his DynmicEntry on Daily Grind to the point that they frequently expect him to show up and play a con. [[spoiler:It's a butterfly motif, which makes sense for an insectoid.]]

''[[http://pandora.xepher.net/daily Daily Grind]]'' is a [[WebcomicsLongRunners long-running]], [[FunnyAnimal talking animal]] webcomic by Michael H. Payne that's [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids not necessarily for children]] and follows the adventures of the employees of Daily Grind, a "general assistance service" that operates out of a former pawn shop downtown in the port city of Gadsden. Want to find a great cup of coffee? [[ExactWords Fifty cents for directions to Haz Bean]]. Want a crossing Guard for children? They'll throw in an exorcism for free! Want to reunite the Fairy Kingdoms, reform a GovernmentConspiracy, kill an evil penguin, deconstruct a magical prepper cell, thwart Lucifer AND Satan, rehabilitate the insane Shoemaker's Elves, take down the largest mafia in the world, and make contact with aliens? In less than one year or your money back!

The comic was created as part of the Daily Grind Challenge in February 2005, where artists would strive to post five pages of comics every week without a single missed update. Payne's webcomic was the second-longest contender in the challenge, lasting ''fifteen years'' without a single missed update. As an action/adventure UrbanFantasy series that has posted over 1500 comic strips, it has probably hit - or is going to eventually hit - all the ActionAdventureTropes.

* ButterflyOfDoom: Scratch does this on a regular basis, using chaotic events (he once caused a ForWantOfANail effect) and subtle half-truths (by barging into someone's conversation with magic and shouting a very stupid devil's deal while obscuring his true motives) to cause mayhem in the near future. He has tempered this art so that he can unleash a 'swarm of butterflies' effect by manipulating multiple events to get what he wants even faster. Luckily for the protagonists, this lack of a general plan means that he frequently ends up screwing himself over with his own domino effects. [[spoiler:It's a butterfly motif, which makes sense for an insectoid.]]

** Steven's parents were assassinated by an undead killing machine on a leash, but security protocols prevented Steven from getting shot. He was adopted by the Sons of the Black Swan, but in 1995 they were taken over by a corrupt heister and used to bleed the city dry, starting with the orphanages.

* GunsAreWorthless: Played with. There's a lot more dodging and deflection going on than really should be expected, and they don't seem to match up well with magic in most cases. However, there are still many examples of them being effective at injuring, maiming, and killing.

** Norma Galverson and the entire Eyes of the World were the antagonists for all of Book VI, then valued allies since.

* TheIlluminati: The Sons of the Black Swan was an organization created by Fremont Gadsen to protect and serve his city. It only existed for about two hundred years, but was jump-started by finding a pirate king's legacy and a VERY powerful immortal sponsor who wanted to escape his dysfunctional family. Most of Gadsen City's officials and megacorporation C.E.O.s joined up to protect and improve the city in exchange for an edge in politics. Unfortunately, by the time Howlett discovers the organization, it has rotted from the inside due to lowered hiring standards, and their leader wanted to pull off the biggest and most destructive heist in history. Howlett, the immortal sponsor, and the only violently loyal black swan Steven (see below) reform the organization after killing every member who screwed Gadsen over.

''[[http://pandora.xepher.net/daily Daily Grind]]'' is a [[WebcomicsLongRunners long-running]], [[FunnyAnimal talking animal]] webcomic by Michael H. Payne that's [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids not necessarily for children]] and follows the adventures of the employees of Daily Grind, a "general assistance service" that operates out of a former pawn shop downtown in the port city of Gadsden.

As an action/adventure series that's posted ten (10 panel Long) pages a week since the last day of February 2005, it's probably hit - or is going to eventually hit - all the ActionAdventureTropes. The MainCharacters are as follows:

* The snake, Howlett Creager, is the founder of Daily Grind. As the leader of the group, he usually barks out strategies and orders once a chapter, with groundbreaking results. He's also a good negotiator, having studied multiple fields in sociology. He's also a CelibateHero, not only because his [[LoveInterests love interest]] is a mammal and Howlett seems uncertain how that would work physically, but also because, even though he's only five years older than the aforementioned love interest, he was her [[WifeHusbandry legal guardian]] for the five years before she turned 18. So thinking about sex with her gives him a bit of the {{Squick}}. Of course, that doesn't stop him from replacing "pitching and catching" with "warm and snuggly bear hugs", which works just as fine. A variation on the theme: Howlett's love interest is TheBigGuy - or Big Gal in this case - rather than TheChick.

* The rabbit is D.F. Tharka. He spent 111 years working for {{Satan}}, called Scratch and in a lot of ways the BigBad of the series, did his HeelFaceTurn after his LoveRedeems moment, and has since become Daily Grind's unofficial number two. He and Gana, the object of that LoveRedeems moment, also work as [[PrivateDetective private detectives]] and are something of a BattleCouple. Tharka is a battlemage who has been relearning his old skills ever since he got away from Scratch.

* The cat is Dr. Everard Chalko. Technically an endocrinologist, he's become in practice a bit of an OmnidisciplinaryScientist, handling everything from general medicine to electronics. His [[LoveInterests love interest]] is newspaper reporter Alice Bryson, and since she's a canine, their relationship adds a touch of FantasticRacism to all the InterspeciesRomance going on. He is also TheSpeechless in the series because a gangster's bullet tore up his jaw and tongue, but he has a voice synthesizer that he types his lines into.

* The squirrel is Jolene. Short but stronger, faster, and more neurotic than all the other characters combined, she's an ActionGirl and a not-that-cute CuteBruiser who tries her hardest not to be a BrokenBird. She's madly in love with Howlett but is violently [[{{Asexuality}} asexual]], something Howlett is absolutely fine with. She needs to take Chalko's pills to suppress her neurosis on a regular double-daily basis, something she has trouble with. She also recently discovered on her 18th birthday that she's inherited a legacy as a MagicalGirl, and she's dealing with that.

* The moth is Constance Teasdale. She's a LadyOfWar and a DeterminedWidow, leaving the others and going off on her own like TheLancer if she thinks that's the best approach. She's almost literally a BlackWidow, too, due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding her husband's death, becoming an IceQueen as a result — though she's begun [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting]] lately due to the attentions of Alban Sathmont, [[OurFairiesAreDifferent a prince of the Fae]] who's been courting her.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Each of the main characters has their own serious issues that could have led them down a path of violent, sociopathic mayhem (and in one case, could have continued said mayhem). [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits Together]] though, TheyFightCrime, tame crime, organize charities and orphanages, solve cases, perform séances and exorcisms, make personal connections with high-royalty, rewrite the laws of magic and science, discover more interdimensional areas in half a year than most fairies do in a million years, and tell the local citizen where the nearest coffee shop is. No, they don't serve coffee.
** Howlett is actually TheChosenOne of his people. Unfortunately, the past four chosen ones led the Native-American themed snake tribe down a path of misery and poverty that resulted in the total prosperity of the nearby city at the expense of the tribe. This has led to an entire childhood of insults and back-talking, which resulted in Howlett getting exiled with the death of his mother, by his father no less. It left him with an obsession to be the best chosen one that he can be, rather than an evil-themed one. In a team, he does that REALLY well as the leader and commander.
** Jolene is a tragic murderer. She literally has a brain problem that has left her pituitary gland huddled in a corner, crying. As a result, her brain always favors the lethal option when dealing with enemies. It doesn't help that her mother was a coward (and ironically a very strong shaman) and her father tried to rape her. She's shown some constraint with her murderous streak - she only killed five people before she was arrested, and the fifth guy was a DICK to the poor. Luckily, as the team's shock trooper/defender she gets the medical help she needs to stay calm instead of constantly murderous, and has a list of acceptable targets to assault and/or murder. Now if only she could remember to take her pills [[spoiler:or fix her brain so that channeling the Psychopomp guardian doesn't rip it open]]...
** Tharka is the big one. An otherwise classic innocent child turned bloodthirsty mercenary with the death of his mother, he actually earned the respect and admiration of the devil. No really. The devil actually believes that Tharka's qualities include focused determination, calculating ruthlessness, and a tasty mixture of light and dark humor, EVEN after quitting his job as a mass murderer. He actually loved the job, remembered every direct kill, and never regretted killing over a million people, but after about fifty years and World War II's equivalent, the job got boring and empty - like playing Hotline Miami two weeks in a row. Then one day on a job, a sassy, sexy P.I. fly (yep.) came knocking to stop his latest kidnapping/torture, and ended up being so much more. Tharka now considers Gana to be the one light in his life that distracted him from an ocean of Role-Playing-Game blood. They also make an amazing mage team, especially after grabbing two books that act like programming language translators, but for magic.
** Chalko is the most normal of the lot. He had a great job as a high-ranking doctor. Then one day, he was shot by one of his patients, lost his voice from the three bullets in his head, and was fired by his colleagues for nonsensical reasons. Of course, now that he's a team medic, he actually likes the fact that half his tongue was shot off because it got him a challenging job with serious connections to supernatural cases, helped him crack down on his corrupt and psychotic boss, and a steady relationship/marriage with a cute reporter. But he doesn't like the 'permanently holding a weapon of mass destruction' thing.
** Constance seems to be just another rich multibillionaire trying to assuage the guilt of inheriting from her overbearing and heavily connected parents by setting up orphanages... until it turns out that she got a very special 11th anniversary present from her parents - a pheromone bomb that forced her to RAPE AND EAT HER HUSBAND ALIVE. Her parents thought that she was the best of their children, so they wanted her to make grandkids. They got their wish in a horrifying way, but Constance constantly obsesses about whether or not her parents intentionally programmed the bomb to force her into murdering her husband (she has a pheromone version of autism, so regular pheromones don't work on her). She's now remarried to a fairy prince. Who happens to be a giant spider. In the team, she's the recon / batman-with-a-stun-knife unit.

''[[http://pandora.xepher.net/daily Daily Grind]]'' is a [[WebcomicsLongRunners long-running]], [[FunnyAnimal talking animal]] webcomic by Michael H. Payne that's [[Quotes/WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids not necessarily for children]] and follows the adventures of the employees of Daily Grind, a "general assistance service" that operates out of a former pawn shop downtown in the port city of Gadsden.

* The cat is Dr. Everard Chalko. Technically an endocrinologist, he's become in practice a bit of an OmnidisciplinaryScientist, handling everything from general medicine to electronics. His [[LoveInterests love interest]] is [[HotScoop newspaper reporter]] Alice Bryson, and since she's a canine, their relationship adds a touch of FantasticRacism to all the InterspeciesRomance going on. He is also TheSpeechless in the series because a gangster's bullet tore up his jaw and tongue, but he has a voice synthesizer that he types his lines into.

As an action/adventure series that's posted ten (10 panel Long) pages a week since the last day of February 2005, it's probably hit - or is going to eventually hit - all the ActionAdventureTropes. The MainCharacters as follows:

As an action/adventure series that's posted ten (10 panel Long) pages a week since the last day of February 2005, it's probably hit - or is going to eventually hit - all the ActionAdventureTropes; the artwork falls solidly into the 90% dictated by SturgeonsLaw (who says FurriesAreEasierToDraw?); and the FiveManBand of the main characters shakes out as follows:

* TheHero is the snake, Howlett Creager, the founder of Daily Grind. As the leader of the group, he usually barks out strategies and orders once a chapter, with groundbreaking results. He's also a good negotiator, having studied multiple fields in sociology. He's also a CelibateHero, not only because his [[LoveInterests love interest]] is a mammal and Howlett seems uncertain how that would work physically, but also because, even though he's only five years older than the aforementioned love interest, he was her [[WifeHusbandry legal guardian]] for the five years before she turned 18. So thinking about sex with her gives him a bit of the {{Squick}}. Of course, that doesn't stop him from replacing "pitching and catching" with "warm and snuggly bear hugs", which works just as fine. A variation on the theme: Howlett's love interest is TheBigGuy - or Big Gal in this case - rather than TheChick.

* TheLancer is the rabbit, D.F. Tharka. He spent 111 years working for {{Satan}}, called Scratch and in a lot of ways the BigBad of the series, did his HeelFaceTurn after his LoveRedeems moment, and has since become Daily Grind's unofficial number two. He and Gana, the object of that LoveRedeems moment, also work as [[PrivateDetective private detectives]] and are something of a BattleCouple. Tharka is a battlemage who has been relearning his old skills ever since he got away from Scratch.

* TheSmartGuy is the cat, Dr. Everard Chalko. Technically an endocrinologist, he's become in practice a bit of an OmnidisciplinaryScientist, handling everything from general medicine to electronics. His [[LoveInterests love interest]] is [[HotScoop newspaper reporter]] Alice Bryson, and since she's a canine, their relationship adds a touch of FantasticRacism to all the InterspeciesRomance going on. He is also TheSpeechless in the series because a gangster's bullet tore up his jaw and tongue, but he has a voice synthesizer that he types his lines into.

* TheBigGuy here is The Big Gal, the squirrel Jolene. Short but stronger, faster, and more neurotic than all the other characters combined, she's an ActionGirl and a not-that-cute CuteBruiser who tries her hardest not to be a BrokenBird. She's madly in love with Howlett but is violently [[{{Asexuality}} asexual]], something Howlett is absolutely fine with. She needs to take Chalko's pills to suppress her neurosis on a regular double-daily basis, something she has trouble with. She also recently discovered on her 18th birthday that she's inherited a legacy as a MagicalGirl, and she's dealing with that.

* TheChick, then, would be the moth Constance Teasdale, but she pretty much [[AvertedTrope averts]] all the listed characteristics of TheChick. She's not TheHeart, she's a LadyOfWar; not an example of WomenAreWiser, she's a DeterminedWidow, leaving the others and going off on her own like TheLancer if she thinks that's the best approach. She's almost literally a BlackWidow, too, due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding her husband's death, becoming an IceQueen as a result — though she's begun [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting]] lately due to the attentions of Alban Sathmont, [[OurFairiesAreDifferent a prince of the Fae]] who's been courting her.

!!Other tropes include:

* BiggerBad: During one of their jobs, Daily Grind unearths a creature known as the Nulla Lucis (effectively a female Lucifer), and [[{{Satan}} old Scratch himself]] comes to them for help disposing of her.
** Nulla Lucis then one-ups Scratch by attempting to blow up the space time continuum. For kicks.