
Wrong.
Ennui GO! is the story of Elizabeth "Izzy" Pritchard, a video game programmer who was bored with her life and ended up creating the biggest accidental success story in the games industry. Now with her pockets filled with more money than she knows what to do with, this Webcomic details the misadventures of Izzy, her circle of Friends with Benefits, and other characters as they are all roped into the constant insanity, debauchery and materialism that Izzy subjects others to. That, and the slow reveal of the messed-up circumstances that made Izzy the person she is and the question of whether or not she'll be able to move past it.
All this happens in the first part of the comic.
The second part sees Izzy's teenage nephew Max take over as main character. There, he enters high school along with his friends Cricket and Bee, his girlfriend Calixta, and her friends Vanitas and the Nevershould. They explore the awkwardness that comes with puberty, deal with the general craziness that comes with living in his aunt's island nation of Key Manati, and maybe learn something more about Min, Max's mysterious childhood imaginary friend, along the way...
Ennui GO! is created by Doctor Glasgow. It was formerly hosted on Smack Jeeves, and is now hosted on ComicFury, along with his newest comic Black Hole (2019). Be warned; it's often very NSFW, although it's censored for the general public.
A backup of the comic can be found here.
Ennui GO! provides examples of:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Set about 2030 or so, judging by Hashim's comment that since Extreme Sports ended in 2000, all contestants have to be at least 50. The only advance is that prosthetics have evolved to cybernetics. Also, US Presidents are genetically engineered human/beetle hybrids after Trump's term, although this is meant to be a secret (shhh!).
- Actually Pretty Funny: In "Invitation", during a threesome with Izzy, Noah and Hashim decide to impersonate Darcy. Izzy warns them that Darcy could kill them for that, but Darcy actually finds the impersonations pretty good.
- Acquired Error at the Printer: Renee had custom printed uniforms made for her roller derby team, the Screamin' Demons. They got jerseys labelled "Semen Demons".
- Afterlife Welcome:
- In "Deeper", Izzy ends up entering a purgatorial space that seems to resemble a circus, meeting a grim reaper dressed as a ringmaster as she's drowning alongside her sister in their mother's car. However, she doesn't enter as the reaper tells her it's "AIN'T [her] TIME YET" as Red Snapper's mom comes up to grab them.
- In "The Last Show on Earth", after dying right after her daughter left her hospital room, Izzy and Adelie's mother (along with her three personalities) enters the same space and meets the same reaper. This time, he tells her it's her time...Reaper: THERE YOU ARE. NOW IT'S YOUR TIME.
"Morrigan": Um...well... How'd I do?
Reaper: NOT GONNA LIE. PRETTY SHITTY. C'MON. DON'T LOOK SO DOWN. WE'LL GET YOU SOME COTTON CANDY, SEE A FEW SHOWS, AND WHEN YOU'RE READY, YOU CAN TRY AGAIN.
- Amalgamated Individual: Inverted: "Florida Man" actually is a single immortal (maybe) man whose exploits include releasing alligators into urban areas, publicly insulting Castro, robbing banks, trying to detonate a nuke, and rescuing two girls from a sinking car.
- Arc Number: 049. It first shows up as the title of a strip
referring to how many "magic mushrooms" Izzy ate, then in a horoscope reading
, and in a much later strip (7/29/17, NSFW) Len calls them "the mystical numerals" during a blood ritual.
- Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: Izzy declares her intention to invade Florida
by stabbing a map of the state, and telling Noah and Hashim that they know what she wants. They start making jokes, and she screams that it's like trying to make war plans with a pair of puppies.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Omegaman gives one to Izzy during his Rousing Speech in "Tetrapod
", giving her the emotional strength to finally shoot Florida Man.
- Art Evolution: The general art style shifted drastically after less than a year of running, including shading and more rounded and realistic body proportions (while still maintaining the rather cartoony style).
- Ass Shove: In "Investigation", one of the Diamond Guards infiltrates the Gardeners and pulls his communicator out of his butt (he's shown from the front but his arm and expression make it clear) to relay information about what he's discovered.
- Babies Ever After: Most of the main characters from part 1 are starting families in part 2, with the women being visibly pregnant. The exceptions are Tanya (due to Izzy accidentally putting the "applicator" in Darcy instead) and Renee (who has already given birth to her son by the time she reappears). In Len's case, she was hiding her pregnancy through a glamour spell until Max ends up seeing her without it.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- In "The Penetrat-Her", Tanya finally makes her move on Izzy, telling her to fuck her up. Izzy pulls out something that looks like a chainsaw and a dildo had a baby, leaving Tanya looking shell-shocked in the last panel. Noah lampshades this:Now normally I hate victim blaming. But when you LITERALLY asked for it, well...
- Vol. 2 Big Bad Venus had finally achieved her dream of becoming a senator after her facial reconstruction, only to learn that she can never become president due to the stupidity of the American public forcing the government to secretly create bio-engineered bugmen as presidents and hold false elections. As a result, she ultimately leaves the U.S. in favor ruling over her own country, much like Izzy.
- In "The Penetrat-Her", Tanya finally makes her move on Izzy, telling her to fuck her up. Izzy pulls out something that looks like a chainsaw and a dildo had a baby, leaving Tanya looking shell-shocked in the last panel. Noah lampshades this:
- Belly Dancer: In "Tales from the Pigwater Inn", Renee's costume in the first session of Dungeons & Dragons the group plays seems very similar to what someone with a Dancer class would wear in-game.
- Bestiality Is Depraved:
- When Izzy invites Tanya to a Depravatorium
...
Tanya: Is she gonna do that with ALL of those horses?!
Renee: A lesser woman would likely be killed.
Izzy: Eh, I've seen bigger. Wonder what Noah's up to. - The circus arc also features a centaur whose mother used to do donkey shows.
- When Izzy invites Tanya to a Depravatorium
- Bizarre Alien Biology:
- An alien friend of Axil's can grok radiation, allowing them to "feel" warm and cool varieties.
- From the alien's perspective, Tanya's sense of sight is an example of this.
- Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce: Inverted. While Hashim's father's restaurant does make really spicy food, Hashim keeps a bottle of extremely mild sauce
behind the counter that he uses to trick some people who ask for their food to be super spicy. Sybil knows he has "white people spicy" and "REAL spicy" sauces, and nearly breaks his arm for trying to give her the former.
- Blunt "No": This was Tanya's reaction to Izzy's interest in buying the "Corn-Dogger
".
- Body Horror: While it shows up every now and then as a gag, when it's used for actual effect, it's very effective, with the most prominent case being Izzy's and Adelie's mother, who has multiple infected track marks in her elbows and neck, and some sort of injury on her right temple which has turned her right eye red and veiny.
- Bonding Through Shared Earbuds:
- Max plugs multiple earbuds into his computer so he, Bee, and Cricket can listen to "Fuck the Police" instead of the Kidz Bop version, which is a shocking moment for all three.Bee: I don't wanna do this any more! I don't even WANT to know what the real lyrics are!
Cricket: No! We're learning the truth and we're doing it TOGETHER!
[they start listening]
Bee: That's... a LOT of swears.
Max: [holding hands with both Bee and Cricket] Things are different now. - Izzy and Adelie, for once, have a calm, peaceful moment at home sharing earbuds and listening to a CD
.
- Max plugs multiple earbuds into his computer so he, Bee, and Cricket can listen to "Fuck the Police" instead of the Kidz Bop version, which is a shocking moment for all three.
- "Brave the Ride" Plot: "The Marlinator
" has Max, Calixta (who has a fear of roller coasters), and Brittany ride the titular rollercoaster, which Max describes as having caused people to throw up, have Potty Failures, pass kidney stones, and even give birth on due to its insane speed and G-forces. When their ride is over, Calixta has passed out and Brittany is starting to have a reaction from her cousin Omegaman's blood transfusion.
- Breast Expansion: Len conclusively proved that Fizzy Izzy is being made with water contaminated with a chemical that results in the drinker's bust growing. This results in bigger breasts for women and more developed pectorals for men. Sales shoot through the roof.
- Brown Note: As Max, Cricket, Bee and the shop club brainstorm ideas on how to get revenge against Jericho for constantly breaking their creations, Bee mentions this trope by name when one of the shop kids mentions the bully shoving a baseball up someone's ass. Sure enough once they get the supplies needed, that's exactly what Max and the crew go with, as he unleashes it upon Jericho and Cyrus in the appropriately named "Brown Note
".
- Burning Bag of Poop: Max pranks his creepy gym teacher Coach Bobert
by leaving the usual burning bag at his front door, but instead of feces, the bag is filled with angry bees.
- Call-Back:
- Venus' motivation for shutting Izzy down is because when Izzy dumped that bucket of whale cum off her building's roof in one of the very first comics
, it landed on Venus. She turned out to have been severely allergic and ended up with disfiguring scars.
- A minor one, but an idea Max gives
to Loose Flow is used
in an episode of The Jimmies.
- Venus' motivation for shutting Izzy down is because when Izzy dumped that bucket of whale cum off her building's roof in one of the very first comics
- The Cameo: Len bumps into
Slenderman.
- Captain Ersatz:
- Hashim looks and behaves very much like Son Goku.
- Smegli is Smeagol. NOT Gollum.
- Canon Welding:
- Played With. Izzy's clone Kirsty and her husband Lucian are explicitly stated by
Word of God to be the parents of the protagonist of his previous comic, Rainbow Skies Forever
, but
Word of God also states that Ennui GO is an Alternate Universe.
- Max, Min, Adelie, and Bella come from another old comic called Max and Min. One of its strips
would even be recycled as "Avast", suggesting that it is also canon to a degree.
- Played With. Izzy's clone Kirsty and her husband Lucian are explicitly stated by
- Cat Fight: In "The P.T.A.", a PTA meeting turns into a brawl between Adelie and Skyler's mother, complete with clothes coming off.Bella: Why do you come to our PTA meetings? You don't have a kid.
Izzy: [munching popcorn] For this exact reason. - Converse with the Unconscious: The main reason why Izzy wanted to take over Florida
; her mother was in a hospital there and felt like she had to conquer the entire state just to have the emotional strength to visit her.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Starts when Asher, Izzy's art guy, attacks Hashim with a broken whiskey bottle. That being said, there's still plenty of hilarity, but there's actually real plots now.
- Character Blog: Jerry has one called The Oozing World
.
- Clown Car: Appropriately, Sarah drives one.
It's the size of a smart car. Six clowns pile out of it to confront the mimes, the smallest of whom are proportioned like Tracy or Noah and the largest of whom is comparable to André the Giant.
- Comedic Spanking: Izzy threatens Noah with "five across the ass" a couple
of times
when he's being especially snarky.
- Comic Sutra: In "Spears", Izzy goes to a business meeting and comes back to find her roommates piggyback-jousting with dildo lances. Apparently this happens every time.
- Cosplay Café: In "Maid", Darcy has Izzy dress up in a maid outfit before getting busy with her.Darcy: Darcy has been exposed to the concept of maid cafes. Now, Darcy has a HUNGER.
[one costume change and some frisky business later]
Izzy: Oh no Mistress, you musn't! What if your girlfriend comes home and catches us?
Tanya: [apparently behind them the entire time] What IF? Don't stop on my account.
- Creepy Stalker Van: The men who try to kidnap Max in the "How Do I" arc drive a black van with black paper taped over the windows and "Free Candy" spray painted on the side. Max isn't stupid enough to get in, so they physically drag him inside.
- Crossover: "Crisis on Two Comics" sets up a crossover between Ennui GO! and Black Hole 2019.
- Crowded-Cast Shot: "Tetrapods Reign Eternal" is a splash page featuring just about every character who has ever appeared in attendance for Izzy, Darcy, and Tanya's wedding.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Max, upon seeing two bullies, Jericho and Cyrus, pick on another student, decides to give them a beatdown. However, when he punches one of them, Jericho is unfazed and proceeds to beat up Max.
- Cult: In "Crisis on Two Comics", Renee informs Izzy that several cults have sprung up in Key Manati, including (among others) the Gardeners, the Apostles of Ape Shaving, Followers of the Great Milky Mommy, Bobby's Guys, and American Christianity.
- Cyborg:
- Asher eventually becomes one after having the left half of his face replaced by cybernetics.
- Venus gets a cybernetic replacement eye as part of her facial reconstruction.
- Dead Guy Junior: When Izzy ends up having twins, she chooses to name her daughter "Morgan", after her late mother Morrigan. It is a weird case where it isn't being done out of love (at least not directly), but rather she's trying to spite the abusive old hag and prove that she'll be a better mother. It's also heavily implied that baby Morgan is actually Morrigan reincarnated, meaning she was named after herself.
- Destination Defenestration: In "Defenestration", Hashim accidentally launches Sarah out their bedroom window with the force of his thrusting. She ends up landing on Izzy in the yard.
- Dirty Cop: Izzy gets a cop to ignore the obvious drug use going on by literally throwing money at him
.
- Distracted by the Sexy: "Civil War" is a huge brawl between "Methany", the other mimes, and Sarah and her fellow clowns...except for one female mime who's utterly focused on a very busty clown who's showing her boobs.
- Double-Meaning Title: "Closet
" has Vanitas and Andromeda locked inside the janitor's closet, thanks to Cricket in a previous comic
, and it ends with the latter figuratively "coming out of the closet" to her ex-boyfriend. It's even lampshaded by someone in the comments section of the comic.
- Driven to Suicide: "Stay Classy Bethesda
" ends with Izzy putting her gun to her head when she realizes why that dog was left alone at the Red Rocket gas station.
- Eldritch Abomination: Len's god, Eru. She also attends the Court of Silence from time to time, and keeps a being called Molestor at bay with her sexual prowess.
- Everybody Has Lots of Sex: On average, at least one strip every week in Ennui GO! (especially in Part 1) will show at least two adult characters engaged in sex (or at the very least stripped naked).
Word of God states that the middle school aged characters also have sex, but for obvious reasons this is never shown. Indeed, since the focus has shifted to the now high-school aged characters in Part 2, this aspect of the comic has more-or-less vanished.
- Exact Words: Izzy really shouldn't have asked Sergio to "take care of"
the weird guys outside her building.
- Eye Scream:
- Narrowly averted when Asher cuts Hashim's face with a broken whiskey bottle, as the cuts weren't deep enough to damage his eye.
- Noah's final opponent in the Arcanus: The Widening tournament stabs himself in the left eye solely so he can put the ball of tiger's eye that was the grand prize in the socket.
- Facial Horror:
- Jerry's face grows in feature-by-feature, starting with his mouth... then his left eye.
- One of the strip's major Call Backs involves this. Venus' face is horribly scarred and her left eye is damaged due to an allergic reaction to the whale semen Izzy unwittingly poured on her.
- A filler strip has a man who cranked off a chimp get his face torn off.
- Asher gets half of his face chopped off. He "fixes" it with a crude cybernetic mask.
- Fanservice Faux Fight: In "Pillow Fight", Izzy and Tanya have one in their underwear. Subverted in the last panel:Tanya: *oblivious to Darcy in the background about to wallop her* But why do I feel like we're forgetting something?
- Flat "What":
- In "Custom Fit", this is Izzy's reaction to Tanya telling her she can get custom-fitted bras.
- Done by Omegaman
when Izzy reveals that she and her sister are the girls from the case he failed to solve.
- Flipping the Bird: Noah's "Shut the Fuck Up For a Second" strips start with him doing this in the logo.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Its name is Eru.
- Frustrated Overhead Scribble: When Hashim and Sarah are talking about the likelihood of Sarah getting pregnant, Hashim's mom pops up excitedly. When they say it'll likely be a while, her speech bubble contains a frustrated scribble before she disappears again.
- Fun with Acronyms: Key Manati's space program is named the Aeronautical Society for Science and Space EXploration.
- Funny Background Event:
- In an early strip, Izzy cuts off Noah and Hashim due to the combined effect of Noah's girth and Hashim's vigor. They give a high five as she walks away.
- "Selfies" has several: a sign saying "FUCK OFF" on a lightpost, a guy literally windowlicking, and a twerking pigeon.
- "Carded": There's a couple banging in the background while Izzy is wrangling with the librarian. Also, there are vulgar signs promoting reading all over the place, which continues into "Remembrance"
.
- "Reversal": Not only does the vulgar signage in the library continue, as Sarah is "dragging" the mime lady toward the door, the bathrooms (which are specifically labeled "NO FUCKING") are in the background...and Renee and Hiro are walking out of the men's room.
- "Elections": The e-ballot shown in one panel has a warning to "[...] stop trying to shit in the voting machines." In the next panel, as Izzy and Renee are talking, a guy in the background apparently didn't read that part.
- "Gifts": Hashim, Noah, and Renee are eating ice cream outside while talking. All the while, the guy working the counter guzzles down...something...attacks a customer with a knife, and gets the shit beaten out of him by Izzy's military police.
- "Corvid": As a reporter is giving a live update on a news story, a man and woman are in the background twerking.
- "Policy"
: While Izzy is being interviewed, a man on the beach pours a bucket of some goop on himself. This attracts a flock of pigeons who swarm him; in the last panel, all that's left is a puddle of the goop on the sand.
- "Environment
" has Sarah discuss methods on how to prevent pollution while Sybil is in the background doing the opposite of what Sarah is suggesting. This clearly annoys Sarah to the point that she locks Sybil in a chokehold.
- "Serialization
": A window washer is busy doing his duties while Hiro and Galatea discuss his new comic. In the last panel, a hawk flies toward him and attacks him.
- "Those Guys
": In the background, an inmate in Asher's prison is attempting to take a dump on the lunch table in front of another inmate.
- These are a near-constant occurrence in part 2 as part of the general insanity of Max's school, both with people doing weird stuff and signs and posters on the walls, such as "Antifreeze"
which has posters for "Sex Ed. with Sex Fred" and "Friday Night Chimp-O-Rama" on the back wall of the classroom, among others.
- Girlish Pigtails: Sarah normally wears her hair in a ponytail with loose bangs that cover her right eye, but in "Hacking"
she wears her hair in this style as part of a disguise.
- Gold Digger: Invoked but averted. Noah and Hashim
were Izzy's only friends that didn't try to sponge money off her after she made her fortune, which is exactly why she invited them to live with her.
- Gone Horribly Right: In the appropriately-titled "The Plan", Florida Man reveals that he swapped out Izzy and Adelie's mom's drugs so that she'd have a psychotic episode, then he and his gang would call the police to report a domestic disturbance. While it still worked in a way, he did not expect the girls' mom to go completely batshit and attempt to kill them by driving their car off the pier.
- Happy-Ending Massage: Discussed between Izzy, Noah, and a spa worker
. Apparently Hashim got his signals crossed.
- Has Two Thumbs and...: Done by Izzy
, but not in a good way.
Who's got two thumbs and a horrible norovirus? THIS gal- *cue projectile vomiting* - Hates Everyone Equally: Invoked. The military police of Key Manati wear helmets with red tinted lenses to increase aggression and prevent them from being able to tell the skin color of the people they're beating.Trainee: Sooo... you WANT the MPs to be giving out random beatings?
Sergio: Yes. So long as they're not motivated by prejudice. - Hearing Voices: Max is distracted from taking his medication by Calixta being splatted by the Spaghetti Bandit. A few hours later, he begins to hear a cacophany of voices in his head cursing at him and maligning him, and he very nearly loses control until Min appears and talks him through calming himself down.
- Hereditary Homosexuality: Seemingly downplayed but later averted altogether; Izzy is bisexual while her identical twin Adelie is a lesbian. But when Izzy ends up getting a clone named Kirsty, the latter is presumably straight (the fact that she's only ever shown interest in one person kind of makes it hard to gauge her preferences). Max also appears to be straight, though much like with Kirsty he's only ever had a single significant other.
- Hidden Depths: Izzy and Adelie's views and attitudes stem from abusive childhoods and life-threatening experiences that the rest of the cast generally don't know about.
- Hide Your Lesbians: A local newspaper labels Izzy, Tanya, and Darcy as being nothing but friends in "Gal Pals" and continues to do so when they have a threesome in the middle of a public park to rectify that misconception.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In "Unplugged
", after Max unleashes the Brown Note on Jericho, he gloats over his victory.... until Min points out that he's not wearing earplugs like the other shop class kids are. Cut to Max and Jericho taking a dump in the school bathroom.
- Human Ladder: In Tower Formation
, Max and his friends form one so he can climb into the ceiling after the Spaghetti Bandit. Cricket isn't entirely willing about the whole thing.
- Hurl It into the Sun: Miss Mantis tries to use Alphasite on Omegaman in Superman
. This trope is his response.
- I Call Him "Mister Happy": Izzy named her boobs
- her left is "Fat Man" with her nipple being "Little Boy", while her right is Elfangor Siriniul Shamtul. Her vagina, naturally, is "The Notorious V.A.G."
- Impossible Hourglass Figure: Most of the female cast (even Darcy and Sarah) had this design in the comic's early days before Art Evolution set in. See here
for one such example.
- Innocuously Important Episode: Doctor Glasgow has a knack for taking what initially seem to be one-off joke comics and revealing that they're actually plot relevant. One such example is "Vacation Destination"
; what looks like a humorous information video parody at first turned out to be foreshadowing for both Captain Orca's motives and a major overarching plot point in Part Two.
- The Intern: Noah makes an intern deliver a flash drive to a lab with a creepy co-worker
.
Noah: Now I didn't haul my balls through grad school to have to hear the wet slapping sound Bernski makes when he moves. That's an intern's job! So get your ass over to lab B, capiche?
Intern Capiche. - The Internet Is for Porn: Max and Calixta are introduced to the concept
by Cricket and Bee respectively; while Cricket just alludes to the idea, Bee straight up shows Calixta what she's found.
- Interrupted Intimacy:
- In "Mood Killer", Sarah and Izzy are in the middle of sexy times until Sarah sees a spider on the wall, catches it and tosses it out the window.Sarah: Now where were we?
Izzy: After that? Done. - Exaggerated in "Caught". Len tries to fool around with Noah, but is interrupted multiple times by her mom...with the last time being her offering to tag in if needed.
- In "Mood Killer", Sarah and Izzy are in the middle of sexy times until Sarah sees a spider on the wall, catches it and tosses it out the window.
- It's Not You, It's Me: Invoked by Izzy to try to get Tanya to steer clear of her
after their initial tryst. Tanya heeds this at first but starts hanging out with them and eventually does become romantically entangled with Izzy in "Penetrat-Her".
- It Amused Me: In "Cheering Up", Sarah visits Darcy's office to help cheer her up. After numerous attempts fail to make her laugh, Sarah throwing a pie at her face does manage to make her smile. However, it's not for the reasons she thinks it is.Sarah: Hey, THERE'S a smile!
Darcy: No, you see your attempts at entertaining Darcy are pathetic, and THAT is amusing. - Jerks Use Body Spray: In "Spray", rather than using the school's showers after gym class, Skyler saturates himself with Ass body spray. He thinks it attracts girls, but when he walks by Calixta and Bee, Bee remarks "Ugh, what smells like piss?", which echoes Max's opinion of how it smells.
- Kaiju: Doctor Bald creates a gigantic female monster...but not to create havoc in Key Manati, but to be the ultimate waifu.Doctor Bald: Nerds the world over will join the army of Doctor Bald just to hold hands with the most perfect waifu the world has ever seen!
Izzy: That's all you're gonna do with it?
Doctor Bald: What other use could there be?! A HAHAHAHAHA HA HAAAAAA! - Karaoke Box: Izzy and company go to a karaoke parlor starting in "Karaoke"; of course, what starts with karaoke ends with an orgy.
- Karma Houdini: Izzy, as part of her Heel Realization, refuses to allow this to happen with herself. She writes an apology letter to Venus and personally finances her very expensive facial reconstruction surgery and cybernetic replacement eye.
- Knee-capping: Max, selling popcorn for an Adventure Brigade fundraiser, resorts to this when his sales pitch doesn't work
.
- Kirby Dots: Used around Darcy's head in "Home Ec
" when she tells Max's class that they're going to learn how to sew.
- Knighting: In "Knighthood
", Izzy posthumously honors Jimmy Buffet (sic) by making him the first Knight of the Realm of Key Manati. However, when Max asks Adelie if Izzy really cares that much about him, Adelie just notes that Izzy is still not right in the head despite all the progress she's made.
- Laughing Mad: Izzy and Adelie have a moment of this after they regain consciousness from being saved by the fish girls, and the combo of relief that they're alive and horror of what they just went through starts to set in.
- Limited Wardrobe: Downplayed but still present in Part 1. The main cast usually sticks to specific outfits throughout the series, although they will wear different outfits for different occasions, and some characters change to more weather-appropriate wear when the comic setting relocates to a more tropical climate. Averted in Part 2 when characters start wearing different outfits each day.
- Like Reality Unless Otherwise Noted: About the adventures of an insane, hedonistic celebrity billionaire, except that one of her friends is a minor Eldritch Abomination and another is a witch, and there's fish girls and (confirmed) space aliens. Oh yeah, and console manufacturers are OK with Adults Only games.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: A handful of strips revolve around various characters having libido issues for one reason or another, which are usually discussed between said characters and their partners and sometimes coupled with inventive ways of solving the problem.
- Male Restroom Etiquette:
- Broken to hell and back
, to Noah's chagrin.
- Broken by Orion
, which doesn't annoy Max as much as it's him making yet another comparison to Jojos Bizarre Adventure.
- Broken to hell and back
- Merit Badges for Everything: The Adventure Brigade offers a Horse Murder merit badge.
- Misophonia Gag: In "Styrofoam
, Noah exploits this to break Izzy out of a major depressive episode. He rubs two Styrofoam containers together near her, and then runs out of the room with her hot on his heels.
- Mood Whiplash: A number of strips have the cast answering a question. When it gets to Izzy, we get a flashback to her horrifying childhood to explain her answer.
- Mushroom Samba:
- Izzy hallucinates trees while Renee calls poison control.
- Izzy, Noah, and Hashim drop acid and then have a threesome. It starts out as simple hallucinations, but then Izzy seems to travel back to before she was born, to witness what made her mother turn out the way she did, and then to see the day she tried to kill the girls from an outsider's perspective.
- No Name Given: As pointed out by the author in the comments of this strip
, "Florida Man".
- No Yay: "Big Plans"
ends with the implication that Max and his friends, with nothing else to do, are going to fool around with each other. When the next strip jumped to a completely different topic, discussion in the comments sectionnote included a statement from the strip's creator saying that the comic would allude to whatever didoes Max and company might get up to but absolutely wouldn't depict anything until they were all of legal age.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently, Izzy already pulled a Twin Switch before to seduce someone...
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Noah's not playing along with the innuendos
, pay attention.
- Painting the Medium:
- Underwater speech is drawn in a literal speech bubble.
- In "Reversal", Sarah's talking is rendered as a dialogue frame from a silent movie due to the reality-bending nature of the conflict between her and the mime lady.
- Panel Break: In "Expert", Diana is attempting to subdue...something...which, in its attempt to escape, tries to climb out of one of the panels.
- Parental Sexuality Squick:
- Len ends up being subjected to this during a family walk in "Familia", where her parents discuss their sexual explioits (along with a reminder that her mother briefly dated Noah).Len: What will make this conversation stop IMMEDIATELY?! My disability check? A sacrifice? I will do literally ANYTHING.
- When Max has a talk with Adelie about how Growing Up Sucks after his first day at high school in "Kitchen Table", Adelie points out how she'd much rather be plowing Bella than doing her job as a writer.Max: Thanks for that new pothole in my roadmap of mental scars.
Adelie: Just doin' my job, champ.
- Len ends up being subjected to this during a family walk in "Familia", where her parents discuss their sexual explioits (along with a reminder that her mother briefly dated Noah).
- Patchwork Kids: Renee and Hiro's son Kazumi has his mother's hair (complete with Idiot Hair) and his father's skin tone and eye color. He also inherited the former's stoicism and the latter's narcolepsy, and rapidly shifts between the two every panel. Later, Len and Noah's daughter Phoebe has her mother's chalky white skin and her father's Black Bead Eyes.
- Pixellation: You have to be a member of the creator's Patreon to get the comic uncensored; otherwise, the strips are released with genitals and female nipples covered by digital mosaics.
- Primal Scene:
- Max has walked in on Adelie and Bella getting frisky a couple of times, but they've managed to either hide or get clothes on (mostly) before he sees anything.
- In an all-adults version, Adelie walks in on Kirsty and Lucian consummating their marriage. Kirsty freaks out a bit but Addy doesn't bat an eye.Adelie: Listen, the caveat of being a part of this family is you've gotta be at least kinda okay with being seen naked. I didn't make the rules.
Kirsty: Who did?
Adelie: Izzy. She co-signed my mortgage loan.
- Puberty Superpower: In "Changes
", when it was revealed that Meat Boy is the "Spaghetti Bandit", Max wonders how he developed the ability to create and spit out spaghetti just by shoving pasta down his throat. Calixta deduces that it's because Meat Boy is going through puberty.
- Punny Name: The comic itself, which you might not catch if you're pronouncing "Ennui" wrong.note
- Put on a Bus: The part 1 main cast have yet to appear in part 2, although Len, Tanya, Darcy, Sarah, Hiro, Noah, Hashim and Renee so far have since returned, with Len even taking on a supporting role as Max's principal/self-assigned mentor.
- Pyrrhic Victory: As Max and Cricket are discussing what was really going on with Mrs. Cruddletwat:Max: We're actually gonna have to learn shit now, aren't we?
Cricket: Hard to say if this was a victory or not. - Real After All:
- The fish girls that subconsciously inspired Izzy to make Pro Ass Fishing many years later.
- A lot of Len's insane ramblings turn out to be 100% true.
- Right Through the Wall: Izzy comes to regret inviting Adelie and Bella to live with her. To be fair, Adelie did warn her they were loud, but being able to be heard more than 20 floors away is incredible.
- Ripped from the Headlines:
- "Sex Ed", in which Coach Bobert gives Max and his classmates all kinds of utterly idiotic nonsense, has a note in the first panel saying that everything in the comic is taken verbatim from the sex ed class Doctor Glasgow had as a kid.
- Starting with "Bad Gas
", the comic begins to integrate the COVID-19 pandemic, with the disease itself being mentioned in "Substitute
". "Corvid" introduces a sexually transmitted disease that turns victims into bird-people, but the strip heavily lampoons the reality of the COVID-19 situation at the time of its publishing: Noah gives a press briefing with sensible precautions and advice, outraged protestors defy the advice Noah gave, and Izzy gives a rambling press briefing that spoofs Pres. Trump's "disinfectant" briefing in typical Izzy fashion.
- "Tropical Depression
" dropped just as Hurricane Laura
made landfall in the Gulf of Mexico.
- "Reverse Psychology
" is based on the controversy in early 2022 regarding Maus being banned from certain school libraries (and book bannings in general). Adelie confronts Len over a number of books and graphic novels that were banned from Key Manati schools, but Len reveals that this was done specifically to encourage the students to read them on their own.
[Len and Adelie see Max and several others on a staircase reading]
Len: It is foretold that the only way to ensure that the children do their reading is to make it tantalizingly forbidden.
- The Rule of First Adopters: Dr. Bald creates life. He calls it... Frankenhooker!
- Rule 63: For a week or so, they showed what it was like in Earth-11, where everyone's gender was reversed. It wasn't that much different, other than Sarah's counterpart having a very classy mustache. We return to that world in Part 2, where we meet the gender-swapped versions of Max and his friends.
- Running Gag:
- Sarah listing examples of certain topics, which grinds these strips to a halt and often irritates the other characters. Izzy flat out stops her from doing this in "スムーズジャズ"
- Several comics refer to people being thrown in "the pit" as a punishment for something. It's finally revealed (somewhat) in "Crisis Averted"
.
- Scary Stinging Swarm: Izzy's building has a room called the Nude Room, where you have to be completely naked while inside, or you get attacked by a swarm of African Killer Bees.
- Scooby Stack: Done by Max, Robin, and Calixta
when they peek out of the janitor's closet after their trap for the Spaghetti Bandit is tripped.
- Scout-Out: Key Manati's Adventure Brigade, which Len becomes an adult leader for.
- Self-Deprecation: Hashim's brother would rather date the serial murderer who turns her victims into leather pants and sells them on etsy over the comic artist.
- Series Fauxnale: Vol. 6 ends with Izzy marrying Darcy and Tanya and the last strip, titled "Ennui GONE!" has Izzy giving a whole speech detailing her new, brighter outlook on life, all told with a huge hint of finality to it. However, Doc Glasgow had confirmed that it was only the end of Part 1 and thus Part 2 began not long after.
- Sex Miseducation Class: In "Sex Ed", Max's creepy gym teacher Coach Bobert gives Max and his friends a horrible sex ed class, including calling a condom a "linoleum wrapper" and telling them that holding your pee for too long will cause it to eventually back up into your brain and kill you. Additionally, one scrawl on the chalkboard is "pee is stored in the balls".
- Sexy Whatever Outfit: After complaining that women's costumes are too sexy and men's not sexy enough, Izzy and Hashim go as Sexy Meat Packing Plant Worker and Sexy Nuclear Disaster Cleanup Crew respectively.
- Sick Episode: "Cramps" deals with how the female cast handles period cramps. Tanya endures them. Izzy and Renee both self-medicate, Izzy with booze and drugs and Renee with Ambien. Darcy binges chocolate. Sarah angrily demands sex from Hashim. Len tries hoodoo.Darcy: *carrying an armload of chocolate* Judge Darcy not lest YE be judged.
Len: *having just butchered a chicken* Aw, now there's just MORE blood! - Side Effects Include...: Word to the wise - don't take Erectaid.
- Sneeze Cut: In "Dark Shop
", Jericho explains to Max that his club breaks school property so that the shop class can earn grades for fixing them. Max wonders "what maladjusted asshole teacher" would approve of this activity. We cut to Mrs. Cruddletwat in The Pit, sneezing.
- Some Kind of Force Field: In "Cavalry", when Izzy calls Miss Mantis and the rest of the Hero Union for assistance, she learns from the latter that they are trapped by a giant force field. Izzy quickly figures out that this is Methany and the other mimes' doing.
- Spit Take: Izzy does one in "Frogs" when Len reveals exactly which water reservoir the spilled bust-enhancing cream leaked into.
- Start of Darkness: The reveal of Izzy's mother's own abusive childhood, which not only sets up what will later happen but also shows the strange tripling of her irises which is a clue to the eventual three-way fracturing of her psyche.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Subverted. When Len and Smegli meet
, Len thinks Smegli is a gremlin who wants to impregnate her, Smegli thinks Len is a ghost.
- Straw Nihilist: Calixta and Vanitas mistake the Church of Erudition's dogma for this.
- Suck E. Cheese's: Hashim and Sarah open up a pizzeria/arcade combo called "Bubbles' Ballroom
", complete with singing animatronic characters, particuarly one that resembles a taller version of Sarah (who is the mascot). Unlike other examples of this trope, there is no ball pit (so the place "won't smell like pee") and has shares some aspects of Dave & Busters (like having a full liquor bar with a five drink minimum).
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- We don't immediately learn someone's name unless they introduce themselves. Len took months to let her name slip, and the redheaded chick who works everywhere and tells horrifying secrets is seen with a nametag reading "Sybil."
- Turns out when something is 10 years from the marketplace, there's a good reason, as Hashim found out with the hoverboard.
- As it turns out, faking an identity or two can take a pretty long time and involves a lot of paperwork and a bit of breaking and entering.
- Sweetheart Sipping: "Food
" revolves around cute and bad foods to share with loved ones, with the first cute example being Max and Calixta sharing a milkshake.
- Take That!:
- Inverted as Hiro describes commissions from the Furry Fandom as a positive force behind developing and independent artists.
- Played straight with a recurring SJW character who is as unpleasant as possible and has multiple buttholes. "Redesign
" piles onto this by making him a part of the "redraw female superheroes to be more 'realistic'" movement.
- Izzy has a burning hate for Captain Marvel & The Carol Corps and once burned every copy she could get her hands on
.
- At one point, Adelie refuses to buy Max chicken nuggets
, because "Chicken nugget kids grow up to be chicken nugget men," pointing out a grown man throwing a tantrum because he can't have chicken tenders.
- "Hacks" is a blatant shot at the formatting changes Smack Jeeves made which prompted the comic to move to ComicFury, couched as Izzy finding out that Darcy moved her games to a new distribution platform after the old platform was bought out by a Korean company that made a lot of obnoxious changes.
- Tamer and Chaster: While the first part of the comic had plenty of on-screen sex scenes between its characters, the second part reduces them to off-screen hints and implications. It's justified by the change in cast (from a bunch of legal adults to a bunch of underage teenagers).
- Tears of Joy:
- Hiro has this reaction when Galatea tells him that she only needs twenty pages a month rather than a week from his comic and that he cannot work on any other project beside his book.Galatea: Are...are you crying? Look if it's that big a deal you can get it to me by Tuesday.
Hiro: I CAN FINALLY SLEEP! - Tanya displays some during her wedding to Izzy and Darcy.
- Hiro has this reaction when Galatea tells him that she only needs twenty pages a month rather than a week from his comic and that he cannot work on any other project beside his book.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage:
- The first three people
showing up to be Izzy's personal assistant aren't even interested in the position: one wants to get laid, another wants to complain about Izzy's game, and the third wants to pitch a game idea.
- Rinse and repeat
when Renee tries hiring a new artist for Izzy's game. Considering the previous one tried to murder her, the bar was set rather low, but the three first applicants still manage to disappoint.
- The first three people
- Thanks for the Mammary: After Max, Calixta, and Robin set a trap for the Spaghetti Bandit, they hide in the janitor's closet, which leaves Max sandwiched between them with his face smushed into Calixta's chest. She doesn't seem to mind.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Upon finding out that Darcy of all people is his substitute for home economics, Max can only say "Oh hell this ain't gonna be good."
- Time Skip: Not a huge one, but at least two months have passed between Izzy's wedding in Part 1 to Max and co. starting high school in Part 2.
- Title Drop: Of a sort. As Asher is strangling Izzy in "Hazard: Part 5", he shouts "ON YOU GO!", a reversal of the comic's title (which, as explained in Punny Name above, is pronounced "On We Go!")
- Tradesnark™:
- Done by Len
, with the added twist of somehow vocalizing the TM notation, which creeps Noah out.
- Later
she teaches Bee how to do the vocalization.
- Done by Len
- Twin Switch: Zig-Zagged when Izzy disguises herself as Adelie to seduce Officer Espinosa. Adelie is not amused. It also wasn't the first time she attempted this, either.
- Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: Darcy gives birth to fraternal twins, Morgan (a girl) and Nathan (a boy), with the implication that the former is Izzy's mother reincarnated.
- Visual Pun: Calixta's debut as a wrestling heel has her curb-stomping a wrestler with a gourd theme, making it a literal squash match.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Izzy and Darcy are both shown throwing up due to illness, and Izzy throws up as a teen when "Florida Man" introduces them to booze and drugs.
- Wardrobe Malfunction: "Planned" revolves around Darcy having one in front of a crowd. It helps her win a cosplay contest.
- Wedding Finale: Volume 6 (and Part 1 as a whole) ends with the wedding of Izzy, Darcy and Tanya.
- Weird Trade Union: The Clown Union got even weirder since they merged with the Mime Union. There is a lot of friction due to the difference in procedures and cultures.
- Wham Line:
- Two of them, and all part of Izzy's Heel Realization:Venus: [removing her bandages, revealing her scars] WHO EVER HEARD OF SOMEONE BEING ALLERGIC TO WHALE CUM?!
*later, as Izzy and the others are leaving*
Noah: [to Smegli] We all make mistakes. What separates good and bad people is that the good ones recognize when they've hurt someone, and then try to make things right. You're good people, Smegli. - This reveal.
If it's true, it's no wonder Izzy seems to hate him.
Florida Man: After all... I'M the guy that got your mom hooked on drugs in the first place! - Izzy drops a bombshell on Renee
:
Renee: Up you go Izzy. you have a board meeting to get to.
Izzy: Nope.
Renee: How many times must we do this? I manage your schedule, please do not try to lie to me.
Izzy: Not lying this time. I gave away all my shares this morning. - Max is starting high school, so Adelie decides to give him "the talk"
And as Max soon learns, it's not the "sex" talk...
Adelie: On that note, my point is you can't expect your aunt Izzy to bail you out of trouble anymore. It's all gonna be up to you. - Apparently, Venus knows something we don't:Venus: *having received news of her eventual presidency and successful takeover of Washington* But of course I would better at this than you, Pritchard. Ah, or should I say...?
- Izzy meeting with Red Snapper's mom again
:
Izzy:[...] I got some stuff to do. Big stuff that I need to see through to the end. For me, y'know? And well, I... I don't know how it's gonna turn out. - "See. I put drugs in the city's water supply.
"
- And after Florida Man reveals his "Gasparilla" plan?Izzy: So this is your big plan? You've been fucking with me just to throw a crappy parade in a hurricane?
Florida Man: *geninuely confused* Huh? No, I- *slaps his forehead in embarrassment* OHHH! Duh! I am SO embarrassed. Here I am being all theatrical and I forgot to tell you what the Hell we're even DOING here! Talk about a senior moment, huh? See, I built a little surprise, and hid it under one of these floats. Something for ALL OF FLORIDA to enjoy! IT'S A NUCLEAR BOMB! - When the Hero Union are unable to help Izzy in her current predicament, Miss Mantis gives her (and the readers) some hope with this line...Miss Mantis: Well, it's a long shot. And I'm not sure how much he can help right now... But there IS still ONE of us out there!
- Omegaman: *after punching out Florida Man* Hello again citizen
. Should've at least expected THAT.
- Izzy: Hey mom.
- At the end of Part 1, Len decides she should find herself an apprentice and consults her tarot cards. What the cards revealed surprised her, but is left unanswered to the reader.... until part 2 when Principal Len gives Max a proposition....
- Throughout the Ocean Festival, Max had noticed that Vanitas was acting stranger than usual and goes to check on him
...
Max: Hey...Vanitas. You been uh, kinda dodgier than usual lately. You okay man?
Vanitas: Heeeeell yeah boooooooiii, I- [Beat, his usual smug smile slowly changing into a tearful expression] Andromeda broooooke up with me.- And, after two arcs dealing with both the school's Manga Club and Max and Vanitas' attempt to retrieve a pair of boots from a tree (and keeping the janitor off their backs), Cricket locks both Vanitas and Andromeda in the janitor's closet and Andromeda reveals to Vanitas revealed why she broke up him.Vanitas: So whyyyy'd you break up with me?
Andromeda: BECAUSE- Oh God I don't wanna do this. Because I like girls.
- And, after two arcs dealing with both the school's Manga Club and Max and Vanitas' attempt to retrieve a pair of boots from a tree (and keeping the janitor off their backs), Cricket locks both Vanitas and Andromeda in the janitor's closet and Andromeda reveals to Vanitas revealed why she broke up him.
- And when we get a full idea of what Calixta's family is like...
- Volume 9 begins with the introduction of a new transfer student to Max's class — and he has a name that fans who've read Rainbow Skies Forever will be all too familiar with:"Hey everyone. My name is...Akihiro."
- Two of them, and all part of Izzy's Heel Realization:
- Wham Shot:
- Izzy and Adelie
sitting together in utter shock after The Reveal of their mom's Start of Darkness, which darkly mirrors the shot of them listening to music together.
- In the last panel of "Those Guys
", Ally is revealed to be pregnant with Captain Orca's child.
- Florida Man standing on-top a pirate boat as the drugged-up Floridians party on in "The Gasparilla
".
- Izzy finally shooting Florida Man in "Paper Doll
"
- Izzy decides to take a visit and see her
mother.
- When Izzy leaves after her final talk with her comatose mother, in the final panel of "Pale Pink Things" Morrigan turns her head after her daughter walked off the door
.
- Izzy, Darcy and Tanya get hitched!
And everyone is invited, even past enemies and Corey! Oh, and Kirsty's pregnant.
- In "Who
", when Max is talking to Min:
Max: I'm a little old for this Calvin n' Hobbes imaginary friend bullshit. C'mon, what are you, really?
Min: *unmasking herself to a shocked Max* Aw, Max. You're a smart enough kid. You shoulda figured it out by now.
Min: *unmasked, her face resembling a female version of Max, giving a sly, toothy grin* I mean really. Who ELSE could I be? - When Max gets called to the principal's office after the pizza war between his friends and the bullies
, the final panel reveals that Len, the first character among the original main cast to return, is now the principal of Key Manati High.
- When Max goes to his aunt Izzy to complain
, he instead finds her wife Tanya, now the second original main character to return.
- Darcy
IS..... back and...PREGNANT!
- Much like his grandmother all those years ago, Max's eyes begin to multiply as he hears voices in his head
....
- After his adventure searching for the "Spaghetti Bandit", Max finally begins his first day as Len's apprentice
. Len decides his first act is to experience a "metaphorical rebirth" by taking him to a bridge and pushing him into the water.
- At the Ocean Festival, Max runs into some old friends. Or rather, his aunt's friends Sarah and Hiro
, now the fourth and fifth members of the original cast to reappear. Oh, and Sarah is pregnant and wearing a wedding ring.
- Not only do Noah and Hashim return
, but Len also gives Max's another surprise....
Len: (comes to the living room, whining, has a big baby bump and wearing a long t-shirt that reads "Bun in the Coven") Noaaaaah my FEET hurt! My BACK hurts! Why won't you let me gestate the thing in a POD?
Noah: I'm tellin' you woman it ain't NATURAL! Or sanitary.
Max: [Beat] (surprised and incensed) WHAT THE FUCK.
Len: NOAAAAH! Nobody must SEE me without my GLAMOUR on! - Brittany
finally developing her powers after receiving her cousin Omegaman's blood transfusion.
- Renee finally returning to the comic
, carrying her and Hiro's son as she meets with Max and co. at the Key Manati Anime Rumpus.
- "The Practical Lesson of Len
" shows that Len has given birth to a baby girl, who's named Phoebe in the next comic.
- The Return of Izzy Slater
- Izzy and Adelie
- Wilhelm Scream: Invoked in "Weird Noises" when Hashim is telling Izzy about being weirded out by Sarah using horns and other noisemakers while they were having sex.Hashim: And when she came, I swear I heard the wilhelm scream.
Izzy: Hm. - World of Weirdness: Remember when this was just a webcomic about a really rich woman who had no idea what to do now that she had all sorts of money?
- You and What Army?: Asked by the librarian in "Carded" in response to Izzy claiming she had the police beat up.