"If we're already made of the stuff that turns the cosmos...
Then what are we waiting for?"
Kidd Commander
is a webcomic by Aria Bell.
According to the author: "Kidd Commander is a shonen style adventure comic about a bunch of silly people on a trip to catch the sun, whatever that means. We’re mostly concerned with having a good time and tend to lean towards the romantic side of things!"
The first page was posted in June 2014 and the current and third arc name is Green Thousand Sing. "Kidd Commander is an ongoing adventure series, which means lots and lots of stories!"
The title character of this comic is Phineas Kidd, a girl with pink hair. She wears an orange coat at the beginning of the story, and we soon learn she is a Commander, whatever that means.
Author disclaimer: "This comic features graphic violence, foul language, and ideologically sensitive material. Please take care."
Kidd Commander contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Phineas Kidd won't let anyone keep her from going her way, and will fight to reach her goal and protect her friends, but she doesn't approve unuseful cruelty.
- Art Evolution: Though the first pages were already fine, the art quality of Aria Bell's Kidd Commander has considerably improved since the start. The font changed for the better (lowercase to uppercase) somewhere in chapter 5.
- Badass Boast: Ulrich Weiss presentation is: "I'm a professional" and he boasts a couple times about his luck and his talents.
- Badass Family: Phineas considers Crow Gideon and Jocosta Hubris as family. Little history is for sure, but we are told they survived an apocalypse, and for whatever reason, are in a world that isn't their own. Oh, and they're probably also a few centuries old each. Not to mention a particular story about Jo's coat....
- Bilingual Bonus: The Tain speak in some kind of other language. It's a custom font the author made just for this, and shows up a bit for some confusing foreshadowing and commentary. For those who want an easier time deciphering it, the Extras page is gracious enough to have four phrases, with all 26 letters of the alphabet used in them, for a complete translation key. Of course, that doesn't mean the text in the comic itself is any easier to read, sometimes going behind things like characters or edges of panels, or the text circles around so if you're trying to read it you have to turn either your screen or your head upside down.
- Consummate Professional: Ulrich claims to be this, but it looks like Phineas is wearing him down. (And from one flashback it seems like he might never have been very good at it to begin with, but still tries.)
- Conversational Troping: in chapter 11, Phineas, Ulrich and Ellie speak about a TV cartoon and the differences between it and In-Universe real life.
- Cool Airship: Starships, powered by starstone, are obviously bigger inside than outside. Their appearance can change, and though we don't know so much about them as for now, they can be used to catch the sun.
- Cool Mask: Ulrich magically puts on and takes off his mask. It's an important part of his attire.
- Eldritch Abomination: Besides the "Elder Gods"? There's a panel or two with "Queen" Hastur, the least cruel of the known Elders, and one of the smaller ones. When she showed up, the sky bled.
- Foreshadowing: A lot of details all along take all their meaning when you reread the comic.
- Four-Leaf Clover: Ulrich found and ate "seven sibling clovers from seven different soils", apparently meaning seven related clovers, with sequential leaves of one to seven. This has apparently made him very lucky, to the point of knowing that fortune always puts him where he needs to be.
- Gender-Blender Name: Found in the FAQ: "Q: Phineas is a boy’s name. A: It’s going to be alright friend, do not worry."
- The Hermit: Jocasta lives alone in a shack, Phineas tells her: "Dunno why you bother locking it. No one else is gonna walk all the way out here to see you."
- Hero Protagonist: She's the comic's central focus and despite acting sometimes silly or being impulsive, Phineas is more than she appears, knows much more than she shows, and is stubbornly and patiently gathering friends to reach her goal.
- Kudzu Plot: The answer to every question probably just leads to a new and more complicated set of questions.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Wearing her hair short, her face looking relatively vague and having rather small bosom, Phineas is so androgynous she can be mistaken for a Bifauxnen at best. Her name doesn't help the case a single bit.
- Messy Hair: "that hair gets stupider every time I see it, I swear to god." says Jocasta to Phineas, p.80
- Retired Badass:
- Very definitely Jocasta Hubris. Her first appearance says "Retired, or something". And, apparently, "escaping a sundog's maw" is impressive on its own, compounded by jumping right back in for her coat. (Also, she may or may not be some form of Physical God.)
- Crow Gideon might qualify, but he seems to be more inactive than retired. He's just not heard of or from in quite some time.
- Wasn't That Fun?: Phineas is the perfect embodiment of this trope: here, for instance, after a particularly harrowing fight, but it's also sort of her general attitude.
