Pinwheel Pawnshop
is an Urban Fantasy webcomic by S.J. Flathers (aka CatcherRye, Rye, or Ronove) first released in a private forum and now released one page a day on DeviantArt. It follows the adventures of a small class of elementary school/early middle school students, narrated by Rosalind, one of their peers. After the students discover a set of bizarre directions to the eponymous Pinwheel Pawnshop, strange and magical occurrences begin to plague the children.
The series combines Psychological Horror with whimsy. It is set to be continued in a currently undecided format, but possibly as an illustrated novel.
This comic provides examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: Tarvos is very worried about being mistaken for this while he waits for Perdita and Rosalind to get the directions out of the girls' bathroom.
- Bazaar of the Bizarre: The Pinwheel Pawnshop is a lesser example.
- Drives Like Crazy: Both Perdita and Tarvos are crazy cyclists, according to Rosalind.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Rosalind comments that she will try to be a good narrator.
- Cluster F-Bomb: The unseen, very loud voice is quite profane.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Prometheus and The Lanky Man
- Man-Eating Plant: Well, it doesn't eat people (we think), but it otherwise seems to move around and have a good deal more teeth than a mundane carnivorous plant.
- Meaningful Name: Titania and Oberon are the class voices. Perdita means "the lost one" or "loss", and her death hits Rosalind especially hard. Nasaea is a type of water plant, but Nasaea in PP can't swim and later dies by falling asleep in a field of flowers. The original Prometheus brought light to humanity, and is implied that the character may eventually bring light to Charon. And, of course, Charon ferries people to the underworld, and in PP Charon is killing off the children one by one. Justified, again, by the names being changed for the purpose of the story.
- Reset Button Ending: Nearly every chapter ends with all the weird stuff disappearing, most of the children forgetting, and things going back to normal. Justified, since Rosalind's bell necklace resets reality, and no one but her and Charon really remember what happened.
- Unsound Effect: We don't know what a smile sounds like, either.
- You Can't Miss It: The directions to the pawnshop are truly bizarre, including a direction to go "over the cheese."
