Webcomic / Zokusho Comics

Serge and Friends

"Forces are gathering from all corners of the multiverse preparing for war, and Serge is right in the middle. Fortunately for him, that's just the way he likes things."

Zokusho is a thrice-weekly webcomic chronicling the stories of extraordinary people living across the connected planes–a collection of worlds that are interconnected by the Interplanes, the time and space coordinates of least resistance. The worlds each have their own quirks and idiosyncrasies, but the common thread throughout all of them is the presence of magic, a force that people study and manipulate to do everything from hurling fireballs to teleporting across the multiverse.

Zokusho is "Dungeons and Dragons in a modern setting, as imagined by a guy who watched way too much anime growing up.” If that sounds like something you’d be interested in reading, check with us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to see the continuing stories.

The story is divided into "issues". They are...

• Zokusho: Fracture
• Zokusho: Bridger
• Zokusho: Death Knight
• Zokusho: Clash
• Zokusho: Noise
• Zokusho: Best Laid Plans
• Zokusho: Fracture: Part 2
• Zokusho: Merger
• Zokusho: Going Once
• Zokusho: Crossover

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Zokusho contains examples of:

• Abnormal Ammo: While Serge's "Phantom Shot" provides him with an infinite amount of ordinary ammunition, his revolver, Lucky Seven, fires magical bullets. He tends to prefer Fireballs.
• Abusive Parents: Averted in Rotting Johnny's case. He apparently came from a fairly normal family.
• Aerith and Bob: The team from the Wayward Cross consists of Akira Yukiro, Shugo-Jin Ryu, Raziel Re'del, and ... Jack.
• The Alcoholic: Night seems to be headed this way, given that he chugs a bottle of Wild Turkey during Merger. Because he's a powerful telepath, it's one of the only ways he can deal with the barrage of other people's thoughts.
• Anti-Hero: A lot of the main characters. Serge kills a lot of people, without any remorse. Rotting Johnny is a undead hitman who had a lot of moral ambiguity before he "died". Akira's team of Wayward Cross operatives murder a lot of goblins. Raz does it with glee. Though this may be somewhat averted if Goblins are Always Chaotic Evil.
• Armor Is Useless: Seems like a lot of people who die in this world could be saved by a bulletproof vest. Maybe more people should rely on less magical means of bullet deflection.
• Art Shift: There are two different artists who've done work on Zokusho. Characters are still more or less the same but there is still a distinct difference between the two styles.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: If Clash is anything to go by, Master Byron is quite capable of opening up a rather large can, despite his age.
• Badass Adorable: Jack is a foot shorter than anyone else on his team and considerably younger. He is obviously extremely pleased by a simple compliment. Just a few pages later he's calling down lightning to fry the enemies he isn't just setting on fire.
• Badass Boast: "Your security really sucks. I managed to lose 'em by the time I hit the third floor."
• Badass Bookworm: Jack's a mage and apparently plays chess quite well. He also sets people on fire.
• Badass Cape: Byron dressed quite well in his youth.
• Badass Crew: The Wayward Cross team certainly qualifies.
• Badass Longcoat: Serge wears one. Johnny has more of a Badass poncho.
• Badass Transplant: Rotting Johnny takes this to a whole new level.
• Big Damn Heroes: Jin managed to pull one for Akira and Jack during Best Laid Plans. Just as they were going to be blown up by a goblin sorcerer, Jin twists the goblins head about 180 degrees.
• Black Magic: Can lead to necrosis of the entire body. On the other hand Rotting Johnny can now switch his rotting body body parts for new ones.
• Blade Lock: Right at the Start of Clash and shows up throughout.

• Briefcase Full of Money: It's beginning to look that the only times that briefcases are used they aren't full of money, but of explosive magic or some other form of trap.
• Catchphrase: Spawn of a Lich seems to be the only curse word (phrase?) in the Zokusho universe.
• Cat Girl: Asuka of Kodate Corporation is one. Jin is more of a dog...boy...

• Child Prodigy: Jack is awfully young to be throwing around so many powerful combat spells. Especially when one character has already been assassinated for having access to combat magic.
• Continuity Nod: Rotting Johnny assassinates a mage who was throwing around some powerful destructive magics. Because of this the Wayward Cross gets hired in place of the the mage to take out a group of goblins that have taken over a fort. At the end of that, one of the things they came to get from the fort is taken by the people who hired the Wayward Cross, so there may be further implications.
• Contract on the Hitman: The plot of Fracture.
• Dual Wielding: Serge with guns and Raziel with swords.
• Handguns: Serge's weapons of choice.
• Made of Iron: Raz certainly seems to be. In both of his appearances he's been on the ground as much as he's been standing, but he keeps getting back up without losing a bit of his enthusiasm.
• MacGuffin: I wonder what that thing "the Client" took from Akira's group was...
• Mad Scientist: Jerry might be something of one, though he wasn't particularly excited at the prospect of trying his hand at the medicinal arts. The guy who worked on Rotting Johnny is probably a more traditional version of the trope.
• Master Swordsman: Several. Though there does seem to be levels of this. Old Byron> Young Byron > Edgar > Raziel.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Rotting Johnny is an Undead Hitman/Sniper.
• Noodle Incident: Oops. Sorry. I meant Norrel Incident. Apparently it involved a dwarf that stole some plutonium, a plot to ignite the atmosphere, and a three headed dog.
• Offhand Backhand: During Clash, Young Byron repeatedly and almost casually kicks Raziel away while sword fighting Edgar.
• Old Master: Byron may be getting up in years, but everyone knows that swordsmen age like fine wine. They only get better with age.
• One-Man Army: Serge definitely. The team from the Wayward Cross all seem capable of holding their own against large numbers as well.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Serge seems to be moving in this direction. He took out an entire restaurant filled with gunmen and a wizard without any real difficulty. We've yet to see anything that really challenges him.
• Playing with Fire: Though he's been seen to use ice as well, serge seems to be a big fan of fireballs.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Serge get's an excellent one.
  Giovanni: "Last words... I have a few if you're willing to listen to them."
  Serge: "I think I just did."
• Police Are Useless: One wonders how Serge has avoided dealing with police, given the large number of bodies he seems to leave in his wake and his growing reputation. Then again maybe he just shoots them.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Serge basically pulls a quick one on a crime syndicate that tried to have him and Max killed.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: Averted in Jack's case. Possibly played straight by Chauncey, though we don't get a real clear look at him.
• Samurai Ponytail: Both Edgar and his mentor Byron sport ponytails.
• Shock and Awe: It's unknown exactly what element Jack prefers since he uses fire and air spells during Best Laid Plans, but he notably fries three goblins all at once with a bolt of lightning.
• Shout-Out: To Kiwi Blitz on the second page of Noise.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!!: I guess we'll never know what Giovanni's last words were going to be.
• Silent Offer: Apparently Serge's monthly salary at Kodate is going to be quite large.
• Smart People Play Chess: Jack was apparently just toying with Jin during their short lived game.
• Smug Snake: Giovanni appears to have been one before he tried to double cross Serge.

• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: It didn't work on Edgar when Raz tried it, but it worked just fine on Chauncey.
• World of Badass: How many characters have we seen that aren't badasses? Like four?

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