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Better Days - TV Tropes

️Mon May 07 2012

Better Days (Webcomic)

Lucy, Sheila and Fisk Black during those troublesome teenage years.

Better Days ^caution is a Furry comic by artist Jay Naylor. The story begins in Georgia, USA in the year 1980. Ten-year-old Fisk and Lucy Black are twin siblings being raised by their mother Shiela, who gave birth to them after their father was killed in action during the Vietnam War. The comic depicts Fisk and Lucy's often-challenging growing up during the 1980s, and their early adulthood in the 1990s; earlier strips feature Shiela as the third protagonist, while later parts focus more on Lucy's college roommate Beth.

While Better Days has a fairly well-established fanbase of its own, a number of people are also aware of it due to its politics, its sexual themes, and other material and philosophies some find controversial. Surprisingly, most of these don't involve it being a furry comic.

The comic ran from 2003 until 2009, producing 639 strips during that timeframe. Its successor, Original Life, began on June 1, 2009, shortly after BD had ended its run.

No relation to 2019 Hong Kong film Better Days.

Better Days includes examples of:

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A-K

Aerith and Bob: While every other character whose first name is mentioned has a typical American one, Fisk has a last name.
Anachronism Stew: Fisk suggesting to Elizabeth to go to the movies seeing Happy Tree Friends. This scene is set in 1982; however, Happy Tree Friends was a series of Internet cartoons, not a theatrical release, so this was likely intentional.
Animal Stereotypes: Two characters are explicitly said to be weasels: Randy, who has a penchant for infidelity and lies to Lucy about using a condom without knowing she's on the pill, and Ralphie, Persia's pimp, who claims 'there's no such thing as right and wrong' and keeps her addicted to heroin.
Appetite Equals Health: Increased appetite is used as a sign that Persia is recovering after Fisk rescues her from prostitution and heroin.
Armor-Piercing Question:
- Lucy fills in for a colleague who hosts a show giving listeners relationship advice, a listener calls in to complain about women choosing their mate by superficial standards and should want him for who he is. She then asks him who he is, so he thinks for a moment and realises who he is is far from appealing.
- After Elizabeth catches David cheating on her with their neighbour:
  (Elizabeth stares into thin air in shock)
  Lucy: Now THERE'S a pause.
Arranged Marriage: Elizabeth's mother has the nasty habit of trying to govern Elizabeth's love life, to make sure she marries a Jew.^note Unable to work up the courage to defy her, she winds up in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful husband, whom she ultimately leaves for Fisk at the end of the comic.
Asian and Nerdy: Aron, for a given value of 'Asian'.
Aside Glance: Used on occasion as a reaction to obnoxious or stupid remarks by others.
Attack Its Weak Point: Lucy is instructed to defeat the Evil Sorceress, the Big Bad of the role-playing game she participates in, by finding the 'Pink Pearl' hidden among her tentacles, that 'no man can find', but Lucy might, as she's a woman. Lucy's reaction is an Aside Glance. When she succeeds, the Sorceress clearly looks like she's had an orgasm, and asks Lucy to 'do that again'.
Audio Erotica: Lucy's boss tells her to aim for that when she has to fill in for a colleague who gives relationship advice.
Author Appeal: There are lots of shots of women's derrieres. Lots and lots of 'em. Disturbingly Lampshaded in a minor gag, in which Fisk is partially an Author Avatar, remarking on how he likes drawing Sheila.
Author Filibuster: Frequently, on the subject of politics and his personal philosophy, and his view of art as an extension thereof.
Author Tract: Moderate example—Fisk's philosophy often overlapped with Naylor's, starting from Conservatism to Objectivism, but he points out that it's his own philosophy and doesn't invalidate others. Later on Naylor stated that Fisk's ideology no longer represents his own, after Fisk becomes an agent for a private special ops organisation.
Awful Wedded Life: A visitor at the gallery Beth's works are displayed at seems to think so about marriage in general.
Babies Ever After: Persia and her boyfriend.
Badass Israeli: Mrs. Catadze sends Fisk to Israel to train there in fighting in populated areas, citing how Israel has to constantly fight for its survival.
Bait-and-Switch: After the three previous comics imply Lucy will sever Randy's penis with shearers for dating her and Andrea simultaneously, keeping them both a secret from each other, and for lying about using a condom when sleeping with her, it turns out she only intended to cut his hair.
Balcony Wooing Scene: Tommy flees his home after the Rachel vilifies Lucy to Tommy's parents. Tommy resorts to lobbing pebbles at Lucy's upstairs window in the Monday 23 October 2006 strip. The window is open, so one pebble bips off Lucy's shoulder. This leads to a face-to-face discussion that furthers their relationship.
Batman Gambit: It's implied that Fisk's monologue to Carlos when he wanted to kill himself was this. Original Life shows it works.
Be a Whore to Get Your Man:
- Lucy goes to a clothing shop literally named 'No, I'm Not a Prostitute Boutique' in hopes of getting more male attention.
- Very much averted in the case of Tommy and Rachel—her indiscriminate promiscuity is one of the main reasons he leaves her, the other being Lucy.
Between My Legs: Beth and Jessica, when Marvin Lipschitz chides them (among others) for their actions leading up to the bachelor/ette party stripper fiasco, are seen this way, along with Marvin's enormous pixellated genitalia.
Be Yourself: Subverted in this comic.
Listener: [Women] say I don't exercise and I'm overweight. They laugh at the cartoon character T-shirts I wear. but, I shouldn't have to change any of that, because I want women to love me for who I am.
Lucy: Well, that begs the question, Bill: who are you?
Listener: Um... a broke, unemployed man who dresses like a child and doesn't take care of his body?
Big "WHAT?!": Sheila's reaction when ten-year-old Fisk tells her he had sex with Nikki.
Black and Nerdy: The comic portrays Africans as hyenas. In one strip, there's a nerd club and one of the members is a hyena.
Blatant Lies: Randy lies about his fidelity to get into Lucy's pants.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Fisk believes that in war, both sides genuinely believe what they're fighting for is right. However, as their ideas cannot coexist, ultimately Violence Is the Only Option.
Blunt "Yes": In the very first comic.
Lucy: Ooo! Does my brother have a crush?
Fisk: Yes.
Lucy: Could you at least pretend to be embarrassed? For my sake!?
Braids, Beads and Buckskins:
- Marissa uses this for her Halloween costume.
- The male stripper 'Long Creek' exploits this trope.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: In a one-off joke in the first chapter, Lucy wonders why Cindy is so popular among the boys in her school. Naylor makes it abundantly clear.
Naylor: Anytime.
Brick Joke:
- In this comic, Elizabeth complains about how her mother will eventually try to set her up with a doctor, the awkward and undesirable qualities thereof she will completely ignore. Fast forward to this comic, in which Elizabeth's mother tries to hook Sheila up with a nerdy-looking Jewish man who talks about keeping ferrets as pets.
- Tommy, an engineering student, dismisses an artist who used a jet engine as a tool for painting, saying he'd rather hang the engine itself on his wall. By the end of the chapter, he does.
- Aron asks Lucy for a Mountain Dew when she gets up to get drinks when she plays a role-playing game with Tommy and his friends. At the end of the chapter, there are several empty bottles in front of him and he's all jittery, implying he got a sugar rush, and he's still asking for another bottle.
- A possibly accidental one: when Fisk is in elementary, he writes an essay specifying some of the reasons he appreciates living in the US, starting with things like personal freedom but quickly starts expanding on American food he likes. Near the end of the comic, when he comes home from six months in Singapore, Lucy tries to hook him up with Elizabeth, but all he can think about is 'having a real American cheeseburger'.
Broken Pedestal: Subverted—see Phony Veteran below.
Brother–Sister Incest: Fisk and Lucy. Played for Drama, and both characters are very torn about it.
- Twincest
Brutal Honesty:
- In a meta-sense, Naylor illustrates to Lucy why her classmate Cindy is popular among the boys.
- Cindy explains to Fisk why she prefers their Dumb Jock schoolmate over her.
- When Elizabeth tells Lucy she could have Fisk, Lucy tells her she couldn't, because she doesn't have the courage to stand up to her mother and her opposition to her dating a 'goy'.
- When Lucy wonders if she should commit to Tommy or not, this exchange happens:
  Amy: Tommy's a sweet guy with a bright future. What benefit could there be to straying around with other guys?
  Jessica: Beth would know! Let's ask her!
- Near the end of the comic, Lucy gives Elizabeth a sorely needed call-out, telling her she's been letting her mother make all of her life choices for her all her life.
Buxom Beauty Standard: Lucy's classmate Cindy's main appeal.
Calling the Old Woman Out:
Captain Obvious: Minor example with Elizabeth near the end of the comic, when Lucy tries to set her up with Fisk after she catches her husband David cheating on her.
Lucy: You know... my brother's coming home from his trip, this weekend...
Elizabeth: Fisk?
Lucy: Well, I don't have another brother.
Casting Couch: Lucy complains about her colleague doing it to Tommy.
Chekhov's Gunman:
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Happens mainly to several minor characters, but also gradually happens to notable characters like Sheila Black, Rachel, and the couple of Robert and Jessica as they drift in and out of Fisk's and Lucy's lives.
Comic-Book Time: Distinctly averted with the characters aging as the comic progresses. To put it in perspective, Lucy and Fisk were 9 years old when the comic first started; by the end of the comic, they're young-to-middle-aged adults.
Comically Missing the Point:
Coming of Age Story: Following Fisk and Lucy from when they're 9 and into adulthood.
Commitment Issues: Lucy deals with those at the beginning of 'Men and Women', when she considers moving in with Tommy.
Contrived Coincidence: Both Jessica's bachelorette party and Robert's bachelor party are scheduled at the same time and place, with only a door between the two.
Country Matters: Rachel calls Lucy that after Lucy performs oral sex on him.
Country Mouse: Beth takes Fisk, Lucy, and Tommy on a trip to New York, on a first-class flight in a fancy hotel, when she gets invited to display her work at an art gallery there. Fisk and Tommy are noticeably unaccustomed to the luxury—they parody high society city mannerisms, Tommy abuses the abundant champagne offered on the flight and he mistakes a bidet for a toilet.
Covert Pervert:
Cranial Eruption: Jessica sports one of those, having falling asleep and bumping her head after she snaps out of being almost catatonic with joy about Robert proposing.
Creator Thumbprint: Explicitly stated lessons concerning self-reliance and individualism, influenced in part by his divisive political philosophy. Also, gratuitous focus on women's backsides.
Creepy Souvenir: One of the men Sheila tries dating tells her, 'Kelly tells me you like soldiers. I have a collection of Vietnamese hands under glass at home...'
Cultural Cringe: Fisk defies this in at least two of his essays.
Cute Little Fangs: Randy uses those for his vampire costume for the Halloween dance.
Dark Is Not Evil: Fisk likes playing black when he plays chess (fittingly, his last name is Black), as it relates to his notion of war as the result of Blue-and-Orange Morality resulting in Violence Is the Only Option.
Dating What Daddy Hates: Or mommy, rather—Tommy's mother is displeased with him dating Lucy, an atheist. His father is just concerned he might be gay.
Deadpan Snarker: Some characters engage in it on occasion. Fisk starts early enough to get in trouble.
Deep South: Mostly averted, even though all of them live in small town Georgia—Tommy even points out that Lucy barely has an accent. The main exception is Sheila (to a moderate extent), who ignores the blatant anti-Native American statements in Fisk's essay, grew up using the N-word liberally, and owns a commemorative Robert E. Lee garden gnome.
Delusions of Eloquence: When Aron goes sailing with Beth, he starts spewing random nautical jargon. Beth tells him he has no idea what he's saying.
Dirty Kid: Played for Drama with Shanikwa. The reason she's sexually active at eleven years old is because she's being molested by her father.
Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Subverted. While Nikki essentially raping Fisk is initially Played for Laughs, it's quickly acknowledged it's a symptom of something horrible she's suffered, and there is serious concern for Fisk's emotional well-being.
Dramatic Irony: Sheila is glad Fisk and Ryan are working at a safer job now. They're actually working for the same secret special ops organisation Fisk's father died working for.
Dream Sequence:
Driven to Suicide: Narrowly averted twice.
Dumb Blonde: Jessica. Fortunately, she's of the Dumb Is Good variety.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Lampshaded by Fisk on the final comic.
Fisk: With all I've been through the future can only hold better days.
Easter Egg:
Erotic Eating: Sexually-frustrated Sheila looks at a banana in despair and relishes eating it. When Fisk interrupts her, she snaps at him for hardly any reason. In the next comic, she confides in Kelly (Elizabeth's mother) that she indeed hasn't had a man since Longfellow, i.e. in about four or five years.
Evil Principal: Fisk and Lucy's elementary school principal, Harvey Longfellow, is initially presented as a friendly Reasonable Authority Figure. However, he's later revealed to be a manipulative sexual predator.
Eye Dialect: Mostly averted, despite it being implied that characters have varying levels of a southern accent, but there are a few examples on occasion.
Fanservice: Not limited to Naylor's pornfolios—there's plenty of shots of female butts, panty-clad or otherwise, within the actual strip.
- For the female readers, most of the men tend to be shirtless every now and then throughout the comic (especially Fisk).
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Some species represent specific groups: cats are white, mice are Jewish^note, and hyenas are black; also, while there have been no answers from the Word of God, there's a number of hints that rabbits are analogues for Irish descent, but in Original Life Red the otter is said to be Irish.
Fille Fatale: Nikki, played tragically due to being abused by her father. She eventually gets better with a lot of counseling.
Fluffy the Terrible: The little girl in the role-playing game Lucy, Tommy, and their friends play has a pet named Puffle's who's sick. Justified, as she is the Evil Sorceress in disguise.
Lucy: Where is Mr. Puffles?
Girl: Over there, eating people.
Forbidden Fruit: Elizabeth's parents discuss this when she goes on her first date with Fisk, regarding him not being Jewish.
Foreshadowing:
Furry Confusion:
Furry Reminder: On occasion.
Gag Penis: Marvin Lipschitz, who is noticeably well-endowed. When looking for strippers for Jessica's bachelorette party, Beth wants to hire him because even because he's so hung even she has never seen anyone who matches up. His semi-censored penis plays a key role when he delivers a lesson to several characters, resolving the bachelor/ette party stripper conundrum.
Gambit Roulette: Almost—Marissa relies on Fisk to leave her and Randy to cheat on Lucy specifically during the Halloween dance, in order to win Lucy over. Her predictions are correct, but Lucy has no interest in her.
Gaydar: Beth claims her is 'legendary'.
Gentile Jew-Chaser: One of the things Fisk mentions he finds appealing about Elizabeth is the way she squeaks. Since Jews are portrayed as mice in the comic, it comes across as an example of this, even if probably accidentally.
The Glomp: Beth gives Fisk one after he comes home, after a news report implied he might have died in battle and Beth was very distraught.
Genre Savvy: Lucy realises that the innocent-looking girl in the role-playing game she participates in must be evil.
Lucy: Everyone's undead except her!? What is this!? Aliens?
Gilligan Cut: Beth promises Lucy she would never tell anyone she's attracted to Aron. The very next panel, she tells Aron.
Gone Horribly Wrong: Beth thinks getting Tommy and his 'nerd friends' to plan Robert's bachelor party will assure it won't be a Stag Party. The first thing they do when given the task is making sure it will be.
Good Angel, Bad Angel: This occurs when Lucy first experiences feelings for Fisk.
Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Sheila would rather Lucy took pills (she wants her to abstain, but is realistic), because 'we're not killing unborn kittens in this family'.
Gossipy Hens: Lucy's college roommates, when Fisk is about to come, much to Lucy's annoyance.
Heroic BSoD: Happens to Elizabeth when she realises she doesn't love her husband and Lucy helps her realise she's been putting aside her own happiness all her life to keep others happy.
Heinous Hyena: Zig-zagged. While some hyena characters are depicted as the scum of the Earth (Muhammad al Aziz probably being the worst of them), hyenas as a whole are portrayed as being no worse than any other animal. Of course, since hyenas are the setting's equivalent to African-Americans, depicting them as Always Chaotic Evil would be enormously racist.
Hiding Behind Religion: Tommy criticises Rachel for wilfully indulging in sin and repeatedly going to confession for it.
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Marvin Lipschitz, who becomes a stripper to work through college.
Hypocrite: Persia lashes out at her mother for dating many men in quick succession while not allowing her to date at all.
Hypocritical Humor: When the bachelor/ette party fiasco is discovered:
Lucy: Ahem! We're not shoving our noses up the asses of naked women!
If I Can't Have You…:
- Lucy accuses Elizabeth trying to sabotage her relationship with Randy because her mother forces her to date undesirable partners, and 'misery loves company'. Elizabeth denies it.
- Fisk and Lucy make an effort to defy this when they grow up and there's a prospect of one of them dating someone else, talking it over to make sure they don't hurt each other.
I'm Standing Right Here: The awkward game master describes Lucy's character in abundant, erotic detail to the players, including Lucy. Tommy actually asks him to continue.
I Need a Freaking Drink: Elizabeth's reaction to catching her husband David cheating with the neighbour.
In Vino Veritas: Lucy almost slips out a sexy secret of Amy's when she's drunk at Jessica’s bachelorette party. (The secret was revealed in full in one of the pornfolios.)
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Being Star-Crossed Lovers, Fisk and Lucy make it a point not to stand in each other's way when the other has a new potential lover.
Jaw Drop: Fisk's reaction to Persia when they meet again, for the first time in years.
Jerkass: Ted Stephens. As if dating Lucy just to get with her mother weren't enough, he peeps on Sheila in the shower, has no qualms about his actions, and finally rudely dismisses her when she confronts him.
Karma Houdini: Ted Stephens, who suffers no repercussions for dating Lucy solely to make a move on her mother.

L-Z

Lame Pun Reaction: Cindy loves puns, much to Lucy's annoyance.
Literal Metaphor: The 'perfect storm'.
Love Confession: Beth tells Fisk she's done with Polyamory and wants to settle with him. Unfortunately, Fisk takes a job that makes it impossible.
Love Epiphany: Inverted near the end, when Amy asks Elizabeth if she loves her husband, and Elizabeth realizes she doesn't.
Love Letter: The first chapter revolves around Fisk wanting Lucy to deliver one to Cindy, the girl in Lucy's gym class he has a crush on.
Love-Obstructing Parents: When Fisk and Elizabeth first expressed interest in each other as young teens, Elizabeth's mother was concerned about her dating someone who wasn't Jewish. Her father rebutted her thusly:
Jerry: Kelly, they're going to see a movie. They're not going to go get married. She could stand to have fun while she is still a child. Besides, she seems to like him. If we forbid her from seeing him, he will seem more enticing. Then, she will elope when she is sixteen, and they will live in a trailer with no wheels in Lumpkin County, with chickens.
Lust Makes You Dumb:
- Principal Longfellow hears Sheila Black dress down the haywire liberal teacher Bedbutter, and sees her lithe, feminine form glide out of the school building. The man tries dating Sheila, and plants a seed of doubt about her deceased husband. When Sheila consults some old Army friends, she learns that Longfellow was never stationed anywhere near her husband; rather, he was a supply sergeant in Japan during the Vietnam War, and was discharged for fraternizing with female staffers. When Longfellow shows up to explain himself, Sheila rejects his lies, which prompts him to attempt to rape Sheila in her own home. Longfellow gets a baseball bat to the kisser for his trouble. The Army buddies visit him in the hospital to guarantee that Longfellow never repeats his crime.
- "The Ted," a young, handsome but arrogant student catches the eye of Lucy Black, and he arranges a date with her. While upstairs in the Black house, he catches sight of Sheila Black bathing, and is smitten with lust. Arriving ostensibly for a second date with Lucy, Ted reveals he's really there to woo Sheila, who delivers a scathing dress-down before expelling him from the property.
Make It Look Like an Accident: Jim's old Army friends pay Longfellow a visit and deliberately infect him with lethal meningitis so he appears to have died in surgery. His own doctor willingly helps out, and tells them he's going to start the paperwork when they show up.
Malcolm Xerox: Nikki's father, Muhammad al-Aziz, is revealed to be a black... er, hyena-supremacist terrorist wanted for multiple murders and rapes.
Malicious Slander: D'Anna uses her relationship with their manager and the editorial leeway she gets to keep reviewing a false testimony at a controversial trial at face value, thinking it would sell better. Lucy later finds out D'Anna has based her entire career on smear.
Maligned Mixed Marriage: Both Elizabeth's Jewish family and Tommy's Catholic family disapprove of their relationships with people outside of their faith.
Maniac Tongue: Jessica's idle expression is wide eyes, chin tilted down, and her sizable tongue poking out of her lips to indicate not much going on in her head.
Manly Tears: Fisk can't help but cry on two gut-wrenching occasions:
Massive Numbered Siblings: Elizabeth's family. Fisk comments on this.
Mature Animal Story: This webcomic deals with some very adult subject matter, such as rape, incest, and the horrors of war, among other things.
Meaningful Name: Fisk Black's last name relates to his philosophy regarding Dark Is Not Evil.
Menstrual Menace: Implied in this comic.
Fisk: Don't go downstairs. I think Aunt Flow is in town.
Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: An eleven-year-old girl's Troubling Unchildlike Behavior when it comes to sexual matters leads to the discovery of a dangerous criminal on the lam hiding Fisk's neighborhood.
Misspelling Out Loud: Fisk getting kicked out of his Girl of the Week Jenny's house by her mother:
Mistaken for Gay:
The Mole: Fisk is told that the CIA's susceptibility to Soviet moles cost his father's life when he worked for a secret special ops organisation that used to be linked to it, and that's why it isn't anymore.
Mood Whiplash:
Mr. Vice Guy: Marissa and Andrea think Randy is this, his vice being his infidelity. That's why Andrea sticks by him, believing it's likely he'll change.
Nice Jewish Boy: Marvin Lipschitz turns out to be a sweet, level-headed man as an adult, even if, somewhat unusually for this trope, he does become a stripper.
Noble Savage: Beth makes a reference to this to describe male stripper 'Zulu Bob'.
Noodle Incident: Whatever happened to Sheila's garden gnome was bad enough to get Lucy to successfully blackmail Fisk.
Not Distracted by the Sexy:
Not Listening to Me, Are You?: Beth realises Robert is too engrossed in playing video games with Tommy to listen and answer properly when asked about guests to invite to Jessica's baby shower. She quickly demonstrates this to the girls.
Beth: We're going to put Jessica in porn films with the male fetish porn star 'Tad Pole'.
Robert: That's cool.
Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: After Lucy gets hospitalized, Fisk visits her and prays by her bed, telling her to shut up when she wakes up and interrupts him in the middle of it.
Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: Specifically, with a hyena (read: black) girl asking out a cat (read: white) boy.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Cindy explains to Fisk that's how she keeps her boyfriend, along with letting him 'fuck [her] brains out'.
Oh, Crap!: When the private investigator tells Sam who he is, Sam is visibly worried.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Borderline-Extreme Doormat timid Elizabeth walks into the bar Lucy and Amy are at and rudely demands a drink. The next comic reveals that she just caught her husband David cheating on her with the neighbour.
Orphaned Etymology: Fisk brings up how when his mother was young, 'the N-word' was socially acceptable. Problem is, that word derives from the Latin word for 'black', and black people in the comic are represented by hyenas, who are not physically black or even dark, while some cats (who represent white people) have uniformly black fur. This is brought up again when a hyena Sheila dates once asks if he can call her 'white chocolate'^note, and when Tommy, Aron, and their hyena friend visit 'Club Ebony'.
Parental Incest: Nikki's father sexually abuses her and her siblings. When she learns that he's killed later, she's pretty happy about it, even if she doesn't show it. It takes time to undo the psychological damage he's left after she's adopted.
Parental Sexuality Squick: Lucy's reaction to her mother's and Sam's blatant displays of affection, even if she's glad they're happy.
Parents in Distress: Sheila is raped by Principal Longfellow, but Fisk manages to save her by whacking the guy with a baseball bat in the middle.
Perky Goth: Beth. Lampshaded in this comic.
Fisk: You're pretty cheery for a black-clad goth.
Beth: I like the color!
Phony Veteran: Longfellow claims he served with Sheila's late husband Jim, and that Jim was very unfaithful, but Jim's actual war buddy finds out Longfellow was lying, and his service was unremarkable, to say the least—he was lying to hurt Sheila and manipulate her better.
Playing with Syringes: Principal Longfellow's murder. He's injected with a meningitis-causing pathogen (there are several, which one we're never told) by Sheila's husband's army buddies to make it look like he died of surgical complications.
Polyamory: Beth. She lost her first boyfriend to aggressive lymphoma, and Lucy points out that Beth espousing this is primarily because of going through that, making her afraid to 'put all [her] eggs in one basket'. At one point, she has three different boyfriends, but is warned that she will have to pick one eventually. She picks Fisk, but he takes a job that makes the relationship impossible, so she eventually chooses Aron instead.
Prank Call: Beth does this to Lucy when she's filling in for a colleague, who has a radio show giving relationship advice.
Promiscuity After Rape: Nikki is very sexually forward for a girl her age, which is explained by her being sexually abused by her father.
Punny Name:
Put Off Their Food: Sheila is put off hers when dating a man with poor table manners, who keeps panting (being a dog and all) at the table.
Date: You gonna finish that?
Sheila: Not anymore.
Rape as Drama: Played dead straight. Sheila is raped by Harvey Longfellow after she discovers that he lied about knowing her husband in Vietnam, and he attempts to rape her. Fisk, who is only about 9 years old, intervenes and hits him with a baseball bat. She realistically suffers a measure of post traumatic stress after this and doesn't date or have sex for about four or five years afterwards, even though she had a very liberal attitude towards sex and dating beforehand. As for the fate of Longfellow, he ends up in the hospital, where some of Jim's old Army friends pay him a visit and deliberately infect him with lethal meningitis with the doctor's help, so he appears to have died in surgery. Fisk is then sent to a psychiatrist, where he openly admits that cracking Longfellow over the head was satisfying and the right thing to do, and that he does not feel guilty in the slightest about his death. When we cut back to the psychiatrist, she's happily drawing a dollar sign on her notebook.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: None of the few characters revealed as rapists survive the chapters in which they're introduced.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Lucy's programme director, who immediately takes action when Lucy provides evidence of D'Anna relying on Malicious Slander throughout her career.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sheila gives one to Mrs. Bedbutter for her politically-motivated teaching and Slut-Shaming in Chapter 4:
Sheila: I bet your pardon!? I don't give a FUCK about your social engineering projects, but don't dare insult how I look OR LIVE!
Mrs. Bedbutter: Ms. Black-
Sheila: SHUT UP! You'll teach Fisk math, science, and REAL history! If he chews gum or talks in class, tell me and I'll beat his little ass myself! But DON'T waste my time with CRAP like this! I have to go home and finish baking for my kids. After I send them to bed, I may just invite a man over, feed him, too, and give him such a hard orgasm, he won't be able to walk 'til morning. Because I'm a WOMAN! And it's my fucking RIGHT!
Remarried to the Mistress: Done twice over:
- Sheila eventually marries Sam after having an affair with him, though it takes a few years.
- Elizabeth also gets remarried to Fisk after catching her husband cheating on her, starting a relatioship with Fisk and then demanding a divorce.
Right Behind Me: When Lucy asks Fisk to stop dating Elizabeth, he points out to her that she's the one who asked him to date her. Unfortunately, Elizabeth is right behind him that second.
Right Through the Wall:
- Lucy is smart enough to know this will happen when Robert is coming to spend the night. Beth is, too, and offers Lucy to spend the night at her place.
- Fisk and Tommy can hear each other with their girlfriends on the opposite sides of the wall at their hotel suite. They turn it into a competition.
Rouge Angles of Satin: Very sporadically. Most notably, Naylor misspells 'awful' as 'aweful' a few times.
The Savage Indian: 9-year-old Fisk apparently thinks that's what the Native Americans were like until cats (read: white colonisers) came along. Sheila doesn't see a problem with it (or, perhaps, only skims through his essays and doesn't notice), but his teacher understandably does.
Secret Handshake: Tommy's and Aron's hyena friend meets another hyena to get them strippers for Robert's bachelor party, and they immediately do this.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Sam's wife's paranoia about his supposed infidelity makes her very petty and mean-spirited towards him, pushing him to start an affair with Sheila.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Downplayed with Fisk, who only suffers Flashback Nightmares, but played horribly straight with his war buddy Carlos, who suffers depression and is almost Driven to Suicide.
Shipper on Deck: Lucy is this, on and off, for Fisk and Elizabeth—first she asks Fisk to date her when she wants to cheer her up when she's the only one who hasn't developed breasts in their class, then she doesn't because she can't spend as much time with her anymore, then she does when she realises how much Fisk cares about her, then she doesn't because she's tragically still in love with Fisk, then she does after she gets over Fisk. By that point she mostly just teases Elizabeth for her subtle displays of jealousy of beth, but after Elizabeth's husband David cheats on her, she pretty much spells it out, and encourages Fisk to pursue the relationship too.
Shout-Out:
Skewed Priorities: Tommy realises this mid-sentence.
Slumber Party: Lucy holds one early on in the comic.
Slut-Shaming: Mrs. Bedbutter openly insults women who dress in revealing clothing and have active sex lives. Sheila doesn't take it well.
So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Persia suffers from it at least from her teens if not earlier, at least up to her early twenties, pointing out the tremendous amount of work needed to make sure her beauty is always impeccable, and that from a certain level of beauty people assume one is stupid as well, and her just how horrible Stage Moms can be. Later, the mob in L.A. gets her addicted to heroin and forces her into prostitution.
Southern-Fried Private: Fisk wonders what he'll do after graduation, hating the idea of going back to school with no proper reason to. After seeing his father's name on a monument for fallen soldiers, he decides to enlist as well.
Spin-Offspring: Original Life is a rare webcomics example.
Spit Take:
Stacy's Mom:
- The subject of Chapter 9 (complete with Shout-Out title 'Lucy's Mom') wherein Ted Stephens dates Lucy to get a stab at her 'porcelain white goddess' mother.
- Fisk makes a jocular remark implying Elizabeth's mother qualifies too.
Stage Mom: Persia talks about her experience with those, including her own.
Stag Party: Tommy and his friends arrange one for Robert before he gets married to Jessica.
Star-Crossed Lovers: In chronological order of appearance:
The Stoic: Fisk, from the very first page and progressively more as the comic goes on.
Strawman Political: Fisk's teacher Mrs. Bedbutter appears to be composed entirely of overly-simplistic conservative stereotypes of public school teachers.
Suck E. Cheese's: Fun Charlie's, except it seems fairly fun.
Take a Third Option: When Tommy asks his priest whether he should date Rachel, who is a Catholic but a terrible person, or Lucy, who is wholesome but an atheist, his priest points out that he could find someone else entirely, who can fulfil both his earthly and spiritual needs. Tommy still chooses Lucy, as his faith has diminished too much for him by that point.
Take That!:
Tempting Fate: Nikki remarking Fisk wouldn't have to actively fight in a war during his service, just as The Gulf War breaks out.
Testosterone Poisoning: Fisk insists on spearing a fish for no reason other than he can. This trope was referenced directly in the very next comic.
Thanks for the Mammary: Beth dreams about Fisk and realizes that it's only a dream when she accidentally grabs Lucy's left boob.
Beth: ...You're not Fisk
Lucy: DO YOU THINK SO?!
That Came Out Wrong: Persia talking to Lucy about how she envies the nice, normal life she has, as opposed to her own very stressful life because of her extreme beauty, comes out wrong at first.
Persia: It's okay, Lucy. I'm used to looks. It's not easy being a walking beauty-magazine cover. Sometimes I wish I had normal, distinguishing little physical flaws like you do.
Theme Naming: Fisk Black has a war buddy named Carlos White.
There Are No Therapists: Almost entirely averted.
Through His Stomach: Implied to be part of the reason why Sam falls for Sheila, after his wife angrily stops cooking for him.
Title Drop: On the very last page.
Trademark Favorite Food: Fisk's is implied^note to be potatoes. (Second link includes spoilers)
Traumatic Haircut: Lucy gives Randy one in his sleep for dating her and Andrea simultaneously and lying about putting on a condom when sleeping with her. He takes it very hard, refusing to remove his hat even when sleeping, but he doesn't hold a grudge against her.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior:
- Cindy, who is implied to be only 9, has an eighth grader boyfriend she has sex with.
- Some children drop F-bombs every now and then.
- When Shanikwa climbs into Fisk's treehouse, she coments that it's "a good place to have sex".
- Fisk and Lucy have sex in their freshmen year.
True Companions: By the end of the series, Lucy, Elizabeth, Amy, Beth, and Jessica. Lucy and Elizabeth even become sisters-in-law.
Vegetarian Carnivore: Fisk, a cat, is shown to be fond of potatoes.
Victorious Childhood Friend: Elizabeth for Fisk, eventually.
Wall of Text: On occasion there will be a page or two with dense dialogue, often when Fisk explains his reasonings.
War Is Hell: As Fisk relives in his dreams.
Wham Line: Shanikwa seems like a normal enough kid at first, but then while Fisk is showing her his treehouse, she says something that shows there's something seriously wrong:
What Is Evil?: Persia says Ralphie, the weasel who forced her into prostitution, repeatedly claimed that there is no such thing as good or evil. Fisk says that in that case, he has no argument against Fisk killing him.
Where da White Women At?: One of the men Sheila dates is a hyena (read: black), and asks her if he can call her 'white chocolate'. She is visibly disturbed.
White Void Room: Frequently.
Woman Scorned:
Wondrous Ladies Room / Wrong Bathroom Incident: The Blacks are on their way to visit relatives and stop for gas. Fisk uses the opportunity to go relieve himself, and soon discovers that while the men's room is filthy beyond belief, the women's room is utterly spotless.
Fisk: I knew it.
You Are Too Late: Sam tries to stop the private investigator his wife sent after him, demanding that he hand over the pictures he took of them having an affair, but he tells him his wife already knows, he's just there to help build the case for her lawyer.
You Need to Get Laid: Sheila is discussing how irritable she is with Kelly, Elizabeth's mother, and suggests she might need a man again, confiding in her that she hadn't had one since principal Longfellow, who lied to her, cheated on her, and raped her about four or five years beforehand. Given Sheila's liberal attitude towards sex and dating beforehand, Kelly is obviously shocked, and suggests she set her up with some single men she knows, but they are all terrible dates and she ultimately starts an affair with Sam instead.