History ComicBook / NoHero

** #6: John Totlebein's ''Saga of the ComicBook/SwampThing'' #33 ([[http://images.sequart.org/images/Saga-of-the-Swamp-Thing-33.jpg original]], [[https://files1.comics.org//img/gcd/covers_by_id/828/w400/828472.jpg?5459402182874871782 homage]]) For some reason, this one doesn't credit Totlebein.

* {{Homage}}: Alternate covers for all but one issue (#6) were takes on classic comic covers:

* StraightEdge: Joshua, who is also vegan[[note]]though oddly, if you look at the inside of his apartment in issue #1 it looks like he's been eating hot dogs[[/note]]. The only non-prescription drug he takes is [=FX7=]. [[spoiler:Though it turns out this applies rather to his FBI-produced cover than necessarily to himself. Mandy did comment that he downed [=FX7=] very quickly for a supposed teetotaler]].

* DeadGuyPuppet: [[spoiler: Joshua does this to Fasthawk, basically using his head as a hand puppet.]]

** The FBI keeps [[spoiler:Joshua]] who has been raised in a way that he can't stop from hurting people and uses him as their best assassin when situation demand a EvilVsEvil. He fully acknowledges he is a monster and knows he belongs behind bars but his sadism shows.

* RuleOfDrama: Joshua becomes a little less deformed after the fourth issue (mainly by having eyelids and lips again). Justified in issue 5: it's the next day, so he could still be changing. But the real change happens in issues 6 and 7 -- barely some hours later. This is probably since [[spoiler:what happens next is more unsettling if Joshua is capable of showing more emotions.]]

* WouldNotShootACivilian: ''Averted'' with a vengeance-- Carrick orders all his civilian staff to evacuate his house[=/=]Front Line headquarters-- and they run straight into troops who proceed to machine-gun every last one of them. If it can be said to be justified, it's that the troops don't know if any of those people are enhanciles.

* ManInWhite: Carrick always wears white suits, except to the funerals of Judex and Doctor Shift. In constrast, the Levellers and Front Line generally wear black. Joshua ''also'' wears white when he debuts as a super.

* EnemyMine: Carrick is trying to figure out how their attacker have access to Russian weapon yet know things that only the Chinese government could know and is trying to wonder which country is working with who or who is trying to frame which country. [[spoiler: Joshua, an American assassin, explains that it's an international effort from almost all governments that are done with Carrick's rule. The countries go back to fighting each other even worse over the spoils of the Front Line.]]

-->[[spoiler:Joshua:]] Okie dokie Smokie. Time to play.

* RuleOfSymbolism: As if the "Adam's Ale"[[note]]an old slangy name for water[[/note]] comment Carrick makes when getting Joshua something to drink isn't enough, what does he offer him to snack on? An ''[[TemptingApple apple.]]''

-->[[spoiler:Joshua:]] Okie-dokie Smoke time to play!

* TokenGoodTeammate: Ben Chisholm[=/=]Redglare... [[PlayingWithATrope maybe.]] He certainly has [[EveryoneHasStandards standards]] enough to call out Carrick on the EngineeredHeroics mentioned previously, and he seems to genuinely think that the Front Line has [[IDidWhatIHadToDo done what was necessary]]-- though Carrick points out that Ben has also benefited very materially from the way the Line runs things, which suggests that Ben may be BelievingTheirOwnLies. [[spoiler: Either way, it doesn't save him; he's the first one killed by Joshua.]] Also his main issue is more that he wasn't warned about the staging beforehand and while being genuinely nice he admits twice in the story he won't mind burning Joshua to ashes if things go poorly.

-->'''[[spoiler:Joshua:]] No-one even knows who you fucking are.

''No Hero'' is the second super-hero miniseries from Creator/WarrenEllis at Creator/AvatarPress, and also his second collaboration with artist Creator/JuanJoseRyp. If ''ComicBook/BlackSummer'' is what happened when the superhumans were ''too'' human, this is what happens when they're ''in''human. The series started with issue #0 and lasted for 8 issues, from June, 2008 to September, 2009.

* FlatCharacter: Fasthawk is messily mocked for it by [[spoiler Joshua as he kills him]].

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Joshua's parents were murdered by a serial killer who adopted him and taught him his craft.]]

* TokenGoodTeammate: Ben Chisholm[=/=]Redglare... [[PlayingWithATrope maybe.]] He certainly has [[EveryoneHasStandards standards]] enough to call out Carrick on the EngineeredHeroics mentioned previously, and he seems to genuinely think that the Front Line has [[IDidWhatIHadToDo done what was necessary]]-- though Carrick points out that Ben has also benefited very materially from the way the Line runs things, which suggests that Ben may be BelievingTheirOwnLies. [[spoiler: Either way, it doesn't save him; he's the first one killed by Joshua.]]

* StraightEdge: Joshua, who doesn't drink or smoke. The only non-prescription drug he takes is [=FX7=]. [[spoiler:Though it turns out this applies rather to his FBI-produced cover than necessarily to himself. Mandy did comment that he downed [=FX7=] very quickly for a supposed teetotaler]].

* ManInWhite: Carrick is never not seen in white suits, unlike the members of his various super teams.

* ArtEvolution: Joshua becomes a little less deformed after the fourth issue (mainly by having eyelids and lips again), probably [[spoiler:since what happens next is more unsettling if Joshua is capable of showing more emotions.]] Justified in issue 5: it's the next day, so he could still be changing. But the real change happens in issues 6 and 7 -- barely some hours later.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: [[spoiler: Jonestown was a front for a CIA lab attempting to develop a [=FX7=] analogue.]]

* BodyHorror: What FX 7 does to [[spoiler:Joshua]]. It makes his skin, teeth and [[spoiler:penis]] fall off.

** The FBI keeps [[spoiler:Joshua]] who has been raised in a way that he can't stop from hurting people and uses him as their best assassin when situation demand a EvilVsEvil. He fully acknowledges he is a monster and knows he belongs behind bars but his sadism shows

* PersonalityPowers: Justified since FX 7 brings out what is inside as super powers. [[spoiler:Josh's horrific transformation after taking FX 7 is the first big hint about his true nature -- a serial killer with a chameleon-like personality. [[FridgeBrilliance No face of his own,]] so to speak...]].

* SuperSerum: [=FX7=] is how the characters get their superpowers. Unfortunately, it is also PsychoSerum.
* TheTeetotaler: Josh never drinks, never smokes, and is a vegan. The only non-prescription drug he takes is [=FX7=]. [[spoiler:Though it turns out this applies rather to his FBI-produced cover than necessarily to himself. Mandy did comment that he downed [=FX7=] very quickly for a supposed teetotaler]].

* TokenGoodTeammate: Ben Chisholm[=/=]Redglare... maybe. He certainly has [[EveryoneHasStandards standards]] enough to call out Carrick on the EngineeredHeroics mentioned previously, and he seems to genuinely think that the Front Line has [[IDidWhatIHadToDo done what was necessary]]-- though Carrick points out that Ben has also benefited very materially from the way the Line runs things, which suggests that Ben may be BelievingTheirOwnLies. [[spoiler: Either way, it doesn't save him; he's the first one killed by Joshua.]]

* ArtEvolution: Joshua becomes a little less deformed after the fourth issue (mainly by having eyelids again), probably [[spoiler:since what happens next is more unsettling if Joshua is capable of showing more emotions.]] Justified in issue 5: it's the next day, so he could still be changing. But the real change happens in issues 6 and 7 -- barely some hours later.

* ArtEvolution: Joshua becomes a little less deformed after the fourth issue, probably [[spoiler:since what happens next is more unsettling if Joshua is capable of showing more emotions.]] Justified in issue 5: it's the next day, so he could still be changing. But the real change happens in issues 6 and 7 -- barely some hours later.

* FlyingBrick: [=FX7=] seems to induce this power set the most, with occasional other powers (Smokestack Lightning has {{Intangibility}} and ShockAndAwe talents, The Operator is a {{Technopath}}). Notably, Redglare ''can't'' fly.

*** Another #1 alternate: Creator/GilKane's ''The Amazing Spider-Girl'' #4 ([[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/spiderman/images/2/25/TheAmazingSpider-Girl4-NoHero1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140703204638 both images side-by-side]])

* PsychoSerum: [=FX7=] gives superpowers-- but it's a nasty hallucinogen. Worse, the subject's stress hormones need to kick in in a big way to aid the transformation. Carrick has a special room, inspired by UsefulNotes/AleisterCrowley's "la chambre des cauchemars" (or "the room of nightmares"), to ensure the subject has a bad trip. The heroes tend to come out deeply traumatized, some turning to other drugs to suppress [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD flashbacks]].