History Webcomic / Nebula

* AllThereInTheManual: Details about the larger relations between and characteristics of stars, planets, and dwarf planets are on the official Tumblr, but haven't come up in the actual comics yet. (Beware of being SpoiledByTheManual- it's unwise to start looking through [[http://ghostfruits.com/archive/filter-by/answer those answers]] before being caught up, since some directly relate to large plot twists.)

* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: For the inner solar system, Earth is the Optimist, Mars the Cynic, Venus the Realist, and Sun the Apathetic.
** And arguably the outer planets: Jupiter is the Optimist, Saturn the Cynic, Neptune the Realist, and Uranus the Apathetic.

Basically, it's a drama/dark comedy comic about UsefulNotes/TheSolarSystem/space objects in general, which are all sentient and humanoid (apart from the fact that they have [[NonHumanHead representations of what they actually are for heads]]). It takes various characteristics of various celestial bodies and turns them into character traits and social situations - Earth is seen by her neighbors as overly interested in what everyone else is doing, [[PlutoIsExpendable Pluto is something of an outcast]], Jupiter keeping a comet in orbit around him is regarded about the way as trying to keep a wild animal you found on the street would be, etc.

* UsedToBeMoreSocial: Mars mentions that Sun's suddenly become a lot more withdrawn, never seeming to interact with the others anymore and not being distant when he does. While Mars himself admits he doesn't know why, the readers can surmise that it ties into what Sun admitted at the end of #3 about being [[HorrorHunger 'hungry']].

* TheBlank:
** All of the characters, combined with NonHumanHead. Though weirdly enough, the cast ([[StylisticSuck kinda]]) gain expressions when we see Jupiter daydreaming.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Poor Pluto... and Earth.

* AllThereInTheScript: Ceres' name is revealed in TheRant for #14 and #15, not in the comics themselves. Black Hole's name is mentioned by Pluto in ''Nix'', a canonical short story.

* BeQuietNudge: Venus and Neptune give Jupiter two different versions of it, since [[LaResistance what he's talking about]] ''probably'' isn't going to get a great reaction from Sun if he hears him talking about it.

* TheBlank: All of the characters, combined with NonHumanHead.
** EyelessFace: Comets, though they veer onto UglyCute.
** But weirdly enough, the cast ([[StylisticSuck kinda]]) gain expressions when we see Jupiter daydreaming.

* DownerEnding: Comics #15 and #16.
** 15: [[spoiler:Black Hole successfully convinces Pluto that the others are nothing but monsters and convinces him to join her in [[ForbiddenZone the void]], quite possibly to his doom. The planets are still possibly injured and definitely traumatized from Ceres' attack, and Sun has to live with the fact that he had to kill someone with his bare hands who didn't fight back or even necessarily know what was going on in order to save them.]]
** 16: [[spoiler:Virginis severely burns B's face and shoulder for asking him a question with no repercussions or any indications that something will stop him from doing it again in the future. The comic ends with B curled up in pain as smoke wafts off her skin and Virginis warning her not to move.]]

* FriendshipDenial: Jupiter flatly refuses Uranus' claims of friendship, though this doesn't really do much to deter them.

* HearingVoices: Both Earth and Pluto can hear Black Hole, though only Pluto seems to be listening to her.
* HorrorHunger: Sun has it, but thankfully he hasn't acted on it. ''Yet''.
* AHouseDivided: The fact that there's something out there waiting to kill them if they leave the solar system only exacerbates the problems between the members of the solar system (several of whom disliked each other already).

* ItsProbablyNothing: Earth's response to Mars getting worried about how Sun has been acting. Unusual in that Mars does actually get her to take his concerns at least a little bit more seriously.

* KlingonPromotion: Jupiter wants to get one very, very badly.

* LivingForeverIsNoBigDeal: They're ''planets'' (or stars)-- ''all'' of them are eons old and it's regarded as a matter of course.

* MoodWhiplash: #8 is a lighthearted comic about Uranus' attempts to befriend Jupiter... followed by #9: Sun's confrontation with Mars and the introduction of Black Hole.
** And #13 is Jupiter and Sun completely failing at having a non-awkward conversation with each other about dinner... and is followed by [[MultiPartEpisode #14 and #15]], which are Black Hole trying to convince Pluto to join her.

* NeverSplitTheParty: Mars and Earth agree they should try to enact this among the planets in case something happens with Sun. Earth seems to take it somewhat less seriously.

* NonIndicativeFirstEpisode: In the first comic, everyone is far more openly dismissive of Earth and her (justified) panic over the meteor, and are just generally reluctant to interact with each other when in later installments they actively seek each other out. Only Mars really remained that way, and he's turned into more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

** UsedToBeMoreSocial
--> '''Mars:''' Do you ever think something is... strange? About Sun?\\
'''Earth:''' Yeah! Yeah, most things actually. He's weird.\\
'''Mars:''' No, I mean... Something ''wrong'' about him, lately. '''''Really''''' wrong.\\
...\\
'''Mars:''' It's undeniable, Earth. He's different than he used to be. He's never around, and when he is he seems... distracted.
* NotSoDifferent: Uranus attempts to invoke it with Jupiter, but he really doesn't care and just wants them to leave him alone.

** #16 is [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent "Even further away than normal"]].
* PaintingTheMedium: Black Hole's dialogue appears directly onto the page with no word bubbles around it, is very large, is shown in a pixelated font, and usually has some kind of glitch effect around it.
** Ceres' dialogue/thoughts appear the way Pluto's do, but are a garbled jumble of letters overlaying each other so thick that they're impossible to read.

* PowerFantasy: Jupiter's daydream about how things will be different once he's in charge, featuring him as king of the planets and everyone bowing and scraping to him. [[IJustWantToBeYou Also, he's inexplicably on fire]].
** Crosses over with DreamSue, with how the rest of the dream characters act like he's the single greatest thing to ever grace the world with his presence.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Mars delivers one to Earth when she tries to find out more about him, with him accusing her of not really caring about what he's like, and that she's just trying to befriend people to satisfy her own curiosity. Earth doesn't really have a reply to it.

* RightBehindMe: Sun interrupts in the middle of Jupiter's rant about how he needs to do more to try to surpass him. Since Sun's not exactly inconspicuous, it might double as FailedASpotCheck.

* SmallSecludedWorld: The solar system (and star systems in general); no one new comes in, no one who was born there has ever been outside of it, and no one really knows what's beyond it, if anything.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: #16; unlike all the other comics, it's about space characters who aren't affiliated with or who interact with the solar system at all.
** ArtShift: Has a noticeably different coloring style than the other pages.[[note]]And a different font for the opening![[/note]]
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Averted completely with Earth, and mostly averted with Sun- weirdly enough, only Jupiter calls him "the Sun". AKA, the one person who completely ''despises'' him.

* StylisticSuck: The daydream sequence that Jupiter has, complete with scribble art and really clumsy out-of-character dialog.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Mercury is less than impressed by the rest of the planets.
* TheyWereHoldingYouBack: One of Black Hole's justifications for Pluto to join her.

** "I'm hungry." (#3)[[labelnote:explanation]]Up until that line there was no way of knowing what exactly Sun meant about being sick, as he himself admitted he didn't really how to explain what was wrong with him; that line revealed it was HorrorHunger. That single line changes how all his subsequent interactions with the planets are viewed.[[/labelnote]]
** "It's like it's coming from... inside of me?" (#9)[[labelnote:explanation]]Earth reveals that not only does Black Hole have an active interest in the planets, she has outright supernatural powers.[[/labelnote]]
** "...Yeah." (#15)[[labelnote:explanation]]Pluto agrees to leave the solar system behind and join Black Hole, giving up his idealistic dreams of becoming friends and cementing Ceres' death as his CynicismCatalyst.[[/labelnote]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Poor [[AmbiguouslyEvil (?)]] Ceres: they are sent to die by their own commander in order to prove a point to Pluto.]]

'''''Nebula''''' is an ongoing Sci-fi/Slice of Life webcomic about the DysfunctionJunction that is the solar system.

** #9: [[OutsideContextVillain Black Hole]] makes her first appearance.

* HearingVoices: Both Earth and Pluto can hear Black Hole, though only Pluto seems to be listening to her]].

-->--'''Intro to ''Nebula Ultra'''''

* ArcWords: Repeated by Mars: "Something bigger than us."
* ArmorPiercingQuestion:

* TheBlank: All of the characters.

* BodyMotifs: Panels focused on one of a character's hands reoccur, and usually indicate either that an important decision has been made or realization has been had.

** Viginis: Orange

* DownerEnding: #15 and #16.

--> "Jupiter is... dumb. Jupiter's really dumb. But that doesn't mean he might not accidentally be right about something for once."

* MightMakesRight: How the social structures in space tend to end up -- the biggest and strongest ones there, the stars, control the smaller and weaker planets on the grounds that they're... bigger and stronger and they can burn people to death if they want to. How good of a job they do of it depends on the star, though most ''do'' seem to feel [[ComesGreatResponsibility a genuine urge to protect their planets.]]

** "I'm hungry." (#3)
** "It's like it's coming from... inside of me?" (#9)
** "...Yeah." (#15)
* WoundedGazelleGambit: [[spoiler:Black Hole convinces Pluto that the others in the solar system are violent monsters for killing Ceres, whom she sent to die in the first place.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Poor [[AmbiguouslyEvil (?)]] Ceres- sent to die by their own commander in order to prove a point to Pluto.]]

Basically, it's a drama/dark comedy comic about UsefulNotes/TheSolarSystem/space objects in general, which are all sentient and humanoid (apart from the fact that they have representations of what they actually are for heads). It takes various characteristics of various celestial bodies and turns them into character traits and social situations - Earth is seen by her neighbors as overly interested in what everyone else is doing, [[PlutoIsExpendable Pluto is something of an outcast]], Jupiter keeping a comet in orbit around him is regarded about the way as trying to keep a wild animal you found on the street would be, etc.

* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:Sun trying to make Ceres back off through talking had absolutely no effect or success in getting them to stop hurting the planets. The only thing that stopped them was him [[ShootTheDog ripping his hand through their torso]].]]

-> ''...Oh. ''
->''...Well.''
->''...Next time.''

->''Space is bad, to be honest with you.''

-->''Space is bad, to be honest with you.''

* AchillesInHisTent: Sun, who walks off and leaves after Earth says that she can hear Black Hole's voice [[HearingVoices inside her]].

* TheBlank: All of the main characters.

** Earlier, Mars to Earth's.
* HearingVoices: Both Earth and Pluto can hear Black Hole, though only Pluto seems to be listening to her.

* NonIndicativeFirstEpisode: In the first comic, everyone is far more openly dismissive of Earth and her panic, and are just generally reluctant to interact with each other. Only Mars really remained that way, and he's turned into more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

** #16 is "Even further away than normal".

* PowerFantasy: Jupiter's daydream about how things will be different once he's in charge. [[IJustWantToBeYou Also, he's inexplicably on fire]].

* CurbStompBattle: Sun's 'fight' with [[spoiler:Ceres]], which ended with Sun [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe ripping them in half]] in his first attack and only attack.

You can find part 1 (comics 1-15 and the short story ''Nix'') for sale (pay what you want) at Gumroad [[https://gumroad.com/l/NsWhF here]]. Otherwise, the Ghostfruits tumblr has all the comics and ''Nix'' online [[http://ghostfruits.tumblr.com/tagged/space here.]]

* AchillesInHisTent: Sun after Earth says that she can hear Black Hole's voice [[HearingVoices inside her]].

* ArcWords: "Something bigger than us."

* BeQuietNudge: Venus and Neptune give Jupiter two different versions of it, since [[LaResistance what he's talking about]] ''probably'' isn't going to get a great reaction from Sun if he hears him.

** Pluto: Light blue/teal

** 15: [[spoiler:Black Hole successfully convinced Pluto that the others are nothing but monsters and convinced him to join her in [[ForbiddenZone the void]], quite possibly to his doom. The planets are still possibly injured and definitely traumatized from Ceres' attack, and Sun had to kill someone with his bare hands who didn't fight back or even necessarily know what was going on in order to save them.]]
** 16: [[spoiler:Virginis severely burned B's face and shoulder for asking him a question with no repercussions or any indications that something will stop him from doing it again in the future. The comic ended with B curled up in pain as smoke wafted off her skin and Virginis warned her not to move.]]

* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: Even before things started going bad, the solar system could barely agree when they met to discus anything.
* ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation: Just what ''is'' their job anyway?

* PaintingTheMedium: Black Hole's dialogue appears directly onto the page with no word bubbles around it, and usually has some kind of glitch effect around it.

-->"'''''They're dead!''''' Because they thought they could just float out into the void like it was nothing. And I told them! B! Just like I tell ''you!'' I ''begged'' them to stay! And nobody would listen. And now they're ''dead.'' All I've ever wanted was for you to not end up that way, B. ''[turns away]'' That's all.

* OpeningNarration: Most comics begin with "Really far away. Really long ago"[[note]]Or reversed-- "Really long ago. Really far away."[[/note]] over a shot of the main character(s) of that comic. Occasionally, this is changed: #9 has no opening at all and goes straight to action, #12 is "Someday soon, [[FantasySequence one would hope]]", and #15 is [[WhamEpisode "Right here. Right now."]]

* ThePromise: Mars asks Venus to break his moon if he dies. She agrees.

* RightBehindMe: In the middle of Jupiter's rant about how he needs to do more to try to surpass Sun. Since Sun's not exactly inconspicuous, it might double as FailedASpotCheck.

* SmallSecludedWorld: The solar system; no one new comes in, no one who was born there has ever been outside of it, and no one really knows what's beyond it, if anything.

* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: For the inner solar system, Mars is the Cynic, Earth the Optimist, Venus the Realist, and Sun the Apathetic.
** And arguably the outer planets: Jupiter is the Optimist, Neptune the Realist, Saturn the Cynic, and Uranus the Apathetic.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: You've got a planet who is almost physically unable to keep her nose out of everyone else's business (Earth), her more mature younger sister (Venus), an office worker who can barely start a conversation without insulting everyone else in the room (Mercury), a melodramatic LeaderWannabe with more ambition than brains (Jupiter), a moon-thief and borderline con-artist (Uranus), a recluse who would really just rather not in general (Saturn), a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who speaks CassandraTruth like a second language (Mars), an often spoken-over voice of reason (Neptune), and a member of a completely different species who's barely suppressing the urge to murder all of them (Sun).

* RedFilterOfDoom: The last few panels of comic #3 are silent shoots of the other characters, all tinted red.

* RotatingProtagonist: The focus characters switch comic to comic, with the various plotlines (Black Hole lurking, Sun getting sick, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Jupiter...being Jupiter]]) slowly being progressed from multiple PO[==]Vs.

--> '''Sun''': ...OK, because it doesn't... so much as look like you ate all that. As much as it looks like you're just kind of holding it inside your body.

** Earth: green, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness originally blue]]
** Mars and Venus: orange
** Mercury: grey
** Jupiter: orange, sometimes with stripes
** Saturn: beige
** Uranus: blue
** Neptune: dark blue
** Pluto: light blue/teal
** Sun: yellow
** Black Hole: purple
** B: pink
** Viginis: orange

* {{Interquel}}: ''Nix'' takes place some time between #10 and #14.

--> '''Uranus''': C'mon! For real, fuck that Sun guy, right?\\
'''Jupiter''': Stop.\\
'''Uranus''': Like, what's his deal? Thinking he's all hot shit? Well, [[WreathedInFlames in a literal sense I guess]] but--

--> '''Mars''': Do you ever think something is... strange? About Sun?\\
'''Earth''': Yeah! Yeah, most things actually. He's weird.\\
'''Mars''': No, I mean... Something ''wrong'' about him, lately. '''''Really''''' wrong.\\

'''Mars''': It's undeniable, Earth. He's different than he used to be. He's never around, and when he is he seems... distracted.

--> '''Sun''': We. Move. ''On''.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Earth and Mars, though the vitriol is only on Mars' suse.

-->'''Uranus''': I think Jupiter is right.\\
'''Neptune''': No, Jupiter is ''loud''.\\
'''Uranus''': Neptune is ''fat''--

!!Tropes found in Nebula include:

* ColorCodedCharacters: Earth (green), Mars and Venus (orange), Mercury (gray), Jupiter (orange and red stripes), Saturn (beige), Uranus (blue), Neptune (dark blue), Pluto (light blue), Sun (yellow), and Black Hole (purple).
* ConvenientlyClosePlanet: Played with. The planets in the solar system are portrayed as close enough together that hanging out and talking between them is easy, regardless of how far they really should be from each other. On the other hand, the distance ''between'' various star systems is shown to be just as enormously huge and impassible as it is in reality. So in other words while the planets are conveniently close, the stars are not.

** 15: [[spoiler:Black Hole successfully convinced Pluto that the others are nothing but monsters and convinced him to join her in [[ForbiddenZone the void]], quite possibly to his doom, the planets are still possibly injured and definitely traumatized from Ceres' attack, and Sun had to kill someone with his bare hands who didn't fight back or even necessarily know what was going on in order to save them from dying right in front of him, despite his obvious reluctance to do so.]]
** 16: [[spoiler:Virginis severely burned B's face and shoulder for asking him a question with no repercussions or any indications that something will stop him from doing it again in the future, and the comic ended with B curled up in pain as smoke wafted off her skin and Virginis warned her not to move.]]

* EverybodysDeadDave: In #16, everybody but B and Virginis has been dead for a long while.

** Taken even further with Virginis and B, who have been stuck with no one around but each other after everyone else was killed trying to go through the void.

* LivingForeverIsNoBigDeal: They're ''planets'' (and one star)-- ''all'' of them are eons old and it's regarded as a matter of course.

** #15 itself, which switches back and forth from Pluto's joy at discovering he isn't alone to the horror and agony the planets are experiencing as Sun frantically tries to save them.

** Crosses over with DreamSue, with how the rest of the dream characters act towards him.

* RedFilterOfDoom: The last few panels after Sun tries and fails to explain to Mercury what's bothering him, and just ends up asking Mercury to give him a bit of space.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Earth and Mars, though the vitriol is only on Mars' side.

** "I'm hungry."
** "It's like it's coming from... inside of me?"
** "...Yeah."

* SmallSecludedWorld: The solar system; no one new comes in, no who was born there has ever been outside of it, and no one really knows what's beyond it, if anything.

* AHouseDivided: The fact that there's something out there waiting to kill them if they leave the solar system only exacerbates the problems between the members of the solar system (several of whom disliked each other already).
** Taken even further with Virginis and B, who have been stuck with no one around but each other after everyone else was killed trying to go through the void.

-->"'''''They're dead!''''' Because they thought they could just float out into the void like it was nothing. And I told them! B! Just like I tell ''you!'' I ''begged'' them to stay! And nobody would listen. And now they're ''dead.'' All I've ever wanted was for you to not end up that way, B. ''(turns away)'' That's all.

* ViolenceIsTheOnlySolution: [[spoiler:Sun trying to make Ceres back off through talking had absolutely no effect or success in getting them to stop hurting the planets. The only thing that stopped them was him [[ShootTheDog ripping his hand through their torso]].]]

* ColorCodedCharacters

* TalkingIsAFreeAction: For Jupiter, it is [[AvertedTrope unfortunately not]] when his new pet comet runs away in the middle of his [[LargeHam hammy speech]].
** Averted for drama later. [[spoiler:The time Sun spends trying to make Ceres back off through talking is time the planets spend in agonizing pain. So Sun decides to [[ShootTheDog just kill Ceres]].]]

** 16: [[spoiler:Virginis severely burned B's face and shoulder for asking him a question with no repercussions or any indications that something will stop him from doing it again in the future, and the comic ended with B curled up in pain as smoke wafts off her skin and Virginis warning her not to move.]]