History Webcomic / Nebula

''Nebula'' is an ongoing Sci-fi/Slice of Life webcomic about the solar system, who are a very dysfunctional CastOfPersonifications.

* DumbassHasAPoint: It's pointed out by Mars that while Jupiter usually just blames Sun for everything and thinks the worst of him because he hates him, in this particular instance Sun really ''is'' acting weirdly hostile and unhelpful and it's actually rational to think he's up to something.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the first few comics, there was a noticeable 'glow' effect around the character's heads and Sun's fire. There was also a different method of coloring, with shading used instead of the flat colors seen in the rest of the comic.

* IWasJustPassingThrough: Jupiter claims he he's just hungry when he saves Earth from being hit by the meteorite by taking the hit for her, and brushing off her thanks.

* 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 at all while in later installments they actively seek each other out. Only Mars really remained that way, and he's turned into more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation: Just what ''is'' their job anyway? Mercury, and to some extent Mars think of the other planets as coworkers they have to tolerate with gritted teeth, but what it is they're actually doing (apart from surviving) isn't explained.

* ThePromise: Mars asks Venus to promise to break his moon if he dies, no matter what it takes. She agrees.
* {{Protectorate}}: The planets are one for Sun; he sees it as his duty to protect them from any dangers out there, and in return expects their obedience. This relationship gradually starts to fray throughout the comic as Sun's behavior becomes more and more erratic.

* PutOnABus: The comet, which leaves while Jupiter is talking to Venus and Neptune to float off to places unknown. Partly due to its warm reception by the fans, [[TheBusCameBack it eventually returns much later in the comic.]]
* 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 interact with people 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).

** Averted completely with Earth, and played with in regards to Sun- weirdly enough, only Jupiter calls him "the Sun". AKA, the one person who completely ''despises'' him.
** Much later, played for drama: when Mars loses all trust in Sun, he switches to calling him "the Sun" the way that Jupiter does to show their new distance.

* StealthPun: Sun tells Mercury that he needs some space and asks him to leave him alone for a while. [[spoiler:The whole comic takes place in space, and the characters are sentient celestial bodies.]]

* ThousandYardStare: Sun, who's just been staring out into the dark, looking at nothing. Mars finds it incredibly unnerving, especially since Sun doesn't seem to hear when he tries to talk to him.
* TitleIn: Most comics begin with the intentionally vague "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:

* TransformationHorror: Used in different ways for Sun and the dwarf planets consumed by Black Hole. Sun is slowly changing into something else, growing physically much larger and burning hotter, and is conscious and terrified of the fact that his personality is changing along with it. The transformation for dwarf planets is very rapid and makes them look outright monstrous (see TransformationOfThePossessed below), with their minds either subsumed or controlled by Black Hole once the transformation is done.

* {{Understatement}}: Earth admitting that Mars looks "a little rough" when she's just finished putting bandages over most of his face after it nearly cracked apart and the rest of his body is visibly injured in a similar manner. In this case, it's due to forced optimism rather than snark.

** #15: [[spoiler:Sun kills Ceres, Mars is severely and permanently injured, and Pluto leaves the solar system to join Black Hole.]]
** #17: [[spoiler:Black Hole consumes Pluto, leaving him as something nearly unrecognizable and under her control.]]

** "I'm hungry." (#3) 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.

** "...Yeah." (#15) 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.

* 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 and who provoked the others by attacking first.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Poor(?) Ceres: they get 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 solar system, who are very dysfunctional a CastOfPersonifications.

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

* BastardlySpeech: Black Hole's speech to Pluto condemning the rest of the solar system in the wake of Ceres' death as violent killers instead of victims of ColdBloodedTorture; he swallows it hook, line, and sinker.
* BeQuietNudge: Venus and Neptune give Jupiter two different verbal 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.

* TheBusCameBack: The comet unexpectedly returns to befriend Earth in a short story set after the events with Ceres.

* ContinuityCreep: The comic was more self-contained and humorous antics early on, though by #7 the different comics were interconnected enough that the authors started including links to prior installments in TheRant.

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

* DownerEnding:
** #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 injured and 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.]]
* DumbassHasAPoint: It's pointed out by Mars that while Jupiter usually just blames Sun for everything and thinks the worst of him because he hates him, in this particular instance Sun really ''is'' acting weirdly hostile and unhelpful.

* EmptyPromise: Venus' attempts to comfort Earth at the end of #16, telling her that everything will be okay when they very clearly will not.
* EyelessFace: Comets have mouths and noses but no eyes, though they veer onto UglyCute instead of being creepy.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Earth is the foolish sibling to Venus' responsible one.
* ForbiddenZone: Sun forbids the rest of the solar system to go into the void, on the grounds that [[DeathWorld any planet who goes out there dies.]] Pluto eventually goes out there anyway.

* FlatWhat: Uranus' reaction after Jupiter just grabs one of their moons and eats it in front of them.

** Jupiter flatly refuses Uranus' claims of friendship, though this doesn't really do much to deter them.
** Earlier, Mars to Earth's... though it's implied that he's more bark than bite.

* IWasJustPassingThrough: Jupiter claiming he was just hungry when he saved Earth from the meteorite, and brushing off her thanks.

* LiterallyShatteredLives: [[spoiler:The planets literally and painfully start ''falling to pieces'' when Ceres arrives.]]

* {{Metaphorgotten}}: It doesn't exactly endear Uranus to Jupiter.

** #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.
** #13 is humor about 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 and the planets nearly being painfully murdered.
** #15 itself, which switches back and forth between showing 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.
* MultiPartEpisode: #14 and #15, which was originally one comic but had to be split in two due to length.
* NeverSplitTheParty: Mars and Earth agree they should try to play this straight with the rest of the planets in case something happens with Sun.

* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: Even before things started going bad, the solar system could barely agree when they met to discuss anything.

* ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation: Just what ''is'' their job anyway? Mercury, and to some extent Mars certainly seem to think of the other planets as coworkers they have to tolerate with gritted teeth, but what it is they're actually doing (apart from surviving) isn't explained.
* OminousVisualGlitch: The distortion that appears whenever Black Hole speaks, and the thick layer of static around her when seen in person. Taken even further when Ceres appears and the entire background changes to glitchy pink and blue spirals.

** 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 same way Pluto's do, but are a garbled jumble of letters overlaying each other so thick that they're impossible to read. [[spoiler:After being consumed by Black Hole, Pluto's speech is distorted the same way.]]

** Sun's refusal to communicate with the rest of planets or to tell anyone about what's wrong with him causes a lot of worry for Mars, and eventually leads to him losing trust in Sun altogether.

* {{Protectorate}}: The planets are one for Sun; he sees it as his duty to protect them from any dangers, and in return expects their obedience.

* PutOnABus: The comet, which left while Jupiter was talking to Venus and Neptune, floating off to places unknown.

* 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 or rebuttal to it.

* ScienceFantasy: There's a mix of accurate science elements mixed with some fantastic ones- everybody's sentience, for one.

* StealthPun: Sun tells Mercury that he needs some ''space''.

* SurroundedByIdiots: Mercury is less than impressed by the rest of the planets and initially assumes that Sun takes this view of them too. It's ambiguous if Sun's dismissal ("No. It's not that.") is a subversion, or if he agrees with Mercury but it's just not what he was talking about.

* TwoGirlsAndAGuy: Earth, her sister Venus, and their friend Mars.

* ViolenceIsDisturbing: The violence in the comic is shown as horrific and terrifying, like [[spoiler:Ceres torturing the planets until Ceres is then ''ripped in half'' by Sun]].
* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:Trying to make Ceres stop or back off through talking has absolutely no effect at getting them to stop hurting the planets. The only thing that ends up stopping them is Sun [[ShootTheDog ripping his hand through their torso]].]]

* AHouseDivided: The fact that there's something out there waiting to kill them if they leave the saaefty of the area close to Sun only exacerbates the problems between the members of the solar system (several of whom disliked each other already).

* OneWordTitle: A nebula is a large cloud of dust and gas in outer space, and archaically to any diffuse celestial object such as a galaxy. The comic is about characters who personify different celestial objects, and who all reside in outer space; they therefor reside inside and are parts of a nebula- in this case, the Milky Way.

* PaintingTheMedium:

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

* BalloonBelly: After Jupiter's attempt to invoke LargeAndInCharge fails to work.

* DumbassHasAPoint: Pointed out by Mars:

* ForbiddenZone: Sun forbids the rest of the solar system to go into the void, on the grounds that [[DeathWorld any planet who goes out there dies.]]

* FlatWhat: Uranus after Jupiter just grabs one of their moons and eats it.

* ImpliedDeathThreat: "Do you want to be safe?"

** Sun's refusal to communicate with the rest of planets or to tell anyone about what's wrong with him causes a lot of worry for Mars.

* PunctuatedForEmphasis:

* SurroundedByIdiots: Mercury is less than impressed by the rest of the planets and initially assumes that Sun takes this view of them too. It's ambiguous if Sun's dismissal ("No. It's not that.") is a subversion, or if he agrees with Mercury and that it's just not what he was talking about.

** B: Pink
** Viginis: Pale orange

* TheyWereHoldingYouBack: One of Black Hole's justifications for Pluto to join her and leave the solar system.

* ViolenceIsDisturbing: The violence in the comic is shown as horrific and terrifying, like [[spoiler:Ceres torturing the planets until Ceres is then ''ripped in half'' by Sun, and B's face being severely burned to the point where it looks like she's starting to ''melt'']].

Otherwise, the Ghostfruits tumblr has nearly all the comics and "Nix" and "Proco" online [[http://ghostfruits.com/tagged/nebula here.]]

* {{Interquel}}: "Nix" is a short story from Pluto's [=POV=], and takes place some time between #10 and #14. "Proco" is from Earth's perspective, and takes place some time after #15.

** [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname B and Virginis]]' full names are in TheRant for the comic they appear in.

** "But ''how'' did they die, Virginis?"

** The comic featuring B and Virginis has a noticeably different coloring style than the other comics of Nebula (heavy use of shadows, limited color shading on things like fire and burns instead of a single flat color, a background of shades of dark blue instead of black scattered with stars) and a different font for the opening.

** In the comic they appear in, [[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.]]

* EverybodysDeadDave: In the comic featuring B and Virginis, everybody but B and Virginis has been dead for a long, long while.

* AHouseDivided:
** The fact that there's something out there waiting to kill them if they leave the saaefty of the area close to Sun 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. And Virginis makes no secret of the fact that he resents her for it.

* MotiveRant: From Virginis, ranting about why he refuses to let B go and what happened to the planets that he did.
-->"'''''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. "

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The comic with B and Virginis; unlike all the other comics, it's about space characters who aren't affiliated with or who interact with the solar system or who are involved with Black Hole's plans at all.

** The comic with B and Virginis has [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent "Even further away than normal"]]

* 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 and #17 have no opening at all and go straight to action.
** #12 is "Someday soon, [[FantasySequence one would hope]]"
** #15 is [[WhamEpisode "Right here. Right now."]]
** The comic with B and Virginis has [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent "Even further away than normal"]]

There is also a fan translation of the comic to Korean currently in progress; it can be read [[http://ghostfruits.com/nebulakorean here]].

* PoorCommunicationKills: Though for once, it isn't really the characters' fault. [[spoiler:Dwarf planets and planets are physically unable to communicate with each other, but Pluto and the rest of the solar system doesn't know that. This leads the planets to assume that Pluto is lurking silently and ignoring their greetings deliberately, and for Pluto to think that the planets have never tried to talk to or befriend him at all.]]

* RedFilterOfDoom: The last few panels of comic #3 are silent shots of the other characters, all tinted red, and then Sun's final lines.

* {{Understatement}}: Earth admitting that Mars looks "a little rough" when she's just finished putting bandages over most of his face after it nearly cracked apart and the rest of his body is visibly injured in a similar manner.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Earth and Mars, though the vitriol is only on Mars' side. In her case, it's due to forced optimism rather than snark.

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

** #9: [[OutsideContextProblem Black Hole]] makes her first appearance.
** #15: [[spoiler:Sun kills Ceres, and Pluto leaves the solar system to join Black Hole.]]

* BastardlySpeech: Black Hole's speech to Pluto condemning the rest of the solar system as violent killers instead of victims of ColdBloodedTorture; he swallows it hook, line, and sinker.

** #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 ends with Venus very transparently lying by telling Earth that it's all going to be okay, with the trust between Sun and Mars apparently irreparably broken and every appearance of worse things from the void being soon to come.
** #17 ends with Pluto having reached Black Hole and then [[spoiler:being changed into the same kind of horrific being as Ceres, his speech and body both horribly distorted as he emerges. His final speech bubble is colored bright purple, indicating that he is now entirely under Black Hole's control and may no longer even exist as the person he was]].

* ForbiddenZone: The void, on the grounds that [[DeathWorld any planet who goes out there dies.]]

* HearingVoices: Both Earth and Pluto can hear Black Hole's voice in their heads, though only Pluto seems to be listening to what she says.
* HorrorHunger: It's heavily implied Sun has a desire to eat the planets, but thankfully he hasn't acted on it. ''Yet''.

* NoOntologicalInertia: [[spoiler:The effect that Ceres has on the planets stops as soon as they're killed[[note]]Ceres, that is, not the planets[[/note]].]]

* NotHimself: Sun hasn't been himself since the third comic, and the planets have noticed.

* OminousVisualGlitch: The distortion that appears whenever Black Hole speaks. Taken even further when Ceres appears and the entire background changes to glitchy pink and blue spirals.

* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Averted completely with Earth, and played with in regards to Sun- weirdly enough, only Jupiter calls him "the Sun". AKA, the one person who completely ''despises'' him. Much later, played for drama: when Mars loses all trust in Sun, he switches to calling him "the Sun" the way that Jupiter does to show their new distance.

** In #16, the shot of Sun as Mars talks about him is the only thing in the comic that has shading. In #17, when Pluto first reaches Black Hole the art changes to something much flatter and more geometrical to give it a more distorted, confusing look.

* {{Interquel}}: "Nix" is a short story from Pluto's [=POV=], and takes place some time between #10 and #14.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: The aftermath of Ceres' attack on the solar system leaves the planets injured, possibly permanently, the possibility of further attacks from Black Hole wide open, and shatters Mars' trust in Sun.

* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Averted completely with Earth, and played with in regards to Sun- weirdly enough, only Jupiter calls him "the Sun". AKA, the one person who completely ''despises'' him.

** #9, #16, and #17 have no opening at all and go straight to action.

** In #16, the shot of Sun as Mars talks about him is the only thing in the comic that has shading.

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 nearly all the comics and the stories "Nix" and "Proco" online [[http://ghostfruits.com/tagged/nebula here.]]

* ArtShift: The comic featuring B and Virginis has a noticeably different coloring style than the other comics of Nebula (heavy use of shadows, limited color shading on things like fire and burns instead of a single flat color, a background of shades of dark blue instead of black scattered with stars) and a different font for the opening.

** #9 has no opening at all and goes straight to action.

** Ceres' dialogue/thoughts appear the same way Pluto's do, but are a garbled jumble of letters overlaying each other so thick that they're impossible to read.

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 the stories "Nix" and "Proco" online [[http://ghostfruits.com/tagged/nebula here.]]

** [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname B and Virginis]]' full names are in TheRant for #16.

* ArtShift: #16 has a noticeably different coloring style than the other pages (heavy use of shadows, limited color shading on things like fire and burns instead of a single flat color, a background of shades of dark blue instead of black scattered with stars) and a different font for the opening.

** #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.]]

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

** #16 is [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent "Even further away than normal"]]

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: #16; unlike all the other comics, it's about space characters who aren't affiliated with or who interact with the solar system or Black Hole at all.

* BloodlessCarnage: Well, they're made of rocks; they presumably don't ''have'' blood. This lets the comic show some pretty horrific scenes, like [[spoiler:Ceres being ''ripped in half'' and B's face being severely burned, to the point where it looks like she's starting to ''melt''.]]

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.]]

* PutOnABus: Pluto, who has presumably been hanging out there alone in the dark since the second comic.
** TheBusCameBack: While that apparently ''was'' what he was doing the whole time, he's been brought back into the main plot after Black Hole started talking to him.

* ContinuityCreep: The comic was more self-contained and humorous antic early on, though by #7 the different comics were interconnected enough that the authors started including links to prior installments in TheRant.

* {{Bookends}}: The first comic both begins and ends with Earth saying "huh" thoughtfully while looking at a rock.