History Webcomic / Starslip

* AllCrimesAreEqual: All crimes on Cirbozoid are punished by [[http://starslip.com/2006/07/27/starslip-number-310/ an acid bath]].

* AnachronismStew: A 2008 series of strips cleverly plays this with [[http://starslip.com/2008/10/17/starslip-number-894/ Concrete Universe]], future CSI-type "historical drama" set in "the twentieth century" which casually mixes technologies, attitudes and stereotypes from "the past"; detectives ride in covered wagons, wield scimitars, and deal with criminals who "smoke booze".

-->'''Cutter:''' [[http://starslip.com/2009/10/14/starslip-number-1134/ Mr. Jinx! Use one of your gross biological functions to stun him!]]

* CreatorCameo: Straub was in attendance at SDCC when the Fuseli accidentally timewarped to 2007, seen [[http://starslip.com/2007/08/02/starslip-number-577/ here]].

* DrinkingOnDuty: Cutter, in [[http://starslip.com/2005/09/06/starslip-number-78/ this strip]], among others. In fact, there is nary a moment when Cutter isn't drinking on duty.

* ExpositionBeam: [[http://starslip.com/2009/05/04/starslip-number-1028/ Subverted.]]

** Ash Cordry (from another comic of Straub's, [[http://fchords.com/ FChords]]) makes a prominent appearance in the [[http://starslip.com/2010/01/13/reduced-to-ash/ Cutter Edgewise, P.I.]] storyline. He's identical to the original Ash, [[spoiler:except he's actually a wig-wearing alien impostor.]]

* FlatWhat: [[http://starslip.com/2011/01/05/the-reveal/ "She's made of pressurized vapor."]]
* FutureImperfect: The ShowWithinAShow "[[http://starslip.com/2008/10/17/starslip-number-894/ Concrete Universe]]", which combines covered wagons with laser technology in a perfect example of 20th century police work.

-->''[[http://starslip.com/2009/01/01/starslip-number-946/ "NEVER LEAVE A POWER-MAD TIME DESPOT ALONE WITH A SPORK."]]''

** The [[http://starslip.com/2009/01/09/starslip-number-952/ archived version]] doesn't do it justice. On the day it ran, it took up an entire splash page. As an added bonus, the ''tumbling navigation buttons really worked''!

-->'''[[http://starslip.com/2006/11/22/starslip-number-394/ Aldus Vanderbeam]]''': I also learned I wasn't good at talking to nude models, art professors, the dean of the art department, and campus police. You will never hear that story.
-->'''[[http://starslip.com/2008/01/16/starslip-number-697/ Ervoth Von Lucifuge]]''': Remember the Harrakon disaster of '37? That was ''me''. And ''six trained goldfish''.

* ShoutOut: [[http://starslip.com/2007/01/09/starslip-number-428/ This strip]].

** [[http://starslip.com/2008/01/28/starslip-number-705/ Jinx]] mentions a Titan-class Cirbozoid getting loose on pre-contact Earth.

** The [[http://starslip.com/2010/11/03/then-your-teeth-are-removed/ mech]] Vanderbeam pilots to fight an overgrown Jinx is essentially an [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]].

** Two different [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] in [[http://starslip.com/2011/06/22/the-inside-scooped/ the same strip]]: ''Manga/TheEnigmaOfAmigaraFault'' and ''Literature/CandleCove'' (which Kris Straub also wrote.)

* StableTimeLoop: Used several times by both our heroes and Deep Time. [[http://starslip.com/2008/08/07/starslip-number-843/ One strip even thanks Heinlein]]

* StarfishAliens: Invoked [[http://starslip.com/2009/07/13/starslip-number-1074/ Here]], with giant, armless centipedes.

** [[http://starslip.com/2005/05/24/starslip-number-2/ Diamond-reinforced mahogany....]]

** Deep Time especially abuses this. At one point they attack the Fuseli and go back in time to plant hypnotic triggers in every member of the crew. [[http://starslip.com/2008/03/06/starslip-number-733/ Some]] [[http://starslip.com/2008/03/07/starslip-number-734/ more harshly]] [[http://starslip.com/2008/03/10/starslip-number-735/ than others]]. One agent goes back in time and FATHERS AND RAISES A CHILD so that the child can grow up, become a guard on the Fuseli, and not be able to make himself shoot his father when the Deep Time agents raid the ship.

* WhatTheHellHero: [[http://starslip.com/2010/09/20/ "You have no idea how much of my respect you've lost. For good."]]

* TrueArtIsAngsty /TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: Many art-centered strips, but especially Xxxyyy (pronounced "zee"), a deconstruction of the modern artist, rebelling against the label, trying hard to create something that will make people wake up and realize she's just a hack. Offensiveness included here because one piece involved driving a species to extinction to use their pelts as a canvas. Oh, and I suppose [[spoiler:attempting to blow up a ship with full complement]] counts, too.[[invoked]]
** And, y'know, [[spoiler:remaking the entire universe.]]

Set in the year 3440 on the Terran Directorate Ship ''Fuseli'', formerly the ''Crimson Fall'', a '[[StarshipLuxurious luxury battle cruiser]]' converted into a museum ship. Built so that the crew would get a morale boost of the opulence of the Fuseli, the caviar rations made the crew sluggish and easily overcome.

The strip began as a send-up of artistic and science fiction tropes, but [[CerebusSyndrome incorporated longer and more complicated storylines]]--particularly after the ArtShift--while maintaining humor. It ended on June 15, 2012.

!!This webcomic provides examples of:

* AIIsACrapshoot: Works in humanity's favor for once-a robot shows up, having last been seen planning a revolt against humanity. At some point between then and now, it downloaded the intelligence of a couple hundred robots buried (alive? Functioning, anyway...) rather than leave them. This caused it's IQ to explode, at which point it reevaluated it's priorities and decided organics were okay after all.
** It doesn't last long, as he's [[spoiler:blown out an airlock and melts upon reentry into a nearby planet]] soon after that revelation is made.

* ArtShift: "The End of the End" reboot provided Straub with a convenient place to update the style of the strip to the quality and detail he currently prefers to draw in.

* BizarreAlienBiology: Mr. Jinx's physiology gets increasingly ridiculous as the series progresses, and is frequently lampshaded.
-->'''Cutter:''' [[http://starslip.com/2009/10/14/starslip-number-1134/ "Mr. Jinx! Use one of your gross biological functions to stun him!"]]
** "His" anesthetic saliva and ability to vent chloroform are used frequently.

** [[http://starslip.com/2008/01/28/starslip-number-705/ Also:]]

''[[http://starslip.chainsawsuit.com/ Starslip]]'' is a hybrid Science Fiction / Fine Art comic by Creator/KrisStraub.

* SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay: Memnon has his degree in art, not science...

* InterspeciesRomance: Quine and Raquel.To specify, Raquel was originally a drone from the Quel collective, a race of telepathic beings joined in a HiveMind, until Vanderbeam accidently caused them to develop independence.
** Silane and Cutter.

* NoodleIncident: Hyper-Maine's accident

* NotSoAboveItAll: Vanderbeam in [[http://starslip.com/2011/06/29/holes/ this strip]].

''[[http://starslip.chainsawsuit.com/ Starslip]]'' by Creator/KrisStraub, a hybrid Science Fiction / Fine Art comic.

The strip began as a send up of artistic and science fiction tropes, but [[CerebusSyndrome incorporated longer and more complicated storylines]]--particularly after the ArtShift--while maintaining humor. It ended on June 15, 2012.

* {{Tearjerker}}: [[http://starslip.com/2006/11/24/starslip-number-396/ "Not this time."]]
* TeleportersAndTransporters: Subverted -- the crew steps onto a "relevator" (with a design reminiscent of the transporters of Franchise/StarTrek) which turns out to simply shoot down onto Cirbozoid's surface at near-light speed.

** Two different [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] in [[http://starslip.com/2011/06/22/the-inside-scooped/ the same strip]]: ''Manga/TheEnigmaOfAmigaraFault'' and ''DarthWiki/CandleCove'' (which Kris Straub also wrote.)

''[[http://starslip.chainsawsuit.com/ Starslip]]'' by Kris Straub, a hybrid Science Fiction / Fine Art comic.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:The insanely paranoid Zarde staffed his warship entirey with TrickedOutTime copies of himself. The instant Deep Time realizes that the warship only has technically one crewmember - a deranged psychopath they're more than willing to kill - they instantly vaporize it.]]

-->'''Vanderbeam''': You're a ''bad captain'', Zarde. People like you only learn by ''being touched'', and ''hard''. And you will greatly dissapprove of where ''[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything these men put their hands]]''.

* FanOfThePast: Memnon is very much a fan of the past (his specific area of interest being late 20th to early 21st century), being an art curator. His art exhibits include the last remaining copy of the ''Catwoman'' film as well as ''WorldOfWarcraft''.

* WaxingLyrical: [[http://starslip.chainsawsuit.com/2005/06/27/starslip-number-26/ This strip]].[[note]]These are fragments from the lyrics of EltonJohn's "Rocketman".[[/note]]

-->'''Zarde:''' We just had a weapons malfunction is all! Don't get so ''touchy!''

* LetsGetDangerous: A not-quite-mock-combat-caused flashback [http://starslip.chainsawsuit.com/starslip/clarification/ gives Vanderbeam] ''[http://starslip.chainsawsuit.com/starslip/clarification/ motivation]''.

* LetsGetDangerous: A not-quite-mock-combat-caused flashback [http://starslip.chainsawsuit.com/starslip/clarification/ gives Vanderbeam ''motivation''].