Line #7 ComicBook/NoHero


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/717lefhearl.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:How much do you want to be a superhuman?]]
3
4	->''"I'm [[TitleDrop no hero]], Ben."''
5	-->-- '''Joshua'''
6
7	''No Hero'' is the second super-hero miniseries from Creator/WarrenEllis at Creator/AvatarPress, and also his second collaboration with artist Creator/JuanJoseRyp. The series started with issue #0 and lasted for 8 issues, from June, 2008 to September, 2009.
8
9	Taking place in 2011, the super hero group Front Line has just lost several members to attacks targeted at them, and are rushing to replace them when they find Joshua Carver, a young man who wants nothing more than to be a super hero. And he'll get his wish, if he can survive the process...
10
11	----
12	!!''No Hero'' provides examples of the following tropes:
13	* AlmostDeadGuy: This is the condition the Frontline finds their member Judex in during the prologue. Perhaps as InvokedTrope since Judex was deliberately kept at the edge of death by his assailants so that the rest of his team would fall into a trap when they came for him.
14	* AlternateHistory: It's implied the Front Line has changed history significantly, including the dissolution of South Africa and the institution of "Black States" in the USA.
15	* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Carrick ends the book leaving Earth's orbit. He cannot die of asphyxiation, decompression, dehydration, starvation, or any of the other things he has to look forward to...]]
16	* AntiHero: Joshua, he accidentally kills a mugger to impress the Frontline and [[spoiler: is actually a government SerialKillerKiller]]. Nevertheless he is aware of his flaws (saying his reaction to his accidental murder proves he is not a hero) and do wants to make the world better.
17	* BewareTheSuperman: What happens when you give superpowers to a monster?
18	* BodyHorror: What [=FX7=] does to [[spoiler:Joshua]]. It makes his skin, teeth and [[spoiler:penis]] fall off.
19	* CaptainPatriotic: After being transformed by [=FX7=] Joshua is introduced by Carrick to the public under the alias Revere (as in Paul Revere, a famous folk hero of the American Revolution) using this as his gimmick. The schtick is dropped almost immediately when a failed assassination attempt reveals Joshua's horrific deformities and mutations to the assembled crowd of journalists, thus making popular appeal for Joshua practically impossible.
20	* CassandraTruth: Mandy/The Operator makes this comment about Joshua:
21	-->"I'm telling you. You're seeing what you want to see. I'm seeing something else."
22	* CeilingCorpse: [[spoiler: Marsh, after Joshua takes care of him.]]
23	* CodeName: Pretty funny ones used by [[ThoseTwoGuys a couple of government agents]] for [[spoiler:Joshua and Carrick.]]
24	-->'''Male Agent:''' [[WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines Pigeon One has been caught, and Dick Dastardly's on his way back to the coop, over.]]\
25	'''Female Agent:''' Are we serious with those codenames?\
26	'''Male Agent:''' Don't get me started.
27	* CompensatingForSomething: PlayedForLaughs of the {{Squick}}iest sort when [[spoiler: Joshua rips out Ben's spine and wears it like a strap-on]]:
28	-->[[spoiler: '''Joshua:''' There. Now I look like a real fucking superhero.]]
29	* CompleteImmortality: [[spoiler:Carrick Masterson. He can't age or get killed by external means, but he does feel pain.]]
30	* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler:Joshua against the Frontline]]. One of the most extreme cases EVER.
31	* DeadMansSwitch: Never explicitly shown, but the fact that [[spoiler: the San Andreas Fault around San Francisco becomes active again after The Front Line is taken down]] does make one wonder...
32	* DeadGuyPuppet: [[spoiler: Joshua does this to Fasthawk.]]
33	* DeadpanSnarker: Carrick, in spades.
34	-->'''Carrick:''' I really wanted people to be able to see [Joshua's] face when we present him.\
35	'''Ben Chisholm[=/=]Redglare:''' Hasn't got much of a face, boss. Hasn't got much of a skin, full stop. Tragic little guy doesn't even have a dick.\
36	'''Carrick:''' Well, I wasn't intending to show that to the press, Benjamin.
37	* DeathlessAndDebauched: Carrick states that his goal with the Frontline and his immortality is to maintain a world where there's always, "more money that will eventually end up in my pockets and more girls that I'll eventually get to fuck." If his taunting of Redglare about the latter's "trophy wife" is to be believed then he manipulates his subordinates with materialistic and hedonistic promises as well.
38	* DeceptiveDisciple: [[spoiler:Joshua actually has no intention to be with the Frontline, despising Carrick's megalomania]].
39	* DrugsAreBad: This definitely seems to be a message, if not the message, of the story.
40	* ElectronicEyes: Mr. Marsh has computers in his head and it's revealed by glowing eyes.
41	* EnemyMine: Carrick is trying to figure out how their attacker have access to a Russian anti-TFL 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.]]
42	* EngineeredHeroics: [[spoiler:In issue 6, Joshua makes a fine impression on the people of San Francisco by redirecting a disabled airliner from slamming into a building and belly-landing it in the bay. Then two other members of The Front Line show up and casually tell him they killed the pilots and threw the plane at the building for him to save.]]
43	* EvilVsEvil: This is what the story turns into when [[spoiler:Josh takes on The Front Line]].
44	* ExplosiveDecompression: Apparently how [[spoiler: Joshua]] dies, though realistically he shouldn't have had his ribcage blow open like that.
45	* EyeBeams: Redglare has heat vision.
46	* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Carrick can't die, so what does Joshua do? He flies him into space so he could drift for eternity.]]
47	* FlatCharacter: Fasthawk is messily mocked for it by [[spoiler: Joshua as he kills him]].
48	-->'''[[spoiler:Joshua:]]''' No-one even knows who you fucking are.
49	* 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. Carrick supposedly tweaks [=FX7=] to try and induce other superpowers in his enhanciles as he is uninterested in standard Flying Bricks:
50	-->'''Carrick:''' If I'd wanted nothing but strongmen, I'd've spent fifty years putting the brains of trailer park kids in the skulls of gorillas.
51	* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Joshua's parents were murdered by a serial killer who adopted him and taught him his craft.]]
52	* GenuineHumanHide: The [[https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/6/67663/2792713-06.jpg cover]] of issue #6 shows Carrick sitting in a chair upholstered in human skin. You can tell because of the [[NauseaFuel nipples and stitched-closed faces.]]
53	* GoodOlBoy: Redglare is fervently anti-Communist and jingoistic, perhaps amplified by his vestige of genuine American patriotism.
54	* GoombaStomp: Joshua's first in-panel kill, delivered to a mugger from three stories up. The unfortunate man's ears come right off in a spurt of blood.
55	* {{Gorn}}: ''Lots'' of it, the most extreme being [[spoiler:Joshua tearing out Ben's spine, and then using Ben's muscles to wrap it around his waist to imitate a penis.]]
56	* HerosFirstRescue: Joshua stops a plane from crashing into San Francisco. [[spoiler: But see Engineered Heroics above...]]
57	* HoldingOutForAHero: [[spoiler:{{Invoked\|Trope}} by Carrick]]:
58	-->"It does people good to have super-powered heroes. It makes them think they're incapable of doing anything for themselves. That forms the basis of a society that is useful to me."
59	* {{Homage}}: Alternate covers for all issues were takes on classic comic covers:
60	** #0: Creator/JimSteranko's ''ComicBook/NickFury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D'' #1 ([[https://nothingbutcomics.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/fury-cover.jpg original]], [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/iho0-778s8VF87kqAw6SfgUH79cL9tjmmEJZzy0rq9KaXuFzJ1Fk8F6UvFC9VO3KopnH1NqEQWgU=s1600 homage]])
61	** #1: Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' #109 ([[http://strangersandaliens.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/CS_CaptainAmerica_109.jpg original]], [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/a9lmhgB3cjBkZ1U6l8aU9X3G5UXqRw5t_0RotfOBvwqkYuNe7mXFwmiDY3hN-BEPiCIMqet42P4y=s1600 homage]])
62	*** Another #1 alternate: Gerry Conway's ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #129
63	** #2: Creator/DaveCockrum's ''ComicBook/XMen'' #100 ([[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/b/b1/X-Men_Vol_1_100_30c_Variant.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100707182628 original]], [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/X6zXdgSwgE_j52NCMWovpRaN_4e_gsZmYSu-FxVnwVQeUbwfnga9RYtX8da8Nobmg1l4uSs9Vw10=s1600 homage]])
64	** #3: Creator/DaveGibbons' ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' #1 ([[https://ewedit.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/watchmen.jpg original]], [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/i6sgcCwtXSbgreWVMAXsfP6qtBzBjAeboBor9fnG1X0-gAL8B4VrxL6H3nuCzYmFfDGtJSM06pSo=s1600 homage]])
65	** #4: Creator/RobertCrumb's ''Zap Comix'' #0 ([[http://www.trbimg.com/img-5466422b/turbine/chi-zap-comix-pictures-005 original]], [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/j4NCsKc5mJC2NVzp9HNj--0Hj6djeB4KCSF4o15l1JC2mflbtiwkg-L8E47q1U2_MhHGceTzpd_B=s1600 homage]])
66	** #5: Creator/GeorgePerez's ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' #71 ([[http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/5/55/Superman_Earth-One_003.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120229210351 original]], [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/EYMxFwvFkMIQ5aGT2IuqQU9HzfvZF1uxo1f972DbUkSSv0h355WHKm9IMMqMdaI5hujoOU0EZM6G=s1600 homage]])
67	** #6: Bernie Wrightson's ''House of Secrets'' #92 (also homaged by John Totlebein for ''Saga of the ComicBook/SwampThing'' #33) ([[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/8/8d/House_of_Secrets_v.1_92.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130410164055 Wrightson]], [[http://images.sequart.org/images/Saga-of-the-Swamp-Thing-33.jpg Totlebein]], [[https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0230/7913/products/NOHERO6AUX_1_1024x1024.jpeg?v=1368163934 Ryp]]) For some reason, this one doesn't credit either Wrightson or Totlebein.
68	** #7: Creator/ToddMcFarlane's ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' #1 ([[http://www.chasingamazingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/SpiderMan1_cover.jpg original]], [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/6zgrTgJ_BAGaF4Ks-o7HH4ght3VuQHhi6L38E_SQ8HgrrY4NyTlXoYbLnGQypBWoanUKBfiRrIbc=s1600 homage]])
69	* IAmAMonster: [[spoiler:Josh says as much, claiming to be the FBI's pet monster periodically assigned to kill other monsters like Masterson.]]
70	* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Joshua Carver is this at the beginning. [[spoiler: Supposedly.]]
71	* ImmortalityHurts: [[spoiler:Carrick, in [[ClusterFBomb no uncertain language.]]]]
72	* ImmortalityImmorality: [[spoiler: We don't know what Carrick was like before his [=FX7=] enhancement, except that he was once a chemist and LSD drug dealer during an Early Psychedelic Movement that discovered [=FX7=] by experimenting with drugs and immediately tried to milk it for all it was worth for his own benefit. There's definitely the sense that his manipulating the world is because since he's going to be living in it for who knows how long, he might as well make it to his liking.]]
73	* ImmortalityPromiscuity: While Carrick's sexual proclivity isn't described in any detail he does claim that one of greatest benefits of his immortality is being able to have sex with an endless number of women.
74	* InhumanEyeConcealers: Mr. Marsh wears sunglasses to hide his ElectronicEyes.
75	* JumpedAtTheCall: Josh really worked to get Carrick's attention.
76	* KillTheParentRaiseTheChild: Josh Carver was raised by [[spoiler: the serial killer that murdered his parents.]] He learned all sorts of... ''interesting'' skills from his new family. [[spoiler: Which is why the government considers him a suitable EvilVsEvil when it comes to The Front Line.]]
77	* LivingForeverIsAwesome: Carrick has this opinion and he uses the Frontline to manipulate international politics and to maintain long-term conspiracies that make circumstances even more awesome, [[ItsAllAboutMe for himself.]]
78	* MeaningfulName: Joshua Carver. [[spoiler:Based on his last name, he did exactly that to The Front Line -- that is to say, carving it out. After all, it is what he does best. There are Jesus Christ analogies as well: Same initials, Joshua is one possible translation of name Jesus and Jesus's father Joseph was a carpenter, colloquially known as woodcarver]].
79	* MugglePower: At first most of the Front Line's attacker appears to be foreign governments putting together their knowledge of the Front Line and what can kill them, [[spoiler: most of the World's government are working together to purge the Front Line because of the many transgressions Carrick did toward all of them (he threatened to destroy Beijing at one point.]]
80	* NecessarilyEvil:
81	** [[spoiler:The Front Line, for its many wrongs, are at the same time keeping fault lines stable, are behind several aid efforts, and are also insuring economic stability in some parts of the world.]]
82	** The FBI keeps [[spoiler:Joshua]], who had been raised in a way that makes him unable/unwilling to stop hurting people, to use 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.
83	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Without Carrick and the Front Line, the last two pages indicate the entire world is beginning to collapse, with economic markets failing, wars starting and the White House being destroyed with a plane.]]
84	* NoodleIncident: [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Two Government Agents]] discussing [[spoiler:Joshua]]:
85	-->'''Female Agent:''' What do you think that crazy little bastard's doing in there?\
86	'''Male Agent:''' Remember Allentown? Probably a bit like that.\
87	'''Female Agent:''' Christ.
88	* PersonalityPowers: Justified since [=FX7=] brings out what is inside as super powers. [[spoiler:Josh's horrific transformation after taking [=FX7=] 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...]].
89	* PragmaticVillainy: [[spoiler:Carrick explicitly states that the purpose of the Front Line is selfish as hell. "The more people alive there are, the more people there are to earn money that will eventually be given to me. Also, the more people there are to breed girls whom I will eventually fuck." They save people, shut down Nixon and Vietnam, kept the French from getting nuclear weapons, destroyed Iran's oil reserves to nip terrorism in the bud, etc., because it is good for business and keeps the world stable for Front Line to control as they please. They're assholes of the first degree, but they've made their world better than ours (maybe -- the line about "black states" imply that the US went through an apartheid-like stage at some point). And once Joshua shuts them down on behalf of every government on the planet, everything goes straight to hell.]]
90	* PsychopathicManchild: [[spoiler: Joshua]] turns out to be this, mostly because his childhood wasn't exactly kind to him.
91	-->[[spoiler:'''Joshua:''' ''(using Fasthawk's head as a hand puppet)'']] Okie dokie Smokie. Time to play.
92	** He has a petulant moment later:
93	-->[[spoiler:'''Joshua:''']] ''(to Carrick)'' You liked me, didn't you? Say you did.
94	-->''(BeatPanel of a speechless Carrick)''
95	-->[[spoiler:'''Joshua:''']] ''(smashing a large heavy table in one blow)'' '''''SAY YOU DID!'''''
96	* 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 Creator/AleisterCrowley's "la chambre des cauchemars" ("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]].
97	* RealEventFictionalCause: The [[UsefulNotes/JimJones People's Temple]] in Guyana was actually a CIA front for a lab trying to recreate [=FX7=]. The Front Line shuts it down ''messily.''
98	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Joshua is actually a serial killer who became an FBI mole sent to infiltrate the Front Line and destroy them from the inside. Charlie Kraft, original member of Front Line who retired in 1985 didn't die six months later but was instead kidnapped by US government and vivisected by an international teams of surgeons for twelve years, so the countries of the world can find what makes [=FX7=]-enhanced individuals tick and develop counter measures]].
99	* 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 what happens next is more unsettling if Joshua is capable of showing more emotions.
100	* RuleOfSymbolism: As if the "Adam's Ale"[[note]]an old slangy name for water[[/note]] comment Carrick makes ("Very straight edge. The hardest stuff in the Garden of Eden, prior to eating the fruit") when getting Joshua something to drink isn't enough, what does he offer him to snack on? An ''[[TemptingApple apple.]]''
101	* ShutUpHannibal: Joshua to [[spoiler: Carrick]] when he claims the world will collapse without him.
102	-->'''Joshua:''' I lived in a box with my entire world ruled by someone [[spoiler: who fucked the wounds of the people he killed]]. One guy ruling the world? Doesn't make me happy.
103	* ShrineToSelf: Carrick has a hallway of self-portraits done by various artists -- the styles of Pablo Picasso and Creator/AndyWarhol are the most immediately recognizable.
104	* ShownTheirWork: [=FX7=] is based on a real-life psychedelic tryptamine, 5-MEO-DIPT, with "unknown" modifications. While it will not turn you into a superhero by way of BodyHorror, it ''is'' a fairly strong psychedelic discovered by Alexander Shulgin, who Carrick is at least partially modeled after.
105	* SuperSerum: [=FX7=] See also PsychoSerum.
106	* TitleDrop: Doubles as a WhamLine as things take a dark turn afterward.
107	* 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 have a problem burning Joshua to ashes if things go poorly.
108	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler:The Front Line. Especially Carrick.]]
109	* 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.

Context ComicBook / NoHero