Line #43 ComicBook/WelcomeToHoxford


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hoxford_de_ben_templesmith.png]]
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3	''Welcome to Hoxford'' is a 4-issue miniseries by Creator/BenTemplesmith that follows Ray Delgado -- an utter psychopath who's considered a major threat even when ''on'' his anti-psychotic medications, as he's transferred to the titular Hoxford penitentiary, a private prison owned by the Russian-based Usmanov Corporation along with [[HellholePrison other irredeemable prisoners]].
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5	His psychiatrist, Dr. Jessica Ainley, tries to make sure that her former patient isn't being abused and is given the medications he desperately needs but is constantly rebuffed and treated as a nuisance by Gordon Baker, Hoxford's warden. Her persistence bears fruit after a day or two, when the Warden allows her to meet with Ray, but this confirms her suspicions that Ray is off his meds, as he is now [[AGodAmI proclaiming himself to be a god]]. When she goes back to his office to complain about the prison not following protocol, the Warden, rather than kicking her out, locks her in his office with plans to "save her 'til last".
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7	And then things go to hell.
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9	Due to the brief nature of the story, basic plot spoilers will be unmarked.
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11	This inspired a 15-minute [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stnRvFzGWY8 fan-film]] that, while largely faithful to the source material, centers solely around the first two issues, ending after [[spoiler:Ray kills the werewolf entering his cell]].
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15	!This series contains the following tropes
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17	* AbusiveParents: A ''lot'' of the inmates suffered from this.
18	** Bill's mother told him that Jesus said he had to have sex with her, and when he heard otherwise from Jesus, he cut off her head.
19	** Ray's father and uncle sexually abused him.
20	* AffablyEvil: Ray is usually very soft-spoken and calm even while dwelling in the depths of insanity.
21	* AskAStupidQuestion: The final issue gives us a doozy regarding Ray's mental state.
22	-->'''Pack Alpha:''' Are you insane? Oh, right.
23	* AttemptedRape: Dr. Ainley has to contend with this twice. Such are the hazards of being trapped in a building filled with the worst psychopaths imaginable.
24	* BadassBoast: Ray gets a handful of these throughout the comics.
25	-->'''Ray:''' I've learned that when Death stares right at you, and smiles its big ol' toothy grin -- the best thing to do [[DoNotGoGentle is smile right back at the fucker]].
26	* BaldOfEvil: Baker is pure evil and has a very shiny head. Ray is just as hairless, and a homicidal nutjob as well.
27	* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: The best explanation as to why Ray doesn't do to Dr. Ainley what he's done to everyone else that's gotten close to him over his life.
28	-->'''Ray:''' You're special, doc. I like you. I'll speak to the other Gods and we'll make sure you get favors. Favors from the Gods. You'll like that.
29	* BedlamHouse[=/=]HellholePrison: Hoxford's a prison for the criminally insane.
30	* BlackComedy: What few jokes there are in this are ''very'' dark, such as Ray calling [[PedophilePriest Morton]] a "diaper sniper".
31	* CompressedAdaptation: The fan film completely excises Dr. Ainley and her role in the story, as it covers pretty much exclusively the events of the first issue and so her character wasn't needed to drive the plot forward.
32	* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Ray, while under the delusion that he's Cronos, believes that he's meant to do battle with the beasts -- naturally, he's right.
33	* DissonantSerenity: Ray, by virtue of his being absolutely insane.
34	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
35	** Gravy's reaction to one of Ray's AGodAmI moments.
36	--->'''Gravy:''' You don't say? [-I know [[ImAHumanitarian I eat people]], but fucking hell.-]
37	** Ray may be a murderous lunatic, but he absolutely ''despises'' Morton for his pedophilia.
38	* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: Dr. Ainley and Ray, though it's given only ambiguous hinting as she mourns how much progress he'd lost by not being on his medication.
39	* FreudianExcuse: Ray suffers from both of these, as he'd killed his mother by pushing her over (accidentally, [[UnreliableNarrator according to him]]), and then suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his father and uncle.
40	* AGodAmI: Ray believes himself to be Cronos, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Lord of the Titans]]; though his first fight against a werewolf [[spoiler:causes him to start thinking he's one of them, instead]].
41	* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Ray alludes to this trope in the final issue.
42	-->'''Ray:''' I must either fight the beasts -- or become one. If I'm not already.
43	* HearingVoices: One of Ray's many, ''many'' psychological ailments.
44	* ImAHumanitarian: "Gravy", one of the fellow inmates, is in jail for this crime. He's later given a KarmicDeath when [[spoiler:Ray, now convinced he's a werewolf, accepts Baker's invitation to chow down on the still-living Gravy]], a fact that Warden Baker notes is [[IronicDeath deliciously ironic]].
45	* ILoveTheDead: Skunty, who is in prison for killing people so that he could enact this trope on them -- [[spoiler:this eventually costs him his life, as he does this with a ''werewolf'''s corpse [[TooDumbToLive while the others are still on the hunt]]]].
46	* ALighterShadeOfBlack: In spades, as the protagonist is the criminally-insane Ray Delgado, but the antagonists are a pack of werewolves using the prison as a {{People Farm\|s}}.
47	* [[ManBitesMan Man Bites Wolf]]: Ray rips a werewolf's tongue out of its mouth using this method, and it tends to be his preferred method of murder when he doesn't have a weapon handy.
48	* MoralityPet: Dr. Ainley serves as one to Ray, and in the finale, [[spoiler:he dismisses her from the prison after becoming the Alpha werewolf, rather than simply killing her]].
49	* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The werewolves sport this type of design, as shown above.
50	* UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex: One of the inmates, "Burly Bill", was a serial rapist/murderer because the women he killed reminded him of his mother.
51	* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:The Alpha rips out his son's heart and crushes it in revenge for Baker's betrayal.]]
52	* OnlySaneWoman: Dr. Ainley in the most literal sense, as everyone else at Hoxford is either criminally-insane or a werewolf.
53	* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: While fitting with most depictions of werewolves in medieval myth, these versions have MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily and are vulnerable to more conventional methods of death than silver bullets.
54	* PedophilePriest: Morton used to be a Catholic priest, and is in jail for life for engaging in this and murdering his victims to cover it up.
55	* PeopleFarms: The werewolves have an agreement with the US government -- they get a supply of people to hunt, while the US is able to get rid of the most irredeemable prisoners they've got.
56	* PowerBornOfMadness: Ray Delgado achieves what he does because he's just that disconnected from reality. Who else would come up with the idea of [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu biting off a werewolf's tongue]] as it's snarling at you? He even finishes the series by [[spoiler:challenging the Alpha to a DuelToTheDeath and ''wins'', effectively [[KlingonPromotion becoming the packleader]] without actually being a werewolf]].
57	* PreAssKickingOneLiner: Ray when a werewolf first enters his cell at the end of issue two.
58	-->'''Ray:''' The monsters come. And I will do battle.
59	* PsychopathicManchild: Georgie is described as "a child in a 7-foot ape's body", and starts crying when he thinks another inmate is going to eat him.
60	* ScaryShinyGlasses: Ray sports a pair that he ''never'' removes, even when in the showers. [[spoiler:His eyes are visible ''once'', as he spares Dr. Ainley from being devoured.]]
61	** His eyes are also visible when seeing the fight in the showers, as [[ShellshockedVeteran he has a flashback to the war he'd fought in]] before approaching the injured man [[spoiler:before taking a bite out of his neck]].
62	* ShellshockedVeteran: How Ray even got past mental screenings to get into the military is left unanswered, [[WarIsHell but his experiences in combat]] did ''not'' help his mental state.
63	* SpoilerCover: See the page image, as the fact that the prison's staff are all werewolves is kept a secret until the second issue. However, [[spoiler:it also acts as some subtle foreshadowing due to Ray becoming convinced ''he's'' a werewolf, too]].
64	* TheStarscream: Baker had overthrown his father, the original alpha, and keeps him locked in a cell while leading the werewolves.
65	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Strictly averted, as Dr. Ainley is hellbent on making sure that even those that society's written off as lost causes are still treated like people.
66	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Most of the scenes where Ray is either on his own or the central character has the reader see aspects of what he does through his demented psyche.
67	* TitleDrop: Warden Gordon Baker says "Welcome to Hoxford" in the first issue.
68	* UnreliableNarrator: Again, Ray. After all, one of the scenes at Hoxford has him talking to his mother via a ''rat'' in his cell... before eating it because [[BrickJoke he doesn't like anyone else in his cell]].
69	* VillainProtagonist: Ray Delgado is a serial killer, but he's ALighterShadeOfBlack compared to the werewolves.
70	* VillainousRescue: Dr. Ainley runs into a group of prisoners fleeing from the werewolves, who [[SkewedPriorities quickly forget about that in favor]] of [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil something else]]. Luckily, the werewolf they were running from wasn't too far behind.
71	** It happens again the ''second'' time Dr. Ainley was almost subjected to "something else," only for Ray to turn around [[BoomHeadshot and promptly correct the one that suggested it]]. She wisely tags along with Ray rather than stay with the others.
72	* YouWillBeSpared:
73	** The old man who Dr. Ainley frees makes the "I'll kill you last" promise.
74	** Ray makes a similar promise to Morton, [[spoiler:and follows through on it in the last pages]].

Context ComicBook / WelcomeToHoxford