Camp Tekanaskwake is an unpublished comic by Troper HunterGr33n.
It's the summer of '91, and a group of kids between the ages of nine and fifteen go to a summer camp. They mostly just goof around, but there's something off about the place. Little do they know, however, the camp itself is full of paranormal activity.
As of January 2024, the comic still remains conceptual.
Camp Tekanaskwake contains examples of:
- 20 Minutes into the Past: In-universe. The book Lauren and Roxy read was said to have been published in 1989, but Roxy says it takes place "before the NES was released over here, but after VCRs became a thing", which would be somewhere between 1976 and 1985.
- The '70s: Most of the campers are known Example or implied Example to have been born in this decade, with the exceptions of Tobias and Frank, who were born in 1980 and 1982, respectively.
- The '90s: The comic itself takes place in Summer 1991. Additionally, there are several references to pop culture of the very early 1990s.
- Aerith and Bob: The three named campers from Camp Tekanaskwake '87 are named Julia, Trent, Peter, Lucy, and Flower.
- Affectionate Nickname: Abigail gives most of the campers one, usually by adding an "ee" sound to the end of their name (Cole becomes Coley, Frank becomes Frankie, etc.) or (more frequently) by replacing part of the name with that sound (Lauren becomes Laurie, Tobias becomes Toby, Sebastian becomes Sebby, Jacob becomes Jakey, etc.). She has also come up with nicknames that deviate from this. For example, she addresses Natalie as "Natz" and Mariah as "Da ghosty".
- It's implied that some of these nicknames are used by others besides Abigail. Sebastian has called Natalie "Natz" on at least one occasion.
- Aliens in Cardiff: Marcus states that the titular summer camp—which is home to many paranormal happenings—is located in Ulster County, New York.
- Alliterative Name: Lynn Lorde.
- Amazing Technicolor Hair: Downplayed. Tanya has purple hair, but it's a very dark purple and implied to be dyed since her sister Julie has black hair.
- Amazing Technicolor World: The forest around the campgrounds. According to Mariah's tape, it starts off looking like a normal forest in New York, but it gradually becomes more colorful the deeper in one goes.
- Ambiguously Brown: At first, the Lang sisters come off as this, though they're later revealed to be Latina (specifically Costa Rican-American). Additionally, Tobias, Sina, and Julia are all African-American, and Mariah is of unknown Hispanic descent.
- Ambiguously Jewish: Abigail Friedman. Her first name is of Hebrew origin and her last name is extremely common among Ashkenazi Jews. She also inserts Yiddish words into her speech, has a fondness for Ashkenazi baked goods (especially challah bread), and has referenced the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur at one point.
- Subverted in volume 9, in which she tells Cole and Lauren that she is indeed Jewish while explaining Hebrew numerals to them.
- Played Straight with Trent Mandelbaum, a scruffy-looking boy who attended Camp Tekanaskwake '87. He has an Ashkenazi last name, was said to eat with a Kosher diet (according to Jonas's one conversation with him in 1988), and was apparently knowledgeable in Hebrew numerals and the Kabbalah.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Inverted with the Lang Sisters, as Julie (the younger sister) tends to think of Tanya (the elder sister) as loud, abrasive, and seeking trouble.
- Arc Number: 20. The titular summer camp was founded in the year 1920, it lasts from June 20th to August 20th, the old photos Jacob finds all have groups of 20, Mariah was killed on July 20th, 1990, the tape she left was 20 minutes long, and counselor Jonas Blake was born on October 20th, 1969, making him 20 years and 20 months old when the comic begins. Also, there are a total of 20 volumes in the comic, and Coins And Witches is also 20 chapters long.
- On the topic of ''Coins And Witches", the number 33 is apparently of importance in the book, according to Lauren. However, the only overt instances of the number appearing in that book are the antagonists - a cult that worships the number 33 - and several plot-important events happening on the 2nd of February, the 33rd day of the year.
- This is a HunterGr33n work, so the number 524 pops up every once in a while: the specific date of Camp Tekanaskwake's construction was May 24th note , 1920, and Jacob says that he counted "I wanna thay 524 people" in the photos he found.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Downplayed. Frank Adler is the youngest of the campers, being the only one whose age is in the single digits, but he's still nine in a cast of predominantly thirteen- to fifteen-year-olds.
- Based on a True Story: In-universe, there is a rumor that the events of the Show Within a Show Coins and Witches actually happened, and that the author and the protagonist are the same person. Roxy doesn't seem to believe it, stating that the events in the story were impossible to actually happen, and that "If that's the case, you could say that about anything in first-person."
- Bears Are Bad News: Mariah from Camp Tekanaskwake '90 was mauled by a bear when she wandered into the nearby forest to look for paranormal activity.
- Big Brother Instinct: Counselor Blake's actions could be read as this, especially with the older campers like Tanya. Especially Tanya.
- Big Fun: Sina is visibly chubby and the self-proclaimed "Life of the party"; she tends to be cheerful and bubbly, and often sets up unofficial activities that the other campers enjoy.
- Bookends: The comic begins with the Camp Tekanaskwake '91 group en route to the titular camp, and the last panel of the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue depicts Counselor Dyson welcoming the Camp Tekanaskwake '92 group to the camp.
- Bilingual Bonus: Biliterate bonus rather. Flower's journal is said to be written in Quikscript
, and when we see it, it is indeed written in Quikscript and it forms genuine, correct in-context sentences, albeit messily written.- In a straighter example, Tanya's "Spanish Leetspeak" does actually make sense in-context if one makes the necessary conversions.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Jonas's reaction to the books Lauren brings to camp: a copy of Coins and Witches, a compilation of William Shakespeare's plays, a book on Northeast American wildlife, and a Book of Shadows.
Jonas: (pulling out a gray book with a pentagram on it) ...And what's this?!
Lauren: Ever heard of a Book of Shadows, counselor?
Jonas: (looking slightly panicked) No, but I can take a hint...
- Christianity is Catholic: Averted. Roxy is Christian, but she is not Catholic; she instead is a Protestant.
- Color-Coded Patrician: Downplayed; the counselors tend to wear olive green and navy blue, but it doesn't seem to be enforced by the camp, since several counselors from the old photos wear different things. The most noticeable of these is the unnamed counselor for Camp Tekanaskwake '84, who wore a light blue dress and beige sandals. Additionally, Olive of Camp Tekanaskwake '90 wears these exact colors, but she isn't a counselor as far as the reader knows.
- Color-Coded Speech: This is sometimes used when multiple characters speak at the same time and it isn't clear who's saying what.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Cole is a self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist who claims he's only attending camp for the rumored paranormal happenings there. He also spends most of the camp studying the many incidents that happened at Camp Tekanaskwake over the past 32 years.
- Creator Provincialism: Hunter spent most of his childhood in Duchess County, New York. The story itself takes place in the neighboring Ulster County, and a lot of main characters come from Duchess County's capital of Poughkeepsie.
- Cute Mute:
- Implied with Jack Hellman. Roxy, Sina and Abigail seem to both have a crush on him, and he is the only main character to have absolutely no dialog.
- Seemingly averted with Eugene Montoya, the camper with the second-least amount of dialog, which is only a few sentences per volume. Nobody in the group finds him particualrly attractive. Sure, him and Cole had some Ship Tease every now and again, but ship tease is just that.
- Darker and Edgier: In-universe. Camp Tekanaskwake was peaceful for the most part from 1920 until well into The '50s, when a tragedy struck the camp in 1959. A girl called Carol never returned from camp that year, though the details are barely disclosed. Further incidents happened in subsequent years, culminating in Mariah's death in 1990.
- Death of a Child: Mariah Escobar was fourteen when she was killed. It's implied that similar incidents happened in previous years too.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Lauren has black hair and noticeably pale skin and is mysterious, as part of her Goth-iness.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Sebastian Pierce is said to have received this treatment when he was in middle school, and Frank, Andrew, Eugene, and Jack all secretly find him attractive in some way.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Most of the campers sans Tanya simply call Jonas "Counselor" or "Counselor Blake", even when just talking casually.
- Fang Thpeak: Jacob Im speaks with a lisp, which is reflected in how his dialog is written: replacing S-sounds with "th".
- Flipping the Bird: Andrew does this frequently, as part of his generally mean-spirited nature.
- Additionally, Mariah accidentally flips several of the campers off, since her incident with a bear left her without most of her fingers. The middle finger on her right hand was not mauled off, so she always looks like she's Fipping The Bird when she raises it.
- Foreign Cuss Word: Tanya says one, albeit in leetspeak, when reading Flower's journal.
Tanya: ¿K3◌́ 3s 3st@ m13rd@? Kr30 k3 3s... ¿@◌́r@b3? note
- Foreshadowing: A minor one, but when Cole informs the other campers about what he thinks happened to Mariah, Lauren is the least shocked, feeling sorry for what happened to her but seemingly unsurprised. Later, it is revealed that Lauren knew Rhonda from the same group of campers as Mariah, and Rhonda told Lauren about what happened to Mariah, so of course Lauren wouldn't be surprised by Mariah's death.
- Funetik Aksent: Abigail's voice is portrayed as such. Schee tends ta taulk innna stroang Yiddish oa eambiguasly Loang Oylanda eaksent, an' it schowz, here-now.note
- In volume 5, it's revealed that she writes like this too.
- When Cole and Jacob speak, their respective Verbal Tics are written phonetically as well.
- Most of the campers have some traits of a New York accent according to how their dialogue is written. For instance, the final "g" in -ing is dropped, and the -er sound at the end of words is rendered as -a occasionally.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: Initially averted when the campers first appear; there are nine boys (Tobias, Jacob, Jack, Cole, Sebastian, Eugene, Marcus, Andrew and Frank) and eight girls (Natalie, Lauren, Abigail, Tanya, Julie, Sina, Roxy, and Lynn). Later played straight when Mariah's ghost is discovered and considered part of the group.
- Generation Xerox: In the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, it's revealed that Sebastian and Natalie had a daughter in 1998, Andrea Pierce-Koenig. She bears a Strong Family Resemblance to her dad and is shown to be hyperactive, not unlike her mom.
- Genki Girl: Natalie. She's hyperactive even for her age of thirteen, and is seen zipping around the campgrounds frequently. She is also portrayed in a way that makes her look shaky. Lampshaded by Counselor Blake:
Jonas: Are you— (turns to the rest of the group) How much Jolt did this kid drink?!
did this kid drink?!- Gentle Giant: Sebastian is the resident jock and is muscular to the point where Jonas almost mistook him for a seventeen- or even eighteen-year-old. He's also shown to be one of the most friendly of the group, and he dated (and later married and had a daughter with) Natalie Koenig, who claims to not just date anyone.
- The Ghost:
- The campers' relatives are only mentioned for the most part. These include Abigail's bubbe Barbara, Tanya and Julie's mom, Marcus's dad, and Cole's sister, who is presumably named Janice.note
- Mariah was a literal example of the trope, being a ghost who was only mentioned in Cole and Lauren's discussions about paranormal activity. Subverted when she makes an appearance in volume 15.
- Goth:
- Lauren dresses the part, wearing a black dress and a pair of Doc Martens. She is also invested in the supernatural and has no qualms with discussing morbid things, as evidenced by her conversations with Cole.
- Rhonda, a camper from the previous group and close friend of Lauren, looks and acts similarly to Lauren, and apparently listens to at least one gothic rock band.
- Goth Girls Know Magic: Implied. Lauren brings a Book of Shadows to camp and is often seen reading it.
- Later played straight when it is revealed that Lauren does indeed practice witchcraft, alongside Rhonda from Camp Tekanaskwake '90 and three unseen teenagers: Tracy de Bajadoz, Alicia Lucky, and Janice Khan.
- Granola Girl: Flower Monroy. Dear God Flower Monroy. She's one of the most down-to-earth characters, with a sort of Friend to All Living Things mentality. [[spoiler:She claims to partially overexaggerate at times for the sake of fulfilling what her Hippie Parents want from her, hence her occasional Sophisticated as Hell dialog when talking with Julia and co., but she still seems like a sweet girl.
- Handicapped Badass: Peter Cortez from the sideplot with Camp Tekanaskwake '87. He was involved in an incident that culminated in his right leg being amputated the year before he attended camp, rendering him wheelchair-bound. Despite this, he is shown to be able to stand his ground against other campers several years older than him. Flower claims that he also had a way with "the art of the insult", as she says in her journal.
- Hero of Another Story: The Five-Man Band from Camp Tekanaskwake '87: Julia Dyson, Trent Mandelbaum, Flower Monroy, Peter Cortez, and Lucy Tyson. They had a generally protagonist-like role during their session, often doing the most things during CT87.
- Informed Attribute: According to Tanya, Jonas is "pr0f1c13nt 1n teh @rtz of SK8IN", yet we never see him skateboarding, rollerskating, or doing anything else that could be considered "SK8IN."
- Informed Kindness: Parodied. Andrew claims to be a pacifist (specifically of the technical variety)... while giving Roxy a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Jerkass: Marcus and Andrew both act like this; the former making elitist remarks toward the poorer campers (i.e. everyone except Sina), and the latter being a Deadpan Snarker who tends to "silently judge" everyone else, as well as being egotistical. The two of them are the closest thing the comic has to an antagonist, at least before the Fat Fairy became a plot point, and even then it's implied that she isn't directly in control of what she does.
- Jewish and Nerdy: Abigail comes off as this. She is a dorky Shipper on Deck who enjoys reading various fantasy novels, and tends to ramble about her hyperfixations. She's also in the Honor roll, and is well-versed in many topics.
- Leet Lingo: Tanya's speech is rendered as such.
- She also claims to know "$p@n1sh 1337sp33k"note , which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
- Lovable Jock: Sebastian is a member of his school's football teamnote and is relatively nice around everyone else at camp.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: Most of the campers have at least one:
- Mariah: "That's right where X happened!"
- Also, "I see you've found X," though that one only appears three times in the entire comic.
- Jacob: "Alright, I'm done with thith X. If anyone needth me, I'll be playing Tetrith in the cabin."
- Cole: "Come for the conshpirashy theoriesh, shtay for the X."
- Lauren: X? You're seriously doing X right now?! Of all the things you could do, X?
- Tanya: "Th@tz s0 R4D, d00d/grl! R@ddr t4@n teh X!" Translation
- Julie: If you need any more proof, X."
- Marcus: "I'm too wealthy for this X."
- Sina: You'd/Y'all'd better be kiddin' when you/y'all said X!"
- Roxy: "If this was a chapter in Coins and Witches, we would all be X."
- Frank: "I may be only nine years old, but I can still X!"
- Mariah: "That's right where X happened!"
- Melting-Pot Nomenclature: Jacob Im. His first name is of Biblical Hebrew origin, and his last name is Korean. Justified in that he claims to be of mixed heritage, with a white mother and a Korean-American father.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Averted with Sebastian. He looks noticeably muscular, and has the physical strength one would expect, nearly breaking a hole in the cabin out of stress.
- Named After Someone Famous: Played with. Mariah shared a name with Mariah Carey, causing it to seem like this. However, Mariah was fourteen when she died in 1990, meaning she had to have been born in 1976. At this point in time, Mariah Carey was still in grade school and thus was not yet famous.
- Non-Indicative Name:
- Natalie's surname - Koenig - is from the German word for "King", but Natalie herself claims to be from a poorer family in the inner city.
- Andrew's surname - Prinz - is homophonous with the English "Prince", but he's a pretty huge Jerkass and harldy behaves princely.
- Noodle Incident: There has apparently been a number of incidents before Camp Tekanaskwake begins, none of which (other than Mariah's death) get elaborated on much. These are often referred to with epithets such as "The Carol Zaborowski Incident of '59" or "That party in 1964, which was why we only have one counselor per year."
- Older Than They Look: Tanya Lang. She looks and acts like someone around her younger sister's age of 13, but she claims to be turning 16 the next October, which would make her the oldest of the campers.
- Only One Name: Other than Mariah Escobar, Olive Dixon, Scott Palmer, and Counselor Howard Small, all of the known participants of Camp Tekanaskwake '90 are only known by their first names: Max, Rhonda, Raul, and Judy. Averted with the rest of the cast, whose full names are known.
- Subverted with Andrew, who is initially known exclusively by his first name. In volume 5, however, Counselor Blake gives Andrew's surname as Prinz.
- Only Sane Man: Andrew views himself and Julie as these, believing them to be among the few well-thinking individuals at camp.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Ghosts can only be seen by two kinds of people: those who are actively looking for a ghost and those who have already seen one. Additionally, ghosts seem to have most of the abilities associated with ghosts (matter phases through them, they can possess people, etc.), though these become moot around anyone who believes in the specific ghost's existence or has seen them.
- Perky Goth: Lauren comes off as one, after she discusses conspiracy theories with Cole.
- Random Events Plot: The comic has this sort of plot for the first few volumes, though ultimately subverted when Cole explains the story about Mariah, after which the story develops a mystery-esque plot involving the paranormal.
- Rich Bitch: Both of the wealthier campers play with this:
- Marcus von Spitz gender-inverts this. He tends to make classist remarks towards the other campers (with the exception of Sina) and often makes the claim that he's "too wealthy" for something.
- On the other hand, Sina Wilson subverts it. She is known to be from a wealthy family. At first she acts a bit snide around Cole, poking fun at his baggy trench coat. However, she quickly realizes she's being mean towards him and she is usually friendly and treats the other campers with respect otherwise.
- Sassy Black Woman: Downplayed. Sina is usually bubbly and upbeat, though she isn't prone to making a scene out of herself at times, particularly during the camp's talent show in volume 5.
- Shipper on Deck: Abigail often expresses her urge to see some of her peers together, most noticeably Cole x Lauren, Andrew x Julie, and Natalie x Sebastian. Cole and Lauren vehemently object to this, which only prompts her to do it more.
- Show Within a Show: Book Within A Book, rather. Lauren and Roxy are known to be readers of a fantasy novel called Coins and Witches.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Andrew. He is extremely profane, despite only being eleven years old. In his "The Reason You Suck" Speech in volume 7, he particularly seems to enjoy the word "Retard", using it twenty times in said speech.
- Tanya is also one to an extent. She uses profanitynote noticeably more than most other cast members, though not nearly to the same extent as Andrew.
- Sizable Semitic Nose: Downplayed. The two campers confirmed to be Jewish—Abigail and Andrew—have large noses... but almost everyone at camp has a big nose, and Abigail and Andrew's noses are only marginally bigger than anyone else's noses.
- Inverted with Roxy Forester. She has a large nose, and is Christian.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Flower uses both the polite and reserved language one might expect from a Granola Girl like her, but also is far from prone to being on the more vulgar end, as evidenced by her catchphrase: "Peace and love, bitches!"
- Stop Being Stereotypical: Andrew tells Abigail this, noting that her Jewish and Nerdy behavior and her accent are "A disgrace to [their] fuckin' heritage".
- Summer Campy: What did you expect from the title?!
- Team Dad: Counselor Blake, by virtue of being the camp counselor. He is extremely protective of the CT91 Group - even though they are only a few years younger than Blake himself - and insists on keeping the group safe at all times. His Establishing Character Moment is him lecturing the group on how it's his job to look after the group and that he hopes everyone makes it through their two months at camp in one piece.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Lang sisters. Tanya is a self-proclaimed "R4D sk8r grl" who tends to engage in stereotypically boyish activities. Conversely, her younger sister Julie is more soft-spoken and effeminate.
- Totally Radical: Tanya peppers her speech with this, as well as her dialog being written in Leet Lingo, a la Latula Pyrope.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Andrew near the start of the comic, not due to the circumstances, but due to his reaction to being mistaken for a girl.Andrew: Did you just... Did you seriously call me a girl?! I swear, if you call me a girl one more time, I will break all y'all's fucking bones to the degree where everyone here looks like a grotesque lump of flesh. (glares to the other sixteen kids) And that is called a warning. Follow it, and we'll be cool.
- Verbal Tic: Abigail's "Here-now", which she claims came from her bubbe. She tacks it on to the end of sentences frequently.
- She also uses "Uuuuueeeugh!" when irritated.
- Cole ends his sentences with "Here-now" too, albeit significantly less often.
- Cole also has a speech impediment that causes him to pronounce S's, Z's, and soft C'snote like the sh in sheep.
- What Could Have Been: Early drawings for the comic had a larger cast, Camp Tekanaskwake was called Camp Ratarawis, the Fat Fairy was completely absent, and Andrew was referred to as Ziggy.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Volume 20 ends like this, revealing what happened to most of the main cast—even some of the minor characters like the Five-Man Band from 1987—at least up to the Turn of the Millennium.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Fat Fairy implies this by (indirectly, as she controls the forests surrounding the camp) killing the fourteen-year-old Mariah, and presumably others. However, since she has little say over what the animals in the forest do, she may not be responsible for that.
- Yiddish as a Second Language: Abigail peppers her speech with Yiddish. She most frequently uses Bubbenote , Yutznote , and Oy veynote .
- Younger Than They Look: Andrew and Lynn are said to be eleven and twelve, respectively, but they look almost as old as the 13-to-15-year-old campers. Averted with the other campers who are under thirteennote , who all look more or less their age.
- Assuming the black girl and the hippie from the 1987 photo are Julia and Flower, respectivelynote , Flower Monroy comes off as this. She was born on March 21st, 1973 according to Jonas, meaning she would be 14 when she attended Camp. She looks visibly taller and older than the 17-year-oldnote Julia.
