Literature / The Case Files of Ibrahim Helsing

"The character of Ibrahim Helsing is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Ibrahim Helsing, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed."

—The license for Ibrahim Helsing

The Casefiles of Ibrahim Helsing is an ongoing Web Serial Novel by Matt Eldritch over on Ao3, inspired by such work as the Wold Newton Universe by Philip José Farmer, Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series, and Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series.

The titular protagonist is Ibrahim Helsing, one of the many, many, many members of the Van Helsing family tree. A young queer Palestinian-Canadian world traveller, he's recently taken lodge in Ticky Tack Estates and renting a room from Cassandra Cartwright, a woman who, while thankful to him for saving her life, often wishes that he'd move out due to attracting villains to the neighbourhood.

Wherever Ibrahim goes, trouble always seems to follow. Whether it be vampires, Lovecraftian deities, malicious time travelers or a self described paladin and religious fanatic hellbent on "divine retribution" towards the supernatural, Helsing won't back down from a fight.

Tropes about the series as a whole:

A-Z

• 20 Minutes into the Past: The series takes place in 2019.
• All There in the Manual: The final chapters in each story detail every reference used within them.
• Asexuality: Ibrahim's canon orientation.
• Big Bad: Mason Frogg and his bride serve as this in The Vampyre Apostles
  • The trio of cultists, Pater Zutter, Frater Felix and Soror Kaitlyn are this for The Miskatonic Affair
• Cryptic Background Reference: Frequently pop up through the series.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Both Ibrahim and Cassandra are alluded to have these.
• Handicapped Badass:
  • Ibrahim has a prosthetic right leg and still is able to fight the forces of evil.
  • Cassandra's no slouch here either, as she has clinical depression and is able to kill Mason Frogg by herself.
• Last-Name Basis: Used often towards Ibrahim.
  • Also used with Abba Kaatz in The Miskatonic Affair.
• Shout-Out: The neighborhood Ibrahim and Cassandra live in is taken from the song "Little Boxes" by Melvina Reynolds.

Examples specific to The Vampyre Apostles:

A-Z

• Always Someone Better: Ibrahim's sister, Aminah, if the Bride's taunting of Ibrahim is anything to go by.
• Dirty Coward: Mason tries to weasel his way out of danger when he knows he's about to lose, going so far as to pin all the blame on his bride, who had been doing all the work for him.
• Dragon Their Feet: Downplayed; Mason is killed first, while the bride is almost killed, but manages to get away.
• Heroism Motive Speech: Subverted. Hesling tries to give one out, but the Bride laughs at him, due to being "the idiot brother" of Aminah Helsing.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: The Bride is this to Mason Frogg, kicking off the events of the story while never so much as receiving a "thank you" from her master.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Mason Frogg and his bride use Contractual Genre Blindness akin to old vampire movies as part of the rules of their religion.
• Never My Fault: As Mason lies dying from being staked by Cassandra, he uses his final words to blame everything on his bride, even though he tried to sacrifice her to save his own skin.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Mason Frogg. He essentially calls Cassandra a credit to her race in hopes of flattering her enough to spare him. Doesn't work in the slightest. He also displays a very traditionalist patriarchal view towards his bride.
• Religion of Evil: The Ruthvenians of "The Church Of Our Father In-Darkness", located in Selene, the Vampire City.
• Sequel Hook: The now widowed bride of Mason is out swearing revenge and there's someone spying in on Cassandra and Helsing through a surveillance van.
• Shout-Out:
  • Ibrahim's (attempted) Heroism Motive Speech is taken directly from the opening of Reboot.
  • When Cassandra kills Mason, the narration calls her a "fearless vampire killer"
  • Crossing over with a type two example of show-within-a-show, Cassandra watches Nyte Blayde, Wendy the Werewolf Stalker and Rescue Bay: Moonlight.
  • Mason twice quotes The Simpsons while scheming up a plan to get into Cassandra's home;
  "We need an idea that’s tricky, delightfully devilish and fiendishly clever in its intricacies...”
  • Mason is composited from various Lego vampire minifigures, such as Monster Fighters Lord Vampyre.
  • "The Church of Our Father In-Darkness", comes from the Anno Dracula series, derived from the term for when an elder vampire turns a mortal into a new-born vampire. The congregation being called "Ruthvenians" comes from "The Vampyre", written by John William Polidori, the author who introduced a multitude of modern vampire tropes before Bram Stoker wrote Dracula.

Examples specific to The Miskatonic Affair:

A-Z

• Author Tract: Chapter five contains a lengthy discussion on Ableism towards the mentally and physically challenged.
• Bad Boss: Pater Zutter physically assaults Felix and Kaitlyn for annoying him with their arguing in chapter two.
• Co-Dragons: Frater Felix and Soror Kaitlyn are these to Pater Zutter.
• Continuity Nod: The staircase is still damaged from the fight with the vampires from The Vampyre Apostles
• Covert Pervert: Downplayed. Cassandra assumes that Ibrahim is into sexual bondage due to how he'd tied up Abba so provocatively.
• Cryptic Background Reference: Ibrahim claims to have learned knot tying from his parents after they fought The Phantom of the Opry.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Cassandra does this with red wine in chapter three, after realizing how the world may come to an end and how billions of children and animals would be graphically slaughtered.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Ibrahim and an employee of the Miskatonic University campus store do this to Abba in chapter four.
• Groin Attack: Frater Felix gets one, courtesy of Ibrahim, in chapter five.
• Homage: The story serves as this towards The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Cassandra recites this trope at the end of chapter two.
• In Medias Res: The story begins this way, with Ibrahim and Abba about to be sacrificed by a cult before flashing back hours earlier
• Innocently Insensitive: Ibrahim spends chapter two ignoring how Cassandra is clearly uncomfortable with him putting so much trust towards Abba instead of realizing how his very presence is a trigger to her.
• Lovecraft Country: Takes place in Massachusetts, specifically, Miskatonic University.
• Moment Killer: A cab driver does this to Ibrahim and Abba in at the end of chapter three.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • Cassandra ruminating over the apocalypse has her mention that she's glad there's no televangelists blaming scapegoats for the disaster only a few days later, clearly referring to Jerry Falwell Senior who did such a thing two days after 9/11.
  • Shifting Points USA does this for the American political conservative group, Turning Points USA.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Abba's Determinator attitude to recruit Ibrahim at the beginning of the story (going so far as to threaten to break down the door and barge in) triggers Cassandra's panic attack.
  • Ibrahim's steadily crumbling relationship with Cassandra falls under this, as he's far more supportive of Abba over his own landlord/roommate, even after she's had a panic attack. Definitely not helping matters is stealing money from her to cover his expenses.
• Time Skip: Some weeks have passed by after the events of The Vampyre Apostles.
• Too Kinky to Torture: Played with; As a professional spy and masochist hobbyist, Abba found Ibrahim tying him up to be barely effective at containing him.
• Shout-Out:
  • Abba introduces himself as coming from sector three of a secret command of law enforcement.
  • Chapter five, Abba is able to trek undetected through Miskatonic campus while hiding under a large cardboard box. Specifically, a double-corrugated, eight-fold, one 4-gauge cardboard box that had been assembled in Flint, Michigan.
  • In chapter four, a campus conservative political group has a booth about how Doctor Henry Jones is innocent of some non-descript wrongdoing and challenges the students on campus to debate them over it.
  • Abba uses standard issue pocket sand to blind his enemies.
  • During Ibrahim's fight with Abba over Abba's ignorance towards the disabled in chapter five, Ibrahim cites Simple Jack and Forrest Gump enforcing the "inspirationally disadvantaged" stereotype.
  • The narration describes emotional validation as a dangerous thing that would make a grown man weep and another man sing.
  • Frater Felix, a live streamer, plays Pro-Ass Fishing and claims it brings in lots of subscriber money.
  • In chapter one, Cassandra pours herself a bowl of Nuts & More Cereal for breakfast.
  • Chapter three has Cassandra drinking some Chateau Picard red wine.
  • Ibrahim mentions that because two disabled men got murdered over in Texas and in New Jersey, people are reluctant in hiring him to fight the paranormal.
  • Ibrahim says that his father was trained by Conrad van Helsing.
  • Pater Zutter's introduction has him wearing a periwinkle robe with a blue cowl.
  • Ibrahim muses that the brick walkways of Miskatonic University was built by mischievous Munchkins to keep people from getting to the Emerald City.
• Shower Shy: Cassandra was and continues to be this, due to having vitiligo and being bullied over not having a typical feminine body.
• Spy Fiction: The story takes a stale beer flavoured approach, owing to its inspiration (see the Homage entry).
• Take That!:
  • Ibrahim regards Forrest Gump in poor taste for playing into ableist stereotypes.
  • A larger one exists towards conservative political groups with Shifting Points USA, especially when they're the villainous cult out to destroy the world.
• Will They or Won't They?: Abba and Ibrahim spend the story as this.
• Writing Around Trademarks:
  • Abba's spy agency is referred to as the secret network command of law enforcement.
  • Shifting Points USA is a non-trademark infringing version of Turning Points USA.
  • And the leading villain of the piece, Pater Zutter, AKA Zutter Caine, is Sutter Cane from the John Carpenter film, In The Mouth of Maddness.
  • An in-universe example comes from Frater Felix's bootleg Dethklok t-shirt (here spelt "Death-Klock").