Voices is a webcomic defined for the most part by an ongoing dialog between its primary protagonists and the readers. Posts made on the corresponding forum manifest as voices in the characters' heads, allowing readers to vastly affect the story in real-time.
A man appropriately locked in an insane asylum is the first hero to be introduced. Following that, a rational woman who lives by herself on the edge of a cliff, with a cat, an emotive Space Pirate, and a girl who can't speak but has strange and easily-controllable powers have since joined the group.
These four (with five more hinted at) are called the Gifted, and destined to do something involving the Xern Corporation, which controls every decision of the global government of future Earth, and its Executives. It is proving to be more complicated than that, however.
The comic had its start on the MS Paint Adventures forums, but has since moved to its own site. The characters can be spoken to on the official forum and the updates can be viewed on the website.
Unfortunately, due to pressure from real life that stifled its update rate, it has been discontinued.
This work includes examples of these tropes:
- Art Evolution: The art is still scratchy and not entirely realistic, but now looks good, unlike when the series started.
- After a recent donation drive, the Professor announced his intention to go back and redraw the early comics.
- After a recent donation drive, the Professor announced
- Awesome, but Impractical: the Rail Gun in Peregrine's Mini-Mecha takes too long to take out to use in actual combat. It's more of an artillery strike.
- BFG: Peregrine has a Railgun. When he loses it, he gets a bigger one.
- Big Bad: Peregrine refers to the Xern executives with this term.
- Bilingual Bonus: Greek (letters for English text), Chinese, and probably more as the story goes on.
- Cast Calculus: As more characters are certainly going to be added to the main cast as time goes on, Sixth Rangers are inevitable. In the meantime, the four that are currently available don't really fit the Four-Temperament Ensemble, instead looking a lot more like a Brains and Brawn team (Teiuc and Peregrine) with The Loonie and The Tagalong Kid taped carefully to either side.
- Chekhov's Gun: Osiris makes a face at a security camera. After the gifted kill Di Yu, the image is broadcast around the world.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Osiris. Just because it was probably Xern that put him in the mental hospital doesn't mean he didn't initially need to be there.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Initially, Osiris' narration seems to be an internal monologue. It's not. People keep pointing it out, but he doesn't stop.
- How Do I Shot Web?: The Voices did a few initial experiments, like trying to show the characters a picture, to test out their limits. Similarly, some people initially tried to get Osiris to create light. He can't.
- Interface Spoiler: Yes, in a Webcomic. Some of the art showing the numbers of the various voices has indicated that there are nine gifted. The silhouettes for V-IIX (not a typo, it's
apparently important that 8 is written that way) have since been revealed.
- More Dakka: Oh, what's that, Peregrine lost his railgun? It's okay, he'll just get a Mini Mech with a gun about ten times the size of the old one built in.
- Most Definitely Not a Villain: One billboard says "Xern Inc: Definitely Not Villains."
- Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The top four executives, in conjunction with someone the author uses as an avatar (the forum kind. No word on whether he's an Author Avatar), are doing . . . something.
- The Power of Friendship: Osiris was pretty scary at first, and some fans were initially worried that they'd helped a villain escape from an insane asylum. After meeting the other gifted and talking more with the Voices, he's still a Cloudcuckoolander, but he's developed some actual morals.
- Resigned to the Call: Teiuc isn't particularly enthusiastic about helping the voices, but goes along with what they say anyway. She gets a bit more into it after Xern arrests her.
- Shiny New Australia: Chapter 2 is set in an Australia that has become the world's prison colony under the ownership of the Xern executive Sheol.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: None of the gifted so far have been overly concerned about the voices in their heads, even before confirming that the others could hear them too. The least positive reaction thus far is Teiuc's annoyed "What, are you guys the new round of crazy this season? Fantastic. Well, mind keeping it down?"
- We Need a Distraction: Peregrine is good at this, whether with his powers or through the more old-fashioned "storm the gates in a mech" style.
