Chasing the Sunset
is a fantasy webcomic by artists Mithandir and Alien, set in a universe called The World That Is. Here there be dragons...and pixies...and unicorns, fae, elves, and a human or two.
The comic follows the story of a young elf boy, Fallen Leaf ("Leaf" for short), and his friend Ayne as they travel west across the land in search of Leaf's father, who was swept away in a flood many years before. Leaf believes his father may still be alive because a traveling Bard has brought a rumor of an elf man living across the ocean. Joining Leaf and Ayne is Myhrad, a vegetarian drageling (baby dragon with the personality of a lazy housecat) whom Leaf befriended not long after his father disappeared. Another companion, far less welcome, is Feiht, a pixie who joins their quest and 'volunteers' to carry any "shinies" they might encounter along the way.
As they travel, Leaf and Ayne both acquire strange identities and allegiances. Ayne joins the mysterious blue Amazon tribe occupying No Man's Land. And Leaf, after spending the night in a bewitched tower, is possessed by three Furies — magical spirits of uncontrollable wrath. They must also deal with tedious matters like old prophecies, monstrous trolls, dragons, bards, sorcerers, escaping the pursuit of family members, and placating the various persons Feiht has 'borrowed' from along the way.
Unfortunately, after a very long hiatus, the two creators separated in 2018 and the comic was brought to a premature end.
Chasing the Sunset provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Ayne, Aunt Naiira, all the Amazons. Most of the female cast, really.
- All There in the Manual: The website contains a great deal of background information.
- All Trolls Are Different: Geb and The Mount Erac are even different from each other. Geb says many common beliefs about trolls (that they're slow; that they turn to stone in sunlight) are misconceptions.
- Amazon Chaser: Resulting in the kidnapping of one of the Amazon tribe.
- Art Evolution: Increasing detail; changing from flat color to fancy shading.
- Artifact of Doom: The staff of Magister Malvenicus (kra-ka-toww!) might be one.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: All pixies. The only reason they don't own the world is that they have the attention span of a mayfly.
- Bilingual Bonus: Dwarvish inscriptions are Swedish written in runes.
- The Cat Came Back: Feiht follows Ayne and Leaf everywhere. They've given up trying to get rid of her.
- Cowardly Lion: Myhrad comes off as a Cowardly Dragon, though in fairness he is still a child. But later in the comic, it appears that he's been overplaying his cowardice and may actually be The So-Called Coward
- Cute Kitten: The main reason it's difficult to take "Hell's Pixies" seriously.
- Deadpan Snarker: Myhrad snarks (usually pessimistically) at everything.
- Disappeared Dad: Leaf's quest to find his father drives the entire plot.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: And sometimes the other way around.
- Easter Egg: The Magnifying Glass icon allows bigger versions of each strip, without text, to be viewed in sections. Additionally these often contain hidden messages or sketches in between panels, but there's an even more impressive one as mentioned in Eldritch Abomination below. note
- Eldritch Abomination: this strip looks pretty innocuous, until you use the Magnifying Glass icon to view the enlarged version.
- Facial Markings: the Amazons have a variety of marks on their cheeks.
- Fluffy the Terrible: The Hell's Pixies ride cats — huge, fearful beasts, to pixies — but one has the unfearful name "Fuzzymuzzy".
- Hermetic Magic: Malvenicus (kra-ka-toww!) appears to use magic that requires a lot of setup.
- I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder:Myrhad: I'm a dragon, not a divining rod!
- Knight Templar: Subverted and Lampshaded here.
- Lady Land: No Man's Land.
- Like Brother and Sister: Leaf and Ayne.
- Limited Wardrobe: There have been a few costume upgrades, but Ayne and Leaf wear pretty much the same thing every day. It's all practical garb, don't get me wrong...
- Literal Genie: Pixies in a mischievous mood (which is always).
- Lying Finger Cross:Leaf: Myrhad? When you vowed to cease your evil ways and nevermore trouble innocents... why did you have your toes crossed?
Myrhad: Ummm... well... you never know? - MacGyvering: If any of Leaf's plans ever worked....
- Magic Music
- Meaningful Name: Feiht ('thief' backwards, also pronounced 'fate'); Rhyme (a bard who speaks only in verse); Sohac (anagram of 'chaos'), etc.
- Meet Cute: Leaf and Myhrad.
- New First Comics: the early comics have been recolored, with shading and backgrounds added.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Myhrad.
- Not a Morning Person: Myrhad often sleeps through important events.Myrhad: If they aren't going to wake me, neither am I.
- One-Gender Race: The Amazons again.
- Only Sane Man: Myrhad is more realistic than either of the elves.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Only in the case of Myhrad. Other dragons are traditional house-sized flying carnivores, although they come in an unusual variety of colors.
- Parental Abandonment: Leaf's closest relative is Aunt Naiira.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Leaf's red Furies.
- Running Gag: Thunder and lightning at the mere mention of the name of Malvenicus (kra-ka-toww!)
-
Schedule Slip: Major league. Only two updates between the summer of 2013 and the summer of 2014. The site was finally updated in January 2016 with a children's story the creators drew for their son, with the comic scheduled to resume in March. - Sdrawkcab Name: Feiht is aptly named.
- Shout-Out: Word of God says that Geb the troll is named after the Egyptian god of earth, Ayne is an anagram for Enya, and King Nebra III of the dwarves is named after long-time commenter Nebra Reppalk.
- Sticky Fingers: "My name is Feiht, but most people call me 'Hey! Give that back!'"
- Strange-Syntax Speaker: Rhyme speaks only in rhymes.
- Team Mom: Ayne to the main cast, the Amazon Queen to the other Amazons.
- Tsundere: A bit heavy on the tsun and light on the dere, but Ayne is a near-perfect example.
- Twofer Token Minority: Lady Cynthia.
- Unusual Ears: Elves and pixies have pointy ears.
- Walking the Earth: Since they don't know where Leaf's father is, the characters are mostly wandering aimlessly in hopes of finding a clue to his whereabouts.
- "Wanted!" Poster
- You Can See Me?: pixies are invisible to normal humans.
- You No Take Candle: Troll "The Mount Erac" speak like this. Show not "smarter than the average troll".
- Your Mind Makes It Real: How pixie magic works. Fortunately they're easily distracted.
