Webcomic / Com'c

Even the author doesn't know the answers.

Com'c is a Gag Per Day Webcomic by Krixwell centered around "four neighbors in an apartment building where anything can happen".

The humor of the comic is largely driven by the character personalities and the conversations that result from them, as well as the occasional random events. There is no ongoing storyline, although some of the events are clearly connected, and minor storylines do happen.

The name Com'c refers to the fact that characters are drawn without eyes. Word of God says it is the only thing about the art style that is pretty much guaranteed to always stay the same. By extension, the installments are called "str'ps" (instead of "strips") by the author.

Com'c normally updates three times a week: Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

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This webcomic provides examples of:

• Art Evolution: The art very gradually improves, but has so far had two major, sudden improvements: The early speech bubble revolution (str'ps #18-20) and Project Twex (started at #69, in effect since #74), the latter of which involved a doubling of the resolution.
• Art Shift:
  • Some post-Twex str'ps have shown other views than the typical "face view", such as a highway or even full bodies.
  • #142 employs perspective and includes hands as well as the front of Jane's shirt, a kitchen bench, and other related things.
  • Specials get a free pass for art shifts. The most notable of these is the first anniversary special (spoiler), which was handdrawn and showed all the characters in full-body view.
  • The most notable non-special instance so far was #158, when the comic took on a handdrawn (but as opposed to the anniversary special, traced and colored) art style very different from the usual one, and a full-page layout.
• Author Avatar: Krixwell is a recurring character in his comic, interacting mainly with Block.
• Author Powers: Krixwell's author avatar rarely makes use of them.
• Background Gags: Sometimes present.
  • The Daily Bullsh*t's picture frame normally reads "We're too cool for photos." However, this is occasionally changed subtly, and to readers, used to the frame's usual text and focused on the text of the article, it may be easy to miss.
  • #118 has a few gags with the other cars on the road.
  • Pears follow the gravity that the panel seems like it "should" have rather than the one it actually has. This is seen in #142 and #190.
• Better than a Bare Bulb: While the commentary says (lampshades?) that "semi-frequent" Lampshade Hanging might be an exaggeration, this str'p nearly lampshades lampshading lampshading using a lampshade to lampshade lampshade hanging. No wonder Block got a headache.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Krixwell (the character, not the author) seems to be a nice guy at first look, which fits his status as a Foil to the bitter and cynical Block, but if you think about it, he has done some really awful things to Block that might be the main reason for the latter's bitterness.
• Brutal Honesty: A major part of Block's interaction with Krixwell.
• Compassionate Critic: Block is highly critical of Com'c, but appears genuinely concerned with its quality, sometimes more so than Krixwell.
• Canon Discontinuity: Str'p #23 has later been declared non-canon.
• Catchphrase: Garry says "shithead" so often, as pretty much any part of speech, that it may just count as a Verbal Tic. Among other creative uses, he almost exclusively refers to others as "<adjective> shithead".
• Characterization Marches On:
  • Marc was originally intended to be a stereotypical teenager (he is 17) with a love of music (with similar tastes to the author), but he quickly evolved to more of a sensible teenager, taking over the original role of Victor to some extent. Victor, on the other hand, became slightly sillier than the original idea already in the first str'p.
  • This was part of why str'p #23 was declared non-canon.
• Cypher Language: Sirphane. The Sirph alphabet actually predates the comic, and in its first appearance it was just transliterated English with no relevant meaning ("This is written in the Sirph alphabet"), but as of str'p #118, the alien language Sirphane is used. Sirphane is written like English, but backwards in terms of clusters; e.g. appearance -> a-pp-ea-r-a-nc-e -> encareappa.
• X Days Since: Com'c has one of these here, which admits to be a reference to xkcd's example of the trope here.
  Sign: 38 days since someone reset this xkcd reference
• Deal with the Devil: Joked with by John in #191.
• Do Not Try This at Home: Seriously, don't.
  • Also, in The Rant here.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Early on, a couple of characters would use character-specific words as Unusual Euphemisms, most notably Block's "what the generic word"^note Originally, "what the generic word that fits my personality", as a sort of lampshade on the idea, but panel space is limited. This idea faded away soon.
• Elite Zombie: Jane is the "Smart" variety.
• Fanservice: Averted/parodied, as it is tricky to do when you only see faces.
  • Does, however, have "Hairplug service"^note referring to a fan/friend of the author, taking the form of an eyepatch.
    Block: Is this some random, twisted form of fanservice?
    Krixwell: Hairplug service.
  • "Does This Count as Fanservice?"
• Ear Worm: In this str'p, Jane implies having immunity to this as a benefit of not having a brain. A week later...
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The file alarm.
• Expospeak Gag: In the form of a 16-line sentence. ^Translation The cake is not a lie.
• Fictional Field of Science: Asafeiology. Partially explained by Word of God in the commentary of the 2014 New Year's special.
• Foil: Block and Krixwell are contrasts to each others. For example, while Block very rarely smiles, Krixwell rarely says something without smiling. Block has a very negative, pessimistic and cynical attitude, while Krixwell is positive and optimistic.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: Block is introduced as a professional wall breaker specializing in walls labeled "4". He doesn't fit the "not believed by anyone else" part of the trope, however, because the author has made him unnoticable to the characters with an intact Fourth Wall.
  • As of str'p #144, he has become noticable, and has decided to help keep the wall secret from other characters.
  • It seems this isn't a problem with Nope Guy - NG has been shown to interact with both Block and the main characters, which may indicate that he is also an example of this trope.
• Hate Sink: Garry. Rude, obnoxious, hypocritical, egocentrical...
• Hypocrite: One of Garry's Hate Sink traits.
  Garry: She called me a shithead all the frickin' time. Can you believe it, shithead?
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Lots of them.
  Block: Another str'p, another bad pun.
• Insane Troll Logic: Certain characters, especially John, tend to do this, for example by proving the speed of sound to be 1 mph (~1.6 km/h).
• Invisible Anatomy: Eyes and ears are not shown.
• Invisible to Normals: Block cannot be noticed by those who are not Fourth Wall Observers. He manages to blackmail/torture Krixwell into reversing this in the first anniversary special.
• Irony: In #38, "Ironically", Victor thinks it's ironic that "ironic" is one of the most misused words in the language. Ironically, that's not ironic at all, which means he's misusing it himself.
  • Dude, Not Ironic: Implied by Marc's "..." in reference to the above example.
• Mondegreen Gag: Victor is prone to this. In addition, he is a horrible singer and doesn't realize either fact. This trait is shown already in the first str'p.
  Marc (singing): We gotta hold on, ready or not...
  Victor (to himself): Oh, I know that one...
  Victor (singing off-key): YOU GIVE UP THE BRIGHT WHEN IT'S KEPT IN A POT!^note Actual lyric: "You live for the fight when it's all that you've got!"
• Lampshade Hanging: Some. See Better than a Bare Bulb above for an example.
• Lampshade Wearing: Used to lampshade "semi-frequent" lampshading... which is promptly lampshaded. See Better than a Bare Bulb above.
• Lost in Translation:
  • Coupled with Incredibly Lame Puns for added awful. Lampshaded and parodied here.
  • And again here.
• No-Dialogue Episode: Subverted for laughs here. The subversion is also a lampshade on itself.
• Noodle Incident: The Sandaled Horse Experiment.
• Noodle Implements:
  • How Vee realizes Jane can't be Marc's mom.
  • In the third vote incentive.
    Ella: ...a jetpack, a silly hat, a school, a bra and an enormous bag of tea...
  • In #193, the founding of Other City was delayed by about 200 years due to a mishap with a time machine... and social media?
• Palette Swap: Occasionally pops up. Lampshaded in str'p #118:
  Son: Dad, why do all the cars look like ours?
  Dad: They don't, son. Ours is blue.
• Pardon My Klingon: Ympugr breaks out some Sirphane swear words in str'p #156, which are not translated.^note If you do translate them, they turn out to be candies - liquorice and marshmallows. One of them is described as "harsh" by Liavitr.
  • He repeats this in #192, where he says something is "ragused up".
• Painting the Medium: Occasionally used.
  • In #191, it would seem that the camera has blown away in a storm. The panel camera. Block and Krixwell had to go look for it.
• Parodies for Dummies: The local bookstore carries the ''For Drummers'' series.
• Portmanteau: Oddevices (odd+devices) and "complinown" (complicated+known).
• Pun-Based Title: Com'c is an i-less comic.
• Random Events Plot: Occasionally, random events happen. The effects rarely stick.
• The Rant: Com'c has one, which can sometimes get ridiculously long.
• Self-Deprecation: Some of Block and Krixwell's dialogue, as well as plenty of the comments in The Rant is this. Block's Rage Against the Author and somewhat cynic nature causes him to criticize Krixwell a lot. Titles sometimes get in on the action too, and even pears seem to mock the artist.
• Shout-Out: Some, usually to other webcomics. See X Days Since for a Shout-Out to xkcd.
  • The title of str'p #96, "They Had Charts Too", is a Shout-Out to El Goonish Shive.
  • There have been many ShoutOuts to Homestuck:
    • In str'p #80, the amount won is $4.13 million.
    • All appearances of the ChekhovCorp clocks have them set to 4:13, and their ticking is represented by "t1ck t0ck". The same time is used in the non-canon extra "Screwdriver".
    • In str'p #118, there's a purple, honking car.
    • John's screen name on DBS Answers is Breath of Heir.
    • The title of #193, "Sparing Human Intellects", is part of a quote from Homestuck's Kanaya Maryam, complete with the same font, font size and color as her original text. This is lampshaded in the vote button text through a different part of the quote being paraphrased as well as linking to the source.
  • One of the TopWebComics vote incentives had the aliens singing the Sirphane version of "99 Bottles of Beer" while stuck in traffic. However, the translation says "(an alien equivalent of) beer", and if you transliterate the original text, said beer equivalent is called "ginnentonic".
  • An unnamed Asafei scientist has a hovercraft full of eels.
• Singing in the Shower: Victor is heavily implied to do this by the punchline of str'p #36.
• Snap Back: The effects of some random events don't stick around. Memories might, however.
• Speech-Bubbles Interruption: Here.
• Stylistic Suck: The Daily Bullsh*t is very informal for a newspaper, and to back it up, it's all in Comic Sans MS. The paper's website also looks intentionally bad.
• Tagline: "Odd stuff happens; it's normal."
• Unsound Effect: *ODD*, *ILLUSION*
• Verbal Tic: Garry says "shithead" in almost every sentence.
• You Can See Me?: Played straight and subverted here.