"Now rise Karcharoth, rise and be the monster you were made to be, rise and CRY HAVOC."
— Big Red Wolf thingy
Cry Havoc is a fantasy webcomic that follows the fortunes of four dogs of war who are bitten by a werewolf. Chased by the forces of the Vatican and Aesir churches, they try to survive in a world on the brink of collapse.
Not to be confused with Cry Havoc by Si Spurrier, Ryan Kelly, Barbara Guttman, Miguel Montenegro, Nick Filardi, Lee Loughridge, Matt Wilson, and Simon Bowland, another comic about a soldier that can turn into a wolf-monster.
Cry Havoc contains examples of:
- Crapsack World - The world is enveloped in constant low intensity wars, he immortal races are on the rise, demons are not uncommon, and an ancient race of monstrous werewolves has been reborn to a message calling for the death of the gods. Humanities population is falling, scientific progress has stagnated, and all anyone wants to do is fight.
- Dress-Coded for Your Convenience - The Dogs of War all wear green, the french all wear yellow, anyone else is a rebel (and not in a good way) Vatican priests and soldiers wear a reddish-burgundy, the A Esir dark greens and greys, and the coven troops wear predominantly grey.
- Family-Unfriendly Death - various people get shot in the head with predictable results, more have limbs ripped off, but the cake goes to Faustus who is nearly bisected, dismembered, and then set on fire, although he didn't quite die.
- Field Promotion - Karcharoth is promoted from Sergeant to Sergeant Major due to his Lieutenant dying.
- Hollywood Tactics - Averted, mainly. Nearly all the mortal on mortal combat is tactically sound, excluding some abilities that change the way the battles are fought (aka rushing while having someone psychically block the incoming fire).
- Leave No Survivors - Karcharoth orders a company of retreating enemies killed for refusing to surrender.
- Limited Wardrobe - The werewolves wear different colored variants on the same style fatigues almost the entire second chapter until they change to more formal duds.
- Infinite Canvas - The page for the 8th of December 2009 is actually three simultaneous scenes happening on the same page.
- Nigh-Invulnerability - The werewolves are capable of surviving not only rifle fire, light machine gun fire, heavy machine gun fire, and automatic canon fire, but even anti-armor tank cannon rounds.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot - Werewolf mercenaries, vampire commandos, viking vampire hunters.
- Meaningful Name -Fenrir is the name of the great wolf who would kill Odin during the Norse Apocalypse, RagnarokSkoll is name of the wolf who will eat the sunHati is the name of the wolf who will eat the moonKarcharoth is a play on Carcharoth, the greatest wolf who ever lived from Tolkien's The Silmarillion.
- Custom Uniform - All the Dogs of War wear individual uniforms but they are very similar. passed off because they are mercenaries who choose their own gear.
- Our Werewolves Are Different - long thought extinct, all known werewolves died during the immortal wars. They transform during a full moon, and during their wolf phase are considerably larger than normal humans. They stand approximately six feet tall at the shoulder when on all fours, and nearly 12 feet tall when erect. They posses tough skin augmented by their resistance to non-silver weapons. They also have greatly improved senses. When transformed they may have difficulty controlling their actions due to bestial and pervasive 'wolf mind' that works subconsciously toward a fully animal state of mind. They can communicate with one another through a language that to observers sounds like growls and barks, but is understood only by other werewolves.
- Title Drop - "Now rise Karcharoth, rise and be the monster you were made to be, rise and CRY HAVOC!"
