Dragon City
is a webcomic written and drawn by Micah McNully. It takes place in a city of bipedal dragons, set slightly in the future, and follows the actions of the Parrity family. It updates each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and is an arc-based Slice of Life comic.
This series provides examples of:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In the A.I. arc, the otherwise benevolent Artificial Intelligence living in Jonas Parrity's computer attempts to trap Jonas inside the house, which is quickly transformed into a house-shaped metal fort.
- May be subverted, as it's revealed that Ship, the "A.I.", is actually a being from another planet.
- Amazing Technicolor Population:
- Art Evolution: Compare the earliest strips to the latest ones.
- Attractive Bent Species: While in human form, Erin is approached by a human who finds her quite attractive.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Erin and Rachel.
- Berserk Button: Erin, Rachel, and Tarah (Rachel's mother) have a hereditary pronounced squint, which they're quite sensitive about. Sam, however, finds it beautiful, which briefly caused some chaos on his and Rachel's first date when she thought he was teasing her.
- Breath Weapon: Dragons do have a fire gland, but it has largely atrophied as a result of evolution, and so most have it removed to prevent young dragons harming themselves. Rachel falsely told Erin she'd had hers removed, but in reality they couldn't afford the operation and simply told her that to keep her out of mischief.
- Bus Crash: Elizabeth's mother and stepfather both die when the Chicago caves collapse.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Erin to Rachel, when Rachel began to realise her bad parenting was the result of Erin's attitude problems
- Childhood Marriage Promise: Sort of, with Jonas and Kim.
- Crossover: With Jix.
- Daddy DNA Test: Gender-Inverted. Somehow. After Erin and Beatrix discover that Erin may be Beatrix' mother as a result of travelling through time, they get Sam's sister April to conduct a DNA test on Beatrix to confirm her parentage. Sure enough, Erin's the mother.
- Daddy's Girl: Erin, to Sam.
- Distaff Counterpart: In Natasha's universe, Sam, Rachel and Elizabeth's counterparts are all the opposite gender; being Samantha, Roger and Ethan, respectively.
- Doorstop Baby: Beatrix, inadvertantly.
- Dysfunctional Family: Mainly Erin towards Jonas and Rachel, although in recent comics Erin and Rachel have attempted to improve their relationship.
- Enfante Terrible: Arguably Erin, when young.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The characters rarely venture out of DC Chicago.
- In-universe, the name of the city, "DC (Dragon City) Chicago," refers to the city of dragons living under and later in Chicago.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: Beatrix is Erin's daughter, not her sister. Though due to Time Travel neither of them knew it for a while.
- Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: Ask Professor Rachel.
- Freudian Excuse: Erin's cynical nature was ultimately revealed to be the result of her rocky relationship with her mother; Rachel subconciously resented that she'd inherited her pronounced squint, and would berate her more often than praising her. However, after Rachel realised her mistake and began trying to fix things between them, Erin's behaviour has gradually improved.
- Girls with Moustaches: Jonas and Beatrix speculate that an evil twin
- Happily Adopted: Elizabeth, after her family died in the collapse of the Chicago caves.
- Happily Married: Sam and Rachel. Arguably also Jonas and Kim; they're not old enough to marry yet, but since they've inadvertantly "bonded" to one another, they're essentially mates in everything but name.
- Jerkass with a Heart of Gold: Erin, although she's on the mend.
- A Match Made in Stockholm: Rachel's sister
- Nonhumans Lack Attributes: Justified, since they're reptiles.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Natasha. Her real name is Erin Samus Parrity, as she's Erin from another universe, but for sake of ease everyone just calls her Natasha.
- Offscreen Breakup: Erin and David, in a recent storyline. According to Erin, it was linked to him not being able to see enough of his daughter Beatrix.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Erin, to the point where her parents suspect she's trying to poison them when she cooks them breakfast.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Most of the dragons in Dragon City cannot breathe fire, have pointed tongues, stand on two legs, and are similarly-sized as, although slightly larger than, humans.
- Raised By Grandparents: Sam's parents couldn't afford to care for both him and his twin sister April, so Sam was left in the care of his aunt Clarice - who actually suggested the idea since she wanted a child of her own - who ended up raising him. As a result, Sam hates his parents, and tells most people that they're dead.
- Parents Know Their Children: Beatrix attempts to test this by swapping places with her alternate universe counterpart, however, since her and her mother's counterparts are way more affectionate towards one another in that universe, she is discovered immediately.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: As a result of inadvertantly "bonding", Jonas and Kim end up depressed if separated from one another. Their parents resolve this by having them spend a couple of weeks in the same house until they're able to wean themselves off one another.
- Rewrite: In earlier comics, the male dragons wore loincloths as clothing. This soon got replaced by regular clothing after a reader pointed out they wouldn't be very useful when the dragon was in flight.
- Self-Deprecation: Occasionally, characters in the comic snark about the quality of the art.
- Shout-Out: To Peanuts in a Halloween comic, and the most recent arc is heavily inspired by Back to the Future.
- Smells Sexy: How dragons "bond" with one another. Over time, a couple will become used to the scent of their mate, and eventually they'll become only able to respond to that other dragon.
- Take That!: A few, mostly directed against Twilight.
- Time Skip: Over the five years Sam spent in jail for eating human hobos.
- Trapped in Another World: Natasha a.k.a. Erin Parrity, as a result of testing a machine built by her world's counterpart of Dr. Mc Crockagan. Unfortunately, the Dr. Mc Crockagan of this world hadn't built the machine, leaving her stranded until he was able to construct it. Upon return, she discovered that she'd been declared dead, so she decided to remain in the other world where she had a new identity. She still goes "home" to her family on weekends, though.
