is a webcomic in which an esoteric ensemble of characters in a city called Opplopolis encounter the word "marvedyne" in various ominous ways and try to figure out what it means. Contains elements of Science Fiction and Spy Fiction.It's by the author of Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life, but in contrast Opplopolis is in traditional comic book format (not Infinite Canvas) and actually publishes at a consistent rate of four pages per week.
It ran from 2012 to 2013, concluding with its 20th chapter.
This webcomic contains examples of:
- Arc Words: "Marvedyne."
- Cast of Snowflakes: Features a large cast of various ages, body types and ethnicities. Even the aliens are surprisingly distinguishable, despite their uniform, circular eyes.
- City of Adventure: All the action takes place in and around the city of Opplopolis.
- Coolest Club Ever: Pop star Vesper Formicide and her assistant Heather take Agnes to a secret nightclub so cool that two other Vesper Formicides were already inside.
- Fountain of Youth: When Luke Dugans interviews actress Shirley Kidd about a mysterious movie she appeared in with the title Marvedyne, the latter suddenly de-ages from 60-ish to 20-ish and proceeds to seduce him. She earlier served him a rather conspicuous cup of coffee, but thus far the explanation has been Left Hanging.
- MacGuffin: The word "marvedyne". No one knows what it means, but everyone wants to find out. Real-world google is no help.
- Malevolent Masked Men: In a secret night club, Agnes stumbles across a room where men in animal masks are playing a card game. A man in an upside-down cat mask suddenly appears and slams the door, on the outside of which is carved the word "MARVEDYNE".
- Pop-Cultured Badass: The mysterious spy/mercenary Moon turns out to be an expert at the NES game Contra.
- Postmodernism: The whole thing is pretty Pynchonesque, but for example, a race of aliens are initially introduced as an apparent fantasy of Marvin's but return four issues later, apparently aware of the characters in the comic, including events that haven't happened yet. These aliens live in a city called Oppleopolis (with an "e").
- Secret Circle of Secrets: Tomaj Pangolin's young godson Marvin uses his hacking/googling skills to determine that "marvedyne" has something to do with a secret society of aristocrats.
