First Chapter Cover Page
"Stormbow, a tale populated by angels and devils, gods, cats, philosophers and historians, is a story of several people, of different races, who through adventures and misadventures in the world change and, sometimes, reach a happier equilibrium."
—Webcomic description
Stormbow
is a webcomic by Team Stormbow. It is a bildungsroman that intends to tell the story of nine main characters, although only one has been introduced so far. In the first two chapters, the webcomic follows a young dragon named Argenta who is forced to travel alone to a country of Cat Folk to continue her training as a historian after her mentor dies in a mountainslide.
It can be read both on ComicFury and DeviantArt.
Stormbow provides examples of:
- Alphabet Architecture: The Institute is shaped like a capital omega, as seen in this group of sketches.
- All-Encompassing Mantle: The dragons have these. Lady L also wears a vine-patterned cloak.
- Art Shift: The 'Limbo' parts, which tell a story that seems to run parallel to the main story, are drawn in full colour, while the main story is in grayscale.
- Bilingual Bonus: Maia's last name, Nyamayi, other than sounding like a noise a cat would make also means "feline" in Chichewa.
- Bookworm: Argenta, although not entirely by her own choice. Her mentor Aurea is a Badass Bookworm (and it's implied the other dragons are as well).
- Death from Above: Aurea is killed in a mountainslide.
- Decade Dissonance: The Felinians seem to be a Higher-Tech Species (having electricity and computers) compared to the rest of the world, which is in Medieval Stasis.
- Dream Land: From time to time the story cuts to a mysterious dreamscape called Limbo, which features a different art style.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" / Spell My Name with a "The": The Adventurer introduces himself as just 'The Adventurer'. But since this is Limbo, perhaps this isn't unusual.
- Expressive Ears: Neppiu's ears are quite expressive.
- Extra Eyes / Eyes Do Not Belong There: The huge humanoid being our bird-creature encounters in Limbo has five golden eyes on its face and a lot more on the rest of its body, which is concealed from sight by vines.
- Grave Clouds: It's cold and overcast when Neppiu leads Argenta to the Abbey, which is on a hill of crosses.
- National Geographic Nudity: The Felinians don't usually wear any clothes, and this isn't seen as odd by any of the characters. Neppiu does wear a scarf, though.
- Old, Dark House: The House on the Edge of the Cliff is a subversion, being, well, on the edge of a cliff and hard to reach, but also modern and well-kept.
- Our Dragons Are Different: The dragons hoard knowledge instead of gold and jewels, travel from land to land to record history and are seen as a neutral party by the general populace; this allows them to attend events like war meetings.
- The Adventurer is a Cat-like Dragon with horse legs made of Floating Water.
- Playing with Fire: The dragons can use fire magic.
- Pretentious Latin Motto: The entrance to the Abbey has "Nulla Poena Sine Culpa" note written on the archway, which sets the ominous atmosphere.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Maia Nyamayi, the head of the Institute.
- Sensual Spandex: Aurea and Argenta wear bodysuits under their cloaks.
- Silent Scenery Panel: Quite often used for Establishing Shots, sometimes overlapping with Splash Panel (as seen here).
- Sinister Silhouettes: The nine main characters are seen as silhouettes in the very first page; this page updates at the start of each chapter with the headshots of the characters introduced thus far.
- Spiky Hair: Argenta.
- Theme Naming: 'Argenta' and 'Aurea' mean silver and gold respectively, and match the colours of the dragons' scales and hair (and the inner lining of their cloaks).
- Argenta is referred to as 'Argenta the White' at the end of chapter one, since she symbolizes the colour white and is the first of the nine main characters.
-
Tear Jerker: Argenta sitting still at the tent for an entire day waiting for her mentor to return, and coming to the slow realization that she won't◊. - The Tower: In the first chapter, Argenta takes refuge in an old crumbling tower to escape a storm. It turns out to be a Gadgeteer's House.
- Torso with a View: The bird-thing in Limbo gains one during the course of the second chapter. While it doesn't physically harm her, it does seem to have other effects...
- Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: The so-far nameless white bird creature in Limbo has six arms, although they're bound behind her back.
