The Fourth Wall is a gag-per-day meta webcomic about, well, Breaking the Fourth Wall, produced by Black Manta Studios and hosted on Tapastic.com.
It stars volatile and swearing-prone cynic Ric, a disgruntled character with an intense fascination toward the real world, and his calmer and (relatively) normal friend, Greg, whose major role is to act as the Straight Man to Ric's many metafiction-related flights of fancy. They are also often joined by a growing roster of bizarre characters in their hijinks, including the mustached Anthropomorphic Personification of the author's own procrastination, the author's very literal Writer's Block, the wandering soul of a dead cat lover, and yes, even the Creator himself.
Sometimes crosses over with its sister comic, Kurumi's After Hours, also by the same team, but by a different artist.
The Fourth Wall can be read here.
The Fourth Wall exhibits the following tropes:
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Ric and Greg often do this, with Ric as the comic and Greg as the straight man.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: No shit, Sherlock. It's nearly the title of the webcomic, and also the very essence thereof.
- Cannot Talk to Women: Greg doesn't have the tiniest idea how to conduct himself around girls, if his first interaction with one in "Where in the World" is anything to go by. Justified due to a lack of female characters in the series.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Parodied by Gloomy-nati, a character from the guest comics, in this strip.
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Creator Breakdown: As of Episode 50, FW's Creator has entered this state, due to some vaguely defined "intense emotions," thus placing the current story arc on a brief hiatus. To compensate for this, the sister comic's artist posted a few guest comics of his own until the original Creator decides to get back to work. - Creator Cameo: The Creator often does this.
- A Day in the Limelight: From being the Deuteragonist of the series, Greg finally gets his break as the hero of the series's first story arc, "Where in the World is Ric Roul."
- Does Not Know How to Say "Thanks": When told to thank the readers as they gain the series's first 21 subscribers, Ric attempts to give the audience a few words of gratitude—while insulting them and giving them a Death Glare."If it weren't for you bitches, we won't be here in the first place, you fuckers!"
- Glorious Mother Russia: Comradesaurus Rex is a communist Russian dinosaur, who believes that "Communism is best believism."
- Interactive Narrator: The Creator regularly argues with the characters and comments on the situation. Exaggerated in "Where in the World," where he actively guides Greg through the plot.
- Marshmallow Hell: . . . or Heaven? In the second guest comic, Kurumi subjects Ric to this.
- No Fourth Wall: Despite being titled after it, the webcomic really had no fourth walls to break to begin with.
- Punny Name: Ric's full name is "Ric Roul," a blatant reference to the "Rickrolling" meme.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Ric is portrayed as very foul-mouthed.
- Transformation Sequence: Greg is given one in the "Where in the World" arc.
