Take a bunch of faceted hotties of both sexes, all of different ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation as mains along with colourful side characters, add some thorough historical research on pirates and 17th century society in Europe, romance, comedy, many many tropes (all very sensibly used), some Disney-flavoured art, blend them together and get ready to happily feast your eyes, mind and soul on The Pirate Balthasar, a Historical Fiction treat. It has also won the 2011 Best Romance SmackJeeves Award too.
The plot of The Pirate Balthasar is as follows: Wilson Kane wins a fortune and his future bride at a game of dice from the former pirate Balthasar. When he decides to go and get the girl, he does it the pirate way: by kidnapping her. Not only does he find out that she is more than a pirate could ever want from a wife... but that she has four identical sisters as well! This discovery hits him when his men, who were supposed to help him out, each kidnaps a different girl... and none of them gets the right one! But Wilson Kane wants the girl he had met and no one else! Luckily for him, it will be the girl herself to solve his problem and put an end to his dilemma... a solution that will eventually fling her into a new way of life, aboard the Alidivento, across the Mediterranean sea!
The webcomic is available both in English and in Italian at the sites listed on the author's blog. Lots of Bonus Material there too.
Tropes:
- Action Girl: Castalia Papadopulos, the heroine and aspiring Pirate Girl.
- A Father to His Men: Wilson Kane, although a pretty mercurial one. Uh, he's pretty mercurial, period. And there is also the 'Mommy' Westley.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Both played straight and subverted.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: In conjunction with Gold Digger, Arranged Marriage, and Marry for Love. All both played straight and subverted.
- Anti-Hero: With possibly sprinkles of Loveable Rogue.
- Bar Brawl: The fateful meeting in the tavern.
- Battle Couple: Kane and Castalia with much sword Dual Wielding.
- Big Eater: Cassandra/Kes especially. But both her sisters and cousin can hold their ground here, really.
- Bigger Is Better: Sometimes overlapping with Gag Penis and lampshaded for good measure.
- Blue Blood: Kane is a duke.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Cat and Foxy mostly, occasionally the other characters.
- Break the Cutie: childhood and relatives' fate of some of the characters. Namely Kane's, Cat's, Westley's.
- Casual Kink: See Safe, Sane, and Consensual.
- Chekhov's Gun: Quite a lot, from actual objects to bits of dialogue. Re-reading fuel, ahoy!
- Coming of Age Story: Not to mention a Coming-Out Story.
- Decon-Recon Switch: This comic is the embodiment of it.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Foxy. In spite of his more than respectable toned body, his face is just sooooo cute that it earned him the female shortname Sally (from Solomon) when he was a child which also lead to him avoiding smiling for years.
- Double Entendre: From veggies to literary quotes, have a party!
- Ethical Slut: And adorable.
- Faux Yay: (particularly in its subtrope form Gay Bravado) Two of the characters, and they do it very good-naturedly too. Bow to the masters!
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: But reverted to become useful within the contest of the story.
- Good Flaws, Bad Flaws: One the the strongest point in this comic probably. Those good flaws, let me count the ways.
- Happiness in Slavery: Happily played with.
- Hidden Depths: Uhm... every character basically?
- Hospital Hottie: Westley and Lio.
- I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Pifo, you Guy Magnet.
- I "Uh" You, Too: Cat. My goodness, Cat!
- I Was Quite a Looker: Arguably the aunties trio.
- Kiss-Kiss-Slap: And Slap-Slap-Kiss. And "Shut Up" Kiss. Almost Kiss too. Popcorn, anyone?
- Magnetic Hero: The titular character(s). And quite The Determinator as well.
- Medium Awareness: Often as...
- Interactive Narrator, specifically of the Lemony Narrator variety.
- Memento Macguffin: Played both in serious and comedic moments. Kane's main gauche to Castalia, Westley's braid for... Pifo, Kane's scar In some cases it overlaps with Orphan's Plot Trinket a certain family ring....
- Men Are Uncultured: Both subverted and played straight. Ditto on women.
- Mentor Archetype: Kane's grandpa and The Patriarch, Kane and Westley themselves to some of the younger characters.
- No Periods, Period: Subverted.
- Pirate: Of course. Type 2 to be precise.
- Pirate Parrot: Not really a parrot... but definitely pirate pet.
- Prince Charming: Martin Steeves. The man is Knight In Shining Armour material. He's also developing quite a spectacular case of The Dulcinea Effect for Pea.
- Officer and a Gentleman: Literally.
- Friendly Enemy In regards to Kane and his crew.
- Real Men Wear Pink: In more than one aspect!
- Rousing Speech: When Kane goes all out... oooh boy. The guy knows his stuff. Westley can do it on occasions, as long as it's related to the Power of Love for his lady fair.
- Safe, Sane, and Consensual: No means no and yes means... oh yes! Occasionally — and humorously — reaching Right Through the Wall levels.
- Sex Is Interesting: Especially when used for character development.
- Shirtless Scene: Bless period fashion, part II.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Never tell this to Castalia if you value your well-being. especially if your name is Josh Habel.
- The Hero's Journey: So far it fits comedy, quest, voyage, and return. And a good number of Propp's Functions of Folktales.
- The Lady's Favour: Both played straight, subverted, and gender-switched. Aaaahh, that leather glove, for instance...
- Toilet Humour: The good kind!
- Trickster Archetype: Pifo... and Wilson Kane. Cassandra.
- Weakness Turns Her On: Lio likes 'em cute and submissive. She's the one to lead her love game, yo!
- Weddings for Everyone: Played with.
- The Women Are Safe with Us: and also single young boys. And this leaves good ground for some healthy Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?...