Webcomic / The Word Weary

Elly and the reason she never says "It could always be worse."

Sam: When exactly did we stop pursuing happiness and start avoiding unhappiness?

John: Probably the minute we entered our early 20s.

The Word Weary (sometimes called The Word Weary Comic) is a Stick-Figure Comic webcomic about disappointment, loneliness and love centered around John Kossler, an Author Avatar, and his friends.

The author, John Kossler, makes light of his depression and his position as the omega male in his group of friends. When the comic begins, the audience is introduced to Yorick Kingsley, a performance artist who is somewhat mean to John, Jason Kirkwood, a hard drinking misogynist philosopher and the only member of the group who was in a relationship when the comic started, and Sam Kirkwood, Jason's younger brother and the voice of reason in the group. Soon the characters meet Harry the Hipster and his girlfriend, Elly, an independent Fiery Redhead, to whom John finds himself instantly attracted. Later introduced are Lillith, a girl who plays Dungeons and Dragons and thinks Nerds Are Sexy, her friend, Grace, who prefers being alone to having to deal with immaturity (while still deeply wanting to love and be loved), and Lillith's socially awkward stalker, Nick Trotmann (who's ALSO implied to be an Author Avatar).

The comic is heavily Slice of Life (almost to the point of being a Journal Comic) and much of the humor comes from the friction between the character's personalities. Kossler makes use of puns, Black Comedy, sarcasm and the occasional Bottom of the Barrel Joke. Strewn throughout are Wham Episodes in which all pretense of humor is dropped and the emotions of the characters are explored... but these are pretty rare.

The Word Weary is notable for its tight narrative (issues #4-#79 comprise one day in Webcomic Time) and attention to continuity while maintaining the humor. Kossler has also mentioned numerous times that he tries to make the female characters in the comic as realistic and relatable as possible- while still featuring misogynistic male characters. The comic updates on the 10th, 20th and 30th of each month at 6:00pm Eastern US time.

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Tropes used include:

• Abusive Parents:
  • John mentions off-handedly that his parents were abusive alcoholics.
  • The Mayor seems pretty abusive to his family.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Though initially annoyed at Yorick's shirt with his face on it, John later remarks to himself that he thinks it's funny. He eventually decides to use it as the punchline for the next issue of the in-comic comic.
• Affectionate Parody: Of Peanuts in this "guest comic."
• The Alcoholic: Jason. As stated in this issue, his drinking is driving a wedge between him and his girlfriend.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted with Elly (who's dating a man who cries after being made fun of) and Lillith (who "has a boner" for nerds.) Played straight with Grace, who admits she's really attracted to self-involved men.
• All Men Are Perverts: John sure does like Elly's breasts. He does his best not to show it, though.
  • Elly's breasts seem to attract a lot of attention- John, Mike and little Emile all seem fascinated by them.
• All Women Are Lustful: The female characters are just as interested in sex and intimacy as the male characters.
• Alternate Universe: In which Sam is a Ranger (with Assassin levels), Jason is a Paladin of Tyranny and Yorick is an Elven Rogue. And John is Vladimir Lenin.
• Alt Text: Usually just another joke or John's feelings about the comic in question. Usually. We've seen:
  • An overly detailed personal history of a minor character.
  • Algebraic notation of Scholar's Mate.
  • A long-winded story about the Russian response to the Napoleonic invasion of Austria that happened to take place in a Dallas bar.
• Angrish: Elly's breakdown in this comic.
• Anti-Climax: The last two issues of the Day 1 arc (comics #4-#79) bring most of the comic's plots together until John takes a shot of a Four Horsemen, an extremely alcoholic drink, and blacks out before they can be resolved.
• Arc Words: Comics 40, 41 and 42 all end with the same words: "There's no way this can end badly."
• Art Evolution: Prior to strip 80, all the Caucasian characters were #FFFFFF white. After the beginning of the second arc, Kossler gave them actual skin color and began shading them.
  • One commenter wondered if he were trying out new styles and layouts during his "Guest Strip" week, which immediately preceded that comic.
• Art Shift:
  • During the parts of the series that take place in the Dungeons and Dragons game the characters are playing, the normally bright color palette is replaced with black and white. The monsters featured in the game are also drawn more realistically, with the notable exception of the White Satyr.
  • It's subtle, but the color palette becomes much more drab after the start of the second day. (See Darker and Edgier).
  • During the "Guest Comic Week" that John Kossler admitted he had authored himself, there is a furry comic, a Photo Comic and a parody of Peanuts.
• Ascended Extra: Once a minor character, Mona Byrnewald has become a focal part of the main story.
• Author Appeal: John fits his interest in history (the Dungeons and Dragons game), the occult (Claude and some of the tapestries in The Abbey restaurant) and indie music (many of the titles) into the comic.
  • And Russian culture. Lots and lots of Russian culture.
• Author Avatar: The About section states that five of the characters are based on the author and his friends.
  • Kossler has written in comments that Grace and Poor Trotmann are also avatars.

• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: The concept behind the Dungeons and Dragons game, except it applies to the entire Russian Revolution, not just one person.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Sam is a lot nicer to John than Yorick and Jason, but flies off the handle when provoked enough.
  • John is usually obsequious and quiet... right up until you get him drunk.
• Big "NO!": Elly unleashes one of these to Lillith.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • The White Satyr and John speak French shortly before the Satyr viciously murders the party. The hypertext in that comic contains a French pun.
  • The girl's shirt in this comic doesn't actually say "air" in Japanese. Because it says "fart."

• Bitch Slap: Delivered by Elly to Yorick. Not that he didn't have it coming.

• Boisterous Bruiser: Jason likes to give unsolicited advice and kick people's asses for refusing to call him by whatever name he happens to be calling himself at the time.
• Bottom of the Barrel Joke: Issues #35 and #72 fall into this category; the former being a gay joke and the latter a fart joke. The author lampshades this in both instances.
• Breakout Character: Invoked by name... by Captain Scrotumbutt.
• Brick Joke: Jason went on a long, strange rant in this issue that finally paid off in this one... thirteen months and 105 comics later.

• Carpet of Virility: When Jason and Harry were shown shirtless, they have a little chest hair. John however is COVERED in hair.
  • John said in post that he's even hairier in real life.
• Catchphrase: Jason answers "Who cares?" in response to any question asked about another character's emotional state.
• Caught with Your Pants Down: Customers walking in on employees masturbating has become a bit of a problem.

• Christmas Episode: Appropriately named "A Very Word Weary Christmas."

• Continuity Porn: Justified since the comics all take place close together (see Webcomic Time), but some of the jokes tend to fall flat if you haven't read the whole comic.
• The Corrupter: Jason and Yorick to John. They try, at least.
• Crapsack World: As John said in the comments section of this issue, the main philosophy of The Word Weary is "when it rains, it pours and also you get struck by lightning and one of the paramedics who revives you steals your shoes."
• Crazy Homeless Person: Though a little off-kilter in his conversations with Carolyne, Mona and Harry, Robert seems like a good man who's down on his luck.
• Culture Police: The Mayor has a Grand Jury indict Yorick for his performance art piece.
  • Considering the show itself involves copious amounts of blood and Yorick playing a timpani with his dick, it was really only a matter of time before any kind of police got involved.
• Darker and Edgier: The plot of the second day is a lot darker than than the first. There were hints throughout the first that the plot was about to take a dark turn, so it's justified.
• Deadpan Snarker: Yorick. Pretty much all of his lines so far, in fact.
• Derailing Love Interests: Played with. John was ecstatic when he got Lillith's number, but uses Poor Trotmann's lie that she had a boyfriend as an excuse not to pursue her.
• Deus Angst Machina:
  • John much? On his character page John meets and unnamed girl. When she passes him by, he remarks that it was wrong of him to hope. That may have been his ex-girlfriend, who he describes more in the post on this comic.

• Did They or Didn't They?: Neither John nor Elly remember having sex, but considering they woke up naked together, she believes they did.
• Did You Just Have Sex?: Ostensibly Sam and Lillith in this issue.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Jason opens a bottle of beer on the goddess queen of the sun's face during a dream.

• Easter Egg: When a person clicks on the comic, most will just take you to the image file by itself. Some however lead the viewer to a different website.
• Embarrassing First Name: Elienne goes by Elly.
• Entitled Bastard: Doesn't come up so much in the comic, but Kossler said in a newspaper interview that this is how he sees every character.
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Played straight in the comic's narrative as John, Yorick, Elly, Sam and Lillith all get some nookie within hours of meeting their respective partners, but it's stated that actually getting laid is a relatively rare occurrence for John, Sam, Lillith and Mona.
• Everybody Is Single: Out of the nine main characters, only three are in relationships when the narrative starts.
• Everybody Smokes: Most of the main characters- John, Harry the Hipster, Grace and Poor Trotmann- smoke. Some of the smoking is justified by the fact that John works at a hookah lounge.
• Evil Debt Collector: Played with: In this comic Stan Becks calls Elly and tells her she has to pay back her recently deceased mother's credit card debt, which Morris later reveals is illegal. Though the debt collection ruins Elly financially, the comic implies Stan is just doing what he has to do to save his job.
• Face Palm: Many, many times in reaction to Yorick and Jason's douchebaggery.
• Fan Disservice: The detail on John's ass hair in this comic.
• Feathered Fiend: Jake the blue jay.
• Five Stages of Grief: Parodied as the five stages of drinking.
• Flipping the Bird: John does this when he angrily announces he refuses to do the comic anymore.
• Fortune Teller: Played with by Claude- he reads Tarot on the street even though he doesn't actually put any stock into prognostication.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: All of the characters have Monochromatic Eyes, but Harry is the only character with glasses whose lenses are opaque. Considering he's a manipulative sociopath, he fits this trope nicely.
• Four-Philosophy Ensemble:
  • The Cynic- Jason
  • The Optimist- John
  • The Realist- Sam
  • The Apathetic- Yorick.
• A Friend in Need: Lillith can see how lonely Grace is even though they just recently became friends.
• Friendless Background: Poor Trotmann, most definitely. Grace has a small but tight circle of friends before they had to move away.
• From Bad to Worse: Despite trying to stop the universe from punishing her further in the first arc, the second arc dumps a whole new load of crap onto Elly.
• Furry Baldness: John has more hair on his chest than his head.
• Girlish Pigtails: Lillith.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: John's brain and his penis have an argument about Elly.
• Gratuitous French: Mais oui!
• Guest Strip: Inverted when John Kossler wrote his own guest strips and posted them under different names.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: John, Yorick, Sam and Jason.
• Holding Hands: John reveals that he hasn't held hands with a woman in five and a half years.
• Humans Are Flawed
• Hurricane of Puns: This strip's alt text has a flurry of penis jokes based on how John draws his characters.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Ida to the Mayor.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming:
  • Most titles are names of songs or albums, but the three issues that end with the phrase "there's no way this can end badly (see Arc Words) all end with a variation on "No Way..."
  • Issue 96, in which John and Elly have a conversation but their dialogue isn't written, has no title.
  • The title of issue 61 is the number 61 written in binary and the title of issue 64 is simply called "Nintendo."
• Idiot Hair: The three children featured in the comic all sport it.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Grace, when she's not getting in her own way.
• The Imp: Yorick.
• Incompatible Orientation: Grace's roommate, Gary, muses that they would be a good couple if he were straight.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Oh my yes.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: John goes from The Teetotaler to this because of a particularly bad day.
• I Wrote Our Story: John Kossler is writing a webcomic about John Kossler writing a webcomic.
  • While trying to think of ideas to write his next issue (to be released the next day), it's mentioned John has already completed three. Later at the bar he talks about stealing Yorick's shirt as the punchline for his joke- which was indeed the punchline of issue four of the series.
    • Thus Day One of the comic takes place on March 14, 2011.
• Jerkass: Yorick. So very much so.

  • Tears are vitamins for Yorick!

• Karma Houdini Warranty: Yorick's constant berating of John is usually met with gentle good humor... right up until John starts drinking.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Here, homeless guy! Have some cat food!
• Lampshade Hanging: Grace gets chewed out by her boss for her recent tardiness and points out that she called in the previous Thursday. Sort of like how the comic had been going up late often the week previous to it and John did indeed miss the previous Thursday's update.
  • The title of that issue hangs a lampshade on Lampshade Hanging.
• Lap Pillow: Lillith lets Elly rest in her lap after she discovers her passed out on a bathroom floor.
• Let's See YOU Do Better!: Emile's mother says as much to Elly after she criticizes her parenting.
• Lonely Together: Averted when Poor Trotmann declines to go on a date with Grace.
• Long Pants: One of the defining features of the art style.
• Love Martyr: Elly sticks by Harry even though she's unhappy with being tied down to anyone.
• Made Myself Sad: Happens often.
  • Invoked by name by Yorick.
  • CHEER THE FUCK UP.
• Male Gaze: Though the comic never frames a scene around women's breasts, it's mentioned many times that John pays attention to little else when talking to women.
  • "Look! You can see her boobies jiggle!"
• Men Act, Women Are:
  • Subverted with Grace and Elly, who are as much agents of the story as the male characters.
  • Played straight with Lillith, who has much less character development than the other two and seems to do little more than react to situations.
• Misanthrope Supreme: Many, many of the characters.
  • "Why bother cultivating this girl if you're not going to plough her?"
  • "Just imagine everyone you know disappointing you monumentally! That way you get the satisfaction of being right when they inevitably do and you've gained an important skill! It's called 'foresight!'"
  • "Yeah, buying shit I don't need with money I don't have to make myself feel better when I have no reason to do so. Fun."
• Misogyny: In The Word Weary? NEVER.
• Modesty Bedsheet:
  • Parodied when Elly finds John lying naked on her floor and covers herself in a towel. He wonders to himself why she would bother covering her body if they've had sex.
  • This is justified since she doesn't remember having sex with him and thus wouldn't feel comfortable being naked around him.
• Moment Killer: This issue would have been Love at First Sight had it not been for the inappropriate interjection.
• Monochromatic Eyes: None of the characters have pupils.
• Monster Clown: Yorick's rogue character in the D&D game dresses like a jester. And he's just as acerbic and mean as he is in real life.
• Mood Whiplash: So there were 33 joke-a-day comics and then WHAT THE HELL?!
• Nerds Are Virgins: Subverted.
  • Despite playing Dungeons and Dragons, Jason is in a committed relationship when the comic starts. And John has apparently had sex with someone's girlfriend.
    • Scratch that, TWO people's girlfriends.
  • Lillith really likes nerdy guys.
• Nietzsche Wannabe:
  • A surprising number of characters have made nihilistic tirades:
    • Jason is the most prominent example as the majority of advice he gives seems to be based on a wholly pessimistic worldview.
    • Harry also fits into this trope as he believes everyone he knows will end up disappointing him monumentally.
  • The author may be playing with the trope as all of the Nietzchian monologues are made for comedic effect, possibly signaling that he finds the viewpoint absurd.
• No-Dialogue Episode: Used sparingly but effectively in this issue and this one.
• No Social Skills: John is constantly referring to his inability to talk with girls (except, apparently, for Lillith and Elly). Jason and Yorick managed to get the group kicked out of a restaurant.
• Not Good with Rejection: Grace is visibly angry after Poor Trotmann rejects her offer for a date.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: The author flat out stated in his About section that he is willing to make major changes to the characters.
• "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: John has said in many newsposts that much of the content in the comic is based on real life... even when he ordered pizza in the guise of a Dungeons and Dragons character.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The Mayor ruins a man after claiming a building the man had renovated was historical AFTER the man had spent $150,000 to renovate it.
  • The author stated in a "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer in the comments section that he read an article about something similar happening in Dallas, so it has a little Truth in Television value.
• Offscreen Breakup: Played with in this comic when Gary makes up amusing stories of how he and his boyfriend broke yp to spare Grace the boring details of what actually happened between them.
• Off the Wagon: Subverted- Mona is a recovering heroin addict. Though she hasn't fallen off the wagon, Harry goes out of his way to protect her from bad news for fear she will.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: John and Madeline have one of these discussing "roaches." Hilarity Ensues.
• One-Steve Limit: Subverted with Sam and Sam 2.
• Opposites Attract: Jason and Yorick are dynamic and brash while Sam and John are quieter and more reserved.
• Pet the Dog: It's been revealed Yorick feeds stray cats on his way home from work. Yes, really.
• Playing Drunk: John tries this in order to get Jason to stop plying him to have more alcohol.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Jason worries about their Circle Of Friends after Sam declines going to lunch.
  • The GROUPACALYPSE!
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Parodied and played straight in this issue.
  • My God... WHAT HAVE I DONE?!
• The Rant: The comics in which characters go off on tirades or monologues tend to outnumber the comics in which they don't.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Branden, a friend of the group who works for Yorick, gives one to Yorick after he decides not to fight the injunction on his show.
• Rebellious Spirit: Elly.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Most evident in the relationship between Gary and Grace, but also between Elly and Harry. Sam and John are also blue onis to Jason and Yorick's red.
• Reluctant Fanservice Girl: Elly. She's been naked or nearly naked twice and both times she seemed mortified at the experience.
• Rock Bottom: With her relationship on the rocks and her underpaying job keeping her from getting a car, Elly muses that she's "run out of things to go wrong in her life."
• Secret Police: Morris refers to Harry as "the Gestapo of Upstate New York."
• Seen It All: Ida, the Mayor's assistant, isn't phased at all when he trashes his office and defenestrates his phone.
• Self-Deprecation: LITERALLY THE ENTIRE COMIC.
  • The three guest comics John Kossler wrote himself, as they all poke fun at comic.
• Shrinking Violet: Lillith and John. But John's getting better, it seems.
• Shout-Out:
  • Many of the comics' titles have their names taken from songs. Another is lifted from a William Faulkner novel.
  • Chris mentions employees named Jeph, Danielle and Randy and says they work more than Grace does and manage to be on time. (See Lampshade Hanging above.)
• Shown Their Work: The panels that take place in St. Petersberg are all photos of the city.
• Sibling Yin-Yang:
  • Sam and Jason Kirkwood.
  • Even more pronounced with Harry and Mona Byrnewald.
• Silence Is Golden: This issue.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Nearly every character. Jason especially.
• Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality: A very rare Type 5 as the male and female characters are portrayed with the same amount of agency- that being said, there are many more male characters than female.
• Slut-Shaming: Openly subverted. Mona and Lillith hook up with men shortly after meeting them, but none of the characters who know about their trysts think anything of it. When Elly sleeps with John after knowing him for only a day, she's more concerned about cheating on her boyfriend than the fact that she slept with him.
• Smoking Is Cool:
  • Played straight: Grace is the only character introduced so far who smokes cigarettes regularly. She seems more relaxed and at peace with the world than the other characters. She also has a nerdy white friend who looks up to her.
  • Inverted: Poor Trotmann is the opposite of cool and he smokes hookah at the lounge in which John works.
• Sophisticated as Hell: The characters are all pretty fucking articulate.
• Stalker with a Crush: When Poor Trotmann is introduced, he's staring longingly at a picture of Lillith. Later he tells John she has a boyfriend even though she doesn't.
• Stylistic Suck: Inverted. It's a stick figure comic (the female characters' breasts are... interesting) but when the characters are playing D&D, the monsters and villains are drawn more realistically.
  • In the comic in which John apologizes for missing two weeks of updates, the monsters again show a level of sophistication that doesn't appear in the comic proper.
• Suddenly Sober:
  • Lillith seems pretty drunk when she's talking to Grace during the bar scene, but sobers up pretty quickly when she finds Elly passed out drunk on the bathroom floor.
  • Elly gets so drunk she throws up and passes out in the woman's restroom but seems quite sober when she and Lillith start their conversation.
• Sympathetic Adulterer: Elly feels awful about cheating on her boyfriend, but definitely has her reasons.
• Take That!: Even though he claims to appreciate the novel, the author says in the Alt Text of this comic that half of John Updike's Rabbit, Run is just the author talking about how much he "likes blowjobs and dry humping."
• Talking to Themself:
  • John and Poor Trotmann refer to themselves in the second person during their one-man conversations.
  • Sam takes this to the next level by talking to one of his hallucinations.
  • A very meta example: During the infamous first guest comic week that John authored himself, each comic was prefaced with the correspondence between him and the person making the guest comics. Since he wrote them himself, he was literally talking to himself.
  • Elly when she's trying to console herself.
• Title Drop: Played with. The title of the first comic is used as a punchline in this comic.
• Toilet Humour: Used sparingly.
  • To show that women do indeed think farts are funny.
    • Even Rebecca Cohen of the overtly feminist comic Gyno Star agrees.
  • To show that even villains have to let one rip sometimes.
• Unsound Effect: Often used to explain actions that may be difficult to see because of the art style.
  • Wring!
  • Knead! Knead!
  • An audible SNAP is heard when Sam and Elly break down.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: It's an ensemble piece, but all of the main characters have been douchebags during some point in the comic.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: John, Yorick, Sam and Jason. They're close.
• Wall of Text: The comic can get verbose, but comic 39 takes this trope up to eleven.
• Webcomic Time: Every comic from issue four until 79 WAS ONE DAY.
  • Issue five indicates it's 3:30 in the afternoon and issue 29 states it's almost 9 at night. That means that, in the six weeks that passed between their release, it's only been a few hours.
  • The trend continues in Day Two. As of this writing, it's about lunchtime the day after the story proper starts... which means that, in 140 comics and over a year of updates, it's only been about 24 hours.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: In the second season premier, John wakes up naked on a floor and has no clue how he got there.
• White Male Lead: Out of the nine main characters, six are male, eight are white, all nine are heterosexual.
• You Are Not Alone: Judging by one of the comments the author left in response to a fan who took the comic's themes of loneliness and alienation to heart, John Kossler views his entire comic as one reminder to people that he too feels alone and alienated but finds humor in his situation. YMMV on how effective he is at this.
• You Need to Get Laid: Jason on why John shouldn't pursue Lillith just as a friend.
• You Wake Up in a Room: John wakes from the night of heavy drinking with no clue how he got there.
• Zombie Apocalypse: Parodied in this non-canon comic.

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