A webcomic
where All Myths Are True, which integrates magic, science, and religion in a modern setting. The comic tells the story of two sisters with recently discovered magical powers heading to New Orleans to learn about their origins. Gail is an athletic, katana-wielding Action Girl. Sharon is a lightning shooting former paraplegic.
The story pits the magical Knight Templar organization Vigil against the machinations of the witch Bella Brouchard, with the two sisters caught in between. Trying to save them and avert calamity are detective and magician Saxony Canterbury and his half-Kitsune partner Hayaka.
Experienced a Series Hiatus from September 21, 2009, when artist Grayson Towler decided to concentrate on his professional works, but it returned on December 16, 2013.
This webcomic provides examples of:
- All Myths Are True:
- So far we've had demons from India, biblical characters, Lovecraftian monstrosities, and more...often in the same person.
- Subverted, however, in that they're not quite the versions we know of. For example, Ragnarok already happened (this we learn from a six-foot-tall dwarf), and the Scripture is said to be less than accurate.
- Anti-Villain: Pretty much every villain seen so far has some redeeming features to them- it's just a matter of what their actions say.
- Artifact of Doom: Bella's harp. It's not as bad as other examples of this trope, but will still cause massive catastrophe as a by-product of its intended purpose- bringing the two worlds back together.
- Badass Normal: Grandma Stella Wincott, dad Aaron Curmen. Eventually subverted for both- Stella becomes an Empowered Badass Normal, while Aaron was never normal to begin with.
- Badass Boast:
- Gail gives a particularly chilling one on this page.
- A spoilery example, but Sharon gives a more flippant, but no less badass one at the end of this page.Sharon: You want me... to hit God with a hammer? Man, I've wanted to do that my whole life.
- Gail gives a particularly chilling one on this page.
- Badass Preacher: Gail, sort of. Not really a preacher, but when she starts praying out loud,
epic things are about to go down. - Barehanded Blade Block. Justified: performed on a practice sword by an extraordinarily competent and superhuman fighter.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Gail. A good, kind Christian girl... who will absolutely end you if you do anything to hurt Sharon. Even if it's her own grandmother.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Ishmael Enoch is the vessel for Metatron, and the senior member of Vigil. In his brief appearance, he acts like a very childish fool, but gives some hints of a very sharp and calculating mind, testing Stella on her perception and capacity even while he scampers around like a ferret.
- Biblical Bad Guy:
- Bella's henchman Jude, formerly known as Judas Iscariot.
- Technically the Curmen sisters' grandfather as well, as one of his names is Lucifer. Subverted as he's not actually a bad guy.
- Born Lucky: A possible interpretation of Lily Curmen. She got "trained" to hide her powers by her abusive mother, allowing her to flawlessly evade Vigil's notice for most of her life. She married an archangel who Forgot the Call just in time for them to stumble across each other. When her daughters compromised her secrecy, she got taken into protective custody by Vigil and then hijacked the dream they trapped her in allowing Stella to take charge of her imprisonment. Then her mother took over Vigil and when they tried to relocate her, Aaron was listening in on their plans. And when Stella entered her dream with the assistance of someone she really shouldn't have trusted, Aaron proved exactly why she was so lucky to marry him.
- Cannot Cross Running Water: Hayaka eludes a pack of vampires by luring them onto a train as it's crossing over a river. Every single vampire except the Baron of Denver is thrown off as if they had hit an invisible wall.
- Chekhov's Gun: The baseball Gail hits out of the park and Saxony later picks up. Used to steal Hayaka's white sphere back from the Perivigilum.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Stella Wincott becoming the vessel for the Archangel Michael.
- End of an Age: Ragnarok. Technically The End of the World as We Know It, but the world itself kept on spinning afterward... with some changes, of course.
- Figure It Out Yourself: The Shackled Man (Justified since his ability to predict the future is inversely proportional to how much he involves himself)
- Foreshadowing: ** Aaron Curmen talking about how magical types can forget their magical nature and become ordinary humans like him.
- God Is Dead: Well... Only Mostly Dead, really. At the end of Ragnarok, Yahweh was struck from behind by The Shackled Man, almost killing him. The purpose of the Vigil is to keep him preserved between life and death.
- God Is Evil: Played with. Unreliable Narrator is in full effect on both sides of the argument, but no one can argue that splitting the world in two at Ragnarok was probably not the nicest thing to do. Possibly given even more mileage once it's revealed that Yahweh is half-dead since Ragnarok, and some of the Vigil members keeping him in that state do not want him to wake back up.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: To use the Harp without causing The End of the World as We Know It (again), Saxony and the gang must find all the Anchors that Bella used to make it.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Hayaka is half human half kitsune.
- Holier Than Thou: The comic covers almost the whole spectrum of religious attitudes, and none of them turn out to be evil (flawed, yes, but not out-right evil, Grandma's actions notwithstanding, and the jury is still out on the God-hating Bella Brouchard.)
- Incendiary Exponent: A variation, instead of being on fire Sharon does things while crackling with electricity after being struck by lightning!
- Invisible to Adults: Children are not susceptible to "snow blindness" regardless of whenever or not they have magical aptitudes, thus requiring magical types to be careful around them. It is also the reason adults tend to ignore children.
- Katanas Are Just Better: zigzagged. A traditionally made katana contains some of the forger's faith, making it dangerous to supernaturals. Then a vampire picks up a metal pipe.Vampire: But it's still just a katana. They're surprisingly fragile weapons.
- Large Ham: Aaron Curmen. He even lets out an Evil Laugh at one point.
- The Magic Goes Away: Downplayed. As many characters will tell you, magic is not exactly common since Ragnarok, but there's still magic about if you're willing to look for it.
- Meaningful Background Event: A steady glance at panel 2 of this page will reveal a faint blue glow around Aaron's eyes.
- Meaningful Name: Subverted. Psyche isn't named after the figure from Greek mythology. She is her.
- Messianic Archetype: Gail is a devout believer in God, but unlike her grandmother, she’s more focused on love and kindness, to the point that her faith can cure vampirism. Jude implies she’s more than just an “archetype.”
- Never Mess with Granny: The girls' grandmother, Stella "tough-as-an-iron-battleship" Wincott. This trope is even more so in effect when Stella becomes the vessel for Michael.
- No Such Thing as Wizard Jesus: Averted; Gail, a devout Christian, raises the possibility here. Given that other entities from Christian stories (namely Lucifer, archangels, and Judas Iscariot) have been presented as magical beings in-universe, Wizard Jesus seems likely. If Judas is to be believed, that's exactly what Jesus was.
- Offing the Offspring: Grand-offspring, specifically. Stella attempts to kill Sharon as early as chapter 3 fearing that her abilities are demonic.
- Off with His Head!: Saxony to Bella Brouchard. A rather twisted example, as Bella is still very much alive afterward.
- Our Souls Are Different: Hayaka, being a half-kitsune, has her soul contained in a white ball.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Zigzagged here - they do share the stereotypical weaknesses and strengths. Stronger vampires can cross running water, and so on, though when Jude (AKA Judas Iscariot, yes, that one) eats a clove of garlic in front of a group with every sign of enjoyment, they're utterly dumbstruck.
- Ribcage Ridge: Sharon finds Jormungandr's corpse in the other world.
- Satan Is Good: While Yahweh being evil is unconfirmed, Lucifer (aka Prometheus) has been nothing but decent thus far.
- Satanic Archetype: Ironically, Yahweh is portrayed as having horns, performing a great betrayal and is the one typically blamed for all of the Crapsack World aspects of the setting.
- Shock and Awe: After getting hit by lightning, Sharon acquires the ability to absorb electricity and turn it into super strength and zap people like an electric eel.
- Shout-Out:
- Sharon likes to tell stories. Subversive ones, usually.
- One of the stories Sharon tells about her miraculous healing is that "you would be amazed at how many health problems can be cured by the strategic use of small explosive charges". The person she is speaking to bears quite a resemblance to Riff.
- One to Casablanca here.
- Smug Snake: Grant Grogan, at least at first
- 13 Is Unlucky: An extension of the Missing Floor situation, mixed liberally with Your Mind Makes It Real. The thirteenth floors of hotels, et cetera, are inaccessible spaces by and large. Bella Brouchard hid most of the vampires she'd staked on the 'missing' thirteenth floors of various buildings, an astral space which most folks couldn't see. When the ash stake was destroyed... well.
- Took a Level in Badass: Sharon was badass enough as it was. Then she got her hands on Mjölnir.
- Verbal Tic: Saxony's tendency to rhyme at the end of his sentences.
- Weirdness Censor: Muggles can see and interact with magical events, but tend to overlook them, take them for mundane, and/or suppress the memory. Children don't have it, and are drawn to the supernatural. This is the reason adults tend ignore children, their Weirdness Censor blocks them.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Anyone who possesses Hayaka's white ball can coerce her into do it whatever they want. Grogan gets ahold of it early in the story.
- Wham Line: After Jude kills the man who Gail just cured of vampirism, he justifies his choice with the following:Jude: The ungrateful shit you healed was about to blab. Just like they always do.
Gail: Always? Has someone else cured vampirism?
Jude: Vampirism? No. Try leprosy.
