Webcomic / Zodiac (2011)

Super-Anthro-What now?

Zodiac is a superhero Furry Webcomic. Those who have "Extraordinary Powers and Abilities" are required to register with the government; these persons are then often hired by major corporations to protect their interests, with the caveat that they must also perform public service.

The New Dawn corporation is one such business, who are branching out into hiring supers for the first time. Lead by an enigmatic, probably insane board, Zodiac is a team still learning to work together, while many of the established heroes are finding that going public only has drawn their old enemies to them once more.

Also branches off into two other comics, Quetzalcoatlus featuring the Zodiac team and Second Chance featuring Saurus.

After a ten-year long hiatus, the comic returned in 2024 and has begun updating again.

Tropes:

• Affably Evil: Jigsaw. He's one of the villains with the more monstrous appearance, but also very polite and suave, and he praises his foes while fighting them.
• A God Am I: Nightmare considers herself and other superpowered individuals to be gods because of their powers.
• Appendage Assimilation: Jigsaw is an interesting case, as he doesn't particularly have to do this - he simply wants to.

• Badass Normal:
  • Sagittarius is just a very talented soldier.
  • Gemini would qualify as a Empowered Badass Normal if his special technique, briefly appearing to be two rabbits, counted as a power.

• Better than Sex: Hell Hound finds burning someone to death, quote, "Better than any drug or sexual act."
• Big Damn Heroes: Leo showing up to save Capricorn from Basilisk.

• Bilingual Bonus: Near the end of the Vengeance of Incubus mini-arc thingy-jobber the "magic chant" Imani recites evidently translates to "This is a bunch of nonsense written just to fill up space."

• Captain Patriotic: Aries, and not just for his costume.

• Chekhov's Gun: Cancer puts a hidden camera on Libra's sunglasses as part of an elaborate scheme to get a... erm... "look," at Taurus. It's how he eventually discovers that a group of super-villains is attacking Chops' club.

• Cleavage Window: Taurus to compliment her Most Common Superpower and Ms. Fanservice status.

• Damsel in Distress: Imani in the current arc, being one of the hostage of the villains.
• Dark Action Girl: Basilisk, Nightmare and Razer are evil action girls.

• Disproportionate Retribution: Ghoul's big on these. According to his bio, he's killed more people for doing something he considered rude than he has from them attacking him. In the actual comic, he killed one of the bouncers at Chops' bar for making a pass at Nightmare.

• Eldritch Abomination: Pisces. Turns out the DNA he gained doesn't really belong to a "prehistoric sea creature". It is more likely that it came from an alien origin. And, slowly but steadily, this DNA is beginning to take over him, Pisces having troubles controlling his powers.
• Evil Is Petty: The primary reason Nightmare decided to attack Zodiac ahead of schedule was because Taurus stole a guy she was flirting with.
• Expy:
  • Gemini used to be a Punisher style vigilante, right down to the skull on his shirt.
  • The band at Chop's club, Guns 'n Rodents, is practically a Shout-Out to a similar-sounding band. They are indeed rodents. All that's missing are the guns.

• Faux Affably Evil: Nightmare talks a good game, but she makes no secret of the fact that she's a psychotic bitch who thinks she's a god compared to Muggles.
• Fauxtivational Poster: There are two of them in Leo's office. One depicts a nuclear explosion, with the caption "Patience: Don't expect any. Ever." The other shows a grumpy-looking lion, and is captioned "Humor: See notes on Patience."

• Flying Brick: Taurus, with super strength and flight.

• Foregone Conclusion: Reading any of the spin-off comics can result in one:
  • In Quetzalcoatlus, the Zodiac team enlists Jigsaw's expertise to get some info on the Big Bad. He's been imprisoned, meaning that the Zodiac team defeated the other villains in the bar, and that all of them except Jigsaw were either captured or managed to escape.
  • Second Chance begins with Saurus having been recently released from prison, meaning he loses his fight with Aries.
• For the Evulz: By his own admission, pretty much the only reason Hell Hound killed a bunch of bystanders during the fight between Zodiac and the bad guys.
• Four Is Death: The team can be split up into four "elemental" teams (Earth, Air, Fire, and Water). Leo hates the fact that this makes no sense.
• Freak Lab Accident: Taurus gained her powers in a freak factory accident.
• Fridge Logic: In-Universe example, when Virgo wonders how Cancer knew about the band at the club when he was "grounded" by the team leader.
• Full-Frontal Assault: The reason Saurus hid his Sizeshifter powers was because his clothes don't grow with the rest of him. Luckily Nightmare knows people who make Magic Pants for supers.

• The Fundamentalist: Virgo. Played quite seriously - Virgo has a hard time dealing with the fact that her powers do not come directly from God, and she has a harder time working with her teammates, who range from agnostic to anti-religious, but she has so far shown no signs of becoming a [[The War on Straw even admonishing herself at one point for being overly judgmental of the others' choices.
• Funetik Aksent: Hell Hound has an Irish accent.

• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Taurus' eyes glow blue when she gets angry.

• Good-Guy Bar: Deconstructed. The Big Bad Ensemble attack Chops' club essentially because the Zodiac Team happened to be there.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Pisces.
  Libra: Dude! I mean I know he's got regeneration but did you have to break his arm?!
  Gemini: He can regenerate?

• Heel–Face Turn: Saurus, after the events in Second Chance. This is an interesting example since Saurus was originally trying to stop Id because his evil plan would result in Saurus' cessation of existence; however by the end, he has earned the respect of three supers willing to help him become a full-time superhero. The very end implies that Saurus is about to happily accept the offer.

• I Cannot Self-Terminate: Pisces' main reason for joining Zodiac is this; in case he ever loses control of his powers, he's surrounded by a team capable of taking him down.

• Immune to Bullets: Nightmare. Notably, the Chest Shots Only rule is averted, as Saggitarius shoots her in the face.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Aquarius managed to do this to Ghoul with her own arm... Though Ghoul didn't seem that much annoyed by this.
• It's All About Me:
  • Nightmare's primary reason for attacking Chops' in the main comic was that Taurus had stolen a guy from her.
  • It's suggested that Ghoul also used to have this attitude in the past, but not anymore.
• Jack of All Stats: Jigsaw is big, cunning, powerful, and seems to be quite fast, as Cancer observes. Word of God mentions that while he is not the strongest, fastest or toughest of the villains, his performances in all those categories are above-average, and he seems to have some hidden abilities up his sleeve.

• Legacy Hero:
  • Sort of. Aquarius is a shaman who inherited her powers from her parents when they died and her successor(s) will inherit them when she goes. It's implied this is a pretty old tradition.
  • She also played with the trope more directly, as she casually mentioned selling the rights to her previous identity as a superhero called Tempest, meaning that somebody else is now Tempest while she became Aquarius.

• Lovecraftian Superpower: Capricorn and Pisces. Both are Cursed with Awesome and good people, despite the source of their abilities.

• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
  • Nightmare to Taurus. Though others team members have a rough time, this is nothing compared to the humiliation Taurus is suffering, who is completely unable to protect herself from Nightmare, and is so paralyzed in fear that the idea to fight back or flee Nightmare doesn't even cross her mind.
  • Ghoul's magical abilities severely outclass Aquarius'. Good thing for her he buggered off to do something else.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Taurus exaggerates her ditziness to mess with others.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • The Celsius phantasm in Second Chance #3, and Saurus in Second Chance #17.
  • Aquarius did not expect Ghoul to talk back at her after she punched him through his body.
  • Slaver when she discovers that Gemini's multiple personalities are more complicated that she thought, and that she unwillingly released the one personality which should have been left asleep.
  • Libra, upon seeing Cancer’s robot, but before anyone else knew that’s what it was:
    Aries: Is there a problem bud?
    —-> Libra: Could be… There is a damn big robot in the hallway. Is that a problem? ‘Cause if it is, I’m totally prepared to start freaking out anytime.

• Red Eyes, Take Warning: In this case, the justification is subverted: Gemini, being an albino, would naturally have red eyes, but he's also the kind of character where this trope takes full effect. Especially when his true evil side is released by Slaver: his pupils and iris disappears, and his eyes become completely red.

• Self-Made Orphan: Capricorn. Her biological parents involved her in a occult ritual, and it apparently didn't go too well. Some foster parents are also suggested to have met a similar fate.
• Silver Fox: Libra immediately takes quite a liking to Natalia. Learning she is Cancer's grandmother does little to stop him.

• Spit Take: Aries, upon Scorpio's sudden appearance. She even calls the trope by name on the next page!

• Stock Superhero Day Jobs: Subverted; many were government agents, some worked for New Dawn in a non-powered capacity, one was military (Pisces), and one was a graphic artist (Libra). Played straight with the career superhero Aquarius and the student Cancer.

• Superpower Lottery: Libra can have every power he can think of, but he is limited by energy & effort, and the fact he's a bit of a ditz.
• Super Registration Act: As mentioned above. So far it hasn't been portrayed in a negative way at all aside from Nightmare's probably biased description.
• Super Serum: Subverted with Pisces. In trying to create a Super-Soldier formula, they injected him with the DNA of an Eldritch Abomination from outer space.

• Symbol Swearing:
  • “No #@$%&’n way!” which about as close as it gets to a Precision F-Strike from Sagittarius.
  • Leo then proceeds to echo it on the same page.

• Terms of Endangerment: Ghoul is very, very polite. It's quite disturbing to see him call Aquarius "dear" while fighting her.

• Western Zodiac: The team theme. For all characters who know their birthdays, their team insignia is also their birth sign. Virgo and Sagittarius find this highly suspicious.

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