Daryl and Susie

A humourous fantasy webcomic hosted on Drunk Duck, written and drawn by Gareth Paul Barsby of The Otherworld Anthology. It revolves around Daryl, a dragon who has the unfortunate condition of a hole in his head, where monsters created from his mind come out during his more emotional moments. He picked up the confition when he lived in the magical land of Kirkalan, working as a guardian to the Big Bad Aosoth. Gaining this condition made him realise how wrong he was to follow Aosoth, so after Aosoth was defeated, he moved to Britain to start afresh, even adopting a daughter named Susie. He still has to deal with his head monsters though, and the comic documents how he tries to live a normal life while living with his past and his condition.

The comic generally updates weekly, with 'episodes' round about five pages or more. It can be read at http://www.drunkduck.com/Daryl_and_Susie/

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Tropes used in Daryl and Susie include:

• Action Girl - Denise, a more down-to-earth, serious dragon, who ends up trying to help Daryl live up to his father's legacy.
• Affectionate Parody - Of the Heroic Fantasy genre.
• Almost Kiss - Daryl and Denise have one at the end of 'Take Me Out'.
• Amusing Injuries
• Aosoth and Bob - Kirkalan has Aosoth, Coover, Codd and Gangrene, but also has Daryl, Denise, Bob and Gary.
• The Atoner - Daryl is trying to redeem himself for his days working for Aosoth.
• Back from the Dead - A two-parter revolved around Aosoth's resurrection.
• Barbarian Hero - Parodied with Codd the Barbarian.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind - Daryl and the Mayor's final battle is this.
• Berserk Button - Best not to remind Daryl of his past.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall - The end of 'Name of the Game'.
• Bumbling Dad - Daryl
• The Cameo - 'Dad and Alive' ends with Aosoth going on a date with the Hatter.
• Captain Ersatz - Quite a few of these, especially in Kirkalan. Coover is pretty similar to Eragon and Link, with his companion wizard Gangrene being obviously based on Gandalf. Other stories feature ersatz versions of the Joker and other Gotham villains and, of all characters, Dr Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus.
• Card-Carrying Villain - Aosoth.
• Clipped-Wing Angel - The Mayor in his demonic form is quickly bested by a giant Susie.
• Cowardly Lion - Daryl.
• Dating Catwoman - Denise the heroic dragon is now dating the former minion of her arch-nemesis.
• A Day in the Limelight - There have been 'episodes' starring Coover, Spartypuss and Aruff and Those Two Bad Guys Bob and Gary.
• Designated Hero - Coover was prophecized to destroy Aosoth. Too bad he's pretty much a pretentious idiot and the prophecy was pretty much hooey.
• Doomy Dooms of Doom - GRIMDOOM ISLAND.
• Enfante Terrible - Susie can be this at times.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending - The first 'episode' ended like this.
• Fangs Are Evil - Averted with Daryl and Denise, played straight with Aosoth.
• Foe Yay- Parodied in 'Toon And Out'.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar - A few moments are like this. In 'A Night On The Town', a nerdy girl Daryl meets at a club asks him to go back to her place for some fun ( a game of Dungeons & Dragons), and then there is the end of 'Take Me Out'.
• Girlish Pigtails
• Halloween Episode - 'Halloween: Regurgitation', a very loose parody of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.
• Hat Shop - Daryl's bowler reflects his silly character.
• Laughably Evil - Aosoth isn't as serious as one may think. Some of the head monsters are also quite silly.
• Little Miss Snarker - Susie likes to be one of these with Daryl.
• Lovable Coward - Daryl
• Meaningful Name - Daryl is a dragon, so...
  • Also, Aosoth is named after a mythological female demon.
• Medieval European Fantasy - Kirkalan is based on this.
• Monster Clown - The Smiler, the aforementioned Joker parody.
• Mother Goose - Who is murderous and psychopathic.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much - Denise, a fellow dragon, is critical of Daryl's new lifestyle and how he reflects their species.
• Name and Name
• Nightmare Fetishist - Susie actually likes the monsters that come out of Daryl's head.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed - Aosoth's show gets mocked by 'Matty Mound'
• Only Sane Man - Susie sometimes finds herself exasperated by Daryl's weirdness. Likewise, Gangrene the wizard acts like this to Coover.
• President Evil - Daryl has an entire town in his head, run by a Mayor who becomes a recurring villain.
• The Rashomon - Parodied with 'Rashomonster'
• Saving Christmas - 'Daryl Saves Christmas', of course.
• Shout-Out - Quite a few.
  • Susie is seen watching parodies of Men Behaving Badly and Mongrels, before Daryl suggests 'Happy Green Dinosaur'.
  • Coover at one time says 'Excuse me, princess!'
  • Susie makes a webcomic that bears more than a passing resemblance to Watchmen.
  • For Halloween, Susie dresses as Claudia from Interview with the Vampire.
  • Daryl once ends up laughing at Normal Programme.
  • Daryl meeting his father is a shout out to both Tabaluga and Superman.
• Signature Style - Gareth's stories tend to have lots of weirdness, insanity and warped versions of children's stories and this is no exception. Though it is Lighter and Softer than most of his other works.
• Small Name, Big Ego - Coover, to the anoyance of Gangrene.
• The Starscream - The Mayor
• Straight Man - Denise and Susie play this to Daryl.
• Take That - An evil warlock called 'Zanny' supplies the obligatory slam against Ctrl+Alt+Del.
• Team Pet - Spartypuss
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics - Denise has eyelashes to note her gender.
• Three Amigos - Daryl, Denise and Susie.
• Twitchy Eye - Daryl has one of these during more awkward moments.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight - Daryl can go out in public without his draconic appearance frightening anyone.
• Vile Villain Saccharine Show - The odd little voice in Daryl's head...
• Villain Protagonist - Daryl used to be a villain.
• Villain Team-Up - Aosoth attempts one of these. It doesn't work. Though her team-up with the Mayor of Daryl's head was a bit more successful. At least it seemed that way.
• Webcomic Time - 'Happy Hatch-Day, Dear Daryl' apparently takes place the day after 'We All Scream', but the comics were released a week apart.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy - Part of the reason Daryl is trying to atone is so he doesn't shame his father.
• What Happened to the Mouse? - In the final arc, Denise tells Coover to help her fight the Mayor's army. He is never seen doing that, and never appears after that scene.
• What the Hell, Hero? - How Denise acts towards Daryl when they first meet, and the entire schtick of a voice in Daryl's head.
• X Meets Y- The creator once called it The Trap Door meets Kenny the Shark.