Demo

A comic series by Brian Wood (writing) and Becky Cloonan (art).

Each issue is a stand-alone story that follows a single person, dealing with their lives, relationships and emotions. Originally the concept focused on the supernatural: the protagonists discovering powers or abilities, or dealing with ones they already had, and while this is still present in many issues, over time it was slowly de-emphasized.

Originally published by Ait / Planet Lar (Vol. 1). A total of 18 issues were published between November, 2003 to November, 2004. DC's Vertigo imprint published (Vol. 2) as a 6-issue mini-series. It run from April to September, 2010.

Tropes used in Demo include:

• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Kinda... Except, that's the point, so it's not really unexpected.
• Central Theme: Each issue has one, and many have several. As a whole Demo says quite a lot about the human condition, and the juxtaposition of the mundane and the mystical (or at least offbeat).
• Compelling Voice
• Decompressed Comic
• Empathic Shapeshifter
• How Do I Shot Web?: Deconstructed.
• Immortality: Type I
• Involuntary Shapeshifting: "Girl You Want"
• Irony: "Girl You Want"; Kate's powers mean that she physically changes to whatever people want to see whenever they look at her, and she spends the first part of the story lamenting that no one sees her for her. But when she meets someone who doesn't cause her to shapeshift, she immediately jumps to conclusions, projecting her own desires onto this person the same way that everyone else projects their desires onto her.
• Power Incontinence: Why YES.
• Psychic Powers: Several
  • The Empath / Psychic Link: Double subverted
  • Telekinesis
• Something for Everyone: "Girl You Want" again
• Time Travel
• Water Is Air
• Writing Around Trademarks: A coffee place is referred to as Starbucks in "Girl You Want", but a text bubble is conveniently obscuring the store name when we get exterior shots of it.