Hazard's Wake

Hazard's Wake is a fantasy webcomic drawn in an Animesque style that takes place in an RPG / JRPG world with a hell of a lot of characters.

The series seems to jump back and forth from Affectionate Parody to epic fantasy story. The story boils down to the individual adventures of the groups while parodying a lot of old RPGs (the old Final Fantasys seem to be the most frequent targets, including an obvious Tellah Expy) but seems to tie into a demon's plot to unlock the sealed northern continent of 'Hazard's Wake'.

The huge cast includes:

• Fatima, a near peerless swords-woman with limited Light ETHER (aka Light Magic) who is ostensibly the main character.
• Kevinsky, local meta-guy, a captain of the guards turned pirate turned mercenary.
• Araceli, a Shy Blue-Haired Girl who has been locked in a tower with ghosts most of her life. She has dreams of monsters who refer to her as the "Eye of the Dark God."
• Solaria, a Holy Knight who uses Sky ETHER to speed her movements. She seems to hide her emotions unless she becomes overly frustrated.
• Milliene, a Psi Knight who lost her memories while overusing her powers. Seems rather attached to Solaria.
• Cress, a Demon Hunter who can use fire elemental attacks but isn't quite able to understand his odd new companions.
• Maple, a powerful healer thanks to her water ETHER, also seems to live in her own reality sometimes.

Tropes used in Hazard's Wake include:

• Action Girl: Many. Fatima and Solaria are the first that come to mind.
• Aerith and Bob: Goes from Malbez and Exor on the Aerith side to Alexander and James on the Bob side.
• Anti-Magic: Both Shin and Kelios have a skill that negates magical attacks. Nifty.
• Calling Your Attacks: Both spells and special attacks always fall into this. Either the character will say it or a bubble will appear labeling the attack, as well as what elemental ETHER it is.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Maple is in her own little world... usually thinking about romance in ways far from rational.
• Combat Tentacles: Krakenhead, appropriately enough.
• Demon Slaying: Cress is of the Church Militant version.
• Functional Magic: It's called ETHER, and is based on an eight-element system.
• Kid Hero: Hiro. He's not exactly the savior that people thought he'd be.
• Loads and Loads of Characters: So many, in fact, that it gets confusing, until they're eventually sorted into a Four Lines, All Waiting deal.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Maple, in her own mind.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Victor.
• Meta Guy: Kevinsky snarks on anything and everything that he can and seems to be semi-aware that he's a comic character.
• Naughty Tentacles: Alluded to.
• New First Comics: The author has redrawn a few of the early strips.
• Painting the Fourth Wall: "She PRONOUNCED a HEART SYMBOL!"
• Rebellious Princess: This seems to be Aileen in a nutshell.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Fluffy's entire reason for being.
• RPG Mechanics Verse: Light hints of this, but usually woven into the story in a way so it doesn't look too jarring. Usually.
• Shrinking Violet: Araceli.
• Stripped to the Bone: Victor's death at the hands of Xantrich.
• Super-Powered Evil Side: Araceli, kind of; she's also Badass Adorable.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Happens occasionally in fight scenes.
• The Team Normal: Kevinsky again. Whether he's even useful or just there for comedic relief is debatable.
• White-Haired Pretty Girl: Zenobia.
• Unsound Effect
  • "*SOUND OF A MONSTROSITY EMERGING!*"
  • "THE CLAW'D!"
  • "*MINTY-FRESH SOUND EFFECT!*"
  • "MEET A FIST!"
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Many: Fatima, Araceli, Elm, Alexander, Exor.