Karabear Comics Unlimited

Karabear Comics Unlimited is a Superhero anthology comic on Drunk Duck, written and drawn by Ave Messer as a supplement to her Karabear Comics main universe (which has yet to debut). Each issue is a single story, but the comic bounces amongst different characters.

The characters given spotlight so far are:

  • Tempore: a guardian of cosmic order and the prime focus of the first two issues
  • Time and Laser: another guardian of cosmic order, this time from an adjascent multiverse. Cameoed in issue 1 and teamed up with Tempore in issue 2 and received billing on said issue's cover
  • Eiderdown: a transwoman superhero and focus of issues 3 and 4
  • Fractal: a hero who constantly changes between sex, race, height, weight, and age; shown in issue 4
Tropes used in Karabear Comics Unlimited include:
  • Art Shift - Issue 1 starts by using altered photos and pictures made in Hero Machine before showing Ave's art mid-issue. Ave states that this is in part because she doesn't think her art is any good and wanted to spare the reader from it for as long as possible.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space - Tempore may not need to breathe, but he still may qualify, as well as the chaos agents. Time and Laser seems to play this trope much straighter.
  • Bilingual Bonus - The Spanish in issue 4 is supposed to describe the sexual acts that took place a little more, but they were mangled with Babelfish. One may still be able to get what was meant to be said, though
  • Bland-Name Product - Eiderdown has a job interview at Burger Mania in issue 3--an amalgamation of McDonald's (in which such an incident took place), Burger King (name) and Wendy's (basis for the location). In issue 4, you get Jogermiser in the background.
  • Blue and Orange Morality - Order guardians and chaos agents see the world, not in "good" and "evil", but "order" and "chaos", going to whatever ends are needed to uphold said concepts.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall - In a photo segment at the end of each issue, Ave (and/or the mascot, Kara Bear) will address the audience. Also, the Zx*@!!s, a race of chaos agents, will sometimes wave at the reader, look at the book binding or read a previous issue, among other things.
  • Chest Insignia - On her chest, Eiderdown has a picture of a feather drawing a circle like a quill. Atral has an A in a circle on his chest.
  • Cosmic Entity - The order guardians and chaos agents hold this power, or at least some of them. Chaos agent Qlrn was seen flinging a planet effortlessly and having the ability to break from the confines of the comic's panels, and Tempore was ostensibly stronger.
  • Decompressed Comic - Issue 1 used a lot of splash pages, which the author lamented, and still the issues have had extended establishing pages.
  • Disposable Superhero Maker - Eiderdown got her powers when a chaos agent fell on her from a battle in space with Tempore, when the kid later to be called Eiderdown was just a baby. It's presumable that, even under the same circumstances, such an event would not happen again, since the chaos agents are completely unpredictable in all aspects.
  • Domino Mask - Eiderdown wears one, complete with a string to tie it behind her head.
  • It Only Works Once - Tempore lets out a burst of energy that kills all chaos agents in the vicinity in issue 2, but he states why he'll only use it once: he is risking causing chaos himself. It was originally supposed to be that it used too much energy, but Ave thought it didn't sound right.
  • Mascot - Kara Bear, a yellow teddy bear (despite, as Kara mentions in issue 1, "Kara" meaning "black" in German and "Gelb" meaning "yellow").
  • The Multiverse - Multiple multiverses, actually. Tempore is the order guardian for one, and Time and Laser is for the one that contains Eiderdown's universe.
  • No Biological Sex - Tempore shows no differentiating sexual characteristics. He is called by male pronouns primarily out of convenience.
  • Now Buy the Merchandise - After every issue, Ave (or rather, the mascot Kara Bear) begs readers to buy the print comics at the end of each issue.
  • Oh Crap - Eiderdown's response to her attempt to blast some criminals with feathers during her first night, when the wind blows them away shortly after leaving her hand: "Crap". Of course, what she was intending the feathers to do isn't explained.
  • Order Versus Chaos - The order guardians in their eternal struggle against the chaos agents.
  • Space Is Noisy - In the author comments, it's said Tempore can talk in space because it isn't really talking, but that chaos agent Qlrn is talking, because he's a chaos agent. It still doesn't explain a sound effect that happens later, though.
  • Starfish Alien - Qlrn, a chaos agent, is decidedly inhuman, in both look and mannerisms. Order guardians Mosieu and Shal'tatal, as well.
  • Stealth Pun - Eiderdown starts issue 3 at a job interview at a burger place called Burger Mania. Initialled to "BM", it means their burgers (or business practices) are likened to excrement.
  • Superhero - Eiderdown
  • Superhero Prevalence Stages - Eiderdown, as her world's first (powered) superhero, has an example of Early Stage.
  • Suppressed Mammaries - Eiderdown binds her (small) breasts when job applying, because she's still legally male.
  • Three-Way Sex - in issue 4, Eiderdown hooks up with Jenny Everywhere and a superheo called Red Mind.
  • Transsexualism - Eiderdown, the MTF Superhero introduced in issue 3. Also, Astral and Sparkle, introduced in chapter 5.
  • Twofer Token Minority - Eiderdown is a four-fer: Mexican, Laotian, bisexual, and transgender.
  • The Unpronounceable - Chaos agents shown so far have been the Qlrn and the race of Zx*@!!. Neither is particularly easy to pronounce. [1]
  • Weaksauce Weakness - Eiderdown seems to have a severe weakness to wind.
  • Webcomic Print Collection - Each issue is put up for sale on Indy Planet and Comics Monkey after it's finished.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway? - Eiderdown even laments her power--controlling feathers--as stupid. She still decides to fight crime, anyways.
  • Would Hit a Girl - The first thing a (male) thug does to Eiderdown on her first night is punch her.
  • Writing for the Trade - Each issue is read far better as a whole than waiting for each page to update. This despite the fact that the comic updates every weekday until an issue finishes.
  1. "Qlrn" should be simple to pronounce (Ki-learn, just with gliding past the vowels) and "Zx*@!!" is pronounced "Zix (glide over the I) *pinched static* *open static* *pop pop*--annoying, but doable (and I need to come up with a better way to express the pronunciation).
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