Namesake (webcomic)

Going down the rabbit hole and beyond

Oz? Like Australia? Wait...the road is yellow. Oh HELL no.

—Emma Crewe, Chapter 2

Namesake is the story of Emma Crewe, a woman who discovers she can visit other worlds. She finds out that these are places she already knows – fantasy and fairy lands made famous through the spoken word, literature and cinema. Her power as a Namesake forces her to act as a protagonist in these familiar stories as she figures out how to get home.

But as she travels, she discovers that those controlling her story have their own selfish goals in mind – and her fate is the key to everyone’s happy ending.

The comic is relatively new but is already chock full of fairy tale references ranging from the obvious to the obscure.

The web comic can be read here: Namesake

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Tropes used in Namesake (webcomic) include:

• Adaptation Expansion: Oh so much. Namesake was based on an unfinished series of comics (called the "Oziad") posted on the artist's live journal. The Oziad was parody of The Wizard of Oz, featuring as main characters dopplegangers of the author and and her friends, as well as the main characters of Slayers. In Namesake, the Oz story is now one part of a journey through a much larger fairytale multiverse; the cast and scope of the story are greatly expanded; original characters have replaced those based on real people and copyrighted characters; and the tone of the story is more serious, instead of parodic.
• Adorkable: The Five of Hearts, when he tries to speak English.
  • Some of Warrick’s more awkward moments may qualify him for this
• The Ageless: It's explained that this is the case for Ozites, but since Dorothies are not born in Oz they will remain externally young but still only have a natural human lifespan, so by the time the original Dorothy died she was still physically young but inside was a very old woman.
• Alice Allusion
• Ambiguously Brown: Emma and Elaine are drawn in a darker shade then the caucasian characters.
• Ambiguously Evil: It’s up in the air what the “ghost” is up to, but so far it’s been painted in a more sinister light
• And I Must Scream: Selva, The Wicked Witch of the East, turned the Munchkin King into a hat box and Selva herself is turned into a purse. Later subverted when Warrick sats she's only still a purse because she wants to be and is just sulking, and she changes back once he apologizes.
  • Subverted with Hercilia, former Wicked Witch of the East. Selva turned her into a pair of magic shoes, and yet she's quite mouthy.
• Anyone Can Die: Boy, that character didn't even last the first chapter.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: If Anlise wasn't before, she certainly is now
• Body Horror: All the pretty red flowers you see on peoples heads...yeah, they'r actually growing out of their heads.
• Curse Cut Short: After being restrained by a card soldier, Ben is none-too-happy with an apologetic Jack.
• Death Glare: Ben and Elaine pull this off.
• Distant Prologue: Namesake starts off with the Reverend Charles Dodgson and Alice Liddell when she returns from Wonderland on June 27, 1863.
• Down the Rabbit Hole: The main caption of the comic and the fact that the portal to other worlds looks a lot like a rabbit hole.
• Dramatic Irony: Any scene where Warrick talks about his sister while holding Emma's purse is this since Selva is the purse, and later subverted since he already knew.
• Mr. Fanservice: Jack and Warrick, anyone?
  • And Ben. If you like geeks.
• Eldritch Abomination : The “ghost” that’s been haunting Emma so far has flavors of this when she finally sees it up close.
• Eye Scream: This page, just this page.
• Fairy Tale: This comic is full of fairytale references
• Feminist Fantasy: Appears to be heading this way, which makes sense since Oz itself was an early example of such, especially since Baum was married to a Suffragette (and in fact based the character of Jinjur partially on the Sufragettes).
• Fractured Fairy Tale
• Genre Savvy: Emma knows she's in Oz from just seeing the yellow brick road. Though the creators have stated that the movie is the only source of knowledge she has.
• Gilligan Cut

Emma: You can't force us to obey you.
{{[http|//www.namesakecomic.com/2012/04/12/sulking/ Five minutes later}}]
[Cut to Emma and company tied to at tree]
Emma: ...
Hercilia: Great plan, Dorothy.

• Grimmification: The stories seem to go from fractured, to re-told, to canon, to darker... It's very cut-and-paste. And awesome that way.
• Half-Identical Twins - Warrick and Selva, and this is also literally true since their mother Adora was half green and half purple, and the twins are respectively green and purple.
• Healing Hands: In a rare male example, Warrick is capable of healing Emma and restores most of Anlise's brain. It seems he can also heal scars.
• I Know Your True Name: Considering the name of this webcomic is "Namesake" and a character seems to have sold her name, this is only bound to be more fitting as the story progresses.
• Insane Troll Logic: Selva lampsahdes the trope after explaining that her plan to save everyone from the poppies was to turn everybody into objects. In her own words, "It made sense at the time."
• Immortal Procreation Clause: Word of God is that this affects Ozites, and while not sterile per se there's not the same need to have them since people don't age unless they want to. The Tin Man and his wife were considered strange for wanting children.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: It's telling that Renge seems to Dorothies as "it."
• Lawful Neutral / True Neutral: Adora became the first and only Neutral Witch of the West, after her heart got broken. Literally as well as figuratively.
• Legacy Character: "The Dorothy" and presumably every other Namesake fits the bill as well, seeing as the Alice we see in the present is different from the Alice we see in the prologue.
• Light Is Not Good: Hinted at first with Anlise, the Witch of the North. Recently, it's been revealed that there's a good reason for her initial suspicious behavior, and that she genuinely does care about the welfare of Oz.
• Literary Agent Hypothesis: Lewis Carroll, aka Charles Dodgson, is this for Alice.
• Loose Canon: The creators have stated that their Oz only follows that of Baum's first six books. Anything seventh book and onwards is basically cut-and-paste/mix-and-match. For example, the Tin Man and Nimmee Ammee got married in Namesake.
• Magical Land: The main character is expected to go to many famous magical lands, starting with OZ.
• Meaningful Name: Not surprising, given the comic's title. Several main characters share the same name as well-known fairy tale protagonists and fill the same roles.
  • Subverted with Hercilia: her name means "Tender; delicate." She is anything but, so it's probably meant to be ironic.
• Mind Control: The poppies do this.
• Move Along, Nothing to See Here- "Time for my best shocked bystander face"
• My Name Is Not Dorothy
• The Ophelia: As of the book 2 intermission, Alice's family believes that she's this, and she doesn't even realize that she's jumped into the pond.
• Original Generation: Besides canon Oz characters there are also Adora, Selva and Warrick, who are new additions to the cast.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: The weird female figure that seems to be following Emma thru Oz is referred to in story as a ghost, but so far it's unclear exactly what it is, though it's briefly implied to be Dorothy, as in the original.
• Reality Warper: Elaine can do this, as a "Writer". It's hinted that Alice could do a different sort of something similar to reality-altering, though not under her control.
• Regent for Life: It's implied Renge is trying to pull off something like this, especially she's the one who's been keeping Ozma asleep.
• Schedule Slip: Averted. This webcomic updates on time. EVERY TIME. And the art quality is always great.
• Shout-Out: In the Christmas strip.
• Splash of Color: Because the artist does not have time to make the comic fully in color, she limits colors to significant scenes/elements. Ex: Red for the poppies in Oz.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: "It's not my fault! Well, most of it isn't my fault. Besides, you don't even know what happened yet."
• Twin Telepathy: Warrick and Selva seem to have a degree of this, since Warrick losing his heart affected Selva enough to lead to the Insane Troll Logic above.
• Wicked Witch: Considering this is a fairy tale theme comic, this is only natural. Although, the Wicked Witch of the East can be argued to be a Hot Witch