Todd Allison & the Petunia Violet

"I hate this city. And I hate all you stupid people and all the stupid things you do!"

Todd Allison is the next-door neighbor of Petunia Elkwood, a broke yet perky young lady who also goes to the same newspaper collage club as Todd. Petunia is oddly intrigued by Todd, and in fact refers to him as "the only interesting thing in [her] city". Todd asks Petunia to deliver a letter after the post office is bombed by the serial terrorist 'Violet'; Petunia is followed by Todd to make sure the job gets done. And things just get progressively weirder and awesome from there.

A webcomic by the hugely popular Smack Jeeves artist Nozmo, Todd Allison & the Petunia Violet combines "explosions, bombs, plant biology, chemical engineering, parties, pretty shoes and people swearing" into a beautiful comic worthy of all the fans it has. This comic is now updating on MangaMagazine with shiny new pages. Nozmo is also the creator of the webcomic Alternate.

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Tropes used in Todd Allison & the Petunia Violet include:

• Affably Evil: Elijah, as of Chapter 4. He is a very nice person to his sister, his friend, and people in general. He is also a very nasty person.

"Isn't it a lot better to watch them squirm in pain as they slowly bleed to death?"

• • Lampshaded by Elijah himself, always referring to himself as a terrible person, and- in one instance- "simply miserable."
• Ambiguously Brown: Petunia's entire family.
  • Although, that's probably because they're Aborigine.
• Ax Crazy: Cyril...
• Big Brother Instinct: Petunia's older brother Elijah has this. He showered compliments down on her and has called her "honeycake chocolate pie" with complete seriousness. When he thought that Cyril the streetcar operator had done something to her, he became enraged and shouted that he would "fucking cut that son of a bitch." He appears to be shaping up to be a Knight Templar Big Brother pretty quickly.
  • But then again, chapter 5 hints that he may be some sort of subversion as he didn't seem to care too much when he found out that Petunia was in a room with an armed man. Meredith may play it more straight as he does seem to care.
• Bishonen: Meredith. Indeed.
  • Having a Gender Blender Name doesn't help (although at the time this is set, Meredith was still mostly a boy's name).
  • Also pretty much every other guy, to varying degrees. Except Hobbes.
  • Cyril is so pretty he gets to have Bishie Sparkles.
• The Cameo: Several, mostly from Nozmo's other webcomics and other people's webcomics. Barnaby also makes a brief and painful appearance in Chapter 9.
• Camp Gay: Landon, though done with a lighter hand than other examples.
• Character Name and the Noun Phrase / Name and Name
• Death Glare: Todd Allison.
• Emotionless Girl: The mysterious blue-haired lady who burns down the post office.
• Evilly Affable: Cyril, the streetcar operator and mercenary. He's nice most of the time and likes to tell stories about his past but is genuinely an unlikable person underneath it all. Not that that stops the fangirls.
• Flat What: Todd's response to Hana's summation of Cyril. The expression on his face is simply icing on the cake.
• Foe Yay: Todd and Cyril. See on YMMV for more.
  • For that matter also Cyril and Petunia. Hell, Cyril and everybody.
• Full-Name Basis: Petunia nearly always refers to Todd by his full name. Heck, nearly everyone does.
• Genteel Interbellum Setting
• Handsome Devil. Cyril, oh yes. Lampshaded by Hana.
• Hidden Depths: Petunia shows shades of this from time to time, particularly in chapter 5.
• Important Haircut: A flashback reveals that after deciding to follow Elijah and Meredith into Melbourne, Petunia does this to her Rapunzel Hair... with a kitchen knife.
• Incurable Cough of Death: In a side story/flashback.
• Jerkass: Todd Allison.
• Literal Cliff Hanger: Well, sort of.
• Mysterious Woman
• Nice Hat: Several of the characters sport one.
• Not the Fall That Kills You: Both subverted and not: Petunia is injured from her fall from the ledge, while Todd is perfectly fine after falling to save her. He apparently landed on top of her though, so she probably broke his fall.
• Opera Gloves: Worn by the woman in the first chapter, along with a fur scarf.
• Parental Substitute: Will from the first sidestory is this for Todd.
• Pretty in Mink
• Sharp Dressed Men
• Ship Tease: Todd and Petunia. She seems to be the only person he can be genuinely nice to at times, and he has shown that he cares for her a great deal. He has shown concern over the thought that Cyril would break Petunia's heart, even if this was fueled by someone else's assertions. He even puts an arm around her at one point, to comfort her after she lost her job. It's a big thing for Todd. Petunia, for her part, has gone into a violent rage at the thought of anything bad happening to Todd. It may very well be her only Berserk Button.
  • And then there's Cyril, who has shown quite a bit of interest in Petunia - even moreso than he has in his usual flirtations with everyone else. Landon stated with complete seriousness that Cyril likes and thinks highly of Petunia. In the extra page at the end of chapter 7, Cyril even refers to her as Lady Petunia while talking to someone else. In contrast, he calls Todd Petunia's "pumpkin-headed boyfriend." His interest in her may have to do with the Hidden Depths she showed in chapter 5. Petunia, on the other hand, just seems to fear him.
• Shrinking Violet: Petunia appears to be this.
• Slasher Smile: Elijah shows off a fantastic one on page 20 of chapter 4, while talking about how fun it is to watch people squirm in pain as they slowly bleed to death.
  • Also Cyril the sociopathic streetcar operator/mercenary loves to wear these.
• Take My Hand: Todd and Petunia. Although they both end up falling.
• Tall, Dark and Snarky: Todd Allison.
• Theme Naming: Todd and Clancey's coworkers in the Violet case investigation are all named after famed philosophers: Locke, Rousseau, Hobbes, and Bentham.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Todd Allison coming to terms with death at nine years old.
• Victorian Novel Disease: See "Incurable Cough of Death" above.
• Waistcoat of Style
• Younger Than They Look: Petunia makes a guess at Todd's age...she ends up being seven years off.