Underburbs
The Underburbs is an indie comic book series created by Joe Haley and T.J. Dort, started in 2005, and continuing to this day. It centers around "Countess" Winifred Pale, a vampire bent on taking over the world with a scroll that turns people into monsters, unfortunately, due to incompetent subordinates and general lack of knowledge about our world, she has yet to succeed. Angela, a human-turned-witch from our world, serves as her Sidekick and viewpoint character.
Eleven issues have been released so far. Issues 1-3 were reprinted as a Trade Paperback with added material. It does not have national distribution, so ways to buy the comic are limited to some Massachusetts comics shops, via www.comixpress.com or by ordering them from the creators themselves at the_underburbs@yahoo.com.
- Action Mom: Angela's Mom
- Affably Evil: Winifred
- Alpha Bitch: Bel.
- Always Someone Better: Bel to Winifred
- Anti-Villain: Winifred.
- Badass Normal: George's father.
- Becoming the Costume: A major plot point in the story, as when exposed to Winifred's scroll, people become the things they're dressed as. At one point, the creators even had an idea to make Angela change into anything by wearing a costume of it, but this was dismissed as "too video-gamey."
- Berserk Button: Winifred does not want Angela to misbehave in front of her father.
- Butt Monkey: The Hammer.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: The big demon at the end of Issue 6 and throughout Issue 7.
- Cloudcuckoolander: George.
- Cute Witch: Angela and her mom.
- Double Agent: Angela is only working with Winifred to make sure that she fails. Although, they later develop as much of a genuine friendship as Winifred's selfishness will allow.
- Everything's Deader with Zombies: Issue 3. 'Nuff said.
- Evil Counterpart: Bel, in terms of Winifred, though both of them self-identify as "evil".
- Evilly Affable: Bel
- Fantastic Racism: Werewolves versus "wolfmen".
- Halloweentown: The Evil Dimension and also the town of Pendleton, after Winifred turns people into monsters.
- Hot Mom: Angela's mother.
- Jerkass: Damon, especially after he's turned into Death Lantern.
- Lack of Empathy: In self-absorbed (Winifred) and more sadistic (Bel) flavors.
- Nerd Glasses: Shelley's glasses.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The man with people for fingers in Issue 7.
- Raising the Steaks: The zombie organ grinder's monkey!
- Shopping Montage: Much of Issue 9.
- Stranger in a Strange School
- Third Person Person: The Hammer
- Zen Survivor: Shelley.