White Noise (webcomic)

White Noise is a post-apocalyptic scifi webcomic by Melinda Timpone, aka madsniper. It follows the story of Wren, a genetically engineered experiment. Following an attack on his colony, Wren must leave the underground Deadlands and venture out into the world, seeking the truth of his origins. Although, with mysterious forces after him and those who would kill him for being a Deadlander, he may have enough of a challenge just surviving.

White Noise updates on Mondays (or used to) and has full-color art. It's worth a look for fans of the superhero, scifi, or post-apocalyptic genres.

Not to be confused with the postmodern novel by Don Delillo of the same name, nor the 2004 film starred by Michael Keaton.

Tropes used in White Noise (webcomic) include:

• After the End: Humanity was reduced to a few thousand, at most, survivors during the invasion. The Earth was reduced to a barren wasteland with roaming clouds of poisonous Murk on the surface.
• Alien Invasion: In the backstory.
• Anyone Can Die
• Apocalypse How: Class 4. The aliens stopped the rotation of the Earth, causing everything not directly attached to bedrock to be thrown into the atmosphere and the air itself to ignite due to the massive friction. The only survivors were those on the three space stations. In the present, Earth is inhabitable, but barely.
• Ax Crazy: Lawler.
• Badass Abnormal: Wren manages to fight off several armed guards despite suffering from starvation, dehydration, exhaustion and murk poisoning. In another fight a character remarks "You must be running on fumes, if you were at 100%, even 50% I'd be toast already." Justified as he was probably built as a Super Soldier.
• Badass Longcoat: Wren in the later chapters. Also Lawler, for a crazy value of Badass.
• Belly Dancer: Anna.
• But Your Wings Are Beautiful: Wren has a long, fluffy, white tail, but in this society, anything that marks one as a mutant is a killing offense.
• Berserk Button : Wren, when he sees Lawler wearing a watch looted from the body of his dead friend.
  • Also continues element of Super-Powered Evil Side and Split Personality
• Bishounen: Wren, oh so very much.
  • Lampshaded at one point:

Wren: *points to his face* No amount of skills will turn this pretty face into a bounty hunter.

• • Anna glomps them.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In a moment when he's caught off guard, Lawler seems to look directly at the audience in shock. Since he's also the resident crazy, for him to be breaking the fourth wall seems pretty acceptable.
• Chekhov's Gun: Shole's watch.
• Fan Service: Anna's bellydancing scene, and Anna and Wren's Christmas backgrounds.
• Cryptic Conversation: Winter talks at Wren this way. Wren rarely understands.
• Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Wren's superlative fighting skills probably came in part from the engineering done by GECOW. His tail and superior balance definitely did. Lohaun says they were attempting to make human weapons.
• Hot Scientist: Lohaun.
• Humans Are Special: Subverted. The aliens came to Earth because there is something special about our DNA, and they apparently wanted to create god-like beings from it. Sadly, this specialness wasn't even close to enough to stand a chance against them when they resisted the invasion.
• Infant Immortality: Averted. The flashback showing the destruction of Earth shows the death of a child of about 5 or 6.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Wren is implied to have it.
• Le Parkour: Wren is apparently a practitioner, at least of the Parkour Tic-Tac.
• Mentor Mascot: Winter, maybe. His cryptic comments are only sometimes helpful to date.
• Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Lohaun isn't evil, per se, but she has no problem continuing the alien's genetic experiments to create human weapons to fight them.
• Ms. Fanservice: Anna's bellydancing scene.
• Oh Crap: Lawler's face when he accidently hits Wren's Berserk Button. An especially powerful moment considering it's Lawler that's being scared shitless.
• Parental Abandonment: Wren parents are never mentioned. This could be because he doesn't know who they are, they don't even know they are parents (see Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke), or he didn't have biological parents at all.
• Petting Zoo People: Wren has a fluffy white tail as a result of the genetic manipulation done to him. If this has any connection to the identical tail found on Winter, it has yet to be revealed.
• Psycho for Hire: Lawler, who is flat out nuts, a sociopath, and probably sadistic. Only his loyalty to Hebe keeps him in check.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Lawler, to a degree.
  • "Would you like some paper?" "Nope."
• Punched Across the Room: Lawler gets, well, thrown across the room- er... rooftop. Possibly by telepathy, or some kind of forcefield - but still technically by Wren's hands.
• Recurring Dreams: Wren has recurring dreams during which he visits with Winter.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Irshen in Book One.
• Slasher Smile: Lawler's primary expression. The second being a Psychotic Smirk.
• Talking in Your Dreams: It's implied that Winter may be real and that the dreams are how he communicates with Wren.
• Terraform: The aliens attempted to terraform Earth after destroying everything on the surface. Their efforts resulted in the poisonous (to humans, anyway) clouds of Murk that roam the surface.
• Took a Level In Badass: What seems to have happened to Wren in the most recent update.
• Unsound Effect: What does a glare sound like? We don't know either.
• We Come in Peace, Shoot to Kill: The aliens who visited Earth a century ago wanted to do genetic experimentation on humans. When the humans resisted, they killed every last one on the surface. Oh, and everything else living on Earth, too.
• The Wall Around the World: The Wall around the States. The citizens within hate and fear those who live outside and only bounty hunters are allowed in or out.