Parallel Dementia

Parallel Dementia (first strip) by Ben "834n" Fleuter was a somber webcomic about a world that is under siege by creatures of nightmare and the Templar organisation that secretly defends it. Although there are many bit parts, the story usually holds Character Focus on one of a few key members of the cast:


 * Fall Boxer is a talented maverick Templar who is plagued by Nightmares. She also has lots of bad dreams. Fall is good at using Guns Akimbo. She has something to do with the destruction of the UniCorp tower.
 * Reginald is a tall sentient robot who works with Fall. He's a Genius Bruiser who favors Good Old Fisticuffs.
 * Timothy is a fire demon who now works for Fall. He uses fire, natch.
 * David Shizukana is a former member of the Peace Keepers (riot police) who now works with Fall. He likes to use an assault rifle and grenades.
 * Alexandra "Alexi" Ivanova, Mistress of Blades, is a Russian immigrant and an amazing, fearless Knife Nut. Never underestimate her.

The human figures at the beginning are loose and rubbery, the comic's greatest weakness. However, it had a brilliantly executed Crossover with NJ Huff's Emergency Exit from 2006-12-25 to 2007-06-14 that really seemed to bring out the best in both webcomickers. A comparison of recent strips with the early ones shows great improvement in the human figures, clearly influenced by NJ's style.

Aside from that, the art has nice backgrounds (avoiding a common weakness of webcomics) and makes good use of a wide variety of palettes. Other strengths are good Character Development, a compelling story, creative panel arrangement and choice of POVs, slick written effects, and evocative lettering in general.

As of 18/04/2010, it no longer updates.

Provides examples of:

 * Abnormal Ammo - All the Templars who use firearms have a long list. Amethyst, obsidian, silver, blessed, or even all of these at once!
 * Each is specific to a particular supernatural threat-silver for werewolves, obsidian for angels, blessed for demons, what have you. Agents going into an unknown situation start with a test clip containing one of each, and when they find the one that pisses off their target, they switch to clips of that. "All at once" ammo is for when there's no time to bother with trying to figure out what it is, but is heavily rationed because of the expense of making it.
 * Action Girl - Alexi, Fall.
 * An Ice Person - Miyan.
 * Another Dimension - where the Nightmares come from.
 * Art Evolution - See for yourself.
 * The Atoner - Visage, in his own twisted way. His only reason for existence is to destroy the demon-god Greed, who was created as a result of the destruction of Visage's world, which Visage sees himself as being responsible for.
 * Backstory - Issues #6, #7 and #8 detail Alexi's, Timmy's and Visage's respectively.
 * Badass - Alexi
 * The Cameo - Half the cast!
 * Chekhov's Gun - The vials of blood seen here set up the awesome fight in this later strip.
 * Chekhov's Gunman - Miyan.
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe
 * Conspicuous Trenchcoat - Reginald. Mocked in this guest comic.
 * Dark Action Girl - Miyan.
 * Dark and Troubled Past - Every single major character. If their past is known, it's dark and troubled.
 * Deliberately Monochrome - All of Visage's backstory, with the lone splashes of colour being his fiancé's eyes and the windows of his castle (see Shout-Out below).
 * Determinator - Reginald. He's Made of Iron already, but in Chapter 11 he keeps going even when his armor is broken and he's been pummeled by the mercenaries.
 * Elemental Powers - Both Timmy and Miyan.
 * Evil Detecting Cat - Chainmonster Nightmares are no match for the intrepid Mittens!
 * Eye Scream: recently had an eye cut out.
 * Eyes of Gold - Fall has 'em, as did Sarah, Visage's former fiancé.
 * Fan Nickname - The ... thing that haunts Fall in her dreams, is called "Creepy Chain Guy" or "Samantha" by fans.
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink
 * Fetish Fuel Station Attendant - Miyan.
 * Foe Yay - Tim/Miyan.
 * Oops, turns out they were actually lovers. Yikes.
 * Fourth Wall Mail Slot - on the Message Board.
 * Genius Bruiser - Reg.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars - Midas has two scars over his eyes, but it's not yet clear where his loyalty lies.
 * Guns Akimbo - Fall.
 * Heroic BSOD - Fall has had at least two.
 * The Insomniac - Fall.
 * Interspecies Romance - NJ and Orion (human/zombie). This Squicks David slightly.
 * Jerkass - Timmy.
 * Jigsaw Puzzle Plot
 * Kid With the Leash - Timmy is bound into servitude to Fall.
 * Kill It With Fire -
 * Knife Nut - Alexi.
 * Lightning Reveal - this page.
 * Living Shadow - Lord Greed.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters - See for yourself.
 * Meaningful Name - Midas, Visage.
 * Our Werewolves Are Different - Dearnaley can change forms at will.
 * Panty Shot - Miyan high-kicking Visage in this strip...
 * Painting the Fourth Wall - Virtually any non-human has some kind of special speech bubble, usually becoming more fancy if the increase in power. The comic makes great use of the infinite canvas as well. Also,  causes the panels to crack in   vicinity.
 * Perky Goth - Miyan.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni - Tim and Miyan (although inverted in that Miyan in the Dark Action Girl and Tim is the Anti-Hero).
 * Shout-Out - Issue #8, Masquerade. Visage's backstory is one extended shout out to the Masque of The Red Death, an Edgar Allen Poe story.
 * Shower of Angst - Here.
 * Slasher Smile - Visage. Beneath his mask, he doesn't smile an awful lot though.
 * Don't forget
 * Smoking Is Cool - Alexi Ivanova.
 * Some Call Me... Tim - Timmy, obviously.
 * Speech Bubbles - Most Nightmares get their own distinctive speech bubbles: Timmy has orange ones, Visage's are black and white, Miyan has blue ones, etc.
 * Talking the Monster To Death - Reginald to.
 * The Blob - Visage is made of tar.
 * The Virus - Weregoyles.
 * The World Is Not Ready - The more people know about nightmares, the more there will appear. Because of this, the Templar tries to keep their existence a secret.
 * Those Two Guys - Balcom and Pfister.
 * Unexplained Recovery -  is asked why he's still alive in this strip. His answer? "I got better."
 * Wham! Episode -.
 * White Haired Pretty Guy - Russel Icar.
 * Written Roar - Including some truly epic ones.
 * Written Sound Effect - Some great examples.
 * Your Head Asplode -
 * Your Worst Nightmare - Fall has ... issues.