C'est la Vie (webcomic)



Jennifer Babcock's Slice of Life webcomic about living in Los Angeles. The two principal characters are Mona Montrois, a Paris-born immigrant to the USA, and Donna, her Valley Girl housemate and best friend. Mona is a would-be Sartre or Camus. In contrast, Donna is a lovable airhead.

Supporting characters include Mona's brother Pierre, an illegal immigrant to the USA who is looking to get his green card by marrying Donna. While Donna is aware of this. she does concede that Pierre has a certain French charm about him. He has used his charm ruthlessly and has left a trail of American exes behind him.

There is Lucas Lamoureux, desperate failed actor who is attracted to Mona; and Monsieur Smokey, Mona's favourite childhood toy, a stuffed rabbit with which she has long, meaningful conversations. Other recurring characters include Lucas' bitch-queen from Hell Vietnamese-American ex girlfriend Tiffany Nguyen, and Michael, the socially inept single man from downstairs, who is into mediaeval re-enactments in replica armour and knits his own chain-maille.

C'est la Vie may be found here:-http://www.clv-comic.com/ and here http://www.gocomics.com/comic/explore/812083/8

This webcomic strip provides examples of:

 * All Women Love Shoes:- Donna's anguish while being courted by an older richer man who she does not find attractive, but who buys her all the label brands she can't afford for herself.
 * Berserk Button: Donna, confronted with cruelty to puppy dogs and little kitties. Mona, when not allowed to smoke -- her French birthright -- by repressive American laws. And Mona's French soul is further affronted when, during a picnic on the park, Donna has to explain that American law prohibits drinking alcohol in public - hence no wine...
 * Cannot Talk to Women: Michael.
 * Cone of Shame: A human character, Michael, is forced to wear one as he cannot help picking at an operation site... Michael, we should add, is a little bit "strange" anyway; the author may be building him up into somebody asocial and undersocialized.
 * Creepy Doll: Monsieur Smokey's rather, er, grown-up fixations and preoccupations. In one arc he comes over as Serge Gainsborough to Jane Birkin, with a new female stuffed rabbit doll.
 * The Ditz: Donna. although she sometimes subverts this role by showing flashes of far deeper insight and intelligence that even leave Mona surprised.
 * Dirty Foreigner: both Mona and Pierre are exemplars of this trope. Donna compliments Pierre for the fact he has bothered to shower on their wedding day, to which he replies "Well, hey, it is a special occassion!" (strip for 23/12/11).
 * Everybody Smokes: Mona refuses to bring food to Michael's pot-luck supper on the grounds that she can't cook. She does offer a carton of cigarettes instead.
 * Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Mona's relationship with Monsieur Smokey, her childhood stuffed rabbit, who has something of a life and mind of his own.
 * French Jerk: Pierre. Women usually realise this not long after his charm has run out.
 * Genius Ditz: Donna when her brain switches on and she becomes hypercompetent.
 * Good Angel Bad Angel: * here. In which Donna's demon on the shoulder takes the form of her cynical and caustic best friend, Mona, berating an angel who is a small helpless version of Donna.
 * Loser Protagonist: Lucas. Might also apply to Michael. Although the difference is that Lucas is a loser who fears he's never going to win. Michael is a guy who hasn't properly realised he's already lost.
 * Manipulative Bitch: Tiffany. (see also YMMV)
 * My Beloved Smother: Mona's unseen mother, who still seeks to exert control from several thousand miles away in Paris. Encountered in flashback sequences to Mona's childhood.
 * Myth Stall: Mona first meets the man she's crazy about, Lucas, in November 2003. . Lucas is also crazy about Mona. For eight years running, it's hit and miss, hit and miss, almost this and almost that happening— and not even a real date in all that time. One kiss in eight years. Despite Lucas being described as her future "true love":
 * Opposites Attract: Mona and Donna are complete opposites. One is an introverted chainsmoker who cannot accept fools gladly and has a somewhat fierce, scowling attitude to life; the other is a cheerful, ditzy airhead with a far more shallow and materialistic attitude to life.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: despite her usual somewhat casual attitude to life and personal grooming, Mona manages to upstage the always-stunning Donna on a beach holiday in Hawaii, when Donna realises who all the guys are looking at - and it ain't her...
 * The Odd Couple: Mona has a relaxed attitude toward laundry and housekeeping, spraying her bed linen with Febreze every so often. Her feet have attracted comment, from her one previous significant other. She is also something of an intellectual. Donna is fastidiously neat and well presented.
 * Unkempt Beauty: Mona.