Bibliography (web comic)



Bibliography was a Manga-inspired Web Comic by Cody Shaw, a.k.a. Elagune, about a bookworm with his head firmly out of the clouds named Benjamin Hewitt who takes a different turn down an alley one night. What happens next will change his view of the world - probably forever.

Sadly, Shaw simply stopped updating it at some point in 2012, and never started up again. Its web host, gaijinmanga.com, has since completely disappeared -- not even the Wayback Machine has a copy of the comic.

A discussion about the series remains here at the Giant In the Playground Forum, but like the comic, it simply stops without any warning or closure in early 2011.

"Eve: You know of things like werewolves and vampires, right? They're superstition and monster based on stories people used to tell. But all stories are based on fact."
 * Action Girl: Eve.
 * All Myths Are True: Pretty much. Werewolves, vampires, angels.
 * In fact, it's more or less explained in that way:

"Ben: Why am I so far off-panel?"
 * Ancestral Weapon: The Bibliography itself was given to Ben by his uncle. It may also have come from his parents.
 * Anime Hair
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Terry, basically.
 * Art Evolution
 * Badass Bookworm: Ben is a bookworm. In a Shonen inspired comic, this is pretty much granted.
 * Big Ham "TASTE MY FIST OF JUSTICE!!"
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall:

"Ben: What the fu-- Eve: A real superhero!"
 * Calling Your Attacks
 * Cool Sword: Ocular Blade. Ben's is better, though.
 * Curse Cut Short: Ben gets cut off by Eve.

"Mr.Belmont:But don't worry, Ben, my assistant, Gloria will help Gloria:'WHAM' Hey old man, i'm not going to put up with your sh-"
 * Gloria also cuts herself off.

"The Hero- Ben The Lancer/ Mentor- Tony The Smart Guy/ Team Mom- Satomi The Big Guy- Raoul The Chick/ Cool Big Sis (big eater variety)/ The Team Pet- Eve"
 * Cute Little Fangs: Eve has these. She's also kinda the canine equivalent of a Catgirl, her personality seeming modeled on that of a playful puppy.
 * Disability Superpower: Users of the Occular Codex must sacrifice their eyes to gain power.
 * Not limited to the Occular Codex, as other codexes are also known to receive disabilities in order to gain power. For example, Pages of The Holy Codex (aka Angels) need to pray all the time and are forced into being Lawful.
 * Dramatic Irony: With Roy's little sister. When Tony showed up to tell his parents what had happened, she comes up and babbles about how excited she is that Roy's gonna teach her how to use a paintbrush.
 * Dumb Blond: here although I get the first mistake, I mean, her birthday comes only once every four years.
 * Extranormal Institute: The Belmont House is this, sorta.
 * Eye Beams: Anthony's Lensflash.
 * Fantastic Catholicism
 * Five-Man Band:

"Eve: L-Look! I didn't know it was going to be this wet, okay?"
 * Flat What: Gloria after learning of Ben's arson in chapter 4.
 * Hammerspace: here.
 * High-Class Glass: Thornton has one on.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Irons.
 * Invisible to Normals: Any aspect of a page's appearance that's out of the ordinary (angel and harpy wings, Tony's floating eyeballs, Raoul's horns) can't be seen by someone who hasn't been awakened.
 * Lost Forever: No archive of the series exists anywhere.
 * Male Gaze: Happens after two characters leave after some sprinklers activate. Eve is wearing a thin white shirt...


 * Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Eve to Ben.
 * Masquerade: of the Invisible to Normals variety: people usually do not see the weird world around them, but certain conditions can allow them to be permanently 'awakened'.
 * Meaningful Name. Eve Wolfgang. Guess what kind of mythical monster she is.
 * And one of the kids at the Belmont House, a winged humanoid, is name Micheal.
 * When Ben's friend Raoul Torres awakens, he becomes a Minotaur.
 * Mega Manning: The eponymous book, Ben's "Whitebox Weapon" can recreate any spell-- from any codex-- that hits it, though it can only copy the basic form of the spell.
 * Megaton Punch: Raoul does this the first time he hits someone after becoming a minotaur.
 * Ms. Exposition: Eve. It's lampshaded in chapter 10.
 * Mysterious Parent: Ben's dad, natch.
 * No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Instead of allowing his best friend Roy to going blind, Tony awakened him and let him join the All-Seeing Codex, who all have eye-based powers. Only Roy gets injected with ink descends, and is killed, Tony losing a best friend in the process.
 * No Sense of Direction: Minotaurs of the Cretan codex give up their ability to navigate (i.e., the whole world becomes a labyrinth for them) in exchange for Super Strength. Notably, Raoul somehow moves from a sidewalk to a windowsill.
 * Orphaned Series
 * Our Werewolves Are Different
 * Petting Zoo People: Some of the kids at the Belmont house.
 * Powers as Programs
 * Psycho Serum: Ink. Just Ink. Remember the abyssal in the first chapter? He was pumped full of the stuff.
 * Pungeon Master: Raoul and his Cattle-based puns after becoming a minotaur.
 * Punny Name: Jacques of the Lantern and Jackie Frost.
 * Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Ben and Eve
 * Series Hiatus / Left Hanging: Unfortunately, due to some sticky legal problems (and author inexperience up to a point), this series is no longer updating. The explanation of the whole mess cane be found here and here
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: Ben says this about Even when confronted by his friends about not really being around. This is odd considering that much of the time Ben spends with Eve (his only contact in the awakened world) is spent doing things that many would attribute to a dating couple.
 * Although, he is honestly about it and seems to have no deeper feelings for her besides friendship and gratitude. Which would be... refreshing, in this kind of setting..
 * Shout-Out: Many: Pokémon, One Piece, The Legend of Zelda, Evrae from Final Fantasy X, Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Starcraft, Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Jacob from Dominic Deegan,.
 * Shown Their Work: Averted Telepathic Sprinklers and showed that water makes grease fires worse.
 * Stealth Pun: Jacques of the Lantern is part of the Candle Codex. He's Candle Jack. Good thing he's only a myth. Wait, isn't this comic based on myth.
 * Superpower Lottery: Word of God says that yes, some codices are flat-out more powerful, but a page is likely to be matched with a codex whose powers they will enjoy most, regardless of strength. Recently, it was revealed that there are five "High" Codex Chapters in Tiltstone, which basically means that they have more members than the others.
 * Swiss Army Weapon: It seems the Bibliography could eventually be one.
 * Talking Is a Free Action: Taken to sometimes near-parody extremes. An impromptu autograph session is also a free action for all involved.
 * Curiously averted in the (very wordy) explanation segments of the Masquerade: any character involved are shown doing things other than looking at each other while not moving.
 * Theme Naming: Codices, Pages, Chapters, Librarians, the eponymous Bibliography - everything comes back to books in a way.
 * Throw the Book At Them: Bibliography is a floating encyclopedia that Ben can telikinetically control. This attack was inevitable, and was quickly dubbed the Bibliobonk. Others call it the Bookmerang.
 * Unsound Effect: Punch! Choke! Chokeslam!
 * Also, Butch!
 * Weirdness Censor: In general, being unawakened. There are also artifacts relics that prevent unawakened people from coming within range of certain places.
 * What Could Have Been: In conception, Tony was the main character, and his third and fourth eyes were ghosts. Ben was his sidekick, and an angel. They Fight Crime
 * Wolverine Claws: Eve's Warg Wave.
 * Years Too Early: Here. This is a shonen inspired webcomic. It was inevitable, really.
 * Zettai Ryouiki- Eve, see image above.