Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire: Difference between revisions

[[File:BuckGodotZapGunForHire1_2455.jpg|frame]]

 

There's also a one-off graphic novel, ''PSmIth''. An attempted ongoing comic book folded, due to scheduling and other problems, after a single story arc; but that story arc, ''The Gallimaufry'', is the crowning achievement of the series, the added length allowing new levels of depth and complexity in plot and worldbuilding.

 

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* [[Alien Invasion]]: New Hong Kong is invaded in the uncollected short story "Field of Screams"; it goes very badly for the invaders

** And yet her employee Sizzlin' Sue manages to make her look like a nun. Especially when she's off her meds and drags [[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)|a protesting total stranger into her bedroom]].

* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]

* [[Artificial Gravity]]

* [[Aside Glance]]: Standard in any [[Phil Foglio]] comic.

* [[Attack Hello]]: Standard Hoffmannite greeting.

* [[Baseball Episode]]: "Field of Screams"

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Frakkus Godot and Buck himself. Pretty much any Hoffmanite, at least by reputation.

* [[Boldly Coming]]: Louisa Dem Five's preferred approach to inter-species diplomacy.

* [[Brick Joke]]: {{spoiler|Buck's taxes.}}

* [[The Cat Came Back]]: PSmIth in ''PSmIth'', with a twist

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: The board of X-Tel.

* [[Cute Monster Girl]]: Hyraxx D'Mofiti

* [[Data Crystal]]: Info Points.

* [[Determinator]]

** The TN messenger at the start of ''The Gallimaufry''.

** Hoffmannite courtship, according to Buck Godot himself, ''begins'' with high explosives.

** Buck's matress sports the mention: "SNERTA (Tough enough for a Hoffmannite -- <small>but no funny stuff or forget it.</small>)"

* [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]]: The conclusion of the {{spoiler|Gallimaufry}} storyline.

* [[Due to the Dead]]: A New Hong Kong Wake is a very dark example. You find the murderer, have a chat over their drug-induced confession, and leave them to die.

* [[Friends All Along]]

* [[Foreign Queasine]]: Numerous examples, including a running gag about poiled slurgs, which some races prize as a delicious foodstuff and others prize as an effective oven cleaner.

* [[Genius Loci]]: {{spoiler|Gallimaufry Station}}

* [[God Guise]]: Many of the religions that surround the Winslow. He MAY be actually Divine (immortal, indestructible, and showing signs of [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]), it is just that everyone thinks he is for the wrong reasons.

* [[Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal]]: Well, half-dressed cartoon aliens.

* [[Heavyworlder]]: Buck and the other Hoffmannites -- suprisingly, given the rest of the comic is actually fairly high into the "Hard" scale of sci-fi, they're the fantastical "big and portly" types, rather then the scientifically accurate dwarf (i.e. short, squat, and lean) types. (This may be related to the fact that they didn't evolve, but were engineered -- by a group of genetic engineers whose other projects included a race of centaurs.)

* [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold]]: Louisa Dem Five and the ''Velvet Fist''; she even made a cameo in ''[[XXXenophile]]''! Has Strong opinions about hookers Without a heart of gold.

* [[Humans Are Special]]

** Later played straight -- turns out that while the galaxy as a whole doesn't think much of humans, the really clever aliens know that humans are good at "getting things done", which is why Chief Parahexavoctal, security-chief on a station with literally thousands of different races in habitat, hires a human to investigate one of the biggest mysteries ever -- and why, later, the "Destroy-on-Sight" Beemahs choose to throw their lot in with humanity as well.

** Even the Prime Movers, the [[Lensman|Arisian-like]] superintelligent godlike aliens who, it seems, run the universe, think that humanity is special... apparently because {{spoiler|we think the Winslow is annoying.}}

* [[Human Subspecies]]: Humans have several subspecies created by genetic engineering to live in specific hostile environments.

* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick|Hypercompetent Sidearms]]: Smith and Wesson are clearly the brains of the Pistol Packin' Polaris Packrat's operation.

* [[I Did What I Had to Do]] {{spoiler|Par's response to accusations against him of enslavement and genocide.}}

* [[Immortal Life Is Cheap]]

* [[Info Dump]]

* [[Interfaith Smoothie]]: The Church of Slag-Blah who are "militant agnostics" who celebrate a different religion's holy day every day.

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: The Klegdixal. EVERYONE in the galaxy thinks that they're jerks, but they've actually dedicated their vast knowledge of biotech to preventing biowarfare; see also [[Morality Pet]] below. This is not to say that they are not, in fact, jerks.

* [[Judge, Jury, and Executioner]]

* [[Not the Fall That Kills You]]: The Teleporter incident.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: {{spoiler|1=[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20090609 The Winslow]}}. Maybe.

* [[An Offer You Can't Refuse]]

** In the Teleporter story, the villain founds an entire inhabited colony world just so it will be in danger in a way that forces Buck to discover the Teleporter's secret for X-Tel. Note: This was done while the villain didn't know where in the universe Buck was, or whether he could be found before said planet met its fate. Nice guys, X-Tel.

* [[The Power of Legacy]]: {{spoiler|Security Chief Parahexavoctal}} is revealed to have committed several large-scale crimes in pursuit of his assigned duty, including (but not limited to) genocide and the large-scale enslavement of a sentient race. When confronted with his sins, he continues to claim that he just did what he had to do in order to provide thousands of years of peace on the station. The Prime Mover acknowledges this, and decrees that his record shall stand as a shining example to all his successors with no mention of his crimes. {{spoiler|Par}} smiles and thanks him for fulfilling his ultimate wish, even as he is wiped from existence.

* [[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner]]

* [[Roofless Renovation]]

* [[Running Gag]]: Poiled Slurgs.

* [[Shiny-Looking Spaceships]]

* [[Show Some Leg]]: Louisa Dem Five's strategy for dealing with tax notifiers.

* [[Space Pirate]]: The Pistol Packin' Polaris Packrat

* [[Speech Bubbles]]: Different speech bubble styles for most alien races.

* [[Starfish Aliens]]: So many that it would be easier to list the exceptions. And even the humanoid ones have bizarre alien biology.

'''Oort:''' Don't ask ''me'', Buck. I was raised to ignore a sentient's handicaps. }}

* [[Stout Strength]]: Buck and his relatives.

* [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]]: Lord Thezmothete; the Teleporter; the Prime Mover

* [[Teleporters and Transporters]]: But only the most advanced of the [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] have them.

* [[Thrown Out the Airlock]]: Every race's embassy has an airlock for a ROOF. Parahexavoctal has been known to throw entire embassies out the airlock.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:US Canadian Comics]]

[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books]]

[[Category:Science Fiction Comic Books]]