Death Boy

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"Not on my watch, bitches!"
Death Boy tagline.


Death Boy is a webcomic created by Ian Austin (writer) and Dan Butcher (artist) that parodies the 'dark age' of comic-books by taking a look at how an awful supervillain becomes a not quite so awful superhero. It has been updating since April 2010, and is ongoing..

Silver Age heroism meets Dark Age anti-heroes: Death Boy is a bad ass normal tearing up the streets of Paradise City and clashing with Tezzer (Alien), the Zero League (supervillains) and the drinkers, fiends and critics that seek to plague his every move.

Issue 1 and Issue 2 have been completed. Currently eight pages into Issue 3!

It can be found at https://web.archive.org/web/20120622011815/http://www.deathboycomic.co.uk/

Tropes used in Death Boy include:

  • Arch Enemy: Tezzer for Death Boy, but not the other way round.
  • Badass Normal: Death Boy
  • Captain Ersatz: Death Boy (Batman if Batman swore a lot and kept trying to kill Superman); Tezzer (Superman if Superman used his powers to score with women and get VIP treatment at nightclubs); Zero League (Injustice League if the Injustice League actually worked together for a common goal); Professor Zero (Lex Luthor if Lex Luthor owned an ice-cream truck); Man of Plastic Man (Iron Man if Iron Man was an idiot and built a suit made out of plastic); Skull Lad (Two-Face minus the coin, the personality, and the acid-burned face.)
  • Chest Insignia: Death Boy has a skull.
  • Crapsack World: How Paradise City comes across so far.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Death Boy has never met a snark he couldn't deadpan.
  • Elaborate Underground Base: Hinted at with the HQ of the Zero League.
  • Knight in Sour Armour: Death Boy, even if he'd never admit it.
  • Mad Scientist: Professor Zero once sold ice-cream. He gave it up for SCIENCE!
  • Nineties Anti-Hero: Parody of this trend.
  • Papa Wolf: Death Boy lets a lot go, but Heaven forbid if your crime involves kids.
  • Physical God: Tezzer.
  • Reed Richards Is Useless: The only person Death Boy has defeated in a fight is Man of Plastic Man, who believes he's the most powerful supervillain in the universe.
  • Run the Gauntlet: Death Boy has declared war on the Zero League.
  • Rogues Gallery: Zero League and Tezzer so far.
  • Secret Identity: Not even the readers know who Death Boy is, despite having seen his house.
  • Shout-Out: Too numerous to mention.
  • The Dark Age of Comic Books: Parody of.
  • Thematic Rogues Gallery: Death Boy's rogues share his idiocy!
  • They Killed Kenny: Man of Plastic Man has died twice, and returned with no explanation.