Holy Avenger
A 42-issue Animesque Brazilian comic written by Marcelo Cassaro with art by Erica Awano, set in a medieval fantasy world called Arton, based on the Tabletop RPG Tormenta (a synonym for "Storm" in Portuguese), originally published in the RPG magazine Dragão Brasil. The series also spawned various spinoffs and drama cds.
Arguably the most successful non child-oriented Brazilian comic book, the series is infamous for its outrageous anime references and a combination of fantasy and horror elements with screwball action-comedy.
After losing his place in the pantheon of Arton due to a conspiracy that could exterminate all gods, Sszzass the God of Betrayal and serpents was presumably killed and forever forgotten. In reality he was exiled and extremely weakened. To recover his divine status, he plots a very intricate plan during decades involving various heroes and events.
Taking central part in this plan there are innocent Raised by Wolves druid Lisandra, redheaded Idiot Hero Sandro Galtran, Stripperiffic Cloudcuckoolander elven mage Niele, insanely grumpy dwarf-troglodyte Tork, The Paladin, a legendary fallen hero and his twenty Rubies of Virtue, indestructible magical gems forged by each one of the twenty most powerful gods of Arton and currently scattered all over the world.
Tropes used in Holy Avenger include:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade[context?]
- Action Girl: Lisandra, Loriane, Lenora. Anne to some degree.[context?]
- A Day in the Limelight: Every single main character (and some not so main) got an special issue with one-shot stories featuring them.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: The Dragon-Kings are so insanely titanic and monstrous they can kill just by being seen, yet Beluhga the Queen of White Dragons appear as an extremely beautiful woman in an elegant dress and an ice coronet, and Sckhar the King of Red Dragons as a slender, handsome hedheaded elf.
- Aloof Big Brother: James K. to Anne, or at least what he wants her to think.
- An Ice Person: Beluhga, the queen of the white dragons epitomizes this trope. Her mere presence was enough to turn a region the size of China into a glacial desert.
- Author Avatar: Both Cassaro and Awano. Hilarity Ensues.[context?]
- Authority Equals Asskicking: The seven Dragon Kings, nuff said. The 20 High Priests may count too.[context?]
- A Wizard Did It[context?]
- Berserk Button: May the Gods have mercy of you if you DARE badmouth The Paladin in front of Lisandra...
- Blood Knight: Master Arsenal, the high priest of the God of War.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Just as above, if you want to live a long, healthy life, just stay away of Lisandra and the Rubies of Virtue...
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Broke by two of Sckhar's concubines who wonder if a lot of things they already know keeps being repeated just for the reader's sake.
- Break the Cutie[context?]
- Breath Weapon: Most dragons seem to have one.[context?]
- Calling Your Attacks: Niele in every spell she attempts.
- MOERU MOERU!!!
- City of Adventure: Malpetrim, Valkaria, Triumphus, Vectora.[context?]
- Cool Ship: A pirate ship with butterfly wings, no less.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The fate of the villagers brutally murdered and turned into inhuman monstrosities by Lisandra.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Tarso the king of dracoliches resumes the trope, showing himself as a cute, friendly and good natured little skeleton with a love for ice scream.
- Tenebra, the Goddess of Darkness and patron of all undead is a genuine gentle person who cares for her loved ones.
- Deadpan Snarker: The series provides priceless examples. Anne, Tork, Loriane and the inkeeper Rudd are just a few.
- Deal with the Devil: Niele does this without knowing the consequences by acquiring Sszzass' Eye.
- Death Is Cheap: Actually, ressurection is said to be very expansive, and sometimes does not work.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?[context?]
- Drunk on the Dark Side: The Paladin.
- Eye Scream: Upon realizing that she was forever imprisoned because of Sckhar, Beluhga becomes a little pissed and gouges one of his eyes off.
- Faux Affably Evil: Sszzass, Sckhar, the sea elf Prince Deenar.
- Fertile Feet: Lisandra displays this ability sometimes.
- Final Battle[context?]
- Five-Man Band:
- The Hero before her dive into genocidal insanity: Lisandra
- The Lancer: Sandro
- The Big Guy and Team Dad: Tork, although "big" isn't a proper adjective to him.
- The Smart Guy and Tagalong Kid: Anne K.
- The Chick: Niele, although her Let's Get Dangerous moments of pure crazy awesomeness makes her The Ace.
- The Sixth Ranger: James K. the Pirate Lord, when he's not struggling to survive Niele's Wild Magic.
- Floating Continent: Vectora, the "Sky City".
- Fun Personified: Niele lives for the sake of bringing happiness and smiles to every person she meets. Although she acts like that partially to cover her own insecurities and the guilt she feels for being the (not so) responsible for Lenórienn's destruction as later revealed, the series shows that she already was Fun Personified even after those events.
- Wynna the Goddess of Magic don't just share the same wardrobe of Niele. Those two arguably are the most positive and cheerful characters of the show.
- Heel Face Turn: Aspis[context?]
- Green Thumb: Lisandra shows how this power can be devastating when given to an unstable yandere.
- Highly-Visible Ninja: Practically what Sandro is while trying to be a thief.
- Ice Queen: Beluhga is a more literal example of this trope. Her personality traits are more of a Sugar and Ice Personality or a Defrosting Ice Queen.
- Idiot Hero: Sandro, and his father Leon Galtran to an extent.
- Idol Singer: Niele has an army of devoted fans in Malpetrim.
- Little Miss Badass: Anne K.[context?]
- Lethal Chef: Petra.[context?]
- Love Redeems[context?]
- Love Makes You Crazy[context?]
- Musical Assassin: Lucky Luigi.[context?]
- No Social Skills: Lisandra. Being Raised by Wolves and by a mercenary without contact to civilization does this to one person.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Lisandra[context?]
- Playing with Fire: Sckhar, The Moóck, and, sometimes, Niele.[context?]
- Refuge in Audacity
- Raised by Wolves: Lisandra. Literally, for at last 10 years until Tork come along, anyway.
- Royal Bastard: Prince Mitkov Yudennach III of Yuden.[context?]
- Shrinking Violet: Poor Petra had a lot of bad stuff happening to her life that practically destroyed her self-confidence. She gets better towards the end of the series.
- Sinister Scythe: A troglodyte character wields one.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Niele loves this trope.[context?]
- The Dreaded: Master Arsenal is a frequent source of nightmares for the majority of people in Arton, and he is just one of many. Thwor Ironfist, Vectorius, Schkar, The Paladin, Nekapeth, Gwen Haggenfar, Black Skull and Niele herself enlarges the list.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: James K. incompetent crew.
- The Fair Folk: Pondsmânia is an entire country occupied by all kinds of fae creatures, from butterfly-winged sprites to powerfull otherworldly beings.
- Tsundere: Hilariously enough, Captain James K. is a huge tsundere for Niele. He is a type A (being very tsun tsun towards her most of the time).
- What the Hell, Hero?: The Paladin's selfish, arrogant and ambitious behavior was a hint that something wasn't right with him.
- Winter Royal Lady: Queen Beluhga, to the core.
- Wizarding School: The Arcane Academy.
- Woman in Black: Tenebra, the Goddess of Darkness and the undead. Still, unlike the archetypal image of her in most people minds, she is a rather benevolent, gentle and caring deity responsible for one of the most memorable Pet the Dog moments in the series.
- Yandere: Lisandra does not welcome slanderous filth about The Paladin. Because he is important! He is her hero! And she loves him! She will do everything to recover his precious rubies, and Heaven helps those who cross her path while she gets more and more powerful and emotionally unstable...
- You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Beluhga, Tarso, Sckhar, and the other Dragon Kings.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Niele is just the most blatant example. Justified that most elves have unusual hair colors.