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Line 1: {{work}} [[File:~~noveau_small~~Narbonic_noveau.jpg\|frame\|Someday I will find the secret to your social chemistry.]] {{quote\|"Young lady, you fail to grasp the basic principles of mad science. Common sense would be cheating."\|'''Professor Lupin Madblood'''}} Line 6: {{quote\|''Evil has never been this cute!''}} Answering an innocent job offer, Dave Davenport is drawn into a shocking spiral of vice, crime and moral depravity. Hopelessly ensnared by a madwoman's feminine wiles, can he return to the world of sanity before it is... too late? '''''Narbonic''''' skates over some surprisingly serious territory, but with such a light touch you will probably be too busy laughing to notice. Formerly on a subscription site, the story ended in late 2006, whereupon the entire archive was made free. You can view both the [https://web.archive.org/web/20070925221722/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php regular version] and the [http://~~www.webcomicsnation~~narbonic.com/~~shaenongarrity/narbonic_plus/series.php~~ Director's Cut (wherein cartoonist Shaenon K. Garrity explains the previous-comic background of the major characters, and comments on each strip)]. (And finally please refrain from reading the spoilered text below if you intend reading this comic at some point in the future or are following the Director's Cut in real time.) Immediately after the end of ''Narbonic'', it was followed by ''[[Skin Horse]]'', recently{{when}} revealed to be [[Sequel\|set in the same universe.]]▼ ▲Immediately after the end of ''Narbonic'', it was followed by ''[[Skin Horse]]'', recently revealed to be [[Sequel\|set in the same universe.]] ~~----~~ {{tropelist}} * [[Achievements in Ignorance]]: Dave, who can fix anything. At the very beginning of the strip, he is able to reconstruct a fully functioning weather-control device {{spoiler\|from a broken ''mail sorter'' that Helen tricked him into believing was a broken mail-order doomsday device. ''The resulting device can control pre-existing [[Kill Sat\|Kill Sats]]''.}} Line 53: ** Helen's "underground lair" is actually a storm drain. They just do a ''really'' good job fixing it up. * [[Embarrassing Middle Name]]: Helen ({{spoiler\|Beta}}), Dave ({{spoiler\|Prescott}}), and Mell ({{spoiler\|Wildflower}}). * [[Entertainingly Wrong]]: In [https://web.archive.org/web/20130615004253/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic_plus/series.php?view=archive&chapter=49197#196132 this] strip, Dave comes to the entirely logical but incorrect conclusion that Lovelace is actually Professor Madblood. * [[Evil Laugh]] * [[Fake-Out Make-Out]], sort of * [[Filk Song]]: This has become a running feature in the comments section of the "Director's Cut" re-runs. For example, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130615002901/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic_plus/series.php?view=archive&chapter=32732#strip3 this strip] inspired one reader to compose "In The Dungeon We'll Rot" to the tune of "You're The One That I Want" from the movie version of "Grease". ** [https://web.archive.org/web/20131103180838/http://seananmcguire.com/index.php Seanan McGuire's] [http://seananmcguire.com/songbook.php?id=112 "Oh Helen"], sung by [http://www.vixyandtony.com/ Tony], is about Dave's love for...[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin\|Helen]]. * [[Foreshadowing]]: Almost everything in the comic. Side characters, oddball filler arcs, offhand comments, almost everything comes into play later. * [[For Want of a Nail]]: {{spoiler\|"Listen, Dave. When the time comes, you must refill the swimming pool. Got it?"}} Line 63: Note that, of the scientists who mentioned the settings and casualties of their initial freakouts, [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass\|Helens was the most destructive.]] The competition included a nuclear power station. {{spoiler\|Dave's involves him taking over Madblood's evil lair, killing off the local advanced AI, and uploading his own brain to take it's place.}} * [[Furry Fandom]]: Some elements are heavily parodied in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130615005839/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/users/narbonic/080905most_recent.jpg this strip.] * [[Geeky Analogy]]: Dave does this a lot; since he works for a mad scientist, his analogies with ''[[Star Trek]]'' and [[Marvel Comics]] are usually highly appropriate. * [[Gender Bender]]: First once to test a theory about the [[Third Law of Gender Bending]], later used as a ''sexual roleplay device.'' Line 80: * [[Humanity Ensues]]: Artie is not happy about his acquisition of [[Shapeshifting]] abilities. * [[Hyperspace Mallet]]: Mell's easy access to [[Hammerspace]] has been [[Lampshade Hanging\|lampshaded]] once or twice. ** Especially when [https://web.archive.org/web/20131102073350/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=13021#strip2 she takes out an actual mallet]. {{quote\|'''Helen:''' Where exactly did you get that mallet? '''Mell:''' Whaddya mean? Mallets just happen. }} Line 111: * [[Meanwhile in the Future]] * [[A Million Is a Statistic]]: Played for laughs in the epilogue. * [[Milkman Conspiracy]]: A vast yet conspiratorial organization which consists of guys only named Dave. {{spoiler\| At one point, protagonist Dave Davenport gets kicked out and his name becomes David. The other protagonists don't care and decide to keep calling him Dave anyway.}} * [[My Little Panzer]]: In "A Week of December 18th Story", a parody of A Christmas Story, little (future Mad Scientist) Helen's Christmas toy of choice is the BioBeam 8000 gamma irradiator with 5-liter containment chamber, cesium 137 radiation source, optional remote monitoring station, and a thing on top that tells the time. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140309061234/http://www.gamma-medical.de/products_bestrahlungstechnik_biobeam.html This is apparently a real piece of equipment.] * [[Naked on Arrival]]: When you get kicked out of the afterlife into the mortal world, you're naked. Happens to both Caliban and Mell. * [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Professor Lupin "Wolf" Madblood, Helen Narbon Sr. Line 119 ⟶ 120: {{quote\|'''Present Dave:''' I have no problem believing this is me.}} * [[No Fourth Wall]] * [[Noodle Incident]]: Plenty, but the most literal one was when Helen [https://web.archive.org/web/20131213095332/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=10207 first went mad in an Italian bistro] and caused nine casualties. {{quote\|Dr. Fowler: "Yes, that was simply a '''killer''' pesto wasn't it, Narbon?"}} ** If one [[All There in the Manual\|reads the side story]], added a word or two a day in the filenames, the tale of that Italian Bistro is told. Line 149 ⟶ 150: * [[Shameful Strip]]: After Nick Cricetida is knocked unconscious, he awakes in the villainess's bed naked. * [[Shout-Out]]: When the mutant gerbils escape they are killed by a lop-eared rabbit with a switchblade - Bun-Bun from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. Also, a more subtle one: the Crabtree Grant to Women in Mad Science. Pretty much any film with a mad scientist gets a reference at some point or another. [https://web.archive.org/web/20131213092252/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=9960 Here], the teleporter has a sign barring entry to [[The Fly\|flies]]. [[Shout-Out/To Shakespeare]]: ANTONIO SMITH, FORENSIC LINGUIST! (mis)quotes Shakespeare constantly. Helen's name is a reference to Helena de Narbonne in ''[[All's Well That Ends Well]]''. At a mad scientists' convention, [[2001: A Space Odyssey\|a supercomputer is asked to sing 'Daisy, Daisy']]. {{spoiler\|It refuses.}} * It later takes an opportunity to say: "I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that." Later still, {{spoiler\|as it's being erased, the supercomputer says "Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Will you stop, Dave? I'm afraid. Dave, my mind is going. I can--"}} To ''[[Babylon 5]]'' when Helen [https://web.archive.org/web/20130615014232/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=9958&name=narbonic declares]: {{quote\|Only one man has ever survived my ur-gerbils. He is behind me. You are in front of me.}} Artie's product number, RT-5478, is a reference to Shaenon's birthday. Line 166 ⟶ 167: * [[The Mad Hatter]] * [[They Called Me Mad]] * [[Time Skip]]: Three months, at [https://web.archive.org/web/20131213101738/http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=13508 the ending]. Others are implied to take place in-between storylines, keeping the comic as a whole roughly in real time. * [[Time Travel]] * [[Tongue on the Flagpole]]: The parody of ''[[A Christmas Story]]'' briefly shows a young Dave Davenport yelling "I'm thtuck!" Line 189 ⟶ 190: {{reflist}} {{Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards}} [[Category:~~Narbonic~~{{PAGENAME}}]]▼ [[Category:Webcomics Multiverses]] [[Category:Webcomics Long Runners]] [[Category:Sci Fi Webcomics]] ▲[[Category:Narbonic]] [[Category:Web Comics]] [[Category:Completed Web Comics]]