Quantum Vibe
Quantum Vibe is a Sci Fi Webcomic created by Scott Bieser under Big Head Press.
Taking place in the year 2523 C.E., the tale follows Nicole Oresme, a girl who has an emotional breakdown following a sudden breakup with her boyfriend Philbert, resulting in her losing her job for not showing up. Figuring that she ought to get her life in shape, she decides to get a new job from a certain Dr. Seamus O Murchadha. In her meeting with Murchadha, she finds out that the job involves experiments having to do with some strange process the Doctor calls "quantum vibremonics"; he wants her to help him in continuing these studies.
The offer seems pretty good, as Nicole would get a fairly high-paying job with a boss who respects her. Furthermore, she would get to travel to many exotic locations across the solar system as the job demanded. But the job turns out to be far more dangerous than Nicole anticipated; following a near-fatal experiment close to the surface of the sun, she has several attempts on her life by assassins of unknown employment and purpose. It appears that Murchadha's experiments are attracting some unwanted and hostile attention....
The strip updates every weekday. Here is the first strip, and here is the latest.
Tropes used in Quantum Vibe include:
- Alternate Universe: Seamus' research project has as its goal the access to these as a new frontier for humanity to explore.
- Author Tract: The "Luna" arc seems to be turning into a way for the author to show off his Libertarian views. (Not, however, in a particularly uninteresting fashion.)
- Bizarre Transhuman Biology: Seamus' botched rejuvenation treatment has presented many odd changes besides turning him into an eight-foot tall, four-hundred pound giant. For example, he can fart at will(and has at least once used that ability to clear a room so he can privately contact someone). One that annoys him to no end is that each strand of his scalp hair has a single, long nerve growing in the center - he prefers having short hair, but can't cut it without the aid of a trustworthy anesthesiologist, as cutting it feels like cutting off fingers.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick - When she's in the middle of a 30-hour trip back from Sol to Mercury, Nicole browses through news articles, physics papers, and eventually - to keep her aggravated and on edge - talk radio.
- Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: Robots are called "Artifolk."
- China Takes Over the World: Well, Mars anyway. Or Huǒxīng, as it's called in the series.
- Expy: Despite his best efforts, Bieser couldn't help but invoke some beloved science fiction characters from other franchises in Quantum Vibe - O Murchada has a lot of Tom Baker's Doctor in him, both in appearance and love of the bizarre. Hari Copperton has a lot of William Ryker in his face and clothes.
- Fan Service: Nicole winds up showing off to the 'camera' here and there, though never past a PG-13 rating. Though this pushes the rating a bit.
- Fantastic Caste System: Terrans have enforced one with cruel genetic engineering. The upper class "executives" are engineered to look good and have pheromones that make you want to trust and respect them. The lowest class "associates" are engineered to be diminutive in body and spirit and to have pheromones that make them repellent and hateful even to themselves. There are also specialist castes in between that we haven't encountered.
- Fantastic Racism:
- The 'loonies' don't much care for anyone who's decidedly different, in particular Belters - their entire court system seems to drive that point home, by claiming that an eighteen-year-old is really three because of how often her home revolved around the sun.
- Also hinted at for Artifolk.
- Film Noir - The Luna arc. Gangsters, crooked cops, nightclubs. You know that the artist is starting to really enjoy himself once Nicole puts on a Badass Longcoat.
- Funetik Aksent - The lunar dialect (used in a lot of media) tends to do this, and adds just a smidgen of Lolcat.
- Future Slang / Pardon My Klingon: Words like "crat" (Obstructive Bureaucrat/crap), "feek" (fuck), and "shuck" (shit/fuck) pop up from time to time.
- Gender Bender: Hitomi, an artifolk courtesan for a ship of four men can change into a man at will.
- Homage: Davis Family Caverns on Luna are a homage to The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.
- Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: The trope applies in spirit. Deep space is filled with gas-giant sized clumps of dark matter. Generation Ships and light-huggers attempting interstellar travel thus get pulled off course or collide with them. As FTL travel capable of bypassing those obstacles has yet to be invented, humanity is effectively trapped in the solar system. And given that every planet, moon, and gap in space in the solar system has been colonized by the 26th century, they're running out of elbow room and are starting to enter a societal decline.
- It Seemed Trivial: "Oh, by the way, your new uniform can turn into an environmental suit." Mentioned less than a day after its owner is sort-of Thrown Out the Airlock.
- Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Thanks to the existence of zinger-surpressors.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Turns out, Nicole is an experimental Ubermensch and Seamus is a donor. That Corrupt Corporate Executive probably too.
- Mary Suetopia: An Invoked Trope - Murchada points out that societies provide the greatest good for the greatest number in their dynamic phase, that is, when they have room to expand and resources to spare. Libertarianism (placing the individual before the group) can only be practiced effectively in such a phase. In all other phases, necessity sacrifices the individual to the group to varying degrees.
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- Mega Corp: Earth is split between two gigantic Mega Corps, and all the other off-world planets and stations seen so far have been owned by corporate joint ventures except for Luna.
- Nixon Mask: Mr. Graves has a holographic mask that is set to President Obama when we first meet him. Later, he switches to Bush and Clinton.
- No New Fashions in the Future / Space Clothes: Flips between these. Many of the styles wouldn't look too out of place in modern society, but just as many draw inspiration from some of the wildest fashions Science Fiction has to offer. The Anysuit actually lets the wearer morph their clothes into whatever they need, including fashions from either of these.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Sort of. Seamus is an Objectivist model "practical physicist"; whereas tame "theoretical physicists" spend their lives in laboratories performing "endless, incremental experimentation and publishing in journals," he "approaches science by jumping in with both feet, grabbing nature by the throat and throttling the truth out of her. As a result his discoveries and inventions are often quite game-changing."
- Orphaned Punchline: "So they find another boy a ways up the roadside, laughing his ass off. They ask him what's wrong and he says, 'I sneezed and that house blew up!'"
- Pointy Ears: Nicole has them, though they're usually covered by her hairstyle. Turns out that it was a fad around the time L-5 was established, so many of their descendants have 'em, and it's the source of elf-related slurs for L-5'ers.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Artifolk can be free or owned as slaves. Mars only has the latter option.
- Word Salad Lyrics: Chari and Prebakar take this trope Up to Eleven.