Serenity Rose

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Chuck: Look, there's been a lot of debate-real scientific debate-over whether or not a... creature as powerful as Ms. Rose can even be considered human at all.
Skarsdayle: Is that right?
Chuck: That's right. And y'know what? If she's not human, then the bill of rights does not apply!
Skarsdayle: I'd like to see you enforce that one, Chuckie dear.
Chuck: Well that's a--
Skarsdayle: Now listen here, my pretty little paper waver. I don't know if my friends are "human" or not, and frankly, I couldn't give two Bleeps. But what I do know is this: these "creatures" as you call them... Well they're forces of nature, Chuck. Godzillas in Tokyo. And it's not us gonna tell them what to do. Can't ask the tsunami to mind the lifeguard, now can we?

A webcomic and print comic about Serenity "Sera" Rose, "the 10th youngest, 8th shortest, 6th 'gothiest,' 22nd most powerful, 38th most respected and 5th most reclusive of the world's 50 known witches." The story is set in Crestfallen, once the home of a coven of witches, later abandoned, and now the "Spookiest Lil' Town in the U.S. of A," and follows Sera as she attempts to live her life and stay out of the public eye.

Made by Aaron Alexovich, who also worked as a character designer on Invader Zim. The complete second volume and starting soon the entirety of the first volume will be[when?] available online.[please verify]

It can be found here.


Tropes used in Serenity Rose include:
  • Ambiguously Gay: Something happened between Maddy and Sera.
    • It's somewhat less ambiguous in the second volume. Quite a few of Sera's dream spawn..thingies are beautiful naked young women. Then again it could just be a self esteem thing.
  • Art Evolution: Compare the first volume with the second. Wholly justifiable since there was nearly 4 years between books, plenty of time to practice.
  • Ax Crazy: Stiletta, complete with Slasher Smile. In her three main appearances so far, she has attacked Sera with an ectoplasmic monster, later slit open Sera's forehead and wrote "Reconsider" in blood after she turns down a job offer, and most recently nearly slit her throat. Aside from it being hinted she may work for the person who offered Sera the job, her motives are unclear.
  • Black and Nerdy: While Merrick is far from the standard type he definitely has a bit of a nerdgasm when he meets Sera for the first time.
  • B-Side Comics: "Welcome to Statickland," although it looks like it isn't continuing in the second volume.
  • Buffy-Speak
  • Chekhov MIA: Maddy
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Tess's first appearance in "Goodbye, Crestfallen"
  • Crawl: In the interspersed news stories in "Goodbye, Crestfallen" the crawl will start off as something realted to the story and then switch to stories regradeing Brittany Spears, a clown cop reality show, the sussess of the "Hooters Bowl", and Miss. America being caught with a "bong-like" devise.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Kelton.
  • Fan Boy: Tiphane Revile, Dread Mortado, and Agatha Eversong all idolize Sera a little too much. They even write songs about her.
    • Best illustrated after she hears their band play, and subsequently throws up:

Sera: Tiphane's prolly rubbing his nose in it right now... soaking it up in his hair.

  • Fatal Flaw: Sera's indecisiveness.
  • Fiery Redhead: Tess.
  • Fourth Wall Mail Slot: Weekly Advice From A Fictional Rock Star Witch
  • Funny Background Event
  • The Lost Woods: The Inconsolable Woods, filled with trolls and other monsters.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Valentine for Stiletta
    • Also Skarsdayle for Rivet Hed.
  • Nietzsche Wannabe: Rivet Hed.
  • Noodle Incident: The aftermath of the bus incident (itself not a noodle incident) is considered the 'second worst scandal in SSI history'. Makes you wonder what could top that.
  • Our Goblins Are Wickeder: Created by witches to act as messengers, assistants, and low-rent jesters. They've since lost direction, and now are primarily a tourist attraction in Crestfallen.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires are more animalistic than usually portrayed, and vampire blood is used as a drug. Vampires are kept sedated so their blood can be collected and sold off, and "The Curse" seems to spread mainly from drug use rather than vampire attacks.
  • Perky Goth: Vicious Whisper
  • Power Incontinence: Witches have pretty good control over their powers, but Sera conjures things in her sleep, including a monstrous creature that tears off a hiker's arm, and later violently tears apart the soldiers sent to stop it.
  • Series Hiatus: Several years passed between the first volume and the second.
  • Show Within a Show: "Bare Knuckles with Chuck St. Hardwell."
  • Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Sera.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Rivet Hed's cynicism versus Vicious Whisper's idealism.
  • The Snark Knight: Sera
  • Strange Girl: Sera is a witch who lives in a creepy old historic mansion, sleeps in a floating bed, and has a swarm of goblins that occasionally attack people outside her home.
  • Strawman Political: Aaron A. is fond of using these. The best examples are the preacher from the "Church of Right Thinking," and, for that matter, "The Church of Right Thinking" is a strawman political for, well, the religious.
  • Teens Are Monsters: Stilletta. If we are to go by the time her grandmother disappeared that puts her at about seventeen. Its probably less obvious because neither she or Sera look their age.
  • Warrior Therapist: Stiletta in "Goodbye Crestfallen."
  • Witch Species: Some people are simply born with magical powers, but it's rare enough that there are only about 50 witches worldwide.
    • There is some method to it. Upon the death of a which, by whatever means, the next baby to be born will become a witch