The Chapel Chronicles

The Chapel Chronicles is a hand drawn, full-color webcomic created by Emma T Capps which updates on Fridays with author commentary in English and Spanish.

The strips center around the adventures of Chapel Smith, a zany 11 year-old girl and her hedgehog sidekick, Sir Rupert Tennyson Bollingsworth the First. Chapel loves hats, hates chores, has a little bit of an obsession with Lady Gaga, an archenemy, Fred, with whom she plays games, and in Season One adopts a pet hedgehog. The art has evolved in Season Two to give backgrounds to Chapel, such as a house, and to explore other aspects of her personality. The author sells a Webcomic Print Collection of the 32 strips in Season One.}}

Characters:

Chapel Smith: an 11 year-old girl who loves hats, hates chores, and has a little bit of an obsession with Lady Gaga. She has an archenemy, Fred, who is a plumber and a friend of her dad, with whom she plays various games like Risk, Pictionary, and Battleship.
Fred: a plumber, the best friend of Chapel's father, and Chapel's adversary in playing games such as Risk, Pictionary, Chess, and Battleship.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Chapel’s parents. Their voices appear in the strips but they have not yet appeared in the strips.
Rupert: Chapel’s pet hedgehog whose full name is Sir Rupert Tennyson Bollingsworth the First. Chapel adopts Rupert in "The Elegance of the Hedgehog".

The comic starts here. You probably should start from the beginning to get a real sense of Chapel's character and to understand later references.

Tropes used in The Chapel Chronicles include:

Cool Pet: In Chapter 4, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Chapel adopts a hedgehog. She names him Rupert as a Shoutout to Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Daydream Surprise: In Battleship: The Games Continue, Chapel imagines herself in a submarine being sunk by a patrol boat when in reality, her submarine has been sunk in the game.

Dream Sequence: The comic book ends in a four page Dream Sequence entitled Chapel in Wonderland in which Chapel finds herself dressed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Fred, her archenemy is the Cheshire Cat, Lady Gaga appears having beheaded Justin Bieber, wanting to play chess with flamingos and using Rupert as the ball. Chapel finally leaves and walks off but is still dressed as Alice at the end.

Easter Egg
- In The Folly of Chivalry, the position of the chess pieces are the exact ones referenced by the characters when Alice checkmates in Through the Looking Glass but the black and white suits are reversed.
- In Lobster Delivery, the packing labels on the box (almost impossible to read) say 42 Penny Lane, referring to The Beatles, Millinery Co. Drum Isle, Grand Line, referring to a place in One Piece.

Formally-Named Pet: Rupert, Chapel's pet hedgehog's formal name is Sir Rupert Tennyson Bollingsworth the First

Halloween Cosplay: In a special Halloween strip, Chapel tried on a Gorgeous Period Dress, the Tardis from Doctor Who, finally deciding to wear the outfit of Cardcaptor Sakura with her hedgehog dressed as Kero-chan.

Hat Shop: Chapel has an obsession with hats. Since most of the action occurs outside, she violates the indoor the rule of hat etiquette and substitutes the Rule of Cool. She wears real hats, such as Lady Gaga’s famous lobster and telephone hats, author designed hats, and occasionally her pet hedgehog as an emergency hat accessory.

- Chapel wears a cowboy hat while doing her homework in The Babysitter Arrives, Work Schedule, and The Good, the Bad, and the Hatted. The hat is a Shout Out to the manga One Piece as it’s the hat worn by the character Nico Robin.

Head Pet: Chapel's pet hedgehog, Rupert, occasionally is perched atop Chapel's big head of hair, as in Hedgehog Constitutional

Imagine Spot
- In Chapel in Wonderland, Chapel imagines herself in the book in Alice in Wonderland where others from her life appear in the story.
- In The Good, the Bad, and the Hatted, Chapel imagines herself a gunslinger in one panel.

Impractically Fancy Outfit: In the Gaga Saga, Chapel dresses in an outfit from the Lady Gaga video Bad Romance and a Versace outfit parodied on Glee.

Indulgent Fantasy Segue: When Chapel plays games with her archenemy Fred, she sometimes engages in Indulgent Fantasy Segues. When she is playing Risk in Chapel the Conqueror, she imagines herself taking over the world before discovering that in reality, she has just lost the game. In the Folly of Chivalry, she imagines herself as Sir Lancelot when in reality, she has just been checkmated.

Limited Wardrobe: Chapel’s wardrobe is mainly limited to her Little Black Dress and loads of hats and is easily recognized by her clothing. In Gaga Dress Code and Oblivious to the Obsession, Chapel dresses in Lady Gaga outfits.

Literary Allusion Title: The last four panels of Volume One entitled “Chapel in Wonderland” are a reference to Alice in Wonderland.

Little Black Dress: Chapel wears a little black dress in almost every strip. It’s one of her fundamental characterizations. In Chapter 3 of Season One entitled The Gaga Saga, Chapel wears various Lady Gaga outfits, one from the video Bad Romance and one which was also worn by Quinn on Glee.

Meaningful Name: Rupert, the hedgehog, is named after Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Merch: The author sells Chapel merchandise, such as pins, prints, greeting cards, charms, earrings, etc., on her website.

Nice Hat: Chapel almost always wears a hat. In Lobster Delivery, Phone Call, and Gaga Dress Code, she wears Lady Gaga hats. In Hedgehog Constitutional, she wears her own hedgehog as a hat. In A Chobits Disaster, she is wearing a hat from Azumanga Diaoh which is a representation of Chiyo-chan’s father.

Pimped-Out Dress: The dresses in the Gaga Saga Chapter and in the Halloween Strip certainly qualify.

Playing Pictionary: In a reversal of the usual trope, Chapel draws an photo-realistic Mona Lisa (how slow is that sand?), but Fred can't identify it.

Poker: Chapel plays various games of Poker against Fred with predictable results

Puppy Dog Eyes: In Chapel Guevara^{[dead link]}, Chapel gives her parents huge puppy-dog eyes while trying to get a well, puppy. It doesn't work. She gets a hedgehog instead.

Robe and Wizard Hat: In Dumbledore Voodoo, Chapel wears a wizard cape and hat and uses a wand to find her math journal by using Accio Math Journal.

Shout-Out: The strips have Shout Outs to other authors and works.
- In the The Babysitter Arrives, Chapel is wearing a hat worn by the character Nico Robin in One Piece.
- In The Good, the Bad, and the Hatted, Chapel is reading Hereville by Barry Deustch.
- In Google Epiphany, the computer Chapel is using has the Newton logo from Apple Macintosh.
- In The Folly of Chivalry, the chess pieces are drawn in the style of Through the Looking Glass, the first game for the Apple Macintosh.
- In Oblivious to the Obsession, the color of the Lady Gaga outfit is a Shout Out to the color worn by Quinn in Glee.
- In DVD Collection, Chapel proposes various names for her hedgehog which are all Shout Outs to science fiction television characters.
- In Chapel in Wonderland, Chapel references a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven.
In the final strip of the first season, "Chapel in Wonderland", Chapel imagines herself as Alice with other characters from her strips appearing in Wonderland Cameos.
In Waiting for Buffy and the Whedon Addiction, Chapel is waiting to watch the DVDs of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
In The Babysitter Arrives, Work Schedule, and The Good, the Bad, and the Hatted, Chapel is wearing a hat styled after Nico Robin from One Piece.
In Jam Session, Chapel plays Guitar Hero against, who else, Fred.

Spirited Young Lady: Chapel is a Spirited Young Lady even though she is only 11. Of course, she is wise beyond her years.

Stoic Spectacles: Chapel wears tiny little granny glasses.

Webcomic Print Collection: The Chapel Chronicles Volume One collects the first 32 strips in Season One in a 44 page paperback edition. You can also buy it in select comic stores in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (Showcase Comics), Chicago, Illinois (Chicago Comics), Berkeley, California (Fantastic Comics) and a toy store in San Mateo, California called Talbots Toyland.