The Meek

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"Find the center, the lost one will know the way. A woman who cries but sheds no tears, and a man who hates in the name of love."

The Meek is a graphic novel about Angora, an inexperienced young girl who has been sent on a quest to save the world. War looms on the horizon, and at its helm is Luca DeSadar, the Emperor of the North, and his hellish adviser. The two countries are overwhelmed with as much terror, crime, disease and revolution as they are with those who wish to create peace. Armed with only her instincts and an unexplainable power, she must experience and judge the world and decide once and for all if it is truly worth saving.

Readers take warning, the first chapter is definitely Not Safe for Work. You know, cause she's naked for most of it.

Tropes used in The Meek include:

• Accidental Pun: See Curse Cut Short.
• All There in the Manual:
  • The Meekipedia provides loads of background information on the setting, characters and different cultures.
  • The comic's DeviantART gallery contains several sketches, including those of characters who won't be appearing for a few chapters.
• Ass in Ambassador: Tesa, though it bites her in the ass in the next page. Her companion Lethy on the other hand seems to be much better at it.
• Attempted Rape: The very first scene features Angora dashing naked through the woods, pursued by three men who haven't "seen one woman...for months," and are "not losing this one." She's saved by her own running skills and the interference of an angry drunk. Worth noting is that Angora appears to have no idea what they wanted to do to her.
• Author Appeal: The author admits to liking sideburns and gloves, Pinter has sideburns while Luca happens to have both. The author is also a trained biologist, and though not blatant this knowledge does show up in the comic.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Luca, who earlier in life qualified for Asskicking Equals Authority, and Amen.
• Background Halo: The cover of the first chapter.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Pretty much averted in the first chapter, but Angora's showing signs of it in the fourth.
• Banana Republic: The Northern Territories ruled by Emperor Luca seem to have aspects of this, including background information that he dissolved the cabinet and essentially became a dictator.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Luca and Phe started out like this (it's stated in the Wiki that they didn't get along too well when they first met) and even after about two decades of marriage still have a bit of this, including fairly frequent arguments that involve things getting thrown. They do however deeply and sincerely love each other and always make up.
• Berserk Button
  • Don't spill any of Pinter's booze.
  • Or badmouth Angora's hair.
  • Or tell Luca the Carissi aren't enemies.
  • Or tell Soli she doesn't understand sacrifice.
• Bifauxnen: Soli. Lethy, too.
• Big Brother Instinct: Pinter towards Angora. Yes, he finds her irritating, but it's obvious he's protective of her, especially when would-be rapist Kiz is around.
• Brick Joke: The wen in the first page of chapter one appears again at the end of the chapter, and he finally got his fruit.
• By The Book Officer: Amen
• Cast of Snowflakes: As testament to the skill of the artist, despite the relatively simple art style no two characters look exactly alike.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The first chapter is pretty lighthearted for the most part, but Chapters 2 and 3 certainly aren't following suit.
• Closed Door Rapport: Phe locks her husband Luca out of their bedroom after a heated argument got out of hand and gives him an ultimatum; he can have his revenge, or her, but not both. It's not until Luca apologises does Phe open the door and drag him inside for make-up sex.
• Cradle of Loneliness: Luca cradles his wife's body for an extended period of time after her death here.
• Cryptic Conversation: Cryptic inner monolouge, technically. Although, if if you keep an eye out, you may be able to find some answers.
• Curse Cut Short:

Alamand: It's hotter than a donkey's buttho-- Soli: Alamand. Alamand: --out there.

• • Earlier:

Pinter: What the h- Angora: Hello!

• Decoy Protagonist: In a fit of Genre Savvy-ness, the author chose to have Innocent Fanservice Girl Angora head up the first chapter. After grabbing everyone's attention with Rule of Sexy, the more mature character of Luca was introduced in the next chapter. Angora is still a main character, she's just Out of Focus due to the comic using Rotating Arcs.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Luca's values (especially his views on women and his own wife and daughters) are quite deliberately politically incorrect and racist, reflecting the culture he comes from.
• Department of Redundancy Department:

Pinter: You can start by putting on a shirt like a god-damned normal, modest, respectable, civilized, sane, normal person! Angora: You said "normal" twice!

• Divine Chessboard
• Domestic Abuse: Although it's well known that Luca and Phe fight and then make up, the arrival of the ambassadors causes Luca to cross the line. Der-Shing outright says that their relationship is unhealthy and dysfunctional on many levels. And yet, they're Happily Married with bouts of great make-up sex and plenty of Crowning Moments of Heartwarming between them.
• Dropped a Bridget On Him: Soli to Amen.
• Mr. Fanservice: Amen, if the reader's responses to his introduction are anything to go by.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Rana eavesdropping on her parents gives the reader backstory on Luca and the current political climate.
• Eyepatch of Power: The boss of Tyros wears one, which seems to cover his missing left eye.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Somewhat averted, the three ethnicities aren't like any found on earth, but the Pasori are kind of like very militant Finno-Ugric people and the Carissi have a Byzantium vibe to their architecture.
• Foot Focus: Both Angora, a girl, and Alamand, a guy, are portrayed barefoot, and both of them (especially Angora) get close-up shots.
• Foreign Cuss Word: When Luca gets mad, he reverts to his native language of Basori, the insults of which are apparently quite colorful. The author won't say exactly what he's saying, but it's easy enough to fill in the blank.
• Foreshadowing: "You can have your revenge, Luca, or you can have me. But you won't have both." As one commenter put it after page 33 of chapter 2, "Well, that solves that problem".
• Fourth Wall Mail Slot: Soli has been known to chat with the readers.
• Freak-Out: Luca after Phe is killed.
• Grey and Gray Morality: You know you have a complex plot when a dictator who silences dissidents is the only person holding the morally correct position in the aftermath of a war.
• Groin Attack: Happens to Kiz. He deserved it, though.
• Hair Colors: Although it's a fantasy comic, everyone has natural hair colors- with one obvious exception. Angora has green hair, but this is not considered normal. It's been described as both green and mossy, and it apparently blooms. Flashbacks show it to have originally been a normal colour (brown).
• Heroic Sacrifice: The kid boss of the Tyros trade network is shot at the heart while trying to get the kids to escape from soldiers.
• Hope Spot: The comic where it briefly looks like Luca won't go on a murderous rampage after Phe's death.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Pinter berates Angora for not respecting his personal space. Her response? Getting right into his face and screaming, "Yes I do!"
  • Later on Luca insists to his wife Phe that he doesn't need her help, only to need her help fastening his jacket. Supplemental material says that several of his fingers were broken in the past (hence why the appear purple), so it's possible that he really can't do it himself.
• Inelegant Blubbering: "Next time you’re at a dinner party at which you are accused of murdering the host’s wife, remember to wear waterproof mascara! Rookie error." Really, Tessa's face in the third panel is almost enough to balance the Oh Crap feeling one gets from the last panel. Almost.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Angora is the new poster-girl for this trope, having summed up the entire trope in one elegant quote. She arrives in the comic nude, sees no need to dress, and is downright confused when people ask her about it. She does put on a pair of pants (and only pants) at the end of the first chapter, which Word of God says is an allegory for her losing her innocence during her trip. Interestingly, Angora lived in a commune called "The Monastery," a sort of druidic community deep in the jungle, however, they did not encourage (nor share in) her nudism.
• I Resemble That Remark: See Hypocritical Humor above.
• It Got Worse: Much worse. Also, Luca's life in general is a case of It Got Worse.
• Kid Sidekick: Alamand appears to be this for Soli.
• Killed Off for Real: Phe.
• Laughing Mad: Luca, when Phe is dead. A much weaker, possibly mocking version comes from offscreen shortly afterward courtesy of the Dagre . What shows someone losing it better than Dissonant Laughter?
• Literary Allusion Title: To the Bible: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5)
• Little No: Luca, and the context is one hell of a Tear Jerker.

"Oh no. No. No. No."

• Maligned Mixed Marriage: Luca and Phe. Subverted a bit in that their children aren't persecuted for mixed heritage, and they don't seem to be either anymore (this could be because Luca is a Badass dictator and you don't mess with him).
• Meaningful Background Event: The coughing in page 31 of chapter 2. See also this page and look very closely at the cover of chapter 2.
• Mood Whiplash: Chapter three starts off as a rather hilarious chapter, but then, in the most recent page, shortly after introducing the boss, all the kids are forced to retreat due to oncoming soldiers, and a gunshot is heard, heavily implying that the boss was killed.
• Naked on Arrival: Angora. It doesn't stop at "arrival."
• Nightmare Face: Good God, Luca.
• Obviously Evil: The Dagre may be this.
• Oh Crap: Tessa's face when she realizes Phe listened to her insulting her husband. Lethy, on the other hand, seems to be mentally screaming at her companion.
• Open the Iris: "Just watch!"
• The Password Is Always Something's Butt: Apparently, the kids in the hideout have a one-track mind.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "That was wise." Delivered by Luca before burning Tesa's face off.
• Sand in My Eyes: Luca would like you to know that he do not--- is not crying.
• Sarashi: Soli wears one as a chest-binding.
• Scenery Censor: Conveniently placed props or limbs obscure Angora's nether regions, but nipples are fair game to show. Although the penultimate panel of page 15 resorts to Barbie Doll Anatomy.
• Scenery Porn
• Schedule Slip: Happened once due to a catastrophic computer failure, and, more recently, due to the author getting a new job.
• Series Hiatus: An apparently unscheduled one starting in July 2011.
• Shown Their Work: Der-Shing is a biology major, and even thought the webcomic is fantasy, it shows. One prime example is the depictions of a poisoning and a subsequent tracheotomy. All in lovingly non-Gory Discretion Shot rendered detail.
• Simultaneous Arcs: Chapter one deals with Angora near a rural logging camp, while chapter 2 is focused on Luca, within a (presumably) large city. Chapter 3 is about Soli, and begins in a desert.
• Slasher Smile: "In Pasori culture, toothy smiling does not connote good humour."
• Somebody Else's Problem: Queen Symon Amakessar refuses to take any responsibility for the brutal war that her father waged against the Northern Territories. Luca points out, quite rightly, that it was not her father alone that committed atrocities against his people. And then Phe points out that everyone who did commit those atrocities is now dead, so there's no one left to be held responsible.
• Spit Take: This comic.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: Angora's Grandfather, a giant olm (cave salamander), warned her cryptically of Luca, who associates with a giant, ghostly tiger.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Luca and Phe. He's shorter than her and is implied to be The Napoleon.
• Title Drop: In this page, Alamand refers to the chapter title "Water in the Desert."
• Treacherous Advisor: The Dagre doesn't come off as a very nice or benevolent sort. Not even to Luca. Also Luca's Spirit Advisor.
• Wall of Blather: During Luca's dinner.
• Wham! Episode: Page 32 of Chapter 2. This can't end well. Adding to the wham, this was the first page put up after a hiatus due to computer trouble, and The Rant contained several bits of good news, resulting in a rather jarring experience.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not A Halo?: The cover of chapter 1 uses a leaf as an obvious symbolic halo.
• Your Makeup Is Running: Happens to Tesa here.