The Pirate Balthasar

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Take a bunch of faceted hotties of both sexes, all of different ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation as mains along with colourful side characters, add some thorough historical research on pirates and XVII Century society in Europe, romance, comedy, many many tropes (All very sensibly used), some Disney-flavoured art, blend them together and get ready to happily feast your eyes, mind and soul on The Pirate Balthasar, a Historical Fiction treat. It has also won the 2011 Best Romance SmackJeeves Award too.

The plot of The Pirate Balthasar is as follows: Wilson Kane wins a fortune and his future bride at a game of dice from the former pirate Balthasar. When he decides to go and get the girl, he does it the pirate way. By kidnapping her. Not only does he find out that she is more than a pirate could ever want from a wife... but that she has four identical sisters as well! This discovery hits him when his men, who were supposed to help him out, each kidnaps a different girl... and none of them gets the right one! But Wilson Kane wants the girl he had met and no one else! Luckily for him it will be the girl herself to solve his problem and put an end to his dilemma... . a solution that will eventually fling her into a new way of life, aboard the Alidivento, across the Mediterranean sea!

The webcomic is available both in English and in Italian at the sites listed on the related author's blog section. Lots of Bonus Material there too.

Tropes used in The Pirate Balthasar include:

• Action Girl: Castalia Papadopulos, the heroine and aspiring Pirate Girl.
• Hot Chick with a Sword: (and more than one sword at that).
• Adorkable: Basically every character at one point or another.
• A Father to His Men: Wilson Kane, although a pretty mercurial one. Uh, he's pretty mercurial, period. And there is also the 'Mommy'Westley.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Both played straight and subverted.
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Both played straight and subverted.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: In conjunction with Gold Digger, Arranged Marriage and Marry for Love. All both played straight and subverted.
• Anti-Hero: With possibly sprinkles of Loveable Rogue
• Badass Long Hair : Oooh yes. Blessed Rapunzel Hair period fashion.
• Bar Brawl: The fateful meeting in the tavern.
• Battle Couple: Kane and Castalia with much sword Dual-Wielding .
• Big Eater : Cassandra/Kes especially. But both her sisters and cousin can hold their ground here, really.
• Bigger Is Better: sometimes overlapping with Gag Penis and lampshaded for good measure.
• Blue Blood : Kane is a duke.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine : Cat and Foxy mostly, occasionally the other characters.
• Break the Cutie: childhood and relatives' fate of some of the characters. Namely Kane's, Cat's, Westley's.
• Casual Kink: See Safe, Sane, and Consensual.
• Chekhov's Gun : Quite a lot, from actual objects to bits of dialogue. Re-reading fuel, ahoy!
• Coming of Age Story: Not to mention a Coming Out Story
• Decon Recon Switch: This comic is the embodiment of it.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady : Foxy. In spite of his more than respectable toned body, his face is just sooooo cute that it earned him the female shortname Sally (from Solomon) when he was a child which also lead to him avoiding smiling for years.
• Double Entendre: from veggies to literary quotes, have a party!
• Ethical Slut: and adorable.
• Faux Yay: (particularly in its subtrobpe form Gay Bravado) two of the characters, and they do it very good naturedly too. Bow to the masters!
• Five-Man Band : and five-woman band.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Wilson Kane and Westley. Both are also *The Smart Guy and * Designated Parents of the crew.
  • Genius Bruiser : Wilson Kane. Also * Cultured Badass and possibly a bit of * Warrior Poet. Castalia under his training seems to be going here as well
  • Badass Bookworm : Callista and Pifo
• Four-Temperament Ensemble : but reverted to become useful within the contest of the story.
• Gilbert and Sullivan: right in the first comic page .
• Good Flaws, Bad Flaws: one the the strongest point in this comic probably. Those good flaws, let me count the ways.
• Happiness in Slavery: happily played with.
• Hidden Depths : uhm... every character basically?
• Hospital Hottie: Westley and Lio
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On : Pifo, you * Guy Magnet
• I Uh You Too: Cat. My goodness, Cat!
• I Was Quite a Looker: arguably the aunties trio.
• Kiss Kiss Slap. And * Slap Slap Kiss. And * "Shut Up" Kiss. * Almost Kiss too. Popcorns, anyone?
• Magnetic Hero: the titular character(s). And quite * The Determinator as well .
• Medium Awareness , often as
  • Interactive Narrator, preferably of the * Lemony Narrator variety .
• Memento MacGuffin : played both in serous and comedic moments. Kane's main gauche to Castalia, Westley's braid for... Pifo, Kane's scarIn some cases it overlaps with * Orphan's Plot Trinket a certain family ring... .
• Men Are Uncultured: both subverted and played straight. Ditto on women.
• Mentor Archetype : Kane's grandpa and *The Patriarch, Kane and Westley themselves to some of the younger characters.
• No Periods, Period: subverted.
• Pirate: Of course. Type 2 to be precise.
• Pirate Parrot: not really a parrot... but definitely pirate pet.
• Prince Charming : Martin Steeves. The man is *Knight in Shining Armour material . He's also developing quite a spectacular case of * The Dulcinea Effect for Pea.
  • Officer and a Gentleman : literally.
  • Friendly Enemy in regards to Kane and his crew.
• Princess Curls : Cassiopea.
• Real Men Wear Pink : in more than one aspects!
• Rape Is Love: hell no. Subverted in a memorable * Moment of Awesome involving Josh and Pifo and * Groin Attack .
• Rousing Speech : when Kane goes all out... oooh boy. The guy knows his stuff. Westley can do it on occasions, as long as it's related to the *Power of Love for his lady fair.
• Safe, Sane, and Consensual: no means no and yes means... oh yes! . Occasionally - and humorously - reaching * Right Through the Wall levels.
• Sex Is Interesting: especially when used for characters development.
• Shirtless Scene: bless period fashion, part II.
• Stay in the Kitchen: never tell this to Castalia if you value your well-being. especially if your name is Josh Habel.
• Hero's Journey and *The Seven Basic Plots : so far it fits comedy, quest, voyage and return. And a good number of * Propp's Functions of Folktales .
• The Lady's Favour : both played straight, subverted and gender-switched. Aaaahh, that leather glove, for instance...
• Toilet Humour: the good kind of!
• Trickster Archetype : Pifo... and Wilson Kane. Cassandra.
• Weakness Turns Her On : Lio likes'em cute and submissive. She's the one to lead her love game, yo!
• Weddings for Everyone: played with.
• The Women Are Safe with Us : and also single young boys. See * Rape Is Love above. And this leaves good ground for some healthy * Aren't You Going to Ravish Me? ...