Wonton Soup
Wonton Soup is a 2007-2009 graphic novel series by James Stokoe, published by Oni Press.
It's a comedic space opera about a "Space Trucker" named Johnny. He used to be a top student in the galaxy's most prestigious cooking school, but he dropped out due to ideological differences.
Tropes used in Wonton Soup include:
- Alien Lunch: Subverted, not only is most of the alien food presented edible, it's pretty good by all accounts.
- Beast Man: A genetically engineered descendant of Panda bears.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Johnny's rival chef at one point has his dish criticized for being gimmicky, his response is to mutter "This whole comic is gimmicky."
- But You Screw One Goat!: Deacon's sexual addiction comes from harvesting sex-bear milk, a powerful aphrodisiac. Sex-bears (a bear-like animal with several breasts covering their chest and abdominal region-their fronts) don't lactate unless they're "getting it."
- Chef of Iron: Johnny's best teacher, an ex-military hermphrodite learned to cook with his guns During the War. This allowed him to learn how to cook one of the toughest species of fish in the known universe by using bullet-sized plasma grenades.
- Eldritch Abomination: A giant, immortal cyborg disembodied tongue.
- Greasy Spoon: a truck stop station has one.
- Hermaphrodite: One of Johnny's freinds doesn't understand human sexual politics because "his" species has both sets of plumbing.
- ISO Standard Human Spaceship: Averted, Johnny's ship looks like a huge sphere with four engine pods attached.
- Let's Meet the Meat: One of the ingredients in Space Wonton Soup is a flour made from vegetables containing sentient, hivemind micro-organisms that will murder any chef that prepares the dish improperly, and one of Johnny's rivals in a Cooking Duel uses his partner for ingredients.
- Loveable Sex Maniac: Johnny's copilot, Deacon Vans (note, his name has nothing to do with the religeous rank).
- Mushroom Samba: Johnny and Deacon decide to try a drug made out of ancient alien brains, the ensuing trip is so severe that the author himself ends up so wasted that the reader is then invited to fill in several blank panels themselves.
- One-Way Visor: See Space Marines.
- Serious Business: cooking. It's even stated that on some worlds, improperly preparing certain dishes is grounds for summary execution.
- Show Within a Show: Johnny spends some time watching a war movie on tv.
- Space Marines
- Space Pirates: Inverted; Space Ninjas.
- Space X: nearly everything
- Starfish Aliens/ Rubber Forehead Aliens: Both are used.
- Strange Salute: Humans gague their relationships based on how complex a handshake they're offered.
- Your Soul Is Mine: In an Omake, johnny cooks and eats a fairy's soul.
- War Is Glorious:
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Marine: "Will there ever be peace, sir?" |
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