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Guttersnipe is a webcomic about a homeless, starving street urchin and her pet sewer rat. Taking place during the Great Depression, the strip lampoons popular misconceptions of the era, including bootleggers, boll weevils and hobos.
Characters include:
- Lil' Ragamuffin, a spitfire orphan girl.
- Sir Percy Throckmorton Scruffs, esq, her educated, erudite pet rat.
- Red Menace, Mugsy Fisticuffs and Mary Mangdana, rival urchin gang.
- Herbert Hoover, the President of the United States.
- Boxcar Calpurnia, the Mad Hobo Queen
Guttersnipe has the following tropes:
- Apron Matron: The Matron, of course
- The Artful Dodger: Parodied with Lil' Ragamuffin.
- Blind Seer: The Straggletag.
- Crapsack World: The strip is drawn in washed out sepia tones, adding to the depressed, old-timey atmosphere where everyone is poor.
- Deadpan Snarker: Sir Percy.
- Eldritch Abomination: H.P. Lovecraft as a sort of 1920s Stephanie Meyer, complete with eldritch abominations standing in for sparkly vampires.
- Fiery Redhead: Lil' Ragamuffin won't take no guff from no one.
- Gang of Hats: Various urchin gangs, including the Junior Repunchicans (a gang of young conservatives), the Skunk Tops (who all sport black and white mohawks)and the Vajazzlers (apparently an all-female roller derby based gang).
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Herbert Hoover.
- Hobos: Hobos have become so numerous that they've seceded to form their own country, under the rule of Boxcar Calpurnia the Mad Hobo Queen. True to form, all hobos wear top hats with the top cut out and fingerless black wool gloves.
- Hurricane of Puns: This comic.
- Lame Excuse: Observe.
- Les Yay: Lil' Ragamuffin and Mary Mangdana maybe?
- The Mafia: Bootleggers hire Lil' Ragamuffin to carry liquor across state lines in one arc.
- Minstrel Shows: Bootlegger Skunkface Sally appears to be in black face, but she claims it's actually an unfortunate skin condition.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Parodied.
- Overly Long Name: Sir Percival Throckmorton Scruffs Esq, Eigth Viscount of Lower Hemmingwedge-on-the-Fritz.
- Parental Abandonment: Parodied with Lil' Ragamuffin.
- Red Headed Heroine: Lil' Ragamuffin.
- Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: Sir Percy.
- Stock Parodies: Lil' Ragamuffin attends a peace summit between different rival urchin gangs in a parody of the film The Warriors.
- Street Urchin
- Talking Animal: Sir Percy.
- The Theme Park Version: In Guttersnipe's version of the Great Depression, literally everyone is destitute, even the President.