Sinfest

A festival of sin... or at least temptation.

Sinfest is a webcomic by Tatsuya Ishida, an outgrowth of a strip he originally created for the UCLA college newspaper. The primary characters are Slick, a Calvin-esque teenaged "pimp" who's always trying to look as cool as he can, and his hot friend Monique, who spends her days fighting for feminist causes when she isn't flirting with hot guys (of whom Slick doesn't qualify).

Other characters include God and Satan, who still hold a silly grudge; Seymour, a religious zealot; Li'l Evil, a Satan zealot; Squigley, a pig who gets high all the time; Jesus; Buddha; The Dragon, an embodiment of Eastern religion; Percival and Pooch, the artist's cat-and-dog duo; and Criminy, the sheltered bookworm. They have surreal, metaphysical adventures that often involve Slick's high view of himself, Monique's oversexed behavior, Satan's desire to acquire their souls, and other goings-on.

The strip originally lived up to its name, playing with Dead Baby Comedy scenarios, drug humor, and subversive pokes at the nature of religion and morality, among other topics, usually with little or no regard for continuity. Over time, however, it's gotten softer and more mainstream. While still poking fun at religion and comfortable with language that won't play in newspapers, Tatsuya is now trying to show a world where most people are brainwashed by dominant culture and a Matrix-like patriarchy is responsible for most evils, most of which involve excessive consumerism, marketing of everything, male chauvinism, and just plain bad old intolerance. Longer story arcs have been introduced and playing above and beneath others, such as Criminy's platonic romance with one of Satan's hot succubi, and her conflicts as a result. Slick and Monique's obnoxious behavior has also been downplayed a lot — while they might not be a loving couple, they are friendly associates. Don't let the name fool you.

A rare example of a webcomic becoming Lighter and Softer, even with all of the changes that have happened over the decades. And good for anyone who wants to go on an Archive Binge, with just over 4,000 strips! Indeed, it's one of the longest running webcomics on the net.

Tropes used in Sinfest include:

A-E

• Activist Fundamentalist Antics: Seymour often falls into this territory; even God dismisses him as a "loony fanboy".
• Added Alliterative Appeal: Pooch and Percy.
• After-Action Patchup: Fucshia treats Crimney's cuts, after he reaches her in Hell.
• A Glitch In The Patriarchy: Brought to you by the revolution.
• A Lady on Each Arm: Satan, here, here, and here.
• Aliens Steal Cattle: Xanturian invaders. They lose a staring contest, though.
• All Men Are Perverts: See here and here
  • ...except Criminy.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Lil' Evil.
• And Zoidberg: ...And these guys
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Many of the secondary characters, including Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty, Death, now "reaping" souls via modern assassination tactics and weaponry, and Dragon, the embodiment of all eastern religion.
• Anti-Magic: The simplest explanation of how the Reality Zone works. All forms of magical flight fail, pits to hell can't be created, and unnatural creatures either revert to a natural form (as in Squigley's case) or are slowly harmed (as with the devils.)
• Anti-Villain: Fuchsia's character development has brought her to this point; now, she's pretty much a villain in name only. Type 1 --> Type 4 --> Heel Face Turn.
  • Tangerine is Type 3 (see Obliviously Evil).
• Art Shift: The art style will often change depending on the mood of the scene. Humor is in a simplified 'cutesy' style, while drama is a bit more detailed and manga-esque.
  • Also the reality zone
• Ascended Extra: Fuschia, starting around late 2008.
• Aside Glance: This strip, with the story starting three strips earlier here.
  • For the record, the page before it is a follow-up to the "other Sunday Strip" mentioned below.
• Attractive Bent Gender: Monique looks good, even as Androgynique and Badass 'Nique. Both mess with Seymour, though.
• Aw, Look — They Really Do Love Each Other: Subverted and inverted here.
  • Played straight here.
• Author Guest Spot: Tatsuya Ishida is a semi-regularly occurring character, both as Pooch and Percy's owner and for Leaning on the Fourth Wall moments. A Running Gag is the comparison between him and God as the two "creators" of the comic's universe.
• The Backwards R: State Sponsored Comik Strip 2. Because In Soviet America Comic Strip Laughs At You!
• Battle Cry: Squigley's is about as opposite to a Badass Boast as you can get, but the sentiment makes it more awesome.
• Bare Your Midriff:
  • A standard feature of Monique's warm-weather wardrobe and the one outfit that the gay guy wears.
  • The succubi's outfits, and Fuschia's sailor fuku that she wears when she's with Criminy.
  • Most of the women in the comic, really.
• Barehanded Blade Block: By Jesus. Against Death's scythe. Which he broke.
• Berserk Button:
  • Seymour pushes Fuchsia's...and regrets it.
  • And following that, a very understated one for the usually soft-spoken and mild-mannered Criminy here.
  • And then Forky tells Fuchsia someone was hunting it. Things almost got messy.
• Better to Die Than Be Killed: Mr. "X"
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Criminy. After Seymour drove off Fuchsia, he raised his voice in anger for the first time.
  • The new Fuchsia is kind and gentle. It's unwise to piss her off. See Berserk Button for a pair of nice examples.
• Big Brother Is Watching: ...it's flip-off time!
  • It's flip-off time again.
  • Also, when Slick's laptop caught some spyware that made it follow the owner to toilet with webcam on. See?
  • Also This this. It's bomf-off time.
  • Baby Blue and Fuchsia. Succubi. Probably helps their job too.
• Big Damn Heroes:And a Moment of Awesome for Squiq.
• Bigger Than Jesus: Inverted in a strip titled "Agent" where the Devil offers to become Jesus's personal agent and make him "Bigger than The Beatles."
• Bilingual Bonus / Shown Their Work: The binary Slick's Slickbook laptop spouts out actually translates to relevant messages.
• Bi the Way: Possibly Monique. Then again, there's another explaination.
• Bifauxnen: Androgynique
• Big No: Big No from Lil' E.
  • Slick REALLY should have saved frequently.
• Bishounen: In this strip? Jesus.
• Black and White Morality: Played with.
• Blatant Lies: Not surprising, The Devil and his minions are prone to this, as seen here.
• Blush Sticker: The boy Baby Blue had a crush on, in flashback.
• Bondage Is Bad: Played very straight here. A rather surprising case of Did Not Do the Research. .
• Brainwashed and Crazy / Heel Face Brainwashing: BOMF! Several supernatural characters have demonstrated the ability to call upon hidden aspects of mortals' personalities and render those aspects dominant, with the magnitude of the effect dependent on the degree to which the aspect was originally present in hidden form. The Buddha just temporarily calms people, but Jesus and Satan can cause permanent changes to behavior and appearance (well, permanent till the other reverts their work.) Several strips suggest more precise rules as to how this works, but taken as a whole they contradict each other--the primary influence seems to be the Rule of Funny.
• Brick Joke: The strip of June 1st 2009 and June 1st 2010. Either this or a Call Back.
  • The return of banana burritos!
  • A relatively short Brick Joke, but a Brick Joke nonetheless. In this April 18th, 2002 strip, Slick and Monique discuss the whole "Men from Mars and Women from Venus" thing when Monique jokingly suggests that Slick is from Uranus. "Back to your planet, butt boy!" six strips later after the topic had generally been dropped, Monique still can't help bringing it up again by calling him "butt boy" and telling him to "Go back to Uranus!" It probably made absolutely no sense to Criminy.
• Brown Eyes: Criminy
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • "Bad Behavior", where Seymour antagonized Fuchsia. Given that on their first meeting, Fuchsia set him on fire, he really should have known what he was getting into.
  • A couple of devil bullies mess with Criminy and Fuschia on one occasion. Between the two of them and Tomey... well, the bullies definitely end up worse off.
  • When Lil'E was in kindergarten, two boys tried to bully him. But if you mess with the son of the Devil you make his dad angry. Those boys were lucky to escape with just a few burns.
• Call Back: Fairly early on in Fuschia's progression from willing servant of evil to Crim's girlfriend and reluctant Punch Clock Villain, she saw parallels between herself and a butterfly. Almost 18 months of strips later, Crim invades hell to visit Fuschia, and then has to make a quick escape that lands him in the Reality Zone. Shortly after arriving there, he observes both a butterfly and a caterpillar nearby.
  • Both of which may be a callback to an earlier moment involving Criminy. Also, in one Sunday strip, after The Devil and Baby Blue try to re-devil Fuchsia, we see her staring off after a butterfly as well.
  • Another one comes with Criminy's gift to Fuchsia — the one thing she takes out of the Devil's manor with her.
• Calling Your Attacks: "ASS!"
• Camp Gay: That one gay man that Slick ran into, who now is sort of the default gay character.
• Cartoon Juggling: Pooch does the arc, much to Percy's displeasure.
• Casanova Wannabe: Slicky
• Cast of Snowflakes
• Catching Some Zs: Even said once.
• Catholic School Girls Rule: Just having 'Nique describe it to Seymour made his head explode.
• Cats Are Mean:
  • Subverted in that Percival, while often acting like a jerk, actually does care about Pooch (though he'd never admit it).
  • Also played straight when he though it would be funny to make a "catse" screen saver.
• Cat Fight: Monique and Fuchsia, lampshaded immediately.
  • Pillow fight, Monique vs. both Devil Girls.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Subverted; about halfway through the comic's run, several darker elements came into play. The Devil became much more straightforwardly evil; the succubi and Death became regular characters; Hell and the tortured souls within started appearing regularly; and Uncle Sam showed up and became corrupt, then broke. Despite this, the series stayed comedic, due in large part to Character Development (see below.)
  • But played more and more straight as time goes on and more and more strips designed without a joke are posted.
• Chainsaw Good: Behold... Chainsaw Jesus!
• Character Development: Along with the Reverse Cerebus Syndrome. Every main character has had some sort of serious character development. Those who have not completely changed their outlook on life (Monique, & Fuchsia) have been given a third dimension (most visible in Slick & Crim) with the only possible exceptions being Pooch, God, and the author avatar. The short version is Slick & Monique are considerably less selfish, Squig and Crim are braver, Fuchsia and Baby Blue have distinct personalities, Lil'E and Seymour are less dogmatic, and the Devil doesn't do comedy so much anymore. The longer version is:
  • Slick started out as an egotistical jackass but now has taken a turn to being a better person, going so far as to admitting he loves Monique. He even lost his tie, and got new shades that are not pitch black. However, that seems to have reversed itself.
  • Monique used to just be a rather two-dimensional materialistic attention-whore slut and is now a crunchy activist feminist. She's also cut her hair, gone to a much more androgynous look, and now considers her past an Old Shame.
  • Fuchsia started out as genuinely evil, but now is in love with Criminy, quit working for the Devil and is now essentially a soft-hearted (but short-tempered) human with a few extra features (check how her design has changed).
  • Criminy used to hide himself away in his Fortress of Knowledge; as his relationship with Fuchsia progressed, you saw less and less of the Fortress, until you see him completely without it. His hair is also a little more natural, where prior it was always 'in place'.
  • Seymour used to be a hard conservative who attacked anything outside his narrow ideals. After learning a hard lesson in humility he now shows Tangerine respect. He's still conservative and holds a grudge against Fuchsia and Baby Blue (they messed him up) but he's not quite so fast to attack now. He also seems to genuinely care about Lil'E, especially after Lil'E's recent amnesia.
  • While not as much as Fyoosh and still very much a Card-Carrying Villain, Baby Blue is shown to have a genuine soft spot for Fuchsia and possibly some jealousy towards Criminy.
    • More recently, Baby Blue deliberately lied to The Devil, saying she couldn't find Fuchsia, after she saw her friend napping together with Criminy under a tree.
    • And it has recently been indicated that Blue may have joined the Devil before becoming a a Devil Girl after seeing him resurrect a dove as a bird demon after her prayers failed to save it.
  • Recently, we've been looking into the past of Lil'E and seeing what he's like without his devil worship.
    • Without his memories, he's less of a jerk that most of the cast. He's also intelligent enough to take the hints about what kind of person he used to be, put them together logically, and come up with something that worries him.
  • The Devil went from being a funny 'classic cartoon' style of character to being a true source of malice. He rarely seems to use his lemonade-style soul-buying stand anymore.
    • He it has also been implied that he has a Tragic Backstory involving Lil'Evil's mother, and that in his own strange way he cares about his son.
• The Chase. Death. Annually, to the year, and to the zombie.
• Chekhov's Gun / Chekhov's Boomerang:
  • Those "glitter points" come in handy.
  • The "Reality Zone" too, since it seems to have the power to incapacitate things of Hell. Forky lost consciousness upon entering and recovered upon leaving. The Devil is apparently afraid of the place, as he refused to enter and create a hell hole there. Instead, he replied "show's over" when asked and walked away. Tangerine actually started to burn like a vampire in sunlight when she went in.
• Chew Toy: Seymour in 2011 gets lots of screen time dedicated to making him suffer. Not that the fan base minds.
• Clothing Damage: Monique binding her foot.
• Cannot Stand Them Cannot Live Without Them: Monique and Slick are very self-centered, can't even hold their eyes on each other, don't really know what they want for more than a few minutes... yet neither will allow anyone else to approach the other.
  • Monique looks at a guy she considers attractive, then he reminds of Slick, and finds this a turn-off. It's such a huge turn-off that she starts hitting on him right on the next page.
• Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: For Squigley
• Conflicting Loyalty: An issue for Fuschia and Tomey. Or rather, it WAS an issue for Fuschia.
• Continuity Creep: As noted above, the comic has had little to no regard to continuity in its earlier years. But extended story arcs began taking shape before so long. And old throw-away gags from earlier days have also been brought back and expanded upon, including Squigley's ability to fly his couch while high.
• Continuity Reboot: Spoofed a few weeks into 2010.
• Cool Big Sis: Nique acts as one to Criminy and can be quite protective of him if she thinks he's in danger.
• Cool Cat: Percy is a perfect example of "cats are cool" via "cats are aloof," where he thinks he's too cool for everyone around him, and acts accordingly.
• Cool Horse: The winged horses Tangerine and 'nique watch in the tree.
• Cool Old Lady: This senora.
• Cool Shades: Probably the look Slick was going for, although he doesn't pull it off as well as he thinks he does.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment:
  • Classic.
  • This also counts.
  • Because Slick knows Squiggly better than Devil.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive Several characters such as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Tom the Cat. Homer Simpson and Charlie Brown appear as leaders of different major crime families, with the Devil as ruling Don of the Five Families.
• Crossover Cosmology: The main focus is Christian but Buddha and the Dragon (representing Eastern religions in general) have also shown up. In fact Buddha and Jesus are pals.
• Crush Blush: When Baby Blue confessed her attraction to a boy, he blushed.
• Cry for the Devil: The Devil is, in fact, capable of genuinely caring about someone. Even if he tries to shake it off.
• Cute Bookworm: Criminy is a rare male example.
• Cute Monster Girl: Fuschia, Baby Blue, and Tangerine.
• Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: As seen in this strip
• Deal with the Devil: Right from the first strip, Satan's been offering them. This has not generally worked very well.
• Depraved Bisexual: The Succubi, though Fuschia has recently become less-so. Depraved, that is. She's presumably still bisexual.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • Fuchsia, after dealing with Seymour's Fantastic Racism one too many times, sees her angry face reflected in the water and begins to wonder if she really doesn't belong in our world, and promptly throws herself back into Hell.
  • Monique may be fast approaching hers after learning she may have helped condemn a million men to hell. She doesn't seem to be taking it well. But Slick is working on bringing her back.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Quite literally. He takes Cerberus out for walks around the neighborhood and flicks off God from hilltops. At the same time, God regularly speaks to people in the form of giant hand puppets in the sky.
• The Devil Is a Loser: And it's God's favorite pastime to remind him of it.
• Diabolus Ex Machina: Must you kill off everyone??
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Done by MMX at the end of his run. Death gets right back up, albeit, visibly worse for wear.
• Disproportionate Retribution : Eternal Vengeance for tripping. Y'know, cause he wasn't looking where he was walking.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Seymour and Monique, here.
• The Ditz: Monique has taken on elements of this since the strip took a turn for the Lighter and Softer.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Criminy and his telescope

Baby Blue: The Force is strong with this one....I need a cigarette.

• • As well as; this,
• Drag Queen: Squigley dresses up as "Sarah Piglin" in a number of strips.
• E=MC Hammer: Literally. ("It's kinda like science!")
• Easy Amnesia: Happens to Lil' Evil starting here. Justified, it's the Lethe. Yes, THAT Lethe.
• Erotic Eating: 'Nique's method of inspiration.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Early on, it was shown that The Devil had a few issues with some of Slick's requests to combine Les Yay with Incest Subtext, though it was due more to feasibility than actual moral qualms.
• Everyone Went to School Together: Of all people, apparently Jesus and Blue did. Currently not known whether this is canon or a one-off gag.
• Evil Lawyer Joke: "Well, this comes as no surprise".
• Evil Me Scares Me: Fuchsia has this reaction to her reflection after losing her temper with Seymour. In all likelihood, this was a side of herself she never wanted Criminy to see.
• Evil Is Petty: Probably the entire point of Lil' Evil...and considering his role model...

F-J

• Fan Service: Although 'Nique and the succubi will cheerily dish out fanservice to all comers, it also got kinda... subverted. I mean, ew...
  • A later strip even points out the Double Standard; when fans demand she show them ass, 'Nique calls Slick us on stage...
• Fantastic Drug: Jogs, apparently. Some truth in the matter...
• Fantastic Racism: Seymour in strips 3662 and 3663 directed towards Fuchsia, which also showcases his hypocrisy since one of the core tenants of Christianity is that those who are legitimately trying to change their ways should be encouraged along that path. Made even more apparent when it was earlier shown that two angels pretty much ignore her nowadays since they know she isn't evil anymore. They even give Criminy their blessing when he digs his way to hell for her since after all, love transcends all boundaries.
  • Seymour does seem more sympathetic towards Tangerine, trying to help her without hurting her feelings (partially so she does not hurt him), to the point where she seems to consider him a friend.
• Flat What:
  • Percival, here.
  • The Devil, here.
• Foreshadowing: Lil'E's identity as being the Anti Christ is hinted at at these two strips. Note the blurb Ishida uses and the actual strip itself.
  • Also, "i will not cheat taking advange of Liberty (a.k.a freedom)
• Fractured Fairy Tale
• A Friend in Need: All sorts of characters — and growing more frequent.
• The Fundamentalist: Seymour and Lil' Evil for Christianity and Satanism, respectively. Subverted occasionally when Seymour actually practices what he preaches, only to relapse into being a massive prick some time down the road. Again, like everything else in this comic, his flip-flopping got Lampshaded as being due to the Full Moon causing a werewolf-like transformation.
• Gender Bender: "Trans State."
• Geeky Turn On: Fusha to Criminy:

Fusha: "Oooo Criminy knows fancy words..."

• Give Me a Sign: This strip.
• The Glomp:
  • From a pig!
  • From a succubus! nd again.
• God and Satan Are Both Jerks: During one of God's puppet parodies, the Devil mocks him, causing Slick to comment, "Sometimes I can't tell the two of you apart."
• God Is Evil: Subverted; God can seem this way to some of the characters, but is generally just obnoxious and somewhat childish, with occasional Pet the Dog moments. Jesus, on the other hand, is an awesome guy.
  • So is the Buddha. The Dragon of Eastern Religion is generally awesome also.
• Golden Mean Fallacy: Slicky tried an apple from the Tree of Knowledge and couldn't handle it. Slicky dived into Lethe and forgot everything. So he tried to combine them into "Forbidden Fruit and Lethe Water Power Drink".

Slick: WTF?

• Good Is Dumb:
  • Pooch, Seymour, and, alternatively, God Himself.
  • Subverted with Monique, who can be random and occasionally childish, but is far from dumb.
• Go Mad From the Revelation: To a minor degree, this is why God does not show his face and uses the hand puppets. His showing a image of his face to two people caused a bit of a fight. Now imagine if He showed His face to a few more people...
  • As previously stated, when Slick ate the Fruit of Knowledge and found out he was a cartoon character, he tried to kill himself by jumping off a cliff. That works out about as well as you'd think.
• Grammar Nazi: Oops!
• Granola Girl: Nique's starts as a generic hippy ("Peace!") and gradually turns very liberal left-wing, frequently protesting and contesting. She's even a struggling vegan. Lil' E even preferred her as his "archnemesis" over Seymour as more well-intended, at least for a time.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Monique either has no intention of taking their relationship out of the friend zone or she would, but has zero tolerance policy for his horny clownades. But she's jealous. During the "Loverboy" sequence she drives away a girl who was actually liked Slicky enough to laugh off his antics.
  • Slick either is interested only in Monique's butt or can't hold his brain in one pile and mouth free of drool around her. When she isn't around, he wanders off after other girls all the time. But seeing her flirting with a guy? No way. That's enough to stop his own not-yet-ruined flirt and go decry his rival in a hissyfit so stupid that even Monique who already knows him well facepalmed.
• Gretzky Has the Ball: Monique's schmoozin' attempt.
• The Grim Reaper.
• Groin Attack: "I love you, man!"
• Groupie Brigade: After running from a mob, Death disguises himself to avoid blame for Michael's death. Accidentally, he gets taken for him, and runs from a mob.
• Ha Ha Ha No: Make love, not war.
• Harmless Villain: Little E definitely.
  • However he is the son of the devil. So that could change.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: Fushcia bounced back and forth between crushing on Criminy and actively helping Blue and the Devil antagonize Slick and Monique until her character development led her to pretty much stop being evil.
• Heel Face Turn: Fuschia made her choice without so much as a word, over a year in making. She went initially from toying with Crimnee, to being intrigued, to straight-out crush. During her crush phase, she'd still cheerfully torment others but behaved herself whenever he was around. Over the passing of time, she started to wish to become 'normal' and feel pity for the damned (perhaps in a very different Not So Different moment). Recently she's almost completely rejected her devilish nature, flat out offering comfort to the damned and rarely being shown in her succubus outfit anymore. There's been some dark foreshadowing that this could get her killed (although none of the cast has ever died yet), but also some that shows she could obtain salvation.
• Heel Realization: It would seem Seymour is having one here.
  • Seems like Lil'E is too. Not quite played for laughs.
• Hell Freezes Over: Over there!
• He's Back: Slick dons the tie, meaning his perverted ways are making a comeback.
• Hell Hound: Cerberus is the Devil's pet, and spends his time menacing the cast (especially Slick) and eating mailmen.
• High Heel Face Turn: Fuchsia.
• High on Catnip: The Author Avatar's cat gets high on catnip, even saying "that's some good stuff".
• Holier Than Thou: Seymour, again.
• Holy Burns Evil: Not only is "Big D" repulsed by angel glitter and has angel-repellent, but even some apparently mortal creatures have such weakness.
• Horny Devils:
  • The succubi started out tempting Slick with lesbian trysts (which Blue is still doing) and are often seen attending the Devil.
  • The Devil himself takes this role occasionally, acting as a pimp. He also does NOT like it when people try to take his "bitches", at one point holding a Glock to an alien from "Pimptopia" who was seeking bitches.
• Hot Librarian: Parodied here.
• Humongous Mecha: Usually fight giant monsters and each other out of the continuity.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha: Robo Sinfest.
  • Transforming Mecha: anything from a soda vending machine or ATM to a church.
    • And TV. That's why they talk back in Sinfest.
• Hurricane of Euphemisms Accidental Innuendo: Here and here.
• Hypocritical Humor: Stereotyping how they stereotype her.
  • Seymour is funny like this — all the time.
• Icarus Allusion: The mini-arc "Catch" — it even ends in a postscriptum to Icarus story.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Baby Blue will destroy you.
• I Have Boobs - You Must Obey!: Monique, although it's more like "I have booty you must obey".
  • Respect the poon!
• I Just Want to Be Special: The Fan Girl wants to be cool because Monique is. Monique handles it nicely.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Criminy, Jesus, Buddha (which for those two should go without saying), the cherubs.
  • But above all, Pooch. He is the happiest, most positive, sensitive, good natured thing in the world of Sinfest. The angels? Can be a bit of some jerk-asses.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: "That guy..."
• Innocent Innuendo this strip and this strip
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: The 'Ninja Theatre' arcs, which take place in a feudal Japanese alternate universe, staring Slick as a ninja named Wasabi, and Monique as the Geisha Yellowtail.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Criminy (human) and Fuschia (succubus).
  • The Devil (guess) and Lil' E's mother (human).
• Irony: Here.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: When mistaken for Monique's retarded son by a security agent, Slick gets upset about son part, not the retarded.
  • "Diminutive?!"
• I Think You Broke Him: "Oops, I broke Slicky again".
• It's a Small Net After All: Averted for laughs when Seymour is trying to look up how to fix a broken halo.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In one Sunday strip, Baby Blue holds off killing Criminy after she realizes just how happy her former lover, Fuschia, is with him. Awwwwwwwww.
• Jerkass:
  • Slick, at his worst behavior.
  • Played for laughs with the Devil when he's up to his general douchebaggish behavior, and with God when he's mocking people with his hand puppets.
  • Lil'E, pretty much all the time.
  • Seymour, considered the biggest Jerkass in the comic, especially post 2010.
    • Until late 2011, when he proved that he could befriend a confused demon, and that he would not hurt Lil' Evil when the latter was down.
• Jerkass Gods: Subverted; the only character that he's consistently a Jerkass to is the Devil. God's hand puppet mockery can come off this way occasionally, although it's mostly played for laughs and some of His "victims" actually find the caricature amusing.
  • God will, however, torment Slick occasionally.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Percy
• Jesus Saves:
  • He Must.
  • He does so regularly, in fact.
• Jesus Was Way Cool:
  • It's worth noting that while the Buddha is neutral towards God and Satan, he treats Jesus as a friend.
  • Kung Fu Gospel — A Rosary Up the Yin Yang.
• Jet Pack: Jesus has one.

K-O

• "Kick Me" Prank: "Big D" once did it to Slick.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Seymour, here, and during the "Bad Behavior" strips.
• Kick the Son of a Bitch: Seymour was abused, chased with fire, Bomf-ed, sneezed at by the Dragon, tempted until his wire halo explodes (twice in a row), had it set on fire, The Devil demonized him and Tangerine demonized his hat. And he not only deserved this treatment, but directly brought on himself most of it.
• Knight Templar: Seymour.
• Lady Land
• Lap Pillow/Sleep Cute: Fuchsia and Criminy
• Large Ham: The cartoonist. "NOBODY CRAZIER THAN ME!"
• Laser-Guided Karma: Seymour literally becoming what he hates in "Bomf 4".
• Lighter and Softer: A recent WAFFy romantic arc sealed the deal. Not that it's necessarily a bad or good thing.
  • For an in-universe explanation, one could say it was thanks to Buddha's zen-powered butterfly effect the way that Sunday strip ends.
• Literal Metaphor:
  • "Today I'm going to wax my missile!"
  • Done here with "wild oats."
• Lonely At the Top: The Devil is occasionally shown to be deeply unsatisfied with his lot.
• Lonely Together
• Loony Fan: Lil'Evil and Seymour, in slightly different ways. Lil'E clearly has a raging crush on the Devil and desperately wants his approval, while Seymour is such a devoted goofball fundie that he regularly fails to notice the actual Jesus since he's so busy shopping for Jesus merch.
  • There's always one such clown — everywhere.
• Love Epiphany: Possibly Criminy in this strip.
• Love Redeems:
  • Fuchsia has gone from evil to Punch Clock Villain due to her crush on Criminy and has even contemplated redemption. This has led her to start caring for the damned and helping pigs stuck in trees after adventures on magical toilets
  • This also seems to be at work with Baby Blue, albeit in a more subtle manner. Fuchsia reforming sparked her decision of whether to remain truly loyal to the Devil or to protect Fuchsia.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Big D is implied to be Little E's father.
• Magical Negro: Parodied in this strip
• The Malaproper: Tangerine.
• Mama Bear: Fuschia has a maternal bond with her pet Forky, and was ready to burn Little E's face off when he said he was going to mount it as a trophy.
• Marijuana Is LSD: Squigley appears at first to be subject to this, though it later becomes apparent that marijuana gives him actual powers, and flying around on his couch is neither a hallucination nor a metaphor. (He describes himself as a "shaman.")
• Mars Needs Women:
  • The subject of a running gag, starting here. Possibly the cutest was "Emotopia needs hope", but almost every character gets one, from planets that need bacon to planets that need health care. Even the artist himself gets one.
  • A couple of years earlier, inverted.
  • Sextron Needs Nerds (they must be having tech problems).
  • Perfectron needs villains.
  • Sleeptron Needs Awakening.
  • Cultron Needs Conformists.
  • Pimptopia Needs Bitches.
  • Furrytopia needs savages. Or maybe it just needs a good ol' Bomf?
  • Corruptron Needs Justice.
  • Uranus Needs Gays.
• Masquerade: Cows on the Far Side.
• Matrix Raining Code: In the strips "The Sisterhood 5, 6, & 7"
• Medium Awareness: Good thing the River Lethe was near by, or else Slick might have had a problem there.
• Minion with an F In Evil: Thanks to Criminy's influence, Fuchsia is becoming this. She now sings songs to the damned and reads them stories.
• Morality Pet:
  • Criminy to Fuchsia.
  • Over time, Fuchsia herself seems to be becoming one to Baby Blue.
• Most Common Superpower: Directly addressed:

Slick: Would you like to join our team? BE AN X-MAN? Girl: But I don't have super powers. Slick: You have breasts!

• Motivation on a Stick: The Devil does this to various characters for lulz.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Possibly in Dig 7, Baby Blue looked like she had murderous intent when she was attacking Criminy. See Depraved Bisexual.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Monique when she realizes she's indirectly responsible for the damnation of countless men.
  • Baby Blue has this reaction after finding a note to her from Fuchsia after trashing Fyoosh's room.
  • Sam after he realizes he caused that refugee camp.
• New Years Resolution: Big D. Monique.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Trike Girl's energy shield power seemed to have no point than to give her Plot Armor. There are theories however, that her shield works like Star Wars (blocks energy but useless against physical attacks).
  • Now her trike has the power to turn into a space ship.
• Noble Demon: Fuchsia becomes a literal example after Character Development.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Done at times for political satire, such as Barackstar challenging Sarah Piglin in a rock-off.
• Non-Indicative Name: "Sinfest" itself, considering how little sin actually appears in current strips.
• Noticing the Fourth Wall: Done in this comic.
• Not So Different: Seymour, the Christian fanatic, and Li'l E, the Satan fanatic.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat
• Oh Crap:
  • Criminy gets a PG version when he realizes just how far down he's gone
  • The Devil is coming. Oh crap.
  • And now Blue when she realizes that Fyoosh has apparently abandoned Satan's service.
  • Lil' E got it.
• Order Versus Chaos: Satan likes to frame his conflict with God in these terms, though it seems to be a lot messier than that.
• Orphaned Punchline
• Out of Focus: Slick. Lampshaded in the 1/3/12 strip.

P-T

• Pals with Jesus: Buddha.
• Panty Shot:
  • Bad Behavior 3 and 5
  • Between the short skirt and the tail it's not surprising that Fyoosh's panties star in quite a few shots. Not that that's a bad thing.
• Parallel Porn Titles: Babygotback Mountain.
• Pass the Popcorn: Incoming Fan Service? Cue Squig with inexplicable chair and popcorn.
• Pet the Dog:
  • From The Devil of all people.
  • And he's done it before too.
• Pettanko: Tangerine pre-transformation. May still apply compared to the other devil girls.
• Pig Man
• Planet Eris
• Plot Tumor: "Patriarchy" and boy did it grow fast (to the point where the strip has become centered on Trike Girl's actions and the ramifications of said actions). Also lampshaded by Slick in January 2012.
• The Power of Friendship: A subtle example...
• The Power of Love:
  • The angels' glitter has more functionality than just "Brownie points".
  • The last panel suggests the Devil's "re-demonizing" of Fuschia hasn't fully taken.
    • Her reaction to the "Spirit Fingers" of the damned confirms it. (From her horrified reaction, we can assume Blue taught them that, too)
    • It wouldn't be the first time The Devil's efforts have failed to revert Fyoosh. It's pretty much confirmed that Criminy's the reason why.
• Public Domain Artifact: Excalibur!
• Punch Clock Villain: Literally in this strip.
• Reality Ensues: Rather literally with the "Reality Zone."
• Rebus Bubble: Prevalent in some of the later strips, especially the Sunday color strips, which usually don't have much written dialogue. This strip is a premium example.
• Reclusive Artist: Tatsuya Ishida is VERY rarely seen, to the point that only one image of him can be found online, He's not quite Thomas Pynchon Reclusive, but he's getting there. Some fans have even wondered if he died at some point (Reasons vary from the change in the strip over time, to just the fact that they can't find out that much about the guy. Nobody has verified a death, plus, he keeps on trying to get Sinfest into more mainstream publications, so he's out there but He's Just Hiding) instead of just realizing that, yknow, maybe the author of a successful comic does not want to get harassed 24/7. This was actually Lampshaded at one point by an Author Avatar being followed around by an annoying Expy of Lil' Evil.
• Recycled in Space: A lot of one-page remake gags, like Booty and the Beast or Steampunk Jesus.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Fuchsia the Devil Girl and Baby Blue the Devil Girl.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: Here:

Percy: Is there anything in the world more miserable than a wet cat? Pooch: Ummmm... A frozen penguin? ... A shaved porcupine? Constipated skunk? ... A toothless beaver!

• • Lil' E shouldn't have asked 'Nique.
• Right Behind Me: ...I mean, nice hellhole you got there.
• Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue: Referenced near the start of the strip.
  • Fuchsia writes one of these about Criminy here behind the Devil's back.
• Running Gag: Several:
  • Variations on Mars Needs Women
  • You had to be there comics - discontinued
  • Sinfest Nights - discontinued
  • Ninja Theater - also discontinued, unfortunately
  • The <character> Signal
  • "Full Moon! Aaaagh! I'm turning into an <x>".
  • Also notable is the "Sentence shared by separate characters over four panels" device. It's sometimes used for humour and sometimes for pathos.
  • Characters turning into kanji characters.
  • "EEK! It's <blank>zilla!" Examples include Pigzilla, Pimpzilla, Bitchzilla, Fundiezilla, and Gayzilla. Usually defeated (or not) by an equivalent monster or robot.
  • Telemarketers.
    • Who's behind all this crap?

The Devil: Hello!

• • 'Nique being mistaken for a demon. Twice she intentionally posed as Booth Babe. Later both Jesus and Devil confused her with one more Devil Girl. No idea why. So insulting.
• Sadistic Choice: She hasn't made it yet but recent events imply that Fuschia is going to have make a decision eventually.
  • And so she did. AWWWWWWWWWWWW!
• Scenery Porn: While it started out with black and white comic strips, in 2008 some gorgeous full-colour, full page spreads started to appear, sometimes with beautiful depictions of nature.
• Sex Is Evil: Maybe? It's definitely associated with Satan, and seems to be opposed to God, but that doesn't mean much in this setting. On the other hand, Crimnee and Fuschia are both the most loving couple and the least intimate, and Slick seems to love Monique more after he gives up trying to get in her pants. On the first hand again, Fuchsia and Baby Blue are gay-for-pay with each other and are clearly good friends (though they're not actually in love with each other . . .) It's confusing.
  • It's often confusing in real life too.
• Sexy Santa Dress: 'Nique, Fyoosh, and Blue wear them for one Christmas arc, though the devil girls are technically Satan's little helpers...
• Shout-Out:
  • A self-deprecatory one, considering the author's admission to it being an influence, to Calvin and Hobbes.
  • A later strip has Squigley fly past a boy and tiger in a box while he's on one of his drug induced couch flights.
  • The October 30th strip references Nighthawks, a 1940s painting.
  • This strip alone has more shout outs than you can shake a stick at.
  • To Where's Waldo here
  • To Calvin and Hobbes in the Reality Zone here, as well as The Simpsons and Charlie Brown.
  • Slick's words in the second panel here are taken from the chorus to "Message in a Bottle" by The Police.
  • The book Criminy gave Fuchsia, the one thing she felt important enough to take with her when she left the Devi's mansion, is a Shout Out to Saturday Night Live.
• Show Within a Show: "Ninja Theatre" is Slick's project (see also the next page).
• Shut UP, Hannibal: Seymour's Knight Templar passive-aggressive ways pushes Fuchsia's Berserk Button, leading her into a Despair Event Horizon. As Seymour tries to say a sermon, Criminy promptly tells him that he has had ENOUGH.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts:
  • Ezekiel and Ariel, a pair of little angels that also like harassing the Devil.
  • Also, this.
• Significant Haircut: 'Nique gets one here. We'll see if it sticks.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The scale used to sit at the cynical end, but slowly started working its way up to the idealistic side thanks to an ever increasingly amount of strips that can't help but tug at your heartstrings.
  • Sometimes Pooch will wander around looking at a couple of things, and marvel in wonder, followed by Percy, who will look at the same or similar things in fear and anger. For example, Pooch sees nature as an artist, and Percy sees nature as an enemy.
• So Beautiful It's a Curse: Monique. Half the time she's flaunting it, and the other half she's mourning the consequences of having dudes fall for her left and right, especially when it leads them straight to Hell...literally.
• Space Whale Aesop: A public service announcement.
• Speechbubbles Interruption
• Stalker with a Crush: Fuchsia becomes one for a while after she starts to become enamored of Criminy.
• Status Quo Is God: It seems that Tatsuya will NEVER resolve any of the UST between Slick and 'Nique. It also seems that he will never make Crim and Fyoosh an official couple after the Crim Goes to Hell arc just sort of petered out unresolved.
  • As far as Slick and 'Nique, perhaps this is why. Not that 'Nique didn't express much the same sentiments herself earlier...
• Strawman Conservative: Several cases, most notably Little Evil.
• Stripperific: The Succubi. Duh.
• Subliminal Seduction: All the time. "Special messages" on TV. Also, Monique talked backward, just to scare Seymour.
• Summon Backup Dancers: Done here.
• Summoning Ritual: Interrupted.
• Sunglasses At Night (Slick)
• Super-Deformed Chibi Sinfest
• Sweet Polly Oliver: here.
  • Then this acknowledges the odd attractiveness of Cross Dresser Monique ("Androgynique"), possibly proving that Even the Girls Want Her (which is ironically the most success any of the characters — except of course for Criminy — have had with women).
• Take That: This strip.
• Taking the Bullet: Crimey for Fuschia, although I think Cupid was aiming for him.
• Talking in Your Dreams
• Team Switzerland: Buddha acts as a neutral third party to God and the Devil. He'd be Above Good and Evil if he weren't one of the nicest characters in the strip.
• Theme Naming: The succubi are named after their hair colors.
• Through His Stomach: Subverted here.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Slick is short. Also, Fuchsia and Criminy. Both are taller in the Reality Zone.
  • Actually applies to most of the core male cast — Slick, Squiggley, Criminy, Seymour and Lil' Evil are roughly all half the size of the women — with the exception of the Devil (and obviously God). Oddly enough, the male supporting cast (Jesus, Uncle Sam, etc) are all of normal height.
  • In the reality zone, they are the exact same size as the girls. Much more realistic.
• Took a Level In Badass: See Beware The Nice Ones above. It looked as if Criminy was about to kill Seymour.
  • Even more so now that he is going into the very maw of Hell itself for Fuchsia. Go get her Criminy!!
    • Now, even after suffering a long fall, he's managed to fight off a winged pitchfork from hell with a freakin shovel.
      • And then uses same flying pitchfork to make his getaway. "Punch it, forky!"
• Took a Level In Jerkass: Seymour after the Bad Behavior series.
• Took a Level In Kindness: Slick. To some degree, Monique too.
• Torture Technician: Baby Blue gets creative sometimes. See: Cool and Unusual Punishment. Chances are, all the torturers but Fuchsia (now) can be that way.
• Training Montage: Seymour buffs up after Monique calls him on his gender confusion rant.
• Translation Train Wreck: In-Universe example in this strip.
• Troll:
  • God's Devil Puppet.
  • Baby Blue's method of choice for causing trouble. She always has the right thing to say or do to get under people's skin. Her favorite target is Seymour, not that he doesn't deserve it.
  • The Cherubs. They are trolling by the means of JOY!
• Tsundere: Percival. He just can't admit how much he likes stuff. Including Pooch.

U-Z

• Ubermensch — or rather Uberboy
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Slick and 'Nique. Squigley prefers to phrase it in more straightforward terms, though.
• Unsound Effect: All over it — here, here, here, here, and here. Explore Explore!
• Up to Eleven: Satan has a Paranoia Meter that does this.
  • And his Hellfire Meter.
• Villainous Crush: Fuchsia to Criminy. Starts her development into an Anti-Villain.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Observe.
• The Voiceless: Buddha.
  • Or is he?
    • Which is weird, because he started out having a voice when he was introduced.
• Walking the Earth: After some coercion, Squig does this during an arc beginning late in October, 2010. In fact, he walks through a number of other comics.
• War Room: Hell's control room is shown here.
• Waxing Lyrical: Several
  • "You're like a butterfly. A wild butterfly. I will collect you and capture you."
  • "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you."
  • "Lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice, oh, and it lights up the night...and you see your gypsyyy..."
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: As it turns out, this is a lot of what drives Lil' E.
  • The reason he was abandoned by his father here
    • Though he may not recall just why he is so desperate for that person's approval, considering how young he seems to have been when they stopped living as father and son.
  • Some of the Devil's interactions with the "Puppet-master in the Sky" seem like this turned sour.
• Weird Trade Union:

"Oh, Hi. We're Unionized now." "We want a raise."

• Wham! Episode: After Lil E gets his mind wiped by the River Lethe, Baby Blue pulls up his history on 'Wickedpedia' showing a flashback that strongly implies that he's Satan's son.
  • in other words, Lil'E is the Anti Christ.
  • Fuchsia has left the building.
  • So has Baby Blue.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Criminy, according to Fuschia.
• When I Was Your Age: Uncle Sam to Slick — who asks him about the uphill both ways.
• White-Haired Pretty Girl: Lil' E's mom.
• Wicked Cultured: Satan
• Wiki Rule: Monique has discovered a wiki devoted entirely to her, with very up to date info on her. Also, the Other Sunday Strip up near Crowning Moment of Heartwarming has an email to Slick from Monique saying that she made a wiki for him: SlickyWiki. Also, the webcomic now has its own wiki.
  • Baby Blue pulls up Little Evil's entry on Wickedpedia.
    • Fyoosh deletes hers when she quits.
• The World Is Just Awesome: There's a few moments like this and thankfully, they tend to be in the Sunday color strips, like this one. Also, this.
• Wrong-Context Magic: The word "magic" is never used, but Squigley's shamanic powers are completely different from anything demonstrated by angels or devils.
• Yandere: Fuchsia seems to be one given what she says in this comic. She has since gotten better. Possibly Baby Blue in a Depraved Bisexual example.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: How Criminy regards Ms. Fuchsia.
• You Are Worth Hell: Better in context, but even out of it, aw....

Fuschia: Did you really come down here to save me? Criminy: Yes. Well, no. Not to save you... Just to be with you. Fuschia: *GLOMP* Even better!

• • Slick's opinion of Monique could be interpreted as this.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: That's clever. Guilt Trip, much?
• Your Mom: Used by the embodiment of eastern religions Here.
  • Oh snappeth!
• Yuri Fanboy: Slick and Squigley.
• Zettai Ryouiki:
  • Fuchsia's Schoolgirl outfit, from time to time, Occasionally Grade A.
  • Blue uses this along with Catholic Schoolgirl suit to devastating effect on Seymour.