The Devil's Panties, started in October 8, 2001, is an "autobiographical online daily comic about conventions, comic shops, and pirates." It details the misadventures the webcomic author/artist Jennie Breeden has in her life (because truth is stranger then fiction), occasionally exaggerating or dipping into fiction, such as in her conversations with Jesus and The Devil.
Read it here.
Tropes:[]
- Affably Evil: Satan
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Jennie is the recipient of a condescending one during a 2011 Canada trip.
- All Women Are Lustful: This one for sure, and a number of her friends.
- Atlanta: Where the artist lives and most strips are set.
- Author Appeal: Asian guys, men in kilts.
- Author Avatar: Jennie, or "Jen".
- Be Careful What You Wish For: "I want the plague!" She actually gets mono. At least it's less horrid than the bubonic plague.
- B Side Comics: Geebas On Parade, a comic about LARPing, part Deep-Immersion Gaming, part real-world effects.
- Caffeine Bullet Time: With travelling and then needing to be awake for the event, Jennie attended a lot of conventions in a crazed state of sleep-deprivation and sugar-rush. Fans would give her sugary snacks to provoke this manic behaviour, something she later cut down on.
- Character Development: Jen develops in tandem with her author, growing up over the comic's run - starting at college and through working assorted jobs before becoming a full-time artist - but has diverged into an exaggerated fantasy version of herself, shorter, angrier, sillier, able to do and say things the real Jennie couldn't.
- Crazy Prepared: Jennie's emergency kit.
- Derailed Fairy Tale: Occasionally a strip was replaced with a parody of a fairy tale a few years back.
- Editorial Synaesthesia: Jen visits her boyfriend's mother, who has far more energy than English. "I would only catch one or two Spanish words that I recognized and the rest turned into a hundred mile an hour blurred dialogue." To represent this, her speech bubbles are filled with squiggles and the occasional word.
- Everything's Better with Princesses: In addition to the traditional Angel and Devil on her shoulder Jennie also has a Pink Princess to represent her girlie side.
- Freakier Than Fiction
- Friendly Enemies: The Good Angel and Bad Angel and also their respective bosses.
- Genki Girl: Jennie, and some of the other women.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: Plus a Princess! The two are Friendly Enemies at worst, and often concur on common issues (like attractive men.)
- Hearing Voices: Jennie and other people have a Devil and Angel on their shoulder, though Jennie is the only one with a Pink Princess to add to that.
- Journal Comic
- Life Embellished
- Limited Wardrobe: Unless there's a good reason not to, Jen always wears a t-shirt depicting a labrys (a double-headed axe that looks like the Batman logo), denim shorts (recently changed to a tartan skirt) and big stompy boots with flame motifs. The author notes that Jen has solidified this way, while she's changed and become varied.
- Long Runner
- Jesus Is Way Cool
- Magical Realism: Jesus, the Devil or both appear now and then. Also one of Jennie's room-mates used to keep Legolas naked and locked in her closet.
- Magnum Opus Dissonance: The work Jennie pours love into isn't always the work people like best, as depicted here.
- Man in a Kilt: She likes them. More than that, she bought a leaf-blower to harass them, and then arranged to photograph willing volunteers for a calender.
- Open-Minded Parent: Jennie's rather cool mom.
- Pals with Jesus: And also the Devil. Their appearances are now more a case of Early Installment Weirdness.
- Perky Goth: Jennie's long-term friend "Happy Goth". Early on, probably Jennie as well.
- Punch Clock Villain: Satan
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Very much so, although exaggerated for comic effect and given an occasional surrealistic twist.
- Real Women Never Wear Dresses: Starting out as a self-admitted "feminazi" (a reaction to her local environment), Jennie mellowed on this over time (and through meeting different people), and allowed her "inner princess" to come out. In the comic, this meant her angel and devil were joined by a pink-tutu-wearing princess in army boots.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: Dyslexia-related problems with spelling meant that many of the comics have typos, and making an issue of it was a real Berserk Button for her. (There used to be an angry rant about it on the website, but it was dropped when it was redesigned.) They appear far less often in new comics, though.
- Running Gag: "Things Not To Say In The Bedroom" comics, which are also about giving the artist time off on the weekends. They appear on Saturday or Sunday, and consist only of solid black with a single word balloon with the joke in it.
- Series Mascot: The angel and devil are the face of the comic, and do most of the promotional "See me at this convention" notices.
- Schedule Slip: Ruthlessly averted in a way that could shame even Penny Arcade. Jennie has posted a comic (or a sketch, or something) almost every day since late 2001.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: "Nothing! I ate nothing that fell on the floor."
- The One With...: Lost vs. Gilligan