Three Panel Soul

"All we got here is whatever sparks our souls at the moment, three panels at a time." —Ian McConville

Three Panel Soul was created by Ian McConville, the artist, and Matt Boyd, the writer, after ending Mac Hall. The comics, which began on September 5th, 2006, generally focus on musing of life. The comics are often done in black and white with comics set inside games done in colour. Every comic consists of exactly three panels, but some continue into a part two.

Tropes used in Three Panel Soul include:

• Art Evolution - The black and white comics begin as slightly realistic before becoming chibi-fied in later comics. Though realistic detail appears in some comics.
  • Early on Ian stated in a newspost that his goal with 3PS was to freely experiment with any style. Though chibi remains often used.
• Art Shift: The first two panels of "Back to School" are a flashback to ten years ago, and are done in the Mac Hall style. Specifically, this comic.
• Author Avatar - Ian and Matt
• Bacon Addiction - "Is this bacon ice cream?"
• Badass Longcoat - This
• Batman Gambit - "On Manipulation"
• Call Back - Before getting married, Jess would be asked if she was when buying magazines for cake designs. After the proposal, however...
• Cloudcuckoolander - Ian and Jess, to an extent. Dom also qualifies for this at points.
• Continuity Nod - Micah's reappearance with his new girlfriend in On Companionship
• Deadpan Snarker - Everyone
• Depraved Homosexual - Matt's City of Villains character, The Homosexual Agenda (later Stonewall Riots)
• Deal with the Devil - On Angels
• Deliberately Monochrome - Almost all the comics set in 'reality'. To elaborate: If it takes place in a video game world, the comic is in color.
• Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting - How every job interview should go.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin - Titular three panels that contain every comic
• Flame Bait - Literally
• Filler - Occasionally a set of doodles or a single sketch
• Friend Versus Lover
• Genius Bonus - Invoked.
• Going Postal - Averted, in "On Close Quarters" and "On Pink Slips"
• It Tastes Like Feet - Homebrew beer certainly can...
• Jiggle Physics - Parodied with On Soft Bodies.
• Level Grinding - Referenced
• Life Embellished: The majority of the strips are based on Ian's real life with his fiancee/wife, Jess, and Matt's subsequent moving in with them.
• Mythology Gag: JE SUIS UN BEAR is a reference to this Mac Hall strip
• Only Sane Man - Matt.
• Our Werewolves Are Different - They aren't evil at all. Just monogamous and very sociable.
• Pyromaniac/Kill It with Fire: Jess, On Minecraft
• Shout-Out - Potentially - these two look somewhat like an odd pair of detectives, one of whom loves cabbage.
  • In an earlier strip, Hilary Clinton's Secret Service agents are the Elite Beat Agents.
  • Does the gentleman in the third panel look familiar?
    • That one even has a unique archive tag, "Looks a Lot Like Axecop" so it might also have been a Throw It In.
• Slice of Life - Ian and Matt make observations of the absurdities of life occasionally.
• Spiritual Successor - Of Mac Hall
• Stick Figure Comic - Dom's guest strips. (Dom, Ian and Matt are / were housemates in real life.)
• Sure, Let's Go with That - When a cashier asks a Brony, "Is this for your daughter?"
• The Rant
• To Be Continued - Some comics continue into the next installment; such as the "On Rabbits" arc
• Unsound Effect - "MUSTACHE MUSTACHE MUSTACHE..."
  • BROFACE!
• Wacky Marriage Proposal - Ian's proposal to Jess
  • Could also double as a Crowning Moment of Awesome and a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming just due to the nature of how he did it.