True Magic

Or do I gotta pop a kernel in your ass?

True Magic is a humorous fantasy webcomic written and drawn by Aja and co-author :D. It follows the adventures of five residents of Homeville, who for certain reasons have gotten rather adept at using such unlikely weapons as guns and halberds as farm implements. With the villagers of Homeville constantly beleagured by nobles who come by to violently harass them, our heroes finally take it upon themselves to trek to the city of Hometropolis in an attempt to get the nobles to leave them alone.

The original comic ran for about five years, but the entire thing has recently been rebooted with much-improved writing and art. You can start reading it here.

The main characters, in no particular order:

• Henson: The Big Guy, uses a scythe to slice potatoes. Often Mistaken for Gay or a girl, initially, due to not tying back his long hair.
• Jen: The Chick, uses a halberd to shear sheep. A Wholesome Crossdresser for the sake of pretending to be a noble.
• Kiku: A Fiery Redhead, who wears metal claws for some reason. Really likes hot cocoa.
• Bob: Brainy Brunette Badass Bookworm.
• Joe: The Everyman, who weaponized all of his buddies.

Other characters, who may or may not end up being important. We'll see!

• The proprietors of the Dusk to Dusk.
• Green-Haired Man: Strangely eager to tell Henson something "of the utmost life-changing gravity." We don't know what it is, yet.
• The guards, especially melodramatic blonde dude and Mr. I-won't-wear-my-helmet-it-makes-my-hair-stupid.
• The trio of theives.
• And who wrote the letter directing students to beat on Hometown?

Tropes used in True Magic include:

• Action Mom: So, without the infamous band of weapon-wielding residents to protect it, Homeville must be a piece of cake for bandits, right? Right? Dead wrong. Well, now we know where Joe and Jen got their skills...
• Aerith and Bob: Kiku, Henson, Bob, Joe and Jen.
• Alt Text
• Aristocrats Are Evil - They're the primary antagonists of the story.
• Art Evolution - The reboot of the comic has much better art than the beginning of the first run.
• Badass Normal - The protagonists of the story.
• Badass Bookworm - Bob. Catches a sword while reading a book. He then continues on to later threaten friend of sword thrower, with said book. At the time of writing this, Bob is featured on the Badass Bookworm page.
• Beard of Evil - The first noble shown harassing the present day villagers sports a goatee. That first nobleman is mocked by his classmates later for having a wussy beard.
• Berserk Button: Messing with Henson in front of a hot cocoa'd Kiku.

"That'll teach you! Callin' my buddy a ponce!"

• Bishonen - Everywhere you look! It's gotten to the point that men tend to wear their (long) hair in a braid, since its the only way to tell them from the women.
• Blatant Lies: "If you ever threaten a priest again, I'll smi-" Alt Text: "He was going to say, 'smile and turn the other cheek'. Honest!"
• Brainy Brunette - Bob, the self-educated peasant.
• Brought to You by The Letter "S": This page brought to you the letter L.
• Casanova Wannabe: Joe imagines girls flocking around him.
• Comically Missing the Point: Jen reprimands Kiku for holding a sword in his moulth: "Oh, Kiku. Don't put that in your moulth! You don't know where it's been!"
• Corrupt Church - The priests in the prologue are so corrupt, they even turn against their own god, Lucideus.
• Close-Call Haircut - In the first run, Kiku accidentally pokes Joe's eye out. In the current run, a similar scene is shown, but instead, Joe is only given a Close-Call Haircut. He later gets another one to even up the other side.
• Dark-Skinned Redhead - Kiku.
• Death By Origin Story - Done on a larger scale. Lucideus may or may not be dead, but his absence is why the priests were able to continue their abusiveness towards commoners, which led to the events of the comic.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Check out panel three: Long blue hair? Check. Heart-themed necklace? Check. Frills? Check. Actually a girl? Sorry.
• Everyone Is Single
• Fiery Redhead - Kiku again.
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Hero: Joe or Henson
  • The Lancer: Kiku
  • The Smart Guy: Bob and, to a lesser degree, Joe
  • The Chick: Jen, an Action Girl, not The Load.
  • The Big Guy: Henson. he is not The Stoic, He Who Must Not Be Heard, or otherwise noncommunicative. Just - the biggest guy on the team. He also shows major leadership capabilities, and so overlaps with The Hero.
• The Generic Guy - Bob and Joe, more so in the first run. Even in the reboot, their names are catch-alls for The Everyman.
• Have You Seen My God? - Twice. There were supposed to be other gods, but Lucideus can't seem to find them. Also, no one really knows what happened to Lucideus when the priests sealed him up.
• Holier Than Thou - The priests, to the point of being abusive to their subjects.
• Ho Yay: Joe accidently imagining Henson as a stripper.
• I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: Kiku on hot chocolate.
• Improbable Weapon User: Inverted in an amusing fashion with the protagonists. Instead of using farm implements as weapons, they use weapons as farm implements (and, when the situation calls for it, as weapons...).
• Imagine Spot: Joe thinking of staying at the nightclub. He sees Bob as a magician, Kiku hunting rats, himself as a ladies' man, and Henson in a thong.
• Kill It with Fire: Ah, yes. Fireballs. The solution to everything...
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Henson is lectured by a streetwalker on how to appear male.

"...which is why the long-haired gents wear ponytails around here. It's more masculine, you know?"

• Mistaken for Gay: Henson is mistaken for a gigolo.
• New First Comics
• Nice Hat: The priests'. Lampshaded by the Alt Text.
• Percussive Maintenance: It always works.
• Rage Against the Heavens - After commoners complain about the priests' deeds and Lucideus demands they change their ways, the priests turn against Lucideus and seal him up.
• Redheaded Hero - Two of them, Henson and Kiku.
• Religion Is Magic - The priests are endowed with magical powers. Makes you wonder about the priest of the octopus god.
• Shout-Out: "It buuuuurns us!" and dogs with orange eyebrows.
• Show Some Leg: Fails utterly when Jen tries.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: TO THE POTATO SHED!
• Wholesome Crossdresser - Jen, to get into a nobles' school.
• Wild Hair - Kiku's hair is all over the place.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl - Played straight with one of the thugs who attacks the heroes ("My mom told me not to hit girls"), and inverted with the girl in question ("My mom told me not to hit boys who don't hit girls").
• You Don't Want to Catch This - The villagers put spots made of jam on themselves to keep the nobles away while the heroes are gone, as well as a sign warning of "Peasant Pox."