Comic Book / Alone

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Alone (Seuls in French) is an ongoing Franco-Belgian comic series, written by Fabien Vehlmann and drawn by Bruno Gazzotti. Its first volume was published in January 2006, with a release schedule of one volume per year. It is currently composed of fifteen volumes divided into three complete cycles, and, according to the authors, should amount to a total of twenty volumes.

Alone follows the adventures of a group of five children ^note Dodzi, Leila, Terry, Camille, and Ivan from a fictional town named Fortville (Campton in the English translation), who wake up one day to discover that everyone else has disappeared. All the adults are gone, and the only other living creatures they meet are animals and, later on, other children. Of course, the heroes attempt to discover what happened, while also trying to survive by themselves. There are many dangers to be faced, from animals gone wild to rival groups of children.

Over time, they discover that this world isn't what it seems. Mysterious forces are at work, and they end up dragged in a conflict between two warring groups, respectively called the First Families and the Last Families.

A movie adaptation was released in France on February 8th, 2017.

Seuls provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Dodzi's stepfather used to beat him up when he was drunk, lock him up in the dark and force him to recite poetry, punishing him harshly until he knew it by heart.
  • Implied to be the case with Edith's parents, if the bruises on her back are any indication. That would explain her destructive behaviour. It's all but stated outright in the Fourth Cycle.
  • Enzo's father started beating him up for little reason after losing his job to the Covid 19 Pandemic. To the point of eventually killing him. It's as disturbing as it sounds.
  • The Mirror Child's father takes the cake and eats it, keeping him in a basement-cell, throwing him a bottle of alcool when he escaped, causing him horrible burns, then taunting him that no-one would love him with him being so disgusting. No wonder the poor kid is so messed up.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Justified and enforced. Without adults, some children assume the leadership. Saul leads a group of children and thinks he should be the only leader, even if it means getting rid of the competition. Dodzi also become a leader, even though he doesn't want to. The leaders of the First Families are children too and want Saul to become the champion of their empire.
• Action Girl:
  • Leila is the second-best fighter of the group, after Dodzi.
  • Edith is fearsome with a bat, an axe or a sling in hand, but her violent nature makes her somewhat of a deconstruction.
• Action Survivor: Basically all the children are forced to become this.
• Adaptational Villainy: Saul is far worst in The Film of the Book than his comic-book counterpart. He nonchalantly kills the Master of Knives who has just outlived his usefulness and his crush for Camille is displayed in a very creepy way. At one point, he locks her in a cage.
• Affably Evil: The Last Families, which contrasts with the First Families' restrained attitude and rigid Fantastic Caste System.
  • Anyone corrupted by the Last Families become monstrous and willing to expand their ranks on hapless victims, but keep treating the children as friends and playground buddies.
  • Camille will always treat the other children of Campton as her friends and want them by her side. If only she wasn't so intent on corrupting them or cutting them limb from limb... Coincidentally, their refusal to treat her as an enemy leads them to saving her.
• Animal Motifs: Many examples.
  • Flying insects for the Last Families, plaguing the Lowlands with billions of flies and black vermin.
  • The Midnight Child, (l'Enfant-Minuit in French) anointed by the forces of darkness, is covered with red insects usually associated with cuteness (ladybugs and butterflies) but here creepy as heck. Not unsurprisingly, considering that she was the sweetest character of all before her Face–Heel Turn.
  • Spiders for the Mad Master (Maître Fou in French), who hides hundreds of them in the cage he wears on his head. Or rather, which replaces his severed head, with the spiders being part of him.
  • Magpies for Jezebel, eight of them able to speak holding fragments of her spirit. With her being one of the good guys, they are wise and benevolent, if a bit too chatty and taunting.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Terry's power can turn things into sentient beings with a will of their own.
• Anti-Villain: Several instances.
  • The Master of Knives was ultimately only trying to protect a baby girl from the heroes. A Freeze-Frame Bonus on one of the last comic strip boxes shows that one of the windows Leila and Ivan exploded when, while drunk, they had fun shooting with Ivan's father's gun was a window of the building where he was living with the baby.
  • Alexander and Selena, who try to kill the Children of Campton. But only because they want to prevent another war between the Last Families and the First Families. They think that one of them will become the Midnight-Child, aka the Champion of the Last Families.
  • Arguably, the less extremist leaders of the First Families are this, mostly Diane and Lucius. On one hand, they do advocate for harsh measures, they rule over a society based on a Fantastic Caste System in which a whole group is treated as slaves and they end up antagonizing the heroes because they suspect they may be linked to the Last Families. On the other hand, they do what they think is best to protect their subjects, while having to fight an enemy that turns children into zombie-like pawns.
  • Achilles, the First Families' best warrior, is a Noble Demon who opposes the heroes because they are suspected to be aligned with the Last Families. However, he wants to give the children of Campton a fair chance of joining the First Families and of proving they're not a threat. A conversation between two soldiers also reveals that he strongly dislikes torture.
  • The creepy Mad Master is in fact a mentor of sorts, trying to train Dodzi. Each seemingly absurd and sadistic trial he inflicts is in fact a disguised lesson.
• Astral Projection: Jezebel can manifest herself in spirit wherever she wants, but it puts a strain on her.
• Ax-Crazy: Several instances:
  • Toussaint is violently unhinged and delights in killing foes or even his own men for no reason.
  • The Master of Knives appear at first to be this and Edith seems close to becoming this. But the former is a subversion, only fighting when in danger, and Edith refuses to perpetuate The Chain of Harm, venting her frustration on objects but swearing to rise above what she suffered. To the point that people lashing out at innocents is a serious Berserk Button for her.
• Badass Pacifist: Dodzi becomes this in the Fourth Cycle. They avoid violence as much as possible, but they will force you to listen, whether you want it or not. Facing an enemy, their first reflex is to No-Sell their attacks and make them drop all weapons.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: The true role of the Eighth Family, whose real name is the Striped Souls, is to keep it intact. Melchior prepared to become its Champion, until his disappearance. The other Families would rather avoid it, keeping them as slaves under their control.
• Barbaric Battleaxe: The Master of Knives and Edith use them with great proficiency. The former as his most dangerous melee weapon and the latter as projectiles.
• Big Bad: Saul, the local Rival Turned Evil, is the Children of Campton's most personal and dangerous enemy throughout the four cycles. With the First and Fifteen Families mentioned below serving as a Greater-Scope Villain... for the time being.
• Big Bad Ensemble: The First Family is opposed to the Fifteenth, but both are equally dangerous Eldritch Abominations determined to engulf everything in apocalyptic wars... To the point of uniting against anyone even thinking about restoring balance.
  • The Third Cycle has Saul who is about to start a brutal military dictatorship in Neosalem, the Mad Master who abducts Dodzi for his sadistic entertainment, and the Midnight Child who takes control of the Last Families and prepares them for a new In-Between War. With the latter two being restored to normal at the end, only Saul remains a threat. And the aforementioned Eldritch Abominations have yet to enter the fray...
• Blade Enthusiast: The fittingly named Master of Knives. He wears dozens of them on his coat and is very good at fighting with them or at throwing them.
• Blood Knight: Toussaint, to horrifying, Ax-Crazy proportions...
• Bowdlerization: In the official English translation of the first volume, there was a panel of showing Terry fully naked, which was edited so that he was wearing underwear.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Terry often acts like a brat, at least during the First Cycle. He is forced to grow up by the trials he has to face, and while he remains mischievous and prone to slapstick, it's mostly gone by the Third Cycle.
• Breaking the Fellowship: By the start of the Third Cycle, the main 5 characters are separated from each other. Dodzi is imprisoned by the Mad Master, Leila is recaptured by the First Families, Ivan finds himself in another town after drowning while trying to escape First Family soldiers and reviving, Terry is on the run with the Master of Knives, and Camille has become The Antichrist of the Last Families. Fortunately, they are all back together at the end of the cycle, ready to assume their true role as leaders of the Mediators.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: A tragically deconstructed example of this trope between the arrogant and tyrannical but troubled and mentally unstable Saul and the kind, caring and empathic Camille before it turned out that Camille was actually the Midnight Child leading their relationship to completly fall apart.
• Cane Fu: Ivan decides to fight that way in the Fourth Cycle, noting that it looks innocuous but does the work. He has yet to be seen using it though.
• Character Development: Being stranded in a very hostile ghost town would force anyone to grow up fast to adapt and survive.
  • Dodzi learns to trust people and to open up towards others, and lately to overcome his crippling self-loathing, becoming a Badass Pacifist and respected team leader.
  • Leila learns to uses her ingenuity to save her skin and to seize opportunities depending on the situation to turn the tables, becoming The Strategist.
  • Ivan learns to overcome his fears and his loneliness, becoming proactive instead of a follower.
  • Camille has to adapt her idealism to the grimness of the situation, and to better understand people. Later, she accepts her part of darkness and resolves to discover what happened to her.
  • Terry learns to become mature and responsible, and to take care of himself and others, becoming a skilled Badass Adorable Gadgeteer Genius.
  • Cruelly played with in Saul's case. He first mellows out due to Camille's Positive Friend Influence, and starts to respect the heroes as they team up to escape the Lowlands. Alas, he is named ruler of the First Families. Just as Camille's pleas appear to strike a chord, he meets Toussaint and spirals From Bad to Worse.
• The Chosen One: The Last Families and the First Families each have their champion, a child with enormous supernatural powers. Saul is revealed in the seventh book to be the champion of the First Families. In the ninth album, we learn the identity of the Midnight Child of the Last Families. It's Camille.
  • Dodzi is revealed to be the one for the neutral Eighth Family, destined to end the conflict between both factions and to open the Gates of Heaven.
• Conflict Ball: Grabbed by Dodzi and Leila at the beginning of tome 9 to justify his separation from the rest of the group. You'd expect this kind of conflict to break out at the beginning when they didn't know each other well, not after months of surviving together.
  • Partially justified in the fact that he is afraid of being the local variation of The Antichrist, and understandably freaked out by the prospect of being a danger to his True Companions.
• The Corrupter: Anyone transformed by the Last Families becomes a twisted, demonic version of themselves. But this is really "them", with their flaws magnified tenfold, and not a Demonic Possession.
  • A brutal Knight Templar and War Hawk like Toussaint is the worst possible advisor to a Well-Intentioned Extremist slash Totalitarian Utilitarian like Saul. Not only because he brings the worst in him, but because he has the biggest chance of being listened to.
• The Corruptible: Saul is a deeply flawed Control Freak with bad It's All About Me tendencies, but he hides a vulnerable side and sincerely tries to protect the children in his care and improve their lives. Too bad, he finds inspiration from the Hitler Youth. Too bad, Toussaint is whispering in his ear...
• Cosmic Horror Story: The story starts as a suspense/thriller mixing Lord of the Flies and Gone. Then the Fifteen Families slowly show their ugly mug, resulting in a setting that would make H. P. Lovecraft feel at home.
• Cowardly Lion: Ivan is not as brave as Dodzi or Leila. But, when push comes to shove, he's capable of being just as heroic. By the end of the Third Cycle, he is able to face The Dragon to the Midnight Child then the Midnight Child themselves.
• Creepy Child: In a comic book where the story takes place in a world where children go after their death, it is not surprising to find a good number of examples of this trope.
  • First we have Saul who display a quite disturbing, violent, authoritarian and even quite psychopathic attitude for a 11 years old child. A mentally tortured boy with a mysterious past who is visibly trying to seek comfort and refuge in the thirst for power and the permanent need to be in control.
  Zoe: "Saul’s a good leader, but sometimes he also scares us a little."
  • During volumes 4th and 5th volumes Alexander and his sister Selena display a disturbingly cold and silent attitude, to the point of frightening Leila and Terry.
  • The Mirror Child is the perfect example of this trope with his creepy red eyes and his determination to aid the last families to accomplish their darkest goals. No wonder why Terry ended up traumatized after seeing him for the first time at the fire station in volume 7th.
  • Camille when she is the Midnight Child and the children of the 9th family qualify as well with their zombie-like appearence and attitude.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Many children hid a nasty background, most notably Edith and the Mirror Child.
• Dark Is Evil: The Last Families consists in zombie-like slaves, monstrous animals and children, and entities straight out of a nightmare. Although the Fourth Cycle explains that they are deeply traumatized by horrific deaths and lashing out in grief.
• Dead All Along: Everyone. The other people didn't disappear. The characters are actually dead and stuck in an afterlife called the In-Between World ("le monde des Limbes", meaning "the world of Limbo" in French.
• Deadpan Snarker: Ivan has some moments.
  Leila: "It's a pity we don't go see that thing from closer..."
  Ivan: "Another time. We should keep some for the rest of the week. Or else we'll get bored."
• Defector from Decadence: Octave and Joachim join the rebels of the Eighth Family, out of disgust for what Neosalem is becoming under Saul and Toussaint. By the start of the Fourth Cycle, not even Diane, Isaure, and Siegfried, the most Reasonable Authority Figure of the Ruling Council, could stand it and they deserted in turn.
• Despair Event Horizon: The Last Families are implied to feed from negative feelings resulting from it. Camille and the Mirror Child died because of it.
• Domain Holder: Children with powers have full control over places linked to their past. Like the hostel where the Mirror Child was held captive by his father.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Toussaint is this to Saul, the Imperator. He feigns obedience to bring out the worst in him, advocating for a military dictatorship and pushing him from a Totalitarian Utilitarian right into The Caligula zone. And by awakening the Midnight Child instead of sealing them, he kickstarts the War of the In-Between that could still be avoided/delayed.
• Driven to Suicide: Book 14 ends on The Reveal that Camille died by throwing herself off a building, losing all will to live after realising the brewing social and environmental disasters.
• Dub Name Change: Some names are changed for the English spelling: Yvan to Ivan, Alexandre to Alexander, Achille to Achilles, and Jezabel to Jezebel. Others are changed to names more familiar for English speakers.
  • Dodji gets the Barely Changed Dub Name of Dodzi.
  • Edwige becomes Edith.
  • Eloi of the Ruling Council becomes Elias.
  • Tanguy becomes Conor.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Dark Monolith at the center of the Lowlands is horribly creepy and ominous, covered with (if not made of) billions of insects, withnGod knows what inside of it. It is sentient and controls the Lowlands. It is in fact a Nadir of the Fifteenth Family, far and away the most powerful of the Last Families, spawned from the Midnight Child's subconscious. It takes this form because she died by jumping off a building.
  • Its counterpart the Aeon has yet to appear, but it is stated to be equally Lovecraftian and dangerous. It is spawned from the Imperator's subconscious.
• Eldritch Location: The Lowlands (les Terres Basses in French), stronghold of the Last Families. They are implied to be sentient and keep expanding over and over, even without the Midnight Child to control them.
• Emotional Language Shift: Saul tends to revert to his native English when distraught (but only in the original).
• Emotionless Girl : Selena displays an extremly cold, silent and focused attitude, determinated to eliminate the Midnight Child.
• Everyone Has Standards: Edith doesn't like much Leila, as she feels that Leila never truly accepted her as part of her group of friends and she considers her a rival for Dodzi's affections. But after seeing how Saul is treating her in tome 12, she agrees that she deserves to be helped.
• Evil Counterpart: The Last Families are dark reflections of the First Ones, with similar natures and powers, but completely different purpose. But while incredibly dangerous, there are hints of a grayer morality.
• Evil Me Scares Me: After finally returning to normal self, Camille compares the time she spent as the Midnight-Child as a waking nightmare. Though what made the experience most terrifying was that she could feel that it was still herself, just a more twisted version.
  Leila: I don't think it was your fault, Camille. It was that darned monolith that probably-
  Camille: Don't try to find excuses for me Leila. I can see how everyone's looking at me here... and they're probably right to be afraid of me. I'm just not a good person, that's all. But I promise to learn what happened to me.
• Face Doodling: Saul's Sun Clan takes Ivan prisoner after capturing him whilst he was raiding the library in their territory alongside Anton in Volume 6. While he's tied up, the guards in the Sun Clan draw a penis on his forehead and hang a sign around his neck that says "I'm a tool." Some of the Sun Clan thugs plan on doing this to Dodji and Edith after finding them sneaking through their territory and strip them down to their underwear to write a lot of horrible stuff on them, but Dodji beat them up and drove them off.
• Fantastic Caste System: The First Families use a rigid social structure where the numbers of 6 (aristocrats), 7 (commoners), and 8 (slaves) are given to the incoming/newly dead children based on their success in their grueling Game of Trials.
• Fauxshadowing: As the story goes on, Dodzi is led to believe that he is the Midnight-Child, the Chosen One of the Last Families. But it ultimately turns out to be a Red Herring hiding the reveal that it was Camille.
• Fiery Redhead: Edith is a readhead and have a rather impulsive behavior with a tendency to destroy objects and buildings, however this is more likely justified due to her Dark and Troubled Past. Terry is a more comedic version of this trope due to his very young age.
• Fire-Forged Friends: The five children of Campton quickly become True Companions after having to survive and face threats together.
  • Edith and Leila end their rivalry after cooperating against the Mirror Child.
• Foe Romance Subtext: Saul kisses Dodzi during their Enemy Mine moment, both as a "thank you" and to mess with his mind.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Even though at first glance, we are led to believe that Dodzi is the Midnight-Child of the Last Families, some clues actually point towards Camille as soon as album four.
    • In the fourth album, Camille is the more sensible to the events happening in the "Zone", aka the (at the time still not known) stronghold of the Last Families. Alexander and Selena even suspect her first. Later albums don't bring up that element again, but they never exculpate Camille either.
    • In the eighth album, Camille is questioned by the leaders of the First Families, who use an artifact known as Alderic's Hand to try to see if she has a connection with the Last Families. One of the leaders' Evil-Detecting Dog starts barking and the Hand is reacting. However, at the time, the leaders (and by extension the reader) assume that it's because of Lucy, the baby that was with Camille at the moment.
  • The revelations that the children were Dead All Along and the entire nature of the Fifteen Families were hinted at the second volume of the series, where Ivan remembered him being with his parents getting into the car the night to run away from "Fifteen Families" before everyone disappeared without realizing that he and his parents died in a car crash.
• Friend to All Living Things: Camille loves animals and is implied to not eat meat (or at least not eat the meat of the animals she raises). Her compassion extends to her fellow children of the Last Families, whom she views as the suffering children they truly are instead of the monsters they appear to be.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Terry of all people becomes this from the Third Cycle onwards, making children toys more useful in battle and especially devising Magitek.
• Gladiator Games: The First Families subject every children arriving in the In-Between to a Game of Trials, an unforgiving series of trials testing both their physical and intellectual fitness, to sort them out between the slaves, the commoner or the aristocracy. Later, Saul cements his descent into villainy by making them even worse, outright aiming to kill the losers.
• Good Is Not Soft: After his Heel–Face Turn, the Master of Knives becomes an ally of the children of Campton. However, he's far more prone than them to use violent (and even lethal) ways to deal with their enemies. Edith thinks the same.
• Group Hug: An habit of the True Companions during emotional moments.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: While being in her normal self Camille perfectly fits this trope until her hair mysteriously turns white at the end of volume 15th.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Toussaint is a cruel and implacable Knight Templar, as violent as the Last Families without the Affably Evil package. By revealing Camille as the Midnight Child, he enables her to take her throne and ignite the war. Lucius points this out, but Toussaint does not care as he wants the war to happen.
• The Heart: Camille is this to the Five-Man Band and pretty much everyone she interacts with. Including the Last Families. The Mirror Child tells her that they were hoping she could help them.
• Heel–Face Turn: Several instances.
  • The Master of Knives, the antagonist of the second album, turns out to be a child with an unspecified mental illness, who attacked the heroes, mistaking them for a threat to the baby girl he was protecting. At the end, they let him go and he becomes an ally in his subsequent appearances.
  • Alexander, and later Diane, Isaure and Siegfried if they counted as villains join the heroes.
  • The biggest one is that of The Midnight Child themselves, though they remain linked to the Lowlands and it is noted that they might relapse.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Saul alternates between an enemy of the children of Campton and a reluctant ally. The reveal that his crush Camille was the Midnight-Child all along and his subsequent Jumping Off the Slippery Slope cements his status as a villain. Having Toussaint as his most trusted advisor does little wonder to his worsening mental state.
• Honorary True Companion: Zoe and Boris become this in the Second Cycle, though they get Out of Focus, later joined by Jonathan, Edith and in a way Ajza, who is close to Terry due to being the same age.
• Improbable Infant Survival: Ultimately Played With and Subverted. It turns out that the children were all Dead All Along. Which means that in the In-Between, those who die always come back. It's later revealed, however, that it's still possible to die for real.
• Killed Off for Real: Anton suffers his Last Death at the hand of Saul.
• Knight Templar: The leaders of the First Families, to varying extents. The worst in that regard in Toussaint, their military leader, as he is the one who advocates for the most violent methods. Subverted with Diane, who's open to hear Anton's theories even though they are iconoclast. She does warn him to not talk about them to Toussaint, or else he might burn his works. And him with them.
• Light Is Not Good: The First Families, what with their use of slavery and Fantastic Caste System.
• Living Statue: The Protectors of the Fourth Family are giant stone statues animated in a ritual by the Imperator, who can track down a target everywhere in the In-Between and make them Deader than Dead. They can only move in sunlight and cannot see what is basked in shadows, even straight in front of them.
• The Load: Because of his young age, Terry is often useless in battle and sometimes even puts himself in danger by being too reckless. He grows out of it after a solid serving of Character Development.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Ivan parents are wealthy, his father being a banker. Though he has schoolmates, his parents are often absent due to being too busy. At least he was with his parents in a car accident during the Night of Angels during which the Children of Campton died and went to the In-Between.
• Manchild: The Master of Knives is actually a teenager whose disability made him more in level with the children in terms of mental maturity. Despite the In-Between accepting young children who died in tragic ways, his status as a teenager in such realm make it one of the mysteries on how it operates.
• The Man in Front of the Man: Toussaint, yes him again, invokes it openly (though out of earshot), describing Saul as a brat he shapes and use as he sees fit, by "teaching him how the war must be fought". However, his control over him is more tenuous than he thinks.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Between the tomboyish, hot-tempered and athletic Leila and the intellectual, sensitive but somewhat cowardly Ivan.
• Mind Over Matter: Saul develops extremely powerful telekinesis as The Chosen One of the First Families. It depends on how much he believes in himself and how many others do. It is hinted that he would become a full-fledged Reality Warper at full capacity.
  • Dodzi gains the same powers after awakening as the Mediator.
• Mirror Monster: The aptly named Mirror Child is invisible, and can only be seen in reflections. due to dying by punching a mirror out of desperation for his disfigurement and getting stabbed by the shards.
• Morality Pet: Camille, for Saul, doubling as Puppy Love. Even discussed in-universe at one point, when Camille points out that Saul seems less harsh when she's with him. Sadly, its' gone by the time of the Fourth Cycle.
• Mr. Exposition: Several people explain what is going on to our heroes.
  • The Council of Sages, especially Diane, explains Anton the nature of the In-Between and the opposite nature of the First and Last Families.
  • Melchior, once freed becomes the poster child for the trope, explaining everything that was left to know about the Fifteen Families, the Balance Between Good and Evil, and most importantly the Striped Souls and their Personality Powers.
  • Jezebel knows even more than Melchior himself and has a lot to teach. Provided she is freed first...
• Mysterious Waif: A girl named Jezebel is mentioned from times to times, her disappearance driving the actions of Achilles and the Mad Master. She is trapped by the Fist Families where the last war ended and can teach Dodzi how to become the Mediator.
• Naked People Are Funny: After they swim in the public fountain in volume 1, Terry strips naked after Leila admonishes him for jumping in while in his clothes, staying that way until the Campton Kids meet Ivan, giving us the full frontal treatment until they're in Ivan's house. In the official English translation, Terry keeps his underwear on.
• Nice Girl: Camille is the nicest of the Five-Man Band. Also Zoe, who joins the group after the thirds album.
• No-Sell: Dodzi uses his Mind Over Matter powers to deviate any attack directed towards them.
• Noble Demon: Achilles, one of the leaders of the First Families and their best warrior. He wants to give the children of Campton a fair chance of joining the First Families and of proving they're not a threat. A conversation between two soldiers reveals that he strongly dislikes torture.
  Gaspard: "We can win some time... I'll make them say where their friends are."
  Soldier: "Forget it Gaspard. You know Achilles wouldn't like that."
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The Master of Knives and the Mirror Child never disclosed their names.
• Personality Powers: Each Tiger-Striped Soul wields a powerful ability, fitting their character.
  • The headstrong and determinate Dodzi becomes able to make things happen by force of will.
  • Leila who plans ahead and worries about the future becomes able to see it in advance.
  • Ivan, the voice of reason who tried to advocate for peace, becomes able to restore victims of the Last Families to normal.
  • Terry, with his vivacious imagination, can bring things to existence with his mind.
• Puppy Love: Romance isn't the focus of the story, but there are some instances of this trope, even though they're very discrete.
  • Edith and Leila both show an interest in Dodzi. In the seventh album, they both kiss him. Dodzi clumsily acknowledges it at the start of the Fourth Cycle, but admits that he is not sure how to deal with it.
  • Between Camille and Saul. Both being the leader of their respective side, it eventually becomes much more important than it first appeared.
  • Between Ivan and Zoe. Clear on Ivan's part, but she seems more oblivious. However, in the seventh album, she sleeps on his lap.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: The highest in the First Families and lowest in the Last Families are the most powerful children in their side. Justified in that every children appearing in the In-Between has a dormant power, with only the mightiest developing, for better or worst, while the other are assimilated by the In-Between to sustain itself.
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old: The children never physically age in the In-Between (with the exception of their hair which become lighter and their eyes which become pale blue), but some of them are there since a long time. For instance, it's implied that the leaders of the First Families, like Lucius, are from Antiquity. And Achilles and Toussaint may be even older.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Diane is the most willing to welcome the Children of Campton and to explore new theories about their predicament, warning against ruling through fear and worrying about the War Hawk Magisters. Isaure and Siegfried from the Fifth Family back are equally open-minded and wary of extremism. Lucius is this as well, to a lesser extent. By the Fourth Cycle, the former three have deserted in disgust, with Isaure lodging an arrow in Toussaint's chest for good measure.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Some animals have become feral and attack humans on sight. They're recognizable thanks to their red eyes. We later learn that this happens to those who've been corrupted by the Last Families.
• The Reveal: Each Cycle ends with one.
  • At the end of the fifth album, we learn that everyone has been Dead All Along and that the world they are in now is some kind of afterlife.
  • At the end of the ninth album, we finally learn that the Messiah of the Last Families is not Dodzi, as we were led to assume, but Camille.
  • The thirteenth album explains the Balance Between Good and Evil.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl : Dodzi is an introvert, serious, and cautious boy who always thinks before he acts, while Leila is energetic, rebellious, headstrong, a little bit stubborn and has a hot temper. Dodzi also later fit this trope with the impulsive, destructive but troubled Edith.
  • The immature and bratty Terry and the calm and reserved Ajza are also a gender inverted version of this trope.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Melchior's living head is imprisoned in a chest, only accessible by the Mad Master. And Jezebel has been trapped somewhere inaccessible ever since the last In-Between War.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The shy nerd Ivan is the sensitive guy to the bold leader Dodzi’s manly man.
• Shameful Strip: In Volume 6, Dodzi is captured by members of Saul's Sun Clan while sneaking through their territory to rescue the captured Ivan. Not satisfied with Face Doodling, they manage to strip Dodji down to his boxer briefs, while getting beaten by Dodji in the process, before he gets backup in the form of Edith with a slingshot. Unfortunately, the Sun Clan thugs turn their attention to her and strip her down to her underwear, too, before they're chased off by Dodji attacking them. Dodji and Edith manage to get new clothes from the abandoned circus in the mean time.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The main beef of the heroes against the First Families is that they make the Eighth Family their slaves, themselves saying that they are "treated worse than dogs". It is made on purpose to prevent the Eighth Family to assume its true role of Mediators and bring peace.
• The Smart Guy: Ivan is the smartest of the five children of Campton, but Anton, who's met in the third album and later joins the group, is even smarter.
• Spirit World: The In-Between is in fact this, the Alâm Al-Mithal (Imaginal World) of Islamic Cosmology, made of the collective psyche of humanity, and an intermediate state between the Physical and Celestial Planes of Existence. Everything that happens there has repercussions on Earth, the last War between the Fifteen Family leading to the two World Wars, and the brewing one promising to bring even worse disasters if not prevented...
• Superpowered Evil Side: It would be easier to think of the Midnight Child as a separate entity, but a restored Camille is adamant that it was this, and is understandably shaken.
• Talking Animal: Eight talking magpies appear in the Fourth Cycle, each carrying a fragment of Jezebel's mind. They are wise and knowledgeable, albeit mischievous and taunting. Reuniting them all enables Jezebel to manifest herself via Astral Projection.
• There Are No Adults: And it turns out to be the least of the characters' troubles...
• Thinking Up Portals: The villainous Mad Master owns a key that can open doors out of thin air, leading to wherever he wants. Dodzi turns the tables on him by stealing it and using it himself.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Leila (Tomboy) and Camille (Girly Girl).
• Totalitarian Utilitarian: Saul regards himself as a benevolent dictator, convinced that the greatest kindness is to strike fast and true. While he genuinely believes in his view and thinks there is no other way, his newfound power and position of authority causes him to be Slowly Slipping Into Evil.
• Totally Radical: Discussed and invoked by Ivan and Jonathan, who muse that they no longer understand the slang of children who died years after them, calling themselves "old children". They resolve to learn them and Ivan latter uses them as a jest.
• True Companions: The Five Children of Campton, later joined by defectors of Saul's clan and the First Families, especially Zoe, Boris, Jonathan and Edith.
• Underwear Swimsuit: Whenever Leila decides to go swimmimg, she strips down to her underwear due to a lack of a proper swimsuit.
• Video-Game Lives: Saul pushes his followers to treat respawning after death in the In-Between as Resurrective Immortality. The heroes however, are well aware that sooner or later they will get Out of Continues.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Saul is practically worshipped by the denizens of Neosalem, who believe he can do anything (which is sadly not far from the truth.) The fact that he and Toussaint enforce a Cult of Personality and a virulent slander campain against the Children of Campton does not help.
• War Hawk: Toussaint is the only one thrilled more than worried by the prospect of the upcoming In-Between War, convinced that modern weaponry will win it.
• Wham Episode: Each Cycle ends with one, coupled with The Reveal for further shock.
  • The 5th Album was a surprise to the entire cast, revealing that every character was actually dead and ended up in the In-Between.
  • The 9th Album reveals who is the Midnight Child.
  • The 13th Album explains the real nature of the Eighth Family and the titular Striped Souls, neither "good" nor "evil" and with the potential to bring peace between the First and Last Families.
• Year Outside, Hour Inside: Time flows much slower in the In-Between than in the normal world. To be precise: one hour here is worth 12 normal hours, one month is worth 1 normal year. By the start of the Fourth Cycle, fifteen normal years have passed since the Children of Campton died, justifying the series' Comic-Book Time.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: Anton correctly deduces that the In-Between is formed by the collective consciousness of all the children who entered it after death.
  • Saul's Mind Over Matter powers are implied to be in fact this.
  • Dodzi can mimick actions with real results (firing real bullets by making a "finger gun") or make attacks miss and weapons too heavy to use. Like Saul, it depends on how much he - and how many others - trusts in himself, with huge Reality Warper potential.
  • Terry builds "machines to make miracles" and his power makes them work.