Webcomic / Beanstalked

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Beanstalked is a webcomic on ComicFury^note It's also available on Tapas Media and Webtoon, but it hasn't updated through those websites since the close of Chapter 2. by RockyBloo (also the author of Glitter and Guilt). It began on July 1st, 2022, and updates weekly.

Every one hundred years in the world of Lore, a random selection of individuals are "Bookmarked" by the gods, assigned roles from various classic fairy tales and fated to live them out. Since time immemorial this cycle has gone off without a hitch, but this generation's picks and their assigned fables have been severely tampered with, with far more at stake than a few averted happy endings.

Into this world comes Jack, Bookmarked wth the role of Jack and the Beanstalk, who sets out on an adventure with some new Bookmarked friends of his, on a quest to restore everybody's endings.

Tropes featured in Beanstalked include:

• Androcles' Lion: While Jack and Pin are falling to their doom in the opening of Chapter 5, they are rescued by the goose that Jack saved in the previous chapter.
• Birthmark of Destiny: All Bookmarkeds have a mystical version: a heart-shaped vial bound to them them wreathed with a gold chain and lock, and with a fountain pen's nib at its base, which can only be seen by gods.
• Cold Iron: Azure has an "iron allergy", as Pinokuni puts it, which manifests as it completely negating her fairy magic.
• Colourful Theme Naming: Azure is the name of a shade of blue.
• Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: When Malt is barrelling through town in Chapter 1, a mother shields her child's eyes from the spectacle.
  Kid: Aw, c'mon! I wanna see!
• Creation Myth: The prologue sees Jack's mother share the tale of the creation of the world: there used to be one world, but its inhabitants weren't pleased with the way of the world. So the Sun and the Moon split the world in two; the Sun's half forming the Earth and the Moon's half forming Lore.
• Deadpan Snarker: Pinokuni has a very dry wit, and is as willing to turn it against a Jerkass giant as to his own Fairy Godmother.
• Disappeared Dad: Jack's father was killed in action fighting a malevolent Fairy Godmother named Nevermore, who determined to bring an end to the happy endings of fairy tales.
• The Dog Bites Back: Throughout Chapter 4, the unnamed Giant's long-suffering wife had been putting up with her husband for the whole chapter, but she hits her breaking point when he strikes her, and retaliates by mauling him with a broom handle.
• Don't Fear the Reaper: Despite his job as The Grim Reaper of Lore and his skeletal appearance, Grimfather is a calm individual who views all of the living as his children.
• Downer Beginning: As with the fable that he's based on, Chapter 1 begins with Jack's mother urging him to sell his beloved cow, Malt, out of no longer being able to afford to care for her.
• Eye Colour Change: Jack's eyes turn apple-green when he's experiencing strong emotions, first seen when he explodes in anger to himself after his mother admonishes him for selling Malt to Luna.
• Eye Scream: To finish off Chapter 4, Jack throws his axe into the Giant's right eye.
• Giant Foot of Stomping: After Jack discovers the giant's house in the clouds in Chapter 2, he wonders aloud if anybody would be so kind as to lend him directions. Cue being squashed by a gigantic boot.
• Golem: Azure describes Pinokuni thus; as an "Automaton", he's a wooden puppet imbued with a human soul.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Jack frequently uses "flock" as a substitute for "fuck".
• I Never Told You My Name: In Chapter 1, Luna calls Jack by his name without having heard it from him first, which takes him aback. Later, she does this again with his full first and last names plus those of his parents.
• Meaningful Name: The name "Pinokuni" is made of two words for wood: pino, the Italian for "pine", and kuni, the Swahili for "firewood".
• A Minor Kidroduction: The prologue opens with a preteen Jack being read a bedtime story by his mother, about the Creation Myth of the world of Lore.
• Painting the Medium: Grimfather's speech bubbles have tan lettering and outlines with black backgrounds, contrasting against other folks' speech bubbles with white backgrounds and black lettering.
• Pointy Ears: Azure has pointed ears, to further distinguish her as a fairy.
• Power Floats: In Chapter 3, Azure scrapes some fairy dust from her wing and sprinkles it on Jack's head, letting him levitate up to the cage where Pinokuni is trapped with her guiding him.
• Prophecy Armor: People who're Bookmarked can only permanently die under very specific circumstances. If they don't croak by those means, then Grimfather wills them back to life. This gets pointed out in Chapter 3 when Jack tries to figure out how to free Pin and Azure:
  Pinokuni: Hey, you good?
  Jack: Y-yeah! I'm just mentally preparing myself! I mean, I don't really have much to worry about! If I die, I'll just come back!
  Azure: Bookmarked aren't fully immortal! There are special circumstances for each one that could kill them. With the fable Jack is Bookmarked with, a death from a giant may be a permanent one.
• Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Grimfather wears a large beast's skull over his head, which invokedWord of God says is the skull of the first creature to die in the world.
• Stop Hitting Yourself: In Chapter 4, Pinokuni siezes the giant's fist with his strings and swings it back into his face.
• Superpowerful Genetics: Jack's father was a Slayer, a person blessed with enhanced strength whenever they feel adrenaline, and who pass on their Slayer abilities to their children.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Azure can turn into a butterfly, and she mentions that that form's quicker and easier to fly in.