Webcomic / Poppy: The Girl Who Slept-In 100 Years

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Poppy: The Girl Who Slept-In 100 Years is an ongoing weekly webcomic by Mathew Senn that debuted in 2022. The comic revolves around Dorothy "Poppy" Walker, a high school student from the 1920s who has slept in for 100 years, causing her to wake up in the 2020s. She must now resume her life and adjust to the many changes the future has brought during her long sleep.

You can read the comic on Web Toons here and Tapas here.

The webcomic provides examples of:

• Ambiguous Situation: It's very unclear whether the rendezvous between Bucky and Lillums was consensual on Bucky's part. Bucky's body language and protests after being caught—and the fact that Poppy specifically states that she didn't hear what Bucky said to defend himself—and the fact that it's specifically noted that the room was dark could indicate that it was a Bed Trick just as easily as it could point to it being a consensual affair. For what it's worth, Poppy doesn't seem to believe that it was anything less than a betrayal on both sides. Notably, the author chose not to like any comments pointing one way or another on Webtoon, which plays further into the ambiguity of the situation.
• Artifact Title: Downplayed. It's revealed in "Um, Actually" that Poppy slept for 93 years instead of 100 (as she went to sleep in 1929 and woke up in 2022), making the comic's title slightly off. Poppy decides to round it to 100 anyway since she likes it better than 93.
• Cerebus Retcon: At the beginning, Poppy's overly jovial attitude as she went to school despite her waking up a century from her time was entirely Played for Laughs. In "The Girl Who Slept-In", Poppy admits her attitude was her actually being relieved that she no longer had to deal with the heartbreak of her past, and could move on with a clean slate.
• Dad the Veteran: Poppy's father was a veteran of World War I. He didn't talk about the war much after. It later turns out that he had also served and died in World War II.
• Failed a Spot Check: Somehow in the nearly 100 years that Poppy was asleep, nobody noticed the false wall covering up her room. When Poppy later shows the Jansens a second hidden room in the basement, Mrs. Jansen remarks that they need to fire their house inspector.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: The webcomic's premise. Poppy comes from 1929, but after sleeping for 93 years, she finds herself in 2022, much to her shock. Much of the comic's humor is her adjusting to 21st-century life and culture, and learning what happened in the interim.
• History Repeats: In "Sounds Familiar", Pocky talks to Clarice about The Spanish Flu and what happened during it ("People got sick, had to stay away from each other... and everyone had to wear these gaudy cloth masks!"). Right after Poppy asks Clarice if she can imagine that, Clarice remarks that she can hardly picture it as a man walks by wearing a cloth mask.
• Identical Stranger: During the Chicago arc, Bucky takes Poppy and her friends to a lounge and bar, where it just so happens that the lounge singer, Scarlet, bears a striking resemblance to Poppy. Bucky exploits this detail to convince one of the bouncers to give him alcohol, by convincing him he’s with Scarlet. It's downplayed, as Scarlet is clearly much older than Poppy, and wears a slightly different dress.
• Innocent Bigot: While Poppy is a Nice Girl who means well, being from the less politically correct 1920s, she does come off this way on occasion. In "Putting Your Foot In Your Mouth", she happily remarks to Abby that she's glad they let "her kind" in, which understandably pisses her off, and then lands in hot water with her and gets in trouble with the principal after she accidentally calls her a slur (which is censored in the strip, but is later implied in "Abby's House" to be the N word). The two do eventually make up after Poppy apologizes for her racism and that she considers Abby a friend.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • Poppy's real name is Dorothy, but everyone called her Poppy because she always made popping sounds with her mouth as a little kid. That was the style for the 20s.
  • Everyone calls Sam "Seenit", because he's seen every piece of pop culture media.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mrs. Jansen was the most vocally against letting Poppy stay with her family, given that she is a complete stranger. But as the series progresses, she begins to warm up to Poppy and show her kinder side more often. This eventually causes her to even become a Parental Substitute to Poppy.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Poppy, a character from the '20s, is drawn and colored like an old newspaper comic strip character from that period, complete with Pie Eyes and color bleed, making her stick out in the modern digitally colored 2020s.
• Odd-One-Out Protagonist: Poppy is a girl who ends up being a Fish out of Temporal Water due to having slept for 93 years, resulting in her having to learn about the modern world while her old way of thinking occasionally gets her in trouble.
• Painting the Medium: Poppy's speech bubbles are done in the style of comic strips from the early 20th century, reflecting that she's from that time. This also extends to her bedroom and objects from the 1920s.
• Really 700 Years Old: Poppy is technically 108 years old, as her student record shows she was born in 1914, but despite this, she looks and acts like a teenager, thanks to being frozen in time during her 93-year sleep.
• Rip Van Winkle: It's in the title after all. Poppy originally went to sleep in 1929, but somehow slept in for almost 100 years (93 to be more exact), before waking up in 2022.
• Surprising Domestic Discovery: Somehow during the 93 years that Poppy was asleep, none of the later owners of her house noticed the false wall covering her room. After Poppy shows the current residents a second hidden room in the basement, Mrs. Jansen comments that they need to fire their home inspector.
• Two-Timing with the Bestie: What ultimately caused Poppy to fall asleep for 93 years. In the past, Poppy was in a relationship with Bucky while also being best friends with Lillums. She soon walks in on Lillums in bed with Bucky, causing her to run home crying where she fell asleep. As she went to bed, she wished that she didn't have to deal with the situation ever again, at the same time a shooting star flew by.
• Unexpectedly Dark Episode: The arc where Poppy's class goes to visit a War Memorial on Veteran's Day has a few jokes, but is mostly very somber and serious, especially after Poppy sees her dad's name on the memorial and then finds his grave. The more comedic tone returns afterwards, even in scenes dealing with the fallout of that event.
• Webcomic Time: By the time Poppy learned it was 2022 and not 2029 like she thought, it was already 2024 in the real world.
• Who's on First?: Poppy encounters a coin collector who was initially offering her $8,000 for her hundred-year old nickels. Thanks to a confusing cross-misunderstanding between '20s slang and modern slang, the guy ends up convinced that Poppy is bartering with him while she's convinced that he's trying to lower the amount offered. Somehow it all ends with Poppy getting $10,000 out of the deal.