View source for The Eternal Smile

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A three-part comic anthology by Gene Luen Yang (creator of ''[[American Born Chinese]]'') and Derek Kirk Kim, each of the three stories in ''The Eternal Smile'' deals with crossing the line between fantasy and reality.

In "Duncan's Kingdom", a young knight named Duncan tries to get revenge for the death of his king and win a princess's hand by slaying the evil Frog King. But Duncan is troubled by recurring dreams about a crying woman, and further troubled by a bizarre, anachronistic artifact found in the Frog King's lair:  {{spoiler|an empty soda bottle.}}

"Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile" is framed around the latest get-rich-quick scheme of cartoon amphibian Gran'pa Greenbax: inspired by a mysterious disembodied smile floating in the sky above a nearby desert, he sets up an evangelical "Church of the Eternal Smile" and tries to make a mint off donations. But his scheme falls apart with less-than-hilarious consequences, and Greenbax makes some unpleasant discoveries about his place in the world...

The third and final story, "Urgent Request", features a put-upon office worker named Janet falling for the infamous "Nigerian royalty" scam. But things take a turn for the weird when her correspondence with "Prince Henry" gives her a surprising boost of confidence... and it only gets weirder when she tracks down and confronts the scammer and demands... a date?

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* [[Amusing Injuries]]: Deconstructed in "Gran'pa Greenbax",  {{spoiler|Greenbax is [[My God, What Have I Done?|horrified]] when he ends up killing his long-suffering sidekick Filbert during a session of inflicting [[Amusing Injuries]] on him.}}
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Filbert in "Gran'pa Greenbax"
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Gran'pa Greenbax is so obviously Scrooge McDuck it's painful.
* [[Creepy Twins]]: Gran'pa Greenbax's granddaughters become this when they get a little too into the Church of the Eternal Smile.
* [[Daydream Surprise]]: One ''several pages long'' in "Urgent Request".
* [[419 Scam]]
* [[Mind Screw]]
* [[Mr. Alt Disney]]: Elias McFadden
* [[Muse Abuse]]
* {{spoiler|[[Truman Show Plot]]}}
* [[Twist Ending]]

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[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books]]
[[Category:The Eternal Smile]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eternal Smile, The}}