#the adventures of superhero girl
Short version: Compilation of online comic by the same name (read it here!) starring Superhero Girl, local hero for a small Canadian town. SHG faces entirely too much adversity for one person to handle, ranging from criticism of bystanders to having her job interviews hijacked by ninjas. Throughout it all, she maintains her positive attitude and sense of justice, even if it means working without thanks, recognition, or ability to pay rent.
What I thought: I really didn’t know where this was going at first. I Thought it was just a cute slice-of-life perspective on the superhero genre, and while it is that, it’s not exclusively mundane activity. Sure it’s hilarious to see our heroine upset that her cape shrank in the wash or that she now had a hard-to-explain suntan where he mask covers her face, but there’s also a lot of very real and relatable trouble she carries with her. Mostly this comes in the form of her brother Kevin, who is also a superhero (similar to Superman) but according to everyone, including their mother, “he’s better at it.” In some ways that’s true, he does have a broader range of powers and also the charisma to win the hearts of the people, but in no way does that make him a better person. Whenever SHG tries to point this out, her opinion gets slapped down and diminished on the basis that she must be jealous. She’s endlessly compared to him, always with the phrase “why can’t you be more like him?” thrown in her face, totally discounting all the work that she has done to get so far.
You really do begin to feel her rage after a few strips, the unfairness of it boiling steadily throughout the whole volume. Even without her brother in the picture, she’s expelled from university because of the liability she represents (”Our insurance just doesn’t cover ninja attacks”). Once, while she’s fighting a city-destroying alien, she’s stopped by a random skeptic who refuses to acknowledge her as a superhero because, and I’m quoting here, “You just don’t look like one.” She was literally throwing a giant monster into orbit as he spoke. He waited for her to get back to street level so he could tell this to her face. When it was revealed that she was a hero purely out of a sense of justice and not because of some tragic backstory that made her swear revenge against evil, he walks away entirely because she “broke the rules.”
Never mind that the city was saved. Or that this was the third time this month she saved it. Skeptical Guy (as she called him) is just as bad as those asshats who accuse women of being “fake geek girls” because they don’t know Mark Hamill’s birthday by heart, or any other stupid and arbitrary standard.
Yet her attitude stays strong. At one point she meets her future self, is horrified to discover that the wear on her ego eventually drives her into becoming a villain, and hardens her resolve even further. I’d call this an incredible Girl Power book, suitable for all ages and enjoyable for everyone who has ever been told that their best isn’t good enough.
Read it if you liked: Lumberjanesby Noelle Stevenson, Astro City by Kurt Busiek, Nimonaalso by Noelle Stevenson, IRL (In Real Life) by Cory Doctrow
