Cast page for main characters in Spinnerette.
Columbus Superheroes
Heather Brown a.k.a. "Spinnerette"
A grad student at "Ohio
State Research University" who works under Dr. Lambha. Thanks to an accident involving her klutzy ways and the doctor's new "prototype genetic infusion chamber," she has found herself imbued with superpowers derived from spiders. This includes having the proportional strength of a spider ("GIRL ABS!") and super-healing along with six arms and high-tensile spider thread that shoots out of the base of her spine. However, she's not the only super-human person around.
- Adorkable
- Badass Bookworm: Though sometimes rather ditzy, the fight against Evil Spinnerette reminds us that she is quite competent in the book smarts department.
- Bi the Way: Shown attraction to at least one male and ends up getting together with Mecha Maid.
- Expy/Gender Flip: of Spider-Man
- Gayngst: Went through this after Mecha Maid came out to her.
- Healing Factor
- How Do I Shot Web?: Quite literally. Even after getting the hang of most of her powers, aiming her web is still proving tricky.
- Idiot Hero: Actually at least above average intelligence, she just dosn't think things through.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The most obvious effect of her powers.
- Mundane Utility: Using her own silk for knitting and making her costume.
- Never Heard That One Before: Cracks about deodorant usage? How... original.
- Never Say "Die": Heather either can't face, or refuses to accept, the fact that Marilyn really doesn't have much time left. Marilyn finds this quite frustrating, given that it makes talking about the matter with her very difficult.
- Organ Autonomy: When not using them her extra limbs tend to act more or less on their own. Bottom Lefty is particularly... frisky around Mecha Maid.
- Spider-Sense: She doesn't have it, but she thinks she does or at least likes to pretend.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Though Heather knows she's in a superhero comic, is aware of all the various tropes that apply, and expresses Medium Awareness at times, she thinks she's in a straight example, and not an Affectionate Parody where Reality Ensues.
Marilyn Seong a.k.a. "Mecha Maid"
A girl wearing an anime-inspired
Meido outfit with the power to fly and shoot missiles. Turns out to be just a powered suit for a girl
suffering from the very real ALS disease. While the suit (or more specifically, the headband) allows her to accomplish superhuman feats,
the disease means she only has a couple years left to live. Korean-American; a big fan of the anime
Mahoromatic, whence she got the inspiration for her outfit.
Jeff Coleman a.k.a. "Tiger"
Formerly a police officer who was given superpowers by the previous "Tiger" after he was shot during a robbery gone wrong. His main traits include super-strength and a short temper, but he knows a lot of hidden superhero history. His Canadian ex-wife divorcing him over his alter-ego lead to an irrational prejudice against Canadians.
- Badass Mustache
- Berserk Button: Many. Being called 'Black Tiger', comparing his 'Spirit of the Tiger' to steroids, and any mention of Canada.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: He is deeply angered by the idea that he gained his bulk via steroids rather than intense training and drinking lots of protein shakes.
- In the book-only Chapter 5, this is hinted to not be entirely true. The Spirit of the Tiger does indeed account for some of his musculature.
- Comes Great Responsibility: Ultimately why he continued to be a superhero despite his wife's protests.
- Genius Bruiser: Is a skilled detective and the most reasonable of the Ohio Superheroes.
- Hair-Trigger Temper
- Heroic Build: And how!
- I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Appears to have inherited the Spirit of the Tiger from a mortally wounded old man.
- Noble Bigot: Dislikes Canadians, but is willing to work together with the League of Canadian Superheroes despite his misgivings. Thankfully, he grows out of it.
- Shirtless Scene: Here
and here. - Team Dad: He sees his teammates like his daughters and thus gets quite overprotective of them.
Villains
Alexis Woodrow a.k.a. "Evil Spinnerette"
A young girl who claimed to take up the spider motif before Spinnerette. Used magic and instructions gathered from
Dungeons & Dragons books to turn herself into an avatar of the spider queen. Defeated by Spinnerette, but got off with a relatively light sentence as she was legally considered a minor in the eyes of the US justice system.
- Action Girl
- Alpha Bitch: complete with two underlings, Dakota and Julian the latter of whom she transforms into a spiderwoman because if he'd remained male, he would have been a lot smaller and a tasty snack.
- The Atoner: In Issue 7, she voiced regret for turning herself into a Drider, and voiced interest in somehow reversing the transformation. Ultimately averted, it was all an act.
- Badass Abnormal
- Dangerously Genre Savvy: She knows a baited a trap when she sees one. She's also perceptive enough to not just identify but successfully search for superheros in their civilian disguises. And can catch on to Les Yay undertones. And construct a ruse based off the plot devices her opponent's most likely to fall for given a list of the comic books she likes most.
- Card-Carrying Villain
- Evil Counterpart: To Spinnerette
- Evil Laugh: How she generally introduces herself.
- Foe Yay: Appears to genuinely like Heather, despite their differences
- Half-Human Hybrid: Turned herself into a 'drider': human torso, the lower body of a spider.
- It's All About Me
- Karma Houdini: Because of her status as a minor (and her rich family), she couldn't be tried in a court of law, despite numerous instances of breaking-and-entering, theft, illegal use of magic, and assault, and more or less got off with a light sentence. In Chapter 7, she creates two more Drider minions and soundly beats Heather in one-on-one combat, and leaves the city, facing no repercussions.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Alexis' upbringing appears to have been both wealthy and painfully stultifying, with implications of endless and unnecessary (to Alexis) sessions with psychiatrists, doctors, and clergy. (Played with a bit though; Dakota and Julian are definitely friends, even though Alexis threatens to kill them both if Heather won't fight her.)
- Manipulative Bitch
- Meaningful Name: Arguably her last name Woodrow.
- Most Common Super Power
- Of Corsets Sexy
- Teens Are Monsters: She's only 16, and unlike Dr. Universe and Greta Gravity, has no sympathetic backstory to explain her Start of Darkness. She became a villain pretty much For the Evulz.
- Walk the Earth: The true motivation of Alexis' confrontation with Spinnerette: to get the hell out of Akron.
- Younger than They Look: She's only 16!
Dr. Universe
An Objectivist
Evil Genius who is working with Dr. Lambha on an unspecified project. Dr. Universe was once a respected scientist researching the "Cherenkov-Kirby Reaction" but
reportedly turned evil after he read an Ayn Rand novel.
Greta Gravity
Dr. Universe's
well-endowed assistant, she and Heather do not get along. Greta has the power to create her own localized gravity fields, which lets her pick up and throw objects of almost any size.
- All Germans Are Nazis: Averted, she's visibly uncomfortable around the Nazi remnants who commission a Hitler clone from her boss. Of course she's German-Brazilian.
- But Not Too Foreign: She's of German ancestry, but is proudly Brazilian born and raised. *
In fact, this may actually be an inversion within the context of the story; when the younger Nazi, Maus, hits on her, her enthusiasm for her homeland (one of the most multicultural in the world, therefore a Nazi's worst nightmare) leads to a very weirded-out Nazi.
- The Dragon: For Doctor Universe. She tends to do all of the fighting and heavy "lifting" for him.
- Gag Boobs
- Genki Girl: You might not want to get her started about Brazil (or, even more so, futebol). You might not be able to handle the gushing.
- Gravity Master
- Hot Scientist: Her former job as Dr. Universe's lab assistant. Glasses: check. Braid: check. Amply filled-out labcoat and cardigan: check.
- Meganekko: Before she became a villain, anyway.
- Most Common Superpower: The most buxom character seen apart from Super-Milf.
- Nice Hat: A felt hat that she's quite defensive about.
- Oktoberfest
Kugelblitz
An
elderly Nazi plotting to resurrect Adolf Hitler by
infusing a clone with his soul.Maus
A tall and
heavily muscled Nazi
Super Soldier who acts as Kugelblitz's
dragon.
Roberta Lee
The great-great-great-great-granddaughter of
Robert E. Lee. She plans to clone him and raise the clone to lead the Confederates anew.
Legion of Canadian Superheroes
Werewolf of London, Ontario
A Canadian werewolf who usually goes by the name London. Annoyed that there aren't many high-level superhero jobs in Canada.
Green Gable
A descendant of the original Anne of Green Gables. Despite being a male, his family made him wear the girly outfit, on the basis that Green Gable is a
Legacy Character passed from mother to child, and just because that child is a boy is no reason to end the tradition.
Katt O' Nine Tails
A French-Canadian catgirl with nine prehensile tails. According to Heather, she was working at an animal shelter and somehow found a magical cat that hid there since the War of 1812.
Other
Sahira
Heather's well-endowed roommate and confidante at school. Sews outfits for Heather and generally puts up with her antics while she stumbles around trying to get the hang of her powers. Also leans on the fourth wall on occasion by pointing out how impossible some of the spider powers are. Of Indian descent (she wears a
bindi on her forehead).
Dr. Lambha
Working with Dr. Universe on some unspecified project. The main researcher at the lab where Heather works.
- Bad Boss: Often leaves Heather to work alone in the lab, insisting that she stay up all night if she has to.
- Jerkass
- Hair-Trigger Temper
- Hollywood Science: He angrily lampshades how a TV reporter understands nothing about genetics when she makes a remark about how his research into spider mutations could help find a cure for fatness.
Minerva
Cerberus and guardian of Hell whose job is to capture wayward evil spirits and bring them back.
Buzz Rickards
A security guard at the university. Currently dating Sahira.
Darien
The
cute guy next door. Both he and Heather have a mutual interest in each other...
but things just keep getting in the way.- Die for Our Ship: A rather vocal faction of Spinnerette/Mecha-Maid shippers assert that he must be an asshole.
- Dogged Nice Guy: He seems genuinely interested in Heather, but can't ever score a date with her thanks to her superhero career. When he finally does, she leaves early to sort out her feelings with Marylin once and for all.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy
- Love Interest: Heather would like to think that he is, anyway. She even states that he's the Mary-Jane Watson to her Peter Parker.
Super MILF
A superheroine who used to be Ms. Venus but got shut down by DC's lawyers due to her costume looking too much like
Power Girl. She had several children and came back
Hotter and Sexier.
- Action Mom
- Boobs of Steel: Her powers come from her "Venusian Bosom". Her Cleavage Window is stated to be ventilation since they generate heat.
- Buxom Is Better
- Hot Mom
- One-Scene Wonder (she has only appeared in a single panel to date, with several passing mentions by other characters thereafter, but everyone brings her up whenever the well-endowed women of this comic are discussed).
One of the founding fathers, lost in time. After
an incident where he
saved Hitler's life, a convenient time traveler dropped him off in 2002 to prevent the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. He failed, but makes up for it via superheroics in other areas.
- Badass: Invented time travel. From a musical instrument.
- Big Good: Is the leader of the American Superheroes Association.
- Compound Interest Time Travel Gambit: How he initially funded the ASA, though now they get most of their cash from merchandizing.
- Truth in Television, minus the time travel, and the ASA. He donated $1,000 each to two cities, to be invested for 100 years.
- Cool Old Guy: Its Benjamin Franklin, what'd you expect?
- Dirty Old Man: Of course. He was leering down a woman's cleavage when he was sent through time.
- Full Frontal Assault: A little nudity didn't stop him from engaging in Good Old Fisticuffs when he first became time-displaced.
- Super Luck: As long as the timeline he's in depends on him surviving to invent time travel, anything in that timeline that tries to hurt him will luckily miss, and any attack of his will be a lucky perfect shot.
