A webcomic by the creator of
ADVENTURERS! that takes utter joy in subverting practically every trope it gets its hands on. It is set in
Triumph City 2144, and populated by an absurd number of superheroes. The titular antihero is Shadehawk, a
Badass Longcoat-wearing superhero, who has a long and angsty
Back Story involving one of the strip's
MacGuffins, the Silver Arrow. He's assisted by Wrench, the Lord God hacker in this
Cyber Punk future, and Crossroad, a fellow superhero(ine) with whom he has an unofficial alliance and a lot of
UST. Can be found
here.
Tropes used:
- Action Girl: Crossroad
- All There In The Manual: The data files page, which describe how some of the phlebotinum works and provide setting details (see below).
- An Ice Person: "Coldular"
- Arch Enemy
- Backstory: Shadehawk's backstory is appropriately angst-ridden and a key plot point. We don't know all of it, but one important bit is that technically he's considered dead (right up to having a tombstone). Meanwhile, the setting's backstory is that Canada annexed the adjoining states of the US, using genetically engineered dinosaurs, which worked partially because no one minded, and partially because "the US was so busy protecting themselves against Weapons of Mass Destruction that they never made anything to protect against dinosaur attacks".
- Badass Longcoat: Lampshaded
- Badass Normal
- Big Bad
- BFS
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Subverted
- Bounty Hunter: Jack
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: Lampshaded - "It seems you can't hire someone competent without them having an embarrassing hobby."
- Casual Danger Dialog
- The Chessmaster
- Chess Motifs
- Clothes Make The Superman: Power suits
- Crazy Prepared: Jack.
- The Cracker: Neon
- Cut Lex Luthor A Check: Lampshaded
- Cool Shades: Shadehawk wears them specifically because they look cool, though Wrench has made it so they amplify light, and has limited radar.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive
- Cult
- Cyber Punk
- Dramatic Wind: Wizard
- Dressing As The Enemy
- Embarrassing Middle Name: Dr. Albert Charious Airious Nefarious-Smith
- Embarrassing Rescue
- Enigmatic Minion: Wizard, Jack.
- Exactly What It Says On The Tin: Occurs throughout the coffee arc, reaching ridiculous extremes in this strip
- On the other hand, the strip's title is kind of a subversion: while he is, indeed, an antihero for hire, most of the strip's action involves him patrolling for criminals to turn in for the bounty (or dealing with TeraCorp and his mysterious past).
- Freudian Excuse: The Vengeful Sisters
- Gadgeteer Genius: Wrench
- Genre Savvy: Shadehawk. Probably because he's had to spend too much time around Dr. Nefarious.
- The Gunslinger: Shadehawk
- Highly Visible Ninja: Crossroad, lampshaded
- I Am Not Making This Up The aforementioned backstory. Although I guess that's a pretty plausible reason for being unable to mount a defense against dinosaurs...
- I Know Mortal Kombat
- Implacable Man: Golem and Simile
- Indy Ploy: Shadehawk lives off this, and he is very, very good at it...most of the time.
- Insulted Awake
- James Bondage: Lampshaded
- The Juggernaut: Simile
- Kill Sat: Hacked, of course.
- The Mad Hatter: Wizard.
- Mad Scientist
- Mission Control: Wrench
- Must Have Caffeine: The subject of an entire arc when Shadehawk had to get up in the daytime
- Noodle Incident: Several of Shadehawk's adventures, including stopping a gerbil from stealing a diamond
- The Omniscient Council Of Vagueness: Lampshaded
- Painting The Fourth Wall: Recently, panel border colors have changed hue based on the character focused on.
- Playful Hacker: Wrench
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The "Vengeful Sisters".
- The Rival: Crossroad to Shadehawk, and vice versa.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: "Ugh, You're such a depraved monster. (pause) Insinuating that she's my girlfriend, I mean."
- Show Within A Show: Played straight with "Mechazor L", but inverted with Adventurers!
- Super Hero Origin: For Shadehawk it's revenge. Crossroad, "a misplaced sense of guilt."
- Super Registration Act: Joining up with SHAB gets you a steady paycheck based on commissions (a.k.a. how many criminals you catch and what their crimes are.) and is strictly optional; Crossroads was rejected.
- Super Soldier: MANTIS Agents.
- Swordfight
- Tempting Fate: Subverted
- That Night Felt Like Months: After catching "Coldular"
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: The superheroes are strongly encouraged not to kill, mostly because deaths pay less. But they understand that these things happen and so the hero can take the Executioner's fee, as long as he doesn't do it too often.
- Troperrific: Dr. Nefarious. I mean, just look at that name.
- UST: Crossroad and Shadehawk. Possible subversion, given the attitude of the comic, and that the characters personalities do NOT mesh well, particularly in Phase 5. Its implied that the same exists for their respective hacker sidekicks, and may not be unresolved at all.
- Viewer Friendly Interface: Mocked
- Why Dont Ya Just Shoot Him?: Subverted
- You! (interrupts Shadehawk's dramatic speech)
- You Fight Like A Cow: Dragon and Crossroad
- You Have Failed Me: Double-subverted repeatedly. The one time it's actually single-subverted (aka not done), ironically, is at the end of an arc about henchmen unionizing over bad working conditions.
