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:
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 Normal: "Superhero" (and villain) is tossed around a lot, but actually quite a few of the characters who identify as such are Badass Normals, including Shadehawk himself, Crossroad, and Jack.
Bad Santa: Stupidly large numbers of them in the second Christmas special. Crossroad is not amused.
Batman Gambit: Domarelli pulls one off. Knowing that Crossroad always tries to foil his plans, he hires the extralegal Vengeful Sisters to deliver supplies to an orphanage, which for all appearances is a front for drug smuggling with the sisters as unwitting patsies — but the delivery is real and the result is that Crossroad is distracted from his real objective, with the bonus of damaging her reputation.
Cerebus Syndrome: An odd case, as the syndrome started before the strip was even announced. The original plan was for the strip to be comedic in the same line as Shallow's other comic, Adventurers!, and the first preview strip featured Shadehawk falling off a roof.
Clothes Make the Superman: Power suits account for a lot of the threat posed by some characters, particularly the likes of Gatemaster.
The Comically Serious: Crossroad tends to take things much more seriously than Dechs, making dropping her into particularly insane situations that much funnier.
Cool Shades: Shadehawk wears them specifically because they look cool, though Wrench has made it so they amplify light, and has limited radar.
Wizard: Yet, there is no wind. Now, isn't that odd?
Dressing as the Enemy: Shadehawk dresses up as a M.A.N.T.I.S. It doesn't fool the minion, but it does give Shady a chance to detonate an explosive.
Later, he dresses up as the Crimson Boomerang, only to be detected by Wizard.
He tries it again and is found out within minutes.
Elite Mooks: Although M.A.N.T.I.S. agents are already pretty dangerous on their own, however if one fails to complete their mission, they have the option to undergo genetic engineering so that they can do it right the next time. Explained here.
Enemy Mine: Has happened with Neon and Coldular (or Frozen North or whatever he's calling himself this week) both. They were both somewhat surprisingly amiable about it. Neon even seemed on the verge of a Heel Face Turn.
Considering who he's working with now, maybe Shadehawk should have given some thought to accepting his help and not thrown him back in jail on an unrelated charge.
Five-Man Band / Five-Bad Band: The Vengeful Sisters fit the 5 Band dynamic, although since they're more like Tweeners than anything else, it's hard to say whether they're good or bad...
Genius Ditz: Rose (the green haired girl working for TeraCorp) may be ditzy enough to wear a fake earpiece to look more officious, but when it comes to computer ability she's good enough to prevent Wrench from hacking TeraCorp's computer system.
Genre Savvy: Shadehawk. Probably because he's had to spend too much time around Dr. Nefarious. Union is a former minion who is massively so, but discovers that the other minions are still useless morons.
If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him: Subverted with Crossroad. Slightly subverted with Shadehawk who doesn't kill simply because live criminals bring in more money.
Also, live criminals often escape and come up with new schemes, so you can get more money when you thwart them again.
Large Ham: Shadehawk has a definite melodramatic streak: hence the Badass Longcoat, Sunglasses at Night, and love for dramatic entrances, once even involving a dry ice machine.
Schedule Slip: Not too many when the comic first started, but there are frequent lapses now due to the author's personal life.
Sequelitis: Invoked; when facing a character who narrates everything in the third person, Shadehawk comes up with a plan to "sequel her so hard her cousin will be assassinated by critics".
She Is Not My Girlfriend: "Ugh, You're such a depraved monster. (beat) Insinuating that she's my girlfriend, I mean."
Show Within a Show: Played straight with "Mechazor L", but inverted with Adventurers!
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. In fact, Crossroad was rejected.
Super Soldier: MANTIS Agents, in fact the whole point of this mini-story seems to be to show how skilled and badass they are.
Swordfight: Anytime Crossroad is involved this is likely to happen.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: The superheroes are strongly encouraged not to kill, mostly by paying less for kills than for live capture. But they understand that these things happen, and so they do offer an "Executioner's Fee", as long as he doesn't do it too often.
Troperrific: Dr. Nefarious. I mean, just look at that name.
Unknown Rival: Corporal Rocket can't remember who Shadehawk is, despite having met him — and run off with his perp — in the past. Although he's rather idiotic and Shadehawk doesn't seem to care too much about him, personally, he's just annoyed that people admire the guy.
Unlimited Wardrobe: Shadehawk has a new superhero uniform for each passing month. Sort of defeats the purpose of a uniform, doesn't it?
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.
Update: It's official, Wrench and Echo are definitely an item.
What Measure Is a Mook?: In the first arc with Nefarious, Shadehawk very casually kills one of Nefarious's henchmen (Alphonse), but specifically asks Crossroad not to kill Nefarious himself. However, this had less to do with Moral Dissonance on Shadehawk's part than rather cold-blooded economics — Nefarious is an easy source of income. His henchmen aren't worth much, and tend to be more dangerous besides.
You Have Failed Me: Double-subverted repeatedly. Ironically, the one time it's merely subverted is at the end of an arc about henchmen unionizing over bad working conditions.
