∇
troperville

∇
tools

∇
toys

SubpagesHaiku
Headscratchers
Heartwarming
Laconic
Main
PunnyName
Webcomic

main index

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

random

Subpages:

Webcomic: Everyday Heroes

Alliteration assists in apprehending amoral archfiends.

Everyday Heroes is a webcomic written and drawn by Ed Gedeon. It centers on Mr. Mighty, a Punch Clock Hero, and his family. Other characters include his wife, Jane, who has a Dark and Troubled Past; his Bratty Teenage Daughter Summer who is trying to deal with new-found superpowers, and a host of teammates with Punny Names.

Originally a gag-a-day comic, more recent Story Arcs have been more dark and dramatic. Originally drawn by Gedeon, it started with a MWF update schedule, but soon fell victim to Schedule Slip, and only updated weekly. Eric Boismier took over art duties for a time so that the comic has returned to a Wednesday & Saturday schedule, but has since moved and left the strip.

This Comic Contains Examples Of:

Added Alliterative Appeal - Mr. Mighty will occasionally work this into his speech (see page image).
Alliterative Name - Marion Mighty, Glen Goode (and daughters Gloria & Greta), Odin Odious, Winslow Weirdlike
Alter Kocker - Lampshaded and subverted by Jakob.
Alt Text
Amoral Attorney - Averted with both Lee Free and his son even though they come at the law from different directions.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Their motto: "Truth! Justice! Lawn care!"
- Dr. Unpleasant is described as a "notorious villain, evil genius, and parking-ticket scofflaw".
Art Imitates Art - an homage to Edward Hopper's Nighthawks is found here.
Author Avatar - Ed Generic (complete with Big Ol' Unibrow)
Big Applesauce - Subverted; Mr. Mighty's home and much of the action is in Indianapolis.
Bland Name Product - Mr. Mighty once held a civilian job "hauling concrete blocks at SuperHomeCenterMart". Several strips also show "Sundo's" coffee (sun = star, dough = money = bucks).
Blessed with Suck - Shrinking Violent can only be snapped out of Hulk mode with a large dose of sugar. This only works because she's a type-1 diabetic.
Blinding Bangs - a slight variation by Carrie, who has hair covering her eyes ... and wears her glasses over her hair, which somehow allow her eyes to be visible.
Brought to You by the Letter "S" - Mr. Mighty's "M", Captain Charisma and Kid Charisma with a "C", Dot Dash's dot-and-dash
Bullying a Dragon: Angela constantantly picks on Summer and Carrie, despite the fact that either of them could take her apart with little effort. And also despite the fact that she comes out on the wrong end of those altercations more often than not.
- Kid Charisma hitting on Summer.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer - Lee Free (senior). Is there such a thing as a Good Ass Biker?
Bus Full of Innocents - an inconvenience when you're late for work
Captain Obvious - Does this really need to be explained?
- No, but in the spirit of the trope...
Chest Insignia - Subverted by Matt O'Morph, whose insignia constantly changes shape (like his Rubber Man body).
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder - Wrecking Paul
Christianity is Catholic - Carrie's denomination hasn't been openly stated, but she did say that she wanted to be a nun when she was young.
Combo Platter Powers: Summer has Eye Beams Super Strength and what appears to be Super Senses
Comedic Underwear Exposure - Mr. Mighty accidentally flashes his Goofy Print Underwear to the next-door neighbor.
The Conscience - Carrie
Cool Old Guy - Lee Free senior.
Dark and Troubled Past - lampshaded with a villainess named "Dark Ann" Troubled.
- Not to mention her son, the dork Ken Troubled.
- Played dead straight with Jane Mighty.
Dating Catwoman - Or in Mr. Mighty's case, marrying her.
Deadpan Snarker - Zinger Sharpley
Death by Childbirth - Thump's mother
Dramatic Thunder - Lampshaded when Mr. Mighty meets the neighbors
Embarrassing Middle Name - Thump's full name is Thomas Humperdinck Sharpley
Expressive Mask - Most heroes and villains have this, with Monochromatic Eyes
- Occasionally, Carrie's eyes will also Open The Iris
Eye Glasses - Several characters, including Jane's mother, Ken Troubled, Greta Goode, and Carrie.
The Faceless even though we see quite a few people behind masks; the most constant is Mister Mighty whom we get to see remove his mask, but only as silhouette. Granted, we see his face in Jane's Back Story arc, but every other time in the comic he never takes his mask off, even when just doing normal stuff like reading the paper at home or having meal with the family.
- One time he was seen coming out of the shower. Readers speculated as to whether he sports the Bald of Awesome.
Family Unfriendly Violence - when Wrecking Paul cuts loose.
Filk Song - Carrie plays a little tribute to Janis Joplin.
Fille Fatale - Gloria Goode has the boys eating out of her hand.
- Well, sort of.
Finger Poke of Doom - Mr. Mighty can knock people unconscious by flicking a finger.
Follow in My Footsteps - Summer is kind of limited in choice of career (having superpowers and all).
Four-Fingered Hands - Invoked with Uma and her father; otherwise averted.
Fun with Acronyms - S.A.V.E.U.S. Also, Mr. Mighty's previous group, G.O.O.D.G.U.I.S.E.
- Also the villainous group M.W.A.H.A.H.A.H.A.H.A.H.A.
Getting Crap Past the Radar - "Saint Francis University!"
- A slightly more Literal Metaphor here.
Gender Blender Name - "Marion"??
Gentle Giant - Thump Sharpley. Also an example of Dumb Is Good.
Giving Someone the Pointer Finger - Again, see page image. His nefarious nemesis is nearby.
Glowing Eyes - Summer has them when she takes her mask off. She can dim them with a bit of concentration, but can't turn them off yet.
Half-Human Hybrid - Dolly Bird and G-Nat
Happily Married - Mr. Mighty and Jane (when the kids are away, the grown-ups will play ...)
Harmless Electrocution - Played straight here; subverted here.
- Justified in that one's a super and nigh-invulnerable, the other is just an ordinary human.
Harmless Freezing - Matt O'Morph falls victim to this.
- Also subverted with Cool Hand Lucy - she can only drop her opponent's body temperature by five degrees, but that's plenty enough to leave a normal person nearly paralyzed with hypothermia.
He-Man Woman Hater - Wrecking Paul (violently)
Heroes R Us - S.A.V.E.U.S.
Hot Mom - Jane
Hyperspace Mallet - Although due to her Super Strength Summer only uses a fly swatter.
If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him - Mr. Mighty to Jane, as she plans on killing her boss in order to take revenge for her friend.
If You Taunt Him, You Will Be Just Like Him - Carrie refuses to respond when insulted.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Summer
Improbable Weapon User: Summer's fly swatter.
Improbably Predictable: In one strip, we get simultaneous Spit Take prediction.
In the Blood - invoked, then subverted by Jane Mighty
Ironic Echo Cut - invoked here, and again here.
Jedi Mind Trick - Kid Charisma (and his family) have a Glamour that can be used to compel criminals to surrender. For the Kid, this also leads to quite a bit of Power Perversion Potential, where he has a different girl on his arm every five minutes.
Kid Anova - Ryan, who usually ends up on the wrong end of a Hyperspace Mallet.
Large Ham - Mr. Mighty, intentionally
Letter Motif - Mr. Mighty and his two brothers are Marion, Michael, and Morrison.
- Also, the neighborhood moms are Jane, Joan, Jenny, Ginny, June, Jan, and Jin; the single dads are John and Jean (French).
Lolcats - Parodied when a Jewish character wears a t-shirt reading "cant haz cheezeburger".
May-December Romance - Ben Sharpley and his second wife, Jintara. Enough of an age difference that she's a year younger than her stepson, Thump.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal - Iron Jane, following Wrecking Paul revealing his true colors.
Mundane Fantastic - Being a superhero (or villain) is just another profession.
Mysterious Watcher - The Mysterious Watchful Presence, a Coat, Hat, Mask vigilante.
Never Bareheaded - Mr. Mighty always keeps his mask on, even when relaxing at home.
Nigh Invulnerability - Mr. Mighty (and to a lesser extent, Matt O'Morph).
No Celebrities Were Harmed - Lee Free Sr. bears more than a passing resemblance in both looks and personality to George Carlin. In fact the strip he's introduced in has him using a line by Carlin.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Uma and her father, aliens stranded on Earth, disguise themselves by wearing glasses. Later subverted, when they mention using an "Adams Field" (a Shout Out to Douglas Adams' Life, the Universe and Everything).
Petting Zoo People - Uma and her father, plus a couple of other characters stalking them.
Power Incontinence - Summer has to wear a special mask, 24/7, to keep her Eye Beams in check.
- Might be a shout out to the X-Men member Cyclops, who has the same problem (needing eyewear to keep his beams in check).
Prehensile Hair - Carrie
Puberty Superpower - Summer's powers activated when she was 12, right in the middle of a volleyball match.
Punch Clock Hero/Villain - pretty much everyone
Punny Name - Enough to warrant their own page.
Restraining Bolt: Summer's mask, which keeps her eye beams in check.
Running Gag: The neighborhood moms are named Jane, Joan, June, Jan, Jin, Jenny, and Ginny. The single dads are John and Jean (pronounced "zhawn"... he are from France).
- Whenever a character is knocked out, but not unconscious yet:
''"Yes, thank you, Bishop, I would like another pint of concrete."''
Scary Shiny Glasses - subverted by Prof. Odious
Shout Out:
- Other webcomics such as Narbonic, Girly, The Wotch, El Goonish Shive, The Inexplicable Adventures Of Bob, xkcd ...
- TV Tropes gets one too
Ed:"(yeah, this will go into TV Tropes soon)"
Something Person - Mr. Mighty, of course
Stealth Hi/Bye - Cappuccino, anyone?
Stepford Smiler: Jane's cousin, June Unpleasant. She keeps a creepy grin on her face even as she describes committing atrocities with household goods.
Steven Ulysses Perhero - Mr. (Marion John "Marko") Mighty
Stock Super Powers - Mr. Mighty's strength, Dot Dash's speed, Summer's eye beams, Matt O'Morph's Rubber Man body, and so on ...
Stripperiffic - Leotards Of Power for the Jane Gang, complete with Cleavage Window and Combat Stilettos.
Stylistic Suck - Matt O'Morph doesn't have the best control over his Shapeshifter Default Form. The artist represents this by drawing him left-handed.
Super Registration Act - Mr. Mighty gets ticketed for not carrying his ID while breaking up a bank robbery. Word Of God is that this is just a plot device.
Symbol Swearing - an occasional "damn" sneaks in, but grawlix are used for anything stronger
Tropaholics Anonymous - VilAnon, an organization for recovering villains
Visible Silence - Examples here and here.
We Hardly Knew Ye - Golden Jane
Weirdness Censor - Uma's glasses, when turned to maximum power, project a weirdness censor so strong, it jams whatever devices the mysterious dog and cow guys are using to track her. Of course, that still provides some useful information...
Wham Episode - Wrecking Paul revealing his true self.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway? - S.B.D can turn completely invisible, but emits a horrible odor when he does.
Work Off the Debt - Summer and Carrie have to do this after doing a little damage to the local arcade.
Written Sound Effect - brought to you by the Don Martin Memorial Onomatopoetic Society.
You Have To Have Jews - an entire family of lawyers couldn't be gentiles, right?
You Just Told Me - Mr. Mighty engages a criminal in casual conversation, with a little Obfuscating Stupidity thrown in.