Webcomic / Minor Acts Of Heroism

Minor Acts of Heroism is a webcomic written and illustrated by Adriana Ferguson and Kristen Van Dam since May of 2010.

The first chapter focuses on the introduction of the two main characters: Simon, the foul-mouthed stepson of Dr. Bradley Thorne, and Sergio, the ward of Julius Catargiu, the "old fashioned" friend of the aforementioned doctor. The two boys find some common ground when Simon sees Sergio's room and finds out that he's a fan of Everywhere Kid, a superhero with the power of teleportation. As the boys explore Julius's mansion, they discover an underground water passageway that leads to an enormous door that, when opened, unleashes a monster that threatens to drown Sergio. This leaves Simon, Bradley and Julius no choice but to reveal their superhero identities: Everywhere Kid, Everywhere, and The Gentleman.

The comic is ongoing, updated often (but with no set schedule), and in full color.

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This webcomic provides examples of:

• A Child Shall Lead Them: Nilus is the king of Atlantis. Also an example of She Is the King
• All There in the Manual: Any powers in Sergio have not been addressed or apparent as of yet, but there is merchandise already for sale of him in a superhero costume reminiscent of The Gentleman's. One of the artists called him The Young Gentleman when she posted a picture of him in this costume that was later to become the banner for the website on her tumblr. Sketches of other, yet-to-be-introduced characters are also posted on the creators' tumblrs.
• Ambiguously Brown: Nilius, Samekh and Lord Aedh.
• Atlantis: The reigning king of Atlantis makes an appearance in the first chapter and nearly drowns Sergio when trying to "play" with him and Simon. Did I mention the king is a little girl?
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!:
  Simon: So, what? Your parents just ship you off to Weird-Mcfancy-Man-Alcoholic outta the blue? Or is this punishment or something? This feels sort of like punishment. Your shirt's buttoned so high.
• Badass Adorable: Everywhere Kid and Nilus.
• Badass Boast: Nilus has an impressive one here.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Jet really doesn't know his place.
• Big Eater: Everywhere Kid, to sustain constant teleportation.
• Captain Obvious:
  Simon: Okay. So, kicking water does nothing.
• Bond Creatures/Familiar: The puppy to Sergio.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Everywhere and The Gentleman discussing education whilst beating up mooks.
• Chest Insignia: The Everywheres' uniforms, and in-universe merchandise you see Simon wearing: Everywheres-print boxers ("He got them at Target~").
• Classical Movie Vampire: Julius and his home appear this way. Lampshaded on several occasions by Simon, even before he finds out that Julius really is a vampire.
• Cluster F-Bomb/Symbol Swearing: Simon does this a lot.
• Cultured Badass: The Gentleman.
• Deadpan Snarker: Simon is this often, and Sergio has his moments.
  Sergio: (in the terrifying pool) It probably goes right to a pile of dead nephews.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Sergio tends to think out loud, often forgetting the person he's thinking about can hear him perfectly fine.
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Yes, Simon, yes, you did. Now kindly stop pointing at her.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: Sergio's grandma, though technically Eurynomos did the romancing.
• Dirty Coward: The second someone manages to catch him off guard, Jet starts going to pieces.
• The Dreaded: Quinton.
  Simon:"He's a really bad guy. Like a 'KILLS EVERYONE WHEN HE SHOWS UP' guy.
• Dynamic Entry: Hi, Samekh.
• Emotionless Boy: Quinton, who also seems to have the Touch of Death.
  • Never mind, yes, he has.
• Expressive Mask: This trope is averted with The Gentleman in that his eyebrows are visible above his mask, doing all the expressing necessary. The Everywheres' masks cover most of their faces (including their eyes), but the indentation of their eyebrows are visible. The eyeholes on their costumes thus remain reasonably static.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Eurynomos, the Devourer, Lord of Flies, Father of the Dead and creator of vampires, and apparently Grandsire to Sergio, who appropriately calls him "Grandpa."

• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Julius.
• Frozen Fashion Sense: Julius, considering he's a vampire that's a hundred some-odd years old.
• Gilligan Cut:
  Bradley: If anyone can make him [Sergio] less shy by example, it's Simon. I just hope he's not being rude...
  Simon: *to Sergio* So, what's up with the Dracula house and the mortuary clothes? Is this for me 'cause, like, Bradley didn't say nothing about dressing up. I don't high tea or whatever you people do in horror movie mansions.
• Goth: Jet.
• Guyliner: Why is Jet wearing makeup?
• Hell Hound: The most adorable hellhound EVER!
• Hot-Blooded: Simon.
• I'm Standing Right Here: Simon and Nilus can hear you, Sergio.
• Insistent Terminology: A mild example in Simon pointing out that Bradley is his stepfather, not biological father. This doesn't explain why they look blood-related and both have powers of teleportation.
  • Nilus insists upon being referred to as King, not Queen.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Simon doesn't have a filter on his mouth but he means well.
• Keet: Simon is this, but a little less colorful and a little more crass.
• KidAnova: Simon, who seems to flirt with both Sergio and Nilus.
• Lampshade Hanging: Nilus turns out to have magic that lets her disguise herself as a normal human, albeit one with purple eyes. Simon's response: "Wow. that's extremely convenient."
• Little Miss Badass: Don't mess with Nilus, okay?
• Luminescent Blush: Pick any page of Sergio interacting with either Nilus or Simon. But mostly the latter.
• Magma Man: The Magnatist, for all the good it does him.
• Making a Splash: Nilus can control water. She is shown pulling it around herself to create a sort of water monster. Atlantus can also do this, so presumably it's an Atlantean thing.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Happens when the characters put on masks (ex. the Everywheres and The Gentleman). Justified in the case of the Everywheres, since it seems that their masks actually do cover their eyes. Nilus's eyes are monochromatic black, with a purple sheen to them. Strangely enough, the only other Atlantean introduced in the story doesn't have Monochromatic Eyes, so it can be gathered that Nilus's eyes are unusual, even among Atlanteans.
  • Turns out, this is because Nilus' Mom is the goddess Tiamat and the eyes are just a demigod thing.

• Mr. Exposition: Sergio in chapter 6 with Julius as the Audience Surrogate.
• Mundane Utility: Everywhere using his teleportation powers to to retrieve the handcuffs he forgot at his house.
• Ninja: Jet, it seems.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Bradley doesn't seem to even notice the increasingly forward invitations of a hot science chick who visits his office.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When Simon starts pointing out how weird it is that Julius is a vampire, Bradley points out that he and Simon can teleport.
• Not What It Looks Like: Julius and Bradley in this page. It took this Yaoi Fangirl Troper quite a few pages even after it's revealed that they were only suiting up for a night of crime-fighting to realize that they weren't lovers.
• Our Demons Are Different: Eurynomos, Baskerville the hell-puppy and apparently Sergio.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Julius, Lord Aedh and possibly Sergio.
• Perky Goth: Julius and Sergio.
• Power Fist: The Magnatist.
• Precious Puppy: The cutest puppy ever! Even if it is from Hell.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter
• The Quiet One: Quinton and Samekh.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Quinton.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Simon and Sergio, respectively. From what we've seen of them, Bradley and Julius (also respectively) may also qualify.
  • Jet and Quinton.
• Run or Die: No one wants to fight Quinton. Simon has to explain this to Nilus.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Jet. Unfortunately, he's a Big Bad Wannabe.
• She Is the King: Nilus is very insistent about being referred to as "king."
• Shrinking Violet: Sergio.
• Single-Minded Twins: The twins that Quinton calls "Binary".
• Sleep Cute: Done with Nilus, Simon and Sergio here.
• Super-Strength: Nilus seems to have this, as she crumples a dumpster when she gets grumpy with Simon.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Sergio, in chapter three.
• Tangled Family Tree: Julius sold his family's bloodline to Eurynomos, demon and creator of vampires, in exchange for saving his son's life. Julius' descendants now have Wing Ding Eyes but that's mostly it. Eventually, Sergio's dad is born. On the other side of the tree, Eurynomos romanced a mortal for some reason and while the offspring wasn't demonic herself, she carried the gene. This was Sergio's mom. So to sum up, Sergio has a demon-grandpa, a vampire-grandpa, 2 half-human dead parents and a puppy familiar named Baskerville because why not, which makes Sergio… weird.
• Teleport Spam: Simon has been seen using his teleportation powers to move a few feet, embarrass Sergio, and even just to move from a laying-down position to a standing-up position.
  • Jet as well.
• Tsundere: Nilus is revealed as a Type A.
• The Unintelligible: General Samekh Atlantus, Atlantis's military attaché accompanying Nilus. So far, none of his few lines have been in English (or any other language recognizable by any characters other than Nilus and Julius).
• Unsound Effect: This page has one, when Sergio realizes a few pages after the fact that Simon and Bradley are the Everywheres
  Unsound Effect: SLOW
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Sergio has quite attractive eyes (with hearts shaped pupils), as much of the fanbase likes to comment. Julius has similar eyes as well, but not many people seem to notice.
  • Wingding Eyes: Lord Aedh has them too.
  • Occult Blue Eyes: The hearts are iconic of Eurynomos.