Double up: I didn’t update this Friday because I was feeling lazy and I was about 400 strips into Questionable Content and didn’t want to stop. So to make it up to you, I’m posting twice on one day. Enjoy.
When She Was Bad
[Trope Page] is a villain protagonist webcomic about a girl named Gail Swanson, who got superpowers by accident in magical girl gone wrong style.
It is also one of the best Villain Protagonist stories I’ve seen so far, although honestly compels me to admit that I haven’t seen an awful lot of them. There is something deliciously satisfying about reading a story about, and from the point-of-view of, an unambiguously evil villain. And just as satisfying is seeing a villain who is not a goddamned idiot. Sure, Gail hasn’t shown the level of magnificent bastardry I’d expect from Moriarty or Light, but there are plenty of hints to suggest that she could be in their league. When she tries, that is.
At first, When She Was Bad was also a textbook example of inferior art and superior story. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. The art started out terrible, or just shy of it. Then Art Evolution came to the rescue and everyone was happy. Jokes and criticism aside the art of the newer pages is actually pretty damn good, and one can only hope that it continues to improve.
Now for that “superior story” part. I goddamn love the story. I would normally have struggled to make it through the strips with poorer art, but the story telling is so good that I just didn’t care. And it’s fairly original too. While I’m pretty sure that someone, somewhere did something similar (it’s a universal rule of media, “Someone has done it before”) I can’t find a single example which really comes close enough to say that WSWB copied them. The character of Gail particularly, is just fun to read. She’s an evil villain and knows it, but just keeps going. Her genre-savviness and ruthless pragmatism, mixed with that undercurrent of malicious forethought easily makes her one of my favourite villains of all time (read: “One of the best I can think of off the top of my head”).
I’m trying really, really hard not to gush, so I’m going to stop here. When She Was Bad is a great webcomic, with an original, engaging and bloody enjoyable plot and you should go read it. Preferably now. Sorry for yet another schedule slip, and thanks for reading!
