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Spinnerette is a superhero-comedy Webcomic (and subsequently print comic) produced by Krakow Studios and written by Krazy Krow. Unusually, it has had three artists. Walter Gustavo Gomez, who illustrated most of it, as well as Fernando Furukawa and Rocio Zucchi. It updates twice weekly.

The premise? Mild-mannered lab assistant Heather Brown is forced to clean up the lab by her boss one night when, due to a Freak Lab Accident with a genetic infusion chamber, Heather gains the powers of a spider. She now has superstrength, can shoot webs out of her lower back (not her butt), and has, most obviously, four extra arms. With these powers, Heather decides to fight the forces of evil as the costumed superhero Spinnerette, while hiding her secret identity (and extra arms) from the citizens of Columbus, Ohio.

She is not alone in her endeavors. Helping out is her roommate Sahira, who acts as her Secret-Keeper, seamstress, and voice of reason. There is also the local superhero team of Tiger (a huge man with Super-Strength) and Mecha Maid, a maid in power armor.

Spinnerette is largely an Affectionate Parody of Superhero stories (most prominently Spider-Man, of course), all about Heather's forays into the world of superheroism and the many problems that can come with it. Humor is largely derived from Heather jumping headfirst into superheroics without any forethought, and the problems that causes. But it's an upbeat comic (for the most part) and Heather's many troubles never get her down.

In 2018, Krow began working on a spin-off comic called White Heron, featuring an alternate timeline version of the eponymous South Korean superhero who debuted in the Colonel Glass arc; as well as a series of Patreon-exclusive NSFW graphic novels.


Spinnerette contains examples of:

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    A-H 
  • A-Cup Angst: Seems to be part of the reason for Mecha Maid's immediate dislike of Super MILF, particularly given her girlfriend's vocal fascination with the latter's endowment.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: In-universe. The alternate Spinnerette arc reveals that Spinerette's hair has gone from brunette in the Golden Age to strawberry blonde in the Silver Age to brunette in the Dark Age to dirty blonde with a brunette wig in the Modern Age over the years.
  • Affably Evil:
    • Dr. Universe appears to be a fairly reasonable and civil fellow when he's not actively antagonizing our heroes.
    • Alexis (AKA Evil Spinnerette) is also pretty friendly while in her civilian identity. Or not.
  • Affectionate Parody: Aside from the general tone of the series, Issue 20 is this for The Silver Age of Comic Books, particularly Captain America.
  • Afro Asskicker: Silver Age Tiger sports an afro, and is just as competent as his prime universe counterpart.
  • Aliens in Cardiff: The series takes place in Columbus, Ohio and Spinny grew up in Circleville, an outer suburb. Plus, one of the supporting characters is "The Werewolf of London...Ontario".
  • Alliance of Alternates: At one point, Spinny teams up with Silver Age and '90s Anti-Hero versions of herself, which arrived through spacetime rifts, in order to stop an immensely powerful supervillain called the Editor from "rebooting" the world. Then they also met the retired Golden Age version... who revealed that the Editor's "reboot" was not The End of the World as We Know It, but rather the creation of yet another Alternate Universe, this one IN SPACE!.
  • All Myths Are True: A Cerberus is one of the supporting characters and there is a poster reading "Zeus wants you!!! (Literally)" in the underworld. Carrying on from Krakow, an Eldritch Abomination implied to be Lolth from Dungeons & Dragons makes a brief appearance to transform Alexis into a drider, and Guinness the marilith appears in Hell.
  • All There in the Manual: Chapter 5, a plot-relevant side story, is an exclusive to the first Spinnerette print collection; online, the story hops straight from Chapter 4 to Chapter 6 with no break in continuity. Chapter 9 is a similar exclusive for Book 2. Also, there are several very NSFW issues that aren't (nor, likely, will ever be) available from the webcomic's archives, which are anyways stated to be "100% canon"; added to Fanservice, they actually provide information about the characters' relationships and even confirm some fan theories.
  • Alternate Universe: As noted in the Celebrity Paradox entry, Spinnerette takes place in a universe where both superheroes and the comics companies that chronicle their deeds are real. Furthermore, magic is also real — the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons was banned by the Carter Administration because it contained actual magic spells. It also takes place in the same universe as Krow's earlier work Krakow.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Evil Spinnerette's parents show up at her bail hearing, causing her to complain they're embarrassing her in front of her archenemy.
  • Amazonian Beauty:
    • Heather gets a Super Physique complete with large breasts and "girl abs" after getting into a Freak Lab Accident that gave her four extra arms and some superpowers. She decides to fights crime with an outfit that covers most of her body but still manages to be very revealing due to its form-fitting nature so her muscles and curves are quite visible.
    • '90s Spinnerette towers over both the 2010 and Silver Age versions, with an even more... pronounced... Super Physique. 2010 Heather comments on this, to which '90s Spinnerette replies, "This just became incredibly awkward."
  • Ambiguously Evil: Dr. Universe and Greta Gravity. On one hand, they are Card-Carrying Villains. On the other, they have revealed Hidden Depths that make them sympathetic. They act with integrity and sometimes even kindness. When an unambiguously evil threat emerges, they oppose it as forcefully as the heroes and are amenable to a Villain Team-Up.
  • …And That Little Girl Was Me: Mecha Maid telling Tiger and Spinny about the fate of South Korean heroine White Heron. She was the infant Heron sacrificed herself to save from Col. Glass.
  • Angels Pose: The League of Canadian Superheroes, here. Lampshaded.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Mecha Maid to Spinnerette, while badly injured and considering euthanasia. The latter's reaction? She runs out of the room and leaves her alone at the hospital. Ouch. (Things improve after that, though.)
  • Animalistic Abilities:
  • Anime Hair: Dr. Universe has it, as does London when Minerva has to suppress his lycanthropy for a disguise.
  • Animesque: A style simultaneously used in the comic, and despised by Heather, who complains about its use in Empowered among other things.
  • Applied Phlebotinum: The source behind most superpowers in the Spinnerette universe is a nuclear-powered phenomenon called the Cherenkov-Kirby Reaction. Which is an example of Human Resources. Apparently all Cherenkov-Kirby reactors are made from the pineal gland of Ultra, who was killed by his government to make them. Or so claims the supervillain.
  • Arm Cannon: Mecha Maid used one in her first appearance.
  • Artistic License – Biology:
    • Tiger's line about being colorblind like an actual tiger is said in a way that implies he uses it a lot. He doesn't actually know whether that's true, though (and in fact it is not).
    • Played with in Spinnerette's... well, spinnerets. Unlike Spider-Man, Spinnerette shoots webbing not from her wrists, but from the base of her spine — which still has no direct correlation with any part of a real spider's anatomy. Of course, Sahira points out that spiders have completely different physiologies to humans, and initially berates Heather for assuming that she was capable of spinning webs at all:
      Sahira: This isn't logical at all! Spiders are an entirely different phylum of animal than humans! If this were logical, you'd have mutated your lungs and asphyxiated! You're a biologist. You should know this!
  • Art Evolution: Around Issue 15, the characters become more spindly. Spinnerette, for example, doesn't have nearly as prominent GIRL ABS as she used to.
  • Art Shift:
    • Issues 7 and 11 are drawn by Fernando Furukawa, and look significantly different to the issues illustrated by Walter Gustavo Gomez.
    • Issue 12 has Rocio Zucchi take over as the comic's main artist, although Gomez has continued to work on Issues 13, 22, and various sidestories.
    • Franco Viglino draws Issue 19.
  • Ascended Extra: Japanese Highschool Spinny, who previously appeared in Heather's wet dream, is the protagonist of Issue 19.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Sarah Nicole Megan's second appearance sees her get her hands on some Imported Alien Phlebotinum that lets her become this. Spinnerette herself later gets her own copy of the phlebotinum so that she can fight on equal ground.
  • Attempted Rape: Heather beats up a pair of drunken frat boys imposing on her shortly after acquiring her powers, but they claim they were just messing around.
  • Author Appeal:
    • At the least, the author is fond of multi-armed people/extra independently-minded body parts in general (see the Cerberus girl and Katt O'Nine Tails), as well as the Most Common Superpower (up to Boob-Based Gag levels, with a slice of BBW on the side).
    • Also: Animal-people. The werewolf, the aforementioned Cerberus girl and Katt (despite her insistent denials...), Evil Spinnerette and Spinnerette herself, to an extent. Oh, and Tiger, too, really.
  • Awesome McCoolname: Buzz Rickards, which Sahira tells him is not the name of a guard that plays by the rules. Granted, she's trying to seduce him.
  • Ax-Crazy: Colonel Glass, the North Korean supervillain with the ability to manipulate glass, who has zero qualms about using his abilities on innocent civilians, small animals, or even babies. Definitely not Played for Laughs.
  • Badass Normal:
    • Green Gable has no superhuman abilities (unless you count strength of spirit), instead he's rigorously trained to be a hero his entire life.
    • Evil Spinnerette, when she's first introduced, because she hasn't performed the Ritual of Lolth yet. She easily subdued Spinerette despite her opponent's spider strength.
    • Firemen. It helps that they're fighting a flame powered villain.
    • Buzz has no qualms about going after a psychotic s-rank supervillain, armed only with a shotgun. Spinnerette outright refers to him as this trope later on.
  • Bait-and-Switch Comment: Buzz takes down Colonel Glass with a shotgun, then tells Spinnerette to get some gasoline so they can burn him to death before he regenerates. When she objects that they don't need to, he starts going into a speech about of heroes not killing isn't always a bright idea, when Spinnerette interrupts to say that what she meant was that they didn't need gasoline, because she had a thermite charge on her. Colonel Glass is promptly incinerated.
  • Batman Gambit: Not only is the government anticipating that Dr. Verde is going to create a CK generator, enhance Greta's abilities, and try to escape, but the general in charge is counting on it — the possibility of escape, he says, is the best motivation for the captive scientists to build one. He states that he specifically engineered their environment to encourage rebellion (obvious cameras, unpleasant guards, mind-influencing drug-laced food and strictly controlled media - including lots of Ayn Rand).
  • Beach Episode: Spinny, Mecha Maid, Greta and Dr. Universe vacation at a superhero beach resort in Issue 34.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Avoid jokes about Heather's height. It's within one standard deviation from the average!
    • Never tell Greta Gravity her insults are lame. Or insult her outfit.
    • Don't call Tiger "Black" Tiger, or broach the subjects of family, steroids, or Canadians. The man is a walking switchboard of Berserk Buttons.
  • Benevolent Boss: Dr. Universe treats Greta like the loyal companion she is. Even when she got her powers he was willing to fight the Government agents who wanted to take her away.
  • Bequeathed Power: Officer Jeff Coleman finds an old man dying from gunshot wounds inflicted by a street hoodlum; seeing that he's an honourable man, the guy passes on the Tiger Spirit before he dies.
  • Bifauxnen: Katt O' Nine Tails. Oh, so much.
  • Big Beautiful Woman:
    • Greta Gravity is chubby but extremely well endowed, wears a pretty revealing outfit and provides a lot of fanservice.
    • In her secret identity, Heather has to wear a Fat Suit to conceal her four extra arms. She's still pretty cute as Darien who's also good looking himself tries hard to get a date with her.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Tiger and Mecha Maid.
  • Big Eater: Chapter 11 reveals Greta's adipose tissue has an effect on her powers, meaning she needs to be as big as she is to be able to do what she does. She maintains her build by eating, a lot.
  • Big Entrance: Agent 7, a.k.a. Thunderfist, surprises his fellow heroes by leaping to the ground with a Ground Punch.
  • Big Good: Ben Franklin is considered the commander-in-chief of American superheroes. He's the founder and current boss of the American Superhero Association, and his superpower is one of the strongest in the world.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: Dr. Lambha.
  • Bigot vs. Bigot: Issue 11 features an aged Nazi trying to clone Hitler fighting a Confederate revivalist trying to clone Robert E. Lee (and inexplicably practices Afrocentric magic). Dr. Universe and Greta simply hang back and watch the fun.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Hitler's dialog in the time travel scene is not only accurate German, but also a hilarious reference to Hitler's drug problems.
    Hitler: Ein ringender, nackter, fetter Mann und ein Tiefseetaucher? Ich frage Doktor Morell besser nach einer weiteren Injektion...note 
  • Blessed with Suck: Tiger during the Power Swap arc thinks so. He finds the constant racing thoughts and calculations of Dr Universe's C-K powered genius incredibly hard to deal with. Dr. Universe, already a Genius Ph.D could deal with that.
  • Blush Sticker:
  • Body Horror:
    • Although she's ecstatic about it, Evil Spinnerette's transformation into a Drider is disturbing, as her new parts burst through her flesh, and her human legs tear off — Heather, watching, feels like she's going to throw up. By Issue Seven, she claims to bitterly regret her transformation in order to trick Heather into assisting with a new dark ritual to transform her henchmen into driders as well.
    • In Issue 12 after getting hit a second time by the Genetic Infusion Chamber, Heather's powers and body go unstable and she begins to rapidly sprout even more arms.
  • Body Language: Heather can and does display multiple entries from the Body Language Index simultaneously. It helps that she has 3 sets of arms to work with.
  • Bond Creature: The Spirit of the Tiger is revealed to be as much this as it is a superpower, being an independent intelligence with its own desires and opinions. Present day Tiger has trained with it and is in sync with its desires, so they are perfectly coordinated and its independence is unnoticeable, but when Dr. Universe switches powers with him his little spirit kitten acts much more like an Non-Human Sidekick, playing around and occasionally reacting to events and mimicking his body language. And once Tiger explains that he has to treat it with respect, Universe explains the situation and asks it for help and it acts independently to track down and destroy the shock collars on Spinnerette and Greta.
  • Boob-Based Gag: Greta Gravity's massive prow has been the butt of a few jokes. Tiger also makes a few remarks about bovine growth hormone in reference to Evil Spinerette's bust. And then there's the crowning achievement of gag-boobage, Super-MILF, and her "Venusian Bosom".
  • Boobs-and-Butt Pose: The fact that Spinny's webs come out of her lower back and she needs to see where she's aiming them provides a convenient justification for this trope. Although the six arms complicate things.
  • Boob-Based Gag: Evil Spinnerette, Greta Gravity, and Super MILF all possess massive chests that are the subject of comedic takes, such as Tiger speculating Alexis was affected by bovine growth hormones; Greta being unable to see past her bust, enabling Spinnerette to hide right underneath her; and Super MILF's chest growing to a massive size after being fused with an alien energy reactor, insisting her cleavage window is to regulate her powers rather than (or in addition to) her being a huge pervert, using her breasts to melt Dr. Universe and Greta's ice-cream just to be mean to them, and having Spinnerette fangirl over her... enormous chest.
  • Born Lucky: Ben Franklin is an interesting example. He wasn't born this way, but a combination of being the inventor of the root invention of time travel being displaced forward in time himself gave him the power of probabilistic invincibility.
  • Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Sara Nicole Megan drugs her whole town in order to make everything nice there (at least by her standards-no crime, divorce, or gays-including herself.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Heather often talks as if she's in a comic; it's not quite clear whether she's aware that she's in one, or just wishes that she was.
    • In Issue #3, Heather makes a frustrated offhand comment about hitting "that streetlight from back in Issue #1" with her web-shooting powers.
    • When someone mentions a vacation she comments, "But we get a new enemy every issue!"
    • She gets another one in during the trip to her hometown, where everyone in town is under the influence of Mind Control pies. When Mecha Maid is controlled as well, Spinnerette tries to get through to her by reminding her that this has happened before:
      Spinnerette: Remember a few issues back, when Captain Alberta drugged you with rage serum?
  • Breath Weapon: The Composite Soul exhibits one.
  • Breather Episode: The brief, lighthearted "Anime Dreamworld" story that came after the Colonel Glass Saga, an epic yearlong, deathly serious arc whose Big Bad was a sadistic, murderous monster.
  • Brick Joke:
    • When first introduced, Katt O'Nine Tails offers MM a massage. Volume 13 ends with her delivering on that promise.
    • Spinnerette thinking she should make a bust chart of some sort. Comes up once in Volume 7 with Alexis/Evil Spinnerette mentioning her cup size and Spinnerette trying to compare that to Greta Gravity, and then again eight volumes later when she tries comparing Super MILF's to Greta Gravity's instead.
    • When Sahira first confronted Heather with the idea that Mecha Maid was attracted to her, she asked a series of questions that she claimed would infallibly confirm Mecha Maid as a lesbian. One of those questions was if she had any Tegan & Sara on her Ipod. The Colonel Glass arc starts with Mecha Maid's computer assistant helping her with her morning routine... and choosing Tegan & Sara as musical accompaniment, which Mecha Maid rather enjoys.
      • Another question was whether Mecha Maid drove a Subaru or not. In Issue 31, we find out that she does, in fact, drive a Subaru.
  • Brought Down to Badass: During the Power Swap, Tiger and Dr. Universe. Tiger winds up with Dr Universe's Supergenius and Dr. Universe winds up with Tiger's Strength and Power. This trope is in effect because Tiger, still has a Heroic Build due to his execerise routine, if not nearly as bulky And Dr Universe is still a Genius Scientist.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Alexis (aka Evil Spinnerette) gets taunted and teased by some Alpha Bitches... despite the fact that she's a freakin' Drider! It turns out they're her minions, faking it in a ploy to gain Heather's sympathy.
  • Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Depicted on the cover of Issue 10, shortly after Marilyn tells Heather that her ALS is progressing. Nobody dies, but Heather and Marilyn officially hook up at the end.
  • Butt-Monkey: Heather before her accident... and Heather after her accident. The accident? Caused because her Jerkass boss made her work late, alone, and on highly dangerous equipment. The first time she goes out heroing? Beaten up by a mook. Her civilian disguise? A fat suit. First fight against a supervillain? Can't even get in a good punch before someone has to rescue her. It seems even in the middle of her own origin story, she just can't get any respect.
  • Buxom Beauty Standard:
    • The news cameraman certainly seems to think so about Greta's enormous breasts.
    • Inverted when it comes to Sahira, whose ample bosom is disregarded by Spinerette in favor of the petite Mecha Maid.
  • Call-Back: Sahira explains why she wouldn't compare Heather to a Hindu goddess. Some time later, while mimicking Heather's powers to save children from a burning bus one of the children, a little Indian girl, comes to the conclusion that she's a goddess and Sahira has to point out that she's not.
  • Calling Your Attacks: A former teammate of Tiger's turned DHS lackey still has this habit, and it's to Tiger's advantage when the two come to blows.
  • Canada Eh: The Legion of Canadian Superheroes.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Mecha Maid's crush on Spin. It's kinda difficult to think about romance when you know your days are numbered. But not impossible.
  • Canon Welding: Tom and an older Guinness from Krakow show up in the Underworld. In a book-only chapter, Kia from the same comic is introduced.
  • The Cape: Green Gable. You could call him the Big Green Boy Scout, except that Boy Scouts already wear green, and he dresses as a girl...
  • Captain Obvious: Heather is constantly announcing that her nonexistent "spider sense" is telling her something perfectly obvious.
    Heather: My spider sense is tingling that I'm sad.
  • Cat Girl: Katt O' Nine Tails
  • Cat Up a Tree: Displayed in this strip, which serves as the introduction to the Legion of Canadian Superheroes.
  • Celebrity Paradox: Averted. The comics we know and love exist in a world where superheroes are real. Heather's first costume is even made out of three cheap Venom costumes sewn together. And then Marvel Comics sends her a Cease-and-Desist because her costume looks like Spider-Woman's.
  • Chekhov's Gun: At the beginning of Issue 22, Spinnerette notes that she carries chocolate in her utility belt. At the end, she feeds the chocolate to the Sheilas' magic pet quokka to poison it and incapacitate them.
  • Christianity Is Catholic: Averted in a discussion about a pair of annoying tweens wanting to become werewolves.
    Annoying Werewolf fan: We'll do anything! We'll sacrifice a skinling to your Fur God!
    London: What Fur God?! I'm Anglican!
  • Cleavage Window: Heather wants one, but Sahira lampshades it and lists the drawbacks of having one. Why would any sane (non-invulnerable) woman cut a hole in bulletproof fabric in such a way to leave her heart exposed? It's justified in the case of Super MILF, whose breasts generate heat and therefore require ventilation.
  • Clipped-Wing Angel: Evil Spinnerette's spider transformation, mostly because our heroine both is a biology student (and as such knows the major weak points of a spider in close combat) and a former champion Mutton Buster (and as such is good at staying on a bucking animal).
    • Their rematch goes better, probably in part because she's had a chance to become accustomed to the new body.
  • Closed Door Rapport: Sahira and Buzz, when she's channelling Spinnerette's powers and doesn't want him to see. He takes it as her being traumatised by the accident he'd come to talk to her about.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: Mecha Maid can barely move without her amplifier headband.
  • Clothing Damage:
    • Heather's costume gets severely damaged right before she testifies in Evil Spinnerette's trial. Thankfully, Mecha Maid loans her an apron.
    • Also occurs to her clothes when she's breaking and entering into the lab in an attempt to steal security footage that would reveal her Secret Identity. This leads to her stripping down to her underwear and taking the Downward Facing Dog pose to aim her webbing at a high duct.
    • Katt's lovely coat gets shredded when she uses herself to complete the magic circle to send the Composite Soul back to hell.
    • To Sahira when she accidentally channels Greta's ability.
    • To SuperMILF, when she gets the Most Common Super Power.
  • Color Character: Defied. Tiger is touchy about people calling him "Black Tiger", calling people out on how insensitive and stereotypical that is. This functions as his Berserk Button.
    Tiger: For the last time! I'm not a black superhero! I'm a superhero WHO HAPPENS TO BE BLACK!
  • Combat Stilettos:
    • Evil Spinnerette's high-heels have actual blades in them.
    • Defied when Sahira suggests heels to Heather to make up for the lack of height: "Spinnerette prefers flats, thank you very much."
  • Combat Tentacles: Katt O' Nine Tails uses long tails as tentacles.
  • Combo Platter Powers: Colonel Glass has control over glass (natch), but also defensively a very strong and completely unrelated Healing Factor. Tiger has the Spirit of the Tiger and also an enhanced physique. Spinnerette could be considered a downplayed example, as while all her power does is change her genetic code to be more like that of a spider, that includes multiple arms, the Most Common Superpower, Super-Strength, a Healing Factor, and spinnerets.
  • Comes Great Responsibility: Tiger was constantly harangued by his wife to give up superheroing on the grounds that he'd orphan his two daughters by getting killed one day (and presumably, she had similar beef with him being a cop). He hangs up the tights and immediately comes THIS close to losing his daughters' lives in a shootout that he, as Tiger, could have prevented. He and his daughters realize that he's got to keep saving people, not just for his daughters' sake, but for everyone else's daughters too. (His wife, by the way, completely fails the moral of the story and begins ranting about divorce.)
  • Comic-Book Time: The first chapter takes place in 2010 and Issue 33 is set in December 2020, indicating ten years have passed. However, Alexis Woodrow — aka Evil Spinnerette — is only 16 when she's introduced and 18 by the time of Issue 33, meaning only two years have passed in-universe.
  • Coming-Out Story: Starting with the Drama Bomb at the end of issue 8, and going until at least the Everybody Knew Already moment in issue 13.
  • Comic-Book Time: According to Word of God, only a few months have passed in-universe.
  • "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Averted! Both Greta and Spinnerette thought the other would have put up a fight to retain the other's powers during the Power Swap Issue. They actually hug when they realize they don't have to fight as they want to go back to 'normal'.
  • Covers Always Lie: The covers of most of the issues either depict events that don't happen, or are intentionally misleading.
  • Cure Your Gays: Sara Nicole Megan, a former Pumpkin Queen, voluntarily takes psychotropic drugs to "keep on the straight and narrow". It doesn't seem to work fully though, as she's turned on when watching Mecha Maid and Spinnerette fighting.
  • Cute Little Fangs:
    • Heather gets these whenever she's really happy. Combined with Cat Smile here.
    • Sahira gets in on the fang action here. Cute Little Fangs could be a quirk of Walter Gomez's art style rather than a character trait specific to Heather.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Dr. Universe has access to cloning tech as well as knowing how to build machines that can induce superpowers in people, among other things. He uses it to line his wallet with money from Nazi remnants want to create a clone of Hitler, etc. He was originally interested in averting Reed Richards Is Useless, but when he tried to share his ideas for free energy with others, the government arrested him for treason, because one of the countries he tried to share with was China. Still, it's pretty odd he didn't try to get rich at least on the black market with inventions like this (which as a devout follower of Ayn Rand you'd think he'd like). On the other hand, he's a big financial backer of Dr. Lambha's research, so there's a good chance he has gotten rich off his inventions and the only reason he bothers with low-end hideouts is to avoid authorities out to arrest him.
  • Darkest Hour: In the Colonel Glass arc finale. Mecha-maid is crippled, her suit trashed, Tiger's arrested, the military is powerless against Glass, Glass is about to make off with the CK reactor... and then Enter Spinnerette.
  • A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 14, for Sahira.
  • Dead Hat Shot: One strip has Mecha Maid looking for Spinnerette in the rubble after an explosion, and assuming the worst when she notices her hair sticking out from under a large concrete slab. Turns out it's just her wig.
  • Deal with the Devil: In exchange for Doctor Universe's help in fixing her condition and possibly treating Mecha Maid's terminal illness, Spinnerette agrees to do one favor for him in the future. She adds the condition that the favor can't be something that will go against her personal ethics, but she's still making a deal with a notorious supervillain. It causes Tiger to quit the team, feeling that he's failed so badly to protect the girls from both their enemies and themselves that he can't be their leader anymore.
  • Death by Origin Story: White Heron died saving an infant Mecha Maid.
  • Declarative Finger: Heather's spare arms have a tendency to do this while she's talking, when they aren't Milking the Giant Cow.
  • Decon-Recon Switch: Spinnerette began an an Affectionate Parody of superhero comics and deconstructed many of the tropes associated with them. As Heather grew progressively more competent, it began to play more like a straight (but humorous) superhero comic.
  • Defiant to the End: Skewered through the chest and all four limbs by Colonel Glass, Park pleads for him to "wait" as if about to beg for his life. Actually, he just wanted to tell him up close and personal that Glass's glorious leader was burning in Hell.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: The Silver Age Spinnerette comic is depicted as if it were written in The '70s. The general tone is highly patriotic, hippies are targets of mockery, and Sahira has light skin, among other things.
  • Department of Redundancy Department:
    • While Heather and Sahira are breaking into Dr. Lambha's lab to steal a security tape, Heather spots a guard on duty and instructs Sahira to "seduce him with your powers of seduction."
    • Silver Age Spinnerette's origin story is FULL of this, it reaches it's logical conclusion about halfway through:
      Narration: Tiger uses his Mystical Spirit of the Tiger to block the chemicals!
      Mecha Maid: Tiger, use your Mystical Spirit of the Tiger to block the chemicals!
      Tiger: I'll use my Mystical Spirit of the Tiger to block the chemicals!
  • Disability Immunity: The little girl who manages to stop Sarah was unaffected by her mind control pies because she has diabetes and couldn't eat any.
  • Disappointed by the Motive: Heather shows a mixture of annoyance and rage when she figures out that the only reason "Wendy G" the Wendigo possessed her mother Betty and turned her into an instrument of supernatural terror, including stealing several children and placing them in a freezer in the Brown family's storage unit, is because the wendigo is that driven to get Lola Rue sales.
  • Does Not Know His Own Strength:
    • Heather initially has some trouble getting used to having six arms and Super-Strength, as seen when she bear hugs Sahira at one point. It's also seen when she breaks down a door while trying to pick a lock.
    • Sahira, after briefly gaining Spinnerette's powers, accidentally throws Heather out a window.
  • Doing in the Scientist: Spinnerette laughed at the idea of anyone using magic (especially the kind inspired by a tabletop game) and thought "Spirit of the Tiger" was an euphemism for steroids. Then Mecha Maid tells her that the latter is not an euphemism of any kind and Alexis performs the Ritual of Lolth for real.
  • Drama Bomb: "Heather, I'm IN LOVE WITH YOU." Krow describes this in The Rant as a "Yurinuclear Warhead."
  • Dream Weaver: the villain "Delta Wave", who entraps Spinnerette in a puerile anime high school harem fantasy dream featuring Mecha-Maid, Katt, Evil Spinnerette, Minerva, Super MILF, Tiger, London, Dr. Universe, and Greta Gravity.
  • Dumbass Has a Point: In issue twenty Heather calls a group of protesters dummies for believing that the university's new anti-proton collider could create a black hole. This would probably be more reassuring coming from someone hadn't received spider super-powers in a freak lab accident and who doesn't live in a world that runs on comic book physics.
  • Enemy Mine:
    • In Issue 4, Dr. Universe tried to form an alliance of convenience with the Columbus superheroes in order to catch a rogue werewolf. It didn't stick, as he wanted the werewolf to be captured for experimentation, while the heroes wanted to save it.
    • Spinnerette teams up with Dr. Universe and Greta to rob a US Army convoy. Because of the power swap, he points out that Spinnerette no longer has the DNA needed to keep her body from rejecting her new anatomy. And seeing as it might take months if not years to get the Army to cough up the needed equipment, she goes with them.
    • In Issue 34, Spinnerette and Greta team up to take down Flexiboy, disguised somewhat unsettlingly as Spinnerette, who wants to steal their vitality; then Dr. Universe and Mecha Maid team up to rescue Spinny and Greta when Flexiboy gets the best of them.
  • Entendre Failure: Sahira tries a few times to gently bring up the possibility that Mecha Maid is gay to Heather, before giving up subtlety and outright spelling it out:
    Sahira: Facepalm! I think Mecha Maid is a lesbian who wants to have sexual intercourse with you.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Glass seems honestly regretful when he hears that Mecha Maid is crippled as a result of what his government did.
    • Dr. Universe gets hired by a Nazi supervillain to make a clone of Hitler, and by a Confederate supervillain to make a clone of Robert E. Lee. He spends most of the episode making fun of them, baits them into fighting each other, and at the end of the issue, he explains the only reason he was willing to work for them was because he knew their plans would fail.
      Dr. Universe: I've done nothing wrong. In fact, I've drained the coffers of racist extremists by several million dollars. You should thank me.
  • Everybody Knew Already: When Mecha Maid — under the influence of Captain Alberta's Hate Plagueouts herself and Spinny in front of the Canadians, Green Gable's response is "That was a secret?"
  • Everyone Can See It:
    • Sahira, among others, called Mecha's interest in Heather far before anyone else did and before it became official.
      Green Gable: You'd be more than welcome in Canada! We're a tolerant people!
    • Lampshaded when Heather shows signs of being nervous about displaying their relationship in public, and Mecha Maid (under the influence of a rage-inducing toxin) angrily calls her out on it
      Green Gable: That was a secret?
  • Evilutionary Biologist: Dr. Universe. Interestingly he still seems to take his Hippocratic Oath seriously — when Spinnerette refused the terms he offered in return for curing her Superpower Meltdown, he treated her anyway.
  • Exactly What I Aimed At: The young White Heron is an excellent shot with a knife, thank you very much. In a minor example of Xanatos Gambit, either she hit the opponent, or they got out of the way and the knife hit the button activating the room's defense system.
  • Expecting Someone Taller: The newspaper that published Spinnerette's picture on its front page actually photoshopped her taller, apparently because they assumed a 5'1" tall heroine wouldn't strike fear in the hearts of evildoers.
  • Expressive Accessory: Mecha Maid's headpiece as seen here
  • Eye Scream: Colonel Glass enjoys shredding people's eyes using their own glasses or protective eyewear.
  • Faceless Goons: Deconstructed when Colonel Glass infiltrates a secure base by donning such a concealing uniform. And then goes on to call out the trope... with a direct reference to the TV Tropes page on the trope. And then the internet ate itself.
  • Facepalm:
  • Fan Disservice:
    • The sight of Benjamin Franklin naked. Go on, let that sink in for a moment.
    • Spinnerette herself gives a bit of this after swapping powers (and weight class) with Greta and struggling to squeeze into her costume.
  • Fantastic Measurement System: The strength of a superhumans CK reaction is measured in crackles.
  • False Cause: The groups protesting Dr. Singh's stem cell research. Despite the stem cells he uses coming from the patients own bone marrow, they automatically assumed he was using aborted fetus's and as it is put "flipped out."
  • Fat and Proud:
    • Greta Gravity initially is ashamed of her generous figure, until Dr. Universe tells her to embrace who she is and her own strength. Notably, he's not just saying it to secure her loyalty, he means it. See Benevolent Boss.
    • When Greta and Spinnerette swap powers and body styles for a while, Greta is distraught over her new slim physique. Includes a Call-Back to Dr. Universe's words of encouragement.
  • Flat-Earth Atheist: Experienced superheroes Mecha Maid and Tiger believe in magic. Heather, not so much, especially when it was from a monster she was sure was from Dungeons & Dragons.
  • Flying Car: The LoCS's Avrocar, though it's more of a Flying Saucer in shape. Werewolf of London Ontario calls it a "widowmaker", and at the very least it looks like it could really use some windshields. Or working landing gear. This is not that far off from Truth in Television — Avro really did attempt to make a flying saucer-shaped vehicle called the Avrocar. The design was very close to what the LoCS drives (down to having room for three riders), and was noted for massive instability if altitude exceeded a foot or two. It also was incredibly difficult to steer. The Werewolf of London, Ontario is quite justified in considering it to be The Alleged Flying Car.
  • Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Taken to an extreme level even for a superhero comic. See here. Even less justified than normal in that in the above examples it's Sahira, not any of the heroes, and she's not wearing a costume.
  • Formula-Breaking Episode: Issue 19 seems to transfer the entire cast into a harem anime High School AU, with the addition of one new character...
  • Freak Lab Accident: How Heather gets her powers (naturally). Doubly subverted, as the reader is initially led to think that, just like Spider-Man, Heather would get her powers from a mutant spider-bite — and then her boss points out to interviewing reporter how absurd that would be. Turns out that she only developed her powers after falling into the "Genetic Modifier" vat used to mutate those spiders in the first place.
  • Freudian Slip: Heather's lower left arm exhibits Organ Autonomy and just may be controlled by her subconscious. In at least one instance she had to stop it from openly making a pass at Mecha Maid. See here. Mecha Maid seemed rather happy about the incident.
    • During the Power Swap, Greta's lower left arm reacts the same way towards Doctor Universe.
  • Funetik Aksent: Silver-age Greta seems to have a more pronounced accent.
  • Funny Background Event:
  • Gaydar: Is not included amongst Spinnerette's powers. Green Gable, on the other hand...
  • Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke:
    • Exploited in Dr. Lambha's tirade about people knowing nothing about genetic engineering.
    • Played straight after Heather gets a dose of the genetic modifier ray.
    • Otherwise averted. All other superpowered characters (so far) have either magic- or tech-based origin stories.
    • In-universe, Cherenkov-Kirby Reactors (devices which grant superpowers) are legally classified as Weapons Of Mass Destruction.
  • Genius Bruiser: Tiger, the former detective, effortlessly dissecting the far more mundane reasons behind a waitress's headaches and bruises than "she's a werewolf."
  • Genius Cripple: Marilyn, who suffers from ALS, AKA Lou Gehrig's Disease, and is a Science Hero who's devised a way to temporarily overcome its effects.
  • Genre Deconstruction: A major theme of the comic, although not played with to outright Deconstruction levels — Heather keeps trying to invoke tropes but they just don't work that way in real life — for example, she jumps a car burglar, only to get her ass kicked since even with Super-Strength and multiple arms... she doesn't know basic self defense. Also, while laws have been passed to accommodate the fact that superheroes and villains exist (for example, heroes don't have to disclose their real identities to testify in a trial), they still have to follow legal procedure in the trials and conviction of villains.
  • Ghostapo: The Nazis apparently had a division devoted to sorcery.
  • Girl on Girl Is Hot: Alan sure thinks so. When Sahira claims she had an upside down kiss with Spinnerette a la Spider-Man, he suggests they do that again, don't mind him.
  • The Glasses Gotta Go: Ms. Venus casually discards her glasses as she woozily recovers from her Freak Lab Accident, and is never seen wearing them again.
  • The Gloves Come Off: When preparing for a battle with Col. Glass, Mecha Maid refits her suit to replace all the less-lethal weaponry with high-explosives, and even prepares a "thermite self-destruct charge".
  • The Good Guys Always Win: Averted surprisingly often for a light-hearted superhero comic; Heather's been beaten up by a purse-snatcher, completely trounced in her second fight with Evil Spinnerette, has never even come close to actually defeating Dr. Universe, and would have been incinerated by Kugelblitz if Greta hadn't intervened.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Double Subverted so far. While Heather may have Super-Strength in all six arms and a burning desire to be a superhero, it didn't come with innate fighting ability and got herself beaten up by an ordinary mugger (the Fisticuffs part), showing that any kind of training is better that none. Subverted again in that apart from Tiger and Mecha Maid (who is training Heather) the rest of the superheroes had to create their own fighting style based in their unique powers and... well, dirty brawl fighting and experience.
  • Gratuitous German: Played with at the beginning of the arc in which Benjamin Franklin travels through time into the Third Reich. Hitler's spoken German is correct. Krakow actually asked his German-speaking fans for help beforehand. However played straight with the name plate on Hitler's desk reading "Das Führer, Duden!" which is German gibberish for "The Führer, Dude!" and a coffee mug on the floor with the words "Mein Coffee" written on it. Especially funny for Germans because "Duden" is actually the name of Germany's most common dictionary.
  • Ground Punch: They don't call him Thunderfist for nothing.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: Subverted, Buzz initially falls for Sahira's seductions but quickly reveals he already knew why she was there. Apparently that sort of thing happens two or three times a month, and he only fell for it the first time.
  • Handsome Lech: Werewolf of London Ontario, without a doubt.
  • Hate Plague: Just a few hours after boarding Avonlea together, Katt, Gabe, London and Minerva are at each other's throats...courtesy of embittered former team member Captain Alberta, who's poured toxins into the airship's water supply, and played a few choice pranks.
  • Healing Factor: One of Spinnerette's powers, revealed at the start of Issue #2.
  • Heel–Face Turn: In Issue 7, Evil Spinnerette claims to have made one only for it to be part of a ploy to get people to help her in a dark ritual.
  • Hellhound: Minerva. She was tasked as a guardian of hell to recapture escaped evil spirits but due to her anthropomorphic appearance, she was easily mistaken for a werecerberus.
  • Hellfire: Colonel Glass's demise involves a block of thermite employed by Spinnerette that Mecha-Maid originally intended to use as a self-destruct charge.
  • Heroic Build:
    • Heather gets one after the lab accident. She may well have had one before the accident (she is a rock climber, after all), but it's apparent that the accident enhanced whatever musculature she already had, given her desire to show off the 'girl abs.'
    • Tiger. And no, "Spirit of the Tiger" is not a euphemism for steroids.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Narrowly averted when Mecha Maid attempts to use a self-destruct mechanism built into her armor to take down Colonel Glass with her. However, he cuts the circuits with a shard of glass, thus preventing either death.
  • Hide Your Lesbians: Silver Age Spinnerette admits that she and Silver Age Mecha Maid are a couple, but are subjected to this treatment because of the Comics Code.
  • Historical Domain Character: Benjamin Franklin is a time traveler who knows he's eventually going to return to his own time to live out his life; the fact that he knows he'll survive to live out his years in the past gives him the superpower of uncanny good luck.
  • Historical Domain Superperson: Benjamin Franklin was accidentally transported to the present day by a time traveler attempting to kill Hitler, where he discovered that since one of his later inventions will make time travel possible the universe won't let him be seriously harmed, he takes advantage of it to fight crime.
  • Historical Villain Upgrade: Bernie Madoff in this setting is a supervillain with pyramid-based powers, rather than simply scamming people with pyramid schemes.
  • Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Played with at the start of Issue 8, when a time traveler burst into Hitler's office in an attempt to kill him, only to be stopped by a naked time-traveling Benjamin Franklin.
  • How Do I Shot Web?:
    • Out of the bottom of her spine, as it turns out. But that didn't stop Sahira from thinking it came out of her butt.
    • Initially, this was averted with her arms; from the first night, she had incredible independent control of all six arms/hands, as well as all 30 fingers. As it turns out, she actually doesn't have such great control; this comic shows that her hands occasionally "have a mind of their own," likely due to subconscious reactions that she can't quite control.
    • After her transformation Evil Spinnerette has no such problems.

    I-P 
  • Idiot Ball: Defied. At first, it looks like Heather is going to allow Colonel Glass to regenerate and get away by refusing to burn his corpse with gasoline, thus allowing him to continue his reign of destruction. However, it turns out she just has a different plan:
    Heather: We don't need gas. I have thermite.
  • Idiot Hero: Heather. If this series wasn't so damned affectionate and idealistic, she'd be dead a few times over by now: death by mutation, death by radiation, death by burglar, death by falling off a building. Not to mention that as of the 9/14/11 strip, she's been suckered, hook, line and sinker, by Evil Spinnerette into helping the latter's henchpeople turn into driders.
  • If It's You, It's Okay: After certain events, Heather comes to realise she feels this way about Marilyn.
  • I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!:
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: In Issue 7, Evil Spinnerette, claiming to have given up her villainous ways, recruits Spinnerette and two others to find a copy of the 1st Edition Dungeons & Dragons book to get her legs back. Subverted in that it's part of a con to trick Good Spinnerette into helping her make Driders out of her two new henchmen.
  • Indulgent Fantasy Segue: Colonel Glass gets one briefly after being honked at by a car while in America, fantasizing about crushing the driver with glass and then going on a murderous rampage.
  • In Spite of a Nail: All three Spinnerettes (Modern, Silver Age, 90s) got their powers from a machine created by Dr. Universe, with the difference being that Silver Age Dr. Universe deliberately turned Silver Age Spinnerette into a superhuman to recruit her while Modern and 90s Spinnerette had Freak Lab Accidents.
  • Interspecies Romance: Between London, a werewolf, and Minerva, a Cerberus.
  • Ironic Echo Cut: Here.
  • Ironic Echo: Dr. Universe and Greta Gravity's origin story is disturbingly similar to Heather's, at least at the start...
  • It's Probably Nothing: Heather seems to think that the security guards at the lab suffer from this. "They'll probably just assume they have giant spiders or something." This is actually a case of Reality Is Unrealistic as the Darwin Bark Spider can make webs that big or even bigger.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Dr. Universe is a hard-line Objectivist who refuses to do anything unless it helps him personally or advances his agenda, and has no moral compunction about committing crimes or allying with questionable people to do so. However, during the incident when Spinnerette gets hit by a lethal dose of C-K Radiation, he makes her realize that even the most selfless heroes have a desire for self-preservation, and sometimes, it's okay to act selfishly.
  • Jerkass Realization: The firemen who return to save Sahira from Fireblade, after having left her to deal with him alone because they automatically assumed she would fight him because she has powers.
  • Jumped at the Call: Pushed to ridiculous levels. Heather's first concern upon discovering she'd been mutated was picking a name for her superheroine identity.
  • Kill It with Fire: Several attempts to eradicate Colonel Glass, cumulating in thermite (off-camera) when the superpowered equivalent of Sensory Overload failed to work.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Dr. Universe is a noble Well-Intentioned Extremist. Alexis is a selfish attention addict. Alberta is just a bigoted asshole. Colonel Glass? Full-bore sadistic serial killer with an MO terrifyingly similar to that of House Bolton.
  • Legacy Character: Green Gable, a title inherited through family. Apparently, the current Green Gable is the first male to hold the title.
  • Life-or-Limb Decision: When Spinnerette is hit with a CK reactor that accelerates her mutation and causes her to grow even more pairs of arms, Doctor Universe is forced to amputate all of the extra arms since her heart can't keep up due to the increased need for bloodflow.
  • Lightning Can Do Anything: As seen in the case of Benjamin Franklin.
  • Lipstick Lesbian: Mecha Maid and Sara Nicole Megan, especially the latter. Both of them have long hair and wear traditionally feminine clothing, showing no signs of their sexual orientation before it's revealed (Sara Nicole is in denial about it too).
  • Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard: Invoked by Doctor Universe and Greta's military captors. The guy in charge wants them to build a C-K amplifier, and he correctly predicts that they will build one to enhance Greta's powers for an escape attempt.
  • Loving Bully: Sara Nicole Megan was this to Heather for years. Heather thought Sara Nicole was just trying to be mean, but learned much later that Sara Nicole actually had a crush on her and thought that Heather reciprocated.
  • Made of Iron: Heather; she falls far enough to total a car and merely comments it broke her fall and is noticeably uninjured.
  • Mad Scientist: Dr Universe has all the hallmarks (creepy look with techno-goggles, secret labs, unethical experiments, regularly fights the superheroes) but he's pretty calm and collected about it, being more of a Punch-Clock Villain most of the time.
  • Marked Bullet: Mecha Maid's missiles have taunts and phrases written on them, such as "Mine is bigger!" or "From M.M With <3".
  • Marshmallow Hell:
    • Greta Gravity flies away from a battle, carrying Dr. Universe in her arms. Her massive bosom necessarily rests on his head.
    • And Super MILF hugs Spinnerette's face in, knowing full well that Spinny and Mecha Maid are about to leave because they feel...crowded.
    • Mentioned word for word by Super MILF here regarding her encounter with Delta, claiming he bumped into her.
  • The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Heather has to wear a fatsuit and has been forced to cancel two dates with Darien. Luckily, she eventually manages to find love with a fellow super.
  • Master Race: The neo-Nazis naturally advocate the idea that they're part of this, and try to get Greta on their side by citing her being German. She points out that she's actually Brazilian (of German descent) and suggests the Jews are actually the master race as they claimed they're ruling the world. When the Nazis retort the Jews cheated at this, she innocently notes how this master race idea apparently has lots of rules.
  • Meaningful Name: Evil Spinnerette's real name is Alexis Woodrow.
  • Medium Awareness: Shown as of this comic. "I managed to hit that streetlight in Issue #1. Was that a fluke?"
  • The Merch: In-universe. The superhero rights organization makes its money by selling the merchandise of its superhero members (non-supers are allowed to join as well).
  • Merger of Souls: Unfortunately the souls are evil souls from Hell merging together into a Kaiju-sized demon.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Green Gable thinks Mecha Maid and Spinnerette are a couple. Heather's bottom-left hand approves. As does Evil Spinnerette's sidekick Julia(n). Mecha Maid actually does have feelings for Spinnerette, the "mistaken" part of this trope applies mostly to Spinnerette. Or so she thinks, at first.
  • Mistaken for Pregnant: A little girl, mistaking Heather's fat suit for a baby bump, asks her if she can "feel your baby". Early on Heather considered passing her enlarged midsection for a pregnancy belly, until Sahira pointed out that people would get suspicious after a few months if she didn't grow or, you know, give birth.
  • Mode Lock: London is stuck in wolfman shape as he has forgotten how to turn back.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Universe is a bit of an odd case: he considers himself to be perfectly morally consistent. However, the moral philosophy he ascribes to is Objectivism, which is very different from the more traditional forms of morality that are championed by the heroes of the comic.
  • Most Common Superpower: Seems to be an actual law of the 'verse that superpowers come packaged with, er, physical enhancements. Played both for Fanservice and comedy.
  • Move Along, Nothing to See Here: The Werewolf of London, Ontario has his own unique version of this.
    London: Move along, nothing to see here! Well, okay, there is, but catch it on YouTube later!
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Played with. This is one of Heather's main powers, but she has to hide the extra four first under a rather conspicuous coat (while everyone else is wearing summer clothing) and then under a fat suit later. In Issue 12 she begins growing even more due to a second lab accident, causing even more problems; it even got to the point where Dr. Universe had to amputate them due to the fact they were killing her as her heart couldn't keep up due to the increased need in bloodflow.
  • Multi-Armed Multitasking:
    • Offscreen, Heather manages to do a whole night's worth of lab-cleaning in an hour or so. Causes problems when she realises the security cameras taped her doing so.
    • Sahira uses her superpower to copy Heather's powers, allowing her to speed up housecleaning.
  • Multiple Head Case: Minerva's three heads exhibit different personality traits: hot-headed right, rational middle and ditzy left heads.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: In Issue 32, Greta and her Russian rival Rita get into a game of tug-of-war... with gravity superpowers.
  • Mundane Solution: Early in Issue 26, a C-K mine disables Greta's powers, nullifying Dr. Universe's usual method of escape. His plan B is to throw a couple of smoke bombs and leg it.
  • Mundane Utility:
    • Heather has taken up knitting, an ideal pastime for someone with six arms who secretes her own silk.
    • Sahira herself has started using her ability to copy other's superpowers to copy Heather's to help her do the housework.
    • Greta uses her powers as a girdle and brassiere.
  • My Eyes Are Up Here: Not invoked by the woman being leered at, but a news cameraman has to be reminded where to aim.
  • My Suit Is Also Super: Spinnerette's super-strong, bulletproof spider-silk suit, once Sahira finally finishes making it.
  • Naked on Arrival: Benjamin Franklin spends his first ten pages in the comic completely naked.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: Preview art for 90's Spinnerette shows that era's Spinny wearing a Leotard of Power with a plunging neckline.
  • Never Heard That One Before: Spinnerette has heard all the jokes about people with extra arms going through a lot of deodorant. Greta making such a joke on their first meeting does not make a good impression.
  • Ninja Maid: Mecha Maid appears to be a power-armour version of this; her powers come from a combination of neural implants and her "mecha suit." In fact, her inspiration was Mahoromatic. Whom she particularly identifies with, due to having only a few years left to live.
  • No Bisexuals: Nobody seems to even know there is such a word as bisexual. When Heather admits she may be in love with Mecha Maid, her roommate objects: "But you're not gay! You never were! You can't wake up one morning and find you have turned gay!" The possibility that Heather may be a bisexual never occurs to them. After much debating, they reach the conclusion that Heather was always gay but hadn't realized it until then. However, eventually she does identify as bi and so apparently she's decided otherwise.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: The first thing Evil Spinnerette does when she makes her appearance.
  • No Peripheral Vision: Spinny hides from Greta directly beneath the windowsill she's looking out from. Justified, as looking down is not Greta's strong suit.
  • Not Hyperbole: On meeting Greta Gravity, Spinny mistakes Mecha Maid's comment that she "has her own gravity" as a crack at her weight.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: After getting Spinnerette to admit that she may be a little selfish by not volunteering to die for the greater good, Dr. Universe states that the two of them may not be so different.
  • Not What It Looks Like: This. Curiously, it seems that what Mecha Maid thinks it looks like and what Katt thinks Mecha Maid is thinking are two completely different things.
  • No, You: 2010 Spinnerette berates the Silver Age and 90s Spinnerettes for smoking, and calls them awful role models for doing so. 90s Spinnerette says that if a hypothetical 2030 Spinnerette showed up, she would probably think the same thing about 2010 Spinnerette for eating red meat.
  • Obviously Evil: "Evil Spinnerette" is not just a description, it's a name.
  • Of Corsets Sexy: Evil Spinnerette's, costume, which some fans of hers beg her to dig out again after she's gone straight. Although this is actually just a cover for the fact that she's turned back to supervillainy.
  • Official Couple:
    • Enforced with Heather and Marilyn. According to Golden Age Spinnerette, the Spinnerette of every universe will eventually find her Mecha Maid.
    • The Werewolf of London, Ontario and the cerberus Minerva become a romantic couple over the course of the comic.
    • Greta Gravity is very close to Dr. Universe, as he was once her professor and is now her boss. There are hints in the main comic that she harbors (and conceals) romantic feelings toward him, which come to a head in one of the NSFW tie-in comics where an experiment to amplify her powers has the side effect of making her uncontrollably aroused. Doctor Universe finally proposes to Greta in Issue 34.
  • Oh, Crap!: Sahira's reaction to Buzz rumbling her. Guess that guy wasn't as clueless as she thought, was he?
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist: So far, Dr. Universe has demonstrated an advanced knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology, and medicine, including the ability to perform radical surgery at a moment's notice.
  • One-Steve Limit:
    • It turns out there was already someone calling themselves "Spinnerette", and she's not happy about our heroine using her name.
    • Marilyn's adopted father is named Park Seong, and her Battle Butler is also named Park.
  • One-Winged Angel: Evil Spinnerette becomes a drider.
  • Only Sane Woman: Sahira. Heather lampshades this when she thanks Sahira at one point for being her "voice of reason" (after she dissuades Heather from going with a sexy-looking, but potentially dangerous, modification to her new costume).
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Greta Gravity's German accent disappears whenever she gets particularly annoyed, angry, or exasperated. She's been living in the US for at least a decade, so she might just be losing the accent without knowing it. However, Issue 11 also reveals her to be Brazilian (so her first language is Portuguese, possibly with German as a second language), so the German accent might be intended to be part of her villain persona, instead of being naturally occurring.
  • Open-Minded Parent: Evil Spinnerette's parents apparently don't mind (or don't seem to notice) their daughter being a half-spider supervillainess.
  • Organ Autonomy: Heather's extra hands sometimes act like they have minds of their own (mostly just harmless Shy Finger-Twiddling, but her lower left hand appears to have developed a crush on Mechamaid.)
  • Our Vampires Are Different: He would have been, if the comic had been published a few years earlier. Now it's averted, since we have the vampires from The Twilight Saga for him to resemblenote .
  • Our Werewolves Are Different:
    • They're described as being somewhere in between Twilight and Teen Wolf werewolves, "with some Ginger Snaps thrown in."
    • A pair of annoying tween fans are harassing Werewolf of London, Ontario by begging him to bite him to turn them into werewolves. He repeatedly tells them that isn't how it works. They also think he worships a "fur god". He's Anglican.
  • Out-of-Genre Experience: Issue 19 suddenly, apropos of nothing, becomes an anime-style romantic comedy taking place in high school. And there's suddenly a new character named Delta at the center of it all. Ends up being not-so-AU and not quite Out-Of-Genre as Spinnerette eventually remembers what her world should be like and figures out that something's wrong.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: In Issue #12, Dr. Universe and Greta disguise as package couriers (with the latter hiding her boobs in a pair of boxes). Heather and Marilyn identify them both immediately.
  • Parody Product Placement: The comic makes occasional references to the memetic Hostess-advertising Spider-Man.
    • When Silver Age Spinnerette first sees Silver Age Evil Spinnerette in her drider form:
      Silver Age Spinnerette: Gross! I'm going to throw up the light tender crust of my Hostess Fruit Pie!
    • Meanwhile, in Issue 24, Modern Heather has to put up with her old beauty pageant rival, who makes very delicious fruit pies and owns a bakery called the Midwest Hostess.
  • Parody Sue: Delta, who combines as many harem anime tropes as inhumanly possible along with dream manipulating powers.
  • People Jars: Dr. Universe's Rejuvenation Chamber is the liquid-filled variant. It's somewhat parodied when after a near fatal incident with Spinnerette, he notes that putting someone who needs to be healed at risk of drowning is probably not the best idea.
  • Perky Female Minion: Greta Gravity. Emphasis on "perky."
  • Perpetual Frowner: Tiger is never happy. He frowns even when his team successfully brings in a criminal.
  • Pet the Dog: Colonel Glass of all people has a moment, when he apologizes to the defeated Mecha Maid for her difficult life and spares her to live with her loved ones.
  • Pineal Weirdness: All Super-Empowering Cherenkov-Kirby reactors are made from the pineal gland of Doctor Zhang, aka Ultra, the first superhero.
  • Plucky Girl: Heather remains ever eager and optimistic no matter how many times she's knocked down, literally and figuratively.
  • Police Are Useless:
    • Often played straight, since the police seem incapable of doing anything against supervillains or defending the city against supernatural forces.
    • Averted; Tiger used to be a (competent) cop; while unable to do anything about the composite soul in the werewolf arc, the present officer does make sure the reporter gets out once it starts getting dangerous.
    • Averted when the lab security guard immediately catches on and lampshades how random, well-endowed girls suddenly being interested in him out of the blue is the first sign that someone is trying to break in. He also correctly guesses that they just want to delete the security tapes (although for different reasons than he might have thought).
    • When Sahira is being attacked by Fireblade she calls out two nearby firefighters for just standing there and assuming she'd take care of him, so one of them brains Fireblade with a fire extinguisher.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: A couple. There's Kugelblitz, a wacky Nazi who wants to clone Hitler, and Roberta Lee, an ardent Confederate supporter Born in the Wrong Century with white supremacist leanings who wants to clone her ancestor Robert E. Lee.
  • Post–Wake-Up Realization: Sahira greets her roommate Heather as usual in the bathroom and leaves closing the door behind her. Then slams the door back open when she realizes she noticed Heather has six arms.
  • Power Armour: Mecha Maid's exoskeleton suit is on the fringes. She claims it isn't technically Powered Armour; the neural implants which give her Super-Strength are separate from the suit, which allows her to fly and incorporates several weapons systems.
  • Power Copying: Sahira can do this if she gets a sample of a super's DNA. She often borrows Heather's extra arms to do housework, using her teddy spider as a source...though this can backfire if anyone else's DNA has found its way onto him.
  • Power Nullifier:
    • There are certain places in which superpowers granted by the Cherenkov-Kirby Reaction are reduced, which make good neutral grounds for heroes and villains.
    • General Evescroft's group has been working on a mine with similar capabilities. While most of the tests only lasted a few minutes at best, one version appeared to have longer lasting effects, only to cause pairs of those affected to swap their powers.
  • Power Perversion Potential
    • Gee, what can you do with six arms? What can't you do?
    • Invoked in-universe by one of the sweaty comic book nerds at Heather's local comics shop. Heather is less than amused.
  • Precision F-Strike:
    Mecha Maid: I said I was in love with you! I didn’t say I wanted to screw you.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Dr. Universe and Greta Gravity in issue 11. Creating a clone of Hitler for an old Nazi, or of General Lee for his descendant ? Eh, sure, if the money is good. They only get passionate when the two try to start a fight in their lab. Plus, the chapter starts with Greta preparing a cake and a 'Thank you for rescuing me from a shadowy government lab'-card (with a happy smiling picture of Greta on it) for her boss. Later on, after the Nazis and Lee are defeated, Universe states that he only agreed to work with them because he knew their plans would fail. Besides the fact that believing the future of humanity lies in a strand of DNA is laughable, even if the clone (which as an Objectivist he believes would have free will) were to grow up to become a dictator there is no way that the German people would let history repeat itself. In the case of Lee, he tells her that most of the people who fly the Confederate flag are not actually racists (And for that matter, neither was Robert E. Lee).
  • Punny Name: Katt O'Nine Tails.
  • Put on a Bus: Tiger departs in shame after Spinnerette is forced into Dr. Universe's debt and returns to help fight Col. Glass.

    Q-Z 
  • Race Lift: The Sahira from the Silver Age universe is much lighter skinned than our Sahira. Technically that would make our Sahira the race-lifted version.
  • Random Power Ranking: Seems to be one in place, but the only ranks specified so far are A, AAA and S. S is presumably the top of the current scale.
  • Rasputinian Death: Colonel Glass is impaled dozens of times by falling shards of glass from a broken greenhouse, shot in the face and several other locations several times point blank with a shotgun, and then immolated with a thermite charge. It was only the last that killed him - the rest was just to keep him in one place regenerating until he could be set on fire.
  • Reed Richards Is Useless: Marilyn has discovered a way to use neural implants to completely remove the symptoms of ALS (although not cure the disease itself), and keeps it to herself so she can use it to fight crime. She seems to have qualms about the side-effects (Super-Strength) and the Potential Applications thereof, and wants to perfect the technology before making it public.
  • Reading Your Rights: Green Gable gives the Canadian version.
  • Retraux: In issue 20, Silver Age Spinnerette's origin story is done with a more pastel-y Silver Age color palette.
  • The Real Heroes: The firemen in Issue 14.
  • Real-Place Background: Some panels and locations in the comic are direct recreations of places in Columbus, OH. Even unnamed locations can often be tracked down as a famous Columbus locale.
  • Reluctant Mad Scientist: Dr. Verde. He wanted to use his Super-Intelligence to bring peace and prosperity to the world, but the government coerced and manipulated him into draining weapons. His Start of Darkness involves shedding the "Reluctant" to become the Mad Scientist Dr. Universe.
  • Ripped from the Headlines: Dr. Lambha mentions the rumors about the Large Hadron Collider creating a black hole upon activation as an example of how the media knows nothing about science.
  • Rule 34: Invoked by the author himself: inspired by Spinnerette being flagged for "adult themes" by United Airlines, Krow has decided to make at least one X-rated chapter.
  • Running Gag:
    • Bla-, I mean Tiger's name problem.
    • Greta's terrible wisecracks.
    • Spinnerette's bottom-left hand. After she specifically calls it out in one strip, it can occasionally be seen being mischievous from then on (such as giving a thumbs-up when she is informed that her "high beams are on, and everyone can see them").
    • Green Gable crash-landing his group's flying car on top of someone else's car. Only happened twice so far but not quite a Brick Joke.
    • Sahira's Delayed Reaction to strange things happening to Heather in their bathroom.
      Sahira: You've got to start warning me when something crazy like this happens! Our poor bathroom door can't take much more of it!
  • Scary Black Man:
    • Tiger, who is very sensitive about being seen primarily for his skin color. Subverted when he's not being sensitive about that: he's the one to teach Spinnerette the detective side of things, while Mecha Maid is the black belt/hand to hand expert. Brings him right down from scary territory nicely.
    • When Delta Wave is exposed as a villain, his demeanor turns extremely sinister. However, once Spinnerette escapes his dream world, his true self is shown as nerdy and wimpy.
  • Scenery Censor: For the naked Ben Franklin.
  • The Schlub Pub Seduction Deduction: Tried by Sahira...too bad the guard was too smart for it to work. At least they both got a date out of it.
  • Scientist vs. Soldier: Universe vs. General Evescroft, in a nutshell. Universe may be a "villain", but he still believes fervently that technological advancement regarding the use of C-K radiation should be known by everybody. Evescroft is a War Hawk Jerkass General Ripper with Fantastic Racism right out of a Cold War film or Iron Age comic that will see America getting superiority in this field even if that means manipulating behind the scenes to get a Mutant Draft Board law in place so he can legally force Universe to be his slave.
  • Secret-Keeper: Sahira is all but forced to become Heather's secret keeper after much tear-laden pleading from Heather.
  • Secret Identity Apathy:
    • Alexis Woodrow (a.k.a. "Evil Spinnerette") manages to figure out Spinny's secret identity. She uses this information to force Spinny fight her, while one of her minions gets the whole thing on tape. After beating Spinny, however, Alexis just ties her to a tree, which leads to the following conversation:
      Evil Spinnerette: I'm leaving this city. I doubt we'll meet again. Don't worry, your secret identity is safe with me.
      Spinnerette: [koff] Why? Why did you bother fighting me, if you're not going to kill me? Why not reveal my identity and ruin me?
      Evil Spinnerette: Why does Gary Kasparov choose to fight Deep Blue at chess when he could simply pull its plug?
    • Another supervillain, Dr. Universe, later captures Spinnerette and uses his genetic infusion device to save her life, leading to this exchange:
      Spinnerette: I'm curious, Dr. Universe. Why didn't you remove my mask when I was unconscious? Aren't you curious who I really am?
      Dr. Universe: I know exactly who you are. You're Spinnerette.
  • Sensual Spandex: And doesn't Heather know it.
  • Ship Tease: One of the NSFW tie-in comics teases Gabe x Katt when she goes into heat at a beach party, notices just how big his equipment is, and spends the remainder of the issue fantasizing about him.
  • Shipper on Deck: In quite possibly the weirdest example of this trope ever, Heather's bottom left hand starts shipping her with Mecha Maid.
  • Shirtless Scene:
  • Shoulders of Doom:
    • Mecha Maid has some downsized Metroid-style sphere shoulders.
    • Evil Spinnerette's cape is held up with some sort of bony, spiky shoulderpads.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Shown Their Work: The artist, Krazy Krow, makes several references specific to Columbus and central Ohio, such as the comic/tabletop gaming shop The Laughing Ogre, local suburbs Obetz and Circleville, and, yes, the Circleville Pumpkin Show.
  • Shy Finger-Twiddling: Heather tends to do this whenever she's feeling embarrassed or stressed, usually with her middle pair of arms. A good example is while she's calling Sahira at the end of Issue #1, knowing how royally she screwed up her first night out in costume.
  • Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Evil Spinnerette and her minions. Pretty much anything that isn't spiderweb motif or bare flesh, in fact.
  • Slasher Smile: Evil Spinnerette has a decent-looking one in this piece of artwork... but it doesn't hold a candle to the one the Werewolf of London, Ontario is sporting. Yikes.
  • Smoking Is Not Cool: In the comic book era crossover arc, Modern Age Spinny gets incensed when Dark Age 90s Spinny lights up (on a plane!) and Silver Age Spinny asks to bum a smoke. Modern Spinny then snatches it all away short of 90s Spinny's lighter.
  • Smoldering Shoes: Ben Franklin, when he's sent forward in time. Presumably he leaves some Empty Piles of Clothing as well, since when we next see him he's Naked on Arrival.
  • Spider-Sense: Heather repeatedly refers to one... when describing things she's worked out using her perfectly ordinary human senses.
    Evil Spinnerette: Oh-ho-ho-ho!
    Spinnerette: [touching temples] My spider senses are tingling! Evil Spinnerette is here!
    Evil Spinnerette: What spider senses? I just announced myself!
  • Some Kind of Force Field: CLANK!
  • Spider-Man Send-Up: Spinnerette herself. Acknowledged In-Universe... sort of... with Marvel Comics sending her a "cease and desist" letter ordering her to not wear anything resembling their Spider-people's designs after her first outing.
  • Spit Take: Sahira, when Buzz says something that makes her think he knows Spinnerette's secret. As they walk away in the next strip, a waitress can be seen shooting them a dirty look as she mops up the mess.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The comic itself, for KrazyKrow's site. None of his other comics' archives are visible or even accessible.
  • Start of Darkness: Doctor Universe and Greta Gravity have a heartbreaking one. They wanted to create free, near-limitless power from the Cherenkov-Kirby Reaction, but the government arrested them for treason (and Greta for being an unregistered super) because they tried to give the technology to China.
  • Stealth Pun: Bernie Madoff's supervillain name is "The Pharaoh."note 
  • Stepford Smiler: Mecha Maid.
  • Steven Ulysses Perhero: Dr. Universe's real name is Dr. Ulysses N. Verde. Doubles as Meaningful Name: When he still called himself that, he was working on a nonpolluting free energy source, the ultimate "green technology".
  • Sudden Name Change: Tiger's daughters' names were inexplicably changed from Michelle and Holly to Chloe and Amelie in Issue 38.
  • Super Breeding Program: North Korea had one that involved exposing pregnant women such as Mecha Maid's birth mother to radiation.
  • Stripperiffic: 90's Spinerette wears a costume that shows cleavage to her belly button and rides up to show her bare behind at every oppertunity. It's justified since she is meant to be a parody of Rob Liefeld's art style.
  • Superdickery: Super MILF using the heat radiated by her "atomic boobies" to melt Dr. Universe and Greta Gravity's ice cream.
  • Superheroes Wear Capes: Averted so far, and Lampshaded here after Green Gable addresses the team as "Caped Crusaders":
    Tiger: Is anyone here even wearing a cape?
  • Superpower Meltdown: Heather, in Issue 12.
  • Super Registration Act: Averted and discussed. While the idea of restricting superpower use has its supporters, at present powers are protected by second amendment rights and a law was passed to let people with masks and secret identities act in the legal system without disclosure.
  • Super Wheelchair: Mecha Maid has one in her civilian identity and her Powered Armor functions as one, too.
  • Super Zeroes: Agent 7's, General Evescroft's and presumably the rest of the CK Corps' opinion of costumed heroes.
  • Take That!:
  • Taking the Bullet: In this case, it's "taking the hurled car."
  • Tantrum Throwing: When Sahira briefly gets Spinnerette's powers, complete with extra arms, she throws an object-throwing fit (a terrifying prospect with six arms) which culminates in accidentally defenestrating Spinnerette herself.
  • Temporary Bulk Change: Sahira gets fatter when she tried to use her new powers to copy Heather's, only to get Greta Gravity's.
  • Tempting Fate: "Let's take shelter before we end up in need of rescue ourselves." Guess what happens before the end of the page?
  • That Makes Me Feel Angry: This happens a lot in Issue 13 after the majority of the cast gets hit with a Hate Plague.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil: Dr. Universe says this to justify his status as a Card-Carrying Villain. He does not consider himself evil but rather an Übermensch with his own moral code. If this makes him evil in eyes of the ignorant masses, he will wear that label with pride.
    Tiger: A good deed by a supervillain, that's rich.
    Dr. Universe: Ask the average joe today who the villains are, and he'll name the banker! The scientist! The entrepreneur! Ask him who his heroes are, and he'll name an actor or a pop star! If that is the standard of the day, then I absolutely am a supervillain!
  • They Would Cut You Up:
    • Sahira is constantly reminding Heather that this could happen if her secret identity was revealed.
      Heather: What'll I do?
      Sahira: Get dissected by the government is what you'll do!
    • Justified by Dr. Universe's explanation of the C-K reactors. Each machine contains a slice of a superhero, cut up to serve as a Living Battery.
    • Doctor Universe has personal experience convincing him this is true. When he was the idealistic Dr. Verde, he and Greta were charged with treason, abducted and abused by government agents. He directly mentions this trope to Spinny herself when her powers are out of control, stating they would kill her just to understand her ability to defy the laws of mass conservation in spontaneously generating new arms.
  • This Is Your Brain on Evil: Colonel Glass seems to be genuinely addicted either to using his powers, or to inflicting pain (it's hard to tell since he seems unable to distinguish one from the other). When trying to maintain a low profile, he decides he "just need[s] a little... relief, to clear my head" and decides that torturing a cat in an alleyway should tide him over.
    Glass: [thinking] I'm burning up. It's like an itch I can't scratch. I must cut. I must cut flesh with glass.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill:
    • Mecha Maid's suit is entirely fitted with non-lethal rounds and concussion grenades. At least until The Gloves Come Off against Col. Glass.
    • And then when she's taken out of commission, Spinny uses her thermite to do the job herself.
  • Time Skip: A period of two months is noted between the end of the Adastrea arc and the epilogue.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: Not necessarily the world of the living, but in the Underworld the passage of time is very convoluted.
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: London and Minerva.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Heather at times, depending on how tightly she's gripping the Idiot Ball. She's told never to reveal her secret identity, then reveals it to someone she bumped into once, on suspicion that she might be someone she knows. Luckily for her, it was.
  • To the Pain: Colonel Glass gives Park a thorough preview of the fate he has planned for him.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Heather drinks a lot of protein shakes. This is actually for practical reasons, as her webs are mostly protein, and she has to get it from somewhere.
  • Transparent Closet: A lot of people thought it was obvious that Heather and Marilyn had mutual attraction for each other, before either acknowledged the fact.
  • Troperiffic: To the point where specific tropes are cited in the dialog.
  • Tsurime Eyes:
    • Possessed by Marilyn Seong, a wheelchair-bound fellow student and co-worker of Heather's. They switch to Tareme Eyes when she puts on her Mecha Maid headband, and occasionally switch back when she's being particularly serious.
    • Also, Katt O'Nine Tails.
    • And when she's/they're not rampaging, Minerva's middle head has Tsurime Eyes eyes while the left head has Tareme Eyes.
  • Übermensch: Dr. Universe. (At least he considers himself this.) He adheres to his own moral code (inspired by Ayn Rand).
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
    • Played straight when Sahira (somewhat drunk at the time) overlooks the fact that Heather now has six arms then summarily subverted when she comes back in shock.
    • Less obvious is the fact that nobody who knows Heather reacts to the fact that she's apparently put on somewhere between 30-40 pounds in a matter of a day or two, all entirely in her stomach, thanks to the fat suit. Except Alexis.
    • Happens with Sahira again when she sleepily enters the bathroom while Modern Heather and Silver-Age Heather are getting ready for the day. Again subverted in the next page when she realizes what she just saw.
  • Viewers Are Goldfish: In universe, the news crew is only interested in the most spectacular angles for the different science experiments it visits. When the would-be Dr. Universe gives a relatively simple explanation of how superheroes may get their power, the news lady tells the crew to cut that part.
  • Villainous Friendship: Dr. Universe is a Benevolent Boss to Greta, and she is very loyal to him. He even helped her with her Weight Woe, telling her to embrace her body.
  • Villainous Rescue: Greta Gravity and Dr. Universe stop Kugelblitz from casting a spell that would have burned Spinnerette and Mecha Maid to death.
  • Villains Out Shopping:
    • Spinnerette runs into Evil Spinerette shopping at the comic book store.
    • Super-MILF stops Dr. Universe and Greta when they're out getting ice cream to check they're not up to anything. And melts the ice cream.
  • Visual Pun: Two for the price of one when Bernie Madoff as the villain The Pharaoh is robbing a bank. His Pyramid Power allows him to shoot projectile pyramids that keep growing and wreck everything, including the bank they were in.
  • Walk-In Chime-In: Thunderfist makes a Three-Point Landing Big Entrance only to respond directly to the last thing Tiger said.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Mecha Maid elaborating on her disease and how she has only a few years to live.
    • And the aforementioned Anguished Declaration of Love.
    • Mecha Maid's origins:
      "North Korea has a clandestine breeding program for years to try to create more monsters like Glass. My biological mother was kidnapped because the Cherenkov-Kirby reaction ran in her bloodline. They would expose pregnant women to try and stimulate dormant C-K genes. I have no proof, but I've always suspected my ALS was a side-effect of their experiments...It's even possible that Glass is my biological father."
    • The ending of Issue 18. Spinnerette kills Colonel Glass with Thermite after Buzz shoots him.
    • Issue 34: Universe pops the big question to Greta to marry him. She's more then happy to say yes.
  • Wham Line:
    • At the end of Issue 8.
      Mecha Maid: Heather, I'm in love with you.
    • During issue 12.
      Dr. Universe: Every Cherenkov-Kirby reactor in existence comes from the pineal gland of Dr. Zhang. You may know him by his superhero name, Ultra. Ultra was killed for these reactors. He was murdered by his own government.
    • At the end of Issue 18.
      Spinnerette: We don't need gas. I have thermite.
    • And during Issue 19, we get one for the High School AU story arc.
      Spinnerette: Facepalm X6! Why am I even arguing with you? You're not my real mother! This isn't my world!
      Delta: But Super MILF *is* your mother, Spinnerette. And you are just an ordinary high school girl here in Neo Tokyo.
    • Issue 34 has a doozy.
      Dr. Universe: I.. can't wait one moment longer. Greta, I love you. I want to grow old with you. Will you marry me? note 
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: The Pharaoh's crime spree seems to have stopped as suddenly as it started. Either he truly was a Karma Houdini as Spinnerette pointed out during her sad soliloquy, or after patching things up, she and Mecha Maid defeated him off-panel/in between issues.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Green Gable pulls this twice on Tiger for sedating the Cerberus with ketamine, pointing out that he has no idea if the Cerberus (who was still presumed to be a lycanthrope) is allergic to the drug.
    • Tiger's kids have this reaction when Tiger is relieved to see that they are safe. They point out that the kids that did die were people, too; important to others, and that he could have saved them if he was actively heroing. His wife immediately threatens him with divorce for even discussing it, which is another WTH moment in and of itself - at this point, Tiger should be wondering why he is not divorcing this obviously selfish woman who cares nothing for the welfare of others.
  • What Would X Do?: Spinnerette wonders what Tiger would do when the Canadian Superheroes and Mecha Maid go berserk courtesy of rage toxins from the rogue Captain Alberta. The advice she imagines/recalls him giving her motivates her to systematically incapacitate all of them.
  • Where Is Your X Now?: "Where's your Lolth now?"
  • Whip of Dominance: Evil Spinnerette is a whip-totting domineering supervillainess, as fitting since In-Universe she's based on a Lolth priestess from Dungeons & Dragons.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Green Gable. If you look closely he wears garters but only because he is a Legacy Character.
  • Will They or Won't They?: Chapter 10 consists of Heather struggling to come to terms with her feelings toward Marilyn, who has otherwise been pretending she never let out her previous Anguished Declaration of Love.
  • Wimp Fight: A one-sided example. The first burglar Spinnerette encounters knocks her about with a duffel bag, causing her to actually call for a time out! Something of a Too Dumb to Live moment, considering Spinnerette has no combat training and was still suspended by her webline at the time.
  • Worthy Opponent: Evil Spinnerette sees Spinnerette as this. When Alexis nearly kills Heather by drowning her, she then resuscitates her, leaves her tied up, and promises not to reveal Heather's secret identity. When asked, Alexis compares herself to Gary Kasparov who played Deep Blue in chess, instead of pulling the plug.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Heather can't find it in her to defend herself against a legion of annoying but otherwise ordinary fangirls serving a vampiric drug dealer. Mecha Maid has no such problems and hits them hard enough to draw blood.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy:
    • Sahira cites several ways the genetic modifier may have harmed Heather and tries to call a doctor, meaning she obviously doesn't recognize she's in an Origin Story. Had this been a Deconstruction, Sahira's worries would have been justified.
    • Heather shows traces of this by thinking the other woman calling herself Spinnerette is another superhero, when it is painfully obvious she's a supervillain. The supervillain even lampshades the Evil Laugh, saying that once Heather heard it, she should have known that someone Obviously Evil is nearby.
  • You Can Leave Your Hat On: After Marilyn reveals that she loves her, and Heather's own soul searching, Heather returns her affection by appearing in costume, and performing a strip tease. Marilyn stops her because she doesn't believe Sex Equals Love.
  • You Cloned Hitler!: Dr. Universe was hired to do this by some Nazi holdouts. It's ultimately deconstructed: Dr. Universe explains the plan would have failed because the German people would not have allowed history to repeat itself. He also points out that Hitler was a product of his time, so unless they simulate his entire life the clone wouldn't be Hitler; he would be his own person but with Hitler's DNA (this last point might be addressed by the fact that the Nazis were planning to resurrect Hitler's soul and use the clone as a "vessel".)
  • You Killed My Father: Mecha Maid to Colonel Glass, as he killed her adoptive mother.
  • You Wanna Get Sued?: Shortly after her mutation, Heather uses her extra arms to stop a group of drunk fratbros from harassing her, calling herself the "Black Widow" as she warns them to stay away. When Sadira finds out about the encounter, she tells Heather to come up with a different superhero name because Black Widow is already a Marvel Comics character.
  • Younger Than They Look: Holy crap, Evil Spinnerette is 16?!
  • Your Days Are Numbered: Mecha Maid has ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), which is a real-world condition that slowly destroys the nerves that carry messages from the brain to the rest of the body—including the lungs (she has to wear her chestplate to breathe, even out of costume). If you exclude her suit and amplifier headband's mitigating effects, the disease is being portrayed accurately—it has left her paraplegic, hence the powered armor, and leaves her only a few years to live. If that.
  • Your Soul Is Mine!: The Composite Soul can devour other souls to increase its power.

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