Webcomic / Angel Moxie

Angel Moxie is a black-and-white Yonkoma Webcomic Affectionate Parody of Magical Girls by Dan Hess, creator of Rebus, Realms of Ishikaze, and Weesh. It mixes a sharp sense of humor with a fairly cut and dried magical girl plotline. What results is an overall charming teenage superhero romp that hits some surprising emotional depths along the way.

On the night before her first day of junior high, Alex O'Connor has a dream in which a mysterious entity hands her a wand and proclaims that she will save the world from evil. Alex wakes up the very next morning with the rod in her hand and not a clue of what to do with it. By the time the day is over, she's killed her first monster and gained a talking cat as a mentor. Welcome to magical girl duty, Alex.

The series ran from 2002 to 2006. Upon completion of the storyline, the series began rerunning with a new strip from the archives, though no new material has been written since.

You can read the archives online.

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Angel Moxie provides examples of:

• Affectionate Parody: Of Magical Girl works.
• Alliterative Name: Riley Rosenbaum.
• All Your Powers Combined: Played straight when Riley and Tristan channel their power into Alex so she can fight Yzin one-on-one, then deconstructed when it gets Alex killed.
• Animesque: The series mixes obvious Japanese references with American culture. And then there's the art.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "There's plenty to save the world from — zealots, corruption, bigotry, disease, sitcoms..."
• Art Evolution: As the series progressed, the looser, scribbley art became much more refined, though it still kept its fairly simple art style. The format also started as very tiny panels in a horizontal format, as the artist had originally planned to stream the comic on cell phones. As this technology was too costly at the time of the comic's run, the author changed the format and slowly remade the older comics to match the Yonkoma format with larger art.
• Author Appeal: An in-universe example: Ms. Konk's creator, who is male, refuses Alex's and Riley's request that he build a really hot guy robot in favor of building a really hot girl robot.
• Badass Longcoat: Riley and Tristan get individual ones when powered up.

• Berserk Button:
  • As it turns out, Tsutsumu has an extreme temper if provoked enough, leaving an opening for the girls to exploit.
  • Calling Vashi an old lady is not the wisest thing to do in combat.
• Big Bad: Yzin, whom Vashi spends most of the series trying to revive.
• Bland-Name Product: The McDonald's knock-off MacMucky's.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Riley is the Brunette, and Alex is the Redhead. Tristan’s the odd one out, but even though her hair is naturally black (and is currently dyed green) she dons a Blonde wig at one point when distracting a security guard.
• Blush Sticker: Shugari sports a permanent set. She later gives these to the girls as part of her power-sealing makeovers.
• Book Dumb: Alex. She's quite competent in situations involving quick thinking or reacting on the fly (like monster fighting), but struggles badly when studying is involved.
• Book Smart: Riley, as Foil to the Book Dumb Alex, is academically brilliant and enthusiastic about everything except gym class. She finds the Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher Mrs. Merriwether particularly vexing.
• Boy Band: N'Tune, a new band enjoying a sudden surge in popularity. In reality, they are servants of Candi Shugari that hypnotize their followers.
• Brainy Brunette: Riley. Loves school, programs computers, and builds her own weapons from scratch.
• Canis Latinicus: Alex, when trying to cast a (Harry Potter-inspired) invisibility spell on a reconnaissance drone. It doesn't work.
• Calling Your Attacks: Alex tends to do this, usually in the format of "(adjective) Magical (element) (effect)".
• Cat Girl: Miya is normally cat-shaped, but has a humanoid form that retains the cat ears and tail.
• Cats Are Mean: Miya invokes this against a bulldog.
• Celestial Bureaucracy: The realm of the Higher Authority, which the characters answer to, turns out to work like this. Appeals to the Authority are handled by a receptionist who manifests as a squirrel.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Tsutsumu tries to recruit the girls as allies to defeat Yzin, then tries to turn on them once he's exploited them, and finally, after they defeat him, arranges for them to inherit control of his company.
• Dark Magical Girl:
  • Tristan at the start of the series, though this is resolved before Alex even realizes they're on opposite sides.
  • Shugari is a spin on this. While not sad, lonely, or dark (she's actually quite bubbly and sociable), she's still an evil baddie.
• Deadpan Snarker: Tristan, fairly frequently.
• Death Glare:
  • Tears doesn't weaken at all the Death Glare Riley gives to Shugari... just before blasting her into pieces.
  • And Miya doesn't let looking like a cute cat stop her from death-glaring a bulldog into a whimpering mess.
• Delinquent Hair: The detention-prone, punch-happy Tristan keeps the front of her hair dyed green (it's naturally black), even though her school has uniforms and a fairly strict dress code — the kind that usually comes with rules against hair dye.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Shortly after freeing the evil Vashi, Tristan punches her out the window of her tower fortress. Vashi eventually lands in China.
• Died Happily Ever After:
  • Happens to Mr. Kyokasho, who sacrifices himself to take out one of Shugari's monsters. He visits the heartbroken Riley in a dream to make sure she knows he's okay, and does the same for the earthbound Miya.
  • Later, towards the end of the series, Miya gives up her life to revive Alex, but has time to make her farewells before passing fully on. The epilogue shows her reuniting with Mr. Kyokasho and them rekindling their old relationship.
• Doppelgänger Dating: Alex when telling Riley about how Kevin is really into things like science and math:
  Alex: I just realized I'm gonna be dating the male version of you.
  Riley: That's a good thing, right?
• The Dragon: Vashi, for Yzin.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: With much Lampshade Hanging. Tristan helps release Vashi on the promise that, when Vashi's boss Yzin takes over the world, Tris can rule France. Vashi lied. Tris got mad and punched Vashi so hard she landed in China, before joining the good guys.
• Evil Mentor: Tsutsumu, one of the demon lords, takes the girls in after they have a falling out with Miya. They turn around and defeat him with the skills and professionalism they've learned.
• Exposed to the Elements: "Isn't there a winter costume or something?!"
• Eyes Always Shut: Grant Kyokasho. He opens them precisely once: after he's absorbed an insane amount of magical power, which he proceeds to use to blow up one of Shugari's monsters to save the girls.
• Faceless Eyes: In the beginning, before Tristan breaks all of the barriers sealing her away, Vashi appears as just a glowing, floating pair of eyes.
• Foreshadowing: When the second seal is broken, time slows for all non-magical entities. At this point, Alex is the only awakened magical girl, so Miya can't figure out why her "normal friend" Riley is unaffected. Tristan, the one who is actually breaking the seals, is also unaffected.

• Gender-Blender Name: Alex, Riley and Tristan.
• Genki Girl: Shugari, the embodiment of Cute Is Evil.
• Graceful Loser: Tsutsumu becomes the epitome of this when he leaves a Video Will that not only congratulates the girls on their victory and tells them that he, as their Evil Mentor, is proud of their skills, but also leaves them his business: a multi-billion dollar worldwide company.
• Grade-School C.E.O.: Zig-Zagged. The girls gain controlling ownership of Tsutsumu Corp after Tsutsumu dies, but they choose to have his henchwoman Ms. Elita appointed as temporary CEO while the board of directors finds a permanent one.
• Hair-Raising Hare: "This is my servant, Cottontail. Cute, furry,... and evil."
• Heroic BSoD: Riley, after Grant Kyokasho's Heroic Sacrifice, kills Shugari and breaks down into tears. It doesn't last too long, but it counts.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Multiple times. Grant does this early on to defeat Shugari's demon minion. Later, at the end of the story, Alex does this to defeat Yzin, and Miya does this to save Alex.
• High-Class Gloves: Alex wears them during her date with Kevin.
• I Think You Broke Him: Said by Alex after Tristan demonstrates her rules-fu to a professor about how the school's dress doesn't forbid her from wearing stockings.
• Jumped at the Call: While the responsibility of saving the world makes her hesitate in the beginning, Alex promptly Jumps at the Call after her first Transformation Sequence. Possibly because of the discovery that she had the power of Flight.
• Junior High: The story takes place over the course of the girls' 6th-grade year (and a little bit into the summer afterwards).
• Killed Off for Real:
  • Grant Kyokasho blows up his mortal self in a Heroic Sacrifice. Fortunately, the higher-ups were so impressed with his bravery that they decide not to force him to reincarnate and he keeps his job in the Celestial Bureaucracy.
  • Yzin kills Alex during the final battle. That's not the For Real one, since she comes Back from the Dead...thanks to Miya giving up her mortal life for Alex. It's still a happy ending as Miya is reunited with Grant.
• Mass Hypnosis: The N'Tune Boys concert.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Alex, Riley, and Tristan all have gender neutral/masculine names. They are the female reincarnations of three male heroes.
  • Miya's last name "Gato", which is Spanish for "cat". She takes the form of a feline on earth to mentor the girls. Her first name, Miyaneko, also counts: "Miya" when spoken sounds like "meow", and "neko" is Japanese for "cat."
  • Shugari's name sounds a lot like "sugary". The name she uses while posing as a student is Candi Shugari.
  • Grant Kyokasho spends his time on Earth disguised as a teacher. His surname is Japanese for "textbook".
• Mentor Mascot: Miya, though she's a bit snarkier than usual.
• Minidress of Power: Alex's transformation outfit.
• Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: Mrs. Merriweather. Then there's the whole really an evil demon thing.
• Move in the Frozen Time: When Tristan breaks the second seal on Vashi's prison, time slows for all non-magical entities, though magical beings remain fully mobile. As this includes both Tristan and Riley, this serves as foreshadowing to their true nature.
• Mundane Utility: "How to use disappearing magic", by Alex.
• Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork: Riley actually cheers when being told the class was stepping up the calculus lessons. This is at least partly due to the previous teacher treating middle schoolers like a kindergarten class and teaching them the most basic of basics, which drove Riley up the wall.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Miya gets an epic one at one point when she summons a demonic army to challenge the girls and hammer home the importance of training... nearly getting the power trio killed in the process. Leads to a major What the Hell, Hero? with ramifications lasting the rest of the strip.
• Nothing Nice About Sugar and Spice: As a thoroughly evil demon general who adores pink, bunnies, and cuteness, Shugari embodies this trope.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: Thanks to Tristan exploiting a loophole in the dress code.
• Noodle Incident: "I hope you didn't find out about that incident with the water hoses and the ketchup in St. Louis."
• The Noseless: Just about every character.
• Parental Abandonment: Alex's parents are mentioned but never seen, we see Riley's father but not her mother, and Tristan's mother but not her stepfather.
• Parental Obliviousness: Riley's father has this to a severe degree, to the point that the girls can openly discuss a battle plan in front of him and he assumes they are discussing a surprise party.
• Physical, Mystical, Technological: While they all have magic, their strengths break down as such:
  • Tristan — Physical
  • Alex — Mystical
  • Riley — Technological
• Pink Means Feminine: Alex's costume is primarily pink (with touches of white and light blue).
• Power Gives You Wings: Alex's magical girl form.
• Power Trio:
  • Alex, the Magician — Ego
  • Riley, the Scholar — Superego
  • Tristan, the Warrior — Id
• Punny Name: Shugari has a rather sugary personality.
• Purple Is Powerful: Tristan wears a dark violet Badass Longcoat in her powered-up form.
• Rage Against the Mentor: After the defeat of Shugari, Miya gets obsessed with training the girls harder and harder, to the point that Alex snaps at her. Miya gets angry enough at her that she summons an army of demons to attack the girls, nearly killing Tristan and hurting Kevin, an innocent and powerless friend. Alex completely turns against Miya, leading to an arc where Miya leaves the strip until near the very end of the Tsutsumu arc.
• Rash Equilibrium: In this and the two following strips, the girls decide to outwardly take Tsutsumu up on his offer of information so they can help him overthrow Yzin, but plan to double-cross him once they've learned enough to defeat Yzin. Tsutsumu, meanwhile, plans to use them should they accept his offer before discarding them once he has achieved his goals.
• Robot Girl: Ms. Konk, though she's initially a bit of a subversion due to looking and acting like a scary old lady. Her creator later makes some drastic changes, revamping her into a bubbly ditz with a body like a supermodel.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: All the villains start out like this, but Tristan releases Vashi, who then proceeds to unleash the rest of them. It's later revealed that one minion escaped being sealed by the heroes' predecessors and was working on freeing Vashi all along.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Tristan, to everyone's surprise.
• Sky Face: Miya and Mr. Kyokasho's farewell at the end of the story.
• The Slacker: Tristan's approach to school.
• The Snark Knight: Tristan. A pretty cynical youth — especially of anything she perceives as "girly", thanks to her extreme tomboyishness. Her mother is utterly desperate for Tristan to display even average teenage behavior.
• The Smart Guy: Riley
• Taking You with Me:
  • In the final battle, Yzin attempts this. He fails. Sort of.
  • When both Yzin and Alex survive, Alex then pulls this, too. Sort of.
• Teacher/Student Romance: The one-sided "crushing on a teacher" version: Riley's crush on Mr. Kyokasho.
• Training from Hell: A bunch of high-level literal demons get released for our heroes to practice on.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: With Lampshade Hanging.
  Riley: You know, by the time you transform, the world could already have been destroyed.
  Alex: It's my moment. Let me have it.
• Transformation Sequence: Also Lampshaded.
• Troubled Fetal Position:
  • Parodied. "Study paralysis".
  • And then again...
• Unfazed Everyman: Dom, who Tristan hangs out with sometimes. He occasionally provides her with "supplies" and gives no hoots about whatever weird stuff happens around him.
• Updated Re-release: The whole series was re-published with a different panel arrangement and new caption font, though the storyline remains the same.
• Victor Gains Loser's Powers: As Alex defeats monsters of various elements, she gains the ability to use those elements. She takes advantage of this early on by defeating several shadow monsters in order to gain the ability to teleport.
• Waif-Fu: Tristan, though she would object to being described as a "waif."
• Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: The comic's tagline is even "It's magic monsters & Junior High". Alex freaks out about exams and has middling to poor grades. It doesn't do every aspect of the trope, as dating isn't much of a problem for her.
• Webcomic Time: "Wow. It feels like it's been months."
• We Can Rule Together: Tsutsumu proposes this to the girls.
• Winged Humanoid: Alex, in magical girl form.
• Wrecked Weapon:
  • Parodied. When Riley initially tries to figure out how the wand works, she accidentally breaks it, but it instantly rebuilds itself. The trope returns in deadly earnest near the end of the comic, when Yzin damages the wand beyond repair.
  • Also, the Evil Minions have the bad habit of destroying Riley's laser guns, but she's good at building new ones.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: In-universe example: Grant Kyokasho's faked birthdate is in 1971, but the date on his teaching degree is in 1983. Luckily, the only ones who notice are the heroines.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: Alex takes out Tsutsumu by combining all her magical elements into a single destructive blast.

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