Empress: Mother Earth's Handmaiden
is a superhero webcomic written by Alex Dawe under the company name NRG Comics, with art and lettering done by Matteo Prayer and Wan Mañanita for varying issues.
The story follows the story of Ursula Nolan, the cold CEO of a major company, who becomes empowered by the magical goddess of all living things to become Empress, her agent on Earth who uses power over plants for good for both humanity and plant life.
On August 12, 2020, NRG Comics announced their plan to reboot the series to fix the "numerous cliches, plot holes and confusing traits" present in the original webcomic.
Empress: Mother Earth's Handmaiden contains the following tropes:
- All There in the Manual: A lot of information on the development and future plans for the series is available at NRG Comics's DeviantArt and Patreon accounts.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Ursula's parents seem absolutely flawless, being Good Parents and Honest Corporate Executives.
- Far East Asian Terrorists: The Black Hazard are a eco-terrorist group formed in China with a base in Hong Kong. Downplayed though, since they aren't all Chinese.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Subverted. The Black Hazard's average members wear gas masks, but their leader does as well, as does Smog.
- Government Agency of Fiction: Downplayed to an extent, but the Environmental Protection Agency is able to have armed agents who come to the scene of crimes, but it seems limited to those who are linked to environmental terrorism.
- It Always Rains at Funerals: How the comic opens.
- I Have Many Names: Mother Nature is just one of many names for the being who endows Ursula with her powers.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Ursula and Juu Lee are lesbians and are both quite feminine.
- My Nayme Is: Juu Lee
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: EPA Agent Karson Druid is visually based on Tom Selleck.
- Rogues Gallery: Empress is set to have one. As of now, they include her first villain, Mister Decay, and the various members of the Black Hazard.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Ursula was before her parents died, which left her cold and bitter to the point of hating flowers since her parents loved them so much.
