Webcomic / Everyday Heroes

Alliteration assists in apprehending amoral archfiends.

Everyday Heroes is a webcomic written and drawn by Ed Gedeon. It centers on Mr. Mighty, a Punch-Clock Hero, and his family. Other characters include his wife, Jane, who has a Dark and Troubled Past; his Bratty Teenage Daughter Summer who is trying to deal with new-found superpowers, and a host of teammates with Punny Names.

Originally a gag-a-day comic, more recent Story Arcs have been more dark and dramatic. Originally drawn by Gedeon, it started with a MWF update schedule, but soon fell victim to Schedule Slip, and only updated weekly (or less). Eric Boismier took over art duties for a time and got the comic onto a regular twice-a-week schedule. Eric has since moved and left the strip, but Ed managed to (mostly) maintain the schedule, updating the strip on Mondays and Fridays. Unfortunately, due to the combination of his wife's death, and having to look for a job, Ed went on a nearly year-long hiatus after the February 6th, 2016 strip before resuming the strip on January 5th, 2017. Updates were sporadic for the next several months, then artist duties were taken up by Elisa Price. Gedeon took over drawing again as of November 2018.

Originally on Webcomics Nation, then on SmackJeeves, it's current hosted on ComicFury at http:/eheroes.thecomicseries.com ; also has a Facebook page.

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This Comic contains examples of:

• Absurdly-Spacious Sewer: The home of Hornswoggle (and family).
• Added Alliterative Appeal: Mr. Mighty will occasionally work this into his speech (see page image).
• Alliterative Family: Also most with Alliterative Names:
  • The Mighty family (Marion, Michael, Morrison, Marilyn, and Monroe)
  • Glen Goode (and daughters Gloria & Greta)
  • The two known members of the Mann (Charisma) family: Curtis and Chris, grandfather and grandson.
• Alliterative Name: The Mighty family (Marion, Michael, Morrison, Marilyn, and Monroe), Glen Goode (and daughters Gloria & Greta), Odin Odious, Winslow Weirdlike
• Alter Kocker: Defied by Jakob, who's been living in the US for over 60 years and is thoroughly nationalized by now.
• Alt Text: On just about every page. However, during the comic's migration from WebComicsNation to SmackJeeves to ComicFury, some alt text and author commentaries were lost and had to be roughly reconstructed from memory.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Their motto: "Truth! Justice! Lawn care!"
  • Dr. Unpleasant is described as a "notorious villain, evil genius, and parking-ticket scofflaw".
  • To keep unwanted visitors away from Hornswoggle's underground home, there are signs reading "Warning - Unstable", "Radon", "Biohazard", and " Amway".
• Author Avatar: Ed Generic (complete with Big Ol' Unibrow).
• Befriending the Enemy: While Jane was in prison, Mr. Mighty visited her when he was in town and sent mail when he wasn't. The contrast between the superhero who'd captured her treating her like family and her actual family treating her as a potentially useful asset motivated her to turn away from villainy.
• Big Applesauce: Subverted; Mr. Mighty's home and much of the action is in Indianapolis.
• Bilingual Bonus: The nonsense phrase used as a Running Gag also appears in Spanish and Thai.
  • Also, Carrie got her habit of exclaiming "Holy cow!" from her Italian grandmother.
  • In a parody of the MGM lion, when Steve gets hungry, his stomach complains "Feed me, for Pete's sake!
• Bland-Name Product: Mr. Mighty once held a civilian job "hauling concrete blocks at SuperHomeCenterMart". Several strips also show "Sundo's" coffee (sun = star, dough = money = bucks).
• Blessed with Suck: Shrinking Violent can only be snapped out of Hulk mode with a large dose of sugar. This only works because she's a type-1 diabetic and eating that much sugar puts her into hyperglycemic shock.
• Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Every supervillain seen on-screen (with the exception of the Punch-Clock Villain Hornswoggle) has been a Mad Scientist or a Badass Normal, and every Mad Scientist seen on-screen has been a supervillain.
• Brick Joke: In one strip, Scary Mary gives a seemingly senseless rant which turned out to be an accurate prediction of the future. Although the events took place only a few weeks later in comic time, in real time they were published over four years later.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": Mr. Mighty's "M", Captain Charisma and Kid Charisma with a "C", Dot Dash's dot-and-dash
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • Angela constantly picks on Summer and Carrie, despite the fact that either of them could take her apart with little effort. And also despite the fact that she comes out on the wrong end of those altercations more often than not.
  • Kid Charisma hitting on Summer.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Lee Free (senior), literally. The majority of his work is pro bono. Is there such a thing as a Good Ass Biker?
• Bus Full of Innocents: An inconvenience when you're late for work.
• Captain Ersatz: Mr. Mighty's old teammate Carlos, who is an insect-themed size-changing superhero from Mexico (apparently with his own TV show as well).
• Captain Obvious: Does this really need to be explained?
  • No, but in the spirit of the trope...
• Chest Insignia: Subverted by Matt O'Morph, whose insignia constantly changes shape (like his Rubber Man body).
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Wrecking Paul, a sociopathic serial killer with a preference for ladies... who hires them as sidekicks, in case his attempts on his targets don't go as planned.
• Christianity is Catholic: Carrie's denomination hasn't been openly stated, but she did say that she wanted to be a nun when she was young and she has been seen praying to Mary, something Protestants rarely if ever do.
• Combo Platter Powers: Summer has Eye Beams, Super-Strength, and what appears to be Super-Senses. She's also immune to both Kid Charisma and Captain Charisma's superhuman charm.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure:
  • Mr. Mighty accidentally flashes his Goofy Print Underwear to the next-door neighbor.
  • Later, he laments having to fight Blades again, because his costume isn't knife-proof, leading to underwear exposure.
• Concussions Get You High: See Running Gag.
• The Conscience: Carrie.
• Cool Old Guy: Lee Free senior.
• Curse Cut Short: Right here!
• Cute Monster Girl: Hornswoggle's wife and children are much more humanoid than he is. Then again, it's implied that his wife was a human that was altered by some mad scientist.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Lampshaded with a villainess named "Dark Ann" Troubled.
  • Not to mention her son, the dork Ken Troubled.
  • Played dead straight with Jane Mighty in the Troubled Backstory Flashback featured in the VilAnon arc.
• Dating Catwoman: Mr. Mighty's wife, Jane, is a former villainess.
• Deadpan Snarker: Zinger Sharpley.
• Death by Childbirth: Thump's biological mother.
• Dramatic Thunder: Lampshaded when Mr. Mighty meets the neighbors, apparently he keeps an electrostatic pulse generator just for this purpose.
• Dynamite Candle: June Unpleasant (the wife of Mr. Mighty's nemesis) visits the Mighty home with just such a cake.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Thump's full name is Thomas Humperdinck Sharpley.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Goldie may be a villain now, but she's not working for the IRS.
• Everyone Can See It: Mel and Greta are eight years old and can't stand each other; and of course, you know what that means.
• Expressive Mask:
  • Most heroes and villains have this, with Monochromatic Eyes. Justified for Summer, since it's to keep her Eye Beams from... leaking.
  • Occasionally, Carrie's eyes will also Open the Iris.
• Eye Glasses: Several characters, including Carrie, Ken Troubled, Greta Goode, and Jane's mother Hannah.
• The Faceless: Even though we see quite a few people behind masks; the most constant is Mister Mighty whom we get to see remove his mask, but only as silhouette. Granted, we see his face in Jane's Back Story arc, but every other time in the comic he never takes his mask off, even when just doing normal stuff like reading the paper at home or having meal with the family.
  • One time he was seen coming out of the shower. Readers speculated as to whether he’s bald.
  • The Big Bad, Doc Tormentor, is shown either in silhouette, or from an angle where is face is not seen.
• Family-Unfriendly Violence: When Wrecking Paul cuts loose.
• Fille Fatale: Gloria Goode has the boys eating out of her hand. Well, sort of.
• Finger Poke of Doom: Mr. Mighty can knock people unconscious by flicking a finger.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Summer is kind of limited in choice of career (having superpowers and all).
• Four-Fingered Hands: Invoked with Uma and her father; otherwise averted.
• Fun with Acronyms: S.A.V.E.U.S. Also, Mr. Mighty's previous group, G.O.O.D.G.U.I.S.E. (Group Of Official Do-Gooders United In Suppressing Evil).
  • Also the villainous group M.W.A.H.A.H.A.H.A.H.A.H.A.
  • For a while, Mr. Mighty worked with the American-Mexican International Group of Superheroes (A.M.I.G.O.S.). For added fun, that organization is known as Fuerzas Regulatorias Internacional Entre Norteamericanos de Superheroes (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.) in Spanish.
• Gender-Blender Name: Mr. Mighty's name is Marion. Explained in this strip as being the result of his parents being old movie buffs. His other two brothers are named Michael and Morrison, the other two parts of John Wayne's original name. His sisters come off a bit better with Marilyn and Monroe.
• Gentle Giant: Thump Sharpley. Also an example of Dumb Is Good.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Again, see page image. His nefarious nemesis is nearby.
• Glowing Eyes: Summer has them when she takes her mask off. She can dim them with a bit of concentration, but can't turn them off yet.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Dolly Bird and G-Nat. Also, the children of G-Nat and Julia.
• Happily Married: Mr. Mighty and Jane. (When the kids are away, the grown-ups will play...)
• Hard Head: See Hurt Foot Hop.
• Harmless Electrocution: Played straight here; subverted here. Justified in that, while the first one's a super and nigh-invulnerable, the second is just an ordinary human.
• Harmless Freezing:
  • Matt O'Morph falls victim to this.
  • Also subverted with Cool Hand Lucy - she can only drop her opponent's body temperature by five degrees, but that's plenty to leave a normal person nearly paralyzed with hypothermia.
• Heel–Face Turn: Regulated in this universe. Whenever an ex-supervillain moves to a new house they have to do a version of Megan's Law. This involves them dressing up in their old costume and telling their life's story. A major plot arc was Jane telling the new neighbors about her life in the Jane Gang.
• He-Man Woman Hater: Wrecking Paul (violently).
• Heroes "R" Us: S.A.V.E.U.S.
• Hurt Foot Hop: Amusingly, this is how Jane and Mr. Mighty first met. (though what happened next was a lot less funny)
  Mr. Mighty: Now see miss, if you had attacked me from the front like a civilized person, this could have been avoided...
  Iron Jane: STUFF IT mullet head! What the %$#&@% is your skull made of anyway, concrete?!
  Mr. Mighty: Now that's just rude.
• Hyperspace Mallet: Most of the girls have access to these.
  • Although, due to her Super-Strength, Summer generally only uses a fly swatter. She discovers she can use a full mallet on Kid Charisma (who is tough enough to survive the hit).
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Mr. Mighty to Jane, as she plans on killing her boss in order to take revenge for her friend.
• If You Taunt Him, You Will Be Just Like Him: Carrie refuses to respond when insulted.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Summer. She practically cries in frustration when she finds out there's a power suppression drug but she can't have it.^note It's not given to minors, it has to be adjusted for the individual so she can't just take her dad's, it only lasts a few hours, and not waiting long enough between doses can be lethal
• I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Kid Charisma is never seen with the same enthralled girl in more than one panel, but spends dozens of strips continuously hitting on Summer after he finds out that she's immune to his power. She finds this both creepy and incredibly obnoxious and hits back. Unfortunately, KC has a pretty strong Healing Factor.
• Improbable Weapon User: Summer's fly swatter.
• Improbably Predictable: In one strip, we get simultaneous Spit Take prediction.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: People can understand Mecha-Nicole, even though she can only say "beep".
• In the Blood: Invoked, then subverted by Jane Mighty.
• Ironic Echo Cut: Invoked here.
• Jedi Mind Trick: Kid Charisma (and his family) have a Glamour that can be used to compel criminals to surrender. For the Kid, this also leads to quite a bit of Power Perversion Potential, where he has a different girl on his arm every five minutes.
• KidAnova: Ryan, who usually ends up on the wrong end of a Hyperspace Mallet.
• Kryptonite Ring: In a flashback to just after Jane got out of prison, she laments that her record makes it hard to find anyone who trusts her. Mr. Mighty assures her that he trusts her, but she points out that it's easy for him to trust someone who can't hurt him. A bit later, he gives her one of his power suppression pills:
  Mr. Mighty: Jane, you said it was easy for me to trust you because you couldn't hurt me. Well, with that pill... you could.
• Large Ham: Mr. Mighty, intentionally.
• Letter Motif:
  • Mr. Mighty and his two brothers are Marion, Michael, and Morrison. His sisters are Marilyn and Monroe.
  • Also, the neighborhood moms are Jane, Joan, Jenny, Ginny, June, Jan, Jin, and Gina; the single dads are John and Jean (French).
• LOLCats: Parodied when a Jewish character wears a t-shirt reading "cant haz cheezeburger".
• Magic Pants: When Summer is attacked by a villain's lightning gun while in her pajamas, the result is still rated PG.
• Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex: There's a special drug that can temporarily disable superpowers, used to prevent this exact problem.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: The Mighty siblings, three boys, two girls.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Carrie's hair can do things that would count as a full-blown superpower in most any other setting, but nobody seems to class her as a super. Also, everyone seems to have access to Hammerspace.
• May–December Romance: Ben Sharpley and his second wife, Jintara. Enough of an age difference that she's a year younger than her stepson, Thump. Justified: she was a mail-order bride.
• Missing Mom: Carrie's parents split up when she was six. All we know about what happened is that Carrie now lives with her father, and that she considers her mother "lost" (but prays for her to find her way back, implying that she's not dead).
• Mistaken for Cheating: When Mr. Mighty explains "Violet Wanda" as "a freelance villainess" and says that Jane is "out of the house right now", Dr. Unpleasant concludes that he's "getting a little somethin'-somethin' on the side".
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Iron Jane, following Wrecking Paul revealing his true colors.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Several mad-scientist characters such as Dr. Unpleasant, Dr. Gene Gromene, Dr. "Dark Anne" Troubled. Big Bad Doc Tormentor is a variation on the theme.
  • Played with when a wannabe supervillain says that he's thinking of calling himself "Dr. Destruction", only to be asked if he actually has a doctoral degree and told "That won't work, then" when he admits that he doesn't.
• Mundane Fantastic: Being a superhero (or villain) is just another profession.
• Mundane Utility: Frequently showing. Super strength means it's easy to rip down walls and panels to replace them. Super speed means you can drop off vital documents easily.
• Mutually Assured Destruction: Mutually Assured Humiliation: After Carrie finds out that Angela's mother used to be a prostitute, Angela assumes Carrie will tell everyone and panics. Carrie establishes a "truce" by telling Angela about whatever it was her mother did that led to her parents splitting up.
• Mysterious Watcher: The Mysterious Watchful Presence, a Coat, Hat, Mask vigilante.
• Named After Somebody Famous: The Mighty siblings, Marion, Michael, and Morrison after John Wayne's real name, and Marilyn, and Monroe.
• Never Bareheaded: Mr. Mighty always keeps his mask on, even when relaxing at home.^note In flashback, we've seen Mr. Mighty both unmasked in civilan clothes and in a costume that showed his hair
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Mr. Mighty (and to a lesser extent, Matt O'Morph).
• "Nighthawks" Shot: Found here.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Lee Free Sr. bears more than a passing resemblance in both looks and personality to George Carlin. In fact the strip he's introduced in has him using a line by Carlin.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*:
  • After the first time Summer tries coffee, once the caffeine wears off.
  • When Jane gets knocked semi-conscious in her first encounter with Mr. Mighty.
  • Seen after a particularly vigorous Hyperspace Mallet attack. The line "Thank you Bishop, I'd like another pint of concrete" got elevated to running gag status when it made its glorious return later, when some supervillains got a righteous asskicking. The last of them politely refuses the pint before collapsing, since she is driving.
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Beetrix insists her friend Walter isn't imaginary, just invisible. Since she's barely a few months old and reads at a fourth-grade level already, her parents don't complain.
  • Judging by this strip, Walter appears to be telepathic to at least some degree, and is currently locked away in the bowels of M.W.A.H.A.H.A.H.A.H.A.H.A. behind a door labeled "DANGER Hideous Abomination!"
• Older Than They Look: Thump is a year older than his stepmother Jintara, who is herself old enough to have a teenage daughter.
• Once More, with Clarity: Jane's account of life as a villainous henchwoman includes a couple of scenes where Wrecking Paul noisily uses his ball-and-chain weapon offstage while the Jane Gang is trying to be stealthy, which is Played for Laughs. Just after Paul's true nature is revealed, we see another viewpoint of each scene showing a woman he's just bludgeoned to death.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Uma and her father, aliens stranded on Earth, disguise themselves by wearing glasses. Later subverted, when they mention using an "Adams Field" (a Shout-Out to Douglas Adams' Life, the Universe and Everything).
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Summer's reaction in the arc "The Talk" when Jane explains about the drug used to temporarily suppress superpowers and its use.
  Jane: Now, ordinarily intimacy between superhumans and standard humans is too dangerous. No matter how careful you are, one little mistake could injure or even kill your partner!
  Summer: But, you and Dad have managed... at least twice.
  Jane: Oh, much more than that.
  Summer: Again, T.M.I. Also eww.
• Power Incontinence: Summer has to wear a special mask, 24/7, to keep her Eye Beams in check. Might be a shout out to the X-Men member Cyclops, who has the same problem (needing eyewear to keep his beams in check).
• Prehensile Hair: Carrie.
• Puberty Superpower: Summer's powers activated when she was 12, right in the middle of a volleyball match.
• Punch-Clock Hero/Villain:
  • Pretty much everyone.
  • Enforced too. Mister Mighty got into some trouble by superheroing with out the proper paperwork. (In fact, said superheroing happened as he was on his way to drop off said paperwork.)
• Punched Across the Room: Mr. Mighty does this to Hornswoggle during an attempted heist.
• Punny Name: Enough to warrant their own page.
• Restraining Bolt: Summer's mask, which keeps her eye beams in check.
• Running Gag:
  • The neighborhood moms are named Jane, Joan, June, Jan(uary), Jin, Jenny, Ginny, and Gina. The single dads are John and Jean (pronounced "zhawn"... he’s from France).
  • Whenever a character is smacked in the head:
    "Yes, thank you, Bishop, I would like another pint of concrete."
  • People occasionally remark that Dr. Unpleasant's head looks like a light bulb.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Subverted by Prof. Odious, who is actually a reformed villain.
• Scooby Stack: Jane, Joan, and Dot keep an eye on a suspicious shopper.
• Serial Killer: Wrecking Paul turns out to be one. He targets women exclusively, which is why he insists on hiring female henchmen (so he can use them as backup victims).
• Shout-Out:
  • Other webcomics such as Narbonic, Girly, The Wotch, El Goonish Shive, The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!, xkcd...
  • TV Tropes gets one too.
  Ed: "(yeah, this will go into TV Tropes soon)"
  • The Halloween storyline has numerous costumes and cameos from various webcomics.
  • The "Take Your Kids To Work Day" story includes a brief appearance by a pair of scientists named Fletcher and Flynn
• Snicket Warning Label: The details of Wrecking Paul's murders are preceded by a completely serious author's warning that the comic is about to depict and describe acts of brutal violence against women, read at your own discretion.
• Something Person: Mr. Mighty, of course.
• Stealth Hi/Bye:
  • Cappuccino, anyone?
  • Summer changes into her sports gear.
• Stepford Smiler:
  • Jane's cousin, June Unpleasant. She keeps a creepy grin on her face even as she describes committing atrocities with household goods.
  • It's heavily implied something happened to cause her to act like that.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: Mr. (Marion John "Marko") Mighty.
• Stripperiffic:
  • Leotards Of Power for the Jane Gang, complete with Cleavage Window and Combat Stilettos. Jane still complains about it when she's much older as a woman her age shouldn't be wearing something like that.
  • The costume Jane wears as "Violet Wanda" is justified in-universe as the sexy outfit she was wearing in the bedroom with Mr. Mighty when a supervillain attack interrupted matters.
• Stylistic Suck: Matt O'Morph doesn't have the best control over his Shapeshifter Default Form. The artist represents this by drawing him left-handed.
• Super Registration Act: Mr. Mighty gets ticketed for not carrying his ID while breaking up a bank robbery. Word of God is that this is just a plot device.
• Super-Strength: Mr. Mighty & his daughter both have power. They won't try to hide it either.
• Symbol Swearing: An occasional "damn" sneaks in, but grawlix are used for anything stronger.
• That Came Out Wrong: While commiserating with Jane over her difficulties building a new life with a criminal record, Mr. Mighty asks her "Wanna come back to my place?" Mistaking this for a proposition (and perhaps suspecting that he only befriended her as a cynical ploy to get into her pants), she slaps him. Fortunately, he's able to explain that he just wants to talk in private.
• There Was a Door: Carlos ruins a perfectly good wall with a dramatic entrance, and a villain calls him on it. Carlos immediately complains that using the door isn't dramatic enough.
• Trash Landing: Mr. Mighty saves Jane from a lethal fall by tossing her toward a large sand pile. From the look of things, she lands without further^note she'd already broken her ankle injury.
• Tropaholics Anonymous: VilAnon, an organization for recovering villains.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Summer puts little to no effort into practicing to control her powers, something Mr. Sharpley calls her on.
  • A variation on the theme appears when she's repairing a roof — she has trouble using a hammer properly, but realizes that she can simply insert nails by hand as if they were thumbtacks.
• Villainous Crush:
  • Dinah Might seems to have one for Mr. Mighty. Then again, she might be faking ... or might not.
  • Ken Troubled has one for Summer, who wants absolutely nothing to do with him.
• Visible Silence: Examples here and here. An example in response to an Armor-Piercing Question here.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Golden Jane.
• Weirdness Censor:
  • Uma's glasses, when turned to maximum power, project a weirdness censor so strong, it jams whatever devices the mysterious dog and cow guys are using to track her. Of course, that still provides some useful information...
  • The "emergency setting" interferes with all electronic devices in the area.
• Wham Episode:
  • The reveal that Wrecking Paul is a Serial Killer.
  • The reveal that one of the two mysterious characters searching for Uma wants to bring her home, and the other wants to kill her (without revealing which is which).
• What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Lee, you should know better ...
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: S.B.D can turn completely invisible, but emits a horrible odor when he does.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Ben Sharpley gives a well-deserved lecture to Summer about learning to use her powers properly, since she openly admits to avoiding using them, and has caused several accidents already, yet was prepared to fight Ben's unpowered daughter without considering the consequences. Time will tell if she takes this seriously or not.
• Work Off the Debt: Summer and Carrie have to do this after doing a little damage to the local arcade.
• Written Sound Effect: Brought to you by the Don Martin Memorial Onomatopoetic Society.
• You Just Told Me: Mr. Mighty engages a criminal in casual conversation, with a little Obfuscating Stupidity thrown in.

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