Satin Steele is a webcomic series by David C. Matthews (creator of Tetsuko). It follows Janet ("Satin") Steele, a professional female bodybuilder who finds herself caught up in situations that hint at a grand conspiracy behind them. It is not published on a regular schedule, but “whenever a page is finished” (to quote the creator).
The series consists of
Contest Jitters is a prequel to this series
The comic contains examples of:
- Berserk Button: Satin gets rather angry when a Tiger's Paw goon stated his aim to frame Satin for murder by portraying her as "steroid-crazed".
- Character Development: Janet has come a long way from her days as a relatively naive rookie as seen in Contest Jitters. She is still good-hearted, but knows when to become a Guile Heroine.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Satin has no superpowers to speak of. Instead, she relies on her strength and flexibility (and her karate lessons) to do her stuff.
- Clothing Damage: Satin's dress gets ripped up in Bloodpaw.
- Dem Bones: The dinosaur bones in Bones come to life due to an alien device.
- Genre Shift: Compared to Janet's past in Contest Jitters, her adventures here are otherwordly.
- Everything Fades: Tiger's Paw equipment and personnel does this when they are destroyed or killed.
- Guile Heroine: Janet on at least two occasions.
- In Bones, after watching a reanimated giant dinosaur skeleton hastily avoiding a tank shot to its skull, she correctly deduced that the skull is worth further investigation.
- In Bloodpaw, she faked a blackout to get an alien monster to drop her prematurely and write her off from the fight.
- He Knows Too Much: Joe Taylor has dug up much about Tiger's Paw. His final fate? See Make It Look Like an Accident.
- Humans Are Bastards: The Mistress thinks so, and regards Satin as a great danger due to her heroism, which could inspire others to follow her example.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: How Joe Taylor was killed. Tiger's Paw sent an alien creature to jump onto his windscreen, distracting him long enough for his car to crash into a tree.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: Contrary to how bodybuilders may not be very strong in Real Life (see the analysis here), Janet's strength is depicted to come from her physique.
- Punny Name: Janet's stage name. No Silk Hiding Steel here; Janet is obviously both Silk and Steel.
- She-Fu: Satin incorporates gymnastic moves in her fights. As Contest Jitters reveals, she had an extensive background in gymnastics.
- Smug Snake: Morgana deVries, who generally has a smug look. In Backstage Battle, she defies the Mistress and sends a team of goons to capture Satin. After its failure, the Mistress strips her of authority.
- Stage Name: Janet goes by the name "Satin" in public.
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Unintentional Period Piece: In Backstage, Janet asked Matt to tape Twin Peaks for her, while in Bloodpaw, Janet and Matt were watching Skin Deep. A VHS system was also prominently displayed in Bloodpaw. - Voluntary Shapeshifting: Tiger's Paw has goons who can do this, making them excellent spies.
