The Adventures of Superhero Girl
is a webcomic by Faith Erin Hicks, who previously created Demonology 101.
Superhero Girl (or S.H.G) tries her best to do good but is often overshadowed by her older brother, Kevin, who is more popular and gets lots of money through sponsorship.
Sadly for its fans, the comic went on hiatus in 2012 and hasn't been updated since then.
This webcomic contains examples of:
- At Arm's Length: When did freakishly long arms become your superpower? (here)
- Cat Up a Tree: In the second comic, S.H.G. rescues a kitten by uprooting the tree where it got stuck.
- Clark Kenting: Parodied with Spectacle. She's a reverse Clark Kent — she wears glasses as part of her superhero costume and takes them off in her civilian identity.
- Clothes Make the Legend: Averted, S.H.G. has been through plenty of costume changes in her life.
- Domino Mask: S.H.G. wears a black domino mask, which she sometimes forgets to remove when she switches identities.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: S.H.G. tends to only get noticed if she's tripped on her cape, mistaken for turning evil, or thrashed by a sea monster. Whenever she does score a victory against a ninja or villain, only one person at most notices: her roommate. She's annoyed that everyone prefers Kevin, and he gets a secure sponsorship while her grant has dried up.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The heroine's real name has never been revealed. She's only ever referred to as "Superhero Girl". Her roommate is also as yet unnamed.
- Evil Costume Switch: Parodied; S.H.G has a bad hair day and wears a hoodie, noting that it makes her look like a Sith Lord. Suddenly everybody thinks she's evil. But not for that reason, as it turned out.
- Evil Is Petty: King Ninja applies for a job just so that S.H.G., who needs a job, doesn't get hired.
- Expy: Super Hero Girl is a Supergirl expy. In addition to the similar name, she's a female hero with Superman powers, blue shirt and a red cape. She even has a pet cat and a male relative overshadowing her.
- Eye Beams: S.H.G has them; Kevin apparently doesn't.
- Flying Brick: Kevin, Spectacle and S.H.G (minus the flying part). When asked about her powers, S.H.G. replies she has the "usual" combo: super-strength, super-endurance and... well, super-leaping.
- Future Me Scares Me: S.H.G. finds out that a future version of her will become Supervillain Girl after one bad day. She goes You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! and punches Supervillain Girl into the sky.
- Highly-Visible Ninja: You bump into them at the supermarket sometimes.
- I'm Going to Disney World!: S.H.G. decides to go to Disney World in celebration of her 100th comic.
- In a Single Bound: S.H.G. can't fly but she can leap over buildings, a nod to Golden Age Superman.
- Jerkass: Skeptical Guy, although he's more annoying than assholeish— he just refuses to believe that SHG is a real superhero. He's slightly nicer to her civilian identity when set up on a blind date with her.
- Moose and Maple Syrup:
- Set in Halifax as a lot of Hicks' stuff is, and in one early strip SHG bemoans the lack of supervillains in Canada.
- A later strip parodies this even further by creating a Legion of Doom out of other Canadian stereotypes (a manly lumberjack, a pair of twins powered by Tim Horton's coffee, a sapient toque monster, and environmentalist author Farley Mowat). It ends with Superhero Girl telling them all that Canada is more than just stereotypes... before beating them all into the sky with a hockey stick, the REAL arbiter of Canadian identity.
- Most Definitely Not a Villain: S.H.G sometimes resorts to this. Unfortunately, the first time she tries this she forgot to take her mask off.
- Never Mess with Granny: A reoccurring background character who also happens to be an elderly lady manages to take out a rampaging bear, causing S.H.G's roommate (who's filling in for her at the time) to question why the city even needs a superhero.
- Ninja: Lots of them as generic mooks.
- Not Quite Flight: S.H.G cannot fly, but she can jump over 'any building under 11 stories'.
- Not So Stoic: In a flashback arc, Kevin was saddened when his little sister says she wants to attend college in a different city, rather than stay and be his sidekick. He assumed she would come back crawling after she got expelled, but S.H.G. said that she would prefer to stay in one city and fight villains.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Superhero Girl "It's what everybody calls me"
- Primary-Color Champion: The main character wears a dark-blue shirt and a red cape.
- Shamed by a Mob: Kevin gets yelled at— and egged— when he tries to fake his death and come back dramatically a few months later. He reveals the ruse early before a politician can make a giant golden statue of him, but everyone is still angry.
- Shrink Ray: here with a hipster villain wanting to use one on Kevin. S.H.G. briefly considers letting him do it, but asserts that even if Kevin is a jerk, he doesn't deserve that.
- Sick Episode: One arc has S.H.G. coming down with a bad head cold. At first, she can manage to fight criminals, merely needing a moment to blow her nose. Her roommate advises her to take a break but S.H.G. worries that the criminal element will take advantage of that. The next day, she can barely talk while in bed, and definitely needs to rest up. She sends her roommate out to patrol the city.
- Secret Identity: S.H.G doesn't do a very good job at it but she's getting better!
- Stock Superhero Day Jobs: Several kinds, S.H.G is a freelance bum, Kevin is a career superhero and Spectacle is a rich socialite with too much time on her hands.
- Super Hero Origin: Subverted, S.H.G doesn't have a horrible back story for why she became a superhero and some of the local citizens think this doesn't make her a real hero.
- Super-Strength: Part of S.H.G's powers
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: S.H.G. moves across the country to college to get out of Kevin's spotlight. She thinks it will be a fresh start. The dean catches her fighting ninjas on campus and says they have to expel her because blatant fighting isn't allowed due to insurance rates.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: The comic ends with S.H.G. finally getting some recognition for her hundredth comic, and she says she's going to Disney World for a long-overdue vacation. Faith Erin Hicks then gives thanks to the viewers for staying with her.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In the first comic, S.G.H. lands next to a beggar, who barely pays any attention to the costumed girl who has apparently just dropped from the sky.
- Villains Out Shopping: Done literally
