The Adventures of Superhero Girl

Superhero Girl 100

2012-02-28T00:00:00.001-08:00

Yaaaaay Superhero Girl comic number 100!!! ... aaannnnd, hiatus. Yes, sadly, this is true, and not just a punchline. I'm currently swamped with work, and although Superhero Girl is one of my many jobs (as some of you know, it's published in The Coast, a free weekly in Halifax, Nova Scotia), it has become too time consuming to fit into my pressurized schedule. So I have asked the Coast for a bit of a break, and they have kindly agreed. Superhero Girl will return in June with new adventures, and maybe by then I'll have the time to build her a proper webpage. We'll see! So keep an eye on this website and my twitter for updates. I really appreciate all my reader support this past year, and I hope you'll rejoin me when the comic starts up again. My friend Miriam Gibson will be taking over my spot in the Coast with her bizarre and entertaining comic, Everyone's A Centaur. I hope you enjoy her work!

Otherwise, did you know I have a graphic novel coming out TODAY??? Yes! Friends With Boys, my new graphic novel from First Second, is out now! For the next week, you can read the ENTIRE comic online for free, and if you like it, I hope you will consider buying it to support me, so I can continue to make comics just for you. ;)

Upcoming events: I know for sure I will be at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival May 5th -6th. There are other events I plan to go to, but due to schedule craziness, everything is a bit up in the air.

So ... see you in June, guys!

Superhero Girl 99

2012-02-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yay! Everybody loves Kevin! Kevin solves everything!

... wow, this is comic number 99! I certainly did not think I'd reach this point when I started this comic ... uh, two years ago or so. I can't remember. Anyway, cool.

Superhero Girl 98

2012-02-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Dark and Gritty Keviiiiin! Well it IS all the rage yanno. I actually quite enjoyed drawing the Dark N Gritty part. The monster teeth were particularly fun. I am thinking he is a bit Doomsday (the thing that "killed" Superman crossed with an Uglydoll. :D

Superhero Girl 97

2012-02-07T03:24:00.000-08:00

Forgot to upload the comic last night! XD TOO BUSY.

Anyway, yes, maybe you are the one who is the jerk, Superhero Girl.

Superhero Girl 96

2012-01-31T03:52:00.001-08:00

Oops! Completely forgot to upload today's Superhero Girl comic. Sorry about that. XD I'm swamped with work at the moment and really frazzled. Apologies.

Superhero Girl 95

2012-01-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

IT'S A TRAP!

This plotline was vaguely inspired by real life events: I hung out with a group a few years back, and there was a guy in this group I couldn't stand. He would kind of pick at me, and I would argue back. I really disliked him. Later my friends said they thought we actually had the hots for each other because we were always arguing. I was like WHAT. Seriously, I could not even stand that guy.

Anyway, the point is that those Hollywood movies about two enemies falling in love is total bullplop. People who act like they dislike each other ... usually do.

(Altho I am amused by Shaun's flop sweat in panel 3. His roommate is totally harshing his game. That's the term, right? Harshing someone's game? I don't even know.)

Superhero Girl 94

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone for being so understanding about the lack of Superhero Girl last week (but I hope you enjoyed the True Story). I have a graphic novel due this week and am frantically trying to finish. I think I'm going to make it.

Anyway, Superhero Girl's arch-nemesis actually seems like an okay guy. If anything, he's not put off by her pointing and shrieking at him. Clearly he has not seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers...

True Story 02

2012-01-11T04:41:00.001-08:00

Oh, I forgot I had this comic, which hasn't been posted online. So yeah, I was unable to do a Superhero Girl comic this week due to busy (aaaghh, I have a huge deadline on the 20th and aaaaghh), but here's a comic I did for fellow Coast cartoonist Mike Holmes' True Story book. It's from my childhood and it actually happened and my mom actually said that. XD Enjoy!

Superhero Girl 93

2012-01-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012 everyone and ... OH MY GOD LOOK WHO IT IS. Yep. It's that jerkwad from way back when, the one who told Superhero Girl she was no superhero because blah blah blah. What are the odds that he'd be at the same New Year's party as Superhero Girl??? ... well, pretty good if you have a sadistic writer behind the wheel of your comic. Haha, I'd been looking for an excuse to bring him back.

Anyway, Superhero Girl's parties are clearly curse.

Superhero Girl 92

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

So this is the last Superhero Girl comic of 2011! There will be no update next week due to Christmas and me needing the time off to ... work on other comics. XD A cartoonist's job is never done, and that's the way I like it ('cause otherwise I'm out of work, and that's bad).

Thank you so much for the amazing 2011, dear readers! You've spread word of this comic far and wide, and I hope you'll make 2012 even better. See you in the New Year!

Superhero Girl 91

2011-12-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Professor Bear does not care for your stupid joke, Superhero Girl's roommate!

Otherwise, look, look! My new graphic novel Friends With Boys is an actual physical book now! In a few months you can even buy it yourself, hurrah!

Superhero Girl 90

2011-12-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Bear with a monocle ... hehe.

Oh man you guys I'm so tired. I got nothin' interesting to say. Um ... go read Friends With Boys. That's where my blogging energy is going nowadays. X)

Superhero Girl 89

2011-11-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, that is a bear wearing a monocle in the last panel there. Also, FOR REALS, Superhero Girl's roommate needs a name so I should get on that. I have reasons for not giving Superhero Girl a name, but there's no reason (other than general laziness) that Roommate Girl doesn't have one. So ... soon there will be naming, I promise.

Otherwise, hey look, my website got revamped! My Wordpress knowledgeable friend Lissa put it together, and I think it looks very nice. I really just want a portfolio site to store my good artwork (for clients to find & hire me) and online comics, not a personal site that requires regular updates (I have NO TIME for that), and I think this design works well. Let me know if you have any issues with the site, I'd appreciate it! There are still a few things I need to fix up, but overall it's pretty complete. (Btw, If you would like a nice little wordpress site, you can hire Lissa too.)

And check out the guest art I did for my boyfriend Tim's online comic, One of Those Days! It's sparkly and inspired by Laputa. :D

Superhero Girl 88

2011-11-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Superhero Girl, you have the nicest roommate! Well, at least she never noticed that hole Spectacle punched in the wall. Or the broken TV. Dunno what happened with that ....

So two things this week! One, my boyfriend Tim completely his long running (six years!) webcomic One of Those Days, so major congrats to him! Yeah, getting those first six years of drawing comics over with is pretty tough, but once you're past them, it's smooth sailing to super star comic-dom. (I am kidding.)

Two, I posted a loooong post over at the Friends With Boys site about how I write and draw my comics, so if you're interested in my process, go check it out.

Superhero Girl 87

2011-11-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hee! Tiny toy poodles of DOOOOOM. Man, tiny dogs .... I know making fun of them is, y'know, a thing and all, but they scare me. They are the bite-y-est things ever. I do think they'd make excellent catapult ammunition, tho. Flying balls of razor sharp teeth and fury, the ultimate weapon. The Vikings would never know what hit 'em. We're still at war with the Vikings, right?

Anyway, I had a great time at Hal-Con last weekend, and sold out of the very first run of Superhero Girl comics! Mad thanks to everyone who bought a book. It's very excellent to know readers are willing to support my self publishing attempts, and hopefully there will be more Superhero Girl books available in the future (if you're in the Halifax area, my awesome local comic shop Strange Adventures still has copies).

Superhero Girl 86

2011-11-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Even though there's no hanky-panky going on, Superhero Girl's roommate should have put a sock on the doorknob or something. Also, I enjoy that dressing in civilian clothing means Superhero Girl just puts a zip up hoodie over her superhero costume. Doesn't even get rid of the cape or anything ...

So hey, this coming weekend, I will be at Hal-Con, Halifax's biggest science fiction/comics/other awesome stuff convention. I'm a guest, so I'll be on panels and stuff, talking up comics. I will have a table, where I'll be selling all my books as well as my self-published Superhero Girl book, and other stuff like prints, buttons and original art. So if you are native to Atlantic Canada, come to the convention and say hi! I will probably talk to you, especially if you bring me food.

Alternate Universe Superhero Girl by Mike Holmes

2011-11-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

SURPRISE! Today's Superhero Girl comic is written and drawn by my fellow Halgonian (that's a person who lives in Halifax; yes, I know it's a weird name) cartoonist Mike Holmes! Mike and I share the comic page in The Coast (right above the phone sex ads!), and we thought it'd be hilarious to switch comics for a day. So Mike drew this very excellent Superhero Girl, and I took over his comic, True Story. The concept of Mike's comic is that people send him emails about their weird real life adventures, and he turns those stories into beautiful art! Mike's been doing his comic a lot longer than I've been doing Superhero Girl, and you can buy the True Story book collection here (or on Amazon, whichever). Here's my True Story:

I think this comic gets super-meta if you imagine the drunk guy as a grown up, drunk Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. O_O Whoa, deep. Anyway, we will be back to your regularly scheduled Superhero Girl next week, but enjoy the special today!

Superhero Girl 85

2011-10-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

And thus, with the re-emergence of the panhandler Superhero Girl gave change to all the way back in comic #1, ends her completely accidental origin story. Seriously, I just started out doing some comics about her as a kid, and then it grew into this whole thing. But I like how it turned out. I hope you enjoyed it too! Urgh, and apologies for not being around lately to reply to comments and such. Work is absolutely drowning me, and it's a struggle to get anything done. I do read the comments, though, and really appreciate them. Thank you so much, lovely readers!

On another note, my boyfriend Tim is nearing the conclusion of his online comic One of Those Days. I'm very proud of Tim and his commitment to finishing the comic (it'll be done before I finish Ice, that's for sure), as well as how much he's improved his artwork over drawing 200+ pages. He's looking for guest comics/guest art to celebrate the end of the comic, so if you're interested in doing that, give him a shout.

Oh, and I just did a huge comic recommendation post over on the website for Friends With Boys, so if you're interested in graphic novels and not sure what to read, I can maybe help you out with that. :)

Superhero Girl 84

2011-10-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Origin Story continues! How Superhero Girl and Roommate Girl ended up living together. Also, Roommate Girl seems to be a baker of some kind. I was inspired by the delicious smelling bread factory down the road from where I live. Also, I was going to reveal Roommate Girl's real name in this comic, but I couldn't think of a good name for her. Oh well, next time. XD Seat of the pants comiking! It is awesome.

Superhero Girl 83

2011-10-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

I don't even know what the image on Kevin's chest is for. I think the scene went like this:

Me: Arraaagh so TIRED drawing comics ALL DAY AND NIGHT what kind of symbol should go on Kevin's chest?

Tim (boyfriend): I dunno. Maybe a "K" for Kevin?

Me: MOUNTAIN AN' RAINBOWS.

Tim: Why.

Me: BECAUSE BRAIN HURT.

Also: I promise last ninja joke for a while. The ninjas are all joked out.

Also also: Oh man, how awesome would it be to have super strength when you're moving? I hate moving! I have tiny flabby arms and can barely lift things, but if I had super strength like Superhero Girl? Maybe I'd not hate moving so much (probably not).

Superhero Girl 82

2011-10-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

Superhero Girl you need to get better at the secret identity thing.

Nothing else to say except thanks for all the Birthday wishes and lovely Superhero Girl fanart! I was away on vacation last week, but now I am catching up. Also, do remember my other comic Friends With Boys (plug plug!) and I posted some ninja girl drawings from a Dr. Sketchys session on my facebooks.

Superhero Girl 81

2011-09-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

The idea of ninjas at university makes me so, so happy. This is the best thing about drawing this comic: I can go wherever I want with whatever goofy idea I have.

Oh and hey, Superhero Girl has a new outfit and hair colour! After all, university is where you experiment ... with hair dye. That's when my hair colour started coming out of a box, and I haven't looked back. Can't even remember my hair's natural colour ... brown, I think. I dunno. I designed Superhero Girl's outfit to be a bit on the cute/sexy side (she's got a skirt and leggings to go with her Bjork hair), because university's also where you think about being cute/sexy sometimes for the first time in your life. Later, once you get out on your own to do your superheroing, you think practical. I don't think she'd wear a skirt now.

... I think about superhero outfits a lot. Probably too much.

Btw, my boyfriend paid this comic the highest compliment: it reminded him of Kim Possible*. Yay!

*It's his favourite show.

Superhero Girl 80

2011-09-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Aw, Kevin. And oh hey, this is comic #80! That is more than 79 or 78 but not as many as 100. I'm looking forward to having 100 comics drawn, for some reason.

Mike Maihack (previously of the awesome Supergirl/Batgirl fancomic) drew a very nifty Superhero Girl fanart recently, which got me thinking: my birthday's coming up (it's September 29th), and fanart is a pretty awesome thing to get on your birthday. So if you're someone who enjoys any of my comics (Demonology 101, Ice, Friends With Boys or Superhero Girl) and would like to throw some love my way, fanart would be a great birthday present, hint hint. ;)

Superhero Girl 79

2011-09-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Kevin continues his reign of Awesome ... I like the look Superhero Girl is rocking here, the long t-shirt and Ninja Turtles style headband. We're going through her past, so I'd say she's around 16 or so here, and it makes sense her style would change as she gets older. Superheroes are people too, and the outfits they wear as a teen they probably wouldn't wear as an adult. Kevin also has on something a lot more egotistical than the outfit we previously saw him in, because the world revolves around you when you're an awesome teenager. ;)

Anyway, I hope everyone's keeping up with Friends With Boys as well as this comic! I have to say, after a long period of not really having any comics online (I haven't had a regularly updated webcomic since ... 2007? That makes sense, as it's when I started getting comics published) it's a real joy to be able to share both Superhero Girl and Friends With Boys with you, internets. :D

Superhero Girl 78

2011-09-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Oh, Kevin...

I was going to do a little blog post about DC Comics' relaunch, but I went out tonight and socialized instead, so no blog post for you guys! In the meantime, you guys can check out DC Fifty-Too, a surprisingly awesome take on the relaunch which is full of the diversity and spontaneity kind of lacking from the ... uh, actual relaunch. Especially check out my favourite, the Supergirl/Batgirl team up by Mike Maihack. I have cared not a whit for DC's relaunch (understandable, I'm not their target audience), but I would read the crap out of that Supergirl/Batgirl comic.

Little Superhero Girl 77

2011-08-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Heheh. I've been looking for a way to bring Kevin back. I think Kevin can fly (it looks like he's flying in this comic), but if you remember, Superhero Girl can only leap over buildings shorter than 11 stories. So in terms of sibling fights, advantage Kevin.

... Superhero Girl appears to have a new superpower, I think. Ah, the joy of making stuff up as you go along. So different from my regular comics! :D hahah.

Superhero Girl 76

2011-08-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

Superhero Girl takes a well deserved vacation! Unfortunately she's stumbled on one of those ninja-attire only beaches that are all the rage in Europe. Gotta dress like a ninja or no fun in the sun for you!

Okay, I'm sure some of you lovely readers already know about this, but there is big comic news! I (surprise!) draw comics other than Superhero Girl, and one of those comics, my soon to be published graphic novel Friends With Boys, is being serialized online! You can read the first 36 or so pages here, and it will be updating five times a week (every weekday) until its publication in February 2012. I'm REALLY THRILLED that I'll be able to share this comic with my online readers, and I hope that you'll support me by passing the link on to your friends (and anyone else you think would enjoy the comic) and buying the book when it comes out in February. Please spread the word!

Superhero Girl 75

2011-08-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

And thus endth the epic plotline in which Superhero Girl did battle with her Evil Future Self. And lo, the Prime Minster was covered with kittens, which almost hid the fact that he was possibly a robot.

... I couldn't help myself. Had to make one more kitty joke. It was just kinda weird, tho: for some reason the PM's cat fancy kept popping up while I was drawing this plotline. First he adopted a kitten, then posted pictures of that kitten on Google+, seducing members of the American Media into calling him (the PM, not the cat) adorable ... it's weird. It's like the US isn't paying any attention to Canada at all, because our PM is most certainly not adorable.

But his cat addiction certainly is amusing. :D

Oh, and I was supposed to have something big to announce, but it's not ready yet... will post next week, I think. Hang tight! :)

Superhero Girl 74

2011-08-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

I made this comic a little bigger 'cause I drew it bigger! Yay, size doesn't matter on the internets. Anyway, WAY TO HANG OUT JUST WATCHING AND NOT HELPING, SPECTACLE. But I think she knew this was one fight Superhero Girl had to win on her own, by any means necessary. Which in this case, was appealing to the buried goodness within Supervillain Girl, then punching her through space and time. Superhero Girl, you are a bit sneaky when you need to be.

In other news, next week there will be something new and exciting that I'll be doing online, and I can't wait for you guys to see it! Yay! More comics for you to read! Oops, I've said too much. Next week!

Superhero Girl 73

2011-08-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

OH NO SHE DIDN'T. Even Superhero Girl's future version of herself thinks she sucks. I sense future face punching.

Sometimes I marvel at where this comic goes. Such is the fun of having a completely non-planned out comic. Originally I started this storyline with a single joke (hood up = Evil Superhero Girl) and it has become a cross time caper of epic proportions. It's amazing what you can pull out of your butt on a weekly basis. :D

Superhero Girl 72

2011-07-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

Dropping your sandwich peanut butter side down is the WORST THING IN THE WORLD and causes me to fly into fits of sobbing rage*.

*I am probably kidding about this.**

**Or not. It really sucks!

Superhero Girl 71

2011-07-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

Canada's Prime Minister really likes kittens. And by "really likes kittens" I mean reaaaaally likes 'em . (I can seriously never get enough of that picture. I loooove it. I would write fanfic about it if I was a fanfic kind of girl. Fortunately, I'm not.)

Stanley is a real kitty, btw. Yes, I am attempting hard hitting political satire on The Adventures of Superhero Girl this week. With kittens.

Superhero Girl 70

2011-07-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

I had to stick a Clark Kent joke in this comic at some point in time. Spectacle is a Reverse Clark Kent. She puts ON her glasses to fight crime. And I'm sure they help in fights, too, because you should never hit someone with glasses (them's the rules).

In my various attempts to make this humble blogspot a little more comic-navigation friendly, I put a link to the first comic at the top of the page, so you don't have to go back through the archives to read from the beginning. Hope it helps any new readers!

Superhero Girl 69

2011-07-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Superhero Girl and Spectacle teaming up means we can learn a little bit more about who Spectacle is. As I've mentioned before, I don't plan this strip out very far in advance, and sometimes it's really interesting how ideas take twists and turns... this plotline wasn't originally supposed to go beyond "Spectacle thinks Superhero Girl is evil and they fight."

Oh yes, and apologies to every who has purchased a Superhero Girl original and has not yet received it. A million things (postal strike, purchasing the wrong size envelopes) have conspired to prevent me from getting the originals mailed, but I promise, they will be sent out SOON. Your continued patience is very much appreciated. :)

Superhero Girl 68

2011-06-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

I enjoy Spectacle's boundless enthusiasm, especially in the face of serious property damage. No smoking roof will get in the way of her happy fun buddy movie!

If you are lucky enough to live in the Canadian Maritimes, I'm a guest at Animaritime, which is this coming weekend (yes, the July 1st weekend. No fireworks for me) in Moncton, New Brunswick. I'll be there to talk about making comics and sell my books (Zombies Calling, Ellsmere, Brain Camp and my self-published Superhero Girl book) as well as some really pretty prints and buttons and other stuff. So come and visit me and talk to me about comics. I'm hoping to find fellow Fullmetal Alchemist nerds (the manga, not the anime) with which to be super geeky and fangirly. I don't get to do this often, so am looking forward to it. :D

Superhero Girl 67

2011-06-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

So Tuesday updates it is! Tuesdays really work best for me, as Monday nights are pretty much the only weeknight I don't have something going on.

And see? Spectacle's not so stupid after all, attacking someone because they wore a hoodie with the hood up, what nonsense. There's actual photographic proof that Superhero Girl is evil! How will our hero explain her way out of this one? (Spectacle's disappearing/reappearing arm socks also cameo in this comic. I'm amazingly bad at keeping track of fashion details.)

Superhero Girl 66

2011-06-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hee hee! That whole 'holding someone at arm's length while they flail frantically at you' is kind of my favourite thing ever. I like how both Superhero Girl and Spectacle are surprised SHG can actually do that. Long arms, FTW! But don't worry about that crappy TV being smashed, Superhero Girl. Now you have an excuse to by an expensive flatscreen with all the money you don't have!

And with this comic, we are pretty much caught up with the current strips, so next week The Adventures of Superhero Girl will be going weekly instead of twice-weekly. I've been blown away by the support everyone's shown for the comic, and I hope the change in update schedule won't dissuade you from continuing to pass the SHG link around. It's been great fun to have a comic that updates more than once a week (a new thing for me!), but now the buffer's pretty much gone, so the SHG schedule must now reflect the rate at which I draw these comics ... which is one a week. :)

As for what day SHG will update, well, does anyone prefer a particular day? I really have no opinion... if there is a definite preference, I'll update that day. If not ... uh, I'll let my cat choose. :D

Superhero Girl 65

2011-06-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Oh crap! I sense possible fisticuffs in the future! Have at thee!

Well, I liked Spectacle enough that I wanted to bring her back and make her do stuff. Not quite sure what yet since I finished drawing this storyline, but I'm sure it'll be SPECTACULAR. (Or not.)

We're actually getting very close to the current comics, and when we do, Superhero Girl will be going once a week instead of twice a week. It's been awesomely fun to do twice a week updates for these past 7 months or so, but I only draw one SHG comic a week so can't go any faster than that. O wells!

Superhero Girl 64

2011-06-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend Tim (he also draws comics) deserves a co-writing credit on this one, since he came up with the idea. Once upon a time we were both Lost nerds (I hated the ending to the show, so am no longer a Lost nerd. He still is. We fight about that ending constantly), and we thought it was pretty funny that whenever Charlie The Bloody Rock God (played by the dude who also played Merry in Lord of the Rings) put the hood to his hoodie up, he turned evil. All the island trembled at the wrath of Evil Charlie. It was a very consistent character trait. Thus it's become shorthand that whenever a character walks around with the hood to their hoodie up, they are automatically Evil.

Anyway, this begins the Saga of Mistaken for Evil Superhero Girl!

Oh yeah, and thanks for all the amazing villain names for Tuesday's comic. I had kind of a disastrous work week, so I need to go through them and pick out my favourites another time, but some of them are really awesome. Nicely done, readers! Y'all the best.

Superhero Girl 63

2011-06-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

Let's think of names for all these villains! ... um ... you guys, go! I got nothing. (Evil Mime? The last guy is my favourite. I've no idea who he is or what he does, but I enjoy his snazzy mask and necklace.)

Superhero Girl 62

2011-06-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah, and that was pretty much my experience with knitting. I picked it up for about a year, because I really wanted an artsy hobby that wasn't drawing. When drawing changes from being The Thing You Do For Fun to Your Job your relationship with it really changes. Basically, sitting and drawing, which I used to do to relax, became work and I didn't want to do it in the evenings and weekends, 'cause, y'know, I'd spent 60 hours during the work week drawing. So I took up knitting. I made a hat. It took me eight months to make the hat, and I never made anything else. Knitting proved to be too much work. I wanted to do something light and easy, but like any skill, knitting needed to be studied and practiced in order to be good at it. And I didn't want to do the work.

Maybe I'll take up tennis...

Superhero Girl 61

2011-05-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

And thus begins Superhero Girl's Quest for a Hobby! I wonder how this will turn out. Far as I know, she still doesn't have a job, so I'm guessing ... not well!

BTW, major thanks to everyone who's dropped by the comic recently, passed the link on to others and left comments here, I really appreciate it. I'm really grateful for all the feedback and with it the knowledge that people really are enjoying my comics. You guys are the best!

Also, I can't believe it's June already. Well, tomorrow, but still. This year is passing far too quickly...

Superhero Girl 60

2011-05-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is how out of it I am when it comes to dating: when I drew this, I wondered if I should draw SHG's roommate and her date nuzzling, because I didn't know if it was typical to kiss on the first date. Shows what I knoooowww. Everything I know about young singles datin' I learned from watching re-runs of 'Friends.'

Anyway, soon we will learn what disastrous things happen when Superhero Girl tries to find a hobby...

Superhero Girl 59

2011-05-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hee hee! Aw, Superhero Girl. You have made the fatal mistake of thinking your cat cares about you. THEY DON'T CARE. Except when they do. But that's only on their terms and never on yours so when you REALLY need them to be supportive, they're all 'oh hai this plant is so much more interesting than you, human.'

Anyway, good call everyone who said SHG's roommate and veggie dip guy should hook up (since these strips are drawn in advance [altho we are quickly catching up to the advance stack of comics], this strip was already drawn by the time the Veggie Dip Guy strip was posted). A few strips ago someone guessed a plotline I've been thinking about for a while (like, A MONTH AGO), so now I don't know if I should do that plotline. Anyway, it was weird and psychic.

Oh, on the weekend I was complaining about drawing the comic and suggested other people draw it instead. I got a couple of hilarious faux Superhero Girl strips which you can see here and here. Adorable! Nice job, readers.

Superhero Girl 58

2011-05-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

For me the real star of this strip is the small child, who seems to be the same small child that pointed out the Emperor wasn't wearing any clothes. Way to point out the obvious, small child!

Oh, and apparently tomorrow is the apocalypse? Okay. Guess I don't have to have a comic ready for Tuesday! :D

Superhero Girl 57

2011-05-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hey, a superhero with a name! I love drawing Spectacle, with her big ponytail and arm socks. She's so cute.

Anyway, there's a long personal reason behind this strip, but I don't really feel like getting into it. Just chalk it up to 'sometimes you have crappy days/weeks/months, and you can't imagine that anyone would ever enjoy the work you're putting out there, and when they say they do, it's kind of a shock and you don't believe them' feelings. Yeah. <:)

Superhero Girl 56

2011-05-13T09:52:00.001-07:00

Yay, Blogger lives! For some reason it was in read-only mode most of last night and today, so I couldn't update the comic. But here it is at last, in all its glory. Anyway. When I designed New Superhero Girl's outfit I thought it should look like the ultimate cute nerdy girl outfit. Thus: glasses, tall socks and kneepads. XD

Since the last post was written before TCAF, I'd like to mention that my first convention with a self-published book (the SHG collection) was a HUGE success. I sold everything I brought with me, and sold out early. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and bought a book!

Superhero Girl 55

2011-05-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

LIFE LESSON TIME. Or something. I dunno.

Again, typing this from the past, but I hope everyone had a great time at TCAF and I hope I met all of you or something! It's weird trying to predict the future.

Superhero Girl 54

2011-05-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

... and then I was like "oh, whatever, just hit him with something and end this thing already" which is how many of my storylines seem to end. XD

So! If my calculations are correct (I'm typing this in the past), this weekend is the Toronto Comic Arts Festival! Please come visit me and buy a book (or two) from me at the festival (I will have copies of the self-pubbed Superhero Girl book, Zombies Calling, The War at Ellsmere, and Brain Camp as well as prints & buttons for sale)! I'd love to say hi and sketch in your purchased books and get your opinions on comics and life in general. I will be at table 206 on the 2nd floor of the library, with my awesome boyfriend Tim and my nifty friend Noreen. They will also have fun things (like buttons and prints) to sell, so buy something from them as well! Hope to see everyone there!

Superhero Girl 53

2011-05-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Readers, this is what's called a "Stalling for Time" comic while Faith tries to figure out how to end this plotline. XD That's the problem with seat-of-the-pants comic making. You go into a storyline not knowing the ending, and while I usually manage to find my way out, sometimes I'm like "ooooh, I have no idea what to do with this thing." Thus, narration comic. Which I hope you still find amusing. XD

Superhero Girl 52

2011-04-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason I imagine him speaking with a heavy Russian accent. So he's a hot Korean pop star supervillain raised in the wilds of Russia or something. Anyway, I think Superhero Girl's expression in the second last panel is my favourite part of this comic. She's so thrilled to meet this guy!

I keep forgetting to mention this, but I've self-published a collection of Superhero Girl comics. The title's been changed to avoid copyright issues (I'm calling the book Just the Usual Superpowers), and it'll be available for purchase from me at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) on May 7-8th and also at Animaritime (Moncton, NB, July 1st weekend). So if you're going to either of those conventions, please come see me and buy a book! The book collects the first 55 Superhero Girl comics with some bonus stuff like an author's note and sketches. If you're local to Halifax, you'll also be able to buy it at my local comic shop, Strange Adventures.

People have been asking if they can order the book online, and at this point I'm not sure yet. I wish there was a print on demand service that could deal with orders and shipping the book for me, as that kind of thing is really time consuming ... anyway, I'll be sure to let everyone know if I do decide to sell the book online. But for the moment it'll be convention and Halifax only.

Hope to see a couple of Superhero Girl readers at TCAF and Animaritime!

Superhero Girl 51

2011-04-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

Aw, poor Superhero Girl. Can't even go to a party without her Superhero life interrupting. Even though Superhero Girl doesn't seem to mind so much, 'cause this supervillain's a totally cute boy! Squee! Good thing Superhero Girl's a girl, otherwise this joke never would've worked.

The design credit for Mr. Sparkilypants (or whatever you want to call him) goes to my boyfriend. I wanted Superhero Girl to run up against a villain who she was kind of attracted to. But what should he look like? Boyfriend suggested "a hot Korean pop star." Probably the one in Speed Racer. Whasisname? Rain? Yes, very hot. But his hotness could not defeat the awfulness of that Speed Racer movie. Sigh.

Superhero Girl 50

2011-04-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

I am really terrible at parties, so I relate to this. Seriously. It's especially bad during the rare times I go to comic-related parties full of professionals whose work I enjoy but I can't do much but babble at them, and ... it ends badly. Parties are horrible for people who are horrible at them.

Also: Hey, it's comic strip #50! Take that ... um ... whoever doubted I could make it to comic #50! Which was probably nobody.

Superhero Girl 49

2011-04-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

And thus begins ... the Saga of Going to the Party! Or the Party Saga. Or whatever, you guys think of a cool name.

Also, I had to use the ol' "superglue the mask to the face" joke at some point, because it's really the only way those tiny little face mask things could possibly stay on. That or double sided tape, which is really only for taping celebrity boobs to low-cut outfits, and wouldn't withstand punching a ninja.

Anyway. PARTY TIIIIIME!!

Superhero Girl 48

2011-04-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure if Superhero Girl's roommate is being "nice" by saying SHG looked good fighting Marshmallow Menace, or if she actually thought SHG looked good. She seems sincere. This actually reminds me of times where I've really enjoyed something by someone (say an artwork by a fellow artist), told them so, and have been privy to very long rants about why the work is terrible.

Which, being an artist who can't stand her older work, I COMPLETELY understand. :D

Superhero Girl 47

2011-04-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Clearly the most menacing thing about the Marshmallow Menace is his terrifyingly unflattering outfit.

Superhero Girl 46

2011-04-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

There's a new supervillain in town and only Superhero Girl can stop him!! Will she be able to triumph against this adversary??? (She'd better.)

I think a lot about timing when I write and draw The Adventures of Superhero Girl. I think this strip is a good example of how pauses can make a comic a lot funnier than it actually is. That one pause in the 5th panel where the "victim" is welling up with tears still cracks me up. I remember as a much younger and less experienced art-person being put off by comic strips that didn't have a final one-two punchline (first punchline: amusing! second punchline: the actual funny one, usually in response to the first punchline. It was weird how it well it worked). Later, as a more mature and developed artist I've learned that comics don't have to follow beats in order to be funny (I'm thinking of Kate Beaton's work, and a lot of other online comics that don't use any kind of conventional timing, but manage to be pretty damn funny throughout all their panels, not just the final panel), but I still like timing a lot, and try to stretch myself to make it work when I feel it should be a part of the comic.

Anyway! I hope you have been amused by this peek into the Artists' Process. We now return to your regularly scheduled broadcast.

Superhero Girl 45

2011-04-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

This might seem like an untimely comic, but I live in Halifax, and this is typical weather for late March/early April. Seriously. We had snow last weekend. SIIIIGH.

Anyway. I've often wondered about the effect of crappy weather on crime statistics. I mean, if I was a burgeoning supervillain, intent on committing my first crime, and I looked out the window and saw snow coming down hard, I might wait for spring to start my villainy.

Superhero Girl 44

2011-04-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

New Year's Resolutions time! Superhero Girl's resolutions are very sweet, but unfortunately reality invades. I'm very impressed Superhero Girl's roommate has been able to put up with her unemployed ass this long. Paying double rent is never cool. Fortunately I've never had to deal with a mooching roommate, although I know people who have ... I've never had a bad roommate ever, actually. I've gotten sick of some, fought with some, some have bugged me, but they've always paid the rent and respected my privacy, so I can't complain.

Now I live with my boyfriend, and though I have enjoyed living with roommates in the past, it's much better to live with your boyfriend. For many, many reasons. :)

Anyway, that has nothing to do with anything, but living with people is always tricky.

Superhero Girl 43

2011-03-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

Oh hey, it's Christmas in Superhero Girl-land! Yeah. Y'see, these comics were drawn a few months ago, around Christmas-time actually, and only now are they being posted online. So there's a bit of a delay. Just when you thought you were finally escaping winter it drags you back in, muahahah!

Superhero Girl's a charitable sort, dreaming about banding together with her former foes to defeat an even larger menace. But then, it IS Christmas, and miracles always happen around Christmas.

Superhero Girl 42

2011-03-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is Superhero Girl comic number 42, which I'm sure means something. I've no idea what Kevin's superhero name or powers are (it appears he's flight-capable). It looks like he's got maybe a T and a Y on his chest, so maybe ... the Terrific Youth? XD Bahah. Terrible.

Anyway. Sometimes brothers are mean, and sometimes they're okay. This is an okay time.

Superhero Girl 41

2011-03-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Oh hipsters, I love that you make this joke possible. You and your stupid little scarves. This is CANADA! In CANADA we wear scarves that PROTECT our FACES against the COLD! Bah.

Anyway, this comic amuses me, months after I drew it, so I guess I did something right. God I love hipsters. Please, continue to be weather inappropriate so I can make jokes about it! (This will be the last hipster joke until at least the next comic. And then there will be no more. Promise.)

Superhero Girl 40

2011-03-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ooh. Someone's a hypocrite. Also, yay, hipster jokes!

... I gotta get up at 6 am tomorrow, so ... uh, insert something witty here. Oh, wait, I got one: Sometimes it sucks having to save people who're jerks! Seriously. Not everybody is nice, but if you're a superhero, you can't discriminate. Gotta save 'em all.

Superhero Girl 39

2011-03-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hah! Oh man, do I ever get this. Jealousy is the worst thing in the world, and professional jealousy (that person is SO MUCH BETTER at the job I have decided to devote my life to!) is even worse than the worst thing in the world. And it's not like you wish ... y'know, HARM to the people you're jealous of (only bad people do that and I'm not a bad person), but you wish that maybe ... they weren't quite so successful? That something, some little, not so harmful thing would maybe take them down a peg or two? Then you could feel bigger than them, rather than teeny tiny in comparison to their accomplishments.

Anyway. Tiny Kevin Christmas Tree Ornaments, coming soon to an Etsy shop near you ... (not).

Superhero Girl 38

2011-03-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Aw, Superhero Girl thinks she's found a friend, a comrade with whom she can complain about her brother! ... but he's actually packing a shrink ray gun in his skinny jeans, which is very impressive. (Insert phallic jokes here.)

The "to be continued! ... or not. Ya don't know, do ya?" is a direct swipe--er, HOMAGE to Bloom County, one of the greatest comic strips in the world, and something that allowed me to gain a great understanding of the 1980s, by reading them about a decade after they were originally published. Spiro Agnew! Apparently he was a guy that was pardoned? I dunno. Anyway. Bloom County: It Is Awesome!

Superhero Girl 37

2011-03-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Kevin has some opinions on superheroes and the reactions to them. My question is: Who defines what superheroes look like? Well, comics do, of course. And sadly comics tend to have a limited scope. Maybe that's why I made this comic about a Superhero Girl, but I dunno. I just wanted to draw something fun. I kind of fall down as an activist. I'm scared of conflict. I'll leave the activist stuff to people more eloquent than I am.

Superhero Girl 36

2011-03-04T04:54:00.001-08:00

Hey, Superhero Girl's out and about without her mask on! She remembered to take it off. IMPROVEMENT.

Don't you hate it when everyone loves someone you feel ambivalent towards? I always feel like such a jerk.

Superhero Girl 35

2011-03-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

I watched Lassie as a kid, but I found it really scary. All kidding aside, that Timmy got into some serious peril. I remember at one point being afraid to go in the wood when visiting my grandparents in the American South, because as Lassie taught me, the woods were full of mountain lions ready to pounce, and I had no loyal collie dog to save my wimpy butt.

Really, that show also ruins dogs for children. No real dog is ever as awesome as Lassie. I loved my childhood dog (an Australian Shepard named Maggie) dearly, but we never got to go on adventures like Timmy and Lassie. One of my many disappointments.

Superhero Girl 34

2011-02-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

And thus it begins. The Kevin Saga.

I'd like to apologize to all the Kevins out there for sullying your name. There's no real reason why I choose it whenever I'm going to write a character who's unlikable and/or a weenie, but it's become kind of a running thing. Sorry Kevins. You will never be the hero in a story by me. :(

I just realized this: Kevin is the first character in this comic to have a non-superhero name.

Superhero Girl 33

2011-02-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Heheh. So the Saga of King Ninja was over (for the moment), and my line of thought as I drew this strip was "OH CRAP I leave for New York Comic Con in 12 hours and I have no jeans that don't have holes in the crotch. Therefor I will quickly slap together a stand alone comic, and get the hell to wherever there are jeans without holes in the crotch and I will purchase them AHHHHHHGH."

Yeah. It was stressful. But New York was fun, and I did find some new jeans, so it all worked out in the end.

Superhero Girl 32

2011-02-18T05:53:00.001-08:00

I think the funniest thing about this is that Superhero Girl actually succeeded. She got a wanted criminal off the street, and now he's reformed and a contributing member of society. Well, one hopes. Considering all the horrible things certain businesses and business people do, maybe King Ninja's just found a new outlet for his crime. But I choose to think he's reformed through discovering his love of working in an office. It happens.

Btw, thanks so much for all the helpful opinions on self-publishing Superhero Girl, and also on the copyright issues. I have a few ideas for a title, and a few options for printers, so thanks very much for pointing me in the right direction. You guys are the best!

Superhero Girl 31

2011-02-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

King Ninja! Kind of a jerk. I mean, there's supervillainy (taking over the world, that kind of thing) and there's jerkhood which involves things like tripping old ladies and scribbling obscene drawings in library books, and King Ninja's just entered jerkhood.

So there's a couple things I want to discuss, in the hopes all you lovely folks on the internets can help me out. I finished the 50th Superhero Girl comic last week (and the 51st this week), so there's a good number of SHG comics drawn. I was thinking about self-publishing a book of SHG comics, specifically to take with me to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) in May. I'm not yet sure if I'll offer the book online for sale. That's something I think will have to be decided down the road, but I'd really like to put something out for TCAF, because I don't have anything that's wholly mine and new to sell there.

I've never self-published before. I don't know what options there are out there, so if anyone knows anything about that, options for printers especially, I'd love to hear them. I'd like to put together a decently sized (the strips are about 3.5 by 6 inches when published, I'd like to maybe have them a little bigger than that), probably perfect (square-bound) book. Any suggestions for printers or print on demand options? I'm pretty lost when it comes to self-publishing, so any help at all would be very appreciated.

There's also the matter of the comic's title. DC and Marvel own the trademark to the term "Super heroes," and if I'm going to sell this book, I potentially might get in trouble with them down the road. I find this trademark thing pretty confusing. I mean, the comic Invincible has the word "Superhero" right on its cover, and there are plenty of non-DC/Marvel superhero comics out there, so there seems to be some leniency over the issue, but I've no idea where the line is drawn. It'd be nice if I could just ask the mucky mucks over in mainstream comic land what the deal is, but that's probably not an option. Seriously, if anyone out there has firsthand knowledge about this issue, I'd love some information as to what's allowed and what's not.

ANYWAY. In order to prevent future headaches, I'm throwing the door open to title suggestions for this book. Since I'm not making money off the website, I'm hoping certain trademark holders won't mind if I keep the webcomic name the same, and publish the book with a different name. If you suggest something that I like, I'll be happy to draw you a pretty picture or something. :)

Okay, this is super-long. To recap: Looking to self-publish some SHG comics, suggestions needed for printing options. Also looking for a non-trademark infringing name. Go wild.

Superhero Girl 30

2011-02-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not terribly good at coming up with superhero names. Originally Superhero Girl was going to have an actual superhero name, but I couldn't think of one. But I think King Ninja is pretty cool. He's the king of the ninjas! And he's got a crown!

... yeah.

Superhero Girl 29

2011-02-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Before anyone points out that it's a bit unlikely Superhero Girl would forget to take off her mask a second time, let me tell you a few of the things I've done in the past couple years. I have: shown up for birthday parties a day early, shown up for speaking engagements a day early, written down the completely wrong date for a speaking engagement, despite being reminded repeatedly of the correct date. Repeatedly while running errands I forget what errands I'm running and run completely different errands before returning home where I remember what the original errand is. And last Sunday, after careful discussion with my boyfriend over what kind of pizza I was going to order for our Superbowl party, I ordered the wrong pizza.

MIND LIKE A SIEVE. I HAS IT. And so does Superhero Girl.

And the weird thing is, nothing seems to help. I write stuff down, I leave things I'm supposed to remember pinned to our apartment door, NOTHING HELPS. I just forget. It's ... BEYOND annoying.

Superhero Girl 28

2011-02-04T05:14:00.001-08:00

The city Superhero Girl protects seems to have a ninja infestation... I decided I wanted to do a comic with her punching things, since she hasn't done that a lot. This was fun to draw.

Superhero Girl 27

2011-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

I think somebody was asking how Superhero Girl gets money for buying things like capes and fancy superhero boots, and now we know. I think the idea of a government-sponsored superhero program is a good idea. It'd mean those with powers could spend time developing them and hopefully build a better society. I mean, when you think about it, there are LOTS of superheroes in the world, and they can't all be billionaire playboys or reporters with suspiciously lax bosses who don't mind them mysteriously disappearing in the middle of covering some disaster.

I got a grant to work on comics at the beginning of last year. It was wonderful. I have to hand in a report before March. Fortunately the grant was for working on my next graphic novel, which I finished and will be published in early 2012. Hopefully the grant people will be impressed, and will give me more money down the road (please?).

Superhero Girl 26

2011-01-28T04:51:00.001-08:00

Awkwaaard.

2011-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Back when my boyfriend was just some guy I worked with, he got a very short haircut and my response was pretty much the same as Superhero Girl's roommate. I still feel very bad about this.

I would like to add that I am a DEVOTED sunblock user. I put it on every day, even in winter. It's how I maintain my pasty white nerd complexion throughout the year. I'm very proud of it. I still have a few freckles, tho. Damn redhead genes...

Superhero Girl 24

2011-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

A momentous moment, readers! It's our first peek at Superhero Girl without a mask! ... although still with a mask like shape on her face. heheh. I like that Superhero Girl works regular 9-5 hours at her superhero gig. No late nights/weekends of work for her. Unlike me. :P

On a more somber note, my fellow First Second cartoonist Zack Giallongo is dealing with some crazy medical bills and is offering commissions for the dirt cheap price of $30 a pop to try and pay for them. Go here to commission some great art and help Zack out in the process. I'm a big fan of Zack's work, so ... commission him! I did. :)

Superhero Girl 23

2011-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Guess what? NOBODY WANTS TO BE THE SIDEKICK.

Seriously. That job suuuucks.

I'm not quite sure what Superhero Girl's roommate's powers would be. Maybe she could fight crime with the power of half-lidded eyes.

Superhero Girl 22

2011-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Superhero Girl's relationship with her roommate is a bit odd. The roommate knows Superhero Girl is a superhero, and seems to also have some interest in learning the trade, but ... well, you know how it's sometimes awkward when you live with the people you work with? Yeah, that's not so fun sometimes. Anyway, Superhero Girl seems to have gone from zero to Crazy Cat Lady in the blink of an eye. Not that I blame her. Cats are adorable and we were put on this earth to cuddle them and be their servants.

Superhero Girl 21

2011-01-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

When I think about someone being a superhero, most of the time it seems like a very thankless job. You see society at its worst, and if you're doing your job correctly, most of the time people don't see the feats you perform to keep them safe. I think you'd have to be really selfless to be a superhero; you essentially are in a helping profession, serving your community, and those are the people who get dumped on a lot. But sometimes someone notices what a good job you've done, and that keeps you going.

Website stuff: so I've fixed up the site a bit to hopefully make it a little nicer for viewing comics. Thanks for all the feedback, and I'll try and get around to making things a little tidier in the coming weeks. At least the site now feels like a somewhat proper webcomic site, which makes me happy. :)

Also, thanks to everyone who's purchased an original strip lately. For some reason I seem to have lost a couple of strips in the teens (16, 17 and 14), so I can't sell those, and of course a bunch of people have asked about buying those particular strips. Erk. And I've decided to keep this particular strip for myself. But some of the others are still kicking around if someone wants to give them a good home.

Superhero Girl 20

2011-01-07T04:58:00.000-08:00

This particular strip is based on a true story. A coffee shop I was a regular at took exception to me not immediately buying something, and despite recognizing me as a regular, told me I was loitering. So I turned the snotty barista into a snotty comic strip character! Oooh, cartoonist revenge.

Superhero Girl 019

2011-01-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

So guess what! Skeptical Guy? Not a supervillain, not Superhero Girl's Archnemesis. Just a jerk skeptical guy, unwilling to take Superhero Girl's word that she is indeed a bonafide superhero. Sadly, you meet a lot of people like Skeptical Guy when you're pursuing, well, anything of worth. Like, y'know, say you want to be an artist! (Well, more a storyteller, but art's part of the stories you want to tell.) Boy howdy, will you meet a LOT of people along that professional road who are only happy to "constructively critique" everything you draw or write or scribble on a page or whatever, and NOT BELIEVE you when you say you want to be a certain kind of writer/artist/whatever and ACT OFFENDED if you don't believe their non-belief in your abilities, and that can be pretty horrible. But eventually you realize, hey, those people? They aren't supervillains standing in the way of what you want (okay, some are, but most aren't), they're just annoying Skeptical Guys, and you would totally do something non-heroic to them if you weren't ... completely exhausted ... from working an all-nighterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Anyway. Art college can suck it. Yeah.

Superhero Girl 18

2010-12-31T06:13:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend summed this comic up perfectly: "You got tired of that plotline, didn't you?" Yeah, I kinda did. I always start feeling nervous when I've gone more than a couple of comics with a narrative, because this comic is going weekly in a newspaper, so I've no idea if people are actually following it from week to week. It's been an exercise in ... exercising a different part of my brain to keep the comic somewhat non-narrative. I mean, I want there to be SOME story evolution, but it can't be a continuing story the way my other comics (until now) have been.

Also: Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on how to make blogger more comic-browsing friendly. I'm busy right now, but hopefully in the new year I can make this site a little more easy to surf.

Superhero Girl 017

2010-12-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

I think it is ADORABLE you lovely readers thought of this before Superhero Girl did. Oh man you are in such shit now, Skeptical Guy.

Superhero Girl 016

2010-12-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

FOOOM is the best word ever.

I think this was the comic where I said to myself, "dude, if I am going to draw this comic, I'm going to DRAW THIS COMIC." With Superhero Girl it's always a tug of war between "I have no time for this and I get paid diddly so lets churn this out as fast as possible" and "I like this comic a lot, and I should spend time developing something just for me." Unfortunately, lack of time usually wins out.

Also, I share a page in the Coast with Mike Holmes, whose comics frequently put mine to shame, so I feel I have to catch up with him sometimes. ^_^ Go here for Mike's stuff.

Superhero Girl 015

2010-12-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

HEY LOOK WHO IT IS!

So there are a lot of inspirations for this comic, mostly in response to stuff I like or don't like in comics, superhero or otherwise. This comic came pretty directly from an Astro City story I read back in college where you were following this ordinary office lady as she navigated her way through a city of superheroes. I remember it was the first time I'd seen superheroes from the perspective of someone who wasn't super, and who was just watching them do their thing. It was nifty.

Website stuff: enough people have commented that they find the blogspot format I'm using unwieldy for reading the comics. I completely understand. I started using this format because it's very easy for me to update, and I need that (my life is stupid busy). If there are blog designs out there that utilize a more comic reading friendly format (that I can use on blogspot), or if anyone has any suggestions as how to make this blog more comic reading friendly, please let me know in the comments. Appreciate it!

Superhero Girl 014

2010-12-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hey you know when you're supposed to be doing something important, like giving a speech or talking to a freelance client on the phone, and you're so nervous you start giggling and you kinda can't stop? I think that's kinda what panel 5 is like. Also, we learn Superhero Girl is sorta fireproof but her hair and clothing isn't. Good thing this isn't a REAL superhero comic or ALL her clothing would be completely burned away except for a couple strategically placed spots HAHAHAH oh comics you make me weep sometimes.

My boyfriend pointed out the monster looks like the Uglydoll I sleep with. I told him he was crazy. Ah, love.

Superhero Girl 013

2010-12-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Superhero Girl has a few variations on her superhero outfit. This is more of a punky look ... 'cause she's going to kick some tentacle monster ass!

Superhero Girl 012

2010-12-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

All scary space monsters should have tentacles. It helps them move through ... space or something.

I grew up in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario and with an antenna you could get about 5 or 6 channels on TV, and those channels played pretty much everything, so there wasn't much point in cable. But then I moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where you can only get one channel (CTV, and maybe a very fuzzy CBC if you're lucky) with an antenna. So now I have cable, for the first time in my adult life and there are so many channels! Sadly, not a lot actual content, but whatever. I like shows about British people buying houses for some reason...

Anyway, I think Superhero Girl is watching a very fuzzy CBC on her crappy television.

Superhero Girl 011

2010-12-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

First of all, thanks to everyone who pointed out that there are lots of superheros who have non-tragic origins, so if you ever meet up with the real life version of Skeptical Guy, be sure to correct him, using sources and footnotes.

Otherwise, Superhero Girl has had a very bad day, which is about to get worse! Enter ... the plot. I try not to do "to be continued!" comics, but I've had to do two in a (so far) 41 comic run due to the restrictions of working in print. So it's totally not my fault, you guys! Anyway, it was time, I felt, for Superhero Girl to meet something that will test her superhero mettle. Something she can hopefully punch.

Also, did you know there is no spellcheck for hand-lettering? That is why "existential" is misspelled. Also totally not my fault. (Awesome local comic store Strange Adventures makes a cameo here. Way to make Superhero Girl feel bad, Strange Adventures!)

Superhero Girl 010

2010-12-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm always impressed superheroes seem to find audiences that believe they're superheroes. Y'know, "There, in the sky! It's Super-whomever!" I guess they look the part, with the tights and the muscles and good looks. I'm pretty envious of anyone who looks like they're comfortable in their hot, sexy superhero skin. I can't imagine what it'd be like to actually work in a field where looks matter. Y'know, like politics or hand-modelling. It's a-okay to be ugly and fat when you're a cartoonist! (Thank God.) Also to work in your pyjamas. I like that.

Superhero Girl 009

2010-11-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

I know it's lame to laugh at your own jokes, but this one kills me. Why? I don't know. I mean, making fun of ... ahem, a certain caped crusader's tragic past is really Not Nice, but there's something kind of annoying about how he trots out his dead parents every time he acts like a jerk and needs to justify something. Batman, you are kind of a downer and probably not much fun at parties.

Anyway! Thanks to io9 and Scott Kurtz and a few other nice folk Superhero Girl got a little bit internet famous this past weekend. Hello to all the new readers! I hope you'll stick around and leave a comment here or there. :)

Superhero Girl 008

2010-11-26T05:35:00.001-08:00

And we find out what superpowers Superhero Girl has. They're pretty standard. I like how
Skeptical Guy is really not impressed. Lifting heavy objects, leaping over tall buildings? Boo-ring.

Superhero Girl 007

2010-11-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

First of all, thanks for all the comments left on the last two strips! I appreciate it, guys. It always makes me laugh how the comics I produce that I *dislike* end up being preferred by readers... art's funny that way: you're your own worst judge of your work. ^^;;
Anyway, the above strip came out of me trying to figure out how to integrate Superhero Girl into regular life, which was especially difficult as I felt she should (almost) always wear her mask. Forgetting to take one's mask off when one is maintaining a civilian identity is a comedy goldmine that I enjoy referring to when I have creeping deadlines and my wrist hurts from drawing. :)

Superhero Girl 005 & 006

2010-11-19T07:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, you guys get two strips today! Mostly because I hate one of them, and I can't just post something I hate. I have to post something I like too. Otherwise I'll be sad.

This one is dumb. I was still trying to figure out where I wanted to go with the strip, and this is more in the direction of "clueless superhero does clueless stuff." Ugh. Usually I show my boyfriend my comics and if he giggles, I know it's a good comic. He didn't like this one, and I agree. The character doesn't even look right... her hair is all grown up and coiffed. Anyway... on to the next strip:

That's better. I felt I needed to ask myself where I wanted to go with the strip: did I really want to do something that was a straight parody of superhero comics, or something that was about a girl and her life and she just happened to be a superhero? I decided on the latter, thank god.

Superhero Girl 004

2010-11-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know Batman is a billionaire playboy and can afford to pay someone to make his outfits, and Superman's mom can sew his supersuit out of a blanket left in his rocketship, but what's the superhero on a budget to do? I always figured they'd re-purpose some leftover halloween cape. That's probably what I would do, since I can't sew. Anyway, there are way too many easy jokes to be made about superhero outfits, and I decided early into this comic I wasn't going to make them. So insert your own commentary about spandex here...

Superhero Girl 003

2010-11-12T05:26:00.001-08:00

Once I had a co-worker, a woman in her mid twenties, tell me she'd never done her laundry. Ever. Her mom always did it. The reason being that she was absolutely sure that she wouldn't be able to do her laundry correctly, and would end up with shrunk or otherwise ruined clothes. I've done my own laundry since I was 14 (y'know, 'cause that's when my mom decided she was no longer doing it for me), and I've yet to shrink/ruin anything, and I don't even separate my clothes.

Anyway, the point is that laundry ruining stories, while amusing, are about as unlikely as superheroes in real life. :)

Superhero Girl 002

2010-11-09T05:12:00.001-08:00

Happy Tuesday everyone! Here's your Superhero Girl update.

This is what I felt (at the time I was drawing this) would be the essence of the strip. Cats in trees. Later the comic evolved into something else, but I like the idea of a superhero doing really mundane thing. (Btw, the original of this comic strip is sold, so it's not available anymore.) Also, cats = adorable!