May 6th, 2011 
Robert Iveniuk If there’s one thing Adam and I don’t have in common – aside from our ages, builds, ethnicities, and educational backgrounds – it’s our tastes. Sure, we’ll agree about the same movie or television show, but our attitudes towards certain franchises and subgenres tend to differ, and greatly. For example, Adam will gladly defend Sonic the Hedgehog to the bitter end, tattered limbs gripping his claymore of dedication as marauding bands of critics tear him asunder. I, on the other hand, believe the franchise died after the second game, and gladly aim my crossbow square at my associate’s junk.
Then there are our opinions about superheroes. Adam is content to shun the idea of enhanced humanoids solving crimes and punching each other in the face, but I personally disagree. Even if I find that most of the current writers for the subgenre have all gone insane and focus more on half-baked stories about rape and flimsy crossover nonsense, the idea of a masked freako swinging in and slapping baddies across the teeth appeals to me.
I just wish that people would remember that these stories are supposed to be fun.
Thankfully, we have the internet at our disposal. Free from the pressure of editors and sales figures, artists and writers can take their ideas to the mean streets of the World Wide Web without fear. The end result is often a disaster, but this article isn’t about the disasters. This is about The Adventures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks and The Non-Adventures of Wonderella by Justin Pierce.
I think these comics stand out because they understand the silliness of superheroics and express it differently. Superhero Girl, for example, is a slice of life story with capes and masks. Superhero comics today are guilty of trying to be more ‘realistic,’ a term that’s now synonymous with ‘gritty and sad.’ Realism doesn’t always have to be bleak, though. You know what else is realistic? Taking home a stray cat, looking for a job, going to parties, reconciling with your brother; life has its ups and downs, and focusing on the downs is a sign of insanity.
Not Pictured: Pride
Then there’s Wonderella, which wins points with me because it’s weird. With a far more sardonic sense of humour, Pierce’s comic jabs at the idea of a world populated by super-powered costumed vigilantes. This is particularly seen with the title character being amoral, insensitive, and incredibly apathetic towards the worries of the world. Wonderella doesn’t want to save the world; she just wants a footbath and a hard drink served to her by a monkey butler. It’s like taking Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson’s The Boys and repurposing it as a gag strip.
Once again, smut saves the universe
Let’s talk art styles. Just as modern superhero comics’ artists aptly portray their flashy and melodramatic tales of wonder, Hicks and Pierce do the same justice to their works. Superhero Girl has a very elastic and charming style that channels the carefree essence of the story. Wonderella, meanwhile, has a very static and simple look which won’t win points with everyone, but I find that it conveys strangeness of the comic well and is better for it.
So there you have it, two superhero webcomics that will hopefully whet your appetites. Hopefully these will entertain you while the mainstream comics industry prints out another seven million pictures of a pastel-coloured dominatrix angrily gnashing his or her teeth.
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