On My (Virtual) Shelves: GrrlPower

Sydney: "Inverse Ninja! Inverse Ninja!"

Vehemence: "… Heed your genre-savvy protégé, Colonel; the main event is indeed about to start."

 

A webcomic by Dave Barrack that started back in 2010, GrrlPower updates twice a week. A superhero comic, it focuses on a predominantly female cast and is specifically centered on the mystery and (mis)adventures of Sydney Scoville, a rail-thin, ADHD (medicated, and the medication isn't strong enough), genius ultra-geek girl in a world where comics aren't the only place where you'll see superheroes.

Sydney gets involved with superhero business for two reasons: first, she has the fight version of the fight-or-flight reflex, which causes her to attack a bank robber viciously when grabbed, and second… because she has a unique set of artifacts, a halo of seven crystalline orbs that bestow upon her various powers ranging from flight to a force field to an energy beam (with two still unknown at this time). In a world where most supers' powers are natural, she's an anomaly; she's also one of only two ordinary-looking members of the super-team as natural superpowers are accompanied by super-perfect physiques.

GrrlPower's strengths come from Dave Barrack's deep knowledge of the comic book and geeky field in general and the way he has chosen to play with them. The main character is a deliberately genre-savvy girl in a world that, at least to some extent, works with those genre conventions; she is a hyperkinetic genius with an oddball approach to super-situations that both proves useful… and provides the reader with endless amusement.

At the same time, the other characters anchor us in a serious world. Sydney Scoville may be something of a loon, but the rest of the ARC team are a diverse and generally serious and competent set of people whose main focus is in protecting the world from the increasing threat of super-powered beings.

Barrack has also explicitly stated that he finds the most interesting part of comic-book series the character interactions – the discussions between people, the exploration of the world and interactions of those people with the world and the non-combat events therein – and he delivers. Long stretches of GrrlPower are talking, exploring people's abilities, speculating on the meaning of various events, and simply doing things like going out to eat and seeing what that means when the people going out are super-beings.

Still, it is a superhero comic, and when combat happens, it delivers – both in humor and in sheer awesomeness. We've had only one really major fight, but it went on for quite a few comics from start to finish, and had a number of Crowning Moments of Awesome.

While I love Sydney to death (and would've wanted to date her in a flash if I'd met her as a teen), and Maxima, Harem, Dabbler, and even Math are loads of fun, I have to say that the biggest single standout of the cast is one that isn't even a regular: their first real enemy, the incredibly powerful and unfailingly stylish adversary named Vehemence. His power is innovative and the way in which he orchestrates the combat was masterful.

I look forward eagerly to every Monday and Thursday to see where the story's going. There are plenty of mysteries left – we still don't really know anything about the orbs' origin; two of them still haven't shown what they can do; several other characters seen in momentary flashes have clearly set… something in motion, but we don't yet know what. This is one of my favorite webcomics, and I very highly recommend it to anyone who likes superheroes, snark, and awesomeness!