Strong Female Protagonist

[rowyn]

Someone on Twitter -- I forget who, alas -- posted a recent strip from Strong Female Protagonist with a link to the comic. I read the strip out of context and then went back to read the archives. Despite the genre-savvy name, it's a serious strip, more drama than anything else. It's a superhero comic that's not, for the most part, about winning by punching things. It's different people with superpowers, most of them trying to Do the Right Thing, often in vastly different ways. There's a lot of slice-of-life stuff, "ordinary day in the life of a person with superpowers". There's also some superhero vs villain fights, and hero vs vigilante, and people with superpowers trying to figure out how to effect real change rather than using their powers to punch stuff.

There's some dystopia in it, in the sense that "most people have no powers and a few can do amazing things" is always a dystopian premise. I almost quit reading over an early revelation of 'big world-spanning evil plot' but I stuck with it. The comic also has long discussions of philosophy and ethics. It reminds me a little of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, but with more recognition that a single person can't clever their way into solving all the world's problems.

There's quite a lot of archives to read -- 800+ pages, I'd guess. It took me a few days to get through. Good stuff, definitely recommended. No idea when or if the major plot line is going to wrap up, although individual story lines do run their course.

Comments

[tuftears]

I've been really enjoying the comic as well. ^.^

[terrycloth]

Sounds interesting. Maybe I'll take a look.

Personally and Backstory Matter Also

[(Anonymous)]

Your point about settings with a powerful few being dystopian got me thinking about what the mechanism is for that dystopian feel. The world that hates and fears heroes seems like a big part of it, but as baked in as that is in X-Men, it’s not automatic in, say, Superman or Captain America. You can pit Superman against the US government by making Lex Luther President, but there are lots of ways to write stories with a popular hero like him where the threat is seen as external so the fight against it doesn’t put the hero’s popularity at risk.

[archangelbeth]

Just started on this recomendation! Thanks!

[zeeth_kyrah]

I suppose I should catch up on it sometime. I started reading a few years ago, but then dropped out when I couldn't keep up with more than a handful of basically anything due to stress and homelessness. Things have mostly improved, but while I have the bookmark I haven't picked back up on SFP.

[canis_lupus03]

Thanks for the recommendation, just finished it, (well, or caught up with it), and I really loved it! (If you're wondering why I haven't given Frost a look, this is why, XD)