Super Temps
Super Temps is a super-hero parody comic where not only are all the principal characters are punch clock heroes and villains, but many other stock characters (from the Damsel in Distress to the mooks) are alos just working their day jobs. It's set in a world where the entire economy is based off the merchandising and media sales from the public conflicts of Supers (and the government owns a large stake in it). Additionally, everyone has a power -- most of them just suck in a comic book sense, like having all the small, lost objects show up in your dryer, or immunity to cholesterol [dead link] .
The main character is Skull Girl, who is naive, sweet, energetic, undeniably cute and amazingly competent, yet for all intensive purposes she is a Minion with an F In Evil (at least while wearing her Stripperiffic villain costume -- which she designed purposely uncomfortable in an attempt to make herself cranky and keep herself 'evil'). She is a new graduate, and after a series of failed attempts to enter the industry, finally gets her break.
The titular "Super Temps" is actually the name of the biggest super temporary-employment agency which supplies the "flavour of the week" antagonist as well as occasionally one-shot heroes for whatever capers have been planned.
The cast is large and quirky, and probably the most notable element of the comic is that it's a super-hero comic with no actual evil characters (and very little real heroics) in it.
Not to be confused with the GURPS Supers supplement of the same name, which approaches the "super-powered temp agency" from a somewhat different angle.
- Catch Phrase: "It's not cute, it's EVIL!"
- Catgirl: Jenny the Kat, obviously.
- Chest Insignia: Skull Girl has a pair of...erm Chest Insignias conveniently positioned.
- Combat Pragmatist: Both Skull Girl and Jenny the Kat have demonstrated they will do this from time to time, despite the battles being staged for the most part. Jenny shredded Skull Girl's top so she had to cover herself; Skull Girl in retaliation gave Jenny a kick to the groin.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Averted with Kim (so far) as she has been working in Skull Girl's best interests (she prevented Strife from short-changing Skull Girl's contract) seemingly with no ulterior motive (it was rumoured she was hot for Skully, but Kim has stated otherwise).
- Deadpan Snarker: Skiv, and besides drinking coffee that's all he seems to do. Iron Pants occasionally falls under this trope.
- Fan Disservice: Iron Pants, 40-something parody of Iron Man, runs around in a helmet, armoured pants, and sneakers. He has a notable beer gut and chest hair.
- Genki Girl: Skull Girl. She was banned from having coffee, sugar, or chocolate at one of her jobs as a result.
- Gentle Giant, Team Mom and Team Dad: Mr. Evil, for both the Villain AND Hero teams. Busy guy.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Shown by most of the cast when exerting their powers beyond 'slap'.
- Green Eyes: Played straight with Psychadelchick, from Hawaii and Jenny the Kat.
- The Khan: One that's actually a place.
"SASKATOOOOOOON!"
- The Load: Subverted and played straight by Jenny the Kat. She's vain, arrogant and considers herself far more competent than she is but she has also can be underhandedly cunning and hits hard (which is actually a problem since as a hero, she's not supposed to hurt anyone.)
- Ms. Fanservice: Skull Girl, while one the job.
- Must Have Caffeine: Skiv, and the moment he doesn't he apparently drops unconscious.
- One-Man Army: That is Skully in a nutshell. Her powers allow her to decimate any threat so well that she has to hold herself back. If she went off the deep-end at any point, mass destruction and chaos would ensue! (Possibly also an example of I Am Not Left-Handed or Willfully Weak.)
- Word of God: This is true of many professional supers. Mr. Evil, High Voltage, Hydromancer and even Iron Pants are all capable of mass destruction.
- Punch Clock Villain: All of them. Ironically, the 'villain' team tends to cooperate better as a team than the heroes do.
- Punch Clock Hero: All of them. Ironically, most of the heroes are incredibly dysfunctional with the exception of the leader.
- Purple Eyes: Skull Girl plays this straight with "very special", and subverts it on the "badass" side. Ironically she paints her skin white while in costume which would be more true to real life except for her purple hair.
- Smoke Out: Played straight with Skull Girl. Parodied with Jenny the Kat, who not only used one in strong wind but also did it while on top of a tower from which there'd be no way to leave unseen.
- Stripperiffic: all of the women's costumes, and they know it.
- Super Registration Act: Inverted in some respects as it's supported by the big powerful supers, played straight in that it's enforced. The union fees are steep, but as the benefits of registration include regular salary, merchandising deals and a certain degree of legal immunity for the damage caused, it's rather popular. It also helps that everyone in Super Temps does have some sort of special ability (even if it does suck).
- Technicolor Eyes: Mr. Evil has yellow, corpse-like eyes. Skiv has rarely seen red eyes.
- Webcomic Time: Oh so much. The comic has been running since 2004, and less than a year has passed in the story -- it's just approaching fall now.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Both Skull Girl and Psychadelchick; a world feature were super-powers often lead to odd hair colours. Psychadelchick is especially proud of her natural hot-pink hair colour.