Heroines #1: Ted Naifeh Does Superheroes

I’m always surprised to find out what Ted Naifeh’s going to do next. My first awareness of his work was when he was exploring goth identity and gender fluidity. Then he took a sarcastic approach to the fantasy genre starring a young girl discovering her family history of magic. He’s also put out a female version of the running away to become a pirate boys’ adventure type of story, and my favorite, a twisted take on princesses that throws a barbarian into a medieval finishing school.

More recently, he’s been working on Night’s Dominion, a superhero-flavored take on a roleplaying-game-style sword-and-sorcery group. His exploration of heroism is even more obvious in his new seven-issue series, Heroines, from Space Goat Publishing.

Marcy Madison has superpowers, but even though she saved an established hero’s life during her graduation ceremony, she’s laughed at when she wants to join the Sentrymen. Her abilities are too defensive, and she’s thought to be too young by the spooky defender of the night and the bro-friendly guy who just wants to date her.

So she decides to assemble her own team, of women only, through an online ad, which may not be the best choice. Her first “recruit” has some strong and unusual opinions about where heroes can really help, but she knows her stuff.

Naifeh talks about his goals for the series — to tackle modern concerns and new ideas — in this short video clip:

I’m a bit too jaded to uncritically welcome yet another superhero book, but I want to know more, not about Marcy, but her new teammate. Someone who’s putting their life on the line to do right but who has a different definition of “right” than the usual law-and-justice costume crowd is interesting.

Heroines #1 can be preordered through comic shops with Diamond code MAR17 2017 or at the Space Goat website. The first print issue, 48 color pages, will be out May 31 at a cover price of $5.99. Or you can start reading digitally now. (The publisher provided an advance digital review copy.)