Magellan



Set on the eponymous island, Magellan is a Superhero webcomic by Stephen Crowley (aka xmung) that starts with the arrival of Kaycee Jones and a score of new cadets to the Academy, for many years of training in order to become an accredited Superhero in her own right.

Of course, before she can do that she, and all the other cadets, have to deal with the intensive training regime, the schoolyard bickering, romantic confusion, and not forgetting the murderous maniac with a vested interest to kill her and everyone else on the island...

Embracing and parodying superhero tropes in good measure, Magellan is currently telling a chapter entitled "Lock(e)down".


 * Badass Grandpa: Ken Spence, Mary Jemmas, Gola Beh — heck, pretty much the entire Advisory Council is one of these.
 * Badass Normal: Kaycee is the only true normal although pretty much all Magellan graduates are trained to badass normal levels alongside their powers.
 * Clark Kenting: "Secret Identities" is a required course in the Magellan curriculum.
 * Crossovers: Mind Mistress tutors Rochelle, Hoodoo is currently in Crossoverkill.
 * Danger Room Cold Open: the Robo-Mat provides a variety of training scenarios, using robot stand-ins of actual Magellan villains, against which the cadets are expected to prevail.
 * Disabled Snarker: Ken Spence.
 * Emotion Bomb: Freya.
 * Fan Service: Charisma gets her clothes burnt off of her an awful lot- you'd have thought she'd have invested in sturdier clothing by now…
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Aliens, magic, time travelers, mutants, hyper-technology, Psychic Powers...
 * Flying Brick: Called a "powerhouse", and several show up, including Epoch, his daughter Charisma, Bill Banks, and Captain Victoria. Their frequency is justified; they're rare in the world at large, but the titular organization deliberately attempts to recruit them.
 * Functional Magic
 * Gory Discretion Shot: The fifth story line starts off with several panels of young people getting dragged off-screen and eaten alive by monsters... but not before one nice Nightmare Fuel shot of one of the victims still alive, while a monster noshes on his freshly-dismembered arm.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Most notably Brelvis and Go!Anna.
 * Handicapped Badass: Ken Spence, who fills rather a lot of "badass" tropes.
 * Homoerotic Subtext: Fatima, providing Kaycee with an oxygen supplying kiss. Of course, another character calls attention to it...
 * I Believe I Can Fly: A number of the cast can fly, though a small number proportionally speaking. There is some diversity of flying style: one, Sioni, floats by temporarily reducing his mass to zero.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: Fatima is one of these - then again, she's half cephelapod, which is another issue entirely…
 * Legacy Character:
 * Literal Genie: I wish I were younger
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: The image at the top of the page only shows the first year cadets- there's also the other five years of cadets, the other teachers, Force Magellan, Oz Magellan, solo superheroes like Go!Anna...
 * My Grandson, Myself:
 * Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Discussed during a support group for extra-terrestrial and extra-dimensional students.
 * Not So Harmless: Evil Weevil managed to pull it out...without even appearing! We first see him in Brian's Power Fantasy, where he seems to be a Silver Age-style Harmless Villain. Then we get to know that he was an arch-nemesis of Victory Man, world's first superhero and the one behind his De-Power. And then there's an exam involving fighting his robot duplicate and trying to stop his evil plan, copy of one original Weevil once pulled out. And it aint pretty.
 * Psychic Nosebleed: Mudge Wilson.
 * Rich Bitch: Charisma fits this trope like a glove.
 * Retired Badass: Ken Spence is still the Goddamn Nitro Man, and don't you forget it.
 * Required Secondary Powers: Subverted. Redd has super-strength, but doesn't have a reinforced skeleton. She has to wear a special exoskeleton suit in order to use her strength without shattering her own bones.
 * Significant Anagram:
 * Superhero Prevalence Stages: Firmly late-stage, with international recognition and a system to train the next generation.
 * Super-Hero School
 * Superpowerful Genetics: Charisma's powers are very similar to her father Epoch's.
 * Super Registration Act: Not mentioned, but it seems implied from the international monopoly over superheroing that Force Magellan holds. Those who do not go to Magellan Academy either go to Greenslopes to be trained in noncombat uses of their powers, or don't use their powers at all.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Poor Brian...first Kaycee goes off to train to be a superhero, then his plan to impress her goes a bit pear shaped...
 * Talking Car: Dr Spooky has Otto the demon possessed hearse
 * Wall Crawl: Go!Anna.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: Gaius is quite happy living forever, but not outliving the universe.