Hero Material



"Sarge: "So, you want us to go to Hell?"

Azrael: "Exactly.""

Hero Material (original Finnish name Sankariainesta) is a webcomic by Roope Sorvo, earlier known mainly as author of Aivoton Aikamatka.

Archangel Azrael summons together six very different heroes: The Detective guy, drunk, chain smoking private detective; King Arthur of Camelot, old and wise heir to the throne; Sarge, grizzled and shell-shocked war veteran; Heracles, the mythical Greek Demigod; Captain Obvious, your friendly neighborhood superhero; and Guitar Hero, a middle-aged junkie rock star. Azrael has a task for our heroes: Ominous dark powers are slowly corrupting the world. So our six heroes must journey to Hell to find out the source of the darkness. But first they would have to learn to get along...

Hero Material is notable for that it takes it cliche'd premise and parodies the hell out of it. The comic can be found here in English, and for original Finnish version, go here.

Hero Material contains examples of:

 * The Ace: Captain Obvious.
 * Affectionate Parody: Of superhero comic books, and hero stories in general.
 * The Alcoholic: The Detective Guy carries a bottle of whiskey with him at all times in best Film Noir fashion.
 * Art Shift: Page 10, which uses different kind of shadowing to make more of a storybook look.
 * Whenever the Detective Guy starts his monologuing, everything turns more Film Noir-ish and darker.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Despite being a good 20-30 years older than other heroes, King Arthur can still lay the smack down as everyone else.
 * Badass Beard: King Arthur.
 * BFS: Fawsté's sword about twice as big as he is.
 * Beware the Silly Ones: Given the comedic nature of the work, everyone is a bit silly. Most of those people are also deadly.
 * Big Good: Archangel Azrael. Though he is more of Deadpan Snarker than your usual benevolent divine entity.
 * Big No: Sarge at the end of his introduction page, when one of his privates gets shot and dies.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Captain Obvious.
 * Captain Obvious: Captain Obvious. Duh.
 * Clark Kenting: Captain Obvious' secret identity disguise consists of fake moustache and glasses. He even leaves his superhero mask under them.
 * Cool Old Guy: King Arthur.
 * Crazy Enough to Work: Captain Obvious' plan to distract the guards.
 * Deal With the Devil: Fawsté the Victorious does this to avoid dying in the battlefield.
 * Deconstructor Fleet
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:  eventually does this to the Devil.
 * Double Meaning Title: Hero Material as in the actual piece of materia the heroes receive from Azrael, and also as in the potential our main characters possess to become true heroes.
 * Even Mooks Have Loved Ones: Invoked with Skeleton Soldier Colin's skeletal wife and children.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Sarge.
 * Detective Guy and Guitar Hero also qualify, though no names are used for them in-work.
 * Evil Makes You Ugly / Evil Makes You Monstrous:
 * Expressive Shirt: King Arthur's sun eblem changes it's expression depending on the surrounding events.
 * Face Palm: Several, usually from Detective Guy.
 * Fallen Hero: Fawsté the Victorious.
 * Fire and Brimstone Hell
 * Five-Man Band: Averted, even though the hero group composes of five men for the most time.
 * Floating Continent: Azrael's Castle.
 * Funetik Aksent: Interesting variation: King Arthur speaks Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe complete with different font and big, ornated initial letters.
 * Funny Background Event: Everywhere. For Shout-Outic ones, see Shout-Out.
 * When Heracles releases Cerberus, it can be seen chasing one of Azrael's servants and eventually catching him.
 * Outside Arthur's Castle there are a bunch of cows assembling as a tower in order to climb up the castle wall.
 * After sitting by the campfire Sarge accidentally sets the photo he's holding on fire without him noticing it. It burns in his hand for couple of panels before he eventually shakes the fire out.
 * Heracles is seen quoting Hamlet with one of the skulls he has decapitated. Then he collects a few more, starts juggling with them and eventually gets his head stuck inside one. Then he proceeds to scare the crap out of
 * Ho Yay: Lots. Including Arthur trying Heracles's bicep.
 * The Load: Guitar Hero.
 * Love Makes You Evil:
 * Manly Tears / Single Tear: Here, where Sarge is remembering his fallen friend.
 * Meaningful Name: Fawsté is weird derivative from Faust. Fitting considering his Deal With the Devil.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: "Hey, doesn't this guy look like that Captain Oblivious?"
 * Oral Fixation Fixation: Sarge is constantly chewing on some kind of straw.
 * Perma Stubble: Sarge and the Detective Guy.
 * Phrase Catcher: "Thank you, Captain Obvious!"
 * Punch Clock Villain: Many of the guardians of Hell seem to be this.
 * Punctuated for Emphasis: "You. Can't. Be. SERIOUS!"
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The group of six heroes. While they're claimed to be the greatest heroes of their times, that still doesn't prevent them to not being able to stand each other.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Arthur Again.
 * Sanity Ball: Tossed around a lot, but the Detective guy and Sarge are the most prominent holders.
 * Shout-Out: Apart from Arthur's numerous Monty Python references, we have following:
 * Heracles's shield is identical to the one Hercules carries in the Disney adaptation.
 * The Mad Scientist Captain Obvious catches during his introduction page is called Dr. Merkwürdliebe.
 * A Team Fortress 2 Sentry can be seen among the Mad doctor's devastated machinery.
 * The two cops arresting Dr. Merkwürdliebe are modeled after the idiot cops in Superbad.
 * The flying house from Up can be seen drifting behind Azrael's window.
 * A skeletal version of American Gothic Couple can be seen hanging on the wall of the Skeleton Mooks.
 * The two skeleton soldiers we meet are named Colin and Ryan.
 * The priest orating Colin's funeral is Frollo.
 * Sarge's childhood flashbacks are very similar to scenes in Calvin and Hobbes.
 * Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness: Very deep in the Silly end.
 * To Hell and Back: Fawsté's Roaring Rampage of Revenge consists largely of this. The result is Shrouded in Myth.
 * Wham! Episode: Pages 24-25, when it's revealed that.
 * What Measure Is a Mook?: There's a two pages showing us how one unlucky Skeleton Soldier gets mauled by our heroes. Then they thrash his funeral and kill all the skeletal guests.
 * Whole Costume Reference: King Arthur has very similar attire to the one Monty Python's King Arthur wore.
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Guitar Hero seems to be the Only Sane Man of the hero group, and even acknowledges the fact that he's a musician, not a real hero. Then he lets the heroes carry on without him, which means leaving him alone and defenseless.