Special School

Welcome to Special School.

This is the tale of a government-sanctioned class for super-powered humans, offered as part of the curriculum in a small-town university in upstate New York. The university gets extra funding, the students get course credit and special powers training, the government gets a well-trained, civic-minded generation of super-powered humans with some measure of debt and/or gratitude toward them; everybody's happy. At least, in theory.

Special School is a web comic by Andy Mason, which has been running since 2005. It can be read here.


 * A God Am I: Nefarius. He's more or less right.
 * Anything That Moves: Manny. Bisexual and not picky, although he's currently kind of dating the bouncer of a local nightclub for supers.
 * Badass Teacher: Coach Julian. He is a superhero, after all.
 * Casanova: Manny.
 * Code Name: They're not supposed to have them.
 * Cool Teacher: Again, Coach Julian.
 * Cyborg: Karne, Manny's kind-of boyfriend.
 * Dope Slap: Ruby to Iain.
 * Extranormal Institute: Obviously, although it's more of a "course" than an "institute."
 * Fan Service: The shower scene.
 * Mistaken for Gay: Iain.
 * Mundane Utility: Ruby uses her power to start the stove because the ignitions broken.
 * Nigh Invulnerable: Iain. It's not his skin that's invulnerable, though - whenever he's hit with something, purple armour appears on the area of impact before he can be hurt.
 * Power Trio: Iain, Ruby, and Manny.
 * Psychic Powers: Manny, although not in the typical sense. He knows subconsciously exactly what to say/do to get what he wants. This makes him very good at talking people into bed. He's also used it to talk a veritable god out of leaving Earth, at least temporarily. He is, according to his bio on the cast page, "potentially the most powerful telepath on the planet."
 * Secret Identity: It was Iain's secret identity being penetrated that set off the plot.
 * Shock and Awe: Ruby.
 * Shout-Out: The Apartment that they live in is called Christopher Reeves Residential. Also Iain wears shirts referencing other superheros.
 * Super Registration Act: ARMS.
 * And Then What?
 * Flat What: 5 Jan 2010