Hero Squared

Superhero Comic Book series running from 2007-2009, created by Keith Giffen and J.M DeMatteis and published by Boom!Studios.

In one universe, Milo Stone is a lazy, immature and irresponsible slacker. In another, he is Captain Valor, a whiter-than-white-bread superhero. When Valor's universe is destroyed after a calamitous battle with Valor's arch-nemesis, Caliginous, Valor finds himself on Milo's doorstop trying to adapt to a universe without any kind of superheroes at all.

Forced to live with each other, the two versions of Milo discover a warm, reciprocal loathing for each other; Valor is less-than-impressed with Milo's selfishness and complete failure to make anything of his life, whilst Milo resents Valor's smug self-righteousness and over-simplified view of the world and how it works. Romantic tensions also arise between the two; Valor has taken a shine to Milo's long-suffering girlfriend Stephie, whilst Caliginous -- an alternate version of Stephie, whose relationship with Captain Valor ended very, very badly -- has followed Valor into the real world, and has taken a shine to Milo...


 * Black and White Morality: Captain Valor's view of the world is based largely on this. It's gradually subverted throughout the series, however.
 * The Cape (trope): Valor.
 * Deconstruction: Of Valor's Black and White Morality and the concept of The Cape (trope); Valor means well, but his actions outside of a comic book are in many ways just as destructive and irresponsible as the super-villains he battles.
 * Grey and Grey Morality: All of the characters are ultimately flawed-but-decent people. Even the supervillain, strangely enough.
 * Heroic BSOD: Valor experiences one of these.
 * Holier Than Thou: Captain Valor. His self-righteous condemnation of Milo's various shortcomings, including his previous adultery on Stephie, are somewhat undermined by revelations about his conduct in the alternate universe;
 * Odd Couple: Valor and Milo.
 * Only Sane Woman: Stephie's probably the most down-to-earth character in the book.
 * Other Me Annoys Me
 * The Rashomon: One issue deals with the destruction of Valor's universe in flashback, from both Valor and Caliginous' perspectives; both, naturally, vary significantly, and we never really find out whose was closer to the truth.
 * Smug Super: Valor, in some ways.
 * Ten-Minute Retirement:
 * There Are No Therapists: Subverted; the penultimate issue pretty much involves forcing Captain Valor and Caliginous to meet Milo's therapist and work through their respective issues together, with Milo and Stephie getting some pointers while they're at it.
 * The Woobie: All of the characters at some point, but surprisingly Caliginous might just be the biggest out of all of them.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Definitely Caliginous.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Definitely Caliginous.