Spinnerette/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Cast page for main characters in Spinnerette.

Columbus Superheroes

Heather Brown a.k.a. "Spinnerette"

A grad student at "Ohio State Research University" who works under Dr. Lambha. Thanks to an accident involving her klutzy ways and the doctor's new "prototype genetic infusion chamber," she has found herself imbued with superpowers derived from spiders. This includes having the proportional strength of a spider ("GIRL ABS!") and super-healing along with six arms and high-tensile spider thread that shoots out of the base of her spine. However, she's not the only super-human person around.


Marilyn Seong a.k.a. "Mecha Maid"

A girl wearing an anime-inspired Meido outfit with the power to fly and shoot missiles. Turns out to be just a powered suit for a girl suffering from the very real ALS disease. While the suit (or more specifically, the headband) allows her to accomplish superhuman feats, the disease means she only has a couple years left to live. Korean-American; a big fan of the anime Mahoromatic, whence she got the inspiration for her outfit.

  • Action Girl
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: She's finally able to tell Heather how she feels at the end of Chapter 8, but the situation is less than ideal
  • Badass in Distress: Whenever her armor is shut off, she ends up as this, often to be saved by Heather.
  • Berserk Button: She's quick to arm a missile on anyone who thinks to harm Heather.
  • Brick Joke and Wham! Episode: There is a very good reason Marilyn's musical instrument of choice is the flute.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Yes, she is interested in Heather. No, she isn't able to tell her until the end of Chapter 8.
  • Disability Superpower: Her armour was originally developed to counteract her paralysis.
  • Fourfer Token Minority: Asian, lesbian, wheelchair-bound and terminally ill..
  • Handicapped Badass: Outside of her Powered Armor she's confined to a wheelchair with ALS.
  • Important Haircut: Very subtly in Chapter 8, when she reveals that she's been using parts of her suit 24/7 for months just to be able to breathe. Her hair, formerly long, black, and straight, is now shorter, and apparently identical in color to her Mecha Maid wig. (It's also disheveled, but that's likely because she's lying in a hospital bed on a respirator.)
  • Mukokuseki: It's unlikely anyone would have known she was asian if the comic hadn't told us. (Although that's only with her headset and armor on. As a civilian, her ancestry is more evident.)
  • Ninja Maid
  • Power Armor
  • Precision F-Strike: Though usually calm and rational, she gets very frustrated with Heather's trademark pluckiness while trying to discuss the subject of her mortality.

Marilyn: God damn it, Heather! Stop making this so hard!

  • Reed Richards Is Useless: Invented a device that lets paralyzed people walk, and just uses it for crime-fighting.
    • She claims that she's afraid the tech would be used as a weapon. Given that Dr. Universe's backstory currently suggests that this exact thing happened to him (U.S. military swooped in and tried to steal his research and kidnap his assistant), it's not all that ridiculous a fear.
  • Super Strength: Mecha Maid's superhuman strength derives not from her armor, but from her own muscles, augmented by technology in her maid headband. The armor itself provides weaponry and flight capabilities.
  • Tareme Eyes: In her upbeat super identity.
  • Transparent Closet: Her attraction towards Heather is pretty obvious, especially for Sahira. However, she chooses to hide her true feelings from Heather.
  • Tsurime Eyes: In her melancholy civilian identity.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: Comes with the territory of having a terminal illness.

Jeff Coleman a.k.a. "Tiger"

Formerly a police officer who was given superpowers by the previous "Tiger" after he was shot during a robbery gone wrong. His main traits include super-strength and a short temper, but he knows a lot of hidden superhero history. His Canadian ex-wife divorcing him over his alter-ego lead to an irrational prejudice against Canadians.

  • Badass Mustache
  • Berserk Button: Many. Being called 'Black Tiger', comparing his 'Spirit of the Tiger' to steroids, and any mention of Canada.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: He is deeply angered by the idea that he gained his bulk via steroids rather than intense training and drinking lots of protein shakes.
    • In the book-only Chapter 5, this is hinted to not be entirely true. The Spirit of the Tiger does indeed account for some of his musculature.
  • Comes Great Responsibility: Ultimately why he continued to be a superhero despite his wife's protests.
  • Genius Bruiser: Is a skilled detective and the most reasonable of the Ohio Superheroes.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper
  • Heroic Build: And how!
  • I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Appears to have inherited the Spirit of the Tiger from a mortally wounded old man.
  • Noble Bigot: Dislikes Canadians, but is willing to work together with the League of Canadian Superheroes despite his misgivings. Thankfully, he grows out of it.
  • Shirtless Scene: Here and here.
  • Team Dad: He sees his teammates like his daughters and thus gets quite overprotective of them.


Villains

Alexis Woodrow a.k.a. "Evil Spinnerette"

A young girl who claimed to take up the spider motif before Spinnerette. Used magic and instructions gathered from Dungeons & Dragons books to turn herself into an avatar of the spider queen. Defeated by Spinnerette, but got off with a relatively light sentence as she was legally considered a minor in the eyes of the US justice system.

  • Action Girl
  • Alpha Bitch: complete with two underlings, Dakota and Julian the latter of whom she transforms into a spiderwoman because if he'd remained male, he would have been a lot smaller and a tasty snack.
  • Arachnid Appearance and Attire
  • The Atoner: In Issue 7, she voiced regret for turning herself into a Drider, and voiced interest in somehow reversing the transformation. Ultimately averted, it was all an act.
  • Badass Abnormal
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: She knows a baited a trap when she sees one. She's also perceptive enough to not just identify but successfully search for superheros in their civilian disguises. And can catch on to Les Yay undertones. And construct a ruse based off the plot devices her opponent's most likely to fall for given a list of the comic books she likes most.
  • Card-Carrying Villain
  • Evil Counterpart: To Spinnerette
  • Evil Laugh: How she generally introduces herself.
  • Foe Yay: Appears to genuinely like Heather, despite their differences
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Turned herself into a 'Drider': human torso, the lower body of a spider.
  • It's All About Me
  • Karma Houdini: Because of her status as a minor (and her rich family), she couldn't be tried in a court of law, despite numerous instances of breaking-and-entering, theft, illegal use of magic, and assault, and more or less got off with a light sentence. In Chapter 7, she creates two more Drider minions and soundly beats Heather in one-on-one combat, and leaves the city, facing no repercussions.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: Alexis' upbringing appears to have been both wealthy and painfully stultifying, with implications of endless and unnecessary (to Alexis) sessions with psychiatrists, doctors, and clergy. (Played with a bit though; Dakota and Julian are definitely friends, even though Alexis threatens to kill them both if Heather won't fight her.)
  • Manipulative Bitch
  • Meaningful Name: Arguably her last name Woodrow.
  • Most Common Superpower
  • Of Corsets Sexy
  • Spider People: She's a drider. And she's now got two drider minions at her command.
  • Teens Are Monsters: She's only 16, and unlike Dr. Universe and Greta Gravity, has no sympathetic backstory to explain her Start of Darkness. She became a villain pretty much For the Evulz.
  • Walk the Earth: The true motivation of Alexis' confrontation with Spinnerette: to get the hell out of Akron.
  • Younger Than They Look: She's only 16!


Dr. Universe

An Objectivist Evil Genius who is working with Dr. Lambha on an unspecified project. Dr. Universe was once a respected scientist researching the "Cherenkov-Kirby Reaction" but reportedly turned evil after he read an Ayn Rand novel.


Greta Gravity

Dr. Universe's well-endowed assistant, she and Heather do not get along. Greta has the power to create her own localized gravity fields, which lets her pick up and throw objects of almost any size.

Kugelblitz

An elderly Nazi plotting to resurrect Adolf Hitler by infusing a clone with his soul.

Maus

A tall and heavily muscled Nazi Super Soldier who acts as Kugelblitz's dragon.

Roberta Lee

The great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Robert E. Lee. She plans to clone him and raise the clone to lead the Confederates anew.

Legion of Canadian Superheroes

Werewolf of London, Ontario

A Canadian werewolf who usually goes by the name London. Annoyed that there aren't many high-level superhero jobs in Canada.


Green Gable

A descendant of the original Anne of Green Gables. Despite being a male, his family made him wear the girly outfit, on the basis that Green Gable is a Legacy Character passed from mother to child, and just because that child is a boy is no reason to end the tradition.


Katt O' Nine Tails

A French-Canadian catgirl with nine prehensile tails. According to Heather, she was working at an animal shelter and somehow found a magical cat that hid there since the War of 1812.


Other

Sahira

Heather's well-endowed roommate and confidante at school. Sews outfits for Heather and generally puts up with her antics while she stumbles around trying to get the hang of her powers. Also leans on the fourth wall on occasion by pointing out how impossible some of the spider powers are. Of Indian descent (she wears a bindi on her forehead).


Dr. Lambha

Working with Dr. Universe on some unspecified project. The main researcher at the lab where Heather works.

  • Bad Boss: Often leaves Heather to work alone in the lab, insisting that she stay up all night if she has to.
  • Jerkass
  • Hair-Trigger Temper
  • Hollywood Science: He angrily lampshades how a TV reporter understands nothing about genetics when she makes a remark about how his research into spider mutations could help find a cure for fatness.

Minerva

Cerberus and guardian of Hell whose job is to capture wayward evil spirits and bring them back.

Buzz Rickards

A security guard at the university. Currently dating Sahira.

Darien

The cute guy next door. Both he and Heather have a mutual interest in each other...but things just keep getting in the way.

  • Die for Our Ship: A rather vocal faction of Spinnerette/Mecha-Maid shippers assert that he must be an asshole.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: He seems genuinely interested in Heather, but can't ever score a date with her thanks to her superhero career. When he finally does, she leaves early to sort out her feelings with Marylin once and for all.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy
  • Love Interest: Heather would like to think that he is, anyway. She even states that he's the Mary-Jane Watson to her Peter Parker.

Super MILF

A superheroine who used to be Ms. Venus but got shut down by DC's lawyers due to her costume looking too much like Power Girl. She had several children and came back Hotter and Sexier.

  • Action Mom
  • Boobs of Steel: Her powers come from her "Venusian Bosom". Her Cleavage Window is stated to be ventilation since they generate heat.
  • Buxom Is Better
  • Hot Mom
  • One-Scene Wonder (she has only appeared in a single panel to date, with several passing mentions by other characters thereafter, but everyone brings her up whenever the well-endowed women of this comic are discussed).

Benjamin Franklin

One of the founding fathers, lost in time. After an incident where he saved Hitler's life, a convenient time traveler dropped him off in 2002 to prevent the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. He failed, but makes up for it via superheroics in other areas.

  • Badass: Invented time travel. From a musical instrument.
  • Big Good: Is the leader of the American Superheroes Association.
  • Compound Interest Time Travel Gambit: How he initially funded the ASA, though now they get most of their cash from merchandizing.
    • Truth in Television, minus the time travel, and the ASA. He donated $1,000 each to two cities, to be invested for 100 years.
  • Cool Old Guy: Its Benjamin Franklin, what'd you expect?
  • Dirty Old Man: Of course. He was leering down a woman's cleavage when he was sent through time.
  • Full-Frontal Assault: A little nudity didn't stop him from engaging in Good Old Fisticuffs when he first became time-displaced.
  • Super Luck: As long as the timeline he's in depends on him surviving to invent time travel, anything in that timeline that tries to hurt him will luckily miss, and any attack of his will be a lucky perfect shot.
  1. ↑ In fact, this may actually be an inversion within the context of the story; when the younger Nazi, Maus, hits on her, her enthusiasm for her homeland (one of the most multicultural in the world, therefore a Nazi's worst nightmare) leads to a very weirded-out Nazi.
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