The power of genre-savviness.
It occurred to me just the other day that I have been enjoying this online comic tremendously for over a year now, and never spread the wealth around. So here it is; Grrl Power is a fantastic online comic that Dave Barrack started in late 2010.
Sydney, the comic’s main character, has both interesting things in common with, and is absolutely not at all like Hope Corrigan, aka Astra and the titular heroine of my books. Sydney is a huge geek, and sort of crazy. She’s the co-owner of a comic store and is tremendously genre-savvy—something that comes in handy when she gains superpowers (sort of)—and finds herself joining ArcSWAT, the government superteam of Dave’s setting.
Grrl Power is a deconstructive superhero story, by which I mean that it consciously plays with and subverts most of the tropes of the superhero genre. But the series is neither farce nor satire (although physical and verbal humor abounds); rather Mr. Barrack takes his world as seriously as I do the Post-Event world of Astra’s adventures. While Dave’s main goal is always and obviously to have fun with it, the actual situations that Sydney, aka Halo, finds herself in get fairly serious.
Anyone who can make me laugh hard enough to cry deserves my respect. Should you read it?
I’ll pass along Dave’s own printed warning:
Grrl Power is a comic about a crazy nerdette that becomes a superheroine. Humor, action, cheesecake, beefcake, ‘splosions, and maybe some drama. Possibly ninjas.
Rated PG-13 for violence and gratuitous cheesecake (and beefcake)
Rated R for language. Seriously, Sydney has a filthy mouth.
If you’re still interested, don’t start reading it until you have an empty weekend; although Dave doesn’t update every day, he did start his rampage of superheroic insanity a few years ago and you’ve got a lot of reading and laughing to do.
Do it in a safe place.
M.G.Harmon
PS: Grrl Power has its own very good TV Tropes page. Go. Waste more hours of your life.
Marion G. Harmon, A Writer in Vegas. 
I do enjoy Grrl Power, wish I was a regular reader but it usually comes in spurts and fits. Some really great ideas for powers, especially Sydney’s “Skill Tree” (shown above) which just screams “Merlin-Type”
Speaking of letting our ideas loose, any word on the playtest document?
I’m almost at the point where I can hand over the wordfiles of the first 6 chapters of rules to playtesters who have played Fate before. Honestly, it’s more purely vanilla Fate than Strange Fate is; but there are several variations on the rules I need to get straight and into readable form.
I hope to have chapter 6 done by the end of next week, and then I’m bundling them along with a set of criteria for testing/commentary.
Awesome news! I really look forward to see the innovations / rules guidelines for the RPG.
… Not going to lie I may have already worked up concepts for a Verne-type and a Merlin-type that are designed to be as powerful, complex, and weirdly limited as possible to see if the rules can take it…
There is a reason I’m not allowed to play Super-Sorcerers when my group plays Supers RPGs…
Have you tried girl genius? That’s a good comic too. Anyone else got favourites?
Good god, I just finished a four hour archive binge on Grrl Power. Loved it. Ended up joining the Patron as well, just cus.
Bwa ha ha ha ha!
I just did the same binge, last night, on my laptop, when I really should have been sleeping, but couldn’t, due to all the laughing I was doing. As a result, I went to work, tired, sore, and heartily amused. Thanks for the heads up on this series.
Yes. I’ve read Girl Genius from the beginning.
Do you have a timeline for the RPG?
Thanks.
I want to hold the Kickstarter campaign in January, and plan on a printing/shipping date of no later than April. The playtest phase will be starting very soon.
Ah, so you’ve discovered Grrl Power? “Steeples fingers.” Eeexcellent…
More excellent than you know.