Strong Female Protagonist Book One - Softcover

Mulligan, Brennan Lee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692246185 ISBN 13: 9780692246184

Publisher: Top Shelf Productions, 2014

Synopsis

• With superstrength and invulnerability, Alison Green used to be one of the most powerful superheroes around. Fighting crime with other teenagers under the alter ego Mega Girl was fun — until an encounter with Menace, her mind-reading arch enemy, showed her evidence of a sinister conspiracy, and suddenly battling giant robots didn't seem so important. Now Alison is going to college and trying to find ways to help the world while still getting to class on time. It's impossible to escape the past, however, and everyone has their own idea of what it means to be a hero....
• After a phenomenal success on Kickstarter, Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag bring their popular webcomic into print, collecting the first four issues, as well as some all-new, full-color pages!

About this title

About the Author

Brennan Lee Mulligan is a writer, actor and improviser based in Los Angeles. He performs, writes and teaches at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, acts and directs for Story Pirates, and has had his work optioned, purchased and produced by production companies in LA and NYC. His acting work has been featured on Funny or Die, Above Average, College Humor and the New York Fringe Festival, and he owns well over 5 swords. 

Molly Ostertag lives in Los Angeles and works at Disney. She draws Strong Female Protagonist and many other comics, including Shattered Warrior from First Second, Castoffs from Roar, and The Witch Boy from Scholastic (fall 2017). She's been drawing SFP since sophomore year at the School of Visual Arts, and it's been quite a journey! She has a perfect cat, is a snappy dresser, and can cook a great steak.

From School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up—Alison Green, aka Mega Girl, lives in a dark world fraught with difficult relationships. She is a biodynamic, who, along with other young people who possess special capabilities, rejects her role as a superhero and attempts to revert to the life of a "normal" college freshman. However, because she retains her extraordinary abilities, she encounters situations that test her resolve to no longer use her powers. Good versus evil, the possibility of world change, and the worth of an individual life are among the deep and complex concepts explored in this volume. Ostertag's emotion-filled images and expressive faces draw readers into the world created with realistic black-and-white line drawings and an occasional full-page color panel. A narrator speaks directly to readers via footnotes at the bottom of each page. While sometimes interesting and necessary to understand Alison's backstory, at times these comments become annoying and disrupt the flow of the story. Due to the ongoing nature of the webcomic in which Mega Girl first appeared (strongfemaleprotagonist.com), some of the book's story line and characters are not fully realized. Aspects of the book, such as the heavy infusion of profanity, make this title more appropriate for older teens. An exploration of similar issues can be found in Faith Erin Hicks's The Adventures of Superhero Girl (Dark Horse, 2013), in which a female protagonist has to negotiate supernatural and mundane worlds. VERDICT This graphic novel for mature young adults might create new fans for the webcomic, but will leave most readers unsatisfied.—Barbara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

Edition details

• Publisher: Top Shelf Productions
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0692246185
• ISBN 13: 9780692246184
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 220