The ironic (or possibly fironic) thing is that although knowing this about Mack gives her more depth and moves her away from the bundle of cliches that she was, it ALSO gives her some Tragic Backstory, which just increases her value to the system in those same cliched ways.
Discuss.
Jerden on March 13, 2013 at 3:54 PM
ParanoidSpy on March 13, 2013 at 5:43 PM
People who want to lead happy lives?
xero on March 22, 2013 at 11:57 PM
yea i’ll take trying to live up to a legacy over a ditz anday of the week
Laura on June 20, 2013 at 4:03 PM
I don’t. I don’t want one. Please.
ParanoidSpy on March 13, 2013 at 5:43 PM
The alt-text. Way to make me cry over what had been a laughable cliche.
Syncline on March 13, 2013 at 8:04 PM
yeah, A-t FTW.
Maybe Mack will have a decent radiation accident … although she kinda IS a light-based radiation accident all the time….
kaci on March 13, 2013 at 10:25 PM
so…. ex boyfriend (Drake?) is dating roomie’s friend (Chris) who is also his sidekick? yes? no? just making it more awkward to bring it up?
Datatroll on March 14, 2013 at 1:59 AM
It took her sidekick less than a day to be more proficient with her abilities than she was, kick more ass than she did, and be more efficient about it than she is. Mack isn’t stupid, but I think she spends a little too much time alternating between the pitty pot and the glamour girl image she is trying to maintain. If she tried as hard to be a hero as she does to look like she thinks they should, she would likely be kicking some ass.
Been reading this comic for a long time, and frankly I have been waiting for either Mack to get her shit together or die. Nice to see there might be some movement in the general direction of making her a better character.
(Which is not to say I don’ love the comic, I really do. But, you asked for discussion.)
Prince Charon on March 26, 2013 at 4:29 PM
Mostly agreeing with Datatroll, here. I kind of suspect her knowing that she’s not to bright, and knowing that she’s not terribly competent, fed her self-esteem problems, which is why seeing Sidekick Girl use her powers better than her didn’t give her the kick in the pants she needed to start improving (instead, it probably made her self-esteem issues *worse*).
Low self-esteem is something that’s hard to dig your way out of. Good thing she has someone to help her, who now knows more about what the problem is.
Super Poopy Diaper Girl on March 14, 2013 at 6:58 PM
It’s not a tragic background story.
It’s a character’s life.
This web comic is titled “Sidekick Girl”. It has always been about the sidekicks, the downstairs of the mansion.
My super power is I can change a poopy diaper.
It’s not much, but see what happens if the diaper is never changed.
Mack does her job.
I know some real heros, and they all say that boredom in underrated.
BrogueTheRogue on July 20, 2014 at 11:36 AM
Prior to this, Illumina was probably the weakest character in the story. I’m interested to see where she goes now, because now she has the greatest potential for growth, and that’s what makes characters interesting.
Eric on June 4, 2016 at 6:02 AM
Am I the only one who reads this backstory and thinks that Mack’s brother might be the vigilante?
Khlovia on September 4, 2016 at 9:46 AM
Parental expectations.
Ruining lives since 40,000 BCE or thereabouts.
Well, at least now she’s cliched in an interesting way! Tragic backstory is great, who doesn’t want one?