Webcomic / The Super Fogeys

Following

Where do super folk go when it's time to get out of the game? To Valhalla, home for the super-tired.

And there you will find the new old other adventures of The Super Fogeys.

While the idea of retired super-heroes and villains isn't exactly new, the way it's handled in The SuperFogeys is different: it has a well thought-out, long-running plot that goes far beyond the fare of bedpan, enema and old jokes. It also has a surprising number of touching and chilling moments, as well as going back to visit the origins of the cast when they were younger.

---

Tropes used:

• Action Girl: Spy Gal. She's also had time as a Dark Action Girl in the past, but did a Heel–Face Turn. She's also the Only Sane Man, ironic considering her cover was initially feigning senility.
• Alternate Universe: Earth-Avalon, an universe where the superheros never retired and kept up the fight against the forces of evil in their old age. In a twist, it's technically the original universe, and the universe the Super Fogeys come from was created from an incident where the Portalmaker (Avalon!Jerry) confronted his daughter who was seduced by Avalon!Thrice Evil. The result? Earth-Abbadon, the world where Super Fogeys takes place in.
• And I Must Scream: Thrice Evil, who is trapped in his body due to something implanted by Jerry. His body is a senile, weak man while his mind is completely aware of what was done to him and what is happening. He recovers after his Earth-Avalon counterpart frees him as backup.
• Anti-Hero: Tangerine. Ain't nothing Tangerine won't do if he thinks it needs to 'cause he is a '90s Anti-Hero whose costume consists of a wife beater a jeans. In fact he is so hard core he started being a Nominal Hero in the 1960s before it was popular or involved pouches! He is the best at what he does, and what he does is apparently whatever the heck he feels like 'cause he is just that Badass. He hold a grudge like no other and he got his super hero name from crushing villain's head like over ripe fruit before tearing them limb from limb. And if he wasn't cool enough already, guess who turned him into a cyborg killing machine? John Kennedy as a apology for a peace corps disaster of which Tangerine was the only survivor. Though the unstoppable killer part is probably not what Kennedy had intended Tangerine to do with his life afterwards. Also Tangerine likes beer. To drive the point home, his Earth-Avalon self is an unrepentant villain.
• Ascended Fanboy: The Third Man/Dr. Klein/Jerry in a case of Create Your Own Villain.
• The Atoner: Several.
  • Herman, who succeeds in a Bittersweet Ending, as he's allowed to go to Heaven .
  • Soviet Sam, for accidentally killing Money Man, and he's probably only been forgiven by Captain Spectacular. More people forgive him during the war against Zurida, but he becomes more of a Failure Hero due to the Battle of Fresco.
  • Spy Gal also qualifies, Word of God stating that the core of her present-day character is due to regret of how she spent her early youth.
  • Gina Galloway, after she realizes how monstrous her Earth's Thrice-Evil truly is, especially regarding her actions in creating the universe of Super Fogeys.
  • Tangerine, after his conversion and later failure to kill Zurida, resulting in Captain Spectacular's son's death, who he made friends with during their captivity by Jerry.
• The Big Bad Shuffle: At first, the Third Man, aka Jerry, is the undisputed Big Bad of the comic. Then he's sidelined for an Alien Invasion led by the evil Star Maiden and other villains. After an Enemy Civil War, Zurida come out on top and rules over Earth until Alt-Thrice Evil and his villains from Earth-Avalon comes to take over. After Alt-Thrice Evil's defeat, Jerry comes back from his multiversal trip to finally take over the role of dictator, now powered up from the powers and gadgets he gathered.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Oh man, Jerry.
• Butt-Monkey: Jerry, at first. It goes away when he turns out to be Evil All Along.
• Card-Carrying Villain: All the bad guys (except one or two) played for laughs. Until the invasion of Earth, that is.
• Captain Ersatz: Captain Spectacular, Swifty, Star Maiden and Tangerine immediately come to mind, although neither their back-stories nor their old age experiences match Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman or Wolverine. But there's a definite flavour of them in the Fogeys... although Star Maiden is more Supergirl at times.
• Cerebus Retcon: Jerry's role as the Butt-Monkey and Kid Sidekick is played for humour at first. Until it's revealed Jerry is both the Third Man and Doctor Klein and his backstory is explored. As it turns out, he deliberately allowed himself to be humiliated as part of his twisted long-term plan to win Spy Gal's affection, and being a Kid Sidekick stunted his growth to the point he ended up very different from his Earth-Avalon counterpart, a hero known as the Portalmaker. Not to mentioned that he was "guided" into being a Kid Sidekick.
• The Chessmaster: The Third Man. Seems to have a particular soft spot for Jerry and Spy Gal for some reason...though not surprising considering he is Jerry, who has an obsession with Spy Gal.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Multiple characters being either part of backstories or used as gags grow in importance as the comic goes on. Key ones include
  • Soviet Sam, who's first introduced killing Money Man in the backstory and is brought into the comic proper in a gag involving pig urine. His guilt over Money Man's death becomes the main reason why he became The Atoner, and he becomes Spy Gal's second-in-command in the resistance after the timeskip. Furthermore, Money-Man's accidental death would have major ramifications for the universe.
  • Thrice Evil, assumed to be a senile shadow of his former self, is actually trapped in his own body by Jerry. His Earth-Avalon counterpart frees him as backup, then he becomes Jerry's Dragon after he returns from the multiverse.
  • Zurida, the queen who captured Captain Spectacular and became his fourth "wife", is part of the invasion force on Earth...and the one remaining after an Enemy Civil War. She becomes the main threat after the timeskip for the resistance until the Earth-Avalon villains led by Avalon!Thrice Evil invade the other universe.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: The Human Aliens Star Maiden, now — but not when younger. She has Dark and Troubled Past involving two kinds of Parental Abandonment, but she got better once she hit Earth and was treated far better by its inhabitants. You don't get to see it for the most part... but every now and then, she might let a little thing slip during her Word Salad. Turns out to be deliberately inflicted on her due to her evil Brainwashed and Crazy self being too dangerous for the villains.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Occurs to young Tangerine when he finds out his future self will abandon his anti-hero ways...and become a born-again Christian.
• Crimefighting with Cash: Money Man's "power", bribing a criminal with several million dollars and a beach house in Carmel. His epiphany came when, brooding on the social injustice in the city, a bat crashed through his window, and he thought that, being rich, he could pay to replace it. As it turns out, it was very effective...in an alternate universe, as the Money-Man of Super Fogeys died early due to a badly-timed punch and a time traveller.
• Deadpan Snarker: Swifty, oh-so-much, but recent strips also show he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and Failure Knight as well. Naturally, in his younger days he was a Handsome Lech due to being an expy of The Flash.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Okay, who expected Jerry of all people to be the Big Bad?
• Dumb Is Good: Percy, the son of Zurida and Captain Spectacular. He's just on the wrong side of the invasion for a while until he defects during the time skip.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Herman gets told his life has already been Hell, so now he gets to go to Heaven.
• Easy Evangelism: Tangerine becomes a complete pacifist after spending weeks in a cell with nothing to read but holy books from nearly every religion in the world.
• Enfant Terrible: Parodied with Dictator Tot, who's trying to take over the world at age three. Moreso with her apparent-partner Violet-Violet, who's two.
• Everyone Has Standards: Jerry, Nice Guy that he is, despises Soviet Sam for killing Money-Man. Subverted in that not only did Soviet Sam not intend to kill him and was considering defection before an annoying time traveler made him punch Money-Man by accident, Jerry is partially responsible for the events in the first place, and is much worse than Soviet Sam was.
• Evil All Along: Jerry, as the Third Man.
• Eviler than Thou: Earth-Avalon Thrice-Evil believes that Earth-Abaddon Thrice-Evil would make a great ally after freeing him from Jerry's control. Earth-Abaddon Thrice-Evil proves him wrong when he takes the chance to blast his other self to death when he's weakened after losing his trident.
• Expy: Captain Spectacular is obviously one for Superman. Would have been The Ace when younger if it weren't for a rather poor track record in his dealings with women, personal issues, failures, alcohol and ... well, maybe just appeared to be The Ace in his glory days...
  • Money Man's origin is the same as Batman's... except that he fights crime with money, after having to replace a window a bat broke through.
• Failure Knight: In the past, Captain Spectacular was The Ace, but after a few tragedies becomes this. He avoids being a Broken Ace in the comic because his failures aren't exactly unknown.
• Fallen Hero: Dr Rocket used to be a genuine hero in the past, being the original partner of Captain Spectacular, before envy took him down to a path of villainy, in no smart due to the fact the superpowers of Captain Spectacular were actually ment for him due to a switcheroo during their time in alien captivity.
• Flying Brick: Captain Spectacular.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Jerry, more specifically Earth-Abbadon's Jerry, was secretly influenced by outside forces to be a kid sidekick to Captain Spectacular instead of the solo hero his Earth-Avalon counterpart was. This stunted his growth and turned his early crush on Spy Gal into a dangerous obsession that resulted in the events of the comic. When the heroes asked if that ment Jerry wasn't responsible for what happened, Avalon!Money-Man counters that it doesn't, as Jerry still made his own choices in the matter, specifically regarding giving his younger self terrible advice and his manipulations of Valhalla, especially regarding Spy Gal.
• Friendly Enemy: Initially in the comic, the heroes and villains appear to be this.
  • A later story arc has this with Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket Until you find out it wasn't Dr. Rocket. The real Dr. Rocket subverts this so far.
  • Also subverted in that Thrice Evil is actually forced into being docile, and once he's back to normal he fights the resistance.
  • Soviet Sam however plays it straight, due to trauma from his accidental murder of Money-Man. He no longer qualifies — due to a Heel–Face Turn.
  • If the Pink Shade hadn't been 1. reformed and 2. killed by Tangerine anyway, she would have qualified.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: Zurida, Captain Spectacular's ex-wife. Rhonda is a blue-skinned ex-flame of Swifty's.
• Homage: Obviously.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Captain Spectacular and Jerry. Subverted with Jerry, who actually wants to ruin Captain Spectacular.
• Intangible Woman: Spy Gal's powers, though seldom used in favor of Good Old Fisticuffs.
• Irrational Hatred: Swifty has a very bad distaste for Jerry, and it's not explained why. Until it's revealed he was the first one to discover Jerry being the Third Man and escape — to multiple periods in time, one time being when Swifty was a baby, where he instilled that hatred in his baby self, making it a Stable Time Loop.
• Kid Sidekick: In their origin stories, played straight. Currently, it's subverted and parodied as Jerry is an old man. And later, a deconstruction, as being a kid sidekick affected Jerry immensely instead of the hero he was supposed to be.
• Killed Off for Real: The comic doesn't shy away from killing off recurring characters when it hits Cerebus Syndrome. Even the main cast aren't safe, as Tangerine and Star Maiden prove.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Soviet Sam did not take well to accidentally killing Money Man.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Captain Spectacular on several occasions, one of which was critical. Swifty on several occasions. Tangerine as well on several occasions, but unlike the previous examples he has no remorse until his conversion to Christianity.
• Obfuscating Disability: Jerry. Played for Laughs in one gag with Captain Spectacular, who is healed of his paralysis but prefers to keep the wheelchair so he doesn't have to wear pants.
• Old Superhero: The main characters, retired and living in an old folks' home for superheros and supervillains. In contrast, their counterparts in Earth-Avalon have never retired, as Avalon!Swifty explains that those that do tend to die...quickly.
• Orderlies are Creeps: Gene. Dr. Klein has to keep telling him not to abuse the patients.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Captain Spectacular's son dies by a laser to the head in front of his father and mother.
• Point of Divergence:
  • The death of Earth-Abbadon's Money Man. Without him, the Heel–Face Turn of Soviet Sam, Dr Rocket, and even Zurida wouldn't come to pass, as what happened on Earth-Avalon.
  • Going further back, Jerry's origin, as T-Magus and Gina Galloway, under the orders of Avalon!Thrice Evil, secretly influenced his life to go a far different trajectory than his Avalon counterpart.
• Power Limiter: Spy Gal gets slapped with one after her plan to infiltrate the retirement home turned out to be useless to prevent her escape.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Swifty.
• Smug Super: Swifty, in his younger days.
• Spot the Imposter: Dr. Rocket is really the shapeshifter Herman, until Herman is killed by Tangerine, forcing the real Dr. Rocket to take over.
• Stalker with a Crush: Jerry.
• Stealth Pun: The Third Man's name hints at his motivations. Third as in "third wheel". Guess who was the third wheel between Spy Gal and Captain Spectacular?
• Super Hero Origin: Everyone. Even people who were dead by the first comic.
• Taken for Granite: One of Captain Spectacular's wives, Michell Masters, who was turned to stone by his fourth wife, Zurida. She reverses the petrifaction later, as a condition of Captain Spectacular's cooperation.
• Thinking Up Portals: The power of the Third Man, also known as Jerry.
• Urine Trouble: Space Pig Urine (S.P.U.) is an instant soporific. Swifty in particular keeps pestering the resident Space Pig to piss on him, since he's so bored and cranky he just wants to sleep all day.
• Webcomic Time: When you throw in origin stories every other update, it happens.
• We Used to Be Friends: Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket, before the latter fell to villainy due to envy.
• Wham Episode: Several, and each and every time you will be given subtle hints as to when it's coming.
  • The biggest one was revealed August 19th, 2010, and if you check the comic's archives you will find a long trail of hints leading up to it. Specifically, Dr. Klein is the Third Man...who is Jerry.
• Who's Laughing Now?: Jerry, oh-so-much.

---