Henchgirl was originally a webcomic that eventually was published in single issue form through Scout Comics. Although I feel like Dark Horse published the collected edition. it was the first series I bought from Scout Comics, and maybe the first thing I bought from one of the smaller publishers simply because it sounded interesting, with no other knowledge of it.
The story follows Mari Posa, henchgirl for the Butterfly Gang, a fairly low-tier group of crooks who pretty well half-ass the butterfly motif. I mean, only one of them even bothers to wear wings! But it's how Mari pays her share of the rent, though she tries to dissuade the gang from swindling an orphanage in favor of robbing the fancy party of a local wealthy industrialist.
Gudsnuk adds in some other heroes, focusing primarily on lower-tier types. Like Fred, who can astral project, but his body turns into an extremely fragile mannequin when he does. He eventually teams up with a Sailor Moon parody, who becomes an object of hatred for Mari. One of Mari's roommates has the ability to produce carrots from her body. The power evolves to where the carrots can walk and think and feel.
The plotting is uneven, although I don't know how much Gudsnuk had planned when she started, and how much she made up as she went along. Also, when it was a webcomic, it may have been posted one page at a time, as there's usually some sort of punchline or strong moment to end each page. That might make things more difficult.
Mari is eventually abducted by her boss and #1 henchlady and given a drug to make her more evil, plus another drug to mess with her memory so she doesn't remember this. But it's hard to tell if it's working or not, or if it stopped having an effect at some point. Is her vendetta against Sailor Amelia because of the drug, or because she's jealous that Fred's working with Amelia? When she tries to help with a hostage situation involving her parents (which ends ugly), what was that? Unresolved "forgotten child" issues mingled with not really giving a fuck because of the drug?
The art style fits the comedy beats. It's lends itself to exaggeration, whether that's Mari freaking out because she can't find Fred's kneecap, or her telling Fred he can reinhabit his body, only to have a geyser of blood because he missed a spot. I mean, I think that was meant to be funny. I laughed. It's not as effective on the grim bits, when Coco or Monsieur Butterfly are trying to act threatening, although half the time they're entirely ineffective, so that may be by design. There is one scene, where Mari beats up a heroine that made her look bad previously, where Gudsnuk ends the scene with Mari standing tall and looking much more composed and indifferent about what she's done than normal. That worked well.
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