Mary Posa, star of the webcomic Henchgirl, mostly likes her life as a henchwoman in the Butterfly Gang. It pays well, it's exciting, and she gets to threaten such interesting people. But the truth is, in a city of superheroes and supervillains, Mary may just be too nice for a life of crime.
Kristen Gudsnuk's Henchgirl is set in Crepe City, a place overrun with crime thanks to a proliferation of supervillains. Contributing to that crime rate in her own small way is Mary, who does legwork for Monsieur Butterfly. She's cool with the occasional mugging or jewel heist, but she won't rough up anyone for protection money. And when her crew starts planning to defraud an orphanage, she begins to wonder if she's really cut out for the henching life. On the other hand, she's not sure what else she would do for a living.
There may be touches of The Venture Bros. in that description, but while Henchgirl has some degree of genre-savviness, it's very much its own animal. Much of the story is driven by Mary's overwhelming desire to be nice, even as she's out committing crimes. She's romanticized her supervillain life, but that's getting harder as her gang is looking to expand its criminal activities. On top of that, she has a rivalry with a fellow henchlady. And there's the small detail that most of the people in Mary's life aren't villains — in fact, some of them are heroes.
Mary is also hardly the only kooky character in her world. There are slightly disgusting superpowers, aspiring (and not always terribly competent) superheroes, wild family issues, and so, so many butterfly puns. It's a terribly fun read.