The F1rst Hero is a Comic Book by Anthony Ruttgaizer, Phillip Sevy, and Fred Stresing.
For as long as anyone has known, there has been one truth about superpowers: whoever gains them goes insane and quickly becomes a threat to the world. These people are labelled as "extrahumans", and are seen as a menace by the public.
As a result, Jake Roth soon finds himself in a rather unique position: he manifested superpowers, but actually managed to retain his sanity. Now he needs to decide whether to use his powers for the good of humanity (while also running the risk of exposing himself to public scorn), or hide them from the public and let evil continue to happen.
The comic was published on August 27th, 2014.
The F1rst Hero contains examples of:
- Ate His Gun: When Maddie orders the mind controlled people she used to rob a bank to point their guns at their own heads, some of them stick their guns in their mouths.
- Blood from the Mouth: Happens a couple of times in the comic.
- Scotty can be seen with some blood coming from the side of his mouth after beatdown from the cops.
- Odinson gets some blood shot from his mouth after Jake kicks him in the face during their match.
- Boom, Headshot!: In the first issue, Jake's friend Yoshi is killed by a bullet to the head.
- Jake's friends Rodney and Pete are both killed by a bullet to the head.
- Cape Busters: The Extrahuman Task Force.
- Catapult Nightmare: Jake wakes up from a dream about being stabbed In the Back by Medula by sitting up and shouting "WHAT!!!".
- Dressing as the Enemy: At the end of the "Fight For Your Life" storyline, when Jake is cornered in a building by ETF soldiers, he knocks them out and takes one of their uniforms to sneak out undetected, barring being ordered by Kirkson to get him Sgt. Alvarez.
- Driven to Suicide: At the end of the "Fight For Your Life" storyline, the events of the story have left Cooper feeling he has nothing left, and so he blows his brains out in front of Jake.
- Expy: The leader of the group of extrahumans who show up in Issue #3 are lead by a big fat black guy who calls himself Fat Alvin.
- Eye Beams: This is Scott's extrahuman power, which he manifests in his room in Issue #2.
- The First Superheroes: Inverted, the first known superpowered human in this world was John Hinckley Jr.
, who attacked Ronald Reagan and his entourage by shooting lightening at them from his fingers. What's more, anyone who manifested powers from that point forward was driven insane by them and becomes a threat to everyone around them. In response, the Extrahuman Task Force is formed to deal with the threat that these people, dubbed "extrahumans", pose to the public. As a result, Jacob Roth is surprised when he manifests powers and doesn't go insane, as he's the first person in history (that he knows) that's had this happen to them. - Handguns:
- Pete pulls one out and points it at Jake's head when he sees him threatening Cooper.
- Cooper pulls one out of his sock and shoots Pete in the head with it after they've gotten away from the mafia and Extrahuman Task Force.
- Letters 2 Numbers: With a title like "The F1rst Hero", this trope is a given.
- Logical Weakness: Two instances turn up in "Wednesday's Child".
- When a man-turned-giant-spider starts rampaging through the ETF's temporary Philidelphia HQ, Sgt. Alvarez sprays him with a hose, causing him to curl up like real-world spiders do when exposed to water.
- Madelyn's Mind Control powers require her to look directly into the eyes of whoever she wants to control. They don't work on someone who's wearing sunglasses.
- Military Salute: In Issue #1, Jake gives one to his superiors after giving a report about what happened in Afghanistan (while leaving out his abduction, and gaining his super powers).
- Mind Control: This is Madelyn's extrahuman power. When she uses it, her eyes turn black, along with the eyes of those she's hypnotizing.
- Multiarmed And Dangerous: Odinson is an extrahuman pro wrestler/mafia muscle with a third arm.
- Neck Snap: Odinson ends his "match" with Eddie by snapping his neck.
- Nightmare Sequence: After being knocked out by the butt of a rifle to his face, Jake has one where he hulks out at dinner with his family and attacks them.
- The Nose Knows: One extrahuman Jake meets is a red-haired man who refers to himself as Catalogue. He's able to track extrahumans by sniffing out their powers.
- Pistol-Whipping:
- In Issue #1, Jake is knocked out by being smacked in the face with the butt of a rifle.
- When Cooper tries to shoot Jake with his gun, he finds it's empty. So he hits Jake over the head with it.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: After a bunch of people rob the William Penn Savings And Loan, the mastermind behind it has her eight-year-old daughter order said people to point their guns at their own heads, wait two minutes, and then blow their brains out.
- Punch Catch: Odinson catches a punch Jake tried to throw at him in their match.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Jake tries to tell his parents that Ms. Desmond isn't his girlfriend, but they don't stick around to listen.
- Shock and Awe: In the prologue, John Hinkley Jr. attacks Reagan's entourage with the power to shoot lightening from his hands.
- Shout-Out:
- Basher is ordered to engage the police and the ETF, but first he picks up the gas bomb they threw, saying "Popeye needs his spinach.". After sniffing the gas from the canister, he throws it while shouting "Fwoooooo, that's Brisk, baby!".
- Before his fight with Odinson begins, Jake calls him Chewbacca.
- Spider People: In the "Wednesday's Child" storyline, a giant humanoid spider extrahuman gets loose and tries to escape the ETF headquarters he was in to escape from supposedly being dissected.
- Symbol Swearing: The more intense swear words in the comic are presented as such.
- Trapped by Gambling Debts: Cooper. He's a compulsive gambler, and is so deep in debt to a local mafia that he's letting them run an illegal extrahuman cage fighting ring in one of his warehouses to help him pay them off.
- Waving Signs Around: Outside the church where Scotty's funeral service is being held, anti-Extrahuman protesters can be seen waving around signs saying things that disparage him for being an extrahuman.
- Your Mom: When Jake Roth asks where the local mafia found Odinson, he responds thusly.Odinson: They found me on top of your mom.
