The Switch: Electricia

by Keith Champagne

When infamous supervillain Electricia realizes she wants more out of life than evil and mayhem, she adopts a second costumed identity as The Switch and begins fighting crime instead of committing it. But when Electricia's new life as a superhero brings her full circle against her former villainous allies, the cat-and-mouse-game she's been playing quickly turns deadly. As her new enemies close in on Electricia, the question becomes not if she'll survive her career as The Switch... but for how long?

Genres: Graphic Novels

97 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 11, 2018

Reviews

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up The Switch: Electricia because I was intrigued by the story of a super villain who decides on becoming a super hero. Champagne and Nguyen create a world that I would not mind delving into if they continue writing in this universe. Electricia makes for a fun heroine. By the end of the story I was truly rooting for her character. A great read for any super hero fan!

[Dave Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I met Tom Nguyen a number of years ago. He was one of a handful of guests at an in-store. Along with Doug Mahnke and Uptown Girl creator, Bob Lipski. At the time, I was a radio personality. I interviewed him on-air to promote the in-store event. Later, I got a Batman sketch from Tom. We've kept in touch from time to time over social media.

He's a nice guy. Good people.

When I saw that he and co-creator Keith Champagne were crowd-funding a project called The Switch: Electricia, I supported the effort by sharing a link. I won a copy of the hardcover, with an inside cover sketch of Electricia personally autographed by Tom.

Tom's art is colored by Robb Miller. Bill Tortolini provides lettering and design. There's a variant cover by Doug Mahnke, Champagne and Miller.

Champagne's story is mature. It's what might be described, in a Mark Wahlberg accent as, "a hard R". There are two instances of extreme violence. The language is coarse and the story is full of "adult" themes. Not adults working or paying bills as the old joke goes. Villains at their worst.

There is one rogue, Stefan, or Loverboy, with the power of persuasion, who does the most vile and unspeakable things in this story. He is a truly revolting character. Most of the villains in this story are extreme.

Heroes only make brief, cameo appearances.

This is a villain's story. Similar in concept to Wanted. With a kind of Astro City feel to it. The question is: can a villain reform? There's story after story about heroes falling from grace into villainy. Can a villain truly, genuinely reform? Without there being some underlying plot?

It's an interesting question. Electricia goes through a lot of self-examination and asks herself some very difficult questions. She seems truly pained by remorse. Even for a villain, she has a certain code, boundaries, lines she won't cross. This story is about the one line she does cross, and the consequences of her choice.

It's true, this story begs for more space to more fully develop its characters. This could very well work as a limited series of twelve issues. Maybe as an ongoing series, with origin chapters for some characters.

You can find the hardcover on the Dynamite Entertainment website or on Amazon.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

The names used in this story are, unfortunately, the funniest thing. Crom the cro-magnon man, Walking Fred the zombie, Valdimir 'not-a-typo' Putin, dr. Hate the purple cat. Other than that the artwork looks good, especially the hot AF female characters. The story isn't THAT original, since the X-Men have done plenty bad-to-good switches, but it's considerably funnier. Also, in the end pretty much everybody dies and in some gruesome ways: electrocution, decapitation, dismemberment, even plain stomping to death. How funny is that?

The electricity-wielding supervillain Electricia has decided that her life needs improvement. The abuse from her psychic leader also helps with her decision to quit her supervillain team Murderer's Row. She dons a new costume and begins helping ordinary people in distress. Her departure affects he bad guys' plans to steal a device that can travel through time.

The good guys called the Brigade capture her. She discovers that her closest friend in the villain group, Doctor Hate who is trapped in the body of a purple cat, is a double agent supplying information about Murderer's Row to the Brigade. In the inevitable final battle Electricia is pivotal in defeating the bad guys, even after having to face one of the good guys in a battle to the death ordered by the psychic. Things will likely improve for her in the future after joining the good guys oficially.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rating may be a little high, but this was much more enjoyable than I expected (and that is including that I backed this on Kickstarter-yes more full disclosure and run on sentences).

The basic premise is not exactly brand new. Super villainess decides that they want out, because she finally hits a line that she won't cross.

She won't kill kids, in this instance a sidekick. I mean even The Joker killed Jason Todd, Bucky died (yes, I know they both came back). But, this one step make her start questioning her life decisions. Champagne does a better job on character development than 1) in all honesty that I expected from him and 2) the limited page count in a one-shot TPB.

Even if the supporting characters are inspired by, or are arguably outright pastiches, of other super characters they kept my interest. The part that lost me was when he put Putin on the super villain team, and the ghost of Reagan on the super hero team (I am not a supporter of either, and frankly it took me out of the story a little).

So, yes lots of credit, more so than I expected I would give, for character work, story points, and a couple of good plot surprises.

[Robert Bussie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super villain with a conscience is having an ethical crisis about the life path she choose. Her moral dilemma leads her to make some tough choices. The plot is nothing new; if fact it has become very common within the DC comic universe. However, even with an unoriginal story this book does it very well. There could have been more character development and back stories, but I don't believe that would have helped the story. It would have just added extra padding and possibly made the main character Electricia seem whinny. This book gets to the point without unnecessary inner dialogue or conversations; plus plenty of action scenes. Also, the parody of famous comic book characters and historical figures adds humorous elements.

The line work and coloring are wonderful. There are clean lines with bold colors that shine brightly in this oversized (13x8.5) graphic novel.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of a fun superhero comic (if a tad dark)! I love the double meaning of the title.