I Hate Gallant Girl #1
I Hate Gallant Girl #1 marks the first appearance of Renée Tempête, a superpowered protagonist whose story inverts the standard superhero origin: rather than winning the right to be a hero, she loses a public pageant to an unqualified pretty face and must carve out her own heroic identity from the outside. That premise gave the series a sharp feminist underpinning — addressing how talent is routinely overlooked in favor of conventional attractiveness — that felt genuinely pointed within the male-dominated superhero genre of 2008. The issue is also historically notable as one of the direct publishing results of Shadowline's 'Who Wants to Create a Superheroine?' contest, a rare instance of a major comics imprint using a public-vote competition to develop an entirely new, creator-owned female character. The fact that the actual contest winner's book never reached print, while this runner-up entry went on to sell out its first printing, gives the title an unexpected underdog significance in the story of how independent superhero books found new audiences in the late 2000s.
In I Hate Gallant Girl #1 (2008), Renee Tempete is still reeling from being passed over in the selection to become the superheroine Gallant Girl when a giant robot threat forces her to prove the judges were wrong. Though offered a chance to step in as the new Gallant Girl—anonymous and behind the scenes—she refuses with a fiery streak, determined to earn her place on her own terms. Written by Kat Cahill and Jim Valentino, with bold artwork by Seth Damoose and coloring by Kanila Tripp, the issue’s cover by Damoose captures the tension of a moment that could change everything.
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In December 2007, Shadowline — the Image Comics imprint headed by co-founder Jim Valentino — announced a public contest challenging writers to pitch a new creator-owned superheroine as a counterpart to Jimmie Robinson's villainess Bomb Queen; editor Kristen Koerner Simon and Valentino sorted through more than 5,000 paragraph-length submissions before narrowing the field to five public-vote finalists. The declared winner, Tom Arguello, saw his entry Incredible Journey collapse for lack of pre-order support, and shortly after San Diego Comic-Con 2008 Shadowline announced that semi-finalist Kat Cahill's pitch would go to print instead, paired with webcomic artist Seth Damoose. Cahill received mentorship and plot-level collaboration from Valentino to tighten the book's pacing, and the series was originally solicited under the title 'I Hate Galaxy Girl' before a name change was made prior to the November 2008 on-sale date.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Renée Tempête (also rendered 'Tempest'), the series' central character — a highly skilled aspiring superhero who loses the Gallant Girl pageant to a superpowers-free blonde and subsequently becomes a hero on her own terms.
- Written by Kat Cahill with plot collaboration from Jim Valentino; art and cover by Seth Damoose. Published under Shadowline, the Image Comics imprint run by Valentino.
- Issue #1 cover-dated November 2008 and released November 12, 2008; 32 pages, full color.
- The series grew directly out of Shadowline's 2008 'Who Wants to Create a Superheroine?' public contest — Cahill was a runner-up, not the contest winner, but her pitch reached print after the winning entry never materialized.
- The Gallant Girl title within the story is a legacy identity selected by pageant every ten years, and the group of heroes known as the Fellowship of Freedom (including the mentor character Blue Thunder) also make their first appearances across the three-issue run.
- The series was originally announced under the working title 'I Hate Galaxy Girl' before a name change ahead of publication.
- The complete three-issue miniseries was collected in a 2009 trade paperback (ISBN 9781607061465) that also included the Bomb Queen Presents: All Girl Comics one-shot and pin-ups by Image co-founders Jim Valentino, Whilce Portacio, and Jim Lee; the TPB cover was by Jimmie Robinson.
- First issue sold out its original print run, confirming audience demand for the book despite its unconventional contest-to-print path.
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