Meet Janet, the scissor-wielding superhero taking the internet by storm

When Amanda Mancino-Williams took her 10-year-old daughter to an art day-camp, she probably never expected her little girl to inspire a nation.

Luca Roth, from Bath, was tasked with making a new superhero – and her scissor-wielding character, called Janet, is an unconventional heroine…

“She’s always been the kind of child that’s gets bored with the obvious,” Luca’s mother Amanda told the Press Association. “She mentioned that a lot of the other children were drawing pink-clad princess types and muscled men so, being Luca, she wanted to make a stand-alone.”

The description Luca wrote for her creation reads: “Janet cuts people in half with giant scissors. (She’s a hero only to herself)”

Romesh Ranganathan says ‘we will miss Claudia’ as he opens first Radio 2 show

Rosie Jones on overcoming her ‘internalised ableism’ to take on London Marathon

Naturally the masterpiece has gone viral on Twitter, a fact which her mother said means Luca “hasn’t stopped smiling”.

Much of this reaction even included professional illustrators and animators recreating Janet in their own style – and fans giving their own take.

So, why the name Janet?

“We recently watched a talk by Stephen King about life and writing,” said Amanda. “And she was very taken by the idea that the most profound or devious characters could have the most solidly normal names.

“It opens the possibility for someone like her to be the superhero, minus the Godzilla legs.”

And the stick Janet is holding? In a tweet Amanda quoted Luca as saying it’s “a twig that she smacks the jerks down with”.

So great has been the support for Janet that there was even a suggestion of a run for the US presidency in 2020.

And before you go thinking this is the last you’ll see of Luca’s alternative hero – think again.

From a little trip Amanda took to the Bath Fashion Museum with Luca, it seems this is a character who will be popping up for some time.

Janet is coming…