Grrl Power #251 – Circuitous motive man
Maxima has some nerd cred as you know, but Inverse Ninja is a little too deep down the well for her, hence the explanation.
With the fight running longer than I had intended, I almost cut this whole page. Arguably little happens on it except for a little insight into Vehemence’s character, and the lightsaber joke which I can’t believe never occurred to me until I started drawing the second panel, but which I’m now rather enamored with, so in it goes. :)
Here’s something very cool for regular commenters: Reader Kane York (Riking in the comments) has created a chrome plugin that tracks and highlights new comments. It does require you to click a “mark comments read” before you refresh the page each time, but it also has an opt in mode that will refresh the comments when you move between pages of comments and automatically mark the previous page read. I’ve been using it over the weekend and it’s pretty slick. Here’s the chrome link.
If you like you can inspect the raw code here on GitHub, which is nice if you’re a relatively suspicious person like myself when it comes to links handed out on the internet. If you’re using FireFox and have Greasemonkey installed, you can go to the GitHub link, hit the RAW button at the top of the script and FF will give you the option to install it. There’s no IE solution yet, and there may not be, because, you know, it’s IE. Obviously if that changes I’ll post it here.
I’m sure Kane will be reading the comments, but if you see any bugs with the plugin, probably the best place to notate them is over at the GitHub link. (I think you do that by clicking the little exclamation mark in the circle over on the right side at the top of the code window.)
With the intent of being transparent about such things, I’ve added one more ad banner to the page. Usually someone with a Patreon campaign has milestones that involve removing ads, and eventually that will probably happen, but at the moment the summer heat in Texas is killing our electric bill, especially with me home all day with the A/C and a computer with at least two monitors on. Also it’s nice to be able to test out several ad companies and see how they perform. The new one has one of those Ad Choice things up in the top right corner, so if there are ads you don’t care for on it, I think you can customize what it displays or at least veto obnoxious stuff.
<— If you enjoy the comic, consider supporting it via Patreon or the Amazon referral link.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
You do know that humans only have 32 teeth. Your villain there has at least eighty, top and bottom jaw.
Possibility One – He’s a Mutant.
Possibility Two – He’s not human (alien, android, demon, etc.)
Possibility Three – He’s had some very very STRANGE dental work done. Possibly part of the same deal that gave him his full-body racing stripe.
Or just count them, there are 8 by side in the upper jaw so… 8×4=32
I count 9 on his lower right side alone. And comparing those visible to the teeth above, there may well be more, out of sight. Unless there is a big gap at the back of his lower jaw, with no teeth meeting those on the top jaw.
However, that is really not a problem, as 32 teeth is not actually the limit that humans have. There are many people who have supernumerary teeth, which exceed this arbitrary limit. The record is actually 232 (that is not a typo, it correctly reads TWO HUNDRED and thirty two). If you doubt that, here is the link to the fairly recent news article about it:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-28437829
He just looks like a shark because you can see all his teeth at once. People can’t really smile that wide which is why it looks weird.
Giada De Laurentiis can.
https://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k155/foodnetaddict/Giada/121707_giadaredbook-1.jpg
I count 800 teeth in that photo.
Wow that is a creepy smile.
V does have a creepy smile… I wonder if you took inspiration from any living people?
If you shaved Sir Richard Branson and painted his face like V and got rid of some of his wrinkles, he’d actually look a LOT like V here – creepy smile and all. Watch a video of him talking and smiling, the guy shows his molars with his lopsided smile. A lot.
All the boys think she’s a crocodile,
she’s got Julia Roberts’ smile.
Counting them I see up to 29 there. Your estimate is off for a 250%. Do you work doing government budgets by chance?
36 if you count wisdom teeth.
Nope. Wisdom teeth are the third molar of each half jaw. Ie 28 plus four wisdom.
https://www.fabdent.pl/img/wisdom1.jpg
Option Nineteen.
Dramatic License.
“Bad” guys always seem to have more teeth than they actually do. Makes them look more dangerous. It reminds people of sharks. Not a pleasant feeling.
When you see the good guys pop a smile like that, either they’ve gone off the deep end or … well, you just hit their Berserk Button. In which case you might as well just shoot yourself. Probably far less painful that way.
This is even worse if the good guy in question happens to be The Cutie. Sometimes their form of punishment dished out is more Ego Crushing than actual Physical Crushing of the body. In that situation, shooting yourself is still probably the best option.
Having to tell your chums in prison that a cute girl not even five foot summoned a swarm of cute “harmless” teddy bears, who then tackled you, tied you up, did a makeover on you (included ribbons, bows, makeup and a dress for good measure). And once the makeover was done, they delivered you to the police station personally.
Its better to just shoot yourself.
That deserves its own trope spot. And look! It’s currently available!
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DramaticLicense
I think it just needs a redirect to: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArtisticLicense
well, it is a superhero world, so i have a presumption that normal human physiology dosent really aplies for these guys. or maybe he have a power called “alot of teeths”?
Someone this excited to fight after watching everyone fight, is someone to be feared: either they have a secret they are far too happy to share, or they are just plain crazy, or both
The moment we’ve all been waiting for since page 186.
Big V might be playing the “distraction card” so that the prisoners might be able to get up to shenanigans whilst the more powerful heroes are busy.
Then he wouldn’t have decked Opal. He would have just let her portal them away.
Nooo. He wants them inside ARC. Best way to infiltrate is to have ARC bring them inside freely, past all of that government security. Some of those others may have gone down a little too easily. Just because you look like you’ve been beaten, doesn’t mean that you’ve really been beaten. Somebody may be playing possum, or maybe a shrinker-type might have ridden along. Let your paranoia run wild. I do.
That would be awesome!
Sadly I bet its not happening due to writing stuff. The plan is probably to get Sydney to training next so we can enjoy all that slice of life hero stuff that happens In Between Battles (hmm that almost sounds like a good name for a comic?). But I hope DaveB has something like that planned for down the line (about 3 years from now? 4? )
Playing possum? So they’re doing that whole ‘possum comatose’ thing Suzy News mentioned before?
That gave me an excellent laugh – thank you!
Doesn’t the bracelets that are on the already captured perpetrators put them in a medically induced coma? To my understanding, it also tracks there vitals and it makes adjustments accordingly to their metabolism. As far as the shrinker theory goes, that may have some validity because we have yet to see a “Dr. Pym” type person as of yet.
You can’t legally keep someone in a coma just to imprison them, though. And how do you contain people that can teleport, or telekinetically tear walls down, or can dive into stone? (well, the stone one just requires a plastic prison, but still…)- as far as I know, there’s no such thing as a ‘power nullifier’ in this universe (yet), so keeping villains in prison is going to be next to impossible.
I agree on the legality of it, I just presumed that it was just a temporary solution of an immediate action. It will be interesting to see how Dave B. will address this issue. I think for pacing concerns, he might have Sydney ask and then be given and exposition of how they would incarcerate or or rehabilitate said individuals. Or she would be told “It’s being handled by top experts!”, “But how…”, “TOP EXEPERTS” and then leave it at that.
Nah. She should really spook Sydney instead.
“You got me, Sydney. It’s being handled by government sponsored vivisectionists. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.”
Dabbler has working knowledge of a variety of tech and magic (though not really an expert of anything her level as a space/dimension faring being puts her dabbling above our experts) and I just know she has been in a variety of dungeons, cells, prisons and restraints (for a variety of reasons… ). Her input will be invaluable during the construction of the overall prison and individual cells for special cases.
Of course, if you have an unrepentant bad guy, who is too powerful to contain, and he’s killed people, one could always use a gravity enhanced force field implosion to “contain” him. Goes from an 11 foot hulking behemoth to a little red marble about a quarter centimeter in diameter. Not a nice way of executing a prisoner, but it’s quick, probably painless, as it would happen in a fraction of a second, and for a super villain, neither cruel, and probably not that unusual. Call it the “Squish”.
Remember, there has been enough time from Gov’t knowledge of supers for there to be a secret paramilitary organization. They may well have secret supreme court rulings on dealing with the risks vs. Rights of supers.
A coma might not be legal, but keeping someone unconscious shouldnt be an issue. Considering that quite some cops are tazer-happy-cops. Thats more dangerous
+ does this play in 2014? might as well be a few years later, meaning change of laws. So I wouldnt take into account current legal actions in a single country for this comic.
have we encountered someone capable of manipulating devices like tricking it into thinking they were in a drug coma when they were not? twistey plot is twistey.
Biggest problem with that is that ARC’s headquarters doesn’t look like it’s secured against breakouts – it’s just a converted office building. The holding cells/prisons must be elsewhere. So playing possum wouldn’t get you inside – it’d just get you to the prison.
The holding cells are in sub-basement 13, wing 8, level 4.
Vehemence comes across as being too straight forward and direct for being that level of manipulative. Pulling all those guys here for the fight was about as manipulative as they get. After all, dirty underhanded tricks doesn’t make for a good fight.
That’s what he wants.
The Fight. “Challenge Accepted.”
He comes across as the type who is direct and straight forward about things. The “chaff” was a direct and straight forward attack, not a lot of subtlety about it. I can’t really say that any of them would really be useful on the inside. I’m sorry, but they all come across as the “b-list” type of villains. Or those who don’t even qualify for any of the Villain Lists.
He never hid his presence. They knew he was there. Direct, to the point. He casually talked with Sydney, as if there was nothing important going on. And of course his comments to Max, they came across more as a matter of amusing banter than anything. He already knew that the “Fight Was On”.
All these facts make him seem like the guy who would gladly inform the police about an attack he was planning. Just so ARC (or any vigilantes) knew that he’d as much as said “I’m waiting for you in the Ring.”
After he beats them (in his mind anyway), he’ll probably walk off with a “Try harder next time.” response.
I’m now thinking Vehemence is exhibiting the classic ‘Wild West Gunfighter’ mentality.
For him, it isn’t about Good or Evil, just proving who’s the best.
What shenanigans could that be? He had just watched them getting beaten, and sabotaged their attempt at getting away again.
anyone else noticed that Vehemence’s markings has gone from pink to bright purple/whitish blue
They’re glowing now. The more they glow the less of his skin tone from beneath the light tattoos shows through. That’s how I read it anyway.
When were they pink? o_O
I guess here: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1422
It could vary depending on your monitor, software, eyes and cultural setups, among other things.
PS: when “Challenge accepted” (#186) is arguable too.
Can we nickname him Commander Pearly Whites those teeth are amazing
His teeth are protected by the strongest part of his shield. He attacks with them?
*shivers* Being parted out slowly during a fight by being eaten by a man who speaks to you politely while smiling would kick this over into a horror comic to me so probably not gonna happen… I hope…
A foe who literally chews you up in battle? What now? Would this be an example of what would happen if Matter Eater Lad, of the Legion of super Heroes, turned totally evil?
…The mind boggles…
Currently your RSS feed shows the full comic, have you considered having it just contain a link to your page? For ad purposes of course.
Personally I appreciate it when I can just read someone’s comic in RSS. It’d give me a tiny boost to force those people to click through to the page but I think there are under 2000 people reading via RSS (RSS analytics are a little iffy IMO) and I’d rather let people read how they like.
I use RSS, but with a comic this big I tend to click through anyway.
Realized I’d had Adblock on for the site this whole time though, so it wasn’t accomplishing much until now.
I know how to one shot him and have some amusing fun. Anyone have a large bag of itching powder? Douse him with it and stand back and watch what happens.
… I want a picture of you so that if I ever get in a fight, I can take the picture out and make sure the person I’m fighting is not you.
but ya that might work
assuming V does not have a personal shield around his skin
Breaking a bottle of Masochism or Ring of Fire over him head would work better.
Not only wold he be incapacitated, but Sydney would also be trying to eat him.
Because they keep depriving her of her meals.
is it just me or is max finally going to get knocked off that high horse, and its making me smile a little
Its not just you.
I think most of her personality is good and friendly. And I know she has hinted and outright claimed things leading one to believe that she puts on this big flashy persona to paint a target on her back so she gets hit instead of the team or alternately protect by scaring off those with middling power and or no confidence. Buuut there have been some decisions and scenes that suggest that some of her masks paint has started to stain her real face… And that’s cool, she’s human and all, could happen to anybody with that kind of power (arrogance ), a little wake up call here early on is juuust what the doctor ordered before she gets her team mates hurt by assuming that in the end she can take more chances when she actually there cause with her powers she can jump in at the last second and save the day.
The “superman” type of any group is often in need of a humility lesson early on and/or a reality check that you know what, there are other Boys in the Block in their League.
Him fighting her to a standstill and still looking like he could win would be a serious wake up call. It’d say straight up that her “power league” has more folks in it than she thought. Which would encourage her to be more cautious about handling situations.
Sometimes that can be far more effective than a humility lesson. Having to change how she does things, because otherwise she might send some “softies” on a mission and misjudge what the enemy can throw at them.
It would also reign back some of her “excess”. Of course this wouldn’t stop the “war” between her and Ariana. That’s just too much fun to let go for a long time.
What you describe is a humility lesson though – at least in my book. Humility is (to some point) when you realise your weakness and learn to accept it, and act accordingly. You don’t have to be humiliated to be humble. Or is humbleness a different word in English than humility? Can’t ever tell how those suffixes are used :S
The two ‘methods’ I listed … there’s an important distinction between the two. Of course you can at times have the two happen at the same time.
It’s not about victory or defeat, its about the impact on the Character(s) After the fight is over.
If all that is realized is that there are other “heavyweights” in the area, its a Reality Check. Win or Lose doesn’t matter here, just the fact that someone else on the other side is just as powerful as you are. This is also great for the readers to see such things.
If they realize, or have it shoved in their face that they have some form of “fatal flaw” that will cost them, or those around them, if they don’t do something about it … then its a Humility Lesson. It doesn’t matter if the fight ends in Victory or Defeat.
Defeat is often the easiest way to demonstrate this. They’re shown that they could have been so much stronger, but this flaw holds them back.
However, a victory can often be more interesting, as the victory ends up feeling hollow. Ok … they won, but they’re left feeling weak and vulnerable as a result.
The latter of course requires a lot more skill to properly write.
The confusion lies into the words Humble, Humbled, and Humility.
Humility is the state of being Humble, nothing more.
If one is humble, it is usually seen as a good thing, but it can also end up leading toward ways of thinking that aren’t so good. But by itself, being Humble is seen as a good thing.
When you Humble someone however, it can either be good or bad. It can be used to build up or to destroy.
If you use it to build a person up, you are teaching them how to demonstrate Humility.
If you are using it destroy them, you are simply breaking them and removing their self worth.
Sorry for the quick English lesson there, but your comment kind of required it.
“Sometimes that can be far more effective than a humility lesson. Having to change how she does things, because otherwise she might send some “softies” on a mission and misjudge what the enemy can throw at them.”
I should have clarified that a bit better. Humility lessons (as I explained better) are important, but learning how to be a better leader can be of great importance as well as it shows character growth while leaving options later for an actual Humility Lesson later. This also allows the writer to focus a bit more on the other characters rather than the immediate humility lesson. It’s also good to make sure that those under them don’t get clobbered and broken up (as much) during early “missions”. This gives them time to start showing that they have potential, etc, etc.
There is the matter of Timing on When to teach a Humility Lesson. Early on is probably not the best time to do so unless they’re being so actively obnoxious they need to be taken down 10 or 12 pegs. When the readers are rooting for the bad guys to win in a curb stomp battle, then a humility lesson early on can be useful.
But one has to be careful in their usage regardless. Too many lessons can make a character feel too weak to be interesting while not enough makes them feel too perfect.
While I do agree that Max needs to be taken down a couple pegs, I don’t think a Humility Lesson here would be a good idea. This would also draw attention away from development of other characters, which right now is a bit more vital. A Reality Check on the fact that there are others at her power level however is perfectly fitting here.
My first guess for Vehemence, based on name and behavior: He gains power from nearby pain.
This is going to be an AWESOME beatdown.
One way or another.
Vehemence reminds me more of Kraven from Spider-Man (before the whole voodoo resurrection) then he does a Joker like character. Kraven was more in it originally for the thrill of the hunt. Kraven would do the same thing. . . set up a scenario or trap to draw out the prey and then make his lethal intentions known all sportsman like.
Either way love the comic!
Say, Peggy? Can you see if you can use that almost closed circle on his forehead as an aiming point? It probably won’t work, but it’s a whole lot of kinetic energy in a half-inch circle. At least make him blink or give him a headache.
risk of deadly force in that so the arm or leg/ foot would be better as it may actualy hurt him to be shoot but not the extent a normal person would be.
I wouldn’t think her bullets would be much/any more effective against him than Vekter’s whirlwind.
This whole fight arc has a test vibe to me. Going off Vehemence’s thought bubble about Sydney and his concern for Vekter, his “ringleader” explanation may not be far off, especially if he’s a “dark hero” type. A Dark Knight or Black Guard. Sets up a challenge for the good guys to keep them on their toes, or test them to see if they are ready for something bigger than even him.
Frankly I think you were right not to cut this page. It was in actuality a very critical and in the end funny page which in some ways brought the entire situation home in many ways. This especially goes if he actually did invite all the villains there to crush them and humiliate the heroes at the same time as he claims.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned it yet but since Sydneys “light saber is projected rather than handheld that makes it more Spaceballs and less Star Wars.
Yep, that’s all they need right now, for Sydney to suddenly tell all to “Be-w-a-r-e The Power Of The Schwartz!“
You can have the Shwartz, and I will take MERCHANTDIZING.
i guess this guy vemence isnt “evil”. bad guy sure, but evil guys wouldnt want someone to survive for “being a good kid” *ch. 236* and definitly wouldnt care for others (check if vekter is ok?). so whats your guess? whats is his agenda?
I’d guess he’s a Herzer Herrick-style former and frequent victim of bullying who gained powers, but unlike Herzer, wants to use his new-found power to humiliate those he sees as the type of people who used to pick on him (whether they fit the bullying psychological profile or not).
Is it evil of me to hope that he knocks the wind out of Maxs’ sails, steals a kiss, and leaves with a “See ya round, Toots.”?
max would forget she’s military and supposed to be a good guy in blind rage. a don’t call me toots /no one molests me like that beat down leaving dabs to stop her from killing him
Buy wouldn’t it be funnnnnn!
*point at anifreik* I agree with this guy!
Sydney’s bruise is missing again.
This should be interesting.
I am now satisfied. There is a clear motivation for why so many people would take on ArcLight.
The thing is, if that was literally everyone he could find, who will our heroes fight after Vehemence’s inevitable defeat?
Unless of course there are WAY more people with superpowers than anyone thought, in which case, they better do some recruiting.
There’s a man with super-powers,
Who ArcSwat has known less than an hour,
He’ll punch you til you’ve bled,
Then try to help you ‘fore you’re dead,
Probably so he can fight you again tomorrow.
Circuitous motive man,
Circuitous motive man,
You gained yourself a power,
and made everyone play your game.
I can’t go through 376 posts, so apologies if this has been raised already.
It occurs to me that 100 stromtroopers being directed by Darth Vader plus Darth himself would be more dangerous than just Darth Vader. The reverse ninja trope doesn’t really work in real life (nor in what-would-it-really-be-like superhero stories).
I just had an idea. What if this was just a training simulation or something?
Considering the number of injuries (and possible permanent/needing extensive recovery for Jiggawatt and Heatwave maybe losing a toe), that would have been such a bad idea that I would seriously doubt it.
And yet while its not a simulation it is being manipulated into a training opportunity so ARC or at least Maxima, like’s their training rough!
they have healers back at arc.. which made sydneys eye recover from burny stuff within 1-4 hours. So toes and ears should be fixable for them I bet
DaveB made it sound like she mostly accelerated natural healing so maybe if the damage is severe enough that there isn’t much to heal then all she can do is just make a stump? They need a regenerative type healer.
Who is goose and what team is he on anyways?
Not even an important enough hero to get his own part of the cast section.
He isn’t even on this page? The last page where he was considered to be relevant enough to get a “Who’s Who” is: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1476
The first page where he is seen is: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/385 In his adorable ARC space marine armor leaving the Osprey.
Oh yeah and he’s an ARCHON “regular” (unpowered according to DaveB’s comment on intro page) so maybe he is on Maxima’s team or maybe he gets loaned out to whichever branch needs him? Or did your comment mean you didn’t know if he was of ARC?
Definetly a interesting bad guy. “I’m gonna beat you guys to death! But go check on my buddy first, i think i broke him….” I like it :)
Something tells me one of the orbs that Syd don’t know what they do will become active.
suggesting they get Vekter medical care is … disturbingly conscientious of him
Just a bit of the Joker in this guy’s smile. Abnormal, too wide, too many teeth. Vehemence maybe for that “V” of a smile. And anything else he does. No one would cross him unless it is Maxima and ARCHON.
Splash some undiluted massage hot fluid on his jockstrap.
Watch the fun commence.
Yes, stolen from Revenge of the Nerds
I get the distinct vibe that V just Jack Sparrow’d them. As in, telling them the exact truth specifically because he knew they wouldn’t believe him.
Hmmm, I’m noticing a trend in bald people being ripped
I forgot that Vehemence ever had clothes.
If he didn’t, he’d have been arrested for Indecent Exposure before he ever got to the fight.
I disagree: I’m relatively certain Darth Vader’s lightsaber could penetrate her force-field. And his telekinetic powers might be able to penetrate it as well. While that’s not much of a problem for her on the breathing front, it is on the “crush your brain to mush” and “be slashed into bits” fronts. After all, for force is connected to all things(except Vong, who managed to sever their connection- somehow) and the only thing we’ve ever seen stop a lightsaber blade is a zilo beast’s scales, and that’s not even canon!
The force field blocks magical attacks and energy attacks alike. We have no reason to suppose it is vulnerable to their magic.
Likewise I seem to recall seeing two jedi having to run away from a couple of robots in force fields. Which, to me, implies that they have a problem with those. Rather supported by the dialogue “those are too strong for us” (to paraphrase, from memory).
Besides which their lightsabers are not long enough. They are to far far away to hit her.
Forcefields block lightsabers, same with cortosis alloys, ship blast doors considerably slow them down, and pure cortosis can short the lightsaber.