Grrl Power #782 – Death by die
So this is kind of a weird page, I mentioned on the previous comment that this page was originally a tour of the rest of the comic shop, but halfway through drawing it, I decided it was informative but boring. So I ditched that to make room for this sort of peculiar camo, which is actually a callback. Normally I’d let you guys figure that out on your own, but his first appearance was not too dramatic and quite a while ago.
I haven’t decided if Arianna and Co. have vetted this guy or not. Whether he is here just looking for a change of pace, on Archon’s payroll, or actually a dastardly insert remains to be seen.
Edit: Whoops. The first version of this comic I uploaded had the word bubble reading “Sydney, this is Core.” as a separate bubble with a tail pointing at Core, not attached to Joel’s previous one about security. I have to admit, I was super tempted to leave it with the screw up, because that is definitely a weird way to introduce oneself, but… honestly it’s a little too weird, so I fixed it.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like!
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I’m confused by “Weirdly Arch Greeting”
I assume Sydney’s trying to say that his greeting sounds like how a villain would greet a hero. I know there’s the character type of Archvillain but I’ve never seen the term “Arch” used on its own like that.
Not a common usage, but,
“2a: MISCHIEVOUS, SAUCY
b: marked by a deliberate and often forced playfulness, irony, or impudence
known for her arch comments
… decided to answer them by being teacherly in a sort of arch, Olympian way.”
So…nothing to do with Saint Louis, McDonald’s, or Paris?
On a very meta level, sure: Arch in a very general sense means “above”; Arch villains are upper level villains, arches go over things, speaking in an “arch” manner means speaking “over” somebody, like they’re beneath you.
Core casts ‘Spock’s Eyebrow’. Saving roll versus sarcasm.
so like, arch enemy vs regular enemy.
I actually got this one, because I learned this word from Pride and Prejudice!
Gaelic Ninja, possibly?
Better than a Garlic Ninja, unless you are in a war with Wampires
watch Venture brothers, it is in that satirical setting pretty common, to the point villains say they are going arching tonight.
The Geats were a Germanic people in northwest Europe, near modern Denmark. They feature in Beowulf and many other tales and poem,s.
Dee uses it like that on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in the episode Frank Retires.
There is also the arched eyebrow.
Arch… short for Archon. He sounds like someone who works for Archon.
Thank you.
The truth is that Arch hangs out with Jughead in Riverdale.
That’s the true comic book meaning.
I’m pretty sure he was surprised at her stature. There are more than one super with power items but the vast majority of supers are tall and muscular by nature.
That, was my reaction as well.
Sydney has a 6th sense about people, and subconsciously realizes that Core here also works on Deus’s security team – https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-390-project-overkill/
just had to snag that frame as a gravatar
love your art so much
(please let me know if i shouldn’t be using your art as a Gravatar)
Been cleared before, but best to ask before the grab. You will probly if not already have a message saying it is ok from Dave.
Well chosen. Plus it suits your name.
She just needs to unlock the “form-fitting shield” option and she can Scrooge McDuck into anything.
If you wanted to fight Archon, as in properly go-to-War with them, Sidney is the most exposed member of the team. All the others have “enhanced” bodies and either live in the tower or have irregular schedules that make them hard to ambush. All you need to do kill Sidney off is to walk into the store with a concealed gun and shoot her in the back. You don’t even have to be some enemy government agent; Sciona already tried to steal the orbs and someone else seems likely to think of it.
So I think this is Deus planning ahead and covering a weakness that someone else might exploit. You’d expect Archon to at least worry a little about it, as well.
Risk assessment.
Ignoring for a moment that doing that would bring said (TEAM) right down on their heads; the same “weakness” also applies to characters like Storm, Cyclops, Magneto, and a myriad of others.
The thing is, if you mess up; then you don’t get a second shot. If they went in there with a gun, failed on the first shot, or she got warning; they’d have her armored up and powers out. Even if they got away, they’d have a government agency super team hunting them down.
There is also no proof the orbs will transfer to anyone; for all anyone knows they’ll fly off to find a worthy host like a Green Lantern ring, and as other countries and individuals know nothing of their origin as far as they know they’ll scatter like dragon balls or poof out of existence as just manifestations of her powers; they don’t know.
It is a very high risk with little gain, seeing as especially Sydney isn’t a high ranked individual. She has potential, but she is still a new recruit, and honestly, looks more like she is being used as a public image mascot than a proper team member in the public eye.
Just want to point out that Magneto always keeps up a close-range magnetic force field and is well-known for the strength of those barriers. Dr. Strange is the same way, they are both never ‘unarmored’ as it were.
At least when the writers don’t forget for the sake of plot convenience, like they did for the good Doctor.
The two times Doctor Strange gets severely wounded by a mundane-seeming weapon, it’s explicitly been designed or chosen because it’s something that will bypass what the attacker assumes (correctly) is a layering of various wards, spells, and enchantments a sorcerer operating at Strange’s level is going to have in place.
As I recall, one is a silver dagger enchanted specifically to pierce spells and kill mages by the unimaginatively-named Silver Dagger, and the other is supposedly Hitler’s suicide weapon, enchanted to enhance and focus its negative spiritual resonance to circumvent Strange’s (mostly) positively-aligned spells (it actually isn’t — Hitler carried a Walther PPK, and the gun is a ‘broom-handle’ Mauser C96 — but the line of B.S. the gunman was fed helped to mask the identity of his boss).
Side note, Marvel history wise: In the Marvel Universe, the original Human Torch (the android one the Vision’s body is based on) flies to Berlin after helping to liberate a concentration camp, burns his way into the bunker, and lights Hitler on fire. Hitler’s last coherent words are an instruction to an underling to say he killed himself and ordered his body burned, rather than letting people think an untermensch killed him (the Torch was an android created by a Jewish scientist).
The Torch’s actions led to a pretty great one-liner: Flash Thompson (once Peter Parker’s high school bully, not a double-lower-leg amputee and war vet) is introduced by Steve Rogers (Captain America) to Steve’s friend Jim Hammond (the Torch’s civilian name) as a fellow Medal of Honor recipient. Thompson gives Jim a derisive look and snarks “How’d you earn the ol’ Medal of Honor, “Jim”?” Steve’s reply: “Jim killed Hitler.“
Hang on. Adolf Hitler had the same taste in firearms as James Bond?!
Er… When—exactly—was the last time the orbs were separated from Sydney? By anybody?
Never. But notably nobody has ever touched one.
Been hit, yes, but Sydney had a specific intent in mind, and the orbs are faithful to her intent. So if they normally have a defence mechanism which disintegrates anybody other than her touching it, and she is only visualising punching someone with an orb, but not turning them to dust, then they will have disabled that aspect, before hitting.
Or, being a brilliant business man as well as a megalomaniac, Deus is probably running the equivalent of Super-Blackwater. It would actually be a very lucrative business if you think about it, and the government would approve of having all the grey hats in one location so that can track them that much easier.
So if you’re shop is super themed on an actual super you’re going to need a super security guard, and Deus’ firm would be the place to get one. They might have been able to get an ARC one too, as I’m sure there’s a sub-branch down the org chart that works like a super-secret service to protect Heroes families, but having them cover a business would smack of impropriety.
Four words why that is a seriously bad idea: Amanda Waller, Suicide Squad
More of a Maxwell Lord, Black King
or Lex Luthor, Commander In Chief
or Josiah Power, Attorney at Law
Nah. Sydney’s already worked out that when it’s combat she’s in trouble without Mr. Bubble, so she’ll come up with strategies to counter that. You want to neutralize the Mighty Halo, you take a different approach. I figure that Deus just wants Geat-lad to find out the answer to a very important question: What Is Sydney Into? And when he finds out what that is, she’s going to start encountering more or less a parade of them. Possibly even one boy-band’s worth of them at once, because that *would* be funny and Deus isn’t above a private joke or two.
We know at least one can act, without being in her hand. It sensed she was running out of air, and moved into her hand, The Force Shield, probably has some autonomous actions.
I suspect that this sort of.thing is what the nodes connecting one orb to another do.
Sidney is potentially very vulnerable. if you want to disable her, for example, spray the orbs with WD40, or some other super lubricant. Less ideal, but some superglue could work too in limiting her options,or cover them in something caustic, so she can’t touch them without getting hurt, or maybe some lead paint so she can’t ‘touch’ them (but that is trickier)
The question is, are the orbs actually material? If not, nothing would stick to them. Other hand, ‘tubey’ could contain them nicely.
Also, you would have to get close enough to Sydney’s balls without her noticing
That are actualy good points. I think they should make some tests on it.
for example, can you lift something using the orbs? (like, putting them under something and making them go up)
How far apart from each other they can go?
What happen if, for example, they put them in a bag and Maxima fly up with them? They lift Sidney? Maxima is unable to go up behind a certain height? They rip the bag?
How strong can Sidney hit with them? I mean , really maximum strenght.
And, as I have said, can Sidney still use them if they are covered with i.e. paint? (and what I’ve said about the orbs apply to Sidney’s hands)
Those are all things that should be good to know before time rather than discover them while in combat.
“Also, you would have to get close enough to Sydney’s balls without her noticing”
Yes, because Sidney is always so focused and on alert all the time that taking her by surprise is almost impossible. :rolleyes:
beside there are things like speedsters, portals, teleporters and, probably, guys that can go invisible.
Harem could teleport near Halo and put one small kevlar bag (with a lock) around one or more of the orbs, (preferibly the shield one), now Halo would have at least her options limited, and that is just one possible example.
It’s been shown that’s there’s a maximum range that Sydney and the orbs can be apart.
Sydney can move while at the maximum distance and they will follow. While if they are restrained, that force appears to be applied to Sydney. This was seen when they were trapped by the car early on.
Similarly, the orbs can be taken to this maximum range, but no further. Max ran into this.
So it seems that when the orbs are fixed, the limit is passed to Sydney
When Sydney doesn’t move, the orbs are fixed to her.
Random thought unrelated to current page: What would happen if Sydney used the true sight orb to look at the other orbs? Seeing as how magic detection wise they are multi-layered protected, but her true sight also sees past a great deal; like would she see what Krona saw when she did her reality hacker window display or something more detailed?
She tried that during her first level up.
NADA.
She tried, but was unable to use the orb and was forced to apply the upgrade to it. However, since she’s used the truesight plenty of times, she surely would have noticed if the rest of the orbs suddenly looked different or displayed additional UI features. So I presume truesight reveals nothing about the other orbs.
I wonder how much is dependent on her intention when using the orbs. IFAIK she activates the orbs through intent. She might get a different result bu really specifically looking at the orbs with true sight.
She didn’t intend to discover she could see magical aura when she was snooping around in the Council’s cloak closet, she just wondered what would happen if she used the Tru-Site ball
She was able to use them they just didn’t show anything that explained what the nodes meant, and she had to spend her point on the com orb.
So, what’s the odds on him being a plant for Deus in Sydney’s shop vs being a plant for Archon in Deus’s operation vs just being a completely independent mercenary that Joel can somehow afford?
Unity
Those are hardly the only possibilities.
He was hired by:
1 Deus to…
. a. Protect Sydney
. b. Spy on Sydney
. c. Take out Sydney at a later date
2 Archon as extra security
3 Some other unknown party to spy/ take her out
4 He offered a cut rate to spy/ fanboy for himself.
I’m sure there are other possibilities that I haven’t thought of.
It can be some or all of the above – any good mercenary loves getting paid twice for the same job.
Or he’s normal security for a popular store. Best Buy has security too, but I’m pretty sure they are not bodyguards also :). They just make sure there’s no shoplifting and whatnot.
And if they catch you, they lift you out of the shop :P
I mean I know he’s not actually ‘normal security’ since normal security doesn’t generally have sidegigs of helping the richest man on the planet overthrow a murderous despot. But maybe high stress jobs are his thing. :) And working for Sydney is probably almost as high stress as being a mercenary for Deus :).
Only by the sake that Sydney is often absent, does this guy avoid the embarrassing situation that Tony was in, by being Iron Man’s bodyguard.
“So just what useful thing do you provide, in your job, that your superhero boss can’t do in a blink of an eye?”
Although, of course, in both situations, they do literally provide an extra pair of eyes and may give a timely warning. Not to mention intervening in a lot lower key fashion, thus hopefully avoiding any negative publicity. So subject to peer teasing, but still useful.
My money’s on 1d, = 1a, 1b, and 1c. Deus is smart enough to “plan loose” in an unpredictable situation.
Deus does not seem the type to just “let someone go” once they attain a certain amount of operational knowledge of his “things to do List”. I think Core qualifies for that. Apparently he is also trusted enough to be let out of sight with that operational knowledge. So props to him. Although that sweat drop reaction to the unexpected is the sort of thing that good counter-intel people pick up on.
As far as Deus could know (which depends on whether or not Harem; who is a primary witness to her last known whereabouts, is in point of fact a double or a triple agent) she just up and disappeared.
But anyone with enough info to build a profile on her (and of course Deus would do this) would (correctly) presume that if she ever did come out from hiding that her shop would be visited in person, eventually.
SO why not just plant an asset in the best place to keep an eye on things? Its perfect. Perfectly Deus.
As to the question of whether or not Ariana knows that her pet project (HaloMerchendising LLC) is also a point of interest?
The answer is: Of course she knows. Any intelligence arm (Political, Corporate, or Media) worth its salt has to have that place on a watch list. It is absolutely 100% gr8 B8 mate.
Arc-Light/Dark is probably thrilled to see who might take a nibble.
And things dont seem quite so compartmentalized that the left hand doesnt know what the right hand is doing in Archon (yet) so odds are near certain that Ariana knows that Arc-Light/Dark is watching and will let her know if anything note worthy happens.
Which lets her focus on making more positive public image and also monetizing that positive public image to the best of her ability.
Does she know that Core is there? I am sure there is a file she read.
Does she know he a super? He fits the mold (that unique build all supers get) enough for that to be well within Probable. Enough for arc-light/arc-dark to give the guy a once over.
Odds are then pretty high that Archon’s “Give That Super a Job, or a Cell, or a Tomb.” doctrine kicks into gear.
And if i can figure that one out then so can Deus. So his cover is gonna have to be air tight.
OR
you work around that problem by sending in a trustworthy Bad Ass Normal (like Lt Peggy) that doesnt trigger the alarms.
Maybe he can ‘tone down his power levels’ in some way (or has a device) to pass as a mere bad-ass normal.
(Deus does like to collect mcguffins)
Or Harem just fudged the data when no one was looking. (she has spent a combined 54 years acting like a ditzy 19 year old. Quite the cover really. And Archon really only has Her word that there are ‘only’ 5 of her)
And in the end that is the fulcrum upon which this whole idea moves upon.
Is Daphne a Double or Triple Agent? If Harem is a double agent working (ultimately) for Deus then this is just one more asset being put in place.
With the job of “build your cover” and “Keep your eyes peeled for ‘interesting’ intel (like the reappearence of Halo and afterwards any personal observations about those orbs )” and with a back up “time to burn it all down” mission “shoot Halo (specifically) in the back of the head. Twice. while she is distracted by comic day/asleep. collect the orbs. escape and evade until extraction.”
If Harem is a triple agent ultimately working for Archon … then if Core does Not have his own personal minder named … X. It is because Dave B forgot to write them in.
Which is possible. X is veeeery good at not being noticed. Its their job to make sure you forget.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-106-the-very-best-sense/
Soldiers make bad spies. Comic store owners don’t outbid billionaires. This guy is there because Deus wants him there and expects something violent to happen.
“collect the orbs” I don’t think it’s that easy, the FS ball, more be on guard at all times. Also, I believe that the orbs picked Sydney, for some reason, we may never know about!
“Odds are then pretty high that Archon’s “Give That Super a Job, or a Cell, or a Tomb.” doctrine kicks into gear. ”
Explicitly, Archon’s policy is that, so long as you’re law abiding, (Including no vigilanteism.) supers have all the same rights anybody else does. “Job, cell, or tomb” only kicks in once you start using your powers in a criminal manner.
Which Core has done. Supers assisting in a 3rd world coup is frowned upon by Archon.
Ain’t their jurisdiction, though.
They also don’t know how SmugD got himself his own private country
We don’t have any idea whether they know or not.
Political necessity indicates that it is very unlikely they know about his side line in assassination. If they did know, then they would not have risked a very public close association with him. Should that detail ever come out, it would severely tarnish their own image and would certainly harm their (and the USA’s) relations with foreign countries. Especially those with leaders who may fear a similar state/corporate sponsored coup.
↑This↑
Looking back, Harem got her first extra at 8, her next at 9, then 11, then 14 or 15. 1, 2, 3 means she’s overdue for #6. 1, 2, 4 means she’s due soon.
I would expect that she would be a bit less discombobulated if she were about to be able to handle having another her around, so I’m going to guess that she probably got Harem #6 before the team arrived on the Alari homeworld. But not right before, because otherwise she probably would’ve recognized the issue and despawned one, especially being aware that it was going to happen…
Although, thinking about it more, it was probably really disorienting having one body that was two months behind, so even if she *did* despawn one, the new girl was probably still in for a lot of disorientation. I mean, that would all be a bit of a temporary thing, the newest body would catch up before too long. However, they weren’t actually *there* for all that long – certainly not long enough for me to ruminate over the past two months, which I’d guess would be a similar activity to what she’d need to do to catch past Harem up to speed.
As far as our boy Core here, I expect that he’s probably working for Deus (get info on whether or not Halo still exists) and Archon (guard Halo’s store from super-powered threats, and Halo when she’s around), as well as Joel. Sure, soldiers make poor spies for *most* situations, but this isn’t most situations. This is this specific situation, where there is a limited amount of intel that Core will absolutely get while working there. He doesn’t have to do *any* sneaky stuff to work as a spy in this instance, *especially* if Machina Industries managed to get at least some of the job of producing the goods that The Mighty Halo’s Comic & Game Emporium is selling, or even if they managed to get a shipping contract for the stuff. Basically, Deus gets anybody else working in a position that has legitimate outside contact with the store, and Core can be sure to make sure knowledge of Halo’s return is leaked ASAF back to Deus.
Now that Core has found that information out, all he has to do is manage to report in without Archon noticing that he’s apparently reporting in to someone. If Deus did manage to get supply connections, that should happen in the not too distant future via business channels. Otherwise, it’ll probably wait until Core clocks out for the day, or maybe just until his lunch break.
Of course, if Deus doesn’t care who else knows, it’s even simpler. As soon as Core gets away from this encounter, he whips out his phone and posts it to his Twitter account. At most, Archon could have words with him over his poor judgment. But unless he’s specifically been told to keep some things secret, his merc job with them is safe.
If he has been specifically told to keep some things secret, then he’d have been already able to notify Deus, because being told to not leak the news if Halo returns is probably as good as confirmation that Archon expected her return.
That having been said, I doubt that Deus hired him to watch the shop. Archon most likely hired him to get a job as security at the shop. Joel may not know that Archon is paying him, but Core’s at least getting those two paychecks. Admittedly, one of them is a lot smaller than the other. But, being an enterprising merc who likes getting paid for the same job as many times as possible, Core then contacted Deus to let him know about the opportunity, letting him know about Joel paying him, but maybe not about Archon paying him. Although, Deus tends to be pretty chill about that sort of thing, so may have admitted the Archon job also.
Core probably also contacted other potential employers, unless Deus opted to pay him enough to get him to not do that. This probably includes an attempt at contacting Sciona, but she wasn’t available.
There is also the added feature that Core may actually be a closet geek in one or more genres and this posting maybe something with a silver lining for him. I know a number of military types who don’t gamble but are heavily into D&D and its equivalents.
Well, look at it this way: He’s been in the employ of Deus, as a member of his private security force. While it is possible that he supplemented that force with some temps for the takeover of Galytn, it’s more likely that he is on the permanent payroll of Deus. Or at least is on retainer.
Why would he need the income from a job as security at a comic book shop? There’s really no way the Church of Halo brings in enough to pay superhero level salaries and still show a profit. A superhero being in that position is just ridiculous and dumb and stupid, regardless of whatever intrigues the author might think justifies it. It makes zero rational sense. So the guy is hiding the fact that he is a superhero, because that’s the only thing that makes any sense at all.
So yeah, he’s still working for Deus. For all the logical reasons, at least.
We saw in the Vault that many of the supers who were working with Core in the exact same scene where we first saw Core are not on permanent retainer. There a bunch of them were, working with Sciona.
Given that, I don’t take it for granted that this guy is Deus’s operative.
It’s possible, but not a certainty by any means.
Well, you have a point. But all that does is to further illustrate just what a flimsy logical underpinning the story is being s(h)at upon.
Core’s tattoos and features oddly reminds me of the main character from kevin hearne’s series The Iron Druid Chronicles. https://kevinhearne.com/iron-druid-tattoos/
Yeah, I was bummed when I realized it wasn’t an Angus cross-over.
The tattoos may be part of his shape-shifter abilities that are hinted at by his full name Manfred T. Core.
For some reason he reminds me of For whom the death tolls guy.
Ol’ Googly Eyes! :)
The Periwinkle Butt Sniffer.
Why do I think that ARC is falling down on the job by not testing her and her meds and reevaluating everything she takes to insure a better stability overall. Not to say that her prior doctor did a poor job but what high cost but more effective medication may have been passed over because her insurance would not cover it? Of course that could be one of a hundred things going on behind the scenes that we don’t see.
I also suspect one or more of the employees may be ARC/military/FBI/Counsel or a combination of many of the government or other agencies that want to keep tabs on Sydney while she is at the store. But that is to be discovered if and when something happens there beyond the mob scene of groupies…
Given that Sid was the one who figured out how to defeat Vehemence, (and the first one to spot him as the primary threat)they probably don’t want to medicate her thought processes. ADHD is only a “problem” when you want office/factory/schoolroom drones.
Also you got to remember there is a time lag here. For her it’s been a couple of month’s for everyone else but maybe only a month for her
Opps sorry backwards there. For everyone else it’s been a couple of month’s but for her maybe only a month.
opps sorry got that backwards. For her it’s maybe a month for everyone else but her a couple of month’s
Her meds have been addressed, in passing, after Sydney ran out in New York. A decision to adjust the amount she carries would likely have involved a trip to the doc to sign off on that, which would have required reevaluating her needs.
I keep finding it weird how many British-isms Sydney uses.
Like “Chuffed”.
It’s not a word an American would be expected to know or use.
So either Sydney has spent a good chunk of time in the UK, or more likely she watches a lot of BBC America and UK programmes on DVD.
Dr. Who is fairly popular amongst the geek set.
Are… you surprised that someone as geeky as Sydney would watch/read Dr. Who, Harry Potter, Monty Python, Blackadder, everything with Simon Pegg, etc.?
I thought chuffed means pleased.
Same here, until looked it up on Urban Dictionary…
Hmm, it seems like ‘Chuff’ and ‘Chuffed’ are completely not related words, according to MW, ‘Chuffed’ is ‘quite pleased’ whereas ‘Chuff’ is ‘boor, churl’
DaveB addressed this in the comments section a while ago. Word of God is that Sydney watches a lot of British shows.
Wow, Hank Scorpio really beefed up after the completion of Project Arcturus.
I thought for a second that there were too many orbs in the first panel, but then I realized a few of them were just glowing through the awesome translucent dice on the higher shelf.
It’s probable that Deus decided to have a piece of the profit in there somewhere. and simply combined wanting to gather info because of course, with adding his own security to protect the investment. This guy may legitimately be there to protect. Spying is just a sideline
I don’t view Deus as a good guy so much as a pragmatic “you amuse me” business owner that likes to dabble in gaining power and control
The guy who made $7B shorting the market during the insurance/housing collapse? Who is the de facto owner of a nation? Who casually says things like “A few billion in, dozens of billions out in the long term?
This is the guy who you think wants a cut of the profits from a comic shop?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *gasp* *cough* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If Deus placed Core at the Church of Halo then spying (or perhaps positioning for potential assassination) is the sole purpose, not a sideline after collecting his few thousand dollars from the shop.
Er.. you realize that rich people invest in stocks all the time, to dabble right
And also realize that Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, and all other things Disney make a huge chunk of their money off merchandising and not just the videos that popularized the characters? Deus buying into the first franchise in the world to have an official relationship with actual real-life superheroes and plans to merchandise their likenesses, makes all kinds of business sense, even if it’s not (yet) on the scale of his other interests. It’d be like buying into Google, Apple, or Pixar right as they became household names.
Plus, he’s already approached Maxima about clothing endorsements and other Archon merchandising. Buying his way in from the other side hedges his bets, and paying Core to be there gives him a mole with legitimate access to info on at least some of Archon’s money plans, direct contact with Halo, and very probably relationships with other Archon supers who come to the store. Including security and backstage access at public events, which is a perfect cover if Deus ever decides to move against them.
Honestly, I can’t think of many reasons Deus wouldn’t want someone working at Halo’s store.
Or, maybe he just wants to use Core’s employee discount to build out his collection.
Actually, I think it’s more like buying into Google, Apple, or Pixar before they’ve made it big. They’re not household names yet, at least not universally, but they are among geeks, and you know they’re going to get there eventually.
You think a comic book shop is a publicly traded corporation?
*ahem*
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *gasp* *cough* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You think rich people don’t give money to private corporations they like with an unofficial agreement for a percentage of profit? People in california spammed hate at a billionaire 5 years ago for announcing publicly that his decision to back a flailing privately owned small restaurant chain was impossible since taxes would make him actually lose more money than he made back in profit by profit agreement.
I do highly doubt that Sydney and Joel’s comic book shop has publicly traded stock. :)
what part of my privately run followup implied stock. Investing in simple terms. is Give money. Expect eventual return. Like a loan
Where you said ‘you realize that rich people invest in stocks all the time’ – that part implied stock. Where you said stocks. :)
a simple contract in front of lawyers in a physical building between the guy with money and the person needing the money. will handle the company sending in monthly or yearly percentage of profit back to the person investing for that profit eventually passing the investment.
And we know deus loves money/profit
And why does Event Horizon need any money from Deus, when they have lines forming every day waiting for them to open, and needed to move to a larger location and merge with two other shops to accommodate their customer volume?
Put a little thought into the ramifications of their suggestions. If it doesn’t make sense, then it probably doesn;t make sense.
why did they when they were smaller but now archon has a set up in the store confirmed by the on-site guy explaining things to her.
I guess this complete babble sentence with zero meaning is due to your pain meds…
I also doubt investing in a comic book shop is Deus’ typical business dealings. He buys countries and multinational corporations instead. And the store secured funding from Archon, not Deus. :)
Most likely he’s just there to keep a watch on her and the people who could be used as pawns against Sydney. Not because Deus has any actual business interest in the shop.
I don’t know why nobody came up with this response when this was new. But, page 781, the immediately prior page, indicated that there are now three additional co-owners. They’re now in an ex-church. At least, unless you count it being the Church of Halo as being an actual church. Buildings that size are expensive.
So Deus is probably one of those unnamed three additional owners, and Archon isn’t because otherwise they wouldn’t have been stated to also having an interest.
Arianna totally is one of them, Joel just didn’t want to point that out. I mean, it’s not been mentioned explicitly who they are yet, but she was far too interested in merchandising opportunities to not jump at a merchandising opportunity when it presented itself. Also, I totally get Joel not wanting to admit their three new co-owners being Arianna, Deus, and Core, especially not with Core right there. Or, if not Core, third new owner is some future big bad.
Because from how Joel phrases it, the most likely identities of those three other co-owners are the owners of those other two comic shops that they merged with, and Arianna isn’t one of them, because she’s listed separately as an “also”. That doesn’t exclude your theory as possible, but it would be quite a stretch, and Joel’s explanation would have to be very misleading.
Or more specifically. A friend owning only one gaming restaurant took a loan from his rich father to open the place. The father called it in within 1 year, and the son couldn’t pay it since the father forgot takes 2 or 3 years maybe more for a business to stop bleeding money and start breaking even before finally being profitable
It’s why my parents worked part time jobs for 3 years while getting their payroll company into the break even stage so my mother could actually have more sleep per night while my father continued to work part time and be a barely 3 hours of sleep a night and chain coffee drinker for another year.
heck. how is archon making profit back on a comic book company that is not publicly traded.
Also. read the creator’s wording dang it “I haven’t decided if Arianna and Co. have vetted this guy or not. Whether he is here just looking for a change of pace, on Archon’s payroll, or actually a dastardly insert remains to be seen.”
Archon’s not protecting Sydney to make a profit. If they hired Core as a guard, it’s to cover for the fact that she doesn’t have Mr. Bubble ducttaped to her off-hand at all times (and can’t afford to, because air. Sure, the balls go dormant while she’s asleep, but do they stop working if they’re in hand and she’s asleep?)
and we’re still on DaveB the artist and creator saying in the notes below the comic
“I haven’t decided if Arianna and Co. have vetted this guy or not. Whether he is here just looking for a change of pace, on Archon’s payroll, or actually a dastardly insert remains to be seen.”
It would be fairly ridiculous, but with the combination of the air orb and the shield orb Sydney can remain in the bubble at almost all times.
The question is: Does someone want to live like they are under constant threat of attack? There is also a point of diminishing returns. Archon would require a much larger Congressional funding package if it is expected to essentially create its own Secret Service for all of their supers who are not nigh invulnerable.
Most likely the hired security in because of the huge mobs of customers they will be getting daily, with or without Sydney there.
oh and If I ever get to the point where I can hand a check over to a business physically saying “I want you to survive” i’m damn well going to expect periodic reports showing my money is being put to use
oh hey. a link called “how to invest in a private company” https://www.investopedia.com/articles/basics/11/investing-in-private-companies.asp
People invest in private companies all the time. But those private companies are looking for investors. For example, a regional ISP I worked for sought out investors to fund their growth into new market areas. I wasn’t privy to all of the details, but when we went public the investors were paid back in stock shares.
That kind of investment in a private company makes sense, because you can point to a need by the company for funding, which would make them wither seek out investors or to be amenable to investors who approached them.
But ask yourself why a comic shop which is putting their two nearest competitors out of business, which has lines waiting for them to open every day, and which has decided to move to a larger storefront and merge with the aforementioned competitors would seek out private investment.
The answer to that question is: There is zero reason for such a company to seek out or allow private investment in their company.
We can go round and round and round to infinity over me running with the start of this topic from everything said in DaveB’s post below the comic. But I make it a point to ignore any discussions i had before I went to sleep, after I wake up. and I’m going to sleep at 1:43 am eastern.
There is absolutely nothing in any discussion worth more than life, peace of mind, and making sure I get my stupid *random sydney nonsensical cussing*teeth fixed in a couple weeks. meanwhile I’m putting a shit ton of pain med in each day and eating soft foods because the med keeps the pain down to I can live with this at work. and the soft food keeps me from increasing the pain.
Ah, the old “Don’t blame me, it’s my pain meds” defense. Bravo!
Get well soon.
well when it’s not the meds it’s adhd. So, 365 days a year of me trying to put a face to the world that doesn’t involve bounding around like Sydney seeing something shiny
plus investing requires the company invested in to send investors info periodically. Halo is a hero who shows up at the shop a lot. because obviously. so having a babbling adhd super power who might forget herself occasionally in a nice comfortable home away from work, would be a small but good source
he’s already got a spy in archon. well one that we know of from the creator showing it in comic. Having another avenue at her shop is just that. another avenue. and it’s not like he’s going broke by paying a mercenary type to apply then be paid to be security while keeping an ear open.
If he’s not a spy he could be a former US air force Staff Sergeant put here by a not unknow Lt colonel to :
1) Protect Sydney
2) Protect Sydney from herself.
After all the reconversion is pretty hard for former military , and security jobs are common for them
You triggered the ‘comic senses tingling’ part of my brain. There is a penchant for alliterative names in comic universes. We know Sydney is ‘junior’. If her father served in the military and had the same rank you mentioned he would be Staff Sergeant Sydney Scoville Sr. (middle name still pending). I wouldn’t put it past Dave. :)
He is almost certainly a super due to his presence as a member of Deus’ ‘private security force.’ His physique reinforces this possibility. If I were a super I’d find it difficult to fill a dull, routine assignment such as security for a comic shop. The pay would have to be very high to justify it, as I could be doing far more interesting things and making piles of money elsewhere.
Joel and Sydney’s shop can’t afford him, period. No matter how successful a comic shop is it can’t pay superhero salaries. Not and show a profit, and now there are at least 2 other partners who will be wanting to see their partnership bring them at least as much as their entire shops were previously…
So you might be right that he is there for Maxima (or Archon in general), but Deus is a better fit since he has already worked for him in the past.
I wouldn’t expect the new partners to be insisting on making as much money as their shops were before Event Horizon Comics had a known superhero owner. They just expect to be making at least business owner level income, which in the case of a comic or gaming store, may not be all that much. More than they pay their employees, mind you, but not necessarily dependently wealthy level income.
I’ve casually known more than one comic/gaming store owner. It was their sole income, it paid their mortgage and put their kids through college. If it were to be severely cut because of some merger deal, then this just provides further evidence that these mergers would never have been concluded in a scant two months time. People need time to adjust, and in this case to potentially explore their options for simply relocating their shop to a different market where they would be far enough away from The Comic Shop Formerly Known as Event Horizon that their business will not be impacted. You’re suggesting that a person living at a specific income level would be just dandy accepting an income at a lower level. That’s not how things usually work.
Sometimes, you are forced to take a reduced salary if the alternative is going out of business and getting nothing
Then again, you know everything about everything, even something you are not personally part of (like, knowing the opening hours of a comic store)
Oh, Buttheadicus! It’s occasionally amusing to see your stupidity in action, but more often than not it only evokes a sense of pathos. Look how you worry this “opening hours” fantasy of yours like you imagine yourself as a dog with a meaty bone, when you’re just too stupid to know that you’re chewing on a nothing burger.
How difficult do you really think it is to know the opening hours of a comic book store? Or any store? Even before the internet you could walk up to the door and read the hours of operation notice that just about every business with walk in customers has right there, handy.
Then, why did you think they would be open so early? o_O
You were the one claiming they should have been open by now, no one else
No, you’ll find that as with most things, you simply failed to understand. Again. And again. And again. You should research ways to be paid for your failures, you’d be rich in no time.
No, you were saying they should have been open, what was there to fail to understand? o_O
And when you are pointed out to be wrong, you turn it around and insult the person and start making personal attacks
Quote me or shut the fuck up. My actual words, not your peyote dream of what you think I said.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-390-project-overkill/ SFX is “Geatish Ninja Chop” … maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t have powers. Yes, he has the build, but that doesn’t guarantee powers, just good luck, good nutrition, and exceptional training.
Of course, nobody seems to be taking into account the fact that both the council and Archon have been around a whole lot longer than Deus.
They ere neither naive nor stupid.
Thus…
There is a significant possibility that Core was infiltrating Deus’s operation in Africa for one or another of those organizations.
Deus isn’t infallible.
Nah, Deus has always been around. Since the dawn of time, there was always Deus.
But who created Deus?
There are a few theories on this.
Some say Deus created himself, out of the need for the universe to have a perfect person in it.
Other say God, who was somehow not Deus, created Deus as a blueprint for the perfect man.
I prefer not to engage in questions like that. I merely remain grateful that Deus is here for all of us to look up to and admire.
Deus fell out of the back end of the sacred cow of overused tropes.
And landed head first :P
Blasphemer! :)
Just be glad didn’t say what he landed on :P
I think Core works for Deus, and almost just blew his cover by amusing himself with his greeting. Deus would’ve had him review all his intel on Halo before the assignment, including security tapes of Deus meeting her with Max at Machina headquarters – where they greeted each other with the same sarcastic pause to point out the irony of using dramatic names.
Core did the same thing here for a private chuckle, and was worried she picked up on it.
so we got gorm for int, chuff for charisma, what other words have been used in grrl power that could replace the DnD stats?
Was thinking ‘chuff’ meant ‘happy’, butt a quick look and it seems to mean a ‘boorish person’ (which is not correct, seeing how the same entry refers to telling someone to ‘get off their chuff’, correct term is ‘duff’, short for ‘duffle-bag’)
Anyway, the correct meaning is for someone ecstatic and making noises like a steam engine, which completely describes Sydney in the last panel (both the emotion and the noises :P )
so thinking about it if we are going on the whole orbs are a spaceship in pieces then if I had to guess the last unknown orb is a medbay while the light hook is a tractor-beam and maybe later unlocked a cargo bay and maybe unlocking the inner ring unlock a full ship form or allows orbs to be chained together (and once fully unlock might allow halo to use the orbs basic functions remotely)
Chuffed is definitely a word I hear Americans use but not in this context. In this sentence and with that sentence it sounds like she’s saying “I’m too excited about my new store . . .” As far as I understand it, chuffed has a purely negative connotation, like “I was too chuffed about my sportsball team losing so I didn’t feel like getting out of bed.” I could understand her sentence if she was still annoyed about the thirty foot high, stain glass icon of her or the fact that the store moved locations but that face and the “woo!” tells me she’s excited which doesn’t line up with my definition of chuffed.
Have never heard of chuffed having negative connotations, which perfectly lines up with how Sydney is acting in the last panel
I thought chuffed means ‘pleased.’
Are you thinking of “miffed”, perhaps?
Quite possibly
Yet another word stolen from across the pond by Americans.
At least it has not as yet been abused or disfigured.
Kid on Sunday: “Bye Mom, I’m going to church!”
Mom: “Uh… what?”
*door slams*
Mom: *calls other mom*
Mom: “My kid just said they’re leaving to church… it’s weird.”
Other Mom: “Mine did too… also weird.”
Mom: “Lets text them, and get them to send us pictures of them church. That’ll catch them…”
*both text*
*Both get response pictures that show columns and an edge of a stain glass window in the background.*
Mom and other Mom: “Huh… well, I’ll be.”
Other Mom: “I put a GPS-to-mom app on her phone… this has GOT to be photoshopped, give me a second…”
Mom: “Okay.”
Other Mom: “Pulling up the location on google maps and…”
Mom: “Well…?”
Other Mom: “Yea.. that’s a church.”
Mom & Other Mom: “…huh.”
Mom: “Oh well, I guess we’ll just let them be.”
Other Mom: “Now I feel really bad for not trusting them. Am I a heel?”
Mom: “We’re both heels.”
* * *
*at the Mighty Halo’s Comic and Game Emporium*
Kid: “Mmmm…. check out the tasty looking abs on Gina’s Dad in Gold Digger”
Other Kid: “I’m more distracted by this latest issue of Saga… how much red ink did he have to use?!?”
Heh
The Ampersand in “The Mighty Halo’s Comic Game Emporium &” seems superfluous and/or misplaced.
It’s supposed to be “Comic & Game Emporium”, butt as noted on the page where it first appeared, it looks like “Comic Game & Emporium”
Wouldn’t be the first logo that looks ‘odd’
The Mighty Halo’s Comic & Game Emporium.
Where new employees are sent to work with the store’s namesake for Disorientation
Anyway, Joel seems somewhat unhappy with Sydney for some reason. Perhaps he thinks she left for a couple of montsh without notice *voluntarily*?
Whatever her reason he has had to cope with a staggering amount of work alone, for an extended period. The person at the top is always alone, no matter how many employees they have. And taking on extra partners, especially ones as ambitious and greedy as Arianna, simply increases the level of burden.
Joel is just burnt out and tired. His emotions will be flatlined at the moment. The guy needs some time off, to get balanced again.
The proper way to greet Sydney:
“Hello, Halo”
“Hey, ‘Lo.”
Is it tea you’re looking for?
I was just out on walkies, and discovered this lovely teapot. Would you like a cup? Might take a while to brew. The pot is a tad cold.
*puts on some music*
“Is there an Echo in here?”
“Is there an Echo in here?”
Trust Sydney (and the artist/writer) to find a way to use Scrooge McDuck as a verb… :)
Does it seem like every time Joel and Sydney interact its like Joel is barely tolerating the girl?
Well, of late, Sydney has very much been an absent partner, when she has meant to actually be an active one! As such Joel has had to run the entire business on his own, the vast majority of the time (as opposed to just the majority of the time, which had been the deal).
Nonetheless Halo is indispensable, even if just a figurehead to attract the punters in.
All that said though Joel clearly does care for Sydney. As evidenced partly by him not ranting at her for her (unavoidable) absence. Given the amount of work he has had to do solo, even an unjustified rant would be understandable. Instead he is bringing her up to speed, as best he can with her distractibility.
The magic of dice, it could not be better captured!
And the art has hit a new level of awesome.
Considering the last time she died….
He busted!
But Sydney will uncover his dastardly scheme later, when she is on less of a buzz.
Psst. His dialogue definitely gave off an arch-villain vibe.
Anybody else getting major Atticus O’Sullivan vibes from Core?
Interesting…
I know we’ve seen Core as part of Deus’s Galytn coup squad. But was that really the first time he’s shown up?