Grrl Power #835 – Recruitment
One of Max’s unofficial super powers is “super” hearing. Not super hearing, like, hearing Lois Lane calling for help from across metropolis, or Daredevil level lie detection via eavesdropping on heart rate. She just has… better than usual hearing. So she might have heard more of that conversation between Dabbler and Anvil than us. Of course, Dabbler has pretty good hearing herself. Just look at the size of her ears. So maybe Anvil was talking real low.
Some of you are questioning Anvil’s choice of Deus for this fix up, and that gets addressed in a bit, but it’s just an opportunity thing for Anvil. Max is meeting with Deus no matter what Anvil does, so Anvil is trying to encourage Max to up her social game while she’s out. She’s of the opinion that it’s been so long since Max flirted with someone, that if she does it at all, she’ll go up two or three levels. She might not be wrong. Honestly, I haven’t decided if this is all a setup for Max to try and flirt, only to be apocalyptically bad at it or not.
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Weren’t Maxima and Hiro flirting with each other a little while back?
You mean when they were naked?
That, and they were also flirting about his face being too good to be wounded when the team was hunting Sciona to her lair, Max blasted Sciona, the bloodmage deflected the blast to damage a bridge, Max made makeshift repairs, and Hiro got a forehead scratch while working to stabilize them.
Eh, flirting doesn’t always indicate actual interest – sometimes it’s just humorous banter between friends.
I was mostly referring to the note about Maxima possibly bring apocalyptically bad at flirting, since she didn’t seem to do too badly with Hiro. I think one of those examples even included a note about Maxima being willing to make an actual move on him if he ever gets promoted out of her command, for what it’s worth.
There’s a world of difference between flirting with someone you already have a friendly rapport with, and flirting with someone during a ‘not date’ when you’re already up to your eyeballs in social awkwardness.
I mean, ultimately it feels like ANY attempt at flirting would turn into a power play. Max is very much into being a strong, independent woman, and Deus is Lex Luthor with a bit of extra megalomania sprinkled in as well. With both having such strong heads and personalities, the verbal exchange would be no less than a battlefield.
Deus Ex Luthor?
I don’t know if it’s physically possible to be more megalomaniacal than most incarnations of Lex Luthor. More flamboyantly dramatic, maybe, but this is the character who stole forty cakes, which is as much as four tens.
Ahh, but he has not stolen the Moon.
Deus is not like Lex Luthor. He’s more like David Xanatos. But better when it comes to Xanatos Gambits.
Idk, even if Max is super awkward, from what we’ve seen of Deus he is uh… rather on board already. In a way, it would be sorta limiting: if you plan for deus and max to have a romantic angle, then sure… but just about the only way i see this going is some variation of “max puts herself out there and gets burned by the megalomaniac”. Its not a bad story thread, but it plays back into Max’s established character (instead of being character development). I guess we should see her fail or get burned a few times in story to get a better grasp of her viewpoints… but idk, just feels odd to me.
The thing is, you’ve already covered this ground. I’d link the comics but I’m not feeling up to doing that work. Anyway it just seems to be unnecessary and pointless. Maxima has nothing to gain from treating this meeting like a date, so why is she even considering it? She also has a lot to lose, since Deus is a master manipulator and Maxima should be well aware of this fact.
Maxi isn’t treating it like a date, or are you one of those idiots who are going ‘lady doth protest too much’?
This last arc eloquently shows Max needs to be dragged kicking and screaming by friends out of her shell to treat *anything* like a date (except perhaps maybe going out with Hiro once they are no more superior and subordinate), and Deus is not any exception. However, when everybody in the cast that knows or observes them is making jokes about a potential couple having unresolved sexual tension, I am driven to conclude some genuine attraction exists, no matter how much the lady (or the gentleman) loudly protests. The heart and the loins work their own way, and what a person says isn’t their entire story.
Just because they’re making jokes about it doesn’t necessarily mean Maxima is secretly attracted. There’s a trope called “Abhorrent Admirer” that sums it up nicely.
After all, just because Joker is constantly flirting with Batman doesn’t mean that Batman is reciprocating in the slightest. (And for those who would argue otherwise, I have one word: crowbar)
True, but usually Max is harsh and cold enough with everyone that I am driven to perceive nuances in her interactions with Deus. They make me suspect we are at least halfway to the “Dating Catwoman” situation, even if I am persuaded Deus is not the person she is most attracted to.
You are right about Batman and Joker. But that situation embodies a wholly different trope (dunno if there is a name for it) of a selfish idiot putting his own moral scruples before the good of the world, and hence betraying his self-assumed duty as protector, to let a confirmed mass murderer free to escape cardboard imprisonment and committ more atrocities. Admittedly if Batman killed the Joker in all likelihood he would just be resurrected somehow, but at least Batman would have tried, and then he could shift to containment means suitable for immortal threats.
They had something, or at least SmugD thought they did, until Maxi realised how skeevy he was
What many don’t realise, is Batman is training all the criminals in Gotham, the only time he actually moves to capture them and return them to
Wayne Institute of CriminologyArkham Asylum is when some other hero gets involvedI always hate it when people blame Batman for what the criminals do. Batman is a private citizen using his anonymity to go around making citizens arrests of dangerous sociopaths. He then turns them over to the legal system, the same as any cop. After that, BATMAN HAS DONE HIS JOB.
After that, everything that goes wrong does so because of Gotham’s impossibly warped legal system and a government who is apparently secretly in league with the bad guys and actively wants to see more suffering and misery (and there’s a group called “the Court of Owls,” so… that may literally be the case). The reason Joker keeps escaping is because he’s never been handed over to a jurisdiction outside of Gotham ,where a sane and honest judge would tell him, “you are clearly cognizant of your surroundings and your actions. You know you are committing crimes, and you continue to do so. It doesn’t matter that you dress like a clown, you are LEGALLY sane for the purposes of trial… we will now select a jury while we try you for several hundred counts of murder.”
No, he is using his money and tech to play Vigilante instead of using his resources to help the cops
Blatman doesn’t ‘turn them over to the legal system’, he usually leaves them trussed up somewhere after beating the shit out of them
A couple years ago, there was a show on TV called “APB” about a multibillionaire tech genius who decided he now wanted to fight criminals, instead of going the Blatman route, he picked the worst precinct and assigned himself there and started building nifty gadgets for the cops to use, like cycle-mounted road-strips (those thing deployed to stop speeding motorists) and drones to help track the badguys
And no, NOT blaming Blatman for what the criminals do, blaming him for the criminals
Bet you are one of those ones who claims that Blatman never kills, ignoring all the deaths he has personally caused, retconning doesn’t work in the real world, you can’t just decide to ignore what has happened just because you want to take a character in a different direction
Depends on the version of Batman. If it’s Frank Miller’s “G-ddamned Batman,” then yes he’s killed and everyone’s okay with it because ‘Murica. But it’s generally agreed that that version isn’t really Batman, it’s Crazy Steve the wandering hobo who stumbled into the Batcave and stole the suit. Ditto his earliest incarnation, who also carried a gun… the version that was never anywhere near any of the DC settings.
Otherwise…no, Batman doesn’t kill. If he did, Gordon would hunt him down (and by “hunt him down” I mean “ring the doorbell at Wayne Manor, because Gordon has long since been established as EASILY figuring out who’s under the mask”).
And “causing deaths” is bullcrap. There’s a TAS episode that summed it up, where Batman gets put on trial for “creating” his rogues and being the one responsible for all their evil. By the end of it, even his defense attorney (a prosecutor who had previously believed the same thing) concludes that on the contrary, THEY created HIM.
And yeah, Batman generally does “turn them over to the legal system.” He might leave them somewhere while calling it in, but they don’t hang from the lamppost for very long.
(that being said, I DO agree with you about him needing to use his resources to help the cops. He really ought to be providing them with body armor ,at the very least)
Talking about the original Finger & Kane Blatman, from the 1940’s, originally, he killed Joker, but because he was a popular character, they brought him back
There is a scene where Blatsie was flying around with someone hanging by a rope until they were dead!!
Go and watch the first movie with Keaton: he fucking put a pipebomb down the pants of a clown, and then threw the clown down a hole, who then blew up! Not to mention all those goons in Ace Chemicals who were still in there when it blew up!!
‘Turning them over’ would be dropping them off at the local station, not trussed up like a damn piñata!
In case you may have missed it, she is considering dressing up for the “just a meeting.” That means that yes, Maxima is considering this a date, and despite her verbal protests, because you don’t do that for “just a meeting.”
She was talked into trying on the clothing Kenya bought for her, but it was absolutely in the light of “what I might wear to the meeting with Deus.” This was made absolutely clear in panel 2. And again, you don’t put on a show unless you want the showee to enjoy it.
No, she is indulging her friend, she was always going to wear her Dress Purples
No, this is absolutely shown to be not the case in this very comic. You are, as usual, an idiot.
Also they “got to know each other” beforehand in backstory.
I’m secretly rooting for Deus. As evil overlords go, the world could do worse than him. There is a definite lack of torture, oppression and other tell tale signs of a deranged mind. He seems to be a villain who is keeping up with modern theories. If maxima is at his side as his (trophy) wife / bodyguard, his reign would be that much more stable. For Deus!
Yeah, no torture, just regicide (closest to ‘killing a warlord’), and his maniacal laughing and portable thunder and lightning machine are totally signs of a stable mind
So long as it’s the other warlords he kills, it makes precious little difference to the man on the street. Maniacal laughter could just be his way of ensuring opponents underestimate, and don’t tell me you didn’t want to play with the sturm und drang.
Yeah, Deus so far has been plodding through the Dr. Doom playbook for “supervillain that probably would be a genuine improvement for the world if put in charge”.
Abeit not for the people who live on said world.
Steals, kills rivals, plans elaborate sexual conquests…
All round garden variety despot.
“Steals”. You mean taking opportunist advantage of a robbery already in progress, and you might argue the world was safer with the council artifacts in his hands than in Sciona’s. Anyway a trivial sin, and as a rule he has been shown as willing to pay due compensation in a transaction if possible. He just tries to bargain a sharp deal as it befits a shrewd businessman.
“Kills rivals”. You mean a confirmed mass murderer and kleptocrat that was unable to see the writing on the wall for himself and the best deal for his people, and richly deserved his fate.
“Plans elaborate sexual conquest”. So what? All his conquests we know of have been consensual affairs or one-night-stands that left his partners happy and eager for a repeat, and he has been shown to be a skillful, considerate seducer and lover. This is not any remotely relevant to the issue, and personally as a fan of polyamory and the Ethical Slut lifestyle I am beyond tired of prudish shaming of people who aren’t chaste or (serially) monogamous. If you ask my opinion, the world is a better place with people who are as skilled at courtship and lovemaking and willing to share as Deus seems to be.
“All round garden variety despot”. People of Gaitlyn, his employees, and Alari refugees beg to disagree.
Safer with the artifacts in his his hands, he was willing to hand over one of those artifacts for a one night stand!
You could say she was unique at the time(despite him now having a ship full currently) but even still I am sure none of the artifacts were in the council vault because they were safe.
Admittedly his willingness to hand over the artifact to a complete monster like Sciona who is planning enslavement of humanity and doing gratuitous murders and betrayals left and right (showing how horrible her victory would be) has not been one of his best moments.
You can probably justify it as him making the best deal out of the current situation (Sciona was very dangerous and absolutely willing to tear down his place if defied) and confidently expecting to outsmart and neutralize her with a half-dozen contingency plans down the line. In all likelihood the same reason why when she openly threatens to make him a sexual slave (albeit of the pampered sort) after Alari conquest of Earth, he smiles and makes a joke of it.
Conversely, one could argue that Deus already ascertained that Sciona presented no danger if granted the artifact. He could be one of those ’12th level intellects’ like Lex Luthor or something, and he’s already foreseen all possibilities with her obtaining the artifact. The dude’s proven himself capable time and time again, even with his ‘weakness’ of trying to bed exotic sexual partners.
You mean the Braniac, android?
Which artifact might that have been? The one he did not have. Deus shagged Sciona for information. Page 610, 11th frame shows that he does not intend to let Sciona keep the artifact.
Which means he forced Sci-fright to sleep with him for something he didn’t have
How did he know an amalgam of two supposedly dead people had the artefact? And more importantly, where to find them?
Sci-fright only wanted a single artefact, SmugD went in with a fucking shopping cart and conveyer belt!
Cheasy thief boy wasn’t taking things from Sciona with his little trees, he was robbing the Twilight Council Vault. If they later decapitate first as questions later, well that’s how the game Deus is playing works.
Joins in a robbery, takes loot, conceals stolen goods.
Garden variety, not terribly sophisticated common thuggery from a pretentious little lothario.
“If you let me **** you, I’ll give you the artifact you’ve been desperately seeking, that allows you to return to your own world”.
Yeah, that’s the model of “mutual consent”. /s
…Yes, it is. That’s the definition of prostitution, sexual favors in exchange for material compensation. A service voluntarily traded for a physical item.
Also, you seem to forget that Sciona had murdered TWO accomplices to get into that vault, and she wanted to return to her own world so she could launch an invasion of Earth. But you’re reserving your judgement for Deus? O.o
Would hardly call that hillbilly an ‘accomplice’, and she knew the other one would survive
You are forgetting something very important about that whole ‘sexual favours in exchange’ bit: that was entirely SmugD’s idea, and Sci-fright only agreed because Valeur would have killed her (or worse) if you didn’t agree
Nope. Vale fulfilled her bodyguard role and protected Deus from Sciona from using lethal force if she was not appeased, as she was attempted to do. Vale made no move to threaten her and otherwise stayed on the defensive. Sciona was blocked from using her usual violence and deception M.O. to get what she wanted by Vale’s power and Deus’ smarts, and had to bargain. He offered her a choice of paying a sizable sum (something a supervillainess of her stature was entirely able to procure by robbery w/o excessive effort) or agreeing to sex. She chose sex b/c it was easier, more pleasurable, she agreed to Deus’ suggestion it would be interesting to try out her new hot Alari body, and he promised it would be quite a satisfying experience. Stealing, prostitution, and one-night-stands were obviously not a problem for her, so the choice was entirely up to her. The entire sequence shows she departed the encounter content. Deus was under no obligation to help her getting the artifact or deal with problems (being on Archon’s and the Council’s hit list) entirely of her making, esp. since enabling her caused him significant risk and defying her threatened serious damage.
You mean, when Sci naturally reacted negatively to the idea of sleeping with SmugD to get the artefact?
Pleasurable to SmugD, not to Sci-fright. And no, she didn’t want to ‘try out her new hot Alari body’, she straight up asked why should she use it with someone she considered vermin?
Sciona being a villain — even a horrible villain — doesn’t excuse Deus using her desperation as a lever to get her into bed. Plus as Guesticus notes, Vale was also the fist behind the velvet in that “negotiation”.
Coercion is coercion, and coerced sex is not consensual sex, even if they’re both villains. That was probably the most disturbing thing that’s happened in this comic so far.
Nope. Vale fulfilled her bodyguard role and was there to prevent Sciona from assaulting or killing Deus if she were denied the artifact, as Sciona threatened to do. She made no move whatsoever to threaten Sciona otherwise. Deus was not under any obligation whatsoever to hand the artifact to Sciona, especially since she planned to use it to open the way to an Alari invasion of Earth. That he did so, enabling a existential threat to humanity, is the only deeply questionable thing he did in that scene.
However, Sciona was obviously willing and able to use lethal force, and even if Vale was able to protect Deus, Sciona was still able to demolish the place and cause severe damage to Deus’ property. Therefore, he chose to appease the dangerous bloodmage for the time being and offer her a mutually gainful bargain (Sciona was hunted by Archon and in a hurry). This potentially giving him a chance for an exotic one-night-stand with the hot villainess was just icing on the cake. He apparently trusted himself or a third party (such as Archon, as it happened) would be later able to neutralize the threat he was enabling here.
He gave her a choice of paying a sizable sum (which Sciona was entirely able to seize by committing robbery with her established abilities and resources) or engaging in sex. Sciona chose the latter because it was easier, more pleasurable, she was interested to try out her hot new female body after being trapped in a male orc body for an indeterminate time, and Deus (thuthfully) promised he was a very good lover. The aftermath confirmed the deal was fulfilled to the practical and sexual satisfaction of both parties. No coercion whatsoever took place, unless your definition includes a wimmin not being able to get what she wanted on her terms and having to bargain. Attempts to cast the murderous, treacherous villainess as a victim b/c for once she wasn’t able to get her way by intimidation, violence, and betrayal, she was a wimmin, and the event was sexual are way wrong and tiresome.
What happened was half good old consensual transactional sex, half mutually satisfying one night stand. Something that exists b/c the complexity of life thankfully makes sexuality much more complex and nuanced than romantic fantasies of it only happening when two people with no strings attached and in perfect power balance meet, date, get in a relationship, and fall in love before hopping in a bed.
Sadly there are no more reply layers available…
“Good old transactional sex” is prety much an oxymoron.
And someone can be both a horrible person / villain, and the victim in a particular instance.
“and personally as a fan of polyamory and the Ethical Slut lifestyle I am beyond tired of prudish shaming of people who aren’t chaste or (serially) monogamous.”
So your response is to dismiss anyone who actually needs or wants trust, familiarity, and emotional intimacy before physical intimacy as “prudish”, “repressed”, and/or “unhappy”?
If you demand that others respect your choices and preferences and needs, it helps to start by respecting theirs.
Tell that to the citizens of Ga*mumble*.
Improved literacy.
Improved job opportunities.
Improved working conditions.
Improved infrastructure.
Improved national pride.
Improved security from neighboring nation aggression.
I may have missed some that just sort of come with the territory, like reduced child mortality rates, reduced disease, etc.
And while probably not impacting to a huge percentage of the population, probably fairly important to those who it did impact:
Lack of an actual evil overlord who raped and pillaged as he pleased.
The entire downside of Deus’ takeover, so far as has been seen on panel, was the death of exactly one monster of a petty dictator. Seems like a small price to pay, so far as “the ends justify the means” arguments go. Even his son managed to get over his father’s death pretty quickly after viewing the surveillance tapes of his rapacious behavior, and being offered the opportunity to be the most wealthy man in Africa.
While it does seem from what we know (which, note, almost entirely comes from Deus’s own mouth, making it a little bit suspect) that Deus did improve Galytyn, even the author’s note directly pointed out that the king’s son’s quick acquiescence was partly influenced by Cthylia (I probably spelled that wrong) sitting right behind him, implying that he’d suffer the same fate as his father if he said no.
How many world leaders on Earth, throughout the last 12 millennia, haven’t done each of those things?
Deus isn’t your comic book villain who does evil stuff just because he’s evil, even if it messes up his goals. He’s fully aware that most of that evil stuff is actually counter-productive, and he keeps his eye on the prize, whatever it might be.
In fact, I’d argue he’s strictly moral, it’s just that he’s following the moral code of “ethical egoism”, not one of your altruistic moral codes.
Ah, the myth of the benevolent despot.
I know if I was still in Africa I’d rather have him in charge than the PRC or the local idiots who couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery without stealing most of the booze, losing the rest, burning down the brewery and selling the smouldering remains to the PRC
That says more about the PRC and the local power-mongers than about Deus… sadly.
He definitely puts on the good face of benevolent dictator, and I love it, but quite frankly, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Still, would be funny to see that Max was truly the ‘one that got away’ to him, and all it would take is her showing him how someone can actually be loving and caring to really reform him.
No, just no. Maxima deserves better than a fixer-upper relationship. granted Dues can certainly afford to materially compensate her for that service, but no.
Tina Turner is not looking happy. Master Blaster may be set loose!
3 women and untold outfits enter.. one woman with torn clothes leaves.
Unless she genuinely wants this to be a date, any military officer would wear mess dress for this sort of thing. And Kenya, as an NCO, would be well aware of this, and unless she actually thinks Max actually wants to date Deus, she would not be making a fuss about it.
Yes, there are times to place Dress-up Maxi and push her to be more social, this is not one of those times
P*rn meme references are best references.
Parn? Is that a kind of dinner cuisine?
Pern is an SF&F world with fire-breathing telepathic dragons
Deus probably has a dedicated team who predict when and where Anvil will go shopping, and make sure that there is a supply of Maxima sized clothing, in Deus’s tastes, stocked in store, by the time she arrives. With another part of the team giving Anvil subliminal advertising, by inserting suitable comments into TV programs she watches, or from people she seemingly randomly encounters during her day. See the Truman show for less subtle examples of this at work.
That… just makes it even more worse, and disgusting
Heh Heh “Battle Hooker.” Max calls it! LOL
Everyone seems focused on Max, Anvil and Deus and not noticing that Dabbler’s excited by the prospect of “rough play” with Anvil. Or, seems to be. This might be a defense mechanism. I wonder if she keeps any whips and manacles and whatnot around.
Dabbler has previously stated that she also likes it rough, and she has a lot more than just whips and chains around.
That’s apparently just basic Succubus stuff.
Nope, mentioned several times on the first age of comments
Pern is an SF&F world with fire-breathing telepathic dragons
Not only does Dabbler not get hurt when lifted by her hair, she gets excited. You could probably fling her around the room by her tresses and she’d just squee. After all, she’s a succubus, she was literally born for that kind of treatment.
(Made, hatched, something. I’m not all that sure how her species increases population yet and I don’t want to assume with them.)
Anvil should point out that if Maxima REALLY doesn’t want to have some fooling around time with Deus, then she ABSOLUTELY HAS TO WEAR SOMETHING SEXY! Deus seeing her in something sexy, and not getting to play will totally wreck his night, if not his entire week.
I’m not saying that Maxima is petty or anything like that, but let’s face it, she knows Deus and that he really deserves a few forks stuck in him.
Reeeeally like Anvil in this page! And, Max’s expression in the 8th panel. :-)
Not gonna lie, I’m actively rooting for the Max/Deus ship to sink like a rock.
Agreedo.
Honestly, seeing Dabbler get put in her place for a change is incredibly satisfying.