Grrl Power #174 – You got your explosion all over my press conference
On a scale of one to “I will invent a time machine explicitly for murdering your parents,” how mad do you think Arianna is? Probably something between “I will soak your panties in Icy Hot” and “I will stab you in the ear while you sleep.”
I didn’t want to cover this page with sound effects, but imagine enveloped in an explosion like that is really quite loud. Not deafeningly loud, Sydney’s shield cuts the decibel level off at a tolerable level, but still it’s all “BOOOOM CAT-ROAAAAR AAARG!” in there or whatever mix of onomatopoeia that would sound like. It’s unclear that the people in the back heard Sydney, but at least with the force field clipping the decibels, Maxima isn’t being totally drowned out by it.
This page doesn’t have a whole lot on it unfortunately but it’s a needed transition to the next page, which is why I said that this sequence benefits from a fast read. The next two pages are pretty cool if I do say so myself. And… a few pages after that. I like my own comic if you can’t tell.
There will be another bonus comic this Thursday (yay), but after that I need to buckle down and start with the job hunting (boo).
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Does anyone else notice Hiro’s face. He is just like “Not bad”
Really? I get more of a “This is not good” vibe myself. He knows this is messing up the carefully crafted message that was planned, but there is nothing he can do about it.
Stalwart, now. He has a “Not Bad” expression.
Amusing that Ariana has an arm up, like that’ll make a difference if the shield fails. Reflex, or calculated move to cover her rage? Wouldn’t do to let the press know that she thinks the head field officer is jumping the rails.
And if Ari is contemplating that ”I will stab you in the ear while you sleep” idea, she’ll need to avoid showing her motive on her sleeve. Though stabbing Max in the ear, or anywhere, is probably an exercise in futility unless she can find an enchanted knife…
I’m pretty sure Arianna is just shielding her eyes from the brightness of the explosion.
We now have knowledge of 2 PR significant incidents. A mosque(mostly an accident) and now this. I’ve got the impression from earlier in the story that this is a streak in Max that has shown itself time and again. Something that should not entirely surprise Arianna.
Something that Max’s CO probably expected given the bank incident.
Something Max’s CO specifically failed to instruct Max on, on grounds that you do not issue an order that you know will not be obeyed.
I’m getting more of a “I need to step up my game” vibe from Hiro, here.
I think part of the anger is that they weren’t planning on needing to rely on Sydney’s protection this much, with no second line of defense. If they’d known the blast would be this impressive, they would have had Dabbler provide support and they’d have duct-taped the shield orb to Sydney’s hand just to be on the safe side.
Dabbler is there.
I am pretty sure our good PR expert is unhappy that her PR party is being pooped on by maxima who is sending an unapproved of message.
Dabbler can’t help them. Her shield isn’t even big enough to protect herself entirely
Where’d you get that idea? I don’t remember it saying anywhere the maximum size of her shield.
In the comments somewhere, DaveB said it was the reason her forcefield only has 2 stars, while Sydney’s has 5 stars. They may be equally strong, but Sydney can cover her whole person, and more with it, while Dabbler’s shield is limited in size.
it was when Max took a swing at Dabbler and she got shield-blocked. Dabbler’s is more this size
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targe
don’t like commenting, because of the email stuff but this needs one:
She is so F’ing badass, I love it!
thanks for a cool comic!
Meh, doesn’t have to be your real email :P
It’s not your real email? but but ……how will the nsa protect you?
Protect me? I’m a Canadian. I have no illusions that the NSA is watching my country and my activities. It is just not in their mandate to be looking at American activities; that is supposed to be left up to the FBI and other domestic law-enforcement agencies. Yeah, we’ll see what happens.
The email is just for a gravitar image and for a unique ID for if they need to ban someone. I’m sure David is nice enough not to spam you :) (and even then that’s what spam accounts are for)
I thought above ground testing of nuclear weapons was banned Maxima.
Also, I can’t imagine this having good repercussions for publicity or threat of annihilation purposes. It may deter super powered individuals with less destructive powers, but any true super-villain will just see that as a “Top this!” challenge.
Any true Super-Villain will be looking for a clean pair of undies right about now (or as soon as they see this part of the presentation)
Clearly you don’t know of true super villains. They don’t sweat small stuff like this.
Which reminds me, shouldn’t we be seeing little yellow streams running down Suzy’s legs right about now?
…when we dropped a MOAB (GBU-43/B) in Iraq, lots of people, including several members of the US press, accused us of employing tactical nukes… Most people don’t understand munitions, and don’t really have an internal sense for these kinds of scales.
Yeah it’s not just nukes that make a firewall and a mushroom cloud, it’s any explosion hot enough.
Ummm, I’m more frightened by the idea of underground nuclear explosions………we don’t need any more earthquakes damnit.
A nuke is nothing compared to an earthquake, a nuke wouldn’t even be strong enough to trigger an impending one (they did the math on the California fault line).
Oh, you babies, when I was little they were still doing above-ground nuclear tests, and my age group turned out just flarglge…
When I was little, you had you walk uphill to see a nuke-quake… uphill BOTH ways! Through 5 feet of nuclear winter snow. And THAT was just to get a superman comic!! o 3o
For a nickel!
Probably could have conveyed sound by jagging the panel edges.
Love the touch with Suzie pulling on her hair.
she’s not pulling on her hair, she just instinctively moved her hands up close in order to clamp them over her ears to block some tiny bit more of the sounds that she thought was going to be hitting them, but when Sydney’s shield prevented that massive sound assault, her instincts were kinda thrown for a loop and her hands just kinda forgot what they were going to do, so they are still just hovering in the middle ground… haven’t you ever started to do something and midway through you changed your mind, or whatever you were reacting to went away so you stopped the motion in the middle of it? that’s kinda what I’m seeing her do…
as for the pink haired newsie, i find that telling… she puts on a stoic, jaded face for the viewing public, but when it comes down to it, she’s totally surprised by the force of the explosion and is going to be totally embarrassed about her reaction, and that will possibly put her into the role of public skeptic and doom-sayer about Supers in general… all because they made her look bad…
we have Suzie as the Pro-Supers, now we have Pinkie as the Anti-Supers viewpoints in the press corps…
Is it just me, or was Suzie more freaked by Sydney turning upside down like that?
Also, loving how Pinkey is the only one cowering and covering her ears (not that it’s not a natural reaction, just have the feeling she will be begging/pleading to never be assigned anything to do with Supers in general and Archon in particular, ever again!)
Will anything impress Blondie? Or is that just his permanant expression?
He does seem to be stuck with that face
He’s thinking: “Hmmm reminds me of the time in (insert country here) where I was covering (insert confilct here)”.
Can’t quite tell, but is Dabbles looking at Sydney or Ari? Personally, money is on Sydney (the eyes seem to be looking more ‘up’ than ‘down’)
Just noticed that Will Smith is also looking up at Sydney (unless he has spotted a flying piece of tank)
I don’t think there are any pieces of that tank left. Or atleast none bigger than a few molecules
Re-reading Maxi’s line, next page: “Kiss my shiney golden heinie, Ari!”
…that you’re all looking at, since my clothing has been incinerated…. or are we assuming the same powers that protect her boot will work here, too?
Now I’m left wondering how Taylor from Worm (read it!) would deal w/ Max. If Max needs to breathe the !SPOILER! Alexandria treatment !SPOILER! might work. Assuming she can move her bugs fast enough to catch Max.
Ever see the inside of an explosion? Apparently Dave has, because he’s just about nailed it.
Please don’t ask how I know this.
Anyway, having gone through the comments I notice only passing mention of the obvious pattern in Sydneys force field. Personally I find that very interesting and a bit telling.
Even in a technologically based force field one would expect to see some variation in the field pattern, some type of wave effect as the energy refreshed. Instead we see a pattern when it’s “stressed”. No real instability, just a flare suggesting energy being expended at an increased rate to maintain integrity across the area most affected by the expanding shockwave. It does seem to get stronger suggesting that like a technological shield more power can be pumped into the shield after its creation to reinforce it, at least to the limits of its internal capacitors.
While magic might explain this (with a handwave of “it’s magic!” which I find a cop out), you would still expect to see a pattern a bit less regular. If the invisible part of a magical invisible shield becomes visible due to more energy or it being struck you generally see the magic symbols and such. This effect is not evident. Instead we have a regular pattern which while noteworthy is utterly …zhoashel.
A telekinetic shield might have this regularity until collapse, but there again usually trope wise the whole damn thing lights up like a Christmas Tree before it fails and the inevitable passing-out by the psychic creating it. The shield is obviously much more visible along the side facing the explosion, less so everywhere else. Not to mention psychic abilities are generally “natural” not from some McGuffin.
So the orbs exhibit abilities of ALL of the above combined, at least given the “physics” I’ve described and tropes I’m circuitously referencing.
Which means those orbs are starting to peg the needle on the “Wierd-Shit-O-Meter”.
you forgot the Psychic nose/ear/eye bleed from their blood pressure spiking.
Brings this old Foglio conversation to mind:
https://www.airshipentertainment.com/mythcomic.php?date=20100918
I won’t ask about it but I will strongly suggest you say more that sounds like a fun story :)
Eee! ‘Splosions ^_^
Also, on a note unrelated to this page, the next time you go to update the cast page, would you consider adding a little key somewhere as to what the different power symbols mean? I’ve figured out what most of them are (probably), but one or two still elude me.
I wonder if Max’s clothes would burn off…
It’s been stated somewhere that Max can extend her powers to anything she touches. She’s probably gotten used to extending her invulnerability to any clothes she wears automatically, so there’s a pretty good chance that Max will not only remain fully clothed, but not even have any scorch marks.
Even Superman’s blue onsie got ripped from time to time (and not just at the hands of Doomsday), so are you saying Maxi is stronger/more powerful than Kal`El?
My guess is kinda, the way I interpret her stats is she could out run, fly, and hit or be hit harder then superman just only 1 at a time so she could beat him in an arm wrestle but would lose in a fight throwing punches due to maxing either strength or defence
Superman’s uniform gets ripped when he starts to max-out his powers – we can assume he’s redirecting his energy away from nonessentials (his clothes) to essentials (the actual fight). It doesn’t happen until he’s in a position where he’s having a hard fight.
Max does the same, just on a more extensive level. She’s not more powerful – she’s just got some differences to her powers.
Either way, I wouldn’t expect either of them to have clothing damage in this explosion.
Well if she forgets, it’ll be quite a view.
I guess Maxima would be presenting the press with her own version of the Golden Globes award.
We need the text equivalent of “rimshot”…
Pfft.
Well so much for the need of Superheros. Max just set the the planets atmosphere on fire.
One more thing.
I can’t hear that without thinking of Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures anymore.
And now I can’t look at the silhouette in the first panel without seeing Uncle XD
That was my reaction also but I was reminded that it wasn’t exactly original.
Something I’ve seen done cleverly is to make the panel splits slightly bigger and fill the background with sound effects.
So Max is trying to paint herself as a nuclear deterrent…. Right, because that just calms everyone down.
Between ambitious super villians, nations that want there own version of Maxima, and alien, different dimension, or time travailing conquerors that now see that earth is ready for a hi yer form of war. Max just opened a whole truck of worms.
It probably does when there is only 1 side with nuclear deterrent.
And why would aliens be interested in this stupid planet? That makes no sense
Yeah, as Dabbler put forth: It’s not like they need our water…
Or anything else this deep in a gravity well. Everything on this planet can be found elsewhere.
Everything except genuine Terran coffee. The substitutes are just pale imitations.
“There’s no chocolate out here.” – John Crichton, Farscape
Or Bacon. trust me, you do NOT want what the Xuviasioni call “trakuno”
So they just need seeds or some piglets. If they have the science to get here, growing things or even replicating them should be easy-peasy.
Everything can be found elsewhere… except possibly cheap slave labor, but even that’s a stretch, now a reason aliens may actually come here is to quarantine, stupid is fatal after all. To prove this I put forward the fact that no human has ever been immortal. xD fault that logic! xD
“no human has ever been immortal” . . . YET.
For all I know I happen to be immortal and haven’t lived long enough to find out yet.
Check back with me in a century or so and I will give you a status update.
And when has only one side ever had that deterrent? It never happens. Ether other nations build there own, or they steal it. And even if there was only one that had it that wouldn’t be peace. It would be a tyrannical rule.
And why would Aliens be interested? Why wouldn’t they? Do they even need one? Comics, movies, and TV have always had aliens involved in this planet one way or another. The alien invasion is practically a go to trope in this kind of world.
“Oh, and one more thing…
…
…
I’m Batman.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIUnIhRpthY seems appropriate for arriana here
The only two things I find remarkable about this explosion are its duration (most give you time for as many as half a syllable of conversation) and its proximity — most weapon tests are done at a significant remove from the target. I don’t know how the press was primed on the trip over, if it included a ‘demoing some of both their weaker and more powerful attacks’ might give Max a ‘we said we’d be doing this’ out.
Hmm, can Sydney use her shield as a cage for Max? Migh make her a popular ‘plan B’ if people get concerned about Max running amok.
Well as far as we know so far, Sydney has to be inside the shield. So that wouldn’t work (killing the person wielding the orb would probably stop the shield)
I keep thinking: how will Maxima breathe? She should have emptied (most of) her lung by now – she is shouting…
now that is a great question
She probably has the ability to massively compress lots of air into her lungs, and release it as quickly or slowly as she needs, even internally for the oxygen.
1) Given that Max has to lead this team of cats, there is NO WAY that she would have done this without permission. Arianna’s going to get to try that look out on the general.
2) If she did, Sydney would learn some new words at that “wuss” general dressed down his errant Col. (The discipline of the team is utterly paramount.)
3) Arianna’s concern about the general public is well placed. Just how long has it been since there was an above ground nuke test? The environmentalists are going to you absolutely insane over this “demonstration”.
4) I’m having a hard time gauging the size of that explosion. From last comic, it looks like it’s only 100-150 ft between the gaggle of reporters & the tank. But when she threw it, it looked more like 100-150 yards. So my real question: 1MT? 5? 20KT? ????
Meh, enviromentalist have nothing to complain about. It’s just a bit of kicked up dust. There was no radiactive material anywhere
I say a 1kt boom if that, hell the smallest “Tac” nuke iscloser to 300kt
It was more of a bunker-buster than a nuke. It went down into the ground and then blew up just like the bunker-busters we use but far smaller.
Seems like there’d be more directed upward and outward, since the first explosion formed an initial crater, and the center of the second explosion was somewhere around the center of the sphere. Of course the second explosion seems to have had more energy than the first. The big question is, what kind of energy and where did it come from? The first one looked like Maxima was forming something like a small singularity, which “ate” the tank and some of the ground as it was expanding, vaporizing them, which she then made into a “larger” singularity…oid. It could be that a lot of the matter was converted into energy, which usually entails the full spectrum of particles as a result, nasty things like gamma and x-rays and high-speed neutrons. I’d say it has the chance of being a non-fission nuke-work-alike, with the potential of the same kinds of nastiness left over.
Of course, Dave knows for sure…
You guys need to look more closely. In the previous page, there are clear ring-clouds being formed by the explosion(s). You simply don’t get that unless you are spitting out cosmic rays. That is, SOME form of nuclear reaction must be happening. In this panel, we’re getting WAY more effect than 1kt. Even if it were only 100′ to the explosion (and I believe it is intended to be more), you aren’t INSIDE the blast radius for 1kt.
I am d@mn impressed with Max’s command style. Sydney was embarrassed and humbled just a moment before, but now everyone – including Dabbler – knows their very life depends on Halo, and she’s doing a great job while saying “It ain’t no thing.” Right now, Halo is the penultimate known superhuman, not the slapstick screw-up.
Arianna, it turns out, isn’t the circus master nor showman nor dog nor pony, but merely the barker outside the tent.
It’s Maxima’s team.
Well said.
well as it is Syd is like #3 in power ratings (Dabbler’s #2 mainly for all of her gear and skills) and Dave’s said she’d be even higher with Training and Experience.
*ahem* Dabbler isn’t human, and therefore not superhuman.
Yeah, I manipulated the wording a bit to puff up Sydney. There is also that “known” adjective in there. The press still hasn’t been informed of foreign superhumans.
I meant on the team.
And here’s a thought, what would Max think if one day (a few years from now obviously) Sydney wound up surpassing her? Would she be pissed? or would she be proud that the Student had surpassed the Teacher?
An explosion so loud it was silent, or seemed so. Like those space mines that Jango Fett used to try to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi. So loud it suppresses all sound. There was an episode of the Invaders, about a strange weightless cylinder. A metallurgical chemist tried to cut it with a LASER. (It was so loud it got quiet, but not an a silent way.)
Arianna is the pitchwoman for the team. The liaison between the public and them. They need her
The wearing of uniforms and the uniforms themselves with this crew… don’t seem very uniform…
Max, Tactical Undress
Halo, Flight Suit
Stalwart, G-Man suit (Arc-type)
Hiro, “I’m too cool for Uniform” Uniform.
Also remember: Sydney has only just arrived that afternoon, and she is the shortest person in the building, even Peggy’s borrowed flightsuit had to go through a very quick adjustment to fit
okay so ya I do feel slightly guilty for saying this…but I’m kinda hoping Maxima’s outfit is *cough cough* “damaged” by the explosion XD
Many previous comments agree with you on that point! XD All of which were followed by an explanation of or link to the meta-comic that explained that her powers can cover anything she is touching.
Hmmm… If one had power over air and could “puff” her clothes away from her body at juuuust the right moment of the explosion…. Where’s Aang when you need ‘im? LOL
Wasn’t there something about when she uses her powers on overcharge that then makes her less powerful? And that looked pretty powerful…maybe an overcharge? (ya ya I know chances are low, but dont ruin this for me man! Keep the Hope Alive! xD )
She doesn’t overcharge, she shifts her powers around. So she takes 1 point out of something, to put it into something else.
So even if she did dump everything into making that explosion, she isn’t making that bomb now. So now she’s free to put it all in protection
*Mourns “The Hope” then gives it a small tasteful funeral.* sniff-sniff
*New Orleans funeral procession dances by playing Jazz*
I would assume she COULD “Overclock” an ability, even after a stat-dump (much like a Normal can generate enough strength to lift a truck with enough Adrenaline), but she’ll be paying for it later.
Y’all do understand that isn’t an ‘explosion’ going on behind Maxima, right? That’s a volcano.
At least that’s what *I* think …
I think we all missed one minor detail here. Sydney can predict Maxima. There was no reason for the average person to know how far Maxima went. Sydney is of course no average person, she’s a geek and as a geek she can see the tropes and concepts before they go to fruition. She knew that Maxima was going to blow them all up and it excited her to see the inside of the explosion.
Sydney is actually a counter to Maxima. Talk about a pint sized powerhouse.
She’s also a geek who has already been through at least 3 of her explosions, at dead-center (based on the rings of cooling glass around her and the big block o’ steel.
Dude…whatever line of work you’re in, right now, it’s the wrong one. This is easily the coolest comic book page I have ever seen. You should seriously consider doing this full time.
Thanks! But this comicing thing doesn’t pay too well. Once I have a book to sell it might be possible but for now it’s just a nice thought. :)
It’s a little late, but, is the pattern of the forcefield the one from Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode 1, “Encounter at Farpoint”?
im not sure if your old enough to remember seeing that when it aired or if you have all the seasons on dvd but man you are awesome for mentioning TNG
But i have to say that no, the pattern Q makes is not similar to the pattern here
I would guess that Arianna’s Glare of Ice may eventually surface as at least a regular power if not a super one.
Wait… If Sydney’s shield is capable of blocking energy of that magnitude, then my isn’t the live transmission from the cameras cut off?
It doesn’t block *all* energy. If it did, it would block light and sound, too. In fact, I think this might have been brought up during the opening with the D&D game, where Sydney argued that her opponent’s shield doesn’t block light and therefore wouldn’t block a light-based attack, despite the fact that her own shield has exactly that kind of selective permeability. So far, it seems to block a) all matter (we know it can hold in sand air, as well as keep them out), and b) “harmful” energy.
I’m amused that the panels of Sydney’s forcefield look like the Abstergo logo from the Assassin’s Creed series.
New WMG, go, Sydney a Templar?
“On a scale of one to ‘I will invent a time machine explicitly for murdering your parents,’ how mad do you think Arianna is? Probably something between ‘I will soak your panties in Icy Hot’ and ‘I will stab you in the ear while you sleep.’ ”
Good golly, you’re creative. XD I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering you write Sydney’s dialogue, but still. That seriously tickled my funny bone.
And you’re right, she does look pretty damn pissed. I was already going to comment on that, and then I read that first bit of your commentary, which just made it all the more pertinent. ^^
So does the shield just block harmful levels of everything? Even if the hot air wasn’t directly entering the bubble the light coming though should still be enough to cook them alive in there.