Grrl Power #179 – Terrified the world today? It’s Miller time!
I’m kind of bad about getting right to the reveal, aren’t I? I decided to write the sequence this way because I’ve been thinking about the possibility of breaking down what I’ve done so far into smaller chapters and making e-books/PDFs, and maybe even full color print books instead of just the single 200+ page volume I had been planning on. This chapter (starting after Sydney arrives at Archon) would end on the reveal, and I wanted to make it so that book would tease the next scene as well.
The good news is that the proper reveal will be next Monday, and I think you guys will dig it. The more good news is that I’m back to doing 2 pages a week for at least the next two weeks, probably longer since I’m quite bad at job hunting. Speaking of which…
I finally got around to setting up an account over at Patreon. I invite you to check it out and leave feedback. I tried to set up some basic rewards that wouldn’t take time away from actually producing the comic while simultaneously not being super lame. That’s a fine line to walk. Again I have to say I really appreciate the donations I have received so far, and while I know that many of them were a once a year thing or even just one time, there were quite a few people who tried to set up recurring payments through PayPal, which PayPal then failed to process for whatever reason. Patreon offers a recurring payment alternative, and hey if it goes well, maybe I’ll be able to deliver two pages a week for the forseeable future. I’m not expecting Patreon donations to ever match my old salary, but if it helps slow down the rate of erosion to my savings, it will still be immensely helpful.
Oh and one more thing, slightly less important than all that but worth mentioning. I updated the Archon seal, which you can see on Maxima’s shirt. Since Archon is the 6th branch of the military, I thought it made sense that they would have a 6 sided star as part of their logo. (Plus it fits better with the hexagons I put all over their base.) I didn’t initially go with that because 6 sided stars are usually Stars of David which might send some confusing messages, but I thought this double caltrop design or whatever that is might look ok. Sheriff badges are usually anything from 5 to 7 pointed stars, and since Archon, or at least ARC-SWAT are cops, I thought the star motif worked well. The words around the seal in case you can’t read them are “VELOCITAS, INCURSIO, VIS” which is Latin for “Speed, Surprise, Violence of Action” which very much describes Maxima’s attitude toward combat, but isn’t a very friendly slogan compared to something like the police, who have a more “To serve and protect” attitude. I think maybe the shirt she’s wearing is something that was proposed early on but probably got dropped the moment Arianna got involved. In any case, I think I’ll go back through the comic when I get around to doing little art corrections and replace the old 5 sided star with this new one.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Oh the poor little dears, looks like they got all worked up from the excitement LoL
I love superheros, but…
Vast power under the mental control of someone with serious ADHD?!
Nah, I glad I don’t live there… too dangerous for me!
There are significant numbers of ADHD sufferers in the population. Some of whom will be in positions of responsibility and power. Whether you know it or not, you have a reasonable chance to have been in the care of one at some point. Perhaps a doctor or a bus driver. Distractable, yes. Incompetent, no more likely than any other member of the public. Provided they work around their condition.
For Halo, ADHD is just part of the package that makes her… unique. As for being frightened of her having vast superpowers under her control, that I can understand. Although, personally, I find her adorable rather than terrifying.
This is why there is now the word Adorifying :)
fitting.
Warning: These are links to TV Tropes. You have been warned.
Sydney is adorkable (she even gets mentioned in the web comics page) as well as AD Ooh Shiny (not listed on this one). Being easily distracted does not mean that she will act in unethical ways, but in ways that may seem lazy or selfish from the point of view of other non-ADHD characters. Both Max and Halo are scary in their own ways, but reassuring at the same time.
As a lurker with moderate-to-severe ADHD, I just want to say I’m not suffering. I like to think I just see the world as more interesting than other people do. I’m not planning on going off my meds, mind you, but I feel that my ADHD is an asset in terms of creativity and multitasking, and helps me be more aware of my weaknesses and develop strategies to work through them or otherwise make them a nonissue. A lot of people have problems that are undeniably problems, and that they are genuinely suffering from (this includes many ADHDers). ADHD has it’s ups and downs for me, but I got through graduate school with it and if I can ever manage to get hired it’ll be with me as a children’s librarian, where creativity and a willingness not to get too hung up on silly details like constant maturity can easily outweigh the times I forget to set an alarm or sticky note to remind me of something I know I’ll forget. As I said, some people suffer from ADHD–but it’s not a horrible, crushing weight for all of us.
As for Sidney, I can see why impulsivity, a tendency to miss details, forgetfulness, selective hyperfocus, hyperactivity, and other common ADHD symptoms might be problematic in life-or-death situations. On the other hand, her creativity, energy, genre savviness, multitasking ability (especially given the nature of her powers), etc will be very useful.
Kitsu, also valid points. There are a number of people with ADHD who are able to manage their lives, with the odd sporadic “ooh shiny!” interruption happening. Therapy, training, and of course medication all help in learning how to keep it under relative control and deal with those moments and move on.
It’s still a constant struggle. I don’t know how often, even after years of dealing with it, I still find myself at the end of a day going “doh! I forgot to do X, Y and Z!” while I’d finished tasks A, B, and C which I’d planned to do another day anyway.
The media of course blows everything out of proportion, whether due to a lack of understanding or for the comedy value. This is what causes probably 90% of the confusion about people’s understanding of ADHD. While Sydney may be a more severe case of it, at least she’s not being played as a total idiot like often happens when discussing characters with ADHD.
What’s really “fun” depending on your definition of the word is combining ADHD with OCD like I do. Run around, easily distracted until one of my compulsions trigger and suddenly a guy running around seemingly chaotic and distracted concentrates with the attention to detail of a chemist dealing with rocket fuel to sort out things that someone else considers strange or even pointless. And then when that’s done, off into chaos again. I myself would probably take Sydney’s balls along with a ruler and start setting them up according to color and size whenever they got out of order.
The risk of someone with ADHD isn’t so much the disorder but what else they have with it.
I know I have plenty of “Oh Shiny” moments” tech, food, tech, food, tech, books, tech, repairing stuff, anime, tech, games, tech, cats, tech, oh and did I mention tech.
When I’m on a distraction, I can get very OCD about it. I even have my Jpop music labeled six ways to Sunday, complete with japanese text, transliterated japanese, & english translated lyrics and the composers. I sort my novel by author and series. I can spend hours doing that one thing not thinking about food, the bathroom, sleep, etc.
Toss in a little dyslexia, dismetria, dysgraphia, & dyscravia, then sprinkle liberally with some PTSD.
Rick, as someone with ADHD, I can say with some comfort that aside from any incidental damage that may happen, we’re relatively safe with superpowers. Mostly because any plans to do anything big and truly dangerous get the “oh, look, shiny!” treatment and are usually shelved until such a point we go “what was I thinking?” is normal when looking back.
I mean, the worst I’d do with superpowers, besides avoiding having to deal with mass transit, would probably be annoying small yapping dogs (or people) as I go running past. I’d be tempted to make every idiot shut up, but the second I stopped to focus enough to act on it, I’d realize “Bad Idea. Karma will do it for me.”
You should meet an epic level Wizard I made for DnD. It started as a joke with my dm “I want to play an Aspie in DND.” So we made rules for ADHD, Hypersensitivity, and other factors of ASDs. It started as a level 5 Wizard. I thought the ADHD would kill me quickly. It did not. THere are so many memerable moments – like seeing what would happen if I centered a fireball on myself. By the time I hit 20 i had developed a quirk of braking th forth wall, my character could referance real world things and hear the voices at the table.
VELOCITAS, INCURSIO, VIS” which is Latin for “Speed, Surprise, Violence of Action”
That could have been one of Bruce Lee’s mottoes. He was for fast ends to battles unlike in the movies.
Sydney is such a fire cracker she is the antithesis of a “cool head.” Panic? She doesn’t need an order to panic!!!!
That sounds like a great line for Sydney.
I think that Carpe Collum which translates to “Seize the Neck” would be Maxima’s.
as opposed to Math and/or Harem, which would be Carpe Posterium…
Well played sir. Well played indeed.
The actual phrase would be rapere ad collum which means seize the neck. Carpe collum means enjoy the neck.
So, a catch-phrase for a non-sparkly vampire then?
Seems reasonable for a non-sparkly vampire.
But I was using Carpe like the marines use it. Carpe Diem = Seize the Day then change Diem for Collum and it becomes Seize the Neck
Hey I may have been right if the spin up is how they merge to a single unit and then separate to spawn another. One more orb –coming right up.
I called them forming a halo. She only has one thing to hold now.
Two Halos? Is the world big enough? Mind you, she could hold herself then, true enough.
I still think it’s how they dissipate energy absorbed by the shield…they haven’t had to to it before because Maxie’s nukeblast is the first thing that exceeded their bleed-off threshold.
i think the orbs liking the name and getting excited at max’s power. maby it want to try to fight her. even if sidny does not.
Sydney Moments. Now taking the serious tone out of 10% larger, Giant Explosion Craters. Sydney Moment is not suiteable for all cases of Serious post-event moods. Please check for compatibility to your Universes general Mood and Gritiness Setting before application.
Calm down Sidney the orbs are just releasing the energy from the explosion.
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed only changed.
your shield absorbed the energy so now they are releasing the energy in the safest manner possible.
It also shows the orbs’ enthusiasm for her hero name.
Or a desire to be used more frequently.
ah, so they’re actually jumping for joy, like an Australian Cattledog… I like it
aaah the cliffhangeryness. At least we know more now, though.
By the way did you mean “exodus” or am I missing a reference or something?
Exodus means mass departing. I guess that this would make since because of how powerful Maxima is and how quickly she left.
I DO COCAINE!
-This message brought to you by Roxo, the Rock and Roll Clown.
I’m voting for the orbs doing this trick whenever they come close to their full power being used.
and the press conference only took 8 months!
Out time. 3 hours Sydney time.
Ah, phooey. I mean 8 months, our time.
A Sidney Momment….I like it. :) And she comes into her name as well.
Agreed – a “Sydney Moment” may become some kind of code phrase for marvelous hysterics!
You know, taking account of how easy she gets her angry, beside all the sexual harassment, Maxima seems to hang out pretty well with Dabbler. A more than one level relationship?
It’s not reallty ANGRY, more pissed of what she is.
Looks to me like she handles her relationships like the stereotypical male. Punch each other in the face, and than go drink a beer tougether.
No point on dwelling on the past
you raise a good point. her posturing, mannerisms, and interactions all come off rather masculine, even when she’s being nurturing. Such is not unheard of amongst military women, but neither is it particularly common (especially amongst the senior ranks). It could be how she’s acculturated, or it could be part of her internal defense mechanisms against perceived sexism and concern over being objectified. It would be interesting to see what’s beneath if anybody actually pierces her shell…
Another explanation is that simply she was a tomboy growing up and has never grown out of it. She said she was a nerd for a while and some female nerds take on masculine behaviors to fit in with the guys better. So that, combined with growing up a tomboy and a rather high level of feminism could certainly contribute to her masculine behavior.
at a glance, here are some places that will need star editing
66, 69, maybe 73, timy 74, splash page chp 2, 75, 81, 82, 100, 113, 115, 125, 143, 144, kinda 146, 147, 154
Thanks, I need to run through the whole comic and make a lot of other fixes too. I’ve added this to the list.
When (and if I may ask why) did you decide to change ARCHON’s star logo?
Is it meant to represent every branch? (ARC-SWAT, ARC-LIGHT, ARC-DARK(lol)) Thus giving us a reveal of exactly how many sections there are? (barring any deep cover branches that, come to think of it, ARC-DARK probably is….)
Basically I thought the new one was better, although now that I think about it, it doesn’t actually say ARCHON on it anywhere. :/ Also probably each branch would have their own seals as well, but at least for now I can chock that up to them being a new service.
I like the new one more. The double-caltrop design feels more “advanced” if I had to put a word on it.
“Incursio” is a forceful attack, or a raid, not really surprise, at least not in what I’ve read. please link a source text using it in that way so I can read it. always trying to improve my latin. “Insidiae” is closer, it’s like waiting for the moment to ambush something. “vis” also means “force,” and just general “violence.”
If you google the whole phrase, the first result says it’s “Speed, Surprise, Violence of Action” but I don’t know how authoritative the source is. Also the word might mean something different by itself than it does in a phrase? I don’t know enough about Latin to comment on that.
Interesting, I thank you for introducing this usage to me. Can’t wait for the next page!
VELOCITAS = rate of speed (velocity) rather than speed of response (rapid reaction)
INCURSIO = incursion/invasion, encroachment
VIS = force, violence, exertion, stress, and many other concepts
Perhaps “rapiditas, mirari, vis” would be truer to intent? I wouldn’t worry, though — unofficial (para)military mottos are seldom proper Latin.
Oh, and if by “violence of action” you mean “ferocity,” you could use “violentia.” Google thinks feritas, ferocia, and saevitia are synonyms.
Doesn’t “rapiditas, mirari, violentia” have a nice ring to it?
Or, how about “Raptors non possumus aperire refrigerators”?
Raptors cannot open refrigerators
I do believe that you would tell us the secrets of time travel this week good sir. Would you care to share them now?
Sure. Congratulations, you just completed a one week trip through time! Using your own body as a time-travel machine.
How about that for service? Rather than just tell you how to do it, I provided an actual demonstration of time travel, in action, for you to all participate in! Pencil Stonehenge, New Year’s Eve 3000 into your diary, for a really big party and much reminiscing about the times we have travelled through. Tips on longevity and immortality to be revealed in due course.
I should stop replying to myself, but I thought of an even better replacement for velocitas: celer (swift).
So, for a more benevolent version of “Speed, surprise, violence of action,” we could have “Vigilant, swift, decisive.”
Vigilia, celer, decretorius.
…Dave, if you don’t use that, I might have to. :-P
The Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts Final Attack is based on the principles of Speed, Surprise, and Separation.
In other words, run away until you can think of a better idea.
It’s not as easy as it looks.
Ah, the good old Anything Goes.
Just like MacGuyver having married Chuck Norris / The Cook / Bruce Lee.
pshh I do parkour. Running away is practically my job.
And the rest of the world is now totally convinced that Maxima is 2 seconds away from going Justice Lords on everyone.
If that means more people behaving themselves, is that really so bad?
Because it’s not going to convince people to behave. It’s going to convince people that she’s a threat who needs to be eliminated before she eliminates them.
When threatened, people tend to become less rational, not more rational.
So, what if the spinning halo effect is a way for the orbs to send energy back home?
You’ve been on Patreon less than 24 hours and you’ve already hit two milestones and you’re at $275 a month. It’s looking more and more possible that you may be able to live off your comic one day, if it keeps climbing at this rate. Fingers crossed!
I’m cautiously optimistic. :)
I decided to re-read Sydney’s profile. “A little high strung?!” Saying Sydney is “a little high strung” is kinda like saying a supernova is “a little warm”!
Also wanted to say that his webcomic is one of the things I look forward to each week. Thanks!
You’re welcome and/or thanks!
In the same line: Anvil is carrying a little extra muscle. Max can run a little faster than most people. Math knows a little about hand-to-hand combat. Peggy is a little better than some people at shooting.
Harem’s attention is split almost as much as Sydney’s. There’s the contrast. Sydney is scatter-brained. Daphne has her brains scattered.
Seeing as she calls war crime level hot sauce ‘kind of hot’ (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/194).
I’d say it’s aproriate
This be amazing. That’s it.
I find myself looking over to dazzler where it looks like Sydney somehow passed through her since the speedlines look like they’re going behind her legs but in front of her chest.
The speedlines (or ribbon?) are going in front of her legs too, but since the boots are mostly black you can’t see that very well. So it’s probably a minor layering issue. I think the coloring is also wrong, I’d expect it to look more like a Sydney-blur, so much darker on the bottom 2/3s of the ‘ribbon’ to match her outfit.
It’s DaBBler actually, not dazzler
Actually, I think that is quite an appropriate name for her.
Actually, if oyu look closer (you know you want to ;)) you will see that the panic-ribbon goes in front of Dabbles (note how her cleavage has the same tint as the panic-ribbon, which is a slightly different shade than the rest of her chest above it)
Oh darn, I was hoping that the orbs detected her shield blocking a powerful blast and decide that it “Was Time to Tell You” moment.
You know, something along the lines of “bla bla bla, chosen one, bla bla bla, joke about messing up who was picked, bla bla bla, cupcakes”
I really want to know the orbs back-story. Speaking of which, How many years has it been since we last seen Joel? I really want to get to Sydney’s explanation to him. hehehehe
I don’t know – I kind of like the “Greatest American Hero” vibe they have going – the discovery and creative application of capabilities has been fun so far.
And we last saw Joel about 5-6 hours ago.
Which reminds me – I don’t see Sydney in the restaurant. Is it possible she actually went back to the shop?!?
Yeah, 5-6 hours their time (unless you just did an archive swim), but years ‘real’ time
I’d buy that shirt!
I’d buy that shirt too! But Max probably wouldn’t want to sell it…
I have a feeling that Sydney and Dabbler are going to be shown as best friends on a future page.
I continue to have a feeling that Maxima and Dabbler are going to be shown as at LEAST good friends on a future page.
Still have hope that Maxi and Ari are ‘room-mates’, but that’s just me
Am I the only one who thinks that Sydney is perfectly justified in her panic this time?
No, me too. Actually I’m way surprised about how calm the others are. Given that they all, Syd included, know almost nothing about the orbs but a couple displays of insane power, I would expect to see them taking a few steps away her.
This probably happened half a second after Sydney saw what they were doing.
The rest hasn’t had time to react yet
Now, I keep wondering what would happen if Achilles tried to grab one of the orbs just when Syd’s running around like that?
What, if he’d actually succeed?
Well, based on the asumption that what they are doing is spinning REALLY fast.
He probably doesn’t have the reflexes needed to grab something going that fast.
If he were to succeed: I gues the orbs would just keep spinning as if there isn’t a grown man holding onto one of them. So he’d get flung pritty far away, depending on when (if) he let go
To grab one of the orbs in that state would only require him risking his invulnerbubbleishness and stick his hand into the circle
At the speed they are presumably moving, he’s not going to be able to close his fingers around them. They’ll just smack his hand away before he gets the chance.
It would be interesting what would happen if Maxima would grab them though. She’s probably the only one with the super speed and reflexes to actually manage to grab them, AND the invincibility to ensure they don’t rip her arm off once she does
No, all he would need to do is cup his hands and thrust it into the whirling vortex: when the orb hits his hand all needs to do is hold on as he goes spinning around (cupping his hand means the orb wouldn’t knock it out of the way)
I like that they have known her for less than 24 hours, and already have a working understanding of “Sydney moments.”
Every time I see the words, “It’s Miller Time!”, I think of Linkara’s ‘Miller Time’ segments.
So did Sydney ever finish the banking she had to do
Nah, there was a robbery remember?
It’s probably in police custody, as evidence.
Someone higher up is going to have to pull some strings to get them to stop the investigation, since the ‘criminals’ were taken away by Arcon and then disappeared.
Unlikely. This was a ‘security test’ rather than an arrest. There would be awfully tricky questions to answer if items were being placed in evidence lockers. Over and above the press enquiries about when the trials of the robbers will start.
Eventually it is going to become a problem
Thank you, Cheers. =)
Terrified in the world today
Archon’s all you’ve got.
Running in circles from your powers
Didn’t help a lot.
Would you like to save the day?
haha I love this comic! makes me laugh every strip. ‘Sydney moments’ are just awesome.
The female waitress on the right looks like the character Joel
And the male waiter kinda looks like the creator of this awesome comic DaveB
Um, did Sydney go THROUGH Dabbler? I read this a week ago and didn’t catch it, but the top of Syd’s Tron cycle light is in front of Dabbler while Dab’s feet are clearly in front down below.
I realize this is just likely a small mistake, but I would love to see it made cannon, with some group of conspiracy theorists using this footage and saying Dab is really an alien using holographic tech to steal all the world’s tacos (’cause Dabbler is really 4 feet to the left, so Syd just went through the glamour).
The group could follow Dab around and generally make nuisances of themselves, until Syd needed to out nerd a villain and calls them to action.
Pretty sure that’s just the top of Dabbler’s corset which, in this instance, happens to align with Sydney’s speed lines/trail.
Where’s the previous page with Sidney’s level-up? :-)
My bad, I got confused due to a missing number :P
The Horizon Line, or Eye Level, is a point where you can’t see between what’s beyond its tangents. Dabbler’s Eye Level is perfectly in line and is likely causing tangents in the male observers.
I have never donated through Patreon for the rewards. Only because I could, and I wanted to support the comic. And this is one I want to support. (I should probably put this comment somewhere nearer to when I actually started donating through Patreon, but I am still reading back issues and this is where Patreon is first mentioned, as well as your search for proper rewards.) The only reward for me is the comic continuing to thrive.
Thanks! I super duper appreciate it. Glad you’re enjoying the comic!
love that last panel