Grrl Power #243 – Taking all comers
Jiggawatt’s telebot (arc jump?) is her big hit, but it’s also sort of a high commitment attack, especially against an unknown like (FWT)Death Toll. Punching him sure doesn’t work. It’s not clear if she saw him zap Anvil either, otherwise she might not have tried to lightning him.
Some people in the comments are starting to piece Death Toll together, and this page will obviously fuel more speculation. We’ll see if the team figures it out before Sydney does.
Part of doing this comic involves tapping in to my nerd knowledge to drop in some pop culture nods or sneak in an obtuse reference to something. I’ve put in references everything from Thundercats and Krull to Invader Zim and Phineas and Ferb. Keeping my nerd cred current can be a bit tricky. I can watch Netflix or whatever while I draw, since that’s 90% listening and glancing occasionally at the screen when some actor says “look at this amazing thing which you have to see to understand and which I’m not going to describe verbally!” I am a bit down on my anime consumption since most of it is subbed and I can’t draw and read subtitles at the same time. The most recent thing I’ve watched is the first 8-12 episodes of Attack on Titan, since from about a year ago you couldn’t go anywhere on the internet without seeing some reference to it. Cartoons in general, even if they’re in English (dubbed or native) are harder to watch while I draw cause they tend to move along faster than sitcoms or other long form TV shows like your CSIs and Person of Interest or whatever, and that makes me glance up at the TV more often which slows me down.
I play about 10% as much video games as I used to as well, which is fine since most everything is sequels or remakes these days. I’ve played all of an hour of Minecraft, but that’s all you really need in order to get it. I don’t like MMOs because of the heavy time requirements, also the total lack of player agency. It’s hard to feel like you’ve accomplished anything when the boss you just beat respawns 15 seconds later and on your way back to town you pass 30 people on their way to kill the same guy. Nope, give me single player, co-op single player, or straight up multiplayer, deathmatch and fighting games and the like.
Most recently I made the mistake of installing DOTA2, since I had never played a MOBA before. I get why it’s so popular now, so mission accomplished, but holy crap am I awful at it. One game I played ended with almost everyone on my team being twice my level. I know, there’s a lot to learn and there are a million guides and early game tutorials out there, but again like with MMOs, the time commitment would be enormous. I’m glad I played it, the game world seems like an environment Dabbler would be comfortable in. I could totally see a Dabbler hero in it, but I may have to uninstall it before it sucks up any more of my time.
Comic was broke but now it’s fixed. I’m just testing the admin function really.
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My thought is this, Sydney will realize DTs only power is to counter any power used on him, so esentially being only human herself she will walk right up to him, her shield down lay down some smack talk then field goal kick him in the spunk factory and lay his ass out.
A few comment page back I point out why the power counter aspect just doesn’t work for me using Jiggawatt. By all rights she should not have been asborbed and spit back out against Stalwart if that were the case. It should have blocked, disrupted her, or negated ner, not trapped her. The only power that makes sense to me is if he were like a capacitor/storage locker/hammerspace conduit for powers. Suck in any powers you want and access them as needed.
If that is the case with his powers, Hurt Locker would be an awesome name for him. I wouldn’t tell him that name because he’s a major league dork but…
As far as Jigawatt is concerned, DT’s not as much of a Hurt Locker, than he is a Hertz Locker…
Sidney is not hurting anyone by kicking them. She weighs as much as dude’s arm.
That all depends on where she kicks them.
Solar plexus. It’s just as bad as a kick to the nuts with the addition of the pain lasting for hours after being struck. Though, it has the potential for being fatal as the diaphragm, anterior vena cava, and vegas nerve are all located behind the solar plexus. A hard two-fingered or open-palm (“knife hand”) strike can do damage ranging from partially detaching or tearing the diaphragm, to internal bleeding to death.
*EDIT* Derp, inferior vena cava. Also the the descending aorta.
I think you mean vagus, not vegas…
That’s what the unknown orbs are for. Another Squeeze Play.
I hope not. The first time seemed like poetic justice since Shadow Boxer(?) had just struck her and stood over her gloating. Also, the shock factor seemed to help make it feel acceptable. This just wouldn’t be the same.
True. Besides why repeat a gag? How about a distracting swarm constantly zooming at his face?
tell that to the guy that tried to mug her way back when… I’m not totally sure if it was before or after she got the Orbs as the police report they read out in the pre-interview, didn’t say, but I’ll bet it was before… if she had gotten them and then gotten mugged, i think that they would have been mentioned in the police report at the very minimum as she wouldn’t have been able to keep then while she was in custody…
“at the very minimum as she wouldn’t have been able to keep then while she was in custody…”
and how’re you gonna take them away from her?
Point is they would have tried to make her turn them over, found out they couldn’t take them from her, secret comes out, orbs are in the report.
Ooo, right in the face!
But really Jiggs what part of “avoid direct attack,” did you not get? Turning yourself into electricity and throwing yourself at him pretty much sounds liker a direct attack in my book.
But downing two more heroes after anvil. This guy is ringing the bell off the chain!
His mask is the only part of the outfit that didn’t turn to copper, even his skin turned copper, and in addition to that it mirrored his facial expressions, so if you think about it, the mask is probably the source of his power.
That actually seems pretty likely I think. Of course then the question of what his powers are is still up for debate, but the mask being the source seems likely to me too.
This may be Achilles’ time to shine. He too has only defensive powers, there might be nothing to bring against him.
Achilles is out of action. Trapped under the rubble when Hex collapsed the restaurant. He can dig out but it will take a while.
I just realised that with that bruise and injured teammates Sidney can check the unknown orbs for healing powers.
He seems to have a power to counter any attack thrown at him.
The only time he was attacked melee by anvil, he zapped her with weak lightning.
So my guess is that he has 2 powers:
-counter: can absorb, reflect or block supernatural attacks
-electrisity manipulation: can zap people (to taunt them or block phisical attacks)
Jiggawat just happened to be a terrible mach to him.
Zapping to block physical attacks is also a form of countering. It could indicate he’s not limited to countering superpowered attacks. (Although Anvil’s strength was enhanced so technically…)
Who is SH?
When Jiggawatt put on her glasses, it shows an icon and an arrow for her team mates. There are icons for all five Harems, Dabbler, Halo, Maxima and Anvil. But who is the SH icon for up in the air next to Maxima?
It isn’t Heatwave, her’s is a red H, Math’s is a black M and the other guys don’t seem to get icons or collars.
Super Hiro?
Best guess since he’s on the cast page, and it does say he can fly….
It is Hiro. He finished up with Breakpoint and a couple mooks. I think he is also thinking how to bring down DT. He is another absorber like Anvil but he can project the absorbed power like DT. Hmmmm…
I’m putting my money on the fact that since Toll hasn’t actually taken a step in any direction since the fight started, and that doing so will negate his defensive(?) abilities. Or I’m not looking closely enough, either way that’s my 2 cents.
Aside from the absorb/reflect power he has shown no other ability. He may just be normal under the suit and not able to move fast. So he waits for the attackers to come to him.
re: panel 2
And now she knows not to fire herself at people with Energy Leech. Also, don’t know if anyone mentioned it already (500+ comments! Wow!) but ‘Leech’ (the sucker type) doesn’t have an ‘a’ in it…
“Leach” does have an ‘a’, but I don’t think you meant:
Leach, verb (used with object)
1. to dissolve out soluble constituents from (ashes, soil, etc.) by percolation.
2. to cause (water or other liquid) to percolate through something.
See I was confused about that. Leech is a noun. A leech. Leach is a verb, to leach calcium from bone etc, so made more sense to say he was leaching power, not leeching power. If he was throwing buckets of leeches on people then the other spelling would make sense. But I’m willing to be convinced that’s wrong.
DT is a leaching leech. Math is a letching letch. ;p
i would have gone with Math being a Leering Letch, but that’ll do too…
And that is a redundant redundancy.
However… ArcLight(?) is probably typing really quickly and that’s just the sort of mistake that would likely get through a spellchek. So blame it on them.
I would say that using it as leach is correct, because it lists that under demonstrated abilities, so I don’t think it’s referring to him as a leech, but rather saying that his ability is to leach abilities/energy from other people.
BUT I just checked dictionary.com and apparently both spellings can be used as nouns that mean to drain x substance from someone/something:
verb (used with object)
to cling to and feed upon or drain, as a leech:
e.g: “His relatives leeched him until his entire fortune was exhausted.”
Leach:
verb (used with object)
1. to dissolve out soluble constituents from (ashes, soil, etc.) by percolation.
2. to cause (water or other liquid) to percolate through something.
I agree with the “absorbing powers” ability, but I think that’s all he has. I suspect he got the electricity from when jiggawatt tried to zap him earlier. I thick that also explains the color change, he turns the color of the power he is absorbing like when Hex accidentally hit him (#227). Also he seems to be turning back to his own color after he “released” jiggawatt.
It wasn’t just a color change… compare the material his outfit is composed of between transitions…
Hey Dave, just thought you should know I’m getting pop-up trojan warnings from Kaspersky every time I open a page from here…
love the comic btw, great concept.
Thanks for the heads up, I think I’ve got it fixed.
With how Death Toll defended himself against Stalwart by throwing Jiggawatt at him, rather than attempting to absorb, I’m thinking he can only absorb one power at a time. He has to absorb, then use. Only then can he reabsorb. Also notice that in the previous page, he had not yet absorbed any powers at all. He got winged by Jigg on archives/1415, barely more than a spark. Then he releases that spark on Anvil BEFORE she can actually do anything to him. THEN he absorbs her power, and releases it on her. Following that he absorbs Jiggawatt properly, then throws her at Stalwart.
He’s only able to absorb ONE power at a time! His power is also his weakness. The only question is now, whose power do they make him absorb to make him vulnerable?
Hmm, on further thought. I’m betting he can only absorb ONE of Halo’s abilities… Meaning she could use one on him to force him to hold onto a power, then use a second one on him to bring him down, since each of her orbs are technically a separate power, AND she can use two at a time… So far he hasn’t shown the ability to absorb all the powers a single person has, just specific individual powers, and only one at a time.
Using the power seems to spend it, so he’d probably be unable to use Harem’s power even if he was able to absorb it, as using it to multiply would spend it, thus eliminating the ability to multiply. It’d be a kind of paradox.
Of course this also means he might be vulnerable to conventional bullets, as bullets don’t have a super power to absorb. Or if he can absorb the bullet, doing so makes him vulnerable for as long as he’s holding onto it. Though in this case, he’s likely aware of such a weakness and would simply drop the bullet on the ground as soon as he absorbed it.
Unable to locate where he got the ice bolt… It’s possible that it’s a power he has as a fallback, for when he hasn’t absorbed anything, meaning it’s a mere coincidence that he was able to use it to cancel Dabbler’s attack…
Then again, when he countered Math throwing Concretia at him, he didn’t have a chance to absorb THAT… AND he’s countering the fire bolt rather close to him…
Perhaps he can absorb a power by close proximity to its usage…
Maybe that’s it! So far, every attack that he has used was one that worked in close proximity… But how do you attack him from range without proximity?
Hmm, one power at a time doesn’t explain the ice bolt… Trying to figure out when he got that… It’s unlike Dave to use a gun without Chekhoving it first.
archives/1311 #209 shows him whacking some kind of attack away… and the effect uses Math’s visuals, so he can leach more than just super powers…
That is DT knocking Concretia aside. Notice how the ice blast and the fire blast are almost identical. That means something, I think.
There was no color change prior to his release of the ice blast, unlike with Anvil, Gigabolt, and Hex. As for Hex, I’m thinking he released that one off screen… So there has to be a limit. He’s also clearly NOT an idiot, hes incredibly intelligent. Fancies himself some kind of super clever genius. So he likely released it discretely… Again, must be a limit to how much he can absorb before he has to replenish. It’s also just like Dave to have some kind of clever hook like that as a weakness…
DT probably thinks his cleverness is his best super power… Hmm…
er Gigabolt = Jiggawatt (sorry, i’m incredibly tired)
WAIT A SECOND! There’s more to the story than color change when he absorbs a power… When he absorbed Jiggawatt, his outfit changed! Even how it’s put together changed! It WAS basically cloth and whatnot, then it becomes some kind of riveted metal…
The plot thickens… Maybe it’s somehow tied into his clothing, like Halo’s powers are tied into her orbs… That would explain the dorkiness of the clothes…
ITS HIS COSTUME! His costume is the POWER SOURCE.
That’s how it works, his SUIT IS AN ARTIFACT. It’s like a protection/assault unit: It’s designed for the person to go in, BEAT EVERYONE by counteracting any super powered individuals, and then taking out the rest through a combination enhanced strength/power in general and defensive boosts.
Once again I submitt for Sydney “pants-ing” FWTDT sighting the rule of funny.
Altough, the mask (as someone has mentioned before) seems to be the one constant. So remove the mask and remove his power,or at least, see who he is really.
I think Jackie Chan did that movie…
Wow. Five pages, 542 comments and still going strong.
Dave gave us some real meat to chew on here. I love it.
All these comments about how to beat Death Tolls using a variety of powers.
Um…guys? There’s still a .50 cal sniper rifle available and in play.
Hard to counter that. So, if you really need to stop him……….
Nothing says “STOP FIGHTING!” like a .50 cal hole through a part of your body.
The problem with that is it’s possible he could have stolen/borrowed/siphoned off/what have you some of the speed powers of what’s-his-name (can’t remember and not going to look it up), so hitting him might not be as easy as it sounds.
If DT does a high level of kinetic absorption, like he used on Anvil, a bullet would loose it’s energy on contact and fall to the ground. If he is Deus or an employee of his, he knows that Arc SWAT has big guns handy and would be prepared. If he is planning a life as a criminal genius, same thing. Guns are an everyday hazard in that kind of job. Besides, Max is still reserving lethal action as a last resort.
Just a couple more random thoughts that just happened to pop up:
1) when Halo tilts her, do the orbs tilt their orbit as well?
2) why doesn’t Grrl Power (this webcomic, not whatever they have on there now) have it’s own Wikipedia page or even listed on its List of webcomics? This is an outrage and I demand satisfaction! (Plus, I’m too lazy to add one of either myself).
The orbs seem to be maintaining level flight in the last panel.
As to wiki and other projects. Dave only has two hands and 24 hours in a day. It is going to take brave volunteers who know the territory to stake a claim there. And yes, I’m ducking out.
Dave, just a heads up, but a challenge was issued to you (or at least to grrlpower) by the comic spinnerets. Just check the video at the bottom of their current page.
Meant spinnerette, stupid auto correcting iPad.
Ah, Spinneret, one of my (EX) favorite online comic strips; that I had to stop reading as the Eldritch Abomination that dwells in the internet turning fun things into grim dark horrors got its tentacles into that comic.
If it’s an ice bucket challenge, I vote Halo gets dunked at the victory party.
Make that Harem…..FIVE sets of …..reactions to cold water.
So excited to see Sydney take this dork down.
Just pointing out hear on page 227 I believe DT’s absorbed Hex’s energy blast. Most likely his power as stated a few times is energy absorption as well as rearranging meaning his different forms could lead to different energy absorption, but his flaw could be that his powers rely on him changing forms to absorb different energies. Since Jiggawatt turned herself into energy she was absorbed so instead of being able to come out of it she was forced to between two copper rods hence trapping her. Stalwarts punch required him to change again but also grounded Jiggawatt so she wound up shooting through stalwart during that block freeing her by making himself the ground unintentionally.
Sorry about restating what everyone else has said thought i would give my own input. Also sorry about any grammar or spelling mistakes, as to be quite honest I suck at both.
I can’t offer insight onto Death Toll’s powers that no one else has stated so far, but people have been talking about Death Toll’s source of power possibly being the mask. I’d like to try to back up that idea by recalling that Atomic Bombshell complained that Death Toll can’t just stand their looking imperious because he brought a cowl. If the skull mask wasn’t his source of power, I´d feel obligated to mention that instead of the cowl (“You can’t just stand there looking intimidating cause you’re the only one who’s wearing a skull mask”). But then again, we have no idea how much Bombshell knew about DT, and if we did, we could possibly eliminate speculation about the defensive nature of DT’s powers, because Bombshell was complaining that he was not helping their attack (maybe she didn’t know enough, or maybe DT really just liked looking imperious).
Permission to say “HOLY SHIT!”?
I’m of the “Darwin” school of thought on this guy, and that using powers against him is exactly what triggers his defenses. I expect something like , probably involving Sydney turning off her powers and kicking him in the groin. Then during the after party, Max will scold her for putting herself at risk like that.
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Build a three dimensional maze in Minecraft. ;)