Grrl Power #82 – Who’s interviewing who?
No plot movement in this installment, but I always had this scene in my head where Sydney meets the upper ranks of the team and steels herself for it by making it be known that they better watch their P’s and Q’s, whatever that means.
The general needs a name since he’ll be officially introduced on the next page. I’d call him General Hedaya but that might be a little obvious. Gwen’s reaction is heavily inspired by the scene in Alien 4 when it all starts going south, the alarms sound and it shows the General (played by Hedaya) sit up in bed wearing a tank top. Some woman behind me in the theater said very loudly “Oh my god that guy is so hairy.” Seriously I’ve seen comedy sketches where they glue hair onto someone so they can make jokes about body hair where the guy in the sketch was considerably less hairy than Hedaya.
I don’t know why, but this page took soooo long to draw. I watched 6 episodes of Cadfael and 14 of the old Mission Impossible series while working on it. Granted, it probably wouldn’t take as long if I wasn’t watching stuff out of the corner of eye. Still, Cadfael is good so check that out. It’s… imagine if PBS produced CSI set in the 1100’s. For serious.
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So is it just because of the fact that chemically powdered cheese is hard to wipe off that Maxima is removing her jacket, or is it this just a real informal meeting (snarky comments from the general aside)?
Considering her reaction to Harem not being in uniform, I would guess it’s because of the Cheeto dust.
(Just six and a half years late with the response. Apparently, that’s faster than anyone else.)
Another 4 years later… Harem not being in uniform? Do you mean Gwen?
I think I’ve mentioned before that I have lived in Peru before (Lima) and I have been to their museums and on visits to places in the mountains that were rife with artifact and treasure hunters. (one place high high in Andes looked like a cross between Colorado Rockies nested against a red martian desert (red sands) – really weird. But there you could literally trip over the bones of an Incan noble and discover gold or beads as well as their skeletal remains.
To note I have an odd feeling that one of the artifacts might be something simple like sentient Chicha Morada fungus (Think of their blue/purple corn and the fungus they let grow on it as a delicacy. It is also the basis for one of their national beverages. Actually really good and fruity (which is how it’s usually served- with chunks of fruit and lemon/lime juice added.(local version of a sangria w/o wine?))
Odds say- Incan artifacts that might include an action doll of ancient making with a priaprism. (Boner art by incans is famous and still a popular fertility/sex idol for homes and charms.)
Ancient Incan Action Figures from the area where the Desert Drawings are might also be a source.
Then again I visited that location (awesome ranch/restaurant out that way that serves grilled and rotisserie chicken (only) enmasse. We’re talking in middle of nowhere (tour buses make it one of their main stops- well fed tourists are happy tourists.) desert ranch that grows its own chickens. (though you can get cevichi here, it’s not recommended. They really pepper up the food in this region. I had a fruit salad that scorched parts of my tongue and intestines on its way through. (their bread- also made at the ranch. Is freaking awesome! They do import their rice though.) ) This might be where Sydney got her first meal after the Nazca lines (sp?).
Being the energetic girl she is, I bet she ran, walked, danced all of them in just the right way while making a game of it and found prizes at the center (or mathematical geometric centers) – she was probably the first person to do it w/o crossing her own path once too! (well since the ancients maybe?) Thus was revealed or got revealed (by a secret local ancient yoda like incan priest ancestor maybe?) the real treasures (alien/magical – tech sufficiently advanced is like magic (and the corollary are true here?) of the Nazca lines. First artifact let her find the other parts (it is incomplete. If you had the whole collection… shrug. // Kick in the Comic shop owner’s OCD need to have the entire series and boyah- lots of off tourist escapades for Sydney. )
Also note that after 1980 Japanese ancient culture was discovered in coastal regions along the pac rim here. Several villages in Peru have ancient pottery that shows specific japanese ceramics and coatings on the pottery too. (we’re talking 2K to 1K years ago age.) So Chinese and Japanese were more worldly travelers and traders than current history allows for.
So now (after two japanese ancestry presidential terms and huge increase in Japanese industrial investment and immigration) you will find a huge Japanese market and some towns are almost all Japanese too. Marriage to locals is highly suggested for immigrate families. The larger areas of japanese influence are found in areas where, you guessed it they found ancient Japanese culture.
Several Japanese Fishing factory fleets are based out of the Peruvian coast too.
This all means that the Manga, comic book, anime and kitsch market are well and alive and spreading to the native peruvians too. A great place for Modern Sydney to take a visit for a working vacation. (Quest to find a certain manga/anime artist and get him to autograph/sign some prints or mangas would be a coup for her and her store! And she gets to eat wonderful food too?)
Just thoughts that came fore in the last couple of days after I thought about my time in Peru (or as some say, Japan II – or NeoJapan.)
B
Very interesting but Brazil has the largest population of native Brazilian Japanese on the planet. But using the percentage measurement of population vs the total population would that still make Peru a “Japan 2” by your knowledge? How about those mummies found that glow from a phosphorescent fungus in Peru? I know that Chinese did reach S. American but this is the first time I have heard of Japanese. It is intriguing. I shall search for it. Thanx for the first hand info!
It should be very interesting seeing Sydney where ever she was when whatever she found latched onto her. I hope she doesn’t get drunk. I could see terrible things happening she wouldn’t live down an being flashed all over the internet. (Think all those drunken “accidental” porn films filling the Internet as an example. Stay sober.)
Funny you mention where I spent my childhood. Grew up, so to speak in Brazil (Sao Paulo, Campinas, and Sousas) – best friend at the time was Japanese. They were fewer in number back then, but about time they started to flood into Peru, the Zaibatsus of Japan started moving their worker’s families to Brazil too (they were masters of organization processes and factory streamlining, thus sought after for that and their robotics.) – They also built schools in the Japanese Style in areas where they had a very high percentage of Japanese families with children coming into the country. This made them very popular with kids who didn’t have a real school of their own or nearby. Work at the factory (or a place owned by them) and your kids went to school free. Built in loyalty factor right there. – If Sydney ever makes a “Feijoada” comment we’ll also know she went to Brazil at some point. Likely the Bahia region (nice beaches, lotsa voodoo, colorful towns and people) and it’s the only place where they ask you if you want your food hot or cold- and that’s not a temperature, but spice factor. i.e. heat. They like their food HOT there.
im pretty sure the vernacular here is
lets get dangerous
Strider, shut up.
Just occured to me, isn’t Harem supposed to be in this meeting too? (given the dialogue from the elevator scene a few pages back).
I think Harem had to go get her nose reset.
… not to mention her panties unwedged.
It took me until this page to realize you have funny little comments at the bottom of every page. ;_;
Reason enough to read them all again! Sometimes coming up with those is the hardest part of each page. :(
You need a reason to re-read?
I consider the comments section a part of the reason I love this comic so much.
Hmmm…
General Ellannan Fletcher. name of one of my own role-playing characters on other forums. Brown hair, grey eyes. Archer. Serious, deadpan humour and will put an arrow through your skull if you piss him off.
‘Cept my character’s not a general, just a freelance merc/bounty hunter.
No, Maxima. Your instincts are not weird at all. When someone who generally NEVER sits still and is usually loopier than a breakfast cereal suddenly stops everything, focuses on you and looks serious while being very, very still with a calm even tone, it can be terrifying. Plus, as we’ve noted, “the list” is not a nice place to be.
Not to mention during their customary power pushing (customary for super-humans when they first meet) LoL; Sydney/what’s in the tube; showed the ability to stop and knock Maxima off her feet. Which she herself was in total disbelief about.
BWAHAHAHAHA! I love it, Sydney pops out the List and a pen. Actually liked the narrow-eyed look from her, too, gives her a bit more dimension. Thanks for the first laugh of the morning, hon!
Gwen is rapidly becoming one of my favorite characters.
Also, General Public. That is my suggestion for his name.
Or General Rage. General Richard Rage. That would work too.
Richard Rage? Would the phrase “Raging Dick” be a coincidence, or was that deliberate?
I didn’t think of it from that exact angle, but I did see the obvious pun, too. Dick (or Rick) Rage as a take off of Nick Fury, was what I was thinking… The innuendo was just a bonus!
We can dip into black or mordant humor too just remember that immortal film “Dr. Strangelove or how I stopped Worrying an started to Love the Bomb.” Gen. Jack Ripper, Buck Turgeson, president Merkin Muffly. etc. Sometimes I do that with a character. Sometimes not.
General Zachery Eric Richardson – Ortiz
Y’know, I knew there was a reason I kept hearing this line in my head every time I saw the General: “If I find you in the city, I’ll have you arrested. If you set foot inside this precinct, I’m going to have you shot.” XD
The maid outfit is really weird. Why would someone wear something like that to work? It really takes me out of the story and makes it seem fake.
She’s in charge of the inteligence gathering branch. I guess DaveB watches a lot of NCIS and used Abby as a archtype.
For me Abbey is the character that is the most fun and should have more air time than she gets along with her interesting friends.
If don’t know where this came from Google goth lolita.
I have actually never seen NCIS but I’ve had people tell me I’d like it.
I know you would like Abbey, she is the Caff-Pow addicted lab wizard who is likely to show up to work in full on Goth and sleeps in a coffin while emoting like a puppy just released from a cage. She can wear spiked collars and chatter like a pixie on fairy dust. ADHD with PHDs.
When you’re setting up an agency that has to recruit from an extremely limited pool of applicants, there’s going to be more leniency in tolerating eccentricities than if the job requirements are really easy to meet.
I’ve looked at this page 3 or four times… and am only now realizing that Max has a certain hyperactive nerd’s cheetos prints on her jacket sleeve.
I find the strips like Pratchett’s Discworld series in that way: there’s so much funny going on that one often has to re-read the book several times to get it all in.
I am a little short of eidetic, so much so that I can often overload people with details sometimes even after having only seen or read something only once but often with better author I can find something new to it no matter how many times I’ve read it. Wild guess on Dave’s work.
Personally in love with the fact that she pulled out “The List” just for this. I have no idea why, but that is hilarious to me: )
I like how after every thing else so far this one day for her she is so solemn, quiet an seriousness. So uncharacteristic of her which makes it so startling. An also Maxima has felt that power that Sydney has when that all important cylinder was taken by an invisible force an went back to Sydney where she was hiding under that truck. Perhaps another reason she is just a little afraid of that waif of a girl.
it’s probably already been addressed, but just in case it hasn’t, P’s and Q’s is just short for “Please”s and “thanKYOU”s (the P and KYOU being the P and Q). >.> i apologize if this was not needed.
This is @ Havockitten and for anyone else interested but dispute what your parents told you when you were a kid, Mind your P’s and Q’s isn’t a short of Please and Thank Yous. It’s actually old sailor terms for ‘Mind Your Pints and Quarts’.
When Sailors used to come into ports, they wanted to drink. Drink a looooot. So at pubs and taverns, they’d have a massive blackboard that the barkeeps would write on to set up tabs. (no credit cards or ways to set up a tab at the time, hence the blackboard.) In order to keep track of what the Sailor did or didn’t drink, they’d write down P’s and Q’s. P for a Pint, Q for a Quart. As a way to remind a sailor not to get too shitfaced and to remind them to keep an eye on the board so crafty bartenders couldn’t steal all their money or other barmembers get free drinks off of you, Captains would remind their crew to ‘mind their P’s and Q’s.’
Enjoy the little navel history from the Navel Kitsune!
Dave, major merchandising op here;
You know how pretty much any product seen on Big Bang Theory gets a sudden spike of sales?
You should be selling little pocket sized THE LIST books!
Just discovered your comic, and I’m enjoying it a great deal. Also wanted to say that you’re dead on about Cadfael, and it is indeed awesome.
Thanks! It’s too bad they only made like 6 Cadfaels.
Oh, wow. I just noticed the cheese dust on Maxima’s jacket in the first panel. O_O
I really, REALLY want to see this comic strip made into a Scott Pilgrim-style movie. Sydney would outshine the stars themselves.
P’s and Q’s = Pints and Quarts. Is an old English bartenders saying, to keep the patrons in line, hoping it would keep them more honest.
The scariest thing of all is that she has the power to look directly through her impossible bang things.
I might have to add that fourth panel to my list of favourite quotes.
Also, I must say, the art in this is getting pretty damn amazing! I only just noticed, but wow!
Is it just me, or does anybody else absolutely LOVE the General? I mean, he’s very clearly professional and knows what he’s doing- you can see that in both his position, and the way that the other characters act around him- but he’s got this amazingly goofy, deadpan personality behind it all, which you see in this whole scene.
I’m excited to see him in future ‘episodes’.
I just noticed that Gwen’s skirt lost a couple of layers since the last page : P
I’m not sitting down at the table to talk with you, you’re sitting down at the table to talk with me.