Grrl Power #100 – A suitably low key entrance
Well, lots to say about this page. First off, page 100, yay! I alternately want to pat myself on the back for hitting 100 and shrug it off as the human need to recognize round numbers as milestones. If I was doing a proper comic this would barely be 4 issues worth of material, but I know a lot of projects, webcomics especially that died on the vine long before this, so… yay!
I’d like to have done a wallpaper or something to celebrate, but I’m a little crunched as I have to get an extra page done before Quakecon and Stripcon, both of which I’ll be attending, and both inconveniently on the same weekend. I have an idea for a wallpaper or two though. I think I’ll try and make those the vote incentives as long as I can crank them out.
I know the woefully out of date cast page says that Dabbler can’t shapeshift, and that’s still true, but she obviously has the ability to disguise herself. We’ll learn a fair amount about her on the next few pages. Also, 1 Moxana point to scantrontb. We’ll see if he’s right about any of that other stuff.
Dabbler’s introduction here is marred slightly by the fact that I wound up redrawing her at least 3 times for panel 7, trying to design her outfit and make her look especially hot, the end result is that her head’s kinda big I think. We can just pretend I drew her a bit foreshortened from the top. I rather like her boots though.
And just to be clear, Sydney’s not into girls at all, but gender preference doesn’t mean a lot to Dabbler, especially when she’s doing her succubus thing. I see a lot of succubus characters out there, but they usually seem to be succubi in name only. They rarely if ever deploy succubussy powers. That won’t be the case with Dabbler. As we see her entering on this page, she’s deploying a simple “I’m the sexiest thing you can imagine” spell.
Edit: Wow, looking at this page 9 months later… I really draw heads too big and necks too long. I really want to redraw panel 7 there. :P
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.
Congratulations on your 100th update!
They are both blushing.
The shoes look like they would be realy painful for a girl to wear.
Yeah but remember she doesnt have normal feet
I was thinking about that when I wrote the comment.
But I still thought it was a relavent thing to say.
Oh, that’s right she has hooves, dosn’t she. The shoes make a lot more sense to me now.
It doesn’t matter either way, both her “feet” and her shoes are an illusion.
Hi Dave and congrats on getting to 100 I love this comic and it is one of the few I constantly look forward too. Keep up the great work
She looks like a cross between a porn star and a sci-fi warior princess.
Probably the effect she was aiming for …. and about twenty light-years PAST.
“[She] is roughly 1/2 succubus, 1/3 doppelganger, and 1/6 some unidentified alien species”
OK, so ‘princess’ isn’t explicitly in her biological job description, but two out of three isn’t bad.
Well she definatly dosn’t look like a normal human to me.
If only more women could dress up and look that way so she would be considered looking normal.
This comment is refrencing the Moxima point comment.
If you don’t understand, pay more attention to the site.
We are never going to get ‘scantrob’ to shut up about the victory he/she got. Oh well :)
Big congrats to DaveB!
100!!!!!!
(I would have made it bigger, but I have been up for 24 hours. And have to go to work at 16:00)
Maby we actualy will find out what one of the orbs can do if their prediction is true.
Nah…i won’t brag about that… i’ll just whine endlessly about Dave’s typo… it’s scantroN, N not B… :D but this wouldn’t be GRRL Power without Typo’s would it!!
Whoops, sorry about that. Words and letters really are the enemy of my brain sometimes.
no biggie… was just razzin’ ya’ :)
Congrats on reaching 100 :)
So is this look custom-tailored to Sydney’s imagination? Then what are the other people in the room seeing? Maybe next time we’ll get to see one look in each panel, labeled “Faulk-cam”, “Maxima-cam” etc :D
I think it’s a holo projector.
Shure she can use magic, but she also has acess to some realy high teck.
Plus rember, any signafnctly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Its probable the succubus power with all the hearts as panelborder
I wasn’t talking about the hearts, I was talking about how she looked human and not like a four armed blue alien.
Um, well it is expressly stated in the strip’s comment that this effect is due to a spell.
“any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”
didn’t Arthur C Clarke say that?, therefore it follows that “any significantly advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology”
any sufficiently analyzed magic is just technology,
Florence Ambrose
Yes! Freefall reference FTW!
*salutes scantrontb*
I thing you mean ‘Girl Genius’.
Sorry if others have pointed that out already.
“any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”
didn’t Arthur C Clarke say that?, therefore it follows that “any significantly advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology”
You have drawn a false conclusion from an incorrect analogy. Magic is the concept that concerns manipulation of energy by spoken words. Not something proven. However science is proven.
Not all magic systems require spoken words. In fact, MANY don’t actually have that as a requirement.
“Sexy” is a combination of “fertile” and “available”, and so individuals from different races, cultures, or species may well see Dabbler in very different ways, tho they would each pick the same lass out of any lineup.
Dabbler may well have very poor disguise ability, being only able to do different versions of “hot babe” and not able to fool the viewer.
“But you said she was 6’5″, had horns and purple skin.”
“Yes, but other than that, she’s identical.”
On the subject of 100 comics, I am reminded of one writer I was following. With comic 98, he wrote “Wow, I never thought I would reach 100 comics.” He didn’t. 98 was the last one to appear.
What is she the Galactus of sex? Seen in different ways depending on the viewer. I doubt he meant that, and a (Beholder’s Beauty) spell is kind of silly to use with a group of people, especially with a group who to any indication so far know what she looks like with only one in the room. Plus her (I never go below a 10) tells me she can control what is being seen and heard; so likely its a (Glamor) spell, which is just as well. Besides Beholder’s Beauty is only used to seduce an unknown individual *not knowing what their preference would be, and when they are alone, otherwise it gets complicated when your target’s secretary or guards may let slip that they notice different qualities, especially amongst each other, imagine one guard telling the other “that is one hot redhead with the boss” and the other says, “what? She’s blond” or funnier yet, “What? Dude he’s with a smoking hot guy”.
I don’t want to derail this scene with a lot of details about Dabbler, but I will eventually get into the specifics of some of Dabbler’s abilities. The short version though, is her innate succubus abilities allow her to do a Beholder’s Beauty type spell, which has its uses but as Rhuen points out is not good for infiltrating a group, but she can also do a “group aggregate beholder” version as well as just picking out a single target’s desires and making everyone see that. I don’t think I’ll make it so that she can pick what she looks like on her own. That would allow her to imitate people and I’m not sure if I want her to have that ability, but I’ll need to think about that.
Dabbler has a lot of little powers, and that’s the sort of thing that is especially vulnerable to fridge logic. There are a lot of fictions out there were people make excellent use of a limited power set. Everyone’s scared shitless of Jedi in the Star Wars universe, but really the only powers they have is reflexes good enough to deflect blaster fire and minor telekenesis, like they can lift a few hundred pounds max. In the prequels their powers are amped up a little, but it really only amounts to jumping a little higher and moving a little faster. But minor powers used intelligently can have massive results.
Beholders Beauty with a target lock and subsequent projection. I like it. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do it like that. I have seen telepathic shapeshifters do something simular (including a comedic effect when the transformation turned into a lowest common denominators amalgam of desires, I wish I could remember the title of where I saw that), but not using a spell.
A few hundred pounds? Yoda lifted an X-Wing. :p
Sure but Yoda was a master Jedi. Most of the rank and file jedi could pull something to them, throw a printer at someone or knock over a few people. They were Spiderman level heroes at best, and only then because they employed a limited power set intelligently.
They also had a version of Spider Sense as well, and that is what realy made them so dangerous.
I think the video games have somewhat “polluted” a good deal of the younger set’s mental image of how powerful a Jedi is as those games might as well call them Sorcerers (force lightning, force fire, throwing boulders around, ect…) the Clone Wars cartoon is somewhere between the two (Lucas officially stated the only things canon to the movies are the movies, everything else is seperate universes).
Voting bonus!
Will vote bonuses be available to ‘normal’ viewers at any point (after the voting period expires, obviously)? I can’t be the only person who prefers not to use the various voting sites, but would still be interested to see extras such as this at some point.
Yeah I stick the previous voting incentive pics up on the DeviantArt page. (Link is up in the nav)
Thanks – both for the pointer and for putting them up in the first place.
just love that little realisation syd has in panel 5
But she’d need a pocket full of quarters/tokens to get her orbs back. Can you imagine spending the rest of your life tethered to a skeeball machine you couldn’t play because you were short a slug?
Maby she could have them go backwards?
She can float them out of the hole
LOL everyone else gets followed home by puppies, Sydney gets followed home by skeeball machine’s
I laughed SO hard at that comment, it attracted the attention of people 5 cubicles away!
I could really have done with Harem’s “deflect emotions to other body” skill there, actually…
I wonder if Dabbler is a little put out that there does seem to be a good reason for the summons, so she can’t needle Maxima about it.
Heh. Could you imagine what a successful cosplay of that would look like?
YES. Thank you for the image that just poped into my head.
I like her nitrogen joke better than Maxima’s.
Sidney doesn’t just derail a train of thought, she puts it on fire and drives it into a canyon.
Well put.
At 88 miles per hour (ala Back to the Future 3)
your not thinking forth dimensionally, by the time you get to the end the track would of been built
HAH! I think that’s one of the best descriptions of Sydney to date! Also, while I really like Sydney ‘s Nitrogen joke and showing her geek side, I still kinda like Maxima’s implication that Sydney’s delightfully eccentric nature could be harnessed into a potential weapon of mass destruction. And I know, Maxima didn’t specify that it would be that destructive, But c’mon this is Sydney we’re talking about here. I don’t think there’s a process on earth that could lower the yield on her nuttyness enough to bring it below WMD proportions.
Forgot to add: Panel 3 is actually my favourite (yes, I’m not from the States)… I love that Syd is still able to lip off to Max even after she’s seen how mad Max can get.
Also how Max is able to relax and do some bantering with Syd. Is it possible therefore that Max might be specifically assigned as Syd’s “mentor” or something later?
Congrats Dave – 100 strips and a loyal fanbase – before you know it you’ll have Cosplayers and papparazzi…
Cosplaying as Sydney would be fairly easy. You’d have to have a few friends to do Harem. The rest would be considerably harder.
I’d love to see some triplets cosplaying Harem.
Better if you have identical quintuplets. :)
Triplets are easier to come by. Say the other two are one a mission and in Tahiti.
Just remember to have one of Harem wear the Gratuitous Fan Service sweat pants.
DaveB PLEASE have some of those pants made up and sell them.
I think we all would love to see them out there.
So Dabbler decided to swap her eyes again?
congradulations on being the first to spot a Grrl Power mistake.
Good lord. I really need to make model sheets for my own characters. :/
And then put them up as vote incentives. Good for you, good for the fans, and good for the comic.
Yeah, they’re swapped around from last week and the vote incentive image, but they’re the same as this topbar image. Considering that she’s changed her appearance, it could be that she decided to change her eye colors too, though. (Just to mess with people?)
Also, panel 7, “Succubus powers… Activate!” Very nice!
Well this won’t be the last disguise we see Dabbler in. They eyes will be my tell for the audience, so it’d be nice if I could get them right on occasion.
For one of my shape-shifting characters “he” could alter his entire body but his eyes. Also he couldn’t change his mass either. And it was a bodily change not a field that just looked like something else. But one can do it as one wants. And there are many ways of doing so. Remember Beast Boy’s other forms were all as green as his skin?
[insert cork-pop-sound]
That outfit does seem rather targeted for anime fandom. How did Dabbler know? Has she been evesdropping techno/magically this whole time? Or is target pre-selection a succubus power?
Inquiring minds want to know!
I can only imagine it will come up on the next few pages. :)
Well, she has been refrencing Japan a lot. Or at least had Japan refrenced to her a lot, and she’s VERY smart and curious about everything so it’s not too hard to see her knowing quite a bit about the subject.
I imagine it’s a succubus power to appear as the most desirable female to the target. Most people have at least some attraction to their own gender. This is what Sydney would consider to be a really hot babe. Not that she’s gay just normal reaction to a succubus with the dial turned way up.
I’m sorry, but if a chick walked in looking like that even the straightest woman’s legs would get a touch wobbly.
There’s guys like that too. Around fifteen years ago I was in this grocery store and this guy walked through it and I swear the entire store went quiet and every woman in the store tracked this guy. Even a few women who were gay watched thjs guy walking through the store.
I wonder what the thing on her right shoulder that looks like bolling ball holes is.
Looks like some sort of epaulette on the jacket. It looks as though the [boot-tops?] on her upper thigh have piercings as decoration, so presumably the same goes for the epaulettes.
Sydney’s not blushing as a result of Dabbler’s “I’m the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen” spell, she’s geeking out because Dabbler looks like she just stepped out of an episode of Jem and the Holograms…
I am so ashamed to admit that I know what you’re referring to there…
As to what’s on her shoulder? It’s just some sort of “epaulets” or “shoulder guards” or whatever those things are called. Just decorative (I think)
Yeah, basically shoulder armor, which is weird since in the real world, who wear shoulder armor? Maybe guys on the bomb squad when they have their whole kit on, but even SWAT don’t bother with it. It only really matters if you’re in a society where sword fighting is prevalent, and even then, no one walks around with JUST shoulder armor.
Hey, DaveB, you think you could take a look at your DA page?
Something I need to talk to you about on it.
I think it has the same effect as those shoulder fillings some women’s suits have.
By making the shoulders seem broader you’re portraying a stronger profile.
Especially in panel 10 with the narrowed eyes. She would SO fit in with the Misfits with those facial marks!
And yes, I’m 30 and a man, and I used to watch Jem and the Holograms when I was about 5 or 6. Never understood it, but it was still a fun show.
Anybody see the Robot Chicken episode?
Outragous is right.
Yeah she does remind me of Stormer. *Drools*
Congrats on #100, also for 2nd anniversary. (OK, that’s a little early… Or late.)
Looking’ good Dabs. Use that at the next ComiCon.
Heh. “Bonkercite”. Well, there’s a use for the two unknowns.
Let’s see her use that on Maxima to keep her out of her reach.
Can Sydney use two spheres AND steer the others as defense?
Also short range offense.
Bouncing indestructible spheres off someone’s head would act as a kinetic tazer.
I thought ‘Bonkerite’ was a reference to ‘bonking people on the head’.
Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s a reference to Sydney’s “completely bonkers” personality. It actually has (arguably) already allowed her to avoid Maxima’s reach when Maxima tried to get her hat back and Sydney slow-motion Matrix dodged it, and let’s not forget the savage mauling poor Mr. Amorphous got while disguised as a bank robber.
That gives me an idea for a fight scene I really want to see: Syd vs Math.
HEY DAVE! Keep this in mind for later
You know who the greatest swordsman in the world fears right?
No sorry, who? A random punk with a gun? The 2nd and 3rd best teaming up? I’m not being a smartass (as my nature normally drives me to do), I’m just trying to guess it and probably failing miserably.
I see, Someone with no training at all.It makes it near impossible to predict what they’re going to do! Really good point.
I loved the nitrogen joke, perfect thing for a chemistry geek like myself.
And I had to laugh out loud at Dabbler’s entrance. “Over the top, what does that mean?” I could almost hear her say that.
Congrats on page 100, Dave!
Let’s see 2s1, 2s2, 3p2. If she is representing Nitrogen, she should have two balls moving spherically around her, 2 more twice as far out, also moving spherically, and the other 3 moving back and forth on the 3 main axes (left-right, front-back, up-down), not just 7 electrons moving around any which way.
Maybe she didn’t learn about electron shells yet. Or (knowing Sydney) she got banned from chemistry before that chapter. (Picture Sydney in a lab filled with dangerous chemicals) D-8 Run for the hills!!!
Good point
Actually in quantum physics we learn that e shells are just areas that the electrons can travel in not set orbits, the electrons can travel anywhere within the shell that they are in. Of course we also learn that electrons only move in straight lines and teleport at random so that they never have to turn.
True at the picoscale, but we don’t know what happens when you try to translate that to the macroscale. Wave properties only show up to a measurable extent for objects that are not directly observed (due either to size or to complete observer abstinence); this description would fit with what’s usually seen on collapsing a wavefunction.
I love the joke, BUT I have to ask……
Are one of you guys Dr. Michio Kaku, or something like that?
I teach high school physics and chemistry in Ontario, Canada. You don’t quite need Dr. Kaku’s experiences and training, but it wouldn’t hurt. Last class for grade 10 science summer school today. Exam tomorrow. Marks due the day after that. I might be a little busy for the next few days.
When I was double checking to make sure I had the right element, I thought about trying to do the different electron shells, but I figure Sydney’s not going to bother accurately modeling the element, and off the top of her head she probably doesn’t know how many are in each layer.
Heh heh, true, that description really fits Sydney. And I could only imagine her getting kicked out of the chemistry lab after seeing shiny alkali metals in oil and wanting to take them out for close-up study. At the very least. They’d never let her into organic chemistry, can you imagine Sydney having fun with ether or capsaicin? Or both?
Because I can…
I can imagine sydney “accidentaly” blowing up the classroom with a super curry bomb, because she was trying to make it hotter.
Ha ha, nope, nowhere near that fancy. I’m merely a qualified chemist with a nerdy knowledge of the periodic table.
I like Dr. Kaku. He makes it easy for me to understand. :)
This makes me wonder if anyone else listens to George N. also?
However the most revealing thing on this page (after Dabbler’s top) is that Maxima is a theist :)
I wouldn’t be too sure on that. I’ve heard plenty of people who identify as atheists say Jesus Christ as an exclamation.
Yeah, using any particular diety’s name as an exclamation has more to do with the fact that everyone else says it, so it just becomes a thing you say.
Boudica’s bouncing buttocks! ;)
By Grabthars Hammer!
… what savings…
On Salarian condoms…
…some peoples children…..
I remember when I was in university, I was in a conversation with a Jewish woman, among others, who exclaimed “Jesus Christ!” I was quite surprised and asked her about it.
Just when I didn’t think I could lover her any more…
I like the fact that her facial strips carry over into the disguise.
it would make sense for ARCHON to heveryoneave showers near the Ballroom because everyone is gonna need a cold shower after Dabbler enters or leaves the room
*have
Congrats on the 100 pages.
It did mention ages ago in the ambulance that dabbler could change her appearance but not other peoples.
You think Dabbler’s head is a little big in panel 7? I… umm… I actually hadn’t noticed…
Not really, you see people with diffrent body types all the time.
I belive it’s called genetic variation.
It was meant more as a response to the artist’s own assessment (fourth paragraph), and a bit of a half-joke.
I doubt many of us paid attention to her face. It’s similar to how Brisbane’s “Buxom Bandit” evaded capture for weeks. No witness could remember her face ‘coz she was wearing a low cut top
I rember in the eighties there was a woman who robbed a bank in the nude. Nobody rembered her face.
woman?, i heard it was a bloke
One immitated the other.
Is that Nyan Cat in the background of panel 5?
Indeed.
Hmmm… I find it quite fascinating how you decided to handle “dialing it down.” You made the corners harder, the outlines to black rather than matching, shading more heavily to induce a greater amount of “this is real” element, and… hmm… I’m sure I’m missing something. Something to do with proportion?
In any case I like it.
Also, I will put in my 2 cents on the matter that seems to pop up every now and then, the once-a-week posting schedule being too “slow” for certain people.
If I want one-a-day comics, I’ll go to Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic, Questionable Content, Nerf This, or Precocious. Scribble comics who certainly don’t take more than fifteen minutes at the most to do completely. I enjoy the quality here, and I want to say that I would rather have a few quality pages of very thought out and painsakingly detailed and colored rather than five comics of quickly dashed off humor. There’s enough of that around for me to sate myself if I want that, I came to Grrl Power because I liked the premise of superheroine nerd, and you can’t jot off superheroine nerd so very quickly because nerds think a lot and it takes thought to render with proper detail certain things that both Syd and Max say. The humor is put to good effect, and is balanced very well with the intriguing parts.
In all… keep doin what yer doin, Dave.
Yep, thats why he’s on my top five list of webcomics.
Some of the best art out there and a great storyline that makes you laugh and think at the same time.
Of course you think about some of the wierdest stuff, but you still are thinking about something.
Not just yours he’s been in the top 10 (And usually in the top 5) on TWC for a few months now.
And I’m continually floored by that, especially since I don’t have the time to do a new vote incentive with each new page like some comics do. I really do appreciate all the votes. TWC does drive a lot of traffic my way… which actually confuses me a little. Do a lot of people use TWC as their webcomic bookmarks or something? The comics jump around so much every time the voting has been reset it seems like it would be a hard way to keep up with your comics.
Well when you go to vote there’s usually a couple of random comic banners around the actual voting part. I have been known to have my curiousity piqued and follow that to a new comic while voting.
I’m reasonably sure that’s how I got here in the first place. It’s been a while…
Since after the vote you’re redirected to the actual listings, I’ve found a couple funny ones that peaked my interest that way.
If you log in to TWC, you can “save favorites” which is a good way of making a list of comics which is basically “all on one page” — less futzing with bookmarks and tabs and crap. Plus, it makes it easier for voting, if one is so inclined.
Ah, I didn’t know that. I do all my comic reading through RSS. That makes more sense though, they’re my top referrer as long as I’m in the top 10. Seemed weird for that many people to be finding their comics by scanning through the front page of TWC.
Goes to show, Dave, that it’s not just the voting incentive that draws people to vote. I have a few comics I really like, and yours is up there because of the incredible amount of detail, the fun you put in every page, the promise of a fantastic story, and Sydney’s never-ending ADHD craziness. Some people will also say the hot women characters, but as a gay guy, that’s less of a concern to me ;) though I love each and every one of them. Plus, you can set your watch by your update punctuality (honestly, every Monday I’m looking forward to 12 noon).
The fun we have in the comments is a nice plus though. ;)
Well I will have some beefcake eventually, I promise. I’d say “soon” but I when I started the comic I thought the tube reveal would be “soon” hah hah. Although being straight, my ability to judge proper beefcake may be somewhat impaired, but I have quite a few good reference pictures I think.
What’s bonkercite?
Although i´m german, i think i actually know that one:
Max is not referring to an actual element, she is creating an element out of Syds mental state.
And she is spot on. I think Syd defines “Bonkers”
I also considered Daffonium, Crazytrainium, and Coocoocite.
You forgot Insanitite.
Crazytrainium would require an Ozzy soundtrack.
Technically, “Bonkercite” would be a mineral and not an element.
Ah yes – that Mineral named after one Bonkers T Bobcat.
Daffonium is something that is/was/will-be [ugh, space time continuity confuses me] used to power the interplanetary spaceship flown by one Duck Dodgers of the twenty fifth and a half century …..
Thanks a lot!
Ask, and DaveB (or the gang of GP) will awnser. :)
Well, if you were going to get technical with it. For the myths regarding succubus, those who say they could shapeshift, they shapeshifted between male and female depending on which gender they were going after (ie…going after male, they’d be a female, going after a female, they’d be a male). So they’d switch back and forth between Succubus and Incubus.
The other goes along the route there’s just Succubus and then there’s Incubus, inwhich case, she wouldn’t care what Syndey wanted to see, she’d care what the men in the room wanted to see.
Basically, Succubus being gay wouldn’t be the case if you stuck with the myth.
Actually, males are Inccubi.
Succubi are always female.
If Hell needs a woman or gay man seduced, it sends an Inccubus.
Yeah succubus mythos aren’t quite as codified as vampires or lycanthropes, but I have some of my own ideas. Dabbler doesn’t really have an origin story as such, but I do have a flashback to what brought her here, and I have an Origin of Succubi tale planned at some point as well for when someone asks her about it.
I think it was St. Thomas Aquinas who first claimed that succubi and incubi were the same creatures. In succubus form, they collected semen from men, then morphed to male form, known as incubus, and impregnated women with the stolen semen. The resulting offspring, although genetically human, were considered to be demonic.
they could also transform into air, turn invisible, and apparently distory reality (like create solid walls), and immune to exorcisms and holy symbols *they were the explination for certain dreams of Priests, Friars, ect…and nuns.*
It is amazing you don’t see much of these more, but the modern vampire has been given so many traits from other monsters, especially the ‘cubi that to a modern viewer/reader it is hard to tell them apart. Vampires and lycanthropes hardly have true set mythos with every other writer altering them, and people taking what they like, taking all manner of traits from other monsters or just made up. I doubt anyone would swoon over a folklore vampire with its ugly apperance, smell, slow movement, and feeding on blood just to spread death to its living family and neighbors as a mindless zombie like creature of pestilence.
S. M. Stirling has a series out that says all of them are just one species that just manifests diffrently.
? what’s the title? i thought he only did “hard” sci-fi, not fantasy…
Many Sci-fi writers use the “excuse” of (other dimensional life-forms).to use fantasy creatures and elements (as well as the whole technology so advanced its indisdinquishable from magic to basically use magic).
-and yes I know I spelled that word horribly wrong,
And why not?
All technology is magic until someone invents it.
A Taint in the Blood & Council of Shadows
In a way, there’s only a very thin line between ‘hard’ sci-fi and ‘hard’ fantasy. In both, there are fairly rigid and consistent rules of what you can and can’t do with a certain technology/technique; most of the difference is in whether you use a futuristic setting with Clarke-III technology or a past/near-present setting with magic or other races.
John Ringo’s ” There Will Be Dragons” is like that in that it’s based 2 or 3 thousand years in the future where technology has advanced so much that it appears as magic to anyone who dosn’t know whats going on, and yes there are dragons, elves, and other things like that in the series.
I highly recomend anybody who likes military sci-fi and fantasy to read it.
The fact that you compared her to hexadecimal scares me….
Wheres Bob when you need him…
Oogh! Had to think for a moment before I got the reference – nice one!
y’know, succubi are supposed to do a lot of fucking.
i somehow doubt that this comic will stay true to the lore. i fully expect a dozen virgins showing off.
Well, this comic might be SFW, but just because we don´t see it, doesn´t mean it doesn´t happen.
Dabbler already declared her pants as “Minimum Security Area”, and although that was meant to aggrevate Max, it doesn´t mean it isn´t true.
Besides, all of them are responsible… ALMOST all of them are responsible, grown up people, so Max could very well be the only virgin in the building.
What makes you think Max is a virgin?
She didn’t always have a gold body you know.
there was a comic I read a few years back about a group called The Authority, there’s woman there called Angela Spica AKA The Engineer, she’s the only one getting any, due to her appearance (she’s completely chrome), she can change her appearance to look human, but she has to concentrate to maintain it. she discovered the hard way she cant look human and have sex, last time she tried he ran off half way through. she somewhat frustrated.
If Super-man can bang a human; even though logically he should rip her apart like a tissue then Maxima should be able to get some.
The whole relationships thing is the failing of almost all super-human stories, think of Goku and all them how insanely strong they are that they shouldn’t even be able to interact with the physical world with out atomizing almost everything they touch.
Although the modern trend to try and be “realistic” makes me think of The Incredible Hulk where he realized he can’t have sex as that too would trigger the Hulk transformation, the Old Man Logan comic which had Hulk commit incest with She-Hulk as in that continuity only those two could have kids together (although looking at the Marvel universe that simply isn’t so), and the funny treatment this whole thing got in “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” where they had to be super careful (that has to be frustrating).
She didn´t?
Are you sure? That woul mean that it was an experiment that turned her to gold.
Somehow Max doesn´t strike me as the volunteer type.
That´s not it anyway.
I think Max would rather drink gasoline than doing the deed, since she is in the military, which means not homosexual (especially in America), and hates men enough to never get into a “demeaning position”, regardles of the suggestions from her hormones.
“since she is in the military, which means not homosexual (especially in America)”
Sorry to contradict you, but the US DADT law has been repealed, and plenty of militaries around the world allow openly gay people to serve.
As for Max’s gold skin, Dave did mention in a commentary a while back that she was not always like that (can’t remember exactly which page though). But since it’s “classified”, according to Max, we won’t find out for a while.
She doesn’t hate men, just jerky sexist men. Granted, her definition for jerky or sexist is quite a bit broader that most peoples.
So she and Achelies either don’t get along or they are dating on the sly, becouse from what I’ve seen so far he’s the only one who could get physical with Maxima and not end up in traction.
No-one ever said Maxima was the intended subject of the experiment when she had her transformation. I’d guess that if it was an experiment she was either on the security detail or in the area for some other reason, and she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time (or the right place and time, depending on your viewpoint).
It’ll probably get proven wrong as soon as DaveB decides to give her an official origin, but here’s my Dangerously Unofficial take on it (with apologies to Alan Moore).
When Maxima’s unit was deployed to Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion, she was an ordinary baseline human (for the US military’s value of ‘baseline’). As we all know, it quickly transpired that there were no nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons facilities in the country. However, that isn’t to say that there wasn’t somewhat shady militarised research going on there; sometimes it’s better to hide the fact that Pandora’s Box even exists, so that no-one is tempted to poke it.
One particular facility was investigating claims that it was possible to suppress the strong nuclear force, which normally holds atomic nuclei together. This would, in theory, produce a nuclear-type explosion from the liberated energy without the need for exotic materials, with very little fallout and with only relatively localised irradiation. (One researcher even theorised that a human of sufficiently strong will, subjected directly to this disintegration, would be able to ‘pull himself together’ and thereafter be essentially a god. Everyone else told him to stop reading Watchmen.) In the chaos of the invasion, the facility was abandoned and the scientists fled.
When the Allied forces were informed of this by captured files, they sent a few experts with Maxima’s squad to investigate. They squad had had a bad time in a recent engagement – a pilot in one of the other units involved, Corporal Kessler, later lost a leg to her injuries – and the Brass thought that a nice quiet escort mission would calm everyone’s nerves. Reports of the incident are somewhat inconsistent and fragmentary, but there was some sort of explosion which destroyed much of the facility. Rescue teams found a few survivors, one of whom appeared to be in a coma, with the strange colouration of her remaining skin suggesting chemical agents. When Captain Leander eventually awoke, she was transferred to the same field hospital as Corporal Kessler, and they struck up a strong friendship. The rest is history.
Maxima refuses to either confirm or deny rumours that the ‘incident’ at the lab was caused by one of her subordinates fiddling irresponsibly with the force suppressor equipment, or that she did not stop him because one of the experts was ‘behaving inappropriately’ towards her. The marked increase in her no-nonsense, feminist attitude after the incident is officially ascribed to the numerous other changes she went through as a result, and she prefers not to speak ill of the dead.
There will be a fair amount of off screen coupling going on eventually, especially with certain characters.
I just heard a thousand fanfic writers wetting themselves as they fired up their word processors and started banging away at Max/Anvil, Math/Faulk, and Harem/Arianna/Harem/Peggy/Harem/Sydney/Harem/Gwen/Harem slashfic.
(shudder)
I might read that last one, hah hah.
*ear twitch* You’re not the only one.
**Tilts head to the right**
Send me the link also. :P
Heck, add me to the list as well … though you forgot the Harem // Harem // Harem fanfic.
No we didn’t. It’s been talked about many times.
Me too!
Post the site so we can all share the fun.
I’ve got too many oars in the water but I do suggest things here. And that is all.
Don’t forget the Harem/Heatwave caramel bit…
That would be all in Math’s dream after Harem cold-cocked him with the pool cue.
Succubuseseses (errr) who do succubus-y things?
One comes to mind – Drusilla in “Pibgorn”.
Boy, does she love her work.
Hmm, never heard of that one, will have to check it out.
I think the plural is ‘succubi’…
Correct, since it is taken straight from the latin.
What about Bo of Lost Girl? A succubus living in a man’s world. She can gain energy, even to heal herself, from sexual activity. Taking energy leaves her partner weak and tired. If she takes too much, it can kill her partner. The show appears on Showcase on cable, here in Canada. I don’t know who is showing it in the States.
SyFy, formerly known as the SciFi channel. I haven’t watched it yet, but it use to come on right after
Eureka, which I was watching.
Whole another universe, just as their interpretation of the Fey is different. But that won’t stop some people. They will make it fit no matter what. I had a hell of a time for a Hellboy/Ghost Busters cross over. Just for myself of course. Wouldn’t want to step on any toes of either franchise! Who ya gonna call—Hell-boy!
Congrats on comic #100! Succubi and Incubi are so much more interesting when there’s no shapeshifting involved. Mythological creatures that hew strictly to heteronormative behavior are ****boooorrrrrinnngggg***
heh i love the first thing she relises is that she could cheat a sket ball
More like rhe latest thing she realised.
Congrats on #100, looking forward to the next 900…
So yeah. The wet dreams of a million anime fans explode into technicolor reality. Gonna agree with SA Sims up there who suggested pretty much every Arclight employee critically failed their “stay productive” roll when Dabbler walked by.
On the other hand, I think I’m about 99% certain that I could duplicate Dabbler’s look in the City of Heroes costume creator (except for the hair braids).
—
Alternate gutters-joke:
Dabbler: *points to boobs* These go up to eleven.
Have fun with the charictor.
What powers would you give her?
I’ll have to look back at Dabbler’s bio page. I spitball guessed an illusion/dark controller
If you do, give us a link. We’ve seen a DCUO Maxima already.
Mock-up links!
Dabbler one
Same costume, slightly different angle
Slightly different costume, got the gold heels somewhat
I’d say that the ability to do it in the creator, given the complexity of Dabbler’s design in seen here is about 60-75%. There’s a lot of things I could fit in, but several I couldn’t because the system doesn’t let you detail things quite as much. Also, because it’s a Teen rated game, the jacket covers more of that top so you miss out on the cleavage, but trust me – there’s a top that matches it fairly closely. I might post one without the jacket later.
Possible art error… Panels 7 and 10 seem to be inconsistent with Dabbler’s jacket cuffs. 7 has gold cuffs, 10 has black all the way down with a gold cuff link (And I think those bracelets should have been visible on 7, but maybe not).
And as this is actually my first comment, I will apologize for it being an art error and say that I really enjoy the comic!
Welcome! And don’t worry about it. There are a lot of errors. :/ I’ll add that to my fix list.
While you’re on it, put in the two missing commas (or comma and period/exclamation mark) from Maxima’s last speech balloon so she’s speaking in English. As it reads now it’s Jesus Christ Dabbler Dial It Down! So, unless Dabbler’s full name involves Dial It Down (which doesn’t sound suitably diabolical to me) in addition to what strikes me as the rather verboten Jesus Christ…
Sorry, it really threw me.
Grammatically you’re correct, but leaving out the punctuation does give a greater feeling of Maxima shouting her line, either through sheer exasperation and/or through barely overcoming Dabbler’s glamour.
Put it in italics, bold it, underline it, something; otherwise it makes this otherwise excellent presentation look amateurish. Art takes forever to draw and color, but typing properly takes no time at all. Why skimp on the cheap stuff? It’s like going to a party where the caviar is free but the tap water costs $1 a cup.
The change in cuffs doesn’t need to be an art fix: it could just be part of the “dialling it down”. You never know, maybe in some culture of Dabbler’s extensive experience a full cuff is considered shorthand for ’eminently available’ while a brass-tipped cuff strap is normal attire.
I suppose that is also possible, though it seems most of the dialing down is more the “special effects” as it were rather than the actual form.
Well, the special effect… which represent the “horny aura” she’s putting out.
(Also Sydney might want to be some [7] Neutrons too)
It would still be nitrogen even without the neutrons, at least for a few nanoseconds, until the electromagnetic force between the protons overwhelms what little strong force there is holding the nucleus together.
Day-amn Dabbler, that’s a hell of an entrance!! Thanks DaveB!
I’d say that what everyone is seeing is a glamor. AS in the early meaning of that word. Think telehypnosis. They only think they are seeing that gorgeous hunk of unbelievable. But since Succubi and Inccubi are hunters who steal energy they have to be able to fool prey until it is too late. Good thing that Dabbler isn’t a huntress anymore. If you touched her you would know she isn’t what she now appears to be.
I don’t think Dabbler is that naive about disguising herself on a high tech world. A hypnotic type glamor would not fool a camera. From appearance in Wereworld, Dabbler is no dummy when it comes to technology. I’ll lay odds that it’s a holographic disguise.
She’s not realy trying to fool camras in this instace, just people n a low security part of the building wh don’t hav the clearance to know tha she is there.
Such concerns Dabbler readily understands but the human eye is still one to fool. However in the future with cyber-eyes it is iffy about affecting her glamor power unless it is going through a cyber-brain. Hell, what does she eat if she can’t absorb blood or life force to stay alive? Succubi and Inccubi are predators feeding mostly off of humans. Know doubt one of these days DaveB will let us know. (His plates are really piled high right now.
So wonderful you hit 100 pages today! I was so happy I got started on this comic so soon after it had started. Usually I find out about one after it had been out for many years. Looking forward to the next 100 then the next 100 and you know till the book and movie deals and the cartoon etc…
Thanks! I officially feel like I’ve leveled up from Noob Webcomicer to Fledgling.
Well Dave, you’re comic at the beginning is what I’d call “decent”. Good story, and artwork that wasn’t bad, needed some work. I think now that your artistic skills have caught up with the quality of your story.
Ha! “FEH.”??? The only other time I’ve heard a character say “FEH” was in Adam Warren’s “Empowered”. Coincidence, or homage?
Actually I picked that up from Gold Digger. I recall Cheetah saying it a few times.
As well, I know I use it from time to time in regular life.
But then, I have some broad and twisted influences.
I heard it in older cartoons and movies. Its not something unique.
“Feh” is perfectly good Yiddish, and has been around since forever.
It is used as a reaction of disgust, disapproval,or rejection. Useful, IMO. ;-)
In addition to all her other weirdnesses, Dabbler is Yiddish?
I am going with amalagamated vocal pattern, an alien learning the language can end up mixing up different accents, speech patterns, and dialect. I know when I speak German sometimes I sound all “proper” although most of the time I sound to them what those old broken english speaking Russians sound like in the movies sound like to us, and then I say things which they say sound “Berliner”.
There are times when I speak English that German words slip in, or even British accents and phrases. I’d imagine Dabbler has some of the same issues, only compounded by being an off worlder. Or she figures all the languages out and cultural norms of them and has picked out which parts she likes so uses them.
That last seems quite reasonable and in-character. I’m guessing Dabbler finds a lot of our so-called differances to be hilarious.