Grrl Power #1011 – Occupations and hazards
One might be tempted to think that working in entertainment, the two less mature Scovilles would have no excuse to not know what Ma Scoville’s job is, but just because she works in the entertainment industry, it doesn’t mean she’s working on Star Trek or the latest novel-turned-streaming-service-series-with-lots-of-violence-and-boobs. She does do that stuff some of the time, but I imagine she works for a firm that is contracted to a studio or two, and they have jobs like “Hey one of our sitcoms came up with a funny product the slobby husband’s unrealistically hot wife is going to try and sell, can you check on this list of funny names against actual registered trademarks” and other fairly routine busy work. On top of that, there’s probably a fair amount of non-disclosure stuff she has to deal with as to not spoil stuff about unaired shows.
This page is primarily to illustrate that mom has a serious adult-person office job, dad has an as-often-as-not work from home creative job, and guess who primarily raised the daughter, as if it wasn’t entirely obvious.
Okay, the funny thing about this page (to me) is that in the panels leading up to the hairpinsplosion, on this page and the prior one, I put some time into showing the bobby pins slowly losing the battle with Sydney’s hair, then almost entirely covered all that up when I added the orbs in. The orbs are usually the last thing I add to the pages, and even after 900+ pages post orb-reveal, I keep forgetting about them when doing layouts. That why when someone is standing just behind Sydney or over her shoulder, the orbs are sometimes spaced out weird or their orbit is tilted weirdly.
I ran out of time while doing this page, because I was drawing it over Xmas break. In the background of the Krognar poster, I wanted to add Krog standing on the hood of a police car, hacking into the roof as it explodes through a billboard with something like “Re-Elect Bob von Corruptman” on the front, really make it look like some action movie poster from the 80’s, but oh well. The idea of the movie in my head (yeah, I know, this has nothing to do with the comic, but this is the sort of stuff I think about while drawing) is a reverse Isekai. Barbarian comes to the present but instead of being overwhelmed by airplanes and light switches and whatever, he just goes out and kicks a bunch of ass and reminds all the bored soccer moms what a real man is like, and all the schlubby dad-bods get all up in arms about it at first but then start to come around and are like “Well I guess I could stand up to my jerk co-worker and maybe do some pushups.” I’m not sure how well a movie with the moral of “be an aggressive Alpha bro” would do these days, but presumably Laura is mentioning some job he got a while ago.
Tamer: Enhancer 2 – Progress Update: Getting Proofed!
Proofing’s kind of on hold until I get the vote incentive out.
December’s vote incentive guest stars Lana of Spying with Lana. January’s is a little delayed because of the holidays, but will likely be up with the next Monday comic.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
Let’s hope this doesn’t blow up.
I’m disappointed that Maxima didn’t catch them all.
She is not only not prepared for fear vomit, she is also not prepared for exploding ballistic hair with bobby pin projectiles. :)
Was wondering when the bobby pins would jailbreak!
Even the orbs fled in terror.
Yeah even there were like WTF is this?! Scatter!
Wouldn’t you? One hit Maxima and even she is glancing up as if thinking ‘that actually hurt!?’
I was just coming to comment about that. :-D
“I … I felt that.”
In case you missed it, one of those pins BURNED A HOLE THROUGH THE NDA
I actually had missed that, so thanks.
I thought that hole was from the kinetic energy impact more than temperature.
That clipboard has singe marks around the hole itself.
The NDA was on a clipboard too so that’s some serious impact damage there
And heat, to leave a singed circle around the hole.
It’s called “Foreshadowing”. Mightey Halo is being set up to be Max’s nemesis. We already have seen, her super speed can’t dodge Sydney Panik Vomit. Now we know that her armour can be penetrated by Sydney Hair Clips.
But jkes aside, the main reason, probably, is that she didn’t have any of her power distribution set to Armour, which is a gross safety risk. She should always have at least some set to ALL stats.
So your thinking is along the lines of:
Max: [ Thought bubbles ] Nothing can go so wrong in here so I can lower my powers down to min and save power for when I need it. Wait a minute; Sydney’s in here with me. Pretty much anything can happen. I better keep some speed and shields up, just in case.
I would think more like: We don’t know there isn’t an invisible enemy who can sneak into our base. Best to be set to equal on everything to be safe.
Sydney’s Hairpins be all like “We kinnae take any more cap’n! She’s goin’ tae Blow!”
Scotty would have not only solved the hairpin escape problem he would have done it sitting down and turning off his personal mobile shipwide air conditioning for a few moments for “all she’s got and can’t give anymore” due to the fact that he will NOT turn off his personal fan.
Except… She didn’t.
According to DaveB, Maxima’s normal default for her powers is set to a ‘golden triangle’ of armor, strength, flight, with speed and plasma blasts set to minimum. Which is probably why fear vomit can get her off guard usually. He said so in a past comic blurb but it’s going to be harder for me to find than it is when I find actual comics. He mentioned it during once (although I’m having a lot of trouble finding where) which is why I keep using the term ‘golden triangle.’ It wasn’t my term – it was DaveB’s term and I pretty much keep repeating it.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-273-power-drain/comment-page-3/
(panel 4)
As we can see in panel 4, her natural distribution tends to be equally distributed between armor, strength, and flight, with minimal power for plasma and speed (still superhuman probably but not amazingly astounding). For example, DaveB said he ‘minimal’ power level for toughness is about that of a ‘butch tank’ so a way to fight her is to force her to dump all her stats into strength (ie, fighting a gravitokinetic so she can just MOVE even), then hit her with enough power to destroy a tank. Brut stumbled into this weakness of Maxima’s BRIEFLY when he hurt her by punching her while she was putting almost all of her power distribution into speed to counter the time slowdown field she was in.
That being said, Maxima’s normal distribution tends to be putting 3 of her stats at a level that most supers cannot match to begin with, before maxing out stats (ie, 50 on a 100 point scale)
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-258-unstoppable-force-meet-maximas-face/
“In Marvel superhero terms she’s like straight Amazings (which is 50 on a 100 point scale, 6 being a regular human and 100 being Thor/Hulk/Silver Surfer level.) Her power pool dump puts her at the 100 point level (in only one stat) and if she draws against her other abilities she can exceed that.”
However, she can make one power go to it’s highest possible while sacrificing ALL her power in other areas. As DaveB said, she can push her armor above the max but it would make her unable to do things like… walk. Or move. Or have any real strength whatsoever.
“As DaveB said, she can push her armor above the max but it would make her unable to do things like… walk. Or move. Or have any real strength whatsoever.”
As demonstrated when V had her pinned in the parking lot brawl.
Yes exactly. Maxima’s even mentioned this a few times. Once during the Vehemence fight and once when she got hit by Brut.
Consider that bullets don’t get that much reaction out of her and one bobby pin went through a thick wad of paper fast enough to leave a clean hole and scorch marks. Sydney could straight up murder normal people with that hair. Joerg Sprave would want to show you its features
I don’t think the orbs fled. More likely they went out of the way in order to not hurt their host by having those projectiles ricochet of the orbs back to her.
Also, if you look closely at the last panel you’ll see they they’re going to need to draw up new documents.
And do you see all the Orbs frantically diving for cover?
Sorry cobber, I missed your first post :P
But really, exactly WHY is Syddles NOT wearing the magical headband gifted her from Decollete back in #450?
If she had that headband, then the need for a kilo of bobby pins either doesn’t arise or is brought down to manageable amounts.
Uniform regulations.
A couple more containment failures like this might convince the higher-ups to make an exception for Sydney.
no, they’d just discipline her until she realizes that the only way out is to shave her head and wear a wig. this is the military we are talking about here. they are professionally stubborn.
They are a unit filled with people who either a) can make 10x monthly military pay in a DAY doing civilian contract work, and/or 2) can take out an armored brigade by themselves if they got the urge. I’d hope the old goats would realize that standard discipline methods will only work on them as long as they accept it.
Brass: Maxima! We have a problem with your hair!
Max: The problem is yours. Last barber tried to shave it almost lost his left hand. He has the clippers in the other one.
Brass: Carry on.
I think we can take panel 7 as confirmation that Sydney Sr. is basically Dave’s self-insert in this universe…
Im going back through each of the previous pages looking at sydney’s hair and realizing they’ve clearly been shoved full of bobby pins all this time.
this was a hilarious joke setup.
Sydney’s hair is certainly powerful.
I think her real super power is just her hair lol
Max “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before…”
Buff timer ran out!
Reading between the lines. sure he’s more visibly adhd, but he’s got some success in his own right. Most stereotypes show adhd as too flummoxed to do anything
Having ADHD allowed me to become a “jack of all trades” and a good factory mechanic I was one of the few who could rewire a load center, weld both types of cast iron, run both steam and heat transfer oil piping, rebuild a transaxle to a forklift, form sheet metal ducting etc… the list goes on but since I have ADHD I am “dumb” so yeah
Specialization is overrated. I can build a modern house from raw resources (animal, mineral, and vegetable) even going so far as to manufacture electronic appliances. I won’t because it cuts into the time I have set aside for puns and sarcasm.
I just read an old SciFi story exactly about that! Some guy who could fix anything ends up in a future of specialists. The ability to fix anything is lost, they just replace things that break.
Then he fixes something that saves the world from an Alien invasion.
{Symbol of rotating gear}
The Variable Man by Phillip K Dick
https://americanliterature.com/author/philip-k-dick/short-story/the-variable-man
Ok that story just sounds super interesting and I’m going to read it. Thanks.
I’m interested in that one too
We make the weird, creative mental connections that get passed off to boring, detail-oriented people who then receive all of the credit. At least, that has been my experience.
Ideas are a dime a dozen, and thirteen for a penny on Sundays. Execution is what is valuable.
A particular problem with the ADHD stereotype is that it presents ADHD as too much of a type. I don’t begrudge Dave’s use of ADHD as a character trait but in general it seems that people pigeon hole it too much. In reality , it falls on a spectrum and has a couple of different flavors. I am definitely not the guy you want watching that all important dial that must be constantly monitored in a nuclear reactor. I am pretty good at catching small details and juggling several tasks. While there are people like Sydney who clearly benefit from ADHD meds a lot of us just learned to manage the traits and play to our strengths.
Personally, I’m an Aspie, which means that I can concentrate on a task for literally hours at a time without boredom, basically regardless of whether I find it entertaining. Makes me a great engineer. (And the designated driver on family road trips.) But the lack of innate social skills means that I didn’t manage to go on a date until I was middle aged. Took me that long to “Gorillas in the Mist” my fellow humans enough to credibly act like I had the same emotional structure.
My son is more ADHD, has mad social skills, but can’t stay concentrated on a task he doesn’t like. Since he CAN concentrate on things he does find interesting, I’m not too concerned, he just needs to find a career he finds interesting, and he’ll be set.
It’s funny how the same genes can manifest in so many different ways.
Well called that the convo was getting a bit national security for having two civilians present. But at least skipped to non disclosure before likely rounding up the intelligence personell to look at the situation from their angle.
Guess Syds usual hairstyle is so ingrained into her dna that they just automaticly return to that state if let lose.
Sydney has a future as a self a guided grenade if the superhero thing doesn’t work out
Huh, looks like the bobby-trap finally sprung.
I see what you did there, well played…
It had a hair trigger.
I will allow that one only because it was extremely clever.
Not often you see a weapon with a magazine full of clips.
Dangit okay I will allow these TWO only because they were really clever but my finger is hovering on the dial-a-ninja number…
Syds bangs are too high caliber to Nair do well, and for meer bobby pins to police.
(241 puns)
Sorry. I have my limits. Ninja hit squad en route.
Oh, I hope they take the scenic route. It has a thrilling hairpin turn
Might put them in a pinch, but they can usually twist out of tight circumstances and pull off a daring do.
Just for that additional pun, I’m sending a second hit squad to help make it extra painful, dangit.
Which one, specifically? Not to split hairs, but I’d like to know what I’m being upbraided for.
Surely the heir appearent to rescue the damsele would be Dudley Do-Right!
I have no idea why I like you guys when you seem to live to torture me. I must be a masochist.:)
three more ninja hit squads incoming.
But now I have to know what the heck Maxima uses to keep her hair that tight and in control. I mean she could likely use a strand of her hair to slice steel bars if she wanted to make a less than obvious cut.
i was beginning to think that “hey those hair pins are really strong”
Okay… I have tough hair. No matter what I use or how i try to soften it, my hair could be used as a replacement for your average garroting wire.
Sydney has me beat by miles, though.
Tell me about it mine has always been wild until it started to fall out then I started either shaving or buzz-cutting (stupid wavey afro BS….) I can always tell when it’s time when the fine peach fuzz starts to stand up on top LOL
I wasn’t exaggerating, though?
I’ve literally sliced my own finger open by wrapping five or six strands around my index fingers and pulling my hands apart wondering how much force it would take to snap. Surprised the hell out of me.
Neither of you match the stubbornness of my beard. I wish I had a soft luxurious beard but no. I have the wiry type of beard that refuses any kind of management. My wife tried to braid it once and the hair was escaping rubber bands with ease. It’s a pain in the ass to trim too since it’s just the right combo of bendy and stiff to bend around the trimming blades rather than get cut.
I had that sort of beard in college in the 70’s. Picture one of those guys on the cough medicine label, classic curly red beard. Since I was going to college in the frozen north, it kept my face and neck from freezing, and was a convenient place to carry pens and pencils.
Man, I have a beard like a porcupine. It’s a couple inches and looks all soft and cuddly, but if you run your fingers the wrong way, the hairs stab through your skin no problem. On several occasions I’ve had to fetch tweezers to unstick hairs for someone who decided to suddenly just touch the beard.
I used to wear my hair long (it was the 70’s) and yeah same thing it was hell if i rode my motorcycle without a helmet I would get the crap slapped out of my face instead of blowing back unless i hit 90mph or so. Hard to do in town so yeah…
How can you tell who, is a happy biker? By , the number of bugs in his teeth!!! (old joke)
Sydney Sr. must have other talents or smell really good, because he is punching way above his weight with Laura
Probably both. I know around half-a-dozen tradie types who married girls with wallet-bulging salaries. The blokes weren’t actually on the breadline you understand, but still had not yet built their skills into businesses. And AFAIK they’re all still happily.
Wasn’t there an article….an article about an article….somewhere….that men resented their wives earning more money than them and the reply was “No we don’t.”
Was that “No we don’t resent…” or “No we don’t earn…”?
I have to ask because the male supremacy virus has (sadly) not yet been exterminated :(
Not the salary, the competence and ability to keep things together.
I didn’t quite make it into the rich wife club but my wife and I have played leapfrog with our salaries with her in the lead most of the time. I do have to wonder about observer bias, in that the ones discussing it are the ones that made it work. Where’s the guy who says “I married a loving, wealthy woman who enabled me to follow my dream career and it made my life a living nightmare”?
The ones … that made it work are allowed a quiet pride in real manhood and are thus entitled to discuss it.
The ones not strong enough to recognise we all have useable talents and educations are too ashamed to discuss it.
I’m reading “dream career … living nightmare” and totally failing to parse the sentence. I mean, what was the initial problem?
“Dream career…living nightmare”, perhaps you are H.P. Lovecraft? Yeah, anyone who can make a relationship work should be allowed a bit of quiet pride. I just wonder how many stories there are that go “It should have been wonderful. My SO had money and financed my every creative endeavor but the relationship turned out so horrible I just couldn’t stay.”
Lovecraft? Love him! And derivative works, I was especially entranced by Cradle of Filth’s “Saffron’s Curse” although their musical (?) style successfully hides the wonderful lyrics.
Sadly, it seems to be a male thing that cannot handle what is perceived to be a gilded cage. And we forget — conveniently — that that is what most women live in quite routinely. Some males cannot handle the concept that women have souls too.
Ok real world FYI: my wife was way out of my league but she has stayed with me for 37 yrs because I paid attention and figured out her “buttons” and I could always make her laugh, the more serious or moody someone is the more they need that ;)
“Seriously, what do you see in that guy? ”
“He makes me laugh”
Irecognisethatreference dot gif Exchange between Bob Hoskin’s detective and Jessica Rabbit in “Who framed Rodger Rabbit?”
Eddie Valiant?
The Hair Shall Not Be Tamed!
Neither shall the mouth
And Sydney has her BeetleJuice moment. “Whaddaya think of this?”
Is this a ‘Friends’ callback to the episode where no one knows what Chandler’s job is?
How I met your mother – the job title of P.L.E.A.S.E.
Hey Dave, are Sydney’s parents still married? The reason I because in panel 1 Max refers to Sydney’s mom as ms or miss, instead of mrs or missus. Or is there an interesting story in the works. Love the work
*sigh* not again
Most women in the English speaking world for the last few decades have used the honorific “Ms.” in professional contexts. It doesn’t require you to ask awkward personal questions or make assumptions. And it treats the woman addressed as a person in her own right, not as “The lady so-and-so has an exclusive legal contract to fuck.”
Ms. can be used for both single and married women, and is likely Max’s default term.
I think you’ve conflated some things. Miss means unmarried, Mrs. (pronounced “misses”) means married. Maxima refers to her as Ms. (pronounced “miz”), which is unspecified and the right default to use.
Wolverine Syndrome. Maxima is the only one hit because she’s the only one durable enough to not be bothered.
She wasn’t the only one hit, the NDA took one to, with a singed hole to show for it in the last panel.
also,, did she take out a sprinkler,, cause itlook like water falling from the ceiling behind the mother
It’s sparks from the light she hit in the previous panel (see the explosion at the top), hence why it’s dark.
Water-coloured sparks falling from a dead lightbulb?
I like Sydney and her dad. They’re both Comic smarts… Annnnd at the same time Dumbasses in comedic fashion.
Just wanna say for the record that I wanna see that alternative movie poster. Maybe for the sequel: Krognar 2? Would be a nice little background filler hanging in someone’s bedroom. Especially Sydney’s, if Sydney Sr. got to do that photoshoot as well.
Forget the poster, I want to see the movie. It’s got to beat 3/4 of what Hollywood is producing these days. I bet Troma Studios could do a good job of it.
Krognar 2 – The Riddle Of Ironing?
Krognar looks at the clothes iron after ironing his fur loincloth:- “General of Electric, where are your armies now?!”
Krognar escapes cell-of-phone
With a mighty battle cry “Die inedible apples, breaker of tooth!”
Being the hero of intercourse, I’m sure krognar has a strong hatred of blueball PA, and would never even think of approaching bird in hand.
Ah yes, Intercourse, Pennsylvania. A lovely little town. Located in prime Pennsylvania Dutch county. It’s filled with good, wholesome, salt of the earth folks.
…and apparently a time traveling barbarian.
Been there, on my way to Virginia.
“Intercourse, Pennsylvania – twined with Spent Fuel Containment Area of Climax, Nevada”
.
That IS a real place…..
It used to be twin with The Virgin Islands……..now the’re just called ‘The Islands’
Hopefully not as lonley as Bust, Colorado
In case anyone was wondering those are all actual towns in PA, and I have been to Intercourse and Bird In Hand.
My uncle lived in Hell, Michigan. Nice retirement community, whose chief industry was the post office.
well in canada we have a town called dildo
We-e-ellll, may as well make use of it :P
That movie sounds a lot like a time travel version of “Suburban Commando” [Space Commando crashes in Suburban USA and has to fit in with the natives, hilarity ensues]
Twilight Zone!!!
The expression on Maxima’s face in that last panel is priceless. xD
Getting some “Komi-san can’t communicate” vibes there.
I sort of feel like Sydney’s mom is me or she is my spirit animal, because I, too, am a office law business lady (trademark and copyright lawyer).
Was just about to mention that Momma Scoville is a Pander-proxy :D
I’m pretty sure Laura is secretly a Pander cameo, I’ve been hoping you’ll use her for your profile picture
I really need to figure out how to do this sort of stuff, because I’m tempted to do that.
There’s a link on the comment form, but basically log into https://gravatar.com with the email you use to post here, and upload the picture you want (e.g. Laura’s headshot from panel 2).
If you don’t want that image to be picked up on other sites that use Gravatar, you can also set up a secondary one for just this (or whatever other) site. I personally like the Gmail ‘+’ trick (like “+grrlpowerforum@gmail.com”), which is seen as a separate address externally while still being delivered to your actual Gmail account.
Wait, neither of the Sydney’s know what Momma Scoville does?
They *do* know, they just don’t have the attention span to remember.
At least we know what Mrs. Scoville does for a living,now what about Mr. Scoville???
Apparently he’s an artist. Mama Scoville said she got him the job doing the Krognar movie poster.
I’m wondering if Laura’s going to end up on Arianna’s team, handling some of the entertainment-related aspects of Archon. Both Sydney’s are going to end up with signed 1st-edition everything.
Visiting mighty battle upon the HOA? Krognar is now my hero.
Send Krognar my way. I have some work for him.
Read it as “Kronar”. A universe where Oglaf is a movie franchise. The mind boggles
“Visiting Mighty battle upon the HOA. ”
Best setup for a movie series I’ve heard in a while.
> I’m not sure how well a movie with the moral of “be an aggressive Alpha bro” would do these days
I watch that kind anime and I pay subscription for it (Crunchyroll & HIDIVE9). Goblin Slayer for the win!
It looks like Dave is expressing his inner Frazetta with that poster.
I think I’ve finally figured out why this comic tends to leave such a bad taste in my mouth. The pervasive undercurrent of cisheteronormativity.
Feminism is a running gag. Sex is gross and weird. Anyone who isn’t heterosexual is either a rampant slut who’s constantly shamed for it (Dabbler), portrayed as bi-curious at best (Harem), or outright goes “Every woman has a biological imperative to bone down with dudes” (Peggy)
Now Sydney’s mom, faithfully fulfilling the tired old ‘Long-suffering ball-and-chain’ trope. Because god forbid a mother has a family who even knows what she does for a living.
If it leaves such a bad taste in your mouth, go wash it out with Lysol and be done with it
Suggesting a person commit suicide is a bit of an extreme response for some mild criticism.
No, you don’t die from a Lysol mouthwash. You die if you acci-dentally inhale or swallow any of it.
I concur, there are things about this comic that don’t work for me.
Alternative comics about superpowered beings you could try: Kidd Commander, Sleepless Domain, Kill Six Billion Demons, Nix of Nothing (just started, you can try the artist’s previous comics Speak of the Devil and Supernormal Step also), Starhammer, Lavender Jack.
Use to read ‘Supernormal Step’, was sad when it ended without really answering anything
I actually love this comic, even when I make the occasional critique of it. Dave’s artwork is fantastic, I love the storyline concept, and the humor is usually really great. Plus it’s extremely trope savvy, which I love. And I also like the legal questions presented, even when I disagree with some of the actions taken in it. It makes for a REALLY fun argument, and most of the readers are genuinely fun people to talk to who usually don’t get very mean when engaging in an argument (plus a couple of the ones who have in the past seemed to have changed their attitude and became a lot more sociable and I appreciate that a lot).
That being said, this isnt the only webcomic I read. It’s just my favorite one. I also read:
Order of the Stick
Goblins: Life through their Eyes
Emmy the Robot
Freefall
Something Positive
Erfworld (or at least I did until it prematurely ended)
1/0 (which I read all 1000 comics of from beginning to end)
PvP
Outsider: A Full Color Science Fiction Comic
Erma
Owlturd
xckd
Safely Endangered
Cyanide and Happiness (which also has a hilarious youtube channel called explosm)
SMBC (Saturday Morning Breakfast Comics)
The Non-Adventures of Wonderella
Girl Genius (which I just started reading because of some other people on here suggesting it to me)
8-Bit Theater (from beginning to end)
PS 238
JL8
Kevin and Kell
Last Blood
and The Last Halloween
We really, really need a fan-driven favorites list like the one Dave has in the sidebar. I’ve found a lot of favorites from recommendations here, but they disappear too fast. I’d suggest a Goodreads group, but their lists don’t appear to support webcomic URLs, just stuff with an ISBN. Maybe a pinned discussion on https://www.reddit.com/r/grrlpowercomic …?
And incidentally I read (or have read) about 2/3 of those, and will be checking out the ones I don’t already know. I’d add my own reading list but it’s too large… hooray for a good RSS reader.
I am impressed, I read a lot of webcomics, and there are actually a few on there I have not heard of. Thanks, I have some internetting to do.
Wow. Over 1000 comics read, and you’ve been hating every one, it seems. Someone needs a better hobby.
Oh, wait. What’s the complaint? That activity which is literally necessary for the survival of the species is being treated as normative. Okay, snowflake.
Seriously, get a better hobby.
So you’d prefer Sydney’s dad be the serious and competent lawyer, and her mom the hot airhead work-from-home artist? Surely no one would find that version sexist.
And the comic is a slightly-smutty comedy – any sex is naturally going to be part of a joke and/or for titillation. It’s not like the straight relationships are serious and respectful and boring.
Well, you know, “cisheteronormativity” IS normal, after all. Literally. Modal, too.
“I think I’ve finally figured out why this comic tends to leave such a bad taste in my mouth. The pervasive undercurrent of cisheteronormativity.”
I’m not going to do the whole ‘if you don’t like it, leave’ because I tend to think that criticism is good. But your criticism doesn’t really seem to make much sense, and I’ll explain why.
First…. this comic is hardly ‘cisheteronormative’ – several key characters are either gay or bisexual, and are NOT portrayed in a negative light, including the ones you consider ‘constantly shamed for it.’
1) Peggy – she is bisexual, although she seems to have a strong preference usually for women. She is not ever shamed whatsoever for this. No one cares. It’s not a big deal. When Sydney sees her hooking up with another woman at Club Oontz, her only response is ‘good for her.’
2) Dabbler does not discriminate about who she has sex with. She’s rather decidedly pansexual and polyamorous to the extreme. She doesn’t care that Maxima is very prude in her militantly feminist viewpoint that she tries to espouse (although it seems like that is sometimes just a front that Maxima puts forward, given her admission to Hiro after the Super Mannekiller fight) and because she feels very ‘singled out’ because of not only her attractive appearance, but her decidedly UNUSUAL appearance that always makes her stand out (or did, before she got her hue changing choker which she seemed genuinely touched and happy about receiving).
3) Cora likewise does not give a crap what anyone thinks about her sexual proclivities, but in outer space apparently there really isnt much criticism to begin with. Or if there is, Cora doesn’t let it bother her at all.
4) Slyv and Altus seem to both be bisexual as well, or at least Altus is, since Altus only goes shirtless when making meals for either Cora… OR Slyv. It’s a throwaway line in passing, because no one cares to make a big deal about it.
5) Harem admittedly makes a big show about being bisexual. But she’s also a thrillseeker in general, trying to squeeze as much variety in general into her life. Including making sure one of her bodies is a virgin so she can experience that as well on her wedding night.
6) Jabberwokky seems to be bisexual as well, even before Dabbler’s whammy being put on her.
“Feminism is a running gag.”
No it isn’t. If anything, DaveB is showing multiple perspectives OF feminism. Sydney, Maxima, Anvil, and Dabbler are each feminists in their own way. Maxima’s taken on the ‘militant feminism’ view. If we ignore that viewpoint exists, it’s just propaganda. Dabbler represents more of a ‘sexual liberation’ sex positive feminism. Sydney seems to be just basically an egalitarian with very tomboyish tendencies.
ARCHON itself, and especially ARC-SWAT, seems to be very egalitarian in its makeup. It’s leader is a woman. Several of the most potentially powerful members are female as well – Maxima, Dabbler, and Sydney, but they do so without it being at the expense of making the men seem like idiots and weaklings. Hiro, Stalwart, Mr. Amorphous and Mathias are all highly competent, even if some like Mathias are horndogs. With others that are made to appear ‘dumb’ but still very useful and likeable, that’s also very equal between the sexes – Achilles, Heatwave, and Digit each might not be the fastest draws, but they still are very competent in their own fields of expertise, or are very useful. Other areas also have a mix of men and women in their ranks. Arianna is an extremely competent attorney and PR administrator. Zephan is an experienced adventurer. Gwen has potential power even if she’s just a beginner in magic for now. General Faulk may outrank Maxima but gives her a wide berth for her own leadership role, and Maxima respects him and his rank over her, instead of flaunting him like she’s the stereotypical ‘angry feminist who don’t need to take no orders from no man.’
If anything, DaveB does a good job with feminism because he does NOT make it a running gag. The discussion between Dabbler and Maxima during the restaurant is just one example of that. Two very different viewpoints, both very female-empowering though – but completely at odds with one another – militant feminst quasi-puritanist attitudes vs extreme sex-positivity.
“Sex is gross and weird.”
Doesnt seem that way with most people. Doesn’t seem that way with Dabbler and the Barberian. Or with Krona and Leon. Or with Harem and Deus. Or with Sydney and Frix. Nothing there presented as gross or weird. If anything, some of those relationships are portrayed as pretty adorable (Sydney and Frix in particular). The main ‘sex is weird’ vibe tends to only come from Dabbler, and that’s only because she’s a LOT more sex positive than most human cultures are going to be. But at the same time, she somehow doesnt let sex define her as her ONLY thing she does. She’s also a genius (possibly the smartest being on Earth), an inventor, an adventurer, and basically dabbles in a lot of different things – she’s a self-described Jane of all Trades.
Not to mention Sydney’s parents are not even remotely reprentative of anything most feminists would describe in a bad way. The mother is the serious, intelligent, focused professional, while the father is the more zany, imaginative, creative, and flighty one. The mother is the authoritarian of the family, while the father is the more libertarian one. It’s very well balanced, and not a stereotypical setup.
Also… what’s wrong with being bi-curious? Why should you be shaming Harem for that choice? It’s just as valid as other choices.
““Every woman has a biological imperative to bone down with dudes” (Peggy)”
No. Peggy just happens to be open to relations with either sex. But admittedly prefers other women by default. Peggy is speaking for HERSELF, not for all women everywhere.
“Now Sydney’s mom, faithfully fulfilling the tired old ‘Long-suffering ball-and-chain’ trope.”
No. Sydney’s mom is the subversion of the 50s style Ward and June Cleaver trope. Laura is the professional who keeps the entire family in check. Sydney Sr. is the flighty and imaginative one who takes care of the household but has trouble focusing, just like his daughter. She’s hardly a ‘ball and chain’ – and her ‘suffering’ is only because she’s the most diligent one in the family – not just from the dad (a male) but also from the daughter (a female). She’s equal opportunity suffering from that, and seems to get a lot of respect from Maxima AND Arianna, two people who disagree on a lot of viewpoints, for her accomplishments and intelligence. God forbid she also like having someone who is the opposite viewpoint to life as a husband to make things interesting now and again.
“Because god forbid a mother has a family who even knows what she does for a living.”
It has been shown, from the BEGINNING OF THE COMIC, that Sydney is very flighty and does not pay attention to a lot of what happens around her because of her ADHD. It’s likely her father has a similar disorder, which probably makes him a really good artist, but also makes him really bad at remembering stuff like… what his wife specifically does for a living beyond ‘I really love my intelligent wife and adventurous daughter.’
Would you be more comfortable with the father being Ward and the wife being June? THAT would seem to be more ‘cisheteronormative’ if anything. It honestly feels like you’re looking for things to complain about that don’t actually mesh with what’s actually happening in the comic.
Some fair points in there, even if you’re projecting a fair bit.
I do think it’s extremely funny that you dropped an entire essay in response to me trying to put words to why I don’t vibe with parts of this comic.
I’m not going to respond to a single thing you said, but I just wanted to give you props for actually mustering some coherent points, and not telling me to go kill myself like that other guy.
“ Some fair points in there, even if you’re projecting a fair bit.”
Thanks. Don’t really think I’m projecting though.
“I do think it’s extremely funny that you dropped an entire essay “
I tend to do that quite a bit. I am ‘verbose.’ It’s not just to your post… ask around.
“ but I just wanted to give you props for actually mustering some coherent points, and not telling me to go kill myself like that other guy.”
No problem.
“It has been shown, from the BEGINNING OF THE COMIC, that Sydney is very flighty and does not pay attention to a lot of what happens around her because of her ADHD. It’s likely her father has a similar disorder, which probably makes him a really good artist, but also makes him really bad at remembering stuff like… what his wife specifically does for a living beyond ‘I really love my intelligent wife and adventurous daughter.’”
I have a sneaking suspicion that both Syndey Sr and Jr *do* know what she does for a living and they’re simply messing with the audience.
The Rule of Funny is always a possibility. :)
We are, after all, talking about a woman who says cough when coughing and gulp when gulping (causing her to choke). And both are probably very genre and trope savvy, including humor tropes.
Are Sydney’s parents grown up versions of Suzie Derkins and Calvin, from “Calvin and Hobbes?”
I think I have room in my head canon for that, and it’s not incompatible with the lovely Hobbes and Bacon* fan sequel miniseries.
* original source is 404, sadly, and discontinued a decade ago
I am very much wanting to see thatr reverse isekai written up.
or.. maybe.. a new comic series?
I like to think that either Mr. Sydney or both of them do know what she does, but they committed to a bit of always using vague adjectives to describe it. Seems like something they would do.
Sure. Seems to me she also has a real fun side to her, but it comes out in a way where she plays the strait man and She and her husband both kind of dig it, she really leans into it with people they don’t know, and the two of the laugh about it later.
“Scattershot”
Sydney’s hair reminds me of Agatha Heterodyne trying to remove her cowlick.
Agatha had a cowlick? Shirley you mean Typh from ‘Exiern’?
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=palemoon&q=Agatha+Heterodyne+cowlick&iax=images&ia=images
Yup. No. Typh does not have a cowlick, or it may only be a calflick.