Grrl Power #1038 – Superion, PhD
Poor Maxima. Her job description mostly involves puching stuff, but as a Lt. Colonel, she also has to spend time listening to people talk. Presumably there’s some paperwork as well, but she’s been known to delegate that.
Deus hearing himself talk definitely isn’t his favorite thing, but he probably doesn’t mind it. He has been known to monologue a bit, I suppose.
Is it just me, or does Deus look a bit like Handsome Squidward there in panel 3? I can’t quite tell why. I’ve suggested in the past that I might be borderline face blind – sometimes I think that’s true, sometimes I think it’s just because my wife is, and this is a legitimate term I’ve recently learned, a “super recognizer.” Come on neurologists, that’s astronomer lazy. “No light can escape, let’s just call it a ‘black hole.'” Anyway, she’s the opposite of face blind. She could be watching some movie from 1946 and the instant some kid’s face appeared, she’d be like “I think that’s a seven year old Ian McKellan.” Whereas I see an actor from a series I’ve watched 5 times all the way through appear in another show with a wig on, and it takes me 15 minutes to figure out who it is. The whole time my wife gives me the side-eye like I’ve forgotten how to tie my shoes. On the plus side, if I ever get dementia, it will probably take a decade for anyone to notice. I don’t know if that’s a positive or not, come to think of it.
Anyway, the point of my little ramble there is that being borderline face blind and an artist is not a synergistic combination. It does unfortunately mean I’ll probably never be one of those artists that can just shit out a perfect finished drawing in an hour, cause it takes me 20 minutes to get just the pencils for the eyes looking acceptably non-wonky. It puts me in a position where I look at panels 3 and 4 and I’m like, those two faces look markedly different, but I don’t know how to fix it. Well, the nose is shaped differently, but I think it’s more to do with the eyes and the jaw? It might help if I could take a month off to study caricature, but that’s never going to happen.
April Vote Incentive is up! Looks like someone had better make sure their life insurance includes acts of Snu Snu.
Alternate versions over at Patreon include less cloth-y versions as usual, but also some of those color changing chokers.
Her shirt, since no one has figured out the kanji yet, says “I ahegao you. (As long as you ahegao me.)”
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Doc Deus it is.
*hands over cape*
*recollecting various cape disasters in the Incredibles*
Doc X perhaps?
That would match the scar on his face. Given that with his resources he should have been able to get rid of the scar, that’s probably the name he’s angling for.
“why did you name yourself after a word processing format?” Can’t go with DocX.
I agree. Microsoft’s not-so-little abomination is a far greater and far pettier act of villainy than any we’ve seen from Deus to date!
I mean, Doctor Deus is a good name to be sung, don’t you think?
Doctor Deus, Doctor Deus,
Does whatever a Superion can,
Spins a political web, any size
Hires thieves, yet never lies
Look out
Here comes the Superion man!
I was actually more thinking of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMRcIOjdojU
Doctor Deus, give me the news!
I got a bad case of lovin’ you!
No super pill’s gonna cure my ill
I got a bad case of lovin’ you!
Do you have a notebook sketch of you and Deus, similar to Sydney’s one of her and Wolverine?
Mind you, you could do worse…
Of course not.
…
The sketch is over at a professional painter right now being made into a portrait, so it’s no longer in the notebook.
this fails to surprise me somehow.
You must have known the Deus mural in her entryway is being cleaned, which is why she needs the 8′ portrait for the dining hall.
Obviously. I’m not a savage.
A proper supervillain needs a good Bond villain song.
Doc Deus!
He’s the man, the man with the corporate touch.
A investors touch.
Mister Doc Deus!
Valued costumers take note of the deal he sold,
This deal is gold!
To keep the “X” thing, and make it appropriately self-aggrandising for Deus – how about “Doctor ex Deus” (Literally “Doctor of God” according to gtranslate)
Ooooh help me Doctor Deus
Doctor Deus, Doctor Deus
Doctor Deus, Doctor Deus
Doctor Deus, Doctor Deus
Ooooh, Doctor Deus.
D.D might catch on.
Might be some copyright issues with Matt Murdock. :)
I’m starting to think the Deus’s hobby is pushing Maxima’s buttons
He and Dabbler are competing for the league table top spot. Although Sydney is inadvertently pretty high on the table too!
If i remember correctly, he also likes to push the buttons on Harem.
And that ties in neatly with the new vote incentive, an air tight Harem, it is appropriate she goes with the o-ring orifice/gasket approach.
I work with a lot of people who have dementia and have noticed that some who have doctorates or the like became very good at concealing their dementia by clever conversational gambits. Such as saying “Oh that is not important…” and moving on to another topic, if asked something they could not recall.
One of whom had early onset dementia, so visually one would not suspect that she had any cognitive problems. Combine that with her ingrained diverting tactics and most people would not notice any problem with her during an initial conversation with her. Yet she literally only had a one minute memory. Something you told her two minutes previously she would have no recollection of.
Likewise at one moment she may remember a family member and be talking about them. Yet a minute later if you ask about them, she would not recall who they were and deny having such a relative. Oddly though she would always recognise me, as somebody she trusted, even if she had not seen me for over a day. Which was a gratifying exception.
Very early in my career I met a woman who had memory loss similar to Korsakoff’s secondary to meningitis. For her, time ended around 1969. Very little moved from working memory to short term storage. She had no memory of our conversation 15 minutes ago but she know her way around the unit and could recognize the staff who cared for her on a daily basis.
Talking dogs are very memorable.
That reminds me of my great aunt who had Alzheimer’s. She “recognized” my mom’s oldest son as my dad, her other son as one specific uncle of ours, but she recognized me as me without any difficulties.
I think my brothers were just along for that visit because they had to be. Technically, I was too, but I figured, if I’m going to be spending the time here, I should probably spend the time wisely, such as practicing making a good impression. Y’know?
My wife’s dad is there now. He bluffed for a number of years, but now he can’t even pretend he hasn’t lost his memory. He can’t remember what he is supposed to be bluffing, so he gave that strategy up.
Even without dementia as an excuse, it’s surprisingly easy to just talk around names on the off-chance someone else will mention them.
Or rather, I hope it’s not dementia. I’ve been using that trick
for as long as I can remembersince high school at least.Sydney is genre savvy as always.
Heh Heh Heh Doctor Deus
Why not, there is also a Doctor Dinosaur running about somewhere.
With a timebomb. Not one of those traditional ones either, it’s a bomb to blow up time…
I think the big issue with DD and their timebomb is the difficulty with imagining how stuff would work with time blown up.
How, about Doc Ninja!?
As you are no doubt aware given the dino connection, that one’s also (effectively) taken. Hilariously btw.
Atomic Robo? Jeez LOL I used to follow it as much as I do this comic kinda lost interest I’m afraid
Nice callback to seeing Max and Deus interact for the first time. Here’s hoping she makes him snort his liquor again.
Also, “Oh, you’re using your made-up names.”
He did not say that he didn’t like to hear himself talk, he just said that it’s not the primary reason for his roundabout answer. :D
“I’m going to take over the World. That’s not some megalomaniacal boast, it’s a fact. However, I’d prefer for people to realize that it’s for the best for Humanity to unite under a singular authority.”
“With you being in charge?”
“Yes, because I like to think I’m the best person for the job. Galactic civilization is a very large and very dangerous place that’s aware of Earth now. Sooner or later, probably sooner than anyone likes, some interstellar empire is going to look over here and think: “That’s a nice planet to conquer, except for the filthy humans infesting it.” and they will glass us from high orbit.”
“I didn’t think of you as being fond of alien invasion tropes.”
“I’m not, because those usually end poorly for those being invaded. Whether it’s Spanish Conquistadors or whomever it was that recently decided to make the Alari an endangered species, there are much bigger and nastier fish out there, and getting our collective shit together as quickly as possible can only help our long term survival.”
I think having Deus in charge would provoke multiple galactic empires to pre-emptively invade Earth!
Nice.
““I’m not, because those usually end poorly for those being invaded.” I know that one well, I am part American Indian.
The fact that you (and I) are around with enough recollection of our ancestors to make such observations is a clear sign of just how generous the (most recent) invaders were. This was not the historic “kill all the men & **** all the women” associated with migrations. The option to assimilate was the first & preferred solution. Not that I blame anyone for turning down the deal. It’s just ahistoric that it was offered.
The fact that districts have been created that permitted refusers to continue their communities with limited autonomy is downright amazing by historic norms.
… you do know that it wasn’t for like of trying, right? The Americans tried to outright erase the native way of life and culture. From residential schools, to mass hunting of Buffalo, to outright massacres and killings like the trail of tears and wounded knee, they definitely tried.
And no, genocide is not the historical norm. There were some similar cases like during the reconquista where the options were “convert, leave, or die”, but in most cases it didn’t happen for two main reasons (in europe), 1) peasants and such were beneath notice, unless they were actively revolting or your army needed resources, they were left alone. 2) anyone important enough to be of notice was too expensive to kill, ransoms were the goto and killing the leaders of the enemies just wasn’t done. Targeting the enemy general, even during an active battle, just wasn’t done.
To explain it is really simple terms, if the norm during conquest was genocide, then a country could only expand its territory matching the rate of its actual population growth. If a country wanted to expand quickly, then they would have to take centuries to do so. Compare that to the actual norm such as the Roman empire, their entire religion was based on incorporating foreign cultures *intact* into their own culture. Their goto battle strat was to very publicly pray to their enemies’ gods asking them to desert their enemies and instead bless the Romans.
So this whole responding to criticisms of genocide by “you should be grateful you’re alive at all” is terrible and cruel.
Smallpox, and removing people from their land so they can not even feed themselves..
What happens as a result..
Nice scenario there!!!!
… he has helped *multiple* alien civilizations trying to conquer the earth. He outright *invited* Tom to establish a presence, and Tom’s modus operandi is violent revolution. Then there are the Alari, Deus knew what Sciona wanted to do, that the skyripper would allow her to do it, and helped her get it. Heck if he actually had it all indication is that he would’ve outright sold it to her.
Deus invited ‘Tom’ to use Galytn as a base of operations, but only after he had made his pitch to ARC (and indirectly to Deus, via Harem-phone). A pitch which was fairly open in being primarily about unification, with flexibility on the details of what happened afterwards. For someone whose motivation was to unite Earth under a single leadership capable of dealing with others on relatively even terms, as opposed to leaving it a mass of bickering splinters waiting to be played against each other, they are an easy match of ends and means.
Sciona’s invasion wouldn’t have been quite as direct, but would probably also have achieved that aim. Just about the only thing that reliably gets Humans to unite voluntarily is a ‘clear and present’ common enemy, and even then they tend not to unite any more widely or closely than needed to see off that enemy. Cue an invasion of carefully-chosen adversity level! Tough enough that it would take close integration for an extended period to fight them off, but not so tough that Earth would be incapable of eventually prevailing. And like a vaccination, the responses and habits learned as a response to that relatively mild challenge would equip us for the greater challenges of the wider galaxy.
your arguement being that Deus would cause global war, against an enemy that want’s to violently enslave humanity, is somehow justified because humanity would be on the same side? That is still treason and colluding with people trying to genocide humanity.
I’m not claiming it as my position, I’m suggesting that it may have been Deus’s position. Basically, that he sees the unification of Earth as an overriding priority. To the point that he’s willing to allow or even encourage an invasion that he is confident will not succeed, for the sake of what he expects to happen in response to that invasion.
In essence, that strategy isn’t too dissimilar to what’s been done in various wars in this world. Present a tempting target to an overconfident enemy, and hit them in the flank while they’re overextended towards that target. Deliberately allow an enemy raid to hit a target, because defending it would reveal that you’ve cracked their communications. Let such a raid hit a potential ally, to sting them out of neutrality into fighting on your side. In each of those cases, the second step of exploiting the results negates the potential charge of collusion.
Dude, Deus has collaborated with *multiple* alien civilizations trying to conquer earth. He outright invited Tom to start his process of violent revolution. Then with Sciona, he knew what she wanted to do, he knew the skyripper would let her do it, and he still helped her get it and just made coy jokes about her enslaving the Human race. By all indications, if he had the sky ripper on him, he would’ve outright sold it to her.
“Dude, Deus has collaborated with *multiple* alien civilizations trying to conquer earth.”
No he hasnt. If anything, he’s wound up leading multiple alien civilizations instead. That’s literally the opposite of what you are claiming he did.
“He outright *invited* Tom to establish a presence,”
He hired Tom’s army to work FOR him, not to conquer the Earth. You have no idea what’s in the employment contract.
“and Tom’s modus operandi is violent revolution.”
That has nothing to do with Deus’s employment of Tom, and Tom isnt trying to conquer the Earth. At most, he made some tough talk that ended after a bodyslam. At worst, he was bought off to forget about it with 5 orgasms.
“Then there are the Alari,”
You mean the refugees who were not there to conquer – they were there as refugees? You know that Sydney ALSO took in a bunch of Alari refugees right? Just because people are of a a certain race and some do bad things, that does not mean all of them are irredeemably evil. But I know you would never paint such a broad brush of an entire race for the actions of a few, or the actions of a particular people’s government, right? :)
” Then with Sciona, he knew what she wanted to do,”
Yes, he knew she wanted to get home, away from the Council which had been trying to murder her for decades if not longer, and thought they had successfully done so.
” he knew the skyripper would let her do it,”
And he knew that she would turn the Skyripper into something capable of making his Stargate Wormhole work.
He also possibly knew that she would fail, or maybe even what happened to the Alari Homeworld. Deus has a habit of knowing things that he shouldnt know.
“and he still helped her get it and just made coy jokes about her enslaving the Human race.”
He didn’t seem particularly worried about it because he seemed confident that she wouldnt succeed. Let’s be honest here… Deus wants to own the Earth to make it better for everyone. That would be harder to do if the Alari enslaved it instead. The Alari in Galytn seem content to NOT be enslaving anyone. Instead, they partner with humans as equals, not as slaves. And in the case of Deus, as superiors, not just equals.
“By all indications, if he had the sky ripper on him, he would’ve outright sold it to her.”
1) He didnt sell anything to her.
2) He never had the Skyripper in the first place, so you’re just making up hypothetical scenarios.
3) If he already had it, why would he bother to sell it? He wanted her to get it so he could take it from her after she left Earth and failed. His end goal with Sciona was to GET the skyripper, so he could get to the Fracture, so that he could trade to get the MassFabs and other technology, so he could get to the next step in his plan to bring the Earth into a better tomorrow via trade and finance.
Dude, shut the fuck up. You keep repeatedly ignoring evidence and it is just exhausting. You don’t argue in anything approaching good faith, so just keep the fuck away.
Interesting, my previously posted comments are not appearing. Plus I find it suspicious that nobody else has apparently commented on this comic. Will we get a page’s worth of comments (with no replies) suddenly all appear later?
Ä̷̭̺͖̬̰́̒̀͘n̶͍͆͛̋̐͊̈̓̾d̴͇̟̟͛̑̂̏͑̑̇̅̃͋͗̒̌̕ ̸͓̱̟̘͚͚͈̱̔ń̴̢̡̯̻̻͉̩͚̟̖̩̯̥͇̿͗́͛̐̚͝o̵͚͈̰̫̩͂̅̒̋̔͆̀͗̈́̀͐̊̒̕w̴̗̆̽͆̉̉͂̓͘̕ ̷̨͍̬̥̤̗̫͚̫̭̘̰̠̭̇̀͒̏́̒̔́̒̎̐̈̊͆̈́î̶̯̪̻͕̬̩̹̾͌̾͐̔̈́̕͠t̴̢̳͚̺̳̗̥̥̤̖̭̉̉͒̔̽͛́͌̀̄͝͠ ̴̧̨̣̮͍͙̮̘͉̟͖͖̺̞̜̌͒̀̀̾̀́̏̄͝a̶̢̧̢̛͎̩͉͙̪̘̹̬̼̝̮̣̍͛͛̅͆̄̓͠p̵̨̨͈͕̪͙͙̤͉͚̥̈́̑́̅̿͂̑̈́̎̓̕͘p̶̻͙̩̼͖̞̫̒̅̐̂̚͜e̶̢̯̟͂͗̓͝ã̶̱͖͓͎̼̖͌͜ͅr̷͚̭̓͆̓̒͗͘͠͠͠s̷̛̗̗͔̋̄̋͂͝͝!̶̙̼͋͐̂
It happens. The ways of the filters are strange and beyond mortal ken.
I’ve been getting that too. Of the 5 posts I’ve made only two have become visible after 30 min. I’m sure the others will eventually but it’s weird. :)
PS – how do you do that cthulu writing stuff please? I love it. It… speaks to me.
https://lingojam.com/GlitchTextGenerator
I’m already envisioning 4 well-argued paragraphs formatted entirely in Cthulu-text, and I’m afraid I can award no Yorpie snax today. :/
Well I’m giving Yorpie double Yorpie snax. I reward loyalty and good deeds! :)
we can of course operate under normal internet rules and ignore all of the wall-o-text and bring up some other point, or just tell bad jokes. we appear to have reached saturation on cute cat vids and pictures.
I would state that 4 paragraphs of glitch text would be unreadable enough that most people would not read it.
Definitely nigh-unreadable, although I admit I go re-read this text wall with glitch text every couple years.
How does the conversation gets from “tell me why you give us such valuable information for free” to “i have a doctor in mathematics”? I dont get the overarching meaning of this.
It is a conversational delaying tactic combined with a way of disarming Maxima’s suspicion (by virtue of getting her focusing on his inflated ego rather than the tricky topic she broached). This helps to soften the fact that he does not intend to answer her question directly and draws her out of a blunt interrogation mode by keeping the tone conversational and informal.
It’s a direct answer.
“I’m a math nerd. This was a lot of work (and lots of daydreaming) and Dabbler is probably the only person on the planet who can properly acknowledge how smart I am for figuring this out.”
I would have never applied this reasoning to Deus and yet, yet it makes total sense.
In all his smug glory, in all his success, he just admitted to being a recognized and Qualified researcher and we know how much he loves to bask in his success.
When I build my first invention how small and insignificant it may have been, I basked in the glory like a mountain climber who just climbed to top of the Mount Everest.
This dude just worked himself to the full top of what might be the most important and difficult knowledge in the entire galaxy of course he wants to brag to the few who might understand.
It could even be insecurity: “Maybe I missed something, lets see if the other specialist in the field have sharp Questions.”
Max called him Superion…Deus felt, If she was giving him a Super name, it should have been Doctor Superion.
It’s because she called him “Mister Superion” in the first panel.
He was belatedly correcting her by mentioning he’s a doctor. :)
I think it’s more he wasn’t wanting to say right away why he was giving it away for free not knowing how to immediately respond, and deflected to an earlier part of the conversation; Maxima calling him “Mister Superion”.
Presumably also at least somewhat related to how the ‘straightforward’ answer would somehow insult her intelligence. Which means it’s probably able to be boiled down into something ‘obvious’. Or just in a way that sounds condescending, without letting someone figure it out themselves.
She called him “Mr.”.
He didn’t spend 6 years in evil math school to be called ‘Mister’, thank you very much.
I think this is so funny that I will gloss over the idea that you mistakenly referred to Deus, paragon of humanity, savior of the downtrodden, protector of the helpless, and hope for a better tomorrow as an ‘evil’ mathematician. :)
Sorry, mixed him up with a different math universe. I will start on the customary ten Hail Deus before posting again.
Very good.
All praise Deus, amen.
Those who only learn Good or Neutral Mathematics are not working with a full toolbox. For those who would tackle the most fiendish of problems, the unstable might of Evil Mathematics is required!
Evil Quantum Mechanics is the only way you can acquire that most legendary of items, the Bag of Holding for a Friend.
I have this used bag of holding. It’s great except anything you put in it, when you take it out it has glitter on it. The previous owner put a bunch of glitter in it and you know how hard that is to get out of stuff…
Glitter… I would almost have it be full of goblin poo.
The non-sequitur, Groucho Marx, was the master!
Ooh, I am curious to see where this will lead. Also, Deus having a PhD and the potential of being Doctor Superion? Chef’s kiss.
Btw, is there a word missing in Deus’ last speech bubble? “I believe a straight answer would [be] less engaging”? Probably
Yes.
yes, it’s missing, I noticed it, or rather didn’t notice it as well, I honestly hope it’s fixed, and not left sitting like with the phrasing way back with the spider alien. If I knew how to set up a link to it, I would.
Doctorate, not pHD!
A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) -IS- a doctorate. Despite being called a PhD, it actually refers to any doctorate in any field except medicine (MD – Doctor of Medicine / Medicinae Doctor), theology (ThD – Doctor of Sacred Theology), or law (JD – Juris Doctor / Doctor of Jurispridence).
Not that anyone ever calls me doctor despite also having majored in two fields of science – biology and organic chemistry (you have to major in at least one field of science to qualify for the patent bar instead of just general intellectual property law – copyrights and trademarks).
I wanna be called doctor. I also wanna wear a cape.
Pleased to meet you, Doctor Dr. Pander.
Be the trend setter. Capes are long overdue back in fashion!
I stopped after my MS, so my proper title is “Master” and I’m just a little sad there’s never been a good chance to request that people use it.
Not take-over-the-world sad, but I wouldn’t turn down a good collaboration opportunity on a freeze ray. Unsure how I feel about a cape given the practicality and safety issues, but definitely willing to try it out for the aesthetics.
“my proper title is “Master” and I’m just a little sad there’s never been a good chance to request that people use it.”
Depends on the results from the dating app or service you use.
Bri Chins and the Masters of the University. It has a nice ring to it!
More Yorpie Snax for my favorite internet comic forum canine.
I had to wear one once for a school play… I’d rather be dressed as a bush LOL they’re a great way for you to get choked or trip over them if you don’t gather it up first uh no, thanks but no…
Oh, they take practice (just as getting used to skirts or high heels does), and you need to find your preferred length, to be sure, but they can be quite practical. Among other things, they’re great for keeping precipitation off your backpack/purse/etc as well as you.
I thought they stood for Bull Shit, More Shit, and Piled Higher and Deeper…
shhhhhh don’t reveal the worst kept secrets of academia. you will be sent to heck.
“A straight answer would less engaging and an insult …”
This needs some editing? :)
Now I’m looking at the faces in panels 3 and 4 just because it was brought up in commentary:
I think the biggest thing is that the outer corners of the eyes have moved a bit too much to happen naturally without someone putting their fingers on their face and pushing the corners up or down. In most of the page, his eyes are fairly straight from left to right. On panel 4, the outer corners have a distinct downward slant.
His nose does appear to be more upturned in panel 4, but I think a big part of it is the contrast in the lines. In panel 3, the outline of his chin, and the linework in general, is… softer, I think is the term? You can see where the outline of the chin is, but it doesn’t jump out at you. While in panel 4, all of the linework (including the border of the X-shaped scar as well as the chin) is higher contrast and stands out a lot more.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s much better illustration than anything I could pull off (by a country mile…), and I didn’t really notice until I read the commentary and went looking for it. But that’s my analysis of why they might be looking a bit off. Hope that’s helpful!
How to say *SCHWING* to the militant feminist without saying *SCHWING* and getting disassembled down to the ground…
A rare side-view of Sydney. She actually looks like an adult human here.
(and I love the view of Maxima’s butt in panel five!)
Now I want to see what Dr. Superion would look like!
Oh Dues, answering a question in a roundabout fashion, no matter the reason, and even if you call it is STILL monologuing. You can’t escape the tropes that easily.
Your point about “astronomer lazy” is well taken. I feel that way about Dark Matter. At one time scientists looked at the stars with nothing between them and said, “There has to be something out there, we can’t see it, but we know it has to be there, so we’re going to call it ‘Aether.'” Then science advanced to the point that we could conceive of a vacuum, and the term is only remembered today in Ethernet, named in homage to the original term. No scientists look at the math saying that the universe needs more mass to function the way it does and say: “There has to be something out there, we can’t see it, but we know it has to be there, so we’re going to call it ‘Dark Matter’.” What was wrong with the original term? ;)
That would suit a space opera well.
Nice lobying.
honestly, I love the term Space Opera, as supposedly, Star Wars counted as one, but I do think The Fifth Element took it that one step further that it needed by actually having an Opera in it.
And becoming the greatest sci fi film made to date.
until the last five minutes.
Mmm, it had a suitable space opera ending, in keeping with the rest of the movie.
Not to mention having the fate of everybody hanging on one match getting lit, which quite tickled me.
Aether is remembered in a lot of web comics and other fiction as well. There are probably other devices and software that make homage to the term, but they’re not ubiquitous like ethernet is. (Or, in some people’s minds, was, because their home network is Comcast/Xfinity coax feeding into a wifi router/cable modem combo unit, and they think that’s how most networks are. But I think there’s probably more ethernet stuff out in the Internet than there ever had been before, and it’s still increasing, though not as fast as the Internet overall anymore.)
But that’s not where the term ‘Aether’ came from. It came from the Greek insistence that their correspondence be maintained after the discovery of the regular icosahedron. It got a big boost in credibility when the wave model for light came out, and the idea of a wave that did not have a mass to affect was inconceivable. (PBR intended)
By the time GR came out, science had long switched over to using prosaic terms as a rule. If you think that astronomers are lazy for “black hole” and “dark matter”, what do you think about the way that doctors name maladies?
I’ve mentioned this before as well (that Dark Matter and Dark Energy are basically just placeholders for whatever it is that isnt making their equations for a unified theory of everything work). Used to be they just used aether, but assumed it had a definitive unified form and all of this ‘unknown’ matter was the same thing – ie, Aether – and we couldnt tell because it’s like a fish trying to tell what water is if water was everywhere uniformly. The reason they ultimately disproved the theory of aether was they also assumed the aether moved the planets along, and since it flowed, there wa a type of ‘aether wind.’
The Aether Wind experiment in 1887 (more properly known as the Michelson-Morley Experiment) disproved th existence of stationary luminous aether, although there were several more experiments trying to prove or disprove aether’s existence from 1902 to the late 1920s.
There’s this retro video game that’s pretty awesome called Space 1889 which is an alternative history game which assumes that Aether and the Aether Wind -is- real, and it was PROVEN instead of disproven in 1887…. so humanity started building ships sort of like sailing ships with specialized sales to fly to other planets. It’s really cool and I wish it (and Neuromancer) would be remade to play on modern computers. I can’t even find it on Gog, let alone Steam. Only reason I’ve -ever- played it is my older brother bought the game and I have the original game at home on a shelf (along with Neuromancer).
Since when does the Who’s Who for Maxima say, “A mysterious golden woman?” I can’t quote the previous entry but it was much more specific, including identifying her as the field commander of ARCSWAT the action arm of ARCHON.
The Who’s Who is actually based on the tags at the very bottom of the description box. It would seem Dave accidentally tagged this page with Max01 instead of Max02 (compare with previous page)
DaveB just put the wrong code in. If you check out the early comics, they use that term for Maxima. Likewise any character who’s background is not yet known. As you progress through the comic they get expanded more (or fully as the case may be). Which text gets inserted depends on the code Dave puts in the Who’s Who.
Hey Dave, I noticed a little grammar mistake in panel 6:
Instead of “I believe a straight answer would less engaging…” it should be “I believe a straight answer would [be] less engaging…”
I’m also looking forward to seeing Kenya covered in mud due to all the fighting :D
“Kenyan sparring match” makes either a great euphemism or a metal band name.
“Alien Butt spider” is another one.
Ah thanks now that’s an image that’ll take a few days to wear off LOL
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-761-piiiiigs-in-spaaaaaace-cause-theyre-cops-see/
found it. in this case it’s a ‘t’ where an ‘n’ should be, but I still have hope that it will be fixed along with the missing [be]
Thank goodness, googling “alien spider” has given me nightmares!
You omitted the word “be” in the sixth panel.
While predictable, if this doesn’t end with Maxima saying something that makes Deus spill the drink on himself, I will be disappointed.
Ooh, Louis XIII.
Who can imagine what Max will be like when gets her general’s star…?!?
That’s two of the biggest/baddest supers he’s nonchalantly plied with potable liquids. I smell a rat… shaped nano-bot infestation.
Panel three looks a bit like Kenshiro.
as problematic as the title doctor superion or doctor deus would be, at least he went all the way to doctor and didn’t stop after his masters degree
Wait… he’s pouring a glass of Louis XIII over ICE??
Some cognacs work with ice, Louis XIII does *not*. When cold, Louis XIII has a very astringent nose and similar forward flavor. Once it warms up is when it becomes more enjoyable, I typically pick up notes of vanilla and ‘ warm caramel’ (I put that in marks because it’s the closest I can get as far as flavors, but is less subtle, and the obvious difference in viscosity between the two things plays tricks with the brain, too).
Dave, if you ever have a chance to visit the Raleigh area of N.C., let me know, I will treat you to some Louis XIII.
just came here to mention that. kudos.
I just now realized… he picked his tie to match her hair…
Honestly the faces in this strip were quite good, really good. When you first embarked on the art style change I was cringing but you’ve really taken it and progressed a long way, kudos!
Deus always has to show off the uniqueness of his art collection.
The wall diagram in the last panel is probably an original unknown page from the Voynich Manuscript.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript
Sample: https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7xVhXLGbFrNQWUBYbfiaAS.jpg
+1 for the reference to one of my favorite unsolved mysteries. I have a certain fondness for this theory about it.
Dabbler speaks a few dozen languages. Best case scenario is she glances at it and says “Hey Sydney, here is a picture of your orbs’ skill level diagram with full descriptions of what all the nodes are.”
If he offers the information in exchange for seeing her yabbos…
I didn’t see the Handsome Squidward thing but *now I do*. So uh… thanks for that.
Honestly the face doesn’t bother me what looks like folds in the trinity neck tie though… that gives me an eye twitch. Because if he is going for style why is he using a trinity over an Eldredge
Because a lot of Deus’ character to me is putting up a front of being a man of wealth and taste.
People say the drink he picks does not go with ice. This would be even more telling of that he tries too hard to be “stylish”
When you’re as rich as Deus is, if you want a drink with ice that does not go with ice, it goes with ice.
I’ve always been amused at a) Bond probably ordering his signature cocktail wrong, and b) how much energy and legitimate research has gone into debating the question.
Bond was a crappy “super spy” simply because he was too well known and you NEVER stick to a habit that is easily identified especially undercover there’s only just so far you can get away with mistakes like that.
Doctor Superion with his BelAZ75710 Lowrider. I’d read it.
Considering his book of conquests, how about Dues Bigalo, Male gigolo.
All hail Dr. Superion Dues Machina, Esquire. We welcome him as our glorious immortal leader. (because he is to smart not to have a contingency plan in place to prevent his own death).
I feel bad that I forgot his middle name and can not include it.
Smug.
You can want me to feel bad about Maxima having to listen to someone talk because she’s a Lt. Colonel, but you have to choose to go to Officer School. You don’t get that rank when you start at Buck Private unless you chose to be an Officer.
If she had just stayed enlisted and held Master Sergeant, she could have chewed out the butter bars and had full respect of every Enlisted Man and the CO of any base she was stationed at, regardless of rank.
His expression in the 4th panel is actually rather engaging.
Actually, this rather explains his remark about mathematicians last week.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1035-keymaster-race/
He IS one, so he’s not just spouting memorized bafflegarb. He understands this stuff, even if he didn’t necessarily contribute to discovering it.
Is that a typo in panel 6? “A straight answer would less engaging” rather than “A straight answer would BE less engaging”.
I think he must have corrected it because when I looked, it said “A straight answer would be less engaging.”