Grrl Power #1039 – High Int, middling comedy stat
Yes, they’re drinking Louis XIII cognac over ice. I guess Deus is actually evil.
Look, I’ve never been a big drinker. I didn’t know that was bad. I like my drinks cold unless I’m specifically after something hot on a cold day like cider/tea/hot chocolate. I basically never drink anything that’s room temperature if I can avoid it. I know, the ice dilutes the booze. I’m tempted to fire back with “ice dilutes everything except water and also hydrochloric and sulfuric acid where it actually makes it into stronger acid, at least temporarily” but I get there’s a difference between $1.25 worth of soda and $4,000 cognac. Maybe the ice cubes pictured are actually cognac colored cold glass or something. Like they have liquid nitrogen in them? That’d probably be too cold and would also fuck up the alcohol. To which I’m tempted to say that I would never personally be inclined to spend $4,000 on something so delicate there’s no way I wouldn’t fuck it up somewhere between the bottle and my mouth. Even if someone just handed me a glass, I’d drink it and be like “Congratulations, it tastes like booze. I’d rather have the money and glass of tea.”
Now what was I… oh, right, the comic.
This reveal is hardly a big twist. A lot of people were speculating that Deus was a super of some sort.
I’ve got another book series to recommend, which someone pitched a page or two ago. One of my favorite stories is “Upon a Savage Shore” (NSFW link to Literotica, BTW) which unfortunately isn’t available in novel form anywhere for some reason. But I’m a sucker for xenoanthropology for some reason. This one I’m recommending is… not that, but it’s slightly reminiscent of UaSS. I guess because it’s third person and switches PoV from the humans to the aliens and half the time they’re all thinking “they’re so odd.”
Anyway, it’s called The Vixen War Bride, and it takes place after a human/alien war, and the humans won and are occupying the alien planet in a “let’s rebuild Japan” sort of way, not a “keep the alien scum down” sort of way. Well, results vary depending on where you are on the world, but at the base that deals with the primary characters in the series, there’s a solid attempt at diplomacy. Not to spoil anything, but nobody speaks the other side’s language particularly skillfully, and… well, read the title of the book there.
I’m slightly miffed that the aliens in the series are just humans with fox ears and tails, I think most of you know that I like my aliens slightly more alien than that, but reading between the lines of the novel, I’m guessing there might be a reason for it? Dunno. Speculation on my part. Anyway, I went through the three available novels in 4 days, and I think the 4th novel is no more than a month or two out, based on the release schedule of the prior books. I wouldn’t categorize these as action thrillers exactly, but there is more going on in them than just talking and people being diplomatic. Just FYI. Check out Dungeon Crawler Carl or Star Justice if you need something more punchy shooty.
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.)”
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He is the biggest fucking dork in this whole universe.
You misspelt ‘douche’
Not mutually exclusive! :D
Yeah, I’m kinda loving Deus tbh, this is a great arc
Samesies.
the arc on the last panel is pretty.
yeah, me too.
Deus can easily be pronounced “Douche”.
Lol that look on his face like he’s been waiting forever for this moment
well, at least he put the thing in however many issues ago and complained that the remote went to sleep so you had to click it to wake it, unless it was already awake, then you k’boomed early
*snerk* premature dramatization
Ha! I was going to say the same thing! This time he didn’t get lighting all over his bottle.
I wonder what Deus is hinting at in the third panel,unless he’s already aware of Korna!?
I suspect he is aware of Krona, and may even suspect/theorize she is a Nth, and/or Sidney as well…honestly would not be surprised if he had a list of *might be higher dimensional beings posing as mages, supernaturals, supers, or others*…maybe even how he found and approached Vale (suspected eldritch from the astral plane).
No, he knows exactly about Kronachrome
Or he lampshade comic logic with retcons
Smile is epic in 6th panel
And he only had to wait 908 pages.
Dying about the Doctor Oz comment. That’s hilarious. (Sadly true, but still hilarious.)
Someone whose superpower is high intelligence isn’t new, sometimes combined with a non-super but high level skill like Gear’s tech abilities. If ARC wasn’t watching for a super with brain ability, they were falling down on the job.
(And if you don’t know who Gear is, get your butt over to the Static Shock show right now. Then read the comics.)
Super INT is a mixed bag depending on how it works. How many super INT powers are more of a techno based ability that makes them seem smart, but really builds “Mad science” tech that usually stops working if the super who built it doesn’t maintain it?
Super INT is tricky due to the various versions and degrees in which it can operate and accidentally be identified as.
Dues is the rare variant who is smart, but utilize it in a different way… Aka… If you can’t use it with mundane reassurance then don’t use it. All of his super tech can be used by other people (bought from aliens)… All of his money is done by the focus of economics (bought, built, and improved a country) and when he goes out shopping it is done by using it to the best ability.
Why bother with alien customs laws if you have a portal person?
The only super INT like him we have in comics would be Iron Man and Doctor Doom…
Super INT is tricky because it is very difficult, if not impossible, to write a character smarter than the author. You can cheat a little timewise, where you get a dedicated author working stuff out slowly that the super-INT character grasps immediately, but that is very limited. You cannot depict a character that is significantly smarter than you, that comprehends things beyond your understanding.
This is where it helps to have experts at you disposal to supply the writer with knowledge they do not have themselves.
That, or the internet…
I would actually argue its not as hard as you think to write someone smarter than you. Indeed id argue the key distinction for a well written intelligent character is NOT what they reveal of their INT but what they DONT. Letting people fill in the blanks is not only more mysterious, its more unfathomable. Which leads to people estimating INT higher rather than lower. Done properly especially in a long form format like this makes the character seem far smarter than what the writer could write if they approached it more directly.
Dat smile. I can’t stop laughing at it.
I love the playful dork energy Deus has and how that contrasts with Maxima, he’s a fantastic character.
Oh dear glob I am so sick of Deus. I will be so relieved when the story goes anywhere he isn’t.
Careful, comments like that tend to be frowned upon in here (completely agree with you though)
Agreed.
While there’s some things about him I dislike, he’s pretty well written, a great foil for Max and Sydney, and presents way more possibilities than a straight villain like Sciona or even Kevin. Way funner to have him getting into Archon’s business than to watch StereotypeMan* knocking over buildings or whatever.
* Now I’m trying to think of a way that isn’t horribly offense to write a comedic character whose power is to turn into a member of any race/culture and wield associated powers.
Not saying he’s not well written, just can’t stand him and his ability to know anything and get away with everything
What’s up with the bulging forehead in panels 4 and 6?
addressed last page of comments, but it just forehead wrinkles from him crinkling his face trying not to smile, DaveB probably shouldn’t have curved the ends together, gives it an unintentional eye shape.
No, it’s a giant zit that needs a-popping
Or a boil that is need of a good lancing (would a javelin (rocket) work instead?)
Deus’s facial expression in the last 2 panels shows him releasing his “Inner Geek”, like in the film ‘Real Genius’ cutting Quarter size pieces of Dry Ice to cheat the Soda pop machine. Could he be about to go “Mad Scientist” on us?
You’ve been waiting to use that lightning joke ever since you first introduced it way back when, haven’t you Dave.
[ insert extreme smirking emoji here ]
That brick joke took awhile to come back again.
It’s not just about diluting the Cognac. It’s that Cognac is supposed to be warm, but cold. Most of the enjoyment of food Cognac has to do with smelling it, and the various aromas are mured when it’s cold. Warming it up makes it evaporate more, making it easier to smell. This is why its also usually served in a “snifter” glass, not a tumbler (strike 2, deus).
It’s ENTIRELY about the cold. If you want to dilute a superb single-malt scotch with some pure, highland spring-water , (not soda or ginger ale!) that’s fine, especially if it’s an over-prood spirit. But if it or the cognac is cold you miss out on much of the flavour and armoa.
If you really do want a cold drink, don’t waste your money on expenisive liquour when you can’t appreciate the taste. That would be the worst sort of conspicuos consumption: not just because of the waste but because it shows the drinker to be a boor.
Was really hoping Maxi would have said something silly, like ‘Ducks’, in panel six, so SmugD can look like a bigger idiot when he goes “Yes… no, not that! Damn, ignore that lightning, that wasn’t what you were supposed to say!! VALE!!!!”
speaking of,
just pointing out again that Vale is suspiciously been absent this whole time despite being stated as Deus’ bodyguard.
So unless its her day off and she is chilling in the null void around a nice bubbling spa of anti-exotic-matter; we suspect she is away on some mission for Deus, gassy shoggoth in a human suit is up to something.
Re: ice in the cognac; simple answer- whiskey stones! You freeze them and put them in your scotch glasses, so it’s nicely chilled without being diluted. Knowing Deus, he uses big diamonds, hence the looking like ice cubes. Oh, and the so-called “proper” way to serve cognac is to warm the *snifter*, but the REALLY proper way to serve the “yak” is any damned way you please, it’s YOUR booze! :-)
Diamonds would be classy, but present some logistical and physics issues. You’d have to either have many small ones (which could slide into your mouth) or giant ones which were worth more than his entire liquor cabinet. Also, diamond has a low heat capacity, as do most things that wouldn’t poison or ruin a drink, so it wouldn’t be able to cool a drink very long. Ice is actually really good at its job when it comes to beverages.
The ideal is small soft plastic balls filled with water-ice. Something like paint balls. Soft enough that they don’t chip your teeth, but you still get the cooling effect of melting ice without the dilution.
X marks the spot! Also, did you add the switch to wake up the device before triggering it? Important feature addition!
Offhand I have to wonder how many sub-powers are needed for ‘super intelligence’ or how many of them could be mistaken for it. Like eidetic memory, hyper-speed thought processing, perfect observation, instant concept connection, polyglot, perfect objective analysis, there’s probably some argument for empathy powers to let you manipulate people effectively… It’s kind of more nuanced than just ‘intelligence’. Flash technically thinks faster than any person alive, but you wouldn’t really call him super intelligent compared to say Reed Richards or Braniac
well, the comics have a very wishy-washy concept of super intelligence.
For starters, it’s usually completely centered on math/science. Supergenius magicians like Dr. Strange don’t rate. Super physical geniuses like Captain America, who can master practical skillsets, sophisticated combat techniques, and are basically invincible at strategy and tactic games (he can beat Stark at chess, for example) are given LOW intelligence ratings, simply because their brains aren’t focused on science.
Second, speed of thought is irrelevant, the only proper thing is the correct conclusion. Lots of supergeniuses go right from problem to solution, without all the reconfiguring the problem, testing, gathering data, hypothesizing, making theories, and so forth and so on in between. This means they are basically idiot savants, not knowing why the answer works, but it does, and that is all that is important.
Third, breadth of knowledge/memorization is more important than practical knowledge and superspeed for a supergenius. In short, most supergeniuses are trivia experts.
Where would Ozymandias fall in your ranking? I see Deus more like him, but not quite as… comedic?
Ozymandias is described as the human Paragon in the Watchman, at the human limit in every fashion. The difference is in motivation. IN the end, Ozymandias does what he does to save the world, inventing a false enemy simply to walk the world away from the nuclear war he foretells is coming. He’s not saving the world so he can make money and rule everything, because that’s not happening. Dr. Manhattan sees the truth of it, and it is why he lets Ozymandias off, when he could have killed him easily.
Ozymandias was already using the heroic trope, so it became his cover. Nobody thought he could do the ruthless things he did, because he was The Hero. So, not comedy, it was hiding in plain sight. They realized he was smart, but not HOW smart he was, and he was just as dangerous physically.
In the end, I think it comes down to how much Ozymandias will sacrifice HIMSELF for his dream, as opposed to sacrificing others. He probably clears as Neutral, Better Intentions. If he starts capitalizing and seizing power after his move, that would be the Evil kicking in… but it’s obvious he didn’t what he did just for himself.
The guy murdered a LOT of people to fake a threat that he thought MIGHT prevent a nuclear war. You do NOT get a ‘get out of being labeled evil’ card because you thought you were doing a good thing when you chose to again to commit mass murder because ‘well I think if I kill a lot of people a certain way it’ll make the world not go to nuclear war.’ He took the mass-murdering super-villain route convinced he couldn’t possibly be wrong and he had the right to decide for the entire world because he was a genius and therefor nobody had a right to question his decisions.
Calling back to one of my favorite goofy cartoons, Action Man. Only power was to trigger basically a moment of perfect observation and calculation so he could basically plan out his next couple moves and their outcome with 100% accuracy.
Yeah, an example of ‘maybe genius, maybe precognition’. Cap is doing this like, all the time, and gets no recognition for it. But when the Mad Thinker pulls it off, it’s genius, and when the Midnighter does, it’s super-science computo-calculating. Crazy standards.
It’s been intimated that Reed Richards can do this, threatening the Mad Thinker with it a couple times to get him to surrender quietly. Reed’s just too polite to do that to those around him… until he went and invented psychohistory for Civil War and stuff.
Re: “trivia experts”; yes, yes we are. ;-D
The face, his face. Oh my gosh.
Now, my question is…
Is Deus the Super Genius, or did he hire a couple super geniuses?
If he’s really a super genius*, he’ll have hired other super geniuses.
* No really, he’s got a business card and a lengthy portfolio.
You’ve got a point there!
(Although Deus frequently succeeds were the linked-to genius* does not.)
fun random fact: They actually had strict rules for their writers regarding this character, while it was always an inside joke to treat them like actors *same character different roles* he had to behave differently depending on which protagonist he was up against, he was more a smug self proclaimed talkative “genius” against Bugs Bunny, but had to be mute and buy all his stuff from Acme when up against Road Runner (and technically the wolf was regarded as the same character but with a different name, and dumber than the other two versions for the sheep dog cartoons).
That has always been my favourite super power, whenever designing super characters.
And nice payoff on the lightning!
*wags tail approvingly*
It being your favorite super power must make life awesome, since Super Genius is one of the few super powers that exist in real life. :)
Just ask Tesla/Da Vinci/Einstein/Hawking/Socrates/Me
(Okay, maybe the last one is a little optimisic.. I’m not at that level of recognition… yet.)
Earlier this week I was asked “If you could use a time machine to go back & visit one historical person, who would you choose?”. After haggling to confirm that I would not be changing history in any way, and would have appropriate translation, I chose Da Vinci.
Room temperature “spirits” are not about “ruining the booze.” At room temp, a large fraction of the beverage becomes gaseous, taking with it the flavors and wonders of the chemical mix. One puts one’s face in the glass and inhales as much of the fine whiskey or cognac as one sips it. It’s a multiple-chemical-state experience; chilled, you don’t get that airborne wonderfulness.
A $4000 bottle of Cognac is like a $500 steak
probably over rated and only purchased to impress others
Still not as dumb as sprinkling flakes of (chemically-inert) gold on a burger or any other “fancy” entree.
sounds like that “quantum kitchen” nonsense, AKA overpriced hipster food advertised as sci-fu futurism cuisine.
“Deus X Superion, Super Genius”.
I like how that rolls off the tongue.
A “super genius” would mean someone a genius at ALL things not in one or two areas that’s what Dues is claiming about himself in his megalomania; a jack-of-all-trades super style so to speak.
They make fake ice cubes that chill a drink without diluting it. So one problem solved. As for the aroma thing eh it’s a preference i keep top shelf tequila in the freezer to drink cold. If your in a hot climate cold drinks are better.
I like my drinks cold but I refuse to put ice in them. For one generally the one time it’s convenient to get ice for a drink is fountain sodas which come out cold adding ice is literally just a way to water them down.
You know what my tactic for dwaling with super intelligence would be.
First strike:
If you attack immediately after finding out you might be able to kill/restrain it before it acquires an even bigger heap of resources.
Either Deus believes he had already won or guesses the USA has another way of dealing with super intelligences.
I suddenly realized it looks like he’s about to open a third eye in that one panel.
You know… Deus might be the “big and powerful Lawful Evil baddie” of the series but… moments like this convince me he’s still a big child inside. And genius, visionary and capable child. But still a child. Not that this is a bad thing. I think he’s hilarious each time he does shenanigans like this.
Someday Elon is going to admit he’s trying to channel Deus
You know what? He just might do that, hahahaha.
I took a look at Upon a Savage Shore and while it’s readable, there are a lot of irritating things about it. It’s extremely patriarchal in a way that’s both grating and naive. The story is kind of repetitive. The protagonist is clever but stupid, if that makes sense. There’s a colonialist vein through the whole thing that’s just… not addressed at all, and kind of out of place, even for something written in ancient 2014.
I did appreciate that a language barrier was kept in place and not just swept fully aside. That makes up for some of the other things that *were* swept aside, like biological complexity and whatnot. I think the author has potential, but is pretty young in their writing career, or at least was at the time. But there’s a lot of similarity to Heinlein, which I don’t think we need more of.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is that the jZav’Etch are portrayed as completely at the mercy of their culture and instincts, unable to overcome that and unwilling to try despite being completely sapient, while our Human protagonist is expected to be adaptable and the master of his own emotions. That narrative pattern has strong racist undertones that are a serious turnoff to me.
(To be clear, I’m not saying “this is problematic and no one can enjoy it” — if the things that bothered me don’t bother you, that’s fine!)
I cannot believe how many commenters felt the need to talk about whiskey stones and other non-ice ice-products. Are they still a surprise to the average co-reader of this comic and the people they know?
I would say that people just like to comment, and aren’t that interested in reading other comments or engaging in discussion, but there is the mitigating factor that comments now seem to take a long time to appear after posting, so it’s possible for multiple people to post about the same thing without even having a chance to read each other’s comments.
Wait, so intellidouche doesn’t chill quartz crystal cubes to thumb his nose at blokes that favour polished granite cubes to cool expensive booze? ;)
Actually, ever since I saw that Leverage episode where Sophie points out that gold stays cold in your hand, I wondered if really rich people use 24 karat gold coins to keep liquor cool.
The captain looks like Scott Glenn from his role as Capt. Mancuso, in The Hunt for Red October.
probably already noted. Ice dilutes but also opens up the fragrance and the slowly melting ice changes the flavor as you drink. Some mixologist swear by it others at it but the flavor change isn’t debated. You could also argue they are whiskey stones.
I love Deux more and more every day xD
I can’t get over his face in those last 2 panels!! The child-like glee!
As someone with an actual gluten sensitivity, I assure you the symptoms that I summon are well beyond the scope of the placebo effect bahahahaha
DaveB, I wanted to thank you for spreading the word about my story on Literotica. One of your readers left an anonymous comment mentioning your comic so I looked you up. After reading what you said above, I would like to ask a few questions and get your opinion on some things. Would you please DM me through my Literotica account? I am considering publishing options, perhaps including a graphic novel of my work.
Thanks again for spreading the word about my stories.
RipperFish
For the ice thing, it’s more that adding anything usually suppresses some of the flavors. Ice, heating it, adding water, adding mixer, etc.
Sometimes you want that. When you add wine to food, it’s usually not the best wine for drinking, any more than you use eating apples for pie.
Why pay $$$ for something if you’re just going to change it? Unless it’s a status move.
Rather like getting the world’s biggest dump truck and adding jumpy suspension I guess. So I suppose it’s in character for Deus to do.