Grrl Power #1056 – Dabbler cheats at Missile Command
Dabbler: “One big shield is too much work, but I can mass produce these little ones that last a tenth of a second.”
Foreman: “We need something watertight.”
Dabbler: “Oh. That sounds boring. I’m going to make these instead.”
Foreman: “But… the underwater city… the water is rising…”
Dabbler: “I wonder what I could use these for. Oh! They’d really ruin someone’s day in a car chase! Or just clog up a hallway. Or if someone was in a swimming pool and you tossed a few dozen in. Yuck, I’d hate to have to clean the filter afterward.”
Foreman: “Thousands will die.”
Dabbler: “Huh? Oh, uh… how about a bunch of rings of waterbreathing that last for a tenth of a second each.”
Foreman: “What possible use is that?”
Dabbler: “Oh, all right. I’ll help you fix your stupid dome.”
So Dabbler helped fix the dome. And then she made a weapon that converts a volume of space into an abattoir for a tenth of a second. It also happens to be great at stopping rockets, jets, light shuttlecraft, NASCAR races, turbines, extremely large spider webs, extremely large spiders, rooms full of zombies, rooms full of… not zombies, etc.
Extremely observant and persnickety readers who also have esoteric knowledge about Mil Mi-24s may feel the desire to point out that Hinds don’t have one of those flippy up safety things on their control stick, to which I counter with, “Yes, but that’s dumb because firing a missile is less dramatic without one, so I added it.”
And yeah, if I was in those helis, keeping just in front of that storm would have me pretty nervous. Unlike a regular storm, you don’t have to worry about it overtaking you on purpose, but, who’s to say the Super who can turn into a kilometer high sandstorm is great at keeping his perspective centered when he’s like that. If you could just become like 10 cubic kilometers large, it might be pretty easy to think of everyone else as ants.
The June Vote Incentive is up! What’s that dripping down Sydney’s face? Uh… well, actually, clicking on the link won’t actually give it away necessarily, cause the thumbnail is from one of the, er, advanced pictures in the series, if you take my meaning. Yes, I mean there is a nude version of Sydney (and guest) over at the Patreon version.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Willie Mays Dabbler isn’t. As noted by the fact that she only got 4 out of 5 of the missiles she deigned to shoot in the general direction of.
Four out of five? I count four shots from her. But five shells launching her rune flechettes. Three explosions and three missiles still flying. Two in apparent evasion and one gone right through.
I am wondering if Anvil or Sydney are stopping the others or if the local heroes will show their stuff.
I am guessing we will find out next bat-episode, same bat-channel.
That is not two missiles evading but one cut in half. Hence the SHANK soubd effect in green.
Those two “in apparent evasion” are actually one, bisected, missile (methinks)
Hence the *shank*
I know a number of ladies who would kill for Dabbler’s alter hair spell.
Now you know at least one guy as well.
I like the selection of former Soviet helicopters. I’ve seen it said that the Kamov Ka52 doesn’t actually fly, it’s just so ugly the ground actively repels it.
Yep. that’s a true statement.
SO very true on so many levels.
The MI-24 is a beast in so many ways. Bad to fight if you do not have SAMs, but awesome when they are on your side and competently flown and led.
Mi-24 Hind. Russians love tanks. The Mi-24 is the Russian effort to make flying tanks. They succeeded.
All they need then is some Ukrainians with flying Tractors. Also the Soviets did design and fly a one off flying tank…
I think I’ve heard that said about every helicopter.
a helicopter is a bunch of parts flying in close formation. I’m told this is very accurate.
Thx gg
Am I first? This is new? Love the ice-cream. Lovelovelove the forcefields!
You are not first, and this is not love. But ice cream is indeed delicious.
Those micro-shields are probably rather impressive in proximity to helicopters. I mean, just sayin’ … actual helicopters are generally more fragile than missiles.
This requires the helicopters to be in range though.
Am i really, truly, the first?
Nope.
Sorry you were the 8th.
Henry the 8th I am, I am
Married the widow next door, she been married 7 times before
and everyone was a Henry, not a Dick or Sam, no sir no sir
Henry the 8th I am
2nd verse same as the 1st , a little bit louder , a little bit worse
Correction: he was ‘Enery, not Henry, as sang by ‘Erman and ‘is ‘Ermits :P
is that the guy who drove the fastest milk cart in the west?
The Ballad Of Irving
He was short and fat, and rode out of the West
With a Mogen David on his silver vest.
He was mean and nasty right clear through,
Which was kinda weird, ’cause he was yellow too.
They called him Irving.
Big Irving.
Big, short Irving.
Big, short, fat Irving.
The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West.
He came from the old Bar Mitzvah spread,
With a 10-gallon yarmulke on his head.
He always followed his mother’s wishes,
Even on the range he used two sets of dishes.
A hundred and forty-one could draw faster than he,
But Irving was looking for one forty-three.
Walked into Sol’s Saloon like a man insane,
And ordered three fingers of two cents plain.
One day Bad Max happened into town.
His aim was to shoot fat Irving down.
Bad Max said, “Draw, and draw right now!”
And Irving drew, drew a picture of a cow.
The James Boys was comin’ on a train at first sun,
And the town said, “Irving, we need your gun.”
When that train pulled in at the break of dawn,
Irving’s gun was there, but Irving was gone.
Well, finally Irving got three slugs in the belly.
It was right outside the Frontier Deli.
He was sittin’ there twirlin’ his gun around,
And butterfingers Irving gunned himself down!
Irving.
Big, fat Irving.
Big dum-dum Irving.
Big dum-dum dead Irving.
The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West.
No, that was Ernie (Bert still can’t look at a bottle of milk without a tear in his eye)
I can do epic mishearing but every line!
and yes its Ernie
You could hear the hoof beats pound as they raced across the ground,
And the clatter of the wheels as they spun ’round and ’round.
And he galloped into market street, his badge upon his chest,
His name was Ernie, and he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.
Now Ernie loved a widow, a lady known as Sue,
She lived all alone in Liddley Lane at number 22.
They said she was too good for him, she was haughty, proud and chic,
But Ernie got his cocoa there three times every week.
They called him Ernie, (Ernieeeeeeeeeee)
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.
She said she’d like to bathe in milk, he said, “All right, sweetheart, ”
And when he’d finished work one night he loaded up his cart.
He said, “D’you want it pasturize? ‘Cause pasturize is best, ”
She says, “Ernie, I’ll be happy if it comes up to my chest.”
That tickled old Ernie, (Ernieeeeeeeeeee)
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.
Now Ernie had a rival, an evil-looking man,
Called Two-Ton Ted from Teddington and he drove the baker’s van.
He tempted her with his treacle tarts and his tasty wholemeal bread,
And when she seen the size of his hot meat pies it very near turned her head.
She nearly swooned at his macaroon and he said, “If you treat me right,
You’ll have hot rolls every morning and crumpets every night.”
He knew once she sampled his layer cake he’d have his wicked way,
And all Ernie had to offer was a pint of milk a day.
Poor Ernie, (Ernieeeeeeeeeee)
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.
One lunch time Ted saw Ernie’s horse and cart outside her door,
It drove him mad to find it was still there at half past four.
And as he lept down from his van hot blood through his veins did course,
And he went across to Ernie’s cart and didn’t half kick his ‘orse.
Whose name was Trigger, (Triggerrrrrrrr)
And he pulled the fastest milk cart in the west.
Now Ernie rushed out into the street, his gold top in his hand,
He said, “If you wanna marry Susie you’ll fight for her like a man.”
“Oh why don’t we play cards for her?” he sneeringly replied,
“And just to make it interesting we’ll have a shilling on the side.”
Now Ernie dragged him from his van and beneath the blazing sun,
They stood there face to face, and Ted went for his bun.
But Ernie was too quick, things didn’t go the way Ted planned,
And a strawberry-flavoured yogurt sent it spinning from his hand.
Now Susie ran between them and tried to keep them apart,
And Ernie, he pushed her aside and a rock cake caught him underneath his heart.
And he looked up in pained surprise and the concrete hardened crust,
Of a stale pork pie caught him in the eye and Ernie bit the dust.
Poor Ernie, (Ernieeeeeeeeeee)
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.
Ernie was only 52, he didn’t wanna die,
And now he’s gone to make deliveries in that milk round in the sky.
Where the customers are angels and ferocious dogs are banned,
And the milkman’s life is full of fun in that fairy, dairy land.
But a woman’s needs are many fold and soon she married Ted,
But strange things happened on their wedding night as they lay in their bed.
Was that the trees a-rustling? Or the hinges of the gate?
Or Ernie’s ghostly gold tops a-rattling in their crate?
They won’t forget Ernie, (Ernieeeeeeeeee)
And he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.
Something’s been bothering me for a while and, today, I’m looking at the “Who’s Who” sidebar and finally I can’t standz it no more.
Parfait is listed as Xuriel’s half-sister. From what we now know of succubus biology, she has to be her one-third sister. Or, possibly her two-thirds sister … but succubus biology doesn’t allow for half-sisters.
OKay. Glad I got THAT off my chest. Speaking of which, if Tom can use his embiggening spell on Dabbler, she cold stand 50 or 70 feet high and hypno-boob a very substantial number of incoming troops at once. I wonder: would she get a tantric charge off several hundred people being hypno-boob’d all at once? Seems an experiment worth undertaking.
For science!
You are getting Doppleganger biology mixed up in there. :) Dabbler’s mother is a succubus, her … other parent is a doppleganger, which means there is a parent before that.
Succubi with any other race work with the standard 2-parent set up.
So she and Parfait have the same mother, different fathers (or father-esque parents).
Dabbler’s 1/2 succubus, 1/3 doppleganger, and 1/6 some unidentified alien species.
yes, and that same half succubus is the same mother between Parfait and Dabbler.
so Parfait is half succubus and half djinn.
Wait dabbler’s a civilian I thought she was a member of arc swat.
Officially she is a ‘civillian advisor’ or has a similar title.
I’m too lazy to go back to when ARC SWAT was introduced to the press.
Yup. She’s on the record as a being a civilian consultant, an option you might notice they neglected to mention to Sydney when looking to hire her. Arianna is clever like that. My guess has always been that the option was only offered to Dabbler because getting her to agree to sign up to a military branch on Earth was either a non-starter for Dabbler (who prolly doesn’t want to feel tied down by bureaucracy since it doesn’t screw you in the fun kind of way), or possibly because there was some sort of possibility that it might come into conflict with some sort of larger galactic laws Dabbler still technically has to answer to.
For example, as a civilian she can refuse an order to share her tech with Earth, since doing so would violate galactic laws. But as a member of a military branch, all it takes is dummy in command to realize they can just order Dabbler to do anything and she now has to either violate galactic law which presumably the galaxy takes very seriously, or she has to go AWOL and ditch the planet, which she could do fairly easily but she’s having *fun* here!
I think it could’ve also been a non-starter for the US military to have a succubus on staff. Someone like Tom? Fine. But we’ve only relatively recently gotten our heads out of our asses enough to allow women in the military. Letting in a woman who literally feeds on sexual energy? I think the US military will probably need a few more centuries before they’re sufficiently enlightened to go there.
The succubus in question having nigh unmatched magical and technological knowledge probably greased the wheels.
I dunno about that. The US military accepts prospective immigrants under some circumstances. It’s even been advertised as a potential path to citizenship, though nobody’s willing to make that official. Still, a term of US military service looks conspicuously good on someone’s application for naturalization.
Point though; It’s not entirely unheard of for foreign nationals to become members of the US armed forces. And since ARC seems to be relatively assertive about doing things they want to do if there’s any possible interpretation of the regulations that allows it, I’d have to assume there’s some other reason she’s not actually hired on as a member of the military rather than a civilian contractor.
Nope, civ contractor. Technically bound by UCMJ, but given her “abilities” I think not all the UCMJ applies.
Bound by the UCMJ just like America’s civilian contractors in Iraq were.. >.>
Dude, why have you not been hired by one of the big companies yet. Or have your own book out on indi making millions? Your art has siriously improved to the heavens in those years. I mean the proportions, the action, the damn machines… there are comic art celeberties that can only wish to be as good as you.
Comics don’t sell that well, especially with so many comic shops closing in recent years.
Also, which big ones? There aren’t any I would want to work for right now.
Finally, have you looked at his patreon?
Exactly this. The big companies are suffering right now, not because of embracing political stance but pushing it so hard that fans walked away and sales plumeted.
On no, mcu has a Muslim character, time to review bomb it!
comic books have a bottle necked distribution (Diamond has a monopoly on comic book distribution for comic shops),
as well as a strict limit on reprinting books *due to how many are not sold*,
thus making it hard for a casual reader wanting to get into comics to both find the latest issues and re-read what they missed *missed the first three issues of that new superhero they are pushing…well too bad, guess you’ll have to read a wiki page and get a summary*.
contrast this to manga which can be ordered and found in book sections now. Or the more common movies, cartoons, and tv shows; that along with solid medium sales such as DVDs can also be found via streaming services.
missed the first few episodes of the latest superhero tv show? Well now you can just watch them on the streaming service whenever you have time. Didn’t see that superhero movie when it first came out…don’t worry it will be either on DVD/Blu-ray or a streaming service before long.
the thing killing comics as the main go to medium is accessibility.
the gate keeping SOBs who often hang out at and sometimes work for comic book sellers don’t help matters anyway. They need to stop treating as their private tree house club.
If they put comic book racks back in grocery stores, convenience stores, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc. like they did back in the early 80’s, they’d make sales.
You have to specifically go to a comic book store to buy a comic book which limits impulse purchases and kids nagging their mom’s to buy them a comic book while shopping.
Out of sight, out of mind. If kids don’t see it, they don’t nag their parents to buy it and they don’t use their allowance money to buy it.
Eventually those kids grow up and they never have developed good habits like buying comic books.
weird thing is the collector aisle near the front of some of those stores like Wal-mart have comics *just not the recent issues, or consecutive issues by week or month, and are totally random across Marvel and DC, usually related to the current movie in theaters*,
again, not regular, not consecutive, and in the tucked away section and not the impulse purchase shelves by the registers like they used to be back in the day.
comic books dont sell well but manga does, its not that people doesnt want to buy and read comics is just that the comic book industry has made some baflingly stupid decisións the last couple of years
For an actual comic he’d have to churn out 16 pages every 2 to 4 weeks.
I prefer he take his time
DaveB is very talented, but the copters are cut and paste for the sake of efficiency; thus providing his very appreciative audience with more comics in less time.
A quick web search found the original for the lower left one:
https://www.rotorandwing.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/1024px-Russian_Air_Force_Mil_Mi-24P_Dvurekov-4.jpg
Do you have any kin named Obie (he askes PURELY out of scientific curiosity)? ;)
My nitpick about the Helicopters is more a thing of rotors… the Kamov Ka-52 should not have one main and one rear like most helis as seen in the first panel, but two rotating in different directions for stabiolization on top instead…
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamov_Ka-50#/media/File:Kamov_Ka-52.jpg
The stick on the Hind… well, who is to say the original didn’t break and was replaced with a nonstandard model? Helicopters in use of such states would likely be a little jurty-rigged on occasion after all… since they might not always be able of getting the right spare parts…
Czech refits of hinds offer the French version of a jet fighter stick based off us f15 for the “S&R” versions. Yeah hot combat stick on a medical and rescue chopper…
Prob to get around certain export import laws. They’ll De-mil a chopper and pack the parts along with spares and ship with them. There 24 cell marking flare launchers bear a striking resemblance to a 24 2 inch rocket launcher pod. One’s rescue blue other’s Grey.
The Hind design is getting on on toward 50 years old. Field modifications, especially in old client states, wouldn’t be that uncommon. I can’t speak for the Hind specifically but once electrically fired weapons weapons became a thing so did arming switches.
I wont mention the Weps Arm Panel on the left side of the cockpit which keeps weapons disabled until the pilot enables them, and they do have nice red mollyguards. Oh dear, I mentioned it.
I dont think the devices need a text box, most people will assume magitech shinigan artifacts being used for reflection shields of some sort.
as a boob man, the top is nice. not many would try for two cutouts.
so Dabbler has invented high tech Flax launchers. nasty. sadly she can’t launch it in the general direction of the helicopters. those things would be really interesting against helicopter blades. perhaps she could let her little sister play with it a bit. kids these days wanna play with everything….
I want to see the rotors get banana-splitted instead.
The two cutouts are a holdover for when she had double the breastses
Fun fact: that flip up shield is called a mollyguard, named after an IBM programmer’s grabby three year old in the late 1970s.
I came here to say that.
I get why the team is reacting this way, but it seems… if not sketchy, then sketch-adjacent that Deus is literally conquering entire countries with a demon army and the reaction is “meh, let’s go have a chat maybe” but when Deus is struck BACK at, ARC-SWAT’s instinct isn’t “clear the area” but rather “let’s tool up and fight on his behalf.” Yeah, sure, Max tossed out “don’t engage unless they engage you” but literally everyone on her squad including herself either already has or plans to disregard those orders. And they could be long, long gone from here right now if they wanted to be.
Deus has so far been extraordinarily effective at sandbagging ARC-SWAT. Maxima treats him as an annoying suitor rather than, you know, the explicitly declared global threat that he is, and he’s consistently engineered or taken advantage of situations where he compromises them both officially and unofficially and also creates the widespread perception that he has, if not ARC-SWAT’s backing, at least their blessing.
Like, I’m sure he would have been fine anyway even without Max and the others here… but if Max gets into a slugfest defending his new Empire, basically everyone is gonna see that as “ARC-SWAT is committed to defending Deus.”
Deus keeps treating ARC-SWAT as if they’re already his allies or subordinates, and they’re gonna wake up one day and find out that’s become the case if they’re not careful.
Thing is, ARC-SWAT is just there to chat. If they engaged whoever is attacking in a capacity to defend anyone but themselves, it really would create an international incident. What’d happen is it’d be seen as America officially endorsing Deus’s activities. Maxima doesn’t have the authority to make that decision and neither does anybody under her, and Dabbler is just asking for a spanking here, and not the good kind of spanking, obviously.
To be fair to Dabbler, she could probably argue that in a high-stress situation, with incoming fire from a surprise threat, she acted to neutralise the immediate threat rather than waiting to determine whether or not she would be within the shrapnel field of the missile impacts – by which time, had the missiles been a threat, they would have been too close for her flak-shield cannon to be safely used against them.
And while Deus is enjoying himself far too much playing to the various villain tropes, he isn’t actually evil – or if he is evil, it’s the enlightened sort of evil that goes around improving other people’s lives for purely selfish and manipulative reasons…
As for the PR aspect, the official statement presumably reads “We do not expect our people to lay down and die when fired upon. ARC-SWAT members were on site as part of ongoing diplomatic efforts to address Galtyn’s recent activities in the region, and acted in self-defense.” Or if someone manages to point a camera at Sydney long enough: “Those guys were dumb enough to shoot at us. They should be glad they didn’t earn a Darwin Award”
the thing she deployed is inherently a defensive weapon- it is not seeking, passive and temporary. also by deploying it this way it could be seen as a warning shot to the helicopters. I would expect a ‘bug out’ order for Max and her team 5 minutes after its over. this will occur in 6 months our time combat scenes take a lot of pages to depict.
I mean, the obvious response to that PR statement is “every member of your team present could have been hundreds of miles away in under five minutes; why did you even bother hanging around?” as well as “Wait, ARC-SWAT is a military arm; why are they conducting diplomatic talks? Did the state department sign off on that?”
what diplomatic talks?
they haven’t even spoken to a member of Galytn’s official government yet. Only to Deus and a few soldiers. They were invited by Deus. Deus is not officially a member of that government but an advisor whose company is helping build up the country and sell to them.
he also sells to Archon and other US contracts.
sigh.. I work for a foreign owned defense contractor. the FOCI requirements would make Dues’s life hell. but then our 2FA usb dog tags were made in China. (all the facepalms have been done… twice) so his money may grease things a bit.
Is there something inherently wrong about conquering countries? More so than attacking civilians? Maybe read Sydney’s perspective in panel 4 again. It’s hard to call yourself a hero if you walk away or just watch people get hurt, no matter whether you’re citizens of the same country or not. They’re not fighting on Deus’ behalf, but on behalf of random people who they know nothing about. Like heroes do.
Conquering countries to absorb them into your autocracy, from which you don’t plan to ever let them emerge, is indeed wrong.
You of course are touching on one of the contradiction of the genre. If you place your superpowers at the disposal of the state, you’ll often be ordered to either do shitty things, or to stand by while shitty things happen. If you DON’T do this, you’re declaring “I, a literal overman, have decided I am above the laws of man regardless of their source and legitimacy; I will remake the world as I see fit.”
And sure, they’re fighting on behalf of random people they know nothing about… sure would have been nice if Mozambique had had some of that action. Deus gets to reap the benefits because he was lucky enough to move first when there were no heroes around?
There is a trope called Reed Richards is useless, which looks at why superheroes do not fix more problems despite all their capabilities. Weather control heroes never seem to deal with drought and flood, for example, and super-science heroes don’t market their miracle healing devices. Deus has avoided this on multiple occasions now, because he is smart enough to realise that without sufficient impetus, many of the problems he is working to resolve will not change.
In many ways what he is doing, bad as it seems on the tin, is the first real progress many of these regions will have seen in literal lifetimes, and it is worth noting that everything we have seen so far indicates that the majority of the people in his conquered areas are better off materially and politically.
Marvel addressed that trope with the Council of Reeds storyline which revealed that in many realities, Reed Richards actually did change the world(s).
I don’t see states or nations as having any inherent right to exist, so I consider the act of conquering another country to be morally neutral, in general. Specific cases may be morally right or morally wrong, depending on the details.
The government of Mozambique did not serve its people. Deus was fighting on their behalf.
No, he was fighting on his behalf, the fact they ended up benefit is simply a pleasant (for them) accident
He doesn’t do anything that doesn’t directly benefit him first, whether it helps or hinders anyone else is not relevant (until they come to his door to ‘thank’ him)
Deus is an official materiel contractor/business partner to ARC-SWAT
You seem to have a prejudice against demons. While I’m not trying to say that Tom is a wonderful guy by any means, he actually seems a bit less problematic than some people I’ve known.
Also, while Galtyn isn’t a US ally, Deus is the CEO of one of Archon’s vendors, so there’s a friendly relationship there. It is important to not be too friendly with ones vendors, but there’s plenty of real world precedent for people accidentally being too friendly with ones vendors, which is how we know that it’s a bad idea.
You also seem to be missing the fact that the incoming threat isn’t some rando trying to take Deus out for using a demon army to motivate the troops of his opponents to surrender rather than fight, thus minimizing casualties. I mean, sure, we don’t know their actual motivation. But we do know that they’re someone who’s already on the US government’s better for us if they’re dead list and they apparently don’t concern themselves with collateral damage.
Ok, fine, it’s a bit too soon to tell for certain about the collateral damage. I’ve lived in the US Midwest, I’ve heard about the crazy selectivity that tornadoes *can* do. But I also know that this person is presenting as a much larger windstorm, and being focused with that much sand would be phenomenally difficult.
I have to repeat Some Ed’s sentiments.
Arc-Swat is a part of Archon, which in turn is part of the US Military, which is controlled by the US government *obviously*. They are not freelance superheroes, they can’t act how they want without considering the repercussions to themselves, the rest of their newly formed division, and down the chain of command.
That said, Deus is not the actual *ruler* of Galtyn on paper, so Arc-Swat has not actually been invited to assist by the actual ruling party.
Darude is most likely on the Military’s (kill if able) list and has prior history with Maxima (where they thought he was already dead), so active engagement, self defense, if she can lead him away from civilians, that means he will go after her which turns this into self defense (it can be argued later she was leaving the area of conflict and the conflict followed and engaged her, so she had to defend herself).
Deus as Some Ed stated, and seems to be regularly forgotten, is a US citizen (multi-nationality citizen also I believe), but is the CEO of a major corporation acting within the US, that has friendly ties *as in Archon is one of their clients* with Archon and the US Military.
-any innovations he is making here, the US Military is eye balling as Deus is pitching it as he sold this tech to Galtyn, so he could sell it to other countries as well…for a country like the US he probably already has his mitts in the oven as a lobbyist, Make the need to please him high enough as he supplies the best tech for military and industrial use and with the current *unofficial* set up he can probably demand whatever he wants (want these cool new bio-filter forcefields so stray birds can’t fly onto air strips or interfere with rocket take offs? but not interfere with people or any other wildlife, air flow, streams, etc… well we’d appreciate it if you enacted some better health care reform for example).
-its a shame real corporations are just as morally bankrupt as the people they are influencing.
but the take away is, US ciitizem, corporation, supplies the same tech for sale potentially to the US military.
On paper this meeting is with Deus not the Galtyn government *eyeballing the state of affairs there is what they are doing, but not on paper*, this is more Deus performing a sales pitch than anything.
*granted that last part makes this attack which may give them a chance to show off some fancy defenses like maybe anti-missile defenses around the hangars and factories, the effectiveness of their own supers and the demons*
really I suspect next page it will turn out Dabbler didn’t even need to do anything and those potential enemy targets are already well defended against the likely scenario of an air strike.
From ARC-SWAT’s perspective, Deus is a normal guy who they can take off the board literally any time that they want to make it happen. And they have him under almost constant surveillance because Harem is right there in his office.
And Lord knows if I had an operative placed literally in a potential enemy’s office, I’d have him bugged out the wazoo with Dabbler-tech and his computer system compromised (copying everything plus a kill command).
Sure Deus has tech and a demon army. But ARC-SWAT has several people who can fly in at MACH however-high-they-want-it-to-be and make him a stain on the pavement before he knows there’s any danger. Or just toss a moderate-sized asteroid at him. Or teleport him into the sun.
I think it’s very likely they’re underestimating the level of threat he is, especially since he can compromise the political system that controls ARC and make SWAT not take action against him if it ever becomes apparent that they HAVE to do something. But I’d expect the team to do something regardless of orders to the contrary and face whatever consequences come from saving Earth from Deus.
Except for that pesky thing called the law. The whole conceit of the comic is “What if there were superheroes, but they were law enforcement, and not vigilantes?” They don’t get to just summarily execute people because they’ve decided they’re the designated bad guy.
this is the USA. We can and do summarily execute people and usually the worst that happens is some paid leave.
The comic’s depiction of the USA tends towards the idealistic, rather than the realistic, despite the degree to which it casts a critical eye at comic book tropes.
Oddly enough that’s exactly how flak worked, especially after the advent of proximity fuses. The guns don’t rely on direct hits to take out aircraft or incoming missiles, though hits are great when they happen. The shells burst at a preset altitude or when they get close enough to a target and throw out fragments that the aircraft or missile flies into and is damaged by. That’s why when you see old footage from WWII bombing missions there are puffs all over the place. The gunners weren’t missing, they were setting up a “to whom it may concern” wall of fragments.
Given the quality of pilots a terrorist group could afford, the ‘safety’ is probably an aftermarket add-on, missiles are expensive ;)
“Are your pilots twitchy ? ordnance costs through the roof ? tired of rebuilding the flightline every mission ? Then get Sure-Safe master arm covers and trigger shields, they come in red or our easyspot black/yellow stripes, complete with precision holes for witness wiring and safety pins, available at all the finer helicopter accessory stores or online, don’t delay, get some today !!”
Just kinda assuming that it is a terrorist group aren’t ya? And not a coalition response from the surrounding countries because their warmongering neighbors added literal demons to the roster.
Love the look on Parfait’s face, anyone else reminded of Betty Boop ?
YES!! Was going to say that if no one else did :)
Are those torpedoes? They look like torpedoes to me.
Also, I was just reading this and it feels relevant. https://www.wired.com/story/smartphones-ukraine-civilian-combatant/
So, can anyone tell me what’s on Sydney’s face in the thumbnail of the vote incentive?
caramel sauce if i remember right.
Me thinks chocolate sauce, but I am not looking at the version behind the Patreon paywall.
defiantly caramel sauce. Parfait has the chocolate. the grin is probably the whipped cream/ice cream in the crotch. we could ask for a ladies opinion on the face they’d make in such a situation…
at least this is one situation Sydney will be able to stick with without a lot of help.
Fairly sure both of their expressions is because of who just caught them (Sydney is definitely looking at the person behind the camera)
that may also be involved… but I strongly suspect that cold sticky substance suddenly appearing in a woman’s crotch would cause some expression changes.
sydney should totally wish for clarity from Parfait. the resulting obfuscation would probably help matters.
Anyone else notice Dabbler’s new outfit? Changing crop tops because shit just got real is very cash money of her.
Sydney can deploy her shield in self-defence no matter where she is. “Yeah, you see, I was flying around when when those volcano sniffers shot missiles toward me, so I popped up my shield and one blowed up real good when hit my shield. The fact that people behind me were unharmed is just a bonus.”
Dabblers Area of Engagement. Where she fucks with people. And not in the fun way.
I have… NO clue what AOE is…
area of effect? No…
Area of interest does not work…
Google says Age of Empires which is not it either…
Urban dictionary suggests All or Everything
I forget exactly, but it’s something like “Area of Engagement,” or “Arena of Engagement.”
Possibilities:
Area of Effect
Area of Existence
Acre of Earth
Arena of Eroticism
Amphitheatre of Enticement
So many more possibilities … :)
Aardvaark Of Entropy
Amphibians on estrogen
Apollo’s obstinate equines
Aquaman’s oven roasted eels
Aliens ovulating endlessly
Axis of Evil :-P
Army of Eagles,
Armored orifice excavators,
Amorous Ostrich Environmentalism
Androgenous Owl Enthusiasts,
Anthony’s Orgasmic Elbows
Actually On Evenings
Axolotl Of Envy
I read it as Area Of Effect. As in “if something significant happens within range of me being able to do something about it, I feel a responsibility to act.”
Dude… that is one Hind-D, two Hips without the pair of fuel pods, and what looks like a Hokum without second counter rotating top rotor. That is going as an ADA veteran using the WEFT method to ID enemy helicopters.
The bottom right is a Halo, Mi-26 heavy lift helo, along with the Hip top right, Hind bottom left and I suppose a Ka-52 Alligator albeit with odd rotors top left.
Something that noone has mentioned are the Hip and Halo tail rotors, they should be on the starboard side not the port. The Hind is correct.
The Hind is at least a Hind-D model because of the separated cockpits.
The Hind is at least a Hind-E model because it is using AT-6 Spiral ATGMs
I’m not seeing a 12.7mm 9A624 in a chin turret and it has retractable landing gear so not a Mi-35.
Best guess a Mil Mi-24P Hind-F Like this one
I was ADA till 1997, so my WEFT is likely dated.
someone get these two cans of alphabet soup. they need more material
The fact that she’s spamming “shields” will also get her a tremendous amount of leeway with the right lawyer. People really get hung up on terminology, even if “going fast” is so mundanely common that “stop going fast” could easily kill any currently living human in a first world country that wouldn’t die to starvation.
Going 80mph into a brick wall will kill you, and spontaneous brick wall generation means, functionally, that murder is legal for rich lawyers.
Let’s be real, this is only a mild strain on our legal system. Rich people get tickets to Epstein Island in our current, IRL timeline
I suspect given all of Deus’s gloating about defenses that we will see next page or so that the likely to be targeted with an air strike hangars and factories already have defenses against this exact scenario. Mayve forcefields, pint point gravity wells or magnetic vortex devices to crunch the missiles *or just laser to shoot them down, maybe even those fancy direction changing lasers like in so many classic anime).
in short a “We appreciate the assist, but we got this” and then proceed to shut down the enemy attack.
the controls could have been modified by the pilot to make it more comfortable for them to use.
Hmm… I’m not sure that’s what’s meant by magic users casting runes…
well, it’s better than just putting the runes in traction, y’know, at least with casting, they have mobility
Line 2, right
Isn’t Dabbler shooting at the missiles after they have gone by her? Or are these very clever shields?
I can’t help looking at the vote incentive and wondering just what Dave would produce for a Sydney “Bigger Boobs” spell gone wrong.
My mind races anywhere from every guy she’s interested in growing large breasts to her getting a large pair of breasts… as an extra pair to those she already has.
I don’t think any actual real military aircraft has a flippy up button cover does it? Entirely a dramatic invention!
Those are pretty much standard for weapons controls the last 40 years, I’ve seen them on F-15s and-16s and on the OV-10 for anything capable of launching or releasing weapons.
How can there be 5 pops with only 4 pums?
Got to say, you did an awesome job on those helicopters !
Just gotta point one thing though; the Kamov Ka52 Alligator doesn’t have a tail rotor.
Kamov is well known for their contra-rotating coaxial rotors, this negate the needs for a tail rotor.
Just thought I had to point it out in case you plan to showcase it more in the coming pages.
As always, looking forward to your work !
Quiet plea: Could the Who’s Who also remind us of what we know about the villains? Even a “Yeah, no, we’ve never seen him in action before and don’t yet have a name for him but ARC-SWAT is calling him…” would be useful.
(“Scoahcahds heah! Can’t tell the playahs widdout a scoahcahd!” — I think my Bostonese and Brooklynese are getting tangled, but you get the idea.)
Solid fuel rocket motors, basically what you have in combat missiles and rockets, though much safer than liquid fueled rocket motors, is rather troublesome in certain ways. The main one being is if the fuel ever gets cracked, even a tiny hairline thing, it will cause the entire thing to explode when ignited.
Besides, the attacking force is using at least 4 different kinds of helicopter. One of them is bound to have a flip up button on the stick…
I wonder if Pander is Ben Chew.
Pander has been fairly consistent on being at the female end of the spectrum.
Yep.
Also what’s a Ben Chew?
Never mind. Googled it. I don’t care much about the whole Johnny Depp case so I didnt pay attention to the names of the attorneys. :)
That’s fine. I only paid attention because I’ve been abused by females through my life nearly to the point of death, and never tried to report it to anyone because I figured I’d only make it worse. I was surprised that such a thing didn’t happen there.
I promise not to abuse you either to death or any step along that path.
Dabbler: “I don’t care what Maxima says. […] Plus I’m technically a civilian so I have slightly more leeway than you.”
This is exactly why Dabbler’s status should not be so undefined. No military unit should have to deal with rouge civilians, no matter how powerful they may be.
Is no one watching The Boys?
Dabbler is no less disciplined than was Swatto in The Boys (SPOILER) who went on a joy flight and drew Russian fire down on the camp. Swatto died, but so did so many others.
> No matter how powerful
That’s where you’re wrong, I think.
The US Military considers, accurately, Dabbler to be a beyond vital resource.
And unlike 99% of heroes in The Boys, she isn’t some inexperienced ass-clown.
Are you sure that backing an experienced ass-clown is the hill you want to die on?
I concur,
Dabbler has shown three distinct flaws in a combat zone
-choice paralysis (so many toys to choose from that she pauses her own actions in the middle of combat to try and pick one)
-Show off (she wants so badly for her opponent and anyone watching to see what she can do that she will sometimes choose an impractical weapon to extend the length of combat, or stubbornly refuse to disengage so she can prove she can handle it herself *she is powerful but with her options limited she should switch out or know when to retreat)
-Over confidence, (not fully unwarranted as she is powerful, albeit gloved at times due to having to be non-lethal. However even with this the case she can be distracted and under estimate her opponent as a non-threat…demonstrated superbly when she got sucker punched by Hench Wench. Dabbler was controlling that fight but lost it the moment she took her eyes off her opponent to gloat. She was then taken out of the fight for the rest of it (we didn’t see what happened to her right after but she was punched, was not engaging anyone else or looking for Sidney, and Maxima was fighting Hench Wench the rest of the time, reasonable assumption, Dabbler was knocked out, and may have lost her life to a follow up attack if not for Maxima.
That cultist or whatever that she exploded would like to have a word with you about the restraints upon Dabbler. Except his teeth are all in the various states surrounding NY, and his tongue is a rather thin liquid.
Something, something, Capitol Hill
I mean, sure?
She’s got a devil may care attitude but takes her job seriously and has helped save many lives.