Grrl Power #112 – Hot Beefcake Injection
I was hoping to get some more work done on the vote picture this weekend but dang, this page was a lot of work. Worth it though – I love the panel with all the Harems, and I guess the beefcake lineup, which is more or less the point of the page. It occurred to me that there are a lot of webcomics out there that spend less time on their entire comic that I did on just the mini comic at the bottom of this page. I don’t know why I’m such a glutton for punishment, but I suppose I could produce a 5x a week comic if it was a flat colored strip like that. I thought about making it the vote incentive just to freshen it up, but eh, why make you jump through the hoops?
Thanks for all the input on Peggy’s sidearm on the previous comic. There were lots of suggestions, but if you still want to contribute, please add it to the previous page’s comments, I’ll still see it.
There was a ton of rambling Tarantino-esque dialog I wanted to include on this page that began to introduce these guys, but I had to cut it all to make everything fit. I’ll save it for later I guess, it was more important this page began with “So are there any guys?” and ending on Sydney drooling over the railing.
About the chokers for the guys. I mean… cool tactical throat mics. I’m not a fan chokers on guys in the first place, but if a dude has a skinny neck like Math then I can overlook it I guess, but on Hiro and the other guy with the huge neck it looked really dumb, partially because their traps meet their neck almost higher up than the bottom of their jaws, so it would have had to be really skinny and/or wavy. I’ll have to figure something else out for them, maybe one that only wraps part of the way around from the back or something.
So yeah there are guys on the team – I was holding off on introducing most of them till this page so readers got the same first look as Sydney. We’ll be seeing them intermingling from here on out, but don’t worry, the girls are still the main characters. Speaking of which I need to formally introduce Jiggawatt so I can finally include her in the Who’s Who.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
And the guy with the tie reminded me of wearing a dress uniform when I was in the Army. I was always being strangled by my collar because they measured my shirt size by just wrapping the tape measure around my neck instead of looking where it actually went and placing it where a collar from a real shirt would go. There aren’t many shirts that have collars that go halfway up the back of your head…
See now, I’d rather have this (equal-opportunity exposure, that is) rather than feminist types protesting scantily-clad women in comics.
Incidentally, is it meant as a visual gag that, behind all the buff guys, there is a poster of some girly ponies? Or was that just synchronicity?
Maybe the guy are all Bronies?
I think someone put up a MLP poster as a joke and no one’s taken it down.
Gotcha. Visual gag, then. Girl stuff behind the guys, guy stuff behind the girls.
Notice in P8 the posters behind the women? I recognize two of them. One is “Predator” and the one on their right side, our left is about a boxer, Jake Lamatta but can’t recall the title. The middle one I am without idea.
just fyi the posters are from “Raging Bull”, “Fight Club” and “Predator” (as you said)… all must see movies imo
I don’t see any poster behind the guys, just a big blank white space.
Look behind Harem.
Look to the right of the white space.
Speaking as a male. I like Math, and the Lanky Blonde’s builds. They’re more of the “Combat” muscle with a little weight training to keep condition.
speaking as a female, I find those builds more attractive. Unfortunately I find blond hair creepy.
What about red beards? I ask because I have both.
Unfortunately I don’t have a figure much like any of them T-T
Nothing can redeem blond hair, save darker roots.
I much prefer tone myself. My hubby is a cyclist, so he is strong, but built JUST right!
MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
I grew up on Schwartzenegger movies and comic books (and using bodybuilding magazines for art references) so I tend to find more muscle attractive. Not that I’m into guys but I find the fitter the better so I assume that’s what women like in men too. My wife has been trying to dissuade me from that idea, and a lot of other comments I’ve seen online are bringing me around, but I have my own deep seated biases. It’s one of the reasons I started going to the gym, and for a while before I was spending all my time drawing the comic, I was built about like Vin Diesel, with about 20 lbs more fat though. I never got all that cut. I need to make time to get back into the gym. :P
If I were you, I’d realise the wife doesn’t care for the muscle and spend more time into the wife instead. (-;
My only regret is that the men are all hairless. :(
Ewww! Why would you WANT them to be all hairy!? That’s just…*shudder* just no.
Not ALL of them. But I dunno, a few would be nice. ;)
Nothing wrong with well groomed hair. Keep it nice and neat.
Hey, Sydney had a thing for Wolverine, and he is a short hairy guy.
YAY short hairy guys! ummm…. i’m not one really <..>
But I am!
Me too!
Well I’m not short or very hairy below the neck. From the neck up I’m very hairy not sure why.
*drools*
Ahem.
AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. THERE’S my beefcake. Rowr!
Poor Peggy, she has been put on THE LIST! :)
Poor list, now it has an impossible item on it!
thanks for the bit of goth cheesecake as early dessert in panel 2. “that’s very nice..”
but… I have to say, a bit confusing. I guess that’s Harem, but I have “goth=Gwen” stuck in my mind.
With a comic with this many characters, its kinda important to have unique fashion styles for each char, and this violates that concept.
Obviously, harem likes the whole corsets bit. But… that colour seems too demure. Wouldnt she like the more trampy colors, as opposed to gwen-goth colors?
Or maybe she just needs to lose it and go full Zintiel style for that copy. She does, after all, have the two-tone hair already :D
Gwen works for Zeph in Arclight, she’s more of a loli goth but her and Goth Harem can probably swap a lot of accessories.
Huh.
Well, I definitely second the request for a more filled out… erm.. lineup panel? for harem. Idealy, for the cast page, which seems particularly appropriate since they are described as each having their own personalities of sorts. And then a full-frame one for gwen, so we can compare and contrast properly.
Pretty please? :)
I’d love to do this as the cast page needs an overhaul, but I haven’t even had time to work on the vote incentive piece lately. :P
Hmm.. I wonder if she’s unconciously/conciously copying Gwen and Peggy. Which makes me wonder who the other 2 “non-originals” are modeled after
Hm. actually, I think that “thing 1” (we gotta get ‘names’ for the other copies! :) is heatwave with the slut-factor turned up a bit.
Which leaves the question of, “which of the others is the original, and which the copy?”
For some reason, I originally thought long blondie was original, and glasses-girl was copy.
Maybe because blondie seems the least extreme and characture.
White haired girl could be some twisted version of ariana perhaps.
but if short-white-hair-glasses-girl is the original… that makes Daphne even more… odd ;)
Dave’s said that not even Harem can say which is the “Original Daphne”.
Since they aperently started individualizing some years ago, I doubt you could say that 1 is the ‘original’. They all are the original, and all grew up in a way
Of course you can.
At some point, there was only one daphne. Then she did a copy. At that point, there was a daphne-copy, where there wasnt one a second before that. You then have one copy,and one original.
Now, the “group mind” thing, makes having a distinction between them a little iffy. But it is at least conceptually possible.
It would also be interesting to know which one is closest in personality to the original “pre-copy” daphne. that says a lot about a person. Kinda similar to knowing how someone was as a teenager, before you know them”now” as an adult.
They may be different now, but there’s’ still parts of them from teenage days in there.
Theorically the original can ‘poof out’ while one or many copies are active, then if it’s poofed back in it’s a copy now…
or a copy of a copy…
P.S.: what if 2 copies learn a certain reflex differently? What does the hive mind remember? Does each of the 5 have a different set of reactions at some level? Or would all the harem occasionally do a ‘about to adjust glasses’ gestures learned from glasses-harem despite the fact 4 out of 5 don’t have glasses??
Reflexes and skills like that are biological in nature, as you practice a skill like juggling for instance, neural connections are made in your brain regarding those motor skills, so if she learned to juggle with one body, she knows intellectually how to do it, but the body she practices most with would be best at it. It would probably be a little frustrating actually.
As far as nervous reactions like playing with hair or fidgeting with glasses goes, I’m not sure how strongly that would develop given that only 1/5 of her wears glasses (which obviously don’t even have corrective lenses in them)
some habits are stimulus based and wearing glasses can actualy change how a person behaves so the adjusting them would just be an action triggered by the wearing of the glasses for the most part
Since she probably copys due to teleporting, there are a few problems with your argument:
If she teleports to place x, and 2 harmes arive at place x, how could you possibly tell who is the original?
If she teleports to place x, but also leaves herself behind, who is the original one? Did she leave behind a copy, or did she send a copy?
If she were to send a copy, what happends when she teleports without copying? Does she send a copy, but destorys the original version?
This basicly makes it impossible to point an ‘original’ They are all just as original
Has Harem ever been asked to pull herself together?
Probably. With the answer being “Why would I do that?”
NEVER!!! There’s no such thing as too much beefcake. Banish the thought!
damn, too much Beefcake can be a bad thing?
I’ve seen an ad over on the http://www.daybydaycartoon.com that is depicting Halo standing on the vertical face of a building wall pointing to someone on the ground and shouting “PHYSICS?! Bitch I’m a superhero!” Is this a glimpse into the future? Can’t wait!!!
I don’t know that specific scene will happen but it’s something that probably will eventually have happened, if that makes any sense. Given the already slow pace of the comic, I can’t really fit in all the jokes I want, so I may use some of the ads I do or vote incentives to help round out the flavor of the comic. :)
Though discussions about the physics of superheroes are prevalent enough that I’m sure it will come up in the comic proper at some point.
And some of us who also read Spinnerette will be obligated to sacrifice a goat and make Chili from it. ;)
I note that she’s not holding an orb in that ad…
she’s holding it. It’s just obscured by HOW she’s holding it.
On another note, what was on that comic reminds me of Ein of Cowboy Be-Bop.
He was a data-dog.
I just noticed, the little bonus comic at the bottom is missing the sound effect.
Are there going to be character profiles on the new guys??
Yeah, they’ll be added to the cast page as they’re introduced in the comic.
>gagging noises< My eyes! Hand me the steaknife! LOL! I am soooo disappointed in you,Sydney.
Seriously though, still love your strip. Just…not into the beefcake.
Just 1 question: Why does Sydney drool blue? Blueberry Soda?
i think it has more to do with what’s synonymous with water than blueberry soda as she hadn’t had that to drink. trying to get drool to look right in a short amount of time is tedious so blue is as good as any. well not green. green denotes bile and illness. black denotes curse or alien infestation. yellow means something but i can’t remember with physics homework staring me in face….
Ah yes. The meaning of colors. Going through possibilities… maybe a light pink? Or a faint white with a hint of yellow? Blue still strikes me as odd because it’s the least likely color to be produced from a human body… well, that is likely true for all warm blooded animals living on the surface of the dry land… I exclude insects and fish just because I’m not sure about them… Anyway, I thought it was a purposeful hint to some artificial reason.
A side effect of the orbs? Not impossible, but my male intuition tells me to doubt that.
They don’t need chokers maybe dog collars with dog tags and leashes. I didn’t expect that to be Sydney type they look more like a group male exotic dancers then super heroes or they could be a new line of man furniture. It wouldn’t surprise me if they are bronies. There is nothing wrong with women that enjoy guy stuff or vice versa .
As for the blueberry soda brands, Jelly belly, IZZE, Maine root, old soaker, Marble POP. There is others but i can’t think of them off the top of my head.
I am going to add that as a side effect of the orbs they turn Sydney’s drool blue when they are out.
Yummmm….. i had a long day and this made it all better. Does a Sydney and drools on floor.
How did his tie stay on?
Harem VORP-ed the shirt. I assume since the tie is a seperate object she simply didn’t get it.
Ever since Dilbert was invented, it’s traditional to leave the tie up on guys who are all tied up!
A-buh indeed, Sydney, a-buh indeed.
*Drools*
Please elaborate more on the not Math blonde
also I accident posted same comment on vote Aug vote incentive page plz ignore
Sydney isn’t going to get to interact with him for a little while yet (and honestly he isn’t as fully developed as I want so I’m just teasing him here.)
He looks like a speedster to me.
He looks totally glompable to me. X3
https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j64/havockitten/hunterandchibiicon1copy.png Mwahaha <3
My mind screams for Harems putting sunscreen lotion on each other, in a circle of sorts.
Ugggghhhh bleck. *makes a face*
The blonde guy…I am stuck partway between ‘drool’ over his body and ‘whut’ at his face.
Can I get a paper bag over here please?
…or an axe. That saucy wink with the black hair, mm mmm. Is mix-and-match allowed?
I’d call it a classic butterface, but it’s a dude, lol.
My only problem is that he’s got one american eye and one asian eye. *shrugs*
Damn, Long-Haired-blond-guy is super sexy.
Dave, as a gay man, I would like to officialy present you with the Rainbow Seal of Approval, use its power wisely, and do not let it fall into the wrong hands.
Thanks! It will look odd on my shelf next to the “you draw boobs a little too big” seal of mild but accepting disapproval. I think the people that make seals are just fishing for a new market really.
Seals make seals (a mommy seal and daddy seal specifically). To a polar bear, dinner is made of seals. Yum. Gotta love apex predators.
And Eskimos used to eat polar bears. Man is the ultimate apex predator. We eat everything.
1 – throat mikes. Why not instead bone conduction ‘mikes’ (nodules) behind the ear? That way they are not in the way of costumes or ‘mega neck muscles’ and is harder to ‘toss aside’ by a bad guy.
2 – Hairless ‘beefcake’. Figure they either lose it or have to clean it off.. imagine a ‘burn blast’ setting their chest hair on fire! ouch.
3 – micro comic. Liked that one most… the ‘code hunk’… and all the ladies rushing to attend. Seen it happen in real life so can relate. :p
The throat mikes are the costumes, at least for the ladies. Ideally, we want something as visible and brandable as them for the guys, as well as some in-universe justification for why the guys (mostly) wear one and the girls wear the other. It might be a good idea to have a couple of exceptions on both sides. (The ‘branding’ is because part of the point is to identify and promote the use of Supers by the government – see basically anything Arianna does.)
“Exceptions on both sides” would also answer the question of why Peggy doesn’t appear to have the same sort of choker as the Powered ladies: perhaps she prefers the tech set-up used more by the male side of the team (would a throat-mike interfere with the butt end of a rifle?).
no but it may cause uncomfortable preasure on the neck. distracting from the sight picture and causing tensing that reduces her firing performance. some soldiers experience this with pads on the back of their helmets resulting in the removal of the pads or other modifications to the armer to aleviate the irritation.
Just a thought – if chokers are a prob, how about torcs for the guys? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torc
I may have been reading too much “Challenges of Zona” lately, but that could be an option. They sit lower on the neck than a choker, and can look a little more “macho.” You could work their logos in… somehow…
Now THOSE are cool! And they would certainly get the job done for the beef-neck guys…
You could even argue that those are what everyone is wearing… :)P
Well, they sit lower on the neck if the dude doesn’t have mountains for traps.
But since it’s an open curve, a torque should be adjustable to any body-type, no matter how massive the neck might be.
—
As for me, my opinion is that a headband design would make it easier to induce 2-way-communication through bone induction. Perhaps they might talk via headband, but also wear a torque as an easier “brand/logo” type of marketing…?
I Like The Blond One Next To Math.>:3
Seeing Peggy’s scar from this angle it makes me wonder what caused it, in order to follow the contour of her nose like that it was either a machete to the face that got some good plastic reconstruction afterwards or maybe a whip, that would explain the contour allowing for a shallower wound.
correct me if im wrong but i think this page is the first time weve seen all of harem in one place
Stop trying to get me to smile when several men are half-naked.
I’m currently quite cross with myself for not being able to think of an effective joke thus regarding. So far all I can think of is to to reference “Two and a Half Men” where Charley convinces Jake to go to a european sweat house by saying he’d get to see a bunch of naked boobs, and upon arriving in a sweat room full of over weight shirtless men he says “That was a dirty trick Uncle Charley.”
Just found Grrrl Power last night and read the ENTIRE thing. Couldn’t stop laughing! I hope you can start posting more often, because I can’t get enough. Well done!
You and me and everyone else. Thanks!
Mmm, Christmas trees in October.
Yeah I had the same thought as Syd; this comic answered that question. Enjoy your beefcakes
@___________________________@
I… can I hug the blonde one? PLEEEEEEEEASE? *puts on her best sparkly-kitty-eyed pleading face ever*
I believe that would be up to the blonde guy himself, and assuming he’s straight and hasn’t been beaten about the head with a stupid-stick I very much doubt he will protest. Then again, I’ve yet to meet many gay guys who had a problem with hugs, so I’d say your odds are pretty good.
Given that Math has a history of perversion, it would make sense that he’s straight. Of course, we have no idea about the other one, so I digress.
Most guys I’ve met will let me hug them regardless, but I wanted to make sure the Artist doesn’t have any issues with it *shrugs*
Funny enough, since he mentioned that the long-haired blond character is still underdeveloped, I wound up having a dream about this comic last night where I was one of those lesser-known off-to-the-side characters, but I got to meet Sydney and talk to the blond guy and find out more about him. His name and his alias were both “Hunter” (yet another H in the long lineup of aliases). He was really secretive about his powers and how they worked, but I remember something about him being an excellent marksman. I did get to hug him, though it took almost the whole dream to get him to agree to it x.x
Also, I see a Portgas D. Ace, and I must say “Hiiii!” :3
You’re welcome to hug my characters as much as you like. Heck you can draw it and post it on DeviantArt if you like. Or even Hentai Factory. :)
*Squees and tackle-glomps the blond guy* I’m callin’ you Hunter ’til we find out your name =3
I drew’d a derpy picture of my chibi on his head. I can’t draw well enough to justify posting anything on Deviant Art or anywhere else with him in it, but man would i love to. X3
Just started reading, and I already love this comic. Could someone tell me how often it updates? I always have a hard time finding that/I’m always to lazy to actually look for it. Whichever one fits your thinking style.
Every Monday, and I don’t see that posted anywhere so at the very least I can’t call you lazy.
If you go to grrlpowercomic.com it says it updates on mondays, but I’ve set it so that widget doesn’t display in the archives/comments.
Ah, well thank you for this information. I will do my best to check back for updates as often as I can. Also thank you as well, Parapsychotic.
Say Dave, first off I’d like to thank you for helping prove the fact that women aren’t realy all that different from men. Most women are will admit this and understand it’s not a bad thing, but some deny it until you have them watch 300 and answer honestly whether they took greater notice of the plot aspect or the 300-buff-men-with-capes-and-loin-clothes-for-the-entire-damn-movie aspect. Also, thank you for catering to your straight female and gay male audiance, I’m sure they where feeling a bit neglected.
Regarding body types, you did rather well. Concerning the blond guy Havockitten mentioned, people with that kind of body type (Hyposthenic and Aesthenic) tend to have ribs that slant down at steeper angles so that in particular was really quite accurate. Kudos! One thing you might want to look into though is that our rib cages and lung fields tend to extend down further to make up for the chest having less width and depth, which is why the ribs angle down more. At any rate, for someone who claims to have issues drawing men I’d say you did a smashing job at potraying a variety of body types. So again, Kudos! Now if you’ll excuse me, the female body types on this page require furthur analyzation. . .FOR SCIENCE!
I’m just a little out of practice with guys is all. Shoulders and faces especially. Guys’ chests are actually far easier to draw cause you don’t have consider the effects of angle/weight/motion like you do with breasts, which is something I’m trying to pay attention to, like with Jiggawatt on the second panel. I’m not quite sure that’s exactly right but at least they don’t look like implants.
Actually, I was going to mention those as well. The, er, “angle of the dangle” was quite realistic. By the time I got around to that, my comment had gotten way too long (as is my habit) and I figured I should avoid making it any longer as well as try not to seem overly fixated on boobs. Which brings me to another issue, I took notice of male body structure before noticing cleavage . . . think I’ll chalk that up to having an off day.
For the record, I believe that Harem’s teleporting effect needs a ‘w’ between ‘v’ and ‘o’.
On behalf of all of us who are deeply and grossly under-served in the beefcake and male cheesecake venues in webcomics…
–THANK YOU!!!
*brings her own drool-bucket to ze balcony party…& binoculars for “field readiness testing”*
I can’t promise shirtless guys on every page but there will be an increase of guys in tight shirts at least. Well maybe not on the next few pages specifically but in general.
Again I’ll have to point to Gold Digger as a good source of the occasional beefcake gag. It’s obviously still weighted toward the cheesecake but its in there way more than most any other comic.
If the shirts on the guys are drawn as tight as those on Maxima, I’m sure the beefcake fans will be plenty happy!
Okay, I feel stupid. I get “beefcake”, but what’s “cheesecake”?
Cheesecake is what you usually get in comics. i.e. ladies bending and twisting in battle lingerie.
Oooh, okay, that makes sense. :3 Thanks.
They should be thankful Sydney is up there and not down there drooling all over em like a hungry hound dog looking at a really juicy steak.
very interesting:
all field agents have the little collar-com
and all support personnal and training agents do not
I love Halo/Sydney and Math’s reactions.