Grrl Power #1129 – Mess hall
This page starts about 4 seconds before the end of the prior one. Maxima isn’t taking multiple potshots at Super Hole, not after lecturing Sydney on being certain of whatever is behind your target in case they dodge. Because stuff like this happens. Maxima gave the team permission to go weapons free on this assault, but there’s a difference between killing someone in self-defense and blowing up a room full of potential enemies. If half the guys in capes are non-Super millionaire sponsors, they’re obviously not going to throw down on the super cops. Being rich means you can afford lawyers. Of course, what would a bunch of rich guys be doing hanging around an underground silo in the middle of the day? Although, one presumes with a hidden base of this sort and the majority of the staff being ethically shady at best, there’s probably a wing of this base nicknamed “Epstein Island” or something. Still, it’s a lot less than half of the maskcapes that are idle rich sponsors.
So, I recently got caught up on One Punch Man, at least the official, American releases. I’ve seen the Jupiter Sneeze, but I haven’t gone looking for scanlations. I was like 7 or 8 volumes behind. Honestly I’m a little disappointed that they’re STILL doing the Monster Association stuff. Although with a book like OPM, it kind of doesn’t matter what they’re fighting, as long as there’s some cool action and Saitama wanders through every other book to punch something into oblivion on a two page spread.
But I bring it up because it made me want to step up my action a little bit. The thing is, I know no one is really reading my comic for the world class action. That kind of comic doesn’t really work with my twice a week offering. I mean, one issue of OPM had like 4 pages that were nothing but people staring in shock as they wondered what that (OPM generated) shockwave was. I think the reaction shots are important to drive home the magnitude of events like that. It works in a format like Shonen Jump, which puts out something like 18-20 pages per week (because those bastards have dedicated inkers, toners, background guys, speed line guys, etc.), but it would be pretty boring in a twice a week format. Still, I don’t want to do terrible action, so… enjoy this low content page that is mostly explosion. I tell you though, all that speedline stuff, there’s a definite skill set to it. It’s not just laying down a bunch of lines, they have to flow just right and convey direction and action, and while I feel like I have a decent grasp of how to use them, again, I don’t have like a dedicated guy to do them, and I don’t quite have a grasp on how to get the most out of the tools I have at the moment. I’ll get better with them, but it’ll be a slow process because like I said, this isn’t really a premier action comic. I probably have fewer action pages in the entire run of the comic than a single volume of OPM.
To help fill up the rest of your time this week, (given the massive time investment difference between reading a 4 panel page and my usual 9-11 panel pages – you’re welcome) you can always check out the latest in one of my favorite novel series, The Vixen War Bride. Book 5 came out a few weeks ago. It’s titled Cupcake Girls. I know that sounds cutsie, but uh… Well, no spoilers. I really enjoy the xenoanthropology, and if you haven’t checked out the series, I obviously recommend it.
I’ve asked for xenoanthropology recommendations in the past, and I’ve tried a few things you guys tossed out. The Pride of Chanur was one. It was okay… I think I’d read a few too many HFY stories, or isekai hero who single handedly causes a paradigm shift of some sort to really enjoy Chanur though. I kept expecting the human to do something exceptional and that’s just not the sort of story it is. It was like waiting for the neverdrop.
The January Vote Incentive is up! Time for the quarterly fashion show that Anvil puts Maxima through. Can you detect the theme?
Variant outfits and lack thereof over at Patreon.
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Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Can’t say I’m a fan of the lo-res comic.
First two panels, OK, not much to see, but I can at least figure out what’s happening.
Third panel. WTF?? Who is doing what to whom?? I honestly can’t tell! Is that Max and … somebody else … blasting the baddie with some kind of, er, blast ray? Or the reverse?
And the final panel is just weird! What the hell does “order up” mean??
OK, full disclosure: I’m old. But I haven’t been in a coma for the last 50 years. I understand (some) things that young people say.
But this just loses me.
Use phone, zoom in, it follows the previous page.
and “order up” is a phrase cooks use when an order is ready. He is wearing a chef hat and standing behind the bar in what looks to be an eatery. This phrase is not young and can be found used in America since at least the 1800s as I have seen it used in comic strips and stories from that time. And continued to be used in cartoons.and movies with a cook to this day. In fact pretty sure even SpongeBob SquarePants has said it at some point being a fry cook and all.
So you’re just not reading the comic? It’s pretty clear. This is the consequence of bending Max’s shot around himself on the last page; that blast is hitting the cafeteria (hence the chef calling ‘order up’).
“Third panel. WTF?? Who is doing what to whom?? I honestly can’t tell! Is that Max and … somebody else … blasting the baddie with some kind of, er, blast ray? Or the reverse?”
Third panel is the 5th panel from yesterday, but from a different perspective. It’s Max firing her plasma blast at Supermassive and Supermassive bending it AROUND himself. But that doesnt mean the plasma blast isnt going to hit SOMETHING still.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1128-get-the-heck-out-of-dodging/
(last panel)
“And the final panel is just weird! What the hell does “order up” mean??”
“Order up” is diner and hotel room service lingo/slang, meaning ‘Your food order is now ready.’ The Goon Squad Ted wearing the chef hat is saying it because he is the ‘short order cook’ of that cafeteria, and apparently just finished making a meal for one of the others in there when the plasma blast hit the room.
Ah. Thanks for the explanation. I’m not American, and was truly puzzled by that “Order up” thing. I thought it was some sort of new slang, but obviously not.
As for my not being able to see small details, I’ve got an optometrists’ appointment in a couple of weeks. Maybe new glasses will help.
“Thanks for the explanation.”
No problem. You’re welcome. :)
“I’m not American, and was truly puzzled by that “Order up” thing. I thought it was some sort of new slang, but obviously not.”
Nah, it’s been around since around the 1890s (probably in Rhode Island where the first diners opened), but it’s pretty distinctly American since it developed first in diners, which I was surprised to find (upon checking) is also a distinctly American style of restaurant, although they also do exist in Canada and more recently some parts of Western Europe. The diner slang, however, is pretty distinctly American (also in a lot of TV shows) by short-order cooks and diner waitresses. :)
If you like xenoanthropology, I haven’t found anyone better than C. J. Cherryh. Examination of different cultures is a main theme in her work. Probably comes from her background in history and archeology.
I’ve read the Expanse novels, but I haven’t seen the TV adaptation. The Earth/Mars/Belt culture conflicts that get touched on in those novels show up in much greater detail in Cherryh’s novels. Add into that how relativistic time dilation affeects starhip crews relating to their homeworld and it gets real complex.
Anyone want to calculate the odds of this fight???
He cant do anything to actually hurt her, really he’s just annoying her while she figures out a way to take him down
I like this page, the ‘step back to see the results of the action’ is nice, and gives us a good perspective on the base and its occupants. Understanding the timing was a tiny bit confusing, but like a good ’80s movie, showing us the same attack multiple times from multiple angles is hot. So is the cafeteria. Hot. Because it’s ON FIRE. ;p
There wasn’t much in the way of isekai (in English, or any other language) in 1981 when “The Pride of Chanur” was published, and Cherry(h) isn’t so much into the Great White Savior. However, published in 1983 the first “Guardians of the Flame” book “The Sleeping Dragon” IS a straight-up “Portal Fantasy” where a pickup group of college students are isekai’d into the RPG they’re playing… and go onto DOMINATE the entire world, mostly because one of them is an engineering student, whom the in-world natives eventually realize is worth ANY number of mages or warriors.
Never had the chance to read beyond the first book.
I do recall that the guy playing/becoming the group’s tank warrior was genuinely horrified by the reality of slavery, and wound up committing himself to expunging it from that world.
…
It resonated with me.
…how’d that go?
Different person responding, but I enjoyed the series, though I think I only ever found the first several books? I don’t recall it reaching quite an ending, I am not sure if that was because it got dropped or I just didn’t reach it. It’s been a few decades.
There was a lot of trauma from the priestess and I think I remember her stabbing the professor who sent them through the portal? Long time ago for me.
Valid.
He essentially used them as nonconsensual guinea pigs.
I wouldn’t stab him, as I would love to become my favorite ttrpg character, but I sure as heck wouldn’t stop someone else doing it. ^_^
Maxima accidentally taking her own advice to aim your shots so if they miss one baddie they’ll hit another baddie.
In this case it’s fairly hard to miss the baddie base.
As General McAuliffe famously said: “We are surrounded by the enemy. We have the greatest opportunity ever presented an army. We can attack in any direction.”
Or as Lt Gen Puller observed, “They’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us … They can’t get away this time.”
I figure Maxima’s best bet is to try and get into grapple Suck Hole. Not an easy task considering how he’s easily flinging her about and attacking her now but if she can get a grip on him the gravity powers would struggle to get her off and even if he’s moving himself about to smash her against things she’s on full shield.
Other option, use Stalwart as a weapon. This would rely on Stalwart being able to reduce his density and mass to zero or VERY close to it, but also on Stalwart remaining incredibly tough when he does so. I think Stalwart is only listed as being able to increase his density and its very possible that his toughness relies on making himself incredibly dense but if not then Maxima should be albe to swing him around like a great club to smack Suck Hole without his gravity powers diverting the hit, much like she swung Achilles at some bad guys during the super brawl.
If his mass is zero, then hitting with him is like swinging a nerf sword. Damage will be limited.
Ah but he is super strong, she wouldn’t be using him as a blunt weapon, but as a grappling tool.
Heck Stalwart just tagging in and his personal gravity manipulation letting him be the rock to SM’s siscors sounds like it could work.
Personally I am banking on Maxima finding a way to use her Flight power’s weird gravity interactions to progress this fight.
If she swings (or throws) him while he’s at his normal weight (or near-nothing to avoid gravity), she can probably reach his terminal velocity and he can immediately bulk up the instant before arrival.
And how do you think that mass change mid-flight would affect his velocity, or the force of the impact?
Given that he doesn’t sink, float, accelerate, or trip whenever his mass changes, it appears he is able to violate conservation of energy (E=mv^2). There his velocity should be unchanged, his ‘new’ mass would inherit the same velocity as his initial mass, and the force would go up linearly with mass (and exponentially with the increased speed Max can impart to his initial featherweight form).
More Sydney, please. Preferably with her cursing.
Ouch… that might cost Maxima in the long run. Though someone could argue “Unforeseeable and unavoidable collateral.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole thing is technically black book, and if that’s the case then any “collateral” is just listed as target of opportunity as long as only people within the compound get nailed. Archon is a special branch of the DOD who’s been known to operate 100% weapons free when the situation dictates. That said, the PR team might have to put in some overtime if any of the rich and famous underneath those masks decide to spill the beans.
I really like that we get to see more of that clone guy, and the implication from versions of him with chef’s hats pointing to him possibly doing most if not all the menial jobs for this group- they avoid security leaks from having staff like that by having the cloner do all of those jobs… I really hope he gets paid well, since he very well could be doing all the jobs not done by various other supers or the super wealthy backers.
It also points to the organization being smaller than you would think, since they can source all their manpower issues that way. It means no worrying about contractors or the help spilling intel.
I really like the idea of a group of supers functionally acting like a more extensive organization due to one of them having a power like that. The Sixth Gun has a guy summon an army of golems to bolster the 6 main people in his group, and his boss latter summons a zombie army for the same purpose. Magneto in the comics did something simlar, using a minion with illusion powers to conquer a small country with an army that didn’t exist.
I had an idea for a mythology themed group of super mercenaries years ago and one of them was called Hydra, she was a self duplicator that kept one shared mind and perfectly coordinated her bodies, and occationallly could act as large scale reinforcement or manpower, but prefered a smaller group… I came up with her before I found this comic but she is a lot like Harem, minus the teleportation, down to having physical enhancement that scales with the number of duplicates. I never went far with that concept, I had some other neat ideas, a superstrong forcefield user called Nemean, a regenerating pyrokinetic called pheonix… It was an interesting Idea but I didn’t have any idea of what to DO with them after making them up.
For xenoanthropology, check out Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon The Deep, and its prequel, A Deepness In The Sky. Also David Brin’s Uplift novels.
They have a definite isekai feel, with humans being in the thick of things (but not having it all their own way, because where’s the fun in that?)
It being a slow weak, I bought the Vixen War Bride Series. The series as a whole is s-l-o-o-o-w. I’m up to book 4 and the have not consummated their marriage! The Vixen has called a council of married women to get the facts of life and details of deflowering that her mother died to soon to have “the talk” with her about. And the details include having to rip his bodice!!
I’d be so annoyed with the pace if I wasn’t getting such a kick out Ra Mee Rez the doosh-bog azz-ho. Ramirez is more likely to get laid and mated than the protagonist, and to learn the language better than the interpreter (“terp”).
Nice post. Wish to see much more like this.