Grrl Power #1163 – Abracadatebra!
I didn’t realize it, but Julie Strain was 6’1″, just like Max. I’m assuming most of you know who she was. If you don’t, the short version before you hit up google is that she was basically the cover girl for Heavy Metal Magazine. Not literally, they had a zillion amazing covers, almost all of them painted by amazing artists. But I think Strain was featured on more covers than anyone else. She was also in a zillion terrible movie whose plots were “who cares, the camera doesn’t cut away when the girls in it shower or change clothes, and they do that A LOT.” Unlike Maxima, Strain often wore towering high heels, pushing her to 6’5″ or 6’6.” And that’s really tall for a woman. Immediately after this shot, (from Day of the Warrior – a terrible yet free-with-ads streaming movie) she turned around and smacked the guy in the face with her boob, causing him to flip onto his back. It’s the only good scene in the movie. Well, okay, the scene where Shae Marks changes on camera doesn’t exactly suck, either.
All of that has nothing to do with this page, but I watched Day of the Warrior (purely for research purposes) so I can’t confidently say a 6’1″ woman would draw a lot of attention. Especially if all the actors around her are shorter than her in her heels. Max likes cleaty boots, but they don’t really add any height over and above the standard shoes most anyone would be wearing. Maybe half an inch over loafers.
Anyway, I guess none of the other guys who have been queuing for Max have tried humor. At least nothing that didn’t feel forced. Which is a tall order, admittedly. Pick up lines seem to come in three flavors. Sincere, if somewhat cynically motivated flattery, flat out sexualization, or just straight up attempting to elicit a giggle. Of the three, it seems trying to get a laugh out of a girl would be by far the most effective to break the ice.
I’m sure women use pick up lines on men occasionally, too. And I assume gay and lesbian folks probably use them as well, but for some reason, I picture lesbians using pick up lines the least of all the groups. I’m not sure why that is. Probably because I think of girls using them on guys only as a goof… Maybe I think of lesbians as kind of a serious bunch? Hmm. I’ll have to give that some more thought.
But yeah, the “make her laugh” has to be the best approach, right? I mean, has the “Hey baby, do you have any Irish in you? Do you want some? Hur hur.” line ever worked? Sure, as a joke, but I mean has it ever worked when played straight? “No, seriously. I want to put my Irish penis in you.”
The vast majority are just groaners. If I was a girl at a bar, (who was attractive enough to have a steady stream of dudes hitting on me) I think by about the 4th guy, I would sound like Kif sighing at Brannigan.
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Variant outfits and lack thereof over at Patreon, as well as the semi-usual bonus incentive related comic.
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Have to give him credit for coming with a good line.
I don’t think it was “a line,” so much as “another line.”
I shit you not, that’s the sort of thing my brother and I have firing at each other since we became more sophisticated than “you’re a poo head.” X’D
Sibling relationships can be frustratingly complicated. If this is what we can expect, I hope to see more of Fear Boner $ Skål Gål. ^_^
I dunno. ‘You’re a poo head’ already sounds like a very cutting line to me.
“Sibling relationships can be frustratingly complicated. If this is what we can expect, I hope to see more of Fear Boner $ Skål Gål. ^_^”
Yes Yes Yes. Every so often there’s a background character that you can TELL is someone who would be interesting to be elevated into a support character. Like Barberian or Ray Cosmos or the two New Yorkers who stumbled on Lapha and Garamm and got excellent advice on love and insects. And I’d definitely add Skal Gal and Fear Boner (especially Skal Gal) to that group.
So, hear me out…a Road Trip arc.
Syddles & Frix in a big ol’ RV with Skål Gål & Fear Boner, and the WonderDorks of New York.
Like…Sydney decides to make her fist Rich Person purchase, say, the original Adam West Batmobile, but it’s up in like Spokane for some reason. She and Frix are discussing it, when Harper, Fear Boner, and Skål Gål wander into the scene, and the sibs indicate an interest in the adventure. This leads to a road trip set up, and they decide to take a route through Montana because the sibs have a cousin or something to visit, and somewhere in the mountains thete’s a freak early blizzard, and they wind up picking up the Illuminerdy couple who were chasing Bigfoot or something. Then it’s a Cannonball Run scenario getting back to Archon because reasons.
This. Must. Happen.
Normally I avoid the people who say Dave should be faster. The story is fine as it is and while I like his old original art he doesn’t wanna so tough rockos. But I *really* wanna see Bharda’s story.
I would like to respectfully demand that this story be told. (insert vague reference to Godfather here)
Is this Dabbler’s magic, or does Max just like goofy men? History will only tell. I’m expecting them to have a good time at the very least, be it “talking a little and having fun” or “sharing one too many drinks and waking up in Vermont.”
That would be fun, actually. I’m not sure how that never happened to Syd– to the Mighty Halo, because ADHD, late nights, and super-speed/teleportation are a HELL of a mix
Max likes men who aren’t hitting on her. This guy is showing enough hesitation to not get her defenses up.
Counterexample: Deus
Hiw is that a counterexample? Deus is constantly hitting on her, and she is rather annoyed by it.
Counter-counter example.
Max does not like Deus ;)
Counter-counter-counter example. Max actually does like Deus, but doesnt like the overconfidence of Deus (poor Deus, he can’t help but be overconfident. He has so much to be overconfident about, being a perfect paragon of humanity and all. Perfection in a world of imperfect people who you want to just help raise the status of living for in win-win situations all around. It’s a blessing and a curse for our beloved savior of the planet, but he carries it with admirable duty and diligence. That wonderful man he is. All praise Deus, amen).
Wait .. so… Anyway where was I….
Oh yes. Counter-counter-counter example: Max DOES like Deus, but in particular when he’s NOT showing off the many aspects of his perfection. Like when he was talking to her about future business opportunities, and how the money he was offering could do a bunch of very good things that he knew Maxima would like.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-411-tete-a-tet-offensive/
And when he offered to give her the geode and was talking to her about it. She was genuinely enjoying being with him until he… started making jokes about military stuff and he said ‘his Dr. Jekyll potion wore off.’
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-416-meta-analysis/
Also, she know that Deus and Sydney share a lot of the same likes, apparently. So there’s at least something that Maxima finds attractive about him.
ALSO ALSO…. she finds him attractive in a moai sort of way, she thinks he’s in REALLY good shape (and look who Maxima already hangs out with and she says that about DEUS), she’s impressed that he’s a literal SELF MADE billionaire.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-837-wheel-of-girlfriend/
Also, she does trust him, at least with some things. That’s an important component of any positive relationship. And she left the geode with him, another sign of trust. She is confident he will neither disclose its connection to her, or use it against her in some way.
Counter-point: Max likes Deus when he is _not_ hitting on her, which appears to be a rare celestial event.
Max is a nerd at heart and possibly perceives herself as somewhat “goofy” in private.
As a nerdy and occasionally goofy person I can identify. it’s tough when your role in a group, in my case, supervisor, in Max’s case, ranking officer, puts you in conflict with your baseline personality.
Maybe he’s reminding her of Sydney.
Or of how she and her own brother used to interact with each other.
Max does seem more comfortable around ‘goofy’ people – Sydney is an excellent example. Even Deus has his goofy moments.
and then there’s his Glumgold MacQuack’s’s’s’s’s
It’s Glomgold.
And again, she likes Deus when he isn’t making a pass.
“No, seriously. I want to put my Irish penis in you.”
This just make me think of a guy explaining how he was actually assembled by his ‘father’ à la Victor Frankenstein and his ‘son’ Adam/Deucalion/_________, e.g. His tongue is Polish, the right arm is German while the left is Italian, et cetera.
Blatant innuendo always makes me think of this strip now, breaking down the generic format into its constituent parts – https://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.594.html
Damn. He looks like one of the Dalton brothers from the Lucky Luke comics
Omg, he really does! I cant unsee it now!
I was thinking Franklin from the Fabulous furry Freaks
I was thinking Franklin too. The hair is more Freddy, but hair does not a Freddy make. If he has a cat, investigations will be needed.
Considering Max is 6 1 and Avarell is confirmed 7 I think this is Jack Dalton the third tallest one since second tallest William is around 6 3 or 6 4 definitely taller than Max.
Lets see Max is 6’1″ since Avarell is 7′ and William is 6’5″ ish that only leaves Jake considering Joe is under 5′
Being charming *at* a person on demand is hard, snarking at your pushy sister is low-pressure, low-risk, and wit is not suppressed by concern.
Which makes it a good way to actually break the ice.
Also, a thought I’ve had before, came up when talking with my wife about this page: Dave B, is there a way to change your comment’s default to “first page” instead of “newest”. I’m here early today, so it’s not an issue, but sometimes I have to scroll down to the bottom of the 2nd page to hit the button to go to the first page to read everything in order.
Or at least add page navigation to the top as well as the bottom?
The clunky, user unfriendly comment section is a feature, not a bug.
Where else are comments uneditable and undeletable?
Everywhere that uses the default WordPress comment system, whether or not they’re using ComicPress?
I have a plugin I wrote for myself that puts the comment page nav at the top, among other things (mainly highlighting new comments since the last read). Need to find time to work on it again for general use, but if there’s any interest in the alpha version let me know.
A big part of Julie Strain being on so many Heavy Metal covers was her big parts. But, also, she was married to Kevin Eastman, who besides being one of the creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was the owner and publisher of Heavy Metal. When you have a literal in-house model, use it!
Yes I imagine that would be quite a plentifull source of inspiration.
That probably put her in contact with a lot of other artists as well.
And she has a Biography with possibly the best title…. Six Foot Tall… and Worth the Climb!
Thought Strain was also an artist, married to Boris…
Sure he was married to a Julie at least
Also can’t remember if it was Boris or his wife who did the metal-models (lots of shiny silvers and gold)
Got a book of their work buried somewhere in this house
You are thinking of Julie Bell, which did lots of awesome illustrations of heroines. She was also a bodybuilder and a model for her husband, Boris.
Thank you, had a feeling her name was at least Julie :(
The wife of another of my favorite artists, Robt. Williams, features heavily in his artwork. Also a bunch of the Pre-Raphaelites worked with the same couple of muses. It seems to be not uncommon at least.
It’s been said that the mating call of the female is “I’m sooo drunk” ;)
Brother? OK, they’ve got the same eye color, but beyond that I don’t see a resemblance.
Looks like they have roughly the same nose, too, you just don’t see her in profile.
This is nothing compared to the difference between my kids.
They could be adopted?
Not every blood-sibling looks the same
Would you rather she also had his chin?
Adoption exists and also a woman I know has 5 kids with three different fathers and that punch there in the arm is a definite sibling marker.
I’ve heard some truly bad lesbian pick up lines. The kind that I can’t repeat here.
They can’t be much worse than the standard line my friend in college used:
“Nice shoes! Wanna F—?”
He tested it 50 times and ended up with 24 slaps and 26 “happy endings”.
*shrug*
what? No free shoes?
there’s a YouTube channel that seems to have a lot of them. part of it is the frequent target does such a pretty job with Hailey! after a particularly naughty one. especially when delivered within earshot of one of the moms.
The primary reason not to use humor is that in a first addressing(not limited to dating) all interaction feels forced(, because it is).
Other reason: good humor is often based in the deductive reasoning and/or the expectations of the recipient, which can be hard to predict when the recipient is completely new.
You’re better off using interaction for which feeling forced is of lesser significance like surprising(non-offensive) statements(I use subject related facts, but wild guesses work too) and/or official protocols(“can I buy you a drink?”, “Excuse me?”).
As someone who identified as a woman at the time, I can confirm that most lesbian pickup lines are goofy at best, and non-existent at worst. Mostly, we just silently throw out imaginary “vibes” and hope the other person asks first, until we either give up or get shoved into the situation by an overly-helpful friend/sibling/ex. I did once ask a girl out by offering her a Ring Pop and saying absolutely nothing; surprisingly, it actually worked. And then it still took a ridiculous amount of time for me to catch on when she proposed to me later. By buying two Ring Pops and handing me one of them. Every day. For two weeks. >.>
Congrats on both the fun if temporarily misunderstood proposal and the journey of self discovery. I hope both resolved to your satisfaction.
*Mostly, we just silently throw out imaginary “vibes” and hope the other person asks first, until we either give up or get shoved into the situation by an overly-helpful friend/sibling/ex.*
Can confirm. Busybody coworker in our case.
I have heard endless complaints from lesbian acquaintances about the “Lesbian sheep problem.” And wished, on their behalf, that one day they might find it as easy to talk to each other about these things as they apparently find it to talk to me. :-/
There was some academic who did a study on the sexuality of sheep, and mentioned considerable examples of homosexual activity among Rams. But when the question of Ewes came up, the conclusion was that “because female sheep signal sexual receptiveness by standing still, it may be the case that there are females out there that would really like another female but that generally means that neither of them will be moving around to find the other… so observationally, and in practice, we may never really know whether there are lesbian sheep or not.”
This led to one of the best, and goofiest, lesbian pickup lines it has ever been my privilege as a straight friend to ever hear of. A very nice couple I know got together one day after hearing the story of this study in a college lecture, after which one of them picked a quiet moment, walked up to the other, looked her in the eye, and said “baaa.”
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I like that Sam from his Tamer fanfic is there in the group checking out Max lol
Heh, long time no comment…
I think this is the level of “Wingmate” help I’d need. No experience being “charming”, but I can rip into family no problems…
Doesn’t help that the only pick up lines I’ve ever learnt are seriously groan worthy, and that’s just as a joke…
Besides her many hot & often fetish nude photo shoots, I remember Julie Strain for her book, “Six Foot One and Worth the Climb.”
Maxima tries to become less of a defensive bitch. That’s nice. Character development.
It really is nice when a character (or any person) tries to be a little introspective of their own flaws. Especially in a story. It prevents one of the larger examples of Mary Sue-ism when a character realizes they have faults and then tries to overcome them in order to improve themselves. Especially when those improvements do not come easily to them.
Regarding research into lesbian pickup lines, I can recommend Hailee and Kendra on YouTube. Those two are truely delightful :).
Can we give Shioh some super powers? She’s cute, I want to keep her!
She has the super power of being awesome
She will never not be Skål Gål.
And I agree. I want to keep her and Fear Boner.
Otoh, I also want to se her & Syddles meet, become hijinx-sisters, and maybe even given Syddles unresolved “I’m straight, I am straight, am I straight, wait, shit what about Frix, WHY AM I HAVING THIS INNER MONOLOGUE, actually Frix is probably less worried about this than I am, but what if he likes her more than me, actually most normies probably don’t see him the way I do, WAIT NO DON’T GET DISTRACTED, I was thinking about Shioh and how weird that is because I don’t see other girls that way, well except when Dabbler does her succubus thing but that’s different, um…what was I…?”
I don’t know why, but I feel that Skal Gal and Sydney would get along like fire.
The issue with pick up lines is that in contrast to other ice breakers the review process is really bad.
Person thinks of pick up line.
Person pick up line.
Recipient either accepts or declines.
if decline goto start
if accept goto flirt
Nowhere in this whole process is there room for any potential recipient to give more than binary feedback on the quality of the pick up line.
My correction didn’t come through.
The new line will be tried on someone else.
Huh… I actually give that guy points.
No really think about it. He looks average so not a super (most likely), the charm + looks + dabbler magic = people a lot more forward or a bit drunk acting a bit more out… And yet he didn’t line up and be as annoying or silly (in a bad way) as some of the others. So that means good self control.
Even then he kind of knows his ranking and luck so he doesn’t make a complete fool of himself so far.
So I give him points for leaving a good first impression.
I Have always wanted to try this line
“has anyone ever told you that the configuration and
juxtaposition of your features is extraordinarily apposite?”
Sydney would probably get it but not sure about Maxima
Isn’t there a poem….
Something something something symmetry?
The Tyger by William Blake.
Thanks Google….eventually.
Sisters. Ah, uh, sisters. Sigh.
Is that fucking Bricky getting the shoulder pat?
How would that lady Shioh(if that’s her name)would react if some older type gentleman approached her and had a sketchbook with him. He show Max a sketch he did of her but in the ling claire style and that gentleman should resemble Belgian cartoonist Herge(Georges Prosper Remi)….!
I hope the author is good at caricatures of dead Belgian or French cartoonists…
Those NOT familiar with ling claire,go here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_claire
LGBT+ culture is generally really good about pickup lines, because of the illicit trust and lowered barriers that comes with being in an LGBT+ space. At gay bars, or swinger events, or anything event tangentially related, sincere come ons are a lot more common—with actual communication, including questions, wants, expectations, and boundaries.
If you haven’t tried it, go to a gay bar where you feel like you could fit in, and find out for yourself! If someone hits on you, just be 100% honest that you’re are or aren’t interested (your prerogative) and that you were encouraged to go to learn something about the LGBT+ dating scene.
Oh, hey! That’s “fear boner” guy, from the start of the scene.
He’s got a good turn of phrase, I’ll give him that, let’s see how he does.
I was sure he was a one-off throwaway. But I’ll tolerate him if we get to keep Shioh.
The winglady you were sure you didn’t want.
Hmm. Regarding pick up lines, I’ve never used them or had them used on me. The only dates I’ve been on were for the purpose of getting into a relationship and were usually set up by friends or family because they thought I needed someone steady. While if I want sex as a homosexual/aromantic/cis-male the process is usually this: 1 go up to a guy. 2 ask of they wanna fu*k or get a bj. 3 get a yes or no answer.
“Wanna fu*k?” is a surprisingly effective pickup line to use on guys.
Honestly, it might just be I’m no spring chicken, but that would have me picturing cider in my ear.
Honestly I think the biggest thing he’s got going for him is that he noticed she was sick of being harassed by every guy at the bar and was going to leave her alone till his sister thrust him at her. The humor was the icing on the cake that is him respecting her rather than treating her like a piece of meat.
Strongly Agree. Hope he never acts as a wingman for his sister in the future.
Guiles theme goes with everything… except this.
Sisters make the best wingmen.
Been a long while since I have watched a bad American movie. Thanks for the mention and link, I’ll watch it right now.
He got her to snort. It’s over guys.
Bad at approaching women? How do you know? He isn’t trying here.
This assumption that not trying is the same as being bad at it annoys me. Because you know what happens? People will keep pushing and pushing and pushing you to try and when you finally do put in half-hearted effort they’re surprised you’re not terrible at it. I never said I was bad at it! You just assumed that the reason I didn’t want to was because I was bad at it, when in reality I simply don’t want to. We’re supposed to live in a culture that respects personal choices, but when it comes down to it “I don’t want to” is never accepted as a reason on its own.
I feel that. Fortunately I’ve finally hit a point where most of my family has accepted that after my train wreck of a marriage I’m happy being single and have no interest in ever trying to date again.
I mean, that’s his sister, I assume she’s seen him try and flub before, or otherwise has some clue about his history.
Ah Juile Strain, there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. I think I still have her Vampirella and Hakk2 stuff in storage.
She finally has a name (cute name t go with a cute girl, Maxi doesn’t know what she’s past up :( ), but, she doesn’t get an entry until she is formally introduced
And here’s some more evidence that nobody can embarrass you in public better than family can. Oh, granted that it’s usually yer mom & she can dig at the deepest of your insecurities. However, yer sis can come up with a lot of rapid-fire embarrassments…Even if her shots cause relatively superficial damage, she’s got a lot of ammo & isn’t quite so stingy as yer mom to use it.
Yes, I speak of having first-hand experience with this…I may be getting old enough that some general memories become fuzzy, but many of these specific memories are still as sharp as they ever were.
I think Max will have a good time, but it won’t be Sexy Time.
At least, not the First Time.
She might get his number though.
could someone explain the page title to me, I don’t get it.
It’s a play on “abracadabra”, a supposed “magic word” traditionally used by the cheesiest of stage magicians when they do some magic trick. Apparently her brother is so painfully shy that getting him a date is a minor bit of magic.
I really enjoy how Kyle Eschen lampshades the traditional magician phrasing and mannerisms with his extreme cynicism and flattened gestures.
End panel, sister is saying “magic”
abracadabra is an ancient ‘magic word’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abracadabra)
The title is a pun: abraca|date|bra
In my experience a ‘datebra’ is ‘nobra’…
So we’ve found the way to get through Max’s defenses. Self depreciating snark.
Always managed to inadvertently break the never stick your D in crazy rule and eventually just said not worth the risk. Year after I backed off dating run into a young lady grabbing her weekly pull list at a local comic shop asking the shop owner about anime clubs in the area and tell her about mine. She joined and first year she’s nothing but a club friend,start hanging together as friends and convention buddies with friend groups merging and both sets of parents start giving us knowing looks and asking about you and her him and you both met with eye rolling and exasperated mom dad we’re just friends. 2.5 years in and at a convention all of a sudden something clicked and she’s not just one of the guys anymore and after some agonizing over risk of the friendship put my cards on the table. Shorten things up a bit date 5 months before unthinkable thoughts for a confirmed batchelor and 2 months later down on one knee. Married 15.5 years and still very much in love when the pulmonary embolism took her 10 years ago.
My best corny come on was when I saw a girl who looked like she was a bit overheated. I asked if she was ok, she responded “I’m hot”, and I replied, “Absolutely, but how are you feeling?” as I gave her a bottle of water.
Did you get her name/number then? Come on, don’t leave us hanging!
I have both and we work together now, but I got a friend instead of a girlfriend, so it’s still a win.
A friend is indeed a win. :)