Grrl Power #122 – If only all behavioral therapy was this easy
Back unto the breach. I missed you guys. Well, I checked in on the comments a few times but mostly I was drawing over the break, and hardly spending any time playing Far Cry 3, I promise. I did manage to get an extra page finished over the holiday so yay, buffer. Now I won’t miss a post if I lose power over the weekend or whatever.
The reason this takes place in Leon’s office (you can see the servers behind Max and Syd on the last page) is that I forgot to draw the funny shirt I was going to put on Leon the first time I put him in the comic, so I needed an excuse for him to change it. Of course, now that I’ve called it out, everyone will be all “It’s not that funny” when they see it, but at least this way it leads to a good way for Sydney to be introduced to him and a few jokes on the next page.
As a nice little bonus this page shows a bit of a flashback to Max as a teen. I’ll eventually show her origin, but probably in little snippets here and there. I don’t know that every little detail needs to be spelled out.
Also I finished the background on page 120, so that page is finally complete. And if you didn’t see it last week, thanks to Shouri for her Sydney pinup.
Edit: Added the orbs and a little smoke, etc to Max’s flashback panel to make it more clear what happened.
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Can see last panel Maxima thinking, “Was putting off retirement until the next Millennium, now???, is time served enough…?”
Outstanding comic, Dave. Can easily see why it ranks so high day after day. Thanks for all your work on this.
By now, it is clear that, when handling Sydney, the BIG question for Max will be whether to laugh or scream.
The answer is yes, or possibly no.
Judging from the very girly design of the couch, there’s a small part of me ad-libbing this
“What was that sound?”
“NOTHING GRANDMA!”
I don’t think Sydney’s reset concussion will work.
The artist should have had her take off her glasses at least. Even a crazy person wouldn’t do that with glasses on.
Speaking as the voice of experience, and insanity, no, not really. You tend to forget you had glasses on.
It wasn’t forgotten – if she had done so, it would’ve tipped-off her brain that something was up.
Win!
No, you may have the foresight to remove your glasses first. I may have the foresight to remove my glasses first. Take a look at this girl’s reaction to…everything this comic has done so far. I would be far more surprised if she calmly removed said glasses lol
Hell, she probably gets them repaired/replaced monthly. Maybe more often. Or perhaps they’re made out of some incredibly durable material in order to save on replacement costs hehe
If they aren’t already, she may have to ask Dabbler to make her a pair.
I’ve done that many times…and only when I am really planning it out in advance have I ever bothered taking off my glasses. Have yet to damage the glasses doing it either.
OK, I’m going to assume that Leon is going to change into the “funny shirt”, rather then him having it on now, because other than the spit-take mess looking vaguely (and I do mean “Vaguely”) like Bun-Bun hopping in the snow in the last panel, it just looks like a typical white pocket-less skivvy shirt to me.
And the whole Maxima doing the “Gibbs-whack” thing… probably a good thing Maxima is super-strong otherwise Sydney probably wouldn’t even notice it. Just hope Maxima has super stamina to go along with it, cause she’ll be doing it all day long at the rate Sydney needs a reset. :-D
I would have skipped reading your comment, but I decided to make the little effort for someone with such a cool avatar.
is that one tree supposed to be on fire? If so the angle of the blast to that tree is a little weird.
No tree is on fire, it is just a casually yellow-orange tree. Nothing to see here, just taking a little autumn! I guess.
Also, I love how the guy is so scared he doesn’t even realize that his arm is burnt :D
The only thing on fire is the two studs in what used to be her wall. I like this addition, which makes it very clear this was not throw the coffee table, but throw the energy blast. Max has her own built in PPO!
She didn’t fire from that position. She sat bolt up right, fired through the wall, and fell back down onto one elbow to give her line.
Errr.
Cringe worthy again. How old is Sydney?
What’s age got to do with it? I know 40 year olds who act like Sydney, I’m in my mid 30s and while I am nowhere near Sydney level I still do many, many of the things Sydney does, like MMORPG marathon sessions, comic book binges, hyperactivity, godlike Science Fiction geekiness, and so on.
Indeed, do you regularly slam your head against desks in order to do a ‘behavioral reset’? Hard enough to cause the guy sitting next to you to spill his drink?
Punched a wall hard enough to break my hand once, figured it was preferable to punching the loudmouthed a– who was in my face, since I am allergic to jail, he left me alone afterwards, so I accomplished my goal.
I’m in my 50’s and when I want to get an image out of my head shake it back and forth very quickly like a dog with a bad taste in it’s mouth. It’s all relative everyone has quirks they pick up as they live their lives some my seem odd to you but your’s may seem odd to others.
I put my hand in front of my face and stare at my palm while letting my brain go lax for a while, just long enough to zone out a bit, and thn I snap my fingers which is sort of the signal to wake up and go back to normal. The reason things get stuck in our heads is usually because we think about them as a result of trying so hard not to think about them. It’s way easier to just think about something else for a bit. Hell, one time I couldn’t get that rick to work so I just stared at a salt shaker.
well… i do with a book for no reason so why not
Cast page says 21.
But I pretty much have to agree with Other Azrael (=P) on the subject of age irrelevance in this matter.
I know someone similar to Syd… Not the same weirdness exactly, but overall amount and intensity…. Yeah. She’s a lot of fun to hang out with… in small doses. One evening a week. More than that, and I’d probably be behaving a lot like Max in this comic.
Reading through old archive comments… This kind of reaction amuses me.
I’m 39. Turn 40 in three weeks. I’m a successful professional in the telecom industry who recently won a major performance award at work.
I also have really severe ADHD combined type. 90mg/day of Adderall just to keep it manageable. And Sydney is possibly the most accurate portrayal of someone with my type of ADHD I’ve ever encountered in fiction.
It isn’t something you outgrow. It’s not about immaturity. It’s just the way our brains are wired. We get a little better at hiding it from the mundanes as we get older because we get given grief over it, but this is who we are.
I know to someone who isn’t this way, it’s really hard to relate to. But… It’s who we are.
in panel 2, did maxima throw something (the remote?) super hard or did she fire an energy beam from her hand?
Also, those are some REALLY short shorts she is wearing
Energy beam.
If you look, his shirt is slightly singed at the edge. On the sleeve.
Not to mention his arm as well
if she threw something really hard, the friction would create fire as well.
See: https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-02/video-flamethrowing-navy-railgun-blasts-terrifying-projectiles-through-superheated-air
Railguns are just the first generation of this type of launch system, eventually we will use this technology to launch satellites and spacecraft.
And of course Adamas’s orbital kinetic anti-bad pun cannon also uses this principle. :)
actually I use short-burst rockets until it hits atmosphere, Gravity does the rest. I really need to upgrade…
Basically what’s known as a “Thor” strike. If you are already in space it is a cheap and highly effective weapon against targets in a gravity well. Check out a book called “Footfall” by Niven and Pournelle.
No we wont, the acceleration would destroy the cargo.
Unless you mean merely magenetic acceleration, we likely would use a maglev track to accelerate things into orbit eventually (unless space elevators prove more economical)
Some cargoes would be fine at the highest acceleration assuming no overheating. Water (one of the most needed consumables) would have no problem nor would many supplies. And yes a mile long Mag-Lev track would do for anything that’s delicate like people. Also being an electric launch system it is infinitely variable in speed and length of boost phase.
If you go look at the Maxima’s character bio, that should answer your question.
Found the comic today and dove through the archives. I’m really liking where the story is going, and the characters are a lot of fun. Enjoying the references although some I certainly miss out on… Looking forward to seeing more!
Yea! We’ve got a new convert to the cult.
Remember to reread it slowly. You miss some very funny stuff if you just rush through the reading.
Oh I never rush my archive binges. Taking the time to enjoy a comic is much better than rushing through only to be done in a couple hours and wanting so much more.
Not to say that the “wanting more” part doesn’t happen any way, but…
Next time you make your way thru the archives, may I suggest checking out each page’s comments?
Not only does it help you to pace yourself, but “Mr.DaveB” has some very vocal & insightful readers…
(…& then there’s me…)
:P
:)
And sometime we come up with some pretty funny stuff ourselves. :)
And DaveB has been known to use ideas that show up in the comments. Plus he often reveals tidbits of info on the comic and his own life and if he goes to Cons. Also there are links to merch and bonus pics.
on the subject of the comments. some require the same warning I once saw on a packet of peanuts “May contain nuts”, the same could apply to some of the people who post comments.
Hey! I resemble that remark.
I’ve found the comments on the most part to be suprisingly intelligent.
It’s weird to see some of you talking about really high-teck stuff in a very detailed manner.
Interesting but weird.
Of course, a pack of peanuts may also not contain nuts, since the peanut is a legume or pea, not a nut.
Well sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t!
Welcome! Glad you like it.
Actually for holding orbs in winter without getting chapped hands, mittens would be more useful than gloves as long as the orbs are under the fabric. So as long as the mittens aren’t duct-tapped to Sydney’s hands they aren’t really all that much of a weakness either. But it’s not like Syndey has a couple days to think over the metaphor. It would however reduce her ability to switch out orbs.
I might just have a little tendency to overthink things to the point that people are really annoyed with me.
Or those fingerless gloves. One pair I saw had a little hood you could pull over the fingers to keep them warm when you don’t need them so they became mittens.
The thought just hit me with younger Maxima. Does she look like a bionic Marge Simpson? Sorry, I had to ask.
….Which is probably the #1 reason why Max will NOT wear her hair up. E-ver.
I’m currently trying to figure out who the guy is in that panel, her boyfriend? Brother? Friend? Relative? I mean I know we probably won’t see him again but now I’m just trying to figure this out.
Dave said it was her brother on page one of the comments.
Sorry, mixed up what you were asking about, the guy with the popped paper bag next the hole in the wall in the flashback panel is her brother, the guy in the last panel is Leon, the resident computer expert for the division Maxima works for. He has been seen a few times now, and he is on the cast page, so he will most certainly be back :).
Thank you for clearing that up, heh he has a very freaked out look on his face.
Sydney has that effect on people
Wrong panel, I am talking about the guy with Maxima when she was younger.
Both,
wait…this isn’t a Japanese manga, nevermind.
(seriously what is up with that being so prevalent these days?)
In Genshiken the main character says something like, “The people who write those manga must be only children. Trust me, no-one who actually has a little sister could possibly write that stuff.”
Just realized. Sydney is being taken to that big press conference orchestrated by Arianna, right?
So now, not only does Sydney have an eyepatch, she ALSO has an obvious bruise on her forehead. Couple that with her recorded public behaviour thus far (and the preconceptions this may have caused in the media), and her ……. individualistic ways at the best of times.
…….
Possibly, we will be seeing Arianna do the full-double-facepalm-with-fetal-position very very shortly.
I don’t really see a problem. She was fighting bank robbers, without using superpowers. Picking up a few injuries isn’t remarkable even if she picked them up with subsequent antics.
“Possibly, we will be seeing Arianna do the full-double-facepalm-with-fetal-position very very shortly.”
I see her as lying on the floor in the fetal position while sucking her thumb.
Currently, Sydney is not part of the team, just being shown around. Much of what she is seeing will be explained at the press conference, so none of it (other than Dabbler and X) is actually secret. The public face of Archon, Max, should be there, along with the General, but Sydney being there will just cause chaos, as Sydney tends to do, it seems.
Any PR person who lets Sydney make unfiltered statements to the media should be fired or at least have her head thoroughly examined. At least, right now she is a civilian and not a member, yet.
Sydney: So after I hoofed him in the %^$$@$ then I #^@<N reached up and grabbed his @#^$#^@ tongue and so totally $^%&@!$ flipped the !#^%$^&@ over my shoulder to the $^#$^@ floor. His !#%$#^!# tongue! I mean that was so much better than the time that this mugger tried to …
Arianna: Thank you, Ms. Scoville. Next question, please.
Sydney might not be officially part of the team as yet, but she IS about to be part of their press conderence.
Arianna probably deludes herself that Sydney can be “controlled” – make the appearance VERY brief, have Max there as well, and maybe give a quiet warning/threat directly at Sydney immediately beforehand. Her supreme over-confidence about that idiotic ‘Fake Bank Job’ will get her yet.
IMO, the only way of ‘controlling’ Sydney at a Big Media Event (or, at the very least, keeping her quiet) involves the use of tranquilizer darts and, very likely, burying her under six feet of wet cement.
no, she was to be SPECIFICALLY EX-cluded from the press conference, that’s why Max had Peggy take her out to lunch. the eating of lunch, and the subsequent med-bay visit has gone on longer than that press conference has i’m sure, especially seeing as how Max herself is there talking to Sydney, she’s done with her part of it, and is either leaving the rest up to Ariana and the General, or, like i said, it’s over as all the newsies want to be the first to hit the presses with the story, so they aren’t hanging around…
I’d be surprised if Sidney passed the psych evaluation.
who said she has…?
read that wrong… was for some reason thinking you were implying that she had already passed one…
For Sydney, she is ADD enough that they could know she fails but fails within acceptable guidelines. Remember, this is a pseudo military organization and there are a very limited number of super powered people. Also recall that General Falk as much as indicated that she would be allowed on so they could keep track of her better. Now that I think about it, the earlier parts of the comic indicated that she has a higher rank (we are currently in a flashback). This would have the effect of keeping her father away from people interaction. It would also allow her to better apply her comic related skills.
It also depends on how you mean “passed”. They could have passed her on to another more specialized psychologist.
Wait! Are you implying that ARC would just “smooth over” the testing procedures for Sydney, just to get her INTO ARC on an official basis? Why, the whole idea that they’d “bend the rules” is tantamount to treason!
It’s as if to say that, in the movie Armageddon, NASA accepted Harry’s drilling crew on board the shuttles even though they couldn’t pass the tests!
:D
Was going to say that. Sometimes you take who can do the job, no matter what.
There are what are considered acceptable mental health quirks that a psyc evaluation will pick up, but don’t affect if they will hire her for the team.
In this situation the only real things they are looking for are #1 will she be a danger to the team or Archeon as a whole, and #2 can the follow orders in a way that is not counterproductive to the mission.
Anything else they will just take into consideration in how they handle her.
Dabbler
all questions on entry to team other than (powerful and says “yes”) now invalid.
I’d be surprised if any shrink passed a psych evaluation immediately after 30 minutes of evaluating Sydney. Which would make shrink evaluation legally moot…
Which is I guess why she has insanity listed on both her skill sheet and her disadvantage list LOL
P.S.: she’d soon qualify as a mad scientist if she could focus, LOL
Reminds me of one of the funnier quotes from ‘Big Bang Theory’. Sheldon has been referred to (more than once, actually) as being ” only one lab accident away from becoming a super-villain”,
One kind of wonders if Sydney is the same.
Nah, Shelly is too much of a bloated ego-sack to be a villain (or much of a hero either for that matter) let alone a ‘super’ anything (unless it’s a ‘super-giant-annoying-pita-knowitall-antisocial-twat’)
Which has arguably been said of a few (in)famous super-viilains prior to their entry into that field. ;)
In Sheldon’s defense, he IS trying to learn… he just fails to understand the why behind what is polite. Also, within the first month of knowing Leonard he:
1)accidentally saved Leonard’s career by driving a North Korean spy crazy enough to defect back to North Korea,
2) intentionally saved Leonard’s life by shoving Leonard out of an elevator with a Jet fuel bomb that was going to go off sooner than expected despite Leonard’s claims to the contrary.
There is that, certainly. Ands there have been a couple of other instances where Sheldon has surprised everyone in a GOOD way. But there have also been lots of instances where I am amazed that Leonard, Howard, Raj and Penny didn’t just drag him into a dark alley and club him to death with steel pipes. :)
The truth is a lot of people in the field of mental health entered it because of their own problems. This was told to me by a Doctor in this field.
THAT is reassuring.
this is one of the reasons why I won’t confide anything to a shrink…Consider that, a person who began questioning their own sanity enough to educate themselves in psychology and has become certified to evaluate the psychology of OTHER PEOPLE?
“Physician, heal thyself” INDEED!
To quote one Corporal Maxwell Q Klinger, 4077th MASH, US Army:
“What chance have I got when the psychiatrists are crazier than I am?”
I am a student of human cognition. I am more concerned about people who don’t question their own sanity. You can learn more by looking up “heuristics and biases” and “choice blindness”.
a mad scientist?
as Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen said on a few occasions “I’m not mad, just annoyed”
And this is what it´s like to have a Malkavian in the VtM group.
*Cookies for those who get that ref*
I always killed them immediately, usually through Diablerie, since there is no sense in wasting power, fortunately I had Illusion powers and could hide the “black veins”. ;)
Malk’s their great fun to play
The funny thing is, knowing Sydney, that probably worked…
For all of 30 seconds anyways.
Actually I’ve been thinking about a scene that could happen if it did work and her instinct was to go for the forcefield orb.
It would be like what happens when a bird flys into the glass of a window. Imagine somebody trying to punch her only to find their fist hitting an unseen wall of steel. I can hear the bones breaking from here.
if it absorbs kinetic impact the person wont feel a thing, if it deflects all kinetic force they will feel ALL of what they put in (which would be like hitting a steel door, times three or so).
Max was feeling the impact, Syd wasn’t.
Definitely true there. They stopped testing because the impacts were going to cause damage if Max used any greater force. Meaning its a ‘hard’ barrier.
oh yeah, forgot about that.
Dabbler’s shield was a “Hard” Light shield as well. Looked like it anyway.
And wasn’t shown that Max shattered Dabbler’s shield? And the next frame had Dabbler behind Sydney holding onto Sydney’s shield bubble?
didn’t show it breaking, and not sure of the lines on Dabbler’s shield weren’t from it’s design or damage from Max’s hit.
And Max had the protection of being super strong & resilient to injury. For a normal person, like Math, a punch or kick to a hard unbreakable surface HURTS!
Why you don’t hit strange,hard surfaces with your fists. You kick them.
Yeah, because it’s soooo much better to break your toes than your fingers. :/
Anyone who kicks with their TOES is under serious doubt for sanity anyway…Or at least, being so perturbed at the moment so as to forget how bad of an idea it is to kick with your toes under any circumstances.
Especially if you consider the “kicker” in question to have any level of hand-to-hand training or experience, such as, for example, most supervillains. You’d never catch Math kicking anything/anybody with his toes!
Goes with what I was told about hand to hand combat. “The only time you should punch a guy in the face is if your naked and your feet ate nailed to the floor”
I would amend that to ” unless you’re wearing steel-toed shoes” because they are VERY good at protecting your toes and will allow you to kick holes in things.
I’ve been going about it wrong this entire time!
love the main character cracks me up.
You know what you need dealing with Sidney and what Maxima apparently doesn’t have?
Super-patience!
So long only Peggy survived the collision with planet Sidney unharmed and victorious!
She’s been in the same room as her for what, maybe a half hour? It probably just hasn’t had time to sink in yet.
Maybe not sink so much as impact.
Dabbler juggled Sydney.
heh, something for Dabbler to brag at with Math, Math got hit, Dabbler turned Sydney into a circuss prop.
Yes, but in the end also Dabbler got hit! And it’s easier to dodge a swung chair than a double attack of combined fist-orb!
I’m curious what Leon will do now! Sidneys bank account is in great danger!
Yes, but does she share said bank-account with the Comic Store/whatisname who co-owns it with her?
Well, normally you have a business bank account in professional business. I don’t know, if Sidney and Joel have one, but I guess. The comic book store looks for me well run.
I was thinking about Sidneys own bank account, because it would be extremly unfair, to ruin the business even more! But Leon wouldn’t do that. He may be liking the idea and maybee threatening Sidney with this, but in the end he’ll shurely fall like everybody to her charm!
Maybee thats one of the powers yet to be discovered. Subtle charm. Everybody, who is upset about Sidney, can’t keep this up for long. That’s scratching the limit of plausibility.
Nah that’s just a blank t-shirt not worth getting made about besides he’s a nerd and probably a comic fan they should end up at least friends if not conspirators against all the “Beautiful People” and cracking jokes no one else gets.
Maybe this is what happened to Hillary that caused her subdural hematoma.
“Will not be Fall Gal FOR Obama [Bill, etc] ONE MORE TIME! RESET!!!!”
*Kicks out all political bullshit*
Yes clearly not the place for it please cease and desist.
We may have gone from Manic, to schizophrenic.
Hmm what other buttons does she have up in that noggin? L+R+Start+Select was that one, how about the Konami code?
Ctrl+Alt+Delete?
Or maybe a big ol’ reset button like the win 3.1 pcs had. Nice, simple, but probably doesn’t do much ;)
Or a little hole you stick a wire in?
Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right A B select start
don’t forget down, down, up, up, right, left, right, left, A, B, Start
A,B,C, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up, A.
Using this will utterly destroy any enemy you see! 10 Million Quatloos if you recognize the code!
Ya know, it occurs to me that we (Dave’s loyal fans) wouldn’t be the only ones laughing at Syd’s antics. In comic, they are in a secure government building: There just has to be hidden cameras all over the place with guards watching everything.
I can just see the guys in the monitor room OTFLMAOing at everything Syd does, texting the other guards on dury, hitting the replay over&over, making their own remixes, etc.
Syd is going to have a following in that building — and a percentage of tough-as-nails space marines who will step aside nervously whenever they have to pass her in the hall.
It always kind of bugs me in shows when someone does something funny and no one reacts to it. I plan on having people laugh at funny stuff, at least occasionally. If I do it every time then it feels like I’m patting myself on the back or something.
You’re right, when you make everyone in the room laugh everytime she does something stupid, that’s not good.
I can imagine at least Harem laughing her ass off at everything Sydney does, or say, and I can even see Dabbler snicker or chuckle a few times.
But Maxima, laughing about Sydney’s antics……… no way, Jose.
Max laughing in the field or an otherwise public or “serious” situation – probably not,
On the other hand, it is very easy to imagine her having quiet drinks with a friend (such as Peggy) at the end of an especially long day, and then using a phrase like “You would not BELIEVE what Sydney did today…”.
Since Peggy is her team’s pilot it’d be more like “Can you BELIEVE what that nutball Sydney did?!”
Granted. But I doubt that Max would use words like ‘nutball’ . The good Lt-Colonel obviously identifies strongly with Sydney – her own former nerdiness probably a major reason.
She already has!
Have we forgotten this incident so soon? (Pg.48):
[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/268]
In certain cases, especially if the person wants to maintain some dignity, covering up their laughter with a pretended coughing fit or a very sudden exit from the room.
Reminded of a very nice scene from the TV series ‘L A Law’. This particular court case revolves around possession/ownership of some vials of bull semen (!). Both lawyers and the judge are trying to be properly professional about it all, but all the double-entendres (intentional and otherwise) plus general wackiness just builds and builds and builds.
Finally, the judge (having increasing difficulties with his breathing) auddenly gets out, “Councillors. My chambers. NOW!” He and the two opposing lawyers all hurry out of the courtroom. When out of view and earshot of the rest of the courtroom, all three collapse laughing against the wall and each other. Always liked that scene.
Huh. So does Max throw energy blasts or did she just throw an object really, really hard?
If you’d read the other comment, you’d know already. It was an energy blast/beam.
*comments; plural
Liking the new Incentive (just have to wait for archives/725 to comment :P)
Wait there is a consistant system? I thought it just had a randomly greater number than the last archive number, from what I can tell that is what most do, though if this one has a system maybe the others do
Hey,
something bugs me about Max’s rank, so I thought I give you a heads up. She’s stated to be in the rank of a LtCol. (OF-4, silver oak leaf), but the insignia on her shoulders clearly indicate the rank of a Col. (OF-5, eagles).
greez
Mr. Spock
Looks like a silver oak leaf in panel three to me. Now, if you really want to be confused, Dave was originally going to have Archon’s Lieutenant Colonel rank insignia be a golden eagle, with Major being a silver oak leaf, as he said that “made more sense” to him. However, he was amenable to suggestions as to why this might not be an optimal solution, and eventually relented.
I saw that after I hit the submit button…i actually meant the cast page, where it occurred to me…
but fact remains that there is an inconsistence about the rank.
@7thsealord
if she was instated in a brevet rank, her CV should say so :)
@Dave
yeah, well…you should brush up on your military knowledge… ;)
btw: I almost died of laughter after Sydney pulled that stunt.. :D
Still plenty of room for retcons.
You’re right it is messed up. As Hardcover says, I didn’t know what’s what with military ranks – at all – when I started this comic, for instance I thought that the yellowy looking ranks were gold not brass. :P On top of that I’ve recently changed Maxima’s rank from Col to Lt. Col, but I haven’t had time to go back and update the art, so all through the bank scene she has a confusing “gold” eagle on her jacket.
Arc is an entirely seperate/unique (and madeup) militrary organistion, correct? So they could have purple daffidols to indicate the equivilant of a 5-star General (just look at rankings between forces belonging to the same country: Air Force have Warrant Officers instead of Staff Sargeants {it’s been over 20 years since spending time in the local Air Training Corp} etc, and some countries have different insignias for the same rank as another country)
Point is: if you want to give a LtCol in Arc-forces a gold eagle, then go for it (spotted a view inconsistancies with the insignia/rank on the cast page)
Something else to consider here is the possibility of ‘Brevet’ rank.
The military has a slot that MUST be filled, and there is a person who can handle the job at least short-term, but that person lacks the required rank. So, an option is to ‘Brevet’ that person to a higher rank – which means they get to wear the insignia and otherwise be treated as that rank, but on the understanding that this is temporary.
An excellent example of Breveting is to be found in Bernard Freyberg ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Freyberg,_1st_Baron_Freyberg ), very arguably one of the Commonwealth’s ablest army officers of both world wars. During ww1, despite being only a Captain in the British Army, he was Breveted to Brigadier-General – about four (!) steps in rank – on the basis of his ability and the needs of the time.
So, it is possible that Max is actually of lower rank, but was Breveted up to Colonel / Lt Colonel, because the military side of ARC needed someone of that rank, and she was the best choice..
This would also totally circumvent the argument of Max being too young to be a Colonel or Lt-Colonel. She might only be a Captain or Major in rank – but Colonels who can stop bullets with their bare hands and fly without outside assistance are probably in short supply.
Kiwis, gotta love ’em (give one a bent piece of #8 wire and they will invent a bomb to single-handedly end a war and usher in an age of untold power :D)
Hmm, that’s interesting. My original idea was that she used her value to bully her way up the command chain a little, and to keep herself out of too much trouble.
actually, that would be a reason to keep her OUT OF a promotion… remember old “Capt. Bligh”, from “Mutiny on the Bounty”… granted the times are different now from back then, but you hear news articles now and then of CO’s relieved of duty for TOO harsh of discipline… I’m sure that once the investigators looked back in their service records at their evaluations, that there were indicators that they shouldn’t have been put into command in the first place… Bullying would be a major red flag… besides the fact, would YOU promote somebody that tries it on YOU… heck no, you’d keep them down as a lesson then give them crap jobs till they learned better, then you’d give them easier jobs again. no, if she tried bullying her way into a promotion she would have been either kicked out of the AF or she would have been thrown in prison if it was overt enough to be illegal (Article 93. Cruelty and maltreatment. / UCMJ ART. 127: extortion) or, even article 88,89.
Bullying can be defined as physical / mental intimidation, which seems to be what you think Dave is saying Max did to get ahead.
I very respectfully suggest that you are taking the word way W-A-Y out of context here. What I get from Dave’s words is that Max was not at all passive in her Air Force career path, holding out for what SHE wanted rather than allowing herself to become some kind of PR circus freak.
(Very easy to see that happening to some supers in some organizations.)
This does NOT mean the Powers That Be let Max have whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted – but they would have had to take her seriously. If a superior tried to push Max in a direction she REALLY didn’t want to go, then she could always resign. It doesn’t seem in Max’s nature to ever threaten this unless the stakes were extraordinaruily high, but I am certain it has always been on her superiors’ minds.
She is a unique asset, after all – loyal high-powered supers are things to be nurtured and encouraged, not tick off.
*****
I would also point out that the traditional image of Captain Bligh as a psychotic power-mad despot are as far from the actual truth as one can possibly get. In point of fact, the man was well-known as a proponent of improving conditions fo the enlisted within the Royal Navy, AND actively opposed the use of flogging and similar punishments.
Also note that, after Bligh and some crewmembers were set adrift from the Bounty in a small open boat, he then got them across most of the Pacific to a friendly port. This was an astounding feat of endurance, leadership and navigation by any standards. Stories about his “cruelty” had a single source – several mutineers were captured and, as it turned out, arrived back in England before him. To save themselves from the hangman, they fabricated lurid stories about their mistreatment which the press of the times just loved (some things never change).
It would seem that Bligh’s biggest personal failings (evident in both the Bounty mutiny and the later Rum Rebellion) were probably his considerable bluntness in personal interaction, and bad luck with the subordinates he got stuck with. None of which prevented him from becoming a Vice-Admiral of the Blue..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bligh
I didn’t mean bully like she’s intimidating her superiors, I meant… aggressively leveraging her value.
If I’m reading this right, then it may well be a (somewhat) British usage of the term…
…in which case the closest equivalent in the U.S. might be the “Wall Street” expression of being “Bullish”, as opposed to “Bear-ish”…?
There’s a sci-fi series I’m reading where the main character is Breveted up from captain to Fleet Admiral because she’s the one in charge of the situation and knows what’s been happening for the past few months but they keep sending reinforcements so she needs to outrank the Admirals who command the fleets of reinforcements.
Still gets paid a Captain’s rank though.
So just curious is the guy with the blown up bag just a friend or is it like her brother? It would be interesting to know about her past ( E.G. if she grew up in normal home/foster child/ that kind of thing)
OK, so Max’s back-story is that she was not going to do something else (private sector) but after this particularly bad incident, decided to join the Air Force (being the only branch that lets women serve in “direct combat” role) in order to learn control and discipline of her powers.
“Direct Combat role” is any job in the military where you WILL go on combat missions. Where “Indirect Combat role” is any other job (mainly those involving mechanics/driving/paperwork/gofer). It is an interesting debate in the military really. But I will be nice and spare everyone the arguments for both sides of the debate.
Sydney has no eyebrow in pannle 4
If you wanted Leon to change his shirt, you could have just made him part of the Harem shirt-stealing incident a few weeks ago or have Harem do an encore performance, using a new batch of guys this time. Mind you, she should leave Mr. Amorphous out of it; she is still trying to patch things up with Brook.
I don’t think Leon will ever be Bom chicka-wow-wow! enough compared to all these supers.
Harem only shoulderboobed Leon because she wanted to make him fluster.
If he’s a super himself, it’s probably only mental, as in super genius computer nerd.
Sltill so loving this comic. Now, of course, I’m distracted thinking about what other mishaps Max’s powers have gotten her into.
Oh my fucking God I still can’t stop laughing every time I see it it is so fucking rediculus!
Max was cute as a teen with softer features, also looks like she has always bean an athlete judging from how slender she was and her muscle development she must have bean a runner.
Track and Field anyway. She looks good without the Bowlingballs on her chest too.
That’s what I was going for. That or Cross Country.
Am I the only one who noticed that Maxima has elf ears?
Probably one big reason she now wears her hair long and straight to avoid the “Mrs Golden Spock” comments
OMG! I am completely in love with you comic I just read it all in these past two hours (would’ve been faster but I was multitasking) AND CAN I JUST BOW DOWN TO YOU?! Your comic is perfect. Though the beginning first pages weren’t as attention grabbing as they could have been but that’s okay I’m just saying it because the beginning determine’s whether you catch someone into your story or they just scroll past it with barely a glance you know? BUT OMG I LOVE IT and I’ve been raving about it on my Facebook page Super Girls (dedicated to all female Super Beings!) and you have gained a loyal fan in me *salutes*
Let me be the first to welcome you to our group, everyone this is Black Canary. Now since you have just binged on the entire archive you will begin to notice some withdrawal effects as you wait for the next comic but don’t worry the comments section is here to help you through it.
THANK YOU :D
And yes I understand withdrawl but it’s okay cus I have a very busy life to lead so I’ll probably just pop in every once in a while BUT OMG I LOVE IT!
@DaveB, you’re welcome :)
Thanks! Yeah in the early pages I still very much getting a feel for the whole webcomic thing. I’m glad you like it!
This is Alt-control-delete in reverse: original – chaos – keep. Way to go Sydney!
Saw this link yesterday and immediately thought of Sydney: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/doctor-is-first-to-eat-worlds-hottest-1519150
“Doctor is first to eat world’s hottest curry despite hallucinating due to heat
More than 300 people had tried the widower chicken curry, which measures a mouth-searing six million on the Scoville scale of heat.”
PJW
Yikes.
Now wondering how many gallons of full-cream milk would be needed to take the edge off THAT culinary experience?
… And what that guy’s ‘morning after” was like?
I think it’s safe to assume he has a few ulcers, and no more hair on his arse ;)
…. And the toilet has dissolved.
and exploded.
Ow.
I tend to agree with the commenter who said “I don’t see any point in eating food just because it’s excessively spicy.” Only masochism or machismo…
I invented a very versatile Smoked Chicken Curry – make a stock from the skin and carcass, and use that with lots of onions to make the sauce. With a teaspoon of chilli powder it’s mild enough for my 87-year-old aunt (but still tasty.) I once made it with a cupfull of birdseye chillies, just to see how hot I could take it. The answer turned out to be “Not that hot.” I could eat it, but it was too painful to be enjoyable.
She so crazeh.
DaveB, I was wondering how many spare comics you drew over your holiday?
It’s always nice to have something in reserve in case LIFE happens and you end up not having the time to finish what you are currently working on.
Just one unfortunately, but it’s more than I had.
That little girl is crazier than Deadpool.
I smell CROSSOVER!
(Okay, I don’t really, but I’m allowed to dream.)
My favorite page in the entire webcomic. Great art Great angst. The paper bag must have been tough and at the end Maxima is in a fetal position out of pure frustration, embarrassment, and feeling of utter failure. Plus we get a shot of her young and inexperienced like Sydney.
Thanks! Yeah it’s weird what the difficult things are to draw. The paper bag and the fetal position were challenging.
Oh god! She’s so fucking insane! I LOVE it!