Grrl Power #1266 – A triad of Triads
They’re speaking Chinese, BTW. I forgot to put the <brackets> around their dialog. I have no idea what the symbol on the carpet says. It could be praise for Puyi, the last emperor of China. It could also say “carpet.”
I was going to make these groups kind of generic bad-guys in case any of them get, well, butchered on upcoming pages, but then decided it would be a good exercise for me to stretch my character skills since I think some of my male characters look a little samey. Granted that’s a large part due to the fact that I draw a lot of lantern chinned muscular guys. Actually, my biggest problem is probably drawing samey looking women who can only be told apart because of their hair and outfits. I think a lot of artists have that problem though, because the standards of beauty for women are much narrower than they are for guys. The subtle differences between, Scarlet Johansson’s face and Charlize Theron, for example. Yeah, even I could probably tell them apart if they were both shaved bald, BUT, if I’m drawing a face that takes up 1/6th of a panel on a comic page which takes up 1/9th of the page itself, the subtle differences don’t have a lot of room to shine. If someone is doing a caricature at that scale, then maybe. If someone is drawing “standard hot woman” but also trying to do a likeness, then… it’s going to mostly come down to hair and costume. Maybe body language if that’s the sort of thing the comic pays attention to. It also depends on someone’s style. I would say mine is like 3/4 American comic standard, 1/4 anime, except when I’m drawing someone like Sydney, then those ratios are reversed.
Anyway, let’s play the “Who’s the most dangerous person in that room” game. (This is me pretending I’m not the writer and seeing this page for the first time.) It’s definitely not baldy in panel 1. He looks like a guy who thinks he’s tough. The kind of guy who is okay at beating up mouthy hookers or slapping around innocent shopkeepers who are late on their “protection” payments, but is destined to find out that swagger isn’t enough when the bodies start to hit the floor.
Toothpick-hands-on-hips next to him has a shot at being… well, probably not the most dangerous, but he’s got that “main character through humorous misadventure” vibe. He’s less “marksman kill 20 henchmen” vibe and more “accidentally shoot the bulb above the tank of gasoline that causes a spark that burns down the entire cocaine processing facility” vibe.
Okay, let’s cut to the chase. It’s not gunslinger or thigh-neck or the henchwoman with the guandao. It’s definitely the old guy in the pink bathrobe. It has to be, right? He might be the wizened advisor type… No, he’s for sure got poison throwing needles or trained ferrets or something under that coat.
The new one is almost ready, but I’m back down at my parents helping out with my mom, and I just can’t work on boobie art when I’m here. I’ll get it up as soon as I can and hopefully you guys will enjoy it. I’ll try and figure out a way to get these done faster in the future.
The new vote incentive is up!
Every so often I get the urge to try and draw Maxima all properly shiny, and this… isn’t my favorite attempt if I’m honest. I’ve been sitting on this for a little while doing little tweaks, and decided to finally publish it cause I’m already behind on these. The next one will (almost definitely) resume the trend of including a little mini comic to extend the scene a bit.
As usual, Patreon has some outfit variations as well as sans flagrante.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
My reaction on reading the comic is that the young woman is probably a Super and therefore the most dangerous. Supers are canonically prettier than normal people on average, and her being a Super seems the most likely reason why the “smart guy” of the group keeps a pretty girl with a guandao around.
The bald guy and the guy in black fit the form of supers as well.
A arts master like Math can act and seem like a super, the only reason that he lost to Jabberwaky? was she flashed him her boobs and he’s enough of a man-child to fall for it, old-guy wouldn’t fall for that.
Tell that to Happosai from Ranma 1/2. :)
Or Master Roshi from Dragging Balls
She is also short for a super. Harem is typically shorter (average for non supers) due to her power being divided. Could be power that can be reduced similarly or potentially her height is power related, the smaller she is the stronger she becomes for example.
Hench Wench wasnt extremely tall either from what I saw, but yeah. Sipers are usually taller canonically.
Also from what I masterfully know of the Triad from watching Kill Bill and other Hollywood movies all hot asian women in the Triad have to be sword-proficient. It’s a rule. :)
Taller for their ethnicity, having a super from a proportionally shorter population suddenly ending up 7 feet tall and 150 pounds is gonna stand out like a blister on your sole
I wasn’t saying 7 feet is the average for a super, but they are usually 4-5 inches taller than the average person, according to DaveB and mentioned in-universe by Peggy.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-137-i-hear-shampoo-works-better-if-you-writhe/
In the United States at least, the average person is 5.9″, while the global average is 5’7.5″
(However this does ignore that women, on average, tend to be about 4 inches shorter than the average man (5’4″ to 5’5″ in the US, with a global average of 5’2.5″ to 5’3.5″)
But that’s where I’m guessing that DaveB got the idea that the average super is at least 6 feet tall (although there would be outliers like Anvil and Harem).
If we’re going to take RL averages though (which would ignore what Peggy and Sydney were saying about Harem being the shortest at 5’8″, despite that still being 3-4 inches taller than the average woman in the US, then the average female super would be between 5’8 to 5’9, while the average male super would be 6’1″ to 6’2″.
THAT being said, there’s also the fact that sword lady there is Chinese. And among the Chinese, the average height for women is 5’1.25 to 5’3″, while the average height for men is 5’6″ to 5’8″ – which would mean the average CHINESE super would be, for women, 5’4.25 to 5’8″ – which would put sword lady at the proper height to be an average super female of chinese descent.
I don’t think any of them are supers though, since DaveB had described them initially as ‘generic bad-guys.’
Looking at the backup (as the gang leader’s don’t necessarily fit), they all look like they fulfill some sort of generic villain/hero position. From left-to-right, first panel to last panel:
– Bald Villain/Tough. Think Dragon Ball Z Villains & Saitama.
– Yakuza/Gambler MC. Think the Yakuza Games. Also some Gambling Manga Protagonists.
– Action Tough/MC. Think of an Asian Indiana Jones or Nathan Drake.
– Old Martial Arts Master/Asian Mystic. Think Master Roshi from Dragon Ball.
– Heavy Tough. I’ve seen a number of these characters in “System Apocalypse, we need to rebuild society” stories as the MC’s primary support & local leader during the early story.
– Female Super-Ninja. Elektra from Marvel Comics is the exact example she brings to mind.
The guy with the toothpick actually gives me Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop vibes.
Actually, it occurs to me that Peggy’s EXACT wording was “all supers, guys and gals included, are four to five inches taller than the average PERSON.’ So I shouldnt be comparing supers (guys and gals included) as taller than the average guy or gal, but collectively taller than the average person, without saying ‘in the US’ or differentiating the average male or average female.
The average height of the average PERSON would be, as I said before, 5.7.5″ globally.
So the average height of the average super, male OR female, would be between 5’11.5″ and 6’0.5″ (or if we want to round up, 6′ to 6’1”). Which actually would be more in line with what they said about Harem being shorter than the average super. Which would then make the chinese sword girl shorter than an average super would be, even taking into account her ethnicity. Making it less likely that she is a super, and probably just a very skilled/scary sword-wielding triad member.
They probably are all super, at the very least one for each boss; they wouldn’t be the boss anymore, otherwise…
The guy in the chair in panel two bears a striking resemblance to Brandon Herrera.
Put some night vision goggles on him and he could be Wendigoon……
Which, given that supernatural beings ABSOLUTELY exist in the Halo-verse, MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!
Now that you say it, I could see the crew on the right (Toothpick, Bathrobe, and Guandao) getting a spinoff movie. They’re basically the perfect protagonist trio for a 80’s style action comedy.
“Big Trouble in Little ChinesePartofPlanetEarth’sAmericanContinent”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGC1bV4-fmk
I think this is a case of “Tepo hits Krako, Krako hits Oxmyx, Oxmyx hits Tepo” and behind it all is the mysterious figure with funny font in his chat bubble.
Does he sound like he is using a mix of Chicago and Montreal English accents?
Oh gods, fizzbin flashback.
Most dangerous person in the room? My money is on the sword. Sentient magic weapons are always dangerous to those around them friend or foe.
Sorry man, but when you have Bang rocking a red trench… I don’t think anything else is on the same level.
My money’s on the symbol on the carpet being the magical peacekeeper that maintains order. That automatically makes it the most dangerous thing in the room.
Everyone always underestimates the room itself. A sentient building is likely the best defence. Especially if the building being controlled can be exchanged for another. A bank one day, fort the next, skyscraper another.
Castle Heterodyne (in Girl Genius) being, perhaps, the ultimate example.
A sentient building developed over centuries by generations of mad scientists, riddled with deathtraps and capable of controlling its own structure.
Its influence even extends into the surrounding town of Mechanicsburg.
A bit late I know, but I’ll throw this in here anyway…
In the TV series Angel (a spin off from Buffy The Vampire Slayer), there was a green skinned “demon” named Laurel from memory. He had a karaoke club which became famous for the demon seeing your future as you sing. In order to keep the peace on his neutral territory, he had a special magical field security system – it was literally impossible for anyone to harm anyone else within the club’s walls. Physical attacks were blocked, even bombs were disarmed (unless they were just outside the field)…
Considering the setting here has magic in the mix, I can see something like that set up here…
Toothpick guy shall forever be referred to by me as
.”Arms Akimbo Guy.”
Shaved Cactaur
I’m going with Toothpick because he looks a lot like Kazuma Kiryu, who was definitely incredibly dangerous for several reasons.
If I had a carpet with a giant Chinese symbol on it, it would definitely say “carpet”.
Mine would say “Yes, I match the drapes.”
Well played Red, well played!
HAHA :D I love the different soldiers/sidekicks/bodyguards :D
Panel 1 – Baldy is a bit short-sighted but doesn’t want anybody to know. So everybody thinks he’s glaring all the time.
Panel 2 – Fedora Guy looks a bit like Hot Felon, Jeremy Meeks. Bathrobe Guy is clearly a senile old guy who is much loved and watched over by the colony of sapient ferrets who adopted him when their creator was killed in a tragic lab accident.
First panel center would be the most dangerous one. Because this guy is fighting dirty. Throwing his wannabe henchmen front and center while stabbing you in the back; Bringing a gun to a knife fight; putting you under Yata-Lock in Yu-Gi-Oh!. This kind of guy. He “earned” the boss title.
Top panel. Guy on the right. What is that facial hair?
5 O’clock shadow? It goes with his and his boss’s general unkempt appearance. The best dressed guy on team Slob is the dude in t-shirt and jeans. Team Style looks much better. I’d wager the old guys suit (shirt, tie, pants, business robe) cost more than my car. I think team Competent chooses their outfits to complement public perception of their role, leg breaker, assassin, boss.
By the way, does the guy in the leather jacket and fedora remind anyone else of Billy Drago?
Last panel… those two “goons” seem a bit odd. Guy looks scared, trying to look intimidating, girl… well… how the heck could she fight with that huge rack? I mean it seems a bit, okay, a huge negative, once someone gets close, she wouldn’t be able to see anything coming at her below that rack….
no doubt her fighting stance involves a lot of leaning forward. Also, probably has the generic speed/str upgrade of super-weapon wielders.
Getting struck with that rack could be very effective. For various reasons.
She’s able to lactate vast quantities of Napalm at high preasure….
.
Her name is Apocalypse Cow……
Anyone notice that the bald guy has short sleeves in the first panel, but no sleeves in the third?
He tucked ’em in during the cutaway. He thinks it makes him look badder-ass.
Just when I think my fan art streak can rest a bit, Dave includes a cameo of one of my favorite characters. I’m duty-bound to find her a similar outfit and crank out a quick-and-dirty CGI salute.
I call this one, “Do I Have Your Attention?” appearing here for six months starting today.
https://ibb.co/CMxkMP8
I’m trying to resist recreating the senior master of the rabid ferret technique.
Dangit.
https://ibb.co/wwygm7k
SOOO GOOOOD, hahaha!
I’m loving all of the character designs here. Especially the female associate. Great work.
ok, the contrast between the security lady and the other guys, especially when standing next to the guy wearing wife-beaters, is comical
Yeah, the rest look like trace-wok of real people, she looks OG
So… Toothpick Guy is Jackie Chan?
This reminds me of the 5-Kage summit in Naruto.
One leader, 2 bodyguards.
While some of them might advise as well, they are primarily there for security. Only one person from each group is to speak.
“Anyway, let’s play the “Who’s the most dangerous person in that room” game. (This is me pretending I’m not the writer and seeing this page for the first time.)”
The old guy can go one of two ways:
1. He is the strongest. “Never mess with a old guy in a profession where people usually die young.”
2. He is secretly the actual leader. The guy speaking is his bodyguard and body double, told what to say via telepathy or trained acting/communication.
Oh, spotted what might be of interest, given your interest in “Tamer” – an “adult” {that is “Porn” – i assume; i haven’t tried it out} game in the “Tamer” universe: https://tinyurl.com/yaap74wa
{Incidentally, i loved “Astra Gets Grrl Power” – why don’t you and Marion Harmon write another novella or even a full-length book bringing Halo and Dabbler to the “Capes” world?|
According to the google lens search, the thing on the carpet is just a Chinese New Years decoration.
Should we play “Spot The Super” in this bunch?
It COULD be everyone there who is standing. But, my money is on the ‘Miami Vice’ knock-off in Panel 1, the ‘Indiana Jones’ knock-off in Panel 2, and (absolutely) Hot Girl in the last panel.
So here we have Stan Lee in your crime family, he’s going to eradicate all these goons in his pereniall way, by stealing their spotlight.
If it is Stan Lee he will definitely win any fight with his l33t skills at PARKOUR!
I found the character https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zhaocaijinbao-v3.svg – A ligature of “招財進寶” (“wishing you bring in wealth and treasure”), used by businesses and during the Chinese New Year.
Found via the search page on zi.tools
I am extremely impressed by your search skills.