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.
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House slippers and flip-flops are ancient and deadly weapons
Hard candy, flicked at 2000 feet per second. A lemonhead shot, if you will.
Okay, so the 3 people in the last panel are clearly the same 3 people that were in the last comic. The have the same builds and everything.
Maybe… but pretty sure this comic’s chunky guy needs to be at least one foot taller.
And two feet wider at the shoulders.
I mean we have seen in this comic some powers can cause a character to change shape. who is to say that guy Isn’t the large armored guy just not Bulked out
Only the female of the attackers is asian though. That rules out the three of them being them.
Most dangerous person clearly is the old man for one simple reason. Only the coward or the truly dangerous live to old age in a society governed by violence. Be it Sparta or Sangheli when it comes to a people who kill to survive only the best make it to the end.
I’m betting at his age a walking stick with a blade in it…. because tropes. But a walking frame with two would be funnier.
Hey, it’s Cohen the Barbarian’s cousin Manny, acting as a consigliere/bodyguard to a triad leader. Don’t let that squint fool you, he knows right where you are by your scent.
Rule 1 is, as always, Do Not Act Incautiously When Confronting An Old, Small, Wrinkly, Balding Man. Clearly the man to panel right in the second panel is the most dangerous person in the room.
That slight lean also has big “I’ve analysing the weaknesses of everyone in the room as the bosses speak” energy. That, or he’s not here for physical security but is actually a human lie detector or something.
Take Your Grandpa to Work Day.
Be Embarassed By Your Grampa Showing up At Your Work Day
That mouth on chair guy in panel 4 just looks WRONG. It’s possible it might look better in the double resolution version, but at the current size it looks immensely unnatural…
I had a problem with it too, until I realized his mouth is bracketed by the worst mustache in the history of facial hair, that is to say there are little wedges of whiskers just past the corners of his mouth, making his mouth look unnaturally small.
That moustache gives him a severe case of anus face
That is a mustache? I thought it was two very symmetrical moles.
Its a common style in Asia, if it gets watered enough it grows up to two feet long
I read it as a chocolate milk mustache and immediately stopped taking him seriously.
which is the whole point of the look…
and the last mistake people have made..
Dr. Zin’s grandson.
Based on my extensive knowledge of action movies, the girl is the second-most dangerous. However, her amazing lethality will never be displayed against the hero—who we can assume is male, because you almost never get the one-female-henchman thing in a movie with a female protagonist. Instead, she’ll be paired off against the hero’s love interest or female sidekick.
It happens, kill bill immediately comes to mind.
Nah, he’s actually just Boss So You Say’s senile grandfather. He had to bring him along for the meeting because he couldn’t get another relative to watch him on short notice, he can’t be left alone or he wanders out in the street naked, and even Triad money can’t afford proper senior care.
Most dangerous person in the room is the invisible super we can’t see.
this is delightfully cynical. its also depressing. I’m feeling old this morning.
” invisible super ”
I’m pretty sure that is where DaveB is leading
The old guy and the girl are the second in command kind of henchmen so they are more dangerous than the average cannon fodder. The rest of them looks quite expendable except for maybe the hat guy.
The symbol is the Chinese ligature for zhāocái jìnbǎo (招財進寶), meaning “ushering in wealth and fortune” and used as a popular New Year’s greeting.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligature_(writing)#Chinese_ligatures
Thanks! I love how there’s always someone in the comment section who explains anything I’m wondering about.
I bet that that carpet must’ve cost a fortune, so the sign sure fulfilled its purpose for the vendor at least.
I see someone is expanding their ‘basic thug’ and ‘criminal boss’ drawing portfolio. A very good effort at generating memorable… but possibly one shot… character designs.
MORE new characters? Doesn’t this comic already have enough?
Never.
Reusing old characters could make this hilarious.
A single person ending up as a innocent passer by, shop keeper, gang thug, police officer, club pole dancer etc
After the last two strips, this one felt like a treat.
Lets see, Girl and “hat and jacket” could be supers from their physique.
Old man could be as well.
Maybe grey suit.
Most dangerous? Only the girl got to openly bring a weapon, so either she’s such a pansy that she’s not a threat, or she’s so badass the security for this meetup decided not to object.
Actually, Overweight Elvis Presley right next to her seems to have a gun, too. If the other two gangs have weapons (and I’m betting they do), they’re much better concealed. Maybe Smirk Guy is the host of this meeting?
Hey, it’s Cohen the Barbarian’s cousin Manny, acting as a consigliere/bodyguard to a triad leader. Don’t let that squint fool you, he knows right where you are by your scent.
I don’t know how this happened because I only entered it once as a reply further up and just noticed it now. This comment section behaves oddly.
It moves in mysterious ways. I quite like it this way.
“Rule One: Do not act incautiously when confronting a little bald wrinkly smiling man”.
He might say “Boot To The Head.” and boot you in the head.
Why do some of these guys look like Japanese video game characters? You all know which ones I mean.
The first Triad boss looks like Hong Kong martial artist and actor Bolo Yeung, albeit as he looks today.
Bolo Yeung was some serious beefcake in the day
Some of those are tough, I will grant you. But the one guy you don’t mess with is not present…Slim. You don’t mess around with slim, especially if he’s just sitting there with his coffee bothering nobody. Even if you have custom continental.
Old guy and hat guy may be a old teacher and young student duo. That would make them very powerfull.
Ahh but Sensible and Erudite doesn’t have a Third Eye or a Second Nose!
Tootpick guy looks like the main character of ‘Yakuza: like a dragon’.
And my money are on the old guy, Triad Bodyguard don’t seems like a profession when it is easy to get old. If you do you must be really good.
Also, “old age and trickery” and what follow.
Is that a painting of a squid or chuthulu in the background?
An octopus’ garden in the shade.
I for one want to see the old master’s trained ferrets in action!
*gopherchucks?
“The’re not called ‘Polecats’ because the’re from Central Europe’!”
is that a chtulu painting behind the second crew?
Be careful. It is not just a painting.
it owes Levi at Member Solutions 20 bucks!
Rachel, from Card Services has a very important message for you!
We are attempting to contact you about your summoning circle’s extended warranty
Yeah, I also note the unusual lighting in the painting. Not sure if it Cthulhu, or a Mind Flayer, or an Octopus God, or if someone is just really into hentai, but it does stand out.
Okay help me out please, I am sure there is a media reference.
Who is panel one’s boss based off of. Yeah the guy in center with a forehead that looks like it has an Egyptian god’s hieroglyph stamped on it.
I think we can all agree that the most dangerous being in that room is actually the Cthulhu portrait in the background feeding on their negative energies until it can break free of its prison.
It will be on the cusp of escaping when this clown show is defeated but then is inadvertently sealed away for all time by being hit with the Ark of the Covenant treatment.
Even Cthulhu thinks clowns taste funny.
This may be a bit unfair to Dave, because personally I don’t know how to avoid this in a drawn medium, but I can’t unsee toothpick guy as having a moustache and beard stubble that is actually just pen marks that he drew on himself. Like he can’t actually grow facial hair so he said, fuck it, imma draw it on myself.
My take was that just before the meeting he had fallen asleep, and one of his henchcronies had drawn the fake beard on him with a sharpie, and he actually has no idea that is on his face.
Bald guy’s T shirt turned sleeveless in panel 3.
This quick change artist is our real strongest character in the room.
Luckily, we never saw panel 5 where he would have been wearing a crop top.
In the first panel I had a hard moment trying to determine whether the guy in the middle had a third eye in the center of his forehead or if it was just a really furrowed brow.
Plus, the smart fourth panel triad Boss has a hottie for one of his bodyguards. Hmm, her fellow hench bears an uncanny resemblance to Jackie Chan.
Despite what the text says, I’d say sexy guandao lady is the most dangerous.
Have to DRAW them being a badass at some point, and which henchperson is most likely to get multiple panels drawn of them? *taps head*
She will get more panels because eye candy.
Been watching “The Brothers Sun” on Netflix recently, Dave? ^_^
Someone should go “These aren’t the Triads you’re looking for.” :-)
(Which is an obscure reference to Warcraft 3 referencing Star Wars, i.e. “I’m not the Dryad you’re looking for.”)
Kinda hope we can get a mini-arc on the triad henchmen
The most dangerous guy is the slightly paunchy guy on the left in the last panel. Look at the rest of them. Guy shaves his head, crosses his arms and looks at you from under his brow. Guy with the toothpick going “You talkin’ to me?” Guy who spent $2,000 on matching leather hat, jacket and gloves. Old guy hunching forward and glaring. Woman in a weird bustier with her shoulders back and head forward like she’s about to start Naruto running. They want you to think they’re dangerous.
Then there’s the guy slouching in a wifebeater you can pick up at Walmart, $9.99 for a 4-pack, with a blank expression on his face.. He doesn’t care what you think, but he’ll put you in the ground.
He looks very different, but yeah, he’s dressed like ‘The Beast’ from Kung-Fu Hustle.
Woman in the last panel and the guy on the left in panel two shop at the same store
I vote for the lady in the last panel to be a vote incentive! :)
“So anyways, there I was, facing down these three street toughs, when out of nowhere this old Asian guy in a pink bathrobe shows up and starts flinging poisoned ferrets at everyone…”
Beware old Men in an Industry where they die Young.
Bald Guy could totally be Saitama slumming it for the day.
Breaking down my impressions of the room is:
Panel1, left to right: baldy in t-shirt is looking like he’s judging who is the most likely to be his first target if a fight breaks out, looking pissed the whole time. Chair guy looks old and tired, he’s ready to act big but I think he’d cave if he had no chance. Toothpick guy reminds me of a pissed-off school teacher about to yell at the kids, so a minimal threat there.
P2, same: Put a cowboy hat and a six-gun on him and you’d have the bad guy from every spaghetti western I watched as a kid, including his stance, just needs a horse and a tumbleweed. Chair guy LOOKS the part, ready to throw down at a moment’s notice. And the “old guy” looks and stands just like every martial arts master in every Chinese movie I’ve ever watched, clearly he’s the most dangerous one. I’m sure he has every type of throwing weapon you could imagine in that modified gi he’s wearing.
P4: Big guy is staring at old guy like he knows him and is VERY worried what’s going to happen if he is triggered. “Dr. No” needs no comment, just the metal hands to complete the look. Hot sword gal is the second most dangerous, and she’s keeping an eye on baldy, like she expects he’d be her first target.
Fear the oldman in a profession where most die young.
My Sensei refused to let us call him “master”, he said he wasn’t old enough to rate that yet. But he looked faster than Bruce Lee! Yes, fear the old master, he will do things and won’t seem to move, just stand there looking stern. Just like this guy.
Big guy from panel four kind of looks like Ma Dong-seok, who has played plenty of gangsters (and cops) in various Korean movies and TV, and also played Gilgamesh in Eternals.