Grrl Power #130 – Singularly skilled double agent quint
Wait, what’s this? Betrayal? Intrigue? Plot development? Are they bad guys? What comic is this? Before you know it dogs and cats will be living together!
I thought I might have been telegraphing it too much with Harem’s semi-sinister look on the last panel of the previous page, but given the little variances in my art from panel to panel, and given that nothing like this has gone on so far in the comic, I guess it’s not surprising that people didn’t pick up on it.
As for her nightstand, Harem probably has a number of seminal books featuring teleportation, portals, gateways, etc. that she rereads every few years. I’m sure there are a few other good ones she has on her bookshelf.
Edit: I fixed the upside down sword, the missing 3rd button on the jacket, and added “The Stars My Destination” thanks to several suggestions, and “Mein Bamph” courtesy of Too Old to be Cool. Also added a bra hanging off the bedpost to help establish the first panel as a separate location from the penthouse office in the rest of the page.
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Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Wait, there’s something fishy going on here?
Of course there is. Can’t you see the aquarium in the background?
Maybe he is a human who is pissed that he doesn’t have powers, and will stop at nothing to get his hands on some
Oh he’s just a major contractor and needs to know all he can about superheroes so he can adapt his tech accordingly. Right now the most public and powerful have some of their powers classified.
Anne McCaffrey did a whole series of books about using teleporter capable psychics for interstellar travel. Best known of the bunch is “The Rowan”.
There’s an old science fiction book by Alfred Bester called The Stars, My Destination that centers around teleporting… in a way that it was a learned skill, not so much a “you get it or you don’t” type thing. It was quite interesting, I’d recommend it to anyone that cares
Teleporting was called ‘jaunting’ and different people held different levels of jaunte capability in regards to the distances they could travel. The anti-hero could jaunte through space and time.
“Quant’ suff!)
Ga’Tor Donner is my name,
America my nation.
Deep space is my dwelling place,
The stars my destination.”
Apologies to A. Bester
My favorite teleportation series is “The Journeys of McGill Feighan”, by Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Teleportation is called “flinging”, is a rare talent, and is limited to 918 kilograms of mass or less. They can only Fling to a place they’ve been before, but that can be anywhere, on any planet in known space. They can adjust for differences in kinetic motion so they can correct for the different velocities of the planets they Fling things to, and are the backbone of interstellar commerce and travel. There are starships, but they are only really used to discover new worlds and bring them into the Flinger Network Consortium. There are four books in the series, and sadly, since the author shuffled off this mortal coil in 2012, there shall be no more. All of O’Donnell’s books are worth reading. Pick them up used somewhere, unfortunately, he’s not available on ebook format as far as I’m aware.
Dammit Harem…you’re now officially off my Awesome list…now you(all of you! no cheating!) go stand in the corner with Scarlet and her “Sister Ray”!
Interesting that everyone is calling this guy the villain. He certainly looks the part, and has the sexy dangerous henchwoman by his side too; however from the text he would be a buisiness partner with Archon; who has been kept out of the loop and is using an industrial spy to be kept up on current affairs the military brass would keep from their civilian contractors.
So not so much goodguy vs badguy, as conflict of interests internal affairs stuff. So grey and another shade of grey, or blue and red.
As involved in the villain conversation as I am on a different page of the comments, I actually don’t think that this guys is a villain per se. Sure he’s certainly seems like he might qualify, but I think it’s more that he has alterior motives. He seems like the kind of guy that would displace a village of indigenous people for a mining operation without a thought, but at the same time enthusiastically support his countries defense initiatives.
In other words, he’ll do anything for a profit because it allows business to keep moving and allows him to continue to live the life he is accustomed to. Does he have other reasons? Probably. A scar like that usually comes with some sort of additional motive for the rest of your life. Hopefully we get at least one more page with this guy and his assitant before it jumps back to the supers so we can try to scratch the surface just a little more.
I’d like for a scar face character to just once have the backstory of “oh this scar? as a kid my brother and I were playing a game we invented in the backyard called; who can take a 2X4 to the face the best”
or just a normal accident like fell down a hill or something.
Imagining the story of the scar: “During WW2’s time travel war, at the alien crisis center on Pluto, there was that quantum fluctuation between hyperspace and underspace — and a pile of underwear fell on my face.
ALIEN underwear. 7 kilos equivalent each (plus imaginary value mass — long story, it HURTS more than the regular thing), despite Pluto low gravity.
But this is not where I got the scar — someone from Light Archon used lightning in a goodwill attempt to clean up the mess. THAT’S where I got the X, and I couldn’t take that as a nickname because it was taken — damn it!”
Deus Ex Machina….. Pretty sneaky….
So this is kinda like a danzo situation. He’s for the village but has a spy keeping him in the loop with the possibility of him wanting to make the organization in his image with him calling the shots instead of someone else?
You know considering , harem is fanatical about new experiences and the sexual bent of her self chosen name. I’m surprised she’s not trying to “play with ” dabbler and now there’s Sydney’s “violator”. I mean how many times can you say I got to have sex with a tentacle of energy wielded by an ADHD near psychopath or I slept with a succubus with a million different skills and four arms?
quoting harem:
who says she has not tried to “play with“ dabbler? ^_^
EEE! Story Time!
bah,,, as much as i like this page,,,, I WANNA SEE sidney’s reaction when she meet kenya,,,
give me sidney meet kenya please,, i wanna
i wanna
i wanna,,,,
damn,, i fell back into kidhood there,,
It’s coming soon. I think you’ll like it. :)
Didnt see that one coming, but it seems fitting to me. I wonder what role this mister D guy will play. I like Harems expression in the fourth panel. it reminds me of a puppy that got praised by its owner.
On a different note: if that sword is that valuable, shouldn’t it rest on the backside instead of on the edge?
You know if Deus is his last name then the “Just call me Deus.” line is odd. In regular English usage an honorific is appropriate when addressing someone by their last name, especially a social superior like an employer. Unless the last name IS an honorific as when talking to a clan chief or similar. It implies that Deus is titled. He could be Bob Deus, head of Clan Deus, Or Steve, Viscount Deus, or just nuts, but it is definitely noteworthy.
I beleive it has been established that ‘Deus’ is his first name and ‘Machina’ is his surname.
Whether or not this is the name his parents gave him is probably another story.
Eh? Read Dave’s replies. He states Deus is his last name more than once.
I stand corrected.
Yeah Machina is the name of his company. I’m not going to actually name a character “Deus Machina” Admittedly Deus is a stretch by itself.
So his middle name isn’t “Xavier”?
that would also make a great first name (though, admittedly Dexx would be much cooler)
Hm. First name Dues. Surname Machina. X-shaped scar (because it’d be too transparent a pun for his middle name to begin with letter 24). Very nice. It will be interesting to see how things play out. Especially with Harem. Going to try and withhold judgment for now, to avoid a knee-jerk reaction.
People don’t like reading long comments, do they?
1) already been pointed out that his last name is Deus (first name has still not been determined even by Dave) (and how many english-speaking peoples call themselves ‘Mr/Mrs Firstname’ without also tagging on their surname?)
2) he is the head of Machina Industries, not everyone is that egotesticle enought to name the company after themselves (or do you believe there is also a Mr or Mrs Archon who founded ARCHON?)
Archons are myth monsters who are half fire and half shadow — Archon and its 2 divisions have very thematic.
So why would someone name the company Machina if there is a Deus in it?
With the existence of the Arianna character I think it’s obvious — people in the super business put a REALISTIC amount of effort on naming stuff in that comic — instead of wearing a cape and expecting people to trust ’em ’cause they fly or somesuch.
Depends on what sort of company it is, if it manufactures/sells machines or machine components, it makes sense (plus, not all company names have to be named after either one of the founders or after/about what they sell)
Plus, I hear there’s a future market in power orbs. When I was reading this page, it struck me that Syndey’s Orbs, if people found out how to replicate them, would make bank on the global market, to say nothing of the weapons industry :P
Maybe he’s their manufacturer for the action hero figures and other assorted marketing stuff…
In my defense, the prior comment referring to the dapper gent’s naming was not showing on my page for some reason. However, I have heard of people referred to as “Mr./Mrs. (First Name)”, but they may just be a regional thing. So, my bad! Will keep a better eye on comments for now. ^_^
I would like to know if this is part of the flash back or not. Since this is Syd’s flash back the only way she would know about this meeting is if she spyed on them, or if she was informed on a later day
Believe someone already commented on that, with the probable answer being that at some between ‘now’ and the game night Harem told either Sydney directly or Sydney was told after the ‘private meeting with the water board’
Dunno if it has been mentioned, but “Deus” means “God” in a number of languages, and a character with the name might offend a religious reader.
Personally, im Atheist and couldn’t care less about the use of the word, but i do think its important to inform the author that he may be poking at a lot of people.
To illustrate why i advise precaution just substitute the characters name for “God” and imagine how a english native speaker would react.
Only if they have thumped their bible so hard it’s gone up their arse (most religions don’t have a problem with the name of their god being used, and most religions know that their god has an actual name)
A lot of Mexican people have the name ‘Jesus’, but no intelligent people give it a second thought
Oh, and almost forgot: ‘God’ is just a title, like ‘Lord’ or ‘His Most Holiest Dipsticker’ (totally a real title, look it up if you want)
Anyone religiously maniacal enough to be offended by someone being called Deus would have already been driven into a screaming epileptic fit of rage by a succubus, strong female characters, and technically almost everything else on the internet in general already. No need to worry about them, they’re busy typing poorly spelled all-caps emails to more tempting targets.
Okay, this is irking. I’m a religious person. A person of faith. A strong believer in the fact that the Lord’s name should not be taken in vain. You know what? I wasn’t offended at all by a character named Deus, a succubus, or strong women. I’m aware of the fact that “God” is not God’s name, I see no reason to be offended by fictional character (especially a funny one), and I’m a big fan of Esther and Ruth. Your comments, on the other hand, I find offensive enough to reply to. Please, don’t stereotype. To use something you said, you’ll make yourself a “more tempting target”.
yeah and its a Latin word derived from the Greek word “Zeus”
so double whammy, who cares on the use of the name.
Or they could take it a sign of his arrogance (e.g “He sees himself as a god”/”Wants to be seen as a god”) and ambiguous nature (e.g “Obviously he doesn’t fear God, which raises questions about his values”). In another comic (don’t remember if it was before or after this one) he states to a man who calls him the devil “The devil was kicked out of heaven for loving God too much. I. Have. No. Such. Failing”. The comic seems to be setting him up to be a villain, so the sacrilegious name could be meant as another sign of his potentially evil nature.
In another comic (don’t remember if it was before or after this one), Deus states to a man who calls him the devil “The devil was kicked of heaven for loving God too much. I. Have. No. Such. Failing”, so I think any sacrilegious implications in his name are intentional. From a religious perspective, the name could be taken as a sign of his ambiguous, potentially evil nature.
In annother comic, (don’t remember if it was before or after this one) Deus states that “The devil was kicked out of heaven for loving God too much. I. Have. No. Such. Failing.”, so I think any sacrilegious implications in regards to his character are intentional. For a religious perspective, the name could be taken as a sign of his ambiguous, potentially evil nature (I think the comics seem to be setting him up to be a villain”).
I did kinda catch Harem’s look in the previous page, I just expected it to be a little more related to her previous experience with Sydney. Like, “Hmmm, how do I get back at her”.
Whether this guy’s a villain or not, unless Harem’s a triple agent, I suddenly don’t feel so bad about the chain reaction earlier….
Wait, looking at the character banner at the top:- is this a new character we haven’t met yet (JiggaWatt)
No, we have seen her a few times in passing (she was in the hall when Sydney was doing her ‘security sweeps’ while Peggy was
keeping her distracted/occupiedtaking her to lunch)It figures; just when we get some real plot going is when I catch up with the comic and have to wait for the next update. :P
I think this is as good a time as any to say that I’m really enjoying this comic! :) I love the artwork; I love the character interactions, (especially the conflicts/rivalries between a lot of the characters) and the gratuitous fan service is pretty nice too. ;)
Keep up the good work, Dave! :D
Thanks! And I feel your pain, I really wish I could put these out faster.
Hey Dave! I’m having an art contest and I thought you would like a heads up on it. I have a rather large scar on my leg that is a constant reminder of the fact that there are some people in law enforcement that don’t care if I live or die based on my mode of transportation. If someone kills me while I’m riding my bike no fingers will be lifted by them in effort to track down the killer. So I’m getting a tattoo to cover the scar in something meaningful and beautiful so I don’t have to look at it any more. I’m awarding a $500 prize to the artist that comes up with the winning design, to be chosen by me. It’s my leg, and will be on my leg for the rest of my life and if I don’t like it it won’t be on my leg. Anyway, I’m posting a large format picture to my blog this Sunday with the details about submissions and how you get the money (local winners get cash!). Good luck.
Hmm, I’ve designed a few tattoos before (for the comic, like the one on Punk Harem’s back) but I’m hardly a pro at it. I doubt I’ll have time but I’ll take a look when you post it.
I’m sure you know some starving artists that could use the $500, send them over.
Dave… your puns… so terrible… let me guess his name is Deus Xavier(or some other x name) Machina? Never the less I love the sinisterness of it and can’t wait to see if harem is a double agent or a double double agent. After all as the saying goes “To deceive ones enemies you must deceive ones friends” or something like that.
Ah it’s actually his last name but still Deus and Machina is still so bad. Keep up the good work.
And now I just noticed the x shaped scar… gosh I’m completely unobservant tonight… meh I’ll blame it on lack of sleep ::shifty eyes:: DON’T JUDGE ME ::hides in a cardboard box::
Sadly disappointed in white haired Harem. Darn… the cute ones always go for the bad boys. :(
And now let’s find out who’s EX he is… one of the harems maybe? They go around more than stuck-up Arianna or Maxima ever would, especially since there are 5. But then, we could be surprised…
a thought occurs. if sydneys orbs were coated in paint could she still use them.
No if coated in paint, sealed in a ziplock baggie, covered in foam, anything else, she can’t use them. Get inventive and all the sudden she’s not quite useless, just highly use impaired.
I like this comic, I do, but doesn’t it bother anyone that the main selling point of this update is that there’s been no significant plot development for so long? I mean, it’s been going two years, and we’re still in the first day?
its the format. if this were an actual comic, we’d still be on issue 2.
Well, at 130 pages, if this were a comic book this would be issue 5 or 6 (give they’re approx. 24 pages each)
Not for me personally, a lot of the time forget that it’s still the first afternoon until someone new comes along and gripes how it’s been the same day for the last n-amount of years (no offense meant Allan)
And yet, look at the following that the comic has attracted. What is important is how entertained we are each week. And we are getting the feel that there will be a lot of conflicted interests, duplicity and other interesting developments. Even before the first supervillain turns up in his spandex and ominous headgear!
A comic that can keep you immersed in the depth and details has a lot more potential than one which has to keep “upping the anti” and throwing ever bigger threats to keep the readers interested. “Ok, we have already saved the world three times this week, I guess next we shall have to save the galaxy!”
I’m just expressing my own frustration at how slow it’s going. I have SO MANY jokes and funny situations (and action) I want to get to, but a lot of the stuff I’m doing right now wouldn’t make sense if I skipped ahead – introductions and the like. As it is I’m tying to cut anything I can and save it for later as long as it makes sense to do so. I have so much I want to get to.
Haven’t you ever seen the movie ‘Multiplicity’? Send in the clones!
Don’t let anything rush you, Dave. You’re doing a great job. I prefer a long, slow build-up to something awesome. I’ll be reading Grrl Power for many years to come, so I’m in no hurry.
The choker got me thinking about an article I read…
Those chokers might do much more than we (or the people that wear them) think.
I see your “Temporary tattoos could make electronic telepathy and telekinesis possible” and raise it with electronic telepathy is already reality!
Nice!
Now, combine the two and we have wireless telepathy… All we need is a power source small enough. I think this should do.
Very interesting! I am working on something that involves graphene, and had not spotted anything to do with that discovery yet. Despite keeping an eye open in various science/tech news sources.
Mind you there are over 1,000 (possibly considerably over by now) research projects going on worldwide on that lovely material. Many of them investigating its unusual electrical properties. So it would be impossible to keep up with all the latest developments. But that one is exceptional!
Given how significant the potential is, it really should have made headline news, in even the mainstream media. I guess juicy murders and celebrity gossip sells better than profound news.
Yes, if graphene lives up to that massive potential, it will change the course of world energy economics. And what else can be done with it? Everyone is just beginning to explore it. And with the mass production technique they’ve developed (with a frickin’ DVD burner), I can’t imagine the number of fields it will change.
I have come up with half a dozen highly patentable concepts based on just one of it’s fairly basic properties. If only I had the money to file them! :-D
Oh, and whilst I think of it, I gave the BBC a bollocking for missing the super-capacitor news. This is the first time that I have had to reply “yes”, to their question “have we missed any important news this month?”
Personal gripe: I think the second-to-last panel was unnecessary. I think most readers would figure that out on their own eventually, and it might even make a nice “fridge logic” moment. And even if readers don’t make that connection, the point isn’t really necessary to the plot.
Incidentally, I like that Harem refuses to call him “Deus”.
I shall call no man “God” in any language, even if that’s just what his given name means.
Except, as DaveB pointed out, we might not see Mr D again for a couple of pages and he doesn’t like making people wait for the ‘official’ introduction, so he did it like this deliberately to give Mr D a reason to give his name to people who already know him (and thus inform the readers and give them something to talk about :D)
As Guesticus says, partially it was so I could work Deus’s name into the page (however awkward it was), but you’re right I was probably worried about leaving people with the feeling that this just fell from the sky, and you’re right it probably would have been better to let people come to their own conclusions about it.
Apologies if someone has already mentioned this, but considering the looks and comments between D and Vale in panel 2, I’d bet real money that Vale is a succubus too. Gold or silver please, no checks.
A thought… do the harems all wear contact lens, or are the frames just for show?
Just for show. She wants the experience of wearing glasses, plus it fits with the co-ed aesthetic.
So she can take them off for dramatic effect, just like the General.
Deus Ex Machina, I assume (God from the machine in English). That would lead me to believe that he deals in robotics that turn people into gods (superhero). Or we could look the usage of the term in Ancient Greek drama as him being a super overpowered character that solves all the worlds problems with a single wave of his hand, although due to the fact that he appears to exhibit a less friendly personality and feud ex machina’s are really anticlimactic, I’m going to go with the former.
Nice, except Deus is his last name, Dex(xter) is possibly going to be his first, and Machina is the name of his company
It does make me wonder if Harem is a full on mole for him or just doing this to screw around with everyone else. I like to think the latter by her dialog and, judging from the ambulance prank, she likes to screw with others whether it’s a good idea or not. (especially when ‘others’ includeds Maxima.)
Well, she is a bored 19 yo girl with *VORP*ing powers and 4 extra bodies, plus she is ‘obsessed with new experiences’
Another possibility is that Harem isn’t on anyone’s side but her own and simply likes playing everyone else (e.g., for profit, pleasure of the chaos it causes, and/or other reasons).
Well, from Harem’s point of view, rightly or wrongly, the lipstick prank was payback for something Maxima had done: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/384
Yup, Maxi knew Harem was in the ecnalubmA (she was the one who brought her in their in the first place), but unfortunately, it was still Harem who ended up paying for it…
So yeah, can totally see Harem doing this as payback
Did anyone else notice she forgot her choker? Could it have a tracker in it maybe?
…. Which, if you read some of the other posts, may be why she “forgot” it.
Quick question Dave, I want to assign voices to the characters, but I just can’t seem to get a grasp on some of them, I immediately now make this Harem’s voice Rouge the Bat from Sonic, and Harem Pink is Pinkie Pie, but can you give me some other voices, oh, Gwen is Raven from Teen Titans.
Well, they’re all the same person, though she may affect a teeny bit of an accent I suppose. She was raised on a farm if that helps. I don’t know what state, but she’s probably got a little southwest in her.
Because I have nothing to do at the minute I actually looked up the prices of organs commonly sold on the black market. All inclusive (including both male and reproductive systems) the price can range from roughly $65,000 to $700,000. Note that this is for basically selling every single inch of your body. Not just the classic kidney’s, liver, eyes, but every inch of skin, every drop of blood, every gram of bone marrow. I even accounted for urine and fecal matter. So the sword could be worth, at best, an expensive car, but THE most expensive cars.
Retraction; at full price you could purchase the 10th most expensive car in the world. (With just enough over for licensing and insurance.
Bit late to say this and it has probably long since been ninja’d, but it looks like Harem’s boobs have shrunk in her sheepish look in panel 4.
Don’t know why if it is just me being tired but she looks smaller there in the chest area.
I’m late saying this. But I have to say, Harem’s “those smug jerks think they’re so untouchable” would seem more to fit what Vale and Deus show than Archon. So that’s either literary irony or else Harem pulling one over on Deus and telling him to his face.
I’ve been reading without commenting for a while. But I read a lot of webcomics (and comics in general), and this is one of the most consistently enjoyable I’ve ever seen.
Please keep it up. This is the only place I can get super-heroines who aren’t all broken and jaded, since the DC reboot erased most of the characters I care about.
Thanks for an amazing read and I hope there’s much more to come :D
Thanks! I plan to keep it up for a long time to come. That’s not to say there won’t ever be drama, but yeah, I too get annoyed at how every character in every book ever blames themselves for the death of their kid sister or whatever.
Dammit Harem… I still love ya.
I love the fact that one of the book titles is Mein Bamph.
Two lampshades in one, and a pun as well.
Were is the long earth and the long war?
This Deus guy looks like a trustworthy fellow.
Harem is a baddie. Well, I’m not really all that surprised. I don’t like Harem or Dabbler, though Harem’s primary power (the 5 bodies thing) is pretty cool and teleportation is sweet. Also, Dabbler is kind of cute in actual form, and the face image of her at the very top of the page is kind of adorable. Still not a fan of sexual-related powers and the accompanying attitude, though.
His name is literally Deus Ex Machina. I am so angry right now. That fucking pun. . .
I have to keep reading though.
There’s no time to rage when you’ve got a beautiful comic to read.
(Also I’m happy Sydney shares the most awesome name on the planet with me).
Actually his last name is Deus and he runs Machina Industries, a name he used because his last name is Deus. :)
Deus of Machina Industries… Nice. ;P