Grrl Power #131 – Cue maniacal laughter and lightning
Surprise! Random double sized page for you. I’ve been trying to avoid cramming 12 panels onto a page, but there was no way to do this one the way I wanted without breaking it up weirdly or just smashing the panels to microscopic proportions, so this is my solution.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to update the vote incentive yet, I’ll try and have that tomorrow evening. I need to figure out something else to do for the incentives. I like doing them but some of them take as long as doing an entire page, and quite frankly I’d rather spend the time on another story page, and I’d imagine some of you would prefer I do anything I can to pick up the pace as well. I’ll do the Dabbler’s Science Corner as promised but maybe next month I’ll post teaser images of pencils from the next page or something.
Edit: Oh, and I just found out about this: Comicmix.com is having their annual webcomic popularity contest, so if you like, you can go vote for Grrl Power to get us seeded into the starting bracket. No idea how far we’d get in the actual tourney but it’d be fun to try! Oh, and I should mention that you can vote for more than one comic in this seeding round, so you don’t have to play favorites quite yet. :)
Edit 2: The Comicmix tournament has started properly, and it’s single elimination, so go get em! (And thanks for the support!) Unfortunately their page is overloaded with all the polls it’s almost unusable, at least on my work laptop, but maybe perseverance it part of the tournament. We’re up against Scenes from a Multiverse, which is a pretty funny comic by a veteran webcomicer. It has sort of a Futurama vibe to it. Also, I’m not sure if you can vote just once, or in each bracket, their facebook/poll plugin is acting a bit squirrely for me, so, you know, just in case, vote for Grrl Power first. :)
It’s always nice to show some random sketches you made throughout the existence of the comic.
seconded
Just what the strip needed – an over the top villain. Yay!
since Deus is Latin for god or deity, he’s an over the top villain with a superiority complex
yeah at first i was like blah, but then i saw the part where he started messing with that clicker & i’m loving his quirks.
Nice! Thunder on demand for the drama-conscious villain :)
They’ll be able to charge a fortune for it, once it’s out of beta…
Though I feel compelled to add that from a design point-of-view, adding a power button is needlessly complex.
If the remote absolutely MUST be able to fall asleep, then pressing the button should wake it up and activate the thunder in a single click. (If waking up takes noticeable time, just add a timer to make the delay consistent in both cases.)
Now you are the kind of guy who will get promoted to Lieutenant in Charge of Gadget Construction, when my Antarctic Lair is completed!
Make sure to pack several thermal layers. Dental plan negotiable.
Well….. No threat here…..
I am concerned…
Actually, I am kind of reassured.
I want that “thunder maker”, and I want it NOW!!!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEH!!!!
Moron.
Also, don’t let him see the video linked in my name, lest he get stupid ideas. On that note, Archon needs her. If only so they don’t end up facing off *against* her.
On your “Red” trailer: I WANT ONE OF THOSE! :D
Crescent Rose, the High Velocity Sniper Scythe. Girl’s got crazy skill to be able to wield it without slicing herself in half.
And the vid’s not mine, I just think it’s awesome.
One character based off Red Riding Hood, one on Snow White (Mirror Mirror song), gotta wonder who Blue and Yellow are. Thanks for sharing that man.
Actually, according to Word of God, the characters aren’t “based off” red riding hood, snow white and whoever else, but merely reference them in their design.
The opening song in the Red trailer references the four main characters, apparantly. A mate of mine and I reckon Black will be a Beauty and the Beast reference, with Yellow referencing Goldilocks.
HOLY S#&T! That’s so freaking rad! Can’t wait ’till it comes out now, even tho I know almost nothing of it, but the Red and White trailers are too badass for this to be missed out on!
First of all, I wouldn’t worry ‘too’ much about Mr. Deus. He seems one of those ‘brilliant businessmen/incompentent villian’ sorts (otherwise he’d have known the button had a sleep mode and clicked twice).
Second, big thanks @The Aussie Bloke for mentioning that link. Had to bookmark it so I can keep tabs on it myself.
I like the weapon though in my stories werewolves are more misunderstood heroes than evil monsters.
White reminds me a lot of a movie I saw on cable a couple months ago.
I’m thinking either a trilogy or a Buffy like series. Probably with a slightly larger budget.
Found the movie. It’s called “Sucker Punch”. Kinda weird.
Sucker Punch is 18 kinds of awesome. I especially like how it subverts it’s own apparent genre.
Somewhere I read it was supposed to be a take on the Alice books (Wonderland, Looking Glass).
I would do that laugh, with the thunder, without being evil just because it’s fun
I take great personal pride in my mastery of ‘The Laugh’. Comes in handy when I am refereeing RPGs.
Also works great on telemarketers and prank callers. I don’t say anything – simply Do The Laugh and hang up straight away. They never call back.
It was great to use that kind of laugh when performing “Be Prepared” from “Lion King”, as part of a medley of songs from the musical, in a big rich bass (if I say so myself).
My teeth and ambitions are bared! Be Prepared! Yes, Our teeth and ambitions are bared! Be Prepared!
(4 descending notes)
(Wild laughter) <- actual score direction, so …
Some of the ladies do the hyenas, while I am doing Scar.
Good way to go one up on the bad guy!
“Meh, I do not bother with gadgets, my orchestra does that for me.”
It is not always wise to get in a pissing contest with villains though. I remember one novel where an ally of the hero tells him of one such incident. To prove the point that his minions were all fanatically loyal to him, the overlord commanded a regiment of his troops to march into a raging forest fire! Which they all did, dying without hesitation.
Though the strongest thing that stuck with me, from reading that many years ago, was the person relaying the anecdote had not just heard it as a rumour or second hand. It turns out that he was the villain in question! Presumably attempting to walk a path of redemption.
Rule #20 of being an evil overlord
20. Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in maniacal laughter. When so occupied, it’s too easy to miss unexpected developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to accordingly.
https://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html
Better not let Mr. D see that guide. He might actually try and become competent.
A side rule to that one is that, if you really must do the evil laugh, only do it when you are alone. I gues this counts as alone.
So I forgive him this slight mistake
Rule #12 “One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.” cracked me up laughing and seems to carry the spirit of the whole list.
My two favorites off that list have always been.
21. “I will hire a talented fashion designer to create original uniforms for my Legions of Terror, as opposed to some cheap knock-offs that make them look like Nazi stormtroopers, Roman footsoldiers, or savage Mongol hordes. All were eventually defeated and I want my troops to have a more positive mind-set.”
23. “I will keep a special cache of low-tech weapons and train my troops in their use. That way — even if the heroes manage to neutralize my power generator and/or render the standard-issue energy weapons useless — my troops will not be overrun by a handful of savages armed with spears and rocks.”
But the whole list is gold, and if (as a GM/DM) you run your villains by these rules the player characters are screwed, most of the time they don’t even know how to react.
You captured Deus’ expression in panel 10 PERFECTLY, DaveB. :-D
Also loving the fact that Vale is a “long-suffering” type of character.
She does have a “Number 2” feel to her, but with a better fashion sense
and a better bum
I also like Dave’s artistic sense that even when in silhouette, her cleavage stands out in full technicolor
A remote that goes into sleep mode. . . I have enough trouble with my phone doing THAT. Also expect Sydney to quote the list at this guy.
Real supper villains don’t need no special effects. They can generate there own lightning!
there’s a area of the discworld called Überwald. where, the climate and conditions contrive to fulfill human expectations: for example, Überwaldian thunderclaps occur whenever someone makes a particularly forceful pronouncement”
In The Truth this phenomenon is referred to as “psychotropic weather”.
Years ago, I had a character create a spell which manipulated reality by subtle co-incidence, to provide a wide variety of circumstantial benefits to the caster, as and when they would be useful. It took the cuteness and flexibility of the apprentice level cantrip spell and ramped up the power such that only an archmage could cast it!
For example, when drawing his sword, the clouds would part, at just at the right moment, for the sun to shine down and perfectly illuminate him holding it aloft. Such a use might cause a significant reaction bonus, if in a culture which saw good omens as being a sign of favour from the gods!
That’s the sort of thing that would cause morale or intimidation checks if the game system supports it.
Evil monster terrorizing small village
Hero appears.
Hero draws his sword and holds it aloft
The gods bestow their favor by illuminating said hero and sword.
Hero charges of to do battle with monster
Hero gets butt kicked
Ahh, but it provides circumstantial benefits. He would not be wanting to pose in front of a common all garden monster. In that circumstance, the luck would be that none of the villagers would be stupid enough to get close to the monster, so that the archmage could have free reign with his custom spells.
Most of which were shadow based, so a village offers a magnificent playground for his art. If the squishies keep clear.
Well that kinda changed the feel of the comic all of a sudden.
Wait, it did? What comic have you been reading? It fit’s in perfectly so far
I suspect Bendy is referring to having a villain and some nominal plot development now.
The Dramatic Lightning Simulator (TM)! For all your maniacal laughter needs. Get one today and put a little spice into your monologues!
Yes, I’d like to order one for every room in my Elaborate Underground Base please
Well, he knows how to spend his money. :P
I … have no idea how to respond to that. It’s like watching Will Ferrell try to play David Xanatos….
Although I’m guessing Deus has the competence and intellect of David Xanatos despite being played by Will Ferrell.
Will Ferrell playing Xanatos… hmmm… does Ferrell playing Mugatu in “Zoolander” count?
You called down the thunder? Well on the second press, you got it!
The Storm King he ain’t.
Is it wrong that I’ve taken a liking to this bonehead
The woman reminds me of SheGo.
A Top Minion who has to put up with her bosses lame ideas of what a supervillian should be.
My first reaction was Kif from Futurama. I am still waiting for the exasperated sigh.
Well it is very implied in that last pannel.
But if she’s Kif, that makes Deus Zap. Which in turn means we have nothing to fear from machina industries. And that doesn’t feel right
You forgot something it should read : A Top Minion who has to put up with her bosses lame ideas of what a supervillian should be, while also being more intelligent and dangerous than said supervillian.
So is Deus supposed to be a rich (clearly) but incompetent (unlikely) boss of a super-villian? Of course, he is in the villain game for money, power, security, etc. Corporate espionage is just part of doing business and screwing with your competitors.
You know I didn’t see that at first, which is a shame because I really liked the Kim Possible show, but since you mention it yea, there is a striking character resemblance. I wonder if she is going to turn out to secretly to be a super or if she is going to be in Peggy and Math’s class of obnoxiously skilled humans. Although… Vale. Hmm I’d bet she’s going to be mind boggling fast and or have wind based powers. Fits the name anyway.
You know I’ve never watched that. Maybe I should stick it in my Netflix queue, assuming it’s even offered there.
It’s a great show. There’s lots of catch phrases that for a while were in my everyday vocabulary. I want to clarify that by “striking character resemblance” I did not mean how they look,I meant the aforementioned character description (competant side kick to imbecilic super villain) that seems to be characterized by this amusing page.
Yes Shego who was the real evil whereas Dr. Drakken was just a pretender. She eventually goes on her own. Also with a device that would take out the good in a person leaving only evil in them,did that to Kim’s friend and side kick who turned into a very evil kid. Suddenly his intelligence shined, he became assertive and all that martial arts training finally worked. Shego dumped Drakken for Ron in a heart beat.
Shego wasn’t really evil though, she and her brothers (who all shared ‘go’ part in their names) used to be a family of Superheroes until she got turned evil (even then, she wasn’t really evil, just bad, but she was really really good at being bad, whereas Drakkun was just an idiot who wnated to be evil)
You could at least spell her name correctly: it’s Shigo, not Shego.
Actually, it is Shego, as the Team Go/Go Family names are punny like that – Hego (eldest brother), Mego (middle brother), Shego (only girl) & Wego (Twins). Keep in mind it was a cartoon made by DISNEY who are from the USA, not Japan, so it’ll always be “She” not “Shi”.
She was evil. On the evil meter she scored at the top, Drakken was barely back yard bully level. At the end she reluctantly joined the good side after saving the earth from aliens.
this settles it …this is sydneys long lost father
vision of the “Luke, I am your father” scene from empire strikes back
mind you Sydney will probably have a few things to say to her dad
Fantastic lighting in panels 3 &5, perfectly captures the tone of strip #131!
Panel 10: our villain is “Spongebob” with excitement.
Plz fix hair in p11 –
Shego expyvillainess is too cute.I really really like this guy now :)
Based on his displayed mental capacities, I am starting to wonder on the circumstances that gave him that facial scar. I had originally gone with battle scar from epic combat scene with a summoned demon. Now I am leaning toward trying to trim a uni-brow with a hedge clipper.
I’m going with, he tried to head-butt a car but forgot to allow for the hood ornament.
Was thinking he got into a head-butting contest with a bull and forgot about the horns.
Reminds me of Hartigan from Sin City. Hmm… a good cop gone bad after the system spit him out?
meh – I’ve seen plenty of very capable people indulge themselves in childish theatrics… at least this one is fun
Ok that wins internets points :)
today’s installment made me laugh like no comic has in a long while. thanks :)
Hmmm, if she could be a *air-quotes*triple agent*air-quotes*, she could also go as far as “infinite-agent” (well, as many times as it takes before it stops being fun anyway), but to me she will always be a single-agent (kinda like that quote: “To Thyself, be true”)
I personally would hate it if Harem was just a “double agent.” She’s too interesting a character with too much potential as a “good guy” to waste as a bad guy.
However she could make a VERY interesting bad guy… girl.
But yea, I’d rather see her as part of the good guys to
Grey zone, here we come! We have been introduced to a supposedly good-guy military organization that has recruited our innocent main character but said organization’s lawyer organized a bank robbery! And they are letting her get away with it! I don’t care if the bank hired a “security” company to test their security; this is not what they had in mind.
Machina might actually turn out to be the high road after all, even if the big boss is a little loopy.
That line of reasoning had passed through my mind too.
Excellent point. Also look at Arianna’s behaviour during ‘The Interview’. Frankly, I think she is much more worrying than Deus ever could be.
Umm, the word bubble in panel 10 is slightly off: should either be “Do you want to do it once more before…” or “…do it again before…”
Or the punctuation could be changed? Either inserting a comma after “once” or moving the question mark to that spot, and replacing it with a full stop at the end of her dialogue.
Just to improve first read comprehension. I recall having to examine the pictures to try and grasp her context, then re-read the text. It only caused a momentary delay, but could be tightened up slightly.
By the way, I love how he gets his cheeky schoolboy “shall I?” look in that panel. It fits in perfectly with the pendulum swing of changing tone you have throughout the page.
Love the rage-face adaptation in panel 10.
Well, this is certainly a different kind of villain… Not sure whether to be amused or terrified.
Unfortunately, Dave, you destroyed the effect with the error in the strip’s title – it should be “Cue maniacal laughter and lightning”.
Then again, maybe it should be “Cue lightning and maniacal laughter” – maniacal laughter we know of, but what is ‘maniacal lightning’? :)
Whoops, well that’s what I get for posting the strip at 11:30 at night. It’s fixed.
Maniacal Lightning is the Lightning that shows up at the wrong dramatic moment, just to screw with you.
Dave was unsubtle enough to devote an entire panel (8) to the gag, and no-one commented on it?
okay fine i will:
Seems like now we officially have “Deus X Machina (Industries)™”
We talked about that on the previous page. Apparently, the name was an accident (yeah, right!).
Besides, Deus X runs it, but it is “Machina Industries” – it says so right there in Who’s Who next to the comic, as well as the panel in question (8, that is). I love how the spaces in the “M” look like evil eyes. Mwoo Ha Ha! *Kra-KOOM!!*
:)
Again: it’s “X” Deus (Deus is his lastname)
Even more to the point, since it’s his company, it came from him, not the other way around. That means really, we have Machina (e)X Deus.
Oh, sorry. I thought perhaps he was 10th in a long paternal line of namesakes…
So, Deus X, for short.
So, this is Halo’s nemesis? Perfect, there both spastics.
yep, so Deus thinks the same as me
And now Harem foils his plans by actually being a dirty, rotten traitor.
In a way she already is. Question is, who is the betrayed?
Hey DaveB, I just did the vote thing for Grrl Power in the comic mix thing and guess what? Grrl Power is in the top bracket!
Thanks! I think a lot of the other comics haven’t caught wind of it yet, it will heat up as the week goes on.
Looks like the seeding round does not allow votes for multiple comics, after all (although it does let you make multiple votes, even for the same comic, if you can afford to make charitable donations).
I ended up with 16 check marks! But it came back with an error saying “maximum one allowed”. Which, needless to say, Grrl Power got. I did try putting in a follow up vote for another comic, as a test, but just got a “you have already voted” type message.
That’s weird, I voted from work and it let me put in more than one, but when I did it from my phone and from home it only let me put in one. Maybe the updated their code halfway through the day.
You realize, of course, this whole strip would make an awesome movie.
A movie? A MOVIE?!!? Nonsense, This is obviously an anime-type Cartoon series, fir to be squeezed between Batman:TAS and Superman:TAS
A Japanese Anime of Grrl Power could be interesting, of course if Dabbler anything to do with it, it’ll have more tentacles
and of course we can’t forget the fan service
*Holds up the skin-tight sweats with “Gratuitous Fan Service” across the booty*
referring to the shower scene between Harem and heatwave back in #92
I know Math wanted in, but, I think Anvil might have a different idea
Nope, when Harem was in the fridge and her sweatpants had ‘Gratuitous Fan Service” printed on her butt.
Oh I like him. He’s silly! :D
A Bugs Bunny quote? That is so perfectly odd!
I’ve had dozens of remotes in my life, and not one of them worked like that one.
Also, couldn’t he just click twice rapidly? That should work in either case (assuming it can’t go twice at once, that is).
Well, not if the guys down at development added a function you don’t know, and this is the first time you get to try it out.
I wonder if the next time he uses that, he’s ganna forget to turn on the remote
Yes well, that would be the sensible solution wouldn’t it?
I’m wondering if Deus and his corporation have a sort of ‘Dilbert’ thing going on.
“Minion! This thingamajig doesn’t work the way I want it to! FIX IT!”
Minion sighs deeply. Long experience has taught him/her the futility of trying to explain physics or common sense to the Boss. Far easier to pretend to obey orders, and then wait for him to order that things be changed back.
2 years, so maybe nobody will see this, but my old DVD player was close, if I used it to play CDs. The screensaver would kick in after ten minutes or so. The CD would keep playing normally, but the first press on the “stop” button would only bring it out of screensaver mode, rather than actually stop the CD.
I SOOOO want one of those….
He is the type of bad guy that will monologue while the hero regroups.