Grrl Power #135 – An under reaction. Get it? Cause she’s short
The name “Anvil” should serve as a reminder to me not to give my characters temporary names. They tend to stick. Luckily Maxima’s original nickname, “Gold Babe” was eventually replaced. Anvil isn’t a bad name necessarily, but in the realm of superheroing, it’s hardly original. Granted, neither is Maxima, but at least that name really feels like it fits her. After spending a year or more as “Gold Babe” there was another good year where she was called Ultima. I knew then that she was going to be riding the top of my power scale, and the name Maxima went to a skinny weed of a girl who had a combination of zero range telekinesis and zero range gravity control, giving her essentially unlimited lifting strength. She could lift an aircraft carrier with one arm, the only challenge for her would be the size and inertia of the thing, its weight was irrelevant. The problem was I kept coming up with scenarios where “Ultima” was thinking “I need to max out my strength/speed/armor” (if you didn’t know, Maxima has a power pool that she can use to drastically boost her power.) Eventually I decided to swap their names, Max got the first name Maximillia and started coming together as a character a bit more, and Skinny-but-can-lift-anything-Ultima got retired into the vault with all the rest of the heroes who didn’t quite make it. Don’t worry, she’s not lonely. At its height, my own personal superteam had something like 20 members, and no one who appears in this comic was on it. I imagine some of them will show up though, in radically updated forms.
Unrelated but impressive, Fred Perry, who does the comic Gold Digger that I’ve cited several times as my favorite comic and one of the inspirations for my comic, has achieved what may be a first. He’s done 200 comics over the last 20 years. There are a few of the early color issues that he had someone else doing the coloring, but other than that, he’s written, inked, penciled and colored them all by himself. One of the things I like about Gold Digger is the consistency. Unlike mainstream comics where the creative teams swap out every dozen issues and it suddenly feels like you’re reading a different title. He’s got a special signed edition he’s putting out… obviously jumping in at issue 200 is not ideal if you’ve never read it but I’m assuming there are a few fans of the comic here that may not know about this special issue.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
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SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
ROFL at the chibi-Sydney at the top.
I almost think she is yelling at us on this one. Kind of funny in my mind if she (i.e. DaveB) really was. :)
Well, when people started on about what Sydney’s ‘super’ name could be (last week) I did point out that her name was already at the top of the page – looks like Sydney (or Dave) is reinforcing that point.
And, yes, I do realize a lot of people were doing it all for fun – it just seemed (at the time) as though they were trying to influence Dave’s decision.
Actually I think it was a dig at me from the posts last issue… But then I look at it as a smart alec complement in a back handed way…
Her pointing up to the cast list is a cute way of pointing out where the name has shown up.
What was funny was mine gltiched, so Halo’s pic didn’t show up =P
Have to agree on RFOL but it also shows Dave is still up to trying something new – putting a mini comic some place other than below the main comic. Will we be seeing a “side strip” next?
…Please don’t write your comments in blue text on a blue background. It hurts the eyes.
Also, it makes the whole thing look like one giant link.
My eyes were fine, it actually was somehow easier to read, as the different shades contrast well together.
I agree with Random Wanderer. Blue is blue. You need a pretty extreme contrast when handling what are essentially the same colors. I also agree that it looks like a link.
I quite like it, I find the lower contrast much easier on the eye. My other half has her word processor set up for black on pretty-dark purple (or pretty, dark purple, I guess if you are a goth), which i find a step too far but it saves her the eyestrain. I guess there’s no perfect, let alone right, option for text-to-background colouring that will suit everyone.
DaveB fantastic! and I’m glad that Arianna named Halo Halo, seems appropriate!
That was an accident, it copied the style over from Evernote. I’ve changed it back to black.
Back in black
I hit the sack
I’ve been too long I’m glad to be back
Yes I’m, let loose
From the noose
That’s kept me hanging about
I keep looking at the sky
‘Cause it’s gettin’ me high
Forget the hearse ’cause I’ll never die
I got nine lives
Cat’s eyes
Usin’ every one of them and running wild
‘Cause I’m back
Yes, I’m back
Well, I’m back
Yes, I’m back
Well, I’m back, back
(Well) I’m back in black
(I actually had this song playing while reading the comments)
***Preemptively dodges Adamas’ “Pun” strike)
*Launches hundred of Angus Young clones at Bismarck*
My god! Too funny! xD
hehe love the “fraggle” comment )
i dont see why she seem down about ruling over the fraggles,,, after all, they rock :)
I feel really old today. I watched that show when it first aired. I think I still have a large round rock that my brothers and I found, and named it “the blue wazoo”, sitting in my front garden.
–sigh–
You feel old? You were the target market at the time. I was already in high school when that show started, and yes I watch some of the episodes.
Never heard of the Fraggles. :p
MISSED OUT ON SOMETHING SPECIAL
I was too old for Sesame Street when it came out but I did enjoy “Electric Company” it was fun to watch even if you were older. “Hey You Guys!”
I was the target age for Sesame Street in the early 70’s, but I also would watch Electric Company right after. I did not realize until much later that EC was meant for an older (read grade 3) audience. I loved Letterman and Easy Reader (played by Morgan Freeman) and it was my introduction to Spiderman.
why is it that my first tough about last panel was that she was gonna do a boob grab.
Because that’s totally what it looks like.
Not going to happen. Sydney comes up to Kenya’s navel or thereabouts. Besides she is quoting Sir Edmund Hilary’s about mountain climbing.
Wait, weren’t there a lot more people standing around just a second ago? In particular, weren’t Math and Dabbler standing right behind Sydney?
Also, I loved the Fraggle comment as well, but I’m a bit confused on “because it’s there…” Clarification, por favor?
“Because it’s there” is one of the reasons people give when asked ‘why do you climb mountains?’
Relevant Wiki quote
—–
Mallory is famously quoted as having replied to the question “Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” with the retort “Because it’s there”, which has been called “the most famous three words in mountaineering”.
—-
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory)
I stand corrected. Not Edmund Hillary.
Hillary Mallory fountain, the dudes that climbed a mountain…
Yeah, Sir Ed’s quote is along the lines of “knock(ing) the bastard off”
We might note that climbing this mountain might be a very desirable goal. Of course, one does have to beware of avalanches or volcanic eruptions…
Ah, gotcha. Thanks.
Yeah, the problem with crowd scenes is that all those people in the background take just as long to draw as the people in the foreground. I should probably try and find some shots of them in other pages and cut and paste them into the background to maintain the population of the room.
There certainly would not be any complaints from this quarter. Cut and pasted central characters stand out. But background ones are just that. And the more time you can save doing them the better!
Of course- the PR Manager is the one to think about it and give the best name.
And Syd should be happy to be associated with the video game ‘coz it’s a very cool and good franchise.
I see that Syd’s orbs rotate in a clockwise motion (if you’re looking at them from below). Is that intentional on her part? Makes me wonder what they do when she’s not doing anything with them or is unconscious/asleep. And from a character design/writing perspective, is there any particular reason for this?
I foresee Syd being the basis of many more future wagers among Archon’s people.
It could be that she’s not a fan of Halo (the game) possibly because she’s more into RPGs whether paper or not. Some folks didn’t like the over-hype that MS gave it or that the console had a bad rap (RROD). While there are always fanboys there will always be their opposite side. Personally the last console game I really enjoyed was Conker’s Bad Fur Day on the N-64.
As a busy corporate executive type, my guess is that she is probably not into any games. Although growing up Monopoly was probably a favourite of hers, given her reaction at the thought of profit.
I think Sydney was worried there might be copyright issues, or just worried that the name was simpley already taken.
You realize we all fell for the most amazing April Fool’s prank I have seen in ages? I think Dave set it up so that Sydney’s ‘Hero name reveal’ would happen today (April 1) and make everyone THINK it was going to be Halo…
!
Now that would be awesome!
That would be EPIC level EVIL. I could respect that.
So is the Everest joke about Anvil’s height or her boobs? Or both?
I think height, because she didn’t say “Because they are there.”
<Zoidburg>It could be both why not?</Zoidburg>
didn’t Halo have the ‘not a lesbian’ thingy going earlier?
It’s my personal experiance that just about everyone can appreciate and admire a truly wonderfull set of boobs, regardless of their sexual proclivity. They’re just one of those things that make this world a better place to live. Think about it, can you realy say the word “Boobies” without smiling just a little, at least to yourself? They’re so wonderfull that even just saying the word can brighten your day!
PS: Anyone with extra money to spare, please donate to breast cancer research and help us save the boobies! With your help, we can finaly lick breast cancer !
Boobies. That is such a friendly sounding word. Hay, boobies, how is it going? Or maybe it sounds like a snack. Hay Math want to grab a handful of boobies? “I bet you cant eat just one!”
–George Carlin is the inspiration–
I believe the quote went something like “New Nabisco Tits! Betcha can’t eat just one!” Yeah it was one of the 7 deadly words.
Cheese-tits, but yeah close. The world lost an amazing comedian the day George Carlin died.
that was with Dabbler going full succubus on em
From what I’ve heard, there’s been a clinical study that’s shown guys with high blood pressure can relieve the problem while staring at a female’s pair of epic boobies…
Huh, I would think staring at boobs would raise one’s blood pressure temporarily, giving the heart more excersize. Though I suppose staring at boobs would also help take your mind off of things that are stressing you out and spiking your blood pressure. So I guess either way, the wonderful hobby of boob-watching is a very heart healthy activity! I say again, boobs realy are wonderful things.
Those definitely are not the twin moons of Endor.
*Zoidbergs away*
AHA! The power of one of the orbs is a world enlarger!
Uh, Dave? Missing word in your comment: “the only challenge for (her) would be the size and inertia of the thing”.
Fixed it, thanks.
The problem for me grokking inertia being a problem is that she has gravity control. Which *should* imply that like Jake in the Grimnoir Chronicles, she might could change the *direction* of gravity (why not), which would imply she could move anything of any mass in any direction with as much acceleration as she liked, as long as it fit in her contact telekinesis paradigm.
Of course, if she could only turn the knob between zero and normal along the usual vector, she’d be out of luck, but that seems like a lot smaller than “control” of gravity. IMO YMMV VWP.
And by the way, is the little girl in the “world’s strongest” reality show an echo of Ultima?
Sullivan took every bit of Power he had and let it go all at once,
increasing gravity’s strength […] The foundations cracked and
turned to powder under the pressure […] Rokusaburo was just
gone, replace by a sudden pressurized red mist […]
— re: Jake “Heavy” Sullivan
“What I’m saying is, I could bench press the earth,
but I’d still have these little girl noodle arms.”
— Acacia Budur
Ooo, lovely Wapsiverse reference there, luverly :D
Seems that Sydney’s prospective teammates already have a lock on her behaviour patterns. Great scene.
I have a feeling that this is the first of many betting pools we will see. Also the first of many Max will lose due to her giving Syd the benefit of the doubt. Nice to see Syd being delicate about it though.
Nah the bet was probably because the usual reaction to seeing someone (especially a beautiful woman) who tops 7 feet in her socks is to make a stupid remark about redwoods.
I can attest to this, at least as far as the height thing goes. I’ve said redwood relayed jokes to 3 of my cousins (male and female), as well as cautioning them each on multiple occasions with a “Damn, Stretch! Don’t jump!” while they were standing under a ceiling fan. I’m on the tall end of the spectrum myself, but they put me to shame.
I’m 5’6″. So I’d be seeing eye-to-nipple with Anvil.
“And a grand view it is boyo!” (fake scottish accent here)
Umm, isn’t “boyo” more of an Irish thing? “Laddy” is more Scots :P
Yeah that’s why I called it fake.
All I can really say is “You lucky bastard!”
Probably a standing bet that the new guy wouldn’t say anything about Kenya’s height in the first five min.
I think that had Sydney not been distracted by her huge, um, stature, the reaction to the name ‘Anvil’ from her pop-culture saturated mind would been a Wiley Coyote comment. Maybe in a future strip.
Also, change the camera angle. I want to see how the orbs rotate around a horizontal Sydney. Do they stay level to the floor, or to her head (resulting in a whump, whump, whump on the floor)?
They “bounce” off the floor and make a secondary parabolic so it’s like a rainbow.
It’d be more fun (and more awesome) if they just pasted through the floor like it wasn’t there but that would freak everyone out.
heh, like in a video game where physical space means nothing. It would add to the theory that the “orbs” are actually projections of Sydney’s mind allowing it to make sense of having all these powers in a way that allows her to use them in a way that prevents mental and physical damage to herself by trying to use too many at once (super powered coping mechanism), and her “discovery” of them a mental trick as well for when they awoke.
Ah but why would they feel physical to other people, I mean they are solid enough to hurt dabbler and math
Nothing is physical. There is no spoon. The world only seems solid because our brains tell us that it is. If it told us that the balls hurt when they hit, then they hurt.
I am shocked that no one has made an innuendo comment for this! Have the internets matured? Though I guess nothing really needs to be said.
Psyball, can only hurt things that have a brain and thus can percieve them.
think like Psylock’s psy-blade or that alt verse daughter of Wolverine who had psy-claws, they could only hurt living things with these constructs and not inanimate objects. (effects on brainless organisms or lacking a nervous system was never explored to my knowledge).
that is unless there is a telekinetic component to them
the train here was “it would be funny if they passed through the floor like in a videogame”
then asked why people would be able to feel them, and it went on from there.
add a telekinetic component and it defeats the entire train of thought’s point as that would be another train of thought in which they are still projections, but don’t pass through the floor.
The train has now arrived at Entropy Central, the end of the line. All passengers please disembark. There is no point collecting baggage, as everything has ceased to exist. We hope you have enjoyed travelling on this train of thought.
Entropic loss, heat death of the universe.
When scientists discover the cross dimensional energy exchange they are going to look back at the heat death theory the way most current scientists think of the great crunch.
Personally, it always makes me wonder why astronomers assume that the universe is limited to just what they can see. I do not think there is any reason to assume that the results of the one big bang we can see is the only one.
There could be an unlimited number of them. If another big bang has occurred close enough to this one, the “universe” that it created may be overlapping with ours at the points where there expanding bubbles intersect. Possibly it has identical “universal” laws to ours. Possibly not.
And we would be blissfully unaware of it, until the expansion of that universe overlapped with Earth. Possibly not realising it until we were in the overlapping universes. Assuming that there is nothing (including time) in any area outside of an expanding universe, it is reasonable to assume that you cannot detect its expansion until it reaches you.
Alternatively, there might be some reaction to two universes expanding into each other (perhaps violent, perhaps little more than ripples from two stones thrown into a pond overlapping each other), which could travel in advance, like a shockwave.
If anyone wants to write a dissertation on this idea, feel free. But it would be nice to give credit and a mention to me, if you do. :-) Although, as proven frequently here, there is no such thing as a good idea, so it would not surprise me if it is an established idea that I am simply in ignorance of.
And, yes, I am aware of the irony of using a term like “close” given that space is also a result of the big bang. But, given that we cannot see beyond the limits of the big bang, who knows what is beyond it. Our “universe” could just be like a single drop of water in an infinite ocean.
Or just be like the atom forming one part of a cell in a jellyfish, swimming in an ocean. Perhaps, if you got a good enough view, you might find that ocean was on a planet. Probably vastly different to ours. But maybe not, in a cosmic recursive irony.
I’m pretty sure they don’t assume the universe is limited to what they can see. For instance, they know that what they can see only comprises about 6% of the universe. The rest is dark matter and dark energy, neither of which can be seen. Or at this moment, understood or actually discovered.
Ahh, but how do they calculate that number? It is based on the weird shit that is happening to the stuff they can see, and extrapolating from there. All good science. But where science does not like to go is into areas that it cannot prove something, one way or the other. Giving the appearance that the default assumption is “if we can’t see it, it is not there”.
I pity the meteorologist (they could not have astronomers) on some permanently cloud-covered planet, who proudly proclaim that they have measured the scope of the universe by calculating the weight of the clouds that they can see and extrapolating from there.
Although, at least they get a hint there is something beyond, if they notice that the sky varies between periods of lightness and dark. Mind you, they might just put this down to some mysterious light/dark matter that could account for some discrepancies in their other calculations.
And the answer to the question is ‘Palantir’. The Middle Earth version of webcams.
Re: mainstream comics
I don’t read any of them any more, because of the constant changes in creative teams. It would’t matter if they were all good writers and artists (they’re not, either) but anything created by committee is worse (exception: NivenandPournelle are actually better than either one alone, and each of them is pretty good) than anything by dedicated creators. If there happens to be an exception to the “too many cooks” effect, just keep adding new writers and artists until a really bad combo occurs.
I remember when I really liked Spider Man. How many issues did Steve Ditko do before any other artist did the book?
here starts the great friendship between anvil and halo. sweet ^_^.
kinda wondering when we are going to get to the TV interview. feels like no one is pressed with time even tough a couple of strips earlier you said they had to go to the interview soon. anyway just ranting. over now. woke up at 4 AM for work. got to job and this really brights up my day. Thanks dave. pretty sure i said this before but this comic is one of the few things that make me WANT to wake up a monday morning ^_^
The mini comic on top got me started and Sydney’s antics kept me laughing. Awesome.
I should’ve known that Ariannan would be the one to come up with a catchy name. She’s good. Nice upward perspective on Kenya, by the way. She’s lookin’ good.
Re Mr. Perry’s 200th issue – that’s quite the accomplishment. The only other artist I know of that’s come close to something like that is Stan Sakai.
He has been writing, drawing, & inking Usagi Yojimbo for almost 30 years now. Through 3 publishers, the title has more than 200 issues not including single stories published in other titles. Most of the issues are black & white, unlike Gold Digger, so I think it is very likely that Mr. Perry is the only one to also color his work for such a long run. Both are excellent books, well worth checking out.
This was probably already addressed, but I couldn’t access the comic for a bit due to my Nanny State anti-virus program telling me your site was bad. Don’t do that again! Naughty web-site!
Okay hardening back to last weeks common comment conversation I need some help naming a villain. Back ground first, I found the RPG that Sydney was playing in the first few comics and I am now GMing a group with me and a couple of friends, so you can suggest anything even if it has already been used by a major comic book company.
Stats on the villain: looks a little strange (has tentacles for hair, pure white skin with very light blue streaks on it) has the ability to breath under water and two main tentacles that act like extra limbs, she can produce a number of poisons within the main tentacles and inject them into people using a sharp spine at the end.
Her current name is poison surge but I’d really rather give her a different one
Seduca?
Naughty-lus? Cuddle-fish?
Toxic Medusa. A little on the nose.
Hapalochlaena? That’s the genus for the deadly Blue Ringed Octopus. Maybe Chlaena for short, which I assume would be pronounced “clay-ENNA”
I just noticed your post, not sure how I missed it. Same suggestion LoL.
Perhaps Stheno? Not a catchy name, granted. But, if you want to veil her powers a bit, that is much less well known than Medusa. And, for a villain name, it has some nice significance. She is Medusa’s older sister. Only much nastier and more vicious!
So if the players do a bit of research, to find out more about her, that might make them quake. Always fun for games masters. ;-)
So far liking yours the best, and thank you I always forget the name of one of the Horgan sisters when I’m trying to name them
That should be Gorgan not horgan, I don’t know why that turned up
Heh, I had assumed that it was some TV pop culture reference which I did not get.
Hey, not knowing anything about pop culture is my thing. Although I am in a kinda weird position from the perspective of nerd culture, I know enough for people to think of me as a nerd but not enough for nerds to think of me as a nerd. Pop culture is different, I know nothink! about pop culture.
Sounds a little simular to my character Albia.
but lets see,
chlaena. from Hapalochalaena the blue ringed octopus, coloration, poison, and has the added bonus of sounding like a Cthulhu monster name.
Anemone
Toxic Wave?
Now a flirtatious man might take a look at Kenya, hear her code name, and wonder whether she was dating anyone. “I was sure you would have a Captain Hammer in your life, Anvil.”
Then wait for the blush if she get the innuendo from Dr. Horrible.
more like wait for the super bitchslap
and then the clean-up crew
You can only wait for a clean up crew if there is anything left of him
Message from the Anti-Pun Satellite!: “Tell Anvil to quit sending these jokers into space, one almost took out our laser!”
Love it. DaveB really captured that sinking feeling. And alvin caught the flow when he said, last week, that all the word balloons contributed to making Sydney feel small.
I think in re-reads, when we go straight from one page to the other, that feeling will be magnified. Taking the psychological feeling invoked by the first one through to the intimidating surprise that Sydney suffers above. And her way of expressing it really is hilarious.
Not to mention the mini-Sydney at the top. Although, I must admit that, at first, I assumed somebody had been asking about a way to find the last comic you read, in the comments, as it looked like she was pointing at the ‘tag page’ buttons. Took a moment for the right connection to be made and the chuckling to start.
“And if we get suited by Microsoft, we’ll have to use our fallback nickname: ‘Skittles.'”
Possibly I am writing this whilst you are updating the vote incentive. But, if not, something is odd. The new incentive is up on TWC, ok. And very interesting insight it gives too. But if you go to the page quoted “https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/855” to make a comment, it comes up “page not found”.
And the “comment here” link under the vote button, still goes to last month’s vote comments page.
Whoops, I had scheduled the post to go up today at 20:00 instead of 2:00 by accident. It’s up now.
I am scared of one thing here simply people: What is Sydney reaching for in the last panel?
Truly we have not seen ANY perverted tendancies out of her but with her shaky quote it does leave one thinking…
she is more likely getting ready to grab Kenya’s arms to pull herself back up. or she is motioning towards anvil to direct her comment.
I’m having issues with coming up with a hero name myself. I have his real name and I have his power set but a hero name, I’ve got nothing. His powers involve vibration manipulation at the temporary cost of his own eyesight. I’m having Sydney’s problem of trying to find a descriptive name without it being rude or downright silly.
Shimmer
Of those listed to date, Shimmer has the best resonance to me. Mmm, “resonance” has a ring to it, actually. And, if he cannot see when using the power, he may begin to use echoes or listening to the resonance of objects, to get a clue as to what may be happening out of sight. A violent sonar.
But the suggestion I had been intending to mention was Haze. Along the same sort of lines as Shimmer. But also bringing in the associations of hazing, to give it some more edge.
There is a similar DC hero called vibe
I’d go with oscillate personally
could call him Sonar,,, meaning vibration power,,, but also implying the blind thing :)
Or in that vein “Batman”. He would be more authentic the the DC one.
Funny that you should mention that, because after I made the initial post I came up with Chiro (derived from the latin word Chiroptera.) not sure if I should go with it though because I never intended flight as one of his powers and the bat connection would make that assumption with any potential readers.
first thing that comes to me is Virtigo, but that’s been used too many times.
tried looking up a medical term for temporary blindness to get an idea for a cool sounding name…and that was the medical term….way to let me down usually cool latin names scientists. Other terms were Fleeting Blindness and Flash Blindness.
you could go punny, Paraoculas, implying its a pardox of the eye, but the name might make people think of a parascope.
Slight Sight, meh
got something better, vibration of the eye is called
Blepharospasm
you could play with this word, BlePharaoh for example, if you want to egypt theme him.
Yeah, but then people will just end up calling him “Bleh!”
Why does the name have to have anything to do with their power? Have a character in DCUO: winged flier with ice powers named Haast’s Harrier (named after the biggest bird of prey, to give you an idea of it’s size, it’s favoured prey used to be the giant Moa)
So he can control the vibration of things… and it makes him go blind. I can see why you’d have trouble coming up with a name that isn’t rude. My first thought was “Harry Palms” or “Your Wife’s Best Friend”
Seriously though I’d go google waves, vibration, sound, etc, there’s probably some cool sounding obscure science term you could use like “Null Zero” or “Maxillation” or “Ampliform”
yeah, “Wife’s Best Friend” was on the list, another one was “No Batteries Required”. It’s really tricky to take your mind out of the gutter once it has taken up residence.
If your character’s day job is that of a politician, or some other role where he routinely takes part in massive debates, you could call him Mass-debater.
Richter
Been done by Marvel during the second New Mutants series a few years ago.
he’s also still a member of X-Factor, in a gay relationship with Shatterstar, lost his powers on M-day, and last year got his powers back thanks to the Scarlet Witch.
Huh, thought he was one of the ones that died in Stryker’s attack.
you mean the slaughter of Genosha or the attack on Xavier’s school?
but nope, he’s alive. Not that death matters to Marvel, they still havn’t explained how Drax is alive despite the fact Thanos vaporized him, point blank, full page spread, skeleton, no mistake.
Xavier’s. It actually was the last comic I bought before my personal economy tanked.
huh, well, he’s alive regardless. I don’t trust these writers to pay attention to the details anymore anyway.
Thank you for all the suggestions. I have come up with what I think is a winner, “The Resonant” so thanks to all, but a big thanks to Yorp.
And if he becomes a bad guy, he can call himself “The Resonant Evil”
My pleasure.
nice!!!!!!
Naming a hero is like naming a D&D character, My warlock is named “Sparrow” because the deity that cursed him with warlock power thought it would be funny to give a short, skinny kid almost unlimited magical powers and named after a bird that was almost completely defenseless against predators… And also no training and an imperative to “be funny”.
I think naming a fantasy character is infinitly easier than naming a superhero. a Superhero name needs to be catchy and descriptive. A fantasy character name just needs to sound thematic. and can have a long title
Gyro, Tyros, Staltos, Stratos the Sky Warrior, Jin of Agate Town, Morohi, Hollia, Jasma, Gold Wolf, Amia, Pima, Mann,
Baron Adonz,
Ethan the Necrokinetic Swordsman
Lord Xiang,
Rhulan the celestial sorceress
Sylvia Queen of the Nocturne,
ect….stand out, use a title, be thematic.
Htaed Ybdehcuotnu (gnome necro)
Gnivil Nuehtfoeno (her great-great-great grandaunt, also a gnome necro)
Zabisuto Zyhoptic (an evil frog ninja-assassin)
Hwalgren N`Gareeen (a bug warden who wears only green)
Blacqphlag Killzphast (zerker bug, wears black, kills very quickly :D)
some of those sound like names for an ageless horror,
or some very Russian or North East European campaigns.
Which one is the ageless horror?
Gnivil is from EverQuest, the rest EQ2 (oh, and read the first 2 names backwards :D)
Forgot to mention, Zabi has an EQ1 ‘cousin’ named Subozati
first one, the necro gnome thing. It just reminded me of a comic strip about a character complaining that their video game didn’t give its monster a 14 syllabal unpronounciable name. LoL
“There are some who call me… Tim”
sometimes the best fantasy names are normal names, just give them a title
Louie the Rune Soldier, for example. granted never called that in the actual anime, but still.
lets see
Tim Drake Farmer
Tony of the Titan Smashers
Joe the Dragon Smiter
otherwise known as Tim, Tony, and Joe the three losers who hang out in the tavern all day trying to pick up women with their tall tales.
Sorry to be a grammar nazi, but I noticed two places in the blurb for today’s comic where you use “it’s” where you should use “its.” (The places I found are “it’s weight” in the middle of the first paragraph and “it’s height” at the end of the same paragraph.) Its/it’s is a pet peeve of mine, so I couldn’t just leave it alone.
On a less nitpicky note: I love the comic. Keep up the good work.
Gah! That drives me bonkers too. I’ve fixed it.
reading the author’s commentary.
heh, heroes in the vault,
I have a whole team in my vault “The Rejects” the idea was a team of wannabe superheroes with ultimatly useless powers, or not very good for being superheroes powers.
Pillow Fist: hands turn into large soft as a pillow cushons
Copra Bomb: his feces when dried out becomes highly explosive when lit on fire. Discovered by a mutant tracker, thanks to indoor plumbing he never knew he had any powers till he was like forty.
Thief: Kleptokinesis, he points at a person, says “Thief” and a random item belonging to that person that is palm sized or smaller (and doesn’t need to be on that person at the time) appears in Thief’s hand. The item is totally random, it could be the key to his car, wallet, gold ring, or a sock, toothbrush, lint from his pocket, ect…
and others on the team I’d have to look up in my access file to remember at this point.
That sounds more like microteleportation or maybe kleptoteleportation.
kinesis, just means to move. so really if it was just moving something like telekinesis it would be redundant to call it Kleptokinesis. His power is a random thieving power that yes uses teleportation, but teletransport or just teleport is to move over a distance, usually implying the self. As he is moving other objects from a distance to himself, I went with Kleptokinesis; mostly because symantics aside it sounded better than Kleptoporter which just sounds like a porter who steals your stuff LoL. that and Kleptoporter sounds like something a teleporting catburgler would name themselves.
Teleporting cat burger = McCavity (from Cats, the musical).
Alf: I would like a teleporting cat burger please?
with extra mayo.
LoL
Is the eyepatch going to be a permanent part of Sydney’s character? She keeps reminding me of Cain from Binding of Isaac, not that it’s a bad thing.
Think back to the first comic which happens a few months from now
Ooh, I know a way to remember the future!
*puts memory into reverse
This is a note from a passing good samaritan. I found this guy dribbling on the keyboard and unresponsive. I will restore his memory to normal function. But I am just passing this warning on to readers who may want to try a similar technique. Your species is ill suited to trying tricks like this. If you only remember the future, you forget all your formative experiences! Not being able to read, speak or even remember who you are is rather a handicap.
the biggest trick to that is to live long enough to forget how to do most of those things, or have an accident that causes the memory/ability loss. that would cause you to be taught how to speak and walk at a late enough point that you’d still have those memories when remembering backward.
I have suffered from amnesia. Twice. The worst experiences of my life. If were held by villains and they gave me a choice “Have your arm and shoulder smashed with a sledge hammer until every major bone is shattered, or have this injection, which will give you amnesia.”, I would not hesitate to go for the needle option. Quite seriously.
Having suffered from the former injury as well (albeit in an accident, not with a sledgehammer wielding thug), I know it to be excruciatingly painful and takes a long time to be rebuilt and recover. Yet I still consider it the lesser evil.
on a totaly diferent note,,, being a lesbian,, i would love being in sidney’s place,,, very nice view,,,but inlike the two hands reaching out with the quote about montain climbing,,, it would be one hand clutched by the other as i repress the urge to cope a feel
Almost every guy here, and quite a few lady’s have said “DaveB is one hell of an artist, when it comes to drawing the Lady’s. And as far as ‘coping a feel’ on Ms Anvil, I think straight women would want to.
p.s. You don’t have to be “anon” here. We like everybody, and don’t judge. Hell!! DaveB lets ME post here. I did have to promise not to take Adamas’ dolls. Or try to eat Adamas. But I think he will let me, sooner or later. :)
also,,, i think we have our first memorable apearance by anvil for her cast page
Just had a great portrait crop up in the character rotation at the top. Sydney preparing to eat the Unmaker. Especially as the portraits appear larger than they do in the comic panels.
The result appeared to be an evil fiery goddess, glaring down at Sydney. Which makes her dialogue a warning about the evil deity. Even Maxima’s portrait looked downright worried!
Heh heh, you’ve got to love it when little things like that pop up. It’s like when your flipping through TV channels and the dialogue lines up perfectly into a hilarious sentence or phrase.
Or you get the same ad on 2 channels but slightly off timing so when you flip between they appear to repeat themselves.
Especially if the person pushing to product has just said “Now I’m only going to say this one more time!”
Interesting concept for DaveB to consider:
This is something that would probably take some while to set up, but once you did it would provide a great filler, if you are ever unable to post for an extended period (moving house or whatever). And the beauty of it is that you could carry on using it whenever you had need in future.
Make a page laid out with a simple panel arrangement, choosing panel sizes and shapes that you commonly use. But make certain parts bring in random pictures and dialogue, using whatever code you have for the character picture rotation. As drawing takes time, just have a few random pictures, at first, and rely mostly on text to provide funny combinations. Gradually you can crop pictures from ongoing (or existing) pages to expand the variety.
I will not script out a whole page, as that would present readers with an even bigger wall of spoiler grey. But here is a 3 panel example. Panel 1 – Scene: Common room within ARC headquarters. Some team members watching TV, others playing pool. Background detail: TV screen (large and easily visible) with news helicopter containing Suzy Shitwhiskers, looking down on the scene below.
Suzy Shitwhiskers: “RandomNews“. The TV tickertape, at the bottom of the screen, says “Ransom demanded: RandomDemand.” Maxima: “Ok team, time to scramble!” Halo: “Nooo! I won’t have time to finish my RandomActivity”
News list:“Godzila is on the rampage downtown!”, “Deus has set up a deathray on top of Machina HQ!”, “The Unmaker has taken over a noodle factory in Chinatown!”, “A temporal rift has opened and a zeppelin filled with Nazi paratroopers is approaching the city!” Demand list: “$10,000,000 in untraceable notes”, “Playstation 5, with spare controller”, “The Statue of Liberty”, “Antarctic Base”. Activity list: “Pure Cap Curry”, “Duel with Math”,”Antarctic Base”, “Matchstick model of the Statue of Liberty”, “Death ray dodging training”
Panel 2 – Scene: In smaller, inset panel, is Suzy’s face, her speech bubble extending into the main panel. Suzy: “Oh no it looks like we have another incident at the scene”. Main panel: RandomMayhemPicture. Mayhem Pictures: A fuel tanker on fire, with the driver running from the cab. A dinosaur scrambling over the ARC headquarters. An angry citizen, waving his shotgun and saying “I told you to stop flying you darned helicopter over my house!” A newspaper vendor, running in terror, looking over his shoulder – behind him is a copy of the front page. Various versions of the last picture could be made, each with different headline text. e.g. “DaveB expected to be back next week.”, “Pope declares the Falklands should be made a penguin sanctuary” and “Halo receives Oscar nomination for best supporting actress to that flying guy with the camera”
Panel 3 – Scene: Corridor leading from common room in ARC. Lots of heroes running, pulling on combat gear as they go. Dabbler: “I just remembered to grab my RandomItem: it is just what we need for this!” Item List: “Wand of Sticky Air”, “Transdimensional Warper”, “Spare arm”, “Giant Space Hamster controller”, “Money replicator”, “Halo plushy toy”, “Red and yellow eyes”, “Spell book”, “banana”
Another item Dabbler might need is her camera, assuming that heros gearing up means changing (and therefore initialy removing) clothes.
The camera is Math’s item!
I’d like to think they’d both have a camera, and that later they would re-convene and share the fruits of their labors. I can just imagine the two laughing it up at the expense of shy team members while swapping polaroids like baseball cards. I don’t know why, but that mental image seems oddly amusing to me.
The chibi-Sydney’s pointing at the Maxima picture, not the Halo picture.
I agree, you can’t place her directly below her own picture and have her arm at (an approximate) 45° angle and have it seem like she is pointing in the right direction
I’m glad I’m not the first person to notice this.
Just noticed:
“What were those orbs in Lord of the Ring?”
“Ring” should be plural.
human speech. I’ve heard people actually say Lord of the Ring. instead of Lord of the Rings. I correct them and they say (but there was only one ring, arn’t they talking about that eyeball guy who is the lord of the ring?)
explaining exposition actually in the movie is kind of annoying, about the other rings. But apparenlty some people don’t remember everything that happens.
rule over the fragiles, and her picture above happened to be the one with her biting her strap, in which she looks like a fraggle. LoL.
Now I have this vision of Halo and Anvil ending up buddy-partners like Wolverine/Kitty Pryde…
Halo: Her name’s Anvil… and you know what that makes me? (dramatic evil-glared whisper) “The Hammer…”
(draw back to wide angle view of all involved)
Halo: STOP! Hammer Time!
(2nd to last panel is of just her doing the Hammer Dance…)
(Last panel Anvil joins in)
Halo and Anvil in unison: Can’t Touch This!
Considering Anvil’s reaction to Syd way back in the beginning of the comic. Yeah I can see that. Probably because Syd obviously isn’t intimidated about Kenya’s size.
[quote]
CoHSteelclaw
April 2, 2013 at 8:34 am | # | Reply
Now I have this vision of Halo and Anvil ending up buddy-partners like Wolverine/Kitty Pryde…
Halo: Her name’s Anvil… and you know what that makes me? (dramatic evil-glared whisper) “The Hammer…”
(draw back to wide angle view of all involved)
Halo: STOP! Hammer Time!
(2nd to last panel is of just her doing the Hammer Dance…)
(Last panel Anvil joins in)
Halo and Anvil in unison: Can’t Touch This!
[/quote]
This! This needs to be a vote incentive! And if you ever do put the comic into print form a bonus story or art gallery needs to have your best vote incentives and maybe some fan story/joke ideas you weren’t able to use in the webseries.
The pair of them teaming up like that? Both Maxi and Ari would be in the ARCPsych ward so often they would have straitjackets custom designed for all occasions :P