Grrl Power #143 – Conferring with the press
That train guy behind Lincoln in the sombrero? Some people say he’s crazy. Some people say he’s… Loco. Get it? Last name Motive? >cough<
Ok, so if you read the comments avidly you know I’ve said in the past that supers have only been around for a little while, but I’ve been writing waaaaay ahead of where we are now, and it will make more sense if they existed in limited quantities prior to that. I don’t think I ever said when they started showing up in the actual comic, but it’s implied that it’s a recent phenomenon way back on page 6 when Sydney and Joel are talking about it. Of course, that’s only as far as they know, so I think I’m good as far as continuity goes in that regard.
Speaking of writing, this page and the whole press conference in general have taken me longer to write that anything that’s come before it because I realized that almost none of it was funny. See I basically knew more or less what the talking points of the press conference were going to be almost since before I started putting the comic online, so I had some important bits of dialog written down, but now that we’re up to it I’m realizing that the comic has changed in some significant ways since its inception. The early pages have one joke, maybe 2 or 3 on a page, but now some pages have a dozen if you include pop culture nods or the stuff you have to zoom in a little to see, and suddenly at the press conference we’re back down to 1-2 jokes a page at best. So I spent a good amount of time retooling the scene, but I don’t want to drag out the press conference by making the pages all amusing stuff and little content. Arianna only gets through 5 sentences on this page. It will probably be a mix of humor and infodump,
I have to say I really enjoyed drawing that middle panel. It was supposed to be half as big with just Lincoln and “Firish” back to back, but I kept thinking of more stuff to add to it, and now I kind of want to see a period superhero comic with coalpunk robots in it.
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You know, there is nothing wrong with going through cycles with jokes. It’s similar to act arcs. You give a bunch of jokes when the mood is light and level off when it gets serious and then when it gets light again you bring back the jokes.
Hear Hear! Well said Mark.
Gags should never get in the way of story – the best humour is often the stuff that’s designed to get a series of knowing smiles as opposed to a single belly-laugh. Remember that humour is usually much funnier and more profound if the reader can connect to the character in a human emotional sense, and that only comes with exposition and a corresponding connection with the thoughts and motivations of the character. Without natural pauses and introspective moments (…like my favourite panel of all: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/168 – panel 7) the humour becomes forced, the pacing suffers, all the characters turn into comic relief and the emotional attachment to their lives breaks down.
Real situations and real responses make for real humour. But contrived situations and break-neck, shoe-horn-in-another-gag-or-else approaches are really second-rate sit-com territory.
PS: I meant to say “Here Here” but stuffed up. Take it as my attempt to say this is advice worth listening to.
In this case either is correct. Buuut, just based on personal preference i think “hear, hear” is best.
“Best” in that its use by far precedes the homonym substitution, and it makes the most sense in almost all the contexts in which it appears (as in, advice worth *listen*ing to, “hear, hear”, goes along with the vaguely similar “hear ye, hear ye”, etc, yes?). To my ear, the homonym substitution of “here, here” is quite discordant. Even though it’s a homonym. Ahem.
“It grates on my ear-nubs.” — Galaxhar
I always considered it to be “Hear, here”, as in ‘Hear what this guy here is saying.”
Actually “Hear, hear” is the correct way of writing it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hear,_hear
Totally agree! Even if you mean for the comic to be primarily humorous, there’s a time to laugh and a time to be serious. Mood whiplash can really, really ruin a reading experience.
Likewise agree with both Mark and Gekko71.
Allow me to agree with everyone else. In fact, I’d go as far to say is that panel three disrupted the flow of the entire page for me. It was only after reading it a second time that I realized that this was a fantasy sequence on Sydney’s part, and not a “flashback” (for lack of a better term) like the last three panels.
Not every page has to have a joke in it. Even in a once a week comic like this one.
I read it as an attempt at humor by Arianna that failed miserably. The irony that she thinks she’s being funny when she’s not makes it funny.
How do we know it ‘failed miserably’?
I didn’t say she did, which is why I prefaced my comment/opinion with “I read it as….”
So it was your reading attempt that failed miserably? (because you used those 2 words at the end of your first sentence)
I simply related how I interpreted the comic, nothing more. Whether such an interpretation is correct or not, I couldn’t say one way or the other since DaveB hasn’t given a definite indication. Given that a) Adrianna is not considered among the “hip” by Sydney (or Maxima, for that matter) and that the joke seems a bit forced, I think while my interpretation may be speculative, it isn’t too far-fetched.
So from the sound of it, there were a few supers, generally kept hidden, before the present. Then I’m guessing there was some sort of EVENT ( capitals required ) that probably upped the rate high enough that it could no longer be that hidden so to the public we have the sudden arrival of superheroes.
On the point of the infodump, personally I don’t mind it as we’re getting key information here. There might not be as many gags, but Sidney being brought along will inevitably result in something going humorously wrong.
A press conference is a perfectly logical way of introducing information. Although it should be contextual, there will be a few bits that would not be logical to detail, although reference could be made to things which are already public knowledge.
So the event(s) which have already brought supers to world attention may make sense as a timeline reference to the viewing public. But too detailed an explanation of something that everyone already knew would come across as unnecessary and patronising to TV viewers, albeit illuminating to readers.
Maybe not so much as an event but more than likely a convergence of two critical parameters.
1] total number of obvious supers, 2] Media communication channels/speed
It would fit the premis of there always being supers but if they were only 1:1000000 and only1:10 are blatantly obvious outside of being physically a 11 on a 1 to 10 scale then the numbers would make sense.
Just crunch the numbers for gross world population to estimate the total number of supers at any one time. Back in the 1700s there would be maybe one per country if that and further back in time maybe one per continent at best. Today’s population density could easily give a dozen per major metropolitan area.
Good idea. Of course, with most supers being a 10 in the looks department they could have helped it along by breeding up the supers population.
I can just imagine a super who has the ability to tell when a girl is as Peggy said “Begging for a Preging”. Along with just being good looking so the women go after them.
Actually its easier to say they have been there all along then they just popped up last week. (or when ever they did pop up)
Well, if Postman Sam was super powered, that might explain the sudden increase in the frequency of super powered children.
Hey-ooo! ;-D
I JUST noticed that. Dave, I’ll send you the receipt for the dry cleaning my shirts going to need from the nasally excreted coffee I was forced to unleash cause of that.
Why stop at your shirt?
It was John The Milkman’s birthday. Being a friendly sort of chap, he knew most of his customers and had told quite of few of them about his birthday. When he reached number 28, he was met by Mrs. Jones, the young attractive occupant. She asked him into the house and gave him an enormous birthday breakfast. Then she took him by the hand and led him upstairs to the bedroom, where they had the most amazing sex.
A couple of hours later as John was leaving the house, Mrs Jones pressed a pound coin into his hand.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “but I’ve got to ask – why the pound?”
“Well,” said Mrs Jones, “I said to my husband last night ‘It’s the milkman’s birthday tomorrow, what shall we give him?’ and he replied ‘Oh screw the milkman, give him a pound.’ The breakfast was my idea!”
that is funny!!!!!! LOL
And that, my friends, is why you don’t use slang with an airhead.
Also: Funny just because.
Why are you making an ass out of yourself assuming she was an airhead? She screwed the postie because her husband is an asshole
OMG I can’t wait to see you at A-Kon! As an aspiring webcomic writer I’ll definitely be taking notes throughout your panel, and hopefully we can chit-chat a bit afterward.
Cool, yeah I imagine I’ll be able to hang out a bit afterwards.
I’ll be at A-kon as well and I’ll attend the panel for the unofficial Grrl Power Meetup too. Will be fun meeting you at the new Hotel.
I will be there as well. Not sure if I can do a post-panel get together, but I plan to be there for the panel at least.
Did that magician just pull the killer rabbit of Caerbannog out of his hat?!
He is an enchanter.
Worse. By the eye spot pattern, that’s Bun-bun.
Where’s his switchblade?
I thought it looked like an orange monocle. :)
Nice catch. And much as I love Holy Grail, Bun-Bun is clearly the more dangerous, so it makes sense the magician would summon him :)
At this point I had to find out more about Bunbun. By page 2, I saw the point. A bunny who, armed only with a carrot, can take out a dragon is clearly major league.
However he jumped up into a league of his own, when I saw that he can also reach through the fourth wall!
No no no. I think the bunbun everyone is referring to is actually the Pet Rabbit from Sluggy Freelance.
Yes go to https://sluggy.com/ and be astounded by the amount of evil found there. Beware the book of E-Ville and the rest of the story!
so sidney is an A1C?
You talking about diabetic, airman first class or something else? Kinda lacking any context, unless I missed some significant clue on the page (not personally being able to read what is above her name on the badge).
If it is to do with military rank, bear in mind that they are not in the air force. Arc is a new branch of the armed forces in its own right. Albeit that some former members of other services are entitled to wear their old uniforms.
So Sydney’s rank is either recruit or private depending on which DaveB prefers. He has a lot of lassitude here as he can either opt for emulating the existing forces conventions on such matters or have ARC use whatever term they prefer.
I think it says “Arc Super” on her nametag. Since she has no insignia at all, I’d go with private or airman or whatever Arc uses for E1.
I’d put her in as a civilian contractor myself.
Less fallout from the real military people who had to get their rank the hard way.
Archon is an entirely new branch of the US Government/Military, so, no offense to past or present military, they can go mate with their bayonet if they have a problem with Sydney having a rank (seeing how it’s a new branch, they could make her any rank they want, even make up a rank just so they can give it to her)
She’s a recruit. There will be some effort spent ensuring the public that she is not actually an active law enforcer quite yet. The convention I’m going with is the chevron on her shoulder is just a dot.
I pity for the instructors at Arc’s equivalent of boot camp. Probably every single one of them is going to have PTSD within a week.
It is possible they’re specifically there to put unruly recruits in their place. She can’t have been the first overexcited super.
Several of the heroes are already experienced enough not to require basic training, and others are civilians so would not be expected to go through it. Plus Arc has only just been formed, so probably will not have trained anyone up yet themselves.
Also remember that powers are very rare and this is the first officially acknowledged super military unit in the world. So Sydney may very well be their first over-excited recruit. Arc would have to call in political favours to get a drill sergeant who has had any experience with supers. Let alone find somebody who has also been exposed to Sydney-level hyperness. Who survived.
Yes, but what about Harem, she is only 19 so doubt she would have been through ‘regular’ Bootcamp, or any sort of training for that matter
If Maxi and Anvil aren’t at least some kind of instructor in something, would be highly surprised (and disappointed in DaveB :()
True. New unit or not, if they have had time to construct the building, I guess they could have trained Harem too. Although she is a lot more mature than her chronological age would suggest, given her life experience multiplication capability *. So would not have given the trainers the relevant emo experience in question. Of course trainers with super powers themselves have a far higher survival chance. Physically anyhow.
* Not that I think it is likely, but she could have already received basic training at the army, the navy, the marines, the air force and the French Foreign Legion. Simultaneously.
Hah,
Harem is the only one in this series that can close order drill with her self. X-men the only other group that I can think of that would have an individual like that. Wait, some dork in the DC universe, criminal who got Jokerized when the Slab’s medical doctor doctored Joker’s x-rays to show a inoperable cancerous growth. Riot, that’s who it was.
Yeah, being such a small force, many of the active team members are also trainers. I mean, guess who will be in charge of training Sydney with guns?
someone with a deathwish?
Someone bullet-proof I hope.
I’m going to guess, since Peggy is already on the list, and a part of the A Team, she may have a hand in helping with Sydney’s training.
I would suggest Achilles or Maxima. That way when Sydney blows something up that might have included the instructor, she can actually get admonished about the responsible use of firearms.
Actually, I think it will be Peggy, using a line like, “I already had one leg shot off. Please do not do anything to make me lose the other one,” and “That is why I have not issued ammunition to you yet.”
As much of the command is from the USAF, sending Halo to Air Force basic training would probably be pretty straight forward, except then Dave B would have to actually learn what goes on during basic training (8.5 weeks straight over at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas). This is also where reserve members are trained. I guess some exercises could happen over there, depending on how far San Antonio is from Archon.
Of course, if her arrangement is for her to be a part-timer, and not just a reserve member, her basic training may take a little longer and will have to be handled exclusively by Archon instructors. Have fun, Math, but not too much fun; she has a force field and the PPO after all.
It could be fun if it was one of the guy superheros that have been hanging around in the background. It would give Dave a chance to introduce the character, plus it would be amusing to see Sydney distracted and drooling all over the guy while holding dangerous weapons.
Round one:
Sydney vs. Sgt. Carter
Round two:
Sydney vs. Sgt. Hulka
Round three:
Sydney vs. Sgt. Emil Foley
Round four:
Sydney vs. Sgt. L. C. Ross
Round five:
Sydney vs. Sr. Drill Instructor Phil Hartman
Round 6: Sydney vs. Major Payne
(Or is that Sydney can really BE a “Major Payne” to get a handle on, as Maxima can attest?)
nah, Sydney gave Maxxima some laughs. If anyone might think that Sydney’s a pain, it’d be Harem.
On the other hand, Major Payne would only be overseeing the training and pushing the paperwork. Because, technically, he wouldn’t be out there pushing the grunts and pounding the pavement. Of course, I did just think of “Heartbreak Ridge” and Maj. Powers.
I believe that you called her a “corporal” early, early on in the series. When she was high-fiving anvil.
Yep. But DaveB received advice from readers with a military background and revised both Sydney’s and Maxima’s ranks to be more realistic, given their ages and experience. Retroactive changes to art and the odd reference to the previous rank will have to wait until we can hire some minions to help ease Dave’s workload.
*glaring at “lassitude”*
I really wish we could edit typos.
Preview Button! At least this way we have a chance to
foxfix things before we click Submit. It we are going to have the ability to change our comments, then we will need a mechanism to verify our identities before the edit goes through.There was a very nice set of books (I forget the name unfortunately) where the EVENT that caused supers to appear was the sheer amount of people dying on one battlefield during the civil war. Apparently there were a few people before that that had ‘magic’, but after the dead got up at Vicksburg suddenly every town had at least a couple. Needless to say the job of sheriff in the Old West required one to have a fairly badass Gift in addition to being a good shot.
Something similar might potentially be at work here. Enough people die and the amount of ‘super mojo’ in the world goes up slightly. Charting the numbers over time would prove quite interesting and I am sure ARC has already done so but isn’t willing to share their data.
“Devil’s Tower” and “Devil’s Engine.”
Decent books, but they came out at just the right time to seem like blatant ripoffs of the Deadlands RPG.
With 7 billlion people on the planet, you’ll need a nuclear world war to reduce the population enough to make any significant impact on the genepool I’m afraid.
I think he’s talking about a significant event in the past, like World War I for the populations of Europe and the Middle East, or World War II or the Spanish Flu Pandemic for the global population.
Personally I prefer the “we do not know” model. Firstly it is more realistic. There are countless movies which look cheesy because scientists seem to intuit how an unknown phenomenon works. And get it right!
Secondly it gives a lot more flexibility for the writer. Although he knows the approximate cause, he can hold off on committing. And if a slightly improved variant suggests itself, during the evolution of the story, he can alter it, without harming canon.
Thirdly it leaves dramatic scope for more information to be revealed later. And not necessarily an outright reveal. Perhaps just a clue or even a red herring. It also gives the scientists and heroes of that world something to do, rather than just spontaneously understand stuff without research.
I lean towards this myself. Nobody knowing how or why supers happen makes for all kinds of fun long term.
Sydney’s imagination aside, I doubt that costumed supers happened much in the past outside of circus shows. Most likely they were just stronger/ healthier/ better looking enough that they tended to excel in their chosen fields. That they could spit fire or see through walls they would keep very, very quiet unless they encountered another Gifted or someone they trusted absolutely.
Especially given that the Witchcraft Acts were only repealed in the UK within living memory. And that there are still prosecutions in some countries around the world for practising witchcraft.
To the concern of a wikka friend of mine. Moreso in a world with active powers. Possibly resulting in local differences in laws to our world.
You just gave us a very good explanaintion as to WHY we have a recent surge in suppers. They have always been in hiding for an unaccepting population :P
Of course, the big difference is that in this world, someone accused of being a witch might be extremely capable of defending themselves. It’s easy to hang a girl for being a witch when you’re just some dick that wants to discredit her father cause you want his land. But if there’s a chance she can set you on fire with her mind, maybe a subtler approach is in order.
Heh. Just so.
Mind you, regardless of whether powers do exist or not, laws still keep getting made about them. Of mild amusement is the fact that Romania has enough fortune tellers for their profession to come to the attention of the tax authorities. So within the last year or so they have been added to list of taxable professions. Likewise when laws about refunds and compensation for incorrect advice were tightened up for a variety of industries and professions, fortune tellers were included.
And they cannot really complain, as they claim to be able to predict the future. If what they forecast does not come to pass, then they should be required to provide either a refund or compensation, as may be appropriate.
“You will meet a tall, dark and handsome stranger. Terms and conditions apply, read disclaimer for more information*”
* Meeting is coming within sight of the predicted subject. Handsomeness is judged by the opinion of the forecaster and is not subject to appeal. Love or compatibility is not guaranteed.
reminds me of that snippet from wizards first rule
https://books.google.com/books?id=jdxqjNZcmr4C&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=wizard%27s+first+rule+witch&source=bl&ots=74A1eJCOZ9&sig=wiOaOBEdraXpdt41wzjwO_W9eD0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mhakUf8Qh-LSAdyOgZgH&sqi=2&ved=0CGcQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=wizard%27s%20first%20rule%20witch&f=false
Right.
Curse you, logic
Only if they have D class or higher powers.
E and F class powers could easily be called witchcraft but be utterly useless in defending themselves effectivly. Most D-classes can hold their own against a single human or a small group, but enough with weapons is a problem. Its when you get to C-class and higher that going after them becomes extremly dangerous.
heh, B-class through Omega-class could explain some mythological creatures and figures.
As a testament though to ancient man’s insanity, there is a Roman historical report of soldiers going through Europe who encountered a large dragon and pursued it…they eventually killed it by crushing it with rocks in a canyon. but they pursued it for a week, during which it reportedly killed 3000 men, three thousand men killed just because they felt some religious need to take down a single fire breathing winged lizard.
What is this “Class X” you speak of?
And perhaps the dragon needed killing because, left to its own devices, far more than 3,000 would have died to feed its hunger over its extremely long lifespan. Not to mention all the princesses kidnapped, cattle eaten, castles burned down, knights slain, peasants devoured, etc.
the class system is mainly a Japanese thing, but I like it.
check out the most blatant examples used in (Yu Yu Hakusho) and (Kiddy Grade)
the Darkstalkers videogame also uses it for their darkstalkers characters in the backstory stuff, and Marvel comics has a simular classing system but uses terms like “Alpha” for supers and others for other mutants and supers.
Basically it goes.
E-class (kind of has powers, but can be really skeptical that they do)
F-class (side show level)
D-class (obvious ability, strength wise one on one better than average human)
C-class (combat levels)
B-class (beta, able to fend off whole platoons of humans level, or above needed for combat)
A-class (Alpha, an army unto themselves, think Wonder Woman)
S-class (Superman class, where the rating comes from, able to level cities with relative ease, normal armies don’t stand a chance.)
beyond this class are the disputed classes as level variants between individuals can be intense.
(Omega class), (G-class), (God class), (cosmic class), ect… should the Silver Surfer and Galactus be considered the same class? being an argument for more classes needed in the upper levels.
Also some argue that “G-class” is the same as (Super S-class), different series have variants.
S- class can not be the same as G- class. Superman would have been a normal person if he grew up under the red star sun of Krypton. However, he’s useless against magic. He still needs technology to get around astronomical distances in short periods of time and trans dimensional hopping. Plus, he died.
Dying has no relevance on divine status. Gods die all the time. * And more than a few do not seem to have been too bothered about it. Just taking on a different role, post-mortem.
* The list being the pertinent part, rather than the website hosting it.
Not to mention the damage that would occur if it bred a brood of dragons.
I trust that the unit subsequently suffered decimation for killing a member of an endangered species?
Roman standing orders were to bring back examples of any exotic creatures for display in the Coliseum. Even more so for spectacular and dangerous specimens. Which required to be displayed with Christians. To give a warm-up, prior to the gladiatorial events. And a dragon would have been very good at that.
Note to self, if that report somehow turns out to be true, I really have strayed far from the safe and cosy Earths. Especially if there are more napping around here. I know the idea of checking out feathered dinosaur descendants sounded good, but fossils are much less threatening than things flapping around in recent history.
we are reasonably intelligent and most are socially upstanding individuals.
But flammable and with a taste much like pork.
Errm… oh, you meant Christians, rather than just humans in general. Yea, I guess so. With a few notable exceptions, but we can gloss over those.
In short, yay for saving endangered species. Boo for feeding Christians to mythical beasts.
and yet the Roman Empire is responsible for the extinction of the European lion, and a species of plant that was used for birth control.
Feathered dinosaur descendants are alive and well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird
Yup. That’s why I came here. The blue skies were a bonus.
The whole conceit of the Inquisition is that if they every fought a real witch having the kind of powers they claim they have the Inquisition would lose every time. So they never met a witch or anyone else as they professed. And torture to get confessions add up to falsehoods.
I would think even in modern day, spandex-costumed supers would be a rarity – iconoclasts tend to garner attention, both good and bad, and it’s human nature to abhor hegemons, thus such supers would probably die quickly and messily.
If anything, Dave’s concept would probably be more likely (one of many reasons I enjoy this comic)
Not to mention it allows for a whole variety of powers to pop up, and not just ones constrained by a particular origin. Even if you allowed for a plethora of different powers and effects to be produced by unified source of superpowers, it’d be hard to explain how said source could grant magical abilities when scientific in nature, or vice-versa and other similarly contradictory cases.
Of course, this does reflect on how the modern superhero genre has become a hodge-podge of this and that which was actually the result of comic book companies buying each other and merging universes.
Well, for two examples of handling this general issue, Wearing the Cape, and the Grimnoire Chronicles. Both have a specific time at which superpowered individuals started appearing, with an implication that there is one and only one source of them. There are differences between the two, but both give reasons why there is a wide, WIDE variety of powers. And while some are scientifically analyzable, they all involve a certain amount of “magic” (or at least, acting very much unlike physical phenomena tend to; for one example, the analysis of speedsters in one of the Wearing the Cape books).
Basically, what metahuman-style superpower acts all sciency-like? Basically… none of them. So, seeming all sciency at first glance (like “superman’s from a heavy gravity planet” or “the Martian Manhunter is a martian, how much more sciency can you get?” or “Wolverine has an adamantium skeleton and heals instantly”) but magical when examined closely, is par for the course. Even things like Iron Man’s suit, or even Batman’s utility belt, are a bit surreal. Maybe the Punnisher… but I digress.
Did anybody mention Lincoln’s axe in Sydney’s imagined scene yet? Do I see some “Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter” vibe there? What with the mostly offscreen clawed individual he’s mostly facing?
Oh, and while I’m thinking of it, xref: https://www.rhjunior.com/FoH/00011.html
which is surprisingly like WtC (in terms of why superpowers take the form they do, and evaluating relative strength), for having been independently imagined. It doesn’t update as often as I might wish, but it has a good perspective on things.
Get thee hence, or I shall thrash upon thee with my mighty axe!
— Valhallan, in the Justice Friends setting
Oh why, Lord, did you see fit to give that accursed Stonewall Jackson the strength of ten?
— Abraham Lincoln, Grimnoir setting
so this is an alternate split timeline for abraham lincoln vampire slayer? COOL!!!
I belive that it’s just sid’s imagination is getting away from her…Still funny, Thanks as always for a great comic DaveB
“Did anybody mention Lincoln’s axe in Sydney’s imagined scene yet? Do I see some “Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter” vibe there? What with the mostly off screen clawed individual he’s mostly facing?”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Legend-of-Lincolns-Fence-Rail.html
The Crusader web-comic you referenced is apparently on hiatus – a shame. I just read through it and enjoyed it. I agree that the power explanations are well-done.
Oh, and it is a serious strip with occasional humor. I generally prefer that to humor strips, actually.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy laughing, but it is the story and characters that I come back here for.
that is:
Crusader = xref: https://www.rhjunior.com/FoH/00011.html
I went to read this site and found that the first at least dozen strips are an ill-conceived and poorly supported religious diatribe. I stopped reading there.
When a person starts on page 2 with “I believe that, precisely as described in the bible, God created the universe in six days…”, well, it takes a lot for me to regain any measure of respect for that person after a zinger like that, and the following ‘comics’ did nothing to achieve that end. The author uses falsehoods about his own religion to attempt to make his case(s), but perhaps he should spend a little more time reading the bible of his religion so he can get his facts straight.
There is no God. None. Not Thor, not Zeus, not Ahura Mazda, and not the Christian God.
Or perhaps they all exist? Probably finding it very rude to have their existence denied. So to their own worshippers they quite happy to do what is expected of them. Whereas they might simply ignore non-believers. Which of course would be an equally valid explanation for why atheists fail to see god(s) work around them.
It would also explain why the majority of the world’s population are of some religious persuasion or another. So bare in mind the minority position when speaking from the atheist camp.
I must admit that I applied equal scientific scepticism when seeing the headline Indian man ‘survives without food or water for decades’. Thinking “Yea, give him a few days in the hospital, under close observation, and I bet he will be spotted nibbling on a cracker or something.” Likewise seeing the unscientific belief of staff about his claim, without verification. To the extent that it irritated me enough to stop watching.
But then mentally slapped my wrist for denigrating their beliefs and automatically feeling that mine are superior to theirs. Scientific thinking being right, and religious being wrong. Especially if it did turn out that the rather incredible claims turned out to be true. And if god(s) dislike atheists enough, demonstrations of miracles may not be forthcoming to non-believers.
Hey! Whether you agree or not, believing in god does not make one a bad person.
Some of my best friends believe in god…
That said, I found the religious tract at the start a bit much as well, but it was the main character talking, so I gave him some leeway – the author was trying to give the character’s worldview. The actual comic wasn’t bad once you got past that. I’m a sucker for origin stories, though. And I liked the power explanations too.
Regardless, the link no longer works.
And ofcourse it also fixes the things if the artist hasn’t even come up with a cause himself yet. Though with the level of ‘I had this planned for years’ we see from DaveB, I doubt that’d be the case here
You know, it just occurred to me: ARC is a US State affiliate. Does it infer that supers only exist in the US, or that other countries also have such supers at hand? That could become VERY interesting ^_^
The world-wide incidence of supers has not really been covered as yet. The general inference is that supers have only started to become “big” in the USA (and, presumably, world-wide as well) very recently. Still people around who think it is all hoaxes or swamp gas.
IMO, sounds like it is too early fior any conclusions as to demographics or geographical distribution or anything like that – North America either may or may not prove to be particularly rich in supers in the long run. Going to be interesting, finding out.
though admittedly not quite canon, I humbly submit the following into State’s Evidence:
Hyper Battle Maiden Next Generation Mitsuko
(https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/544)
It was stated earlier that you get about 1 super out of 1 000 000. So the US would have 340 or so, Canada would have about 36 supers, and Iceland would get 1. Imagine over a thousand Chinese supers; where would they be put to use?
Well lets just say they wouldn’t have needed a tank to squash protestors in Tieneman square…
If the Chinese government didn’t get to them fast enough though…
They might need more tanks.
Good point. Especially given that the Tibetan monks have to periodically examine everybody in their population to find who the Dalai Lama has reincarnated as. So the Chinese might find that their opposition groups have managed to recruit far more dissident heroes than any state ones.
Although, on the other hand totalitarian states of various sorts would be much more efficient at finding and compelling supers to join than more libertarian countries. Once they recognised it as being a real phenomenon and assuming they decided it was beneficial.
Given the real attempts of Nazis and the Soviet Union to engineer supermen, the less ethically concerned states may well have made progress in artificially increasing the numbers (if possible *)
* Put that down as another good reason for not knowing how supers come about. If the writer does not want artificial creation of supers.
As it is, the thought of a world that can generate supers by people dying off in large incidents is rather unpleasant. Just think the strategic advantage (assuming that resultant areas that would gain supers can be predicted) which could be unleashed by Aztec style mass sacrifice, the holocaust or use of weapons of mass destruction.
xref: “Thor vs Captain America” (short story), and its followup “The Life-Eaters” (graphic novel).
I doubt everyone who has powers is automatically suited to be a superhero. As such, I’d imagine some of them having almost completely mundane lives that employed their abilities. As the world’s newest industrial and economic superpower, I wouldn’t be surprised if some Chinese supers instead powered their industries. Heh, maybe one of them is even sitting inside a nuclear power plant, having replaced the uranium or plutonium it once used.
Of course, naturally, some of them would be members of the Chinese military and police.
Mmm, mind you China is one of the countries that has a disproportionately high ratio of males to females. Due to various cultural pressures, which result in males being selected over females. Bare in mind that China’s one child magnifies this effect.
If (as the title of the comic could be seen as suggesting) there turns out to be a higher ratio of female supers than male, then China, India and various African countries, amongst others, would have a lower proportion of heroes than their total population numbers would imply.
*sigh* That should have read “one child policy.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy
…of course, that presumes the Chinese supers would be on the side of the government, and not the protesters…
Chinese government official (to 4 year old super): So, Wang Pin, the party has determined that you have superpowers. You will join the party’s Superpowers training school. Do not worry about your parents, the state will be taking very good care of them. Always remember, you have superpowers, but your parents do not. Yes, we will take very. Good. Care. Of your parents. So long as you remain loyal to the party.
Can see where you are coming from, but the Chinese aren’t the only ones who do that, they just happen to be about the only ones who aren’t hypocritical but open about it (an example is seen in the book-only “Chapter 0” of Spinnerette, which just happens to mention the Chinese as well)
One in a million might be the average, but it need not be evenly distributed. Superpowers could require a certain amount of well-being and good health – giving at least a hint as to why all superheroes in this story seem to have the bodies of Olympians. I mean, it’s been said that some people are born with powers and/or develop them as they grow up – so if malnutrition can prevent a child from growing healthy bones, why shouldn’t it also prevent them from punching through concrete?
Less prosaically, if there is indeed a Source Of Superpowers (or several) it should not be expected to affect everyone equally. If it’s a magic artifact or a science vortex, it might preferentially affect people who are geographically closer to it. If it’s some new pollutant in the water, it would only affect people who drink that contaminated water – so probably in countries where the industry that produces the Source exists.
And some powers that have been shown are much more predictable in who gets them. You won’t get a degree in Applied Magic if you don’t work hard on your education. Aliens won’t move in just anywhere – if you had the entire solar system to choose from, you’d live somewhere with open-minded people and restaurants that serve Zorblaxian specialties. And ancient artifacts can only be discovered in the ruins of ancient civilizations.
Bottom line: It’s not a lottery, and superpowers don’t play fair.
Having super powers and being super fit are one and the same in this world. Supers are all naturally stronger and better looking than powerless humans.
Those odds are not a guarentee, it’s like getting 3 “Hundred year floods” in less than a decade
It doesn’t imply that supers are limited to the US any more than the existence of the CIA implies that foreign intelligence services are limited to the US. The story is set in the US, so until the characters interact with foreign supers, they’re pretty much all going to be American or naturalized. If this were set in the UK, we’d be following a new Military Intelligence branch or perhaps the Royal Metahuman Force.
We’ve already been told that other nations have supers but the United States is the first to go public.
What were the criteria ARC used to decide who is on that panel? The General, Maxima, and is that Hiro (maybe) I can sort of understand… but Dabbler and Sydney? Do they *want* a completely unprofessional incident at their first press conference?
I suppose having Sydney up there was unavoidable given the bank incident, but still…
As they intend to introduce the new Team, as well as Sydney to the public, it´s just natural that the whole Team will be present. Sitting there with the commanding Officers to their left are Anvil, Harem, Dabbler, Halo and Peggy. Or: the complete ArcSWAT-Team as intended.
But i do understand where you´re going. It´s just a matter of time until Dabbler or Sydney will get bored start doing something to “lighten up the mood”.
We can only hope they don’t opt for literal lightening in the form of “stuff blowing up”.
Sydney pretty much has to be there to answer questions about how she was a civilian earlier in the day and is a member of the superhero military forces a few hours later.
Even though she may not be introduced to the public as such, Dabbler is both a powerful mage of unknown (or at least undetailed) origin and the representative of an alien race. Be it formal or informal.
Avoiding snubbing (say) the archdukes of hell or an intergalactic empire is a darned sight more important than risking her getting frisky with a good looking member of the press corps!
God dammit Dave, now I’m going to have to make a model of the train dude’s head as a replacement for the Pyro in Team Fortress 2 now. That is to cool not to make a model of :P.
It took me a few minutes to realize that the middle pannel is actually Sydney’s fantasy, as opposed to a universal flashback
And as other people also saying:
Don’t be afraid to do a serieus page every now and than. Most people probably enjoy a good story way more than a few jokes
Who else wants Sydney’s dream flashback to become a sequel.
*Holds up paw*
Barring the concept of an Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter. I have not seen the movie, but the title, concept and trailer all wound me up. A really bizarre premise. And this coming from a fan of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The latter was a tough title for me (and others) to get past. But at least the underlying premise is cool. The Abe one just comes across as weird.
“Weird” coming from the furry. That is a little more than slightly ironic. lol
*nods*
You would not believe how hard it is to stake a vampire through the heart if you do not have opposable thumbs! ;-)
stake. heart. hmm. picket fence, running dog, loose leash…do cartoon physics apply?
Yes, under the proviso that I get the Roadrunner package, rather than the Wyle E. Kyote one. The latter is the cooler character, but really should have negotiated his deal better.
It’s amazing how much Maxima stands out in a lineup like this. And Dabbler looks almost bored
Which is right in line with their personalities. :-)
Well, you could always take a page from GURPS IST. There’ve always been a few supers around, but for some reason very recently, their population exploded. In the ISTverse, it happened around WWII, but you could have be more recent in your world.
So, what did Peggy do to Sydney on the panel? Taking her hand down from her neck fidgeting? Or did she smack her hand down? And I think Dabbler may be feeling like a gourmet at a smorgasbord…
She’s smacking her hand. Not really a smack, just a “don’t fidget.”
So in this world’s timeline, did the super-secret service prevent J.F.K’s assassination? Or did the continuum find a way to protect continuity?
That’s Jimmy Carter in the next to last panel.
Oh yea. The question still stands though. :-)
In regards to the Kennedy assassination in this uni… maybe Oswald in this uni was a Super as well? Remember that Oswald first went into the U.S. Marines, then defected to Russia for a time, but really couldn’t cut it anywhere. Maybe in this uni he had some random power, but couldn’t figure out a way of applying it to either this world’s version of the “real world” or the most reasonable government facsimile thereof.
The simple answer is that due to the low incidence of powers, the Secret Service didn’t always have a choice of 20 different people that could invisibly and discreetly protect the President like with a force field. Maybe there was a bulletproof guy there, or someone who could detect bombs and traps sweep the route beforehand, but the Kennedy assassination still went down in this world.
Plus the type of power might not be all that useful, say if someone is say three times faster than a normal human, where would you place him in relation to an open-topped motorcade with lots of tall buildings around?
In the car with JFK. Which would have made all the difference! Given that, had he reacted promptly, it was deemed possible for the nearest agent to the president to have shielded him with his body, before the fatal second shot. What would be a momentary hesitation for a normal agent, would be more than ample time for such a hero to recover from the surprise, assess the situation and move into position.
Not to mention other options that would be unavailable to normal speed agents, such as being able to grab Kennedy and move him to use the car as a shield. Far too difficult for a normal person to move an unconscious body quickly enough, under those circumstances. But at three times normal speed, even if he did not get there before the next shot, a rapidly and erratically moving target is a lot harder prospect for a sniper to achieved a clean hit.
It may be that, just as time travelers are forbidden to kill Hitler,
they are forbidden to save Kennedy or alllow him to be saved.
Or, perhaps, he is continuously being either assassinated or rescued by various factions? We, of course, would be completely unaware of the fact. At the time of writing this, I recall him to have been assassinated. If, before you get to read my post, some good intentioned Samaritan goes back and saves him, the entire context of the above thread, along with the sentiments in this post, together with our memories of history and the conversations would all alter.
Say to something along the lines of “So in Sydney’s world would the Apollo space program have gone ahead, assuming that Lee Harvey Oswald had turned out to have magical powers and could enchant his bullets to zig-zag between multiple organs? If Kennedy had died before all the sex scandals emerged, that policy might have been retained.”
You would not recall that the last time you read it, it was completely different. Because it wasn’t. All of our pasts would have changed, along with our memories of it. Of course, moments later (for lack of a suitable alternative term to use) someone from 2114 who objected to their Lunar colony suddenly vanishing, might pop back and correct history. And yet again we would think that Kennedy had been assassinated. Just the once.
For all we know, we are living in a world where JFK was supposed to live, but someone went back and changed their history creating a world without a colony on Phobos*
.
*umm yeah, probably shouldn’t have mentioned that
It’s that damn ‘temporal cold war’ again, isn’t it?
I have an artificially powered super character who finds herself, in the midst of a battle with the “anti-Christ” transported back to that fateful day in Dallas. She materialized on the presidential limo and proceeds to take out the assassins before Kennedy is shot. Then things start getting interesting.
Why not go the Alan Moore route?
Where was the Comedian on the day JFK was killed? In Dallas, minding Nixon.
Move to Northampton and grow a giant beard? Makes sense.
Wasn’t it the Comedian who was on the grassy knoll that killed Kennedy? Or was it the Cigarette Smoking Man in the storm drain that was later quietly paved over after?
It’s easy to brave rain, snow, heat, and gloom of night when you’ve got a natural force shield and darkvision.
heh, the superman dilemma.
is it really “heroic” to go into a burning building when you know you are at zero risk of injury?
Why I liked the earlier Superman and the one in the 1990’s cartoon. They were strong and powerful but not totally impervious to injury or death.
It is why I have always favoured Spiderman over Superman. He can’t bounce bullets off his chest. He lives or dies by his wits and agility. Spider-sense giving him that edge which is necessary if you want hero survival to feel realistic, rather than by writer fiat. Yet not so all-powerful that you loose the sense of vulnerability.
Likewise in my gaming. Although I was capable enough playing a tank, their very invulnerability was both boring to me and did not convey any feeling of heroism. Whereas playing a squishy who could, with timing, good tactics and some balls who could replicate the team protection power of a tank did. Simply because it was risky. Fail to spot an opponent, or hesitate for a moment too long and you find out fast that are not invulnerable. Mistakes mattered. Heroism counted.
Mmm
Put my vote for one of the mystery orbs being precognition or similar early warning capability. Perhaps (given that all rules are meant to be broken) not even requiring being in hand for it to work.
It could even go undetected under her ADHD. The ADHD could also be preventing such a force from being useful.
Honestly, I think I enjoyed the earlier pages when there were fewer jokes a lot more.
You’ve been trying to pack so much humor into recent pages that it’s resulted in me starting to actively dislike your lead character. There’s a line between being a funny person and capering like a fool, and Sydney has slowly been drifting over to the ‘complete fool’ side. It’s refreshing to see she’s capable of sitting there and not acting like a stooge.
I’ve been hesitant to say something similar, as I’ve only just started reading and didn’t want my nards torn off so early in the game.
Perhaps I’m approaching this too seriously, but…in real time Sydney was “discovered” only a few hours ago, they still don’t know jack about her orbs, she’s already been pressed into service (and sexually harassed to boot, if Math’s “MORE WOMENNN!!” would be considered that)…and they’re bringing her out for a press conference? Despite the fact that she’s tripping balls (oh HA HA HA) from the whole “super” experience and hitting people left and right and all LOL ADHD RANDOM WORRRR YER LEG’S ALL GONE. She couldn’t even grab lunch without putting out an eye.
I like Faulk an awful lot, but he’s an astoundingly incompetent leader to allow this. Frankly, so are Arianna and Maxima, despite being the real chiefs. Sydney shouldn’t see cameras for a week. Good Lord, she’s even accessed classified info she’s not cleared for (Dabbler’s true nature).
That said, I would be surprised–no, DELIGHTED–to see Sydney handle the presser like a grown-up. We all know she can do it. Before she went to the bank this morning* (what, three years ago?) she could quietly and calmly discuss business matters. If she took a deep breath and got herself under control after all this increasingly annoying goofballery, I think I might pee a little in sheer admiration, and I doubt I would be alone. It would be the “Oh, see, Daniel-san ISN’T a lost cause after all” moment.
*Did she, uh, actually make that deposit? Oh dear.
Naah, we would not pick on you. You made perfectly fair, well thought out comments. And welcome!
I agree with everyone who says that putting Sydney in front of the cameras is risky. There are also bound to be problems. But the point is that the alternatives are politically even higher. Hiding her from the cameras, only to have the press ferret her out later would be a P.R. disaster. And would bring every conspiracy theorist out of the woodwork. Arc would forever have the taint of being a cover-up organisation.
And please do give Faulk and Maxima some credit. They do have access to some of the most talented super heroes on the planet. Who are all in close proximity to Sydney. If, between them, they are incapable of handling the run away mouth of one over-excited nerd then they probably do not deserve to be running Arc!
It is logical enough for the political decision to have been made for Arc to be an arm of the military. Dealing with super powered enemies any police force would need the kind of firepower normally only available to the military. And may need to regularly co-ordinate with other arms for combined operations. * However it is also intrinsically risky as democracies are justifiably wary of the military being in charge of civilian policing. Even though super villain policing is clearly a rule changer.
So the PR advantages of having the media focus on a hyper-active, swearword heavy, teenage-like recruit may well outweigh the disadvantages. She does not project big-brother police state as an image. Which is also good from a recruitment point of view. As is implied with Maxima, supers seem to gain their powers gradually with puberty. So Sydney, with her youthful and outspoken manner, is very likely to appeal to the generation that Arc need to recruit from. “Wow, if she can get in, so can I!”
Finally, I think that you are right in your hopes about Sydney. Maxima is an experienced leader and has had a chance to assess her (in the field no less, which is probably far more revealing to her than a dozen civilian interviews). She clearly sees the potential in Sydney. And realises that she has the capability of behaving responsibly (there are numerous examples hidden in between the habitual whackieness). Just so long as she remains focussed.
As for timing, yes, in an ideal world you would spend a week prepping Sydney before the conference. But they do not have the luxury of time. They will be wanting to get the right PR message across to capitalise on “foiling” the bank robbery in time for the evening news. Obviously a bland press release would not be sufficient.
Clearly Penny has been tasked with assisting Sydney, where she can. Plus, although Dabbler may be bored, she has access to psionics, magic and alien ultra tech, and is sitting on Sydney’s other side. She should have little problem helping a rookie through her first press conference. Without too many blunders.
* Having my customary read through before submitting, that line gave me the image of the military now having four arms (counting the three major ones anyhow) Dabbler-like, with Arc being bottom lefty.
Arc being Bottom Lefty? O_o That would be, umm, interesting to say the least o_O
spinnerette reference? ut oh, fear bottom lefty.
Yup :)
No, do not fear BL, embrace her!! Have a feeling that Sydney and BL would get on famously (or maybe, infamously :D)
Let’s not fool ourselves here. You might as well embrace Bottom Lefty, especially if you’re a cute girl because Bottom Lefty will assuredly embrace you.
No, BL is a one-woman hand, no more groping random women
It’s a valid point. There was a page I cut out prior to this one that had Arianna giving Sydney a crash course on essentially “not being a spaz in front of the cameras” but I thought page 142 was a better endcap to the pre-conference scene. Also, Peggy is sitting next to her, as much a handler as an active participant in the conference.
Do not be afraid to not be funny in every panel, as long as you don’t turn into David Weber infodumping is fine too. As others have said don’t force the humour, you don’t need to and your characters will provide plenty without you tipping your hand.
Also in the first panel… People in uniform don’t stand with thier arns folded in front of themselves. Sydney doesn’t know what she’s doing and Dabbler is a rule unto herself, but everyone else really should be in a “parade rest” position. I haven’t worn a uniform in 15 years and it’s still a spinal reflex to stand in that position in almost any formal situation without another overriding protocol. At a press conference in full dress? They should either be at attention or parade rest. Anything else looks slovenly and unprofessional.
Ok, good to know. I mostly did that because I didn’t want it to be too obvious that I was cutting and pasting them in the background. I guess the good thing about drawing people in the military is that they really do go for a uniform appearance.
Yup. In the new Starwars movies when they had the CG stormtroopers walking onto the ships they made them walk slightly out of step to look more ‘real’. And they looked like idiots, real troops hold much better formation and timing then those cg ones.
I think the trick to avoid such problems is subtly. The human eye and brain is capable of distinguishing tiny variations in otherwise uniformity. So adding a slight shadow to indicate a different crease in a uniform, tweaking the height or making shoulders slightly broader will all act to stop observers from noticing abnormal similarity.
The last film they had an actual military advisor who also played various troopers so the weapons were held more realistically.
Isn’t everyone in the foreground of that panel besides Arianna (who’s standing at the podium) seated behind tables or counters or something? Military protocol might still prohibit them from leaning their arms on the table or folding them in front of them, but wouldn’t the standard “parade rest” arm position have to be modified somewhat when sitting down?
In the foreground sure, it’s the 7 people standing in the background I was talking about.
Look again at the ones at the table: Harem has her arms crossed, Dabbles, Anvil, The General and Maxi all have at lease one arm on the table. The only one sitting ‘properly’ is Hiro (Pegs is putting Sydney’s hand down)
that raises a question: why is Hiro there in Service Dress, alongside the leadership, when all the rest of the team is in utility uniform? Does he hold a higher leadership position than originally implied?
Hiro is a Major, coming from the Army. He’s the highest ranked guy on the team besides the General.
a Lt. col outranks a major so maxis the second highest rank.
I think Dave meant that literally, as in “the highest ranked MALE…”
So how are you supposed to sit when dressed up? Arms folded in your lap?
There is no specific protocol aside from ‘politely’. Standing is specifically taught and adfdressed in regs because it is something you do in formations, and it’s part of drill training. (Why teach drill? To be sure pike formations are a bit passe these days, but it does teach discipline and it’s a good way to organize the movements of large numbers of people for things like marching long distances or boarding transports, or showing off at parades. I expect the flying supers do some formation flying practice.)
So leaning on the table would look a bit odd, maybe, but not be a big deal. I wouldn’t expect anyone to fold their arms across their chests though, that projects several negative signals and officers do get trained in body-language.
About the only thing managed to retain after 2 years of Air Training Corps was being able to stand almost motionless with very little movement :P
not entirely correct – there is such thing as “sitting at attention;” it’s just not really done (or even taught) much. It would be sitting stock upright, with upper arms straight down, forearms forward, palms flat on the the knees with fingers straight and together, knees together, feet directly in front, facing forward, directly below the knees. If possible, it’s actually more uncomfortable that standing at attention (thus why it’s not done much), and more difficult to maintain for any appreciable duration.
Didn’t your mother teach you that placing your elbows on the table was rude? O_o
Only whilst eating, apparently. Having heard that from a snippet from a radio celebrity panel show that quizzed the guests on their knowledge of etiquette. Rather a short lived show, unsurprisingly.
Yes, but that’s one of those rules that seemed so arbitrary that I always ignored it. Tables are designed to be exactly the right height to rest your arms on when reading or drawing. It’s like someone coming up with an etiquette rule that says it’s rude to wear shoes that fit comfortably or something.
And yet all women follow that rule. (Not polite to wear comfortable shoes.)
Heh. That reminds me of a cartoon in one of the early Dragon magazines.
A loin-clothed, axe-wielding barbarian is standing at the edge of a vast desert, looking at a sign in front of him, which reads “No water for 200 miles”.
Emptying out his waterskin, he grumbles “That’s a dumb rule!”
Was just funning you :)
So how many Supers does Arcswat have? I had thought they’d have lots, but if they’re putting an hour old recruit in the front row while showing off their Super collection, I guess they’re at a pretty low number.
Supers are low in numbers in this world, so not many. That said though, they are being selective in who they show off. For instance the covert members are not going to be up in front of the cameras.
In a way Dabbler is, though not as an alien/demon
But you are right, Max and Sydney have already been in the news, so they are known. And from the little bank stunt people have already seen sydney, and most like her, or know her. So it’ll be a good boost in publicity. And it’s sure to generate alot of questions
There was a page I wrote between this one and the last one that I decided to cut which was Arianna explaining to Sydney “Normally we wouldn’t put an untrained recruit in front of the camera but as soon as they see Max they’ll ask about you” etc etc. I cut the page because the prior one seemed like a better stop point before the press conference, and the other jokes I had on the page weren’t anything special.
This number is still a little in flux, so don’t take it as full-stop canon quite yet, but Arc-SWAT has about… 15-18? That doesn’t include people like Peggy. There are a few that haven’t show up yet, even in the background. Arc-Light actually has a few, but they’re not as combat oriented. Still, in this world that’s a pretty big concentration of power.
Hmm, I need to actually sit down and make a lit of every super that will show up in the foreseeable future, whether they’re on the team or not.
For their recruitment “drives” do they go outside the USA and proposition supers to join and become instant citizens. Them and their families? I could see many countries doing that, especially Israel.
Instead of fighting the (some) Drug War, they could be going all over the world looking for supers to recruit with incentives.
So they would ‘poach’ citizens from other countries and leave them vulnerable to future US lead ‘attacks’? O_o
Welp, there’s ‘Yodaddy Man’, working at the post office.
Im betting the IRS has a whole superhero team XD
I suspect most folks would go with “supervillain team”. ;-)
Beware The Auditor, but fear The Collector.
Wow, that didn’t take you long to get to the press conference.
Also I’m a little surprised Halo’s still wearing her eye-patch to the event.
The estimate for how long until her eye was recovered was ‘probably be okay in an hour or so’, in strip #120, which leaves plenty of time for the bustling of a mostly pre-planned event, and to get the unplanned newbie signed up, have a short informal meeting, and have her suit up, as well.
Plus the doctor might have told her (off-screen) to come back for a check up before removing it. Sydney suspected she used super powers to accelerate the healing process, but eye injuries can be tricky and most doctors would probably play it safe.
Not to mention extra precautions which could be required for use of hero powers in a medical context. It being rather less practical to do large-scale clinical trials when you only have the one hero to do the testing. So follow-up check ups might be mandatory (and treated as an ongoing trial, until the regulatory authorities deem that it is safe).
And, of course, this is Sydney we are talking about. Do you honestly think she will voluntarily stop looking like a pirate for her TV appearance?
I have to concur with your last sentence.
Arianna already cut a deal with that Fusion place. She gets the PR benefits and they get to claim they almost put a super in the hospital.
Magic and artifacts imply historical continuity at the very least, so Zephan and Gwen could be considered conclusive proof that it’s a long-term local phenomenon. Dabbler SO doesn’t count, because of large portions of her heritage being either interdimensional or alien.
Magic gives continuity? Where did you get those rules from?
I could follow the logic, shorthand though it was. The belief in magic has existed in many cultures throughout history. So heroes actually being able to demonstrate real magic in the present day would validate that. Providing continuity between past beliefs and present practices. Not to be confused with magic inherently providing continuity itself. Who knows what underlying principles might govern the use of magic in this setting.
“Magical artefacts” * helping to conjure up a whole line of reasoning in itself (to me anyhow). It is one thing to master a particular skill. To understand it well enough to be able to make a tool to improve the use of that skill requires continuity in terms of time to practice and opportunity to pass on the skills (both the underlying skill and the further skills used in making and using the tools).
Unless a particular skill cannot be used without a tool, you will usually find that one generation develops a skill and a subsequent one finds out how to use tools to improve it. Both typically in incremental stages. Sophisticated skills and tools would imply a long period of practice and development.
* Assuming such exist. In particular, we do not really know whether the orbs are magical, technological or something else.
Yorp very ably defended my rather brief statement, where I had meant that the presence of magicians strongly implies continuity, unless the knowledge simply appeared in the recent past out of nothing, since the practitioners had to be taught by somebody, just as the tomes with relevant knowledge had to be written by somebody, and magical artifacts had to be made by somebody who had sufficient knowledge to do so.
Also, my original comment had said that the continuity is implied, rather than explicit, given, or granted. The presence of a book allows a person to infer that there was, at some point in time, an author.
Being interdimensional makes it alien. Which makes all demons and angels aliens.
My first reaction was that “Loco Motive” would not be fighting on the side of Lincoln so soon after the Mexican American War. Then I thought it was possible that since is facing toward the panel maybe he is attacking Lincoln. Then I noticed Sydney in the corner and realized that this is all a product of her twisted mind, and I should not nitpick about history in a comic.
Good point!
Also, awesome gravitar!!
I want to know what the rest of the people in the middle panel are named! So Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Chopper is working with Firish and Blackstabber against… who?
The hand with the green-glowing fingernails makes me think ‘hey, it’s Shego’s great-grandmother!’
And where’s Jim West and Artemus Gordon? Every time I look at that panel, I hear the theme music for “Wild Wild West”. “No problem, Mister President, I have a crucifix that pops out of my sleeve when I flex my forearm…”
Hah hah, Blackstabber. I just drew them cause they amused me, I didn’t think of any names until I was writing the post. I’m going to put it out there that the evil team’s leader is probably the bunny.
I’m going to guess that the vampire magician on the right is Pickacard, childe of Alucard. And I’ll say that the guy on the left is Electro-lights, real name Jacques DeMunquee.
Where’s a knight with a rubber chicken when you really need one?
I see that president/crime fighter Lincoln Logger is facing down the evil villain Mani-curare whose slightest scratch can paralyze her victims.
He he.
When you said “Secret Service” I thought of James Tiberius West and Artemis Gordon of “The Wild Wild West” tv series.
Masked vigilantes don’t have to be supers to do super things whether the Green Hornet or Batman.
You can tell some that has just been through basic training the inhuman ability to not itch your face. It actually helps during job interviews you loose about half the normal I’m nervous ques that people can pick up on once you understand that is what your body is doing to you.
I always knew my mailman was magical.
Is it just me, or does the rain in the last panel look a bit funny, like a shower curtain?
Yes it does. But deliberately so. The rain is being deflected from touching the postman. So the resultant effect would very much appear like an invisible shower curtain surrounding him.
I just assumed that was the effect of the “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” power manifesting, and guiding the rain out of his way.
I wonder how Postman Sam deals with ‘glom of nit’ also.
I thought that some of Halo’s Ball’s would be hidden from view since they where not going to list all that they can do.
For you none military people their are 3 standing positions, Attention, Stand at Ease, Stand Easy. The first heels together, hands at your side in a fist, body straight as a board. Second feet shoulder width apart, hands behind back, one resting in the other. Not allowed to move around in these positions unless ordered to. Last same as Stand at Easy but hands move to the sides, for a few seconds, than you are allowed to move around, top half of your body only. This is at least for the Canadian Military.
It would not be practical to hide selected ones all of the time. Especially as she has to be able to hold them to use them, and will have to use the truesight orb sooner or later. And all it takes is for one photo of her with secret orbs active and there will be a scandal about a cover-up. Far easier to tell the press about the public knowledge ones now and simply say that the remainder are “classified”. Which is a far more honest way for publicly funded authorities to behave.
Besides they don’t have to tell the full story. In page 793 Maxima discussed that they wouldn’t be sharing all powers with the public. So only flight, forcefield, molestorb, and PPO will be told about. For the rest they can make up some bulcrap explanation that’s even half true (2 of the classified orbs aren’t even known)
Wouldn’t it be easier to say that the effects are under investigation, and what do you know? That is actually true. They are investigating those other orbs, along with the ones they will advertise.
Easier, but not necessarily wiser. Sooner or later, she will be fighting for her life. The less people know about her capabilities the better. Certain of her powers are highly visible and thus pointless to try hiding. But Maxima sensibly chose which ones to keep quiet about.
Having (for the public) three mystery orbs means that villains will never be certain they can counter all her powers. But, if they know there are two unknowns and one classified, they will be able to focus their investigations on the properties of that one, increasing their chances of discovering its properties.
Not to mention that making them “classified” gives her strong options of bluffing, in circumstances where she may not have a more direct option. Given her lying handicap though, that may not work out as well as the theory.
But at least, under normal circumstances, she will not have to lie about the nature of the three orbs. They have been classified as secret. Which is the truth.
Dammit. Nearly two hundred pages, and only now do I realize that Sydney is the Rookie Red Ranger, where the Naïve Newcomer is also the strongest member of the team.
I would like to say that while tropes are not bad, I am in awe of how well this trope was integrated into an otherwise amazing character, hiding the cliche under half a dozen other character traits which make her far more than an everyhuman audience surrogate.
You know I never watched Power Rangers, but I thought the Green Ranger was the rookie/most powerful one. Or was he the turncoat gone good or something?
That depends on which series you were watching, but I think Prezombie was referring to the TVTropes page Rookie Red Ranger. (Read link at your peril.)
Aand TV Tropes has already been updated to include Sydney!
What took them so long? O_o
Yeah, I added her just before I made the comment.
Minor side note: The doorframe in panel 4 is really bugging me. It looks too 2D without some depth of the doorframe showing along at least one of the edges. It should only look like that if the wall is really thin (and the gunshot ricocheting off the wall near the door removes that possibility), or if the frame is built at an angle, like if the agents are standing inside a bank vault (which again looks unlikely). A little depth on one side and possibly the top should fix that.
Yeah I knew it was out of whack when I drew it, it’s just evidence of me getting lazy after plugging away on a page for 14 hours already.
That’s because it’s a magic gateway ;)
Or, it could be that was a ‘false’ wall in a warehouse and the ‘wall’ is just a thick sheet of metal
Although I had not thought about it, you hit upon why I was not bothered about that. Internal partitions usually are thin-walled and the angle that we are seeing the door from (totally flat relative to our perspective) the thinner depth of a partition wall would be much less apparent than we might get from the usual brick-thickness walls.
The angle of the door in relationship to the beams in the room beyond indicate that it is not square to that part of the building. So the point of view is from a corner office or some such. Which is precisely where you would expect a lightweight partition wall.
But, as I noted above, the gunshot is ricocheting off of the wall right next to the doorframe, which wouldn’t happen if it was just a lightweight partition wall. If it was as thin as it appears the bullet would almost certainly just punch right through the wall.
The wall appears to be some sort of marbled stone as well. So, possibly some underground base? The room interior looks kind of warehouse-esq though.
Isn’t Sydney supposed to be keeping three of the orbs secret?
Just the properties. Not the fact that they exist.
She’s still gong to get asked alot of questions once they see her using them. And we all know how bad of a liar she is.
She can’t lie about something she knows nothing about
So what are those guys powers? It seems summoning evil bunnies out of his hat in a combat situation is… unusual. Super bunnies like bun-bun don’t let themselves be summoned, or kinda make the summoner wish he never found the hat!
Tesla is always a nice sight; and oh, seems like one of Matt’s relatives! So he IS from a long line of martial artists (some of which can make their fists glow — at least in Sydney’s imagination, lol)
So why does sam the postman always comes bone dry and leave bone wet? Is he annoying or distracting that woman?? Smells like a noodle incident!
I actually agree with the coalpunk robot idea. Senior Loco looks like a cool idea for a super villain.
I suspect her name wasn’t ‘Blackstabber’, but was something with an N.
Blankstabber?
More like Mis, Bobit
Blacknifer?
Our legends can support the idea of supers through the ages. The Arthurian Saga suggests at least 4 supers with Arthur, Lancelot, Merlin, and Morgana LaFey alone. Then you have Mata Hari, Vlad the Impaler, Gilgamesh, hell, even Heracles could be explained as a super that got the folk tale treatment. And that’s just the western cultures.
Besides, something had to inspire the comic book writers before supers left the realm of legend to become the super heroes just starting to emerge. And that’s the key to all this, emergence.
So there are at least 2 uniforms? The ones Anvil and Harem are wearing and Pegs flightsuit? Not counting the ‘real’ military uniforms worn by Hiro, Maxi & The General
Lincoln’s superpower: His Top Hat.
Carter’s superpower: The same that happens when Goofy eats goobers and becomes Super Goof. (Goobers are of course, peanuts.)
And autocorrect wants to change “goobers” into “boogers.” Bad autocorrect!
Since Carter served in the Navy maintaining nuclear power plants on submarines, it is a pretty safe bet as to where and how he got his powers.
Did you ever wonder why he was so even tempered all the time? “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
I can’t see Carter as the Hulk. Though the radiation might explain why he was a horrible president, but a beloved ex-president.
Carter I see having empathic abilities. Being able to read emotions to make for a great career in altruistic activities.
But not so great as President. You might be on to something here…
That’s easy to explain too. The presidency is a hard, high pressure job. Ask any of the surviving ex presidents or current president. No one likes you, you always screw up, lobyists are constantly throwing money at you no matter what side you’re on. This could awaken the empathic powers but that only covers emotions. There’s still a high technical aspect that Carter just couldn’t handle.
That and one term isn’t enough time to master such powers and bring them to force if they woke up during the presidency but gives him enough time to master them while he waited for the hate to blow over.
So from here, I suggest that the Presidents had the Captain Planet powers due to different circumstances. With only Carter explained:
Washington: Earth
Lincoln: Fire
Roosevelt: Wind
Regan: Water
Carter: Heart
With your powers combined I am animated Statue of Liberty!
Oh, those poor presidents! How did they ever manage to survive having those horrible lobbyists always throwing money at them?
Oh perfect timing. I had just been catching up on the news and your post was most topical. Not all politicians do survive that. In the UK, anyhow.
Although I would still feel happier if we could put MPs who broke Parliamentary regulations in the Tower of London for a few years. Mucking out the ravens, or something more useful than their usual corrupt activities anyhow.
It’s not so much the poor politicians getting money thrown at them. Hell, I’m corrupt enough, I’d love to have money thrown at me left and right. There is a pressure put on because of the money. “Here’s money, now support what I want or else I’ll ruin your career!” Every single day. These people demanding you give them what they want or they’ll ruin your political ambitions and thus career. Yeah, that money sounds wonderful, but it’s like if the Situation threw money at you and then told you he owns you. Not a good feeling. Of course, lobyists are a pox on all of us, and so are the politicians that accept the money whole heartedly.
The system sucks.
El’ Loco Tren would be The Crazy Train in Spanish
though i like Loco Locomotora(locomotive) better