Grrl Power #145 – Let’s talk numbers
I’m experimenting with ways to get a lot of dialog on the page without giving it the wall of text look. I think this page is borderline, and I’m not sure I like the big yellow “narrator blocks.” In fact I’d prefer to avoid them. It just seemed to be the only way to get the page to end on the panel I wanted this time but hopefully I won’t need to lean on it too much.
Coming out of A-kon I’m a little behind, but I’ll update the vote incentive with the colored version sometime this week.
I’ve added an Amazon referral link for the book I’m reading down at the bottom of the right hand column, and eventually the plan is to make a page with brief reviews and more links so I can get some sweet pennies. Literally it’s a few cents if you buy something through one of those links, but it may pay for a few books eventually. It’ll mostly be superhero novels since that’s the kick I’m on at the moment, but I may stick other stuff in there I particularly enjoyed it or think you guys might.
Oh, one minor change I made to the site, you can now drag the comment box’s lower right corner to resize it, which should make writing/reviewing long comments a little easier.
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I just learned that Antarctic Press is running an Indigogo campaign to help pay for… basically they’re publishing into Walmarts but didn’t allow for the returns they have to pay for. They’ve already met their goal but I thought I’d point it out in case anyone would like to help out and get some swag. AP has published a number of titles over the years that have been rather influential on me and, well, it’s just nice to think that independent publishers can still exist in our world of corporate mergers.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
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.
…..Batman looks like Catman, lol
How do we know that’s Batman, it really could be CATMAN, either that or some other such hero with a cat themed name….
nyeh. Catman’s part of the six, and even Archon doesn’t want to mess with those lunatics :)
Don’t forget that supperhero comics are real in this universe, so batman is already in a comic.
This guy in a silly mask is simply wishing he could be like batman. Obviously he’s not, cause batman is awesome and wouldn’t find himself in this situation
Willing to bet ‘if’ Batman really exists in this reality, he’s already signed on with Archon. Probably assigned to Arc-Dark.
I wonder if there are any mind controllers or super gadgeteer/ inventor types out there.
Every superhero Role-Play game I have ever been in (or heard of) that is nominally based in the real world and not comic book rules those two types end up causing the most societal change. Gadgeteers because they make stuff everyone can use or build once they get the plans, and mind controllers because a really smart mind controller is a blessed nightmare to fight or even identify.
Do you read PS 238?
One of the gadgeteers there, Herschel, works with NASA and so on but he is inventing technology faster than they can implement it because is has to run through the tests (and does the tech work with the inventor away from it?) and these take years.
Read it and enjoyed it. Stopped once the print edition no longer showed up in my local shop.
Re: Gadgeteers and changing the world… What if Tony Stark from the recent movies plugged those super-duper energy creating reactors he has into the NYC power grid? Between the one in the tower and the one at the research facility he could power half of Manhattan. If he could scale it up further he just put coal and nuclear power plants out of business…
Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Stark’s reactors are powering the SHIELD flying carrier.
This from just *one* invention, in case anyone was wondering how he afforded all those toys in the third movie. Not that Stark really thought about the impact on society of his inventions…
There is already an invention which would provide unlimited energy with far less of the disadvantages of conventional nuclear power. Liquid thorium reactors. Sadly the by-products cannot be used to make nuclear weapons. So, despite being aware of and having working prototypes of both conventional and thorium reactors at the beginning of the nuclear age, the decision was made to focus exclusively on the one useful to the nuclear deterrent.
Were we to go back to the peaceful path, we could develop that in the same way. The result would be small reactors who’s by-products main use would be to provide nuclear energy in other reactors. What other radioactive substance it produces are vastly less in both quantity and danger. Making it easier to contain. Also the reactors would require minimal shielding (check out the link for details). Meaning that every village, hospital, city neighbourhood or moderate sized organisation could have its own generator in its basement.
Where do you find the fuel? Go into your back yard and dig up 1 cubic yard of soil. You can extract enough thorium from that to give all the energy you need for your lifetime. And it is a (currently unused and therefore wasted) by-product of other industry. So is already stockpiled in large quantity.
Several decades worth of R&D in our current system means that the alternative will have a big lag to catch up, if we decided to invest in it. But, hey, no bombs. What country will go to all the expense just to give humanity all the energy it needs for the entire lifetime of the planet?
I’m detecting what I’m hoping is a strong sense of sarcasm here. =OP
On a more serious note, I thought one could make a “dirty bomb” out of the wastes that spread radioactive material, but not one that would have a nuclear detonation?
Your sarcasm-detecto-meter (TM) is working just fine.
Your other statement is perfectly correct. But if you have waste products that are less harmful (and produced in far less quantity) then even those risks are minimised compared to that from conventional reactors. It makes it much easier to store it safely (less space required and less hazard in dealing with it). Reduced cost means that appropriate safe disposal is more economically viable than shoving it behind the sofa and hoping for the best.
Which is not too far from the reality of what the Soviets were doing when Communism collapsed and cash was in short supply. LOTS of material suitable for both dirty and fission bombs are now unaccounted for, from that one source alone. And, even should the waste from a thorium reactor be used in a dirty bomb it is intrinsically less harmful than those materials.
I am a fan of using green renewable energy where we can, but only fantasists think that we can realistically shift the world’s economy to just such sources*. Barring a breakthrough in fusion reactor research (which seems so bogged down at the moment that we cannot count on that), every other alternative injects more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.
Nuclear power does not but does have the nasty side effects. Liquid thorium reduces or eliminates those completely. For example there is no chance of a reactor meltdown in such a plant. Even with total loss of power, the plant fails to a safe state. No human intervention required.
* I do always have a little underlying sense of unease should massive “green energy” projects be implemented worldwide (perhaps in response to signs of a runaway greenhouse effect starting, contrary to current mainstream projections). That energy is going into the planet and being used. The ecosystem requires it, in one way or another. A modest number of projects make little or no difference except maybe to local conditions. But given our current and projected future populations, we could end up draining vast amounts of power out of the system. Who knows what unforeseen side-effects there could be from that?
Thank you very much, you just gave me a good idea for my next superhero novel.
People b*#?hing that the Supers don’t give them super-ultra-high-tech.
Supers b*#?hing back that the world could have already done all the stuff by themselves,
by the example of Thorium Reactors and stuff like that- but the world just doesn’t WANT to do good on their own, people don’t really CARE enough not to pollute the world and being quite LAZY (just dropping their trash when walking, flipping their cig-butts out of the car even when the car has an ash-tray, because they don’t wanna dirty their car).
Re-reading your post, I think I should clarify one point. One of the two main flavours of modern conventional reactors could not produce material capable of creating a nuclear bomb. The other type can. However it is possible to convert the former into the latter (how complex it is to retrofit I do not know – maybe it is only possible to change whilst under construction).
But a liquid thorium reactor simply cannot create weapons-grade (ie the type that goes boom) nuclear material at all.
Any of the above create materials that can be used in a dirty bomb. As can radioactive materials intended for use in medical applications, for that matter. If available in sufficient quantity.
As for a fuel source, I prefer Algae Energy. It can be farmed at large amounts in unpopulated desert regions, as it requires constant interaction with the sun and a large water source (trapped below the ground in many deserts). It creates jobs for many chemists and can be done in many places known for oil (such as the U.S. Midwest-West and the Middle East). It also is many times more powerful than common fuel sources and even many times more powerful than ethanol, which makes it ideal as you can do more with smaller amounts. Despite this, algae farming produces fuel at rates so fast that it’ll never be low in supply no matter the demand.
When used alongside thorium (for other energy reasons), it is ideal for use on Earth and other planets where sun and water can be tapped into in large amounts. This isn’t ideal for space travel, but fuel as we use it today is made for mass production across highly populated areas, rather than single, small communities that would not benefit as much from transportable fuel.
Interesting stuff. And hard to spot any problems with it.
Ok I thunked on the matter. The obvious one is that said fuel will create greenhouse gasses, just as any other petrochemical or biofuel will. The other thing that struck me is that evaporation in desert regions will be intense. So the draw on those aquifers will be vast. Given the demands we know exist for fuel. But those aquifers are finite in size. And most will not be replenished in a desert region. As with oilfields, we know that sooner or later they will run out.
Ethically speaking, if a region is genuinely “unpopulated” then that is not a problem. It just means that desert-farmed algae in that location has a limited operational time. There are very few truly uninhabited regions though. Usually they are “underpopulated” when compared to fertile regions. In which case, consideration must be made to the alternative uses for that water. Such as being drunk by the locals, used for livestock, piped to the nearest communities or even turning the desert into productive farmland, as with California. And land with thriving vegitation can, and does, encourage rain to fall, due to various interesting mechanisms. So that would have the potential for long-term sustainability.
Although, on the whole, it does sound like a good idea, there are still some strings attached.
While it depends on the details of the matter, probably not. Most plant based energy is at worst carbon neutral. The carbon in the plants come from atmospheric CO2 in the first place, and therefore combustion of the plants only returns to the atmosphere what was already there.
True. The basic argument that burning a plant releases the gasses, is only relevant when vegetation currently exists and is locking up the carbon within itself. In this case, no such greenery would be there in the first place.
Although there is the issue of pollutant greenhouse gasses being more harmful, in various ways, such as it getting into the upper atmosphere. Which does somewhat muddy the issue. But does not detract from the veracity of your point.
Thanks for posting the link to theTED talk on Thorium Power. Fascinating!
You are welcome. And apologies to other folks who have given similar thanks on other posts. They have not gone un-noticed, and are certainly welcome. It is just that my dog avatar appears next to so many posts that I usually avoid adding yet another post unless I have anything further to contribute.
While I think Thorium reactors are theoretically real (I say theoretically because I don’t think anyone has actually built one yet) I’m pretty sure thorium is a little harder to come by than digging up your yard. Wikipedia says it is 3-4x more abundant that Uranium. So… not very abundant at all really.
I think Thorium Reactors are one of those potentially real future technologies that has been pepped up with a lot of wide-eyed nonsense.
The first experimental thorium reactor was built in the USA in the 60s, hence my comment above. Here is a list of the other ones throughout the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_reactor#List_of_thorium-fueled_reactors They are not science-fiction, they are real. In particular, unlike the currently stalled fusion project, they work.
Note that the list of disadvantages listed on that page “applies mostly to solid fuel reactors”. Which is why I used the term ‘liquid fuelled thorium reactor’. The various disadvantages which apply to the solid variety is one of the reasons why the field has not been taken further. However, all it takes is the political will and expense to switch to the proposed liquid varieties to fulfil the promises listed in my previous posts.
Regarding abundance, I quote the entry in Wikipedia, to support my assertion “Thorium is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils; it is three times more abundant than tin in the Earth’s crust and is about as common as lead. Soil commonly contains an average of around 6 parts per million (ppm) of thorium”. The full entry being here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium#Occurrence
To the right of that paragraph, in the link, you can see a partial survey map of Thorium concentrations in North America. Big chunks in the north (mostly Canada) are blank, which I take to be the unsurveyed parts. Although it may indicate regions with no concentrations. Certainly that would be logical for any icy bits, if there is no soil.
Ignoring the white areas though, you will see that practically everywhere in the USA has thorium. The lowest concentrations being in Florida and Alaska.
Huh, well there you go. I still think a lifetime of energy from a yard of topsoil is a little optimistic though.
Heh, I found it incredible too. But I cannot take credit for the number-crunching, that was just a quote from one of the leading experts in the field. And I have not come across anything which would indicate that he is wrong. For a rule of thumb, bear in mind that the alternative energy sources that you and I are familiar with in our day to day environment are very inefficient.
Contrast that to the top end of the scale, being matter-energy conversion or the use of anti-matter (clearly currently only science-fiction prospects, even though we are dabbling with the latter on minute scales at the moment). The amount of energy that could be extracted by nuclear reaction is many orders of magnitude greater than energy converted by, say burning an equivalent mass of gasoline.
That said, it is easier to process thorium from richer deposits, elsewhere in the crust, rather than to extract the smaller concentrations from topsoil. And far easier to use the already stockpiled waste from other industry. But, as with all things, once the easy sources get used up, it becomes more economical to turn to the alternatives. Importantly though, for the currently-projected purposes of human life on Earth, we would never run out of Thorium.
Still sounds high – I read a breakdown a while ago about the theoretical maximum energy from a deuterium fusion reaction, and it was something like a year’s energy from one shower’s worth of tap water. And you get a whole load more energy (theorietically) from fusion than fission.
It is possible that both of you are right to be sceptical.
I re-watched the TED talk I linked above, in case it was that talk that I heard the fact in. If so, the comments would be bound to have either the break-down, or a link to them. But, alas, he used a different one. “Thorium is particularly dense. You can hold a lifetime’s supply in your hand.” (paraphrasing from memory but that is pretty close, as it was only this evening).
Given a ratio of 6 parts per million of thorium in soil, and 46,656 cubic inches in a cubic yard, and just doing a straight division (which may not be the right way to do it, feel free to correct me), that would equate to about 0.28 cubic inches of thorium in a cubic yard. Which you certainly could hold in your hand. But does not seem likely he would have phrased it quite that way. That seems more thimble sized to me, than palm sized.
Perhaps the other interview I heard (which I am too lazy to hunt through all the podcasts I have in order to find) actually said “the soil in your yard has enough thorium to provide your energy needs for your lifetime”. More than enough, even with only a modest yard.
I should have learned from the example of Watson and Crick on the hazards of noting scientific figures by listening to a lecture.
theoretically the supply of material for key components for the arc reactor where so limited that the tower one should never have been able to be built, its also why the one in the lab was constructed in a way it took almost as much energy to run as it generated.
i disagree with the material being”too rare to make it”, as the weapons that Stark Industries was trying to get funding/approval (whatever that demonstration in the desert was for) they were using that same material in the missiles (that’s what he had to use to make the thing in the first place, all the parts that were scavenged from his convoy), if they were to have been mass produced following the demonstration that Stark did for the Brass, then they had to have had PLENTY to spare…because everybody knows that the military doesn’t buy just a “FEW” missiles… planes and ships, sure… but not ammunition. that, they buy buy the tons (and/ or millions)!… and after he decided to NOT make the weapons, all that material went into making the ARC Reactor…
While maybe not “too rare to make it”. Certainly cost prohibitive. If I recall correctly, the metal used in the circuit boards that Tony Stark harvested was Palladium and at a cost ranging from $1500+ to almost $6000 per 100 grams, that is a lot of cash.
And sure, the mini-reactor in his chest doesn’t take too much, but the full sized reactors were a bit larger.
Order it online. SO WORTH IT.
I have ’em all myself. I’m disappointed it’s on semi-hiatus, but I like how the last published one, Volume 9, ended one storyline so well that- heaven forbid- if the series ended there, I’d still be satisfied. Not many comics series I know have done that.
https://ps238.nodwick.com/
New pages are still coming. :)
Back on topic, there IS a gadgeteer already in the Grrl Power Universe: Dabbler.
In fact, I think that’s her hand holding the gun to GP-Batman’s head.
Am I the only one who has never heard of Kevin Bacon? XD
and huh, so america is estimated to house somewhere around 5% of the worlds superheroes with a prevailance in developed nations…Well that makes sense, the developed nations tend to have larger populations
Hmm…I wonder if someone would do a ‘what nations have the most superheroes?’ census? XD
Not only larger populations but also a higher percentage of supers.
Average is 1 in 900.000 or 1.000.000
The U. S. of A. have a population of 314.167.157 (Wikipedia), so 400 to 600 supers is above average.
One problem with a census is you have to know that you are a super. Some powers are not obvious.
“I have one of the world’s most useless powers – my farts smell like warm spice-cake. I like to go to the mall, order a lot of Mexican food, then laugh at people’s confused reactions when they try and fail to find the Cinnabon counter.”
“you are 1 in a million, so there’s a thousand people just like you in China”
=P
Kevin Bacon is a film actor. A highly prolific one. So you will almost certainly know him by face, even if you do not recognise his name. But the significance in this context is that he provides an amusing way of illustrating the principle of six degrees of separation.
The principle being that any two people on the planet, chosen at random, could get in touch with each other simply by speaking to people that they know. If only you know who knows who. Barring some undiscovered tribe in a jungle, obviously. But, assuming that they spoke with their discoverer, rather than eating him, they could get in touch with anyone else on the planet via a chain of five people giving personal introductions or messages.
The most amusing anecdote being told by one of the researchers who examined the proposal (which turns out to be true). He was explaining the idea to a fellow scientist who said “that is ridiculous, so you are saying that a chain of six people would connect me to some Siberian Yak herder?”
The response was not to him, but to lean into an adjacent office “Could you give George a call?” Turning back to the detractor, he continued “have a word with this guy and tell him you want to speak to a Siberian Yak herder” and handed over the phone. Within a minute he was having a halting conversation with one.
George was on a research expedition in Siberia at the time.
Disclaimer: name made up to avoid researching it, but the anecdote is otherwise faithful to the interview, as best I can recall.
*looks it up* huh, apparently ive mannaged to not see ANY of the movies he has been in XD
Heh. Well that would explain not knowing him then.
Actually, for the purposes of the Six Degrees of Separation game, it doesn’t matter that you haven’t seen any of Kevin Bacon’s movies. Give me a list of actors, preferably American, British, or Canadian, you’ve seen on TV or film and chances are very good they’ll be connected to him in 6 links or less.
The game isn’t who has seen someone, it is who has met someone. I don’t think I could phone a friend.to my contact. for the purposes of the Bacon game meeting more people and finding out who they know is the best way to score higher(lower). I was a roadie for a while, potentially any of the bands I had contact with could be a link for me, however taking a piss in the same bathroom as Lars Ulrich was my best shot until a friend of mine’s dad met Kevin Bacon.
A better example of the scenario is the business networking web site LinkedIn.
Well, I’m referring to the game specifically with Kevin Bacon. I’m guessing Jasae Bushae has at least seen an actor that can be linked to Kevin Bacon through the game.
Alright, for the sake of argument…Charlie Chaplin, Sergi López, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Mengke Bateer, Virginia Bruce and Tomokazu Sugita
Snicker sad Batman, you have to wonder what he is thinking at that moment.
“…I bet Clark never has these kinds of days…”
Clark is a Boy Scout he would be front of the line to sign up for service. Bruce being a smart monkey may very well sign up as well it would be easier on him in the long run.
Superman and Batman don’t join the government. They created the Justice League which operates outside it.
The Justice League (or Society whichever) Operates with U.N Authorization IIRC
JLI was UN sanctioned JLA has USA sanctioned in a round about way but at least if need be the feds could go knock on the door.
“damn I’m no super why are they sending them after me?” is my guess for what bruce is thinking there.
damn maxima looks bad ass but halo just looks creepy like stalker creepy
And she looks non stalkerish…when?
95% of the time! *hugs Sydney* Don’t listen to the nasty mouse!
true – Sydney looks like a Frank Miller villain in that panel
Glad to see the vigilante issue covered, just so long as it doesn’t devolve like it did on Smallville into nonesense.
That show made no sense with it, it was trying to copy Marvel’s superhero civil war thing, but instead went with vigilantes, even though with how vague it was, wasn’t about aliens or superpowered people but could have covered any tom dick or harry being allowed to put on a ski mask and go after criminal suspects.
I will admit to never watching Smallville. Is it worth checking out or is it basically a less good version of Buffy?
The first couple of seasons were good. That’s all I watched of it. Probably the only thing the wife and I found to laugh about it over was the improbable number of head injuries Lana took as a contrivance for her never managing to witness Clark doing his pre-Superman thing.
But then I never cared for Buffy, so YMMV.
I would not compare it to Buffy. It is not trying to do the same thing. It was entertaining enough, though falling short of the Buffy standard. But that would exclude much of the world’s TV entertainment, so do not take that too harshly.
The biggest plus that springs to mind is that I found the young Lex Luthor to be a very well-rounded likeable character. Not coming across as a tool that purely exists to make the hero look good. Nor, as with most villains in the real world, did he consider himself to be a villain. In fact, much like Magneto and Professor X, he and Clark were friends.
I too never saw much beyond the second series, but would like to have, just to see how his character developed. As for Super Man, well, we all know how he turned out.
Agreement as regards their early version of Lex Luthor (never saw the later seasons, so cannot judge there). But rather than being a Black Hat Villain (as in most Superman iterations), the ‘Smallville’ LL comes across as somebody who is right on the cusp of Good and Evil – and could become one heckuva good guy under the right circumstances.
… Whcih was how he was portrayed in some of the earlier Superman comics (and in Eliot Maggin’s novelizations) – someone who began as a potential good guy, and who Superman always hoped would eventually reform. Much more interesting (IMO) than the Shonky Real Estate Speculators or KILL SUPERMAN nutjobs we usually get now.
Trust me, Lex gets himself to be the Emperor… ahem, President of the United States.
I know. And he is a KILL SUPERMAN nutjob there as well..
The first few seasons were okay, basically a (superboy) show. The premise was *this is superman as a kid before he became the silver age superman*….
but…the show went on too long. and it became a mess, he went to Metropolis, became a reporter, it basically became (Dark Superman), but it started to become good, like a new vision of superman..
but…the final two seasons…are junk. At the end someone apparently decided it has to go back to its original premise to become the silverage superman, and became utter garbage as they had to undo all the dark character development that made clark interesting, change elements around.
to put it bluntly, how the series ends is a giant slap in the face.
spoiler:
Clark overcomes ALL his angst.
Despite the fact he already worked at the daily planet for four years or more as himself, wearing red and blue with his superman personality and the local hospital and law enforcements all knowing him as the big strong and smart and confident reporter who talks them all the time and is clearly (they even hint they know) he is “The Blur”. Lois talks him into dawning the classic diguise (glasses, grey suit, and meek demeaner)…and it works…
when they did that I went right to my coworkers and said, if there were a superhero around who looked and dressed just like me, and I came in tomarrow acting totally different and wearing glasses and new clothes would it throw you off? answer of course was NO, it would be more suspicious, seriously they new him for YEARS by name. Its too bloody late, he had to come to metropolis like that for it to work, not five years later AFTER building a reputation.
Lex Luthor gets amnesia at the very end, yet has some subconcious hatred of superman, and there are no explinations for how he’d fill in the gaps in his memory (why does no one ever consider the gaps and other people around them factor of wiping out a character’s memory as a plot device?). Lex Luthor knew Clark was Superman and all that, so they did this to cover that track…but it was totally pointless.
the vigilante act was during these last few seasons as well and part of the whole (accepting superheroes) stuff. Aside from the re-write stuff the last season became a pointless hero of the week thing as some new hero or character would show up for a brief showing like Blue Beetle, Supergirl got a pointless episode that felt it should have been a major plot element that was built on, Deathstroke, ect..
I think they re-used Zod like three times in the show, Phantom possession, clone, real deal. But I’ll stop the rant there. But if you try to follow Jurel’s logic throughout the show, it becomes less *life lessons* and more child like cosmic entity jerking someone around.
BAH! Smallville sucked. The first couple of seasons were formulaic. Somebody was exposed to something and now is causing trouble for Clark to deal with. Also, Clark is having girl problems, and the nosy (pardon me, ladies in general) bitches have just GOT to know all of Clark’s secrets. Oh, and the crazy girl in charge of the school newspaper has more contacts and sleuthing skills than all of the adults in town. And, when it finally started to get good in the third season, the actors just were too old looking to be believed as anything younger than 25. Again, somebody in Hollywood had a good idea, and somebody with more power simply pissed all over it. Very much like Lost, Firefly, and oh so many others.
Yea, agreed it was formulaic. Which hinders a good production. But does not, in itself condemn one outright. Start Trek was still entertaining despite the formulas. Mostly. However you are right enough in saying that it was a significant issue for Smallville. Probably why many of us never made it past the second season. ;-)
I tried getting into it and watched a few randomly unconnected episodes.
One involved some soap opera relationship between Lex luthor and his father which was kinda blah I personally thought.
Another seemed to be about the formation of the justice league which was kinda good though it was obvious that the show was working on a low budget.
and a third involved superman getting his hands on red kryptonite, turning evil, getting an S painted on his chest and flying for the first time in order to troll luthor.
It can be kinda hit or miss and it emphasizes teen drama alot and some characters are rather nerfed due to the difficulty of portraying them properly but its overall not a bad show
I’m glad they aren’t making people with powers register. I discovered some time ago that I have the ability to make doors open using only the powers of my mind! (Although for some reason it only seems to work at the supermarket.)
I see in this comic that Adrianna is displaying her super power to change the color of her eyelids at will. I also think that she is burying the lead in this press conference. “We are announcing that some humans have super powers. And by the way, there is alien life on other planets and some of them are here on Earth.” The reaction from certain religious communities once this is made public will far outweigh the reaction to the other announcement. Which will probably be overshadowed again once they find out that ARCHON has an actual ‘demon’ on their team.
FYI, if ARCHON is on an international mission and they do ever get a bacon-themed super hero, he probably will not be welcome in certain Mideast countries. “Look! That lady who wrecked our mosque is back. And who is that other person she brought with her?”
I believe Dabbler’s true identity is considered top secret. They probably just won’t tell people that she’s some sort of alien/demon mixture.
It may just be a matter of timing. Let the public get used to the idea that super powers are real. Then hit them with “oh and so are aliens, magic and demons, let me present Dabbler!”
This could be used to explain the recent increase in the incidence of super powers in the population. The aliens did it! The ‘abducted’ people in the ’50s and ’60s were exposed to mutagenic rays during the examination. Later, they married and had families. And TA-DA, Super Babies!
It would also explain why Sydney does not have powers. Those poor abductors are probably still on their home planet undergoing intensive post traumatic shock therapy and dealing with long term injuries!
Grey alien (to therapist *): … and the grabbed me by the tongue and hit me into the floor head-first, repeatedly, saying “PUNY ALIEN!”
* Having to use telepathy to communicate, for obvious reasons.
* then she
Ah-ha! Clever Dave, you closed that Marvel Civil War loop before it even got mentioned. :P
I have a super power! I can use telekinesis to control whatever body I inhabit–just this one right now–and bend it to my will! (But not too far, as it has a tricky back injury. When my secondary mutation kicks in, I hope to upgrade.)
Brilliant move re SHRA, although roughly one half of the nation will always be paranoid (or alternately complacent) about the government, dependent on which party is occupying the Oval Office.
Depicting Sydney and Max sending “Batman” to Arkham will probably stir some pewp among outrage devotees, but whatever. (“Wait! Wait! Aren’t you going to leave me unattended in a death trap? I need prep time! I am the nnnuhhhh!! …Daisy…Daisy…Give me your answer…Dooooo…”)
Also laughing hard at Ari’s total-baloney numbers. “Between four and six hun–oh, wait, how many do we have sitting right here?” I’m hoping at some point there’ll be a Sally Floyd reporter for everyone to loathe hotly.
He he. That must be one of the common powers.
Me, earlier: “Also laughing hard at Ari’s total-baloney numbers. ‘Between four and six hun–oh, wait, how many do we have sitting right here?’”
Oh my God, have I had a stroke? I didn’t realize until JUST NOW Ari was saying “between four hundred and six hundred;” I thought she was saying, “between 4, and 600.” I can bust through a Sudoku or KenKen in seconds, but I can’t friggin’ read comprehensively. But that’s what I get for laughing at others’ perceived stupidity…
(I also did that dumb “my superpower is moving my body with the power of my mind” gag. Sorry. I was thinking of an old Bob the Angry Flower strip.)
Hey, Dave, your comic is significantly top tier, from my experience, fun jokes, decent art work, some attempt to acknowledge reality, good story, and interesting characters, so you should be able to get away with occasional wordiness without losing readers.
I would have no problem reading an entire page of text, just for the data, as long as also included a following page of your comic posted on the same day. So, say; next Monday, you make two postings, or a double pager, with the first page being naught but text, with maybe a funny post script cartoon at the bottom, followed by something that is more like your usual offering. I would read it, and probably enjoy it just as much. Just try not to do it more than a few times a year.
I say, “Give it a try!”, at least once. It is not like your audience won’t give you tons of feedback.
Yeah I have thought about that, but in a comic it’s generally better to show and not tell. I’m thinking about what a mostly text page would look like in a printed comic as well as on the website where I can defray the incongruity of it with a comment about how I’m just trying something out. It’s not out of the question, but I think I have the conference under control. There will be a few more text heavy pages like this then I can get to some team interviews.
One doesn’t have to join the government, nor become a fighting brute to be effective at reducing crime, even when dealing with most super villians. My very first Champions(tm) character was called, “The Anonymous Witness”. I didn’t get to play him with my gaming group, but the GM liked the idea and we did a lot of stuff on the side. All of his powers were invisible, heightened senses, eidetic memory for all of the senses, the ability to upload memories to the internet, a little flight (to get to hard to reach places), invisibility, and huge skill bonuses to aid sleuthing skills and sniping. The guy worked as a private investigator, and had discovered that most super heroes are very sloppy about hiding their secret identities, and many super heroes are very vulnerable to a high-powered bullet being shot from a kilometer, or more, distance. If you don’t have danger sense, or super high luck, or something that makes you bulletproof, then you are one shot away from being one kill (as Sydney pointed out when asked about vulnerabilities. Think about how Batman loves to pose on top of buildings, silhouetted by the night sky. He is such a sniper’s wet dream. And how hard would it really be to figure out who he really is with modern technology. I’m surprised Sydney remained undiscovered as long as she did, with her experimenting with the globes and all.
Yup, that would get Halo sure enough. Unless she turns on the Forb now and never lets the shield down again, except when behind bullet-proof walls.
She was discreet about her testing. Clearly she went off into the woods for some of it. No witnesses, no discovery. Providing she got clear before the forestry service arrived to deal with the fire…
Oh, yeah.
That would be some awesome hero.
Just show the world everyday b*#?hing from high-school bullies to road-ragers and supermarket-nutjobs.
I didn’t think that Marvel’s Civil War could seem even dumber in retrospect, but… well, there you go.
because it was one of those (swept under the rug) concepts from the early days of comics that writers and editors chose to ignore, and only was brought up because the genre was starting to add (realism) and oh because the Incredibles inspired them to do so.
The odd thing is if you go back to Zero Tolerance some lines seemed to be laying the groundwork for Civil War.Like Spidey worrying if they’d come after him because basicly what’s the practical difference between being born with weird DNA and have it changed like he did?
I like, it gives the feel of a continued voice over while watching other action.
Here is a thought,
what about schools, sure its not been established at what age most supers in this series get their powers, but its one thing in the X-men that always made me look bad. As once you get around the metaphor about minorities and homosexuals, and think of it as (what if this specific situation were real), would you want your kids going to school with children that could shoot spikes from their bodies, manipulate fire, or throw grenade level explosions around? I remember high school, fights, hormone fueled angst, not a good mix when one can pack more power than a handgun in their actual hands.
even from the super’s point of view, would you want to have gone to a school where your ability might single you out, or have people afraid you might use it on them, especially jumpy faculty. Seriously we live in a world where chewing a poptart into the shape of a gun got a kid suspended and the school had the *insanity* to offer counsiling to other kids; thereby psychologically enforcing something they really shouldn’t.
It depends on how competent you assess them to be, when you check out their prospectus. If the kids have those powers but the school knows how to keep them in check, then it seems like a very good choice.
Be sure to look at the mortality rates though. If it looks like each week most of the kids turn straight to the school paper’s obituary page, then you know that Sunnydale High is not for Timmy.
1) if i were the bat/cat guy i would surrender immediately – to max. anything to avoid the wrath of sydney (and the list!)
2) it’s probably best to handwave away most legal questions. for starters, archon itself would be illegal under posse comitatus laws.
2) It is hardly illegal. Arc has been set up by Act of the appropriate statutory body for enacting such laws. Unless the politicians cocked up their job, they would ensure compatibility between the two acts of legislation. If necessary, amending the hippopotamus containment laws accordingly.
I had to catch up. Ari’s doing good. I like her presentation, so far. One thing keeps distracting me, though. What about friendly rivals? What if Spinny refuses to register, for example? Can Halo go in there and lawfully arrest her? Imagine the mayhem. Very distracting. Sorry. Yay, Ari!
Thanks for another fine comic, DaveB. :)
Spinny is not required to register. Assuming a Spinny analogue in the Grrl Power universe. She can continue to wear her fat suit and pretend to be a normal person. Or she can turn her super-powers to some productive civilian use. But, if she chooses to go rogue and illegally hunt down alleged* criminals, then she better get used to that pot in the corner of her 10′ x 10′ room. And hope that her cell-mate does not have a thing for four-armed girls.
Or, as I think would be likely with her, she can sign up to Arc and continue to fight evil. Legally.
* One of the reasons that most folks seem to be forgetting is that vigilantes do not have legal access to police files and their intelligence resources. So are actually far less likely to correctly identify who are the bad guys. Making miscarriages of justice far more likely than from the law enforcement community.
Oh that’s just generalization right there. There is nothing to say that they don’t at least not legally, and that the person there going after is the wrong one. Peter Parker never made such mistakes in his early years, coarse they go after the crooks in the act.
Spinny is already in the official superhero organization of her universe, she would have no reason not to join Arc.
Indeed. Hence the preface about an analogue of her in the Grrl Power universe.
Yeah, Spinny’s a good girl. I trust she’ll do the right thing, whatever she thinks that is. And it’s six arms, by the way. Six fists of fury versus Syd’s seven orbs of orneriness.
Last panel is cool, but doesn’t make sense. Dabbler has finger on trigger, which means she is ready to immediately shoot the vigilante. This should only happen if she needs to stop him from doing something really bad right now, but Maxima is right there. Maxima is ridiculously fast and powerful and can probably stop this guy without needing to kill him. (Of course if Maxima is no match for him, maybe Dabbler needs to shoot him.)
Also, when you are the one holding the firearm, distance is your friend. You stand back and hold the guy at gunpoint while someone else cuffs him; you don’t hold the gun so close he can quickly grab it (“action beats reaction”). Dabbler might have really fast reflexes I guess, but I should think that (e.g.) Math could disarm her from that range!
By the way, I hope that cool-looking pistol shoots special bullets that have spells on them, via runes carved into them or something. By the looks, it’s a revolver that holds 7 or 8 rounds. Does “cold iron” mess with magic in this universe? If so, it’s probably made out of titanium or similar. I like the glowy runes on the knife blade, even though a knife doesn’t make that much sense on a pistol.
Yeah there are problems with that panel from a tactical standpoint, but I wanted to draw him surrounded and I didn’t think that a sillouhette of Peggy on a distant rooftop would illustrate that well. Besides Peggy wouldn’t be standing against the skyline where you could see her. Actually if I had planned that picture better I would have hidden Peggy somewhere in the background.
Could’ve just gone with a laser dot, maybe a faint line (Do they even make laser sights for sniper rifles?) given that it’s night in that particular panel. Also lets the guy know he’s pretty much boned if he tries something stupid.
A Laser sight would be worse than useless on a Sniper rifle for long range shots. Someone might (theoretically) spot the emitter, a dust cloud could expose the beam, Lasers don’t account for wind or bullet drop. (for example at 300 yards using a M-16 you have to aim at the head to hit the chest)
you mean the image isn’t what peg sees with her scope?
Oh, you mean this * view.
* Belatedly I realise that I should have the sight larger, so that the faces were visible within the circle, and there being blackness beyond. *sigh* And apologies to DaveB for taking liberties with his art, especially experimenting with altering Halo’s glasses. Which I hope is not too rude. Mind you, my dubious results only go to show why he is the artist, and I am just a fan.
No worries, knock yourself out.
It is probably a magical weapon that can transform into any kind of firearm. If she changed it to being a rifle, the bayonet would be of more traditional proportions.
But, that said, even in it’s current form there are two very good arguments for Dabbler to have a blade on her firearm. Firstly, she likes pointing it at people’s heads and having that makes it much more hazardous to attempt a disarm from the position depicted.
Secondly, if you are in an intensive close-range fight and only have 7 or 8 rounds it is nice to have an option other than just pistol-whipping any surviving opponent. I think punching with that weapon could severely ruin somebody’s day.
Also, do not forget that Dabbler is the one super, other than Maxima herself, who can beat Math in a fight. Having a four star martial arts ranking, considering that on its own, compared to Math’s five, so being in the ‘extremely deadly’ bracket. She knows how to use sharp objects to good effect. Either to block an attempted disarm or to poke somebody where it hurts.
Finally, it is also handy for snacks wrapped in those impossible to open plastic packets!
It’s just as likely the case that Dabbler thinks anything looks cooler with a knife stuck to it.
Just admit it: you play Borderlands and the bladed pistols idea stuck. ;)
Shhhh! I had some good arguments going there for the rather impractical pointy thing.
It’s not that you can’t find historical models of pistols with a blade attached, now can you. =P
Like these.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_sword
A blade on the end of a pistol might not be all that useful for attack, but it’s a great way to discourage anyone from trying to grab the barrel. She must’ve seen some Jet Li movies, I guess.
Hmmm… I read the comments section a few hours ago, and since experienced a bit of Fridge Logic/Fridge Brilliance courtesy of the Whateley Universe.
While traditional superpower registration is a fact of life in the Whateleyverse (although at least they don’t record anything pertaining to civilian identities… officially,) there is also another form of registration present that is eminently more reasonable. Necessary, even. Any super who can fly and intends to do so must first obtain a pilot’s license, and register themselves with the FAA as an aircraft. They must also wear a transponder and communications gear at all times while airborne. They don’t actually need to learn how to fly a plane, but they do need to learn the “rules of the road” for flying, stay out of high-traffic areas, and file a flightplan if they plan to go above a few thousand feet.
They only need to do that if they intend to fly high (over two thousand feets or something) – which many of them may not even be CAPABLE of doing. You don’t need a pilot licence to fly on hang-glider, do you? Most flying-capable supers would fly similarly to hand-glider, not to aircraft.
Also note that if they DO want to fly in the heigh airplanes are flying, it’s in THEIR interest to fill a flying plan etc. I mean, being able to fly doesn’t mean you survive collision with aircraft.
Nope. Supers are not aircraft. The term is actually defined and has several categories based on weight, engine power, mode of flight, etc. Supers have none of that, and so technically skip out on the rules. Simply being a human body in the sky doesn’t make you an aircraft or skydivers would need pilots liscenses.
Of course that’s the case because people can’t fly in jetways on their own. In reality even if we could it would probably go unaddressed until an unfortunate incident. Nothing moves legislation like blood and tombstones. It would still take at least a couple of years for the FAA to draft new rules whatever congress wants, they don’t take their jobs lightly. Frex, they are currently working like hell to draft rules for unmanned aircraft, but I doubt they’ll make the congressional deadline.
It would be fun to imagine what those rules will be. :)
I haven’t seen the results of the conference on it, but I hope legislatures worldwide recognise that the use of robots to killl in war should be banned. At least until we have AIs that are better at making decisions than humans are. Which will not be for a very long time.
I am fine with robots doing most things. Up until the point it is necessary to identify if the target is a civilian, a legitimate enemy or something unclear. And certainly the not allowing them to pull the trigger. No technology we have can reliably do that.
If, however, legislation is passed enabling that, I trust that each politician who voted “yes” will be held criminally accountable at every homicide/murder/manslaughter/genocide trial for each person wrongly killed by a robot.
Ermm.. Drones aren’t robots, they are waldos. Every round fired is authorized by a human being. No one has yet been stupid enough to authorize fully autonamous killing machines… Well, assuming you don’t count mines.
Besides which the legislation under discussion is for the U.S. which is the only place the FAA has jurisdiction, and is not aimed at the use of weaponized drones.
Right now flying unmanned aircraft over the U.S. is basically illegal anywhere near a populated area, and subject to dubious liability issues anywhere else.
However unmanned aircraft are cheap and useful. Police departments want to replace manned choppers with drones that cost 100th as much to operate. Firefighters want man portable drones to scan for forest fires. Pizza places want RC helicopters to deliver pizza. (Not kidding.) Right now none of that can be done. Want sky taxis? That’s what the FAA is working on. All the civilian applications.
Sorry, I see that my post was open to misinterpretation. I was just following on from your post about drones to the next generation version, ie robots, which are currently under debate, which do remove humans from the loop. I was not not my intent that the comments should be applied to the drones themselves, which are as you say human controlled.
I agree with the idea for unmanned drones for use in civilian situations. Not so much for military (mine sweepers, fine. Walking death machine controlled from extreme range, not so much.) as it could lead to war being reduced to a game for those in the military, ultimately leading to desensitization and potentially more horrific wars that last considerably longer (Whoever can keep cranking out the drones for longer and at a faster rate will ultimately win).
Also, I firmly believe in ‘not’ advancing AI to the point of autonomity. It’s fine if its for a few simple, redundant actions, but there should always be a human at the controls, ready to adjust activity, or terminate operations, on the fly. Too many movies/books/games detail why it’s a bad idea in the long run, many in terrifyingly realistic ways.
It is a worrying social issue. There are many technological options coming of age which allow a more advanced country to overwhelm a less-developed one. In particular being able to fight the war with little risk of deaths from their own population. Which is actually one of the natural balances in conflict.
Back in medieval Europe it was enshrined as a principle of justification. The line of thinking being that trial by mortal combat meant you were willing to put your life at risk to prove your case. Which extended to the national levels. You gained the right to claim a country you had militarily conquered. The principle, in both individual and national martial matters being that God was on the side of those who won.
Obviously an outdated argument, which does not bear scrutiny. But it shows an underlying truth. If you have no risk of death then you loose a critical check which might make you re-consider. “Am I doing the right thing?”. At the modern, national levels, this means that politicians will be able to arbitrarily impose their own code of ethics, morals, political and/or economic systems on other nations, without having to factor in risk to his own populace. Which can lead to real injustice.
I must, respectfully, disagree with your assertion. We don’t force people to register & license ultralights (which are capable of sharing airspace with some aircraft), nor do we make people register & license bicycles (which actually do share roadspace with automobiles), or (most analagous) register & license themselves to swim (while sharing waterspace with boats).
Concur. Hang-gliders aren’t registered either. Although the pilots are trained, and certified by a private entity.
Flight plans are filed so authorities know about where to look when your small plane disappears.
And so the dispatcher can give you updated weather warnings on the route you are planning.
Not really relevant to a super.
And since most supers will not be flying airport to airport, they won’t have anyone to file a plan with.
A flying super will be nothing like a hang-glider, in that glider pilots are not powered and can only glide down. Going up after launch in a glider requires lift, such as provided by thermals.
A gliding super, “flying squirrel man”, might be like a hang-glider. Sucks to be him…
However, a certain amount of training for flying supers makes some sense. Stay away from airports, where traffic is dense. Learn the air map for the city/area you are going to be flying in, so you know what areas are restricted (like near military bases), and high-traffic. Some pilots do not have instrument ratings, and those pilots do not fly in bad weather. As a super, unless you have an IronMan suit, you have NO instruments, so avoid flying in inclement weather. Unless you have heightened senses, stay away from clouds.
Oh! It gets COLD the further up you go, and wind chill will be a major factor, unless you have a heated suit. Breathing might be an issue, unless you have some sort of life support.
Generally probably safer to stay near the ground.
There are probably some other details that I didn’t think of, but that’s a few things to keep in mind…
Yeah there will be similar rules for the ARC flyers. I didn’t think about transponders for civvy flyers though, that makes total sense.
Sydney in an ARC uniform is super sexy awesome.
Hey! Now that you mention it, Syd has hips! Look at that. And Max looks kinda like a dude, without her big ol’ bewbies on display. I dunno about “super sexy”, but Syd is way cuter than her super cohorts.
True, she isn’t necessarily “super sexy”. I was just using that phrase to emphasize how cool she looks, even in partial silhouette. I agree that she is really adorable, though. XD I love her so much.
Actually, it has been determined that anyone can be in contact with anyone else within 10 degrees of separation–provided, as you say, it’s not an undiscovered tribe of cannibalistic aborigines in some forlorn wilderness somewhere. Yes, you can speak to a Siberian Yak Herder within 6 or less, but if you asked to speak to a -specific- Siberian Yak Herder (let’s call him Ivan Georgi Ivanov), and the researcher in the above example was not in the same region of Siberia (which is huge) in which Ivan Goergi Ivanov, Siberian Yak Herder Extraordinaire, lives…then it could very well take 2-6 additional links to hook up with Comrade I.G. Ivanov, SYHE. But within 10 links, yes.
There are, however, three problems with calculating how quickly you can get in contact with a specific person. 1. If you know how to contact 500 people, then they know how to contact 500 people as well, and that means 250,000 people. And if they each know 500 people, then that’s a total of 125,000,000. But that’s assuming each and every one of those “I know 500 people” known is someone -completely- different from the 500 that another person knows…and it often isn’t. Most people have a good chunk that overlap, being found among friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and so forth. 2. Until the advent of social media (Facebook, Twitter, even the internet, period), it was actually difficult to know a lot of people on the far side of your home state, never mind your nation, or in another nation. Playing “Six Degrees” would have been more akin to “Sixteen Degrees” just 150 years ago. Perhaps not quite that many, but there were a lot more “bottleneck” people, those few who had traveled the world and made contacts in various locations. And 3. Sorting through 500 people to find the correct person to contact isn’t too difficult. Sorting through 250,000 people is a bit more difficult and time-consuming, unless you have a lot of details about the person you’re trying to find, to weed out the ones you’re not looking for. Sorting through 125,000,000, 125 million people, takes a lot of time and patience, and a good set of search parameters to winnow down the bits that are clearly not what you’re looking for. (Knowing that Ivan Gregori Ivanov is male does cut out about half of the people in Siberia, give or take a few with androgynous names.) And that’s only 3 degrees of separation, with an average of knowing 500 people apiece. The numbers may vary wildly, and the number of degrees involved may also vary wildly, depending on your starting and ending points.
…But knowing certain search parameters does cut down the complexity and difficulty of the task immensely. Six Degrees To Kevin Bacon (the formal, original version) assumes everyone has appeared on a screen acting alongside Kevin Bacon at some point, whether it’s a major movie or television character starring alongside Bacon, or just some walk-on background actor listed in the movie credits as “Businessman Murderer Victim #3” or whatever.
…With helpful search parameters in mind, if you include family/blood ties and screenwriter connections as well as actual on-screen acting jobs, my family’s Kevin Bacon number is 4 (KB-4). My sister determined through simple (if lengthy) research on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) that Nunnally Johnson (KB-3) wrote the screenplay to “The Grapes of Wrath”, which starred John Carradine. In turn, John Carradine (KB-2) starred in “Buried Alive” with Nia Long…and Nia Long (KB-1) starred on “Guiding Light” alongside Kevin Bacon (whose number is KB-0, obviously). It sounds simple, but it did take her a few hours of prolonged research, so kudos to her for figuring it out. :-)
…And on a mostly unrelated note, I’m now wondering who else besides me wants to lick that bacon super-suit. Also, does that Vitameatavegamin come in a mayo style condiment form? Because I’d totally have a BLT (hold the tomato) with that as the spread.
He he. Oddly enough I was having a cheese, bacon and chicken sandwich as I read your last line. The latest research I heard on the matter not only confirmed the 6 degrees of separation, but indicated that the real figure was less. It was no interest to me, other than as a piece of trivia though, so I did not save a link to it.
Your comments about historical degrees of separation and the change with the internet are very true and astute. The math figures seem convincing on the face of it. But miss out an important fact. It is not a shotgun effect to find the path. Nor in fact is it a requirement that the individual know the shortest route. Nor does it matter how likely it is to be called upon. Merely that it exists.
As an example, I know my mayor, the mayor knows a senior national politician, who knows the president. The president of this country knows the leader of every other country. The rest you can figure out. I do not know the details of why it turns out at less (that example would imply that six is very common), but can speculate.
Someone like myself cuts down the chain big time. Given that I have friends or other contacts on every continent (not using the phrase lightly either). Who tend to be similarly cosmopolitan themselves.
Not sure if anyone posted this already, but it looks like Sydney is activating the tentacle orb. This could end poorly for dear old Not-Batman.
“Canadian Bacon” Boy eats radioactive poutine and develops the ability to talk to pigs, hogs, and create bacon!
If you talk to pigs and create bacon, you’re not a superhero, you’re a delusional butcher.
I guess the best way to deliver this comment, is to say, thanks for giving some nice graphic art work to the necessary background dialog, so we voyeurs have an idea of what we’re eavesdropping on and why it works that way.
If Vitameatavegamin really worked, Lucille Ball would have been a super hero, rather than just super awesome!
You say this like it’s a bad thing. Super-powered Lucy sounds like a bowl of awesome.
DaveB, I am curious. How are you going too imprison the criminal Supers?
If power dampeners are not (yet) in this universe. Then a Super with heighten strength could just punch the any (even Armor plated) walls. Or If they are immune to tranquilizers (because their skin is impervious, for example), how are you going to really stop them?
I am interested to see the training session for Halo and her first encounter with a villain.
For a really strong super (assuming one doesn’t have ways / means of directly “neutralizing” their powers), one approach would be a very heavily rteinforced concrete bunker, maybe down at the bottom of a VERY deep hole out in the middle of nowhere. Demolition charges on the access shaft / tunnel so, if the prisoner tries to bust out that way, they get well and truly buried (superstrong does not necvessarily equate with not needing to breath). Seismographs around the perimeter, in case he/she/it actually doesn’t need to breath or tries to tunnel out.
For a really really dangerous super, might even think of installing a nuclear warhead underneath their cell. They try to bust out, BOOM!
I’m guessing that ARC and other agencies are probably thinking about this issue right now. Recruting a bunch of role-playing gamers to come up with ideas (and counters to same) would probably be a smart move.
Or, just like in the Evil Overlord List, use a kid (especially for passwords and such).
Very carefully! No seriously it will be a significant challenge. You’d have to build individualized cells and that’s assuming you even know all of their powers.
I just hate the idea of every Superhero having to join some government agency. All this red tap and bureaucratic crap is taking all the fun out of being a superhero.
But then again I’m more for being a super villain anyway. SMASH THE SYSTEM!
no, you don’t have to join any government agency it you aren’t going to be fighting crime… if you were someone like the Flying Camera Guy, then you would probably make better money in Hollyweird than the government, no government agency needed… but, if your powers were public knowledge and you decided that you were going to go into the private investigator business, that’s probably a grey area… you aren’t “fighting crime” per se’ (technically you are just gathering information so that the cops can use it as evidence to do their jobs)… but you do have to get a P.I. license… if you don’t then it turns you into a stalker/vigilante/voyeur = illegal… not good for you… but!, if you get the license and state that you have super powers (so you don’t get in trouble later on) that may be enough for the Gov to decide to approach you with a better offer than you might have made on your own. if those powers are NOT public knowledge and you are found out later, there may be some hard times ahead for you…
Heh, Vitameatavegamin.
Lucy! You got some ‘splaining to do.
I didn’t read all of the comments in the preceeding pile, but if thus simple rule were applied to all sorts of criminal acts with technology I think it would be a good thing. If it is a criminal act, you are a criminal. Hackers could go back to being people who figure out new ways to do things.
You have discovered a way to make sydney seem frightening. I salute you sir.
Shameless plug alert. But it is for the writer of another webcomic, bladebunny.com who has overcome his dyslexia and become a good writer, so I am more than happy to spread the word.
The kickstarter is for a children’s book called Sarah’s Missing Shadow. The author’s video explaining it, links to a narrated online version of the story and other details are all accessible at the link.
I have a concern. Does his superpower of convincing people that he knows Kevin Bacon work on Kevin Bacon? In so doing, he would then ACTUALLY know Kevin Bacon, thus possibly rendering his superpower into a loop that might end the world.
Nah.. his power makes Kevin Bacon think he knows Bruce Willis, oddly enough.
interesting law
it means that it is legal to use your superpowers in a “professional” way
you can create a delivery service if you have flight or superspeed
you can be a mobile crane if you have superstrength
you can use Healing power or x-ray vision and various super-senses in the medical sector
etc,etc
computer-based powers are probably the better for making money
I would see any govt from the USA to N. Korea to Iran to China to France using supers, once they found them and made the deals with them. Special missions, black bag and even killing or changing an enemy if one of the supers has hypnotic powers etc.
I would expect them to treat supers as a national resource and danger. No neutrals in their minds.
It’s important to realize that most of the time it’s not being a ‘vigilante’ per se that’s illegal — it’s just that beating someone up is assault and battery, and taking someone into custody is (false) imprisonment, and going into the villain’s base to look for clues is trespass and usually breaking and entering, and so on. There are generally specific carve-outs for proper use of force (self-defense and citizen’s arrest), but in most jurisdictions they’re quite limited in scope, and you don’t have any protection against mistakes. If a policeman makes an honest mistake, he’s protected by sovereign immunity; a private citizen has no such protection.
And now, comes 100,000 signup attempts by people who THINK they have powers, but are actually insane.
The poor chap who has uncontrolled powers and just wants to get them under control? He’ll be stuck in an asylum for a while — until the staff can’t take it anymore of finding all lightbulbs in the asylum fused on his head as a helmet each time he thinks about Kevin Bacon, which has probably caused half the staff to be labeled insane…
Yuhs! I Love Lucy reference FTW!
Is Batman ready to assume the position?
Interesting set up for them. It sounds basically how X-Factor or the Avengers was set up for.
It’s always viewed as a problem in comics about Vigilantes that have powers, but in some comics, it’s viewed that criminals run to far out of laws regular methods and then only a super can handle them after villains reach that point. But when you give the government the heroes, they tend to abuse that power.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Archon regulates both other supers and themselves. After all, saying and doing are two different things.
after reading the bios i have a question: who could withstand the spiciest food, Sydney or Achilles, with his imperviousness to harm/pain? furthermore, if Achilles is old-fashioned invincible, can he actually build muscle at all? as muscle is built by destruction and regeneration… in fact, do Achilles cells die and replace themselves like a normal humans? am i trying to dig too deep into a webcomic’s character’s superpower next to a gold flying lady who can shoot lighting a women who can multiply herself without needing any additional material or energy?
Based on commentary in the past about him, Achilles looks pretty much exactly the way he did when he gained his powers (apparently in the mid-to-late-’80s), so he would’ve built all his muscle before that… As far as handling spicy food, I don’t know – is scoville-spiciness a result of actual damage, or is it a perception generated by the taste buds?
This is totally unrelated to this comic.
Does anyone know what is up/down/happening/not happening with Wereworld by Rann?