Grrl Power #150 – Not sure where Max stencils her kill marks
Fred Perry (of Gold Digger) was in Desert Storm, assigned to a crew that would clear out mines. The way they did it was to launch these big lines of explosives along the ground and detonating them, and the shockwave would set off any mines under the ground. I think Max could contribute similarly by strafing the ground with particle beams. At least until she gets call saying there’s an indigenous super hassling allied tanks or something.
I’ll admit I’m not much of a drinker, so I don’t quite ‘get’ keg stands. I assume it mostly has to do with getting your friends pour beer up their nose then fall down coughing and everyone has a good laugh. Also, I assume some of the fun comes from, if you’re a guy anyway, getting a little grabass time by holding a girl over the keg. Whatever the case is, I think Max is breaking several party rules by flying.
The only drinks I really like are the really sugary desert ones, which are or course chocked full of calories. It always bugged me that alcoholic drinks don’t have the calories on the label. Alcohol is just sugar anyway, so unless a drink brags about how few calories it has in it like some light beers do, you can bet it’s a lot more than you think it is. Turns out the reason is that alcohol is regulated by the ATF, and not the FDA. Only stuff under the FDA is required to have nutritional information listed on it. Personally, if I was the Prez, I’d call to disband the ATF, since the F is so hamstrung anyway. Put the F under the FBI or DoHS, the A under the FDA, and the T under the DEA or something. I don’t know if that would really fix anything, but at least Kahlúa and Irish Creme would have the calories on them. And people would be shocked! Well, not that shocked.
I’m on vacation this week meaning just that I’m not up to my usual schedule. I’ll be reading comments and checking in but probably mostly in the evenings.
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Max just went into slasher smile scary territory.
So… The Taliban and Saddam Hussein deployed their own supers?
Did Max and Dabbler fight upon Dabbler’s arrival on Earth that led to her coming under Archon’s authority and X’s watch?
And- above all- mystery of mysteries: who is Max’s unknown equal?
Given that we know Maxima and Dabbler can both beat Math, and the significant nudge following that statement, I think we can narrow it down to Dabbler.
Here’s hoping for a small backstory about Maxes eary fight
I’m sure I’ll show a glimpse or two but I don’t think I’ll go off on a tangent about it at this point.
Surely you mean “early fight”, otherwise I might have to assume you’re referring to a fight in which Maxima had to stab an opponent to death with her pointy ears.
I think messenger knew about Dabbler being Max’s equal and asked who the super “that Max thinks is dead” could be.
But if I know something about supers, it is that the popular characters never stay back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHm2XrwpGtI
*sniff* poor Beta-boy, he won’t be coming back. Nice cameo in there too.
Thank you, Christopher.
Wait, is ‘Just’ Eagle based on ‘Just’ Tiger from Spinnerette?
The “unknown equal” I’m referring to isn’t Dabbler. There are *TWO* people able to stalemate Max and it’s given Dabbler is one of them. I’m wondering about the *OTHER* one. It’s that other person *who’s supposed to be dead* that concerns me.
Would the equal on the team not be Sydney because of her shield that Max could not get through? Thus Dabbler nudging Sydney in a, “Hey, that’s you” kind of a thing.
That wasn’t so much “Fight to a standstill” as much as “punch until the boss said quit it, you’re damaging the windows”. That testing will likely be continued at another time in a more durable area.
More durable areas like an Air Force bombing range, or an Army artillery range come to mind. Maybe go to USNS Great Lakes and skip Sydney up Lake Michigan?
I would think Bikini Atoll (or what’s left of it) or possibly Kwajalein. Somewhere waaaaay out in the middle of the Pacific away from shipping routes…
Those areas are dangerously irradiated. You don’t want to go there. Plenty of places like Area 51 or Area 49 or one of the other “Areas” we have that are so secret we don’t know abut them.
Yes Maxima is powerful. I wonder where the particle beams come out? Also I can just imagine the scientists orgasmic ecstasy at watching and recording Maxima using her powers. I know I would.
I’m sure there are those on all sides who want to make Maxima the next step in human Evolution.
There’s a strip a while ago that shows her having blasted a hole in a wall, which suggests that they come from her hands, or outstretched arms, sort of like Thor?
“Next step in human evolution” is pretty much… um… well, an oxymoron; a self-contradiction. Evolution doesn’t have “next steps”. (And by “evolution” I mean the traditional one associated with things like natural selection and differential reproductive sucess and such.
One could argue that gengineering is evolution in action… but that’s stretching things imo. A lot much.
Just saying.
Yala! You ‘kay? You ‘kay?
You hang on… a lot much… and a lot and a lot…
hang on tight and… and more! snif
‘Kay?
— https://www.goblinscomic.org/04062009/
Traditional evolution relies on natural selection. Genetic manipulations, even agricultural selective breeding are examples of artificial selection. If humans got out of the way, dogs (as an example) would become more uniform in appearance as breeds reproduce together, extremely small or large dogs would not likely do well, but local pressures will likely mean that a Chinese dog will look different from a French dog which will be different from a Oregon dog, even if those political boundaries no longer exist without humans. Several plant species will die out without us, even though many are dying out because of us.
Area 51 would be a good testing site. No one can get within a few miles of that place, and we know that everything will stay secret.
Heck, in our world, we do not fully know what goes on there except for “military experiment”. It would make for a good place to test supers and do further research.
Dunno if that is wise. Have you thought of the consequences if the Arc of the Covenant
gets damaged in the sparring? Or even worse, if Sydney gets her hands on it!!!
Do you remember how those guys melted at the end of Raiders? That would be Sydney. Also, when King David was taking the Arc back to Jerusalem, somebody named Uzzah reached up to stabilize it, but the touch killed him, because it was not his place to do that. (2 Samual 6:6-7)
If max goes to bikini atoll, and lets loose a 10 megaton blast, she should lose about a half-kilogram of mass…. just saying. Unless I did my arithmetic wrong.
And nobody tell her about the Tsar Bomba. She might do herself a mischief trying to outdo it.
“You know those fairy tales where the Count gives his daughter’s unsuitable suitor three impossible tasks?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t do that with Miles. Just… don’t.”
— Simon Ilian to Ekaterin Vorsoison
“It was a terror and a privilege to command him for 15 years.”
— ibid
or they could skip halo along some of the old nuke test sites
If it’s somehow actually Sydney, then Dabbler cannot be the other super. That one’s supposedly dead. Dab (and Syd) count as neither “supposedly”, “dead”, and “supposedly dead”.
I thought she was reffering to the fact she couldn’t even take her tube?
The wording is even more creepy. She seems more prideful about killing Afghani supers than about reducing Taliban enrollment or power. Her statement is exactly what I’d expect from an anti-Arab racist.
I don’t think it’s racism, it’s part of war. It’s part of human psychology that we dehumanize people when we are at war with them. Soldiers who think of the enemy as other people, do less killing and more losing the battle. Yes, war sucks. Max had to kill others supers. Other people who had (in many ways) more in common with her than even her own family. The only way for the mind to do that and keep on functioning is to find a way to proclaim that act as “noble”. That’s why war is always talked about as fighting for “freedom” or ” to stop tyranny” instead of admitting that it is always about resources.
Max isn’t racism, she’s a combat vet.
Max doesn’t have any beef with Arabs as a race, or anyone as a race. She definitely takes exception with certain elements of Sharia law, though. I’m sure you can guess which elements. She’s actually probably not too fond of any of it really, but obviously fundamentalist interpretations of it have caused her to clash with adherents. She is prone to the occasional snap judgement as well as she is only human.
What about drow? High elves tend to have issues with drow don’t they?
Not racism. Just being scary in a military manner.
As for pride, killing off enemy combatant supers IS reducing Taliban enrollment and power.
It is hard to explain to civilians or those who have never been asked to kill.
In War, it is Kill, Be Killed, or Watch Other Be Killed. That takes its toll on anybody’s mind. It is not so much she takes pride in killing but she takes pride in doing her job, protecting American Soldiers, protecting America, and protecting Civilians, and she did it very well. I am certain (based on what we have seen of her so-far) that if anyone surrendered, she would have taken them into custody (and probably did).
Killing has been called the “Universal Human Phobia”, 98% of humans will do anything they can (intentionally or not) to avoid killing, even in War. Up until WW2 the “Fire Rate” was 20% or less (and less actually aimed at other soldiers). The 2% were made up of 2 groups, called Sheepdogs and Wolfs. The Sheepdogs had no trouble killing as long as it protected the rest of the ‘herd’ (other soldiers). The Wolfs were just plain psychopaths who were given a legal excuse to kill.
These days 90% of soldier will shoot to kill (thanks to modern training methods developed during the Korea Conflict in response to the research done by SMA Marshal during WW2). But the result we are now seeing is a significant rise in PTS (post-traumatic stress) and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in soldiers.
Wow, I start to ramble fast if I am not careful. If you want more information look up “On Killing” by Col. David Grossman. He is a leader in the field of Military/Law-enforcement Psychology.
That entire concept was made up for political reasons, and is total and utter BS. It has been discredited by reputable scholars on multiple occasions. Soldiers have been quite willing to shoot at the enemy (and specifically aim for individual soldiers, even) in every war this country has ever fought (and every war that ever HAS been fought).
Historically speaking, a great many entire people groups (perhaps even a majority) have been essentially uncaring about MURDER as long as it was done to someone of another people group (and “group” here can be as large as cultural or as small as “extended family”).
The “sheepdog and wolf” concept was created (so far as I have been able to tell) by gun rights groups to give people who believe the crap you’re spouting reasons to not consider them crazy for being willing to kill in defense.
In short, that entire post simply has no useful relationship to the real world.
This is the last post I will do on this. This comments page is not a good place for this debate.
Define “credible scholars” and were they talking about modern Military Forces, or WW2 and Pre-WW2 military; Because there is a BIG difference. Today, 98% of soldiers will have aimed fire at the enemy. In WW2, commanders said they had to move up and down the line too keep soldiers firing. In the ‘Falklands War’ (1982, British), both sides were equally armed with modern weapons but the Argentina Military had superior numbers. What won the War for the British was the fact that they had better training with a higher hit rate and more ability to fire. Then, you will say “that is only training, the British were more accurate.”
I will respond by saying that surveys done of American Civil War Battlefields show, even taking into account the less accurate weapons of the day, that the casualty rate on both sides was far too low. After the battles, reports were that many soldiers “panicked” and reloaded without firing (as many rounds as would fit in the barrel of a powder-rifle), but those drills were pounded into the soldiers. Again and Again. So why would highly trained soldiers misload or “accidentally” double load their weapon? Because they did not want too kill.
I could also point out that many soldiers did busy work that made them look like they were participating. Like loading a powder-rifle and handing it off to another soldier too fire, more WW2 were soldiers loading Clips for firing soldiers or being spotters for sharpshooters.
Last point to bring it back, I have not seen any scholars, who study military and law-enforcement full-time, try and discredit this theory successfully. Some try to say that SMA Marshall’s work was biased, but neglect that WW2 commanders were completely agreeing with him (especially on the rates of soldiers firing) and saying that his study was accurate to what they saw during the war. Most I have seen are the ones that try and apply ‘civilian psychology’ to soldiers, but they never take into account the modern training (they assume all generations of soldiers are the same) and forgetting that our modern soldiers were not drafted (evidence shows higher percentage of ‘firers’, even if not “sheepdogs”, volunteer too join. Especially, in times of war). Civilian Psychology and War-Fighter Psychology are very different. Just as I would not trust an Anthropologist to teach on Archaeology, for they are similar but very different. I would not trust a Psychologist, who has never studied the military and its unique culture, to give an accurate review of the Soldiers Psychology.
“for every 100 soldier, there is 10 who should not even be there. 80 will just be targets. 9 will be true warriors, and we are lucky to have them. But one man, will bring the rest home.” (I add, “or die trying”) I forget who says that but it is a very old saying. That one man is the sheepdog, the Audry Murphy of the Armies. The Gun-Rights groups did not create the concept, they just took the reference.
“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”
—-Heraclitus—-
This statement was framed on the wall of every unit I was ever assigned to, during my Military tour. We even took it with us during Desert Shield, and Desert Storm.
This is the great assumption, where you find what you want to find. To a certain extent, that is true of both sides.
I will simply point out that having the problem of panicking and not firing is something that usually happens in actual warfare, where the opponent is firing back, where your friends are being killed before your eyes and you fear greatly for your own life. In a massacre, where you are killing them and not being fired on in return, this problem is typically absent.
Your example of WWII is the same – firing exposes one to return fire far more than cowering. Cowering is the individual rational choice, but if everyone does it, your side will lose. This is a sufficient explanation for much of the Civil War as well, though there may be other issues there, too.
It’s not the killing that’s the problem, it’s the “not wanting to be killed” thing that’s the problem. Unwillingness to kill is a cultural value, and that falls away quickly when your life is on the line.
And your quote is largely true of EVERY profession – take 100 random people (that’s what a draft does), and 10ish of them will be useless at the task at hand, 80ish of them will be marginally useful, 9ish of them will be effective, and 1 of them will be gifted. This says nothing of willingness to kill, only aptitude for the task at hand.
Not quite on topic, but this article does give topical news that has bearing on the discussion.
I only post because I forgot to mention. I swear last post.
65% fire rate of Korea Conflict
85% fire rate in Vietnam
95% fire rate Modern forces.
I can really only reply to one thing at a time, ADD. Your statement about the civil war seems to be missing the fact that everyone was essentially shooting at their cousins. It’s a tad easier to drive up your urge to kill when the enemy is some sort of “other”. It gets even easier when the military and the media portray them as demons. The more differences there are between you and your enemy the less you think of them as people and the more you think of them as less than human. You might have noticed that if you happen to be of a species that is not human you don’t really have a right to live in the eyes of most humans.
Yet another reason why, if I were an alien, I’d stay the hell away from this planet.
If 20th-21st century combatants tend to miss a lot in warfare, I think it has more to do with them trying to NOT get shot themselves rather than anything else. When someone shoots in your direction, the sensible course of action is to immediately make yourself harder to hit (ie. take cover), NOT calmly aim back.
You all forgot about Sidneys Shield, didn´t you?
Granted it wasn´t a “fight” per se, but Max couldn´t beat it.
At least that is one possibility of the Meaning of Dabblers nudge.
If she was referring to Sydney and their pseudo-fight, then the other super cannot be Dabbler. Of the two people to hold their own against Max, one of them is *supposedly dead*. Standing to Max’s left in this press conference disqualifies both Syd and Dab from “supposedly”, “dead”, and “supposedly dead”.
As such, that other “supposedly dead” individual remains ominously unknown.
Actually, I do believe Dabbler is the one to whom Max is referring. Dabbler may not be as powerful, but she is a LOT more versatile than Max. That counts for a lot in a fight.
Oh, hey, it’s Peggy un-dyed! :-D
No tats either.
Shoot, I forgot the tats. Ah well. Maybe she hadn’t done that shoulder yet. :/
No No No!
This is a press conference for the American Public so anyone with tats was made to wear makeup, just like that Maurie singer in his videos. It’s so as to not scare the norms and to hide identifiable markings.
Well, technically that scene would just be in Maxima’s memory. Unless her armoured skin protects her from drunkenness, she probably has a few blanks in her recollection of that particular incident.
Since she has the facial scars, is this implying that she is back on duty after losing her leg? Would the US military do that? Is that even feasible given the timescale?
She hangs around with superheroes in deadly situations. She probably has scars from more than just the one incident.
That said though, it is not unreasonable that they might both have been from the one, so it is a reasonable question. Which makes me wonder what the doctor was doing in her pre-Arc career. Helping speed up the recovery of patients with critical skills in Iraq/Afghanistan might have been how she came into contact with Peggy.
Someone suggested that she could hop from Army to AF after the accident and be deployed as base security as a sniper, since the AF allows female snipers. She probably wasn’t in that position long before coming o Archon though.
If that’s how you want to work it, Dave, we’ll collectively press the “I believe” button; but jumping from Army helicopter pilot to AF sniper would be a convoluted, time-intensive process that would necessarily precede her lost leg (almost by definition, snipers have to be able to hike long distances, through rough terrain, under cover of night, then quickly hike back out to a recovery zone), it would be a simpler that she simply had a civilian/family background in marksmanship, was always an AF helo pilot, and either the scars on her face preceded her leg-losing accident, or the event pictured is after she lost her leg, and this is her going-away party.
There are plenty of real-world demonstrations that people can overcome the loss of a limb enough to carry on functioning in a tough role. Just as Math is a paragon of martial artists, it is fair to assume that Peggy is equally capable in her own way. No one in the RAF thought that a pilot could carry on with only one leg, but Douglas Bader proved them wrong. Very wrong, given that he went on to become one of the most celebrated of British war heroes.
What it took though is for his superior officer to recognise his extraordinary talent and over-ride the pen-pushers to tell them to put Bader through flight testing. Which he passed no problems. Perhaps being a sniper first then a helicopter pilot after might make more sense, but I do not see that the other way round would be impossible. Real-word veterans and paralympians show us that handicaps can be overcome. And if she is good enough to team with supers we can safely assume she is the best of the best.
All it would take is for Maxima or Faulk to decide that she was too capable an individual to loose to the team. If one role was not open to her (perhaps for operational reasons only) then they could insist that she be retrained in whatever other role was needed “time and expense be damned”.
Hop?
Oh, Dave….
Oh noes, poor DaveB look what you have done to him now!
By the way Kudos to DaveB that image I linked to in the previous post got a “favourite” flag on Deviant Art within minutes of being posted. Before I even created the comment here linking to it. So presumably a regular art viewer rather than specifically a Grrl Power fan. Impressive result for a single panel shown out of context!
Oh DAMN did that make me chuckle for a bit! I’m a little surprised it took me so long to get the joke, it kind of caught me off guard which made it even funnier. Crap, now I can’t get the mental image out of my head!
USMC if she was a copilot as they got Ospreys first as I recall.
Peggy’s scars and missing leg aren’t necessarily from the same incident.
The US military frowns on hair dye. Any “unnatural” color would lead to disciplinary action.
Heck, I would be surprised if she got away with the Mohawk. That is defiantly not within regulation.
meh – it’s a faux-hawk – I’ve seen plenty of troops with them – as long as it combs down into place without being obvious, you can get away with a lot of odd hairstyles on top of the head (it’s a little more difficult on the sides, though)
You saying that Maxi’s hair colour is ‘natural’? O_o
Considering it showed her with purple hair when she blew the wall out of her house as a teenager? I’d say yes.
I’ve seen footage of troops that have been out in the thick of it for a while, and it looks like after a while, some grooming standards get relaxed, though honestly that may have been more of a “grow a beard to fit in with the natives better” thing. Still I assumed a fauxhawk would be passable but the hair dye wouldn’t fly, and also probably be pretty hard to get a hold of at some forward base.
I never heard of a “fauxhawk” before (small town, Kansas, slightly sheltered). That might be passable then. But the Air Force is not “out in the field” they are more “out in an air-conditioned airfield complaining about the slow internet speed” (But I joke, slightly).
The soldiers you see with the “long” hair and beards are Special Forces, they are allowed much looser regulations to blend in better to civilians and, as you said, be more approachable by the local leaders and civilians. The TV show “The Unit” shows this well.
And why do they have fewer supers, did they defect?
More likely KIA (but I’m guessing you’re just being facetious).
There dead. Very dead. Picture Maxima fighting only barely bound by the geneva convention, durring war time action.
I don’t think the geneva convention covers supers. So not bound at all
If said supers are members of a signatory power’s military, then they would be included.
I am old enough to remember when the last surviving crewman from the Battle of Trafalgar died, so can confirm that military conventions (if not treaties) do extend to non-humans as well. That crewman was a Galapagos Tortoise which served as a ship’s mascot, during the battle. Which meant that it was recorded on the roster as a member of the crew and was eligible for any campaign medals or the like. Plus numerous medals have been specifically awarded to animals for bravery down the years, such as to carrier pigeons completing their mission despite being shot.
Yup, the Geneva convention does not specifically mention that pink-haired people are covered by it either, but they still are afforded it’s protection. Although, perhaps, Peggy was playing it safe when she was on the front line. Just in case*. ;-)
* Or maybe she could not find enough pink flowers to hide in when sniping.
Oops, that “yup” was meant to be to 7thsealord’s comment.
Although, it is quite possible that some surrendered and did indeed defect, rather than face Max, the same way most Iraqi units in Desert Storm and the Iraq War did. The incentive of working for the US would be a great incentive.
That’s a real possibility I’d not thought of!
It could be like the Nazi rocket scientists at the end of WW2, with the major powers trying to collect as many as possible.
I’m sure the US would pressure Iraqi and Afghan Supers that working for the US is better than imprisonment. And beyond that, rich first world nations encouraging Super immigration through rewards.
You do know the true meaning behind “First, Second, Third World”, don’t you? (btw, one of those worlds kinda crumbled when a certain Wall came down)
China, Viet Nam and North Korea are still Second World countries, if I recall my geography lessons properly.
More then just that. The Wall falling hardly eliminated all second world nations, or suddenly transformed them into firsts. Hell, PC bullshit aside, all the nations in the G20 aren’t firsts.
Well, at least some people know what they meant :D
Words are defined by common usage.
If words all meant what they originally used to mean, then we’ve all got a lot of relearning to do, since a helluva lot of words have substantially changed meaning over the centuries.
Third world means poorest, least developed nations.
Thanks to bloody Geldof :/
‘3rd World’ used to be the Neutral Countries (ie not a US lap-licker or Soviet flunky)
Which given the collapse of the Soviet Union, isn’t really a very useful definition anymore. :)
Except that her comment was about Afghani supers, not Taliban.
yeah, but in a real combat situation they wouldn’t ever be aware of maxima. she can break the sound barrier and put her fist through pretty much anything she wants. it would take a really powerful super to even live long enough to surrender, and even then not all high powered supers have great defence. i mean, fight starts, theres a blur in the air, and maximas standing over a half splattered corpse.
As stated before, it is a matter of population. Afghanistan is very lightly populated compared to other parts of the world that suffer less war and less of a harsh environment. Although, I would expect supers to do their best to get out of the area once they realized that there was something better out there.
Find the first easter egg, Halo missing here collar
It’s been missing for awhile. I think Dave is trying to retcon since she shouldn’t have had a collar already when she doesn’t even have her own uniform.
That would be a heck of a retcon, since she’s tugging at it in panel 1 of page 143, 7 pages ago…
No, it’s a mistake; she was given one a few pages ago and told various things about it (GPS chip and throat mike) and told not to worry he it works for now
Maxima’s scariness factor just went up in this comic. o_O
Also great to see an earlier version of Peggy.
you would be amazed at how inventive military people are at smuggling alcohol. I’m not sure if Dabbler is congratulating herself or Sydney because Max wasn’t able to get through Sydney’s shield.
They were only testing the Syds Shield to the level that was safe indoors.
Was wondering that as well
Sidney wouldn’t be able to actually stop Maxima (or atleast to the extend that we know her powers at this moment). The forcefield protects Sydney against (we asume) everything Max can throw at her, but that’s not stopping someone. Thats protecting yourself, the other person can still do everything else she wants
Not sure that is the case take a look at halos flying when that happen many of us notice the banges did not drop and dave never really answered that migth not have be a mustake so instead of fly that really give her power of gavirty which would be really hard to bet alone not to mention the shield that max can not get there well see later what the true powers are.
So far I asume she can control only very localised gravity, allowing herself to fly though.
Gravity control that extends beond yourself would indeed be extremely powerfull, allowing you to crush anyone under his own weight, just to name one of the aplications
That does beg the question of whether Achilles is just invulnerable, or actually invincible.
Acording to the cast page, “He has shrugged off attacks that would destroy matter on the subatomic level.”
Which implies invulnerable, but doesn’t say anything about invincible.
Given Maxima’s statement, I’m going with he is invulnerable, but not invincible.
What exactly is the difference than?
Invulnerable means cannot be hurt. Which we are fairly sure Achilles is.
Invincible means cannot be defeated. Unless the tactical objective of a battle was just to hurt Achilles, it would be possible to defeat him without necessarily hurting him. (Holding/trapping/avoiding/keeping him away etc.)
For example we are fairly sure that Maxima can beat him, but can’t hurt him.
Or we may just be being a bit pedantic about DaveB’s choice of words in his cast page entry.
I’m preatty shure he’s not invincible, cause he only has triple strenght of an average human (duevto not needing to worry about muscles breaking), does that mean he doesn’t get any stronger from workouts, or can his own cells destroy themselves to allow growth?
He also doesn’t age, so I doubt he can change anything else about his aperence
Also don’t forget that Sydney managed to defeat him
No, the tongue jitsu was against Mr.Amorphous
Math could tie up Achilles with one of several arrangements that are designed to trap the opponent in a painful situation, often called submission holds in MMA and wresting (professional and otherwise). Achilles would be defeated (he can not move), but he would not be injured.
Achilles has been around a long time and is obviously used to soaking up punishment. Pain is nothing more than the body warning of potential injury. In his case, he cannot be injured. He has lived long enough to learn one or more of the ways to ignore or otherwise overcome pain. And, very likely, his body/brain will have acclimatised to the inability to take damage and lessen such sensations anyhow.
In short, I do not think pain holds would be particularly effective against him. Pins and other restraining techniques could work, but will be hard. Given that he can pull escape maneuvers that would tear tendons, break bones or otherwise be foolish for the non-invulnerable to attempt. Plus the effective increase in strength he has for similar reasons would make him dangerous to grapple.
Although Math clearly is skilled enough to take all that into account and win through raw talent.
That said, I do not see Achilles working his way out of some of the “tie the man up” type holds, like a figure-four-leg-lock (it really does lock your legs in a very weak position), triangle choke (most of the upper body is rendered useless for leverage) or a full nelson (locks both arms out of the way). Math locks one of these on and Achilles will be showing that he may be invulnerable but is far from invincible.
Actually, we have a very good set of examples right in this comic: Math is (nearly) invincible, but not invulnerable. (He’s invincible in hand-to-hand combat, so limited invincibility.) Achilles is invulnerable, but not invincible.
They often get confused, partly because the end result is usually ‘the person doesn’t get hurt’, but invincibility is about defeat, where invulnerability is about damage.
So, yeah, DaveB has got the wrong word in the cast page.
Compare Sydney from https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/479 to Max when it comes to upside-down levitation. Syd’s hair follows her orientation and doesn’t fall down, pulled by gravity; Max’s does.
There was a Calvin and Hobbes story where Calvin imagined that his “personal gravity” had been reversed, causing him to fall up. Syd’s flight power may be based on a similar principle while Max’s flight operates differently.
Yep, Sydney’s Fly Ball actually gives her a controllable anti-gravity. Being able to orient it in any direction, rather than simply reversing the normal pull.
I think a better clasification would be ‘control local gravity’
Max can just fly. Like Superman
Fly like Superman always makes me think of this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U56vPV2wqs0
Or it could just be something like a telekinetic field that allows her to fly. would also keep her from getting hurt by things while flying as well, up to a point…
I think it is related to the Warner Brother’s rule of selective gravitation. If you walk off the edge of a cliff, you don’t actually fall until you look down and notice you are not standing on anything. The ball simply convinces the user that they are on solid ground, so therefore they don’t fall. Or maybe it uses the Hitchhiker’s procedure of throwing yourself at the ground and missing.
Terry Pratchett has a gag along these lines related to how genies travel inside a magic lamp. It also appears in connection with Druid-expies moving stones for henges.
I wonder who she she means that fought her to a standstill. None of the cast revealed so far seems to have enough power to do that. Does she mean Sydney with her Impenetrable Force Shield?
Maxima was just tapping on Sydney’s shield in the ballroom, that can hardly count as a fight. Although it may well be that Max will not be able to penetrate it, when they do serious testing.
Dabbler, on the other hand, has access to psionics, magic, alien high-technology (from multiple races) and possibly other unknown powers. Although her power does only rate 7 stars to Maxima’s 9 in the cast list. Due to her being a “jack of all trades and master of none” from her habit of playing with a very wide variety of things rather than mastering some of them.
But all she needs is one thing (like “sticky air” vs Math) which proves to be effective against a particular opponent and she can counter, if not defeat, them.
Preventing someone from beating you to a pulp isn’t stopping someone.
Dabbler has also show to have forcefield (as we see here https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/620). And magic would be a pritty solid counter for physical powers
The phrase was “fight me to a standstill”. That is (naict), a situation where neither could make progress against the other. That *does* (imo) include cases where one or both combatants could withdraw and pursue some other agenda.
Power is one thing, effective use of that power is something else. I remember when a certain wallcrawler (Spiderman) took on a former herald (Firelord) and beat him handily despite being outclassed. Which makes me wonder, despite the significant nudge, if Math might be the one she is referring to.
As for where Max stencils her kill marks, on her victims bodies of course. =)
Nah, Math wouldn’t stand a chance against Max. She’s bulletproof, super strong and superfast.
Math is almost-superhuman strong and -fast. Any punches he could throw would bounche of, and she reacts to fast for any control moves (remember she can catch a bullet)
Also, she can fly
Such a fight has happened before: DC’s Legion of Super Heroes.
Classic story: debut of Karate Kid. In order to join the LoSH, he challenges Superboy during his interview. His speed, power and skill impressed the young Superman, but he wasn’t hurting Supes at all. Supes ends it by picking him up and throwing him.
Funny, but I keep seeing similarities between LoSH and this webcomic. Actually pretty cool.
There is also an inherent limit to any control move: They rely on being able to remove leverage so that the person being controlled can’t generate enough strength to release themselves. Which is fine, if the two people in the fight have similar strength levels. However, if the person being controlled is enough stronger then they don’t need the leverage in the first place, and can just muscle their way out.
Not usually a problem in the real world – the strength differential required is high enough that other factors usually end any fight well before that comes up. (Little kids don’t usually fight bodybuilders…) But when you’ve got someone who can lift multiple tons more than the other person, they can break out of any hold you can put them in.
After Halo’s easy defeat, Max commented that nobody but Max and Dabbler had been able to defeat Math…
Of course for someone that powerful, being “dead” might just be a lifestyle choice.
They might be spending a year dead for tax reasons, for example.
Or to avoid Max if they’re smart.
Especially true if this is in any way like the Marvel universe.
Jean Grey has the most complicated tax forms ever.
He he. I bet her probate lawyers are on the suicide watch list.
Is it just me, or is panel 2 going to come back at an awkward moment for Maxi?
I believe it is called ‘foreshadowing’.
Yup.
That’s EXACTLY what every single one of us would do if they had powers
While I agree with you that the ATF has been kinda hamstrung in the last decade by certain parts of the government, they still serve several very important functions that they can better accomplish as part of the justice department instead of as part of DHS or the FBI.
Yup yup – they are very good at ignoring inconvenient domestic and international laws up north when setting their priorities.
Unfortunately, ignoring the Constitution and the safety of our own innocent citizens (much less those of supposedly friendly countries) are not things we should want the ATF to be better at doing.
Never underestimate the ability of a good scrounge in the military. Especially if they work in supply. ;)
I misread that as scourge and thought “that’s very British” then reread with my glasses on >_<
There tends to be a lot of “trading” going on too. I once traded a bunch of toothbrush-style wire brushes for a small tool bag which came in very handy for small jobs. He got some brushes he couldn’t order because he had no order code to get it.
I’m just happy that Dabbler used one of her visible arms to nudge Sydney, imagine her reaction if it was one of the invisible ones.
He he. Another freaking out, but this time in uniform, in public, in front of the world’s press. Yep, good call there.
Better watch out Maxima. Arianna will have you turned into an action figure after this.
The full boxed set (possibly including a very hastily produced prototype of Halo) will be presented with compliments and a list of retail outlets with the press hand-out at the end.
Since Syd mentioned that the video game with her call name exists in this reality, I think she is going to to be offered a substantial sum to be included as a character in the next version.
And since ARC is a branch of the military, if they are smart they will do their own version of ‘Call of Duty’ where people at home can play missions as the ARC-super of their choice. (I am sure Arianna is already on this)
Action figures would be awesome! I’m sure Ari’s thought about it, and she probably has a collectible miniatures game in the works too. That’s something DaveB could do fairly cheaply. Provide a set of CAD drawings of Grrl Power characters for a company called Shapeways. They use 3d printers to make stuff on demand, and pay the designers a percentage. Hear that, DaveB? If you don’t have the design skills, maybe you could hook up with a fan who does? Just a thought. Here’s a link to the Shapeways site…
https://www.shapeways.com/?ca=gp&ct=top-3d-printing-service&cr=ad-32&gclid=CKTOtOPJsbgCFWFyQgodjBgAJg
Now I want to see a Maxima versus Superman fight!
superman win,,,,hand down,, because if he loose anyway he can always turn back time and try again :)
That was only in the 70’s movie :p And of course Superman would win, Maxima is Superman without the experience. :p
I think the above comic is showing that she does have experience. Quite a lot of it at that. Albeit not as much as Superman. What he does have is all the powers in all the areas all the time. Whereas DaveB has actually made Maxima interesting by limiting her to allocating where her power lies at any one time. She can have powerful super strength or super speed or have super flight, or super defence. Whereas if she needs to be good at all of them at the same time (say in a dogfight with enemy aircraft or supers) then she will be much weaker in each individual area.
sry to argue but superman is a brawler, we have seen time and time again that he relies on his strength and speed to win a fight not skill. On the other hand max was in the military and no mater how strong you are you get trained in a form of martial arts, most likely a form of judo, witch use’s your opponents strength against them. So in closing it would come down to stamina and breakage.
I’d imagine there aren’t that many martial arts optimal for supers, and the wide range of capabilities mean that individuals would generally develop their own fighting styles rather than try to codify them for general use.
I can think of a few, for someone with super strength, Pankration or Krav Maga. For someone immovable, Judo or Wrestling. A speedster would find a lot of use with boxing. Shadow manipulation is a wonderful fit for ninjitsu. Someone with parasitic powers like Rogue would find Akido incredibly useful.
They would of course modify the arts to fit their powers, but a super would find it in their best interest to learn a martial art. Remember, even Superman knows how to box.
I just started a Super in a Champions campaign that is a Brick with a Black Belt in a martial art. The characters strength is not in Superman’s class but is sufficient to allow her to lift a Frigate over her head. She can also fly using the wings growing out of her back.
Yep, but at some point you get to the point where the principles that most systems are based around don’t apply any more. Joint locks won’t work against a significantly stronger super. Supers with physical powers would want to use much lower, crouched stances than those with normal capabilities, and would likely try to hold their opponents up rather than against the ground. Unless you have powered flight powers, any sort of jumping or leaping moves would be discouraged etc.
All martial arts will help in some way: learning to block, dodge, or hit harder will help any super. But they are designed to work applied by and against normal people, not supers with powers in applicable areas.
This is where modification comes in. You are right that the powers will change how things work, but there will always be the fact that the body works in the same way no matter what else it can do.
Yes, a flier would be very difficult to use small joint manipulation, but unless they won the super power lottery and gained invulnerability, a wrestler can still choke off oxygen.
Unless a super is adapted to physical shocks, a good body shot will still knock the wind out of most supers and even get a kill. This is what truly killed Houdini for instance, and he knew how to insulate against physical shots.
Never count out the idea of skill over power. Math is a great example of how martial arts is a grand thing even around supers. And thus would be great for supers. At the very least, it would encourage fitness and discipline, which you want instilled in a cocky neophite super.
It is how I think Dabbler does so well against both Maxima and Mathias. In addition to all the super powers she has she is also a top notch martial artist (being ranked 4 stars versus Math’s 5). Possibly a racial martial art optimised for the extra limbs, or one she has developed to take advantage of combat styles from all her backgrounds, and to compensate for anything that human martial arts offer that her native one(s) do not. Plus all modifications due to her own dabbling.
Either way her own style will be unknown to humanity, and will therefore be very hard to cope with. Math shows us what a cinematic martial artist can do with nothing more than a human frame and capabilities. Dabbler can counter everything he has and still have two limbs spare, plus her tail if she has it plugged in!
Not to mention blaster ability, sniper skills, force fields, mind powers, magic and unknown gadgets.
Actually I’m fairly sure Max would win, she’s military so she doesn’t have any silly no killing rules. Since such a fight assumes a situation where Supe’s is being the bad guy I don’t think she’d have any problem taking out a walking planet killer. Tho these theoretical battles always have problems because there’s no reason why they’d be fighting normally.
True, Maxima doesn’t have the no killing rule. Also, there is such a thing as sparring. But part of it would be just what level Maxima’s powers are out.
If we go with the idea that she has all of Superman’s powers (basically) but has to limit some to up the one, then she’s either not going to be strong enough to hurt Superman or not tough enough to take his punches.
Really, I just wanted to see it, as Maxima seems to be this worlds version of Superman. She reminds me a lot of Superman.
Sparring doesn’t really tell you which one would win, it tells you which one is nicer. Sparring requires holding back. I’d want to know which one would win if neither held back.
She reminds you of Superman how? She doesn’t seem dull, stupid, or irrationally boy-scouty to me. She may have some similar powers but unless she has a crippling vulnerability to aluminum I just don’t see much similarity.
Aluminum… or copper, like Metro Man.
Probably because she has almost every power Superman has?
Armor? Check!
Super Speed? Check!
Flight? Check!
Super Strength? Check!
Energy Beam? Check!
Does Superman have one or two others? Yeah (Super Breath comes to mind, I don’t recall any other). But she has the basics. And her description doesn’t state how weak any of those abilities are (Though Dave could’ve said at some point and I don’t remember), all I see is she can borrow against one power to strengthen another.
Basically, she’s Superman with, as you said, no weaknesses and a different personality. Would you prefer if I said she was Power Girl or Super Girl with a different personality?
Also, Superman knew a form of Martial Arts (or did, no idea with the reboot), but yes, one of Superman’s weaknesses has been he relies first and foremost on his invulnerability and super strength before anything else.
But then, Superman tends to be about the World Wide events, while still making time for the smaller stuff.
X-ray vision and super senses. Along with superhuman fitness (eg able to hold his breath for prolonged periods to survive in space) and agility. The other things that spring to mind are power stunts aided by comic/movie physics (such as the previously mentioned capability to turn back time by flying really fast). So she has many of his abilities but not all of them.
The main point though being that he can do all of the above all of the time. And is only vulnerable to something that does not even naturally exist on Earth! Whereas Maxima can only do some of them at any one time (the more she does simultaneously the weaker each power is). It is like Kryptonite is constantly affecting every power other than her main active one(s). Fortunately however, typically she will only need to be doing one task at a time, and with super speed she can compensate for even that lack. Allowing her to switch between tasks/roles/powers very fast. Which is what makes her devastatingly effective in the Grrl Power universe.
But if facing a foe with all her capabilities simultaneously there is no way she could cope. If she was under a whirlwind barrage of attacks, she could not divert her power from defence, so could not take much in the way of effective action. And anything she did manage to pull off, her opponent could easily counter. Unless she had a pocket full of Kryptonite or some other external edge.
The problem with Superman is that his power fluctuates wildly throughout the many incarnations.
If any, Max would be on par with the new reboot superman, who, at least from the first movie, does not seem planetdestroyingly broken.
If we’re talking silver age superman, he can fly into a sun, charge up a little, then punch with the force of a supernova. Literally. Which is absurd.
In that vein, there’s: https://www.screwattack.com/shows/originals/death-battle/death-battle-goku-vs-superman which is really one of the most in-detail rollups of the topic I’ve seen so far.
I rather like the ‘power levels’ as Dave is showing them. Decidedly in comic book territory but not totally ridiculous.
So, if supers can be walking WMD’s, and Iraq had supers of its own, does that mean the Iraq War being about stripping WMD’s WASN’T a total pile of bullshit in this ‘verse?
Kidding! Kidding. I don’t think any of us want that debate.
Weapons of mosque destruction?
That makes me chuckle every time I read it.
That was an accident. That building just happened to be where she landed (okay crashed) after Max got shot down.
Dabby seems pleased that Maxima just threw her a compliment, even though she didn’t name any names. For all their bickering, they obviosly respect each other. Feel the love. ; )
Is that a cigarette hanging out of Maxima’s mouth?
She can fly, shoot particle beams, toss tanks around, catch bullets, and is generally un-arrestable. It’s a blunt.
Okay, that makes sense. I was wondering if it was one of those scrawny little cigars, whatever they’re called. She’s such a rebel.
Objection: I believe that Dabbler’s breasts should be considered equal and autonomous super-powered threats.
I like the grin in the last panel- it implies a certain amount of danger inherent to these entities that is f**king AWESOME.
Oh, and this is evidence for my ‘supers powered by belief’ theory.
And again, despite her ‘rabid feminism’ and pissiness about being seen as an exotic sex toy, Max shows that she just has to make her self look sexy somehow. Peggy looks almost like a boy, Max has to show off her belly. I think Dave is trying to say something about women that wouldn’t be healthy otherwise.
Everyone wants to appear attractive to someone else. It’s just in Maxima’s case, she’s been treated as a sex object for so long and so many times that her feminism rose because she doesn’t want to be seen as just a sex object. Which is reasonable enough.
But let’s face it, her nerdiness, the fact she can sit and joke around, and she can work with men overall without bursting into a rant at any moment. She may be a very strong feminist, but she’s still an average person at heart. She is prone to human needs and wants to go with her feminist goals and feelings.
I wouldn’t say that she’s showing off her belly to appear sexy. She tied off her shirt so that when she’s upside down, her top doesn’t drop to her armpits and expose her breasts. The side effect of tying off one’s shirt is that there’s less shirt now to cover her midriff.
I don’t think she’s showing it off so much. I think she tied her shirt up so that when she went upside down like that her shirt wouldn’t sag down around her boobs. Since she had to use some material to tie it up, her stomach is shown.
But if she tucked it into her pants like everyone else……….
She is shiny. Maybe her clothing does not remain tucked in as easily as with everyone else?
That is definitely an issue for her.
The shirt would still come out as she moved, as gravity would be a force against it staying in place rather than one helping it stay in place. Tuck in your shirt, stand on your head, then suck in your stomach or twist at the hip a few times. You’ll enjoy the taste of your shirt in due time.
Max’s other party rule broken, besides flying for the keg stand, is tying the shirt off. All of the fun of getting girls to do keg stands was so the shirt would fall down. Of course since Max can fly, seems to be an intelligent and saavy character, I’m sure that’s why she did it that way. An “I’ll show them” to the males.
So a high ranking officer in the military of one of the most aggressive nations on earth who also happens to be one of the most powerful beings on earth is smirking while insinuating that she may have killed a number of super-powered beings in other nations? Yeah, that’s not frightening in the least.
When things are “them or us”, it’s better that the winner is “us” and not “them”.
I sincerely doubt that someone capable of flying mach speeds would have any trouble importing their own keg, as long as she has a map, a compass and a few of days…
Wouldn’t take that long. Germany and Russia are fairly close (flying time) probably an hour or less (no customs for her).
Even more extreme than that. Assuming for a moment that she could equal or better the performance of the SR 71 Blackbird (and I see no reason why not), she could get anywhere in the world and back in under 12 hours. Of course… she might have to slow down to avoid cooking the beer (or even melting an aluminum keg), unless she can shield what she’s carrying.
Hm. So, can she shield things she’s carrying? At the very least, I expect she’d be able to shield her clothes, so that bodes well.
Xref cent in “Impulse”. She can add velocity to her own body (and things she’s carrying with her). Her first attempt at higher speeds (ie more than a few tens of mph), she overexerted herself, put on 400 mph, and had most of her clothes shredded off her body before she could port back to her base location/speed). So, Cent is limited to a measly couple hundred mph (and often less) lest she rip her clothing, and maybe herself, to teeny tiny pieces. Maybe with improved gear…
“I thought sure that Mongo would just mash him up into little bitty sheriff meatballs.” — Taggert
Trouble is that this stunt would upset people with radar. A small unidentified object suddenly heading into your airspace at multi-Mach speed? That is the sort of thing that leads to overreactions on various levels (literally and figuratively).
Though I suppose Max could always use her flight to “tailgate” aircraft, and escape detection that way.
….. Which for som reason reminds me of an extremely funny line from an old Aussie sitcom (‘Kingswood Country’):
Husband and wife discussing her sister (whom the husband dislikes):
WIFE: She has been so unhappy since she got fired from her air stewardess job.
HUSBAND: They took away her broomstick, you mean. (Pause) The only air stewardess I know who served passengers from OUTSIDE the plane….
So, this would normally mean that the villain (presumably) who is probably (not) dead will make his debut at the final moments of the press conference. Either attacking, spreading havoc, defeating Maxima and/or kidnapping a member of the team or simply being seen observing the press conference while alluding to his evil plan to the readers.
Normally.
You forget that everyone in the press corps is also a super (of course they are!).
Even Suzie News?
Especially Suzie News! I love all the other characters, but Suzie is my favorite character of the strip.
Suzie News IS the main villain.
A TV powered C-list villain
I would rate her as a favourite too. I just love the ‘startled-deer-facing-the-car-headlights’ look she has when trying to cope with the awesomeness that is Sydney.
she has the lois lane power, she manipulates probability of some event requiring the arrival or reveal of a superhero either criminal or natural much to her own detriment if the super holds back.
Panel 5 is classic!
i think i may have found an easter egg (if this was shown already T_T)
maxmilla surname, leander may mean lionor lion man in greek. also the name leander comes from an ancient greek youth who died by drowning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_and_Leander
maxmilla may be avariation of the word maximus(great) or maxilla (jaw specifically the upper jaw)so her name could be ” the jaws of a lion ” or in this case lioness. it may also bring to mind that her poers/abilities may have a weakness to water or to water based attacks, alluding to the legend of leander.
or it could be “great lion/great lioness” or it could be nothing….. sorry about the spelling/grammatical errors. my former English teacher school would freak is she saw how i typed.
Don’t worry about your spelling, you got your point across (to me at least) and only moldy-nut sucking Pedants worry overly much about spelling and grammer (unless it’s being a deliberate mis-spelling twat, or just making a point {or both})
There would’ve been a keg alright. Don’t worry about that. And if they were groundpounders there would’ve been a still too.
and a grill…. maybe a privacy section for people who push the keg to hard
Always why you stay friendly with guys in the motor pool. You need it, they build it.
And the Guys/Gals in SUPPLY! Because if some one forgot to bring it, you can bet your ass Supply will have 3. (It may have been sitting on the shelf for 40 years, but it will still work!)
Also, the cooks will need to be involved in any “extra curricular” manufacturing of human (i.e. solders) consumables. ;p
Keg stand – If you’re upside down, you have to swallow. Or your body thinks you’re drowning. At least, that’s my understanding.
Max is awesome. Such a ladyladyboner,imho.
2 questions:
1. If I asked really really nicely, on a scale of 1-10, what are the chances Max would get coffee with a gal?
2. Can one see their own reflection in Max’s abbs?
:P lol
You can see your reflection in any part of her if she’s freshly buffed. And despite her occasional glare directed manwards, she’s strictly straight. She likes her coffee either straight black, or syrupy with caramel.
“You can see your reflection in any part of her if she’s freshly buffed.” …and now I’m picturing Maxima going to a masseuse and them using a jar of Turtle Wax and a polishing-cloth the way some women would have them utilize a bottle of massage oil…
No you really have to use a orbital buffing machine for the best mirror-like shine.
It’s the only way to be sure.
Orbital buf– wait, how would that even WORK?
Ummm an orbital buffer isn’t in orbit around the earth……actually idk what orbital in ‘orbital buffer’ means and wikipedia decided to fail me today……but I’m certain it has nothing to do with being a buffer in orbit.
I blame the discussion elsewhere about orbital space lasers on the confusion.
Maxima can fly. At her speed and having no apparent fuel requirement, she could certainly get up to an orbital buffing station. Normal humans can live a couple of minutes in the vacuum of space * I am sure Max could survive long enough for a quick buffing session, before needing to get breathing apparatus and/or survival gear back on.
* As in not being a corpse at the end of that time, it is not recommended as a vacation activity. There would be numerous rather unpleasant side effects of that exposure, varying depending on a number of factors, including time taken to transition from an atmospheric environment to vacuum, the possibility of direct exposure to the sun or the alternative of having exposure to temperatures getting nastily close to absolute zero. Some side effects such as potential radioactive exposure might shorten subsequent life expectancy considerably.
That brings up an interesting question. Does Maxima need to breathe? I would asume she does, though while flying at Mach speeds there is no way she’s getting any air in.
So she probably has a big lung capacity.
But either way in space, you are in a vaccum. You can’t really hold your breath in vaccum. Not to mention your eardrums would rip, and some other very unplessent things.
So unles she’s actually invincible like Superman, I don’t think she can go to space
The pressure differential from taking a tank round to the bellybutton at point blank range is much higher than sea-level to vacuum, so her eardrums will be fine. Same thing for her lungs. The only question about Max in space … Max In SPAAAAACEEEE! *ahem* … is how long can she hold her breath?
Actually, since she has super-strength, at least at some level even when utilizing her flying powers, I’m sure she can breathe at least a little. Breathing is caused by pressure differentials between the lungs and the outside air The differentials are controlled by the diaphragm, which is a muscle. Super-strength implies that her diaphragm is more powerful and therefore can handle the larger pressure differentials at higher speeds which make breathing difficult for norms.
It doesn’t particularly matter how long she can hold her breath. What matters is how much oxygen she uses and at what rate. Eventually anyone would run out of air unless they don’t really need to breathe all that much.
Josh & Chaos, an orbital buffer is a handheld machine with a spinning disk covered in soft cloth, that’s used for polishing cars and other large metal objects, closely related to the push-handled buffing machines used for polishing floors
oh, and it’s called orbital because of the disk’s circular motion (so I guess you could say it “orbits” around the attachment point)
Hmmm. We could take Max’s statement more than one way — not only might have some supers from Iraq and Afghanistan have been killed in combat, but I’m sure you’d have more than a few that would like to defect.
Imagine being a female super in a land where you could be killed for showing your face. Think you’d want to hang around there if you had a chance? Naaah. I could so totally see a female super in Afghanistan fatally surprising a Taliban unit from behind and then defecting to surprised American soldiers after that.
Heck, even if you’re a guy, you might not want to hang around. Hang around in a small village with no prospects, or head for America or Europe where you might be able to cash in on your talents and even be a celebrity? “Hey, are there any openings in Barcelona — maybe I can hang out with Messi!”
Or the fact that a bunch of religious fanatics (Of any stripe) might see a Super as a Demon or Spawn of Satan
.
Or a prophet or judge.
Xref “Wearing the Cape” series: In that setting, a super’s powers tend to relate to their mindset, or visualization of themselves, or how they think the universe works. So, one jihadist super, considerably more powerful than most and maybe even in Max’s class (after all, nobody’s ever beaten him in a straight-up fight), styles himself the Sword of Allah (iirc… something like that if not precisely that), and so he sort of looks like a Messenger of God of some sort, manifestable flaming sword iirc, etc, etc, etc. Things like that.
(Everybody tells the protagonistess “Don’t fight him! Don’t fight him!’ (partly onaccounta she’s mostly ranked in the second tier below the absolute powerhouses; there are a few known bricks who can take her on a good day). Yep. She fights him… )
Boy would I be powerful in that setting!
I’d fear for the sanity of everyone on the planet if I were in that setting. I’ve been trying to convince an athiest friend to worship me for years as it is.
It works better if you suggestions censored for ethical reasons.
I’ve tried offering to shag him but unlike some of the women I’ve had dangling penis in front of him doesn’t seem to make his brain turn off.
That made me laugh atlot more than it should
Okay, seriously? Do the three of you have ANY idea how hard it is to keep the base of support for a wheeled swivel chair properly positioned underneath your center of gravity when other people keep making you laugh like a complete lunatic?! I’m surprised that I have yet to straight up hit the floor from reading comments, how I’ve managed I’m really not quite sure.
Kill mark wall paper! ^^ would make sense to me.
From the drinks that you like DaveB, I bet you would love my speciality drink. A hot cocktail. Well a whole range of them, as the basic recipe can be modified to work with many of the sweet liqueurs. Originally developed to keep me warm on the inside when it is cold enough outside that metal freezes to bare flesh like it was super-glued. But, it turns out to be very refreshing even on hot summer’s days and is regularly requested by guests. Those who like sweet drinks, anyhow.
My wife makes a hot apple cider with butterscotch schnapps in it. That’s a nice basic drink. I don’t drink a lot of hot drinks though since it’s summer in Dallas 8 months out of the year.
Ok that has my mouth watering.
I don’t drink anymore. But when I did, I drank either warm spiced Mead, Icewyne, Peppermint Schnapps, or Blackberry Brandy. I never cared for beer, didn’t like the smell, and frankly I would prefer to eat my bread as opposed to drinking it.
Drink what you want, let no one tell you otherwise. I stopped because I don’t enjoy the alcoholic undertones. I also never liked the sense of losing control of my faculties. The sense of drunkenness actually terrifies me so I decided to just stop. But my choice is not yours. People should just be concerned with their choices. This whole “Girly Drink”/”Manly Drink” thing sucks.
Where does one get mead? Is there a brand i should search for?
it’s really only girly to me if you mix your liquor/liquer with something else because you don’t like the taste of the liq. If someone tries mixing Jager in front of me I may brain them.
I’ve always wanted to try actual ye olde mead. Maybe one day
Proper mead(e) is made from honey (like cider is made from not-grapes-but-typically-but-not-always-apples)
I found Mead in an ordinary liquor store. I didn’t have to hunt it down, I didn’t have to order online. They just had bottles of Chauncer’s Mead sitting there. Originally I was there in the search of Cranberry juice. The grocery store in town had run out and they suggested the liquor store. I passed by, looked down because some of those bottles look cool and it was “Hey! Mead!”
It’s quite tasty and tastes very much like honey on its own. So hit up the local liquor store and see if they have it. If they don’t, I’m sure they can order it.
Somebody should warn Max that cigarettes could kill her, especially with the additives that they put in them these days.
Anyone else notice that Dabbler subscribes to the Seto Kaiba School of Coat Fashion?
Dabbler isn’t on the cast page sidebar. That nudge seems pretty important, and neither Sidney nor Peggy actually say anything in the comic.
Whoops, you’re right. She’s added.
Is the other woman next to Max the secretar / aid. She sure looks like the secretary/aid.
Next in what pannel? The only one pannel with anyone next to anyone are the soldiers
In the soldier panel. Sorry typing while half asleep messes the processing.
Wait, couldn’t she just clear anti-personnel mines by just . . . walking on them?
Naa, it tickles her feet.
The movies told us that back in ‘Nam they played Wagner while attacking. I have a feeling Max’s platoon played the 1812 overture and she stomped through the mine field in correct timing to the ending of the piece.
She could, but the sand gets everywhere.
Getting sand in your bumcrack from sitting down is bad enough. Getting it blasted explosively up there? Fuhgeddaboutit!
It might not hurt her, but unless her “integrity field” extends out of her body a ways, the mines would still shred her boots and clothes. Its also a really inefficient way of clearing since the only area considered clear would be her footprints rather than the area a cone or beam of energy might sweep through.
unless set abnormally close a walk through a mine field with dragging feet should either inscribe a clear path safe to walk or set off all the mines that are in that path. if the mines are abnormally close the odds that a normal properly set mine (one that someone could setoff walking on) would be set off by debris from another mines is actually fairly good so a path walked by max would be safe mines cleared.
When we played RPGs we’d use the less experienced players as PMDs (Polish mine detectors) for traps and questionable potions/gadgets.
Oooooh, EVIL
“You go first, I’ll be right behind you” Yea I pulled that trick a few times in MMORPG aswel
Just beyond the expected blast radius. Of course, in one of my DND campaigns we had a trollish mine detector. Send the guy who regenerates out front. Also, used as in, “Hey, this place is mine!. (Arrow is loosed towards the party.) Stay the thuck away!”
In my RPG groups, if any Player has to be absent from the game, the rest of us almost always joke about their character being used for minesweeping or experimentation while they are away.
Hasn’t actually happened yet, I should add, but I’ve seen a few Players VERY carefully check out their character sheets when they return.
I wonder if she could fly extremely low (5cm clearence) over the field.
Would the shockwave from soundbarrier set off mines?
Depends on the pressure sensitivity of the mines. Sonic booms from low altitude aircraft can break windows so there is a fair degree of force carried in the wave. I doubt it would trigger any set as anti-tank mines, as they will doubtless have a higher threshold to prevent people and animals triggering them prematurely. But it may work for anti-personnel mines of some sorts, set on a hair-trigger. Too low though and you blow up bunnies instead of soldiers, so don’t count on it. Ultimately it may depend on just how fast she is flying and how much force that is generating.
Even then some types of mines are unlikely to be triggered, other than by a fluke. For instance the classic Vietnam Claymore-type mines set up with a tripwire. She might be more effective dragging a net of chains behind her. As they thresh around they would trigger more than just air pressure would. Something similar to real mine-clearing tanks.
Kinda hard on the uniform when it gets blasted off of your body, at that point she’s seriously out of uniform, although morale probably takes a huge jump amongst the rest of the troops. Heh. This would make a fun little side panel.
Yes, morale should improve when they realize that their path is not longer cluttered with mines. Oh, you are talking about the male soldiers. I see.
Nice to see that Maxima does let her hair down once in a while.
It was actually fairly easy for coalition soldiers to get alcohol in Afghan or Iraqi deployments; only a couple nations actually banned alcohol on-base (the U.S. being one). Most other nations had some in varying amounts and styles, often in the form of homemade stills a la M.A.S.H. In the bigger Iraq cities/towns, it’s also possible to find speakeasies.
Maxima could indeed do that, but if she does fire particle beams, it’s probably more efficient use of her powers to zap the mines from a distance. (Also, if her particle beams generate an EMP upon contact, she’s just fried all nearby electrical components, like mine triggers).
Maybe. But could depend how much it takes out of her when she uses her zap. COULD be that if she tries to use it too often all at once, it tires her out.