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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So, Max’s first name is “Lieutenant”. Interesting…
(Yeah, I’m a pedant. And for some reason, that particular mistake really annoys me. “Lieutenant Colonel” is her rank. Her name is “Maximillia Leander”. Of course, lots of people say the same sort of thing – and it always gets up my nose. Don’t take up pedantry, kids, it’s bad for the blood pressure.)
You realize that people only do that stuff to annoy you, right?
Technically… as far as my knowledge goes.. [which is first hand] You may not be required to introduce your self by your rank first, it’s just one of those unspoken rules [or maybe not, to tired to look up the AFI right now] And in basic your first name was your rank [granted it was trainee..] SO maybe its just something that’s stuck from that.
and it flows smoother than “hello, My name is Jaden Ittanenn, My rank is A1C.. ” doesn’t work to well.. as opposed to
“hello, I’m A1C Jaden Ittanenn, blah blah blah” see how much better that flows!
You’re right, it does flow better. And it’s even shorter than “My name is…”
She could’ve said “_I am_ lootenant colonel max hrblbrl”….
Also, wasn’t Max introduced as a full-bird Colonel? #63 and #66, specifically?
See what happens when you accidentally destroy a mosque.
Actually, Dave amended her rank at a reader’s suggestion that it was too senior for someone her age to realistically have. It will just take a while until he gets around to fixing the various places it appears. The same with a few other ranks that were mentioned early on.
I believe in this context her rank would be considered a title, which are considered part of a name. (Just a part that’s only used in certain contexts.)
For the record, alcohol is not sugar, it is the byproduct of a microorganism digesting sugar. Sorry, had a little nerd attack there.
But your body can use the keytone breakdown product for fuel. Not as much energy as sugar, but energy just the same.
The main problem with callories in beer (and other drinks I’m sure), is that you don’t notice it’s there. If you eat something, you feel full. You don’t feel full in the same way if you drink, and thus you keep drinking (and getting in callories along with the getting drunk part)
“Micro-organism Poo” the hip new drink for today’s pedantic generation.
On a similar track, what do you think the “active cultures” in yogurt are?
It’s the same type of bacterial culture that lives in symbiosis with you, in your digestive system…without it, most of the food we eat couldn’t be digested & quite probably kill us. Highly recommended after any serious bout of…um, the runs…as it replenishes your digestive system after having…uh, ejected…much of the intestinal bacteria you had.
It is further than you think actually, we are more bacteria than “human”. Whether you measure it by number of cells or total genetic make-up. And it is a lot more than just the bacteria in the stomach. We are communal organisms who could not live without our bacterial components.
Actually, I believe we’re about 10% micro organisms by weight.
Partial microorganisms are at least our mitochondria (parallel example in plants are the chloroplasts), and lots of viruses have left partial or even full copies of themselves in our DNA (in the parts known as junk DNA).
And approximately 53% water. I did not know the weight ratio of bacteria, but that would be consistent with the facts I quoted, as bacteria are vastly smaller than the other human cells. But which should require me to modify my statement to say ‘if not by mass’, for the sake of completeness, assuming that the remaining percentages are made up more of ‘human’ cells than by other elements outside of cells, such as oxygen. But 10% is still an impressively large ratio that most people would not expect, I think, thus actually helping the argument that we are communal organisms.
I think he meant it has a high calory value since it’s made feom shugar.
Besides that, i hope some weak supe decides to crash the party, so sidney can show off
If you were a weak super, and you saw Maxima and Dabbler there, would you really come crash the party? I know I’d stay very far away. Or keep on my glasses and pretend to be a journalist
I always hated how Clark Kent never got recognized as Superman just because of a pair of glasses. Domino masks are better because they hide the eyes and slightly larger parts of they face… but they are small too, not to mention the voices… Damn comic logic XD
You missed the posts where it was explained that Kent slouched, wore baggy/loose clothes (maybe a size bigger) and changed his voice slightly, not to mention the fact that Supes always came across as completely confident and Kent was always shy and reserved
Yes but other heroes get away with the domino masks like I said and they don’t change their voices that I know of
oh the stories i heard of stuff getting smuggled into and out of iraq. a full keg onto an airbase would only make me raise an eyebrow. as to the how… thats classafied.
Israeli Military:
A friend of mine managed to smuggle a fully operational ship to ship 76mm rocket from a navy ship.
And he managed to somehow get it onto a passenger train.
For those that don’t know, Israeli trains, like everything else, have security checks that make them tighter than the pope’s asshole.
To this day I’ve no idea how he managed to get it on the bloody train.
As to the why:
“Hey guys, I stole a bloody missile! bet you can’t top that!”
And he’s right.
To top that, one would have to steal a jet.
Stealing jets are easy, try stealing a ship
Define steal…
To take that which is not yours (and no Kender ‘logic’ to get away with it :P)
What this? I found it out in the middle of the ocean…. is it yours?
or
What this? It’s been in my family for GENERATIONS~!
Don’t forget “It’s got my name on it!” And the name is scrawled with crayon.
Air is not truly mine, so breathing is stealing, so you have to steal to live. If I’m going to be guilty of stealing just for living then why worry about it for shiny things?
And if the air I breathe does belong to me then the rest of you are stealing my air why shouldn’t I take whatever I want as compensation for that theft? Value? I need all my air to live and you’re stealing it, nothing you have is more valuable then my life.
Although an interesting point of view, and very well argued, that is still quite inaccurate. Though the oxygen you breath may not belong to you exclusively, nor to I for that matter, it is still public property and thus belongs to all of us. Therefore, your breathing isn’t an act of theft, rather it is the legal and rightful use of your fair share of pubic property. As for your statement on stealing to live and stealing for shiny things, there is every reason to worry over the disparity between the two. Stealing as a necessity to live is a more than understandable offense, anyone who disagrees has likely never been faced with that moral conundrum . In contrast, “because it was shiny” still remains an insufficient excuse for theft, regardless of how wonderfully awesome shiny things are and how hard it is to fight to urge to swipe them!
they’re both still crimes. Until they flat out legalize stealing to live, not just give you a lesser sentence, then once you’ve done one you’re damned and theres no reason not to do the other. It’s like murder. Given the state of things in both the courtrooms and the prisons, if you have to kill someone for any reason, unless you happen to be chuck norris, any sentence is likely to wind up as a death sentence. With that in mind there’s no reason not to follow up self defense with hunting down anyone who’s ever hurt your friends and family and convincing them to help you test if theres life after death.
What world are we talking about here? Because in RL there are quite a lot of situations involving killing someone that wouldn’t be considered murder, and likewise many situations where murder wouldn’t get you the death sentence.
Very few places have the sort of justice system where mitigating circumstances are not taken into account.
Mitigating circumstances only work when you can prove them and whether the jury chooses to believe and or care about them. They also have no bearing whatsoever over your likelihood of spending a couple years in jail waiting for the trial. These things simply aren’t set in stone, so there’s no point planning for something with such a high likelihood of failure. Before you scoff about a couple years in jail, consider that bail can be set in the thousands…..and some of us consider $1000 to be a hell of a lot of money…..more money than we have at a given time.
If you want to get away with stealing (like most crimes) you have to supersize the amount. No bank CEO has ever been arrested to my knowledge despite breaking many laws and stealing millions. The same is true of many large companies and their CEOs.
I assure you that every Spanish ship my family ‘stole’ was done so legally under a crown-issued letter of marque.
Believe there might be a bit of confusion here: never said there was anything wrong with stealing (just as long as you don’t do it me :P)
:-D
Don’t worry. We got out of the habit centuries ago. The closest I have come to crime since is a woman who rather fancied me being the niece of the local godfather. Not wanting to become married to the mob, that is something I tactfully avoided.
Well my family didn’t steal ships, but they were notorious breakers on the NW Irish coastline…”Sure we’ll save you, your ship and your goods, if you PAY us in salvage to do so? *stashes the lanterns and signals* *whistles innocently.*
Smuggling was the traditional past-time of us Cornish. Although… ahem… a bit of wreaking might have taken place now ‘n then too. Mostly just opportunism.
The tale is told of a man bursting into a Cornish church and shouting, “Wreck! Wreck!”
The clergyman is said to have barred the door to prevent his flock from rushing for the shore – while he removed his robes “so we can all start fair”.
Oddly enough it is all legal too. Provided the loot is reported to the Office of the Receiver of Wrecks and that items are returned to owners, if they are claimed and fair compensation is offered for the return.
James Kirk stole a starship…
https://www.cracked.com/article_17090_wheres-bridge-7-biggest-things-ever-stolen_p2.html
#2
How to steal a jet
Step 1: Be a pilot
Step 2: Fly a patrol near a border of an enemy nation
Step 3: Cross the border, claim that you are defecting. Sadly, they won’t let you keep the jet. This has actually been done before
I really love the look on Maxima’s face in the last pannel, beautifuly done.
Thanks!
I love that line. “Not as many as the used to”, and the slight smirk on her face. Yes, I believe her that there are fewer today then when they began.
Slightly arrogant, but sounds exactly like one of the military Hero’s of old. Maybe something Gen Knox might have said after one of the battles in the American Revolution.
Gen. MacArthur – (fall of the Philippines) “I will return” (recapturing of the Philippines) “I have returned” (heavily paraphrased).
“She fired her beams and Iraqis kept a-comin’, but there wasn’t quite as many as there was a while ago…”
“…she fired once more and they began a-runnin’
from the broken Mosque, down the Jaysh al-Mahdi road”
I love that people still know the classics…
Even I like it. I may indulge in a bit of American teasing every now and then. But I do enjoy some classic C&W. The biggest category in my YouTube favourites after Katie Melua (who rather dominates it).
Thanks! :)
That last panel made me gulp and shiver, very nicely done.
And in one single sentence, Max scared most wannabe-villains away, because she defined one single thing: “Resistance is futile.”
(Especially counting the fact that Archon is a semi-military, federal organization, making sure that ALL of the US will be coming for you, if you go against them.)
Beer is generally shipped to warzones as a Morale Welfare and Recreation supplies. 2 or 3 beers a day as a ration. However after a team has been out of their major operation base for a good amount of time when the team returns they are given some R&R https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080428045437AAdax24 Depending on the situation they are usually R&R areas away from the warfront where a keg or two mystically appearing won’t raise any pointed questions.
That may have been true in Vietnam and before and what is portrayed in the movies but it is not the way it is now. While there is generally some bottles or cans of non-alcoholic beer available alcohol is illegal for military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. A keg would most definitely raise questions, along with UCMJ punishment for anyone involved and possibly anyone who knew and didn’t report it. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen but if people find out there is definitely going to be trouble.
When I was in the Navy ( 1981-1985 ) on shipboard they had a “Steel Beach Party” after 9 months of being at sea continuously, where dinner was steak and lobster tails and every one that wanted it could have 2 cans of beer. Otherwise there was no alcohol on the ship. They did once find a still on board and the guys running it got court martialed and spent 10 years in prison and then got a ‘Big Chicken Dinner’ ( Bad Conduct Discharge) after they served their sentences. And Military sentences are no parole and no time off for good behavior.
We called it a Burnt Chicken Dinner in my time (’76-’80), but yeah. Brig time is bad time, which they will add to your contract, if you stay in. Bad juju.
Yeah, the bad thing is that at that point in the timeline, Max is a Major, though since she’s asking if the party and goings on at it are “classified” (sarcastically obviously) presumably she’s talking to someone who outranks her.
She could be the senior officer there. Her statement could be just asking that everybody else understands that nobody will be saying anything about when happens at this event. The guy who answered her could even be the lowest ranked there.
Never underestimete the ingenuity of military personnel, especially as regards the acquisition of luxuries.
In Saigon during the Vietnam War, the Sergeant’s Mess of the AATTV (Australian Army Training Team Vietnam) was known to always have generous quantities of fresh meat pies laid in. Said pies were ‘railway pies’ (made by and for the NSW Railways and, at that time, reknowned for their quality).
It is still unclear exactly how they (and certain other items) would travel from Sydney to Saigon, but they did. Obviously, use was made of aircraft travelling between those two places, but the items never appeared on any manifest or had any kind of official acknowledgement.
getting the keg would be pretty easy. ship it to anywhere in the surrounding area (europe, africa, asia,) and then have maxima go get it, partys in ten minutes :P
Sydney does have a point: if they are doing intros, why are they not starting at the top, ie General Faulke? Or are the intros just going to be the ones with powers?
They were responding to the question about “why are you gold”. But, yea, it does make sense to focus on the heroes. The press briefing handouts will show the chain of command, so that is not a slight to him. They have just made a massive announcement about something that will change the shape of law enforcement and world politics forever. Anything that they add after that will get no air-time at all unless it is of significant public interest. Super heroes are.
“…. As fare as we know….” The classic line to indicate that sooner or latter somewhere along the line said thought to be dead super will come back to enact bloody revenge!
“Ya all thought I was dead…. WELL I’M BACK BITCHES!!!
just like with the marines, real heroes never die they just regroup in hell
Except there won’t be anything “heroic,” about him anymore.
I would expect that from any super that can regenerate from fatal injuries.
“Looked dead, didn’t I? […] When I woke up […] I roared and I rampaged and I got bloody satisfaction.” — Beatrix Kiddo
All that nerdism and nobody notices that Sidney somehow isn’t wearing her throatmic anymore…
Vlad mentioned it about 10 minutes after the comic was posted.
Mind you, given the wealth of detail on the page, it is hardly surprising that something was missed. I am guessing that if any aspect of Maxima’s form fitting uniform in panel 1 or the gathering in panel 5 was wrong we would have heard all about it by now. Trouble is DaveB‘s art is approaching photo-real now so we tend to forget that he is actually drawing it and has to research source material for every item he shows. Pretty precisely for real world military gear, at that.
And it really is looking like the entire sweepstake on him missing the eyepatch is going down the drain. She won’t have it on much longer. I think I am going to have to cover my losses by making a bet that someday he will reference her first day at ARC and the picture will have a patch whoops.
I think Sidney is wearing the eyepatch too long already, since she only needed to wear for an hour, by her own words.
I think it gives her this sorta Nick Fury appeal (^_*)b
Oh yeah. She luuuuuurves that hat. That’s her glarin’ hat.
This is the first time in the WHOLE COMIC that I’ve noticed Maxima has elf ears. Spock ears? Faerie ears?
Nope. She has ’em in her first appearance.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/209
Just because YOU don’t know where they got the keg doesn’t mean THEY don’t know how to get it…
Dave; I don’t know if this is a new notion or not, but as far as drinks go you might give mead a try. It’s sweetish, goes well with chilled fruit, and it cannot be condemned as a girly drink because it’s the booze of choice of Vikings and Norse Gods. In my experience, it also goes pretty well with savory meat dishes.
Or for sweet without the -ish, try botrytised Riesling. It’s a lovely dessert wine.
Pear Cognac. yum.
I remember mead. It will give you a little buzz after you drink it.
It can also make you rip-roaring drunk in relatively small amounts. Just like basically any other alcoholic beverage, especially the fermented rather than distilled category.
You can make mead by putting honey and water in a jar and waiting a month or more. Now I’m not saying it’ll taste good, mind you; odds are it’ll taste like turpentine or castor oil. You can stop the process at pretty much any time from “small ale” territory (less-than-one-percent Alcohol By Volume) to around 20% ABV.
It does have a sting to it.
After marathon-reading the entire run of this excellent comic, and bemoaning the chance to add my two cents to half-a-dozen threads because they were too old for my comments to be of interest to anyone, what is my first post?
Finally, another guy who appreciates sissy cocktails!
I go for liqueurs, myself. Buttershots and Midori are the sweetest. Bailey’s or Godiva go great in chocolate milk.
But my wife (then fiancée) and I won an honorable mention in a cocktail sweepstakes by mixing Kahlua, Amaretto, and Haagen-Daaz Coconut Gelato. (That was a fun night of experimenting with ingredients.)
Idk, I mean Thor’s got that lovely long hair, so it could be a tad girly. Tastes nummy tho.
As for the keg, we’re talking about somebody who can fly, Getting a keg onto base wouldn’t be that difficult.
Another thing missing is Dabbler’s second set of braids as seen on the who’s who.
I heard a story about a soldier, who had friends back home, send him “bottles of water” in a care package. The customs inspector noticed that the bottles were not evenly filled (meaning, not done in a bottling plant), strike one. Suspicious the inspector looked at the packing list, the list said 2 bottles of water, but there were 6 in the box, strike two, now they had full probable cause. Examining the “water”, the inspector discovered it was actually Vodka.
They were going to give the soldier 90 days and a general discharge (not as good as Honorable but civilians do not generally know the difference). But stupid decided to fight the charges, I have no idea why he thought it was a good idea. The Courts Martial gave him 6 months and a Dishonorable Discharge.
I heard this story 4th or 5th hand, so I still have no idea why he fought the charges.
“Well, golly, sarge, I have no idea why all those bottles of waters tasted a mite bit peculiar. Surprise, surprise, surprise.”
I loved that show. Gomer Pile USMC. I even got it on DVD.
I liked the episode where Gomer and Sarge go out for survival training and Gomer keeps using basic skills he got growing up in the country. Sarge is digging a deep hole to get water, Gomer finds a stream. Sarge is savaging for nuts and bugs, Gomer sets up a snare. Gomer even found wild Tobacco for a cigar (it was the 1960s, everyone smoked in the 60s).
“””no idea why he thought it was a good idea””” – maybe he thought he could pass it off as something he had no responsibility for. It really is a bit odd to hold people responsible for things they receive in the mail – I’m not sure the charge would have stuck for a civilian, unless they could actually prove conspiracy.
P.S. Maybe he really wasn’t responsible, so take the above plus righteous indignation at being blamed for his friends’ unprompted actions.
No, they had evidence that stupid asked for the vodka. This was not completely a solo thing, he was actually part of a small ring selling the stuff, someone may have confessed and gave stupid up. I know, they did had very conclusive proof that he asked for, and knew that the bottles of vodka were coming.
Getting involved in a smuggling ring is certainly a fireable offence. Albeit that illicit stills, and other means of obtaining booze, is pretty common to military life. And sometimes a blind eye is turned, if it is believed to be boosting morale, more than it is harming operational effectiveness.
So I can well understand going easy on him with the lesser form of dismissal, initially. Lying about said involvement though, by denying it, easily elevates that to dishonourable conduct as well. He got what he deserved, once that lie was exposed.
(sorry for the 3 year late post)
Court Martial trials are expensive. The military would prefer not to do them if they can. They were going easy on stupid because the offense was minor enough to where they just could to kick him out without spending the whole “prosecution” budget for the unit. Unfortunately, the charges were serious enough that they HAD to kick him out. Since he refused the deal, the only other option was by court.
“Aren’t you dead?”
Bad guy, “I was, but I got better”
Ah. Much like being turned into a newt, then.
Vodka does translate as “clear water.”
Where is Sydney’s choker in panel 3?
Dabbler got bored and made it invisible. ;-) It will probably come back before you know it.
I just thought about the whole ‘Dabbler and Maxima fighting’ thing, and I realized it probably has to do with how Dabbler came to earth. Now I want to see that to
Curse you DabeB, your awnsers only raise more questions
She might have been born here. Just because she is of alien ancestry does not automatically mean that she is an illegal alien.
Mind you if she was an illegal alien working in the US, then the government might be keen enough to keep her services by granting her legal status. Although they would have to do it in a way where she could not be traced. Perhaps by granting a global amnesty to all illegal aliens in employment? … naa forget I said that, I was wandering into total fantasy, as if the government would do something like that in real life.
Hehe, putting a new meaning to the word illegal alien.
Max and Dabbler having fought eachother to a standstill does suggest they were once opponents though. Ofcourse it could also mean they only found out during sparring, figuring they could both take it so going further and further, but I choise to believe they once fought for real
First meetings can go bad.
That would be horrible, granting illegal aliens amnesty if they have a job would make them think it’s acceptable to be stealing the jobs we don’t want to do. Plus if the illegal aliens will do the jobs then how are we going to force employers to pay us $25 an hour to flip burgers?
Remember that Dabbler is a alien/demon/something else cross-breed. Granting her Landed Immigrant status could be tricky. Which embassy or consulate would she go to in order to renew her foreign passport? I think it would have to be straight to citizenship. She will have a U.S. passport.
As for fighting Max, we saw a little in the ball room, and no doubt those two have pushed each others’ buttons before and caused some collateral damage without harming each other. Standstill, but with lots of broken windows, eardrums and nerves.
I think Maxima is to much into the millitary dicipline to really fight Dabbler all out, nomather how far she gets pushed though
<blockquote<At least one of them is dead… as far as we know."
No foreshadowing to see here, people, Just move along.
Oh, in case no one else had mentioned it, congrats on reaching your 150th. That is considered a milestone, right?
Okay, I know the bio says that Peggy’s eyes are hazel…….but are we absolutely sure she’s not a werewolf? They look pretty yellow/gold to me.
Even with such an intimidating expression, Max is still VERY hot-looking. You may not be sure where she stencils her kill marks, DaveB, but it might be fun finding out…assuming you survive the searching process.
max “my kill marks? sure you can see them. there here.” pulls out leather bound flight log and opens to interior back cover. “where did you expect them to be? I can’t tattoo them or scratch them into my skin even if it didn’t violate military regulations?”
“There aren’t many rules to this little game of ours, kid, but one of the big ones is: if there’s no body? Dude’s alive.” -Nick Fury
Words for any super to live by.
I freaking love that last panel!!!!! I can totally hear her say that line in a completely smug voice, and that smirk — brilliant! This made my day. (^-^)
So if Dabbler was the one to fight Maxima to a standstill, how is it that Dabbler is rated as a 7-Paragon, while Maxima is a full two levels higher rated as a 9-Penumbrate? I feel like I must be missing something really obvious here…
Dabbler has a wide variety of powers, most of which are not as powerful as they could be in someone who specialised and became very good in a narrower range of abilities. If one of those powers happens to be good versus a particular opponent (say “sticky air” versus Math), then she can counter their power. In a one on one fight.
Assuming that the ratings are an accurate reflection of DaveB‘s assessment of their relative powers, then it means that the upper end of Maxima’s power is so great that she can accomplish tasks that are beyond Dabbler’s power. Perhaps picking up an oil tanker that is oozing pollutants across an area of outstanding natural beauty and flying it somewhere that it can be contained and worked on safely. Dabbler is unlikely to have a “turn petrol into fish food” spell, so may be absolutely useless in such circumstances.
Two stars higher on that kind of scale is a big difference. We know that Dabbler has a lot of powers, so Maxima’s statement about her relative world standing is given some degree of perspective by that. Maxima has several abilities but not a lot. Hence to get that rating they must be very powerful. Just because Dabbler can do something to stop Maxima beating the c**p out of her, does not make her more powerful than Maxima. Likewise Sydney, once they get to test their abilities on each other.
I think it was the fact that as part succubae dabs just incapacitated max by turning things up till the golden girl was begging for some affection or stuck releaving herself. it’s a matter of how the abilities one has are applied over raw power like I said in the super vs Olympian discussion. a power stunt can make up for a massive variance in power.
Remember that Dabbler can use magic. Magic is a VERY powerfull counter for physical powers (Max is pure physical)
Great example being Superman, who has absolutely NO defense against Magic-based attacks.
when Dabbler nudges Sidney with her elbow, I took it as if she was pointing out that Sidney was the second super.
Personally, I take it as being Dabbler, for reasons stated in various earlier posts by others and myself. One that I do not think that has been mentioned (slight spoiler for anyone who does not read the cast list details) is that Dabbler rates seven stars in the power ratings in the cast list, whereas Halo only rates six.
But DaveB‘s writing and character motivations are deeper than they can appear on the surface. In this case, I think that it may not just be a matter of Dabbler posing about her capabilities. Rather she is also bringing Sydney into that exclusive club with her. Having seen the preliminary testing of Sydney’s shield, and perhaps realising that it is more powerful than her own, she may be anticipating that it can stop even Maxima’s attacks. Once they get around to full power testing.
And, given that Sydney falls in that exclusive group of people who can wind up Maxima and get away with it, Dabbler could very well be giving her the benefit of the doubt and is inviting her to the sisterhood of Maxima ‘beaters’.
Spoiler below, so don’t click if you do not want to know something that is not in the comic itself yet.
For those who compare power ratings in the cast list we know that Sydney’s shield is a perfect five out of five rating. Which puts it on a par with both Maxima’s offence and defence. The only one on the team who has better defence is Achilles who cheats by getting six out of five on his defence due to being totally invulnerable. So we know that when they do get around to testing, Sydney should join the club of supers who can fight Maxima to a standstill. Unless Maxima manages to use her experience to beat her in sparring without that coming into play. Say using her super speed before Sydney can raise her shield. Likewise Dave has suggested in comments that Sydney may ultimately be more powerful than Maxima, once she has matured into her power and gained sufficient experience.
I’m pritty sure it’s Dabbler to yes. Remember that Sydney has not fought Maxima yet. Only thing that comes close is Max hitting the force field.
Maxima is talking about the past, ‘has ever fought me to a standstill’, so it couldn’t be talking about Sydney.
Ofcourse I agree that in the future we might be adding Sydney to that list. It would depend on how strong her flight and PPO are. If the PPO can’t harm Maxima, than Sydney wouldn’t stand a chance. And if the flight is not strong enough, Maxima could just pick her up (with forcefield and all) and jugle with her
i don’t think she’d be able to move Sydney when she’s bubbled up… remember that Max couldn’t move the tube with the orbs inside of it at the bank… i think the same thing would happen to her if she tried to move the bubble… she may be able to grab it, depending on how large Sydney makes it… but when she tries to move it… nope, if she’s standing on the ground, she loses traction and starts sliding like somebody on ice… and if she tries to fly with it, nope… same thing, only we can’t see anything different, depending on the physics of HOW Max flies… i mean if she is using something like telekinesis to “push” herself off the ground, and because she masses less than the earth, then she’s the one that moves, when she tries it on the bubble, then she is trying to push between two massive, immovable objects, and she’ll be “popped out” like somebody spitting out a water-melon seed… and if it’s something like a reduction or redirection of local gravity, then again i think it won’t do anything either, for pretty much the same reasons.
Love the last panel.
The look by the way is “the 1000 yard stare” Anyone who has seen intence combat over a long time gets it eventually. those of us who are in4life see it often in the people around us.
Well done DaveB.
I’ve been meaning to ask. Does this Dabbler have anything to do with Dabbler from Were World?
Yes. DaveB loaned her out.
Does she look like a golden Beckett from Castle in the last frame?
Okay let’s fix a couple of issues regarding military issues like uniforms. Just how many Lt. Colonels in any branch of services in the United States Armed Forces wear what she is wearing ? In the party in Iraq or at the Bank. I mean really, wear the uniform correctly or it’s a party foul. You do not wear a T shirt with a knot it to be tighter. Come on man, if the Lt Col has issues with male and female inter -action do not wear the uniform under shirt like your a local stripper…I mean really yes she is drawn all nice but really…. A E5 may be but a Commissioned Officer , really ? Also just how much of a real College education has she completed ? Battle field promotions are one thing but what kind of degree path is the Lt .Col. on ? If all of her promotion are battle field she is up a creek with out a paddle. Without attending OCS or other College Programs she is F.U.B.A.R. and the General should know it and do some thing about. Hint have her work on AKO.mil…..Or just add a real senior staff NCO. from a military force like the U.S.M.C. to reign in on her ” Major Malfunctions”. Nothing personnel however if it’s touching the U.S. Military in most ways we will complain or flame. Semper Fi.
She’s not doing it to titilate or ignore military dress protocol. She’s upside down, the knot is preventing gravity from doing its work and showing everyone her funbags. She’s the exact opposite personality to do that to turn on everyone around her. I imagine a superior officer would take one look at her, prepare to get after her, realize what would happen without the knot, and walk away.
I don’t know to much about the military, but I would gues uniform regulations aren’t followed as strictly during a beer keg party. Remember that the guy just off camera isn’t even wearing pants (it’s all classified)
Wait, she’s upside down floating in mid air doing a keg stand, and you are worrying about a uniform infraction. That’s the difference between a DD and a smoking. Also, I don’t know what effed up E5s you grew up with in the Marine Corp, but in the Army, our E5s act right. You are more likely to catch an officer mess up something like uniform than a NCO. Finally, I highly doubt she’s commissioned through battle field commission, given that haven’t been done since forever. IIRC the current rule limits battle field promotions to E6. She might be fast tracked like hell, but she’s probably got a degree.
Airborne, Infantry Lead the Way.
Remember that the rule of funny trumps all. Of course an officer of her rank would not behave like that normally. But that just adds to the hilarity of the scene. In reality, officers get private quarters and their own facilities so that they can let down their hair without their men seeing it.
Putting that aside though, do not forget that the very dynamic of supers being heavily involved in the fighting would dramatically change the nature of war. Although there are always commonalities, there are also differences in between conflicts. Reflect on the differences apparent between Vietnam and the more recent wars. Then think on how having a hidden super war going on would change things in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A big part of that being down to fear. The worst atrocities tend to occur when troops and/or their commanders are terrified. Recently the British PM apologised for a massacre that occurred in India under British rule. Principally because the commander feared an uprising was imminent. Had that apprehension not been present, he would have behaved very differently. Military training works to counter fear, but relies heavily on immunising the recruits to normal battle conditions. If something new or unknown occurs then such training can break down.
Nothing could be much more terrifying than normal people facing supers who can melt their bones just by looking at them or walk through walls to attack them in secure bunkers. And even worse is the fear of the unknown. If they can do those things, what else can the enemy do to you? In conflicts where you are trying to win over the local populace to support you, it is vital to quell those fears in your troops, to minimise the risks of them retaliating versus whatever targets they can get their hands on. Frightened troops, with an enemy who cannot be beaten (due to guerilla actions, terror tactics or otherwise) are a very real danger to the indigenous population.
Compound that with the fact that your only defence against such beings is similar individuals on your own side. Plus there is bound to be a lot of collateral damage in an all-out battle between them. You may well find that your troops are just as afraid of your own supers as the enemy’s!
We do not know any of the back story behind that one scene. Personally I choose to believe that orders from very high came down to “do whatever is necessary to allay the fears of the troops and improve morale.”
If they’re going to gripe about that then why not about her hair? Natural or not I’m fairly certain purple is not a regulation color. Why wouldn’t they force her to dye it? I mean up until recently they were forcing gays to hide their gayness, why not force a genetic aberration to hide her aberrations? Unless Dave wants to come out and state that the military in this magickal fairy tale isn’t a bunch of gibbering buffoons.
That is her natural hair colour, so she is perfectly within military regulations. It would be her superiors who would be contravening regulations if they attempted to force her to dye it. As such it would be most unwise of them. Firstly because she is ornery enough to officially challenge it if they tried. Secondly because I have doubts dye would do anything to her hair. And thirdly because unnecessarily pissing off one of the most powerful supers in the world is not a good idea.
Besides which the fact that she is golden stands out a lot more than her hair colour. If they wanted to use the argument of “making her hide her aberation” by dying her hair, they would also need to tell her to paint her skin ‘white’ * too. Which would end their military careers the instant the press heard of it.
*Although why people insist on calling shades of pink “white” I never do understand.
Yeah, it’s a good thing she has 5 inches of armor comprising her skin because that gold skin and purple hair would be perfect for a sniper. She’d stand out everywhere like a neon sign and the sniper might not even need a spotter to fix his shot. Of course, he’d probably only get 1 shot before she came after him.
Well she’s faster than a bullet…so half of a shot? =p
no, he’d get only the one shot because the sound of it firing/hitting for her to trace would travel slower than the actual bullet, unless she was looking directly at him and saw the muzzle flash of it being fired…
So, do you guys wish you had a superpower?
What guys doesn’t wish he had a size shifting prehensile penis?
Wait you guys don’t have that?
How do you think I’m typing this?
I am so happy I wasn’t drinking anything when I read that conversation, as cleaning a mixture of my favorite drink and spit off the keyboard, monitor, wall, door frame, and everything between the door frame and the far side of the room it leads into would have been a massive pain in the ass. Even if that were the case, I don’t think I could really be mad about it because I’d be too busy chuckling to myself. Thanks to both of y’all for adding a little extra funny to our all-to-often-mundane lives!
I just want the Captain Planet Heart Ring. That’s the power I desire most. Good ole Mind Control.
Kind of like that dick brother on Almighty Johnsons, it’s a local show about the Norse Gods being reborn in New Zealand (and all the fun times they have trying to get the hang of their powers and fitting in with the mortals)
Interestingly, Odin is the youngest brother and got his powers last, can’t remember the names of most of them, but the older brother is the God of Games, and the other brother used to be the God of Ice (he didn’t like the fact he couldn’t touch the woman he loved so had his powers removed), their Grandfather is one of the Oracles (and looks and acts like a hippy surfer, without the hair)
Thor is some farmer with a regular hammer (never misses what he aims at though, as some poor lamb found out when Odin tossed it away instead of throwing it at something/someone :P), and Loki is a total arsehole who controls fire (and is a total arsehole, tried to trick Odin into marrying his daughter just so he could own Odin’s soul or something)
I am guessing that you suffered from the same problem I have in the past. If you have a spoiler that goes over more than one paragraph, you need to enclose each paragraph in its own pair of spoiler tags. Otherwise only the first paragraph gets hidden.
Coulda sword that it covered both paragraphs, oh well, looks like DaveB must have fixed it
I’m pretty sure that none of the joke comics during the press conference happened exactly as shown.
Maxima is amazingly well rendered here. This is a good style for her.
Yes, with a wide range of expressions too. Really helping to bring out her character. Showing enough of her hard side that the public will think of her more as a hardened soldier, and lessen sexist queries about a woman leading such a team.
Although she may have overcompensated somewhat, but that seems true to personality. Mind you judgements about that issue would as much down to the values of the individual making them as about her.
If you have not seen the latest news, you will never guess who Batman is trying to team up with for their next movie!
oh, that was a keg.
i was wondering why max was fondling a desk lamp.
On the whole alcohol and sugar content thing, alcohol makers (bottlers? Whatever) aren’t actually not required by the ATF to put nutrition information on their labels, they are forbidden to do so. That’s because beer breweries used to make all kinds of health claims for their products, including such wonders as how good Guinness is for a nursing mother’s breast milk.
And yeast actually has a pretty high amount of vitamin D in it, and brewers would advertise that as well.
Since alcohol is actually bad for you at any levels above very moderate drinking (say, 1 drink per day), any nutrition information was required to be excluded so that people couldn’t use that as a justification for drinking more. Not that it helps, but that’s the reason why there’s no sugar content info on alcohol.
What pisses me off is the low carb amounts that some beers claim. That would seem to violate the “no health benefits” rule, and it’s also a sneaky lie, since they only advertize the carb content, and not how many carbs you’re actually ingesting when your body turns the alcohol into sugars. Anything distilled would be able to claim 0 carbs under that method, since they distill and collect only the alcohol vapors, leaving all residual carbs behind. But then that 80 proof glass of scotch becomes about 40% by volume of carbs ingested.
Distillers, brewers or vintners depending on the type of beverage.
The EU is pretty exacting on food labelling regulations, but the regulations get very specialised when it comes down to alcohol. Mainly because France is a major alcohol exporter and blocked many of the standardisation legislations in that area. Looking at a couple of bottles in the house, the liqueur does list ingredients including “added sugar” though it does not list the calories or other nutritional information. Whereas the spirit only shows the proof value.
Possibly because it is a locally-produced Bulgarian spirit and they may have been lax and not be in compliance with legislation. But they are sticklers for adhering to EU food regulations so that is less likely. One funny side effect though, with food, is that you can get products which list ingredients and nutritional information in a dozen languages (quite often the Eastern European ones) whereas the product name and description on the front will be in English. Yet not providing the detailed information in English! The quirks of history making English the most common second language under those circumstances.
Well, I feel sheepish, I just realized that Maxima has pointy ears.
I agree completely about the alcohol. I want to know how many calories are in them. It seems cheaty that they can get out of nutrition labels. It goes in our body, shouldn’t we know what’s in it.
Okay, in all honesty I would be lying to you outright if I claimed that I didn’t consider making a cheeky, wise-assed comment about not noticing Max had pointy ears just now. That would would have been not only rude of me, but also highly hypocritical seeing as I’m rather prone to being oblivious myself. That being said, I can’t give you any kind of grief in good conscience.
Maybe it was too obvious? ;) I think the hat made them stand out, before they just blended with the rest of her character design.
Dear God! Does Max have a black eye in that Afganistan flash back?!? What on Earth could’ve caused that!?!
If it isn’t down to cheekbone shadow, whilst hanging upside down, I would put it down to a little disagreement with the 3rd most powerful known super. You should see the other guy.
She’s in the ChairForce. They can get beer any time they want it. Real superheroes are Army personnel who are abducted by aliens and given super powers.