Grrl Power #1512 – And the fighting continues…
So we’ve got 3 fights going simultaneously now, and as usual I’m torn between drawing awesome looking high-level shonen style fights, which necessarily go on for pages and pages, and having a few more of these guys getting knocked out fairly quickly so I can focus on the real final fight. As usual, all the fights in the comic feel like they go on too long while we’re all waiting for the two pages a week I can put out, but then when you read through the archives, a 100 page fight is done in half an hour.
I’ve been intercutting the fights with commentary by Sydney and others to interject some humor, but I still want to get the team all in the same room again so I can have Dabbler do something inappropriate to rile up Maxima, along with the other usual japes. So we’ll see how these fights go. I don’t want to rush them, but I also don’t want them to drag on either, and I have a few important moments to hit along the way.
Here you go, a brand new vote incentive. Featuring the least sexy character in the comic. No, I take that back, Cooter is the least sexy, but don’t expect a pinup of him anytime soon. Or ever. There is a nude version over at Patreon. Note I didn’t say NSFW. She is nude in those picture, and she does identify as female, but it’s… hard to tell. She is a humanoid aberration by D&D terminology, not a mammal. And before you ask, no, I don’t know how many vertebrae she has in her neck.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
I for one would appreciate some additional action happening. It can’t ALL be breakroom banter.
Only half the panels here are breakroom banter, the other half is action.
Also this comic is about the breakroom banter of superheroes. The interstitial moments. DaveB has repeatedly made it clear that’s the aim of the comic.
I too vote for more fight scenes. They’re the best part of rereading the archives.
Egg-Bot’s met “Ixah” before? Maybe they’re a time traveler?…..Doesn’t matter! C’mon Egg-Bot! You got this! GO EGG-BOT!
That’s what I was thinking: Egg-bot has the “groundhog day” power: Every time you defeat it, it recycles time and tries something different.
This isn’t the first loop for Egg-bot vs Ixah, and it’s not expecting it to be the last.
I just thought EggBot was the same core of EatChicken and some BioWeapon Corpos were seeding the fights with their creations to collect data and powers from the contestants.
My thoughts weren’t that specific, but I was wondering who in the previous rounds might be connected to Egg-Bot in some way. EatChicken would definitely have been my favorite choice (because he was interesting), but I’m trying to remember who else she fought in the battle before that who could have robo-connections.
I know better than to trawl the archives to find out. My ADHD would create a full re-read from whatever page I landed on, and I can’t afford that kind of distracted hyperfocus today. (Or maybe I can since Microsoft appears to be fritzing out and preventing me from sending or receiving emails at work. :P)
“Microsoft appears to be fritzing out” – yea same for us. “The clouds are on fire, save your work.” What are our bets? Aliens? Russia? Iran? General Incompetence? (He runs the gremlin squad.)
Is it affecting youboob as well? Hasn’t worked for about 12 hours, thought it was because hadn’t been able to pay the interwebs bill in a couple days (was able to get it paid, but still no youboob)
If that were so he would have gotten that “Count your electrons” quip into a more finished state
Not if this was the first time he’s used it. If he didn’t say anything about meeting her again in the previous iterations (leading to her being positive they’ve never met), he’d have no reason to quip about charges.
Go Eggbot! I hope he defeats Maxima and win the tournament.
Knickers!
Maxima? She was seen on Earth dealing with babezilla.
That’s Ixah, you got your characters mixed mister.
Fairly sure that that’s a line in a movie
Damint! Fucking SmugD is piloting that lamagotchi!
I was getting Spaceballs vibes but it’s not accurate.
It’s modified, but it’s close enough that I would call it a definite reference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at5OUSO–fY&t=70
It’s akin to a spaceballs joke. He said again, but he also said the first time. He’s using stock villain dialogue “we meet again”, even though it doesn’t work.
Maybe egg bot is a time traveler. In the future, “Ixa” will meet them at a subjective earlier point, while they don’t know who she is but for Maxima it happens again.
More action! Awesome! Definitely looking forward to these finals, especially after the setup of them all using their powers together first.
Also I’m still partially convinced that Egg-Bot is being remote piloted by (or at least created by) Deus.
That would be hilarious, and the speech is consistent with Deus hamming it up even more than he usually does.
Oh, no thank the gods we have not -yet- had Sydney ruin the tension with some inane comment.
She is really best enjoyed in very small doses.
I’m here to see a shot of Dabbler sitting fuming on a stool in a corner with a piece of paper taped to the wall that has “Chastity Corner” hastily scribbled on it.
With a little cone hat made from another sheet of paper that says “Chastity” on it?
(This is a reference to when teachers supposedly used to make naughty pupils sit in the corner wearing a ‘Dunce Cap’.)
Nah, you put “Chaste” on the cap ;p
… it really depends on what you put the cone on, doesn’t it?
Just don’t write “Puritan” on it if you’re attached to your internal organs and wish to remain so.
Yeah, no. Because the antici……………pation. While sitting in the corner is part of the, yeah no. I am not old enough to explain it.
“Again we meet for the first time”
that’s a time traveller phrase if I’ve ever heard one. Continuously trying again and again until success, always adapting new methods and weapons. He need only to survive to time travel again until victory is achieved. We know time travel is possible at least.
I just hope egg-bot won’t turn out to be tentacle-golem in disguise.
Take your time with this is Your comic. Do a job you are satisfied with and can look back on and say ‘DAMN! That was good!’ with zero ‘I would change this thing and this thing and this thing….’ and no ‘meh, good enough to send’ if you feel need to take extra time to do so, take the time. Just let us know.
I agree with you. I also have a suggestion for Dave B.:
Your 6 fighters here are visually and colorfully distinctive, especially when broken into 3 pairs. That makes them identifiable from a distance, i.e. on smaller panels. That may not be big, beautiful artwork, but it is a way to present longer action sequences in fewer pages. It also doesn’t need to rely on fighter dialogue, and is where you might use your commenators, Gail and Bluce, to do some play-by-play using minimal page space.
Re: sequencing events, I assume you’ve storyboarded out the action already. So 1 duel will probably be resolved first, and the winner will probably not stand idle. So if you mix up your panel sizes you should be able to maintain progression and use larger panels to illustrate the key moments and important dialogue between the contenders.
I hope this was helpful and I’m looking forward to the next pages. :)
Ah, our little bok bok has an asynchronous back up body. (sips coffee in the break room) Yup, worked for a few who did that. Some get it right, most alas do NOT. Let us see how it goes, I prefer more Sydney after all it’s her comic. ;) Now, break is over and it’s my turn to feed the boss’s pet…dang mutated cybernetically enhanced goldfish.
Let me state: i have no objection against a 100 page BW special fight edition for a week. There is no technical reason you should stick to the 1 page every few days. Other form factors are perfectly acceptable as “specials”
I like egg-bot. Egg-bot is cute.
That’s some ominous phrasing from the dapper eggy. There’s a few ways that can be taken, if there is truth to it and not just awkward chat.
Time traveler, reincarnation, body snatcher. Basically anything that lets him either undo and retain memory of their meeting, or come back in a new body.
Perhaps he has incorporated experiences along with tech from previous opponents. He could have down loaded memory from some other mech that Max/Ixah has fought with.
Two atoms are drinking at a bar.
Suddenly one says: “Hey! I just lost an electron.”
The other atom asks: “Are you sure?”
The first responds: “Yes, I’m positive!”
I am imagining Eggbot’s voice somewhere between Claptrap and Bill Cipher.
Anyone else get the idea that the guiding intelligence/pilot of Eggbot might develop a crush on Sydney? Or vice-versa? Would be hilarious.
Eggbot’s crush on Sydney would be unrequited.
I’m a little curious to see what this talking Tamagachi thinks it has that Eat Chicken didn’t.
My friend? GO WILD.
This is a Battle Royale. GIVE US THE FIGHTS.
I was to see Max tip the hat off Eggbot’s head! Just to show that she can.
I saw a video of a kid in Africa grab the a venomous snake by the tip of the tail, and in the same motion, faster than it could respond whip it around and then smashed its head into a boulder, killing it.
I imagine Maxima doing something similar, but grabbing Eggbot by the foot to do it, with superspeed.
is… max speaking english? surely that would gave away her planet? or cora’s technology so advanced that it can obfuscate it into extremely average galstandard west (or galactic common or whatever) before it even leaves her mouth… you’d have to glamour her lips and everything. i dunno. if the battlefield is flooded with nano-sensors then that seems basically impossible to hide.
costume includes language auto translate as shown previously when Halo was out and about in her alien princess costume, even when meeting Deus who replied in native tongue to her.
What lips? You can’t see either sets of lips in that costume
Hey hey, Don’t rush on our account! A page is a page and I look forward to it regardless if there is silly there or awesome action. I’m sure you’ll give this finale the gravity it deserves so just do what you do best. <3
@Dave No dragons made it to the final bsttle. You dont have to worry about fights dragging on..
I was half expecting him to say ‘I was your Father’s Brother’s Nephew’s Cousin’s Former Roommate’…
The only time I took issue with a fight taking too long in this comic was when it felt like it wasn’t making progress, it was Vehemence vs Maxima and she was beating the absolute stuffing out of him, but he was seemingly taking no damage.
I love the long impressive fight scenes, I just appreciate when they feel meaningful, like each combatant is taking damage, being worn down, and expending their resources, not just filling time until someone actually uses a finisher.
We All Know that Max cannot win the tourney because that would Sink the Scheme. ( what was it now i forget ) But I predict that when the critical moment comes, Max will be unable to help herself.
The scheme was ‘bet a lot on her winning, then make bank’.
I’m imagining EggBot as having the voice of Bane from the Harley Quinn series. Don’t judge me!
Missed opportunity for the old “proton walks into a bar” joke…
– Are you sure we haven’t met before?
– I’m positive.
I am betting that Eggbot is either piloted by, sponsored by, or controlled by Deus. But I could be wrong
Great. Now I have to figure out if he was using the chemical convention or electrical convention in referring to electrons as “positive” or “Negative”.
Wait, so is Disastar our of the fight for good or will the pilot call down a replacement star?
I want Egg-bot to be the winner.
Me too.
I think just a panel or two cut away works fine every few comics. A whole page cutaway when the plot in the background advances some. Otherwise, you are correct, when read from the archives even long combats finish up plenty quickly.
This time it was extremely hard to distinguish between Orthvye and Zoaroth. I literally thought that 2nd panel is still Zoaroth, just enlarged.
Same
Thought they had decided to team up against the next biggest-seeming threat
No way do they still believe in electrons and covalent bonds in space, right? They’ve disproven literally everything we believe about physics, surely. People are going to realize she’s from Earth from that comment.
Apparently super powers can do weird things to how covalent bonds work (p1459).
At least there’s no Frieza here to proclaim that the planet will be destroyed in five minutes…when they clearly have no idea how long a minute is.
Not gonna lie, panel 2 made me do a couple double takes and then a hard look. xD
The Eggman badnik reject may look like a comic relief, but it made it to this level of combat, so there’s some trick up its… arm covering?
I hope they have an awesome fight, it’s boring when the hero is able to curb stomp everyone.
Been caught in the same trap with just WRITING fight scenes – having to illustrate the things too must be a huge burden, no matter how fast you can work. Kudos on keeping up with a schedule – any schedule. Mine have been “when I can squeeze them in” so far…