Grrl Power #174 – You got your explosion all over my press conference
On a scale of one to “I will invent a time machine explicitly for murdering your parents,” how mad do you think Arianna is? Probably something between “I will soak your panties in Icy Hot” and “I will stab you in the ear while you sleep.”
I didn’t want to cover this page with sound effects, but imagine enveloped in an explosion like that is really quite loud. Not deafeningly loud, Sydney’s shield cuts the decibel level off at a tolerable level, but still it’s all “BOOOOM CAT-ROAAAAR AAARG!” in there or whatever mix of onomatopoeia that would sound like. It’s unclear that the people in the back heard Sydney, but at least with the force field clipping the decibels, Maxima isn’t being totally drowned out by it.
This page doesn’t have a whole lot on it unfortunately but it’s a needed transition to the next page, which is why I said that this sequence benefits from a fast read. The next two pages are pretty cool if I do say so myself. And… a few pages after that. I like my own comic if you can’t tell.
There will be another bonus comic this Thursday (yay), but after that I need to buckle down and start with the job hunting (boo).
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Wow, good job Maxima’s a super, Arianna’s glare would probably kill anyone else.
Super, nothing, if looks could kill, even Maxima wouldn’t survive that one.
In my mind, she’s going HISSSSS
Arianna’s look in the third panel kind of looks like furious anger. The last panel though looks like outright rage, especially since Max is apparently about to do/announce something else.
It kinda looks like the super villain Origin face. The moment the hero does something that the person takes as attacking ones life work and swears revenge.
Kind of my take as well.
Always felt that, like Sheldon, Arianna is just one lab accident away from becoming a super-villain.
Her voice through a force field?
That’s a neat trick.
(Or is that her radio?)
If its the radio, then its nice sturdy one, better question is how sturdy are her clothes (with that position she should end at least with bare ass and back).
She can extend her powers to things she’s touching. So her clothes are just as invincible as she is
I think it was established that her ‘zero-gravity’ field (or whatever the holy ferret balls it is) extends to about an inch or so beyond Max’s physical person, an explanation which was created specifically for this reason.
I could also be remember totally incorrectly, and there could be no such thing.
Either way, it’s a good bet DaveB knows the answer.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/376
The force field filters out anything above a certain dangerous decibel level as I understand it. I think Max is simply shouting through the force field since her voice isn’t loud enough to be dangerous.
It’s not the power of her voice we fear but the power of her words.
Some thoughts have a certain sound, that being the equivalent to a form. Through sound and motion, you will be able to paralyze nerves, shatter bones, set fires, suffocate an enemy or burst his organs. We will kill until no Harkonnen breathes Arakeen air…
What shall become of Maxima’s uniform?
Max would give a death glare in response to that comment. :P
the uniform is to scared to burn
Well of the suit doesn’t last… super speed/flight + extra change of clothes + Super speed/flight back would work and no one would ever know… consider the blast would make it so you wouldn’t hear her speed dash.
Nothing will happen to it, just like her boot didn’t explode when she kicked the tank.
Isn’t just Arianna who is going to be mad at that little demonstration. Do you know how expensive it is to turn that place back into a bombing/artillery range.
On that note it cold be interesting if Dabbler, Maxima and Sydney were on Nevada proving grounds and tried who made bigger boom – Sydney could find the limits of ppo, Maxima blow of some steam and Dabbler wold probably bring something to show off.
If I remember correctly Dabbler is a port from another comic and at one point had mentions of something that could simply destroy a planet. So who can make the biggest boom could quickly run out of control.
Dabbler was created by Dave and loaned to Wereworld.
On a similar basis, one hopes that the buses the press arrived in were parked far more than a merely discreet distance away.
Last comic I think Dave said they were a kilometer or mile away.
Still with that firecracker going the buses better have some seriously reinforced windows.
They get back to the parking lot. Peggy gets in the Osprey and prepares for start-up.
Peggy: Ah, nuts! I can’t see anything out this windshield. Did we pack a spare, or is Maxima going to have to polish out the abrasion? Good thing Hiro is flying the other bus back instead of driving it; I can’t see in any of the windows.
IFR may apply.
(Starts singing “Home Home on the Artillery Range”)
Where the EDO play with C-4 all day!
(Al-tho, there is a bunny I know whit a better rage face that Arie’s)
where seldom is heard, a whispered word, and the ground is cratered all day.
You got your press conference in my explosion!
You got your explosion on my press conference. Hmm, two great .. Nah, that one won’t work.
There goes the tank, alright…
And I honestly don’t know whether I would fear or respect Max after this. My guess is a lot of fear mixed with some respect. At least she’ll get people to leave her alone, I suppose.
Three things prevent people from breaking the rules of society, called “laws” — Insufficient perception of benefit, fear of reprisal if caught, and a deep, personal commitment to the belief that doing so is wrong.
A super WITH such a conviction of personal morals and ethics is likely to become a defender, a superhero. A super WITHOUT such a conviction is only prevented from doing bad things because it’s too much trouble for too little return — or they’re afraid somehow of getting caught and punished.
ARCHON has collected the supers they know of who HAVE such a conviction of right and wrong. So now, Maxima is putting it out there that it’s too much trouble for too little return to act up as a supervillain…and that ethically-challenged supers should be afraid…VERY afraid…of her or her people catching them. The punishment would be swift and severe.
The problem is a super with ethics might actually oppose Maxima’s display of force.
Another problem is that she’s encouraging a different type of villain. Two really. One, the slimy kind of CEO prick that will do anything legal to smash competitors, exploit employees, and treat people like disdainful trash. All within the bounds of the legal system simply because Maxima can’t do squat. A Steve Jobs type of villain you could say.
The other one is the kind of villain that would look at Maxima’s show of force as a challenge. The kind that will create tons of carnage and death and can compete with her level of strength. She said there was other supers like her, one of them is dead probably. And that’s at last count, who knows what the future holds. These are the monsters that epic battles are made for.
With every choice there are repercussions, and this was a nasty choice.
Indeed Ariana plan was to say, these are not a problem, and are controlled. Maxima has ruined that. A load of supers will put there heads down. So we have the supers who are rebelling against a police state, the villains who don;t care about collataral damage. But will let Maxima do it, and those who work within the law. The dangerous ones,
….. Who certainly exist anyhow, and were undoubtedly making plans and so forth regardless of how the press conference went.
Exactly, they would have done it anyway, so the only thing Maxima has done is provoke people who would not normally necessarily be after her. I think one of the biggest annoyance would be a campaign of paints bomb. Stating that Maxima is an unexploded bomb.
In the last panel, do my eyes deceive me or is that Dabbler looking a little afraid? I mean, wow, that says something and as Dave is a stickler for detail, I’m sure that’s not there by accident.
Well, Dabbler is capable of fighting Maxima to a standstill, as she said herself. Though I guess this is a good reminder that there are limits to that :P
I thought Dabbler was indicating HALO had “fought” Max to a standstill.
Nah, Max and Halo haven’t fought yet
Referring to the test in the ballroom, and/or the test range. Not a real fight, but for their purposes.
I don’t think a few punches count
Doesn’t mean Max couldn’t kill Dabbler, merely that she couldn’t beat her without killing her or causing massive amounts of collateral damage. In other words, don’t bet on what she could or couldn’t do given a bad enough situation.
Not sure. Could just be our angel of viewing, or she could actually be hiding behind Hiro.
Or (knowing her) grabbing his ass. lol
And look how she hides behind the invulnerable guys
I’m wondering where Achilles is.
He was walking back after Dabbler’s shot knocked him a quarter mile and got caught in the blast.. We’ll see him in the crater after it’s all done yelling for someone to get him some pants.
Looking at the picture, I’m noticing Hiro looking a bit worried in a “Damm, boss I think you went a bit too far this time.” kind of way.
Stalwart, on the other hand acts as this is just another day in paradise.
I think Hiro’s pulling the ‘not bad’ face
I took that as concern over the the structural integrity of Halo’s shield
hi,
thanks for the new pages
Btw, minor point, but aren’t Arianna’s legs a bit muscular for a non-super?
She’s a hardbody as well as a hardass.
I would say they are. I hate to nitpick Dave though as he seems to do that to himself a lot and so do a lot of the commenters. Overall, he does a great job with the art so I am fine with granting him some leeway. He certainly is about 9000x better than me!
But look at who she works with. How much gym time does Hiro and Stalwart put in on a regular basis? Anvil is a super-human power house and Harem is in really good shape as well. So Arianna pretty much has to work out as much as the military people she works with.
Dave likes drawing his women as muscular. Also look that the two lady reporters in the last panel, Suzy and Pinkie; their calves are pretty beefy as well.
She’s a PR professional, and I bet she knows the advantage to having an attractive woman be the frontman. I’m sure she works out just to be that.
She’s also in heels (probably habitually), and standing on her toes. Which basically means she’s tensing those muscles, and works them out just by standing normally. So they are being more defined than normal above.
Hang on, is Dabbler hiding behind two other heroes? Perhaps she’ll give Max less lip after this.
Note we don’t even SEE Harem.
We haven’t seen Harem at the range yet at all
Come to think of it, you’re right.
Slacker.
They left the less-showy members of the team out of this demonstration. Anvil, Harem, Math, and Amorphous are probably watching this on video from back at headquarters. Although, with his powers Mr. A. could technically be another random person in the press corps if he wanted.
Hey Dave, can he copy specific persons? This could be handy for getting into secured areas (or women’s locker rooms).
My mistake. Mr. A did make a cameo here https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1070.
Nah, they looked like someone else at the bank because of an illusion provided by someone else
No he can’t copy people, not convincingly anyway.
would he end up looking like the Deep Space 9 character Odo? he was a sentient blob that tried to emulate his ?creator/?discoverer’s shape, however he couldn’t quite get all the details down so he looked all waxy and smooth…
When Maxima turns around later the back of her clothes will be completely disintegrated…
No they won’t. Her powers can extend to what she’s touching. So including her clothes
“One more thing” lol Let me guess Dave B you were a fan of Jackie Chan Adventures?
Either that or Columbo.
Yeah the rumpled detective. I used to like the detective genre like Rockford files and Columbo but soured on them with Magnum P.U. But some of the newer ones brought it back like Monk and Sherlock.
Sherlock is not new, and both of the newer versions are travesties (specially the one set in New Flacking York with a female Watson and Moriarty being his ex love-of-his-life)
He name-checked Steve Jobs, who was well known for that phrase in press conferences. (Apple product announcements – they’d go through and demo a good selection of new products, then do ‘one more thing’ – the big announcement of the day.)
I’m no expert, but I think it’d just sound like a lot of low white noise after the initial shockwave. It’d probably be a lot like a dead TV channel. Er, the way dead TV channels used to sound… I swear I’m not old.
dating yourself old friend?
Now THAT is a Presence Attack.
It is a hefty bonus to a presence attack.
I detect someone else who has played Champions. :)
Yup. Bought up big on the early editions, and played them extensively (currently in a PULP HERO campaign from then) – but haven’t gotten (or played) anything done since ‘Fusion’.
This page is awesome.
That first pannel, withouth Arianna, should be a wallpaper
Sydney’s hair while upside down. Is it supposed to defy gravity?
Yea, it’s been discussed that the flight orb lets her control gravity’s effect on her.
Yup! https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/479/comment-page-1#comment-12991
Sydney’s hair does not defy gravity. Her balls control it. Her hair then just behaves normally in it’s own local gravity field. Sooner or later she will have fun drinking upside down and other tricks normally reserved for astronauts.
Nice bar bet.
I can drink this glass upside down without spilling.
Ok you’re on. Next round is for the loser.
*grabs the fly orb*
We need a minicomic of the team chilling in a bar
Okay, Maxima, roll for Intimidation…
…+10 circumstance bonus.
Also, I’m thinking Maxima tested out this exact level of power on Halo’s shield earlier. Otherwise this is stupid risky.
Well they are a distance from the explosion. Shockwave, heat and debris are probably less dangerous than the direct fire of her “Gold Beams” which the forcefield withstood.
Still, depending on Sydney for the safety of civilians at this point strikes me as unwise…
Look at the stress pattern on the shield.
Ah yes.. That pattern reminded me of a page I’d had open for some weeks and been studiously ignoring because… Well, tvtropes is a time sink.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeehiveBarrier
As variations go, I approve.
Suzie has some nice legs, and so does the reporter who’s trying to crib Peggy’s look. And look at the detail on Arianna’s hand. Hands are hard to draw, and I’m wondering if the artist had someone model that.
Oh yeah, and there’s an explosion, but I’m too cool to look at that.
agreed, on all counts save one: not looking at explosions only counts as cool if they occur behind you. So are you saying you turned your back on Max while she was talking?
Oooh, good point.
Nice save there, Mr. Jee. If it weren’t for you, then…
(•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)
I would’ve blown that.
It would be funny if Maxima buried herself ,like Sydney
Hiro’s face. “Who’s gonna clean that up? Not me!”
Noting too, interesting pattern in Sydney’s force field.
“And one more thing…I turned half of you press folks to stone when the rest weren’t looking! Bwahaha!”
… i think anyone above ARC is going to be a little pissed off about this demonstration’s ending… turning that much area to molten glass probably makes the testing area somewhat less useful after all.
And the camera too. No wonder Arianna’s pissed. You do NOT get the cameraperson stoned at the press conference
And the Mythbusters would love to have Max around, or even be there themselves.
The shield effect is truly nice indeed; great job, Dave.
Jamie: I am sure I left a tank half-full of concrete here somewhere.
Adam: [ Picks up a blade from the tank’s turbine engine ] Well, there’s your problem!
you got the quotes backwards… Jaime Hyneman is the one that keeps saying “Well, There’s your problem”
For the Cement Truck Explosion, Adam used the well-known phrase. I thought I was paraphrasing the actual event, but look at the clip, shows that I goofed.
Love that farting cement truck! And so do the fans, seeing how it was voted as #1 in their Top 25
The best part was when you actually saw the shockwaves in some of the explosions (can’t see it in that clip, might be because of the quality, or lackthereof, of the internet clip or because the farting truck was one of the ones that didn’t have the visible shockwave)
The reason we can’t see the cement truck’s shock-wave is that there is no high-speed camera shot of the explosion. The wave front is too hard to see at only 30 frames a second.
this is how to finish with a bang
I do think Maxima went a bit too far, I sense some backlash over this from the public if not her CO. If I were a citizen, yeah I’d be more afraid of her rather than feel safe.
Can’t wait to see where this goes, also is it me or does Dabbler look hella afraid?
why sydneys hair defying gravity is this a side effect of the fly orb or a error in the drawing?
That’s how the orb makes her fly
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/479/comment-page-1#comment-12991
the flight orb let’s her control a personal gravity field, so “Down” is where she want’s it to be.
Is it just me or is Maxima channeling Alucard just a liiiitle bit the last few pages? What with opaque glasses, going over the top and pulling out all the stops just to piss of the “boss”. :)
You think that maybe Arianna might learn to not put Max in the middle of a lie in the future? (ref: Bank Hold-up) Knowing most of the Marketing people that I’ve met, probably not. *sigh*
If think icy hot is bad…drench those panties (do women still wear those?) in “Liquid Atomic Balm”. Trust me. Icy Hot is to Atomic balm like asprin is to a morphine drip with a tequila chaser.
Are the angles off on that top right panel? I thought the center of the explosion was farther away than that.
“AND ONE MORE THING… changes of underwear will be available back at the bus, have a nice day.”
Am I the only one who thinks that Suzie looks kinda cute in the last panel?
Suzie News has always been cute.
Clark Kent probably has his eye on her.
Sydney’s shield must also have a sound dampening effect, otherwise everyone there would be bleeding out of their ears….
That’s exactly what DaveB already said…
That’s a “I will sneak that hot sauce that Sydney likes into your tea” look.
Ooo, that’s evil.
Ariana: You want some hot coffee, Max?
Max: Sure I could do with another cup. [ Arianna prepares it as described above ]
Arianna: You like it black, with nothing in it, right?
Max: You know I do.
Arianna: Here you go. [ Goes back to her own cup ] Was I drinking out of that cup this morning? Oh well.
Arianna sips and spit-takes her coffee. She runs to the fridge and grabs a pint of Häagen-Dazs and consumes the whole thing trying to relieve the pain in her mouth. We look at Max and see a smirk can be seen on Max’s face as she sips Arianna’s coffee. Do not mess with this lady.
Than giving an extra cup to Sydney?
Sydney does not need caffeine!
Okay Dave… I love the story and concept so far…(yes there is a however)… Showing off this level of power with that much arrogance will earn Max a serious censure from her commanders. You don’t just drop a Tactical Nuke in front of the press to show off (without clearance from the powers that be).
And Max is being a bit shall we say “naive” here? That kind of Bravado will draw the “Bad Guys” to her like flies: The old west Gunslinger effect. Everyone wants to be the one that took down the “Best”. borderline cases that might have been redeemed will see that and go: I can do better than that… Then set out to prove it.
This whole press conference would have had more pre-planning and script writing than most movies. Yet it’s being played as an off-the-cuff thing. IRL I would expect a follow up conference in a few days with Max being forced to apologize for her statements and reckless exhibition of power.
Seems to me that attracting the bad guys’ attention is the point. If, for some reason, super villains decide to carry out directed acts of villainy towards Max and Archon, that’s A.) time and effort spent NOT directing random acts of villainy towards the public, and B.) it’s alot easier to catch a villain when they come to you.
If I were a super villain, I would seriously reconsider my plans for world domination to involve avoiding Archon’s notice for as long as possible, and set it up so that taking me down will be a greater harm than help (primary control of national or world scale economies is great for this.)
All valid points. Max’s perspective is that she’d rather have the bad guys gunning for her than skulking in the shadows. One lets her be useful and punch things, the other has her standing around while Arc-Light tries to figure out how the Congressman was assassinated even though he was in a locked room surrounded by guards, that sort of thing. As far as censure from above, we’ll see how that plays out.
so now the big reveal…. max naked, since her super blast obliterated a tank, surely her clothes wouldn’t survive that. this is always my problem with ” super powers” they go through an explosion that burns everything, and thoroughly disintegrates things, but yet their clothes get a little cut or torn.
maybe that’s the really dangerous thing, the thing that cuts or tears their clothes, since their clothes survive everything else, maybe a dabbler’s science corner on the “super cloth” used.
Personal force field that extends to whatever she touches. Maxima’s clothes will (unfortunately) be fine.
As has been said over and over already, Max can extend her powers to things she’s touching. And thus her clothes are just as invulnerable as she is
But it’s not an automatic thing, she has to concentrate on it, like Sydney activating any of her HALOs
I think the sound effect your after is VLADADA-BAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM
*Pokes at the “BAUUU….”*
Get back in your box! No breaking the fourth wall of the comments room!
Well, general Faulk is right – Maxima won’t lose her crown of P.R. nightmare queen soon :p
also, this page gives Maxima a ‘Dark side’ a bit… if she can go to such lengths to piss off someone :)
I don’t think she’s doing this JUST to piss of Arianna.
Rather the main goal is to warn any potential villains what would happen if they try anything. Pissing of Arianna is just happy coincidence
well, in this case, i think there’s a flaw in maxima’s thinking :) supervillains will not likely create havok in a desert area – so she would show the most powerful villains the fact that she won’t be able to use this particular attack in the middle of a town :) (especially as they will be operating mostly on american grounds :p)
She is also proving she can survive such attacks.
I imagine that Max just gave Arianna extra work in positive spin control with the press.
At least with Sydney it’s “this is why we want individuals with powers to join us”.
“So we can train them to not be total spaz-cases and turn them into very scary, barely controlled power-houses.”
Do not joke about that icy hot thing, I’ve had that happened to me, I was in the shower for over an hour
That doesn’t work. Milk is the awnser
*Pictures Max sitting in front of the fridge yelling “OWOWOIWOW!!! while pouring a gallion of milk over herself…*
^This.