Grrl Power #186 – Fingers to maximum steepleage!
So remember this page is coming off of the previous one where Arianna was about to suggest somewhat more adverse effects of Maxima’s challenge. Had I planned the page slightly better I would have grouped them differently and had those yellow narration blocks with Arianna saying stuff like “There will be those taking your challenge… as a challenge / looking for revenge / weaving you into their plans.” Or something like that, but coming off the previous page I think it makes sense without that narrative nudge. If today is the first time you’ve seen the comic and you’re starting with this page, then it may be a little confusing.
If you happen to be able to read Arabic, I’m sure you’ll get a good laugh out of whatever Google translate spit out, compounded by me trying to hand transcribe it. It probably reads like the Arabic onomatopoeia for static now.
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So we have…Kingpin Kong, the evil Dr. Clean, Blizzard RPG Villain, Captain Toilet Paper, The Charred Manders, Arts And Crafts Guy, and Ruroni Kenshin’s evil twin.
Arts and Crafts Guy…I was going to go with Lucky Charms. Evilly delicious!
Guy? I’m pretty sure that’s a woman.
I call her Lisa Frank.
Guy used to be unisex term. Also it used to be drogatory…
Unlucky Charms! They’re tragically malicious!
That’s from Mucha Lucha, isn’t it?
No panel 5 is Phoenix Wright.
Phoenix Wrong
If he’s dumb enough to try to paw the Maxima he will get a all-expense paid funeral; assuming they can find the remains.
You assume there will be any.
Deus rocks a Trinity knot! Just noticed this. Doh.
I’m sure somebody has said this in the comments on some page, but here, I’m especially surprised at the lack of
Ia Ia!!!! Cthul’hu Rl’yeh phtagn!!!!!
Maybe later, I suppose. But evil cultists just don’t chant like they used to. Now it’s stuff in some language meant to be spoken while gargling Crisco. Bad guys just don’t have as much style anymore.
If anybody got that joke, then I’ll smuggle cookies without you needing to join the Dark Side. If you’re already on the winning team, however, I’ll have to think of something else.
I’m getting the sensation that each of these panels is a shot of a future villain fight… which would be totally awesome…!
the first ones done, but maybe that means in order?
The third one was the demon lord (or whatever) that Dabbler thought of during the press conference, so I’d be surprised if we didn’t see a lot of these surface as the ‘final boss’ of their respective chunks of story. Heck, the mummy might be the one that Max thought was dead too.
My estimations are like this:
1.Vehemence (we know him, sortof). Basically the polar opposite of Dabbler, he gets his power from violence, relies mostly on brute strength to fight, though he is cunning rather than clever.
Is going to be freed by another villain (maybe or maybe not one of these, not sure) to serve as a tool. Or is going to be a help to the team against a highly apocalyptic event (some kind of super war or extraterrestial threat, idk). Possibly a storyline similar to Magneto.
1.5Dabbler is more the clever/smart type intelligent, though later scenes make me think she either enjoys toying with people in fights and never gets serious, or she’s not particularly high-intelligent for a succubus, only very good at inventing stuff (assuming her tech isn’t just standard for the “succubus/alien race she’s part of). enough on dabbler, character speculation is a different thing entirely.
2.religious sect leader with superpowers that are basically that of a severely “nerfed” god. Does not have the brute strength of Vehemence, but has some sort of screwy powerset that makes it extremely difficult to take him down even for Maxima (maybe something like a less-powerful Halo, but with more experience on how to combine him). Has a bunch of followers and a few strong supers as “bodyguards”. (maybe mindcontrol)
3.Dabbler’s Demon, is going to be summoned to earth by a bunch of RPg’ers (DnD peeps, geeks, whatnot) where at least 1 has magic powers not too dissimilar in function to what Dabbler has, though from a significantly different source. Possibly from an ancient tome or some sort of Jumanji game. Not sure whether it’ll be an accident or they’ll be crazy with the power they found (would be good as a way to show what COULD have happened with sydney obtaining powers).
4.As speculated probably the individual that’s as powerful as maxima (if not more so) that she thought died. I think she may have tried to blow his head off similar to what she was considering with Vehemence (which might also be why she was so quick to start delimbing him, with all the consequences. The result is why he has a completely hidden and veiled face, as his power level meant that Maxima using full power to blow his head off severely burned his face (probably melted most of his skin and muscle tissue, and cracked his skull) and knocked him out solidly, simultaneously creating a state of shock in which the body temporarly ceased to function. Now he’s back for more.
5. Either Illuminati style classic evil genius + right hand, or a european mob boss that is rich enough to employ supers. Have a supremely complex plan that manipulates multiple large powers in several fields: political, economical, military, scientific (both running research for stuff like mass mindcontrol and discouraging external research that they think is a threat to their plans) and even social (manipulating the media much the way Arianna does, but on a much higher level. This would be the part where Max actually starts listening to Arianna, as this guy doesn’t fight physically but socially, trying(and possibly succeeding) to manipulate public opinion against Archon, eventually causing the government to pull the plug. Fight would involve getting back public opinion by preventing/mitigating the damage from some large scale disaster. Possibly a high-powered super trying to (publicly) set off the Yellowstone Supervolcano.
6. Joker type villain, possibly mind control powers or something more like that episode of Star Trek TNG where they are transported to an entirely different part of the universe (another galaxy), where their thoughts become reality. Definitely something to do with the mind/illusions.
7. Deus. Not sure if he belongs to the list or was added as a joke, but apparently he runs Arc Dark (or at least people call it that). At some point it is discovered that an essential member of the ARCHON organization (possibly Arianna, Leon, the general or even maxima/dabbler? and apart from Harem ofc) is taking orders from him to intentionally mess up ARCHON’s operations. This discovery goes slowly as missions become increasingly weird/violent/ethically questionable.
That’s my current speculation
Deus doesn’t run Arc-Dark. His company supplies Archon with some/most of their equipment.
Yes! I just paged back to find this page, and Mr. Challenge Accepted *was* Vehemence (whom I totally adore, BTW).
I need to redraw his face. The shape of it changed a little by the time he showed up next.
Yeah, it did. I wasn’t sure it was him at first. You should edit the faces to match if you ever get the chance.
I want to say I’m enjoying the hell out of this comic, and I really like Vehemence as an antagonist. I’m not sure yet I can give him the apellation “villain”, since so far all he’s done is fight people whose job it is to fight people like him. Maybe that’s ALL he wants, and the “Challenge Accepted” was literally all he meant.
I just hope he can mostly maintain that dignity and humor; he makes a nice counterpoint to other types of baddies.
He’s the kind of antihero that ends up teaming with the good guys to take on the apocalypse-level baddie. You know, like they do.
It seems like it actually makes sense. by the time we see him later he is already somewhat charged up from violence and here he looks like a wimpy version of himself.
NOTE: —Small SPOILERS in above posts—
Re-reading this gives me hope that some of these other guys will show up later. I looking at you Mr Clean. The world needs to be sanitized!
I feel like the first six panels all represent characters who will be major-ish antagonists as the story progresses.
Probably with Vehemence as the weakest, because we need to build from him, not drop down. Except for, like, one shots. One shot villains are always funny.
Vehemence turned out to be a great villain. I could see this cleansing guy turning into a major arc, and since we’ve actually already seen a glimpse of bad-guy #3 in Dabbler’s past, its easy to imagine him showing up to reign some terror.
But the next three just become progressively more dumb. I hope they never graduate to more than what we see here.
I don’t agree with you about them becoming dumber. Okay, the Japanese one, with the “kawaii pictures” on his mask seems rather dumb, but even that can make her (him?) more interesting, depending on the justification.
The Arab and the shadows can be really interesting in my opinion, especially now that I’ve read the translation of what the Arab is saying.
The Arab is strongly connected to one character and has an international dimension that would be really interesting to study (frontiers are usually something only vaguely dealt with in comics – for example, in Marvel’s universe, the heroes act internationally while usually having no right to be there, and they are rarely challenged about this [rarely – I have at least two or three cases where it was ignored, and there is the matter of the UN mandate of the Avengers], not even when they attack government officials or even chies of states in sovereign countries – Dr Doom in Latveria to name but one).
As for the shadows, they are “clearly” intended as members of a conspiracy (I say clearly quotes, seeing how “Challenge accepted”‘s costume was a misleader as far as Vehemence’s goals were concerned). And, well done, a conspiracy is a really good narrative tool.
I just hope they are not supposed to come in that exact order, because, after demonlord, I think the Arab would look tame Ironically, the conspirators could still be really good since they would act in a different way – but then it’s Deus who would look like the conspirators but enhanced.
Something that all comics can teach everyone, by the way: there is a point after which all stories are only old stories told slitghtly differently.Better to stop before reaching that point and start anew.
While the lesson from DragonBall – and many shonen manga – is “making new oppononents interesting only by increasing their power will only lead to a ridiculous escalation in power which will decrease the interest of the story”. And with Vehemence’s power… well, I hope DaveB is not taking the DBZ road… :-)
My impression from the translation was that this chap is likely the only other super that has fought max to a standstill (well I guess we can add V to that list now). i.e. it’s so much the better that Max think’s he’s dead when he’s still alive and well.
Him speaking arabic would make sense since it’s suggested the largest amount of super fighting she’s done so far is in afghanistan/iraq.
I agree. That’s what I meant by “strongly connected to one character”. The character was Maxima.
Panel 6 looks like a massive villain with a small child to me. Someone who will be significant trouble, but then turn into a moral quandary for some of the team as the little girl who helped mommy(?) make a pretty mask with her stickers.
So… Are Vekter and Opal the ones in panel 5?
I really do not want that last guy (with the X scar on his face) to be a villain. An Antagonist yes, but not a villain. I do not know what it is, but I like him.
Difference, villain is pure bad guy. Antagonist is someone that pushes the Protagonists story along.
I’m not sure if anybody mentioned it yet (due to the sheer number of posts here), but I noticed during a re-read that the demonic creature in panel 3 looks remarkably like the demon that was vowing to return in #176.
Same guy. I’m pretty sure it was mentioned though. :)
The resemblance has been mentioned several times, but this is the first word of god on the matter. Are you sure we’re supposed to know that?
He looks basically identical, it’s not supposed to be a secret, just there for observant people to notice.
Yep. Definitely Vekter and Opal in 5. Hope they signed up for Obamacare.
I don’t think Vekter has sharpened teeth like that guy does, though.
Grrl Power #482
Zova and Gunnhildr
A friend of mine from work is Syrian by birth (Christian, emigrated as an adult). She was easily able to read your script, and it made perfect sense. She commented that short sentences generally come out okay, but longer ones tend to turn out hilariously stilted.
“I am the dead one. I am much better now.”
Hah, well, it’s supposed to read Dead am I? So much the better.
Sort of a Moby Dick/Wrath of Khan reference, but obviously nuances of language make it difficult to retain intent.
Interesting given the thought to be dead blood Mage though the image is unidentifiable.
The redraw of panel #1 made me jump a bit. He looks a lot more sinister than before.
I’ve starting making fixes for the book, and while I can’t go and redraw all the old page, the previous panel 1 on this page was in dire need of an update.
Any chance you’ll post a list of re-drawn/touched up pages?
Yeah for some of the major art fixes I probably will.
Apparently you inspired other artists: https://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20150527
I can read Arabic, and lol, Google Translate is indeed a teeny bit messy here. I am supposing you were intending “I’m dead, am I? That’s much better.” It’s actually pretty close, but it actually reads like this “I’m dead I/me? That’s much better.” We don’t really have an equivalent for the “,am I?” phrase. You could substitute it for “Oh so I’m dead then? That’s much better”
.اه أنا ميت اذاً؟ ذلك أفضل بكثير
I know this is a really minor point and you maybe don’t have the non-typeset version anymore, but I like your stuff so I decided to comment!
Thanks for the insight! I don’t know why I felt compelled to try and put it in Arabic instead of using <comic translation brackets> I guess I wanted to throw an Easter egg in there for people who had the ability. From what little I know about the complexities of Arabic, I’m almost surprised google got it as close as it did.
Really what I wanted him to say was “Dead, am I? So much the better” as an homage to Kahn from Star Trek II – which I assume is an important movie in the Middle East. :)
You know, I thought that line “There she is! There she is! Ah… not so wounded as we were led to believe. So much the better.” was lifted whole cloth from Moby Dick, but apparently it’s not. In my defense, half the things Kahn says in the movie are adaptations of Ahab’s lines.
Going back through the archives, and noticing this, but not wanting to spoil it for anyone going through the archive for the first time.
At least one of these guys *not counting the one introduced before this page* has shown up so far as a villain.
Frigging Deus. You shouldn’t be allowed to be drawn that adorably!
Okay, I am late to the party as possible, but that’s Vehemence in the first panel there. And the line he spouts off in his panel fits him perfectly.
Does that mean we’ll see Evil Dr. Clean next?
So 6 End Bosses? And Dues DX.
Btw. When are we going to hit Chapter 3?
So coming back to this page, looks like the current arc (second big bad) may be panel 5 duo? Sciona in the back, her head being different due to the whole “cut off most of it” situation, with Zvonamir being the speaker – his sillouette does match quite a bit, given 3 years of artistic improvement and potential redesigns. The dialogue even matches the presented goal of unveiling the supernaturals to the world, if the “new player” is Archon as a whole – using supers coming out as part of their plans to get supernaturals out.
The heck you on about. That’s Gunnhildr behind Zvonamir. They were on Grrl Power #482.
Wait…. If the guy in the first panel has been seen in the comic as a villain…… That means that the other people in panels 2,3,4,5,6, and 7 might be seen in the comic also as villains?
I’m not sure if ALL of them exist, but we’ve seen the first guy, the last guy, and I think the mummy, too. Plus the demon in the third panel was a real one, but Dabbler already beat him and sealed him away like a JRPG protagonist’s grandpa. It would probably be a waste of narrative space to bring him back.
This means we’re still waiting for the lady in the cat mask and the old guy with yellow eyes.
Obviously, I’m not the first person to suspect this, but who wants to lay odds on the guy speaking Arabic being who Maxima was talking about when she said there were two people stronger than her? Especially with Dave’s confirmation of what he’s saying. Also, I agree with some of the earlier comments about that shadowy figure possibly being Sciona, especially since the other shadowy person’s visible hair things looks like she could be Brunhildr the Norse vampire lady. So the only unknowns are ‘cleansing’ dude (my mind has labeled him as a Nazi, but it could be totally off base about that) and the lady with the fabulous mask.
Haha, whoops, I mean Gunnhildr. I’m bad with names. Also, pointy hair shadowy dude beside her is most likely Zova, the vampire she’s talking to on page #482, not Sciona as I originally thought.
Could someone please post page numbers where these guys are mentioned?
So obviously major spoilers for anyone who is reading this page for the first time, the following is up to date for *1053 enter the easifat ramlia*.
First panel (top left) is Vehemence, violence loving guy who masterminded the parking lot brawl. Properly introduced in *249 the plot much like the gravy thickens*.
Fifth panel (in the middle) are Gunnhildr and Zora, two vampires working with Sciona. Introduced in *482 panty raid 0* and revealed to be working with Sciona in *489 two liter minimum* (for Zora) and *564 it’s time to play beat that deathtrap/565 thermal shock knock knock* (for Gunnhildr).
Third panel (top right) is Thothogoth, the more-than-50-foot-tall ex-boyfriend of Dabbler. First appeared in *177 intergalactic baggage* and properly introduced in *982 no longer sleeping with the archenemy*.
Forth panel (left middle row) is a yet to be named person, seemingly first referred to in *150 not sure where max stencils her kill marks* as the only person other than Dabbler that has ever fought Maxima to a standstill. That part is not entirely clear. First introduced in *1053 enter the easifat ramlia*.
Also in comment https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-186-fingers-to-maximum-steepleage/#comment-409196 Passing Arab seems to be giving the best translation of the Arabic.
Clean guy and Anime Mask are still unknown, as far as I could figure out.
My google translate app has the Arabic as “Dead am I? Thou shalt abase much”
humm. i’m kinda surprised that an alien demon would watch earth TV…
Does no one else think that the dead Arabic guy might be Cthillia?
No
Kevin?
I like how in hindsight at least three of them actually appear, though at this point we have only seen two and one only in Dabbler’s flashback.
Does anyone want to tag Thothogoth?
Eight years later, we’re back here with “Toilet Paper Man” finally making his appearance.
Is this the thing Max was talking about? “one fewer than they did” … ‘I hope’
Popping from 8 years into the future and HOLY SHIT THE FORESHADOWING!!!
So we’ve gotten Vehemence, Thothogoth, Darude, and Vector and Opal. Just need the Reverend Stryker pastiche and weeb mask.