Grrl Power #201 – Prerequisite monologue
You can’t expect me to jump straight to 100% speed lines and explosions. You know villains and their monologing, which is fine as it gives me time to get one more thing in order before it all goes to hell. The exchange between Max and Arianna would play better animated, but hopefully it makes sense.
Anvil makes a guest appearance in another superhero comic called Heroes of CRASH. The comic is quite entertaining but I suspect the art style might not do it for everyone. Still, in my opinion, I think if you have a story to tell, it’s better to go ahead and tell it than just sit on it and wait for all the stars to align. Before I give the link let me set up the page a little, Heroes of CRASH has a superheroine named Titanium Maiden who is also a muscular redhead, hence the obvious potential for an Anvil cameo. Maybe one day myself or some other artist should wrangle up all the muscular red heads and draw them all in one picture. I already have two pictures of Anvil and Xane (draw by Fred Perry). In fact you can see them both if you search “xane gold digger” which I caution is mildly NSFW since it’s pictures of a muscular black woman with red hair mostly in bikinis. I should post both of those to the DeviantArt page come to think of it.
I’m not sure of the hows and whys, but Grrl Power has moved on to the final 8! Thanks for all your support so far, but I assume it’ll only get tougher from here on out! Go vote and tell your friends! Remember, you vote using the checkboxes under the brackets, not any of the links within the brackets.
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love how max is like “dont give a shit
and Sydney is more concerned with telling the super villains she is a vegetarian than the fact that there are super villeins in the first place
Actually, she doesn’t want them to inform even the villains she’s a vegetarian.
“Vegeta” is a character from the “Dragon Ball” franchise. The Big Bang Attack is one of his moves.
That’s no reason for someone to spoil your dietary choices to judgemental villains.
Talking of Vegeta… Is it just me, or does Math’s design look kinda Super-Saiyan-ish? Except, ya know, with eyebrows…
Doesn’t quite have the hair for it.
I like how the supervillain monologues for like a minute and a half, but gets fed up and throws a tantrum when Sydney says like 3 lines.
union rules, Villains have the right to monolog and Sydney’s 3 line interruption is interfering with the villains to monolog. it’s the same rule at allows heroes to be in the midst of a fight still have time to have a flash-back to their training, childhood or some relevant event with out worrying about getting hit,punched, kicked, socked, thudded, ka-powed, splatted or any of the other visual sound effects comic artists are fond of using.
Jeez, he’s even stupid enough to drop *himself* into the villainous monologue…A (slightly) smarter villain would at least wait for the hero to lead them into it. A really smart villain wouldn’t fall for it at all.
But then again, talking is usually considered a “free action.”
Sydney didn’t just de-rail Big’n’Ugly’s monologuing, she set it on fire and pushed it off a cliff.
She might as well have lobbed a lit box of dynamite in the back seat as she pushed it over. That guy’s expression is priceless.
Hey, Dave, your patreon is up to $1960 pcm. Any idea what you’re gonna do when you hit $2k?
Not really. I was thinking about streaming the art on occasion, like penciling or inking, but I think that would be dull to watch since it takes so long to do.
You might be surprised. Tarol Hunt of the Goblins webcomic does it all the time. If you do it through twitch.tv you can answer questions from the chat scroll while you work, assuming that wouldn’t be distracting. It’s not for everyone, but its something to think about. I always thought it was a great way to interact with his fans. :)
He could do what I do while streaming Team Fortress 2 and use a headset while he’s streaming and he can just audibly answer questions.
Another option would be to record and playback at 4x with occasional commentary, but that’s also an enormous undertaking (+25% time spent) so it’d have to be really popular to be worthwhile.
I’ve seen some artists record it then speed it up so you can see it done but really, really fast.
Given time zones etc which ever version you try, recording will be preferred by a lot of your fans.
Get a YouTube account for more advertising for free.
Big Bang? The jokes gonna write themselves…and now each hero’s gonna have to consult Sydney on proper naming and rating of their special power attacks…they just don’t know they need that service yet.
Personally, I’d prefer Daphne’s or Xuriel’s “Big Bang” attack, IYKWIM… ^_^
Did you leave any of the comments on the Youtube video of the bank robbery? :P
Took me a few reads to realise the Max/Arianna exchange, but yeah, it makes sense now. “This was not my idea for PR or to show you what could happen!”
And trust Harem to be as tactful as a door. I like you five times over, Daphne, but seriously?
I’m not exactly sure what it is that Arianna is doing though
I think the sequence goes like this:
Arianna looks scared at the bad guy.
She looks at Max, who is glaring at her.
Arianna is slightly confused until Max glares even more.
Arianna realises what Max is thinking, and then shakes her head to say “Wasn’t me.”
Thanks!
And here I thought she was signalling “No, no, no, no! *DON’T* break up his monologue!”
Yea, I think you have it. I actually interpreted it differently first read through, but re-reading it I came to the same conclusions as you. My first attempt involved matching the pictures to the nearest dialogue, and interpreting the looks in relation to those, so gradually diverges on the lower line of portraits. I will detail it, out of interest, but it also gives DaveB feedback as to how the same layout can either confuse or be read differently by different people.
Frame 2: “Outnumbered” Arianna looks at the villains overhead
Frame 3: “Unequipped” Arianna has a scared look of realisation
Frame 4: “A few drinks in everyone” Maxima is pissed-off that her drinks are going to be interrupted.
Frame 5-6 dialogue: “Looks like the whole gang is here..”
Frame 5: Arianna gulps (she is probably thinking “all our eggs are in one basket!”)
Frame 6: Maxima still looking similar to before (my thought being ‘missing a subtlety, needs a re-read’)
Frame 7-8 dialogue: “… so you have no backup”
Frame 7: Arianna presumably looking at Maxima with face saying “I hope you had a plan for this?”
Frame 8: Arianna looking around in a panic, to see if there is backup.
That was a clear mistake on my behalf reading her ‘shaking head’ as a ‘look around’, to match the dialogue. Arianna’s eyes do not move, but remain fixed ahead, so I should not have taken it that way.
KFox read it right, I did not.
My suggestion for making it clear, in future, is to borrow from film techniques in such situations. Which I think you have done, but just not gone far enough to make it crystal clear Re-arrange things, so that (using this scene as an example) Maxima has to turn fully to face Arianna so that you see her in profile. Facing right from our perspective.
Likewise have Arianna seated so that when she is looking at Maxima she has to go fully in profile (facing left from our viewpoint). That way you get the clear impression of them ‘speaking’ to each other with looks. Which I missed on my first read-through, I am afraid. The repeated back and forth gave me the impression that at some point their views were locking, but only after I was through most of the scene, by which time the significance failed to sink in.
Or, alternatively, do a shot from behind from either of them. The over the shoulder shot, with the other person’s face clearly in line with their eyes. That allows the much more natural angles you have drawn to remain as is, whilst establishing the non-verbal communication going on between the pair.
I think it is somewhat compounded by using the dialogue in two different ways. In the first line, Arianna is clearly responding to that, especially with the look up. So it was a perfectly natural response to carry on trying to match words to actions. So in that instance, I think it was a mistake to have the dialogue running across the frames. Even though, time wise, they did overlap.
Hmmm, that does actually make more sense
I am happy with my takes on 2-3. But 4 should also have ‘Maxima is directing her gaze at Arianna’, which changes the subtlety to ‘stares accusingly at Arianna”. With that realisation, everything else changes. You start thinking ‘why is Maxima accusing Arianna’ at which point the penny drops and you remember the bank scene.
Or possibly instead remember their earlier fracas after the press-conference, at which point you would think ‘oh, this is karmic feedback for Arianna’s alternate take on the villain motives’. This is all Arianna’s fault for suggesting it (following the theme of the Apocalypse cola gag). So Arianna’s shaking of the head would be a ‘no no, this did not happen because I just predicted it would’. Which plays very well in its own right and can do the same underneath both the fox’s and owl’s interpretations too.
Rough translation:
Ari: “Oh dear me, bad guys!”
Ari: “What is it, Maxima?”
Max: “What did you do this time?”
Ari: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Max: “Is this another stunt like the bank robbery this morning?”
Ari: “Oh!”
Ari: “No no no no, nothing like that I swear.”
I like yours better.
Yea, that is actually the way I was interpreting what you said. I probably skimmed both your replies and subconsciously amalgamated them into one, before attempting my response.
Yorp, after reading your explanation, I made the connection with the Bank scene.
Now I read it:
Arianna: “Damn, that’s a big one”
Arianna: “Huh?”
Maxima: “This better not be another test”
Arianna: “Whatchu talkin’ bout, Willis?”
Maxima: “Arianna! The bank??!”
Arianna: “Ooooooh”
Arianna: “No way in hell! Nuh-uh! Not me!”
I actually came to the comments section to get that explained. Its kinda what I thought but was definitly missing the throw back to the bank robbing. Shouldn’t of, but I did
Thank’s, I didn’t see it until it was pointed out to me as well.
“Everyone’s here, so you got no backup”
WUT? If everyone’s here, that means the backup is here already you big idiot
I am pretty sure intelligence is not one of his strong points.
Nobody who can help from the outside, I’m guessing. Everyone in one place, no help expected from elsewhere to hit the bad guys in the back.
But yeah, this guy is still an idiot.
“We’re surrounded”
“Good, than we can attack in every direction”
Seems awefully aplicable here. And bottlenecking the exits won’t work either, when you have supers that can simply make their own exit
I never said he made sense to smart people :-)
So Arc-Swat is about to find itself in a “target-rich” environment. Just try to limit the collateral damage and friendly-fire situations.
Max: Halo, what did I say about hitting what you are aiming at?
Halo: But, that guy was moving so fast, and besides, I only hit Achilles; he can take it.
Max: But you blasted him though the wall, which couldn’t take it. Also, now he had to come back from the parking lot, delaying his actions in the fight.
“Don’t think of it as being outnumbered, think of it as having plenty of TARGETS!!”
“I’m not TRAPPED inhere with you, YOU are TRAPPED inhere with ME!”
Nevyn, Bonus Points if you can quote the movie that reference came from.
But yeah … in this case, its true. One big guy taunting a bunch of supers … who have only demonstrated what they could do, which logically would be nowhere near their maximum strength. The supers aren’t the ones trapped, its the villains!
Watchmen, specifically Rorschach in a maximum security prison to the rest of the inmates.
That line was lifted straight from the comic book.
Doctor Who has used that line on occation.
Doctor: One thing you do not put in a trap with you: Me!
Or even…”Now we’ve got them right where they want us.”
;)
simple rule of the military there is NO friendly fire it all wants to hurt/kill
i would say it’s a good chance for Sydney to show what she can do, but since their in a restaurant i can see a food fight in the making.
I’m curious whether:
1: Harem can teleport to the inside of Halo’s shield (Guess: Yes)
2: Enemy light- or sound-based attacks can penetrate (Guess: No, it adapts)
3: Halo can use the molest- er, LIGHTHOOK, through her shield (Guess: NO IDEA)
I would agree with your points. Plus 3) would likely be an unlockable feature on her skill-tree.
She could take the enemies and bashing them directly on the shield, avoiding collateral damege and grinding experince, taking down two birds with one stone :D
I’m guessing that all of the orbs, by default, including the Hentacle orb, can work through the force field (We’ve seen that the PPO blast actually starts a foot or so away from the orb itself)
I think he ment that there would be no suprise attacks from behind.
Ask anybody who has been in combat. A attack from another flank while you are concentrating on the enemy in front of you is very demoralizing.
No backup? Funny how Jiggawatt has been in the background forever, is now notable by her absense.
We have five people (well, five of one person) who can be behind anyone they want to be in an instant.
Which brings up one of the potentially nasty side effects of teleportation. If she gabs a chair and holds it in front of her, and then teleports so that she is behind the guy but the chair is not, does he then look down and see four chair legs sticking out of his chest (as well as through most of his vital organs)?
Given that DaveB went for pixelated bloody arm, in an imagined scene, I am guessing not. But that could have been more for laughs than as a precedent-setting rule.
It is easy enough to rationalise that teleporter, and the objects they carry, will be displaced if they would appear overlapping another solid object. And something must happen to the air, in any event. Either being pushed to one side, in a similar fashion, (accounting for the Vorp noise) or being teleported back to replace the empty spot where the body once was (the Vorp in this instance maybe being due to the pressure-differential in the two areas still resulting in some air-displacement).
A sudden vacuum left and the sudden displacement of air would make very loud cracks or bangs, potentially damagingly loud. It seems more likely that the air is swapped, creating a gentle “vorp.”
…sooo teleporting into water would then leave behind a Daphne-shaped water-statue (which would immediately collapse in a wet splashy mess)?
Yup. If she had the swap, rather than displace. Either beat the teleporting into the same space that is already occupied by air option. As having atoms merged with each other like that can have very … unpleasant side-effects. The bits of you that survived would probably not be functional after the experience.
A way better idea can be done without chair.
Grab villain head, teleport away with villain head, but not body.
Instant decapitation
Evil Dr. Chu in Wayward Sons did that to kill one of the “Goddesses”. He is an oversize rat so was able to just curl his body around her neck and when he left he took her head with him, which is the only way to kill any of them.
About backup Jiggawatt is not here, nor the unnamed blonde guy who do not seems to be a space marine so could be a super too.
Also we do not know Shawn powers yet, we could have a surprise there.
You mean the blonde girl with the pool cue?
That IS jiggawat
I think he was referring to the blond guy in the shirtless scene to math’s left (the right from our view).
Well talk about a brainfart.
I wonder why I read girl there
the one that kinda looks like Ultimate X-Men’s Storm…yeah that’s Jiggawatt
How dare she disrespect the Prince of All Saiyans!
Actually Vegeta’s names is a pun on Vegetables. All saiyans names are puns of vegetables Kakarot is carrot, Raditz is Radish, Nappa is a term of japanese for green leaves even Saiajin is a pun, In Japanese, saiya is formed by rearranging the syllables of the Japanese word yasai which means “vegetable”.
So yes it is a veggie thing actually :P
And I thought it was the green ones who were plants…
Then what the heck kind of vegetable is an Oozaru? I get the rest of them, but what about the giant monkey?
Oozaru literally translate to “Big Monkey”. No vegetable puns there
No pun, but monkeys do like bananas.
Banana’s a fruit though, not a vegie
Does that mean his son Gohan’s a carrot loaf?
“Gohan” means Cooked Rice, but also doubles for meals in general.
Let’s face it, there are a LOT of food names in Dragonball, from Pilaf to Raditz…
Just about every single name is some kind of pun.
Bulma (Variant spelling of “Baruma” (Bloomers)), her father Doctor Briefs (Yeah, THAT kind of briefs), who names her kids “Trunks” and “Bra”…
Not to mention the pun with the longest set up in history with the introduction of Buu, followed by his master Bopity, and then after 3 years we get to meet his creator Bibity. Yes a “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” pun 3 years in the making.
That’s from Cinderella, not Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
What did you expect from a penguin?
Yeah I thought Anvil might take care of this one, given that delightfully P****d Off expression in the final panel of the previous strip.
:-D
think it was the dust and debris all over the new blouse, she already was complaining about crumbs on it. LOL but yeah I think she’s about to explode..
Also, seeing as it looks like she got hit by some of the debris, she might already have some stored up kinetic energy to work off as well as being miffed about her hair and bloused.
What’s good about Maxima is that, being a unit commander who can anticipate their peoples’ reactions, she’s letting Anvil take her “vengeance” as a matter of course.
Also, she is in command. She needs to direct who fights who, and keep herself in reserve so when she is really needed she won’t be distracted in taking on the small fry.
+1
I love that Sydney thought to get her orbs out before making witty comments.
Also kudos on the lighting effects in Peggy’s hair as the different orbs move round.
At first I wanted to say she already had them out but checking the last strip I realized you are right.
That is also the problem with villain monologue, it allows the supers to get ready.
Yes, but if you go back one strip further still, you see that see has them out there. I believe that she had them out all along, and that they were just accidentally missed out in the last strip.
Yeah I need to add them to the previous strip. I’ll do that today.
If anyone wants to see teleporting balls, go to the previous page and hit CTRL-F5. Dave is as good as his word. You will see Halo’s orbs phase in.
That he is – but I’m surprised he didn’t take the opportunity to correct the reversed color scheme of the bad guy’s hair while he was at it.
Actually she already had them out since pulling the 3 girls apart for the little vegaterian talk.
They are just missing in the last page
My mental image is of the orbs all gathered around one of the steakhouse’s windows saying to each other:
‘Look out there, see the villains on the roof opposite, we are going to have some fun soon!’
“Quick – back to mum!”
*PPO: YYAAYYY!!!
+1
Lighthook: THE HARVEST BEGINS!
What was the thing Canderous Ordo once said?
“Kill the guy who was dumb enough to threaten us before shooting.”
Or something like that.
The usual line is “Fire at Will.”
Personally I prefer the much less ambiguous “Fire at Wesley Crusher!”
Actually, from my time in the Canadian military, I seem to remember the instruction being even less ambiguous: At your own target, on your own time, fire!
Our joking comment was that the military was always careful never to assign anyone named “Will” to the firing range. “Fire at will!” … “Good-bye, Will.”
lock one magazine, load first round, switch your weapons from click to bang and scan your lane. for those with bows remember to retrieve all fired while checking targets. actual quote from the range.
Yeah Riker was cool.
“To conquer an army you walk up to them and challenge their strongest man. After you’ve ground his skull into the dirt you shoot the loudmouth who was taunting you as you walked up to show that you COULD’VE shot the big guy if you wanted to…but didn’t.”
Well, there was this kid named David about 3000 years ago…
Spider-man looks at Iron Man, who signals that the beam cannon isn’t charged yet. Turns back to Ultron.
Spidey: So wait, you’re saying you’re going to kill us all because…
Ultron: What? But we just went over this! It’s because-
*Two minutes pass*
Spidey: Uh-huh. Oh! Really?
*Three more minutes pass*
Ultron: …And THAT’s why you. Will. DIE!
Spider-man looks at Iron Man, who gives a thumbs-up.
Spidey: Oh, okay. NOW I get it!
Ultron is more direct than that and automatically ignores such things as human confusion or verbal means of “wasting time.”
True dat. Just the first villain that came to mind who Iron Man could need a long charge time to damage. Thanos might have been a better pick.
I’m not exactly sure what that Max/Arianna is supposed to mean. When I read it, the impression I got was that Max was silently asking “Can I kick his ass now?” and Arianna was responding with a vehement “No!” (which Max would, of course, ignore). Is that right? Am I even in the ballpark?
Max: Did you set this up?
Arianna: No.
Is my guess. Max’s glare gives me that idea, anyway.
got to agree with kfox on this one
That is how I see it:
Arianna 1: Wow, that’s a lot of super villains
Arianna 2: What is Max doing?
Arianna 3: Why is Max staring at me?
Arianna 4: Oh!
Arianna 5: No, that is not my doing!
Ah yes, that does make more sense.
That was the impression I got too, but I can see the other version working too.
I suspect Maxima may have read Peter’s Evil overlord list.
Love that list.
Look up P. N. Elrods vampire list.
My brother actually used one of those in a D&D campaign: The organism-hating faction of the Warforged (basically, magic intelligent robots) have their own city. Since they don’t breathe and hate living organisms, the city’s pumped full of toxic gases. Adventurers seeking to attack have to prepare as if they were doing a deep sea adventure.
And he even survived the first 3 seconds for a short dialogue. More than most of us would’ve given him. Next page though… not so much.
Of course he did – Talking Is A Free Action
“roll for initiate…”
You’re not a bit-part demon anymore! You’re a leading man – a STAR!
so twinkle brightly… ok try not to be a complete shadow ..for us while you’re up there, if max is ever wondering about her future she can just make a guiding star, out of a villain. yes a nadesco reference.
I’ve always enjoyed watching smug, over-confident people getting their asses handed to them just as they deserved. Consider that Max isn’t even going to bother with Mr. Monologue and is passing him on to Anvil…
This is going to good.
“Don’t be smug, Sydney, that’s a short path to overconfidence.”
Max was being prophetic. Just towards the wrong person.
If there’s one thing I’ve been looking forward to, it’s seeing how Math fights when he’s serious.
With unconscious bad guys all around him. Oh, you mean before that. Well, I sort of blinked and missed it. I guess the Doctor’s Easter Egg is applicable here too: “They are fast. Incredibly fast. So don’t even blink. Don’t blink and don’t look away.”
Of the minor cast* the character I most want to see more of is Gwen. Cute goth-chick always goes well for me, of course. But I am interested to see what, if anything, she can contribute with her weak magic. We just recently had her comment that she is not technically a super-hero. Which tickled me.
* Yes, I know that Math is one of the big boys, actually ranking above Halo. But the principle cast is who the action will mostly focus on. And we know who they are. If in doubt, look at the pictures in the banner across the top of the page. Hit F5 a few times. The names that change are minor cast. The fixed ones are the primary cast.
Gets me thinking of the next orders.
Max: Halo, get yourself and the other non-combatants behind your force-field!
[ Halo puts the force-field around the wait-staff and other restaurant employees, as well as Ariana, Zephan and General Faulk. ]
Gwen: [ Knocking on the force-field with her fists ] Hey, let me in! I’m a non-combatant too! [ Jumps out of the way of somebody (intruder) that someone else (Mr. Amorphous, Achilles or Math, not super-strong like Stalwart, Hiro, Anvil or Max) threw into the force-field near Gwen. ] Yikes! [ Resolve! ] Okay, you want it? You got it! Magic missiles for everybody!
Max: Ow! Gwen, bad guys only!
I think she will be “shields up! SHIELDS UP!!” while casting her own and escorting non-combatants (as the general would be if he was there) to syd’s bigger stronger shield from where they have taken cover across the room.
Thinking more “Shields to Maximum power!”
Gwen isn’t trained for combat though. She’s more inteligence
any mage worth their mana will learn some defensive spells
The best defense is one MOTHER of an offense.
she’s not you Dick.
I believe the naga the white serpent school of magic is a little advanced for gwen
Fireball when you absolutely , positively have to kill every mother f@%&er in the room.
Delayed blast (more dice), maximized (full points for each die), enlarged (wider blast range) fireball right?
I suspect Math’s tactics will largely depend on which side has the most hot females. If his own side, Math will probably spend a lot of his time “rescuing” them. If the other side …..
I was browsing the Cast page and came across Jigawatt’s description.
“Powers: Lightning. If it has something to do with lightning, she can probably do it.”
So… has the Author (or anyone else here) read the manga “A Certain Scientific Railgun”? It should be good inspiration for her auxiliary abilities and I’m certain that Sydney at least should be aware of it.
Good point.
I’ve seen the first… I don’t recall, 3 or 4 episodes. I’m not sure exactly how scientific it is though. I don’t think being able to generate lightning means you can generate a magnetic filed automatically. If Jiggawatt was standing next to a giant spool of wire then I think she could generate a sizable magnetic field, but just a bolt of lightning my itself isn’t especially magnetic as far as I’m aware.
It’ll generate some magnetic field, but only along the bolt itself.
So that’s hardly usefull
Any electric current generates a magnetic field at right angles to the direction of the current. It’s how touchless ammeters measure the current. When lightning discharges it creates an extremely strong current for a fraction of a second with the magnetic field to match. That’s why a magnetic compass swings wildly when flying through or close to a thunderstorm.
The basic theory is sound enough. Any current causes a magnetic field and lightning carries an extremely powerful current.
“A lightning discharge is incredibly powerful–up to 30 million volts at 100,000 amperes–but is of very short duration; hence lightning cannot be harnessed or used.” (Zim, Burnett, & Paul E. Lehr. Weather. New York: Golden Books, 1987: 99.)
If Jiggawatt has enough control to get the lightning to flow in a coil shape, the railgun effect should be possible. Does she have that control? I guess that’s Author’s fiat.
Certainly she has some measure of control since she can get the lightning to strike her target reliably rather than, say, herself or Maxima. Anytime she produces lightning from herself to target someone she’s also going to be fighting against the bolt grounding itself right at her feet.
Well, actually … ;P
The magnetic impulse from a lightning bolt is very strong but quite short-lived and pretty disorganized, as opposed to the magnetic field around AC high-voltage lines. It would be more or less a single impulse as opposed to a continuous field, which is what is found around AC power lines. When you are listening to the radio and lightning hits nearby, you will often hear a blast of broad-spectrum noise drowning out the radio station. This is the lightning bolt’s magnetic impulse.
Over the weekend, I saw an electric eel defending itself from a caiman crocodile with its electric attack and the caiman just shook for a few seconds before just slumping and the eel slithering out from underneath. It was absolutely amazing how devastating a series of DC pulses can be.
I hope you had your camera running at the time? Although I appreciate that predicting such an unusual event would be rather hard to do. But awesome if you did pull it off. Re-staging that, just to film it, it would, of course, be unethical.
quite likely one of those nature shows.
Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that I saw it on National Geographic Channel. Caiman tries to bite eel. Eel zaps caiman to death and then wiggles free back into the muddy creek.
You don’t have to–not for a rail gun. Rail guns work by means of passing a current through the air between two rails that get closer together at the far end. For some reason, as the rails get closer together, the current moves faster, and carries the projectile with it.
That said…yes, if she can generate a current, she will generate a magnetic field. Magnetic fields are caused (in part) by the movement of large masses of electrons according to certain patterns, which are automatically induced when the electrons move across most media. Lightning bolts don’t (I think) generate current, but most other electrical transmissions will. They just don’t generate MUCH current if there isn’t iron involved.
If I were Jiggawatt, I would carry something iron on my person at all times, just to screw around with the Magneto equivalent. The fun part about electromagnets, after all, is that they can be reversed….
Without meaning to insult you, I have to say you seem to either have trouble wording things clearly, or you do not have a particularly firm grasp of physics (at least as far as electromagnetism is concerned).
A few corrections:
– A railgun works by passing a current through the projectile (or a SABOT or an armature holding the projectile). This causes a repulsive force between the projectile and the parts of the rails behind the projectile. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun)
– Lightning does have quite a lot of current. Trees don’t explode from voltage alone…
– I think you may be confusing electric current with magnetic flux. Aside from being a reasonably good conductor, iron has no special relation to current. Giving an electro-magnet an iron core does increase the strength of the magnetic field by a lot, but the coil should be made of a better conductor (the electromagnets in the calutrons used to enrich Uranium for the Manhattan project had iron cores with coils made of silver. 13 000 tonnes of silver.) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro-magnet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calutron)
For all the science shows I watch, either out of curiosity or due to having a now 8 year old around, I should probable have a much better grasp of electricity and magnetism. I guess I need a refresher.
A Certain Scientific Railgun was named the way it was not because it is accurately scientific. It is a superhuman fantasy show after all. The name was a play off of the anime “A Certain Magical Index”. The main characters in Railgun are supporting characters in Index, which came first.
The point being made is that the main character in Railgun can do all kinds of things with electricity. She is listed as a level seven Electromaster. Flinging pocket change at supersonic velocities is just her personal favorite trick.
Level 5 electromaster. That’s actually rather important. There are seven level 5s in the city, so that may be where you got the number seven from, but the fact that nobody is higher than level 5 is significant in the series. Becoming level 6 is considered equivalent to becoming a god, to the point that the scientists who run the city are constantly trying to do it, because they want to analyze what God is like, and they believe analyzing a level 6 psychic will be the same thing.
Misaka’s powers at level 5 are very diverse, and are not limited to simply generating electricity. She can sense electromagnetic fields around her, to the point of being aware of living organisms and electronic devices all around her, she can take control of various electronics (part of the things Academy City does to make people into psychics includes treatments to boost their intelligence; a level five psychic’s brain can outperform a supercomputer), she can of course use all sorts of direct electric attacks as well as a significant number of attacks and other things involving magnetism.
There is undoubtedly a lot of creative license on the author’s part, but it’s not intended to be hard science fiction. The whole thing is set in a world where magic exists, and the psychic powers all work due to the kids essentially believing that they can do something that physics says is impossible, and disbelieving in the physics that say it’s impossible (they call it “personal reality”) so it’s not actually intended to work perfectly by the rules we understand.
She can also do the Spiderman wall-crawl by electromagnetising her hands and feet to the building’s steel frame.
for a lightning powered rail-gun you would need to shape the lightning in to a coil. that would create an electromagnet that would be very powerful and would pull metal through it.
drabacks
1 the lightning coil would heat up your projectile that plus air friction would melt most comen alloys thus limting range
2 all magnetic mettle in the aria would be attracted to your super electro magnet (although this includes any metal the villein may have on his person)
3 louad as well thunder and a sonic boom combined
4 flashy it would probably blind/dase anyone looking at it
5 may fry small electronics with emp
6 would need a large Clarence in front of the hero to pull off the move
Mecha Railgun is best Railgun. …no seriously Mikasa once shot a mecha at her target.
If she uppes the power on her attack from earlier and directed it to the center of the Earth, then she probably could match Vegeta’s planet destroying “Big Bang Attack.”
Ah, how many DBZ fans are here? There must be a lot, I think.
That won’t be Big Bang Attack that would be Frieza’s death sphere attack.
+1 here. pore bad guy I’m thinking he should have a shirt on i mean it is a restraint. But he is still gonna get service, he’s gonna be shone to his table in a 3 by 5 cell. though to be fair if he was wearing a shirt it would be red…lol
Ah, how many DBZ fans are here?
(Rolls dice to see if I can resist trope temptation)
(Fails roll miserably)
It’s over 9000!
swats over head with paper fan (ala bulma) bad juan. in the leaky doghouse that lacks electrical or internet wiring you go. yorp yours is the one with the roof top whirlpool, central air, and full snack bar please don’t let him trick you into switching.
That is cruel and unusual punishment.
At least give him dial-up.
That’s even crueler
AOL
Actually in original it is over 8000. Don’t ask why they made it 9000 in dub version not even the word are simlar. (8 is hachi, 9 is kyu)
Aren’t the big guy’s hair colours inverted? That’s my impression comparing it with last page… or maybe it is a matter of light.
You’re right, looks like they are inverted
Easter egg: found!
Nice one.
It’s been a long time since we’ve caught one of those.
It would be easier for him to change the previous page, than changing all the colors on this one.
I’d say not exactly inverted, more like, their saturation/ brightness is inverted, but keeping the tones O_o
I think it is just the Gamma, like 0.40 higher, but same colours.
I am sure that there are at least some of them that know who Vegeta is. It’s just that they unanimously know that now is NOT the time Syd.
At least Syd is geeking out and possibly freaking the villains, like: “WHAT!? There’s somebody even stronger than her in your team!?”
I think he is in for a hammering, from Anvil.
So her powers DO have something to do with hammers?
Actually her powers are more related to a literal anvil, and the enemys are the hammers
She can store kinetic energy. So the more someone punches her, the stronger she gets (or that’s how I understand it)
Yep, So please, PLEASE, mister Steroid…Take your shot!
I was playing off Yorp’s comment by making a Sydney reference.
Peggy seems to be committing a Firearms Safety Violation. Something I would not expect from a character that has been portrayed as a competent firearms user. Especially one who is active military.
Finger on Trigger, gun pointed in a non safe direction and not being properly controlled. Not a HUGE thing, it’s a comic but it seems a bit off putting for such a situation.
If I get the positions right, I think she is covertly aiming at guy’s… privates.
She’s also pointing dangerously close to Harem’s hand. And if memory serves several peoples backsides. It’s just not professional.
I was mostly joking.
the gun is pointed so it could hit the villen but also note who is each side of that guy
max – bullet proof
anvil – bullet energy absorbed making her stronger
peggy knows what she is doing
Hmm. I wanted to show people tensing up for action, but I didn’t have room on the page for chairs being shifted and whatnot, so I wanted to show someone doing something. I’ll fix it so her finger isn’t on the trigger if I have time.
if the intent is to show Peggy preparing for action, her most likely actions would be to tip the table for later concealment, then adopt a single-knee, modified Weaver or (more likely) crouching A-Frame stance, with the weapon in the ready position
thus why pegs other arm is under the table but a couple of kids are leaning on it so it doesn’t work right
I think dialogue in combat is great. Quentin Tarantino does it masterfully, and what you are doing here plays just fine. The only time when it seems odd, in comics, is when there is a speech which would take a minute to say, overlaid on a scene which would be over in a couple of seconds. But, even then, the genre allows such artistic license, so I would not be bothered about it personally.
But if it can be worked in at natural pauses*, then so much the better.
* Like when Tarantino has the two gunfighters in a bar realise that, after much shooting and missing, and ending up face to face, that they both have empty guns. A perfect break in the action at which negotiation, taunting or even lengthy debate can be conducted. Until the Mexican standoff breaks and the fighting resumes.
A Mexican standoff requires three gunmen…
Two gunmen and Quentin. Perks of being an actor/director. You can cheat at math :-D
Okay bad guy, when you come in here with that haircut you deserve everything they can throw at you.
Also, the property damage and threatening civilians, that’s also bad.
I like that Maxima also drinks beer with her pinkey raised.
I don’t even know why I sometimes do it, it’s kinda automatic
only Ladies and Gentlemen does it ;)
(that means you’re a lady/gentleman, just just for clarification)
Still hoping for a Hulk vs Loki smack down. :)
except with Loki doing the smashing?
Only if you call that big dumb party-crasher the hulk. I’d love to see him end up embedded in the floor letting out a tiny wheeze out pain and shock.
Picturing Syd doing it to him with the Lighthook
She’d be sure to say “Puny Hulk” as she strutted away.
Ok, first off, congratulations DaveB on winning through to the semi-finals of the Comic-Mix Tournament!
I am not a follower of the other three comics which have made it through to this stage, so have no idea of our chances going forwards. But (if I am reading this right, the regular voting in the semi-finals is now closed. With the results in our bracket being Widishens 18% versus Grrl Power at 38%.
So congratulations for that too! And thanks everyone who cast a vote.
It is not over yet though, as the paid voting is still carrying on. So Widishens could still beat us, if their readerships’ pockets are deeper. But no shame in that if it does come down to that. We have fought a good fight.
But if any patrons want to influence the paid voting, there is still time to vote. *
* If I am following it right – this is a very hard competition for doggies to understand.
I also add my congrats to his. :)
As a side note, I checked out the other 7 comics in the top 8, and yours is hands-down the best drawn (by a lot) has a better “hook” (none of the other ones grabbed my attention within the first 10 comics as being something I needed to read further)
That said, Ava’s demon has some VERY avid followers… But IMO, it’s not even really a Comic… It’s a serialized animated online show, with a few still images, which still makes people think “comic” despite the fact that it passed outside of “comic” long ago.
In short – Don’t be so hard on yourself, you make one of the absolute BEST web comics I have ever encountered. Modesty is all well and good, but don’t be surprised at your popularity.
And OotS was beaten just as their forum comes back up. Which, given that the Jumpstart for that comic earned more than $1M, is a very good thing. It’s already a proven thing that those readers have very deep pockets indeed.
This guy really is all shades of stupid…
I half expect to hear Anvil in the next page to say “With gusto.”
More like “With pleasure”.
Same meaning, different languages.
“With pesto!”
Pesto? *Appears with a bib and fork* Delicious!!
I guess I completely misread the Ari/Max exchange, That’s what I thought went down :
Ari : wtf ?
Max : Really ? Now ?
Ari : She doesn’t look too happy
Max : Now I’m pissed
Ari : That can’t be good, don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it
and that’s why Max ends up asking Anvil instead of going at it herself
He he. I think we now have three distinctly varied interpretations. Each of which read validly in their own context. Like much of art, it can say different things to each viewer. Which is not a bad thing.
I think now might be a good time for Sydney to pull out the Truesight orb to check if Mr Smartass (Tauntalus, the Aggravator?) is being smug because he is stupid or because he brought one or more invisible friends along with him.
An alternate scenario is that he is a power absorber and he is waiting for someone to attack him so HE can power up. If this were true and he and Anvil started duking it out, would they both keep building off each other?
Energy can not be created or destroyed, so technically… and somewhat counter-intuitively, the last person to throw a punch would be the looser by virtue of having expended precious kinetic energy. THIS ASSUMES the other guy doesn’t hit back, expending the energy he/she just absorbed.
This…should be good.
That dude is just lucky he didn’t land behind Sydney and startle her.
DaveB,
As to the whole not “jump straight to 100% speed lines and explosions”, that’s fine most of the time, but every once in a while, when the situation is urgent, you should do it.
I’m not going to make a detailed comment about the Arianna and Max exchange, as you’ve gotten great feedback already, but I will say that once I “got it” I loved it.
“That dude is just lucky he didn’t land behind Sydney and startle her.”
Yeah, that might get his tongue ripped out…
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/241
Like Archon Security wasn’t all over this two days before the bad guys even knew they were going in. I can hear Max getting a message while she was in the can, “Bad guys inbound. ETA 15 minutes. Threat level is Mauve, repeat, As in a Shade of Purple-Grey (major annoyance, minor threat). Big brick taking lead, North side of steak house in 5..4..3..2..1..”
Max’s response, “Sigh.”
+1
A reader of The Flying Sorcerers?
Minor nit: it’s “as a color, shade of purple-grey”, the electronic translator’s attempt to translate “Asimov.”
Anvil: “Big dumb brick with a bad haircut says, ‘What?’
Brick: “What?”
WHAM! Brick heading back out through his entrance hole.
Realized now.. Math have a supersaiyan haircut XD
Is Peggy getting another gun ready? Where did she put the other revolver from the last mini-comic?
It sounds almost like they have history.
Fridge logic: Military girl, packing a revolver, not something with a much larger magazine yet more easily concealed? And putting it on the table, inviting rash moves? Of course you’re setting the stage, but, you know… it doesn’t make much sense to me.
She had to put down the gun so she could reach down to her artificial leg and fire the hidden ‘toe’ missile.
wait… ‘toe’ missile? or ‘TOW’ missile?
…or both?
*slaps you with the pun pillow*
“redirects attack to O.B.Juan”
Inviting rash moves?
I don’t think anyone’s going to outdo the badguys here in inviting rash moves.
Ya know, with the hole bashing in the roof of a steakhouse and monologing to Maxima
Yeah, the ex-/current sniper having a bulky revolver doesn’t really work for me, either. Peggy would have some kind of M1911-type pistol, probably a Glock-21 or similar weapon. If she’s half the gunsmith her spare worktable indicates, maybe even a full-auto Glock-22, ported to reduce muzzle rise. Kind of like Alyx Vance’s gun.
We know she has a variety of weapons. But is probably limited as to how many it is polite to put on the dinner table. From the previous comments, it sounded like she had a good choice for close quarters use against a rhinoceros or elephant. Which this guy roughly equates to.
Precision shooting is a sniper’s forte. But when toe-to-toe with an ugly like him, you just need raw stopping power. And hope you have enough!
The revolver is for when you really have to knock someone down with the FIRST shot. A revolver is generally more reliable than an autoloader. I think DaveB pointed out she still has two semi-auto pistols on her as concealed carry (where she’s hiding them I don’t know).
I should clarify. By ‘previous comments’ I was referring to those about the revolver pictured in the mini-comic under the last issue. As that was in her left hand, and the one above is in her right hand, I am guessing that she is ambidextrous and is dual-wielding. But keeping the revolver out of sight under the table at the moment.
That way she can use the revolver if brute force and ignorance is called for. Whilst having the other one to give her a wider range of options. But, because she intended to dual-wield did not opt for a sniper weapon. That is probably in the trunk of her car. Or motor bike. She looks like she would probably prefer two wheels.
This seems like a fierce enemy. He is the biggest character thus far and he jumped through a wall. It will be interesting to see how this goes down.
You know, I know a lot of folks told me I was under-estimating the amount of money being thrown around here, but I will reiterate: this is going to be a VERY expensive fifteen minutes for whomever got these guys together. If my math is right, we’re looking at $30,000 per minute. That comes out to something like a third of the total operating profit for the day from, say, Wells Fargo, which is one of the biggest banks in the country.
I know folks think corporations have a lot of money, but the reality is that, mostly, that money is already spoken for by the time it comes into the coffers. Microsoft, for instance, brings in about $55,000,000,000 per month, which looks like a lot of money. However…the cost of collecting that money runs to about $15,000,000,000 per month, operating costs run to about $25,000,000,000 per month, and Microsoft pays dividends on its stock. The above costs leave about twenty-five billion for dividends. All of this money must be precisely accounted for, if Microsoft wants to continue to do business in the United States. Why? Because the Treasury Department, which runs the IRS, has the power to declare Microsoft’s actions illegal, and seize the company’s assets.
So how do you bury the half-million dollar operations like this, without it coming to light? Especially if you have to pay dividends, and Wall Street watches your operations like a pack of over-hungry hawks looking for a meal?
Because I promise you, Apple would just LOVE to see Microsoft suddenly disappear.
See, the thing is, we’ve already established that Supers can make a lot of money in private industry. So for a supervillian to show up, they’d have to be able to make even MORE money in crime, or they’d have to have a really powerful motivation to be pissed off. Then, you’ve got to be able to make these folks disappear, because when a person gets paid that kind of money, you keep track of him or her. And making somebody vanish is EXPENSIVE.
So…to reiterate. We’re talking a half million dollars, easily just for tonight. According to the true crime books I’ve read this last weekend, it costs about two to three million for an ordinary person to just vanish and to stay vanished. Since all of these people are really memorable in appearance, getting them to disappear forever is going to cost a LOT more. Conservatively, though, I’d say…double that cost, at least. So we’re talking forty to sixty million dollars, for fifteen minutes’ work. And that’s money that will have to be spent, otherwise there will be no possibility of getting more supers to work with in the future (because nobody wants to get hung out to dry). Corporations cannot simply execute those who fail them, lest everybody else who might fail them suddenly decide that now is a really good time to take their vacations. Most corporations cannot throw forty million bucks down the drain just to remove a troublesome pest. They’re much more likely to try to infiltrate and conduct some kind of espionage program, to try to keep things under control…just like Harem is being used for.
Governments, however, have no such problem throwing money around. And, too, governments CAN execute people, because they have the law (such as it is) on their side. So…I’m figuring government, or some kind of major shadow organization. I, personally, would go with government, because that could easily tie back into Dabbler’s concerns, and what she’s here on Earth to accomplish, whereas if a corporation were doing it, then Dabbler’s concerns would be much more in the nature of paranoia than an actual purpose.
There’s also the private individuals with lots of money to throw around. Billionaires do exist. Governments and businesses aren’t the sole source of large quantities of money.
What, you never seen pictures like this before?
https://cdn.cnwimg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/cash1.jpg
That’s a real photo from the bedroom of a real drugdealer.
207 million unspent dollars.
Now imagine a true crimeboss, who commands an army of super powered goons.
You can bet your ass he has WAY more money than that.
PS: I’m pritty sure your estimated cost of making someone vanish asumes the disaperence should not be tied to whoever ordered the hit. That adds quite alot to the costs. Bribing officials, the hit itself, bribing more officials, bribing cops
I like the idea of bouncing on top of it like a bed until it gives and I sink into it like a leaf pile.
If you can’t swim in your money, you are not rich.
According to forbes, right now, Bill Gates has 77.6 billion dollars
https://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/
Again, you are underestimating how much money some people have
Bear in mind, that’s “net worth,” not “ready cash.” That includes house(s), cars, & investments. Bet he still has a fat wad of cash though.
A real genius with that much ‘net cash’ makes sure they have a couple million in ‘liquid cash’ within easy reach at all times (like an episode of NCIS:LA a couple weeks ago: this former Romanian people smuggler hiding in LA, he had a few dozen million in property, in the ‘real world’, if he was truly smart enough to have been hiding profitably in LA he should also have been smart enough to have several million ready for a quick getaway, instead of as muscle-bound meat-head was asying he would have to sell things at pennies-to-the-dollar, but have often felt Ice Cup’s character to be big on brawn, extremely lacking on brains)
It doesn’t even have to be purely liquid. You can easily convert many investment vehicles into cash within minutes just standing on line at your bank or brokerage. So your “get away quick” money can still be earning you money.
I suppose if you’re afraid of having all your assets frozen this doesn’t apply, but anyone who is still capable of selling a house or other major asset for “pennies on the dollar” is not in that situation.
Sounds feasable. Especially if you include the possibility of a gov’t employee/official working for (or running) the Bad Guys’ organization.
Finally, even IF your numbers were true.
If I were a crime boss in this situation, and I thought I had a chance, I’d throw ALL my available recources at the problem. Every penny I have available.
This is a group that was specificly brought tougether to stop me (the guy employing 11 super powered bad guys).
I can either try to fight it, or try to run. And if I’m going to fight a superwar against the goverment, I’m going to need everything I have (and probably more).
And if you DO succeed at wiping out the super heroes, than you basicly rule the country.
Not only did you wipe out a big group of supers and stop them from stopping you, but you also discouraged any left over supers from joining a new attempt. So there’s noone left to stop you (in the mind of the crime boss)
I’ll admit, crime boss is a more likely backer than a corporation. Still, he’d have to be pretty far-reaching, maybe international, to pull this off.
If he didn’t have far reaching contacts, there’s no way in hell he could gather up 11 supers to do his bidding
Put up a sizable bounty maybe, and let money-oriented supers come to HIM?
This assumes that this is a paid-for organized attack.
Those take time. Heck, it takes time to spend money. To find, sign up, and fly dozens of supers across a country takes more than a couple hours.
This is either organized by the peep that Harem reports to (who had advance notice and thus time to plan) or this was organized by mob. EG: dozens of people individually are taking Max up on her challenge at the earliest possible moment.
Do not forget the possibility of precognition or other forms of remote-sensing.
Somebody who could sense super-powers, for instance. They would know precisely where to find every super. And, assuming she is a bad guy, would avoid the cops and anyone who looks too ‘upright citizen’. Et voilà, one criminal gang is gathered together. Plus she would be able to sense when there was a big gathering of the supers she had previously identified as good-guys.
Warning her colleges that something big was likely coming down. They get together themselves, see the press conference, and head on over to where she tells them the heroes are hanging out.
No mastermind required (she could be a fairly low-end non-brainy criminal, who just avoids cops).
No budget required other than petrol money.
Hey, isn’t that the Kim Jong-un haircut?
next page
(as anvil plays hackisack with the blue brick)
max: I always saw it as more a bunker buster lake the gav flare or masenca blast than a planet cracker like spike-hairs big bang as well.
arianna: wait you know the super she’s talking about? why didn’t you try recruiting them?
halo: slayers ref nice try for nerd cred but weak.
max (leaning out of way as anvil gets tossed past her): the jerk is not a team player and he’s a comic character not a real person.
halo(holding true sight): behind you.
(max grabs invisible fool and tosses out a broken window)
blue brick: how can you have such a calm stupid conversation while I fight that cute tan little girl?
anvil (KOing him and blushing): dang he thought I was cute.
I’m pretty sure the blue brick would be yelling something more like “don’t ignore me!”
that may start my sentence but he still has to wait until he believes kenya down for the count an which point he gets grumpy the other powerhouses act like he is not worth attention.