Grrl Power #204 – I guess everyone parked in the back
Yes, Maxima had her jacket on the back of her chair the whole time. You can check. And her gun I guess… which you probably shouldn’t do with your firearm, but it is a private party, the room is full of supercops, and a regular human would have a hell of a time pulling the trigger.
Maxima isn’t dodging lasers and lightning, she’s dodging the people shooting those things at her, the same way a ninja supposedly can dodge an arrow or bullet by watching the person doing the shooting.
There are a few more cameos premiering on this page, but I’ll save pointing them out for when they get a close up. Another thing about this page, I reserve the right to come back and make tweaks to the villains that appear on it. Like I’ve said, some of these guys are chaff, so I didn’t put quite the same amount of time into designing them as I did the minibosses.
Here’s a few links for you.
Amazing! We’re in the ComicMix finals! We’re up against Paranatural, which I’ll admit I haven’t had a chance to read through, but it looks fun. The page they have up now makes me want to find the time. I encourage you to go check them out. Voting is sure to be fierce! Tell you friends! Like! Share! Retweet! Ride through town on a horse with (no name) a lantern or a bell or something!
I made that Status Quola gag into a shirt, cause I thought it would be ok as a standalone gag. And the barcode actually resolves to something now. (It’s just the URL to this page, where else?)
Superbitch is doing a kickstarter for her first book if’n you’re interested. It’s one of my favorite superhero webcomics.
And finally, speaking of Patreon, we finally hit the $2000 milestone, which is pretty boggling to me still. Anyway, it means I’ll start steaming for an hour or so once a week. Or more, we’ll see. I’m sitting in front of the computer drawing anyway so I may as well stream. Obviously that’s only for people who want stuff super spoiled, but I promise not to stream any pages with major stuff on it like the opening of the tube or the skilltree reveal, but those only come around so often. I’ll probably chat and do Q&A while I’m doing that but we’ll see how it all goes since I can’t draw and type at the same time. I’m not sure when I’ll stream, the best way will be to follow me on Twitter, because that seems to be the best way to throw spontaneous stuff out there. I may also settle into doing it at a predictable time on the weekends as well.
Edit: Well that may be a record, four separate grammar errors. I apologize for that. They should be fixed now, if you CTRL+F5 the page.
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.
I think you mean “glass cannons”.
Just because they’re villains doesn’t mean they’re not also in-continuity glass. Expand your horizons, man!
No, DaveB spelled it canons, instead of caNnons
It means they may be able to shoot energy bolts, but are human normal in their toughness.
More general than that – someone/something with a GREAT offensive capability, but distinctly poor durability and/or defenses.
That would be like my current character in one D&D campaign I play in: 250ft range, 6d6+1 damage and 37 HP at level 7 (other players keep asking me how I managed to stay alive long enough to reach 7, I tell them I play smart). Oh, yes it’s a ranged Touch attack with +12 to hit at level 7. If I roll a 3 or higher I’m almost guaranteed a hit.
I’d like to see the build. :)
Lots of magical items that buff spell-like ability and stack, plus an extremely high dex and a spell that gave a +3 to modifiers, Also I spent most of my gold on firepower enhancers.
that… really isn’t what I would consider a “cannon”
I had a gunslinger who at that level could make 3 touch attack hits of 2d6+7 with something like a +12 to hit
though he wasn’t exactly glass given he’s a d10 class
I got it, man. I was gonna do the same joke.
Glass is about to fight Spinnerette. That is canon.
D’oh!
Ok, that and several other issues are fixed now.
Pretty sure it should be “Chances are A lot of these guys are glass cannons.”
Although, I must commend you on proper use of the term “Hump the Barrett” Dave… and on the proper amount of squee that even guys get when asked to do so :D
I honestly think you shouldn’t worry too much about grammar. A nice writing rule states that grammar doesn’t matter if it’s in quotations. Same goes for speech bubbles. People rarely speak in clean, correct grammar, and expecting it to hold up to academic standards in the middle of a fight is hard to comprehend. Bad grammar just makes them more real as far as I’m concerned.
As a former raid leader, I actually sympathize pretty strongly with Bokken Lass.
(That’s her name now.)
Except that is a shinai, not a bokken. Still, Shinai Lass doesn’t have quite the same ring to it…
Shinai Sweet cheeks?
Only to her friends.
Shinai Sheila might work if she’s Australian?
Too bad really about the Shinai. If it were a Bokken and given the symbol on her bandana she could be … “Bokken Heart”
I’m beginning to wonder if she knows her Shinai from Shinola. I predict further Very Badly Hurt-edness. Very soon.
Shinai Sal?
Oh no, she IS Math’s nemesis, her shinai already looked pretty dangerous, but her cleavage seems to be a damn death threat.
People, let’s not forget she has a shinai AND a curious looking headband…
I’m in favor of calling her Kendo Kid…or Kendo Kandi, if feeling cheeky.
Not to mention dodging Bokken *itch or Shinai *lag in the process.
Her as Math’s nemesis makes so much sense it’s (hilariously) scary.
I had a little chuckle over the fact that her keyhole cleavage-display is actually shaped like a keyhole
I’d expect Math to be trying to find the key to her heart…as much of a lech as he is.
Keyhole Kensei?
Keyhole Kenshiro?
Prepare for glass breakage.
I think that warning could apply over at Spinnerette as well.
No, over in Spinyverse, they will have molten Glass
Bottom panel. “Every who can croud control get out here and even up these numbers.” Missed a word?
Pretty epic comic. I’m trying to figure out what everyone can do
i think its supposed to be “everyone”
Think there is also a comma missing.
Crowd control much?
I see use for the Hent-Orb and Archilles.
Are you suggesting Sidney uses the Molest-Orb to beat motherfuckers (villains) with another motherfucker (Achilles)?
That was so funny. Now I can’t stop seeing Sidney having Achilles by the ankles, swinging him at the villains. :-)
I thought of that idea a few times myself.
Except the thought was aimed at Erase his Face or the Golden Gauntlets.
I could easily see Sydney grabbing either of them by leg or arm. And their horrified looks as they begin to rain down on their ‘teammates’ being directed by that Hentacle
That would be the better idea, but not as funny as Achilles. Especially if he had a look similar to when Peggy was picked up.
That seems to be the idea, and a quite nice one. Else Archilles would be reduced to a simple tank. With this, he could be a burst-dps-like Hammer.
Maybe Syd could swing him around a couple of times, mowing down the odd villain, then launch him at one of the enemy bricks, getting said brick off their feet and bringing the brick and hammer down on a certain anvil. Meanwhile, Syd could use the Hent-Orb for exactly that and inflict a thousand years of pain on one of the villains .
Come on, we all know we’d want to see that.
I think that is supposed to be “Everyone who can do crowd control,” …
The ‘one’ is in ‘everyone’ already, you may have an old version of the image. Dave did a bunch of corrections. If that was one of them. CTRL-F5 will update it.
I think the ‘do’ is optional in that sentence. It sound fine either way. The way it reads at the moment is very much common usage. If it still sounds wrong, try substituting ‘fly’ for ‘crowd control’. “Everyone who can fly get up here” is perfectly ok. “Everyone who can do fly” is uncomfortably wrong.
Umm, I don’t know why it is ok either way for the former but not for the latter. But at least it supported my point that it is ok as stands. Even after having a brief look at Wikipedia, I am none the wiser. Maybe some English teacher will enlighten us? :-)
I wonder what’s up with the guy under the tree in the upper left corner. Is he a super-villain, or is he just some dude watching the fracas from a “safe” distance?
Possibly, I think he is one:
– An innocent bystander.
– A villain smart enough to use cover, possibly with ranged powers that do not show that he is the source.
– A villain who wants to see how it develops before he acts.
– Someone reporting to whoever arranged this fight.
Or a third party checking out the power of both sides maby he does not even have a goal and he just figured it would be a BA fight xD
– The one casting the illusions.
Upper right corner maybe? Skulkers in open melee always trigger suspicions in the gamer in me.
Personally, that is the first guy I would target with the .50, as he is most likely either a mastermind, or some other type of background troublemaker.
Anyone just wanting to check things out would want to be at a MUCH safer distance once the big man came flying back out of the building, and lasers and stuff started flying around. So, if they were not part of it all, they would be running.
Or, they are too stupid to live, and soon to be a Darwin Award recipient.
as discussed last comic, we quickly run into the problem of who is a valid target and who is a passive observer. Even in the presence of wrongdoing, it’s not a crime to stand by and observe the goings on. Last time this was mitigated by the fact that the individuals in view were standing on the roof of a building, thus tresspassing and lending credibility to them being members of the same group. In this case, tree guy is (for now) literally just standing at the periphery and watching. No hostile action, no demonstration of hostile intent, no crime, not a valid target.
Folks lurking nearby to watch won’t be attacked, but if they don’t leave before the situation is under control they’re practically certain to be detained.
Or, depending on what tactics Archon’s worked up in advance, they’ll head home to report and be tailed by X or another Arc-Dark member.
Not a valid target for *lethal* counter-fire, perhaps, but that doesn’t mean ignoring a possible threat. With the range of powers and technology at their disposal, as well as proper training, non-lethal, non-damaging take-downs would naturally be part of their doctrine.
At the very least, have Harem pop in behind him and taser him.
And I stand by my assessment that he is a viable target. It’s the guy standing off in the background just watching, when everyone else would have cleared out, that is the one to trigger the bomb.
Really, I have the same zero tolerance for non combatants who, in the middle of a firefight, poke their heads out to see what is going on.
I’m sorry. But, can you NOT hear the gunfire and explosions? If you have no clue what that means, you are too stupid to live.
shoot somone just for being there seems a little extreme.
and “he don’t run way so in must kill him for Darwin” too.
Someone hanging around that close to a Super fight is not an innocent bystander
No no no, you have it backwards: not only is it in the top right corner, but it’s actually a Treant using a store mannequin as camoflague :D
“Some of them may be…”
Whoo-Hoo! Super fight! Anyone wearing a Go-Pro?
That guy in the yellow shorts is massive.
Just another Brick to bat.
Reverse Hulk (or Hulk with an alternate colour-skin, like they have in some games)
I vote his name shall be ‘The Embiggener’.
Name already taken by the shield
The perspective lines on the crowd scene hurt my head until I realized that *most* of the larger figures are on the roof and are much closer to the camera *except* that one guy in the parking lot who is just frikkin huge. Then it all made sense.
I had the exact same reaction myself.
I feel like a statement of “Thank you for fully authorizing lethal force” is in order for the 30 or so nitwits shooting at a peace officer.
ditto
In order to warant lethal force, it would need to be letahl for max or bystanders. Right now they are shooting the air with what is effectively peashooters. Max has enough time to talk tactics while dodging that.
By that apparent line of reasoning, if anyone was firing a gun, one would have to wait until they actually HIT someone/something before it counted as hostile action.
Granted ARCSWAT isn’t the Secret Service, but…..
https://www.irs.gov/irm/part9/irm_09-002-003.html#d0e417
9.2.3.5.2 (04-14-2011)
When Deadly Force May Be Used
Use of deadly force is permitted only when necessary and if in the considered opinion of the special agent, either the special agent or another person is in imminent danger of loss of life or serious physical injury.
“Imminent” has a broader meaning than “immediate” or “instantaneous.”
A subject may pose an imminent danger even if he/she is not at that very moment pointing a weapon at the agent.
Deadly force may be used to prevent the escape of a fleeing subject if there is probable cause to believe the subject has committed a felony involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical injury or death and the escape of the subject would put the special agent or others in imminent danger of serious physical injury or death.
Special agents may direct deadly force against dogs or other vicious animals when necessary for self defense or the defense of others.
That’s very incorrect. Let’s create a somewhat similar situation in our world:
A mixed crowd of 20 police & marines are in a restaurant having dinner. The restaurant is surrounded by 30 people with guns / bows & arrows / rocket launchers / unknown-weapon-looking-objects. The people surrounding the restaurant have even opened fire so we know that they aren’t ALL brandishing Nerf guns.
I think we can all agree that the people in the restaurant don’t need to wait until they’re actually struck with bullets / arrows / RPGs before they can shoot back.
The only difference here is that the bad guys in the comic are using weapons of unknown power – the unknown portion doesn’t make what they are doing of lesser severity than the gang-of-30 in my example.
There may yet be another level to tactics here as well. While lethal force might be readily used on some of them, this is effectively their teams first fight. So it’s important for Maxima here to do this fight with as little bloodshed as possible for all sides to bolster the image of a police force for supers and not the negative super hit squad for the government what some comics seem to focus on in some stories.
Going along that point, a few of these super baddies might not be so baddy as they are misled. Which makes it even more important for Maxima to show her stuff here. She showed her power, now she has to show the teams competence in a actual fight.
However, the people using attack-powers are using them in the expectation that they are able to hit and damage supers, rather than normals, and using spray-and-pray targeting puts their discipline level at a point where they can credibly be expected to endanger innocents, should any be present (at a restaurant, the presence of innocents should be considered confirmed, due to customers and staff.), justifying the use of force in their apprehension, essentially acting in ‘self-defense, or the defense of others’.
As soon as any of those blasts/beams/projectiles damage a wall, roof, pavement, or anything of reasonable substance, they can be considered potentially lethal if they strike a vulnerable part of a person’s body, such as the throat, or the skin of the inner thigh (route to the femoral arteries, which results in a RAPID bleed-out).
If any of the blasts going into the air are material projectiles, they’re going to fall to earth somewhere, (unless they’re faster than escape velocity) an thus present a nearly random hazard to the community. Remember, people have been killed by bullets falling back to earth after being shot into the air.
Note the flying concrete parking log – seems material enough to me.
Also, shouldn’t Hiro and Harem get a Who’s Who, seeing as they both appeared, or at least their disembodied heads did?
Good point, they’re added.
Is one of those villains throwing car stoppers?
Yep, the one in red, right by Max’s hair.
Huh. You’re right.
I had thought the stopper was thrown by the blond figure in green pants (located near where most of the fire-ower is originating), who is in a nice follow-through posture. But apparently s/he threw something else.
Because the Red Catapult person you pointed out is stationed right next to the only supply of car-stoppers in the lot (only the four spaces nearby have them [or three, now, since one is missing]).
But the bar is tumbling randomly in flight, not being used as a javelin. So, I think Max might snag it, as it poses a random threat to people on the ground behind her, and put it down somewhere safe, like that big guy’s face….
“fire-Power”, darn it!
OK, next time I’ll try to remember to use underline instead of italic to high-light a missing letter in a word.
And maybe I should stop talking to myself…
D’oh!
I am sure that blond is “Bombshell” from last panel on: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1271
and she seems to be throwing the yellow energy ball that is midway to Maxima.
That just makes me giggle. I’m like “Is that.. is that a parking lot divider??”
Don’t laugh too much. Those things carry a lot of mass at a small impact point.
Might not go through a tanks armor, but would pierce a armored car.
Max is a little thougher than an armored car
What does Maxima mean with crowd control? I think only Dabbler has this power with her hipnotic boobs and lust aura. Abd what does she mean with the “lightstorm”?
I’m not a native english speaker XD
Edvard, crowd control in this context generally means anyone who can deal with several of the enemy at once. Sydney could, for example, use her force field offensively by surrounding several badguys with it and letting them blast away and possibly hurt themselves, since her force field seems pretty close to impenetrable.
I’d really be dubious about letting Sydney just wander around out there, especially considering that no one knows what these guys’ powers are yet. Sydney’s force dome is permeable to both light and sound (else it would be opaque and soundproof). Those lasers might just punch through her dome like in strip #1-2, which could put her in a world of hurt.
There is nothing indicating that the shield won’t keep those out when over a threshold level. The use of the shield during the press demonstration indicates it can do that since it seemed to keep the IR levels of max little demonstration to a point that the press didn’t get cooked.
It was clearly stated that it stops harmfull levels of energy/pressure only. So not opaque, but still won’t let lasers through. Or deafening sounds.
The main reason they are not considering Sid to do that, is that she is untrained and needs the shield to protect herself. Not getting in danger is the best Sid can do for the team right now. And even dropping the shield for a second might allow a speedster to get to her/treathen her.
The three (four) roles and thier job’s in MMO’s are:
Healer: Keep the team alive
Tank: make the job of the healer possible, by drawing enemy fire while still dodging what is possible.
Crowd Controler: (often sidejob of DPS/healer). Lock down foes so they won’t cause trouble for a while. Ideally totally, but even delay till more important targets are dealt with is okay.
DPS: Take down foes as fast as possible, from weakest durability to strongest. Because the less there are shooting and punching, the better. Also don’t step in AoE targetting tank or draw aggro away from tank (unless you can disable them fast). And Don’t. Break. CC. (that last part is where most DPS have problems with).
You perfectly described what I have yet to see done well in LFR (Looking For Retards).
If I may add my thoughts for the super-villain side of the battle.
– If possible, introduce an odorless lethal gas into the room to take out or incapacitate as many as possible before the main action starts.
– Launch an initial barrage of shoulder launched missiles with high explosive and incendiary warheads at the building to trap and burn who you can.
– As people stumble out of the wreckage, start picking them off with your snipers and beam shooters.
(making sure to have the building surrounded and air support in place)
– As the surviving heavyweights start to fight back, send in multiple persons per target to engage them. – If possible, try to assign persons capable of resisting or counteracting the powers of the super they are attacking.
– Always fight dirty. Do not pause when they are down or vulnerable. Do not stop right before the kill to taunt them or tell them your master plan. When you think they are finally dead, shoot them again.
– When the supers attack your team, have hostages and human shields in place to slow them down.
– Note: if nuclear weapons are available, it may be possible to use them in place of the above strategy.
Yeah, only hit someone being controlled if you can take them out with one hit (like you used to do with old D&D computer games: Hold Person or Sleep, then one-shot at your convenience), or have been directed to hit (best to turn off AoE abilities/spells/whathaveyous)
That being said, it’s not just DPSers who have to be on their game, the CCer has to make sure the crowd remains under control or be ready to put them under again when it breaks (because it will, that is a certainty)
To me, there is a difference between a ‘Meatshield’ and a ‘Tank’, and most people refer to a ‘Meatshield’ as a ‘Tank’
Back in our days of playing MMOs, we had a saying:
Shut up and listen to your raid leader.
If the Tank dies – it’s the Healer’s fault.
If the Healer dies – it’s the Tank’s fault.
If the DPS dies – it’s their own damn fault.
It usually solved most arguments.
One think I have noticed in a lot of MMO’s is that the healer is a hell of a lot better at drawing aggro than the tank or Aggro Mages can conceive of doing.
Speaking as that former tank, if the healer ever drew aggro, it’s cause I was dead. And that only happened during a wipe or if the DPS did something stupid. A tank that lets the healer get aggro isn’t a tank. Doing something hinky with their gear and letting themselves die? That counts as not being a tank too. Tanks have one job. Standing there and taking the punishment by making yourself the nice juicy target the enemy cannot ignore.
In comics, that’s usually the “brick”. In your face, the “wall that walks like a man”, hitting you just hard enough that you can’t ignore him, too big to go around, too tough to drop without blowing your entire power pool (and even then you aren’t entirely sure you can one-shot him solo), can survive re-entry from orbit – naked.
And to go back to the MMO example for a moment to quote a good friend of mine “I once tanked Naxx using a board with a bent nail in it.” (to be fair it was a very impressive green drop, probably the best I’d ever seen in those early days, but come on, it was board with a bent nail in it … still, he did hold aggro)
That’s the tank. Anything else is DPS with a shield.
That’s the thing: if they are expected to just basically stand there and take the hits, then they are a Meatshield, a Tank is a DPS/Meatshield combo
Rule of thumb maybe. Tanks can still get themselves killed despite a good healer if they are dumb enough or are trying something hinky with their gear.
Heard and used those 3 sentences too. Usually when I was the healer.
Another 3 setences I use in SWTOR a lot:
1. Tank engages first. Not DPS. ESPECIALLY not healer (unless it is a really weak group with no danger). Everything else jsut makes the tanks and/or healers job more difficulty and mistakes by either more likely. I used that one to get hasting DPS or healer to slow the heck down when I was tanking.
1b) for tank only: Don’t outrun the healer. In case we had a hasty tank.
2. DPS go for weakest target first (because what is dead deals no damage). And that rule is universal among all MMO, with less then a dozen exceptions per MMO.
You’d be surpised how hard it is for anyone in Star Trek Online to get “weak foes deal most damage” part. Most players there will try to outgear the enemies rather then use simple MMO targetting logic.
3. Don’t. Break. CC. (because most CC in SWTOR has 45-60 seconds[normal duration] cooldown or can only be applied out of combat. And there is only one CC per class, tops).
Tanking is imho the hardest jobs of all. You have to maintain aggro (against DPS who will propably go burst first and might have better weapons). Plus maintain your defensive powers. Plus dodge what aoe you can/interrupt what you can. And make certain those AOE’s don’t hit rest of group. And perhaps draw the foes/seperate them.
Healer in SWTOR is second hardest. You will generate tons of aggro and need to stay withint 15m of tank so he reduces your aggro (the guard effect has 25% aggro reduction, but a range limit).
Each healer class in SWTOR is different.
DPS can be quite hard too. You need to get a proper feel for the class, figure out how to deal burst/stable damage. Also dodge any random target powers of the bosses. The groupquests with most wipes is where there is a high tax on the DPS. Because DPS tend to be plenty, but not nessesarily good.
I don’t remember seeing it said that Sydney’s shield acts a hard limiter to light and sound energy over certain thresholds, but I assume that it is in the comments or somewhere. That said, there are ways around even that. A properly modulated light show could cause vertigo and nausea and possibly unconsciousness, all without exceeding the proper amounts of lumens. And illusions (assuming that she is not also using the truesight orb) could cause her to be a hazard to others, if not herself. Plus an illusion showing a safe situation could lull her into dropping her shield voluntarily. And we have not seen whether a teleporter like Harem could completely circumvent the shield, either by going in and taking her out from the inside, or just slipping in a small amount of mass, like a grenade or a volume of poison gas.
Personally if I was a teleporter, who had good cause to kill, I would just teleport my enemies’ organs to a hospital. One that that is not too fussy about proper consent procedures.
The skeleton first to a few meters above them. Then the organs to a hospital.
Then the hide back home for that leather suit you are making.
Okay found this: “but unlike all the others, she can’t take anyone with her. Clothing, equipment, easy, but no people. Possibly nothing else living.”
A little vague but Dave seems to be trying to avert the kidnapping and organ ripping thing (though he’s flexible on living matter in this statement still… )
Still leaves the question as to whether she can rip inorganic matter apart by porting it out. That would be a good power vs. cyborgs and other weapons!
(after fight ends)
max: how did this cat get to the restaurant?
daphne: I picked her up at home on the way over and it’s a kitten.
max: I was tracking you can’t port living things.
daphne: only if it’s to big or unfamiliar.
Now I’m gonna have to read the whole darn archives of comments to find out if Dave said she was aloud to teleport parts of things and or organics or if there is some handwavium field protecting organics or something!! Gonna take FOREVER darn you!! XP
But… forcefields block damage. I mean- zee damage.
Crowd control, area effect attacks to drive them off the building and into the others in the parking lot. Jam them into a tight group. Lightstorm, I think Harem is about start teleporting and either distracting the big ones or punching out the smaller fish.
It’s a gaming term ( actually it might come from somewhere else, but I’ve only heard it from gaming ).
It’s when a character has spells or abilities that can temporarily slow down, stop, confuse or hinder some enemies, so you don’t have to fight all the enemies at the same time.
Literally, control a crowd, by whatever means (and by ‘crowd’ it usually means ‘more than 2’)
Military or police terms it means person that can keep random civilians out of the theater of combat. Not sure what way Max is using it because there are other people giving the RPG definition.
No way would they be attempting to set up police-cordon type crowd control from inside a besieged position. They should, however, contact the local police to seal off approach routes. Perhaps under other Archon personnel supervision
Thank you a lot guys and grrls. I think harem can create a little chaos while teleporting and hitting people on their heads XD. Let’s see what happens!
Congrats on ComicMix FINALS!!
Lots of luck… and VOTES: https://www.comicmix.com/mix-march-madness-webcomics-tournament/2014/04/09/mix-march-madness-2014-championship-paranatural-vs-grrl-power/
The scary thing about Paranatural is that it made it all the way to the final round, and the author of the comic hasn’t mentioned the tournament on his comic, tumblr, or twitter at all.
As of my vote, it’s 71% vs. 29%, with Grrl Power in a clear lead.
Well, Paranatural is a worthy enough contender that I have added it to my regular reading list. But I have to remain loyal to Halo and keep my vote here.
Congratulations DaveB, whichever way it goes. Getting through to the finals is a great way to raise the profile of the comic!
Used to read Paranatural, but it was one of those ‘pick-up’ reads not a regular one, and hadn’t seen a shared link from one of the regulars for ages, will have to find the time to catch up again
It is 52% to 48% as of now. Grrl Power still leads.
Losing now: 48% a 52% :(
It do not show the amount of votes so can’t say how much votes is the difference.
Vote is 367 them to 311 us as of my voting second time.
Not good :(
Also “Paranatural” has purchased votes at least twice before (as much as 175 to win in Round 3) so we will need to build a margin just in case.
Now we are below but almost even.
In the first 12 hours “Paranatural” got more votes than in the four days of the previous round. We got way less than half.
49% to 51% losing as of my vote :/
50-50 now
as of 11/0752 TX time, vote is 419-411 GrrlPowerComic in the lead
Well, I was told that 30 minutes to go we are loosing 608 to 645.
IE “Paranatural” is getting near TWICE as votes than semifinal, Grrl Power is almost 200 votes LESS than semifinal.
It seems that it is all to paid votes… if any.
Good luck Grrl!
So Megan’s orbs are basic lasers.
Or can do they more than just shoot?
Possibly just better fire control.
I guess she is a one-trick-pony (or glass cannon). A powerful attack but not much better defense than a regular human.
But she’s a miniboss. Gatta have something more than just a glass cannon for those
Previous page DaveB said: “Don’t worry her powers are entirely different from Halo’s. I rather like the powerset I came up with”
I think she has a more than one.
Or at least more than one use for her powers.
The orbs shoot yellow-white lines. They’re not necessarily lasers, they don’t necessarily deal normal damage. For all Maxima knows, they could be mind-control beams. Or they could be harmless. Random superpowers are annoying like that – better to dodge if you can.
They could be Darkseid’s Omega Beams – nearly infinite effects produced.
stuck in a block of ice is a good trick to use against someone that displayed max’s abilities hope the weight stopping legs keeps them from speeding, not moving arms stopping blasts or punches, silencing commander breaks unit coordination, not trying to open wounds makes durability pointless.
True, but DaveB alludes to Max “dodging lasers” and Hex’s rays are the most look alike. Not a proof itself course.
Lol, Hump the Barret
I hope they’re recording for the after-action debriefing (snort).
Hey, don’t stereotype — it could be a deboxering. Or a depantying.
Actually, knowing Harem, it’ll be all 3. Or at least an attempt at all 3.
That description sounds more applicable to Dabbler than Harem. She already got depantied.
Panzer? I hardly know ‘er!
I think Harem has had more overt references or innuendos associated with her than Dabbler right now…
Are we sure Dabbler is the one who is part Succubus ;-)
What does she mean by that? Does she just mean “Get the leader!”? I’ve never heard this phrase before and assume the author just made it up. I don’t see anyone wearing a berret?
I think the Barret in this case is a big gun that Harem will take to Peggy. Humping in this context is military-speak for carrying something on your person as you are walking.
A weapon produced by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc.
Possibly the Barrett M82, a sniper rifle used by the US Military. Or if they are nasty the Barrett XM109, an anti-materiel rifle. Given the last one’s weight it would explain the “humping”.
Any Barrett is a ‘hump’. They don’t make any light weapons.
I only wonder why the question even needs to be asked. The weight limits of Harems teleportation should be well known to the leader of the team.
Never mind it was explained lower down. The Google totally failed me for a quick explanation. *shrugs*
Hmm, that guy with Yellow hair, under the street light.
His shirt looks like Sydney’s shirt
That’s Sydney’s bad-egg cousin
Okay, so that’s one of the wakiest parking lot layouts I’ve ever seen. Who uses red and yellow lines to mark spaces anyway? I’m willing to forgive the lack of space for maneuvering in some places because the supers are the focus of the shot, but that steakhouse is getting horible space efficiency. What’s worse is that there are parking stops in the spaces in the middle of the parking lot. There’s nothing for cars to hit!
Well the stops have 2 functions:
One, is to stop cars that are parking from driving half out of the parking spot. AKA, to make sure they stay in the spot.
And 2, to give the strong guy something to throw at Maxima
By the end of the fight, they’ll probably be able to redo the parking lot layout…
And possibly any pipes or sewer lines running under the parking lot, going by Maxima’s “pound them into the ground” philosophy, that she shared with Syndey.
I see what you mean about the parking lot. Those middle two rows would be impossible to get into or out of if there were any cars in them. It’s my first parking lot. :/ The yellow lines should be white but the red lines are for the fire lane so at least I got that right I think. I’d fix it, but the page I’m working on now has a lot going on and I’m a little behind this week
Okay, the red makes more sense now. Fire lanes are yellow, much smaller, and not required at steakhouses where I live.
I had thought that they were eating at some establishment in the mall part of the Archon complex.
At least, there are no cars in this part of the lot, though there may be some in more lot around the corner of the building. I guess the employees are parked out back…
One thing about the lot (and I didn’t notice it until reading this discussion and referring back), is that it has lines across the entrance to parking spaces. I can’t recall seeing that in any lot I’ve ever been in. That explains why the lot is empty of cars – “We can’t park there, Ma – not allowed to cross the red line.”
I don’t remember where, but I’ve seen a parking lot that had everything except the parking spaces marked as the fire lane just like this one IRL. The three, individual rows of spaces are still tickling my inner engineer.
It would certainly explain why nobody parked there ^.^
Maybe this is a bicycle friendly neighbourhood and those center spaces are for bikes?
There are some big ass bikes in this universe
Just how many relatives does that guy in the middle with the yellow shorts have? His bike would be about the correct size.
You haven’t seen the picture of my bike parked next to the Humvee? https://oakcliffcargobicycles.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/clyde_yellow_01.jpg?w=500
Nice, and very practical.
OTOH maybe that center area is for motorcycles, I can see a steakhouse being popular with bikers.
This comment is not intended as snark, though it may kind of sound like it.
Are we supposed to understand this jargon? Hump the barrett? Running lightstorm? I have no idea what is being talked about here. Should I? Or is it in-universe jargon? I’m not a native english speaker, but that usually isn’t a concern.
The Barrett is Peggy’s sniper rifle for when she’s not fooling around – basically an anti-materiel rifle designed for punching holes in light armored vehicles. As for ‘lightstorm’. I would guess it’s a practised tactic capitalising on Harem’s powers.
Well the Barret is a sniper rifle. So hump the barret is probably a question as to if Harem can teleport with the gun.
If she can, she can get Peggy the equipment she needs.
My guess is Lightstorm is also some kind of equipment, designed for this kind of thing
I’m thinking “Flashbangs” myself. Just teleporting around and dropping various grenades would be great crowd control.
No idea what lightstorm is, it is probably a power of Harem’s involving rapid teleportation though.
‘Hump the barrett’ is military jargon. Hump, in this case, means to carry, and a Barrett is a .50 caliber anti material rifle.
Ah, many thanks for the clarification. I had only encountered “hump” in the snickery sense before.
It’s actually a US Army term that dates back to the North African Campaign – it’s a comparison of the soldiers (being used to carry gear) to the local beasts of burden (i.e. camels).
Hump in both definitions are quite common in the uk.
Never heard of it originating as a foreign military term.
Thanks much for the clarification. I suspect that went over the heads of quite a lot of non-military folks.
Also, while I’m being the voicebox for the lay-people, I was further confused because I thought Max was referring to a Barretta (which I have heard of) as opposed to the Barrett (which I had not). Google has since clarified the difference for me (understandable, I think, since somebody had the lack of foresight to name two very different guns after a little girl’s hair ornament). So my first pass on that line was:
‘Peggy needs Harem to… uh… masturbate using her pistol? So confused!!!’ >_<
Just FYI, “Barrett” is pronounced “BEAR-et”, not “bar-ET”.
It’s also my middle name.
I do believe that is the point of Harem’s snicker and the “Just barely” comment.
To be fair, it is a big gun.
In this case ‘hump’ means carry. And ‘running lightstorm’ is apparently a tactic that Harem can do in combat.
I’m guessing that it’s in-‘verse ARCHON jargon, and will be cleared up over the next few pages.
My personal interpretation is that Harem’s ‘porting power has a limited “carry range” from her body, so she has to wrap her body around larger objects – and that “the Barret” is a device to incapacitate villains for transport, via a utility known as “lightstorm”
Yes, she has: aprox 25 to 50 lbs depending on the number of the bodies she has out.
The Barret M 82 is arround 30 lbs.
The Barrett is the gun Peggy has in the Valentines Picture, hence nobody noticed it.
Correction: DaveB stated Peggy’s Barret is a M500: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/402#comment-9526
which weigh 26 lbs, so Harem could carry it even without dismiss a body.
it may only weight 26#, but bringing the ammo will provide a challenge
Meh, teleport back and forth a few times
Or going two of them at once.
Also depends what additions *may* have been made – extra sights, clip size, barrel alterations, etc.. This may not be an ordinary Barrett, boys’n’girls.
The issue is if the MINIMUM weight is above Harem max, whatever else could be sorted by several trips or several bodies. Also if she dismiss bodies her carry top increased.
Don’t worry about asking. I’m English (that is British) and I don’t always understand the meaning of what is written in American English, so it’s helpful to me too!
The comments below are correct. Humping as a military term just means carrying equimment. You know, grunts and their slang. Lightstorm is a yet unseen tactic of Harem’s.
I’m just imagining how much damage she could do with a powerful laser pointer…
She could keep Catwoman occupied for hours!
Having grown up in a military family, I got used to a lot of jargon, for all the armed forces, as if it were day to day speech. But I had not appreciated that “humping” was another military term I use without realising. I know it to be colloquial English, and such would have avoided using it, if conversing with people who spoke English as a second language. But it is still surprising when you find that a term you thought was fairly common is actually a niche one, that a lot of people do not know.
I understood it quite well, but I am weird. I like history, which is often motivated by war, so military history is fun to me. I read a lot of stories of soldiers in wars, (especially Vietnam). Hump is a normal word to carry to me. I also understood Barrett, having wanted to try one since first seeing to M82.
It sounds like teleporting fast with torches like the kickass films “kryptonite” gun torch tactic.
Obviously none of these idiots have any idea about firing from cover. They are all just standing out in the middle of the parking lot, being the world’s easiest targets. What a bunch of amateurs.
They’ve obviously been listening to their publicity agents over their tactical advisors.
“Remeber to use any available cover. You don’t want to make yourself a target.”
“No, no. If you’re in cover, how will the public see all your finely-honed grandstanding?”
“Well, when I do kill Maxima, I would like about 50 people to independently upload it to youtube.”
Yes.
Obviously none of THESE idiots know not to bunch up.
We don’t know how competent the next wave is.
Assuming there’s a next wave, of course.
They may have honestly figured on the heroes going down easily, since they are possibly just a tad inebriated and largely underequipped. If so, talk about overconfidence.
If you hit them fast enough with enough firepower, there is no need for taking of cover as there is no-one left to return fire: that is pretty much it goes in pretty much every action movie: they surround and open fire with (almost) everything they have, then you have everyone scurrying/ducking for cover
Bear in mind that half a second ago they had perfect cover. All the heroes were inside the steak house and the villains were, presumably, making their way over to it. With a nice brick wall providing concealment. Plus, those that are actually illusions, have the excuse that standing out in the open is something that decoys can do as a part of their job description.
Also given Max’s displayed level of firepower (and Dabbler’s. And Halo’s…) effective cover would probably mean being out of the field of combat. So not participating.
Great comic, but I’m a little concerned – assuming ArcSWAT win this (pretty safe assumption), what do they do for an encore, given Hiro’s statement? Do the mastermind bad guys give up, seeing that ArcSWAT can’t be out-powered, or do they just go underground?
Remember the movie Zulu? the old men sent wave after wave of impis at the Brits. Just to see what they had on hand. Somewhere in the deep background is a ruthless bastard who doesn’t care about these mooks except to use them to gain knowledge of Arc SWAT’s capabilities. He will adjust his approach accordingly. Then try another tack. When that , repeat until successful or dead.
*fails is the word.
The guy hiding behind the tree in the background.
Someone who can put together a force like that aint gonna be hiding behind a tree on the actual battlefield
I suspect this is an (admittedly expensive) exercise to obtain ISR (intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance) on ARC supers and their abilities, which can then be used to develop strategies and tactics to use against them; possibly bankrolled by Deus.
“Expensive” is right. Supers are supposed to be rare; common enough to be public knowledge, but still rare. A readily-deployed combat-capable team of 30 should not be considered disposable assets, unless the numbers have been vastely underestimated by the agency tasked with identifying them.
Where and how have they been hiding? Oh… is this a plot hole, or a plot hook? …oooOoooh….
Such as:
Total number of supers involved: one. The illusionist. Plus, perhaps, a few hired goons to add a bit of authenticity. And bodies to provide bad publicity for Archon.
I’m calling it!
There will be a reference to the 1st strip from 2009. (OK, maybe not the correct date…)
What do you mean?
The big guns, or the tabletop RPG?
I think he means lasers going through force fields, specifically Sydney’s.
Ooh, that’s a good one. DaveD said Hex will be “meeting a suitably ignominious defeat”. Becoming Halo’s imminent danger would turn her Maxima’s priority target.
The transparent force field.
Even if someone rolls 20 they still have to get past Maxima’s defenses. And survive attracting her attention by putting holes in her jacket. Good leather is spendy and it takes months to break it in let alone get really comfortable.
Hitting her is difficult, but I would argue that Maxima has a AC for touch (and flatfooted as evidenced by surprise puke).
Hitting her isn’t the problem so much as damaging her. In D&D terms, I would equate this to something like DR 30 against physical attacks. And that DR field extends around her cloths.
I think someone is gonna have to roll a perfect 10 × d20 to scratch Maxima.
Halo’s fear vomit has +20 to hit a target in melee range.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/267
Plus, considering her favorite foods, it has an armor-piercing effect from acidity.
No, not acid. It has poison resulting in blindness/Dex loss.
anyone got a bull, for that china-collection?
Is it just me or are the proportions of Super Megan, for a lack of better word, wrong.
Looks like she has pritty long legs
We would have to ask the real Megan to comment
I just read it as being that she is in a similar pose to the guy in front of her, but to our right. Both are leaning forwards, so their torsos are seen closer to end-on rather than upright, as we are used to. So the legs look out of proportion to the small amount of torso we can make out.
well i am counting 23 villains in the image,, but since we cant see shinai,, its at least 24!
unless that blond at thr right of the caucasian hulk is math( they do look alike from that far),, wich mo=ight mean some of the super we see are from archon
There are 24 in sight, I guess you missed the sneaky one below the tree at upper left.
…your left or mine? I only see a guy to the right.
You’re right, your right, my other right :)
LOL First Big Guy lying in a furrow behind the burning tree.
Damn I missed that
Nice detail
+1
Even at 500% zoom, I cannot make out if he has blue hair and various missing teeth. But, judging from the gravel rash he seems to have created from the car-park, it seems like he is the big ugly who got the nose boop.
Are you telling me that “First Big Guy” was a bad description?
unfortunately there’s no sense of danger or even excitement here. we know that maxima can stop all of these guys on her own, with no real risk or effort, add characters like anvil and dabbler and none of these villains are ‘glass cannons’ they’re all just trash (to continue the gaming analogy) . the only serious worry is what Halo will do to ‘help’ and how all of this will effect the general public’s perception of super’s in general.
this is a private business in presumably a reasonably urban area. how will the neighbours react to the super powered war zone on their doorstep? also, this is a restaurant. where are the staff and why doesn’t maxima tell Harem to get them to safety before attacking the villains.
just hours earlier, Maxima issued a challenge to every super ‘villain’ now, because of that, someone’s business has been destroyed, innocent people are in terrible danger, an entire neighbourhood is about to badly damaged in the fighting, insurance claims will be through the roof and superman and Zod just destroyed half of metropolis! … wait sorry, wrong rant. but that’s OK. they’re super heroes.
Sure a few buildings get smashed, but in the procces they will stop atleast 10 supervillains.
Stopping 10 villains is well worth losing a single building (that insurance will cover anyway), because those 10 villains would destroy WAY more if they were to run around free.
Also, why would Max tell HAREM to help civies? It’s not like she can teleport other people along with her.
Hiro already got that command, it’s being taken care of
I see no reference in this comic indicating Harem’s been directed to help the civvies. She’s on an equipment run to get Peggy her weapon, then she’ll be performing a presumedly offensive operation, codenamed “LIGHTSTORM”
Harem has a maximum weight limit and can’t transport living things. This kinda disqualifies her from “saving civvies”. You might just as well ask why she doesn’t go after the tanks.
actually makes me wonder is the vorp the sound of the energy field that seems to cover her, not air displacement’ and if so the attempt to carry someone else with their own bio-energy signature disrupts her energy field blocking the teleport???
Aside from the fact that we have no clue what the majority of these people are capable of, their numbers alone could prove troublesome. Max probably won’t have much trouble, but a single illusionist, telepath or fast flying hostage taker could very well be enough to keep her out of the fight for a while, and she’s probably the only member of Archon (maybe Hiro?) who is powerful enough for large numbers of goons to not prove troublesome.
More importantly, this is either a well organized attack (meaning whoever planned it was likely either clever enough to include one or several highly dangerous individuals, or has figured out another way of benefiting from a failed attack) or there are many more supers than Archon knew about (meaning…well, nothing necessarily, but it certainly leaves room for interesting story developments).
It has already been said that ARCHON’s estinate of supervillain numbers may be w-a-y off, considering how many are there (and assuming no illusions or other trickery).
On that basis, if one set of data is provably inaccurate, than other related data sets must be treated as suspect – such as power levels. It could be, despite belief to the contrary, that Max is NOT the most powerful super out there.
You also need to remember that Maximas power level includes her vast range of powers. Flight, speed, toughness, strength, etc.
So there could well be a super out there who’s barely a blip on her scale. No speed, toughness, no utility powers at all. Just one specific power, if he touches you, you die. Armour is no defense against that.
The point being, even superman takes his opposition seriously until he actually knows who they are.
Even worst: Cosmic Hitler could be among them!
Aww, we haven’t seen our acorn munching mammal, pictured there, commenting for ages.
What’s that light streak to harem’s 7 o’clock by the light post? There’s nothing in frame, so I’m guessing someone might be a fast enough flier to possibly get behind Max…
I guess you are talking about the “moving effect” left for the car stopper that the red guy/gal have thrown to Maxima.
Reviewing Sydney’s bio and Max’s instructions to her. I have a feeling Halo is going to offensively use her telepresense orb. Look to be standing between two bad guys and let them blast each other down.
BADGERS!!!
So I went looking for Maxima’s jacket, and turns out there is only 1 comic where we even see the back of her chair. http://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1167
So I wonder if that was always there, or if it’s been retroactively added. Well played DaveB
No wait, it seems he forgot about it here https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1159
I am totally sure I didn’t see that jacket previously :)
hehe
At least One of those cannons Has to be a leeroy jenkins, unless it was the one Anvil Booped.
At this point in time, Grrlpower leads by an entire 1/3rd.
Yes, we’re doing pritty damn good
For those of you trying to figure out powers from the various appearances, the guy on fire is a red herring. He is actually the valet parking attendant, and that is what happened to him after he asked to be paid for parking all these guys cars.
Oh, and thanks Dave. After seeing the guy in the white tee shirt and yellow construction helmet I now have the song ‘YMCA’ stuck in my head.
speaking of these guys’ cars, it’s nice to see they were smart enough to park somewhere other than at the battlefield. Not a car in the lot, this steakhouse must have opened on a day they’re normally closed to host ARC. That, or they were having a VERY slow day.
There was a sign on the door that they were closed for a private party shown several comics ago. Too lazy to find it right now, but it’s only a few clicks on the “back” button on the comic.
Quite a few, actually, it was on 179, 25 pages ago…heh
Well from bottom to top and left to right I get:
Front: LightWhip, LongNails, RedEyes
2nd row: Grey, Hex (Dark Megan), BlueShirt, DamnBig, Blonde
3rd row: WhiteHair, RedTrousers, FireBall, Cape, BombShell (the one BigGuyOne almost hits in his way out)
4th row: Flyer, GreenShooter, Ameba, BigGuyOne (lying), Ice, GreenHair, PrettyOne, StrongRed
Behind: OrangeHair, WhiteEnergy, Sniker
out of view: Shinai
Hex’s things seems to fire kinda lassers independently.
BombShell is throwing sorta energy balls.
Ice is throwing ice-like spikes.
GreenShoter is sending like energy pulses.
There is a fire ball I bet was fired by FireBall
Seems to be lightnings, could be Blonde (cause the shirt).
There is a green-yellow beam that I can’t tell.
StrongRed is obvious.
That is my sum up.
Already noted this to Dave in DeviantArt, might as well post it here too:
…I was making example racial and hybrid packages for my Divine Blood RPG and well, got to something interesting.
See, succubi in Divine Blood were engineered from humans by Demons to use as spies a while back. They’re all female and reproduce by biokinesis. The sex is just to ramp up their emotions to a level they can use their biokinesis to that degree. Aside from the fact that being with a God or Demon always creates a Demi-God or Half-Demon, succubi can produce any sort of combination they want based on themselves and their partner(s). They usually go with succubi.
Any way, so I was creating this template:
Chimera
Sample Character Aspects: Born of many parents; A little of this and a little of that
Specialty Aspects: Two representing their exotic combination of features.
Advantages:
At least 3 AP worth of Heroic or Power Advantages
Package Cost: 4 AP (3 AP worth of Advantages and 2 Specialty Aspects)
Life-Force Stress: Based on any race from among the parents or else created by the player.
Life Force Aspect: Based on nay race from among the parents or else created by the player.
Origins: Chimera come from one of two sources.
The first is a shaper, usually a God or Demon, creating a homonculus based on genetic samples from multiple races. Human science has gotten to the point where they could create a chimera, but the groups capable of that mostly don’t have access to non-human genetic material.
The second way that a chimera is born is if a succubus conceives with multiple partners of different species and decides to get….creative. This second method is by far the rarest since most succubi do not match their promiscuous reputation.
Suggested Advantages: Talents associated with parents.
And suddenly thought, “Huh, Dabbler….better go add to the works inspired list”
Full info on Divine Blood Succubi here: https://fav.me/d5kqkv0
It’s interesting to see others’ take on races that aren’t quite as solidified as Vampires and what have you. At some point I’ll have Dabbler sit down and explain the origins of succubi in my own universe. I’m not sure where I’ll fit that in though.
oh, I kind of do the same for vampires. I have dietary vampires which are unable to eat solid food for biological reasons, such as vampyr and chiang shih. I have cultural vampires like the leanansidhe who are small religion of sidhe that use blood magic to enchant donated blood from artists and experience their vision first hand…in exchange for perception-altering “dreams” so that the artist can make “better” art.
and then I have undead, which would likely need to kill anywhere from once a week to once a day, slowly denude the landscape around them just by their presence and occasionally inflict on unwilling souls the process they performed on themselves and use the new minions to help harvest even more life-force. Fortunately, all of those are sealed up in different places. Just like all the devourers are dead and the only remaining titan is quite successfully keeping herself sort of sane.
My biggest laugh came with personal memory association in the commentary below the page. I immediately pictured a technical review of Maxima’s sidearm including the sentence “Trigger pull was crisp, breaking at eighty five pounds pull.” That number was the draw weight of a modern-construction English longbow I once failed to shoot at a reenactor’s gathering.
Can you go back and edit a few typos in text?
Panel 4: some of THEM are illusions
Panel 5: Every ONE who can crowd control
Panel 5: CANNONS, unless you actually meant that they are church laws
They’re all fixed now. :)
See that guy under the tree. Kill him first. The guy who seems to be the most harmless is always the most dangerous. Unless he is just some dumb kid who wants to watch a super fight then just get the Darwin award over with. Also please tell me the purple wispy guy has powers that are comparable to the light hook and is called the Violater just so we can see Halo’s reaction.