Grrl Power #209 – Dramatic speed lines ensue!
As I said under the previous page, I wasn’t happy with the action on it, so I went and flipped through a few pages of artists I consider the gold standard for such things, namely Masahiko Nakahira, responsible for several Street Fighter related manga and Yūsuke Murata who draws One Punch Man. This page is the result and I have to say I’m pleased with it. It’s not on their level, but I’m not going to improve that much in one page. Math’s back spin summer-assault kick in the second panel is partially an homage to Nakihara’s depiction of Guile’s Flash Kick from the Cammy Manga, which you can see here. I saw no way to improve on that, so I flipped Math around for his move. I guess his boots are steel heeled as well as steel toed.
I still see many ways the action on this page could be better, especially panel six, the one with Concretia getting knocked out of building. There’s a lot going on in that one, and part of drawing good action is making it clear what’s happening. We’ve all seen manga full of speed lines, bursts, explosions and what have you, and while a single panel may look dramatic, if there’s no flow then it’s leaving money on the table. Panel six really should have been broken down to make clear what’s happening, one of her exploding from the building, and another of her flying toward the guy with the cowl before he smacks her aside, but then this update would have been three pages tall. I’m not necessarily opposed to doing that, but there are time constraints to consider.
Here’s a conundrum for you. If you throw a punch, what do you do with a kick? Kick a kick? Swing a kick? Jump, slide, toss, shimmy? English is weird.
In case you missed it, I’m doing a series of guest strips over at GynoStar. The first one is still up, the next one should be up on Thursday, which I’ll link when the next page goes up.
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Math really reminds me of Aiki and that is a good thing. He is all but a sex offender and a god in martial arts I recommend everyone read Aki at least once warning though it is nsfw.
Never thought I’d see someone else who has read Aiki, but I agree with you there. Math is definitely Aiki minus the severe sex offender.
I am not so sure about the “definitely”, as regards the end of that statement. But it is reasonable to give him the benefit of the doubt, as he is a hero. And it is unlikely he would be working for the police if he had any convictions. Civilian specialist or not.
So, you think it’s hard to get into some sort of “official position” if you have a criminal record? Just take a look at the state of American career politicians & how a number of them get into their positions even AFTER judicial convictions…Then try again to convince me how hard it would be.
Politicians get to set the rules on how they are vetted. Therefore they do not get vetted.
I cannot speak for U.S. police forces, but, in theory, any civilian contractor who works full-time for the police, in the UK, is meant to have a background check. Including making sure they do not have a criminal record. Knowing how the U.S. system handles most things, I imagine that every state does things differently.
Most Felony convictions will keep you out of the Military. While they may be a bit more lenient with supers I think anyone who doesn’t pass the public eye “sniff test” would be in Arc-Dark and kept the hell away from Arianna’s lime-light.
Personally I think Math is a letch, not a potential sex-offender. He’s perfectly willing to accept a no.
Yea, he has a good vibe with Sydney now, despite a poor start. Coming across as a potential mentor, rather than grooming her. So I am hopeful, as someone else says, elsewhere in the comments, that they will get a good friendship going.
Ungentlemanly behaviour* just rubs me up the wrong way though, so my usual open-minded opinion gets lowered, to suspiciously looking for malicious intent.
* Mind you, I do approve of the writing. Not all heroes should have just positive personality traits, and he has shown no signs of anything beyond the verbal. So he is probably just a more frequently open letch than most guys. And possibly below average, depending on what circles you move in.
Plus, Maxima wouldn’t put up with Math if he was a sex offender. Best case scenario for math, she puts him in jail.
Depending on how she finds out, that’d also be a very unlikely scenario
Just remember, The Trio (‘Les, Morph, Heatwave) used to be vigilantes before Archon got hold of them, so either they had a few (minor) convictions, or were giving the option “join us, or go to prison for a very long time (or until you get bored and walk out the front gate)”
Achilles’ powers won’t let him break out. Amorpheus probably also wouldn’t be able to (he probably can’t just turn into rubber and flow through the toilet. And even that is easy to block).
Only heatwave would be able to melt through the wall
Depending on the material of the gate/wall, ‘Les could just punch his way through (might take some time, but invulnerable means not having to worry about broken hands)
We don’t know just how stretchy Morph is, while he probably couldn’t travel via the sewer (like a certain pink cat) he probably could do a T-1000 and pass through the bars and then simply walk over the wall
And Brooke wouldn’t go anywhere without Morph, who in turn would not leave ‘Les behind
If he can get really flat, he could go underneath doors. Not to mention being able to stretch over fences, when out in the exercise yard. Plus he is more than just stretchy. He has several ancilliary powers. Including 3 star strength. So could probably rip even a prison door off it’s hinges and punch his way through reinforced concrete.
Plus he can alter his density and has four star defence. So is easily durable enough to make himself into a formidable tool. Therefore I can see him being one awesome digging machine, if he shapes his hands into dense shovels and picks. Plus, if he makes himself both larger and denser, his effective strength for things like charging at a door, becomes even greater.
Frankly, my only surprise is that he is rated at a mere 6 star hero. He has a lot of … ahem… flexibility.
As to that “political” is the watchword there. Politicians and their lackeys are appointed or voted in neither of which require a background check. But most Federal and State jobs certainly do. Even minor offenses can keep you from getting the job or the security needed to get into all the areas you need to.
He actually reminds me of Ma Kensei from History’s Strongest Kenichi
Or a young Muten Roshi.
Heck yeah!
Yeah, back when he was introduced me and some others made that comparison and Dave confirmed that Jokyu was one of the main influences in creating Math.
Thanks for the manga. That is a rather funny series
To be fair there are differing levels of “human,” to were Math would certainly rank fare above a average human. So yes there is in fact a “just human,” since I highly doubt any other type of human would be able to do the same.
I would definitely say there are just humans. They typically end up in legal fields like judges though.
How exactly are you comparing a master martial artist to a bunch of bureaucrats and bottom feeders like Judges and Lawyers?
Speaking as somebody who has had to run into things like lawyers and judges..I agree with Math. If I can’t do something, I am impressed by those who can. Granted, Math is sort of equivalent to the best lawyers in the world, but just because a skill is not spectacular, does not make a person’s ability to use it any less super-human.
I think his point is that even those of us without superpowers still have certain things we excel at.
His skill is sending concrete people flying through the air with only two hits.
“I’m the best there is at what I do …… but what I do is not very nice.” ;)
But…but…Math doesn’t have any claws to “snickt”…
Going by his display, he doesn’t need them.
Didn’t really think that was Achilles there. Hair was too dark.
Well he’s listed on the side-bar. So I’d say that was him.
Achilles is being used as a human torpedo by Max…
His 70s tints (if that is the right way to describe them) do not show up at a distance. Couple that with his head being in shadow* makes it look darker, than when we last saw him, under indoors lighting.
Plus, logically, it can only be him. We last saw him being propelled towards Maxima, through the roof. Admittedly she was really teeny, being way up high. But we know that, with her speed, that is not a factor that would prevent her intervening if she wanted to.
* His own body is blocking the light source from below Maxima, let alone the roof itself. Plus the other bodies are blocking out light from elsewhere.
Plus, who else would look like they are bored of being used as a projectile?
Eh, there are a bunch of weirdos in that group that could do the same thing.
Plus he’s wearing the same clothes as previous panels…
Defiantly getting a Mexican/south American vibe from Concreata. Though that might be the “Groucho,” word she used.
Wonder if the guy in the red hood is the big bad leading this operation. Have to imagine he wont be easy to beat given how he easily backhanded his flying cohort.
She’s a classic film buff. Groucho Marx.
Except, Math doesn’t have the fake moustache
He’s got the lechery though. In spades.
i don’t think the guy in the hood is the boss since he hasn’t been introduced yet, nor has he had any Boss-like lines yet, unlike the female swords-woman in the white spandex from this page https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1276 … SHE is the one who i think is the “Boss” for this particular operation, whether or not she’s a sell-sword that has the seniority/superpowers such that the REAL Boss has said: “listen to HER as you would listen to ME”, or she actually IS the Boss, remains to be seen…
It’s only natural for the real boss to hang out in the back, observing his plan in motion. Only reveling himself when absolutely necessary. That’s Villain 101 here.
That reminds me of something that happened to my brother. When he was hired by a company, he got assigned a team to help him. Checking out their qualifications, he decided that none were capable of handling the most complex aspects of the job. But that was fine by him, as he was. And there was no need to train anyone else to do them as, once resolved, there would only be the routine tasks anyhow.
So he delegated all the mundane work to the rest of the team, and got on with the tough stuff personally. Getting one member of staff to organise all the new staff, that were needed for the routine work.
The problem? One year later, come assessment time. To quote the general manager, assessing him. “Ok we have now confirmed that you have the most efficient team in the company, and have exceeded all targets. But please could you at least tell all your new staff that you are actually their boss? They all think that you are just ‘some guy who works “on his own stuff,” in the corner’.”
“Groucho” isn’t a
MexicanSpanish word, though. Perhaps you’re thinking of “gringo”?That was the word was trying to remember, the other was ‘gaucho’ and don’t see Math as being a ‘cowboy’ either
Launch a kick
LOL at Maxima hurling Achilles like a dart.
TEAMWORK! :)
That is one of the reason I’m totally in geek-love with Dave/GrrlPower. It’s all about the little throwaway jokes/minor details in the background that totally make the comic so next level awesomesauce!
Achilles is one of my favourite characters, yeah; he’s just so nonchalant about everything.
Well, his power literally is not being bothered by anything!
Ok, seriously. i never noticed it before this comic, but especially in this comic. Math looks like friggin Vegeta
Agreed. He has some of the same attitude as well.
Looks like he just did Shiva’s attacks from Streets of Rage. Pretty badass.
I get that Achilles is invincible, but does he not feel pain at all? Bones, skin, muscle and blood vessels not breaking, sure, but no pain at all? Does he feel anything?
He feels love… for the 80’s!
He shows no sign of pain and goes out of his way to do things which would cause it to others. So I would say that he does not. Not as regards injury. Remember that the main purpose of pain receptors is to signal injury.
Our body has separate sensors for pain versus touch mind. So it would not be true to say that he does not feel anything. He would be able to feel somebody touching him. Plus hot or cold. And would be able to differentiate severe pressure versus light. Whether or not the former would register as discomfort, or not we can only speculate. But, I would think that he would find a full bladder uncomfortable, just the same as anyone else.
And he may feel pain that originates from non-damaging sources. Many people have suggested that he would loose in a hot food eating competition versus Sydney. Because the pain caused by that does not originate from damage warnings. Using that same logic, he may be vulnerable to directly induced pain, such as from electric shocks. In as much as it may replicate the pain signals, as opposed to the additional pain risk the rest of us might have, from burns or other direct damage caused by it.
Likewise tear gas or other chemical agents might cause pain but no damage. And he could always suffer from psychosomatic pain, perhaps through emotional trauma or use of illusions.
some tests seem to indicate pain relievers can help with emotional pain, since they use a lot of the same pathways in the brain
Check out Roy Kirby, combat ki expert on YouTube. He’s trained himself not to feel pain, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility for Math…
Problem with that: there is no way to see if, after the shot was taken and the camera is turned off, he doesn’t curl up into a sobbing ball of wimpatude
I watched the video of it. The guy who did the kicking couldn’t believe it. About 10 seconds after the kick, Roy smiled and shook the hand of the kicker…
That has to be the single most awesome moment/line this comic has ever produced. Thank you.
“Has produced SO FAR”
FTFY
Interesting choice. I have many different ones, depending on whether thinking on comedy, emotion (such as the cute, hungry Sydney chibi) and so on. But if I had to pick one overall winner, for me, it would have to be ‘Touching a Star’. That is just such an intense page, capturing a gamut of emotions within in. I think it will replace my default log on page soon. I do not like to rush into these things.
Ant — Boot
I like Math even more now. He was already one of my favorite characters but that move just cemented it :D Hope we will see a lot more of him, not in the least because the interactions between him and sydney will be nothing short of hilarious
You toss a kick
I believe you deliver a kick.
Honestly i was thinking of guile (and his summer sault) at the first panel,though his last attack is closer to Ryu his repertoir, i suppose that a sonic boom would have been a bit over the top (And yes Albion he does look like Vegeta in this one)
You know, great as the “Just a human” line is, the strength Math displayed there is way outside of the human range. She has to weight at least a few hundred pounds, and he knocked her up in the air and then tossed her at least 10 yards away. A human can move that much weight, but not toss it around like a handball.
Also I wonder how armoured his shoes are. In mere sneakers kicking a block of concrete that hard should have broken his foot. If he were a mere human.
Just sayin’
yes, I smell shenanigans :)
they had a DC special even a few years back where Batman took out Cheetah in one punch with a martial arts move from behind.. knocked her cold out.. and I am like ‘how?’
the woman can take direct hits from artillery shells.
:)
Because he’s Batman.
Do you watch ‘HISHE” too?
technique can generate superhuman effect with human power and even tanks can be damaged by pistols if you hit the right point
He has mystical martial arts techniques. Some of the things real martial artists did baffled science for years. Going beyond that, if you have someone who can channel chi, and do the kinds of things cinematic martial artists do, they would be able to exceed the limits of an untrained human. But there again, the same can be said of a normal martial artist. It is just a matter of magnitude.
In this setting I am guessing that magic does not require an innate advantage*. Ie anybody could be trained in magic. In which case, both magic and mystical martial arts would just be ways for normal humans to tap into the unseen depths of the human psyche and/or universal/extra-dimensional powers.
Which could lead to whole armies being trained in such techniques. Especially in third-world countries which, in this setting, have a disproportionately low ratio of supers. Of course, the many years of intense training and likely high-drop out rate would still work to limit the numbers. But it is an interesting aspect, nonetheless.
* Gwen specifically indicated that she is not a super, which loosley supports the argument anyhow.
Goven the pre Halo the minimum definition of a super was super fit borderline body builder that makes Makes Dabler hungry if male……
So, he’s in a universe where the theory that Ki can actually increase strength and maybe even durability, is fact.
I’ve seen martial artist assistant instructors, gearing up while their sensei prepares to teach a basic class. One of them was able to jump up and down on one leg for about 40 reps while doing a spin kick as he hopped up and came down.
Also, hit anyone hard enough and something will be damaged… breaking bricks and wood may look cool. Or be made fun of depending on who’s watching. but it still boils down to that person being able to do more damage than they used to when they first started.
On another note. Random articles and medical journals have shown that the reason why some drunk drivers are so “lucky” at surviving with very few injuries compared to their victims is that being drunk relaxes the body. A lot of injuries are from being tense from fear while slamming into something.
I can’t find the proper TvTrope page for it, but a common Trope is that Martial Artists Have Magical Powers. Pretty much every manga ever made uses this one. While in the real world well trained martial artists can do some pretty remarkable things, in fiction “martial arts training” allows a character to do pretty much anything.
Judging by what he did to Concretia, either Math isn’t human, or Martial Arts in the Grrl Power universe have nothing to do with reality. Possibly both.
When he’s introduced, he’s explicitly called out as “human without superpowers”, as in, he’s a regular human who can compete with super-humans using martial arts alone.
Correction, it’s not his introduction, it’s his cast page. “[He can compete with superhumans] despite him not technically actually having any powers.”
So, he’s “technically” a normal human, except for the part where he’s able to beat supers.
For those who do not read the cast details (if there is anyone who still does not), do not click:
One other point to note is that he is also listed as having 3 star blasting capability. Which puts him on a par with the PPO! And you saw what she did to that poor defenceless tank. Not to mention equalling the team’s specialist blaster, Heatwave, and also Dabbler, with all her technomagic. In fact the only one tougher than him, in that regard, is Maxima!
We have not seen it in-comic yet though, so we do not know the nature of the attack. It is possibly just that he can throw shurikens and other martial arts weapons with unerring accuracy, bounce them round corners, take out multiple foes with a single throw and so on. Combined that could be as useful, in police work, as Sydney’s PPO (without upgrades).
Or it may be that he can shoot fire or lightning, like the arcade fighters and those martial artist magicians. Still without, technically, being a super. Gwen is a spell caster and does not consider herself to be super, for example.
It’s more than just strength that Math uses. Like any highly-skilled martial artist, he picks out weak points & accurately targets them to maximum advantage. He also uses the maximum leverage & momentum he can get from his hands & feet…Power, speed & accuracy make for a potent combination when correctly applied. On a normal human opponent, Math would be targeting nerve clusters & soft points, connective tissues at the joints in the skeletal structure.
For example, the “corners & edges” in Concretia’s facial structure indicate a structure that has stress-points. Even at the point of impact with Math’s boot, Concretia may even be reflexively flinching & maybe unconsciously adding a bit of a jump as she snaps back from the impact, because having a stress-point hit would still hurt.
When she flipped over, look at where Math struck her back…If she has anything like a humanoid skeletal structure inside, an impact on her shoulder blade like that is going to severely jolt that bone against her rib cage, off-center from her spine & cause a lot of stress to her entire chest area.
As for Concretia flying back like that, a lot of the momentum from her flipping over can be Math re-directing the path of that inertia as well. Concretia is spinning head-over-heels *backwards* which means that her upper-body is actually spinning INTO Math’s hand-strike…Math is using the centrifugal force of her spinning motion & re-directing it into a linear path.
In short, a hand-strike like that on a spinning target is bound to hurt just about anyone short of Maxima, Anvil or Achilles…Even if it doesn’t actually *hurt* them, it would still rattle their bones pretty good.
Its not the fact that Math knocks Connie out that we’re wondering about. Its the way that he is able to shove her hard enough to send her flying up and through a wall for that distance. Even if her mass doesn’t change when she is stoned, that is a superhuman level of strength.
I don’t think DaveB is running with the “Martial Arts give you mystical powers” idea. Humans with magical powers seem to be considered superhumans and Math is explicitly not a superhuman. (Just borderline.)
Of course Rule of Cool trumps attempt to apply reality, so despite wondering about it in the comments, I don’t think that anyone has an actual issue with what just happened in the comic.
Or she just went through the smashed open window that was behind her in the first panel? I see nothing that suggests she went through a wall.
Very good point! I had just been accepting what folks were saying, without questioning. But you are right.
You mean asides from her ‘flight path’ coming out of the cloud of flying bricks marked “SMASH”?
I see no problem with him throwing her [i]into[/i] the wall, but not through it (or even much beyond it if it was already missing) without some form of enhancement.
If he is basically functioning in the CHAMPIONS system, then he could easily have bought additional damage or enough skill levels to increase his damage.
IIRC, (it has been years) if he is a VERY fit human, but not at normal human maximum, he could have an 18 strength, 3.5 d6 normal damage. An offensive strike like his kick or two handed strike could add 4 dice. If he has 4 skill levels, he could add two more. If it was my game, I would allow a fifth level to raise the 3.5 to 4 dice, though I can’t remember if that was a canon rule. At 10 dice, he would be hitting about like someone making a non-lethal round for a .50 caliber machine gun. With a couple of additional damage dice, or more levels, well…
Math kicks someone who is -much- larger than he is so hard that her feet come up off the ground and she has enough air time to flip all the way over before he “redirects her inertia” a good 20 feet in an -upward- trajectory.
That’s beyond human strength. Way beyond. To be realistic, even if she flinched away from the kick, she’d just end up falling backwards.
Knocking her out is no problem. That’s usually done by hitting someone hard enough that the soft and squishy brain inside their skull gets bounced against the bone. Having your skin be tough as stone wouldn’t really help against that kind of attack. (Of course, if you want to be realistic, giving someone a concussion like that is more likely to kill them than knock them unconscious.)
I have a strong suspicion that DaveB is going to be using “comic book” martial arts here, which really don’t have anything to do with the real world. Given that he’s writing a comic book, that seems fair enough.
Actually, so long as the kick isn’t an arc until after impact, it’s almost plausible. Spin in & crouch, then send the leg straight up into a vertical split, and flip forwards from that position.
A decent ‘donkey kick’ can send someone about 6-8ft horizontally – put in power from both legs for a vertical strike, and you’d provide sufficient air-time.
1) she already had an open wall behind her. So he technically didn’t knock her through a wall, so much as the pieces.
2) she wasn’t on the ground thanks to his kick when he hit her with two palms
3) he was at a slight distance after the kick. So he had some running momentum behind his his palm strike
Rememeber- F=ma— F (force) determines ‘oomph’. m can, with proper body mechanics, equal the entire mass of the person throwing the hit- and one of the ‘classic’ things that a martial artist can do is propel their limbs/self a lot faster and more explosively than the average human.
Internets has informed me that Bruce Lee could punch at around 85 mph. Imagine that Math can propel a strike at that same speed, and, since he’s super-duper good, can get his whole body mass into the strike, even when kicking or punching. He’s a fit dude, 5 foot 11, so probably around 250 to 300 lbs (remember, muscle and dense bone weighs more than fat). 250 lbs going at 85 mph in .3 seconds is…
14478 Newtons of Force. Not sure what sort of impact that is. But I’d be willing to bet it’s enough to propel, say, about a ton of material roughly 30 feet, maybe?
Well, he does come from a line of 999 martial artists, so there may be some good genes in there.
Maybe he’s also got some technique to unlock full human potential, just like when humans lift cars (hysterical strength).
Presumably it’s not something he can do constantly, and I’m guessing he’ll feel pretty tired later.
Or maybe HE’S JUST THAT GOOD.
I’m hoping it’s “he’s just that good”. All the martial arts = magic you get in anime really doesn’t do it for me.
My money would be that it’s theoretically possible to impart enough energy to her if you sum everything up and assume the maximum efficiency at every stage etc – but that it’s near impossible that someone could pull it together and get all the timing just right. THAT is how Math rolls.
Or to put it another way, “it’s not impossible, just very very improbable”
He probably does have some good genes, but he didn’t get them from his trainers. His martial arts lineage is 999 generations of students becoming masters and refining/improving the techniques.
But it is a mild exaggeration. Concrete is not that heavy and she probably is not made fully of concrete. If she jumped reflexively when Math’s foot hit her chin there is already a backwards motion. Then Math accelerates and transfers his full momentum to her, because he comes to a full stop. His shoulders and elbows should hurt but we have seen other stuff of that sort here, for example Stalwart kicking the tank.
That’s the thing: the ‘weight’ of concrete (or is that ‘cement’? get those mixed up) depends of the agregate used: if you used pumice then the concrete will weigh enough that a single person can lift it without strain
Two things.
1) Bruce lee’s 1 inch punch could launch people weighing 300# several feet with a one handed punch, so someone like Math should be able to duplicate it by at least a factor of 5-10 with a 2 handed palm strike isn’t that far fetched.
2) I’ve posted this elsewhere on the site, but a man by the name of Sri Chinmoy was able to lift over 7,000lbs one handed when he was somewhere north of 50 years old, so someone like Math being able to generate that level of power is within the realm of possibility
Try see through light blue speed-lines? Might break the panels into white space less.
Ya know, when he first appeared, I was prepared to really dislike Math. He came off as the overly pervy comic relief. But after his confrontation and subsequent bro-fisting with Sidney, he’s fast become my favorite of the male cast. I hope he and Sidney become best buds or something. :D
Well, since she’s not nearly as, um, “endowed” as the other supers, he probably could be friends with her… he leers at the others WAY too much for anything like friendship (except maybe for Harem, who seems like a good match for him).
Agreed.
Could you imagine the devastation that would result if that ‘or something’ was Math taking her on as his student? Teaching her how to use both her fists and her orbs, as well as he uses his fists and feet. And helping her master her signature moves of tongue-fu and gonad-grinding.
If Sydney could actually keep her attention span with Math good enough to really learn something & combining it with her usual quirkish behavior, it’s not only something that I could imagine, it’s something that would give me nightmares…
Folks with ADHD tend to excel at Martial arts triggers the hunting reflex allows us to focus on the moment we get three or four steps ahead really fast.
One theory on why ADHD or ADD is so prevalent is that they were the “Trackers” that could read the most minor disturbance of the trail. Many (myself included) can zone in to something to the point that the rest of the world just falls away, A good book can do that to me.
Agreed.
Also, I’ve experienced really weird effects, such as going to class every morning though the same route, and a day, becoming so engrossed in a book a minute after leaving home, I read all the way there, without looking up even once or breaking focus on the story, and yet make all the way, timely, without missed exits, bumping into terrain or people, and not even realize ’till I’m there…and that happens to me quite often.
Yeah, that happened to me once delivering papers (had to go back and make sure hadn’t missed any)
Not sure if it is the correct terminology, but believe it is called “Alpha State”, another time it happened (that can remember) was the 2nd fight got into: entered “Alpha State” as soon as the fight started, only came out when they declared me the winner by default (only ever been in 2 fights, first was ‘cancelled due to teacher intervention’, that was the ‘rematch’)
She already thought the 3 steps ahead to be extremely cool. I see no reason why she couldn’t concentrate on training with Math.
She’ll be busy (very busy, training is hard work), so that keeps away distraction.
As a guy with ADD (attention deficit disorder. That’s the part of ADHD that makes you distracted), I can assure you that, once fully focused on something interesting, I’ll simply keep going with that, longer than ‘normal people’
I always took Math as falling under the Chivalrous Pervert trope since Max hasn’t killed him. He really is that perverted, but at heart still a good man. He can tease and tease women, but the second one is in trouble he’s there helping her.
Yea, he may be an immature man child back in base, but if he needs to, he will be as serieus as required
like in out comes THE LIST serious expression pen clik
Any Martial Artist worth his salt knows that there is a time & place for everything. From tomfoolery at Archon HQ to opening cans of WhoopAss, a true Martial Artist knows what should happen, when & where.
Aaahhhhhhhh! Me likee!
Prob not steel clad too much risk of the steel hitting somthing harder and slicing part of his foot off
I think the greatest part here (other than Max using Achilles as a giant dart) is that I could honestly picture Math becoming distraught after Sydney points out that “Concretia” didn’t get to hear the end of his quip. This would likely be followed by the two of them having a conference inside the forcefield as to the best way to deliver your Heroic quips and one-liners while making sure your opponent was still conscious/close enough to hear them.
Or Math doing more while fighting then looking over to Sydney who is critiquing from inside shield
Math’s Superhero Theater 9,001?
Those 2 are going to teach eachother some horrible things (horrible for the rest of the world)
I can totally picture Math taking on 2 or 3 foes while debating the finer points of trash talking baddies with Sydney. Possibly frustrating said baddies into making even bigger mistakes then attacking him.
It’s hard to tell in the last panel if there are six orbs hovering over Halo’s head plus a bun of hair, or seven. If it’s seven, how is her shield still up?
Based on how they’re arranged, the seventh could be hidden by her hair, or of course, by her hand.
Six. Just keep zooming to confirm. The pictures display in pretty high resolution, to allow you to do that.
Notably absent is the force field orb, which logically must be held in one of her hands, out of sight.
the hair bun is colored by the light of the six orbiting orbs
Dave, so there is Street Fighter manga and you like action on it? All right, I’ll find out more about it. For now Black Lagoon and Berserk are my favourite action manga.
you execute a kick.
{enables Russian accent mode in comment section}
In our universe, you execute a kick. In Dave’s universe kicks execute you!
The best part of this page is Maxima thowing Achilles.
I got a whole new level of respect for that guy now. o.o
I vote for deliver a kick.
That sounds like the right word.
Although for kicks like that, I might go for “perform”.
Nicely put. Or (possibly duplicating someone else’s suggestion earlier), ‘execute a kick’ might be a more traditional term, which is particularly suited to the situation.
Math understands the importance of efficiency. It doesn’t matter if the bad guy here’s you say something cool or not. It’s just as cool to quickly finish off an opponent, then say something witty. In fact it’s better, since it doesn’t make you look like an idiot for leaving yourself open after a monologue.
I read a Flash comic that made fun of this. Jay Garrick dispatched a group of enemies at once, and said something funny while doing this. The narrator who’d witnessed it recalled, “Yes, he did say that. No, I don’t know why he thought they’d hear him since he was moving at super speed.”
Ozymandias understood this, too. *Shudders*
Yeah, so far Spidey’s the only one whose banter excuse makes sense to me: Sure it annoys them a bit, but mostly I quip mid-combat because I’m a kid fighting monsters and this is the only way I have to not totally lose my shit.
Today’s joke also reminds me of that Supervillain Rule: If the hero asks, “but before you kill me, won’t you at least tell me what this is all about?” I will say, “No.” and shoot him. On second thought, I’ll shoot him, and then say, “No” to his corpse.
Also, Spidey thinks faster than a normal person, thus experiencing combat in a slow bullet time. He’s not JUST trying to calm himself down. He’s also BORED.
There’s really no logical reason for Maxima to use Achilles as a weapon. Instead of tossing him at her opponents she could just fly into them herself, which would be more effective.
My guess is that she swooped down to pick him up when he got knocked out of the steakhouse, intending to throw him back in, and he made some smart-ass remark.
(That, and because the Peanut Gallery seems to love the idea of using him as a weapon.)
I can think of two logical reasons for Maxima to use Achilles as a projectile.
First: She saw an opportunity to do something that would need Achilles (and possibly his target) in another position. For example, by putting him close to enemy blasters, they could shift their fire onto him rather than softer targets, which uses his invulnerability to indirectly protect the others in Arc-SWAT without him obstructing their sight-lines.
Second: By using him as a projectile, while he’s flying at the target, Maxima can start engaging yet another target.
In both scenarios, if whoever Achilles is pitched at is knocked unconscious, he could reach into a pocket for zip-tie restraints or other restraining devices.
+1
Also he would have been removed from the fight, without her assistance. Given that he is an essential part of the team’s defensive strategy, she may be right to take a moment out of her attack pattern to intervene.
Although, if Mr Brooding Hood has his way, she may regret not taking out the ones in the open, when she had the chance.
Plus he might have requested the job.
“Throw me at the bad guys. It will look awesome.”
And third: The rule of cool.
This is still a comic afterall
Also, her use of Achilles is disrupting multiple opponents…As Maxima has told Sydney to be sure of what’s *behind* her target, Maxima has already hit two flyers & Achillies is on a trajectory to hit a third flyer.
Did Math just Hadoken Her?
*sniff sniff*
Not that I can smell.
+1
and you owe me a new keyboard – I think I can clean the monitor though
Achilles missile. Best part of the fight so far.
Hmm, mount him on a surplus rocket motor and we would have the Nike Achilles…
sorry, I’ll try to resist the urge in future… but to go with Nike Ajax, Nike Hercules, and Nike Zeus missiles…
Launch. You launch a kick.
We always said fire or launch for a kick.
…now Math must be fan artted into an evil Christmas elf.
I’ve seen toss, deliver, execute, and launch for kicks. I believe you can say whatever you want. I’ve seen and used “Throw a kick” before. It’s all idiom at that point. As long as the other party in the communication understands your meaning then it’s all good.
And Achilles. Thank you for my Monday morning laughs.
These comments keep reminding me of one by R.A. Salvadore, author of the Drizzt Do’urden novels, where he said (paraphrasing): “After the second or third book, you come to realise that there are only so many ways you can describe wielding a scimitar.”
English is better about that than a lot of languages since so many words in English have so many synonyms. Imagine writing a novel with a lot of the same subject coming up over and over like swordfighting or starship battles in a language with half the vocabulary.
Also, English tends to make up words when ever it gets bored
meh.
Or we rob other langues for more words.
It works both ways. You will find a vast number of English words and phrases have been incorporated into other languages. Especially recently, with all the technological terms that are being spread by English. I find I have no problem communicating problems about electrical goods, computer hardware or programs, despite never having learnt much Bulgarian vocabulary. Simply because, more often than not, they simply use the English terms.
This comic parallels a conversation I was recently having with some friends about armored foes. We were watching the cheesy horror movie Mimic 2. One character pries the blade off a guillotine paper cutter and another character mentions that that won’t go through the armored shell of the killer.
This got us talking about beating a foe with armored skin and I said I would have a hammer or sledgehammer against such a foe. When one asked why, I told him that even an armored person still has a nice soft chewy center housing the organs. You can’t work oxygen through chitinous lungs and a steel heart can’t easily pump blood as easily which is why an artificial heart is a difficult project yet. Hammers striking the armored shell would send vibrations through the armor and can easily pulverize the organs inside.
Math is using blunt damage Street Fighter style, and it should tear Concretia apart.
That’s exactly what they did in the Middle Ages.
Knights with heavy armor were relatively slow to move around, but well protected against swords.
But heavy hamers and maces were perfect against them
And those big two-handed swords were mostly crushing weapons not cutting weapons. They allowed the crushing force to be applied in a smaller area and do more damage.
My roommate has an old mideavel warhammer hanging on the wall of the front room. It’s interesting to note that the hammer head isn’t huge like Thor’s Mjornil from the comics. It looks like a regular hammer with a mean looking spike on the other head. And a really long shaft to build up momentum and impact. I would prefer a hammer like it over any sword out there to be honest.
Well the thing about a sword is that you can swing it way faster, and more accurate.
But it’s also more difficult
In the early part of http://www.skullkickers.com, Shorty delivers a fairly lengthy monologue about the advantages of using an axe vs a sword, which boils down to “swords are complicated – axes are simple”
Also, never have to worry about having to unsheath an axe
Plus, if Slaine Mac Roth used a sword, you would never have such a cool catchphrase as “Kiss my Axe!”
Yea but if your axe is always exposed, you always run a risk of cutting yourself (or something else) on it if you don’t want it
Just google “leather axe head cover images” to see loads of different types. An axeman would be in need of such, given the risks you mention. Although an axe need not have as keen an edge as a sword, or kitchen knife. So it can be readied for action, by removing the covering, with less risk than a sword. So, the convenience of that, can balance the advantage that sword wielders have of being able to learn fast-draw techniques.
“It’s not as clumsy or random as a blaster. A more elegant weapon for a more civilized era.”
Hammers and maces were useful against opponents in hard armour. Swords were useful against opponents in soft armour, like leather and padded cloth, where a hammer would not be as effective. So a big sword, like a claymore, could be more versatile; its momentum allowed it to be effective against plate and chain armour but it could have an edge that would be effective against soft energy-absorbent armour.
Were doing it with armor today as well. Look up HESH for the most extreme version. You want to get as much shrapnel on the inside of the armor by spalling. Note that most modern armor (As in tanks not the wearable type) these days has build in defenses against this.
Not to mention: ever had an older sibling use your head like a drum kit with a steel pot and a spoon (or maybe you were the odler sibling :P)
Whack the helmet a few times, and they will be disorientated at the least
I’m thinking one of the many martial arts Math knows is Panzer Kunst.
Math. Yellow spiky hair, lack of eyebrows. If I didn’t know better, I’d say we have a Saiyan on our hands. That not withstanding, he just kicked Concretia so hard her skin cracked. Definitely not “just” a human.
Some of the best people aren’t.
Math reminds me of those two supers that weren’t listed as supers in “The Incredibles.” Buddy “Syndrome” Pine super mechanical genius and Edna Mode genius in fabrics both mundane and for super powered people. They would be real super humans. So is Math.
nice update! :D
I love how Maxima is delivering Achilles in a “Fastball Special”.