Grrl Power #215 – Demonicus Revelio
I’m going to own up to it. I cannot draw butts. That literally may be only the 11th butt I’ve ever drawn. I need to work on that. Maybe the next vote incentive will just be an assload of butts. It probably won’t be. I just felt like typing “assload of butts.”
Dabbler is stronger than a human woman of the same weight. She’s actually about twice as strong as a human male of twice her weight. A proper succubus would usually downplay that most of the time – you know, guys and their egos – but Dabbler’s just as much adventurer and scrapper as she is seductress. This page is Dabbler’s first public reveal of her “Battle Form.” Whether or not people buy that explanation, Arianna will have her work cut out for her. If there was a superheroine with just little satyr horns on her forehead and no other demony characteristics, you know there would be someone freaking out about demons or gargoyles. In the first few drafts of the story, Dabbler never disguised herself, but after giving it more than a few seconds of though, I realized that the general public would have to casually accept the existence of demons and/or aliens, and that would make the Grrl Power world too different from ours. It’s supposed to be almost identical to ours, only certain historical events and people can be attributed to supers. Tech level’s the same, politics are the same. If there are super powered assassins, that means there are also super powered bodyguards. It’s mostly zero-sum. Now that all this super stuff has gone public, the world will probably begin to diverge from ours in more significant ways.
Dabbler’s sword has show up briefly in the comic before, but obviously will be more heavily featured this time around. Notice she’s not teleporting it to her hand like she did the railgun. It’s all part of her vast bag of tricks. I thought of the name Soul Reaver independently, then thought it sounded too cool not to have been used before, so I googled it and found there was a video game franchise of the same name. A third person hack and slash about, if google image search is any judge, a blue vampire with no lower jaw. I guess you could still bite people like that, though the actual sucking action would be considerably more challenging. Perhaps there was some sort of lapping motion involved. I’d like to think he hung out in the video game character’s after hours bar with Darth Malak and commiserated about beards. Anyway, I point that out because now in this scene, Dabbler is using Soul Reaver against Heavenly Sword, which was also a third person hack and slash. I’m just commenting on it so Sydney doesn’t have to.
Update: So apparently there were 2 games in a series of 5 with the name Soul Reaver in them, and across the 5 games there were two protagonists, and the one guy with no lower jaw sucked souls, not blood, which presumably did not involve biting anything. I obviously never played them, but it turns out Soul Reaver is actually a reference to a sword in the game called “The Soul Reaver” and now I’m considering renaming Dabbler’s sword. Although it’s not like Dabbler would have known about those video games and it could definitely lead to some funny discussions with Sydney who is supposed to be a nerd omnipedia, who would definitely know about those games.
Sydney and Dabbler are capable of this level of distraction in the middle of a grand scuffle, just imagine the first time they’re left alone together.
As always I will be at A-kon this year (June 6-8 in Dallas) and, I’ll be doing a panel on Friday. Humor-Based Webcomics 1: Humor in Story. Be sure to stop by!
In case you missed it, my fourth Gynostar Guest strip is up. The current arc starts here.
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Sorry to nerd out, but the use of the name Soul Reaver here annoys seven kinds of hell out of me. The Soul Reaver/Legacy of Kain series was hardly ‘short lived’ – there were a total of five games across multiple consoles – and they were, by and large, freaking amazing. Not so much for the gameplay, but for the characters, the plotlines, and the goddamn amazing voice acting.
Serioiusly. Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00efdE5CD7A Raziel encounters his prey, Kain, who cast him into the abyss and caused his current state. One of the best scenes ever seen in a video game (if a bit hammy).
Sorry, I love this comic and I hate to make a scene, but the LoK games are dear to my heart, so I had to get this off my chest.
relax dude, I admit it wasn’t a one-game wonder, but it still IS relatively unknown and short-lived compared to some franchises.
That only means it has a cult following. And while it may not have cranked out as many games as Call of Duty, it was a lot more original.
Saying something is more original than Call of Duty isn’t really saying much. Better than any of the EA sports games, but still…
I live in the back of beyond and far away from urban centers. I have never met anyone who has played games for any length of time who didn’t know of Soul Reaver. But I was going to let it go cause that was a name that was begging to be used if you didn’t know the reference. Its far from the first time DaveB’s names have proven we don’t read/watch/play in the same circles. I’d rather he keep cranking out great comics than wasting time on researching names that /PROBABLY/ won’t be actionable. Luckily he has a ton of commenting folks of all walks of life to keep him informed as we go! :)
If he is going to literally make that thing suck souls and then intends to sell this comic. then I would totally change it.
Also, Raziel consumed souls, not blood. And even if he did need blood, his sire was able to telekinetically suck it from across the room, so the lack of lower jaw still shouldn’t have been a problem.
Yep thats a classic nerd out. Id call on Dave to atleast watch the opening of the first game and a bit of game play. While dated, the games were fun and fairly innovative at the time as the use of environmental kills and the dead realm when you die in combat were rather unique.
Here is the intro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DOKzTHaPfM
Huh. I never played the games myself, I thought there was only two of them after a quick google. I’ll edit out “short lived.”
The sword also featured in at least one of those multi-character fight games. You know – the DOA/Tekken/… ones.
Cant remember which one though. Not either of the two above though. (Sorry, not my gaming genre)
That was Soul Edge and Soulcalibur (with 2 swords by the same names).
First game is unfortunately very dated; the others are all more-or-less playable, though. (“Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2” also gets very buggy towards the end, and was not very well received.)
I do highly recommend playing at least Soul Reaver 1, 2 and Defiance, though, for Tony Jay’s marvelously villainous performance as the Elder God if nothing else.
IF you want to see someone do a REALLY good Let’s Play in which he DOES NOT talk over cutscenes and does talk about the game and what not … and play ALL 5 games on their original consoles.
His Youtube name is LeadingManAE and the game’s chronological goes as such:
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
Legacy of Kain: Defiance
It’s pretty damn good story over all and is actually DAMN impressive for the time since … well the game series IS rather old .. like Blood Omen was on the Sega Saturn… old.
Surprisingly though the games DO still hold up in plot and what not, while the graphics… admittedly are WAY dated
I’ll also chime in that the entire Legacy of Kain series has some of the best storytelling and voice-acting that ever existed in any medium (yes, you heard me).
Many games can be well-crafted and dramatic, but this series was remarkable for actually being [b]Shakespearean[/b].
Now I need a shower. With lots of lathery bubbles and…
Make that a very cold shower.
eyyyyup. Cause not only is Sydney a hawt lil nerd fantasy, but so is Dabbler and Sydney has already found that cleavage to be wonderfully hypnotizing not to mention she felt her sexual orientation fall into question a couple of times since meeting her.
So, yeah. That sword TOTALLY looks like it’s coming out of her pants…
I have no problem with this.
it has a tiny bear charm!
No no… that sword is obviously important. As I recall her pants are “minimum security”.
BHAHAHAHA!
*hands you the keys to the comic*
well-played!
It doesn’t seem like Sydney will directly interfere with this fight. but even with only 2 counts she will probably have quite a few assists by the time the night is over.
Four handed sword style? I would be worried.
If you look at the last three panels, while Dabbler is talking she is casually rotating the sword from her left to her rear back to ready from the right to left in front. Do that at speed and being surrounded by foes becomes an advantage. As long as you aren’t wearing your good clothes. Blood and chunky bits everywhere is hard to clean.
Now, just imagine the weight of a blade that would require a 4-handed hilt and a pommel that looks like it was cut from a sledgehammer head to balance it.
Just imagine if she had a light saber in each of her four hands. She could cause some ‘Grievous’ injuries.
Why does the image of Syd and Dabs pulling that come up now….?
In general, I would agree with you. But did spot your insideous suggestion, that the lord of lightsabres would come from the dark side.
I have to object at this point, too. This comic has done a great deal to point out the various flaws inherent in the writing behind most comics (Wolverine’s constant lethal injuries in battle, the notion of attacking Earth for its water when there are plenty of water-bearing unmanned comets in space, throwing around lethal blasts of lasers, fire, etc., when there are civilians and buildings in the vicinity, et al.). Now we have two “heroes” babbling in the middle of a fight while the villain merely stands there. WTH?!? Any smart villain would have charged Dabbler while she was distracted and made mincemeat of her! I know these bad guys are supposed to be second-tier losers while an invisible, stronger, unknown foe stands aloof and silently observes. But are these villains supposed to be stupid as well? Where’s the challenge in defeating idiots?
The first few definitely were. This one seems to be more of an honorable fighting/challenge-minded/distracted combination. I don’t think Heavenly Sword’s purpose here is to straight up murder people when they’re not ready. (That was more of Nega-floor guy’s bag).
It may be very logical, as a budding supervillain, to eliminate any opposition at every opportunity, but people don’t necessarily think that way, and even if they did realize the logic, the percentage of actual criminals who are readily comfortable with cold-blooded murder, I imagine, would be pretty small.
+1
You also have to take into mind. That she looked “normal” before. Now she is “transforming” into a very large purple demoness. Look at it from HS’s pov. Would you not be stunned when your opponent sudenly and flashily change into something you thought was a myth.
It’s true the comic may fall prey to some of the same tropes it makes fun of, but in some cases that would mean a tremendous body count on either side. I want to try to avoid them where I can, but in this case I’ll use the excuse that Heavenly Sword has some bushido code in her and is actually looking forward to a swordfight instead of hacking into someone from behind. I will try to be mindful of not falling into the most common trope traps when I can though.
Personally, I think that if someone I was in combat with suddenly ‘transformed’ in front of me – including’growing’ two new arms, I’d be worried about what else they could do. Add in the sword pulled out of nowhere and that I have a ranged attack to hand, I’d be putting some distance between us, and studying for any other little suprises/how to attack.
Don’t forget that Dabbler is moving the sword around, it may not be a ready stance, but it is far from having her guard down. Chances are she’d be able to dodge or block an attack. Better to take the time to take a breath of fresh air, and prepare for the coming fight.
(And we all know that talking is a free action anyway, don’t we)
Good argument.
*offers a particularly fine turnip, as a reward*
Let’s all celebrate with a nice, cool glass… of turnip juice.
Turnip is far better treated just like a potato. Boiled, mashed, and mixed with a lot of butter, some milk or cream, and salt and pepper.
stick ’em in a stew?
If ya can’t make french fries out of ’em, what good are they?
Why do you think I give them away? :-D
to get blood out of them? how else do vegetarian vampires stay alive, er, dead… um, un-dead… you know what i mean…
The problem isn’t really talking, the proper dishonorable time to charge is while she’s getting up and/or pulling out the sword. However, Dabbler should really be able to snark without actually looking at Sydney.
Heavenly sword may have been caught a little off guard by Dabbalers sudden transformation and bringing a heavy metal sword out of nowhere. But she looks like she got over it pretty quick and is ready to bring it on. Also it’s a professional curdeacy among swordsmen and women to not strike until both parties are ready.
It looks like they both have seen a little of each other’s abilities. It should make for some improved strategy in the upcoming battle. After all, “fore-warned is four-armed”.
Just a little something I have to mention, in panel two you’ve made it so that the arms that are visible in the illusion are the lower left and the upper right. That hardly seems practical.
Well pointed out. What it implies to me though is that the illusion is adaptive. Such that it will modify itself to match whichever hand she is using. That would make day to day life much more convenient to her. Preventing her from accidentally picking up things, with the wrong hands, and betraying her illusion.
Without that, imagine how frustrating it would be. Something that is a lot easier to do if you have ever had your arm in a sling for a long time. And, for Dabbler, it would possibly be a life-sentence, if she is permanently settled on Earth. Therefore it would have been well worth her while to find a way of adapting her powers for such flexibility.
If Dabbler’s illusion does automatically adjust which hands it covers, she probably had to concentrate, to override that feature, when she wanted to do an invisible grope on Maxima.
Hah! Whoops, I should have noticed that. I guess I should delete the illusory hand there.
So…shouldn’t Soul Reaver have a gender? Because most people who give their weapons names give them genders, too. Especially given the presence of the plushie at the end, which would definitely imply that Dabbler views her sword as being somewhat feminine.
Stingerette? Excalibress? Checking out a list of sword names there is not a strong predominance of gender bias. Although there is enough present that it is a valid question to ask.
One interesting point though, if you check out the Chinese fiction section of the list, is that there are not one but two Heavenly Swords on it. Dave’s line of thought moves in good company.
In line with Daves audience, I would name the sword Hair Splitter, and really with hair like that of Dabblers opponent the threat of split-ends would probably carry some weight.
Hmmm…A weapon with a shape like that & you’d consider giving it a female name?
Loving panel 6 :D
Is Heaven falling in lust with Dabbles? Or is that just professional respect?
Looks like boredom/annoyance to me.
both… creating saphic tension is one of dabbler’s powers…
HS is heading straight for anti hero territory; as noted above, a real ‘villain’ would have opened fire during the dialogue.
Legacy of Kain, was one of the very first PC games bought after playing it on the original PlayStation
Also, it took me this long (and a re-reading) to think of it, but how did all these guys coordinate so quickly? Is there a Twitter hashtag for supervillainy? Facebook group? Did someone send out an E-vite?
Social media and chat forums are genuine possibilities actually. They have been strongly present in various riots and social upheavals over recent years. Other possibilities include:
* There is only one villain involved. An illusionist. Maxima did mention the possibility. I am guessing that the reason why she has not asked Halo to use her truesight orb is that she figures if they are all illusions, then it is giving the team a better practice fight than anything she could organise.
* A foreign power brought them together.**
* Deux organised it all. We know that he has insider knowledge, having only had to wait until the press conference, so that there would be unlimited suspects. Rather than a short list which featured him prominently. In his case he would have deliberately set the villains up to fail. The purpose of the attack being to encourage the government to commit more money to buying special equipment for Archon. Which his company supplies.
* A psychic villain foresaw the rise of Archon, months ago, and has been getting the word out to other villains.
* A telepathic villain read the minds of someone in the know, months ago.
* A villain with ‘sense super power’ spotted lots of super cops getting together, for months. And used that very power to find villains to combat them.
* Any of the super-villains Arianna hypothesised about organised it **
* Ninjas organised it. ** Always expect ninjas!
* There is only one villain. He has been locating regular non-super criminals and has been granting them super powers.
* Unexpected error. Bzzt. *head falls off*</i
** Any organisation with sufficient intelligence resources would have known about the existence of Archon long before the press conference, so the time factor is irrelevant. They need merely have either based their timing on the press conference, or have been waiting for the first occasion that all the heroes were present together in a relaxed social environment.
The ill-coordinated nature of the attack probably indicating that the group had not been anticipating that the press conference/get together would happen just yet. Arianna sneaking in the bank robbery stunt (Maxima was taken unawares about it, so anyone outside the loop would have been likewise surprised) and announcing an immediate press conference would have cut short any team practice and attack rehearsals. It may well be the reason why ArcSWAT was not taken down in a concerted first-strike attack.
I was thinking earlier of the possibility of one villain who is giving powers to normal people, it would explain why there are so many more than archon expected, as well as being a very interesting plot element.
Just remember that Archon has been around for a time not just months. Even so it was their coming out party. This looks rather hastily slapped together. And having a name doesn’t prove it is real or what it can do. Part of secrecy is making it hard to believe it exists in the first place.
The more people that know a secret, the less of a secret it is. And a lot of people knew.
That depends on how many you mean by “a lot”. First, the name by itself wouldn’t give anyone any indication what the organization does. Second, Sydney appears not to know what Archon is (at the very least, she doesn’t know it’s relation to ArcSwat) and there’s no suggestion that she’s less knowledgeable about current affairs than the average person.
There is more than just a name in that link. It is a very big building that has a lot of people in in it. And a lot of super heroes who have been wandering in and out. And they were taking no special precautions to hide themselves. Look at Maxima wandering into the bank. She did not know it was any different to any other day. There is no-one in sight of that building who would not have had a fair idea.
Plus there is the whole new branch of the military thing. Everybody in Washington knew (to some degree or anther) to get the bills passed to enact that. Which means everybody in Moscow and London knew as well. Anybody with more than three degrees of separation from those locations might not have known. Suspected, maybe.
1) Anyone working there would be sworn to secrecy (not that that would matter to some of them, e.g., Harem).
2) Except for a few exceptional cases (e.g., Maxima and Anvil), people might not readily recognize the supers as supers and it’s possible that in such cases, they were kept under wraps except for those who had need to know.
3) If supers were common knowledge, Achilles wouldn’t have had to pretend not to recognize her in the bank.
Again, it all depends on what you mean by “a lot”. It could be I’m thinking of “a lot” being more than what you’re thinking of it as (I hope that last sentence makes sense).
1) All it takes is for one traitor. And, as you have pointed out there is at least the one. The information is already out. Plus there may be another, working for a foreign power. Or simple gossip between staff can be enough, if they are lax about where they talk. This is very likely. Especially in the food court.
There are a building’s worth of people here, and who knows how many in Congress, the Senate and the Pentagon. And they must have known for months, or possibly years, for things to have progressed as far as they have. Such as recruiting all the supers and constructing the building.
2) As already stated though those exceptional cases clearly were not being kept hidden. The only thing Maxima did was to put a cap on. In public. With security cameras around. Hundreds of people must have seen her. Most of whom have smart phones, with cameras. And if she took her car to the bank, she would not have left it, for the meter to run out. Sydney and Maxima would have gone back to Archon in her car. Nope, she flew there. Just like she flew back.
And if Maxima flies around, so does Super Hiro. If you worked in one of the buildings on that block, how many times would you need to see a golden woman walking by, or a flying man overhead, before you drew the dotted lines?
I remember when the MI5 building was a state secret. For years. But all you had to do was ask anybody walking on the street, and they could point it out to you. And taxi drivers would take you to it. Not to mention it being featured in TV programs and on film! Plus you could buy models of the stealth fighter and bomber, at a time that the US government was vehemently denying the existence of them. Up until a press conference when they were officially unveiled.
3) They were fairly common knowledge, given that Sydney and Joel were talking about them. So let us say that ‘a lot’ means all open-minded people in the USA. Let us approximate that to the same number who say ‘yes’ when asked if they believe in UFO’s – so about 1/3 of the populace.
But if talking about those who knew something about Archon, then everybody who knows anybody who works in sight of this building, all people in government circles in Washington, London and Moscow, and their allies. Say the European powers, China, Cuba. Seems like ‘a lot’ to me.
Plus ninjas. Never forget the ninjas.
Some of these questions will be answered by the end of the fight, probably not all though.
IF Deus set this up, they likely set up Criminal Lawyer Insurance and have a hefty secret catalogue to show the bad guys. “Oh you failed? You have our insurance? Lawyer on the way. Yes we also have a couple of judges on retainer, don’t worry. By the way, have you seen our Summer Catalogue? Might be something in there for you to help you next time. Maybe even win, or maybe not get caught?”
Hmm when you do your Grrl Power Graphic novel Crowdsourcing, maybe a Catalogue for Super Gear and Super Villain Gear would be a nice PDF download for certain incentive levels.
I`m reasonably sure Deus’ annual membership fee for the Secret Supervillain Society would cover failur for his super-hench-villains. Also, if you want to be a member of the above, please donate to a certain orphanage and bunny clinic….XD
Wow, even by accident, Halo strikes a blow against villainy.
*scratches Yorp behind the ear and gives him a big bowl of Scooby-Snax*
*wags tail*
I insist on the next vote incentive being an assload of heavenly butts .
Of course only so you get your necessary practice ..
You raise an interesting theological point there. If you have butts in heaven, presumably they are there for a reason? One which I always kind of envisaged would be something restricted to an Earthly life.
Clicketh not if thou art of a sensitive religious disposition.
Mind you it does bring whole new implications to what the heavenly throne might be.
Clicketh not worketh. I thinketh you needeth to provideth the linkage.
It is just text hidden to avoid giving offence, so no link. A further layer of encryption is that it plays on an English euphemism. I won’t elaborate further though, because the purpose is to have a double meaning, in itself, in order to minimise the chance of upsetting anyone. Those who don’t get it will just have to bone up on their colloquial English.
Canned laughter can be heard from the sky.
Yeah, I suppose laughter could echo from the can…
Which one of her arms was the cyber one again? Thinking the one with the armband.
I believe it is her lower left arm, if you go by panel 7 in this comic and assume her tech only teleports into her cyber arm. She also held up her left arm when she was talking to Sydney before dinner, I’d say it was to indicate her cyber arm, but it might have been a random gesture.
Thought it was her lower left
actually, it’s-pardon the use of another comic’s terminology-“Bottom Lefty.”
she was using that one when summoning her railgun.
*Coil gun
*Gauss cannon
*magnetic slingshot =P
something that will kill you deader than dead if you get in its way regardless of what you call it
That seemed to be a very big device to use to deliver birth control. And just how would you…
*turns head on side*
… I think it would take quite some… positioning. Nope, I don’t think Dabbler should try to market those on Earth. Obviously not designed for human use. Just look at the hole it makes!
Ironically enough. Given that bottom lefty is known for it’s sexual proclivity. Whereas Dabbler’s bottom left hand is mechanical, and it is the rest of her that has those urges.
Maybe she lost lefty due to over-usage?
Looking at the comic above, she better be careful about her tongue.
If Dabbler’s “invisible grope” of Maxima might be of any indication, she may be setting herself up to need more cyber-hands.
nah cant be bottom lefty it wasn’t grabbing Sydney’s butt
While looking at the last panel, it looks like the sword might be a three handed sword
Yup. Possibly even four, at a stretch.
I love how you can zoom in 500%, to see detail like that fully, and still have a beautiful picture. It really makes Dabbler’s expression stand out.
This could go very, very badly.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1171
“I’m… not as skilled a sword fighter as I like to think.”
Meh, she has three other hands still. And if she is lucky she will only loose the same one again. Easy enough to repair, in any event. And if she looses her good eye, at least she will be able to get her eyes to match. Win-win.
Just don’t loose your head, Dabbler.
So when does Sydney start trying the two unknown orbs just to see what they do in combat? You just *know* any seriously ADD gamer geek would.
You don`t test unknown powers/weapons on enemies.
That`s what Archilles is for.
But does he really want to spend the rest of eternity as a frog?
Which points out an interesting fact. Achilles is not totally immune to damage. It’s just gonna take a very creative approach to neutralize him.
You did a wonderful job on Heaven’s buttocks, really looks like she ‘clenched’ a little in the last panel :D
This view of her makes me think her undergarment bodysuit is giving her a perma-wedgie. This can’t be comfortable to wear.
For some reason the banter between Dabler and Sidney reminded me of some of the situational inappropriate banter between family.
I’m not sure if this had been mentioned yet, but Raziel didn’t need a lower jaw, because he no longer needed to drink blood. he drank souls.
Not sure if anyone has noticed yet, but loving the pentagram part of the sword :D
I loved the little Puppy/Fox keychain. on the pommel.
The aspect about that, which I love, is not the symbology, but the fact that it looks to have been grown organically, rather than forged. And the level of detail is incredible. Glowing red magical glyphs, crystals growing out of it and various gems encrusting it, amongst others.
‘Bitching sword’, indeed.
Agreed, it almost looks accidental/naturally grown that the maker of the sword happened to acquire and thought “that would make a bitching cross-guard* for this sword”
*or whatever it’s called
David can always outsource his ass-drawing to Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content, who suffers from progressive Butts Disease. It’s a degenerative nerve condition whereby he can only draw butts.
The Soul Reaver game was part of a bigger game saga that had a story line around a sword called the soul reaver and a Vampire called Kain, the blue vampire was an resurrected vampire that feeds off souls :D
Love How bad ass the sword looks but does it drain souls too?
Maybe it doesn’t hurt at all? She is a succubus, after all. Perhaps it is like Cupid’s arrows, but with a lust-based effect, rather than love.
We may get to see a lot more of that butt. And Sydney blushing.
Oh geeze, there was a sword in it called the soul reaver? I thought that was the main characters… if not name, then alias at least. Maybe I should change the name of her sword then. Bluh.
Dabbler will get into a discussion of souls at a later date.
Change it to “Soul Cleaver”?
Was trying to think of an alliterative name, but slicer and splitter sound pretty meh.
Splicer wouldn’t be half bad if it were not the exact opposite…
Soul Slayer?
Spirit Render.
Chi Chopper.
Soul Tickler.
Soul splitter. When it strikes it splits one opponent into two fully functional versions. But with psyches split in a way determined by the wielder. The obvious one being good and evil. Or more imaginative options, such as honourable and dishonourable. Happy and depressed. Sociable and anti-social. Marmite lover and Marmite hater.
Then kill the version you do not like. The first to die, or flee too far from the power of the sword, which is maintaining it’s duplicated body, poofs out of existence. Likewise with any associated equipment.
Trouble being that if both of the versions still dislike you and view you as a common foe, then you will be facing two enemies, instead of one.
No no no: the opposite of “Marmite Lover” is “Vegemite Lover”
Soul Cleaver was the name of a sword in an old video game on CD…Revenant. It was the most powerful sword owned by the Ogroks, until Locke (the protagonist character) won it in battle.
Not “a sword”, but “The Sword”, actually.
If I may make a suggestion: don’t worry about it. Soul Reaver is generic enough to avoid copyrights, it fits perfectly with its wielder (succubus and all that), and how many times has Excalibur been used in comics/games/assorted other media?
And, yes, I’m aware that’s a horrible run-on sentence.
Just to muddy up the water some more, In the Inuyasha anime series he has a claw attack he calls “Iron Reaver Soul Stealer”. (Although if you called it that, Dabbler would have to go around wearing baggy red pajamas. And covering her up that much would be a crime)
P.S. HS’s sword attack is also similar to his Wind Scar attack with his sword.
https://inuyasha.wikia.com/wiki/Kaze_no_Kizu
No need to change the Sword’s name I think it’s cool name and it looks nothing like the Soul Reaver of those games so no worries :D the blue guy is called Raziel btw.
Believe it or not I’m a big fan of the games and your comic :D
Welcome to the community.
thank you
Its a complicated storyline. [He is later shown to become one with the sword in a time loop so he is wielding himself!!] Sorry if the spoiler thing didn’t work.
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Ok, if I type this correctly I have levelled up to yellow belt tag-fu artist.
Hopefully the correct format is as follows:
[spoiler\Text to be hidden[/spoiler\
*sigh* still a white belt. This should be correct now though:
[spoiler]Text to be hidden[/spoiler]
When I first saw that panel, I thought she was pulling the sword out of her pants.
Heh. Most definitely not alone on that one.
Strictly speaking, it’s where “inventory” is usually kept in most games, so, it’s not unreasonable.
Not to forget that most inventory holding items or pants are probably made with TIme-Lord tech, so they are bigger on the inside and give you the ability to pull the same gag the Mask did.
If I hadn’t looked twice & realized she was pulling the sword from her “hammerspace,” I’d have thought the same thing…Which “raises” the question, if the sword was in her pants, exactly *where* did it fit?
Nope. No, no, no settle down. Hold it right there!
Yeah, don’t care that I’m probably the bazillionth guy who says that but how the hell do you not now Soul Reaver, I mean seriously?
I mean, yeah, it didn’t set the gaming world ablaze but seriously, where were you during the late 90s/early 2000s? And unless you where some really radical Nintendo-shut-in, your favourite platform isn’t even an excuse. It got released on PC, PS1 and the Dreamcast.
The effing Dreamcast.
I’m sorry Dave, but I have to take one Nerd-Star away from you.
*goes away, shaking his head, mumbling* Doesn’t know what Soul Reaver is, seriously, I mean, how do you even do that, unless you weere born in 2010?
Hey, Dave had some idea about it. I have never heard about it at all. Nada. No idea. None. And I own several PCs. They haz games too.*
* Heavy on strategy games.
I recognized the game after I googled it, though I had never played any of them. In fact I thought there were only two but someone further up pointed out there were in fact 5 of them in the series so I edited out my “short lived” comment.
well they were short lived in your home, neh? So still correct. :P
Probably by the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of games out there and it is not possible to know about, much less play them all. But since you seem to think everyone must know about some game from the bowels of time. -1 nerd level for you since regardless of how many games you think you know about, you don’t know ‘insert any examples here series”.
Bunch of nub nuts getting their panties in a wad over someone not knowing about whatever game it was made them jizz their pants as a kid.
No, no, don’t hold back. Tell us what you really think.
:-D
While Headbiter was overly rude, you’re acting even more so.
As for the series itself, it is a cult classic in the game medium. It is not “from the bowels of time” as you put it – it was a influential series first published on 01.Nov.1996 and the last game was published on 11.Nov.2003 – a little over 7 years and sold at least 3.5million copies by 2007.
Also, it’s writing is Shakespearean in tone and the language is complex – more so then any child could reasonably understand at a young age. This is a sometimes somber game meant for a adult audience. You can certainly play it while ‘a child’, but you won’t understand it until you grow up.
Kindly don’t insult a classic work of art because of overzealous fanboys.
Cheers.
How was that rude? Even less overly so? My whole post was oozing with overplayed shock. Hell, I took a “nerd-star” from Dave.
A “NERD-STAR”.
Kids these days. I swear, sometimes I think that if someone would actually insult you, you’d need major spinal surgery.
I did not take it as being rude. Rather biting, but that is in keeping with your name, I guess. Folks are just overreacting because of a perceived slight to the comic and/or author, and we are very protective. That is understandable, as the tone was harsh enough for it to be taken that way. Although I could see that your intent was biting humour, rather than biting insult.
Given that this is a comedy webcomic though, it is far better to counter with comedy than taking offence. That way we can all chill out and have fun.
Sorry about that, I took “unless you where some really radical Nintendo-shut-in” as directly pointing to DaveB – something I’d qualify as being rude. Upon further re-reading without being half-asleep, I find you did not mean for that insult to be tossed at him directly. I hereby amend “overly-rude” to “harsh”. Is that agreeable?
As for IRL insults… hahaha… quite the opposite. I’m itching to go into detail, but this is not the place. Suffice to say I no longer have to walk TEN MILES THROUGH BLIZZARDS (yes, plural!) every morning, fending off Velociraptors with MY BARE FISTS!
And idd, Yorp is quite right. We are overprotective. Precious things are to be protected, after all.
*pat pat*
Three advices for ye:
1. Get a clue.
2. Calm your tits.
3. Grow a spine.
Correction: *1. Take a hint
*Blinks* Ok who’s got the nervous tits?
*Sets up a sign that reads: ADAMAS: Calmer of Nervous Tits! (No feathers, please)*
I have read about tits of both the sombre and elegant variety. Those looking to add a bit of color to their tits can choose among black-bibbed, white-browed, black-breasted, rufous-vented, spot-winged, yellow-bellied, southern black, red-throated, stripe-breasted, ashy, green-backed, white-naped, white-fronted, blue, azure, and yellow-breasted- although how they could be yellow-browed or yellow-cheeked appears paradoxical. I can also find information on Père David’s Tit. These “nervous tits” of which you have written, however, remain a complete mystery to me.
I say, good chap, that was a fine example of wordplay! Fine indeed! *adjusts monocle*
I keep getting attacked when I visit your site.
I presume you mean some sort of virus warning? My virus checker and browser security is all patched up to date, and I am getting no messages. Do you have a particular message, that can give us a clue as to the nature of the problem? And/or a description of what happens?
I presume he means ninjas.
Ahh, now that is always to be expected.
But…bikini clad girl-ninjas dancing the Can-Can?
It’s one of the ad’s… I don’t know which one, since I just blocked them all for the next few hours…
Very odd. I run add-blocker, of course. But Grrl Power is one of the few sites that I have added to the exceptions list. And I am seeing adds, so it is working. Plus I access the site enough, that I am bound to have cycled through all the random ones.
Maybe it is using a browser-specific attack? I am on Google Chrome.
I have used FireFox and Internet Explorer. I didn’t get attacked today but I did Saturday and Monday. Maybe I should have wrote down the details or saved a screen shoot. I am trying to remember what Norton said the first time. There was a pop up in the corner that said it blocked an attack.
Did you just say Norton? While it -could- be that something legit happened, I’d be much more inclined to say that Norton itself is your problem. That thing spews out false positives by the bucket. Last good product they made was in 2003; it all went down hill from there as far as I’m concerned.
They weren’t the only ones. When I used the library computer on Monday I was also attacked. I don’t think they use Norton.
Soul Reaver was indeed the name of the Sword in the “Legacy of Kain,” and “Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver,” franchise. Used by the two main characters Kain and Raziel(Spoiler alert! In the end Raziel actually becomes the entity inside the sword giving it it’s soul devouring and magic properties. Time travel, it’s a bitch.)
It is a cool name for a sword I admit. Though you may want to change the name. Copy right infringement and all. Not that I clam to know much about that mind you.
I don’t think they’ll need to change the name as it looks nothing like the Reaver and it wont suck souls (which I’m disappointed at).
Are you sure about that? This IS Dabbler we’re talking about. Admittedly that makes it as likely that the hilt could be used as a marital aid as the blade sucking souls out of people, But still.
I don’t think Dabbler would suck souls through a blade or have a soul sucking blade as that would make the fight too quickly over.
Instead I see it having an arousing affect, which would be fun to see how heavenly sword handles that :D
no no no with succubi: whips are for exciting your opponent, knives for teasing (if lust enchanted/ aphrodesiac coated) and wounding, swords are for f* you opponent I want blood and death when I eat your soul
I got to admit though I know Dabbler is a alien succubus I never really say many of the succubus qualities in her. Maybe it’s just me. I admit the hole wingless, four armed, sater horned, purple zebra color scheme, and furry ears doesn’t do it for me. Yes she has magic, and has no inhibitions whatsoever. But she still says more alien than seducing demon to me. I mean there are plenty of Aliens out there with magical like properties and a large labedo.
And Kirk has nailed most of them…
Ether him, or they fall for some country bumpkin named Tenchie.
That is good. Because she is as much non-Succubus as she is demon. Including literal alien. She has very mixed up heritage.
Mind you, the whole four armed thing appeals to me. I much prefer her au naturel compared to being disguised as a human. Still too buxom for my tastes, but her other assets more than compensate.
Now if only Halo could find a way of growing another couple of arms…
Au naturel is certainly the way I like Dabbler as well. :D
Actually, I’d say I like most women that way. Except for the ones with glasses… those can stay on. ;P
I have always wished I could manifest extra arms. It would make so many tasks easier. And allow me to do a lot more hugging… ;)
To be honest, it`s the hooves that turn me off of Dabbler; if she at least had digitigrade feet, I`d have no problem falling for her ‘succulent’ charms.
Yeah the hooves are my only real problem, but the way I see it, “Hell I’ll try anything once, If it doesn’t kill me I’ll maybe try it 3 times to be sure.
It never really struck me as a problem. As in I never even thought of it. Despite being aware of her hooves. Nnw that I have given it some reflection, I don’t see it as a problem.. I know that some folks have a thing for feet, but I do not view them as being anything that special. Their purpose is to stop you falling over, when you are standing up. And hooves do that job just as well. Plus they are not unsightly.
Maybe if they are sharp, or very cold to touch, then I could have issues.
But think of the advantages. She would make a great tap dancer. And, considering her other advantages, she would make the best flamenco dancer in the world!
How are hooves not unsightly? there the ugliest foot there is?
Well, ugliness and beauty are very much subjective things. Fortunately. I don’t particularly like hooves, but nor do I dislike them. Whereas if you hear a botanist being interviewed about their chosen critter of speciality, be it a bug or some butt-ugly critter from the depths, they all tend to rave about them. They find the beauty in the creatures that others have failed to appreciate.
But, if you filter out individual tastes, usually the most common feature that causes feelings of revulsion or disgust are a lack of symmetry. We are used to biological organisms that are symmetrical. And the most common cause of the loss of that is due to disease or injury. Which would be undesirable features. Be it in mates, livestock or even in something encountered in the wild. If it is injured or infected, it could pose a far greater threat than a more predictable member of the species.
So if you got a bunch of people together, say a dolphin, an octopus and an elephant, then asked them to decide on which was prettier, I suspect that they would opt for the hoof. It has far greater symmetry and uniformity, than the weird looking feet that humans have. Taken from non-prejudiced points of view.
Indeed. Sorrowfully I will admit that most of my fellow humans are biased… in favor of feet. I however, hold myself to a higher standard and therefor appreciate hooves on such delightful members of the opposite sex. It doesn’t hurt I’ve played WoW for 6 years and therefor have become quite accustomed to Draenei… they are a particularly fine example of alien species, even if I had to incapacitate them on more then one occasion… but those are sortied stories for another day.
Got to say you’re argument is a little inconsistent and confusing to say the least. First you say it’s all about simmatry. Then you say it’s about avoiding dessese, which is understandable. But then you say that youre bringing in a elafant, a octopus, and a dolfin and letting them decide?! What the hell? Dolphins have flippers and are a bit vain so they’d probably say that flippers are the best. Octopuses would go for the tenticals for there versatility. And Elafants would go with there tree trunk like legs. Not shore you can even call them hooves since there is evidence of individual digits. I prefer lots of other foot types that would fit a demon better. The clawed talon, the reptilian or dragon foot, or just the classic regular foot. But by fare the hoof is the ugliest most unstable in balance type of foot there is. There is a reason the animals that have them are on four legs. So yeas No on hooves.
The point of the exercise would be to have an unbiased panel voting on the better of the two choices only. Not being asked what they felt was the best limb appendage available, out of all of the possibilities available on the planet. Then we would just be back to having a member of a species declaring their own to be best, as you correctly pointed out. It would be nonsensical to have a footed or hoofed creature on the panel, as their bias might influence the outcome.
It would not be my intention to change your opinion on hooves, by any means. You, and doubtless many other people, consider them to be unattractive. Farmers and jockeys probably do not. Nor do cows, sheep, goats and horses. Note that one other aspect that I failed to mention before is that they have a degree of radial symmetry too. Which strengthens the universality of their potential appeal. So I am merely pointing out that whilst you are entitled to your opinion, it is just that. As opposed to a universal truth. There are opposing points of view.
As regards balance, you are simply wrong, sorry to say. Probably the animal with the greatest reputation for balance is the mountain goat. And rightly so. They can climb almost sheer cliff-faces with ease. They are cloven-hooved animals. The fact that they can do it without the aid of hands and fingers only going to show just how impressive the feat is. Err, their feet are. No the feat of them not having feet… let me start again.
Yes but mountain goats climb with four legs not two. As I was trying to say. All hooves creatures are for legged and trying to but hooves on a two legged creature would drastically affect it’s balance. After all having all that body weight on two small space makes balance difficult. Besides if you want a animal that is the best climber the real winners would be primates and raccoons. Both of witch have digit feet and are highly skilled at using them.
I was thinking more of dancing and a having a misstep (Nothing like having a 1500lb horse decide to “Accidently” step on your toes.
It would take slightly over a litre of vodka to convince me to step out onto a dance floor. By which point I would not feel it even if my foot did get trodden on!
But, that aside, I must leap to Dabbler’s defence and object to the slanderous intimations about her weight! Not to mention the accusations that she might be unstable on her hooves. Unless she had been knocking back the vodka (if it even affects her), I cannot imagine her treading on a dancing partner’s toes.
I also agree that the next vote initiative should be plenty of booty full babes in this story!
….. For practice of coarse.
Maybe Max, Heavenly sword, Dabbler, Anvil, Jabberwoky, and Harem, to name a few.
Had a thought, in the last few pages, we’ve seen Sydney’s bruising suddenly disappear.
We have also seen her with various of her power-balls in her hands as if she’s fidgetting.
I think this will be revealed in a comment by someone (probably Harem- :points at her own face: “What happened Halo?” // “What do you mean? I hate it that I now hate not having a makeup compact. Mirrors mirrors where’s a mirror?”// “Your bruises and cuts are gone. Even the blood. Did you do that?”// Harem looks at her orbs and tries to think if one maybe healed her or if her telepresence orb illusion on her face back to normal when she was cycling through them (Maxing experience possible?? She’s a minmaxer at heart so she probably did that unconsciously. As well as to test things near her… (BTW where is Shadowboxer? Doesn’t seem he’s in her shields anymore.) )
So did one of the unknowns heal her or will a simple touch prove her power telepresence dot buy allowed her to apply self illusion make up?…
Panel 4 – bruising still quite present.
Allow me to grant you the healing super power. To activate it, go back to the previous issue and press CTRL-F5.
Err, actually I guess that should be the bruising super power. But… not really very super, as you can do that with fists.
Ummm… its a big bruise for pressing just a couple of keys, if that helps?
Poor Sydney. The bruise really is swelling up. She might find herself starting to mumble when she talks soon. If Shadow Boxer wasn’t going to be spending a week in intensive care as it is, I would give him a collection of bruises too.
The position of the thought bubbles makes it look like Heavenly Swords. sword is speaking. I imagine those two swords are gonna have a fun time impacting and clashing against each other.
“Sydney and Dabbler are capable of this level of distraction in the middle of a grand scuffle, just imagine the first time they’re left alone together.”
Actually, that has already happened, in the bathroom. Sydney got caught staring at Dabbler’s chest and the conversation shifted onto why that is a bad idea.
Although if that thought was the inspiration for the current vote incentive, I’ll gladly retract my nerdism.
is it just me or does the second character down on the blade look like katakana?
Yep Dabbler would definitely be my kind of woman (illusion or not) tech savvy, multiple skill sets, sexy with a side of evil. I like it when can she get added to the deviantart list like some of the others?
Ha! I didn’t notice that cute little key-chain figure at the end of the sword! That’s so awesome!
“I realized that the general public would have to casually accept the existence of demons and/or aliens, and that would make the Grrl Power world too different from ours. It’s supposed to be almost identical to ours, only certain historical events and people can be attributed to supers. Tech level’s the same, politics are the same. If there are super powered assassins, that means there are also super powered bodyguards. It’s mostly zero-sum. Now that all this super stuff has gone public, the world will probably begin to diverge from ours in more significant ways.”
Sorry DaveB when you added supers you already crossed that line. Now look at how it was handled in Buffy/Angel universe. All that and more and yet most people were unaware of it though some may have been acting behind the scenes it is still mostly like our world. You want to have a Reed Richards is useless trope. Now that annoys me since things will change. It can’t help but change unless you keep it from doing so. Sorry old boy you want to add jabaneros to the cake and yet not taste them when you bite it.
[Emphasis added]
Maybe it’s just me, but he seems to have just admitted will happen what you say he’s denying.
And now a little Cawfee Talk with Linda Richman:
1) Does this make Dabbler a transformer, especially since there’s more to her than meets the eye?
2) HS: courage, stupidity, or vanity for not using the distraction to slip away despite Dabbler’s demonstration of strength and transformation (although the latter could possibly be an illusion).
3) Halo and Dabbler sticking their tongues out at each other: classic and so much in character.
Discuss.
1) There is indeed more than meets the eye w/Dabbler, but her being her she’ll likely be happy to show you what you’re missing.
2) DaveB already covered that bit by saying that HS has a bit of the Bushido code in her…that and maybe she’s a bit confused by Dabbler and her own sexual response off screen. Her naration might be missing her inner inner thoughts- see Boardroom reveal. I’m sure Dabbler has that spell on full time, that or she has a normal aura that’s always on that she can enhance at will.
3) Yep, there’s always time for funny- it’s a free action in many RPG’s. Might be a trope too.
2) Bedroom revea..? Never mind, must have read that wrong.
1) Dabbler is a cyborg in disguise.
2) None of the above. She may simply feel that she has enough power to outclass Dabbler. So either arrogance or confidence, depending on whether she ends up on her back or not.
3) Love it. Makes me just want to hug them.
And we would all love to see one or both of them end up on their backs :D
2) “Arrogance” was the word I was looking for and thought vanity (in her skills, not her looks) would be close enough.
I loved Dabbler’s expressions in this page. Especially when Sydney remarks on her “transformation”. On another note, way too many ppl freaking out about the soul reaver thing. I think it’s a cool name for a sword and doesn’t matter if it was the name of something from a video game.
True. Although I think the freaking out was more about the unintended slight of referring to it as ‘short lived’. Which has now been amended. But it obviously is a much-loved series.
Sounds like Dabbler might be thinking about re-naming it though, in-comic. Which is a different way of handling the issue.
Probably because Syd will call Dabs on it.
All Dabbles has to say is: “Who do you think gave them the name in the first place? Great guys, they should have been more well-known.”
that would be cool she could also if she mention a bit about them (like how cold/cruel Kain is or how stubborn/foolish Raziel is)
that was meant to have If Daveb has time :D
Maybe as a min-com
yeah, you’d think they’d be a bit more vocal about how the main character (Halo) is ALSO based off of a video game name… been there done that, got the t-shirt… next!
Sydney even mentioned it at the time.
An overlapping name is no problem, when the subjects are obviously different. And there is absolutely no resemblance between those two. Not least that one is referring to a setting (I presume the ring shaped planet that the first one is set on?) and ours is an individual character. Plus they are not even in the same genre. There is quite a big, recognised, gap between science fiction and super hero. Regardless of any crossovers that happen.
So Dave would have been fine if Soul Reaver was a setting for the game but a sword here. However now that he has found out that it was also a sword in the game, then he is right to be somewhat concerned. Other than fans who might complain that it has been ‘ripped off’, it is entirely possible that the intellectual copyright owners might challenge that close a similarity.
They would very likely loose even if they did mind. Intellectual copyright extends to cover areas such as a whole body of work or the name together with the distinctive likeness of a character. So the superficial similarity could easily be shown to be co-incidental, as it clearly is.
But there is no point risking threats of legal action, if Dave thinks he can make story mileage out of changing the name in-comic. It highlights a genuine problem in the super hero genre. That all the cool names have already been taken.
Imagine if we did suddenly start to develop super powers. Would Marvel be able to challenge a heroine who chose a name that overlapped with one of their characters? Should they have the rights to the name, because they came up with it first? Or should she, because she is real and not fictional? And what about the really knotty problem of a super who’s power is to bring drawings to life, complete with the powers shown? Then the name, distinctive likeness and powers would all overlap.
“Sorry Super Man, you had better pick a new name, yours is already taken.”
Sydney, stop ruining your allies’ dramatic moments.
She’s a “Weapon of Anti-Dramatic Entrances”, or WADE for short :P