Grrl Power #225 – Guess who switched from speed to armor
I’m back from vacation, and I’m running critically low on internet.
It’s hard to believe the last time we saw Hex, she was leaping off the roof on page 209. I guess she’s been just hovering there all this time. Of course, comic combat exists in an extreme version of comic time, so it hasn’t been weeks or even minutes. She’s been chilling out for maybe a minute.
There’s a big difference between how battles are handled in manga and how they’re handled in American comics. For one, there are very few team on team battles in manga because there are very few teams. Nearly everything that contains significant fighting falls into the category of Shōnen, as in Shōnen Jump. Basically a single male protagonist getting into lots of fight. The cast is of course much larger, and the main character can have some combination of team mates and frenemies like in Bleach, Naruto, or DBZ, but nearly every fight still comes down to one on one battles. It’s probably unfair to call American comics more varied in that regard, but personally it’s easier for me to think of examples of both single title protagonists getting in to fights, (Spider Man, Batman, Wolverine, etc.) as well as team on team battles. There’s a huge difference between one on one fights in comics and team battles. One on ones can span a significant chunk of the issue in American titles, and in Manga with their much higher page counts, they can span multiple chapters, going on for 50 pages or more. Team battles, which like I’ve said are mostly the domain of American comics, though I’m sure there are exceptions, are different because of the much smaller page counts. In most team battles, everyone goes down in one hit. It’s something I never noticed until the very first time I tried drawing a team battle, something I did probably 20 years ago on copy paper. I realized if I had everyone have these big battles that showed off their abilities or how resilient they were, the battle would be 80 pages long. I grabbed the nearest X-Men comic and realized the one hit rule was how they kept team on team battles down to 4 pages, and the cool battle moments were always saved for much lower population fight.
This battle is kind of a combination of both of those rules. It’s the first fight the characters are having (on screen anyway) so I want to show off some of their cool tricks, but that makes the page count go up. It’s also why I have a lot of disposable villains, so they can go down in one hit. In D&D 4th Edition rules, they’re 1 hit point minions. It’s also the reason I’m trying really hard to edit a bunch of the fight out (and not always succeeding mind you). Achilles for instance is just buried under some rubble. It would take almost no effort for Mr. Amorphous, Maxima or Sydney to dig him out, but then I’d feel obligated to make him be useful in the fight, and while I have some other funny things for him to do, I think I’m going to have to leave him KOed for now. Rationally it makes little sense for Maxima not to super speed down to the rubble and just kick him out of it since she doesn’t have to worry about hurting him, and it would take her all of 2 seconds to do it, but having her do that might add 5 pages to the fight, and I’ve already got a ton left to get through before I take my next editing pass. It’s hard to lose entertaining content or cool action sequences, but I can save those moments for later in the story.
Some of these pages during the fight are just fighting, but where I can I try to include other elements, whether it’s insights into Archon’s battle strategy or just setting up something for a future page. This one is mostly trying to fold Sydney back into the fight. And setting up Hex for a little action.
<– If you enjoy the comic, you might also enjoy supporting it over at Patreon.
For manga with lots of team fights, to the point where it’s hard to tell who is the main protagonist for some time, try Fairy Tail.
So far every issue has had one of the following protagonists present (as an off-panel witness, if nothing else):
Sydney, Maxima & Harem. Plus Dabbler, if you include her flash-back memory to the demon she fought.
This ignores any brief (one or two panel) break-aways from the main action,* and scenes which are clearly speculative thoughts.
* Usually for comedic effect, or to give a contextual view point to set a scene, or to explain some plot point which might be inferred by a protagonist, even if not directly witnessed. For instance Math staring at the changing room wall, was very much a comedic interlude, rather than him being the leading character of the page.
And it could even be viewed as an extension of Sydney’s fantasising, demonstrated by the thought bubble, in panel 2 on that same page. Although it certainly rings true, and I choose to take that particular event as canon.
And DaveB does toy with the exceptions. Such as Maxima and Arianna speculating about the villain reactions to the press conference. Clearly that was a bit of all them, mixed into one. Especially as we have since seen one of the imagined individuals make a real appearance.**
** Unless Maxima got drunk, at the steakhouse, and this whole fight has just been a nightmare. Which would both explain the vast number of villains, and the appearance of a fantasy villain. In which case, there could be a lot of panicked people, in the restaurant, trying to avoid her pointing finger, as she waves it drunkenly around!
I like sydney’s expression with her pull aggro comment i expect her to pull a “train” at some point in the battle with multiple villians gunning for her and getting picked off because they are focusing to much on her
So why is it that all of our heroines are “Drop dead gorgeous,” (Excluding our lovable Halo) whilst the villainous Villianess group is a bit less good looking?
It’s all in the mood, baby. XD
Oddly enough, I was saying presciently the opposite, to my brother, today. I felt that Hex very much fitted the part. But I think I can figure out where the difference in opinions lies.
Personally I rate Sydney, in particular, as being prettier than any of the other heroines. Possibly, we can take it that Hex is similar to her, in having items that provide her with powers. But, I think that the more likely option is that the super hero looks are influenced by cultural attitudes of an idealised person. And such opinions can vary.
So, for instance, a Mauri super is unlikely to look like Math. And we know that there are other ideals, than the California beach babe look, already present.
Just check out Anvil. Ok, she is well endowed, but her sheer hight indicates that the super hero package does not take a cookie-cutter approach, to try and make one size fit all.
Halo being drawn any differently simply would not fit her.
If she had more bust, she would be out of proportion and have lots more trouble to pass as “boyish”.
If she was any bigger or more muscular, her girlish side would be diminished.
If, in general, she would appear more supernatural, her human side would take the toll.
And it’s precisely that mixture, flaws included, that make her this likeable and, in her own way, beautiful indeed.
Since I am a sucker for natural beauty rather than magazine poster girls and walking statues, though undeniably impressive, Sydney would get my vote as well.
Pull Agro?
Why did I think BADGER!
Now it looks to be girl with balls versus girl with balls.
Just a thought, isn’t Sailor Moon a team on team or team on one, even? Or the Ranma gang vs Pantyhose Taro?
I think the key issue Dave was talking about is the way the combat is handled, rather than the presence, or absence, of an organised unit. My speculation is that this stems from old cultural roots. A linking path, to which, can be seen via martial arts movies.
Where the key action tends to be mano-a-mano. Even to the cliché of, when one opponent fought a group, they would wait their turn, to take him on one at a time. Although that has less prominence nowadays, the legacy of that influence remains.
And we know it to be deeply rooted in actuality. Even though Japan could field large armies, the samurai was always considered pre-eminent. So the heart of the action would be considered the samurai, fighting his individual opponent. Regardless of how many armed peasants might be milling around, padding out the numbers, on either side.
Which nearly had a disastrous consequence for their society. When the Mongols invaded, as a cohesive, organised army, with no such attitude, they would have overwhelmed the Japanese, through sheer concentration of numbers. As seen by the initial action.
The Mongol fleet had anchored off the coast, preparing to disembark the following dawn. The defending Japanese, rather than attacking in force, whilst their enemies were confined on board ship, instead sent in samurai to attack, in ones and twos.
Intending to show their individual superiority. But, rather, getting slaughtered. An interesting parallel to the above fight.
Had a powerful storm not swept through, later in the night, and sank most of the fleet, it is probable that the Japanese would have been overwhelmed and subjugated by the Mongols. I think they were right to praise the intervention of the Divine Wind.
Interestingly enough I do occasionally see somewhat decent Group vs. Group fights in Super Sentai and derived works if you ignore the “backsplosions”. One example would be Ressha Sentai ToQger. Take a look at the fights against the Kuros in the first few episodes. While they aren’t great they do show teamwork on both sides and how chaotic group battles can actually get.
Ha! Tugging on Supe’s cape….
On a totally different note that BusterBuddies™ Girl reminds me of Halo which then reminds me of a concept villain I’ve thought up in the past.
A villain who uses advanced magic based tech to enhance his near nonexistent magical capability using Formulaic Rubik Spheres that’s connected to a Super Mana Computer that stores all his researched Spells. The Spheres can fly, rotate and reconfigure the symbols/patterns on them to create near instantaneous ritualistic type and runic type magic effects of various utility. He controls them through a psychic interface. Huh… I missed the old days…
At least Sydney has the presence of mind to come right out & ASK Max for something to do that stands the least-likely chance of blowing it for Archon. This indicates that she’s fully aware of her “newbie” status & subordinate position to authority.
Yep, Sydney will do well as a teammate. ;)
*crysis suit voice* MAXIMA ARMOR
YOUR WEBPAGE HAS A PERSISTANT JAVA BASED VIRUS!!!
IT IS SOME KIND OF POP UP ATTACKER!!!
CHECK YOUR COMPUTER AND UNF#$% YOURSELF!!!
Can you give me any more information about it? I’m not seeing anything on the site. Doesn’t mean it’s not there but I don’t have much to go on at the moment.
“Shōnen” just means “young man”; it’s not a word that is describing a story genre. It just means that the manga is targeted towards males of age approximately 10 to 18 years old, as opposed to “Seinen” which would be men in the 17-40 range. Stuff like Akira or Ghost in the Shell is Seinen, whereas Naruto or Dragon Ball is Shōnen — the only real difference is that Seinen has more adult themes. Story genre isn’t part of it: Slam Dunk is a shōnen manga even though it’s about basketball; Crayon Shin-chan is a seinen manga even though it’s about the socially-embarrasing behavior of a 5-year-old brat.
“Shōnen” also isn’t even singular; the word can be plural, depending on context.
If you want to actually talk about the genre of manga with fighting, the Japanese term is 格闘漫画 (Kakudou Manga) or バトル漫画 (Batoru Manga). (“Batoru” is from English “Battle”.) Those terms don’t really convey any individual-ness, though.
Hi,
So I’ve been following this comic for while and just had to comment when I saw your “Don’t Mess Around with Slim” (or was it Jim… I can never remember properly which one is the song title) reference.
I’ve enjoyed your comic a lot both as a female and as a superhero enthusiast. Your style is really engaging and I love the world that you’ve built, especially for how it allows Sydney to be both a part of the audience and the main character.
Thanks for sharing your talents!
Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying it so far!
hey so what you said in the author’s notes about not having as many team battles in manga works, totally agree, but a personal favourite of mine is a real exception to this rule, I don’t know if you’ve read it before but ‘World Trigger’ has some of THE best strategy fighting and team based battle situations I’ve encountered and I’d really recommend it.
Not that you need any more inspiration for strategy fights or anything! you’re awesome. And I love your stuff and sydney is my spirit animal, and love your writing style.
But just if you’d like – I mean – eep i don’t know \(>o<)/
i just recommend it
The author creates loads of interesting rules for the strategy based storyline and then you get to watch how the different strong personalities of the characters operate under them and it's really versatile so i thought you might like it
What a cute little pixie!
You I like, far better than Pixel.
In my opinion, weaker team members need bigger parties.
Stronger team members don’t need as big parties