Grrl Power #227 – Arianna uses Spin!
I was getting sick of drawing that building anyway. Individually Hex’s lasers aren’t all that strong, but the restaurant was pretty much a write off at this point. It just needed that final nudge. I’m not sure what Hex’s deal is with squirrels, maybe she had some past trauma with them. That or I just wanted an excuse to use the word squabies.
#MakeComics: Originally this page ended with Suzie’s line “She’s not wrong.” but my brain didn’t stop there and the waitress had to ask if she could sue the villains. That’s why the last two panels are so small. I had to crop stuff out where I could from the panels above, but they were already drawn, and I didn’t know how much space the word bubbles were going to take up till I got back from vacation as I don’t have Illustrator on my laptop.
After some intensive research (asking on Twitter) to make sure the waitress could really sue the people that cost her a job, (or at least a place to clock in) I decided to not only show the restaurant’s last gasp and the press, Arianna and the other civilians doing their thing, but also show Archon’s extended strategy for dealing with supervillainy, which is to make sure super power criminals not only will get their asses kicked and be incarcerated, but they’ll have their paychecks docked for the rest of their lives, especially if they do something grandiose like fucking up the Golden Gate Bridge or blowing up Mt. Rushmore in an attempt to mine all the ultra quartz from Lincoln’s nose or whatever. Probably not much of a deterrent to most villainous types, but I’d like to see Doctor Doom being forced to pound out licence plates for thirty years. Granted having to pay for damages would happen in civilian court, so it’s not like they could be incarcerated until they paid down their bill like some sort of debters prison, but it’s still a nice thought.
Edit: I changed the hair and shirt color of the guy who got shot in the back in panel 2 since people were confusing him with Math when he was blond. He’s just a scrub.
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Arianna’s First Use Of Spin!
[Arianna while in her crib]
Arianna: Goo, goo, googly goo, blaph, GURGLE!*
*Translation: Look, mom, someday this could be FERTILIZER!
I think maybe it’s time somebody dragged Arianna out of public view. She looks like she’s on the verge of an orgasm…IN PUBLIC.
“DABBLER! Turn off the Orgasmo-field!!”
“But it’s not even on!”
Gawd! Remind me not to read Arriana’s lines aloud anymore. I come off like Arnold saying them which makes them even funnier. The laughter had already hurt enough.
Groan Budget Duke next to an attractive girl making a dancing reference.
Who you calling ‘Budget Duke’? He is a full member of the Space Marines
Goose… He who bears a striking resemblance to a certain video game character.
What the heck is squabies?
“Squabies is simply getting anything sexual from a girl. Let it be head, a hand job, or anything you can imagine.” — Urban Dictionary
…Although in this case, I think Hex means “squirrel rabies.”
Maybe that squirrel is a girl?
…I don’t know, but I haven’t tried to look either…
And that, Grasshopper, is a sign of true wisdom. Or a fear of having your nose gnawed off at the neck.
In the last panel: Arianna spontaneously manifesting superpowers from sheer glee.
The waitress’s question would probably make for good discussion on lawandthemultiverse.com if it hasn’t already.
You can sue anybody for anything. Sometimes a judge will disallow suits without a good basis as “frivolous”. This seems to have reasonable merit, and would probably be allowed.
Lost wages for a waitress wouldn’t amount to much, though; better add in emotional distress – then you can start talking big bucks. Of course, these mooks won’t have big bucks, so the point is moot.
Probably the best bet is to sue Archon for not having the foresight to order pizza delivery.
Exhibit A: The we
2nd try…
Exhibit A: The web-comic GRRLPOWER posited that doing a PR stunt while announcing a super-team might be taken as a challenge by villains. Surely a government military agency should have at least as much foresight as a cartoonist!
(I’m sure other comic examples are out there, but I was too lazy to track ’em down.)
https://satwcomic.com/battle-cry
Hex has some indications of being brainwashed. Based on that a judge could declare all of them here as not guilty.
Until they find out who the brainwashing mastermind is.
The ARC supers on the other hand know exactly what they are doing.
Hex has shown little indication of being brainwashed. Statements like “I don’t even know what I’m doing here,” and “Whose bright idea was it…?” are often uttered in ironic rhetoric. They are not evidence of mind control.
or are they?
with the right legal fu and a bit of scare tactics it can become accepted that there are a bunch of telepaths running around under everyone’s radar mind controlling people left and right
Could very well be rhetorical. As far as Hex knows she’s lucky to be alive after picking on someone unbelievably out of her league. And the whole caper is going South at a rapid pace. That sort of disaster leads to serious questions about one’s own sanity and gullibility. Assuming a minimal dose of good sense and a working survival instinct.
Hex: “Your honour, I was mind-controlled by Super Squirrel. As soon as the control was broken, I panicked and fired at him, before he could re-establish control. I apologise for all the accidental damage and injury that resulted from my attempt at self-defence.”
Clearly she is trying for ‘Not guilty on grounds of insanity’.
If it works, she gets to taste a rainbow of pills.
Okay, I like Budget Halo even more now! Hex has every single one of my votes for reformed villain joining the team at some later date. She’s got the funny quirky personality and her hair and outfit are sweet! If I could demand anything of Dave, it would be to make that happen. Since I can’t demand things of Dave, I’ll just have to like worship him… or something… until he feels fit to bestow favor on me by granting that request…. Or kidnap him. Which ever is more likely to work.
On a side note are we certain that Arianna isn’t also a super who’s power is to twist peoples words to her whims? Actually, wait… I know someone like that in real life…. Nevermind.
Hex has a lawsuit coming, she’s gonna need a job and Arianna seems the type to have arguably enslaved work release employees.
And here we have the introduction of the Mark II Archon Collar, now with C4 liner for those less than used to the straight and narrow path. With the new work-repay-release schedule 20 to life can mean so much more to society. And for those folks with slightly more resilient bodies, the jockstrap of infinite patience and or the surgically installed remote detonating conscience complete with Arc-Dark Jiminy Cricket goodness in your ear.
EVERY.MOMENT.FOR.THE.REST.OF.YOUR.LIFE…
And a law suit for cruel and unusual punishment i.e. the threat of being killed by explosives
which is why the real ones pr mistress will use will just include the drug /stun options of the detainee armbands (and I can see arianna developing the need to be code-named as such)
A lawsuit would require that the person be a released citizen not –say– a condemned criminal (can you say mass attempted murder counts of federal agents ?) with a stay, I SAY A STAY of execution. With great power comes great REAPER-cussions ((Hah! Take that spell checker))
Prisoners can and have filed and won lawsuits while still in prison.
And when it comes to constitutional rights you would have every anti-goverment lawyer jumping on the case.
Yes, I actually do like her. She also seems the most disarming of all of them. The rest across as crazy or just the type who like a good fight regardless of who gets hurt. Though its possible that Dave is using her as a foreshadowing of the others revealing they were either bribed or duped into doing this. IE a hint of the fact there is someone actively trying to hinder Archon before they can really get going, perhaps some former disgruntled employees?
I thought Heavenly Sword was better at disarming. Did you see how far that sword went!
Budget Halo has sciurophobia. That would make her too much of a liability in an urban OR suburban setting.
Arianna is a super, her power is the ability to put a positive and monetarily lucrative spin on anything.
Reality alteration, AOE hex, doubled doubled doubled doubled (okay lots of doubling), requires END to start, Skill roll oratory, Can only activate immediately after a media witnessed event, Can only alter events recorded in immediate area but the effect applies to all in LOS of the media replay.
In its own way, every bit as powerful as Maxima overall –just spread thin across a wide range.
No squirrels were harmed in the making of this page.
Just means they weren’t trying hard enough
Do it better next time!
So how come Halo and Duke Nukem, Jr. don’t get mentions in the “Who’s Who”?
Whoops, forgot to add Sydney’s tag. Duke (Goose) doesn’t have any lines on this page so I left him out on purpose – though he’s not the talkative type so maybe that’s not a good measure of whether someone deserves a WW slot.
Goose? As in Shane ‘Goose’ Gooseman? The coolest Galaxy Ranger EVER!!!!?
Or do you mean that guy from Top Gun?
Has Duke Goose been officially introduced yet?
He usually introduces himself by patting people on the head while they’re sitting.
“Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke…”
And then yelling “Goose” and running to see if they can catch him.
Maybe he’s named Goose cause he honks when he talks.
He got the nickname “Goose” when he met Dabbler for the first time and didn’t cover his assets.
{lashes tail so it spanks Deof} bad. bad. go say your sorry to the nice gun carrying man or you don’t get to play with you toys(clones) anymore today.
You don’t have to talk to have a role in a page.
Though here, Goose is just ‘guy hiding behind Sydney’
Making sure a supervillain is unable to make an honest living is possibly to the optimum long-term strategy for dealing with him.
‘…possibly NOT the optimum strategy…’ not ‘…possibly TO the optimum strategy…’
Ensuring that a supervillian cannot earn a dishonest living however…
That face. That face of Arianna’s in the last panel is just… just my gosh, that face is funny.
Oh hells yes! The reaction of the reporters and the waitress is even more funny. I’d kill to see an actual animated version of this strip!
you realize it’d look something like Kill la Kill right?
“Haaa-llelujah!”
And now I’m picturing Sydney pulling out THE UNMAKER!!! out of her top while telling Dabbler about running a comic store..
Also, I forgot to ask, but who is that who appears to be buried in a rubble pile again?
Achilles is under the pile. Of course both Math and Jabberwocky were still in the building last we saw.
Isn’t that Math lying on the ground? Looks like he got tagged with a laser…
Nvm, previous posts cleared that up. Not Math, nameless goon. Whew…
Math & JW have moved thier fight outside. We saw them punchign through during Dabblervs Speedser guy.
But wait!
This is not the first superhero battle – and there were probably some before that. However, this is the first documented modern super battle, and almost certainly the largest. So that is probably good enough…
Nevermind – the panel I was thinking of is mostly a Sydney thought balloon, so while it is canon that Sydney fantasizes a lot, it is not canon the Lincoln Incident actually happened. Unless it was confirmed in the comments there…
If you wanna be technical the first was at the bank but that was semi-faked.
By semi-faked I mean 2 of the supers involved didn’t know it was faked.
Well, first big to do battle royale in the public’s knowledge. Maxima cracking some D- super in the chops during a back robbery doesn’t count (even if that wasn’t fake) and all other skirmishes prior to this were covered up or contained.
The guy in black and yellow reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons, The mafia and a group of yakuza were fighting it out in front of the Simpson’s house, when Marge suggested to go inside and Homer countered with a comment along the lines of “but that little guy hasn’t done anything yet and you know he’s going to do something cool”. And after they went inside, you heard something outside that implied that the guy did something cool.
You’re not wrong.
just going to leave this here.
https://imgur.com/c2wRFnh
That’s a Squirrel-go-round, latest craze for adventurous vermin
Just wait until the squirrels figure out how to cut the thread holding it up. Then we’ll see how “proof” it is against them.
And the best comment was “You Spin Me Right Round Baby Right Round”.
[b]Definitely[/b] hope this isn’t the last we see of Hex…
Just out of curiosity, how would the team handle an “enabler” super. For example someone who in and of themselves has no apparent superpower, but instead grants a power to another (think a “muse” assistant who causes regular scientists to become mad scientists) or a copy cat villain that can temporarily grant duplicate powers to “normals” of any super they’ve come in contact with. (sort of a reverse “Rogue”)
They would have a big fight with the transformed target individuals. Assuming they behaved in a super-villainous manner. Such as attacking diners in the middle of a meal. If the one behind all the trouble kept a low profile, and avoided drawing attention, he or she may even be able to get away.
Just like Helian’s little post right above this one, I’m just going to leave this one here for everybody’s enjoyment.
https://imgur.com/gallery/c8TLx
I found it right next to Helian’s post and I loved it. (Here’s a hint if you’re leery: Edible Shotglasses) :)
Yes. I agree with several others. I’m thinking that some of the villains may not be as villainy as they thought. Of course, misguided teens are pretty easy to manipulate… Example: Boy meets hot chick who is a vegan. Hot chick does boy. Boy is now vegan. It is practically an STD moment.
Nah, it’s sex-based mind-control.
Hot Chick refuses to touch boy unless he becomes vegan, little head does the thinking, boy becomes vegan.
Boy tastes vegan food, boy hurls over the girl, boy swears off all girls, boy eats bambi-burger for lunch
Nah, boy is vegan only around girl till he either gets caught or finds a hotter chic that will do him.
Ariana scares teh bejeebers outta me…
I think the Waitress is due a “Victim of Crime” pay out, then law suits for Loss of Earnings, Emotional Suffering and Personal Property Damages for her stuff in the locker room and her vehicle if she drove to work that shift.
call it 100K all up unless she gets a sympathetic jury who awards 15 mill for the Emotional Suffering
“…Individually Hex’s lasers aren’t all that strong…”
Based on the damage inlicted, the Booster Buddies appeara to be something like 10 kW caser cutters. To put it in another perspective, consider each Booster Buddy as a Gatling machinegun, firing .22 LR ammunition at 50 shots in second.
If the bearm traverses quickly, each traget on its path gets only a few hits. If the bean lingers, it can cut trough thick armor.
Normally, I do not like overzealous lawyers. I always have seen them as more of a strain on the legal system. I am also not sure the legal basis for the lawsuit so Arianna is treading new ground (a good thing I guess since she is the expert on supers in regards to the law).
I said [u]normally[/u], I think I will enjoy watching Arianna in court. Just do not draw out the court case several years :).
I have an idea. On Mondays, regular update with Halo and “ArcSquad”. On Thursdays, Halo in the more “civilian” type story lines. Monday, fight bad guys and take names. Thursday, working the store and/or convicting/suing the bad guys (Law and Order: Super Justice Court. “In the legal justice system, we have two separate but equally important groups. Law enforcement, who investigates, and the District Attorney’s who prosecutes those crimes. When the specially endowed is a victim of, or commits a crime, that is when the brave men and women of the Archon investigates. These are their stories” Bumb Bun).
I do not know if my idea is manageable though. It would mean having 2 concurrent story arcs.
For some reason, I had the song playing in my head when I saw the last two panels.
This song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeXQBHLIPcw
Which while respectable, isn’t particularly strong from an energy wielder’s perspective. It’s doubtful Max would have had to stat dump to handle it, though it’s likely she already had done so in case some powerhouse hit her with a lucky shot while she was overseeing.
I am still hoping Sydney has a “healing orb”. One that is going to start pestering her to be used on the wounded. Maybe, fly down low into Sydney’s face, until she grabs at it but misses because it is flying to the nearest wounded person.
There hasn’t really been time. I’m sure Sydney will try the unknowns for healing power after the fight. On herself and anyone who wants take try.
We’ve seen hex make a planar sheild with her buster-buddies. I wonder if she can make a tetrahedron or a cube sheild as well? How big a sheild can she make? Would a sheild made from two buster-buddies be useful as a weapon; either a trip-wire or energy sword?
perhaps an octahedral shield; a “cube-shield” would require 8 BB’s (TM)
whoops! got my sides and verticies mixed up
Wonder if they could manage a pyramid (5 points but 7 verticies) or double pyramid (6 pts, 10 verticies)?
If she makes a whole bunch more, she could form a Buckminsterfullerene shield.
I’m 99% sure Arianna has some non-negligible amount of Ferengi DNA in her genes.
She is looking to generate publicity for Archon. Any profit is secondary. And probably small change compared to their operating budget.
At this point I don’t think she’s even thinking of PR or profit. Look at the look of sheer JOY on her face at the thought of suing a supervillain.
I don’t think I’ve EVER seen ANY superhero story where the VILLAIN gets sued following a superpower fight, it’s always the hero who gets sued somehow.
That’s because actual villains (as opposed to people who just had some kind of nasty power related outburst or accident) are usually judgement-proof. Go ahead. Sue Magneto or the Vulture. See if they care.
They care as soon as your bailiffs arrive, protected by ArcSWAT, to seize their laboratory, sell off the component parts to the highest bidders, and give the victim the compensation awarded to them.
And Maxim is competent enough to ensure that the fighting takes place where there are not precious things to be broken. Which is useful in also avoiding toxic chemical spills, with radioactive properties, that might mutate random passers by.
A squirrel bit Hex’s sister.
[We apologize, the person responsible for this post has been sacked.]
at least it wasn’t a majestik m00se
as long as it isn’t a were-moose at a waffle shop we are ok
“Squirrel bites girl” is not news.
Now “Girl bites squirrel”, OTOH….
How about “Squirrel-Girl Bites! Film at 11”?
I have to admit Arianna freaks me out sometimes with the way she acts. o.o;
just because
https://www.photobomber.org/that-epic-win-squirrel-photobomb-1282.html
I counter with Ninja dog and giant squirrel!
I’ve seen that squirrel before. Can’t remember which police show he was in though.
Epic indeed.
Looks like the Squirrel wants to sue too, and yes, a victim of crime like this IS entitled to lost wages from the perpetrator, at least in Tennessee. (I was on the jury of a civil suit where a victim of a vehicular assault sued the estate of her assailant. The assailant died in the resulting crash.)
OOh. Looks like Arianna went Obama there in the next to last panel. “YES. YOU. CAN!” Pointing finger and all.
Hmm look WAY in the background of the second panel. Is that Jabberwocky dodging a hex beam?
Probably not. Hair’s too blonde, in my opinion.
Can’t be. Not making out with Math.
Sort of hard to do whilst dodging a Hex beam.
I hope Maxima’s comment about collateral damage doesn’t come back to bite them at the trial. That’s the type of thing a good lawyer could turn into ‘contributory negligence’ or some such thing.
I doubt they can blaim this destruction of the building on Max, or anyone of Archon.
It’s pritty clear that Hex did it (HS also sliced off a piece of the wall, twice. And when the first bricks jumped in they also made a hole)
It depends largely on the local laws on that type of thing – and even if they can’t blame it entirely on them, it’s possible they can blame it partially on them, a ‘both sides are to blame’ type of thing.
The exact terms of the laws can be weird: I was hit by a bus than ran a stop sign, and it was decided that I was partially to blame (no idea why – I was following the signs and within the speed limit) so they didn’t owe anything. People who witnessed thought it was clear-cut, but the laws said otherwise.
I’m wondering whether Wictor Won Dune (of Ratvelia) in the red in panel 2 is actually a heavy hitter or just a megadefense super – an Achilles / Nyah-Nyah Man analog. I suppose if he’s the latter he’s doing a bad job because he’s not attracting a lot of shots just standing there.
I like that. “WWWWWWhoops.”
I’m liking her more and more! Can we have her as a recurring character? She’s more interesting than the other villains presented so far.
Her understandable panic attack aside, she’s also shown a lot more smarts than most the others as well.
I think I speak (write?) for all of us: Please don’t ever let your brain stop!
… hanging from the passenger’s side of his best friend’s ride, trying to holla at m…. (Please excuse me while I go collect my wandering mind.)
Hex does have a right to be freaked out about squirrels. There basically just tree born rats. Who knows how many sicknesses and the like they carry besides rabies.
And as if one nut wasn’t bad enough now Arianna’s acting crazy as well! Might be that her mind is having a melt down trying to think of a good way to explain all this widespread destruction, or Sidney’s craziness is infectious. Just to be safe I’d isolate both of them in a white padded room.
It it a coincidence that this article about squirrels came out the same week that this comic was published? (actually, yes it is.) There are over 200 species, the largest being the Indian giant squirrel at three feet long and over 4 pounds. (possibly related to the Giant Rat of Sumatra)
https://www.livescience.com/28182-squirrels.html
Interesting article. Up until I got to the names, I even thought it was genuine. Then I realised that the guy who wrote it was smoking some powerful stuff, and just making up shit:
Meanwhile that mysterious masked hooded guy is still just standing there looking as stoic as ever. Looks like that beam attack from hex has as much effect on him as it did on Max. Though Math can’t say the same(At least I think that’s Math. Kinda looks like him.). Has it been established yet whether he’s a good guy or bad guy yet?
Irrelevant bad guy. And, if he is looking blonde on your screen, hit CTRL-F5 for an instant make-over.
Were you talking about the guy I mistook for Math, or the mysterious hooded guy?
The Math mistake.
This is Arianna’s super power the power of spin in marketing!!!