Grrl Power #254 – Sydney’s auditing a class at Acme Looniversity
Since the noise Sydney is making is hard to spell, I’ve included an .MP3 of it. The original tongue sound effect was achieved by someone wetting their finger, then popping it out of a bottle, then looping it, so it’s questionable how accurate Sydney’s imitation of it is. Harem has a lot more life experience under her belt than you’d expect for a nineteen year old, but that’s to be expected when you can do two or more things at once from the age of… I don’t recall when I said she first got her powers, I think seven? Anyway, she’s read way more books, had more part time jobs, and definitely watched more TV than almost anyone on the team, (except probably Dabbler or Zeph.) The point being, despite only being nineteen, she knows full well what Sydney is imitating. She just hasn’t quite figured out why. Not that anyone under 20 automatically wouldn’t, but the younger you are, the less chance there is that Lo0ney Tunes was a staple of your childhood. Heck, there are people reading the comic who will be graduating high school this year or next who weren’t even born when Space Jam came out. Yeah, I just made a bunch of people feel old. Myself included.
Anyway, realizing this while I was writing the page, for a split second I considered explaining the joke (for Harem’s benefit), cause as we all know, jokes are funnier when someone explains them to you. Actually, I think some jokes can be funnier when explained, but that’s everything to do with delivery.
You can see a hint of Anvil’s undies on this page, which is intentional but not necessarily intended to be lascivious. It’s more like, there are things that superheroines would have to deal with that superheroes wouldn’t as much (besides being thrown by your hair), for instance, if you’re dragged in to a super throw down when you’re wearing a skirt, there’s a pretty good chance a photo of your panties will wind up online or in a tabloid. Sure, Captain America could get his uniform torn down to just his tighty whities, but it’s much more likely to happen if you’re wearing something flimsy or revealing to begin with. Not that Anvil’s outfit was really revealing at all, but it wasn’t made of kevlar either. I’m setting up for scenes later on where the gals sit around at lunch and commiserate about such things. Of course, drawing Anvil in a battle damaged dress isn’t the worst part of my day or anything, I just don’t want to be too gratuitous about it. :)
Last comic I said that this page was the second half of a double page, which then got rewritten as a double. Here’s the original, which ended with Sydney tricking Vehemence into punching Anvil. It’s not… bad, especially if you imagine it as the second half of the previous page. I like the rebound line, but it sort of felt like it was missing a few panels that explicitly showed Sydney grabbing Anvil and yanking her in front of the punch. The challenge with sequential art is figuring out what you need to show and what you can assume the reader will be able to infer. That’s 101, 102 is concerning yourself with pacing on top of all the 101 stuff. You’d think during action you could cut out more to quicken the pacing, but then OnePunch Man releases an entire chapter that’s just the camera spinning around a character while someone jumps from tree to tree in the background.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey. I’ll make a permanent link for those somewhere on the page eventually.
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Nerf molestorb! OP! ZOMG!
So, why is Maxima nowhere to be seen?
It made pefect sense for her to stay out of the fight early on when they were dealing with mostly disorganized small fries so the rest of the team can build up teamwork, confidence and skills, but now that heavy hitters started demolishing the team it is quite pointless and counterproductive.
Seems she has been quickly reduced from a super-super ( as she was initially introduced ) to a dumb,incompetent and mostly useless braggart for no reason at all.
Tactical Analysis.
The same thing this guy did while the rest attacked the heroes.
so far, team seams to be able to hold their own quite well, he was bearly abel to move Stallward, and Sydney even brought Anvil back into the fight the instant she was moving slow enough to target
sure, Max could get into the fight now, but it has yet to be necessary, entering now is just glory hogging. wait for team to actually have a problem, then engage.
How did sydney accurately control anvil descent? she hit the mark dead on from a very serious height. or did she intercept from a low height and throw her VERY hard?
I think the orb intelligently interpreted her intention and did whet she was trying.
I think halos emotions get in the way when using the PPO stopping it from working accurately.
The PPO doesn’t come with a sight so I think it must work that way, its safety does.
so far, team seams to be able to hold their own quite well, he was barely able to move Stallward, and Sydney even brought Anvil back into the fight the instant she was moving slow enough to target
sure, Max could get into the fight now, but it has yet to be necessary, entering now is just glory hogging. wait for team to actually have a problem, then engage.
The fact he was able to move Wart at all says a lot about Fedorka
true, but it still looks to be well within the power of ward, anvil and halo to take him down without to much problem.
Over 2,000 tons is an impressive lifting force.
So is the fact that he sent Anvil flying over 150km/h.
The team may be holding their own, but this guy is strong enough to pose a serious threat to pretty much anyone but Achilles.
Don’t forget that maxima could cause a nuclear explosion and survive the fallout without any visual effort. Also if maxima just busted up vwhemwnce then that wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining as watching the team smash him into the ground.
I think Ms. PunchingMeMakesMeStronger,Ms InvincibleShield and Mr. ToughAsAMountain aren’t really in danger yet.
Well now I want to know how far that thing can actually stretch.
Colonoscopy?
No thanks…I’m over 50 & already had one. I’ve already decided to cancel any other *annual* appointments, as such.
Amen. Even worse, a rigid rectal sigmoidoscopy. That’s when the doctor brings out a camera that looks very similar to a Louisville Slugger (baseball bat, for those who don’t know) and requests a picture of your colon.
I’ve never had anyone request a picture of my colon before, so I asked him if he wanted the 3×5 wallet size or the 5×8 glossy.
He told me “You might feel a slight cramp.” This is like telling a man in the path of a flash flood that he might experience moisture. The cramp was in my neck.
So wait…if Stalwart weighed as much as the space shuttle, that means he weighed at least 165,000 pounds. Is that his limit or was he still holding back? And how long is that Lighthook? And how did she get it up there so fast?
Well, the Molestorb can probably stretch as far as she wants it to, and it is made of Light, so possibly can move at the speed of Light (or something)
There is also the possability that she started sending up the whip shortly after Anvil went Airborne (she is swapping it into her hand in the first panel)
Yes, the switch IS clearly visible in panel 1… the question is “Why”? It’s plainly visible in her hand in the first panel of the previous page AND she was using it barely 10 seconds before that to trip him.
IF Sidney’s arm were positioned a little differently (rotated so the Orb was up), the streak could be the beginning of the Lighthook extending…
No, the ‘streak’ is the wrong colour and ‘thickness’
“The Space Shuttle” is a nicely ambiguous amount of weight because it doesn’t specify whether or not he’s including the booster rockets or fuel. I figure he’s about 75 tons at the moment, which is just the shuttle itself.
Then wouldn’t a punch hard enough to lift him essentially cause an EXPLOSION?
well, a shockwave…
don’t tell superman. or the hulk, juggernaut…
comics only allows this when someone does this on purpose, like slapping their hands together. otherwise they ignore it. :)
Well even the hulk typically takes a moment to put the effort into lifting a 50 ton tank.
Vehemence can apparently punch 75 tons straight upwards just like that.
And this comic HAS dealt with “powerful punches against powerful surface” before, like in Arianna’s ballroom.
Except Stalwart isn’t a hard target. And probably almost all of the force was absorbed in actually moving him, however slowly it did.
Cartoon physics….
It doesn’t really make sense for the stomp to hurt Vehemence, or for him to have trouble moving when he could just bust his shoe (or the pavement) to pull his foot out.
Stalwart also has “resistance to knockback” in his profile, so maybe he has to get hit extra-extra hard.
Honestly, it irritated me more that Anvil had the presence of mind to jiu-jitsu the grab, but then seems to turn into a damsel in distress as soon as her hair gets pulled. Maybe she’s got Sampson’s vulnerability…
I’m always reminded of the Grand List of Console RPG Cliches whenever a female character is grabbed and rendered helpless in one way or another.
148: Gender Equality, Part 1 (Feena Rule)
Your average female RPG character carries a variety of deadly weapons and can effortlessly hack or magic her way through armies of monsters, killer cyborgs, and mutated boss creatures without breaking a sweat. She may be an accomplished ninja, a superpowered secret agent, or the world’s greatest adventurer. However, if one of the game’s villains manages to sneak up and grab her by the Standard Female Character Grab Area (her upper arm) she will be rendered utterly helpless until rescued by the hero.
Don’t know why, but that list is almost as ingrained in my head as TV Tropes.
Anvil is hardly whiny or “oh poor me” helpless. She is simply kicking herself for getting into a bad situation. If you have never had an “Oh sh*t” moment, then you sir, (unlike me and most of the rest of us – male or female), have had an extremely charmed life.
Oh I’ve had numerous “oh SH*T” moments, but it’s something that comes to mind whenever a heroine is overpowered in a way that usually only happens to a female character. It becomes an archetype of it’s own as female characters are usually rendered inactive or helpless without being physically injured, while male characters tend to need a physical injury to succumb to the same fate, regardless of how long they are in that state. Hence why the rule is called “Gender Equality”, though inequality would probably be more accurate.
But the facts of the rule show on this page. Anvil, as super strong female character who has nearly effortlessly swathed her way through hordes of enemies, was rendered helpless (while not through the Standard Female Character Grab Area) until she was rescued by the hero (in this case, Sydney). Rule still applies.
(off topic)I’ve found Waldo!=OP
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE THE ONE BILLIONTH PERSON TO SAY THAT!
…you win a cookie…but I can’t give it to you yet…I ated it.
Woo hoo! I’m number one billion, I’m number one billion!
kenya wasn’t incapacitated by being grabbed but as a brick the moment he pulled her off her feet it was her being subjected to the same logic of lifting V by the hentiaorb
Just because doesn’t technically damage you it can still hurt. You just tune most shit out. An unexpected high mass impact (remember momentum applies) to a relatively small area is just a little harder than most items.
Mass and Density manipulation would definitely explain Mr Aegir’s strength and durability.
This is a learning moment for Anvil, and she’ll have to address it one way or another. It’s not like early Wonder Woman where she lost her powers when tied up, just a combat situation she hadn’t counted on.
its not about her becoming helpless cause she’s a woman, its a pretty simple fact of fighting that if someone grabs you by your hair, you have 2-3 choices.. 1: if you somehow have the strength and leverage, pull back against the force until your hair either breaks or tears out of its anchoring in your head… Neither option is particularly pleasant or feasible to do as we saw anvil’s hair was litteraly strong enough to throw her by. 2: Cut the hair or your enemy’s arm, again not feasible as she lacks a cutting tool for her hair and vehemence arm is obviously not breakable from her position. 3: go where he wants you. Not so much an option as the only realistic outcome for anyone having this done to you, this is Why loose grabbable hair is such a bad idea in a battle because not only does it give the opponent wonderful leverage, its the kind of grip you cant resist because doing so will hurt like the dickens and for Most people, your neck muscles just arent going to overpower the opponent’s arm/upper body strength.
In short, as the V said, long hair is a bad idea in a battle, regardless of your gender. (though some powers can counter this or even require long hair, but none of those are what anvil has).
Keep in mind that they were out at dinner, and Anvil may have ‘let her hair down’ for the evening.
Both Anvil and Maxima were wearing their hair in a ponytail. Both have lost whatever was holding their hair back. If V tries grabbing Max by the hair, the funeral will not be closed casket. It will be no casket, because being blown into a quark-gluon plasma is very final.
I think less “cartoon physics” and more “body mechanics” – he grabbed her and quickly applied leverage in a manner that prevented instinctive response, and moved quickly to prevent her from coming up with a counter. Once he pulled her off balance, she never really had an opportunity to recover.
I do find it curious he chose to throw her straight up rather than away from the fight…
Also, it may be that the pain from the punch forced Stalwart to lose concentration and he moved his foot rather than the power itself of the punch moving his foot.
If that makes sense.
It does. Vut if you look at the bottom left panel, Anvil’s landing, you see Stalwart flying back either from V’s punch or Anvil’s shock wave.
Wouldn’t that increase the chances that my explanation is correct? Flying backwards like that means he probably no longer weighs as much as a space shuttle and the reason he doesn’t is because he lost his concentration after getting hit.
DaveB explained that in his initial draft, Fedorka headbutted Wart after the punch and knocked Wart into a 30 foot crater
Some other effects to take into effect:
1) Stalwart just got hit with at least 160K lbs of force upwards to his lower jaw. He better have REALLY strong teeth to come out of this without a huge dentist bill.
2) He will also need really strong neck muscles to keep his head attached (this may be covered under his knockback resistance)
3) V. does not have knockback resistance, so he is probably driving his own feet into the ground with that punch before Anvil even got there.
4) After the fight they need to swap the names of their tailors. They both look like they could use a new suit.
But the main question still stands…is that his limit? Can he go heavier and denser? I’m just wondering if later on we are going to have him saying things like “Right now I’m about as heavy as Mount Everest.” or “I’m surprised your chest didn’t cave in under the weight of Africa.”
Hell…if he has no limit on this, what’s to stop him from just going as heavy as Jupiter, as dense as a black hole, and destroying the Earth? (y’know, aside from the fact that he’s on the side of good (for now))
I think there are limits if he wants to stay above ground
If he gets TOO heavy (massive) he might start to exert his own Gravity Well. This comes under the heading of NOT A GOOD THING.
The reverse is how far the other way can he go.
The effect of going the other way depends on whether he alters his mass or his weight.
That’s probably close to his limit but I haven’t decided exactly yet. It certainly isn’t “Africa.”
New York City perhaps?
Maybe even has high as the Vermont…or Wyoming?
Your forgetting his power. His limit would be MASSachusetts.
I’m glad you made that pun. That made my day.
Yet another moment I’m glad Sydney has been appropriated by the good guys.
There’s definite leanings to villain-hood in the amount of fun she’s having in the second-last panel.
I just realised it is still the first day. There’s been less than 24hrs (probably closer to 12hrs) comic time for over 3 years irl. Wow. That’s action-packed content for you.
IIRC the first day in the Mansion of E took about 10 years worth of daily comics … so we’re doing fine here :-)
Yay! Another ‘MoE’ reader slash fan :D
Please send a link to Mansion of E! I have a few days of doing nothing and would like to see that.
It would seem I’m a bit out of practice with making links so here is what you would copy & paste to see the first Mansion of E comic:
https://mansionofe.comicgenesis.com/d/20030716.html
Few days? To read over 4000 comics? o_O
I’ve read a 15 year comic in about 4 evenings, average 6 hours each time.
going into Mansion of E.
Pibgorn?
Man, thought just occurred to me. Everyone who got taken out by Sydney (the RAW RECRUIT) tonight is going to suffer a MASSIVE blow to the ego and reputation. Even the tough guys. I doubt their fellow villains will ever be able to take them seriously again.
As Sydney gains a rep for participating in arrests/take downs this may not be a problem. If a particular villain keep ribbing them then all they need to do is give Sydney an address where he may be found….
Even being a ridiculous super criminal makes you a terrifying figure to ordinary dudes. I don’t think ‘rep’ will be a serious concern to anyone in this comic.
What if you have that backwards?
Being taken out by the Great Halo before she was actually a rookie could become a badge of honor and status for them.
I believe you just might have that correct.
For some, but LPoC nah, he fainted at the sight of his own blood.
He gets no rep for that.
He gets a red badge of cowardice?
No the yellow badge of wimpdom
Isn’t that usually “worn” somewhere just below the abdominal region?
Yes, and it is usually followed by the brown ribbon of shame.
I figure that, somewhere down the line, bad guys would *avoid* facing Sydney during a crime…Not so much as for what damage she could cause, but *mostly* because of the public humiliation factor.
The lighthook is both insanely long and strong. In combination with Harem, Halo should have been taking villains out like clockwork: grab and wrap, deliver to Harem for their incapacitation wristband, repeat. Given what Halo did in the restaurant (picked up three people at once), she should have been able to take out half the villains herself.
I am not sure that Dave thought out the full ramifications of what happened after he came up with a gag that was so good he HAD to use it.
On a similar note, the team is so strong that it will be somewhat difficult to provide them with a serious challenge. In addition to Maxima’s superior abilities we have Halo showing major powers and every last brick on the team has solid secondary powers (Stalwart = density; Anvil = kinetic absorption; Hiro = another absorption [sound + what?]; Mr. Amorphous = shapeshift). Hopefully Vehemence there has other powers also, because he has already been significantly damaged in just a few hits.
She was told to sit out the fight behind her shield. Which she listened to. Except when targets of opportunity arose.
And even then she waited until the order to pull aggro was given for the most part.
yeah as for Vehemence he still has the glowing tattoo if its glowing, maybe its a backup? a power restricting thing or maybe he just Likes it. but man that last joke <3 GG
Actually, it’ll be pretty easy to give them a challenge. The thing to remember from this is that just about ALL of ARCHON was there tonight. It’s incredibly unlikely that all subsequent fights (On screen and off) will have the entire group there. From that, all new villains simply have to have a powerset that mostly counters the person/small team they’re fighting.
the most important thing to remember when considering Halo’s power levels in this fight is that we see it in stop-motion while it is actually incredibly fast
Halo probably isn’t even able to track most of the movements of the team, like, not even just follow with her eyes
lots of these guys have some sort of super speed, and even those who don’t are trained to move&react much faster
and Sydney has ZERO experience
she can only interfere when some segment of the fight slows down enough for her to figure out
for example, when there’s just one antagonist
her powers are POTENTIALLY OP but their biggest drawback as far as I understand is that they are not automatic. Unlike most others (like super strength or super resistance or that nemesis thing), they require conscious control – from just basically choosing powers among orbs to controlling the molestorb.
She IS going to be the most interesting of the whole team to watch as she masters her powers and comes up with creative ideas of using them.
I dunno. The team is certainly strong, but the scale of “Superhero Teams” is a totally crazy one. I mean, the folks who write the Justice League manage to put them in trouble week after week. I don’t think we need to worry about the author’s ability to challenge Archon.
Remember Sydney’s been a superhero for all of about 4 hours now. Yeah, she’s had the orbs for a lot longer than that, but she was scared to use them. Now that she’s able to use them freely, it’ll take about a week before the villains are calling O.P. on her.
Humph. Do not discard the experience that regular role-playing brings to the table, especially under inventive game masters. I used my experience for dealing with Medusa to come up with the trick of the mirror on a stick when I first was training with clearing trenches in the Army. Shocked the heck out of the OP4, “You learned that trick from a game?”. Much of what I carried into the field was modified by my gaming experiences, and much of what my characters carry while adventuring are modified by my RL Army experiences. My favorite RL and gaming item has been the spool of black silk thread. A bit spendy in RL, but so worth it when in the field, especially on solo-missions. Extremely ustrong and very useful for all of its light weight.
See https://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=104 for a slightly different take on the idea.
NERDS!! :P
Hey Stalwart!
More punching and less talking. He had BOTH hands on his leg. As the great and wise Tuco advised, “When you have to shoot,….. Shoot! Don’t talk.”
Dave,
I love that Harem doesn’t recognize the Road Runner. Meep Meep indeed.
in the text below the comic he said she did recognize the sound she just dusent get the conchen between light hook slam and road runner
Maybe because Harem didn’t realize that Vehemence just had an Anvil dropped on him which is one of the many, many things that happen to Wil. E. Coyote while chasing the Road Runner.
Uhl gets it.
I do question how the hell can you feel old with Looney Tunes references, they’re classic at any age but then I’m 41.
I’m 11 years older than you.
I watched them on Saturday morning, eating Frosted Flakes from the box.
(…during the debriefing, later…):
“Now Stalwart, you should be aware that the foot-stomp was a GOOD tactic, but then you lost the initiative by talking afterwards. By bracing against the ground & punching upwards, he took that initiative back from you. There is a WORLD of difference between “knock-back resistant” & “knock-back proof”. In the future, you need to follow up on your advantage by knocking him down, so that he can’t catch you with an uppercut. & while we’re at it, don’t forget that an uppercut to the JAW can be replaced by an uppercut to the CROTCH, or even a kick to the LEG, so don’t slack off just because you’ve got him down!”
Or, as my Krav Maga instructor told me (yes, I actually managed to find a Krav Maga instructor in the U.S.):
“Kick him when he’s down. Bite him when he’s not looking. If that doesn’t work, fight dirty.”
I get the feeling, due to his dodge, that Stalwart has been training with Math. That and “Think 3 steps ahead.”
And Anvil used jiu-jitsu earlier. Bricks trained by martial artists – dangerous.
It makes sense to me that Archon trains every member in martial arts. We saw Maxima break Boilerplate’s shoulder earlier with a sort of ninja move.
Nothing ninja-esque here – pure jiu-jitsu. Any properly trained judo black belt should be able to do this (admittingly being fast enough, which is another quesiton – but we arer talking about supers here…)
Matching underwear!!!
Matching who else?
Her panties match her bra (why is it that ‘panties’ is always plural?)
Same reason as pants, slacks, jeans and overalls. What that reason is, beats me.
Possibly because, at one time, they literally came as a pair (that’s why people had to use a piece of fish to cover their snapper, and were never seen from the back :P )
At least with (a pair of) trousers this is correct.
They started as leg protectors without the middle part.
Or, as the comedian Gallagher once said it, “How is it that a woman can have a *pair* of panties, but just *one* bra?”
Was that before during or after smashing a watermelon?
Before.
Smashing watermelons is normally at or near the end of his act. I haven’t yet seen any instance of him mentioning that while during.
Okay, maybe Sydney needs to crack her bubble again :P
Not because of the Road Runner imitation, but because 2nd last panel she looks demented due to lack of oxygen
“To the Moon!” DA-DA-DA! (think a keyboard sound)
Given the continuity issues with Halo’s cheek (good job on this one Dave), I am placing bets on “which tooth is out” continuity issues with Vehemence. Of course, mentioning it in comments Dave can read changes the odds…
well, looks like he lost his upper left canine :) so it will be easy to see if a pointy tooth reappears here :p
Assuming that my Shark Week guess is wrong. It would be hilarious to see him with all of his teeth again, and everyone cries, “Dave!” And Dave just smiles back.
Well, I do not usually point out little continuity details but since is the first time and just in case it helps DaveB, it already varied. In the sixth panel he clearly lacks his upper left second incisor (likely in the second panel, and almost surely in the third too), and in the eighth panel it is his left canine.
I am surprised that Vehemence had his full dentition at the start if he lost a tooth so easy right now. Did he never took a hit on the mouth before? Has he regeneration powers? Has he a first level dental plan?
Did you notice the orb having to be summoned in the first panel? I assumed it was a mistake, cause she had it in the last panel to show her, but now I’m wondering if DaveB wanted it to show that Sydney wasn’t sure of her next action and released it for a sec? Kind of a little look into the mind of the greenie under fire?
Maybe Sydney thought that V was going to swing Anvil around just a little longer before he actually let go? Perhaps Sydney had something else in mind & was *starting* to switch orbs, then had to switch back when Anvil went flying sooner than Sydney had guessed?
Oh dear Lord! I nearly drowned my laptop in coffee. I needed a laugh after my Murphy-filled morning.
The Roadrunner meep meep raspberry just reminds me of pranks I used to pull on my siblings…
Thanks Dave!
For your siblings’ sakes, I hope you weren’t using real anvils…
Random Thoughts:
After all the comments this page about the molestorb, I can no longer hold back a “why must it always be about size” retort…
Love the mach rings to go with the sonic boom in panel 14 – very nice touch
I’ve commented on it before, but the 30 degree perspective really gives Daphne a masculine look – not criticizing… if anything it highlights the consistency of DaveB‘s art
oh, and nice cheesecake in panel 1 (rawr) – and it makes perfect sense on Kenya, who feels insecure in her femininity
So… Vehemence.
Challanges entire team. Knows how strong they are. Is not invulnerable (although tough), does not seem to regenerate, is not worried, is not stupid….
Does that worry anyone else? It implies his real power is something else entirely, like possessing the person who kills his current host… Which would make this whole thing suddenly make sense….
Honestly I don’t think he quite expected to get hit with a super-sonic Anvil.
No, Andor is right, Vehemence Has seen the entire team’s lineup, he has seen Maxima take a bola-blast of doom and not actually get hurt (not really, a bit of pain and some backrubs needed sure, injured? clearly not). and he has at least Some idea of how much punishment she can deal out, if one of the guys who kicked or dented the demonstration tank can knock his tooth out, he Has to realise maxima is going to do much much worse once/if she has to get involved.
He knows this and is still happy to get into this scrap. He unquestionably has an ace in the hole. Also, as an aside he doesnt come across as a “rookie”, if we assume that there was some truth to the matter of him actually inviting and having previously met every one of the badguys in this battle over his time spent as some kind of undercover supervillain, then we can only assume he’s been in super-scraps at least once before with someone strong enough to knock teeth out, and yet he’s got them all up to this point.. My money is on that he has some kind of regeneration/life-or-energy drain or as someone suggested a soul switch/possession power.. Something that lets him just not give a hoot about minor or what seems like innevitably more major injuries once the big guns start to knock into him (ie maxima, or if it really came to that, everyone else down and sydney having no other choice.. that “like buttah” tank buster beam would carve him up like turkey if she can hit.. which his speed helps with I suppose, gah, we’ll find out eventually!).
Always have to watch out for falling Anvils. :)
So will that impact also power Anvil up?
Should. She’s a kinetic absorber. Never specifies if certain sources of kinetic energy are off limits.
For her party trick, I bet Anvil jumps out of planes without a parachute.
I’d say that’s a safe bet. Anvil may not be able to fly, but she can land with the best of them.
It certainly should power her up – she absorbs kinetic blows and this one is just a “blow” to her feet.
A nice “power up” would be to have Maxima punch her a couple times – maybe not full blast, but still pretty hard. Then Anvil should have a really NICE power release.
Also, I’m seriously crushing on Anvil with Dave’s recent notes on her feelings about her femininity. Wears a skirt, lacy underwear, keeps long hair, wishes she knew guys who were taller than her – this has added a lot of depth to her and like I said – major crushage here.
Also, very good to see Stalwart use actual fighting skills beyond punch and take punch!
OMG, *NOW* I get the Road Runner joke….. “Anvil” dropped on his head. I thought it was just funny period…. -Nope, there’s a gag as well.
BTW, Dave, you QUIT STRESSING over things not being perfect already. -Relax, have fun. Enjoy writing your comic as much as we enjoy reading it. Everything is coming along nicely, both story and sequence wise. I’m a very happy reader and I’m sure the traffic on your website completely backs me up on this….
depends. she also could do an unleashing of energy, pounding Vehemence even harder into the ground. othervice, yeah, this should power her up nicely
Unlikely, she was totally drained for Death Toll before this.
Conservation of energy: any amount of the kinetic energy she absorbs is energy not doing work to damage Vehemence. So depends on how Anvil prioritizes those two things.
I’ve been wondering how that actually works. Could be that she can absorb only the shock to her body while part of the energy goes to the other anyway?
First attacker said “it is like punching sand”, if Anvil were absorbing the total energy it should be like punching air, ie not impact sensation.
Exactly my thoughts – given Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion (“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”) it is not entirely impossible for Anvil to be absorbing “action”, but letting her opponent experience “reaction”
Which then raises the question of whether this is intentional on her part – if she automatically absorbs both, then that wouldn’t have plowed Vehemence into the floor. If she can only absorb the one acting on her, then jumping out of a plane would always leave a crater. If she can choose, then she craters the villains tanks, but has a zero-damage touchdown on civilian soil. And, in theory, can catch anything without damaging it!
Well she had to at least absorb enough of the Kinetic Energy so that her legs can take the impact without breaking.
She dropped an ANVIL on im!
Haha, classic road runner XD
I feel the need to gloat today. I had a premonition of the road runner joke yesterday.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1493#comment-255449.
I guess Vehemence’s first name and middle initial are “Wile E.” I hope Anvil’s boots have a tread pattern that stamps a big ACME on his head.
I have a sneaking suspicion that today’s comic is the entire reason that Dave named her Anvil in the first place…
I swear to god this joke didn’t occur to me until I was just about to start inking the previous version of this page, prompting the scrambling redraw. Once I’d thought of it there was no way I couldn’t use it since the setup was perfect.
Sloppy pseudo-science time!
Assuming that Anvil knows of which she speaks, vis-a-vis how long it’ll take her to fall, she’ll be moving at 90+% of terminal velocity (nominally 122 mph). Sydney just accelerated her to the ground in 1 second. If the previous estimates of her height are correct, Anvil should be moving at over 1000 mph, that’s 2200 kph+ for metric people. That’s approximately Mach 1.8. “BOOM” indeed.
If Anvil is falling from 1600′ and weighs around 200 lbs., she should hit with about 8,000,000 ft lbs. of energy. That’s impressive.
I think Anvil had reached the apex and was about to fall anyway. After all, Vehemence couldn’t apply continuous thrust. The art work looks like that to me anyway.
I think she was also heading off to the side a little – not perfectly straight up. Call it four or five seconds in the air before landing, and then another five seconds to run back over to the fight.
The “Whiplash” frame shows the streaks getting brighter toward the bottom – like the object ‘streaking’ is moving closer toward the viewer.
Whiplash frame has the viewer between Fedora and Anvil (who is off to the side), and Anvil is being thrown back toward the fight, which slings her closer toward the viewer. The lines would look ‘up and down’ like they do.
“Boom” frame is too short to give good direction clues, but again, if Anvil is arriving from the opposite side of Fedora-dude from the viewer, the lines of arrival would look ‘up and down’.
Anvil probable adsorbed a huge amount of that energywhich means less of it hit V
Assuming she does not choose to dive :)
Mmm… 1000 mph is about 1600 kph actually.
over 1000 mph, that’s 2200 kph+ for metric people
Not even close. Not only are you confusing miles/kilometers with pounds/kilograms, but with the latter, you would divide by 2.2 to convert pounds to kilos, not multiply.
Funniest page for a while.
No one else mentioned it so I will. That foot-stomp is a direct steal from a great movie called “Kung Fu Hustle”. I love both the reference and the movie!
The toe-crusher… that went out of style when i was in kindergarten…
You left kindergarten yesterday? Always knew the latest generation was learning computers and tech too quickly
That was also a reference to the movie.
Hmm, not sure if have seen that movie :(
You will not be disappointed if you do. It’s a great mix of kung fu and loony tunes.
Was thinking it was the one with ‘Sho Nuff’ and the whole ‘glowy-body’ thing
that was “The Last Dragon”. Kung Fu Hustle’s like 10-yr old.
If you like cartoon violence and over-the-top Kung Fu you will love it. I won’t spoil it with the best parts but at one point the hero is kicking the snot out of a whole gang of thugs and you see them flying up in the air like popcorn but you hear pinball machine sound effects.
Nothing like leaving a palmprint in the earth 20 ft across while 100+ft in the air.
you should. it’s hilariously over the top
His missed out on a good one. No eagle to toe-step on.
Technically, it was always Wyle who dropped the anvil on himself, that speedy roast chicken dinner just showed up after the impact and blew a raspberry into the wound (as opposed to rubbing salt :P )
But his card reads Wile E. Coyote: Genius.
I thought it was always “Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius”?
Well, Vehemence threw her upwards. And the Road Runner has been known to help the inevitable along…
I missed that! Thank you xD
So you’re thinking he’s like Concretia, but with dead bodies? Ew.
Here’s a question for Anvil- can she absorb Kinetic energy from anything? Because if she could, that would mean she’d have a way to slow herself down going up or falling, as well as during the impact. She’d also be able to do minor/major heat absorbtion, allowing for a pseudo ice-maker power (mighty Glacier anyone?)
I don’t follow. As a kinetic absorber, I can’t see how that would somehow grant her any measure of thermal absorption.
Heat is kinetic energy on an atomic level.
Eargh… That’s according to Kinetic theory. You also have Thermodynamic theory and Mechanical theory, which differ – and then you have the whole “heat” vs “temperature” debate.
It’s one of those things, like quantum physics or subatomic structure, that hoy polloi tend to think we “understand the basics of”, but actual scientists working directly in the field will happily admit to actually knowing very little about, but inferring lots of stuff that seems to work as though it might be right (but rarely so!)
Okay, that’s very weird. When I hit submit, that last bracket read “but rarely provably so”.
But, it failed to post the word “provably” between “rarely” and “so”?
Interesting point. But not quite correct. If her power is to have extremely inelastic collisions, then she’d end up travelling further than if she wasn’t powered, as she wouldn’t be slowed by air resistance. Instead of being slowed by the air particles, they’d make no difference to her trajectory.
It’s been discussed and determined that Anvil’s kinetic absorption power only applies to impacts – her getting hit, or her hitting things only, so no absorbing generic motion energy while she’s moving.
Much like it not being the fall that kills you, she gets her charge from the sudden stop at the bottom.
That is the greatest pop culture reference EVER!
The only thing that would make it better would have been for Vehemence to look up, realize what was coming, and then pull out a tiny umbrella.
That would be too stupid.
But Harem could have handed him one.
Daphne probably would have if she’d been prepared. There’s always next time…
future fight deshanti hands enemy small umbrella saying meep meep, the enemy snaps a look straight up to try finding anvil and math comes up from low behind them with a series of joint breakers.
Now yes the ACME-Anvil-Road runner but was -awesome- and pure punny goodness… but did anyone else get a total “Kung Fu Hustle” vibe from the foot stomp? Please tell me that was inspired by that movie! >.< that would be sooooo awesome! xD (if you have not seen it and think you may like superhero'ish/martial arts comedy's I Highly recommend it.)
It was actually mentioned 20 minutes ago (about 5 posts up from here)
*facepalm* dammit… I’m never fast enough! >.<' lol
Shaolin Soccer, by the same director (Stephen Chow), was pretty funny as well.
Yes, Kung Fu Hustle is excellent, though I can’t say Stalwart’s move was inspired by it. It was more a way of revealing that he’s got more powers than just being a standard brick.
I’ve been waiting for this, the cast page was keeping me on the edge :) Thank you!
I’m proud of myself this morning. I remembered to place all coffee, sodas, etc. out of reach before reading the strip. Nice bit of almost-fan service DaveB. I guess I’ll have to wait until Monday to find out if any of Anvil’s clothes survived the impact….
Depending on the level of loss, Math might make a miraculous recovery just to snark her.
If Math were to develop a true super power it would probably be a Impending Wardrobe Malfunction precog type sense. Keyed to women of course.
Good thing that Archon is not about killing but subduing then… =)
Since Vehemence is all about violence it might be, that he actually is a “Berserker” – the more wounded / beaten up he is the more powerful he will become…
There are now 2 Bruiseless pages I am aware of.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1493
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1490
When, if at this point, those get fixed maybe I’ll dig for more.
Other continuity issues, Sydney was already holding the Light Hook orb in the last comic post so there was no need to show her summoning it down from her “halo” of orbitals with a light streak as this now makes us think she let go of the Light Hook when he grabbed Anvil and when he threw her Sydney changed her mind and summoned it back which while possible was just making extra art work for yourself. *shrug*
Now we get to use how long it takes that tooth to grow back to measure Vehemence’s regen (and look for more “incontinuities” ) seems like all supers with built in powers, especially those that effect the look of the body, have at least a small amount that works over a long period of time (Whateley actually took the time to explain it in that world).
Still holding out hope that Maxima is DOING something in the background: Either building up to a special attack/tactic or clearing squishies, prisoners, wounded farther back from the action. Or as a distant third possibility ARCLIGHT has come up with more intel on him and she is listening/devising strategy based on it possibly the intel is that she and him would be a bad combo for some reason. IF she is still doing the silly training thing, which never made sense in the first place, then my only hope for sanity in this is that she gets seriously reamed for it by the general etc… in the after action debriefs and all. But I’m still holding out hope. Do something worthwhile besides hover and “coordinate” (lots of others you could hand that off too easy right now and this was due to YOUR challenge after all… ) Maxima and I’ll do my best to forget the training stuff… really.
Sydney continues to satisfy and if she is slowly creeping farther into her combat role than Maxima intended well, who is to blame for that really? X-P Otherwise things went pretty much as I expected for this round so nothing much to say. Don’t stick your tongue out in a super fight Sydney. Good way to get it bitten off! (shield overconfidence…. )
Looking forward to Dabbler’s contribution. I’m curious what her go to strategy is for facing uber tanks. Or heaven forbid two of these ARCies actually team up for an intentional team combo attack! Dabbler + Maxima would be fun. So far its just been accidental or reactionary team combinations cept for when directed by the raw recruit!! Strategize and attack together at least against the big objectives or why are you a team anyway?
Glad to see Anvil having fun again! She earned it after the one-shotting earlier. I’m enjoying the comic by the by if any of that sounds like I’m not. But bitching about seemingly odd behavior (which may get explained later or turn out to be a part of normal character development) is part of the “FUN”. :-P
Thank you for the regular and often quite long comic posts DaveB. I look forward to more. :)
The bruise is there in the second page.
I rechecked both just to be sure. Not seeing any sign of it or blood drips on the shirt in either. There is a glow from her “light saber” on that cheek in one panel but its two faint to be the bruise or cover it up?
It looks like the bruise to me, and she clearly has it in the fifth panel. Remember that you must press Ctrl+F5 to actualize your cache.
Ah, sorry since mine has always shown the corrections on refresh I’ve never needed to do that before. Thanks, that takes care of one.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1493 is still showing up with out the bruise though.
Honestly, at this point I think Maxima holding back is more a two fold question of strategic and tactical reserves. IF maxima doesnt fight, whomever sent these guys dont learn about the upper limits of her powers and recall that this is their First fight with supers, most certainly not their last (would be kind of a short comic then Though… seeing all of arc-swat comming to work at Sydney’s comic shop and having sit-com hijinks related to it certainly could hold my attention for a while!), also tactically you do not send in your reserves untill you really need them. You do Not simply send them in to “help mop up”, if it turns out that there really was nothing else left, then the reserves/maxima gets to not exert herself and can congrat her team on doing well, plus there’s the strategic gain mentioned above. But if there -does- turn out to e an 11th hour appearance of something that Demands maxima step in and go all out? she hasnt already done so needlessly. In short, your reserves go in when they are needed, not when it is convenient otherwise they are not reserves, just the second wave.
So, from both the perspective of this only being their first battle with more to come as part of their job and from the possibility of unexpected and unpleasasnt suprises, it is sound for her to stay out of it untill Maxima has to do what only Maxima can do. That’s my 5 cents of armchair generaling at least
OK, I don’t feel that is the right way to handle this particular fight or takes Maxima’s and the entire teams (including non-supers) abilities into proper account. But I will probably annoy a lot of folk if I make a post large enough to go through all my reasons why again. Maybe if a lot of folk show an interest.
this is still letting the team work out it coordination and a show of I believe my team can handle things without me I don’t need to handle everything but if I need to get involved you’re gonna need a miracle and I don’t think heaven owes you any favors sure as hell
I just had a thought. If that didn’t subdue Fedorka Halo could totally play “1812 Overture” on his head with Anvil. BOOM dada dada dada da da da BOOM
And as usual the argument against this is that if the molestorb is powerful enough she’d be better off doing the puny God tango with Fedorka.
Except of course that everytime she hits the ground, the Anvil becomes more powerful…For all we know, Vehemence could very well endure being knocked around on the ground…
Also she could literally Hammer him into the ground with Anvil!
I think Anvil and Stalwart are going to do a duet version of the Downtown Stomp on V’s forehead.
Wow! Great page, and the first panel is amazing!
Love the Road Runner bit, excellent choice :)
so he can punch space shuttles?
Yes I did call it Sydney and the lighthook for the assist.
The Noise Sydney is making was instantly recognizable from the first Meep :P
and i laughed my ass off when i saw that, well played sir, well played.
Sydney the Road Runner…. oh I can’t WAIT to see what shenanigans unfold next.
For those under 30 who don’t get the reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O38iB1m_Rbc
Wonder why they stopped showing those after so many decades? Its not like it was up to date in my time either its just… timeless? (not to mention the revamp with the little ones and the animaniacs etc, etc… covers most of the same jokes? Why stop?)
To violent for the kiddies.
And no line of cheap plastic toys.
True that
Plus I think Disney owns them now.
Oh. My. God. Admit it – since the day you created the character and named her “Anvil,” you’ve been waiting how many months and years to pull the “drop an Anvil on a richly deserving coyote’s head” gag? You gave her that name just for the sake of that gag, dincha? Man, that’s patience. Well played.
Apropos of nothing, by the way, nice lingerie.
Exactly. I at first thought he engineered the scene to drop the anvil then wondered….its all been a day or so….its not inconceivable to plan a day ahead in a story normally….given that Dave’s perception of time is not normal, maybe he planned the name for this moment? As always, amazing read and I really look forward to it.
Dave gave an answer to those accusations in his response to this post.
Aye 16 mins before my post which meant my poor brain was still reading the unrefreshed page before I sent it.
Sorry for that. Didn’t check the timestamps before posting. That’s one of the dangers of these kinds of threads. It’s just not possible to keep up with every update. Having new posts highlighted is a big help, but as the thread is starting to take up several pages it’s still easy to miss information. I added the link just in case you or someone else reading this missed this tool.
I just took another look at Stalwart’s cast page. His last name is Aegir. This is the Norse god of the sea. In standard comic book tradition we need to make his name fit his abilities more closely (see E.Nigma). Since his powers deal with his ability to grant himself extra mass, I would like to officially petition that his last name be changed to Higgs. And if possible have his background state him serving in the Navy as a bosun.
Girl Genius already did that one
Panel 14: There is an expression in German: “Jemanden oder etwas ungespitzt in den Boden hauen” which should translate to about “to hammer someone or something non-pointed into the ground”.
I cannot imagine of anythin better fitting. Thank you Dave B.!
You know I just noticed that Anvil’s landing just BLASTED Stalwart backwards, if he still weighs as much as the Space Shuttle… PHYSICS GUYS! TAKE IT AWAY!!
Actually, the original exchange between Vehemence and Stalwart had V punch S off the ground just a few inches, then V headbutts S and S falls on his back creating a 30 foot wide crater – but that stuff had to be cut to make room for the loony tunes gag. That or make it a triple page. :P So instead I just drew Stalwart knocked over.
Fedorka is able to headbutt a space shuttle (laden or unladen, like a swallow :P)? o_O
But American shuttles are non-migratory.
but at least we know it can carry a coconut
I love it, but she should probably have still been guiding the shot ’til impact.
Good point – while there’s no need to be worried about Anvil or “V”, a tiny degree of miss might’ve hurt Harem, or Dabbler, or someone else.
Anyway, now it’s time for Anvil to bend over…
…reach down…
…apply her pinky to “V” (the chest should do just fine, here)…
…& punch a “V”-shaped hole – 50 feet straight into the earth!
“Why?”, you ask…?
Because it gives “V” (& us) an extremely gratuitous view…
…which should (hopefully) distract him long enough to prevent him from doing anything that might block her attempt to “punch his ticket”.
:)
Afterwards, Halo can use “Lighthook” again, to lift Anvil out of the resulting hole.