Grrl Power #257 – Let’s get ready to rubbllllllle!
Not too much to say about this page, just a little pacing mostly. Clearly Vehemence is not finding Maxima’s act terribly intimidating. They are each being pretty overconfident which is bound to go bad for at least one of them.
#MakeComics: For those of you interested, here’s the original version of this page. I was trying to make it a one pager but it was just too rushed without the big faceoff panel. Plus it let me fit in the tumbleweed callback, which is a page that always makes me laugh.
In the meantime, here’s another fun webcomic I found recently. It’s done by Katie Rice, who, if any of you watched it, is the gal that won Penny Arcade’s Strip Search show, but it’s not her Camp Weedonwantcha comic, it’s the one she did before that (and is still doing). It’s called Skadi, and the best way to describe it I think is like The Legend of Bill only with a gross girl barbarian, and a little more Cartoon Network. It has a few strips that are slightly NSFW due to stylized cartoon nipples, but they’re few and far between.
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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Laughed my friggin are off at the tumbleweed reference!
The good/bad/ugly theme was also running through my mind unbidden at the time. Double kudos!
(Nb: the Jaws theme would also have worked.)
Yes, but with Sydney around, I keep a kazoo instead of Leone’s harmonica.
Keep >hearing< a kazoo… the music of my people
Oh great – now I have one stuck in my head too.
oops
I have some pliers, so I should be able to get it out.
Yeah, the first time she tried it, it didn’t work. She finally got it to work.
I smell a running gag on the way here
Well, we might see two running gags going if Sydney pulls her surprise “Badgers!” tactic again…
and max punches so she connects at the same time syds illusion does. as V seems to know about there powers he fails to react to the harmless image only to get a broken nose from the hidden punch.
That big face-off is crying to be made a wallpaper out of.
Yes please.
When I look at that last panel, I don’t see two major supers ready to have a grudge match. I look behind them and see ALLLLL that pristine landscape thats about to be completely destroyed.
But seriously, thats an awesome standoff scene.
first she acts cocky then she checks in case with another point of view lol.
that’s our sydney
and harem taking a “souvenir” hehe
and by the way sidney next time tie up around his legs not chest.
Go for the jock strap grapple,
Knot the end of the Molestorb and whip-crack the groin.
Or across his eyes for 3-4 wraps, he could almost immediately pull it up and off, but any distraction / momentary blindness would help the others and help prevent him from bracing / preparing for the incoming attack from the others.
Still waiting for homebase to update their analysis on Vehemence’s powers and possible weaknesses (along with Sydney’s comic book knowledge analysis). So far everyone is just accepting he is just raw super strength. Lost tooth and sword cuts shows he can take damage… any signs of a healing factor yet?
She could always try for another “HOME RUN!!!”
I would belive that the best thing would be some kind of bondage knot, for suspending people in the air. She now has a an excellent reason for watching bondage on the company computers. Harem, Dabbler and Math should probably join, for strategic feedback.
I can picture Sydney studying boy scout knots instead.
anything where she learns how to tie a full harnes, really. but bondage would alow her to place the knots where they are hard to reach for the tied up, and also somewhat negate the pulling from bricks. There is also a decent chance Dabbler has expertice in the area and can help her get the knots right, considering her coments regarding the ribbon bullet. Maybe even teach her how to tie up beings with unusual number and form of their appendages.
If anyone knows how tie up a tentacle monster from inbetween dimentions, it would be Dabbler.
Knots placed so that they are hard to reach for a NORMAL person.
To borrow that well-used line, “… Not many normal people are in that line of work…”.
exactly why Dabbler should help
Actually, the art of tying knots is “Marlinspikemanship.” It was most highly developed as a skill on the ‘ol sailin’ ships of yore, but Boy Scouts are known to borrow useful skills.
Yeah, but ‘Shibari’ is more fun
I try to imagine scouts sitting around a bonfire practicing shibari. But for some reason my brain just keep flashing an error message:
Error 666: Parameters out of bounds.
Heh. Harem and Math should already be reference and resources. Hell, if she can tie up Math so he can’t escape, she’s doing Damn well.
Suddenly, boot studs out of nowhere
Only the ones around the foot itself, the ones around the top have been there in several previous panels,
Yeah, but only the one on the tops of the foot are there in panel 7
But you can see the strap they are on, just not the studs themselves.
Yes, Chookie was specifically referring to the studs not the straps
So, how many hits will Harem get on youtube for posting this one?
None.
This is obviously for a professional reviewing for ARCHON.
They have the tactical glasses for that.
…which no one seems to be wearing anymore…
They do, but they’ve all been knocked off and broken by now, something they’ll have to consider for the next time. Harem’s recording this in lieu of their tactical cameras.
And Sydney’s nontactical glasses are still intact and on her nose. Clearly they should all take some time and study the art of glasses fu under The Mighty Halo.
At least with Harem recording they can get five different angles of the brawl, and I suspect that Peggy’s scope may have one worked in, making six. Oh, right, Dabbler’s cybernetic eye too. So at least 7.
Equip everyone with Google Glass?
What they had was some what like those, but it has turned out they were to fragile and easy to damage. So what kind of device can you come up with that could either replace the glasses, or work as backup for when they get smashed to pieces?
The “pipboy” version that Syd has is a bit exposed and likely to be damaged when worn by a brick or some one like Math. The chokers are likely to survive a long time as people tend to protect their throat, but hose can’t be used for visual output. I remember that there was some scientists working on making contacts that could show some crude graphical elements. I think they were working on showing a single line of text, about ten characters long I think, with the ability to scroll the text like a news ticker. It was several years ago, and as I remember it the resolution was something like 8 x 80 pixels, monochrome and no gray scale. Still it could could be enough for nonverbal warnings and such.
I don’t think any camera would survive on the close-combat types. A punch in the head can knock a contact out. Maybe a fleet of drones plus gun cameras for the non-powered backups like Goose and Peggy.
I doubt that would help, seeing as Halo’s glasses as well as the rest of her is protected by an air-tight force bubble. No one else has that luxury, alas.
All except for Maxima herself, who deliberately took her glasses off in the prior comic. Again and again she proves that despite her rank and power that she knows how to hold the idiot ball.
Oh, and none of the members of Arc-Light have been in any hand to hand action, so all of their glasses should be both on and working fine. What, no telephoto setting?
Shoot…nerd boy is live streaming the video feed even as we speak… :D
Why couldn’t it be for both Archon and Youtube?
I believe that harem is taking this video for YouTube and tactical analysis will be done with the video captured from Dabbler’s cybernetic eye.
Drop shield, grab neck and fly up … unless he can increase his weight all of a sudden he’s a bit stuffed.
IMO anyway :-)
Sydney has yet to show any form of towing capacity while flying.
Sure, her Lighthook can whip Anvil back to the ground, but who knows how much her flight orb (in it’s current state with no nodes max’d out) will allow her to lift off the ground.
We do know it has quite a few horsepowers, so to speak, seeing how fast it is. since she dosn’t need volocity to fly, it should be safe to asume it can tow people, if perhaps at a slower speed
If she deploys the flight & light hook hook orbs and tries to grab V, then there is the possibility of him playing paddle ball with her as the ball and him as the paddle.
Not to mention that, with Lighthook & Flight orbs working, Sydney has no active shield…
Ooops. I DID mention it.
Vehemence just demonstrated that the Lighthook is not irresistible. He can unfurl it and throw it off.
He managed to effectively drag an orb. That is something that Max failed to do at the bank. Though in her defense, she was not putting her full strength behind that attempt.
This page also answers the shield dimension question. When deployed on solid ground it stops at the surface rather than completing the globe effect seen in mid air deployment. (Otherwise, V. would have been plowing a furrow through the parking lot.)
There’s a significant difference between dragging an orb that Sydney is holding on to, and trying to drag an orb beyond its max-distance threshhold
Really dangerous, for Sydney, to drop that shield. She is eminently squishable. V could just reel her in and crush her, or throw something heavy at her, etc…
Considering V seems to want his one-on-one with Maxima, I doubt he’s gonna go for any of the squishies. It may not have been the best move, but she should be able to get away with it this time. Not to mention the whole air tight thing…
That would be Lighthook, Flyball and Shield in use, given her orders to stay shielded. Against V I’d say she should obey those orders but it make the tactic beyond her limits. Besides, he’s pulling her with the Lighthook tendril as is, if she’s flying and he yanks. . ..
Agreed. You don’t want to be flying and towing, with no shield. Seagulls and lack of oxygen can be annoying.
Though, if her shield is solid, she can bubble around them and they can slide to the bottom of the sphere, riding below her like a Double Basket-style hitch, which would allow her to carry a significant amount more than when towing directly underneath with the Lighthook.
Placing Sydney at the center of the Shield Sphere, and using Flight Sphere lifting capacity as the value for a single vertical hitch, her Weight Load Limit could be calculated simply as:
WLL = WLL (of Single Vertical Hitch) x (H/L) x 8
So, at best, using the Shield and Flight sphere together could increase Sydney’s towing efficiency by up to a factor of 5x.
Though, with all the weight being towed at the bottom of the sphere, it could be pulled downwards while Sydney tries to maintain her relative position, effectively pushing Sydney up against the top of the sphere.
I tried to draw it here, but I’m no DaveB, so forgive me: https://i.imgur.com/KCTSv6k.jpg
furthermore the Shield is Immune to impact so maybe jumping around iside it is also not effective
or Sydney just has to make a shield that is big enough to require some time to get from the Hull to her -> time enough to react
Friction might be an issue with trying to jump if carried in the shield, but seeing this I’m tempted to think that it isn’t super slick. That seems a bit unusual as most forcefields are depicted as having low or even no friction. Strike that last sentence, I just thought of all the times comics has shown a forcefield being used to bridge a gap or to carry someone, and they never seem to have much of a problem keeping on their feet.
And the jumping… Well as was shown in the linked strip there doesn’t seem to be a problem jumping off the outside of the forcefield. I kind of doubt that it would be a problem jumping if you’re standing inside of it.
Another question is how acceleration affects anyone standing inside the forcefield, and how much Syd is able to squeeze out of that orb. Lifting capacity, top speed, and top speed with various loads and shield sizes are other things that are still unknown.
IMHO, right now is NOT the time to start experimenting with things like this. And such experiments will be safer to perform with Stalwart as ballast rather than a jumping mad Vehemence.
Good, the main event. And as much as I’ve been enjoying this donnybrook, I hope it doesn’t go on for too much longer.
Agreed, while this fight as a whole has been very enjoyable, it would be rather fitting and hilarious if Max wiped the floor with him in like 2 panels. No DBZ fight here.
Considering how much she seems to want to fight, Maxima might try to drag it out a bit, if only to get an idea of what he can do incase it comes up later.
Cameras ready, Sergio Leone queued up on the iPod, popcorn’s hot. Let’s get this show started.
Maxima vs Sagat
Round one: fight!
…and yes, I know I’m mashing up SF and MK with that post… But who cares?
…always friggin hated fighting Sagat!
All we need is a couple of health bars across the top of the panel. Combo! Combo! Ultra Combo! (Don’t remember which fighting game had that; I think one of the first polygon-generators, as opposed to the motion capture or classical animation stuff) followed by “Finish Him!“. Back to MK!
“Babeality!”
Max will get you for that.
Seeing Maxi (and slash or Fedorka) in a cute diaper and bib would be sooo worth it :D
Until they started playing volleyball, with you as the ball.
IMO, Sydney’s being a little overconfident of Maxima’s skills here too.
Why else would she drop her shield?
I noticed she had all seven orbs over her head in the last panel. Hope she doesn’t come to regret that slip up.
Not really a slip up. Halo knows V is focused on Max so now is a safe time to drop the shield for a minute to get some fresh air. She will put it back up once the first punches start flying, maybe including that Harem so she can keep filming.
Except Harem can’t teleport through the shield, so wouldn’t that mean none of her teleport clones can exist in the shield?
Each clone is an independent body. One in the shield could not ‘port or be reabsorbed by the original. But she would not disappear.
the other bodies should be abel to tp outside of the sheild. the intresting thing is, can she unmake the body inside?
if so, can it tp inside the sheild, just not out of it, or is it a one way block?
I’ll refer you to the last panel of this comic: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1286
No porting, in or out.
Not that it makes any sense but what about teleporting while staying within?
Also, up to 5 independent bodies but 1 mind… or so… Now given that teleporting through the shield does not work, what about the telepathic contact between the 5 bodies?
(Ah well, most likely no problem. Light and sound seem to go through the shield rather fine…)
I’m sure porting around while staying inside the sphere is do-able. It’s not like the sphere shuts off power, it just down’t let people pass through it.
The “one mind” thing would be interesting to test. I’m guessing that it’s some kind of quantum entanglement involved in linking Harem. The frustrating part is that quantum mechanics is kind of weird, so who knows if it is even possible to disturb or break such a link? This is a case of “Only Dave knows for sure”.
Yeah, considering that Dave is The Creator & Almighty Ghod of the GrrlPower universe, the Laws of Nature are his to play with. I try to presume nothing until Dave shows us what his Natural Laws are.
Every scrap of knowledge ever gained by the human race in OUR universe was derived by one thing; Perception (of what the Laws of Nature are manifesting), Observation (of what Natural Law is *doing*), formulating a Theory (trying to figure out what/how it’s *really* happening), then testing to see if we’re on the right train of thought to the actual *fact* of what’s happening. You know, the Scientific Method of Inquiry.
First, I have to *perceive* what Dave shows before I can try to figure out his set of Natural Laws before figuring them out. Presumption & conjecture doesn’t really let you learn anything.
Fairly sure she has to concentrate to have the ‘one mind’ thing, otherwise she would be having up to 5 inputs (visual, tactile, aural, smell and posibbly even taste) all at once all the time
Nope, it is always operating.
Like when 1 got hit trying to drop Vecktor, and another complained about it being the same spot that Mach cut.
And several other incedents.
Like the chain reaction wedgie.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/389
For reference.
Unexpected trauma is one thing, and it overrides all her other senses, but otherwise she has to wait and ‘upload’ to the Harem-Mind
Otherwise there would be no way for any of them to get any rest unless they all got it at the same time, which would defeat the purpose of having an extra body to do things while one (or more) are sleeping
Exploding soda cans.
Dabbler’s luster aura at 11
That was still trying to port into it.It dosn’t mean that she cant port out, seeing how she already is outside of it. but i agree that it is likly that the block is 2 way.
I just have a hard time figuring out if she essentually could “lose” a body temporary due to the sheild.
she can unport any body at any time. i have forgoten if she can port to unknown places, but i assume not.
Soo, if she unport one body, and sidney, using the flight ord or a portal, relocates to an unknown location, wouldn’t that mean that harem is now unable to use any body she unported in the sheild? seeing how she have no idee where the sheild is?
you have to remember that she would be most likely still be able to see where the shield is and thus it wouldnt be an unknown place anymore
Not if she went far enough, or, as i said, used portal. At 400 mph she should be able to go out of sight in a jiffy, and then hide behind a mountainrange or something.
Unless the Harem in the portal lost the use of her eyes, she could still see where she is, and they still have radios, like ‘normal’ people do :P
Did Sydney drop her shield in the last 2 panels?
^^^
She clearly did, the last panel has all seven orbs orbiting her.
Welp, time to evacuate the country
You exaggerate, evacuating the city should be enough.
I dunno ’bout that…I seem to be recalling how widespread the fight moved around between Superman & Doomsday right ’bout now…
Oh my! Sidney and her tentakel-orb are the best! So much phantasy, fantastic! You should tickle Vehemence with it to death, hehe!
Now we know V can outmuscle the Lighthook. It is anchored to the shield and he still dragged both along with Halo until he slipped out.
but can it suspend him? being able to outmuskle something is way easier if you can have your feet on the ground.
He still might be able to work his way free. But the time taken would allow for the others to whack on V like a pinata.
That’s something I was wondering. You see Sydney straining and exerting herself to hold Vehemence in place. What kind of effort is she making? Physical, mental, mystical? How does she decide the anchoring strength of the Lighthook? And how does she reinforce it? Obviously, she isn’t doing this in a straight tug-of-war.
Considering what we’ve seen of he rather large upgrade grid, maybe she’ll get a second tentacle later that she could use as an artificial anchor?
ow ow ow 4 AM hot coffee up my nose from laughter. “serendipitous tumbleweed”. I swear that is the name of my next pet (thankfully, it’s too late to name my child.) Nice 100+ page punchline setup, too!
DaveB really needs to put a warning in the header. “Do not consume beverages or food while reading Grrlpower”.
If you have not learned that by now whatever happens to you is your own damn fault.
Clearly evolution plays a part in fandom. If you can’t deal with this risk you don’t belong here.
*snort* Good thing I did.
Please note that this about consuming beverages also applies to reading comments!!!
Do not read comments or food while reading Grrlpower?
=OP
How does one read food?
Alphabet soup. :-)
Alphabits cereal.
fish wrapped in newspaper.
Quick call a psychic
I thought that was what the Mafia sent you when they want you dead.
To Gamesman,
That is how the English serve fish and chips(fries)
You and I laugh in entirely different ways. If I laugh while drinking a beverage it ends up all over the screen and keyboard, not in my sinuses. How do you even do that?
By attempting to not laugh, forces the liquid out the nose
Ah! That explains it, however it is not a problem I have ever had to deal with. The thing is that my brain is not very good at parallel processing, nor is able to compete for the title of being the fastest brain on the web. So by the time my consciousness has decoded the visual input, detected and identified any potential hazardous material and has run a decent number of simulations to determine the potential danger this material may pose to the physical surroundings if an involuntary explosive expression of surprise, glee, humor or other intense feeling were to happen, it is already to late to try to suppress or inhibit that reaction and locating equipment useful for minimizing environmental damage becomes a high priority task.
Reminds me of going to a certain fast food restaurant back when they were giving out the Toy Story toys in the kid’s meals. One father came in with his 6-year-old son, and ordered two kid’s meals (one for himself, one for his son) so that his son would get two toys.
They sat in the booth right behind mine and opened their meals. “Look, dad, you got a woody!”
You know, Mountain Dew really stings when it shoots out your nose…
Nothing like a good snort of caffeine to wake you up in the morning, huh?
I’m sure Halo will learn this eventually, but football taught me to lift my oponent in a power struggle.
Right now Sydney is just tossing ideas around, testing her powers still. Considering conditions, she is doing incredibly well. Including doing background tumbleweed effects for Harem’s picture of the faceoff.
I’ma thinking this is going to be messy.
Like the front row of an old Gallagher show. With brick dust and blood instead of watermelon.
Tune in next espisode to find out who is the Sledgamatic & who is the watermelon…The suspense is killing me (figuratively, not literally).
Wow….!
Harem holding the phone correctly!!
Getting both their egos in the frame requires a wide field shot.
+1
What is the correct code for the “thumbs up” emoji? Because this comment deserved it.
(+1) is the answer.
How is that correct? None of her fingers can touch the screen. I prefer to hold it with my thumbs and middle fingers.
Another reason why I think she’s shooting video, which Leon is hacking and posting directly to the internet so DaveB can then relay it to us…heh! :D
The correct orientation for video, Killanti.
(Everyone else knew what I meant.)
Vertical video is against the Geneva Convention. I’m pretty sure.
Nope, it was in the Hague Convention. :-)
Ok.. I don’t know if anyone has realized this.. but I was predicting that V is in fact EXTREMELY powerful, more so then any of the good guys.. and this update would incline to prove it. Why? How? Easy.. Max couldn’t move the orbs on her own.. V was just dragging Sydney against her will… nuff said..
I reiterate, he’s some kind of representative sent there to test them, and humiliate them at the same time… NOTHING is better for reconsideration of a bad idea then a solid ass-whooping.. failure teaches more then success.
V wasn’t dragging the orbs, he was dragging Sydney.
The orbs and Sydney are tethered to each other, and neither can be certain distance from the other.
Now it has been surmised that Sydney’s forceful was unmoved but that has now been proven false.
I’m assuming that last sentence was about the forcefield being unmovable? Its already been proved that Sydney can move the shield when she moves and that’s all that happened here. Sydney moved due to feedback through the Light Hook and the shield moved with her.
The unmovable aspect of the force field gets assumed because Sydney was using it and the flight ball as the same time when Max was (ahem) testing it in her “interview” in the conference room. The key is that she was flying and therefore was flying in place when the FF was hit.
Also, she had used the Lighthook to reach out and lasso him to hold his arm from swinging at Dabbler. This is again an example of Vehemence “not” trying to hurt squishies –if he did punch out he could have tossed her bodily, albeit force field covered, across the field. Instead he does Aikido and lets her pull topple herself in the unwind “OLE!” maneuver.
Max was trying to move the orbs outside of their max drift range, V is pulling the Molestorbs tentacle while inside the feild. Different mecanics
Along with what the others already mention I feel to point out that Max at that moment had no idea what was in the tube and thus was caught of guard at the sudden stop. Furthermore she did not use her full strenght, otherwise the tube itself would not have survived.
That.
The fact that not even the string was ripped off that tube tells us that Max was using only normal-human/casual-human force.
But still. What if someone very powerful (like Max) grabs an orb container and flies off full force & full speed. Moving Sidney even a little in the direction the orbs are being dragged could be dangerous. The difference in mechanics is something to be tested. There might lurk a weak point…
I imagine any questions like this will get answers when the team can finally get 5 minutes to test and train her.
you really think you can TEST AND TRAIN a CHAOS ELEMENTAL in five minutes when you can’t even test them properly in five months???!!!???!!!
Actually Maxima actually said back there ‘Do you know how strong I am ?’
She went from human casual to nearly full strength in that particular tug of war with the orbs is my guess.
I ‘could’ be wrong. And I ‘do’ agree that in this instance I’m not certain that he’s fighting the orbs drift distance but Mostly Sydney’s weight . On the other hand it looks like he’s exerting a fair bit of force to pull someone as small as Sydney. Again.. not totally sure on ‘that’ point.
Is the missing tooth not the canine again?
It’s the canine that’s gone. The next one in (premolar) is also pointy, but has two points on the upper and one point on the bottom one. Poke around with your tongue (in your own mouth) and you can feel them.
Hmm, shouldn’t there be 4 incisors at the front, then 1 canine followed by the moloars on each side?
It looks like Vehemence has only 3 incisors left.
Went back to the page where V lost the tooth. On that page it seems to be the canine only in panel 8. Everywhere else it’s one of his outer incisors.
More teeth than even Vehemence is showing, named and numbered. https://www.onedollardentist.com/toothnumbersdiagram.html
Thank you. Whew. Each of them has their own name & number…
I so want to see him humiliated. Probably a left-over from my teen years but I love seeing big guys brought down by “weaker” opponents. Nixon quit back then and it was awesome.
It is one of her powers!
Nice catch!
Maybe it was one of her upgrades since then?
Yes, but Arianna is so going to have to change her statement from that page that Sydney wouldn’t be used in the field until having extensive training.
Well, technically, Sydney wasn’t ‘put in the field’ so much as the field was put around her
Quite true, Sydney was not dropped into a field op, the field op was dropped on Sydney.
True, it was put around her, but she has been used in the ops under orders.
Well it was either give her some instructions, or watch what happens when she reacts to various things.
Which do you think would be the safest course of action.
That image of a Sydney acting on her own….made me smile.
Made me shudder
Smudder?
I’m not sure which artist I’m thinking of but this is where a near-omnipotent being would pop in and say “Nope no gonna happen!” knock Vehemence out cold and tell Max to deal with him “Quickly or he’s gone!” then pop out.
Q? No, doesn’t fit the pattern.
To destroy this one, hand him a very white shirt and an earring, then ask him what he uses to clean his floors with.
Nah, V would just answer that by wiping the floor with YOU.
Oh kay, Max does the Armageddon and Syd’s shield does not budge an inch, yet this mook can drag her around? Omega mans powers are thought based. Meh.
Drag her around?
He can move her just a bit. Given her weight and the strength he seems to be using she would be on the other side of the town now without the orbs.
Easy answer, Max was trying to move the shield. It remained firm because Sydney didn’t move. V pulled Sydney via the Lighthook. The shield moved because Sydney did. As someone stated above, different mechanics.
Different powers. The shield absorbs impacts. V is dragging on the Lighthook hauling Sydney and the other orbs.
The shield seems to work like an absolute boundary. Nothing on either side of the barrier can pass through, except perhaps for the effects of another of the orbs. This brings up the interesting idea of Sidney acting as a semi-mobile turret with the Shield and PPO provided she gets enough practice first.
Oy, Dave, you have the speed lines going in the wrong direction for V’s spin to get out of the tentacle, if he were to spin in that direction, he’d actually put MORE loops onto himself rather than get rid of them…
Nah, still works. Previous frame has V bent forward towards Dabbler, if he rotated towards Sidney still bent over then the tentacle could slip over his head, snapping back to Sidney while he popped up in a continuation of the move.
In Soviet Russia, Hentacle whips you!
The page is great, but in my opinion the last three panels feel slightly out of order. The stand-off shot with tumbleweed joke should be last, with Sydney’s comments happening in-between the two Maxima shots. It ends the page on the whole “Next time on Dragonball Z!” note and just flows better.
I agree. The tumbleweed would be better in the face-off panel.
D’OH! Ignore that last comment from me.
No, we shall just ignore you.
I really like that we’re being shown limits to Halo’s power: we can clearly see that Vehemence was moving her, something that Maxima hasn’t been able to do yet. Albeit, he was moving her and her tentacle, not her balls. (Phrasing!)
This could be one of those special loopholes, like how Red Hulk can only move Thor’s hammer if he’s moving Thor while he’s holding it.
I think it was mentioned above, but back after the bank job when Max was trying to get Sydney to come out from under the ambulance, she didn’t really use any muscle to pull on the case. Just resorted to blackmail when it resisted her.
I’m not quite sure what you are saying here. Are you talking about the scene where Maxima says something like, “Do you have any idea how strong I am!” That kind of implies she was using a decent chunk of her strength.”
Unless he has some sort of healing factor as well, the fact that Anvil already knocked out a tooth would seem to make him less of a threat to Maxima.
Stalwart did it not Anvil
My mistake. Still, Maxima is stronger than Stalwart. So still a matter of him not being much of a threat.
Maxima’s only stronger than Stalwart when she “maxes out” her strength (I’m pretty sure that’s Dave mentioned something like that anyway). And either way, other than knocking out that tooth Stalwart’s punch didn’t seem to have much of an impact on him, I’m holding out hope that the next fight is a good one.
One more thing: I’m having trouble navigating the site on my S3. It crashes my internet window every time I come to visit it.
Too many possibilities. It’s fine on my iPad on Wi-Fi. And my desktop.
I have the same problem on my Kindle Fire. My Windows phone and Chrome on my computers work fine, though.
Surface Pro 2 likes it jes fine.
Hmmm….with how things are going, one wonders if a better plan isn’t ‘keep him still and wait for the tungsten rod’ …
Maxima is the Hammer Of God here.
So tempted to make a maxwells silver hammer joke here
Anvil already came down upon his head. And Max is going to bang, bang all upside his head.
suddenly hearing “you hit’em high, I’ll hit’em low” song reading this
How does this do?
The studs on Max’s boots in panel 8, aren’t there in panel 7.
you can see the straps but the studs would appear to be in shadow
That’s one of her powers, “Grow Studs.” [Packs to leave country before Maxima reads that comment.]
How can we address the mail forwarded to your Fortress Of Solitude? Kal keeps complaining about all the skin bronzer junk mail.
Not fast enough, my friend…
;)
Just like Ghost Rider then
As a side note, one of the unknown orbs power could be to refresh the breathable air inside the force field. I would suspect that’s more likely to be a currently locked power of the force orb itself,
Or a setting on the force field ball itself. Remember the “Embiggener” ? –as one option among many. The may be an “Emfreshener” she had no way of noticing without say starting the field up around her and a smokepot.
In the original tooth extraction, it looks like the third from center was removed (canine): https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1500. Here it looks like the second from center is missing (incisor, panel 6-7, depending on how you count them). I am pretty sure I called this as going to happen.
Is that the tag to Maxima’s jacket in panel 8 or a pocket under her arm either way that is some detail.
Neither, it’s her gun.
More specifically, it’s her shoulder holster under her jacket.
You can see it better in the big panel from this comic: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1443
Note that it took a bit of damage and some of the bullet holders on it have been torn off.
Hmmm… I wonder if that might be a Chekov’s model of firearm….
The gun is just for intimidation – Max can hit a lot harder with her beams, or just by punching.
Well, not exactely for intimidation, it’s more because people see a gun pointed at them they know it’s serious, but a finger?
Heh, tumbleweeds.
Oh, maybe somebody brought this up before, but Vehemence’s actions would seem to indicate that all of these possible scenarios may have all actually happened. Nice way of introducing future plots and villains.
I was just thinking that myself. Vehemence was definitely included, as was Deus.
I’m 99% positive panel 5 of that comic is vektor and opal. So two panels proven true.
The scenarios weren’t what max and ari actually talked about, but cuts to other scenes showing reality agreeing with each.
With this fight being the combination of panels 1 and 5 from that comic, it’s clear the ordering doesn’t coincide with the story timeline. So we may get to see shirtless mummy or flaming britches. I’m thinking sticker mask lady is head of some ninja-ish organization and is more of a late game mastermind villain.
The firebrand preacher guy looks mid game, dangerous but ultimately comedic. And deus a final boss if only because of his corporate backing.
Afraid I’ll have to disagree, Neowulf. Those people in the comic are appropriate for story ARC-villains. You would expect just one of them to appear in a major storyline. Since this is Sydney’s debut story, Vehemence is the story’s archvillain. Vektor and Opal were just mini-bosses, so to speak.
Unless your Hollywood, you don’t want to crowd too many villains into a storyline, at least not when you first introduce them. Afterwards, you can set up a huge battle royale, but this is also the debut of the archvillain, and you don’t want to shortchange a major character like that, either.
Dagnabit… “Unless you are Hollywood.” It’s too early in the day, I guess that will be the excuse this time.
Next time, Grammar. Next Time!
NO GRAMMER EVER!
DEATH TO THE GRAMMER NAZIES!
Dunno. The hair in the background figure (panel #5 there) is a reasonable match to Opel, but the foreground figure has what appears to be sharp interlocking sawtooth teeth, unlike Vektor’s fairly normal dentition.
Since there’s been so much dentistry in recent threads anyway… :)
Serendipitous Tumbleweed is the name of my Hank Williams cover band.
Imagine the effect on V if Sydney had thought to merely let go of the molestorb while he was pulling on her.
Probably would have impaled himself on the sword.
I know you’ve eliminated the idea that he is auditioning for the team, but his behavior is puzzling.
He does not come across totally as someone who is merely looking for a good fight. Because he seems to be going out of his way to act the Drill Instructor in the way he critiques there attacks. Not in a derisive, “Damn, you’re stupid,” way, but in a manner that is actually constructive.
So part of me would not be surprised if at the end of this he is introduced as the person who is in going to be in charge of the team’s training.
I highly doubt it. At the very least, after that bank job stunt Max would quit if another such gag was pulled. Also injuring people by turning a bunch of crazies loose on them with no warning is not going to fly with anyone as a training exercise. V is here for the fight, pure and simple. He waited to see who was worthy and then went at them, with much egotistical boasting. Now he beats Maxmia or eats his words.
LOL, you are forgetting that MAXIMA thinks this bunch of crazies was an excellent chance for a training exercise!!! Apparently she is OK with minor damage (lost toes) and arrogant enough to think she can stop a bunch of unknown powers from slaughtering her entire team or a decent chunk of it. (Maxima! Disease Man gave us all air borne fast acting AIDs! Including you…. XD XD XD ) I could see Maxima getting upset if SOMEONE else planned it though. heh
She would take the opurtunity if it precented itself, but would never set it up, due to it being an unacceptable risk to the area and the team. And would trunch anyone whom thought othervice.
But if she is forced into a situation with a bunch of crazy supers, she will do the best of the situation. And seeing how the entire area was already a writeof from the start… Training it is
And yet, his words and actions, kind of hint at a link back to Archon. He says his reasons are to “validate” the need for a super team, and that he is pro-military. He further comments as to the true nature of Anvil’s powers, when his reasoning for knowing is that she leaned into every blow. She could have just been overly durable with an increased mass so she couldn’t be moved or the like. Kinetic Absorption is an unusually accurate assessment just from this fight alone, suggesting perhaps additional confidential knowledge.
He may simply be a super-secret PR stunt and field test of the team as a whole, hence the “write-off” restaurant may have been chosen for a lack of possibility of collateral damage and a very conspicuous way of getting all of Arc’s supers in one spot for this.
Also, the press ladies seem like they got there rather fast.
press was eating nearby as already stated and ari would be tested for healing powers by max intensely if this was PR after the bank stunt however if V was an ex-prearc member he would be in a place to know about super trainees just added
The other possibility here is that V is working for Dues, who in true puppet master fashion, subtly points some bad guys at our heroes, probably to help the publicity in his own way. Thus Archon has no knowledge of this as a PR stunt since on the surface, it isn’t. In fact, if this is the case, the line of hierarchy behind these guys is a bit lengthy as to mask Dues entirely.
Just noticed, Sydney “Waaark!”s like a Chocobo. :P
Not the FFX victory song is gonna play in my head anytime she levels up.
I suspect Dave has something related in mind for Leon to do in regards to that and Sydney will take it as a welcome courtship ritual.
Isn’t there a Bangles tune by that name… Waaark like a Chocobo?
That song is about mixing ethnic cuisines; Wok Like An Egyptian.
You need to get smacked now.
I used to watch a cooking show called “Wok with Yan”.
This is worse. Now I have an earworm of a song that doesn’t exist.
Whatever you like. This is a real song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQwNnQaf0Y4
I agree… There’s something ODD about this fight… He threw Anvil straight up, not halfway across the county(as you would to get an absorber out of a fight). And then there’s the commentary…
He wants a good fight, not necessarily a victory. A victory without having to work for it means nothing to him. If they improve in the process all the better. If he goes all out and still gets his ass kicked he’d be happy about it. I also don’t think he’s the type to waste potential opponents as killing them would just mean he can’t fight them anymore while letting them live let’s them improve and provide him more of a challenge next time.
Given his name, I suspect that his strength and durability both increase the longer he’s fighting. He’s probably powered by bloodshed, whether his own or someone else’s, seeing as how he doesn’t seem to mind getting hit all that much, and appears to mind less so as the battle wears on.
Possibly a derivation of Hulk’s power only instead of anger, battle or attacks power him. He does have an Adrenalin-Junkie feel to him.