Grrl Power #264 – The team receives some bad news -OR- Oh crap is right
Yuuup! Do me a favor and imagine the dramatic music rising as they talk, then the sting right after Dabbler says “…violence” Dunnnnnn! In fact it’s probably best if you read the remainder of the fight while listening to some track from Two Steps From Hell, who are hard to beat when it comes to god damned epic music. Actually, listening to some good Two Steps From Hell tracks makes stuff like shopping for groceries feel a lot more life and death. If the comic was movie or tv show, I’d definitely use that gag. I do have some “audio required” jokes that I’m saving for the movie version. :)
Drawing a 50 person battle royale for my first fight was daunting, but this was a big part of the reason for it. I knew Vehemence would settle for nothing less, and now the team has unwittingly powered him up to the point that he’s capable of trading blows with Maxima. In fact actually trading those blows was quite helpful to him. Like a succubus, it’s good to be near the action, but much better to be directly involved.
As villains go, I think Vehemence’s powers are pretty original, at least to my knowledge. It’s a good part of the reason why genre savvy Sydney didn’t peg him before he gave it away. After I thought him up, I was able to come up with a few other antagonists with similar abilities though. Certainly a few entities from Star Trek fed on conflict or anger. War, from the Incarnations of Immortality books owed his godhood to ongoing wars, and Ares from DC comics is powered by conflict, but I think making it akin to tantric magic is more or less unique, so I’m pretty proud of him. It also makes me think of what other abilities could be derived from a normally intangible source of energy. An angel powered by charity? An Avaristic user, powered by wealth and greed? Straight up good or evil? There’s a lot of potential there, something I’ll probably explore a bit more in the Grrl-verse. :)
Boy that last panel took a lot of work, and I’m sure it’s missing many a scorch mark and crack. I know panels prior to this haven’t really shown the cumulative damage very well, and if I have some time I’d like to go back and fix that, but like I’ve said before, drawing rubble is quite tedious. I also would have liked to have shown everyone laying unconscious where they fell for maximum effect, but I already established that Harem and Sydney were carrying them from the field of battle and sedating them. There should be more flaming bits of Shawn’s car scattered everywhere and stuff like that, but I basically worked on the panel until I ran out of time and had to start coloring. Still, I think it carries the impact I wanted pretty well.
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Does more destruction against more people equal more violence? He might just become self-sustaining at some point, causing violence to others and feeding off himself, if he can do that. My theory is that he hasn’t been able to get the sheer level of violence he’s been getting here anywhere else. He’s probably evil too, but part of his intent could very well just be getting high off of fighting. Again, if he can do that.
Depends on his power-down rate when he sleeps I guess :(
Sooo, he gets his powers in a similar way to Dabbler’s succubus parent but with violence instead of lust. Does that mean that if everybody they can muster runs into the area and starts having an orgy, some actually with Dabbler, she would become strong enough to be in V’s and Maxima’s current league for physical combat for a while? Would the media’s cameras keep rolling? Would Arianna make some product lines from this?
Wow, I usually read a lot more of the comments but I lost a day guys and now you are at over 5 pages… so if you already did this one to death (I could see this covering a page or two heh) sorry. I’ll catch up later maybe.
Also has Sydney simply decided that Vehemence is not gonna target squishies and so she can leave HER SHIELD DOWN for like ever lately? Even if she is crazy enough to believe that or so easily distracted you would think the peripheral damage and rubble flying about would inspire her differently.
Didn’t she have air-supply issues a few pages back because here shield was airtight? :)
She did take it down for a few minutes several pages ago.
That explains taking it down for a few seconds it takes for the air to blow on through (or just running over a few feet and grabbing a fresh “chunk” of air. But she’s been having it down now for waaaaay too long in a big bad end boss fight. She’s green so I won’t make a big deal about it obviously but I thought I would point out she’s being a dangerously big silly at this point! :-P
She put it up by the last panel though. Seems they are all getting ready to go.
An Air Supply issue? Does that mean she’s all out of love?
I guess he would never attack her because she doesn’t seem violent enough? (Big mistake if he really thinks that ‘though) And they are just talking now, nobody attacks when the villain finally reveals his plan!
Also I guess the orbs will protect their host on their own and the shield one might possibly glide into her hand without her really thinking about it in a tense situation.
Hah! She could be thinking that way but I hope they beat such media inspired strategy out of her in training. o.O’
We have no reason to think the orbs would act that intelligent and independently YET. (but who knows in the future… )
If he thinks she’s not violent enough, then he must not have seen the security cam footage of the “bank robbery”.
::Imagines Adreno-rage Sydney with domme outfit and Molestorb whip::
Yes, that would be a funny direction for the webcomic to go, if it were to be one of THOSE comics like some of the ones linked on the right (so we know Dave Barrack is no stranger to such humor):
Dabbler: Everyone, quick, I need a powerup in order to fight him. This calls for teamwork! Sydney, cunnilingus on me, NOW! Maxima, continue the human centipede from her! Achilles and Mathias, quick, double penetration on Maxima! And EVERYONE needs to have at least 2 fingers on each hand in someone elses’ holes. Hurry, people, time is of the essence!
Maxima: I think I’m going to vomit.
Dabbler: Great! Go with it! Anyone here have a vomit fetish? Does anyone want to lick that up?
Well, they don’t have to actually SHOW everything. Used to be in the olden days of yor they could let people know such was going on without showing every little scrap of skin. And it would still be funny. Considering he put a succubus and a rather outgoing Harem in this clearly he intended to have a lot of potential for such humor just without the actual showing of skin. Plus the missing bits of scene will make for great rewards in his revenue process.
But they can leave Maxi and Anvil out of it so they can distract V during the “empowering” of Dabbler (we’ve all seen that anime where everybody goes and stalls so the hero of the day can have the time they need to whip out an uber attack) unless they can draw V into the “empowering” the same way he drew them into his. (that would be poetic)
But its a little early to open up with the “Big Guns” so he will probably go a different route.
It really is time for Peggy to pop off another 50 cal round into Vehemence’s other eye. Blinding him him now while he is monologing can only help!
With his power you’d just power him up shooting him, as it is every single shot, hit, smack, kick, and so on just makes him more powerful and harder to kill…
Blinding him would probably make it worth it.
Even a *blind” rampage is still violent. He still feeds off of violence he causes too.
People are getting too hung up on his violence power up, after all the violence of the past 50 pages, another 50 cal shot is next to nothing in terms of further power gained and while a blind bull will still wreck the china shop, a blind bull will be a hell of alot easier to handle than one with unimpeded vision.
It would but his colors suggest he has ticked over into another power level so the .50 will do less damage than before. Might still be worth the try if they clear the squishier members back a ways in case it DOESN’T blind him but comes close enough to drive him into a more mindless berserk mode.
I lol’d hard @ “You made that up” Sydney calls them as she sees um’
…Could be worse…They could be facing the ultimate internet troll, Vitriolic Man.
So if V and Anvil just kept punching each other would they theoretically be able to power each other up to an unlimited extent?
Theoretically, it might be possible. It would depend mostly on who would reach their limits (if any) of absorption first. Practically speaking, all it would really take is whichever first hits hard enough to send the other flying off into the proverbial sunset.
Because I’m evil I’ll give away two weaknesses for V and his power, to be honest this is pretty much what I thought his power just so happened to be. In the Star Trek episode from the original series with Captain Kirk that set up laughter as the weakness for this power, being that laughing at, or actually making V laugh as in funny haha, would depower him. Secondly the direct polar opposite power would cancel out his power, meaning that if Dabbler turned up the wammy and released all her tantric energy both her and V would become depowered, however as a finishing touch one of the ladies would have to take one for the team and kiss him to complete the power drain. In this case however you would have to lock him up in a place similar to a bordello in order to keep him power in check, and yes a bordello, for those who don’t know…. Well I think I’ll let you guys find out on your own if you don’t know… In either case I didn’t know you would get that direction DaveB!! Yes to be sure you understand fully their have been others who have used this type of villain and that’s how they were taken out. Although to be honest as to the bordello business, I only know about that because of my dirty little secret, every once in a while I read super hero romance novels… Among other things…
Lust isn’t really the opposite of violence. In fact the two might heterodyne into something even worse. Like Naruto’s wind combining with Sasuke’s fire chakra.
Here are some antonyms for the word violence maybe there will be an answer in one of them?
calm health kindness method niceness order organization peace peacefulness surrender system calmness passivity
Huh, it would be hilarious if the way to erode his power would be to surrender to him…. Probably drive half the leadership away even if they manage to turn it into a win somehow but wow, would that be unexpected!!
“readership” lol perhaps the leadership of the readership?
Quick, we need a Buddhist Monk!
Time to launch him into the sun. Or, more simply asphyxiation via an inverted, impregnable, force field.
Sidney has to be inside any force field she makes. I need to copy/paste this.
The second reading of the comic lets me see Vehemence’s glorious trollface for what it is. XD
So… Does this mean that their best option now is to hold him in Halo’s shield until he passes out?
Also, Maxima has a belly button. What did they cut the umbilical cord with?
Probably scissors? She wasn’t born invulnerable I think.
And another trophy to be handed over.
Pretty sure that Maxima wasn’t born with powers (or even golden skin), but that they developed later.
Sidney has to be inside any force field she makes. So it would be the squishy human Sidney inside the same force field as V. I need to copy/paste this.
Yeah, but Max’s demo shows she can shape the shield. Make it big enough that Sydney can fly above him with enough distance that she can dodge his efforts to jump at her, or throw things. If he doesn’t wear himself out trying to knock Halo out of the sky, he’ll run out of air, while Halo will be breathing clean because government backing comes with an air canister back pack and a breather mask.
As long as he doesn’t throw a rock or something. Plus I think he’s a mage so if you give him THAT much time even though he has gone on to specialize he might still have a fireball spell written down on a napkin amongst the dust bunnies in his back pocket. ;D
That’s a big assumption that Sydney can even make such a huge field to begin with. Putting a forcefield around a crowd of reporters is as big as we have seen it; making one large enough to avoid V’s jumping distance, and he has HUGE jumping distance, is pushing it.
She doesn’t need to go higher than he can jump, just high enough that she can get out of the way after he jumps.
And you think she’s quick enough to do that? Last I checked, his reflexes are also phenomenal, and Sydney is not exactly super in the speed department. Takes no effort to kill her when caught.
Plus, again, this plan also hinges on whether Sydney can even make a forcefield of such size to begin with. Not worth gambling.
Also, V can throw heavy objects at her, too. He does not need to jump.
Fair points. Weave barrier between them inside the bubble using the light hook? Party of three with Maxima grappling for containment?
Any plan that involves Sydney inside the field with V even with someone with her for protection is playing with proverbial fire. Leave him outside the field.
I see that Halo can modify the shape of her shield to some degree. I understand currently it forms around her, but perhaps she can wedge Anvil between herself and Vehemence within a shield? Anvil could absorb the attacks and keep Halo safe, leaving Vehemence with no other targets.
Good thinking. The shield looks like a good idea. If it’s strong enough to stand up to Maxima, it may be able to stand up to Vehemence. On top of that, it’s non-violent. Plus, it doesn’t let in oxygen, so Vehemence can knock his own damn self out.
How do Halo and Anvil keep breathing while Big V is busy asphyxiating himself? Or do we all just jump in the airtight shield and see who can hold their breath the longest?
Because there is air within the bubble but it quickly runs out. Look back toward the beginning of the battle because Halo does run out of air within that bubble when she has the field up for too long.
Exactly my point. Since Halo has to be inside her shield, if she took Anvil with her to act as a buffer so she can smother BigV into unconsciousness, what the hell is she and Anvil supposed to be freaking breathing? It’s all the same air!
A tank supplying oxygen to Sydney’s part of the forcefield (but not to V’s) would fix that. And I would think such a tank would be well within Harem’s humping level.
I was hoping, rather than having him pass out, he would power down from lack of violence. The shield was definitely strong enough at first, (Halo tripped him and he tried to wipe her out after.) but he seems to have ramped up quickly. Hopefully the decline is just as quick?
Somehow, I doubt it. Or even if the decline is relatively quick, I can’t see it being quick enough before he knocks out Sydney even with Anvil as protection. With his current level, I expect him to shove Anvil away long enough to deal with Sydney.
She has shown no ability so far to put up double layer shields (bubble within a bubble).
There is a limited amount of oxygen that is within the forcefield. Look at the area in the early battle, Halo has enough space to have oxygen within the forcefield but not an unlimited supply (hence why Halo nearly passed out).
Again, we all know that. anifreik is pointing out that Sydney and Anvil will also be in the field with V, so just as he will run out of air to breathe, so will Anvil and Sydney.
To be fair, Sydney’s small and weak. She doesn’t metabolize through oxygen at the same rate as someone powering gigantic hulking muscles would- plus, she’s SCUBA trained, meaning she can probably hold her breath a little longer than the average goon. Remember, they don’t need to asphyxiate him to death, just to unconsciousness- and for that, all they need is for Halo to stay conscious just a few seconds longer than him before dropping the shield.
Unfortunately, I’m willing to bet V can turn Sydney into a red stain even with Anvil attempting to get between them well before said oxygen supply will run out. Assuming so-called metabolism even applies to magical powers, the part where she’s small and weak is the biggest reason not to do it.
Just bounce a rock of the back side? Sydney’s pretty weak. Plus he seems like he started as a mage. If you blocked his favorite school of magic he may reach way back to his Hogwarts days for a holdout attack. XD
Well, looks like it’s about time for them to turn the other cheek…and get that one kicked too.
The Big V reminds me a bit of Lung. So where are the Brown Recluses when you need some?
Did anyone else notice that Vehemence’s power lines are now almost the same colors as one of Sydney’s unknown orbs?
Powered by violence. I wonder what Death Toll’s counter would be?
Probably a power drain, like he did to anvil when she first attacked him.
Quick question: Are we still in flashback mode from the first story arc? (way back in 3 or 4 where Sidney said that, “this was a couple of month’s back”)
Yep, Sydney’s first day as a superhero.
Thanks. I was just making sure.
You’re welcome.
SEND IN THE CLOWNS!
We may be desperate, but not that desperate.
yes. let’s send in the mimes first. to wear him down for the clowns. or to get rid of the mimes.
whichever comes first
Considering the general public attitude for mimes, it’s a win-win situation…
That’s why they caution people to not step into a mime field.
One does not simply *walk* into a mime field & expect to remain (with their dignity) intact.
One of my settings has power like this.
Basically, all the energy lost in various chemical and physical reactions actually becomes “mana” which is flavored by how it was produced.
So during a fight, the mana produced is flavored by the way neurons fire when producing rage or fear, the destruction of physical objects, the heroism or villainy of those involved, the changes in temperature in the air, the increases unpredictability and so on.
Vehemence would be classified as an avatar since powers up on violence which is phenomena which not inherently good or evil.
There is one character in that setting who is deliberately made to be the most ridiculously overpowered person in the setting and one of the people least interested in using her power.
She would be classified as an Elemental of Cold and Lightning, an Angel of Hope, a Demon of Despair, and an Avatar of Chaos. Though, actually, having that many sources isn’t all that rare. (The fact that they’re all natural inclinations is, most people train to broaden that far. Sentient spirits often feed on a wide variety of mana, however, more specialized ones are less versatile) and the source of her high levels of power is something else.
There were subcategories as well, but away from my notes I can only remember “devouring” which is someone who prefers to eliminate the phenomena that they gain power from.
The person above is a Devouring Demon of Despair and a Devouring Avatar of Chaos, meaning she generally acts to reduce chaos and despair in the world despite gaining power from it.
She’s also rare in that she has a pair of opposites in her repertoire. Hope and Despair. Plus she gains power from Chaos. So in crisis situations where despair, hope and chaos are common, she gets a rather large boost to her capabilities.
The character herself is only aware that she gets stronger in cold weather and that lightning and electricity make her feel light-headed and tipsy. She’s unaware of the rest.
then again, all supers and even all sentients operate by drawing off mana in that setting, just the ones that get categorized have specialized to get more efficient at specific types…it can be an inborn trait (usually due to powerful parents manipulating things) but usually comes from training.
I’ve noticed that in this comic there are a lot of variable-power superheroes.
Halo chooses two powers out of a set, and levels up. Maxima can switch her power around, getting stronger or faster, Anvil absorbs kinetic energy, Jabberwoky has her fighting styles and Harem chooses between five “regular” selves or one uber-self. Most guys have pre-set powers, but there is Vehemence that gains power from violence.
I can’t help but wonder whether it is the luck of the draw, author appeal or an in-game norm?
Pardon, “in-setting norm” of course. RPG-habit.
Given that Dabbler is one of his characters I would say author appeal.
…He’s aware that Dabbler is a succubus. It doesn’t seem to faze him – still, I keep thinking “Duh, just charm/mind control him”.
Well she tried to put him to sleep with a spell and he laughed it off. Something along the lines of “You’ll need two orders of magnitude more chutzpah.” He’s also magically savvy, so presumably knows how to defend along with being more powerful than earlier. Unless he was lying or exaggerating it looks like she doesn’t have the magical brute strength to get something though.
I think he’s lying and his real power comes from his amazing set of pearly whites.
Well he is losing power then.
Ofc. He is lying because he does not want the team to know that they are getting the better of him.
Somebody needs a hug, his blankey, cookies, and warm milk. Break out the Elmo videos!
Yeah, Vehemence definitely needs an attitude adjustment. However, the usual “8/10/12 method” won’t work on him. (“8/10/12 method” involves 8 surgeons operating for 10 hours to remove a size 12 boot from his @$$)
It just goes to show, both in comics & real life, that there’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” solution/answer to any problem/question.
I have just realized who the one person is that could defeat V is, but sadly he is not around anymore.
Robin Williams we need you to end the violence.
With that level of phenomenal, earth-shaking power, he could wrap this up quickly & go back home to his itty-bitty living space.
Mr. Williams would have reduced V to powerless lump in 5 minutes without breaking a sweat, he was that masterful of a comic.
Quick! Break out the Bob Ross reruns!
Tickle Fight!
Quick! We need to hire a squad of of women in French Maid uniforms heavily armed with feather dusters!
So can he be subdued with hugs? Of course, that’s all before all the fists started flying in the first place. :p
Badguy’s advocate:
V was concerned about Halo and Vector. He didn’t really initiate the fight. He ASKED to fight “Shall we do this?” And he didn’t throw the first punch – Halo did with her tentacle. And he “turned” on the badguys too.
What I’m saying is that I don’t think he is a real criminal or they would have hear of him before. I think he is just grandstanding because of Max’s very public comment about never being beaten. He not only powers up on violence, he gets off on it too. And he wants the bragging rights.
Maybe he’s a Merc, working for blackworks overseas, and just came back home for a grudge match kinda thing. Because he knows that supers can power him up more than hes ever been powered up before… like the ultimate high?
That’s still a real criminal.
How’s that still a real criminal? Private contractors get hired legitimately by sovereign nations all the time. And when two people willingly agree to enter into a fight, that’s called a sport. People even pay to see it. Heck, I need to be his manager! ;)
because he’s still instigating a major attack on law enforcement personnel and still doing stuff that is out right illegal…as such, still a real criminal
In the next strip I want Dabbler to compare the amount of Energy Vehemence gained to the amount of Sex that would be necessary for a tantric energy user to gain the same ;)))
Gravatar test
Heh! I was wondering how long before someone did that. Excellent choice.
HA! I totally called that! Well maybe not That exactly but if this doesn’t make him pretty much the Ultimate battle junky I don’t know what could top it… well Goku could but that is an entirely different issue
On a side note he could have named himself Ares and it would have been entirely appropriate but might have given the game away too soon.
I think my favorite part of this is that, in one update, Dave completely justifies, in story, a 64-update, over half-year long fight scene. Personally, I enjoy every update and love it, but I think of all the comments about how long this has gone on and then realize that this explanation just illustrates how deep a hole Archon was forced to dig for themselves.
So, a common theme going through the comments seems to be that, given that Vehemence is powered up by violence, he must have a weakness to love. That doesn’t actually make sense to me. Think about it: I’m made stronger by using guns, therefore my weakness is if nobody else ever uses them? Or, for a more parallel comparison, I’m a martial artist and I get more powerful by practicing and challenging myself against more and more difficult opponents. My one weakness is if nobody else uses any science to their fighting style.
Somehow, I don’t think so. I don’t think a tantric love attack is likely to be the way to go, here.
I admit that I’m hoping for a clever and creative end to the fight, too, but, mostly, what I’m hoping for is simply an end. This fight has gone on a little too long for me and doesn’t seem to have any plausible purpose.
Agreed
Well, personally, I don’t see sex and lust as the solution to violence. A better option, perhaps, but that’s a different thing altogether. :D
I see the polar opposite of violence as being love and gentleness. The 64 million dollar question is, how do you gentle someone into defeat?
Find his mother and fly her in.
What makes you think his mama will be gentle? ;p
I don’t think Love would be as effective of a counter to Violence as would Apathy…
“Calling Mr. Meh! Calling Mr. Meh! We have an emergency situation that requires your aid!”
Doesn’t even bother to show up…
Panel six PSA: “Use the finger pads of the 3 middle fingers on your left hand to feel for lumps in the right breast. Use overlapping dime-sized circular motions of the finger pads to feel the breast tissue.”
Ummm…Breast Cancer Awareness was *last month*…
I think now would be a good time to start playing “Those Who Fight Further” by the Black Mages/Nobou Uematsu
So… he powers up from others trying to beat him up. He has already lost sight in one eye and a couple teeth – looks like his power doesn’t seem to have come with a healing factor. His master plan is to become an invincible cripple?
Well, I guess we need a “non-violent” solution to defeat him… Bring on the Sydny special!
We have but one hope.
Ark-Dark, contact the SCP Foundation. Submit a priority-1 request for SCP-999:
https://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-999
or, for the reading-impaired:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvdY0dI88ao
Also, not to worry for SCP-999’s safety. It appears to be able to survive great pressure with no damage or discomfort whatsoever, and it is unlikely that anything will wish to harm it after being in contact with it.
There’s also that trap used in The Incredibles that fire adhesive, expanding blobs…That would incapacitate him with minimal violence.
so .. someone hug him?
get maxima to hug him and put armor on full so they dont move?
Yes. To enhance the effect, baby-talk may be employed.
“Who’s a cutie McSnuggle pie? You are! Yes, you are! Oh, snoo-goo-wum-boo-boo-lovey-dovey-wummy-bubbie!”
If that does not drain his energy quickly enough, tickling may be employed as a last resort.
I wonder if Vehemence is somehow in cahoots with Deus, to some degree.
I wonder if they will get permission for lethal force now?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Let’s not be hasty now. It’s not the Blues Brothers.