Grrl Power #289 – Misunderstandable
Maxima’s statement about how everyone will be processed comes with a huge asterisk, primarily if anyone has any warrants out, they’ll be in trouble even if they had no part in planning the attack. I’d say warrants out for super powered crimes, but that wasn’t officially a thing up until today. “Boilerplate’s” tale of how he got recruited hints at the info they’ll collect during the debriefings, which I probably won’t actually show in the comic, but the team may get debriefed later with a short expositional summary.
Maxima arguably need some work on her diplomacy skills, something people involved with Arc-SWAT in early days were concerned with, and is one of the reasons the team has a permanent PR staff built in. Not just because of Maxima, this would be a hard sell no matter who was leading the team. At least Maxima knew not to bring up Harem’s point, even if she was thinking it. At least not yet.
Maxima also went right to the worst assumption about Hiro’s pantomime, largely because despite her general intimidatiness, she’s been hit on in far less subtle ways in the past. It’d be interesting to see who immediately got what Hiro was going for and if anyone thought what Maxima did, however fleetingly it occurred to them, and if that might be influenced by getting hit on in gross ways or at inappropriate times. (Something I’m sure is about 100 times more likely if you’re a gal. Not that guys won’t ever be in a situation like this, but let’s be real.) Max’s expression the third panel was supposed to be a mix of confused and mad, eyebrows pinched together but still angry eyes. I couldn’t quite get it right so I went with mad and surprised instead. In the final panel it’s a mix of contrition and “That was still entirely your fault.”
I think my favorite thing about this page is that Maxima is using a piece of rebar for a hair tie. (She did on the previous page but it was really small.)
I’ve finally updated the vote incentive with a probably not canon piece. I have it further along than the pencils but I spent a chunk of my afternoon watching coloring videos on youtube to see if I could up my game a little. We’ll see how that turns out.
I’ve also finally finished the book I was reading, “The Dark Lord’s Handbook” I had assumed I’d jump right to one of several superhero novels I have simmering in my kindle right after finishing it, but Handbook got rather good right toward the end and so I went and immediately got the next one. I’m eager to get through it though because I have Secrets of a D-List Supervillain, Please Don’t Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon, (a sequel to Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain) and Small Town Heroes (Wearing the Cape Book 4) waiting for me when I finish. Someone please make the day 8 hours longer. :/
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I don’t suppose his first name was ‘Stacy’?
What the heck? That was supposed to be a reply to the last comment on the previous page.
I finally get a page header comment and it is not even a valid post. Well what can I say? Umm… ‘First’?
Faust?
If at Faust you don’t succeed….
Wasn’t that a quote from Sisyphus?
With regards to Maxima and Hiro… First I was “What the fuck? How is this relevant?” And then, when I finally got it, I had a genuine belly laugh moment. :)
I don’t get it, unless it IS a crack about Debriefing….heheheh crack. >.>
It is purely Hiro trying to find a way of miming to Maxima “call it a debriefing”. But turning out to be totally inept in putting that into practice. The title of the comic page gives the clue “Misunderstandable”. In panel 2, he is pointing at his ‘briefs’, but that can look like he is gesturing at his crotch. Looking particularly incriminating in his already partly dressed state.
Then he goes on to mime the removing of briefs. In his mind modifying the first part of his mime into “debriefing”. Whilst to the rest of the world his intent is just confusing. Or, taken in conjunction with the first part, it is very fair to assume that he is making some kind of sexual proposal.
How else would you view pointing at genitalia, then miming removing of clothing, under most circumstances? His reply to Maxima’s question makes it clear that was just a misunderstanding though.
I just find it amusing that Maxima is glad to ogle a man, but takes being hit on poorly.
It’s weird how that works.
Maybe for many folks. But not for me. I am an oggler. But, whilst I am happy to chat up any girl that catches my eye, I will not do so, if it is inappropriate. If I were to take on any staff (I do not need any, but I am the managing director of a company, so it is a pertinent proposition), I would not chat any of them up.
Especially given that I am in a region with crushing poverty and massive unemployment. So anybody I employed would likely not have any other means of earning a salary. To proposition, or otherwise harass, someone in such circumstances would be wrong. Of course, if she indicated interest (unambiguously), then that would be a different matter.
And, yup, it can lead to missing out on opportunities. I have been in situations where I could have easily taken advantage of vulnerable women. Perhaps if I had been less gallant, it might have even worked out well for both of us. But, the risk of doing harm, in such circumstances means that, although I have regrets, I am glad that my conscience is clear.
Maxima is clearly cut from the same cloth as me. Albeit that hers has been gilded with gold.
*platonic hugs!* You sir Yorp, are a rare breed of man we ladies call, the Gentleman. :D Thank you for existing. And yeah, I kinda figured out the debriefing part. Hurt my brain a bit, connecting the synapses to put that pun together. Which means of course, it’s a good one.
*blushes*
Thank you.
I think Maxima’s problem with being hit on here has more to do with their current situation and her professional relationship with him as a superior officer than with any personal issues with being hit on (although she may have those as well).
Thank goodness for military jargon…They have a word for every situation, including an arrest that isn’t an arrest…heh.
Civilian police have a term for it too. Temporary Holding. They DO have a definite time limit to get enough evidence to make an actual arrest before they have to let you go.
Temporary holding is detainment. Detainment is arrest. It’s more they have a limited time (72 hours) before they have to either press charges or let you go, not to arrest you or let you go, because you’re already arrested if you’re being detained.
One cool trick is sometimes they’ll detain you with zero interest in actually filing charges, they just want to make you sweat it. So what you can do is ask “am I being detained” and if they say “yes” ask them on what grounds, and if they don’t answer, ask “am I free to go?” and when they say “no” ask “am I being detained” and just keep doing that. If they have no actual intent on charging you with anything, chances are they’ll take the hint and let you go. If they don’t, then demand to see a lawyer and talk to the lawyer about the possibility of filing charges or suing them for false arrest.
But under no circumstances ever actually answer any questions by police, even if you’ve done nothing. Even if you’ve done nothing, you still have something to hide because the number of innocent people in prison is largely due to talking to the cops. … Here’s a conference where one lawyer AND a cop were explaining what goes on when police arrest you, and how you can still be charged with things you didn’t do simply for talking to police. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo2GG8jNe_o
Dave, this might be a cool thing to watch if you want to have a law savvy villain or at least a law savvy suspect at some point.
I have a friend who was put in prison for child molestation because he talked to a cop when he shouldn’t have. We know this was 100% a false accusation because NONE of the details in the child’s statement lined up with him doing it, but DID match up with the presence of another man who was already in prison for raping a 14-year-old; additionally, the guy had just broken up with the child’s mother, and she had sworn she would see him in prison or dead for divorcing her. The guy has also been to a psychiatrist who evaluated him and flatly stated that not only is he not now a threat to children, he was never a threat to children and the accusation was false. But the cop manipulated the guy into “confessing” by wilfully misleading the guy and misrepresenting “evidence.” NEVER talk to a cop without a lawyer present, for your own safety. Some cops are awesome and they follow the evidence religiously. Other cops decide in advance who is “guilty” and who isn’t, and will do anything they can to “prove” their belief–some of them, even up to and including manufacturing or manipulating real evidence illegally, though that’s rare. And you can’t tell the awesome ones from the douchebags just from looking.
Besides, having the lawyer there protects the cop as much as the interviewee. It’s a lot harder for a douchebag interviewee to falsely scream police brutality or improper procedure when the lawyer was there to see it never happened, as well as the lawyer acting to head off actual brutality and improper procedures from happening.
True, don’t say a thing to the cops or sign anything without a layer present. Cause chances are they will pin you with something by “confessing,” to something that you never even did. Both cops and prosecutors get accolades by getting convictions and closed cases. Doesn’t even matter if the person really did it or not.
And people wonder why our prisons are so overcrowded.
As an advocate of the police, the military, and the government, I have been told by fellow members of law enforcement, government, and the military that you should remain silent until talking to attorney whether you are innocent or guilty. The justice system does not try every case to completion or reexamine shaky cases carefully to acquit the wrongly convicted except when forced.
Better safe than sorry.
And people wonder why people have so little faith in the justice system.
Because it became the Legal System instead of the Justice System decades ago, all about technicalities and conviction rates rather than actual justice. So instead of going ‘hey this gal was raped we got to ensure we get the guy so he doesn’t rape anyone else’ it becomes ‘hey I need to keep my conviction rate up and this guy is as good as any to convict with what we have, no need to be sure he’s the right guy’. Having prosecutors be immune to misconduct or outright criminal activities to ensure a conviction doesn’t help either, accountability is essential in all professions to encourage (since it can’t guarantee) proper behavior. Too many act like some of the cops and prosecutors on TV (like the ‘should have been fired and jailed a long time ago’ Stabler from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) rather than like they should.
Of course I did get pretty good results from saying “I dunno. It’s been like this for weeks” once.
That may not work for too many situations. Such as explaining the presence of a corpse in the trunk of your car.
Might make a nice start on an insanity plea. ;)
Dang! I knew I had forgotten something. Explains the smell, too!
Detainment is not arrest.
From a law dictionary to which I have access:
Detention – Detention occurs whenever a police officer accosts an individual and restrains his or her freedom to walk away, or approaches and questions an individual, or stops an individual suspected of being personally involved in criminal activity. Such a detention is not a formal arrest. Physical restraint is not an essential element of detention.
In fact, detaining someone for too long can bring a charge of false arrest (false imprisonment) – including against police officers (though most of the time prosecutors won’t decide to do that unless they’re trying to make some sort of political point).
Arrest – to take or hold a suspected criminal with legal authority, as by a law enforcement officer. An arrest may be made legally based on a warrant issued by a court after receiving a sworn statement of probable cause to believe there has been a crime committed by this person, for an apparent crime committed in the presence of the arresting officer, or upon probable cause to believe a crime has been committed by that person. Once the arrest has been made, the officer must give the arrestee his/her rights (“Miranda rights”) at the first practical moment, and either cite the person to appear in court or bring him/her in to jail.
Also, detainment/detention does not go on record.
youmake mefeel lucky of not living in USA… “Dont’ talk to cops, don’t look at cops” XD
I am not a native speaker, but, I think I got it now:
He was gesturing to take of his underwear (breifs).
Or De-brief himself.
Wich is a nice hint about calling it a “debriefing”.
Just so.
i don’t know if anybody else brought this up or not, but isn’t Maxima’s nose still broken? cause she got punched in it, twice. the first time she made the comment about it being broken and the second hit was even harder and then she had a speech issue for a page or 2. but with a nose that messed up, shouldn’t her speech be worse right now? not trying to nitpick, just curious is all
I think anvil and her reset it at some point. It might still be a bit stuffy from blood and such, but she could probably blow it clear at some point.
Most bricks have some sort of regen powers. Might be that kicking in.
It’s still broken, I guess I didn’t make it obvious enough.
Actually, if you compare her nose to the one in the headshot at the top of the site, you can tell that it’s busted. It’s flatter than it usually is.
Which is me saying that it DOES look obvious, XD;.
She’s had time enough to get it put back in place, even if it’s still healing while there. Contact telekinesis makes for good invisible splinting.
Oooooooo… de-briefing.
Really, I’d never associated that word with briefs before today.
And from now on, we’ll all have trouble separating the two.
Why not? Briefs go in the top drawer, debriefs go on in the meeting room.
What about top drawers IN the meeting room?
Noting also that “drawers” is a slightly outdated term for “underpants”, anyhow.
I’m so confused.
I like the use of rebar as a hair tie.
Shouldn’t Boilerplate have a shatered arm? Pretty sure Max layed the smack down already
Dislocated shoulder but yeah even if he popped back in he is either pretty tough or has a healing factor to be using it so much so soon. (must have been dislocated the whole time he was out?)
Dislocated shoulder. Popped it back in off panel I suppose.
He might self-heal. He’s a peripheral character, if giving him minor regen makes it more convenient to draw I’m not complaining.
I’ve heard variations of debriefing jokes sooooo many times but I did’t get this one for a couple panels because this started with Harem warping in. Seeing Harem come in and annoy Maxima and then immediately afterwards Hiro pulling on his underwear and then miming (according to the very helpful dotted line imaginary undies ) tossing them (at least I got that part the first time) I immediately flashed on the Maxima/Harem-Atomic-Wedgie-Incident of 2012. I thought he was either messing with her about wedgie’ing Harem in particular or everybody in general as a problem solving method of some kind. I immediately understood it once they said the word. Tons of debriefing jokes out there so I felt pretty silly.
But at least I got to laugh at that set up twice! XD (I was all like: Wedgie? NO… he [DaveB] wouldn’t… would HE?? O.O” OOooh, DEbriefing. hahahaduuh! :-P )
OK, only argued on the side of V influencing them cause I like to keep people open to what is possible (and sometimes I just enjoy the whole Devil’s advocate thing but the first thing I said sounds more positive and altruistic! ;) ) aaand something about the uber innocent way he’s saying that just screams liar to me. I guess with a portal maker the two leaders and V could have gone around individually recruiting over the course of a couple of hours especially if V was leaning on their will power to resist fights a bit (if they were already inclined) but then what? They are all taken individually to a meeting place which gives them a chance to detox from V’s aura or is he really suggesting that the group just kept growing by 1-3 people each trip with the whole group being portaled to the next prospective members location then portaled to the parking lot already grouped up? I guess that would be intimidating to the next person they asked… but his dialogue still sounds fishy to me. Dave said this was an example of the kind of testimony they will get which leans towards this actually being the truth since they couldn’t all have been on hand to get this idea from Sydney. But his dialogue sounds so guilty… Eh, can’t decide… Guess I’ll have to wait for that team debriefing to see what the people actually looking them in their beady eyes and reading their auras in person think after questioning.
Wow, from the last several panels its clear that super males shirts are not up to the task. Harem is not putting “port in replacement outifits for the guys” high on her to do list I’m sure. But hopefully someone will remind her to get some gear for Anvil and them to be decent when the reports swarm them (after they get done applying make-up to all their bruises). You know maybe after they see the damage to her face Suzie won’t be getting a lot of competition for the career advancing spot of super newsie. (Suzie the Newsie. I like it. Even if that isn’t quite what that means… ) Unless Arianna thinks the shirtless guys are less intimidating somehow?
We gonna get a looksee in how they plan on keeping Opal for even a brief time after healing her head injury?
The guys need to get their shirts made from the same materials the ladies do, as their upperwear seems far more durable… or did I miss panels with topless ARC ladies?
I noted that as well.
Ah, Maxima. Gawking at a guy is fine, but bring up the barest possibility that he is interested, and suddenly you get annoyed. You are such a wonderful person.
Ehhh… I would also say it’s a bit of an overreaction on her part as well, especially since this is Hiro we’re talking about as opposed to some random dude catcalling. On the other hand, I forgive this one anyway given Hiro was doing something that can be construed as inappropriate by anyone looking, and it was very much out of nowhere. Her own gawking was at least between Sydney and herself.
So, sharing a moment in whisper mode with a gal pal means you should be OK with being hit on by your second in command during a tense and serious conversation when you are performing your official duties as an agent of the law with rolling camera’s nearby and yeah he does this by gesturing at you with his underwear. She just had a silly brain fart because she was totally doing something else at the moment and Hiro should have just whispered it or gestured her over to the side in the fist place. But had that brain fart been reality then she would have been right to be slightly annoyed. She totally went over to the side to hear his side of it so its not like she went off the handle or anything. She trusts him. It was just weird there for a second.
No, but Hiro hitting on Maxima being inappropriate does not invalidate that Maxima set a bad example for Halo when she didn’t discourage her doing the same thing (making a lewd comment about a superior), and a worse example when she agreed with Halo.
True. But so long as Halo was discreet in what she was saying, there was no harm done. And it allowed Maxima to continue to bond with Halo. Which, given Maxima’s worrying, earlier in the day, before they made a connection, is important. If they loose the bond, Halo was showing signs that she could go off the rails. Which would be.. very… very bad.
Plus they have both just been through near-death situations. Halo is an untrained recruit, who is overdue her meds, who could (theoretically) be hit by delayed shock any moment and certainly is exposed to post-traumatic stress disorders.
I think it fair that they let their hair down. Maxima can choose a more appropriate moment, to remind Halo to remain discreet about such comments. And it need be no more than that, as they were not breaking regulations by having ‘girl talk’.*
* Any quibblers on the final comment should note that Maxima almost certainly wrote most of the rule book for Archon, so it is unlikely that anything she is doing will contravene the regs. Especially as sexual harrasment is her pet thing, so it will be phrased the way she interprets it.
Yeah, regardless of Maxima’s personal attitudes, hitting on a superior officer (or an officer under your command, for that matter) is a no-no. Especially in a situation like this. And given her personality, that she jumped to the conclusion that Hiro was hitting on her isn’t all that surprising. Especially because Hiro wouldn’t be one to do something like that — it sucks when someone you know and trust (and even more so when that trust needs to hold up under combat conditions) starts being a tool.
I would be interested in some more Maxima backstory, to help me understand her character more. She’s a good character, but when she has that aside with Halo it confuses me a little bit. The message that I get from that is that she clearly has a sexual component to her character. Not that the situation itself is so weird, but I would like to know her motivations for reacting so strongly to male attention.
“Errr….ummm…. So, is Max a virgin? Inquiring minds want to know.”
As far as I can figure it out, it would take one helluva…sturdy…man to make Max become a non-virgin. I’m just referring to her own physical resiliency to, um, prevent…the necessary physical damage that would be required.
I suppose that would be the case if you intend to share your findings. My question, though, is why would you want to? ;p
Make no mistake that I’d want to…I’m just not “sturdy” enough to tryto. In other words, I wouldn’t meet the “qualifications” necessary to perform the research.
Given how scary she can be, I suspect my research would fail to rise to acceptable academic standards.
Indeed , any possible research from me would not stand to a closer evaluation in that regard.
WTF?
That was supposed to be a reply in https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1601/comment-page-1#comment-291996, on the previous comment page.
This comment system tried to do this with my very first comment today, but I caught it & choked the living $#|+ out of it to make it go where I wanted to. I just failed to catch it this time.
Fun fact: “popping” the hymen is only required when the girl is not into it, otherwise it relaxes naturally and lets stuff through. Also known as ‘virginity is bullshit’.
Hymen or not, it’s bullshit.
As one women I saw online put it: “Nobody’s dick is important enough to change any part of my identity”
Great answer… ++1
The assumption made is that Max has always had superpowers and/or that she was always as tough as she is right now.
Been enough side-comments and so forth to indicate that NEITHER was the case for her.
I would suspect that as she has the ability to shunt ‘points’ around to her various powers, should she wish to she can just not shunt them to any of them, and ‘dial herself down’ to the level of any partner she chooses to be with.
Actually Maxima has a minimum base level in all her powers. Even if she shifts all of her points out of a given attribute or power. For instance she can always fly, just not necessarily at supersonic speeds. Likewise Achilles will never be able to beat her at arm wrestling because, even at her weakest, she is still stronger than his mere one and a half times normal human strength.
But, taking another look at the problem, we can see that super defences are flexible, even at the upper extreme. Achilles being the ultimate example. He is totally invulnerable, even at the atomic level. Even to the extent of not ageing. However, if that extended to his body being completely unchanging, in all regards, then he would not be able to function as a human.
There are various cells which have to be able to alter, in order to metabolise. Likewise, if his brain did not change, then he could not lay down new memories. By extension, if the top end of super defence has the basic adaptability in order to maintain normal function and life, then it is fair to assume that the same will be true for the less extreme versions possessed by other heroes. Including Maxima.
Great new comic….wait, wtf? This was supposed to be a post on the first issue!
Better late than never…
;)
Or if you like Robin Williams “Better latent than never.”
I missed that he tugged on underwear first, looking back I see that, but at first I thought she was noticing that he wasn’t wearing any underwear and was going to say something about it herself.
My first thought that the problem he mentioned earlier was that he was a commando going commando.
Boy, this page sure confused me. I didn’t realize that in the last panel they were back to talking to Boilerplate and that it was him answering Max. I also didn’t realize that was his name, even after reading the Author Comments at the bottom. It might help if he were listed in the Who’s Who up in the top right corner, especially since he’s talking on this page.
Hard to tell Max’s facial expressions beyond, amused, angsty, mad, and Run!.
Comes with that gold plated scowl permanently on her face.
I had no idea what Hiro was doing and had to it 6 times to figure it out.
Also making the day 8 hours longer would mean I would have to wait an extra 24 hours to read the Thursday page and then another 32 hours to read the page on the Monday after that.
And now for a non sequitur:
If Grrlpower were ever turned into a cartoon, I think Gina Torres (Transformers Prime, Hercules, Xena, Firefly) would be an excellent choice for Maxima’s VA. And for Vehemence: Robbie Coltrane (Van Helsing, Are you being served, Alice in Wonderland, the Gruffalo).
Hagrid as Vehemence? My first instinct is to go with Ron Perlman. V’s style of speaking also makes me think of the guy who did the animated Lex Luthor voice.
Mmm, I have yet to come up with an ideal for either. Gina is quite a good choice. No one better is springing to mind. That said Maxima is not my ‘type’, so actresses who matched her physique would not feature strongly in my memory.
I am sure Robbie Coltrane would not be right for the part. Despite being a fan. I just can’t see him having the connection with Sydney. He is very good in antagonistic roles, but pulling off a convincing click, with a girl he just met on the battlefield? Plus, no way can he do the boyish naivety when poking the sword in the tree.
Likewise Ron Pearlman, just too old. Either of them are just going to come across as dirty old men. Not that playing it in a father-figure role can’t work. But too old and the connection with a young geek is going to be much harder to pull off convincingly.
My suggestions? Pending. I probably would not make a good casting agent.
Casting for V: Dwayne Johnson. The Rock has the size and the charm.
I like the Gina Torres suggestion for Maxima. She can be a military harda$$ and stunningly beautiful at the same time.
Who would play Dabbler?
Heh, nice I had just logged on with the intent of mentioning a couple of names for V. Sadly one is the late Robin WIlliams, who, ironically Gamesman mentions above, in another context. He had both the boyish charm I specified, and the flexible acting to cover any role.
Plus nobody could doubt that he understands geek. Obviously there would need to be effects for the physique but, given the metamorphosis that Vehemence goes through, that would be true of anybody.
My fall-back suggestion matches yours, namely the Rock. Physique, check. Able to pull of boyish look, check. Connect with Sydney, check. Play a bad guy, check – he was the Scorpion King in the Mummy.
Robin Williams DID also play Popeye…
granted, it was a musical.
a really cheesey musical.
and totally awesomesauce.
For Dabbler, I would like to suggest Shirley Millner, the awesome voice actress who voiced Hexadecimal on ReBoot.
Dabbler? Felicia Day of course.
They’re talking voice acting. Don’t picture Robbie Coltrane playing V, picture V’s lines spoken by Robbie Coltrane.
Yea, I missed the ‘turned into a cartoon’ bit, and was viewing it as casting for a live action movie. So you are right. And Robbie would do a good job, I am sure.
I was thinking more of “the voice of Mr. Hyde in Van Helsing” for Vehemence. ;)
Ahh, gotcha. And good thinking. That would work well.
But, here is the tough one. Who will we get to pay the hairdresser? And would he be better played camp, or straight? Personally I think the latter. Camp/gay hairdressers are cliché. But, if he was played straight, who could pull off the unusual mix that would result?
A big muscle-man, with an effeminate way, but who was not consciously camp. Who’s day job is hairdresser, but likes hanging out with anarchists? * And who has to balance professional detachment, when working with female customers, with actually being straight. A particular problem if becoming the hairdresser of choice for the hot heroines from Archon!
* Although the latter could well be a lie. The only source we have is Vehemence, and he is an unreliable witness, due to his lying.
The Rock can play the hairdresser. :p
:-D
Why not? He’s already played the part of a fairy. Not much of a jump in the social-humor context between the two parts already.
Jim Parsons (a.k.a. Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory)? In a muscle suit, of course. *
* Which is how the, normal physique, actor playing Hellboy was able to pull of the appearance of being a top end body-builder. **
** I loved his anecdote, in the ‘making of’ comments. About how all the women on the set were all over him… when he appeared in the muscle suit.
I did not get it, not because of not knowing what briefs or debriefing was (I’m reasonably good at translating into Australian) but because I got confused by the speech bubbles. I thought the dark haired man making the motions was speaking some of the things that it turns out someone else was saying. Rereading, I still find it very hard to sort out which speech bubble belongs to which person.
I agree. Panel 2 and the final panel could both do with having the tails moved, for the off-panel speaker. In both instances they extend towards Hiro, before turning away.
However, as he is the focus of the panel (facing the viewer) it is natural to assume that he is the speaker. So more should be done to emphasize that he is not.
In the US underwear usually falls into three types: boxers, briefs, and boxer briefs. The most common type of brief being the tightly whiteys.
Debriefing is based on the military concept of a briefing, which is a short, factual oral summary of details of the curtain or protected military operation given to participants or observers. A debriefing is a short factual oral summary of details of a current or preceding military operation given by the participants or observers. The difference is in the briefing these summary also known as a brief is given to the participants or observers and in the debriefing the participants and observers are relieved of the summary or brief.
You made my board light up by saying my name so often in one comment. ^_^’
OP was talking about the speech bubbles. They had a hard time figuring out who was saying what. Though it all seemed obvious to me.
Or to put it another way, a briefing is when the brass comes and says “This is what happened/will happen”.
A debriefing is when the brass comes and says “What the he11 happened?”
It is also what happens if bullies catch a geek, with no witnesses around.
Oh, no, like I said, I can translate out of American most of the time. I knew what the brief thing was. :) But the tails of those speech bubbles point at the guy making the hand movements. I tried to process them all as the same conversation, instead of as two overlapping conversations.
Following the conversation was actually straightforward for me. I knew very much who was speaking at a glance, which was helped further by Boilerplate speaking in the last page. That said, I can see how some of Boilerplates speech bubbles can be a bit confusing, particularly with Hiro in the middle of them. Just note, Hiro has only one speech bubble in this page. Maxima still has that odd text, and Harem ran her mouth in the first panel, leaving everything else belonging to Boilerplate.
Even V isn’t actually a malum, I suspect he and other vehemic users have certain base vistric abilities, like the ability to generate and absorb vehemic energies and store such energies as personal reserves. Suspect the aggro-aura is the vehemic equivalent of the beholder spell. It sorta sounds like the thing Boilerplate is describing is the vehemic equivalent of the spell Dabbler used on Jabberwocky, and I’m still trying to figure out his version of hypnoboobs. (Wanna bet it’s the grin?)
But Boilerplate is describing it in the way he thinks sounds best to law enforcement and jives with his “mind control” defense idea just starting to bubble in his mind. It doesn’t sound much at all like the vehemic version of Dabbler’s ability to inspire sexual desire. I would think that his description would be more like feeling a desire to do violence and all solutions involving violence feeling more right. Suddenly feeling very destructively aggressive as opposed to suddenly very randy.
We might have seen his version of it if his wardrobe malfunction had lasted longer.
Another idea might be to make him an anti-Sampson. He is only strong when his head is shaved and the tattoos are visible.
Having another read through, Maxima’s expression in the final panel is just making me laugh out loud. She is giving Hiro such a filthy look. And it is hard to tell if it is saying:
“I am still suspicious of you!”
or
“My God, can anybody be THAT bad at charades?”
I vote (2).
Hows about 3) Both :D
With the exception of “Dark Lord” and the “moon” book, all of the rest are great hero books. I am going to be buying “moon” on Friday when I get paid, Im overdrawn atm……=(
So was Maxima (at least in the third panel).
Hey, I just got the new Inscrutable Machine book. It’s quite good so far.
Re the vote incentive — no Lotus? I could see Sydney pulling it off as her watching him and he trying to emulate her. of course her “whatever” attitude hand position would kill it so this I guess is better. Its also mega anoying to try in Jeans because they are not flexible enough.
For anyone who doesn’t understand the difference, NatAmerican crossing of the ankles allows standing directly from the sitting position – the feet are below the knees. In the Lotus your ankles are above the knees with the legs still crossed and the bottoms of your feet are pointing up, not down.
I’ve never seen someone as muscle bound as V pull it off though.
When I looked close Sydney seemed to have the “what the hell am I smelling?” look. Maybe he gave up luxuries like deodorant?
I figure if Jean-Claude Van Damme can do the splits, Vehemence might be able to pull off a Lotus position.
;)
Using rebar as a hair tie implies that Max’s hair is on a similar scale of toughness to the rest of her.
Leads me to wondering what sort of specialized equipment her hairdresser needs.
“I just need a trim.”
“Ok, let me have a moment to rev up the chainsaw…”
Or it was the first thing handy and to her using rebar is no big deal.
while her hair might be tougher than an ordinary human’s hair, i think that the re-bar was just a convenient replacement for the hair-scrunchy she lost earlier in the evening… her strength would make it easy to just twist it around her hair like the twisty-tie thingy that some brands of bread, in that they have a little paper or plastic covered wire twisty tie to keep the bread bag closed, is for us mundanes to twist… i hope we don’t get a plotline where she donates a strand of her hair to a museum, only to get it stolen by an Arch-Nemesis… ala’ Superman 4 the Quest for Peace…
. Being a true professional he had noticed that, and was trying to figure out the solution, well ahead of us. Check out panel one from yesterday.
Excuse me, but ….. huh?
I believe Yorp is making reference to Comb-man the Barberian.
Yup. We have seen him confirming he is a hairdresser.
Another book in that vein is “We Could Be Villains” by Missy Meyer, there’s only one book out so far but it looks like it’ll probably be a series.
Since I didn’t see anyone else say it yet I regard to the vote incentive:
“I’ve finally updated the vote incentive with a probably not canon piece.”
Since you’ve not made up your mind yet, let me cast one vote for canon. I do love the idea of Sydney making friends with vehemence. I think it has some pretty messed up narrative potential long term.
Sidney and V becoming friends would be nice.
But Vehemence meditating, that has something like Dabbler joining a convent.
…Dabbler joining a convent would likely achieve the opposite effect. She’d convert the nuns.
She does have lots of powers, working to her advantage. So I could well see it. *
But there is that whole being a demon thing. Complete with horns. Now that is a hard sell in a convent!
* The use of illusions being a pretty important part of her package, to overcome my latter point.
Depends on the convent: plenty of them have turned out to be pure evil
In total agreement.
Maybe next time he’ll just step up and say it, instead of trying to mime it :p Why didn’t he just speak up? hehe
Because interrupting your boss just to openly correct him/her in front of other people is considered extremely bad form in most hierarchies.
It’s also considered bad form to excuse oneself from their job just to ask someone if they’re hitting on them.
He could have easily walked up and said “What if we call it a debriefing?” or “Colonel. What if we take them in and call it a debriefing?”
The best justification I can offer is what happened in panel 1. Maxima’s authority had just been undermined by a subordinate. In front of witnesses.* Here we see him trying to look like the (sensible) solution is credited to Maxima, compensating for that.
Attempting a route, to achieve that, which could not be seen to further erode her authority. Not that I am suggesting that your ideas would do that. But it would have contributed to an impression that Maxima does not call the shots on her own team. Which is a charge she is very much going to have to defend herself against, with Halo having been running the take-down of Vehemence.
Seen in that light, Hiro is actually a foresightful second-in command. He just overestimated his own capability at charades. Which can happen to anybody, if they think that ‘this mime should work’.
* Ones who she may well be interrogating later. And, whatever happens, are bound to be interviewed exhaustively by the media, in the not to distant future. Probably fairly soon, the ways things are going. So everything they witness will be picked over with a fine tooth comb.
“Colonel, could I ask you something… quietly?” Might have worked better. Of course, people have been using Hiro’s head for a soccer ball all night. This will be used as blackmail when deciding who’s round it is later. (as a joke)
I think what Hiro and Max REALLY need to do is arrange some kind of signal between them for these situations – ie. one has urgent info to secretly impart to the other.
CALLED IT AGAIN :)
If he actually debriefed himself during the mime then I would have got it, but snapping his pants elastic just seemed weird.
Part of me totally sees Max and Hiro later, after both are off duty, back to a reinforced wall, having serious comedown afterbattle… moments… together.
While Dabbler is in the other room just drinking in the radiant energies.
Oh such wonderful images that paints.
One other thing bothers me about Boilerplate’s story of being picked up by a random group of people “as he was about to go home from work”. Does he have an explanation as to why he was wearing that outfit? What type of work does he do?
If anyone has an excuse for being randomly drawn into this it is Opal. She showed up wearing a bathrobe. (Although there is the questionable taste in eyeshadow). Aside from maybe the orange-pants Hulk everyone else came dressed for this party. Glowbug even admitted to designing her’s herself.
What? The Barberian is only wearing sweat pants and his hair could be explained by his job? OK, I’ll give you that one too.
Do you know how to pick the best hairdresser if there’s only two of them in the shop?
Pick the one with the worst-looking hair…This is the one who did the other’s hair.
Your questions are exactly why people are calling BS on Boiler’s tale of woe and abuse. It’s got more holes in it than the parking lot.
I would be interested to see how a skilled interrogator would view his comments. Clearly I am biassed, so should not rely on own opinion on this matter. However I do know that an unpolished, unsophisticated, and thereby less credible sounding (to a novice listener) account actually gives vital indicators to someone experienced in analysing such.
For instance it immediately speaks as to a lack of collusion. They have not had time to rehearse their stories. Had they, then a good argument could be made for practising telling the fictitious version badly enough to be credible, but well enough to avoid incrimination.
Lacking that time, a conspiracy by experienced anarchists and anti-government types would be expected to have come up with at least a more plausible explanation. And would avoid incriminating themselves. Brawling, bare-knuckle fighting and similar activities being illegal under various laws.
So the very facts that it seems less plausible, whilst remaining spontaneous, speaks well to me. That spontaneity being important. In his haste to protest his innocence he has incriminated himself in a crime. However, what he has not done is make a slip up which would lead me to suspect that he is covering for being mind controlled.
DaveB has indicated that we will be moving on from this. So we should take the above scene as being a selection/summary of the key testimony. If he was going to make an incriminating slip up, that is the point it would happen. There was none, so we should not read more into it.
If he is telling the truth, both the way he is behaving, and what he is saying, has a natural feel to it. I could well see myself responding the way he has. Well apart from the accepting the invitation to a brawl bit. I would be all “not in the face, not in the face!”
I highly recommend Confessions of a D-List Supervillain. For that matter, I recommend any book by Jim Bernheimer. I’ve been following him since before his first book back when he wrote Harry Potter fanfiction https://www.fanfiction.net/u/940359/jbern
Well, the lack of actual arrests means that we will be seeing the hair stylist again…. Could we? That would be so great.
He’ll open a little barbershop next to the Cupps restaurant, maybe he’ll call it Hairchon….I’ll just show myself out now.
Why not, Maxima possibly needs someone with superstrength to cut her supertough hair.
Good point. A mundane hairdresser would have difficulty in even shifting her rebar hairclip!
Plus there is the safety factor to consider. Working regularly around Archon personnel can be a highly dangerous activity. Far better suited to tough supers. Just look at what happened today, when all they were doing was sitting down for a meal!
military/archon probably already has dibs on the clippings for some kind of pseudo-kryptonion fabric weave(so longer she goes between ponytail and crewcut the better)
Now that they are in the news Archon will start getting more drop-ins at headquarters. They may need a new diner to handle the extra people. Arianna has been wanting to get name recognition for the team. I suggest ‘Hiro’s Heros’. The brave could try it garnished with Sydney’s Super Sauce. At the counter they will of course ask ‘Do you want to Maxi size that?’
Doubtless Pesi will be begging Maxima to sponsor them. They would not even need to re-brand Pepsi Max. Just establish the association.
In the same way the company Menards got a certain NASCAR driver to work with them, I feel that Nissan would like Colonel Leander to be a spokesperson for a certain car model of theirs.
You know, just like pro golfer Brooke Pancake is now the sponsor for the breakfast restaurant, you guessed it….. Waffle House. I don’t understand that one either. I guess House of Pancakes will now need to get a spokesperson named Waffle.
Just come right out & say it…No need to waffle about it.
Advertisers are stupid.
Nah, “Hiro’s Gyros” would be better (wait, a ‘gyro’ is an English food, isn’t it?)
greek i think
Yup. In the UK we call them “Doner Kebabs”. I was unfamiliar with the other term, and had to look it up. I have had a fair number, down through the years. Mind you, you always eye the rotating, reconstituted meat, and wonder what proportion of cat there might be in it.
I dont know if someone allready brought this up, but is that a piece of re-bar that Maxima used to tie her hair back?
ah never mind if I had read the description at the bottom it would have confirmed this
Haha! For a moment I thought they had a secret thing that they were both into after-fight, adrenaline-fuelled sex! Which was extremely confusing.
Also, to people saying ‘everyone should get charged because they didnt ‘stop’ fighting…. what yellow mask guy said alone is enough proof to prevent any of them, except for Vehemence, to get charged. In this scenario there is always at least reasonable doubt, to the point that any prosecutor who has a brain would realize that he would lose most, if not all, of the convictions – and that will be bad for the D.A. Best to just stick to the one confirmed conviction – Vehemence.
Also, what Maxima says about collusion? In this scenario – it’s nearly impossible to show collusion, meaning there won’t be any arrests (other than Vehemence). Because collusion requires cooperation, and legal cooperation means they have to have mens rea – which means having the mental intent to do the fight, not just that they didn’t ‘back down’ once in the fight. If there was some sort of mental compulsion to fight (“societal norms being switched off” as he said), there’s a lack of mental intent.
So yeah – none of the superhuman ‘bad guys’ in the fight are going to get arrested except for Vehemence. Even Vektor can very likely get off from that, since Vehemence himself said he manipulated Vektor into thinking it was all his idea – proof again of no mens rea.
The only way at all that any of the superhumans are going to get arrested (other than Vehemence) would be if they have outstanding warrants already out for their arrests. And even then they arent getting arrested for THIS fight. From the fact that Arc-Light had no information on most of these superhumans, it’s pretty likely that few or none of them have been criminals, or at least they don’t have warrants out for their arrest.
+1
There are a couple of exceptions though. Shadow Boxer was within Halo’s force field, and thereby protected from being affected by the agro aura. Yet still chose to attack. Likewise For Whom The Bell Tolls has a power that protects him from all attacks. So both of those should also face the consequences of their actions.
As regards collusion, Maxima will be looking to see if there was a conspiracy intending to gather for the purpose of criminal activity. This could be shown by means of emails, messages on social media, eye witnesses, confessions or possibly even wire-taps.*
If such collusion can be shown to have taken place without Vehemence being present, then there is no coercion defence to give them mitigation for those crimes. Conspiracy to commit a crime being a crime in itself.
So, whilst they would be exonerated for any actions that they took after arriving, and being able to claim that Vehemence was removing their volition, they would still be charged for crimes committed prior to that point.
* Via intelligence agencies, or if any were under suspicion and being monitored, in relation to other investigations. Possibly Vekter and Opal might fall into these categories, being the only ones known to Arc Light.
I had noted the interplay between Vekter and Opal when the call was made to withdraw with everybody or just ‘their group’. Made me wonder just how big a group they have, and how long they have been on ARCs radar. There didn’t seem to be any recognition of them on either Max or Hiro’s part, which I would have thought to be the case if they were active criminals/parts of a ‘known threats’ briefing.
Considering this little group is more than the total estimated potential super-villain population, it’s easy for them to have been missed
Also considering Archon has only been operating for less than a week, certainly less than a month
It’s more than the total estimated potential super-villain population because most of these people are not villains – they were just influenced via Vehemence’s vehemic mojo (like a ‘we really should have sex’ effect, but instead a ‘we really should fight’ effect)
Also, there’s nothing to show that ArcLight has only been operating a week. I’m not sure where you got that period of time from.
That’s a good point Yorp, except for one thing. The shield might not counter ‘subtle’ influences. It didnt protect Vehemence from the subtle ‘hypnotic boobs’ effect, after all. So Shadow Boxer still could claim the same thing as everyone else.
And like I said, I think the reason Arclight has nothing on most of these supers is because prior to this fight, they hadnt gotten in trouble – which likely means it was because of Vehemence.
As for collusion, it requires two willing sides, even if one side doesnt know the other side. If one side has no mens rea (which they don’t in this case) there’s no evidence of collusion. Even in the unlikely situation that there was, it would be massively difficult to prove given what they already have found out about Vehemence.
I should also mention that if conspiracy can be proven, then it may well open the doors to prosecution, even if accepting that the individuals were subsequently affected by Vehemence.
The principle being that if a drunk is found to be in the possession of their car keys and in the vicinity of their vehicle, they can be found guilty of driving whilst under the influence. Without having even set foot inside their vehicle! This is because the intent to commit the crime can be shown. Where the jury are satisfied that there is not a reasonable alternative explanation, this can and has led to a conviction. Many of them in fact. As such circumstances happen a lot.
This is citing cases I know about in England. I do not know if the same is true of the USA.
However, the parallels between that example and their situation is clear. Intent will have been proven, via the evidence for conspiracy to commit the crimes. Then we have the lack of volition element. In one case being due to the influence of alcohol. The other being to the use of the aggro aura.
The prosecution will be arguing that they showed intent to commit the crime, and Vehemence only encouraged them. In a similar manner to how anyone might incite violence. Which increases the pressure on the individuals to commit a crime, but does not remove their free will.
The defence’s best chance is to point out that the person taking the alcohol is doing so willingly and knowing the consequences. Whereas Vehemence clearly kept his actions secret. Meaning that the suspects had their volition removed without their knowledge.
Note that, under normal circumstances, we do not convict people for intending to commit a crime, if there is a reasonable possibility that they would not commit it. If I decide to throw a punch, but change my mind, and stop, I cannot be charged with intending to commit assault.
Likewise the charge is ‘attempted murder/homicide’ not ‘thinking about committing murder/homicide’.
So we can reasonably argue that a drunk will enter the car, because his loss of inhibition makes that likely. And the same can be said of the case we are looking at. But, that loss of control was not from their choice, but that of a third party. So we cannot use the one as precedent for convicting on the other. Their option of changing their minds had been taken away from them. And that loss was not of their own choice. Whereas drinking excessively is.
Of course, even if they get off on ‘attempted homicide’ charges, they would still face ‘conspiracy to commit homicide’.
What he’s saying isn’t proof of anything, he could say he felt the moon made him do it it wouldn’t mean the moon actually did make him do it. The way he’s saying it is also suspect, sounding like someone practicing some made-up excuse to get out of his criminal actions by saying it’s not his fault someone else made him do it.
Proof is just that, actual proof of something. Tangible evidence, of which what this guy is saying most certainly isn’t proof of anything other than someone trying to weasel out of a criminal record and time in jail. After all there are dozens of supers on the antagonist side of things, it could easily be argued that any of them might have had such a subtle ability to influence people (of which what we see of Vehemence’s power none of it is subtle). He even says some buddies came over and invited him to a brawl (why would they do that if they hadn’t gone our brawling in the past?), Vehemence clearly isn’t his buddy and he’s not saying Vehemence was there so again no evidence Vehemence was in any position to influence him even if he had a proven ability to do so.
Actually, Sydney’s statement, coupled with his statement, would be seen as tangible evidence, CONSISTENT with what they now know about Vehemence. Also, only the stuff during the fight was not subtle. Dabbler has ‘subtle’ powers as a tantric user, so it serve to reason that Vehemence has ‘suble’ powres as a vehemic user. And what the guy just said about how he suddenly ‘thought it would be rude to not fight’ heavily implies that Vehemence -does- have subtle abilities on top of his less subtle ones. Not to mention his own admission of manipulating them.
In response to the newspost under the comic… guys can be hit on weirdly too!
Worst I had was when a woman walked up to me in a bar, started fondling my hair (I have lower back length hair) and stated, plainly, “I want your genetics.” I set my drink down on the counter and promptly left. =/
Man, why can stuff like that not happen to me! I have seen similar mind. A pretty girl coming up and saying “I am wearing crotchless knickers” and wrapping her arms around the neck, with a come-on smile. Contextually I should point out that she was not a prostitute, nor drunk.
Sadly, it happened to the guy standing next to me, and not me.
Mind you, I cannot complain too much. I have had a girl sing “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir” to me, under similar circumstances. Who did end up as my girlfriend. For a while, anyhow.
Hah, you’ve met my sister!
left…with or without her?
I just noticed maxima is using a peice of rebar as a scrunchy
Technically, not a scrunchy, more of a hair tie
I know a number of bilingual puns, but you’ll only get them if you speak Afrikaans…
There’s one about a man and his clean son who attempt to hunt a lazy horse with a double-walk hail-gun. And then there’s the man whose great-grandfather was a front-puller in the Great Pull.
(For those who don’t speak Afrikaans, “lazy horse” is “lui perd” (two words) – “luiperd” (one word) is “leopard”. “Clean son” – “skoon seun” – has a similar relation to “skoonseun”, or “son-in-law”. “Pull” in Afrikaans in “Trek”, which can also mean “Journey”, and is this case “front puller” (“voor trekker” to “voortrekker”, or “pioneer”) in the Great Trek (google it))
Um, ooops. That was supposed to be a reply to a comment about bilingual puns on the first page…
“Major, are you hitting on me?”
“What? Hah hah. What? No!”
“Aww. Why not?”