Grrl Power #291 – And here’s the wind down
Whoops. Well, I’m a big dummy, set this to post at the wrong time. Oh well, enjoy the early comic!
A quasi montage page for you guys to wrap up a few items, including a little cheat by me to explain why the highway outside a restaurant at dinner time was curiously devoid of cars. (even though there should have been some on the first few pages of the fight. :P ) Oh, and in that panel, Sydney’s just doing one of her unnecessary truesight sweeps. That cop isn’t really an oni or anything. Also, I really like the idea that teleporters startling people. I don’t ever recall anyone jumping when Nightcrawler bamfed into a room. I imagine it’s happened a few times over the many years of comics, but not with enough consistency that I recall it being a thing.
Arguably this page would serve well as the final page in the book, but I have just a few more things to get to first. Nearly there though. It’s exciting! Of course, once book one is finished for realsies, I need to go back and make a bunch of corrections and set about getting the book put together for a kickstarter, which is utterly daunting since I already barely have any spare time. I think I may put out a call for a part time colorist, which I know was a milestone for the Patreon campaign, but it turns out finding someone good enough, fast enough, cheap enough and available enough is a tall order. I’ll make a separate post about that in the next few weeks I think.
I don’t have an update for the vote incentive quite yet cause I’m working on a Valentine’s Day Sex Drive piece concurrently. I’m trying something new with the coloring on it which may turn out nice but it’s taking longer than I’d like, but I’m hoping to have it done in time as well as the vote piece before the end of the month.
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FIRST! And, where’d the jacket suddenly come from? Also, if this was the last page of the comic I’d probably cry.
Probably the same place the coffee came from..
Was wondering that, and figured that :D
Not the final page ever, just the last page of the first book
I like the jacket, and harem vorps it in between panel 4 and five, gotta love that delivery time. XD
Got to keep the hero of the day safe. It wouldn’t do for Sydney to be struck down with pneumonia, after this!
I know one fot he questions tha still needs to be answered: her Co-owner Joel and what he’s been up to all day since Sidney wa ssupposed to just be doing a Lunch & Bank Run.
THATS where you put the cliffhanger: Sydney being confronted by either him or her family.
nope family was already covered in the restaurant before the fight, so I’m gonna say Joel is the only thing she needs to take care of .
Max’s jacket from the last panel here? https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1167
Possibly. But Archon is a military organisation, they probably have a bunch of those. Harem can have picked up one from the base, easier than sifting through the rubble. And no burn marks, or plaster dust, on it either. ;-)
They probably have had the qm getting together some uniforms and such for Sydney as she has an atypical build for being a superhero.
And one of the first things he got was the jacket.
No, that’s not Max’s jacket, specifically. As the brawl was getting started (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1280), she put it on. Remember when A-Bomb blasted Max around her waist? Yeah, her jacket was shredded along the lower hem & I don’t see any such damage on the jacket Sydney has now.
Of course, all of the jackets Archon would issue to ARCSwat would look pretty similar, hmmm?
;)
Also not Max’s jacket as it actually fits Sydney pretty well. I would think with a jacket that fit Max, Sydney would look like she was sitting in a tent.
+1
And Anvil’s could serve as a tent for both her and Harem. Although not all of Harem. Maybe just Sydney and Peggy.
I think I need to go off for a cold shower about now.
Might I also say that you do have some particularly fine photographs, on your DA gallery.
“So why choke him [b]with[/b] the lighthook and drown him”
yay gotta correct a tyop… temptation to strong to leave my own typo as is…
Fixed!
There is an internet convention that every message-board post pointing out a typo or grammar/spelling error must contain a similar error itself.
(Actually I suspect it isnt’ generally done on purpose… it just happens. Reality enjoys being ironic.)
Nice work with teh cups of tea or boilerplate moonshine.
I didn’t know that guy had a hobby
He does now!
Yeah, his new hobby includes sporting a modeling job for arm-slings.
Should we see the comic shop in this next year, I expect it to not be devoid of customers.
Or would be thugs who wanna try their hand at knocking over a real superhero’s store. And that would be watched by now. But here’s a question. Is the guy she works with still waiting for her to come back from the bank? Did she ever call him and say she would he late?
Well she did call him right after the bank (actually he called her), and she said they probably wanted to debrief her about the robbery. I don’t think she ever called him about the rest, we only saw her calling her parents about that.
But, we can asume that, following the press event (regardless of weither Leon watched it), the store would have flooded with people. Even if he’d have no clue why or how or WHERE THE HELL DID YOU ALL COME FROM?, someone would have probably told him at that point.
Asuming the news coverage of the fight was live and not just recording later, he also knows about that
She said they wanted to question her. I’m sure once the superhero news conference happened I’m sure a local geek recognized Sydney. Then there was the blatant plug at the news conference where she became the head of their marketing program. It would be really poor news that didn’t follow up on that especially when the place is local. He probably is mad that he got slammed when Sydney’s hyperactivity wasn’t around to help. Either that, or laughing all the way to the same bank.
Dave, I think it is later than dinner time. It would have been about 1-2pm after lunch that Syd made it to the bank. then there was the dog and pony show just before the evening news and getting the news crews back to the right area. the wait staff already had seen the new news when they arrived for dinner. I figure it is about 8pm on a monday if I remember right.
Actually, this is still Tuesday. (Although it is possible it’s past Midnight on Wednesday by now.)
If something like that happens, you can bet that it would make good incentive for Sydney & Joel to move the shop into the Archon building…
:D
It would have to be in a part of the building where civilians can freely come and go. What would be better would be for it to be on the edge of the property, or just adjacent to the ARC property, so that there wouldn’t be security issues.
The mall area is open to the public. You can get a dish of Halo Death Noodles there. I hear a styling salon will be opening soon.
Hmmm…I’d still prefer to call that dish, Sydney’s Bowl of Eye Scream.
Much better. Of course they don’t actually add Unmaker unless the customer signs a waiver and pays extra.
And eats in the safe room
With all potential fire hazards removed & bio-hazard removal equipment on active standby..
Why would they even have fire hazards in the safe room in the first place? o_O
And there would be HAZMAT stuff both inside the room and outside beside the door
It’s also a negative pressure room so the “spice” won’t flow out when the door is opened.
They might have to occasionally clean their safe room…Detergents are a form of mild corrosive (that’s why they work)…Some detergents are also fire hazards & so are cleaning cloths…Lazy custodians might forget to put their supplies away properly.
Best to double-check the safe room before using it.
Negative pressure is also a good idea, Dr.
It was a standard requirement for smoking areas in restaurants in my state till they just said no smoking at all.
It kept the smoke from getting out when the door was opened.
I saw no indication that any part of the interior of the building was readily accessible to the public. If anything, it would be counter-intuitive to the security of the ARCHON building to have lots of non-authorized people running around in any part of the building, especially as the building is a huge magnet for super-powered villains. It would be like putting a shopping mall inside of the Pentagon. My take on the food court was that it was accessible to those that had authorized access to the building. If you are talking the exterior mall, then it still behooves the ARCHON security to insist that soft targets be kept a specified distance away from building to minimize collateral damage/injuries/deaths if there was an attack.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/694
explains it all.
And as I have said before having the shop there would have many positive going for it.
1. A permanent PR op for Ari, in more than 1 way.
2. It would keep Sydney close by even when she is off duty
and several others I cant think of just now.
Evidently, they didn’t believe in the concept of proper ventilation,/i>. A little “negative pressure” ventilation goes a long way to prevent that.
After the call he probably was watching the news on the bank as it now involved someone he knew so he might have noticed when it segued into the intro of ARCHON aaaand Sydney. Actually since he’s a comic shop owner and lover his friends, contacts or sudden surge of customers probably kept him up to date.
But Sydney does need to get better about calling her closest people in moments like this without being reminded.
As far as the thug thing it would seem an awful lot of personnel will have to be devoted to keeping tabs on those directly tied to them now that they are both highly visible super stars and extremely difficult to replace government assets/weapons. Some believe they wouldn’t need any more protection then regular police officers. Some people live in rose tinted worlds…
I imagine that tomorrow the police will need to help keep order at the comic book shop. There could be a stampede.
awesome. it would indeed make a nice last page for the first book.am i right in assuming the end of the book is going to signify the end of the day? ( and myaybe the end of the chapter? lol )
Maybe even the end of the month. A return to the present day (a.k.a. the end of the flashback, which started a few pages into the webcomic).
Although I really hope we get to find out how Leon reacted, when he found out. Even if only by it being retold, or done in a later flashback.
you mean joel…the other comic shop owner…leon is the nerdy geek (or geeky nerd if you feel like arguing specifics) on the arc payroll.
Yea, if I do not have a convenient who’s who in front of me, my brain is always supplying me with the wrong name. Even if the visuals, in my mind’s eye, are rather different. For instance Whoopi Goldberg and Goldie Hawn.
lol! yorp.
that’s right, i AM wondering also what’s going on with joel. i kinda miss him from the early comics.
i am also eager to see how the art change will have altered his appearance.
I was wondering about the jacket myself. And having Sydney always getting startled by Harem teleporting in is kinda cool. At least she didn’t punch her in the nose again!
*Vorp*
Punch
“OUCH. Stop that!”
She didn’t hang around long enough… this time :P
Trying to figure out which Harem did the coffee run: can’t be Gothamer (she’s right there), can’t be the one who got her arm broken (she’s in ‘storage’, or getting medical treatment), don’t believe Bodie wore boots like that
I would say the red-headed version. At least she had tight leggings.
She’s unteleported with a broken wrist.
I say Blondie.
I’d say Vogue (the blonde one). She’s wearing similar boots in this comic, anyway (and I hope I did those tags correctly).
Yes, it does look like Blondini: you can also just make out the cut of her dress
Dave’s Blog: “…that teleporters startling people.”
To her credit, Sydney’s mental “reset” seems to have worked (even for this still being her first day) & Harem didn’t end up with a broken nose. But yes it will take time for Sydney to learn how to ignore it. I can understand why the X-Men ignore Nightcrawler’s ‘porting, but in his earlier days NC startled them quite often.
Actually, given the teleporting version of Harem is standing and Sydney sitting, the punch would land quite a bit lower than the nose. Luckily Harem isn’t male if that happened.
Cute page. Whered the jacket come from?
I was wondering about that, too. Is she supposed to be wearing in on the whole page?
KA-Jacket! The newly revealed power of one of the mystery orbs…
…. I’m mentally trying to hit you through the internet with the power of my mind.
But that’s funny :)
I was trying to show a montagy passage of time thing going on.
It will probably read better with the next page. I wonder how much times past. Just long enough to get her coat or maybe a completely different night?
This would have been more clear if she had finished her hot drink by the time the coat showed up.
Having her receive a new drink, and then drink from the same drink some panels later, makes it seem like only several seconds have passed, and that conflicts with the appearance of the jacket. Especially when the drink is still hot.
Who says it’s the same drink? o_O
if you are drinking a small ammount at a time it can last. 10 min should not be difficult.
but also about the teleporting drinks.
in the 3min max, liquids explode if they are not contained while teleported.
or at least water does. i guess its a different kind of teleportation.
Wait. Wait wait…. how do you know the science of teleporting drinks?
Wait… is teleportation real? Did they crack the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle? Seriously, where did you get this important information from? I want names!
Pander,
R is talking about another webcomic series called “3 Minute Max” where a guy can stop his heart for teleportation purposes for a 3 minute period. It’s one of the rules of their webcomic regarding teleportation.
Ohhhh. Ok. Never heard of the comic. Was thinking i missed out on an important scientific breakthrough :)
I have never lost a minion to Teleporter accidents, tho there have been a few “accidents”
That is why I prefer wormholes myself. The whole being disassembled first bit is just too disconcerting, for teleportation. I would want to make sure that I had arrived safely, before killing off the original. Then I figure, hang on, if my copy is going to kill me, as soon as he arrives…
Well, put it this way, I have a partially successful teleportation program that is good at producing dead replicas of me, in remote locations. And I have called a halt to it, in case one of them gets the drop on me, someday.
My teleportation system works with space fold technology.
I prefer to send minions via cannon travel. It almost always involves an accident at one end or the other, and occasionally it involves one in the middle of the trip.
I only use the cannon transport system when I “fire” someone.
Nothing says that you’re “terminating the terms of employment” better than actually terminating the employee, right?
Yup.
KA-BOOM!
In your case, wouldn’t that be Fwoosh?
Could draw the jacket “vorped” in and drapped across Sydney’s knee at the same time the coffee arrived, you could then establish when the jacket arrived and when she put it on. Suggesting time passing with Sydney’s contemplation of events.
I think a better way to show the time progressing in the panels would be to show the sky transitioning later into the night. Maybe have more and more stars filling the sky until the splash of her laying down and looking up at them. You could also incorporate the lack of light from the battle knocking out the lights and make it an overly stary night showing off the Milky Way lights and everything. It would also make an awesome wallpaper of her and some of the other Arc soldiers laying on the grass looking up to the sky.
Sounds good.
Seconded
I’m more interested in why she had that orb in hand in panel 4. What did she think her “true sight” was going to show her? Or was she going to send her TP self somewhere?
As DaveB said in his commentary: she was doing a sweep of the area, maybe to check in on a few of the others (namely Maxi ;) )
Yeah, didn’t read that the first time through.
I don’t really think of it as being an “unnecessary security sweep.” After all, it wouldn’t hurt to see if anyone might be still under some left-over effect of Vehemence’s Aggro-Aura.
Plus there were an awful lot of super ‘villains’ there. Some might have gone into hiding, when things started to go wrong. Perhaps intending to sneak off, when the coast is clear. Maybe with some payback, as they flee.
Likewise there were many powers being used. In addition to the aggro aura, there could well be other unnoticed effects crawling around, seeking the light of day, or any other nearby light source. Or light snack.
It is Peggy’s spare.
Typo in panel 4: “super battles can out of hand” you’re missing the word GET.
Fixed!
Harem seems tired. Understandable, but still noticeable. I wonder if part of her is debriefing Deus.
Also, getting an update before midnight is a real treat!
Feeling good about being a superhero. It’s a good thing I don’t have a coworker who has been left completely in the dark about this whole superhero thing and probably saw me on TV
She called him around the time of the news interview after the bank. So she might’ve given him a quick overview with a Q&A next time she’s in the shop.
After her pug for the comic shop during the press event at Arc, that shop would no doubt have flooded and someone would have told him. I also doubt he’s had time to worry
For some reason, I’m looking forward to Sydney having a “you never forget your first super-battle” type chat with the new rookie ten years from now.
Also, I have to say I like this wind-down better than the Vehemehence fight.
Given the pace of this comic, and my current age, I don’t expect to live long enough to see Sydney 10 years from now. I’m going to enjoy every second I can though. =)
Ha. I am only 27 yet I still feel kind of the same way.
That is not meant as a critic to you Dave, you are doing a great job. Keep going.
I can see Sydney starting a conversation with “You never forget your first super battle!” then proceeding to recount the battle and get every detail wrong.
Now that’s the Sydney we all know and love.
There I was, being held to the ground by my neck! Vengeance knew that I was the only one who posed a real threat to him, and so he had decided to kill me with his fire breath attack! But just as he was inhaling, Heatwave came back in and blasted her OWN fire breath into his face, distracting him enough that I was able to teleport away!”
Wait a minute… isn’t the majority of this comic, so far, been her recount starting at the end of page 4?
Yup, at the end of the month, we start to see what really happened. Turns out Sydney’s plans are great, sketched out in a note-book. In real life though…
Except for the part where the ninja attack with exploding hyperintelligent tomatoes
Better tomatoes than cucumbers.
I think Brain Williams can attest to that, Dave…
;)
That after action buzz will probably last right up until… ohhhh when she realizes she has to file an after action report hehehe
Drats. Replied to the wrong post. Look further down for what I believe Halo’s after action report looks like.
Hint. It will be [—Redacted—].
That last panel…
Would’ve been a perfect end for this chapter right there.
Sydney just looks so content.
Last panel,that’s a face of a job well done if I ever saw one…
Man I was sure she’s level up again from that much action… or is it the balls that level up?
“You have gained a level” – perfectly acceptable
“Your balls have gained a level” … .ermm…what now??
(sorry… once it popped into my head I had to share it xD )
In the context you’re talking about, the only time mine level up is if it’s very cold outside…It’s not a comforting feeling.
It’s hasn’t even been twelve hours since she last leveled. Give it time.
She may have the EXP to level up, but she won’t be able to access them until she has had time to train herself in the levels that she already has. That would be my Game Master ruling.
Or her balls are playing by Oblivion rules and she has to sleep first before being allowed to set her next level.
Get it right Sydney’s ball have gotten bigger.
“Queue uplifting outro music”…
…roll credits, then 20 second preview for next episode.
When was the last time you saw a movie? The end credits now last 15 to 20 minutes easy
I think he’s seeing it more as a cartoon/anime. First few episodes usually ends without a blatent cliffhanger beyond questions raised during the episode itself, because they don’t know if the series will suddenly get scrapped. About episode 5 they then get into multi-parters and cliffhangers.
Precisely. Depending how you read it, it is either a reference to a TV show or an anime. Episode previews from anime are sometimes funny just because of the random stuff it spews while sometimes telling you NOTHING at the same time.
Which is why you put the hook in near the start, just after the characters but before the technical minions. Late enough that it’s clearly separate from the main feature, early enough that it isn’t playing to an empty house, and a convenient separator between ‘the names most people might be interested in’ and ‘try to spot cousin Jeanie!’.
They didn’t get to finish dinner. I think they should go out for shawarma in the closing credits.
I dunno. From what they tell me, that shawarma place looks crappy…
I swear that I’d scream if Dave followed up your comment with something like “And now a word fromour sponsors.”
…Unless, of course, that particular comic page heavily featured Arianna in Full-Blown Marketing Mode for story-telling purposes.
Something akin to Go-Daddy commercials would be nice for… uh… story purposes.
And no projectile vomiting this time. :D
“All in all, it was a very good day.”
For Sydney, it’s Achievment Unlocked: She DID become a superhero!
hmm that vote incentive kinda makes me thing Vehemance and Sydney could be best friends.
What is the fog cloud in panel 3 supposed to be? The vorp-out?
Also in 1 and 5… Maybe Sydney has burnt out the energy with all that action?
I… I think it’s meant to be a cloud?
A cloud that remains in the same place?
DaveB said she got the jacket some time after her first coffee and sweep
One other point of interest is that it is close, real close. The orbs are lighting it up in panel 1.
Possibly it is a pre-zorp and post-zorp effect? One that we do not normally get to see when the pace is faster.
Or it could be mummy checking up on her eggs? It seems to be satisfied, that Halo makes a good surrogate, as it has flown away by the final panel.
Ahh! Ninjas, shrunken down, in a teeny U.F.O. which is cloaking itself with a cloud. You must always expect that!
Sydney may have gotten quite a surprise if she had looked round, whilst holding the true-sight orb.
Even though Sydney may be physically worn out, her ADHD (has she got meds back into her at this point?) is probably keeping her mind running at hyper-speeds.
Could that be the glow of a distant streetlight?
It appears to simply be a slow-moving cloud. There isn’t a wind showing anywhere.
I think Dave placed it there so there wasn’t simply a black background, to help with perspective.
^^ This.
A slow moving cloud, hiding a ninja mothership. ;-)
The moon would light up more of the sky/clouds. If you filled in more of the sky background, that would make it more comprehensible.
I choose to believe that it is an alien parasite (and I welcome our parasitic, brain sucking tentacle shooting, cloudy overlords) until being proven otherwise!
Well, yeah, that’s a given, Tacos.
Cue dramatic voice:
It is a cloud. A cloud of an approaching storm. A storm of villainy that will sweep across the land leaving people crying out for a team of heroes to save them. But alas, these heroes have troubles of their own. Their home base has been lifted away by a mysterious glowing cloud. They must go on a dangerous quest to retrieve it in their next adventure “Raiders of the Lost ARC (headquarters)”
In theaters for Christmas 2016.
(groan)
For a pun, that’s the equivalent of a +1.
That was awful. I’m so jealous.
What is this?
I’m really impressed with Halo. That was a really good plan, especially given how stressful the situation was and how quick she had to act to save Maxima.
Operative Halo’s Report:
[—Redacted—] the [—Redacted—]. [—Redacted—] and [—Redacted—]. [—Censored—] lama [—Censored—]. [—Redacted—] without [—Redacted—]. [—Redacted—] then [—Redacted—]. [—redacted—] away by a squirrel. [—Redacted—] until [—Redacted—].
Furthermore, [—Redacted—] the [—Redacted—]. It was [—Censored—] in a [—Censored—]. [—Redacted—] awesome [—Redacted—].
Three steps ahead.
And that is all I have to say about that.
…. And then there are the deeply disturbing pictures that Sydney undoubtedly draws, to illustrate certain sections of her report.
For the obvious reasons, Sydney’s picture that depicted the moment after Vehemence grew into Hulk-like proportions was also (thankfully) redacted…Also, the same section in Dabbler’s report was redacted.
Dabbler’s report may not be sent to Archon. I still think she’s some sort of space cop Ford Prefecting it up on earth.
Just because we haven’t yet seen her towel doesn’t mean that she’s lost track of it. She can probably get it through her built-in teleporter device.
That section in Dabbler’s report involved illustrated renditions with perspectives involving multiple viewing angles, speculations on capability, took up three standard-size document pages, and, due to some yet-unexplained occurences during filing, is currently in the hands of a collection of Japanese erotic doujinshi artists.
Actually, that was one of the censored parts. There was a difference :)
Odd… No mention of ninjas. (Also no mentions of people going on The List, but they’ve clearly been redacted.)
As they should be.
That was oddly clean-languaged for her.
Possibly the redacted parts are exactly why the report seems to be “clean-languaged”…
Nicely done AronIronHead.
Thank you.
I’m two minds about whether ARC-PAPERPUSH should be wishing that Sydney gets to dictate her report to a text-to-speech prorgam, or that she doesn’t.
Don’t you mean ARC-TEXT, or maybe ARC-SIGN?
ARC-HIVE.
+1
+1
With a fully-staffed compliment of “B-Level” bureaucrats.
You know Sydney’s security clearance hasn’t gone through yet. She might not be allowed to read her own report.
Often the case, if someone witnesses something above their pay grade. They may not get to see it again, until it is eventually declassified, decades later.
“I am damned certain I never said ‘weather balloon’!”
I’m so looking forward to day two, hopefully including Joel’s reaction to the failure to actually get the money deposited at the bank before it was “held up” and the ensuing desperate search for wherever the bank envelope wound up.
The police will have the bag as evidence. The business’s deposit slip will be inside so they will check with the bank and contact the business phone number on file with the bank. Somewhere in there, it will probably have to be decontaminated from high-capsaicin fear vomit.
I’m sure the reaction by bank personnel the next time Sydney goes there will be classic.
A combination of “OMG it’s her?!? Do we run like hell or freeze in place? Don’t upset her, no matter what!”
Between her “Tourette’s sounding assistance” in foiling the robbery, her capsaicin response clearing the bank (and highway), and her superhero debut, I think they would be kind of stuck on how to react. Definitely a time for Arianna to utilize her PR skills. I’m quite sure the internet would have another viral video showing a combination of Sydney’s profane debut (from Leon’s leak) and her kicking butt (from the newscast) all mixed together into one video.
With the soundtrack being “All about that Bass”?
I think they said it was evidence in the investigation
I totally missed that.
“You had ONE JOB Sydney”. (Granted, what she ultimately accomplished was much much better for the store than depositing the money, nonetheless it is totally a scoville-esque thing to head to the bank to deposit money and end up saving a secret superhero team from a giant wizard.)
No, the super team isn’t “secret” any more. It’s a matter of open public knowledge.
Yeah, but it was when she set out, right? From Joel’s perspective the situation is hilarious. Its ultimately good for him, but its still funny as anything.
Whoa! That’s a good point! THIS ALL HAPPENED IN A SINGLE DAY! Holy smokes!
Yes, I have had days like that. Some day they will be declassified and I can tell people about them. I think the day I got killed had less going on than those days…
I usually put that pretty high in my list of daily priorities.
You know, this little chat might be the best chance sydney has to get a really positive judgement from the higher ups. She showed that her plan was not some lucky break, it was a really well thought out plan with multiple redundancies to make certain the end result would be the same. Though I admit to wondering if/when she will learn how bad she hurt the human torch, or if they will just include force control training to her agenda and focus on it a bit more. All in all, she deserves that “job well done” afterglow she has going on. She made some mistakes, but she more than pulled her own weight, and she did it all without training, just her natural instincts and genre savyness. I cant wait to see where it goes from here. Will sydney get a day or two off from archon to be at the comic store? Will she need to spend time away from the shop to let the furor die down a bit and train? How will her co boss react to her basically getting another job? Thats going to cause issues short and long term.
Joel is her partner, rather than her boss. But, yea, I think that is one of the most asked questions, in the comic. We all wants to know. :-D
I don’t mind the early post Dave. I live on the west coast so would normally have to wait until 7-8 in the morning to read this – or stay awake until 4-5 if I didn’t want my comments to get lost in the crowd.
And the real crime. It’s gonna take over an HOUR to get to work in the morning! Better take the back roads. “Thanks” Arc. (I’m actually not sure where exactly the restauraunt is located or if this will actually effect highly used traffic routes.)
In the U.K. we would call it an industrial estate (regardless that it is has commercial premises there, it is just a catch-all term). Not sure what our colonial cousins might call them? Usually they are placed somewhere that a lot of land can be bought cheaply. Commuter routes tend to push up the price, so rarely have such complexes along them. And if it did, it would likely already have shops along the roadside.
There are no signs of the latter, so I am guessing it is a typical out of town, or quiet suburb, location. When there are not battles raging, that is. So I doubt any commuters will be disturbed. Apart from those heading to the complex itself. And they have bigger fish to fry. Like watching out for squirrel craters!
A business park? I think that’s about what you’re talking of, but ours are generally a bunch of pre-built offices or warehouses that people rent out, without things like restaurants in them.
Many industrial parks may also include a small restaurant or some kind of “meals on wheels” kind of business. All of the employees gotta eat too, ya’ know.
nah!, it’ll take about the same amount of time. the highway wasn’t even FINISHED yet, so there was ZERO traffic on it anyway. the surface streets around the restaurant complex are probably OK as well. there will probably be a bunch of gawkers, doing a visit to the scene of “The First EVER Super Hero – Super Villain Battle” but, it was probably be in a suburb that isn’t TOO highly traveled in the first place… and like Harem and the outfitting Quartermaster were discussing, it was probably picked for SPECIFICALLY that reason, just in case… obviously the restaurant workers get a day or two off, while they fill out various insurance claims, and get with Arianna for going over their strategies for their class-action lawsuit, etc… the various City agencies for public works/utilities will be out there surveying the building and parking lot damage, and they’ll probably have the place cordoned off while doing so, preventing too many lookie-loo’s from gathering too closely…so, all in all, i don’t expect traffic to be effected all that badly on the surface streets, and the Highway, practically none at all in addition to the already slow commute from the highway construction itself…
And don’t forget the work crew Arrianna will have there to salvage the debris to “market as souvenirs.
Loved this and the last one after the fight. I do like some time out for explanations.
Yay. It was a pleasant surprise to see this updated for Monday morning on this side of the Atlantic :) I always considered it a Tuesday comic since I usually read in the mornings. Congrats on nearly finishing the first book.
Kitty Pryde used to be terrified of nightcrawler in the early days, in general terms not just the bamf, but it certainly made her jump.
I think if you look at the early Dave Cockrum issues, Piotr was pretty spooked by the bamfing too.
Admittedly, for a good catholic schoolgirl living with a blue palate-swap of the popular version of the Devil would be disconcerting.
Well, it was less the being startled than it was the brimstone smell NC brings when he ‘ports…
Oh, BTW. If you’re referring to Kitty about being Catholic, I must point out that Kitty is Jewish. She tried using a cross against Dracula & it didn’t work, but when she used her David’s Star pendant, it worked.
Perhaps you might be referring more to one of the New Mutants, Wolfsbane. She & Catholicism has a bad history going…
Ok, wrong religion, but basic premise stands.
Actually it was when Drac grabbed her neck and hit her Star of David that Wolvie tried the cross thing with his claws and got slapped because he had no faith to power it. But Kurt with his two sticks did.
Yep. One must have the faith in the symbol being used to have any effect.
Yeah, it’s not the symbol but the faith behind it, don’t even really need the symbol but it helps focus and concentrate
Wow, Harem has some muscular shoulders there.
That’s because she works out, do you not remember that scene where she and Anvil were wrestling?
However:
1) it’s not just her shoulders, but her chest and sides seem “hulked out” as well.
2) all look back to normal in panels 2 and 3.
Maybe the look is due to re-absorbing the injured Harem?
When all of Harem’s bodies are out, she’s as strong as any athletic girl of her age & height. For every body she “absorbs” back in, she does get stronger. When she’s down to only one body, her strength is 16x normal. It’s all in Dabbler’s Science Corner.
Mmm, even if she had ten bodies, she would not be able to lift a tank.
110 lb x 512 = 56,320 lb vs 60 ton x 2,000 lbs in a US short ton = 120,000 lbs.
Twelve though, and she could start sparring with Super Hiro and Stalwart.
Seems to be the same to me in all three panels (although you can’t see the chest very well in panel two, and the arm and shoulder has changed position), possibly just perspective (same how the freckles are heavy in the first, starting to fade in the second and gone in the third)
The last panel is really satisfying.
Yeah, I like that smile she’s got in the last panel. It’s like she’s thinking, “Hey, I really DID become a super hero.”
Although I’ve got to say, the reflection of the comball in the right lens of Sydney’s glasses is wrong. Given the angle, the one most likely to reflect into the reader’s point of view is the lighthook ball, definitely not the comball.
that would be true if the ball was being reflected off the glasses, i see it as just shining light onto her face similar to how the other balls shine a spot onto her hair in the previous panel (though some aren’t as pronounced as others).
Do they have reflections?
For them to not show up in cameras, there’d have to be something non-optic about them. Reflections are optic…
The balls show up on camera, the effects and glow on, and from, them don’t
This page screams “End of [something]”
So, is this the end of the flashback?
Would be interesting, but not necessary for the story, to see Joel’s reaction.
Might be…it is definitely the end of her first day as a super hero. Might go into the highlights of the fallout of her coming out and what happens to the store…it would probably see a huge increase in sales since an “actual” hero is co-owner/worker.
Would also be interesting to see some of the training highlights that go into helping her fine tune her power control. We know she definitely needs to work on how she handles the lighthook. She also needs to figure out how to speed up the firing of the pew pew orb so she can fire it quickly so she doesn’t mess up her targeting when she needs to sneeze…that could also go under aim control. They also need to find if there are any limits to the potential of the orbs (carry weight for light hook, range for pew pew orb, spy distance for comm ball, flight speed for fly ball, and shield strength for what i’m gonna call the bubble ball since it still doesn’t have a name).
I imagine a lot of Sydney’s military training being very very similar to her scuba training – https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/554
For example
FIREARMS TRAINING – Sydney says “Woo!” and reaches for the biggest, scariest gun in sight. Instructor brandishes rolled-up newspaper and says “No!”
EXPLOSIVES TRAINING – Sydney says “Woo!” and reaches for the biggest piece of C4 in sight. Instructor brandishes rolled-up newspaper and says “No!”
VEHICLE TRAINING – Sydney says “Woo!” and stares at the M-1 Tank in one corner of the garage. Instructor brandishes rolled-up magazine and says “No!”
And so on.
First thing on a Monday morning and you made me smile and laugh. You, sir, win an internet!
You flatter me. :)
said Instructor is Rolled-Up-Newspaperman!
.. Or his twin, with a crew-cut probably.
At that rate, Sydney will be getting all of her news from the TV & maybe even join public protests against newspaper outlets…
Hand-to-Hand training is going to be a riot!
The sort that calls for protective shields and tear gas I have no doubt.
Considering she can potentially get up to 9 punches & 2 kicks per combat turn, it should be hilarious to watch. I think Math should be her instructor for that…
:D
Also out in mind of ‘Asterix The Legionary’.
Basically, Asterix and Obelix secretly join the Roman Army to find and rescue a fellow Gaul. Their squad goes through basic training, and the pair naturally keep short-circuiting the entire process. Culminating in the ten-mile-hike-whilst-carrying-rucksacks-full-of-rocks – Obelix carries not just his own rucksack, but everybody else’s as well.
They get back to camp, by which time their long-suffering Drill Instrictor has acquired the thousand-yard-stare. He reports to his CO, lists all the off-kilter things that have happened, and finally collapses sobbing on the officer’s shoulder, saying “I CAN’T TAKE ANY MORE!!!”
Somehow, I keep thinking that any “normal” DI overseeing Sydney may end up in a similar state.
“These Romans are crazy.”
“Is he in love?”
i think sydney is really relieved now that she no longer “has” to hide the balls in a tube. perhaps now she can chat with people without having to go through the whole “explain the tube” skit. (hope i didn’t mess up that link)
She’ll likely keep them in the tube so as to have some minor anonymity whilst out in public.
yes but now she doesn’t have to explain it…she can just say “I’m halo and my balls are in the tube” instead of giving the run around…and if anyone has any ideas of mugging her with them in the tube…it would end up with them lying in a puddle of their own tears/drool/urine.
All at once no doubt
Public places would probably welcome the idea of Sydney being consistent with “peace bonding” her weapons, like Comic/SciFi/etc Conventions do.
And in case she can’t open the tube in time, she could always take down the mugger with some telekinetic tube-jitsu.
Someone already once tried mugging Sydney before she got the orbs. It did not end well (at least, not for the would-be mugger).
I guess I never noticed it, but Harem has an…Unattractive amount of chest-freckles. Call me shallow, But even if a girl is a perfect 10 it just feels unnatural to be covered in tiny dots.
so you are turned off by freckles…i find em sexy.
Freckles can also be fun/sexy I like to play connect-the-dots with them. If done right you both win.
Particularly fun is to making sure you can find all of the freckles, no matter where they may try to hide.
“How do I love thee? Let me count the freckles.”
That’s not the only place she has a sexy abundance of freckles, but of course you only had eyes for her chest, right?
also…i’ve seen girls that have more freckles than regular skin so harem’s freckle coverage is kinda tame by comparison…it also doesn’t help that she is a natural red-head (sorta). i notice that most red-heads have a large amount of body freckles. also when they try to tan their freckles just become more pronounced instead of them actually getting darker skin. which is why they prefer to just stick to being pasty white with a healthy amount of freckles.
Hey author, please add freckles all over the body to all girls.
(She’s not your porn you asshole)
You know people can think something is ugly without having to translate that to porn or no porn right?
wait… what?
Is that even possible ?…
ಠ_ಠ
I would play connect the dots with her freckles any day.
Those aren’t freckles. They’re the rusty endings of her steely nerves.
It could be from having a high-veggie diet (even though Harem doesn’t proclaim to be vegetarian it doesn’t mean she skips out with veggies). You know, eating lots of high-iron veggies & plenty of fresh-oxygen air might be why her nerves are so steely.
She’s really a red-head and, speaking from experience, they really can be that freckled up.
I do like freckles, but they shouldn’t be drawn in black, they should be a light red-brown. Here, she just looks like she has weird blackheads.
Clearly you have never felt the urge to discover just how far Jadzia Dax‘s spots go. *shakes head* There must be something wrong with you. Still, no rush to find a cure, all the more perfect women for me!
Very odd thought – What happens if the Orbs are live but Sydney falls alseep? She’s had a heck of a day and even a super nerd on an adrenaline rush has to crash sometime. That last panel…
PERFECT CHANCE FOR DAVE TO MESS WITH US!
Guessing it is NOT the first time Sydney has slept in the several months since she got the orbs. ADHD and meds will only get you so far.
Since they stayed secret this long, that also suggests that the orbs don’t get up to (notable) hijinks whilst she’s asleep.
What if Sydney is having a nightmare that makes her feel threatened. If her dreams start including images of those orbs…
Granted, it’s clinically proven that our brains DO have a sort of “paralysis effect” on our bodies while we sleep, but different people will still show differing levels of it.
Ayup, for some people it fails and they wander around while asleep. Others wake up while still unable to move, (Sleep Paralysis) which can cause them to freak out. Of course since the orbs respond to her thoughts she could summon one to her hand while unable to move, and that could be bad is she were panicky and unable to think clearly.
Probably one reason her PPO seems to have a safety.
Now if only the Krell (movie: Forbidden Planet) had such a safety mechanism built into their machine…
“Naahhhhhh, we’re too advanced to need anything like that…”
Clearly, OHAS never came to the Krell civilization. I mean, we see all those insanely high walkways in their structures that have NO safety railings. Yheessshhhhh!
The Darwin Awards would be love the Krell…
The muscles in the hand relax, she releases the orb and it is inactive.
Which brings me to an interesting question. Could she tape/warp one of the orbs to her hand so she could fall asleep without losing her grip. Best example would be the Shield Ball (with decent air supply) if she needed to so some kind of extended deep water or outer space excursion.
Next page: The aforementioned outgo music: My Little Pony! My Little Pony!
Sydney: Hunh? What? Oh. [ Answers her cell phone ] Hello?
Joel: Sydney, where the hell are you? I haven’t heard from you since you called about the bank robbery! You would not believe the day I had here. We got swamped (mostly by nuts) starting about 4. Oh, by the way, you have any idea what we can use for inventory until we get new stock?
Sydney: I’m not going to believe the day you’ve had. Wait ’til I tell you about mine. By the way did you watch the news today?
Joel: No. Why? What did you do this time?
Yes please.
I’d love to see an entirely empty comic shop. Cue Arianna scrambling to refil the shop, including collecter’s edition orbs already made
Very easy to imagine Arianna on her mobile phone, scaring the holy #### out of whomever she is using to ‘fast-track’ the new merchandise.
“A week for the prototypes? A month to set up the first production run? NOT ACCEPTABLE. I want the prototypes today and the first run arriving here by noon TOMORROW. Stop crying, and Get It Done – or start clearing out your desk…..”
imagine how Joan Cusack in Gross Pointe Blanc was talking to her supplier when they were late with an order.
Dave said that ARC basically 3D prints the neck com-bands with individual logos. They could quickly modify the machinery to produce various colored orbs. And don’t forget to get everyone 3D laser scanned for the new ARC action figures!
True, but that is for team equipment. Probably going to run up against all kinds of regs if they try using that same equipment for what is basically a commercial venture.
If a percentage goes back to Arc or they call it promotional expenses, Ari can probably get it done in-house with no fuss. Except for trying to get Max to smile for her scan.
and that’s what PHOTOSHOP is for!…
actually that’s what 3D Modeling Software is for…doing 3D prints requires a 3D Model for scale.
… And the problem of what to do with the financial return. Modern military units are, by and large, not expected to GENERATE income – their bookkeeping software probably doesn’t even allow for the possibility.
I am sure Sgt Bilko could supply his motor pool software. For a slice of the action.
No doubt. ;)
But would it scale up from one platoon to an entire branch. Ok, right now that branch is the size of a platoon, but things can change.
Aaaw, happy Sydney is so cute.
I just wanna hug her
Get in line. Yeah she’s the one I would chose if I had a choice.
Sydney is a good choice for a long-term relationship but Dabbler’s got some good points too. Considering her part-succubus nature, any “close” relationship would likely be a short one, but it would be very intense.
Though you might have to explain that “intense” is not the opposite of “tense”…
Neither is inflammable not the opposite of flammable.
Go figure…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
“Content” would be more apropo.
I have to agree with RobK, on this one. Her hug-me aura is set to ten here. But, you are right too, because Sydney has dialled up the contented aura to maximum. She has mastered the art of using two powers simultaneously.
And the amazing part? No fondling of balls required!
She looks like she’s one deep sigh from falling asleep completely. Even Max can’t handle that level of cute.
Yay for surprise early comic :D Though it’s usually up by this time anyway, but still. I’m excited to see what’s coming and how Sydney will settle in.
I loaded this ups about 2-1/2 hours after the normal time it would have uploaded. At that time, I’d normally only see 1 page of comments (still growing, of course). Surprised the hell out of me to see 2 pages that soon.
Phew….
Hmm… The last panel reminds me of that blackness guy who wanted to enter history by killing Sydney. He seemed to be serious about it. And since it seemed that Vehemence just wanted to iniate a big brawl but noone except Max getting killed… I dunno, just a random thought.
Also, doesn’t Sydney’s cheek still hurt?
It probably still stings, but you eventually get used to pain. It’d hurt if you touch it, and than you’d hurt, but until than, she’s probably fine (and so are you)
Everything’s perfectly all right now. We’re fine. We’re all fine here now, thank you. How are you?
I’m guessing that she has been offered, and received pain medication already. Remember the “damage” report earlier, that indicates that the team has already been “seen to” by ARC EMT’s at the least.
while the brawl was part of V’s plan sydney’s shield cut shadow boxer off from the controlled brawling part of the aura so his normal “kill em all” thoughts broke through so he could truly cut loose instead of having to hold back…didn’t help him but it was still there.
Shouldn’t there be a “007 type post villain defeat action sequence”?
Maybe involving that squirrel?
You mean sex? 007 post vilain defeat is sex
That squirrel is trying to get back to sleep after getting rudely knocked out of two different trees while it was just trying to hide out, away from potential predators.
Take a closer look at that squirrel. Behind his sinister smile, he is plotting how to steal your soul!
OMFG!
Kill it! Kill it with fire!
Better yet, string him up for his crimes against humanity!
https://media.photobucket.com/user/razor_darkling/media/Squirrels/vjeverica04.jpg.html?filters%5Bterm%5D=squirrel&filters%5Bprimary%5D=images&sort=1&o=199
A Dragnet style summary of what happens to the villains/heroes/noncombatants would be interesting.
The names have been changed to protect the squirrel!
:off panel: a spotlight shines in the sky showing what looks like the shadow of an acorn with a bushy tail
Squirrel puts on cheesy mask and cowl, and makes dramatic pose. Queue Darkwing Duck-style theme music.
He is not the hero the city needs or even wants.
But he IS the villain the city deserves…
He’s not even that. Unless the city is full of nazis who kick puppies and kill nuns while forcing people to watch re-runs of 30-someting and Cop Rock, synched to the music of Justin Beiber.
“Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure…”