Grrl Power #304 – A wild Harem appears!
It’s a little odd that Sydney agrees that “boy stuff” is dumb considering she’s a bit of a tomboy herself. I assume she’s thinking of stuff like talking about sports or cars or which actress they’d “do.” Sydney’s knowledge of sports talk starts and ends with “Did you see that ludicrous display last night?”
I almost had Olivia comment that she’d seen The Watchmen movie and was confused by it because even though it was a comic book movie, the only guy with obvious super powers was “the blue guy” and everyone else playing superhero just seemed like sociopaths in masks. That was kind of my reaction to the movie since I had never read The Watchmen before. I wasn’t confused by it mind you, I just think Moore was telling a story about people, not superheroes, and that most people are assholes no matter what they call themselves. Really the only character in that movie I identified with was Manhattan, cause he looked around the world and was was like “Welp, humans suck, I’m out.” The thing that did confuse me was that none of the people in costume had any powers, at least not in the movie, maybe except Ozymandias who could catch a bullet. I don’t recall how often, if at all, the word superhero was used in the movie (again, haven’t read the book) so maybe it’s my fault for thinking since the source material was a comic and there’s definitely one guy with powers, therefor anyone in a costume is a superhero/villain. They were vigilantes at best, and The Comedian was a straight up psychopath.
I decided to cut mention of the movie because it’s obviously a huge tangent that could go on for many pages. Still, dialog like that is fun to write, and especially if it’s a bunch of superheroes sitting around talking about superhero movies it seems extra appropriate for this comic, so maybe I’ll use it to lead in to another scene some day.
The book Olivia is holding is Sunstone, by Stjepan Šejić (no idea how to pronounce that). I hate to even mention 50 Shades of Grey in the same breath as this book, but the easiest way to describe it is “50 Shades of Gray, only not sucky BDSM Twighlight fanfic with all the vampires edited out.” That is to say it’s about two women that end up in a consensual bondagey Dom/Sub relationship with fantastic art and great writing and characters. So really except for the bondage element they’re nothing alike. Yeah forget I mentioned 50 SoG. A side note on Stjepan, if anyone is more prolific than Fred Perry, its him. In addition to being a professional comic artist who’s worked for Image, Marvel and others, he has two Deviant Art accounts, both of which are updated frequently. One is under the name Shiniez which is mostly NSFW, and you can find the entirety of Sunstone published there. (Obviously pick up the book to support him if you like what you see.) The other one is Nebezial where he posts other comic work and lots of funny vignettes about mostly DC characters but he draws everyone.
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She missed it. Harem was supposed to say. “OOGGA BOOGGA!!!”
At least Sydney has replaced her “punch” reaction successfully – I see no shield though!
(Also, the press must be feeling lucky, especially those who were still filming. ..)
No choice. She had a paper in 1 hand, and pen in the other. Reflex punch may have involved stabby
In these circumstances, the pen is mightier than the sword. Which had Halo given into the subliminal message, from what she was writing, might have involved surgery to remove pen from eyeball.
Harem’s just lucky that Sydney’s pen only went “The Mighty +——————————————” instead of that.
Aha there you are Yorp! several of us were wondering when you would appear (not the same without you of course).
Thing is, if you talk about eyeballs and pens, all I then picture is what Simon Phoenic did to the Warden in “Demolition Man” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbM–4-z0cs
I doubt if Harem would need surgery. I think she’d just reduce to four bodies, then re-create the fifth one.
Possibly, if she adapts the way that she uses her power, she may well have infinitely replaceable bodies. Currently though, she does not use her power that way. When she ‘reduces to four bodies’ she is not uncreating it. Nor does she re-create a fresh body.
What she actually does is put the fifth body into storage. It is suspended in time and remains in exactly the same state, when she recalls if from storage, as when it went in. This is how each body retains its tatoos and hairstyle, for example.
In particular any wound remains exactly as it was. So it is great for preventing a body on deaths door from expiring. And it can be recalled from storage when an emergency room is prepared to treat her injury. But it does not allow her to rest, sleep or heal. Time does not pass for the body.
Should a body die, maybe Harem will find that she can re-create it, from scratch, as you propose though. It all depends on what is creating her current five body limit. Possibly it is an absolute one, that she cannot exceed, and if one is lost, that is it. Or maybe not.
If Daphne happens to be obsessed with obtaining near immortality, she has a possible way to maximize her timeline. She could keep one body ‘out’ and the rest in storage for about 80 years and then recall the next when she feels her end is nigh. The new body then takes over with all the accumulated memories and sees to the final wishes of the current placeholder. Theoretically, she could get about 400 years out sequentially inhabiting the 5 bodies.
Or more if she can replace a body that has ceased functioning.
Somehow I think you guys are over-thinking her power.
Not really. It almost certainly is not the power Dave intends her to have, and therefore will not be the way that we will see it work in the story.
But immortality is very much a possible use of the power set that Dave has created for her. Unless he puts in restrictions which block it.
Harem could be the one keeping Achilles company, as the last stars start to die out. If she can avoid all the accidental, and other types of death, including apocalypses, she would have to face, between now and then.
Achilles’ biggest advantage is that he doesn’t have to avoid any of those accidents or apocalypses. He can stand as first-hand eye witness to them all…And then maybe talk to Harem about them afterward…
:D
If Sidney reflex punched Harem and ended up stabbing her in the eye, it’s safe to say she’ll be blind in that eye, but what about the rest of her bodies? based the chain wedge she got, pain must be shared between bodies, so if one body got stabbed in the eye would the other four get a stabbing pain (I know bad pun) and lost of vision?
And before anyone posts it, yes I do know there’s no pain receptors in the eye.
Actually the eye does have pain receptors – most of them are in the cornea, but there are a LOT of pain receptors in the eye.
One of the biggest pain receptors is linked to Anticipation…
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EyeScream
The key thing to always remember with Harem is that she only has the one mind. So she will have to always experience everything that happens to any of her bodies. All she has managed to do is find a way to block, or ignore, some degree of it, for the other bodies. So that she can operate each independently without confusing the input from one to another.
But it will always be there, even if it is dulled. Should one of her bodies ever be completely cut off from the group mind* then it will simply collapse. It will have no mind to give it orders, so will be vegetative.
Hopefully she will get good enough to ignore severe pain, in other bodies, if she is braced for it. If not she has a severe combat handicap.
* Say if what somebody was proposing, in these comments, is true. That Halo’s force field could sever her connection to the group mind. And assuming that she does not simply split into two personalities, in such circumstances, with one on the inside and one on the outside.
This is very much unlike Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man…Every time he creates a “dupe” (it’s what he calls a “duplicate” of himself), they form with their own brains, minds & points-of-view. Given extensive time in existence, the dupe’s personality will begin to diverge away from the time/place of origin.
Normally, once Jamie re-absorbs a dupe, he mentally (mostly subconsciously) re-integrates the new experiences & thoughts back into his singular personality…But the longer of time spent separated, the harder it gets to re-integrate & the more likely Jamie could develop “split personalities.” This is why he refuses to allow any dupes to run around by themselves for very long.
In Harem’s case, there’s no such “mental separation” in the first place.
Her hands were full atm, so she’s in the middle of a panicky jump/dive/grab.
Hey, she could have grabbed the PPO, but then everybody loses.
No she was supposed to say.
BADGERS!
+1
+1
+1
+1
Remember the first time Harem ‘ported near Sydney? It’s probably best she didn’t go “ooga booga.”
:P
But now that Sydney’s a superhero, she’s gonna have to learn that potential emergency situations are going to pop up suddenly…
:P
I though Harem would have learned by now. No teleporting that close to Sydney!
At least this time she didn’t get punched.
She might have been just out of reach. Plus Sydney seems to have replaced ‘punch’ with ‘dive for cover’!
No, Abbey is on the same side of the counter as Sydney, and there isn’t much room in that corner
Harem need to stop Halo’s sentence ASAP. Many aspects of Halo’s powers are CLASSIFIED, which means not taling about them to friends and live TV cameras. Details like “they give me powers when I hold them” just made Sydney a target for any person or government looking to acquire powers.
Good point. Until they have finished testing Sydney’s powers and found out whether other people can use the orbs, or not, they will not want to draw attention to the possibility. Harem might have just been ordered to divert the impromptu demonstration and accompanying explanations.
Lest Halo inadvertently let more slip than she intended. I doubt she would detail the classified orbs, but Archon may want to give her guidelines on what else to avoid talking about just yet.
1. That ship already sailed during the PR event: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1020
2. Holding orbs = powers would have easily been deduced with just the footage of her using powers during the PR demonstration, any footage from the following
fightSupervillain Blitzkrieg would have collaborated any such theories.3. Given that the world seems to exist as a parallel to ours with the exception of supers, there’s already plenty of websites/forums/wikis that will have rapidly deduced the that her powers are directly tied to the orbs themselves and have listed which orbs coincide with what abilities.
3b. There would exist speculation on if Sydney’s power is actually to generate the orbs themselves or if they’re magical/tech/etc in nature and she’s merely the wielder. Those who speculate on this will figure it out as soon as her “anomalous” physique is recognized compared to any known “natural” supers.
tl;dr version: It’s already been said and would have been figured out shortly anyways.
My point related to drawing attention, not the fact that it was already out there. The media are actively looking for extra titbits to pad out their news with. Speculation is one thing, confirmation is another. The more attention that Halo draws to the possibility that others might be able to use them, the more likely it is that it will come to the attention of somebody who will be tempted to give it a try.
Any demonstration will only make the piece even more newsworthy. Even signing autographs with her tentacle would do that much. But even more so if she shows something unseen before, which she is more than capable of doing.
Best part? Sydney’s autograph in the last panel. H———
Surprise does wonders!
Best part is the line continuing across the girl’s cheek.
Yeah, I saw that too.
Complete with “SQUEAK” sound effect, as it does so.
Cut to every reporter in there dogpiling on the new hero, who will go completely nuts with power.
haha I love how the start of Sydney’s signature (which is flying in the last panel) says “The Mighty”
For someone who is supposed to be smart Harem just risked another nose punch by surprising Sydney.
You’d think she learned by now
Well she is kinda young. Unfortunately I think it’s part of her personality. Max has already expressed her ire at this habit.
she may be young but she racks up experience 5 times faster
You are assuming she learns from experience. Maybe she needs to mess up the same way 5 times before she figures out what’s wrong. I’ve know non-multiple individuals like that.
Whilst your counter if perfectly valid, l0wten was alluding to Harem’s profile, so was speaking from a point of authority. Harem is a natural learner.
I think Harem is what some folks call “irrepressible” and others call a “bloody nuisance”.
+1
I seem to be developing a talent for answering the wrong question in the right place or vise versa. Mostly I need to read slower.
I give Harem until about 3, maybe 4, of her getting broken noses before she learns better…
Dave you seem to be practicing drawing the back of Sydney’s head here. It feels weird not looking at Sydney’s face.
Panel 3 more than makes up for it. Any more cuteness than that, on one page, and there would be readers dying of cuteness over exposure! Dave is saving lives by choosing other angles.
i thought harim needed to be fermiller with or see somewhere to teleport there. so did she teleport a short dissidence just to startle Sydney or has arc upgraded the comic store security and she can see the feeds?
Obviously not, since Haloteleported into an ambulance that she certainly had not visited previously. I think all she had to go by was Max’s mobile phone conversation and whatever she picked beforehand via video surveillance.
She new where the ambulance was though.
Similarly she probably looked up where the store was
Harem could see where the ambulance was parked at the bank, when it was being televised. As such, if any of the reporters here have been transmitting with live feed (or Leon happens to be tapped into the signal, even if they’re not broadcasting live), then Harem could ‘port in.
but she could see the outside of the ambulance and i would ague most people are fermiler with the layout of an ambulance if nothing else from TV . shops on the other hand change a lot in the layout and were people are standing. from my understanding of her powers harem would need more info than she has from first hand to teleport in to the shop
The shop is full of reporters. There’s news vans outside. All she had to do was be watching the news. Dave has already established that she can feel out an area a split second before she teleports and select a spot with room for her or the teleport will fail.
i dont think the news is live for this Sydney is not being a lot of help for a live interview situation. i am thinking they will take the footage and cut something together for the evening news
Nowadays I don’t think it’s unlikely that at least one of the reporters was feeding a livestream. The blogger, maybe.
Which may explain why Harem is there in the first place.
I see the dialog going something like –
Sydney: So why are you here?
Harem: I came to cover for you so you could go to HQ.
Sydney: And how’d you know I needed that?
Harem: Syd, the place is full of reporters, some of them are on live feed, and Joel mentioned it was ‘new comic day.’
Olivia: Don’t you need to be at HQ too?
Harem: Yes, and I am there now.
Olivia: Huh?
Sydney: So why are you here?
Harem: I came to shut you up so you stopped talking in front of news cameras about how you have artifacts that GIVE you powers.
That’s not a secret anymore. There was a press conference.
Yeah, she already stated that in the press meeting. And what most of them do. Except for the yellow one, and the two unknown ones.
Harem could have popped in outside of the shop, looked in the window, then popped into the shop proper.
Good idea, I adhere to it.
You can get a solvent for that.
+1
To adhere? Wouldn’t be better a glue?
Stick with me, kid. We’re going places.
I’m really sorry, but this is killing me: familiar.
Harem, distance, argue
It took me a while before I realized that that was what “fermiler” was supposed to mean. So l0wten, are you dyslexic? It is really hard to read at times.
Back to Harem’s teleportation. We spend some time discussing how she avoids materialising inside solid objects, but what about the air? What happens to the air that took up the space she appears in?
Drat. Sorry, screwed up the tag. Is there no way to edit your message?
Sadly not. The best I can offer is this link:
https://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_links_w3schools
If you stick that into your bookmarks, you can test out any post before you hit the ‘submit comment’ button. There are a few minor differences (for instance that site does not recognise the spoiler tag), but for most purposes it is fine.
I believe it was l0wten who confirmed just that the other day.* We also have a large number of English as a second language readers. Some of whom are fluent enough that you would not notice. Others of whom can struggle at times.
But it is the message that is more important than how well it is structured. So long as we can follow the gist of the message, that is all we need. If something is ambiguous we can always seek clarification.
Most of the time though we just ignore typos that folks make. Barring those that make irresistible puns, of course. All too many of us suffer from that addiction.
* Apologies if I mixed up the names. That is my big problem. Any time I can’t see a name on the page, or in the Who’s Who, I am as likely to have my brain give me the wrong one. We all have our foibles. Sometimes they cause confusion, but we can work around that.
I did indeed revile that small nugget of information a few days ago. along with a bilingual influence fucking with it even more. maybe one day i will drive you all crazy and post the un-spell checked posts instead
Heh, my posts have little red wiggly underlining spattered liberally throughout them, before proof-reading, so I know that feeling well. Whilst I used to go back and correct each as it occurred, I found that I would very often forget a key point (be it my own or one raised by the person I was replying to) or otherwise loose impetus in my response.
So nowadays I mostly just let them stand, and hope that my Jack Russell does not accidentally lean on the keyboard and prematurely trigger the ‘submit comment’ option.
“I’m really sorry, but this is killing me: familiar.” I suggest you seek the services of an occult veterinary clinic. Some familiars might be suffering from curses or other magical diseases, which would confound regular diagnosis and treatment.
I do empathise with your situation though, as I would hate for me own doggy to suffer a terminal ailment.
Just to point out, I think she can also teleport to people, so, considering she knows halo, /port. Its also equally possible she scoped out the store beforehand while everyone was checking up on the new mystery chick with the odd tube that moves.
Nope, Harem has a hard limit to mass, the Barret Rifle is pretty much her limit.
Traab was referring to using people as a destination point, rather than carrying them. I am not sure that is true mind. I know she can teleport to where any of her other bodies are. And she can use any of those to look at other locations. So anywhere any of her bodies can see is valid.
Likewise familiar locations. Such as her home or the Archon armoury. But, unless it is something that was mentioned in comments, I cannot remember an example of her teleporting to a person, under circumstances that could not be accounted for above.
Note that anywhere in Archon would be familiar to her. And she can easily have one of her bodies in the security surveillance room there, if she needs to check CCTV to see if the area is clear for arrival.
Actually all Harem needs is a location within her range.IIRC Dave said that unlike Nightcrawler she can “see” where she’s gonna appear a couple seconds before she does so she can adjust to avoid appearing in a wall or where someone is standing.
and THAT would be WHY she appeared BEHIND the counter next to Sydney… it’s the only place still left open enough to vorp into… the rest of the buildings floorspace is taken up by Racks and Reporters (and Reporters with Racks!)
She could be watching the news feed, there are a lot of cameras there.
According to Wiebe’s tumblr, when he was asked “How do you pronounce Stjepan Sejic?”
“He tells me it’s Steven Sejick.”
https://kurtiswiebe.tumblr.com/post/112937968671/how-do-you-pronounce-stjepan-sejic
Oh hey! I actually read Sunstone! Had no idea it was in book form now though, probably because I have been reading a ton of other comics lately. Definitely going on the wishlist!
There’s a place to keep up with such webccomics in print :-)
Oh wow! Thanks!
Yup, Stjepan is awesome. As is his wife Linda, also an artist.
Yeah I’ve been reading her Blood Stain comic (it’s also very good). Apparently the characters are in the same universe because they play a wow expy together.
Blood stain is a good one ^_^ I hope she updates soon so we aren’t on tenterhooks with that cliffhanger too long…
Yeah, I’m totally loving her webcomic too! I wonder if Blood stain might show up in the comic shop as a cameo purchase.
there is a thought will Sydney need to set up a teleport spot for harem. a space that is always kept empty so she can jump in without hitting anything in an emergency?
Usually teleporters have a secondary power that prevents them from teleporting inside of someone
Given the explanation of how the range on her powers works, I imagine she was looking into the store, from somewhere.
My guess is that this is more than a social visit. She probably vorped in to remind Sydney that she is to report to headquarters for training that afternoon.
(And to plant the secret listening device so that Deus could listen in on her private conversations).
we know she is there for a resion she is in uniform
Or, she’s there as Sydney’s lift? (Has she charged her technobangle yet? They may be checking why she’s not answering her mail)
*sighs* Harem cannot teleport people. This has been stated by Dave multiple times.
Yeah. If anything I think it would be checking up on the lack of response to her bracer comm.
She could teleport a small child or maybe a dwarf if she got naked.
Nope…Nothing living. If Harem tried to ‘port with a living plant in a small pot of soil, at best the pot & soil would ‘port with her, leaving the plant behind. Even if it’s all within her weight limit, Harem can’t ‘port living things.
Convenient! So, regular ‘porting may provide immunity to bacterial illness, such as tuberculosis? (Does a virus count as ‘alive’ enough to also be un’portable?)
On the other hand – if a body gets pregnant, I assume it would best be “grounded”?
There must be an exception for things which are a part of her. Or she would have died off long ago. Bacteria play an important part in the digestive system, for example. And there are a host of ‘good bacteria’ which have a symbiotic relationship with us.
Each human actually has way more organisms in their body that do not carry their genetic code, than cells which do.
Possibly that aspect of the power would be sophisticated enough to differentiate between native organisms and hostile intruders. In which case your proposal would be valid.
However, I suspect that once Harem has been infected by something, it will travel with her. And if that applies, then pregnancy should not be a problem either.
Of course that could potentially also allow teeny heroes (or villains) to hitch a ride, say in her ear. But that is the fun of super powers. There is always some loophole, to a power, that can be exploited in unusual ways.
my biggest question would be what if she created anther body that is a copy of a pregnant body? would she create anther baby and if so would the to children have the same quantum entangled brain that harem has? after all the shared brain seams to be a side effect of the creation of multiple body’s by her power rather than a power in its own right
Currently Harem is at a limit of five bodies. If that is finite, then this situation will never arise, as she will not be able to create any more new copies of herself.
Should Punk become pregnant, and she, and all the other bodies be put into storage, except one, as each is recalled from storage they come out in exactly the same state as they went in. None of the other bodies were pregnant on being stored, so none of them will copy the foetus when being recalled from storage.
Whereas when Punk comes out, she will be at exactly the same stage of her pregnancy, as when she went in. Possibly, if Harem becomes over-protective, she might put Punk into storage whenever there is a hint of danger. Thereby spending weeks or months in storage.
In which case Harem could experience extremely protracted pregnancies, when measured against the calendar passage of time experienced by the rest of the world. Even though Punk, and her baby’s, biological development would progress at the normal rate, when viewed in their time frame.
But, if she can make another body, and does so from a pregnant body, I think she would duplicate the baby too. And it’s brains* would be quantum entangled with each other (but not with Harem). Provided my assumptions in my previous post turn out to be correct, that is.
So I would agree with your implication. Even if the baby does not inherit any of the super perks, such as good looks, or her super powers (i.e. the teleportation), it could have the telepathic capability that Harem does.
that depends if she can make anther number 5 if something happens to one of her body. say if punk gets shot can she make a new fifth? if so then it could come up if one of her bodys is on maternity leave wile the outers are on call for emergency’s
Indeed. But that is just one way of making more copies. Deleting one, and replacing it being one route. Finding a way to increase the limit being another.
Or, possibly, she might develop a power stunt where she puts most of her bodies in storage, then copies the remaining one, to make identical versions of that body. Tattoos, babies and all.
Provided she does not try to call the others out of storage, whilst those are still active, it may be a way of working around her limit.
And if in a survival situation where she could not simply teleport off to resupply, it would be a useful way of feeding any starving companions!
“Here, eat this body, I will make another, when it starts to go off. Just make sure to cook me well, so that the diseases you can get from cannibalism are mitigated, as best as possible.”
i dont know it would probely coarse all sorts of physiological problems watching someone eat your body. at least eat in the way you are talking
Very much so. But psychological problems can be cured. Death though? That is harder.
i a comic world its really not death tends to be an inconvenience at best physiological problems from watching bad things tend to be the coner stone of a character
I doubt DaveB will undervalue death, or demean it’s meaning. Your very statement shows the loss to the genre. Temporary death or misdiagnosis aside, it is one of life’s absolutes. Comics, and other stories, allow writers to overcome that.
However, in my opinion, it is only worthy of doing that if exploring the issues relating to that. Not if just using it as a get out of writer’s block free card. If a popular character has died, they should not just be brought back. Not even if a good story-line can be made out of it.
Which, in this example. would make the death by starvation a very real, and permanent threat. Would Dave go to the same dark place I did? I doubt it. The tone of the comic is not melancholic.
But it could make a gag, by pointing that out as an absurd solution. Or, if trying to drive home how dangerous a situation is, it can be proposed as a “If we can’t find some other solution, here is a last-resort that we can turn to”.
So that would explore the potential, but without having to go to the gory conclusion and traumatic aftermath.
As DaveB phrased it (possibly nothing alive) there is room for that.
Anyway I’m with Yorp about her power having “inner environment” discrimination.
Discussion with Harem: so, you can’t teleport someone else with you?
no, sorry, nothing living
okay, so, if you stopped my heart here and teleported me to the hospital where they could restart it…
hmm, a possibility, but I might also have to saw off your arms and legs
ah, well never mind, then
I’d conjecture that if Harem gets a viral or bacterial infection, then it’s up to how soon she can un-teleport a body to try shaking it off…If she starts to show any symptoms, then her body has already started incorporating it & the infection would ‘port with her until she’s cured.
Where was this stated?
DaveB said that Harem can’t port living things, but the “potted plant” extrapolation is my own, based on what Dave has said.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/345
End of the first paragraph.
That we don’t know for sure, DaveB‘s statement was that she can not carry people with her and possibly nothing alive.
Well, I did say that the “potted plant” example is my own interpretation. Until Dave either tells or shows us that she couldn’t ‘port a live plant, I’ll stick with it.
;)
Is a baby a people?
‘Cuz the 50 lb limit would eliminate 99% of humans, but not the small ones. Is there a practical difference between a baby and a dachshund? Or a potted plant?
Considering how long ago that was posted and what’s come since, I surmise it’s possible DaveB was just wanting to eliminate the possibility of moving another adult(ish) person (i.e. Sydney) around tactically, or saving everyone in the area of a bomb threat, etc. Quantifying and clarifying the weight limit does that for all practical purposes.
But if The Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight was going to bomb a nursery, could Harem ‘port all the babies to safety? Would doing so kill them for some reason? Would she just not “take off,” or would she ‘port while leaving them behind, even if she tried?
I submit that we don’t know for sure, and that’s how Dave probably likes it.
Dunno about Dave on that, but it sure is how I like it. We get to find out stuff as Sydney does. And it it takes her by surprise, then the same goes for us. Not knowing makes it interesting.
Yeah, Abbey is the Harem who has been seen dealing with Douche, whether that is coincidence or deliberate remains to be seen
*Three* Deviantart accounts, there’s also https://wanderers-of-ravine.deviantart.com/ for his fantasy comic Ravine. It’s new, so it doesn’t have as much traffic as the other two ^^
Until now, server crashin time.
I think DA can handle a few links from Grrl Power. :)
I dunno, we have crashed a few servers when you recommended something to us before. =P
DA though is not just any site. It is the biggest online artist community in the world. It will be designed to cater for traffic of hundreds of thousands of hits, or more, coming in from plugs by household names. Even a daytime TV mention would cause more traffic than we could muster. Yet.
this then is a goal?
*evil grin* yes, yes it is.
Absolutely! Our target is a readership of at least a million. Dave will then just have to use his power wisely. Presumably warning a site that they will need to upgrade their servers, it it is not robust enough to withstand him giving them a shout out.
Get Totalbiscuit to mention it, that’s a definite way to crash any site.
or Kewdiepie
Or the Vlog-Brothers Hank and John Green. Nerdfighteria could almost be a superpower.
I can’t believe that Olivia just literally asked Sydney to pop her cherry in front of a room full of reporters.
Hmm. A female who does not wear revealing clothes or makeup and her friend who complains of ‘dumb boy stuff’. Let the rumors begin!
got to disagree on the revealing’nes of her cloths yoga pants and relatively tight tops like she has bean depicted in dont leave a lot to the imagination.
that and this is not the start of the rumors they started with the last panel on this page https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/57
I’m pretty sure O.B. Juan was referring to Sydney as the non-revealing-clothes-wearer…
fair i got it wrong now i reread it
rumors went bazooka with her taste in books :)
O_o() SO any girl who exibits some modesty and/or practicality is assumed to be a lesbian these days? Are you guys really that desperate?
From the end of O.B. Juan‘s sentence, namely “… in a room full of reporters”, I took it to be a warning on talking using such terms. The rest of it would just be a commentary on how they might interpret it.
That said any of us guys are prone to enjoy the prospect of a lesbian relationship. I think a lot of blokes have the attitude of “if I can’t be the lucky guy, I would rather see her kissing another girl, than some other guy”. Even though we know that Sydney does not lean that way. Nor is it likely in these circumstances, for that matter.
But, regardless, I could not picture O.B. Juan making an out and out sexist remark, even though it was perfectly fair to interpret the statement that way. At the most he was making a play on the wording. Which, ahem, I have been known to do a bit myself.
it’s been questioned before:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/696
but I suspect it’s more because of Olivia, her flirting, and buying a lesbian romance novel.
Sorry to take so long getting back to reply, but it was supposed to imply that the reporters would take the exchange as an opportunity to make up wild speculations to boost ratings.
FYI: May place of work has updated their firewalls to keep out ‘potentially unsafe sites’ and GP has been put on a blacklist. Apparently the recurring JAVA gibberish has been enough to trip some flags. As a result, I can now only comment if I do so before work and after returning home. Dave may want to check again with the big web security providers to see if he has been locked out of other distribution lists.
P.S. I am going into a slight case of GP withdrawal over this. I need my fix!
that very well might be part of why harem popped in.
Getting revenge is she?
In that case she is lucky that Sydney switched her standard reaction fron offense to defense.
I actually laughed (out loud) when I read Sydney’s sports knowledge was “Did you see that ludicrous display last night?”
That’s the problem with Arsenal. They always try and walk it in
Pretty much the same reaction I have regarding professional sports…Except that I don’t even watch it in the first place, so not likely to make reference to any kind of “display,” let alone as “ludicrous.”
The best usage of the word “ludicrous” I can recall is “Ludicrous Speed, Now!”
;)
“They’ve gone to Plaid!”
She may or may not have more knowledge regarding sports than sports talk (which was what Dave actually said). My knowledge of sports talk is not much better, and I am a guy.
she is lucky she didn’t get punched this time…or stuck with a sharpee up her nose for that matter lol
Dave, in the next-to-last panel, if the speech bubble that is coming from off-screen is for Olivia, then it is coming from the wrong side. Olivia is established to be on the right of Halo, not the left. And I do understand you are trying to set up the last panel, so the layout is difficult.
no olivia is on the customer side of the counter (you can see the shelves behind her then halo moves back behind the counter to deal with a customer (who may or may not be a reporter) it has also bean shown that the store has an L shaped counter the most likly place olivia is is behind sydney and that would make the speech bubble right
Umm… I think Unmaker is correct. It’s an L-shaped counter, narrow side toward the windows, long side across the ends of the shelves. Olivia is on the far side of the pass-through, placing her on Sidney’s far right, since Sidney is near the corner of the “L” when Harem appears with the windows behind her.
Far easier explanation is that Sydney just turned around after grabbing the customer’s items (pulls) and then Olivia would be on her left. Since I’m not seeing any reporters or other customers behind or around Olivia, I suspect she is behind the counter with Sydney (being an acquaintance/almost friend and therefore “trustworthy”). Nothing says that Sydney isn’t allowed to turn between panels.
Yeah, it should be coming from the other side but then the tails would be crossing or it’d look like the girl with the cap was saying it. It’s not optimal, but after nearly forgetting to post the comic last night, as I got up to go to bed, I remembered that and sat back down, then remembered I was going to tweak Olivia’s dialog a little to up her excitement level and had to add a balloon then shuffle some of the others. If I had done that from the beginning I would have layed out the panels slightly differently to make room for all the dialog I wanted.
It’s not optimal, but… You could drop the balloon down next the countertop on Sidney’s right and point the tail sharply to panel right …that should get the correct effect (at the sacrifice of some of the art, admittedly).
Dave – you’re pretty spot on with Watchmen. They’re all just people in a f*cked up world.
The movie (esp. the extended version) is pretty faithful to the comic and no one except Doc Manhattan actually has any powers — (his powers allowed him to facilitate a lot of nigh-impossible technological advances, even Rorschach mask is just some applied phlebetonium fabric).
Also, anyone who got confused by the move or not should read the book. The movie is indeed very true to the book, but it’s so to say “the straight line through the story” with very few little omissions, not that there is anything wrong with that. But the book contains some additional sub-stories in text-only form that also set up the background of the whole universe. And the little omissions wouldn’t change the movie, but they have their value within the story.
(And yeah, Dr. Manhattan was the only one who had true super powers, got them in a freak scientific accident. Alas, Ozymandias is “the smartest man on the planet” – that is his real super power, being fast enough to catch a bullet is only “something else” he can do.
All the others are just playing super heros, quite knowingly, with Rorschach and The Commedian being somewhat exceptions. And neither of these two are heros as a hero should be. No one is really. This is better transported in the book than in the movie.)
Watchmen is about the psychology of what kind of people would put on masks and beat people up as a hobby. Powers are immaterial to that pursuit. Dr Manhatten is the only being with super-powers (In the comic a famous quote concerning him is “Superman is real and he’s an American.” It’s revealed to be a misquote, the General actually said “God is real and he’s an American.”) His abilities also allow for some super-tech to be created by others.
Ozymandius does catch the bullet and appears to be at or beyond the peak of human performance in every way. He’s also probably the product of NAZI ubermensch experiments.
Everyone else in the book/movie has no powers per se. Just like Batman and friends. Or Tony Stark, technically. Or Bullseye, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Green Arrow, etc, etc… Powers are not actually a prereq to being a super-hero. Just ask Math.
it helps when you realize whatchmen is based on an actual comic universe- charelston comics.
Dr Manhattan – Captain Atom
Night Owl- Blue Beetle
Rorsarch- Question
Silk- Black Canary
etc, etc… now most characters in that universe don’t have powers per see, it’s very much a batman style universe.. which is why when DC bought them, years ago, they were all folded into the Gotham books; Black Canary mostly shows up in Batgirl, Birds of Prey, or Green Arrow.
now they are more than ‘just vigilantes’ as the characters do have the super power of being more than super humanly good at something- for example I’d put even odds on Black Canary taking down Math any day; in just a straight up fight she can take Batman.
what watchmen was about is a deconstructiuon of super hero tropes; take people like that and put them in a realistic, flawed universe… just because you can beat six guys up at once doesn’t mean you can solve crime, and to a person with captain atom’s powers… what does humanity even matter anymore?
Minor correction: Black Canary wasn’t a Charlton character. She was appearing in DC comics *long* before they bought Charlton. (Her first appearance was in The Flash in 1948.) Silk Spectre was more based on a Charlton character named Nightshade, who did have powers, but Moore tweaked some details when he changed the characters from their Charlton roots.
And BTW, Watchmen was a *much* better comic than movie IMHO. The movie was reasonably faithful to the comic, but it was sort of like watching a plot summary of the comic. In addition to the movie stripping out the text pieces at the end of each issue, the comic was dense with background details. It also had some literary devices that don’t translate well to other media; for example, the panel layouts in one Rorschach-centric issue were symmetric across the comic to reflect the symmetry in Rorschach’s mask. And when he cut from one panel to another, the words or poses often drew a relationship between the panels that was independent of the narrative. I think I had to read the typical issue about 5-10 times before I stopped noticing new things each time.
Heck, I’ll go one step further and say that I think Watchmen worked better as 12 issues rather than a graphic novel. I’ve read it both ways (I was buying the issues when they came out, and bought the GN later), and it flowed better the first way. When you read the GN, you tend to jump straight from one issue to the next, but each issue often had a mood or theme of its own. It gets diluted when you cram them together. That’s one lesson people learned since Watchmen: limited series since then tend to get written so that they’ll flow well when they’re collected, but GN collections weren’t that common when Watchmen came out, and Moore wrote the flow around individual issues IMHO.
Silk Spectre was a reinterpretation of Nightshade in the original pitch, but she’s based on Black Canary, not on Nightshade. Really.
The original pitch was, “Publish my AU fanfic of a bunch of Charlton characters I don’t even like; I’m getting rid of all their powers, and giving everyone but the Blue Beetles asshole personalities, but I think you’ll do it because I’m Alan Moore.”
Dick Giordano told him to make up his own characters. Well, have Dave Gibbons make up characters.
Captain Atom and Nightshade had powers. I don’t know if the original Blue Beetle did or not.
The original Blue Beetle did not. Just tech.
The two versions of Night Owl are based on the first and third Blue Beetles. The Fox character was a cop Dan Garret, who had superpowers at various points. Charlton bought Fox’s properties and revamped Blue Beetle with a slightly altered spelling. Dan Garett was now an archaeologist with limited superpowers he was permanently killed off by Charlton and replaced by Ted Kord who had a lot of gadgets but no powers.
Ozymandias has powers. He’s a low level speedster with immortality.
Um…. Ozymandias is a peak level human from what I remember them saying IN the comic and movie. Not immortal.
That is what he led them to believe throughout most of the story. His reaction speed is actually beyond human though, and he reveals in the end that he is actually Ramses II and is immortal.
Where exactly are you getting this from?
Pretty sure he’s just peak human in the same way that Cassandra Cain from the Batman comics is peak human. Both are able to somehow dodge bullets without having any sort of ‘metagene’
Sort of like Mathias too :)
While I mostly agree with this, it’s worth noting that the movie took some liberties. The fight between Ozymandias and The Comedian has some blows and actions that are a little beyond normal human limits. The Comedian punches through plaster walls without injury, but that’s a fleeting image and easily ignored; write that off as high-level adrenalin. Ozymandias, on the other hand, throws the notably heavier Comedian as though he was lighter, punches him down into and through what looks like a marble counter-top, then picks him up bodily again – with one arm, this time.
Is it possible? Yes, if you hand-wave the idea of someone (Ozymandias) having human-limit strength and having only a lightly-toned body appearance. Having that level of strength would have noticeable effects on his overall muscle structure and skin.
It would be easy to wave it away as him using superior martial arts training for things like Aikido to use Comedian’s own strength and weight for the maneuvers, except for the last one. He lifts The Comedian UP mostly using one hand, and holds him there for a few seconds before tossing him out the window. Aikido could not do that. No form of training could.
Little details, sure. Easily hand-waved away and ignored. But those struck me poorly, temporarily dragged me out of the suspension of disbelief when I first saw the movie. If I hadn’t read the comic when it came out, I never would have even noticed any of that, other than thinking it was an extremely violent brawl.
Wow…look at all the comments so far…and not one from Yorp.
Also, why did I know that was going to happen as soon as Sydney got stuck there alone? I knew it was either going to be Harem popping in or Max flying in. I see either a “You’re late.” scenario coming in, or a random emergency scenario coming into play which will hopefully be a kitten stuck in a tree.
He’s probably still at work lol
Not that it’s stopping me…
I’m at work as well…but I have enough downtime to do whatever I want.
Aww, nice to be missed. I try not to camp update time. Usually I get taken for walkies around then. But we have had some poor weather recently, hence often having to go out whenever the opportunity presented itself. In which case I will logon, if it fits into my work schedule.
In this case though a friend needed emergency dental treatment, so I had to guide her to an English-speaking dentists.
So you not only comment on heroes, you are one in real life. :-) (good dog)
*wags tail happily*
So, you’re not only involved with Sydney’s first marketing strategy, but you can also act as a guide dog…
What other surprise-skills are you hiding under your fur?
:)
I could kill 100,000 people, using nothing more than words. It is not exactly a nice skill, but it does otherwise match the criteria you specified.
:-(
My previous skill is rather a downer mind. Fortunately only a theoretical one and a very loose approximation, albeit based on sound knowledge. But let me think of another, more cheerful one. Umm… arr…
Err… Sadly I do not appear to possess many useful hands-on skills!
Ooh, ooh. Here is one. Untrained mind. But I do have an uncanny talent to get people to open up. Even totally unintentionally. Somehow, within minutes of meeting me, all sorts of folks open up with their troubles, or even deeply private matters.
I guess I might have missed my vocation. I would probably have made a good counsellor. I certainly have to fulfil that role out here. All to many folks locally have no access tor any kind of mental health care. Be it victim support, grievance counselling, addiction support group or whatever.
Obviously my first advice is always to seek professional help. But that is rarely an option for people here. So I very often have to help out. As best as I am able, anyhow.
Yeah, it’s always good to include the disclaimer that, regardless of what you say, they should seek professional aid. It’s just that sometimes an “untrained mind” will recognize relevant factors that might be missed or overlooked by a “trained mind.” Sometimes, the training restricts diversity in thought a bit too often…
Maybe you don’t have any “hands on” skills, but what about “paws on?”
:D
remember Sydney is not on call for dealing with supers atm she is still a recute who needs to go through basic (though i think it will need a new word for arc nothing basic about training to use powers)
That’s why I’m hoping Harem says “We have an emergency.” getting Sydney all excited, and then it’s just a kitten in a tree which starts up some very basic training/ Harem having some ‘initiation’ fun.
Though this would be a D**** move, I can see it happening… Or sending her to anvil to get a left-handed wrench….
Those sort of jokes are common in any group. It is up to the boss to be sure it doesn’t go beyond silly errands and embarrassing ‘lessons’.
A Dutch move? Where did this sudden slap at the Dutch out of left field come from?
I think we should put a cap on it.
Oh, there will be basic training. ArcSwat is a combination of a police special-forces unit and a military special-forces unit; the basic level of law and procedures that the rank and file of *either* half need to know, discipline, and basic teamwork need to be instilled in every member.
On the other hand, every super on the team needs to know a fair amount about superpowers in general, more about those of other team members, and quite a lot about their own. They should eventually develop The Book of Genre-Savvy, with quite a lot of interesting combinations of Power A and Power B and what can be done by using them jointly even if they are from different supers… but that Book does not currently exist and it looks like the closest thing they have to it is the chaos that is Sydney’s Brain.
+1
They might even start taking up the playing of super-hero RPG’s…Under Sydney’s direction, of course. This might go a long way towards the initial write-up for the Book of Genre Savvy, wouldn’t it?
And another continuity consideration: white-haired Harem doesn’t have a consistent style of glasses at all. For example, compare today’s page with Pain Reaction. I do realize they are a fashion accessory, so she has every right to change them at will, so this is just an observation.
im a guy who dusent take fashion in to acout at all and even i have 3 different pairs of glasses that i switch between
considering the other bodies don’t use glasses it’s kind of an accepted fact they are “Clark Kents”
Oh geeze. Most of the errors like that are because I “know” what certain details are like so I don’t have to check them. I think they are the thick black rimmed ones in other pages so maybe I should change those.
Actually, it’d be kind of cool to have Harem have themes for the fashion of her multiple forms instead of a set outfit. This way, the slight changes in clothing would actually match.
A quick archive scan shows that – apart from #72 (“Pain reaction”) – they were always with squared lenses and thick frame sides.
Harem, were you waiting until Sydney’s hands were occupied to do that? Cause the last time you surprised her like this, you wound up with a broken nose.
How often do you think Harem jump scares people? It must happen all the time. We need a jump scare montage page.
if we do build a montage page do we include lightstorm as jump scares?
i would have to say, NO.. Lightstorm was a preplanned AND PRACTICED event, that all participants were well aware of what was happening, except for the villains.
Dave B. I believe you are missing a “think” in the second paragraph between I and that.
Got it. I removed the “I” instead.
Technically the Comedian was a socialpath, not a psychopath. The Comedian generally killed under orders or when he completely lost control but it didn’t mean that his sanity was slipping at times. Right after he shot the girl that stabbed him he turned to Manhattan and why, as a God-like being, didn’t he stop the Comedian or the bullet (suggesting a moment of lucid remorse).
If any character was psychopath in the movie based on his action, it would have been Rorschach. He exhibited many of the classic compulsive disorders of psychos but unlike most, he was fixated on criminals rather than other typical targets, becoming rather like Dexter from the TV show. I think this was Moore’s comment on the typical DC “Batman” vigilante being the opposite and equal to criminals like the Joker. That the only thing that separates Batman from being a psychotic criminal is that Batman checks himself: he’ll maim but he won’t kill. Rorschach has no such compunction.
Sociopathy is actually pretty much identical (and the term is used interchangably with) Psychopathy. If someone is a sociopath, they’re also a psychopath, because the two words mean the same thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy#Sociopathy
If you believe they are the same thing, then you are a complete nutjobber!
Can’t it be both?
In the minds of some but those individuals tend to be ignorant (lacking information) at the very least. True psychopaths can not understand the difference between right and wrong. Sociopaths understand the difference but are incapable of caring.
1) I was referring to the “then you are a complete nutjobber” comment with the “can’t it be both”, and
2) Only a small subset of the psychological community differentiates between those terms in that manner, the rest either use them interchangeably, or regard them as the same but prefer the use of one term over the other due to the implications of the component words, as explained at the like that was provided.
*link, not like…
Actually there is a major difference between psychopathy and sociopathy. Psychopaths feel driven to kill. Part of their psychological makeup is an event which they either try to recreate (becoming serial killers) or which spurs them on to kill others in whatever form they please (becoming multiple murderers).
Sociopaths simply cannot feel human emotion the same way everyone else does. There are theories that this may have ties to autism but as with most psychology they are just theories. Because they can’t feel empathy sociopaths are more prone to killing someone innocently, but they are not driven to do so. It comes down to internal logic. If they can reason out that they will likely get caught and punished for it then they will likely not kill anyone. In other words sociopaths can function in society without murdering others where psychopaths cannot.
I was once told that the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is that while the latter is incapable of things like empathy or remorse, the former is but can simply shut it off if/when they deem it beneficial to do so.
Should probably have said “the former is capable but…”
I will stay out of the semantics, as I use terminology in these areas in a general language sense, rather than using clinical definitions. I can usually convey the gist of a point, using the terms loosely. So, personally, I would not seek to differentiate between those two words. Given that, even in professional circles, they are not precisely defined.
As regards the point you were making though, personally I do not view it as ‘turning it off’. I see it as having the capability of emulating empathy and emotion, but without experiencing it. Intellectually they can see the benefit to appearing to have those qualities. Others will treat them better, and they can get rewards for doing it right. But as they do not actually feel the emotions, they only need practice these techniques when it suits their ends.
Not hugely different to your way of stating it, true, but it can have real implications for some things. Such as in a life-or death situation. If they viewed you as a true loved one, they would not choose to turn off that feeling.
If, however, they have only ever ‘played the part’, because that is what society expects, and that is the best way of getting you to go along with their aims, then you are in serious danger. They will not value your life or well-being above their own. There will be no point keeping up the pretence, if it comes down to a choice between them or you.
I say ‘they’, but it is actually true of everybody, to some degree. Whilst you either have emotion or you do not (those who are on the autistic scale progressively experiencing less, for instance), empathy is a social skill, which is learnt by exposure and experience. Nobody is born empathic.
Girls notably develop it much earlier than boys. And I can remember a time when I was very much lacking in such myself. Some individuals do not grow up in an environment where such can readily be learnt. So may either be late developers, or may eternally be stunted.
However, in some individuals, that learned experience simply does not get linked into the emotions (or said emotions are lacking in the first place). And, as I feel is true with many things, this need not be an on/off situation. There will be individuals who have a weak link and others who may have a variable link.
Possibly some aspects forming such links, and other not. Being able to empathise over some things, but not others.
Think of Heavenly Sword, when trying to kill Dabbler.* She was clearly lacking in empathy as to how traumatic such an act would be for her friends and loved ones. Let alone the emotional impact, of the attempt, on the victim herself. Yet she freaked out at the sight of Achilles blocking the sword with his eye!
Funny though that was, it is easy to follow how, realistically, somebody could be squeamish about the potential injury that could be sustained. She could readily envisage that happening to her. Yet friends and loved ones grieving? That just slid by her.
* Although we should take into account the probability that her behaviour was being influenced by the aggro aura, we can still discuss her personality, as it presented at that time.
Can’t agree. Psychopaths/Sociopaths don’t tend to (I say tend, since it’s possible they can) care. Rorschach wasn’t a psychopath. He was someone who cared to much.
What turned him into the violent vigilante he became? A child rapist/killer who fed the children to the dog. He knew the difference between right and wrong. He was someone who was tired of the evil he had been witnessing since he was a child. Who were the people he put into jail? Very violent and deadly people. The drawf was willing to kill his henchman to get at him. In fact, you got a judicial system that said “Let’s put him in with the people he put away” (or put people in with him where he was put away :p)
The Comedian? He seemed to know what was up more than anyone as was proven in the end. He just seemed to show how much he cared. This wasn’t to say he wasn’t flawed. Having no problems following orders doesn’t mean he’s a psychopath. I’d say he was just a realist who knew just exactly what people and governments were capable of. To say he was a psychopath would seem to say any soldier/agent was because they were willing to do such things. Him being a superhero makes a lot of sense as well. It fit in with his job skills.
Never got the psychopath feeling from them. Rorschach are the end wanted the truth to come out, not keep to the lies and was willing to having himself killed to keep it the truth from coming out. Just doesn’t seem like a psychopath thing to do. They tend to want to live.
In panel 5 I hear that “Show us your powers!” in the exact tone of voice as a drunk guy shouting “Show us your boobs!”
If there were superpowered people and they made a top 10 list of “Most annoying questions I get all the f***ing time, that would probably be in the top 2.
Also congrats to Sydney on the apparently successful reset of her “Punch the teleporter” reflex. Let’s hope that never comes back to bite her. ;P
If Sydney hadn’t reset her “punch the teleporter reflex,” then it would have been on camera & all over the TV broadcasts…Unless Leon got to them first.
On the other hand she’s SUPPOSED to grab her shield orb when startled.
As someone who stumbled across Sunstone some time ago on DeviantArt, I can confirm it’s quite good and very, very, NSFW.
*Sits in the corner and quietly geeks out about Sunstone* I didn’t even realize that was there until I read Dave’s notes.
Did someone get hit in the eye by the flying-sharpee? Or is it simply spinning end-over-end? And then hit someone in the eye :D
I’m assuming a cheekmark and marker to the chest/throat personally. Ok, maybe forehead.
Okay, let me get this out of the way: Read Watchmen. The movie did *not* do it justice. Borrow the book, buy the book, steal the book, if necessary, but just… read…Watchmen! Where as the movie made them look kind of awesome, you have to understand that the whole tone of the books, much like Venture Brothers, is about the beauty of failure. All of them are failures, to one degree or another. Manhattan fails to hold on to his humanity, Night Owl is a washed up has been, hell, Rorschach is defined by his greatest failure. Rather than it being something that crushes them, though, they continue to struggle against that failure and so rise above their humanity. Read this book, seriously!
Yeah, out of the three comics she used as an example of good supers stories, Watchmen was the only one that actually isn’t largely known to be trash. Then you got the fact you’ve got people in the comments here saying the movie was super faithful to the book. Killing Joke seems to be close to Avengers #200 for playing “shit wasnt my fault” and I don’t know a single person who read Civil War who cared about the characters who enjoyed it, except for the blindest of X-men fanboys. Not bashin on anyone’s opinions, but seriously Killing Joke was disgusting.
I haven’t actually read The Killing Joke either. I probably should. I did read Civil War though, and the central storyline to it was pretty interesting, at least the question of “should supers have secret identities” and all the baggage like accountability that comes with it. Obviously that question has been preempted in the Grrl Verse.
The question of whether or not supers should have a secret ID or not really depends on what the major role of supers has in the world, in relationship to government, laws & society in general. In GURPS Supers, secret ID’s are pretty much expected if they don’t use their powers professionally. But when a super decides to use their powers professionally, they’re expected to give up the “secret” ID as well as meeting all of the professional requirements of licensing & certifications; for example, a Healer would also have to get the appropriate education, training & license for practicing medicine if they wanted to be a professional Physician or EMT Technician.
When in some level of government service, the government has to know their ID, but if they request the record sealed against public knowledge, that’s easily arranged. This is pretty much the “default level” as it concerns a normal Supers campaign & in conjunction with GURPS IST International.
Sarah, have to disagree on the Killing Joke. I consider it one of the better Batman graphic novels out there. It’s an excellent look at the Batman/Joker relationship, and how the difference between them is really a thin line of separation and how they deal with one bad day.
Civil War was an interesting idea on paper that turned into an unholy mess.
I really didnt like the Killing Joke either. Extremely mysogynistic comic story. Women in Refrigerator awful. The only good thing that came out of that comic is Barbara Gordon eventually becoming Oracle when she doesnt get her ability to walk back like every male superhero ever recovering from a grievous injury. Oracle is awesome.
And then they retconned it with that damned Universal Reboot.
The Killing Joke did some things right, and some things wrong. What it’s known for (the Batman/Joker dynamic being explored in new and exceptional ways, as well as the most interesting and genuine Joker characterization that”d been developed to that date) are its best points… but the criticisms of its other elements are entirely legitimate. It does have issues with women.
So, what’s Olivia’s skin tone supposed to be? Early in the comic and in Monday’s, she had a more olive complexion. Now she’s pale white, with shoulder freckles. She looks like a black-haired Harem clone now.
Yeah, she’s supposed to be olive, but maybe my palette has changed slightly in the last 4 years. SAI doesn’t have a palette export feature so I have to hand copy the swatches over each time I install it on a new computer. I may need to go back in and play with her hue a little.
More than a little sir.
When you look at her first appearance side by side with this page, it’s crazy!
Here, I stuck them side by side: https://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f93/Bounty42/Junk/grrlPower.jpg
The level of improvement you’ve shown over the years is amazing. But it also brings up lots of questions:
How much has newer software contributed/hindered the process?
How has “time to complete a page” changed?
Have you made conscious style changes in the wake of this becoming a ‘full time’ job?
I don’t see a huge difference. Certainly not a “crazy” difference. It’s not so different that a difference in lighting or time of day couldn’t explain it (although it’s the same location/time of day as her previous appearance, I know).
A quick look through the intertubes tells me there’s a way to restore old swatches…but this may be what you’re talking about. The sai.ssd file holds your swatches, and if you copy them over after running SAI for the first time it’ll restore the backup version.
Anyway, here’s hoping olive-skinned Olivia returns! She’s attractive either way but she doesn’t look like the same character. She’s shown up three times, in three different “blocks” of appearances, and she’s dramatically lighter every time.
It is mandatory for Olivia to be olive-skinned. That way I can remember her name!
And it does suit her much better. As per her Who’s Who image.
Oh Sydney. Why don’t you take your own advice?
ALWAYS.
EXPECT.
NINJAS.
+1
But…But…Harem isn’t a ninja.
Sydney will have to amend her expectations to include “Harem teleport” though.
I just noticed this, but Olivia and Sydney’s clothes are very similar in color/pattern. They could be on a team.
I assume Max sent her to get here rear in gear since I assume the pipmboy in under the counter or in the back charging.
Heh. Sydney’s behavior here is making me wonder how much of yesterday’s antics were because she forgot to take her medication. Then I remember her specifically saying she thought her medication was wearing off during the fight (?) last night, so obviously she took it.
Silly Harem! I know the shop is crowded, but you’re on the wrong side of the counter! ;P
I think I bumped into that following a friend of a friends favorites. His work was pretty and one shots/shirt ideas from there are sometimes fun but I never could bring myself to read that comic. Guess that particular type of bondage (maybe all of it) actually negates other good things its vicinity. (don’t mean I’m a prude, far from, just turns me off I guess. *shrugs* ). However I have this ticklish little half memory that his WIFE is also very good and she made something I did love but ate up all the updates for and forgot…. that half memory is telling me I desperately need to find out what his wife’s comic was and absorb all the updates made in my absence. So thanks for that accidental reminder.
Harem is probably going to start stealing the show from Sydney. Would be cute if they get in a minor “upstage” battle over the attention of reporters whose shows neither care about. I love that you keep making me squint at the posters in the background ( I probably don’t know any of them cause not a big comic reader but its information denied and I am a curious cat like creature I guess).
If Sydney had watched “A CertainScientifical Railgun”, she would have said “Asked Sydney with no ulterior motives”…
“A Wild Harem appears”??
THAT’S IT! One of her remaining spheres is a POKEBALL! Quick, capture Harem!
Nah, Harem has almost full HP. Sydney has to paralyze her first with her hot breath, else she will teleport away when she breaks the pokeball.
and one of the other two left is a bakugan..
Halo Character Sheet Update:
Disadvantage: Has colleague who can teleport anywhere she can see. Even on TV. (0 point modifier, as offset by advantages of same).
Harem character update:
Disadvantage: risks punch in the face each time she teleports to Halo
Sydney, y u put civil war on the same level as Watchmen & Killing Joke? Do you even lick goats?