Grrl Power #359 – Curses! I am pundone!
Sydney may need to re-up the Midol, and her pun game.
It is generally known, at least among the people who know such things, that super powers are hereditary, in that if one or more parents have them, then there’s a much better chance that the children will have them, or even if neither parents have them, if one offspring has them then there’s a better chance that more than one will. Given the low incident rate of super powers in the first place, that’s a difficult statistic to verify, but it has happened a few times.
Usually in the case when neither of the parents have powers, it seems to be that specific pairing which produces super powered offspring. Jiggawatt’s case is unusual where dad seems to be the “carrier,” or it’s just amazing coincidence that dad and each of the moms happen to pair up. As she has no other siblings there’s no way to tell.
It would really suck to have a brother or sister that had powers and you didn’t. I’m sure that’s been used as a supervillain origin more than once, cause man, talk about a sibling rivalry.
Update: The vote incentive is updated. I had dialog planned for the picture, but I think it works just fine the way it is. :)
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
I seriously love Sydney’s range of expressions and the gamut of emotions she shows through them. Likewise those she is interacting with. Very nicely done Dave.
If she was from Brazil and had the ability to infinitely magnify her bustline, THEN she’d be Bra-Zillion. >.>
“Oh no! There goes Tokyo! Go, go, Bra-zilla!”
And now, this MUST be drawn…Gimmee a week. I’ll make Dave bust a laugh out. ;)
Adam Stevens had powers in Bewitched. People who think he don’t either
1) are remembering the episode where he showed no powers and Samantha’s father tried to pretend he had powers, but forgot the ending (where it turned out he did have powers after all).
or
2) are remembering the Tabitha spinoff, where he indeed didn’t have powers–but this was not taken from Bewitched, it was changed for the spinoff. Also, he did have powers in the pilot for the spinoff.
Also, the person who remembered a timejump to college age was actually remembering the Tabitha spinoff.
There were in fact several real-world years between Bewitched and Tabitha, although not as much time as passed in the series.
Hey, DaveB, back in page #17, Sydney makes the comment, “…can’t wait for school to let out…”, I am assuming that she is not taking classes, but is referring to local high schools and/or colleges. Correct?
Otherwise, why is Sydney skipping class?
Maybe she is meaning the after-school crowd who hangs out in the hottest comic book store in the country :)
Oh right, that was pre-coming-out Sydney, but point still stands (she even mentions in the very next sentence about getting ‘some business up in this bitch’)
Yea, you are right. Checking out her dialogue, confirms that she wants the custom they will bring to the shop. There was no implication that Sydney, herself, is a student.
However I think I can narrow it down to being just the younger students who are not back in school, quiet yet. Given that Olivia is attending lessons in the afternoons. Unless she is on some kind of course that is not linked to mainstream term/ semester times.
One outside option is that school started today. But that seems odd, as yesterday was obviously a workday, and I assume that terms would not start mid-week. Plus Sydney’s dialogue did not imply that it was imminent. And, even if she had forgotten, how soon they were due back, Joel did not pick her up on the point. So that possibility seems very unlikely.
*scrabbles around for ‘edit comment’ button*
Darn, still not there!
Ignore second two paragraphs. I wandered completely off plot then somehow. Clearly the kids are in school, at the moment, and she is waiting for them to be let out. Which would match with Olivia’s routine too.
:D
You will find the ‘edit comment’ button on the end of your tail ;)
*running around in a circle*
Pant … pant … pant …
Almost caught it!
*carries on chasing tail*
We should call the Spin Department, of Archon PR, “Story Arcs”.
*Serendipitous tumbleweed rolls by*
I kinda liked that. Not enough for a full +1, but definitely a +0.78
^ Sydney could provide the image for their photographic ads…
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1506 (Panel 8)
Um, hi.
I haven’t checked up on this comic for a month or two, so sorry for being late on this comment, but I thought I’d mention (about page 352) that airports wouldn’t have circular “high traffic” zones around them, but something more double plume-shaped, as most planes pre-plan the trajectory of the runways and maneuver into position long before they would end up making circles around the airport itself (unless you get one of those movie situations where “bomb!”, so for some reason the planes can’t land and have to circle the airport until they start running out of gas {sorry, guess I watched too many 80’s and 90’s action movies as a kid}).
Right, so as I was saying, I only check up on this comic every once in a while (to have the luxury of reading several pages at once), and I’ve never commented.
But I did read them, and noticed that you genuinely read people’s suggestions and edit tips and consider them, and figured I’d offer this suggestion, for what it’s worth.
Anyway, sorry for not commenting before this, but I have been meaning to say that your comic fucking rocks.
I personally feel what sets this comic apart from other superhero comics (or almost any serious comic, for that matter), is your attention/respect to science and logic – in specific, just recently with the “localized gravity” hair joke, or just now with the “noisy pants” gag (much less the attention to detail in the combat), as opposed to going with whatever “looks coolest.”
Hi! The airports don’t have circular high traffic zones. The pins notating the airports themselves are round, but that’s just the graphic. The yellow blobs around them are the traffic zones. I figure each airport only has runways facing so many directions, so planes would take off from there and circle around as they lined up with their flight plans.
That is correct. Large airports will have multiple runways so that an aircraft can take off and land in the direction of the prevailing wind (or as close to it as possible) to maximize lift. Yes, ideally you want to maximize lift even when landing. It makes it easier to “wave off” if there’s a problem with the approach.
Runways can normally be used in either direction, and so will have a name for each direction. For example, a runway that runs east to west will be both 9L and 27R… except in the event of parallel runways. In that case, an L, C, or R is used to identify its position when facing its direction, so if you had *three* runways facing east-to-west, they would be 9L, 9C, and 9R when approaching from the west. (9L would be on the pilot’s left, 9C would be the one in the middle, and 9R would be the rightmost runway.)
Oh, and yes, they do have to change the designations as the magnetic poles drift. Fortunately, the drift is slow, so this doesn’t happen often, which is good news because it’s a pain in the butt to do. Taxiway numbers have to be changed, the big numbers at the end of the runway have to be repainted, and aeronautical charts and descriptive documents need to be changed.
Here’s the runway chart for O’Hare International Airport, just so you can get a better visual:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/ORD_Airport_Diagram.svg
I was personally assuming that is was more giving a general “Caution” zone, especially sine the display changes according to altitude and they were obviously flying lower than anything besides toy drones and maybe cruise missiles would realistically be flying.
And got Ninja’d by Dave. I feel so special now!
We are in a special club, wheee!
*discreetly passes over the “Ninja’d by DaveB” welcome pack*
Psst, it includes a 10% off voucher, for the T-Shirt with that slogan!
Hit bedrock, broke the shovel, and nearly broke an arm while falling over and crashing into the ground face first.
I’m loving the vote incentive, by the way. The question is how Sydney did that . . .
DaveB, you say you were originally going to put in some dialogue. I agree that it works fine as is, but if you aren’t going to put it in there sometime in the future, could you share what they were saying here? Pretty please?
Me too.
Maxima has to tell Halo off about a lot of things. Which would probably wear thin. But does appear to be what is happening. Therefore it is probably best left unsaid.
That said though, Sydney does have a cheeky look, despite Maxima looking miffed. So there is scope for witty dialogue. But finding something that matches all the elements, without having a lecture vibe, would not be easy.
But give it a try…
No other takers? Ok, here is my version.
Turgid Quiver anyone?
Loving it as well. Also wondering about the sky writing now that you mentioned it.
Crap. That was in response to Ignoble’s comment on the vote incentive. Ah well.
Don’t worry if your eyes are a bit wonky. Cute woofs will always find somebody to hug them!
Keep up the good work.
Heh. If there’s any dog who understands my, uh, ‘difficulties’, especially over a pair of comfy cushions, it’s be you. ^^
And thanks. Plan on keeping them up. :)
There is a complex of trait groups that seem random because they don’t appear very often so there is not obvious pattern. They would be recessive and maybe need a certain combination of genes to ever manifest. Now there would be those who have everything else but the turn on gene. So if someone found a way they could possibly bring more supers out. But it would be dangerous considering how important it is for genes to turn on and off at the right times to not kill the person.
Just testing to see if I can actually post a comment here.
Looks like it really did work.
Hello me. Be sure to post more, especially with such a good-looking avatar!
looks around warily*
Hey, why are you guys coming in here with a straight jacket? You are the men in white coats, arn’t you! No, no, I am not talking to myself! I am not going crazy! I was talking to Just Me. No, not me err…
*runs away quickly*
Wow, Kamala Khan :)
“Just me” is way too modest :P
Welcome, btw ;)
People and their silly names…
That is easy for you to say! :-P
Quite a few people here are lucky that DaveB allows us to use a pun hammer without him using a ban hammer…
Thank you for the amusing welcome. :-)
Mmmh. Now that you point it out Max didn’t seem to be concerned about to test Sydney’s ceiling without breathe aids to herself.
Intended to be a reply to Yorp
*sigh*
This one
It is one of Maxima’s flaws. Sometimes forgetting just how squishy everybody else is.
Not to a culpable manslaughter level mind. I am sure she would have gotten around to remembering that, in due course. Competent officers, of Maxima’s rank, do tend to think things through, before putting them into action.
For instance do recall her putting Sydney into the bomb-disposal suit. And then backing that up with the big block of steel, before proceeding with the shield test. It is just that, this time, Halo got there ahead of her.
Maxima is an Air Force officer with many years flying experience. I am confident she knows her capabilities, and limitations, well. If she is not concerned it is because she has good reason. That might simply be because, for high-altitude flight, she puts on her own flight suit and breathing apparatus, without a second thought.
But, of course, Sydney is not conveniently sized for any off-the shelf gear, hence Maxima realising (without verbalising the details) that it would delay the testing, until suitable gear can be found. The bomb-disposal suit could be worn, despite being way over-sized. But fighter-pilot outfits do things like squeeze the limbs, to ensure that blood does not pool in the extremities. They need to be a precise fit.
Well pointed out though.
This is very true. There is a reason Air Force fighter pilots have a height and weight limit, and it isn’t just so you look good in dress blues. Too tall, and you won’t fit into the cockpit. Gain (or lose) too much weight, and not only is it potentially bad for your heart (which is kind of an important organ when you’re making 9-G turns), but your flight gear will have to be re-fitted.
Just FYI, the helmet is over $1,000. The Nomex and aramid-fiber flight suit itself is “only” around $225, with gloves. Add another $1,375 for the oxygen mask. The anti-G suit you wear over the flight suit is surprisingly affordable, for about $130 (That’s Vietnam-era surplus, though. No idea how much new ones cost.)
It sounds cheap compared to the cost of the aircraft, but… and for once, I’m going to take a dig at Congress… they would rather spend billions of dollars on new aircraft that the Air Force neither wants nor needs (nor has enough pilots for), than to spend $3,000 on a new set of pilot gear just because a pilot gained a few pounds.
The anti-G suit and oxygen mask have to be plugged into the aircraft’s life support systems, so it wouldn’t do Sydney any good anyway. Plus, she doesn’t need the anti-G suit; her flight orb takes care of that. At altitudes below Angel 12 (that’s 12,000 feet for you non-pilot types), she can simply slow down to 100-200 mph (as I recall, that’s the top speed at which the flight orb itself can provide friction shielding) and lower her force field for a second or two to refresh the air.
If she was going to fly for any length of time above 12,000 feet, she could probably get away with something like a standard aluminum SCUBA tank connected to an air mask/regulator. That would be enough for 2 hours at ground level.
Just a note… girlie parts don’t make noises like that… If by ‘girlie parts’ you mean her uterus and are referring to menstrual cramps and not intestinal cramps (both boys and girls have intestines).
If her uterus made that kind of noise, she wouldn’t be speaking because that kind of horrible takes your breath away…
I have come to the conclusion that Vance must have illusion or mind-control powers, along with his other capabilities. Nobody, at all, has noticed the web he is weaving. Jiggawatt looked right past it, in panel 5, as if it was not there. And it should be in plain sight of both Halo and Ren.
Let us hope he is not about to cocoon Jiggawatt up and eat her!
Wow, good catch. That’s a lot of web laid out in the short time since the previous page. All those spiders working together do some impressive work!
sibling with no powers in a family of supers is the basis for at least one disney film and a webcomic called Atomic laundrymat
I personally don’t have a problem with puns, but I’m reminded of a scene in Beakman’s World were Josie the assistant once said to Lester the rat in a low threatening voice:
“Use a pun and go to jail.”
It occurs to me that Sidney’s really lucky that I’m not in that room with them, or I’d be very tempted to mention what I know about Aztec human sacrifice rituals, and how it would be a very bad idea to get an Aztec mad at you if you don’t want to see how those rituals are done first-hand.
Let’s just say that some of those rituals would make Clive Barker go “eww, that’s gross!”
Lol oh Ren, so funny, charming, big and dayum. Even after cabbage. :D
As a Brazilian myself, I did liked the footnotes pun
Aztec, tbf, is derived from what they called their land, Aztlan. Tribes went by other names such as Tenochca.
With an incidence of literally somewhere around one in a million (at least publicly), I’m not sure how you could confirm that they’re hereditary.
Assume that one parent having powers makes it a thousand times more likely for a child. Even with both parents being powered, you could still have a lot of children, none of whom are powered.
For the same reason, researching what genes could do this (assuming it’s genetic) would be really difficult.