Grrl Power #367 – Collar commandeering
I decided that since I have everyone in the same room I could have people other than the same dozen or so do all the talking. It means again I’m breaking my own rule about not including people into the Who’s Who until they’re properly introduced in the comic, but in this case it’s not spoiling the name of an unknown bad guy or something. Just giving you names to reference in the comments.
Of course just a few pages after joking about how bad guys are never named Kevin because they all have to have cool sounding names, I go and name a guy Konstantin Zaitzev. Granted most Russian names sound pretty cool anyway, well except Sacha, cause in America Sasha is a girl’s name. Not that girls can’t have cool sounding names or be bad guys of course, but you do lose some gravitas if you announce yourself as Penelope: Destroyer of Worlds!
Catherine has some weight to it, as does Morgan, Scarlett, Imogen, Harley, Meredith, Gemma, most of the greek goddesses, Artemis, Hera, etc… Generally though women’s names aren’t meant to sound tough. It also depends on your personal experience with any given name, male or female. If you knew someone who was a real brat or a bully or a crybaby, it will color your perception of a name, and it only takes one dumbass celebrity to ruin a name for a generation.
Archon doesn’t exist in a vacuum of course, and like Zeph said, egos can get in the way of common sense. I joke about other agencies being secretly relieved about handing off potentially super dangerous investigations to them there in that last panel, but it’s incredibly easy to imagine a commander or squad who “aren’t impressed with those so called supers.” Truth be told it could actually pretty straight forward taking down a lot of supers if you were prepared and took them by surprise. A few agencies have done so in the past, (usually lethally) which emboldens others to try, but it’s risky. If you know what a super’s powers are, that evens the odds quite a bit, but if you just think you know what a super’s powers are, that can get you into a lot of trouble. For instance, if you think someone can turn to stone, you could bring a big rifle to take them apart. But if it turns out that person is Concretia, you could find out the hard way that blowing her apart only frees her up to create a new body elsewhere, then you could wind up with someone who can turn to stone who is also armed with a high powered rifle.
It always bothers me in shows when someone with some power, the genre doesn’t matter, could be Fringe, Buffy, SHIELD, Smallville, etc, they’re surrounded by armed cops or soldiers, told to freeze, and they start powering up an attack and takes them all out. I know it’s done for dramatic effect, but the instant that guy started doing anything besides laying down on the ground, he’d be riddled with so many bullets he’d be… let’s see, swiss cheese comparison, dick as a pencil, you get the idea.
Be sure to check out the slightly NSFW vote incentive (there’s prominent underboob) done by Sean Harrington of Spying with Lana. (Definitely NSFW. Like… hard R? Maybe hard PG-13. I don’t know, there’s non-explicit sex all over the place and “almost nudity” on practically every page, but check it out if you get the chance as it’s pretty funny and has great art.) You can comment on it here. Oh, and there’s a speed paint video of the picture here.
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.
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I really want the government to institute a Iron Man style super registration.
It’s already been established that isn’t going to happen. Forcing a bunch of supers to register would piss them all off and cause more headaches than they’re worth.
Better than a Civil War registry is to put up a bunch of signs of pretty members of Archon *Get’s knocked into low orbit by Maxima* members of Archon to pose for pictures like the old Uncle Sam posters with the phrase “I want YOU! To make a lot of money! Supers join Archon now!” And let the supers come out or the woodwork voluntarily.
Hell, even if it’s just to join a voluntary database for freelance solutions to odd jobs they would still have them on a registry without need for a nasty line in the sand which someone would have to cross for principle’s sake.
This was a way better way to solve this problem. though it seems that Archon isn’t the only company hiring supers. Heroes in this world are better for it since being super is just now coming out.not to say that powers weren’t out before this obviously just registering isn’t some large problem here since its one of the starting paths. but for marvel they were way too late. super heroes were going around since the ww2 and uncontrolled and unorganized. there aren’t any real plusses to being a registered hero in marvel. for street heroes like spidey and daredevil where at a drop of a hat they could be framed like they often had been. they would have been promptly discovered and arrested for crimes they didn’t commit. also there are way too many tech villians who could abuse that power who can take their names and hunt their families. its simple but way too dangerous to compile all of the heroes names and such there. * dark reign kinda was a proving point to what happens when a known evil gains that knowledge. though tony did disable him from abusing most of it.
You mean sending super villain teams to assassinate top heroes for shits and giggles?
They already established that supers are valuable national resource. You make life uncomfortable for them- they desert to nicer countries. Or they throw a tantrum that can be measured on Richter scale.
Technically, Peggy falls into that potential. Her first sniper shot to the eye during the big fight would have killed him. If he didn’t already have a certain level of toughness.
Potential for Super Hero teams that is. I misread the villain part
They are effectively.
Zephan just announced they are doing that for all supers that they find, regardless of their criminal or innocent status. Using the pretext that it is for use in case of emergencies. This contradicts their public statement about not doing that.
Albeit that, technically, the press conference merely said that there would be no compulsory registration. As opposed to guaranteeing that the state will not be maintaining secret files on its innocent civilians.
There is a significant difference between:
“Anyone with superpowers needs to let us know, or that person is committing a crime”
and
taking notes in case its relevant.
True. The ones who are paranoid, and do not reveal their powers in public, will avoid being shipped off to the death camps. Should that come to pass.
Not much consolation for the others mind.
It’s no different then what the Government already does. Anyone who draws there interest is going to have a file. Superpowers is just an interest drawing factor.
Yep, no arguments, that is the status quo in the USA. So the comic is realistic. Although it has, inadvertently, drawn back closer to the Marvel universe. But rather than having the information gathered openly under legal sanction,* it is instead being obtained by a state secret police force.
That actually makes the parallel with the pre-Holocaust Gestapo
much closeridentacle.Not that I am seriously worried mind. I am sure the only intent, for our comic, is as presented. But the risks of misuse are present, all the same.
* Not that I am saying mandatory registration is better.mind.
they keep record on those they encounter in the performance of their duties like every competent law enforcement entity in the world. they aren’t even actively tracking those they encounter just a file saying “we’ve met this guy, at this time, doing this, and we observed these powers” that’s roughly the same that gets recorded every time you get a speeding ticket(except i doubt your displaying superpowers when you get the speeding ticket). you give more personal information than that to google every day.
Not true. Not in any EU country.* This will seem wrong to anyone not intimately familiar with data protection laws though, so allow me to explain. Incident reports are one item. Any indexing to it potentially being searchable by criminals associated with it, times and dates, location, plus crime scene patterns or criminal profiling conclusions.
Up to this point, that is common to forces around the globe. However under EU law, it would be prohibited to index the data by witness names. Likewise for any private data, other than as listed above (a residential address is private, but there is a valid need for police to search by crime scene location).
More than that, it is illegal to have the data stored in such a way that an index could easily be set up. Thus the system must not allow data to be downloaded, for example into an Excel spreadsheet. It must be self-contained, with all the usual police system protocols, which prevent access except by specific authorised personnel. And it has to track every time it is accessed, and by whom.
This is all specifically designed to protect the personal data of private citizens. Cops go to jail if they circumvent it.
* My knowledge comes from the UK laws passed on this, but each country implemented them slightly differently. However they are all based on the same core agreements. So, although the specifics might vary, from country to country, the gist will remain the same. Needless to say not all countries enforce it as rigorously as others, but cest la vie.
Europeans are a little more intimately acquainted with the Stasi and similar Iron Curtain policing than most United Statesians. I myself am tempted to think that the US is going to have fifty years of hell figuring this out for itself.
We can’t even get term limits on Congress. Of course, if people would just vote for someone who HASN’T been in office longer than 10 years….
But, yeah. That, plus the amount of spying our government does on us; that’s not happening anytime soon.
I think the big mistake everyone seems to be posting under is the presumption that Archon is a law enforcement agency. They are not. They are a government organization that can step in to take on threats beyond the scope of normal police work as well as other non-combat jobs. The police shouldn’t track individuals unless they are criminals. A government security agency such as Archon or the NSA however must identify and keep track of potential threats, and in this case that means people with powers.
I actually like the post someone made about creating a job website where supers can advertise their abilities. It generates data about the super population plus keeping supers working is a good idea. If they’re not broke they’re less likely to be tempted to do something illegal.
You are totally mistaken in asserting that. Arc-SWAT have the power to arrest people. Plus they are charged with enforcing the law. Of course they are a law enforcement agency! The French Gendarmes are also a military organisation, with law enforcement powers, and are answerable under all the same laws as their police force is. Including data protection.
That is the precise point I have been arguing in this whole thread.
Agreed. But they must be held accountable to ensure they are only tracking credible threats, such as criminals and terrorists. Not just people who’s face they do not like.
Err, no. A healer working in a hospital is not a threat. A Sunday school teacher, who can turn paint pink, is not a threat. They have NO right to monitor people who are not a danger to society!
Incidentally GCHQ, MI5, MI6 and all the other spy organisations in Europe are also bound under the data protection laws. Being spooks they try and work around them of course. But, in principle, they are obliged to respect those laws. Them more so than anybody else, as they are the ones most likely to abuse the data.
Zeph never actually said they were tracking every super they encounter, just that they have a database on them. It’s not hard to track them with that info, sure, but they aren’t necessarily actively tracking non-criminal supers. And let’s be honest here, if anyone reveals their powers in some way publicly, it wouldn’t be hard for Archon to find that info should they need to via the internet, if a crime involving that power crops up. All a database like that does is save some time. It’s not like the news didn’t get a lot of footage of the guys with Vehemence, so they certainly can’t hide their powers from the world anymore. Seems like the database is built on 2 things: publicly available info, and the super’s they’ve fought or that have otherwise come to the attention of law-enforcers. That doesn’t seem to questionable to me.
*too questionable
I really wish there was an edit function. I’m too obssessed with grammar for me to like screwing up like that.
Finally someone who is raising reasonable counter-arguments. Well done. And it shows the lack of necessity for this database. If a criminal act is committed, they can simply investigate that person’s public appearances by looking at newspaper reports and other regular detective work.
Ergo the database is infringing on the rights of many innocent members of society, when there is a simple alternative that obviates that need.
Note that the time taken to do that research is an important issue. It takes a little while, but it does not significantly hamper the ability of the police (or their spy counterparts in Arc-Light and Arc-Dark) to do their duty. But, if an administration decided on a policy of rounding up supers and sending them off to internment camps (think back to the Japanese Americans in WWII), that moderate delay is multiplied by the size of the minority group being persecuted.
This allows for legal challenges and/or attempts to flee or hide, before the rounding up (and potential exterminations) start happening. It is a slim margin, granted. But such edges can make a difference. And do not think such things cannot happen in a modern civilised democracy. Germany was precisely that when the Nazi party was voted in.
There’s a flaw in this argument. A normal person, even one equipped with an assault rifle, is of limited threat. A super, if he goes off the edge, can potentially level blocks or even small cities. Even things like the Oklahoma Bombing is small potatoes compared to what a super can do. So if someone’s got a super power, particularly one that can be dangerous if mis-used? You betcha that person’s gonna have a file in ARC-Light’s archives. And it’s going to be cross-referenced six ways to Sunday. Screw laws about not keeping information on file, this could cost hundreds if not thousands of lives if you get it wrong. That kind of data is necessary.
Having said that, just because ARC-Light has that data doesn’t necessarily mean they allow anyone ELSE access to it, and it also doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to get S.H.I.E.L.D. knocking on their door either. It is just that… you’re in our files. Screw up, we know who you are, and how to stop you. Remember that before you develop a Titan Complex or are tempted into using your powers for illegal personal gain.
Legal personal gain is quite all right. You can copy yourself and want to set up an accounting firm with yourself, yourself, and yourself? Awesome, more power to ya. Start dabbling in robberies and showing an iron-clad alibi elsewhere? Not gonna fly.
Ok Nixeu got the ball going in the right direction and opened up the one area which is a valid argument. One which (to an extent) applies to super humans but not humans. Whilst you managed to land the ball in the net, I will only agree that you are partially right.
Oh, and before I go further I would like to apologise to Nixeu for the harshness of my counter-arguments. They are rather strong for a comedy comic, after all! However it is a very effective tactic at making someone realise that something is not as innocuous as they think and could actually get themselves, or others, killed.
So, like Maxima demonstrating, to Sydney, that a pointed finger, or held Christmas tree ornament, will not be viewed as a credible threat, I do consider that it is worthwhile to do. If Nixeu has to vote on such an issue, hopefully this argument will be borne in mind. But it does not make me feel comfortable when I do it.
As the public announcement is that no super human registry will be established, I shall restrict this particular reply to the justification for that. Likewise Zephan’s excuse, for keeping the secret version, does not incorporate the use you are demanding. Albeit that clearly it can be used for precisely that.
Wrong. The Twin Towers were brought down by guys armed with nothing more than pen-knives. If your argument held ultimate moral right, then (because any human can make a tool more dangerous than a pen knife) the state would be obliged to track every human.
I need really say no more than that. However it does bring us to an issue which I am intent on bringing to the public eye, so I will continue. We are now entering an era where first genetic engineering and then nano engineering is entering the home use level.
Think back on to computers here. Innovation and take up was limited, when only a few people in universities had access. Then expanded as they moved into colleges. But when they jumped to schools, and also in the home, the situation developed into the one we see today.
The final step in that process is being taken, here and now, for genetic engineering. Kids are learning how to (for example an actual class-room project I saw reported, not a tongue-in-cheek one) make fruit that has beer in it. Plus you can home order all the components and research results, to replicate such projects.
Such things, as with computing and programming, are getting easier to use by the day. But now look at one purpose that computers get misused for. Creating computer viruses. It happens every day, despite the harm it does. Genetic engineering allows us to do that with actual viruses and bacteria. Not to mention uses not seen in nature before. Presently that capability is limited to major research laboratories.
It is not going to remain that way.
Think very carefully on the issues you have raised in your post. They are not limited to super humans. They apply to all of us. And the stakes are going to get higher than the ones you cited.
So you would be happy if you were a witness to a brawl (not a participant), in a car park, and ended up with a police record? Because that is what police having this information, readily to hand, amounts to. We are talking about innocent people here, not criminals.
Every time a cop drives past you, their facial recognition software, using their cruiser’s cameras,* will flag you up. Providing your current address. Listing each time you appeared at a public rally or protest. Bringing up any letter you might have had published in a newspaper, criticising police brutality. Pointing out any known weaknesses, drawn from your witness interrogation or public record. Such as the fact that you are embarrassed that you used to wet the bed.
Then throw in the fact that they might have cause to hate you, simply because you are different to them. Or that they are envious of the perceived privileges you have, that they lack.
Just how many times do you want to be pulled over and questioned, and be fined or arrested for any minor infringement? Such as the tail light you hear breaking, when the cop walks behind your car. At what point will you start to wonder if that is a good policy?
* We are talking a high-tech organisation, not just any old force.
If you were a witness to a super brawl and were observed using a power yourself –such as a force field that blocked a stray shot– you would earn a place in their database. You might get a follow up visit to remind you that using your power in other venues (such as stopping traffic by preventing them from moving while you cross) could be considered an actionable offense. Here is your pamphlet. Oh and btw if you find yourself lacking employment because your boss saw the news story and is worried you might –ahem– force him off a rooftop, we are hiring, pay well and cops don’t hassle cops…
I would agree with all of that. Barring the entry into the database.
The details of my involvement should be held on record. But that most definitely should not extend to having my name, or any other personal details, put into a police database. Nor should it be accessible in any form other than via that incident report (or the separate follow-up report). Any database, which is required to manage either of those reports, such as chasing outstanding follow-ups, should be indexed by means other than my name.
Had the incident observed happened on US soil though, I would consider the costs of challenging it to be to prohibitive, when compared to the likely rewards. So would pass the matter to my government to raise a political protest. Although they might consider taking legal action, and the more widespread the problem, the more likely that is to happen.
Had that incident happened on EU soil though, and still been entered into the Archon database, I would most definitely raise a personal challenge under the European Convention on Human Rights. And, thanks to the current political and social atmosphere, I feel confident that my case would receive strong legal support
Archon would be held accountable for an offence under the Data Protection Act (for whichever EU country was involved), and would be fined, if found guilty. Such fines historically average out at £30,000 (2013 figures, and just going by totals per annum, rather than trying to isolate a comparable incident).
Further Archon would be obliged to remove my entry, and those of other innocent European citizens, from their databases. Failure to comply, especially if the offences were numerous, would doubtless involve further fines, probably (going by Google’s, as a rule of dew claw) in the millions or even billions.
And, at this stage, there would be the possibility of individual prosecutions for contempt of court (or even imprisonment) for those responsible for the failure. Via the usual process of extradition for trial, of course. The US does have the appropriate extradition treaties with the UK and other European countries, to enforce this.
Take note any corporate directors reading this (US or otherwise). My private data is mine alone. Steal it, or misuse it, and I have the EU courts to protect my rights!
How does information “held on record” differ from information “put into a database”? Both ethically, and computationally they seem to be the same thing.
Fair question. All computer data is stored in databases, of some sort or another, after all. So I should be more specific than just “a police database”. It all comes down to how the data is stored, where it is, how secure it is, where it can be accessed from and how easy it is to collate that into another form.
Rather than repeat how the European police systems separate out these things (further up the page, if you are interested), it is probably easier to explain by going back in history. To a time when the ethics were simpler, because computers did not exist!
Back in the days of paper files, an incident report could only be stored in a physical file, in a secure building. To get it you had to go there in person, past all the security, be held to account for your need to have it and be shot if you did not belong there (hopefully).
Further, collating any of that information, into another form, would be a lengthy process. Requiring either stealing a room full of records, or having direct access to it for a long time. Making an index, or analysing such data, would take much effort. So organisations would focus such on just tasks that were essential to the job. Reducing the ease and opportunities for abuse.
And when such abuse did take place, it would be hard to hide, for all of the above reasons. The delays, and hurdles, imposed in doing that, helped Jews, gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, gays, political dissidents plus artists, composers and writers (of non-ideologically approved works) to evade persecution, throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. To some extent, anyhow.
Notably things like crime scene reports, witness statements and the like would only be kept in a police station (or courthouse repositories). They would not be accessible by police, either on patrol or in police vehicles. Meaning it could only be accessed if it was important enough to go back to the station to check.
Thus reducing harassment of the innocent. Crooks had wanted posters with their details. The innocent did not.
This also helped prevent, or at least reduce information losses (if someone did take a file in a car and lost it, it was just limited to affecting those people mentioned in that one case).
Now roll on to today. We can easily store all of the crime reports, for an entire police force, on a single laptop!
If your sister had been raped, would you be happy to realise all the photos, statements and other personal details were sitting in the back of a taxi cab, because some cop forgot his laptop? And not just hers, but all the information for all the unsolved crimes in that city?
Were you happy to find that millions of US government employees had had their social security numbers, service records, bank details, names and addresses all stolen? Because they were stored in a database that could be accessed, without the risk of being shot.
The ethics come into the equation in failing to realise that some things need to stay locked up. You need to make it very hard to obtain data that can be misused. Whilst making it easy (for appropriate authorised people only) to obtain data that is important to society. Putting things into a single database, that can be manipulated by users, fails to differentiate the two.
Computationally you can physically put critical data in a stand-alone system, in a server, in a police station, which does not have a means to download the data or connect to the internet.
I do not mind an incident report with my details in it being stored under such circumstances. Provided there is no way for any cop, anywhere in the world, to type my name in and call up that record. Nor find it by photo recognition search for my face. Nor by my address.
It is being held on record though. Anyone who has a legal need to examine the circumstances of that incident can go to the secure building and look up the details. Including everything to do with my involvement, such as my statement, address and so on.
But none of my data should exist outside of that incident report in electronic form. Be that by entering it into an external database, or indexing the various incident reports by witness names, or by allowing it to be downloaded into a stand alone database or spreadsheet, or into an email attachment.
Printing off of the report should be recorded, and every copy should have a named person responsible for it, who must confirm where it is kept, whether it is destroyed and be accountable if it is lost.
All of this is necessary because I am an innocent person. Cops can enter criminals information into their stand alone databases and analyse such to their hearts content. But not mine!
Wait, you think the Arc-database is online?
I’ve known American Government facilities, heck, I’ve worked in American Government facilities, that maintain a separate system that has no external connections for secret stuff. Things like 2 computers in an office (only one can connect to the internet, other’s on the internal system), disabled USB ports (no, you can’t plug a thumb drive in and download anything), etc. Some of them only have dummy terminals in the office, with no data storage, just a link to the mainframe, so you can’t even break in and grab a hard drive (actually, I think that’s what many of the internal connections are).
I highly doubt the notes on super capabilities is stored in an Excel file hosted on dropbox.
Would you be happy to find that I, and my other Grad students, had our names, SS numbers, Addresses, all stolen because some #$@%@# working for the insurance company decided to run off with them? It happened (many false tax returns were filed, to capitalize on W’s big refund that year). Do you think insurance companies should be required to store all information on paper?
Given how highly Leon thinks of himself, if Arc doesn’t have SOME kind of intranet, he needs to have his hacker status stripped from him with a potato peeler.
I was mainly referring to being on any police database. But I did cover my bases, so it still works for the premise of it being on Archon’s computers. I specified that I would not want my data leaving the secure server in any electronic form. The internet is one. But you seem to have missed the one which would most concern me. Have a think, before you click to reveal.
All that data they have is feeding Halo’s pip boy information. Telling her the subject’s details.
Much as I like her, I do not want Sydney to be able to type in “Yorp” and get a list of the best ways to kill me. Because that is what you are doing when you list vulnerabilities. I am an innocent doggy, who does not want to be put down.
Then realise that said Pip Boy will be going into the lairs of super villains. Yea, I really really do not want my data accessible by any Arc-SWAT device.
Shame you do not live in a country that has robust laws, to force companies to encrypt such data and properly restrict access to it. Mind you, I do not pretend that European companies are fool proof. But they do get incentives. To quote but a few:
• Monetary penalty: fines of up to £500,000.
• Prosecutions: including possible prison sentences.
• Undertakings: organisations have to commit to a particular course of action to improve their compliance and avoid further action
Sorry, I should have started the last with saying that you have my every sympathy for the loss of your data, and any subsequent financial loss you and any friends of yours suffered.
In fact my parents are amongst those who may have been hit by corporate data theft in the past month. Fortunately their data was stored in a way that the most critical information (equivalent, in your example, to your social security number) was missing the middle four numbers.
An insurance company has no need for your social security number, other than to confirm that they are dealing with a unique identifiable person. “John Smith” is not sufficient. But with that and most, but not all, of your social security number, they could confirm your identity with very high precision. Yet not endanger your finances, so badly, if it were to be stolen.
My parents’ money is at less risk (not no risk, even partial information can be exploited) as a result. And should the regulators feel that the company, who lost it, did not take reasonable precautions, then we can be satisfied that they will push forward prosecutions of the company. And the responsible directors could be going to jail, if that happens.
Scant consolation for you. But, if all other things are equal, the next time you are voting, I would advise opting for any candidate who is campaigning to introduce data protection laws, in your jurisdiction.
So, do you drive? ’cause your name and a bunch of other stuff is already in that database. Or, maybe you pay taxes? Gotta keep track of that somehow.
And besides, full-text indexes are pretty easy to build. Might take a while on a huge dataset, but that’s just computer time, it’s pretty much free compared to person time. So if your name is mentioned in someone’s report – which it probably is, in case someone investigating needs to ask follow-up questions – it’s pretty much impossible to make it ‘hard to index’.
I guess you could store everything as gigantic captchas? But that defeats the point of storing it in the first place, because no one can read it.
I do. And that database is accessible and permissible for police to check. Traffic police have a need to know, so that is part of their job. However the instant that any agency in the world tries to link that database to another, such as the full-text index you propose, they will be conducting an illegal act.
Unless they have a legal and legitimate need to do that. Police cross-referencing it to criminal acts, such as car thefts, is permissible. However as an innocent doggy, I do not do stuff like that.
There are very few databases I would appear on mind. But lets pick linking it to airline passenger lists, as something a non-government agency might attempt. That would not be legal.
That person, or organisation, can be fined £500,000 and the responsible individuals face the prospect of going to jail.
And the DVLA database is secured from outside access other than by police or other authorised individuals.* Nothing is hacker proof, but it certainly would not be described as easy to access. Or if it is, someone will be going to jail, because of the lapse!
So, nope it is not “pretty much impossible to make it ‘hard to index’”. I have never seen a news story involving that having been overcome, to date.
* Note that ‘authorised individuals’ can include private firms, which can demonstrate a legal need to know. But, as can be read in the final paragraph of this article, such usage is closely monitored to ensure that the data use is not being abused.
Well, they could hide them. It all depended on what the power was and what they could do.
Marvel used to open up anthologies to random authors years ago. One short story that sticks out was a mutant who could turn any liquid into coffee. He owned a coffee shop. His costs were cut down due to making an excellent coffee from anything liquid.
If memory serves. He only stepped up his game once when he saw the X-men losing. Suffice it to say, whichever bad guy he targeted. Didn’t live long after his blood turned to coffee.
Nobody could figure out how it happened, the character continued to run his coffee shop.
This kinda ties into what I was talking about last comic strip about strongarming people. Barring any problematic dealings with vigilantes, Archon has the best system for dealing with the super population. Voluntary compliance is a far better system than involuntary “Join or die” tactics. Frankly, Archon could just put up a picture of Sydney’s paycheck with the tagline “This is what someone who has been on the team a couple days is making. This could be what you’re making.” and get almost all of the supers to sign up in a week. (I say “almost” because you would still have a certain percentage who would reject working for the government for various reasons.) In fact, I’m not sure why they don’t do that. Thus far, the Archon deal has turned out to be sweet to the point that it almost seems massively improbable that supers wouldn’t flock to Archon to get in on the deal.
Also, as somebody who was on Iron Man’s side during the (poorly written) event, the Superhero Registration Act was only plausible because the Marvel Comics Universe has such an insane amount of anarchistic vigilantes and villains who have been running amok for decades. This is exacerbated by the fact that the police and military are tremendously terrible shots and there hasn’t been one law enforcement/military official who have said “Hey, the X-Men just busted up The Right (or whatever power armor organization they’re fighting this week). Why don’t we take their armor that was turned in as part of the clean-up and reverse-engineer it for our use? Sure, we won’t be able to stop Galactus but we will be able to kick the living crap out of the Sinister Six.” Instead, both organizations continue to use technology that is 20 years old in any encounter. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. is laughably terrible in pretty much all aspects from IT Security to using any form of tactics in apprehension.
This comic takes a more realistic approach and, as such, can use a more effective incentive-based approach to recruiting Supers than the “Join or Die” approach from Civil War.
You are ignoring the fact that supers ALREADY make tons of money. Archon isn’t paying supers tons of money because they are altruistic, they do it because that is the going rate for people with such incredibly useful skills. I recall Max saying this to sidney explicitly but I forget where. Example: the flying ski rescue guy mentioned early in the comic. he can replace a pilot, helicopter and rescue crew all by himself. Guess what he gets paid to work in search and rescue? probably about 70 to 80% of the cost of buying and maintaining a helicopter, pilot and rescue crew. In other words he will look at sidneys paycheck and say “gee that’s nice, but people shoot at you so I think I’ll pass” Archon no doubt pays more than the civilian sector because of the risk involved and they also may have a use for abilities that the civilian sector doesn’t value as highly. But to think that bragging about the pay scale would have everyone lining up to join is foolish.
Also consider that there will probably be people that, despite their powers, are definitely UNsuited to being in Archon or any similar organization for one reason or another. How? I dunno, but the probability exists.
Much as we love her, Sydney IS kind of a borderline case, after all. Onw that Archon is able to make some allowances for.
For Sidney, the check is nice though. Just from her reaction, her store won’t be her main means of making an income now.
In “Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, SHIELD has at least ONE agent with good IT security: Skye, a.k.a. Daisy, a.k.a. Quake. Admittedly, she inserted herself for her own reasons and made them think it was their idea to recruit her, but…she’s a SHIELD agent now for real. (Note that I have Netflix and have not seen what happens re: her conflict of interest between SHIELD and the Inhumans. Last I saw, [spoiler]she was about to kill her mom when her dad did it for her so she wouldn’t have to live with the guilt.
…that did not work as planned. [spoiler] is this how you do that?
k, how do I make that tag work? [spoiler] like this? [\spoiler]
[spoiler]Like this?[spoiler]
Or this?
You used the wrong slash, it’s the regular slash, not the back-slash
Thanks.
Hope I didn’t spoil Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for anyone ^_^
You had it almost right Shen, as Guesticus says:
[spoiler]Text you want hidden.[/spoiler]
Will give the result:
Text you want hidden.
The one warning is to avoid putting a line/paragraph break in between the opening tag and the closing one. As the spoiler only works for the paragraph it is in. Thus will end, even without encountering the closing tag, if it reaches the end of a paragraph.
[spoiler]Normally I would have both opening and closing spoiler tags, at the beginning and end of each paragraph. But just the opening ones are probably sufficient.
[spoiler]So am testing that.
Nope, so even though putting in a paragraph break
does disrupt the tag, it still will not do anything unless there is a closing tag somewhere beyond
All assuming that the bug has not been patched.
It certainly does not seem like a feature, operating the way it has done historically.
Actually Daisy (in the comics) was scouted by Nick Fury his self and given a higher classification than most other sheild agents only second to him. (she stole a CD) and shield isn’t as terrible at its job as the comics would have you believe. Its just that shield for the most part was Hydra (and a good portion of the U.S government besides the President and a few cabinet members.) This stopped a little bit before Original Sin story arc. Where Nick Fury finally got most of its ducks in a row and ousted Hydra for all of its worth. See those incursions were Hydra keeping Fury busy to keep them off their tracks. Read Secret Wars (not the recent one or the one with the beyonder. the one with Lucia Van Bardas its awesome art) Its were you meet Daisy for the first time (i’m pretty sure its been awhile since i’ve seen her) and watch her through Dark Reign where she pisses off Maria Hill its hilarious. *Maria is likeable shield agent but honestly she came off as a bitch to me and i only ever met her at the civil war start so i don’t know how she’s like but still. her and Ms. Hand are kinda annoying people. sorry for the Tangent so check those out though you guys are all pretty knowledgeable so you probably have read it once. * the secret wars i’m talking about is used in the first part of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. awesome game stupid ending.
just a little annotaition to add here. the were part of many of the police/ government factions of the world. cia interpol all intelligence agencies were created or infilltrated to the top brass of the respective agencies. all the way to the regular police who at sometimes have been known to let criminals go intentionally. as for the problem of crappy police they aren’t allowed to use the tech the take because they don’t have the personnel to break down all of the tech ( which most of the time is too advanced for them) to use personally to kick the sinister six. also shield does do that * its the reason Peter couldn’t patent his web fluid cause shield had already reverse engineered it. though with peter now gaining new influence could probably get those patents under his name since. it was pubicly known for a little while that peter made his web fluid *noted creator for them shield probably cut pete a check later.
As nicely as possible, I strongly recommend paragraphing when making posts as long as these, howeer interesting they might be. It makes a HUGE differance in ease of reading, honestly.
If The Right or Bastion’s little group of Mutant-hating yokels can figure their power armor out….and somehow afford an army of power armors…..then that excuse kinda falls flat. Even if the controls were somehow in a form that only work for stereotypical rednecks, you just grab people like The Thinker and Doc Ock while they’re in prison and tell them to work on it in a triple blind situation.
Hell, for that matter, you could just grab Reed Richards/Tony Stark (since there is absolutely nobody in the comics who understand science that doesn’t also go off to fight evil) and tell them: Okay, you just engaged in a highly reckless and illegal battle in Times Square….again. Now, you can either help New York Law enforcement slap together a armored SWAT unit or we can freeze all your assets, dust off Forge’s neutralizer for use when we hunt you down and bring you in, then let you handle every civil suit involving your reckless endangerment of lives and destruction of property while we pursue criminal charges.
(Seriously, his neutralizer was made in the 80s. We’re supposed to believe that NOBODY reverse-engineered it much less be able to duplicate it in the last 30 years. Hell, if I had been President during that period, I would have seized the design as soon as it was stored on government databases and equipped every SWAT team in the country with a couple copies.)
Yeah but that isn’t the first time. How many times has S.H.I.E.L.D. been infiltrated by Hydra or other organizations? Throughout the 70s and 80s, S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated roughly once every few years.
I’m referencing the comics. The cinematic universe is largely it’s own thing.
Good thing I caught up to season 3 lol
To keep it vague. Grant Ward had his good points even in that season. Heck, if he hadn’t set some things up. That last episode scene may not have happened the same. Skye may not think it, but he did some good for her.
First I wondered what’s so wrong with Penelope. Then I looked up on Wikipedia how you English and Americans pronounce it.
I consider this rape to the Greek language.
How do you pronounce it?
There is nothing wrong with Penelope. It is a very much loved name.
A lot of words and names did get Anglicised and mangled when adopted into English though. Understandably in ancient times, when language spread by wooden boats and travellers on horseback. Without TV, radio or the internet to correct a mispronunciation, it would tend to propagate in a form that was easier for the new language.
On the plus side we (as a broad society) do try to correct names of contemporary cities and historical people as we become aware of the errors. But that is less likely to happen for names that have been broadly adopted, like Penelope. Given that people, naturally enough, identify with how they pronounce their name.
In fact it is a principle in England that people are specifically allowed to declare how their name should be pronounced. If somebody’s name is spelt “Shitlegs” they are fully entitled to say it should be spoken as “Sweet smelling one”. Whether or not others choose to do that though, is another matter. But it would be impolite not to accord them the courtesy of their wishes.
One prominent example being the very different written and spoken forms of “The artist formerly known as ‘the artist formerly known as Prince’ “.
Prince is back to being Prince. His was a special case despite Prince being his actual given and legal name he signed such an abusive recording contract when he was started the label literally owned his name so he had to change his name to leave the label.
Indeed. But, even saying that, it is fully allowable to refer to him as “Prince, the artist formerly known as ‘the artist formerly known as Prince’ “. Or equally just “The artist formerly known as ‘the artist formerly known as Prince’ “, or the somewhat shorter “Prince”.
There is Penelope Akk aka Bad Penny the star of “Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillian” series 8) she a cool Mad Scientist.
At least it’s not pronounced Peen-eh-loap
I see the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Department of Homeland Security, however there is one I can’t identify is that the No Such Agency?
New York Police department seems to be the call by those in the know. It certainly looks like a police badge, as best I can tell from my vast experience… .. of TV cop shows… from at least a decade ago.
Nope. Most likely the Mayor’s “Alphabet Soup” Liaison from some Major City. (something like Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Miami, SanFrancisco)
NYPD. The details are there it’s just way to small to be legible.
Oops. Didn’t refresh and see your comment there…
It could also be a US Marshals Service badge, in keeping with the rest of the agents being federal (and therefor prone to Bogart local law enforcement jurisdictions as well).
Am I correct in assuming that this is the same Marion G Harmon who is the author of the “Wearing the Cape” series? If so, love your work! Incidentally, found out about it in the comments on this comic a while ago.
For those of you who haven’t read it, I recommend it.
Any time you see see a poster’s name in orange, you can click on their name, to be linked through to whatever website they have associated with it.
Doing so, with Marion G. Harmon‘s, does confirm what you suspect. And it is lovely to see yet another author in the community.
It is always necessary though to be mindful of the potential for misrepresentation (or even being linked to a site that is malicious).
However we do have a lot of artists, writers and other diverse professionals. So such deceptions would probably be unmasked, in due course. And any malicious links do get reported promptly by members of the community who are suitably set up to detect such.
Needless to say, always click on any link (in orange) using your own judgement, and at your own risk. It would be impossible to moderate all the links that readers post here. The most that could be done, if abuses did become problematic, would be to block them completely.
Yes, Dave and I mutually fan-boy each other’s stuff. I still need to do a post on Grrl Power.
I believe that is the Stan Lee cameo badge.
Seems like a good call to me. Mind you anybody with grey/white hair can look like Stan Lee.
My wife would like to thank you for remembering the explosives part of ATF. Most people don’t know that they are actually the ATFE.
Fuck that noise. If you choose to take the counsel of such fears to their logical (and then extreme) conclusions; then you soon realize there are so many things beyond your control that can go fatally (for you) wrong on any given day.
In this very real world without supers some yahoo will:
Drink Booze. then drive home. And run headlong into that uncle you actually liked along the way.
decide to cut someone off in traffic. and then drive by an accident slow enough to give a good looong stare at the twisted metal adding 20 minutes to the commute for the 800+ people behind them
Give a retail employee a ration of shit because someone cut you off in traffic.
Taking a shit in a bag of coffee beans at the starbucks they work at because dealing with entitled coffee addicts all day for cheap pay is too hard.
be the cop pulling you over that has dealt with humanity at it’s worst long enough that people become just animals that need to be caged.
Wear a suicide vest to a mall full of stores that wouldn’t hire them.
Decide to ‘playCoD4real@school’ because they never learned how to interact well with others
Is this about where your paralytic paranoia sets in?
.
So let us instead marvel.
Let us stand in awe of the fact that Human society has managed to get this far in spite of ourselves.
Its enough to make you really believe that heroes exist. Super powered or not.
Even if we don’t notice it because the bulk of such heroics are spent keeping the complex rube Goldberg-esque machine that is our society from crumbling about our ears every time some ass-hat decides “fuck the greater good what about me?”
Oops. This was supposed to be a response to https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1902/comment-page-2#comment-396530 Apologies all around.
It also works just fine as a stand-alone, Stumpy. 2Thumbs up.
More than a month of comics of people sitting/standing around in a room talking…
Is this meeting going to be over soon? More action, less talk!
Yup! Next page is the last in this room. But as far as the action goes… We’ll get there, but that’s not really the focus.
Thanks for the update!
By “action” I don’t just mean “supers fighting with each other”, I just mean something besides people sitting in a room yakking. For example, the series where Max was training Sydney in flying was amazing – the artwork was great, and so was the interaction between the characters.
I appreciate all the information being provided in this meeting, and I know you don’t really want to dump it all out as blog posts instead, but I feel like things have kind of ground to a halt.
My $0.02, probably not worth even that. I’ll keep reading no matter what.
Damnit! You people were bitching when the fight was taking too long!!!
Hey- be fair! I have not complained one iota about the after-action scenes. This is the stuff I come here for, not the interminable fights with unstoppable bad guys. *This* is the stuff I can relate to- whereas bad guys that can laugh off everything the good guys can throw at them just annoy and bore me.
There are two types of complainers in the comment section: those who were complaining about the pre-fight setup was taking too long and they wanted the Action NAO!!!, and another lot who were complaining that the fight was taking too long and they wanted to get back to the ‘everyday slice-of-life’ stuff NAO!!!
You forgot the spelling/grammar enthusiasts.
And the “experts of their field” chiming in with “That’s not the way it happens. This is the way it happens…” when some detail about some technical aspect of DaveB’s story doesn’t match their assumptions.
Was mostly just focussing on the two camps alternating bitching duties
The arch-villain crashes through the skylight, taking the heroes completely by surprise.
“Fools! I am Penelope, destroyer of worlds! You have no chance against me!”
With mounting horror, the heroes realize she is right… they are defeated. As the full scope of her sneak attack is revealed, they know that their moment of defeat occurred when…
…the Penny dropped.
ROFL.
Much laughter & groaning was heard this end of the internet connection…
Fear my Skittles-Destruction Beam!
Ooowwwww…. that one hurt.
Well done.
From the cloaked figure in the corner
“Destroyer of worlds ?
Child you must improve yourself or you are not worth a plug nickel.”
I love the *SWAT on Anvil’s uniform.
That’s not Anvil
I think that’s an actual SWAT team, and that person just happens to look like Anvil, given that Xeph is talking about normal LEO in that panel.
Nevermind. I reread the panel, and Zeph (didn’t even spell his name right the first time *facepalm*) was talking about “our attention”.
DaveB actually mentions in a reply somewhere that that is Anvil
I just remembered Kevin Levin from the Ben 10 series, I guess he isn’t a bad guy anymore but that should be enough to disprove the “no bad guys are named Kevin” thing.
Now to find a villain named Penelope…
Sly Cooper 3 & 4. Enemy-turned-ally-turned-enemy.
In Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, the titular witch’s real name is Penelope.
Penelope Akk aka Bad Penny from “Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillian”
Shame the second book was just so… bland.
Second should have been “Please don’t tell my publisher I already spent the advance money”
I thought I had seen Seneca before: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1204
Well remembered. Although, if you go back far enough, you can find an earlier appearance.
Oh wow I would never have noticed that.
Found her again…
I like her choice in food…
I think we all deserve:
Key Lime Pie is my favorite also.
That’s Harrison and Goose in the foreground, right? Seneca is in the background? I kinda want a higher res version of the comic. But I don’t know enough about web hosting to know if that is an issue! I’m probably using the wrong terminology, too.
If it is Seneca, I’m kind of sad. She’s without a snack!
I’ll bring her something on Thursday.
She knows enough not to snack when she is picking up Maxi (she learnt that the hard way!)
Harrison and Seneca both have their Who’s Who pictures (in the panel below or to the side of the comic) extracted from this page, making it easy to place them, using that. Seneca appears in panel 2 and Harrison in panel 5. The girl in the background, in panel 5 is the fan-named Pinky Manga Girl, who has yet to be introduced.
The only Goose-like guy I can see would be one of the two foreground guys in panel 4. Given that he is emitting some attention-drawing power from his eyes (further allowing that Goose does not appear to have any powers) I just took them both to be villains. Which matches the relevant exposition dialogue.
It does no harm to request blown up versions of any particularly interesting panel (as opposed to a whole page), as Dave does create the comic at a higher resolution than it is posted here. And will, from time to time, release such as wallpapers (in the aspect drawn in the comic, so not necessarily landscape).
When that happens though it is usually due to massed requests, on one of the more scenic and/or emotive frames. For other times, our browser (and/or Windows) zoom functions will usually do the trick, for picking out the finer details.
No no, her name is ‘Pink Pantera’
Thevoidcity is talking about the page you linked. Not this page.
Doh! Thanks for pointing out my blunder.
As such my reply, to the following part, needs amending:
Yep,
Oh two new gals. I like the bubblegum pink haired one. I thought it was Harem at first but looks quite different and her pink hair looks natural rather than Harem’s dyes.. also a new girl eating jerky?
I wonder what the names are.
Didn’t see them in the cast page. but we’ll find out eventually!
If you check out the Who’s Who below, you will find one. The other has the temporary fan handle of “Pinky Manga Girl”.
With those shoulder boards she could also be the Punky Manga Girl.
Hmm.. I still can’t find the whose who/ who’s who .. just thecast button up top. Well I’ll find it someday
I have no idea how things appear on a smartphone. But, for a PC, you should have a number of sidebars, on the right. However, depending on your window-size, and how much you zoom in, on your browser, you might find that they get pushed down to the bottom of the screen. In which case they appear below all the comments (including being below the area that you look at to create a new comment).
The topmost of the sidebars contains the Who’s Who. The next one down contains the vote incentive via the link to the Top Web Comics voting screen. So, if you know where how to go in and place a daily vote (as we hope every reader will make an effort to do, or at least whenever they come to read the comic), you should find the guide just above that.
It is very handy, given the size of the cast, to be able to easily remind yourself who is involved, especially if they have not appeared recently. And the cutest thing about it is that each of Halo’s orbs get their own sub-entry! So if you ever forget which one does what, that is the easiest way to check.
That got it! haha. Yeah I totally had my window half screened. usually with a video or notes on the other side. so I’ve never ever ever noticed that side bar….
Who’s the pink haired girl? She’s cute ♥
Another Miss Yet-To-Be-Introduced?
Yup. Possibly she is a pink were-panther.
Ba-Dum–Tssh!
Key up the theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhHwnrlZRus
YES!!! That shall be her call sign: Pink Panther!!
She inherited her cat shape shifting ability from her grandmother, Professor Minerva McGonagall. She agreed to join the Muggle defense forces when they offered her a spot in the division Arc-Mage.
I wonder who the female super on the SWAT team in panel 3 is? I’m just guessing she is, she has the build and no weapons in her hands. I also wonder if there are many other supers on police forces?
Looks like Anvil found some form fitting armor. Also, they had to adjust the logo slightly.
Yeah it’s too small to see really, but before the Archon coming out party, their vests said “SWAT” with the quote marks.
It’s funny the things that get stuck in your head, isn’t it? I was sure I’d heard the name Zaitzev somewhere before and so I googled it. What I came up with was a brilliant Red Army sniper who knocked off the Nazi troops in Stalingrad, though he spelled his name Zaytsev. I saw a TV documentary about snipers on the History Channel a while back that spent some time talking about him.
Yeah that was actually the first name that popped into my head, probably because I watched Enemy at the Gates recently, but I decided to spell it differently.
Was just thinking of that movie
Most common names don’t sound tough. Have you ever met a Matthew, Slayer of the Innocent or a Peter, Harvester of Souls? Male or female, if you sit next to a Marvin in your history class, it’s harder to imagine, a Marvin the Killer.
When I hear of Marvin, personally I think of depressed robots.
When I think Bill, I think of the big bad from Gravity Falls.
When I hear the name Richard, I think of “Looking For Group.” Now, there’s a real Dick…
For me, it’s either one of The Shadows, or an incompetent Martian :P
Where is my Earth-shattering KABOOM?
I think of giant earth-shattering kabooms. (And one of my college professors, who sounded exactly like Marvin Martian.)
P.S., he didn’t even realize just how much he sounded like a certain Martian. Either that, or he had never seen any Marvin Martian cartoons as a child. One time we played a practical joke on him, and changed the Windows Startup sound to “Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be a horrendous, Earth-shattering, kaboom!”
We were out in the lobby when he went into his office and turned his computer on. Actual quote: “Wait, what the hell? That’s my voice!” ;)
:-D
Marvin means three things to me: my grandfather, Marvin Martian, and a stock name for a senior citizen. Marvin is just not a name for someone under the age of 60 or so…
DaveB… the next time I run an RP scene in Abberant, I am totally naming the big bad Penelope: Destroyer of Worlds. Just to show you how fearsome it can be. :)
IMO, presentation is everything –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy2zB8bLSpk
Tell me it isn’t true!
I always thought the Queen of England was real?
NOOOOOO!
No, her name is Priscilla, and she’s Australian :p
https://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/50d29296-ed41-4c6c-b1c2-e1536761f3b3/04007351-4f4d-4bf2-8599-605e8c90174e.gif
KNEEL Before ZOD!…
It always bugs me when an interesting character apears in a panel, but because they don’t talk, or aren’t formally introduced yet, they don’t apear in the who’s who…
Don’t worry, if Sydney doesn’t work out as the new ‘spokesperson’ for ARCHON, Pink Pantera is next in line :D
Don’t worry, we love pretty cat-girls in this community, and encourage them to talk, as much as possible!
*resists the compulsion to chase TwistedGear up a tree*
“Catherine has some weight to it, as does Morgan”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Morr%C3%ADgan
Yeah, Morgan (also German for morning) does have some weight behind it. Celtic goddess of war, inciting berserkers, etc. Killed Cu’cuhlain because he wouldn’t lay with her.
Actually the Celtic goddess was ‘the Morrigan’ not ‘Morgan’. And don’t forget about her pets.
It still gave rise to Morrogan/Morgan in Irish names. The fact that later Norse occupation had a similar word didn’t hurt, though its meaning was entirely different.
*Shaking, feverish*
You know, this makes two whole pages in a row without even a glimpse of Sydney . . . I think I may be going into withdrawal. Better go back a few pages to enjoy my favorite heroine! I certainly hope she’s behaving herself while we’re not looking.
Just imagine what poor Sydney must be thinking!
[and here I am unable to hug her]
*sniffles, for Sydney*
Dude where did she get the Marathon bar??
Aha, we have discovered Seneca’s super power. And a truly awesome one at that!
Seneca, queen of candy. Able to create chocolate bars, taller than a building. Villains beware her Spectular Skittle Skidding attack! And lo, her greatest power, she can summon Stay Puft, the Marshmallow Man!
Either that, or she imports Curly Wurlys from the UK.
Is it just me or have Mr Amorpheous gotten a power upgrade on the cast page?
I am pretty certain that last i checket it he did not have a Toughness level of 4 stars, thats as much as what Stalvar has, and it makes him share the second place as toughest person on the team.
Nope, he has always had both strength and toughness. If you recall, he did not hurt his foot, when he kicked the tank across the firing range. And, yes, he is rated highly in his overall power rating, as a result. Unlike Achilles he has both offence and defence.
Although, given that he lacks versatility beyond that, Dave has recently mentioned that his rating probably should be lowered slightly. Which is logical, as he would not be so effective against multi-talented opponents, like Dabbler or Halo.
Thought Wart was the one to kick the tank? o_O
Oh dammit, I was getting the names mixed up and thinking about the wrong ones. So my previous comments should be ignored.
Yes we shall ignore you.
Oh, sorry, your emphasis was on the degree, not the existence of his toughness. But, yea, that is unchanged too.
Actually my comment were coined on the degree of toughness Mr Amorpheous has. Its the one i suspected had suddenly been raised.
Ok, now that I realise I was replying with the wrong hero in mind, I better start from scratch with Mr Amorphous. And sorry about the double error!
You may be right. He has always had the hammer symbol. Which I took to represent his stated extreme defence to blunt attacks (and limited resistance to piercing ones). I do not recall him also having a general defence icon too. And it would not have been logical to make the assumption that I did, if he already had an icon that covered it.
Well spotted.
Mmm, one possibility remains. If the icon had been there (as your statement implies), but the defence rating was lower than that of the hammer symbol, then it would previously have been logical to assume the hammer represented his superior defence versus blunt attacks.
Which would be consistent with your proposal that the rating has simply been raised, such that it is now above the value for the hammer.
Of course there is always the possibility that the hammer does not represent what I thought. So if it represents a power we have not seen manifested yet, then the four star defence rating is reasonable. Albeit that it would be four star versus blunt attacks only, and presumably three star versus piercing. Possibly with no defence versus slashing weapons, or other types of attack like acid.
The do have a penelope, or “Bad Penny” who destroyed a moon in their second book and is a vern or mad scientist type super who is a villain… for reference read Don’t tell my parents I’m a super Villain, and Don’t tell my parents I destroyed the moon. Great books that are very well written.
Seneca could easily have the handle, “Sugar Rush” by the description of her you gave up there, especially since she has a candy addiction.
Is Seneca eating a Curly Wurly?
Also, who’s the cutie with the pink hair? I feel like I’ve seen her in the back a bunch of times now.
Yes.
New girl, not yet introduced. You have, once, in the recent long shot of them all in this room. Sitting in between Leon and Gwen.
Since Skitty [and yes I’m calling her that] is wearing a collar, she might be a field operative even if she’s not a Super. Wonder what her job is in Archon?
Well some work probably has to be done in the HQ too. I think she would probably enjoy quality control roles. For instance wool testing for Ashley. And milk tasting in the canteen. Arc-Sparq doubtless need their herbs inspected, and she would surely know her catnip.
Mind you, for field-work, there is the ROUS phenomenon. Any concentration of combat oriented students invariably attracts them. There are bound to be infestations in or near the Archon cellars or perhaps the sewers beyond.
The fact that she chose to sit with the Arc-Light crew gives us our best clue mind. She is probably not combat oriented. A reformed cat-burglar would make a good spy though. Leaping silently from roof-top to roof-top. Squeezing through small gaps, high above the ground, that nobody might expect.
She might want to wear a balaclava though. Without that, her hair would stand out a wee bit, even at night.
Unless ‘Skitty, The Pink Pantera’s hair is literally neon, it won’t show up anymore than white or yellow hair
They too are best wearing balaclavas, if intending to avoid notice. Just like white faces need blacking up.
I extend my tongue, in the general direction of the politically correct, and wiblle it.
‘wibble’? is that another name for ‘blowing a raspberry’? o_O
Wibbling may or may not involve raspberry blowing. It could be silent or involve “meep meep” or indeed “plibbbert”.
Where are the politically correct?
Point them out and I shall personally make sure they are never offended again.
Okay, so a silent ‘raspberry’ is a ‘wibble’? Thank you, have a box of Yorp-treats (can’t keep feeding you lesser quality ‘Scooby-snacks’ all the time, now can we? :P)
Yummy in my tummy!
*nom nom nom*
Yup, that is one of the branded catchphrases :D
Even has a cute picture of an Alsatian rubbing his belly :D
Oh I loved the speed draw of the Maxima vote incentive. Interesting to see how it all progressed, and the music was well chosen to compliment the process.
I’ve been watching the lengthy debates you all have been having over the database, Archon’s jail, vigilantism and so on and both sides have been making good and reasonable points. When it comes right down to it, I don’t think we’ll have a definitive answer to who’s right until DaveB has some crusading lawyer or ambulance-chaser character take the team to court.
It’s the American way! Sadly.
One side takes the other to court and whoever loses files an appeal. Whoever loses that files an appeal. Whoever loses that files an appeal. They keep going until they reach the Supreme Court and get a ruling.
And all the while, the TV pundits and commentators on both sides will be talking about how right their side is and how the other side is corrupt and out to destroy these United States of America.
Yup, that sounds about right.
Reactive policy making is all well and good, until you are discussing issues that incorporate the realistic possibility of genocide. Which we are. Once a population has been exterminated, it is too late to decide that it was a bad policy.
But your argument does sound historically accurate for American policies. We saw them in action for each native american population that was driven to extinction.
And then when the Supreme Court rules, the losing side complains loudly about the “wrong” ruling, whines about judicial activism, and threatens a constitutional amendment.
You know what I just realized?
Totally off topic, because he’s not appearing this this particular comic, Stalwart likes to overdress. Ashley makes really, really awesome clothing.
They’re most likely best buds. Stalwart buys Ashley alcohol and sometimes buys his own suits, Ashley ensures he’s got plenty of them to ensure the snappiest of snappy dress at all times. I know, random, off the cuff, but for some reason, the idea just popped in.
Heh. I chuckled not because of your statement (which very much rings true, by the way), but because I saw a relationship just like that, in a film, last night. A snappily dressed cop, who would, very often, be found at his tailors. Preening over his latest outfit.
Mind you he also liked to eat people. So not all his tastes were good.
Wouldn’t that depend on how healthy his ‘meals’ were? Or what sort of condiments he used? And wine of course :p
Cannibalism will never be in good taste. Even if people might taste good.
But it is good for the environment.
But don’t eat clowns. They taste funny.
LOL ya even the air force cops would be like can I got on my vacation now since there no way in hell we can deal with a super like that lololol
I think a few agency bosses are going to be
bravestupid enough to send their people in to take down supers.*nods*
Without doubt.
pardon me boy; is that a charleston chew? there in panel two. wont you give me a clue?
You want a clue, about the chew? Well here is one, made just for you!
It’s a Marathon bar! They were my favorites when I was a little kid — yes I’m that out. Marathon bars took out a couple of loose teeth for me in sixth grade. Yes, this was the most important part of this comic for me.
I have never had a Marathon bar. But I have been informed that they were just an American copy of the British Curly Wurly. Now those I likewise have fond memories of. And sometimes still buy.
Seneca and I would have something very much in common. Dave sure knows how to create appealing characters! There are a whole bunch who I would be very happy to date (in no particular order, after Sydney):
Sydney, Peggy, Dabbler, Seneca, Pinky Manga Girl (a.k.a. Skitty or Pinky Pantera), Abbey and Suzie News.
Spies, including Arc-Light and Arc-Dark, will get up to whatever tricks they need to, in order to get the job done. And their covert nature, limited accountability and oversight make it difficult to ensure they do not abuse their powers. However, that said European agencies, and their operatives, know the data protection laws.
So individually, and collectively, they will ask themselves “is this data necessary to do my job?”, plus “could I find a way which does this same thing, without breaching so many rights as I am?” and so on.* And their bosses will check them, in the same fashion. And the same will be asked by any group that may have oversight too.
Thus if rights are being infringed, and thereby laws are being broken, it is not through ignorance. The seriousness of it is recognised, and the relative merits of that, against whatever national interest is demanding such, can be weighed. Doubtless there will still be abuses though. However all we can do is hope that any serious ones, which are uncovered, are being dealt with, even if behind closed doors.
Of course, if they fail to contain such, and breaches become public knowledge, then more open legal action can take place. Should politicians, the public and prosecutors feel that such is warranted, of course.
None of which applies to Archon, in any event. It is an American organisation. So Dave has realistically portrayed the way it could play out. Nor am I hinting it should be changed. All the debate is simply interesting and enlightening.
As such my comments are purely to illuminate those who feel that data protection and spying are mutually exclusive. They are not. Even spies can discriminate between things which are essential to do their job. Versus others which (albeit handy) are not.
* There are a bunch of similar questions anyone working with European citizens’ data needs to ask, no matter what their role, or who they work for. Albeit the second one above would not be on the list. Not unless working for an organisation which considers following the law to be optional.
I may have missed it, but the strip thus far has been very circumspect in describing what ARC-dark does. But given that ARC-SWAT is the public ‘law enforcement’ branch, and ARC-light intell gathering.. I get the feeling ‘dark’ may be the branch that does the jobs they don’t mention in their press releases.
Or wants the public to know about. Ever.
Spies and Intel gathering, as well as, you mentioned, covert activities that should not be made public.
Sydney was considered for assignment to Arc-Dark. Since we see Harrison being assigned to two branches of the organization, it is still possible that Sydney might work for both Arc-SWAT and Arc-Dark someday.
Mention has been made in comments, but not in canon. But only as regards Arc-light (if I recall correctly). I think they would be terrified of the carnage that would ensue, if she were ever to operate with Arc-Dark! Halo + licence to kill = !!!!!!!!*
From what we have seen of Zephan’s thoughts on the the matter, he would not be too keen on even having her in Arc-Light. Despite that though, I think it likely that Sydney will be called upon to help out Arc-Light, from time to time. We know her true-sight to be both unique and particularly powerful, to there are bound to be circumstances that she will be invaluable, despite her shortcomings.
But Halo has an erratic nature, is famous now and her orbs are highly distinctive. All of which are negatives for covert operations. Fortunately Arc-Light also covers forensics and non-covert activity, and there would be ways to mitigate Sydney’s disadvantages, but only for short periods, or in limited circumstances. As such, I think it unlikely she will be given anything more than temporary assignments.
* Scene: Arc-Dark unit commander, talking to Ashley (a.k.a. Iron Cloth, the Archon tailor)
“I have just been informed that, despite my protests, Halo is to be assigned to my team. I urgently require brown pants.”
And here I thought you were going this direction with your brown pants, Yorp..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnLGJHtdH1w
Thanks for linking that. I had not seen the trailer yet, and it was fun.
Already on my to watch list mind. Albeit that I probably will not get to see it for quite some time. But spoiler free enough that I am glad I watched it, for that reason. It will keep me up to speed, until I eventually do.
X was considering her for Arc- Dark. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/675
Just noticed Tarne’s post.
I keep wondering if X’s sigh was due to his being part of Arc-Dark, and it was in response to the thought that it would mean he would have to work with Sydney. And if it ‘was’, as his duty at the time was monitoring Dabbler it would indicate that at least one of Arc-Dark’s duties is internal security/investigations.
An ever so popular division whether it be civilian or military.
Oops, Tarne’s comment made me realise my memory was probably at fault. And you are right Just Me, X did say “Arc-Dark” in the comic. My bad.
I think I need to report for servicing. I hope my warranty is not out of date?
*engage diagnostic mode*
My favorite was always the cops going after someone with ice based powers and they yell “Freeze!” and the villain goes “alright,” and flash freezes all of them. Classic.
Anyway there’s a reason the cops are scrubs in all superhero comics. Weather they fight someone impervious to bullets, or a energy based villain that disintegrates them before they even reach them. Hell even in Savage dragon comics witch is the one superhero comic that focuses on them, the cops were always helpless before Dragon came along.
That’s because cops, typically, are ‘normal’
Hence there problem.
We have several groups going after possible supers in SHIELD, one group takes them for anatomy class, Hydra wants super soldiers and SHIELD wants them too, without hurting them.
We still haven’t had any name suggestions for the rogue super in panel 3.
My back story for him is that he can shoot beams from his eyes that destabilize objects and cause them to explode. His code name is Bomb Sight.
“He’s a cold hearted man… oh oh” —“into his eyes, He’s been telling lies..”
His is the frigid glance. The longer he stares the deeper the chill. Put him on ice…
“Powers? What powers? I got a condition, makes my sunglasses fog up anytime I’m near a pig.”
Yeah, Prisoner S00001 (the ‘S’ meaning ‘Super’, and he is the first Super to officially be arrested)
is she eating a Marathon bar? Oh man that takes me back. chocolate over a caramel braid…sigh.
Seek and ye shall find. On page 1 of the comments.
Sorry, but it looks like a Marathon candy bar wrapper. Notice the red shade of the wrapper barely noticeable in her hands? Marathon had a predominantly red wrapper, whereas the Curly-Wurly and the Wig-Wag candy bars wrappers were predominantly white.
It was drawn with that intent. But it turns out Marathons ceased being produced in 1982, decades before the comic is set. So Dave has indicated that it should be taken to be a Curly Wurly.
She is not summoning them from the past or creating them. She just knows how to get hold of imported candy. And has a taste for exports from Britain.
She would get along well with me, I am sure!
The Vote Incentive looks like it’s leading to massive bodily harm for the shadow man.
You know, the vote incentive had me thinking about Max’s specularity problem again. Has she tried a nice beige Krylon outdoor spraypaint? Some of them include plasticity for items that bend. Yes it would eventually crack/peel. But I am thinking a couple hours of shopping would do her wonders. Specifically, shopping where the only looks were “Hubba hubba” from passing men _not_ followed (as usual) by the cringe of fear when they realize portions of anatomy were in jeopardy of being ripped/burned/blasted off.
She’s tried it, but found it only helped her move about in crowds, which is something, but upon close inspection, she winds up looking like a mannequin since the skin color is too uniform and lacks subsurface scattering. Putting makeup on top of the paint only reinforces the mannequin look, but then Maxima never developed a real skill with applying makeup. Someone else could probably make her look pretty convincing for a few hours, though she might smell like a freshly painted room.
Did you base the FBI guy on Spencer reed from Criminal minds? that would be amazing.
Actually it was Joel David Moore. :) https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0601376/
And Dr. Spencer Reid makes a cameo in the last panel, nice!
It looks like I’m the only one to catch the reference, too.
Nevermind. Got overly excited when reading the first comment page.