Grrl Power #370 – R&R&RKO
I don’t usually revisit stuff like this, with everyone sitting around talking about the geokinetic and his gold stores, cause you guys already had at it in the comments on that page, but sometimes when I go back and re-read some of the previous pages it feels like there’s not a lot of transition from one scene to the next. Usually that’s fine. Scene’s over, move on, but sometimes the team would just be sitting around talking about what happened. Oh and don’t worry about Barberian’s shirt, there’s a better look at it on the next page.
The idea of being paid to show up at a club or other venue is weird. I mean, it makes sense, people are crazy for celebrities and the team members are the new hot ticket, but there are a lot of F-list celebrities like people who were on one season of some reality show who make a living doing little else. Some big celebs who only make rare appearances can get pretty crazy bucks for it. Given a little more time for the world to whip itself into a super hero craze, some of the team members could pull big dollars too, but it’s unlikely for Maxima to show up at a club, at least in a non-spontaneous endorsement sort of way. Giving a speech at a college or a women’s shelter is more her speed. I’m not sure Wednesday is a big club night in most places but I suppose when you get R&R you make the most of it.
Seneca’s candy today is Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses, those black and orange wrapped peanut butter taffy candies you (or at least I) only really ever see around Halloween. I don’t even know how many calories she ingests in a day.
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.
Drunken super brawl actually sounds like a TV program I’d watch.
Also, if I ever got celebrity status where a club/bar would pay me just to show up, I’d exploit that so much it wouldn’t even be funny. I don’t drink much, and because of that I can always keep a level head and avoid fights. Still, if I were Arianna, I’d be less worried about Drunken Super Brawls (still sounds like an awesome title for a show) and more about some of the men (you know which ones) using their celebrity status to attempt a population growth. Showing up and having fun, good publicity. 10,000 illegitimate children, really REALLY bad publicity.
Also, yay for first comment.
Also, is Dabbler just using Vehemeth as a personal boy toy and chair now? And when did he get a mohawk?
That’s the Barberian, he not-so-little tantric refuelling station
Ah. Must have missed that one.
It was after Sydney got home, and just before she conked out, she phoned Dabbles to talk to her about something, and then the next morning we saw him on the couch, de-briefed (literally) and then Dabbles used a forget-me-hammer on him (so he wouldn’t be spoilt for ‘normal’ sex)
The telephone call Guesticus mentioned:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1630
And the hammer scene:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1694
Original (speaking) appearance:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1420
And his first ever appearance (that I can find):
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1393
He must have been one of the Squirrelguard Reserve, being hidden in the trees, only to have been deployed when things started to look desperate. As he was not visible in the earliest long-shot car park scene.
“Showing up and having fun, good publicity. 10,000 illegitimate children, really REALLY bad publicity.”
I don’t know where you got that idea. You really think they are to stupid to use condoms?
We don’t even know if the Doc can heal any STD, much less the more dangerous ones (like the HI-Virus). And regardless the shame of admitting you have them will still be pretty big. So much easier to just go in properly prepared and protected.
…For that matter, we don’t know how fertile Homo sapiens metahumanis is, or how well they successfully interbreed with Homo sapiens sapiens.
Evolution doesn’t work that way. There is no hard line from one generation to the next. New species evolve gradually. The fact that they had human parents (as far as we know) still means that they’re just Homo sapiens sapiens, but with powers. Any other name is just the media getting ahead of themselves, not a scientific nomenclature.
Although they are now legally distinct (albeit in a non-species specific manner). Now that there is a law that applies to supers that does not to other humans.
Traditionally, lawyers have had only the most tenuous of comprehension for most things scientific…
…as in: “I’ll admit to understanding this, but only if it advances my courtroom argument – otherwise I’ll just twist it to mean whatever I believe is convenient for it to mean.”
^Truth^ :(
It doesn’t mean that at all. We don’t know what makes the difference.
Real evolution, sure. But no one knows what the hell the deal is with these supers.
can condoms survive it? i mean, when you have super powers streangth… there is no guarantee that the super toughness would transfer to the other items too.
In those instances I’d be more concerned with their partners then their condoms ._.
And I get a flashback to Hancock…
if partner is a super too, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.
is that what you think
https://img02.deviantart.net/c800/i/2013/344/1/3/doesn_t_matter__had_snu_snu_by_nebezial-d6xfj86.jpg
the PARTNER should be fine, didn’t said anything about the environment around them.
but wow… diana… that face…
So cute! Much like. +best!
Man of Steel, Woman of Gold, Bed of Tissue Paper (or kindling, after the fact).
“can condoms survive it?”
I’m thinking…Man of Steel, Condoms of Tissue Paper. Does that sound about right?
;)
The author Kyell Gold wrote several short stories about a world with supers, one of them, Wonder Wolf (The characters were also anthropomorhic animals) took his new boyfriend to a favorite forest clearing to… spend some time together.
The BF was a bit supprised that WW didnt want to .. enter into things.. but was quite happy to go along with simply …handling… the situation (please, I’m trying to be tasefull).
It all became clear at the climax of the evening when WW accidentaly….. shot out the engine on a passanger airliner. Fortunately he managed to get his pants on and catch the plane before anyone was hurt.
you know… somehow, i didn’t notice he is even there before reading comments…
Failing to notice the elephant in the room eh. Maybe the distraction of something literally hypnotic, weaving their jiggly magic, even through the 4th wall?
You said you would take money to hang out in large crowds of people. Based on you name and prior such events, it may be hard for people to notice that you were there. Maybe if you wore some kind of distinctive shirt.
but why whould you go to club if you cant get wasted
Dancing, socializing, meeting attractive peoplevof whichever gender floats your boat, getting paid five kilobucks… ^_^
see this is why i’ll never get it i cant do any of those things
You can’t talk to people? o_O
Yeah, same here, never go out because don’t know anyone, and won’t know anyone if don’t go out, nasty cycle :(
i can talk to them i just seam to be lacking something that terns that talking in to socialising and meeting people that and i have a bum ankle as if being wight didn’t make my dancing bad enuff
It helps if you go with a group of people you already know
see above in regards to problems meeting people.
Socialising is a learnable skill. We know that guys develop it later than girls. And that it can take longer (sometimes a LOT longer) in some individuals. I always had some ability to chat to folks, but would class myself as a late bloomer for good socialising skills, in general.
We know categorically that it can be taught, as people on the autistic range need lessons in that. Likewise sociopaths, even those completely lacking in empathy, can study personal interactions, of others, and emulate them.
So it is something that can be self-taught, through observation and practice. Or via a self-help book or similar. Or it could be picked up with the aid of others. And more formal help can be available.
Of course chatting online can help, so even here folks can pick up pointers, as we speculate on interpretations for social situations. Plus there are likely forums and other group support sites, for folks who feel they are in a similar situation to yourself.
All as a pre-cursor to the most important bit, that is. Just getting out there, in the real world, and practising those social skills. No matter how limited they may be, at the moment, they will improve. Guaranteed.
Showing a bad case of neurotypical privilege there Yorp.
Not really. I am not saying that it is possible to completely overcome the hurdles. A learnt skill is not the same as an instinctive knowledge. A sociopath does not understand the world the same way that I understand it, or vice versa.
Nor would I consider that I could walk a mile in autistic shoes. But a skill can be practised and improved. Those who have good baseline skills will be better at those who lack them.
However the gap can be narrowed.
And, yea, I know that folks who live with such handicaps probably get sick of such comments. Any time I have to balance the possibility of helping versus the risk of boring or irritating someone, I always opt for the former.
Friends well-being is more important, to me, than the risk of loosing them as a friend.
As a case in point, a number of sociopaths are expert manipulators, who far exceed baseline socialising skills. They rise to the peaks of corporate and political power, as a result.
as a not-neurotypical, I’m going to have to agree with Yorp on this. Public Speaking classes and the like exist for a reason. It is a learnable skill set, most people can learn it if you practice enough. Not everyone, and some people might find it hard, but most can learn it.
As someone else whose neural wiring varies from the norm – Yes, socialization skills can be learned. It isn’t simple, but it can be done. As is usually the case, practice is everything.
Rather than try to put oneself into “any” social situation to sink or swim, it can be better to concentrate on social situations related to things you like or feel comfortable with. So if clubs and drinking aren’t your thing, don’t worry about them, look for something else. For me, it was SF and (as it turned out) table-top role-playing games – just being able to interact with fairly like-minded people takes a lot of the pressure off.
I second table-top role-playing games, as being a superb environment for improving socialising skills. Along with a bunch of other skills, in tandem, too.
It allows exploration of social situations, in the game environment (eg. “no it is not realistic that someone would behave that way, even in extreme circumstances, not with the information he has available”). Simultaneously with the act of simply getting together, face-to-face and having fun, as a group.
And experienced gamers tend to be very good at looking at the world from other peoples’ points of view. Which will make them much more accommodating for someone who tells them something like “I have problems socialising”. Which also gives them insight, into passing on such skills.
Not to mention that role-players tend to be stereotyped, by non-gamers, as sad loners. So will tend to have extra empathy, towards anyone who has just cause to face more difficulties than themselves, in that regard.
Doubt that I’m ever even going to get to 80% sociable Yorp. I’m far too much of an introvert. Heck at this point I need one day indoors for every day I spend outside the house. Yes, it’s a learnable skill, the problem can be that over exercising it can cause long term damage. Working a highly public job for 5-7 years eventually burned me out and sent me into permanent anxiety and depression.
I too battled depression. Loneliness being a significant contributor to the problem. The single biggest factor, which helped me to overcome it, was getting a dog. Not that I wanted one mind. I did not feel I was in a position to be able to afford one, nor, given my own state, be able to look after it.
However, the dog had been abandoned and was old enough that attempts to find her a new home failed. So I had to take her in, to prevent her being put down. And have never regretted it. My quality of life improved significantly.
I suggest you get one too. Specifically choosing a breed that enjoys going for walks. Like me, make the commitment to take the dog for a daily walk, and stick to it. I feel this would be essential, to help you combat feeling confined to your house, so much.
It will allow you to combat the depression, anxiety and loneliness, separately to your socialisation problems. Hence why I think it would be of great benefit to you. In addition to that, there is a physical health benefit, from both regular walking and being in fresh air and sunlight.
The other factor which assisted me, separately, was when I allowed others to help me. Talking openly, with people I trusted, about my problems. Family initially, but then (following their advice) seeing my doctor about the issues. He was then able to prescribe treatments, dealing not just with the depression, but also other health related issues, which were significant contributors.
I regret the long delay in seeking help with my problems. It took a life-threatening crisis for me to open up, to others. Once I had done so, things started to improve dramatically.
I hope that you learn from my mistakes and take either, or preferably both, of the above steps to help yourself cope.
Throw in joining a weekly gaming group, and I think you can turn things around. In particular, do not fixate on trying to get your socialisation % high. Or worry about what the ceiling, for it, may be. But just take my word that if you take the above steps you can improve it.
The amount, of gain, is not as important as the fact that there will both be improvement and fun to be had in the process!
I would like to support everything [Yorp] just said, & add these points:
– Just as Da Vinci didn’t produce the “Mona Lisa” on his first try, don’t set yourself up for disappointment by pushing too hard for perfection on your first social outing. “Baby Steps”, if you will. Like any physical muscle, your social skills will improve with practice, & over time, that “muscle” will become easier to “flex”.
– [Yorp] also mentions practicing your social interactions online. Bear in mind that you’ll also have tools in Real-Life that don’t work very well in these forums: “Vocal Inflection” & “Facial Expressions”. Together, these tools will convey HUGE paragraphs of subtext that you won’t need to put into words.
– Think about the amount of time you spend re-reading & editing your comments here before you post them. As the amount of time spent “editing” goes down, you’ll see that you’re becoming better at “getting it right the first time”, also known as “expressing yourself clearly”. This is a very valuable social skill, indeed. This in turn will be a wonderful boost to your confidence, & help you to feel more at ease.
– Final thought. Don’t pressure yourself to be “The Entertainer”, especially not in the beginning of your social experiences. A good socializing tool is to cultivate your “Audience”-skill as well, so practice listening as well as talking. The occasional use of key phrases such as “I’m not sure I understand that” will indicate that you’re not just listening, but that you WANT to hear more, & let them know that you ARE paying attention.
Here’s a suggestion: Read old etiquette books, learn their lessons. Sure, your manners and socializing will be a little old-fashioned, but it’ll be a good first step towards meeting people who you can watch and mimic to learn the newer stuff- and old-fashioned-ness can be a conversation starter in and of itself.
I’m not just talking out my gas-hole here, either. I’ve learned pretty much all my social skills through trial and error- and I’m talking ground-up socializing. Recognizing facial expressions, body language and verbal cues that indicate basic emotions like anger, sadness or annoyance, for example. Up until a few years ago, I had no idea when someone was upset with me based on the subtleties of how they were talking, rather than what they were saying. It doesn’t help that most people, since they instinctual notice those things, don’t understand that others might not be able to. Something that’s helped is to just mention to people who I’m relatively comfortable with that I have that sort of trouble- never underestimate how much honesty and candidness can help in social situations.
It’s all trial and error from there, then. Remember that most folks will be ‘polite’ for so long, waiting for you to ‘get the hint’ that they’ll eventually become right cross with you for not noticing their level of interest (or lack thereof) in the conversation- that’s where the potential for future socializing becomes damaged. So ‘cut things off’ before you’re fully expecting, as well.
Interestingly, it can work even from another angle. You may communicate emotions without really noticing. I once talked to my boss, thinking: “why is he apologizing so much? – Oh, I’m angry at someone completely unrelated.” Yeah, so I told him not to take my angry face, which I was unaware of until that point, personally.
And as a member of the autistic community myself…. you might not be nearly as bad at the whole “socializing” thing as you think. In fact the “can’t tell a lie” aspect of autism is actually a major help in social reputation. Including the bits where someone tries/succeeds in taking advantage of you… everyone else will default to being on your side. NOT an advantage the nuro-typical usually have.
Since Sydney hyperventilated over her first paycheck, I’m going to suspect that $5K wouldn’t really be that impressive anymore.
untill she translates it in to number of comics she can buy
or how meany weeks she can pay Olivia so her brother will keep visiting
…Or how much it adds to the coffers of the Salt Queen…
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1830
THE SALT MUST FLOW
$5K for just hanging out in a bar after work? Sounds like the American Dream™!
Because you’re an adult.
Actaully, Harem might not be able to drink at all. This is the United States, she’s 19, and Ariana would be pissed off if she was publicly drinking underage (also the bar should know she’s 19 and wouldn’t serve her).
If Arianna is actually ok with the practice (Harem in particular), it probably means Harem carries a photo ID incorporating (in an obviously hard to forge manner) a statement that her mental and emotional age is considered to be 37, for legal purposes.
Signed off by a qualified psychologist, her parent(s) or legal guardians and possibly (given her connections) the attorney general for their jurisdiction. Plus providing contact information, for anyone wishing to verify the claim, or the identities of the signatories.
For information the valid way of doing that would not be ‘phone this number’. It would be ‘get Archon’s number from your phone book or directory of enquiries and ask to be put through to X department or named individuals Y or Z .’ Clearly ensuring that the contact point(s) would be manned, or contactable, even out of working hours.
The US drinking age isn’t set due to mental or emotional age- it’s physical brain-age. Before about 20 years of age, the brain can be significantly damaged by alcohol. It’s why Americans can drive, screw, smoke, vote and die for their country before they’re allowed to drink.
Meh, politics and opinion, be it social or arbitrary, tends to set such things far more than scientifically provable fact. So much so that I do not bother even verifying any claims like that, one way or the other. Science will be ignored, in favour of politicians’ decisions. So I do not waste my time on it.
The kinds of things that interest me are trivia that have more wide-ranging implications (even if they can inform the above). For instance that developmental speeds vary for different organs, genders and even varying (for other genetic reasons) between individuals and groups. Plus environmental factors can impact on such too. The brain being even more complicated than other organs.
But, unless I get a job as a bartender or a teacher, I have no practical need to make such calls.* If I have to vote, in a referendum, on the matter, I would just check the most up-to-date research at that time.
* Given that the locals get married at age 14 here, I usually judge if one of them is about 21 by seeing if his, or her, kids are going to kindergarten yet.
I was officially given a gun and authorized to kill the enemies of the USA four years before I was legally allowed to drink. I was given additional and extensive training in the art of killing people two years before I was allowed to legally drink. I was utilizing my extensive array of skills for killing people whilst being on covert missions in nasty, icky third world countries two years before I was legally allowed to drink. I was allowed to train others in my new art of killing people one year before I was legally allowed to drink. I was responsible (literally) for the lives of 40 men and millions of dollars of equipment one year before I was legally allowed to drink. On the day I was legally allowed to drink, I was offered a drink, which I turned down, reasoning, “Because I don’t want to accidentally kill someone.” BECAUSE WHERE’S THE FUN IN THAT? MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Life (noun): … irony, stupidity, hilarity…
Extract of poetic definition.
got to love dablers seating arangment
She certainly looks comfortable.
I thought the Barberian would have been sent home by now. I wonder if this means he’s going to be offered a job with Archon, or if Dabbler is just planning to keep him around until Max and the General make her give him up.
I assume Dabbler is just going to keep him as a toy. I doubt he’d mind
A little of both most likely.
Arc could use an in house hair care specialist.
If I was the Barberian, I’d WANT Archon keeping an eye on me. One minute I’m cutting hair, the next minute I’m about to fight Scary Weakly Godlike People in a parking lot. Perhaps I should get that looked into?
He does seem to be fitting right in. Maybe he actually likes Dabbler. Stranger things have happened.
but is a hair dresser in a fictional setting aren’t we missing a stereotype here?
Well it didn’t apply last night…
The fight scene can either be viewed as being camp or awkward embarrassment, depending on what baggage the reader brings to it. But even if it is read as being camp, that need not be a reflection of sexuality. As proven by the point Mike makes above.
He might (for example) simply have capitalised on camp mannerisms, as being professionally useful. Where another guy might think ‘oops I better avoid that turn of phrase’ a hairdresser might think ‘oh, that will give folks a good laugh, in the salon’. Play up the campness, even tongue-in-cheek though, and it can become habitual and even influence the personality (or perceptions of it).
I feel like Archon, at this point, is extending The Offer to everyone they find with superpowers, bar none. Probably about half the Brawl participants are going to be given the offer- definitely ones that don’t have prior felonies.
I’d definitely want Death Toll and Opal. I’d be tempted with Vehemence but he’s awfully back-stabby which is a shame. Max+V would literally double the team’s power.
Every unit needs a Barber. Most just need to maintain mil spec hair standards.
It would be good for morale that the on base barber can relate to the stuff that supers would yack about while on the chair. And a subtle reminder to Archon team members of how well things can go for all involved if they do their anti vigilante mission correctly.
He’s strong. Probably strong enough to cut super-hair. Maybe he would like that he can also be ArcSwat’s personal stylist? Perhaps his greatest foe would be Achillies’ freakin mullet. The Barber-ian could do a 30 yr stretch and retire. Write a book, maybe.
I’d read it.
Bonus: Its a convenient additional level of security to know that the guy running the base barbershop can also throw a Buick across the parking lot. (So don’t take his space ;-)
He he.
Maybe he can do some thing with those purple strands growing from Max’s scalp too. They seem as indestructible as the rest of her.
Maybe I missed something but am I seeing Dabbler properly? I mean, she has a stylish top on but… no bottoms? Are we talking Donald Duck / Howard the Duck styling here — all tops and no bottoms or is her ‘stylish top’ really a sweater dress that’s smooched up to her hips?
Dabbler has no pants. She may, or may not, have underwear of some sort on. When Dabbler is standing, or walking, the jumper will hang low enough that nothing naughty is on display, either way.
Currently though Arianna would freak, if she saw the pose. And Maxima would blow her top, if she had to walk past Dabbler’s hooves.
5 grands a head seems excessive. That group size times $5K is probably more than the nightly income of the pub.
Depends on if they can get them to spend it back on the bar drinking, or if they can get the word out fast enough to get as many people there as possible all drinking and possibly buying them drinks. I’ve seen some clubs make upwards of 200,000 a night (granted, a beer cost $10 and they had 5 bars and a large maximum capacity) but keep in mind that it’s not a one time investment. Say you pay each of them $5000 a head, or $40,000 for this group. Then, you spread the word that ARCHON hangs out at your bar, and reap the benefits of people coming to the bar in hopes of meeting a super. You can easily make up that money in a week and then some. Plus, if you treat the supers well and they have a good time and actually WANT to come back, then you can actually have credibility with your advertising and make even more money. Snowball effect.
– Okay, which of you is going to challenge Bruno here to eating the most Super Suicide Wings? Loser pays.
The Archon personnel all look at Sydney.
Sydney: [ Quietly ] Um, You guys know I don’t actually eat meat, right? [ Loader ] Hey Bruno, are you up for the most Super Suicide Noodles?
Bartender: We don’t normally serve that. Let’s see what we have in the back. [ Goes to the kitchen and returns ] Yeah, the cook says he will whip something up for you guys. Hey, Sydney is it? Are you sure you want to do this?
Sydney: After eating all those other wings there won’t be much room left for the pasta. Besides, he is already starting to sweat. Not as much as the other guy, but still… I’ve got this in the bag.
That would be a standing challenge at FUSION.
New Menu Item: “SUMMON THE UNMAKER!!!” ************ (Eat a whole bowl and we’ll pay for the stomach pumping)
Nooooooo! Needless summoning of the Unmaker only angers it!
I was thinking that they could put up 2 walls.
The Scoville wall of fame for those who can eat Sydney’s noodles.
And the Scoville wall of shame for those who try and fail miserably.
I am thinking you would have the “Winners” list and the “Survivors” list. Maybe a third one called, “Honourable Mentions,” where medical intervention was required.
That works to.
Though they might add a fourth list.
The “wieners” list for those who try but wimp out without taking even 1 bite.
na its a club they often whould clear 15k on the door if its a highend club double that with celebs inside
Don’t forget the sustained business as “That club those Supers sometimes hang out it.”
add in a photo/special drink with the super provided by the club photographer or bartender for 40-100 bucks 2/5 to the super rest to the club and profits are even higher.
Syndey’s drink: The Bloody Hell! Mary. The Tabasco sauce is replaced by a double-dose of Naga Scorpion juice and the paprika is switched out for dried ghost pepper powder.
… Presumably with a Carolina Reaper chili on a toothpick floating in it.
I love how Barberian is just chilling with them as Dabbler’s boy toy.
Probably joined the team.
They already have a super powered tailor and doctor.. why not a barber.
Heck, their janitor is probably an aquamancer.
aquakinetic is more likely than aquamancer an aquamancer would have outher abilatys with magic better suited to arklight than arksparkle
lol i loving the idea of arc sparkle now
arc sparkle janitorial and crime scene cleanup
for when super villains make a super mess
If I was the head of Arc-360 (the Archon building security*) I would appear to just be a regular worker in Arc-sparkle, as a janitor and window cleaner. Having my right-paw woman playing the visible role, as the leader.
Those are key infiltration points, and I believe in being paws-on. Archon tech being more than capable of allowing me a supervisory role, via discreet communications and information technology, without requiring a physical presence.
Finally any laxness, in security, will be much more apparent undercover, than if seeing a suited (or uniformed) head of security nosing around.
* Well in my head anyhow.
Always. Expect. Janitors.
Heh.
Daniel here. As a cleaner, I second the above link…
…and third it, because I can…
…Call Security if you give me too much crap… }:D
You remind me of an old 1-panel cartoon (I can’t recall the artist), with an important-looking lab-tech looking VERY annoyed at a somewhat apologetic security guard. Thing is, both of them are canines in human clothing. The guard is saying:
“I’m sorry, Sir, but the rules are very clear – I have to sniff EVERYONE’s butt.”
P.S.:
“Nosing” around…?
:P
(…groan…)
Humans do get very touchy about the strangest of things. It is necessary to learn the weirdest behavioural modifications, to avoid giving offence.
For instance being sure to make sure they do not spot you licking your genitals clean, shortly prior to licking them hello!
Yes, a good sniff can answer a huge range of questions, such as sexual status, health, etc. Humans are more than a little bit “touchy” on the matter. Thing is, most of the same data can be learned FAR more discretely & diplomatically…
…from their toilet-bowl.
EEEEW!
Talk about odious racial habits!
I mean, why do that? Pooing in perfectly good water bowls?
Heh.
I don’t think I know that one, but it sounds like something that might have come from “The Far Side” by Gary Larson.
Sorry, but no – I’d have remembered if it was a “Far Side”-piece, because I’m a big fan of his work. I do recall that the line-work wasn’t nearly as clean as Larson’s style.
Nah, he’s just a guy. sometimes he even forgets exactly what the nature is in the place he works.
(Under the comic) https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1844
kill joy
Don’t believe him, even Maxima forgets stuff (like objects having weight), and can behave like a normal person.
A mop is just an aquamancer’s staff! His bucket is like a witch’s cauldron.
yep. it’s kinda like the comic Strong Female Protagonist. the main character is a Brick-type super gal, and she has a really hard time connecting with people for the fact she very rarely feels pain, as well as having Max’s “stuff has weight” problem, not to mention she’s kind of in “lawful stupid” mode a lot.
it is one of my favorite points of hers that what you do becomes part of who you are so one must be careful what one gets good at.
He hasnt joined the team, if for no other reasons than I’m positive that Max and the others wouldnt permit him (or any of the others from the fight) to join till the investigation of their involvement was completed and Arianna wouldnt allow him to sign anything till she was satisfied his brain was no longer scrambled by Dabblers magic for the obvious legal reasons.
I’m more concerned with why theyre talking about Mr Gold and his stash in front of him. He’s not cleared for that information. If word got out that the stash existed it would distort the gold market even if he never sold another bar, and nobody likes their gold (and related commodities) market getting erratic and nervous. Even if Dabbler can hammer the Barberian later I doubt Max would approve. Allowing Dabbler to take custody of the Barberian during the investigation as a recharging station is one thing since she needs the power, but allowing her to hammer him willy-nilly as a substitute for proper handling of classified information is quite another.
+10
Memory wiping is something that I would class as causing actual bodily harm (you are physically altering the neurons in the brain) and thereby an imprisonable offence. And then only because we lack a law that would get close to recognising the true seriousness of the crime. Direct mind control, possession and similar crimes, like this, being one area that would require legislators to work on new laws.
For a good read on how super hero issues might play in today’s legal world, check out Law of the Mutiverse. Surprisingly, most issues are probably already covered. As they note in one post, memory alteration would probably be covered under existing battery statutes assuming you could prove it happened.
Yea, I just got taken on walkies and was thinking on a bunch of example mental crimes and the kinds of legal redress that there might be. However they would be adapting laws intended for slightly different circumstances.
This is analogous to cyber-crimes. Until there was a law covering ‘misuse of computer equipment’ and other specific data and hacking crimes, then there were a bunch of things which were clearly immoral but which fell through the vast gaps in laws not designed for the virtual environment.
Likewise the penalties might not be appropriate to the circumstances or the seriousness of the crime. I would consider reading my thoughts (or even worse altering or deleting them) to be a very serious crime. But the legal penalties that could be invoked, by stretching some other law, would be considerably less than the just sentence.
And in both directions. Our laws on kiddie porn were designed to hammer commercial-level publishers and collectors thereof, not to deal with 14-year-old girls texting nipple-selfies to their eternal undying love of the week. They are clearly and routinely overkill for the latter.
More than likely the law that created Archon included language defining “abuse of superpowers” as a crime, or some such thing.
Though that would create an interesting situation in the U.S.: kill, maim, or rob someone without powers, you get charged by the state. Use your powers, get charged by the feds. Same crime, but the method you use you commit it changes the jurisdiction.
Actually, comic 145 clarifies that the only part of the law that applies specifically to people with powers is the part about vigilantism.
For most significant crimes, if both the Feds and the state want to go after you they can usually find a charge.
Theory: Barberian is actually a Double Agent of Arc-Dark. X is his partner.
A mere rumor of “someone” with a large store of gold “somewhere in America” is hardly worth classifying. NONE of the details are searchable. And as other commenters have pointed out – not actually an economy-breaking level of money either. And if this rich person is living in a neighborhood of other rich people… he/she would blend in very, very well. Heck, a mere ‘trust fund’ cover story would be unshakable (and perfectly true).
Those rumors pretty much already circulate–as does the rumor that known large stashes (like Fort Knox) don’t exist.
Wait, why was Bodie so quick to steer the subject away from supervillains and gold-fuelled death rays? o_O
What’s wrong with a Death Ray that needs gold for fuel anyway? In one of the Batman movies, Mr. Frieze powered his armor/refrigerator suit with diamonds.
Yeah that really irritated me, you might use a diamond as a Medium for a laser but as a Fuel Source?
Yea, might as well just chuck in garbage as the fuel, if you have matter-energy conversion. No point wasting the shiny stuff.
To be fair, since Diamond is basically pure carbon, and there’s a lot more energy in the interatomic bonds in a Diamond lattice than in, say, Charcoal, Coal or Graphite, once you get a diamond to combust, it’ll burn a lot hotter and a lot better than other fuel sources.
Actually graphite has a higher bond strength than diamond, but since that energy is subtracted from the energy released by burning the carbon not added to it amorphous carbon such as pure charcoal gives more energy when burnt than either of them.
When I read this, I immediately assumed that she didn’t mean using it as a LITERAL fuel, but rather as FUNDING for the parts which they would use to build the device.
Well if said Death ray was constructed with techno magic/alchemy then the use of gold as a power source makes sense.
Really stylish spells will make use of gold chocolate coins instead!
Only if you are trying to get the attention of certain other dimensional females.
Or if your device was built with parts from any type of coin operated device
And if Seneca is not in the room.
Maybe her OTHER boss has plans in this direction.
I think she felt the Sydney nerd rampage coming from that question, and quickly steered the attention away
Using gold as a “fuel” for death rays is a lot more realistic than most people would normally think. The key point here is that the gold is not used as energy fuel but more like ammunition.
The more realistic death rays are based on projecting particle beams (which can be called a ray once one remembers the “simple” parts of quantum mechanis). If I recall correctly, then gold have already been used as particles in some of the really large experimets out there. Specifically I seem to recall that the heavy ion collisions done at LHC was done with gold ions, which were created by superheating it inside a box with a small hole in.
The reason I think it was gold, is because I remember thinking something along the lines of:
“Why would anyone use such an expensive material for this”,
Until I realised how extremely expensive everything was in the first place, and pumping a few kg of gold as fuel really was just a tiny drop in the bucket.
On the other hand, gold is also very usefull in many high end engineering components, where its price is pretty much ignorable. It conducts heat/electricity (atleast one of them) better than copper, and it is also fairly usefull to shield against certain things (many components of spacecrafts are littlerally covered in a layer of gold). Futhermore many classical partical physics experiment are described to use gold based detectors.
So all in all, a good amount of gold would be fairly usefull when constructing a death ray, even without considering its resale value.
question is how meany times will they pay hareim and if its only once whould she loose fucher deals if she went 5 clubs at the same time?
All depends on the club in question. But Harem is ideal club material, with her flirty behaviour and super-looks, so I think she probably gets team rates, with a bulk discount, at her regular spots. They would be unlikely to pay top dollar if she did not agree to keep it exclusive.
That is not to say she could not have bodies elsewhere, doing other things (albeit unpaid). Just so long as that did not involve promoting a direct competitor. The same thing would apply with any normal celebrity mind. Except others would only be able to infringe the deal in a sequential, rather than simultaneous, manner.
then again what if she was to go to 5 separate clubs of the same chain each in a different city with the right approach she may be able to clear 50 to 80 grand for 1 nights “work”
Certainly as part of a promotion featuring that. Bear in mind that she is a teleporter too. So could actually appear in every club, in their chain (even around the globe), over the course of an evening (however extended that might be).
True. As Luis Wu pointed out in Ring World, if you time it right you can make a birthday last more than 24 hours. So,you can certainly make an evening much longer as well.
Question is: how much will you be getting Harem?
Knowing her ethics, in addition to getting her own team rate, Harem has probably just finished negotiating a commission, on everyone else’s fees too, with the club in question. And is having a drink with them, right now, to seal the deal!
I predict that the club will turn out to belong to her friend, Deus. Perhaps there’s something more going on at that place than just a desire for more business . . .
That’s… an evil tipster thought. I love it!
SpiderVance seems mighty interested in that gold stash, is he going to be the first official (still not confirmed about Abbey and her little chats with Vale… and Douche) ARCHONite to turn Villain?
Nah, I get the feeling that he is really uncomfortable about this guy just sitting there with enough gold on hand to destroy the economy and noone is going to do anything about it but “keep an eye on him” Mainly because it sucks but its true, he isnt doing anything illegal. Hell, dumping all that gold on the market probably isnt technically illegal, considering its all real gold.
All the SEC and other regulators is ask nicely that he not do that, that he is depressing the price of gold below that of silver and approaching that of nickel. At that point, he dumps copper and Canada can afford to produce 1-cent coins again when copper drops to the cost of zinc.
Well, temporarily… There are a LOT of uses for copper, and most of them don’t get recycled in the near-term.
I believe that a massive dump of Gold on the market would have a TEMPORARY effect and, as I said before, would certainly be no worse than many of the skeevy things so-called “normal” financiers do as a matter of course.
The lust for Gold seems to be inscribed in the DNAs of many humans. So if the price literally dropped through the floor, one major thing that would certainly happen is an untold number of financial players thinking “Woot, Gold is SO cheap now. I better buy as much of it as I can before the price starts going up again …”
It’s the basic Law Of The Stock Market – ‘What Goes Down Will Come Up, And Vice Versa’. One thinks of people only doing well financially when market prices are zooming for the stratosphere, but there are plenty of savvy people who get rich when the opposite happens as well.
Vance is cunning enough to out-mind-game Sydney. As such I feel it unlikely he would tip his
handpedipalp, if intending to commit a crime.It looks like the Barberian will be staying around Archon to continue last night’s debriefing. He might even be able to join Archon as *cough* a hairstylist.
Archon already has an exclusive tailor – why not also a barber?
barber/dabbler refueling station
You might not be able to use the gold to fuel anything, but some hipster supervillain might want gold plated connectors on their death ray. Might not be any noticeable difference to the death ray beam, but they would complain about the quality of it.
if i remember correctly isn’t gold one of the metals best suited to conducting electricity? isent that why they use it in phones and computers? maybe the villain needs to build a really big circuit board for his death ray
The bigger reason they use it in electronics is because it doesn’t corrode. If they were copper traces that thin, they’d have the possibility of rusting into inoperable status in high humidity environments.
then maybe he is building an underwater doomsday weapon?
The other reason is that gold wires can be stretched very thin. All the connections from the actual chip to the pins on the case are usually made with very thin gold wires. Nothing else could be made that thin without becoming brittle and/or losing electric conductivity.
But there are cheaper ways, such as dipping a board in resin to waterproof it.
They might want it to have a certain look. The luxury of gold on the death ray.
Both copper and silver are superior electrical conductors. Gold, however, and just like Seneca says, is inert and therefore will not oxidize. For connections as small as those on integrated circuits, this is far more important a consideration than at larger scales of wiring.
Which is something to keep in mind when buying HDMI cables and the like – at that scale, gold plated connectors (to say nothing of any “shielding” or rated Hz or anything else) are all just there to convince suckers to spend an outrageous amount of money.
On that note, you have to laugh (or facepalm) at people who spend $50 on an HDMI cable, gold content or no. It’s not going to work any better, people!
reminds me of the Salarian on the Citadel in ME2: “Your wouldn’t believe how many people i have to explain to that light doesn’t go any faster through expensive fiber optic cables than cheap ones”
For some reason I’d thought that Platinum had the lowest electrical resistance of all room-temperature conducting materials…
(it’s just not very cost-effective to use it that way)
…& isn’t the metallic form of super-cooled Hydrogen the ultimate conductor? If I recall correctly, it would be much more popular if not for 2 problems:
1)__the tech for KEEPING it that cold is impractical, because…
2)__the act of passing electrons thru ANYTHING creates heat as a by-product, which would make the Hydrogen less conductive, which would create more resistance, which would generate more heat, in a vicious cycle.
I’d bet that the geokenetic guy would get really pissed off if someone poured mercury all over his gold stash. There’s no cheap & effective way to UNbond mercury from gold & it would be pretty worthless for financial purposes because it would look too much like silver or some other lower-value metals. There’s no cheap & effective way to UNbond mercury from gold.
Might still be a good conductor, but if the gold was already integrated into circuitry, then adding mercury would pretty much short out everything & render it useless.
Wouldn’t his geokinetic powers allow him to take the mercury out of the gold though?
You are correct has a peanut butter bacon cookie.
Yummy!
yes but not directly all he needs to do is heat it up enuff to evaporate the mercury or the gold (can’t be bothered to look up which has the lower boiling point but i assume its mercury) and to do that he only needs to take it back to the core and allow some geothermal fractional distillation to happen
so he is probably one of the few people who can separate them for free
Heh, it makes it a good option for his vault-cooling system though. If anyone manages to get down to it, through his thermal chimney, and fails to contain the mercury from spilling into the vault, from that, when they breach it (by tunnelling from one to the other) then the gold will be de-valued.
This classes as a good thing, because it preserves the world price of gold, and he can easily get more from the mantle.
Coming up with a couple dozen tons of mercury would be a significant challenge in and of itself. The stuff is not cheap.
Governments could do it mind, if wanting to preserve gold prices (in conjunction with stopping his capability to produce more, in a permanent manner). Likewise the geomancer himself could access as much as occurs naturally in the deep Earth, should he want to use it in the manner I proposed myself.
This guy can draw gold straight from THE EARTHS CORE, and you think separating gold from mercery would be an issue for him?
That is solvable, by revoking his breathing privileges.
It’s only me or Leon has grown a lot? I mean, how tall is he?
Just take note of who he is sitting next to…
Just making a height comparison, via Seneca?
Or speculating as to the significance? Romantically or professionally maybe?
He’s always been tall. Syd noticed when they met.
Yup, it was like with Anvil, but not quite so extreme. Although it was at the restaurant, when Leon was adjusting Sydney’s phone. I think he was sitting when they first met, and she gave him the nerd-cred test.
I agree with Kaliban, actually. When looking at panel 1, Leon is noticeably larger than anyone else. It’s been established that he is around 6’4″, but when compared to Harem’s 5’8″, the panel looks wrong. I think in this case it is exaggerated perspective to allow everyone to appear in frame (look at the back of the couch he’s on).
Wednesday used to be a great club night when I was at university, actually we had a club to visit every day except sundays … And mondays was more of a pub. But little saturday was a great evening. Once we actually tried to go straight from the club to the first lecture (cluben open to five, then hang around in kitchen for a couple of hours).
Turned out to be a not so good idea in the end…
I missed reading the word “night”, in your first sentence. Which made it seem like your university city had a bunch of venues, trading under the names of: “Wednesday”, “Mondays” and “Little Saturday”.
Very impressed with what I think I see happening here. Harem’s ‘Anyway’ in panel three set shivers of lit.crit. delight down my back.
I’m assuming that that was a beautiful change of subject as the conversation edged towards superpowered uses for gold, which implies her double-agent boss, Deus, may have plans for it. I’m stuill assuming that Harem’s double-agent nature will get formally outed at some point before the flashback ends, so that Sydney knows about itto include it in the flashback. This feels to me like more bits of plot being meshed subtly but smoothly together, and the edifice being built.
popcorn time!
Wednesday night would be great time to go out, most people wait for Friday or Saturday so less chance of getting mobbed and more chance of just having a quiet couple rounds with friends
Harem vs Harem would be an interesting bout. She could stage a great looking fight, since she would know exactly how close to pull her punches. And look good doing it.
…Not if at least one of her happens to be drunk…
I thought that all of her is drunk if one of her is drunk
Not necessarily. S I understand it she’s one mind but (up to) 5 bodies so up to 5 brains. If they were separate when they started presumably only the ones who drank enough to get drunk would be drunk.
Now the other bodies might have to make some effort to tune it out…
she has 1 mind, but 5 different bodies, each having having its own brain.
and guess what… brain chemistry doesn’t transfer.
she might get some weird ideas while in that state, but the movements of the other bodies should not be affected… much.
pretty sure she actually explained that somewhere….
here it is page 308
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1688
“multiple bodies means multiple brains.
that means multiple speech centers,
multiple visual cortexes, et cetera,
which is why i can do 5 separate things at once”
No, but pain transfers (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/389, https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1477)
She can filter out most impulses, but not very strong/unexpected ones. I’m sure at least some of the headache of a hangover is going to sip through that filter
yeah, well, sudden pain impulse, and brain melting, is not exactly the same.
would be nice if someone who actually know how intoxication works to resolve this.
Ooh. Seneca is making the most of the ultimate shared super power. She can eat as much candy as she likes, all day long, and yet always remain perfectly buff!
Assuming she has a power, that is, and does not just burn it off with training, or sticking her head down a loo. But if that is the case, then it does not matter how useless the power is, Seneca still gets the universal perks, yet can still qualify for the unit, on merit, like Peggy.
And maybe finds the odd use for being able to make a coloured spot on a wall.
high metabolism. some people have them. Jughead, for instance ;)
If you ask me, the epitome of the high metabolism is Norville “Shaggy” Rogers. How else to explain how he can eat so much and remain so thin?
I am surprised that the team were not briefed (behind the scenes) to be discreet about the vault of gold. Yet they are talking in front of Barberian. The vault’s primary defence is that no one knows about it (presumably, and supported by the fact that none of them were aware of it from general knowledge).
Unless they were briefed, but also are aware that Barberian has been given security clearance, perhaps in anticipation of joining the team, in an official capacity? As suggested above, Archon might want an in-house hairdresser, just as with Iron-Cloth, the super tailor.
If the latter is the intention, then perhaps it is at the recommendation of Arc-Light? Chatting at a hairdressers, in a civilian environment, being a risk of leaks for any unit.
or they intend anther application of dabblers mighty hammer
It wasn’t really covered in the comic directly, but I’m willing to bet that they won’t be discussing the exact location or even the geokinetic’s real name when they happen to be among Not-Security-Cleared people.
It is standard procedure to not discuss any kind of classified info so freely…Under penalties ranging anywhere from facing NJP to Court Martial or even up to/and including summary execution.
they can’t say that anyway as they never got told that information (can’t tell what you don’t know)
I’m more worried about Sydney doing drunk stunts with The Pro or The Violator.
na sydney has a respect for the power of the orbs i would be more worried about her trying to defend herself in a crowded club if she got drugged or something
Just slap up a force field until the trouble blows over.
that would be a rational response. however panicked and addled minds really have a rational response
For that matter annoyed/angry Sydney doesn’t tend to default to those either.
just go back to her first meeting with aria and the others were they talk about what happened to a guy who tried to mug her.
“oh the humanity” was the descriptor used
Why isn’t Harem in the Who’s Who?
I expect that qualifies as an “Oops.”
Because DaveB created an Easter Egg. Presumably one with green yolk. Congratulations on finding it.
Possibly someone else will need to get bumped from it, as Dave likes to keep the list short. But no obvious candidate, as they all have something to say.
Why is Barbarian not there we all know Harem?
He is not talking, which is the normal minimum requirement. I do not recall that he has been introduced either. Barring the previous scene (where presumably introductions were handled in the boring parts of the meeting), that is normally needed too.
Background characters appear a lot. This is one instance where his presence is very significant mind. But the list is already longer than Dave normally likes. But Dave does somewhat make up for him not featuring, in the list, by giving him a name-drop in his blog above.
Mmm, I guess this clarifies Leon’s official status. As per the cast list:
We now know that is not as an Arc-Light special agent. Maxima ordered them to remain for the meeting, with the department heads (the latter previously referred to as ‘E7s and above’).
So presumably (under cover cop seeming unlikely, being their ‘primary hacker’) Leon is just a civilian employee, attached either to Arc-SWAT, Arc-Light or Archon in general.
Max specifically says “ARC-Light [strong]special[/strong] agents.” Leon may just be a regular agent.
The range of job titles, even just in law enforcement, in the states is wide. Some agencies have both agents and special agents. With the former having much more limited legal powers.
We can assume though that Arc-Light will be most closely modelled on the FBI. In which case ‘special agent’ is a field agent with full federal law enforcement powers. Who come in a variety of ranks. ‘Agent’ is not one of them. The nearest is a ‘probationary agent’. The majority of the rest of their staff are simply professional staff of various sorts.
As Arc-SWAT’s (or Arc-Light’s/ Archon’s) lead hacker Leon clearly would not be a ‘probationary agent’. He obviously is not required to wear a uniform but, not being a ‘special agent,’ is unlikely to do that for undercover work reasons. Therefore is probably just ‘professional staff.’
However, unlike the FBI, Archon is a military organisation, so he will fall under military jurisdiction, and command, as a civilian specialist. And may get called out into the field if a hacker is needed. If civilian specialists get uniforms, in the army, he probably has one in his locker.
Learn something new every day. I always wondered what the difference was in the FBI between a regular agent and a special agent. Now I learn that there aren’t “regular” agents. Which makes one wonder why they went with special?
In isolation it does rather sound like calling the janitor a ‘senior sanitation engineer’,* doesn’t it? Making me laugh, a lot, when I found out it is just their standard job title.
But it is used to denote having significant law enforcement powers. And is common across a number of agencies (even if other terms apply, for some, too). Federal law enforcement powers are special, for that matter, being cross-jurisdictional in nature.
Likewise being allowed to carry a weapon on and off duty, and across state boundaries**. Not to mention powers of arrest and major criminal investigative rights. Finally, there are indeed ‘regular’ agents in U.S. law enforcement. Just not in the F.B.I.
* The (vaguely, from memory) paraphrased job title of my all-time favourite science-fiction character. Who’s personal vehicle, at the time, was the most sophisticated star-ship, in the known universe. So, although it does poke fun at grandiose sounding job titles, it is said with respect.
** The last being famously so, thanks to Elvis. Even if it is pretty much intrinsic to the FBI’s purpose and role.
For information, here is the rank structure for the French Gendearmerie. I looked it up to see if they differentiated anything like agent or special agent. But they pretty much operate the same kind of system as Arc-SWAT. With no similarity to the French police rank structure.
DaveB may want to note that gendarme officers are granted higher law enforcement powers than lower ranks. Whilst that is a reflection of the wider French legal system (including that in the police force), it is something that provides a useful precedent in case it is useful for story purposes in Archon. They clearly would have studied other gendarme procedures before enacting the laws to set up Archon. So such would be incorporated under that act, if wanted.
It is worth mentioning that they are a military force, they do have full policing powers (power of arrest and so on) and remain in full uniform most of the time. In fact they have to seek special permission to operate in plain-clothes, and then only for specific missions.
So, is the scene of Harem being yelled out over the drunken brawl an imaginary what-could-happen? Or are we to assume that there was a drunken brawl and that the last panel takes place the day after the rest of the page?
Inquiring minds want to know! Well, mine does anyway . . .
Definitely the former.
It could be the later, seeing how Bodie is wearing the same outfit, but ‘battle-damaged’
have I mucked up/forgotten something? I thought that was Harem…
It is. Each version of her has been given a different nickname though.
aha. that makes sense. existential crisis de-crisised :D
[Sanity: +1d3]
” Cthullu pops up and starts making faces at you”
Please make a sanity check.
I’d taken a third interpretation: that there was a drunken brawl and associated chewing-out, but it was on a previous occasion rather than this one. Harem, as so often, speaks from experience.
This would mean that the “super brawl” headline probably refers to the scale of the fight rather than the tactics or abilities used, since supers are only just coming out as such. As long as she remembers not to Vorp in public, Harem could probably be mistaken for a set of sisters, especially in the general confusion of a fight.
Would it take A LOT to get Arianna unhinged??? All she’s done to give ARC a golden reputation only to have one of the team to soil that reputation,which would lead to the disbandment of the team???
Something like that would never get ARC-SWAT disbanded. At most, some of the members would be suspended or even fired.
Public opinion is still important, but not for preserving Arc-SWAT.
How about getting court-martialed?
That’d be a problem for the one being court-martialed, but not one that would end ARC-SWAT.
The ‘anyway’ in panel three should indicate the first syllable
is extended.
“aaaanyway…..”
depends on what she’s trying to do with it. if its an “I’m bored’ lets talk about parties” then yeah, i can see that. But, it may be abrupt as portrayed, if she’s interjecting rapidly to change the subject from an area she doesn’t want them talking about. Don’t forget: a) she’s a double agent and b) this is Sydney’s retelling of the events from some point after c) sydney knows that she’s a double agent.
NB, my argument pre-supposes that that is Harem talkinh. Harem who is not actually on the list of speaky people, and I’m having a small existential breakdown about whether it is actually her or not… ;)
Flashbacks do not have to work that way. Some do, granted. But for that version to work it would require that, by the end of this book (we are in book 2 at the moment) Sydney will have become fully aware of:
• Harem’s status as a double agent (as you recognised)
• Arianna’s role in organising the bank robbery.
• Maxima’s actions with Achilles and Mr Amorphous, in the ambulance (before Harem arrived)
• Secret meetings, behind locked doors
And a whole bunch of other stuff.
The actual mechanic which has been employed is Sydney acting as the narrator. But the point of view switching between the actual events experienced by:
• Sydney herself primarily
• Maxima
• Dabbler
• Harem
Every scene we have seen in the comic features one of those. Either as the protagonist or a witness. Barring the odd one-liners (such as Deus quipping about counting on Harem being a triple agent), the memories of protagonists, cuts to imaginary and/or comedy fantasy scenes* (even if some turn out to be paralleling reality, such as envisaging Vehemence) or folks at the end of telephones (or similar things, like seeing TV footage, as if there in first person).
* The former being the imaginings of a protagonist and/or other participant in a scene. The latter being ‘what if’ scenes conjured up purely for the benefit of the audience.
theoretically, yeeesss… (that’s a drawn out, German ‘jein’, air suced through teeth and everything).
Most of those situations Sydney could theoretically have been informed of at some point between now and then (or imagined). I have no problems with suspending disbelief for Sydney knowing most of that knowledge on personal grounds. Even if she *shouldn’t* have been told some stuff.
For me it’s only the plot point with Harem as double agent that I find to be on the line. I can see it going both ways, but am hoping that Sydney as unreliable narrator turns out to be true. because I like that kind of thing.
Ultimately, of coirse it just comes down to what DaveB reveals, but I think so far he’s not excluded either option (although opening book 2 with a panel of Sydney saying ‘so, where was I… oh yeah’ would have made my day)!
So, did I miss a Dave comment somewhere where he says that as of the start of the comic (before the flashback) Sydney (or anyone for that matter) knows about Harem being a double agent?
No. The crux of arachnecrosis‘s idea was that everything we are seeing (including above) is just Sydney’s recollection of the events she had witnessed. My counter-argument is that such cannot be the case, because we have seen things that Sydney not only did not see, but probably never will (not all of them anyhow).
Sydney does not know that the bank robbery was fake. Nor does she know Harem is a double-agent. Nor does she know the secret discussions, about her, that were taking place. Given that Sydney has no knowledge of these, then the story is not from her memories.
Nor is it the other common trick, in a flashback, which is “I did not see this but was told that this is how it happened”. Firstly because we never heard that bit. Secondly we are seeing and hearing things that nobody would realistically reveal to Sydney.
Neither Maxima, Achilles nor Mr Amorphous would have any incentive to tell her that they were disguised bank robbers. Nor to describe what they talked about in the ambulance. And there were no other witnesses to that. So, even when the basic training is over, in six months (comic) time Sydney will still not know anything about that. So cannot reveal that by telling the story.
We are seeing the actual events that took place. Not Sydney’s (possibly biassed) memories of them. Further Sydney did no more than provide the introduction. The story then follows not just her past, but that of Dabbler, Maxima and Harem too. Even when it has nothing to do with Sydney.
So with regards to the Barberian and Vance sitting there together:
Does Vance know what Dabbler is? Since he’s a recruit and it’s been implied that they don’t know.
I’d imagine Vance might be a little confused why Dabbler hooked up so quickly with 1 of the guys they were fighting otherwise
The recruit’s knowledge of Dabbler’s nature was handled in the mini comic at the bottom of https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1883
As for why they hooked up so quickly, maybe Vance doesn’t want to know why Barberian fell for a purple chick with horns and hooves. Some people are squeamish about fetishes like that.
He must have noticed the hypnoboobs though
Probably, but he may not have realized that there was anything hypnotic going on. It’s hardly unusual for most guys to stare at boobs, after all.
Just ask Math about that.
Everyone notices HYPNOBOOBIES !
Dabbler’s appearance is called her “Battle Form”. Some Supers apparently can change appearances when their powers manifest, shift from normal human to Concrete, or Marble, or whatever.
Most of the recruits, those who don’t have high enough security clearance, must believe that Dabbler is just another Super who has a weird, alien “Battle Form”. They don’t realize it’s the other way around, that this is her Normal Appearance, that she is an “Alien” and that her Human appearance is just a highly advanced Illusion.
If they are going to a club, I’m betting that Sydney’s preferred alcohol is…
.
..
…
NAGA CHILI VODKA.
Something like this?
O_o
Yep
500,000 Scovilles sounds about right.
Only if she wants something cool to drink.
I’m trying so hard not to laugh at Dabbler having kept that guy around. Is he joining up now!?
He’s probably just being allowed to rest up there since last night probably drained him quite a bit, literally.
Dabbler did mention that, in an earlier scene, yea. The team ‘tallking shop’ casually around him might either reflect that they believe he will join up, and is therefore not a security risk. Or possibly Dabbler has told them that his memory will be too woozy to remember stuff later.
However, as we have already seen some memories returning to him, I consider that to be an unreliable security technique. Remembering a night with Dabbler might be profound enough to confound memory blocks, but others might view learning about ‘a vault with 25 cubic meters of gold’ to be equally profound.
Forget about destabilizing the economy. What about destabilizing the earth’s core?
If the geomancer can whip all the metal out of the planet at once, yea, that would be problematic.
However, the amount of gold (impressive though the numbers sounded to us) is tiny in proportion to the amount of iron, and other material. Or resident physicists were not too concerned about the effect moving, that small a mass, on the planet’s path or spin. Let alone the fact that he barely even scratched even the gold content, with that single pool’s worth.
also, 25 cubic meters of gold is a TINY amount compared to the entire amount of gold as well. granted, he’s got more cash in gold than every country on earth sitting there, but that’s STILL only a fraction of the total amount.
But any change no mater how small could have potentially dire consequences. Though he could have also replaced it with something equal, like maybe lead.
Humm turn lead into gold….
Naa, it is not like time-travel or ecological systems. Newtonian physics is well enough understood that issues like axial tilt and orbital radius are well understood. Our community includes a physics teacher and other professional physicists and mathematicians. If none of them were freaking out about it, we can ignore those issues.
Now, if you want to worry about unintended consequences, you need to instead be asking geologists. Because we know sod all about the details of what happens in the mantle. All that we think we know is inferred knowledge, from those few aspects we can make out observing seismic activity and anything which affects the surface.
Plus we do not know how the geomancer moves, or extracts the gold, with his powers. In fact, if he uses the kinds of techniques I have proposed, in order to travel through the mantle, that too could have very weird side effects. Probably minuscule on a planetary scale. But even small scale human activity can trigger low-level earthquakes locally (such as with some shale oil mining techniques)
And that is with surface and near-surface activity. If you are moving through rock and metal under intense pressure, deep underground, the effect of any shock-waves, from displacement, will be much much more powerful. Assuming his powers physically move things (which using a term like telekinesis indicates) as opposed to phasing through rock or some magical means.
“Or resident…” = “Our resident…”
Did I miss Seneca’s introduction? 24th STS, Air Force? What is her rank/skill set/super power?
She hasn’t been formally introduced in the comic, but she’s appeared. We don’t know her powerset yet.
Seneca is wearing a black Neckband. So, I guess she is either a Brand New Super Recruit or a Normal like Peggy.
Actually, I want to know what Vance’s real powers are. And they better not have anything to do with Spiders. ;-)
The chokers denote members of arc swat… she is not listed as having any powers, but is a soldier.
Rank unknown. Skill set BAD A** Airmen. Super power eating silly amounts of candy and not getting fat.
Matter Eater Lass!
Tenzel Kem takes a bite out of Crime!
A debriefing like that would be many hours long. Most of it tedious things, with little scope for comedy or major new information (for us the readers anyhow). We can take it that Maxima will have done a simple introduction for new folks (Sydney at least). Presumably limited to the amount of info in the Who’s Who, where applicable. Seneca’s candy habit is already apparent, just from proximity.
So Sydney’s personal introduction to them may still be to come. But she will be about as aware as we are now, of her new colleagues roles/past experience.
While gold can’t directly “fuel” anything, it is an integral part of advanced electronics, as it’s an excellent conductor, highly resistant to corrosion, and well known for noise suppression.
Well. I did not know that.
Gold can Fuel a Death Ray by being used as currency to buy Plutonium or something off the black market.
I hear it can also kill Cyber-Men.
“DEEELLLEEEETTTTEEE!”
Does Dabbler understand the concept of pants?
Wondered that myself. I think Dabbler’s sweater must be a Bodysuit. Showing off her legs to compensate for not showing off too much of her cleavage.
Yes but mostly on a theoretical level.
weeellll, they DO seem to be in a minimum security area
she has been shown to wear pants and report them as low or minimal security (getting a high five from harem for it)
So, is the last panel an imagine spot or a flash forward?
dave said in the commentary we see dabbs boy toy’s t-shirt on the next page so its imagine
Ignoring the fact that we are technically in a flash back still, we have not experienced any flash forwards yet. But we do see a lot of clearly imagined scenes. I take it as being unequivocally the latter. In addition to l0wten‘s point, we have Harem continuing her dialogue, in the yellow-shaded speech bubble.
We are just seeing Sydney’s mind’s eye, inspired by Harem’s exposition.
I would still advise DaveB to go for wobbly borders/ sepia tones or some other indicator of an imaginary scene mind. Common though they are, it does cause uncertainty for readers.
But a combination of getting used to the style, and working through the possibilities, can overcome that problem. Plus there is comedic justification in having folks think things are real initially, before doing a double-take. So I can fully understand why Dave keeps it this way. The comedy is taking priority.
That second panel takes on a whole new meaning if you read the first panel clockwise. :)
.noisserpmi gnorw a teg dluoc , snaf agnaM ekel tnorf-ot-kcab sgniht gnidaer ot desu elpoep aeY 1+.
.WTB ,’ekil’ dellepssim uoY
.llaw ht4 eht no ,rorrim eht ni ,kcuts tog tI
Oh, you’re right.
Well, it is Vance. What’s Leon’s excuse?
does it help you tell the story? yes. does it make you feel better about the flow of story you are telling? yes. can people who have problems with words go play a rousing game of “hide and go fuck yourself”? why yes, yes they can.
It’s a TARP!!
Peanut Butter Kisses. That brings back a lot of Halloween memories.
The simplest solution for the Golddigger would be to just put it back where he got it. I’m sure he could obtain one or two bricks at a time instead of needing a vaultful. I suspect he is either stubborn or lazy.
I figure he made such a score for two reasons –
1 – it’s dangerous to go to the Mantle, even for him. He risked his life. He probably prepped for this for years. He only wants to do it once.
2 – it’s an ego thing. If he’s gonna risk his life, he wants as much gold as the rest of the world put together. It’s not a coincidence. And we’ve seen ego things worst that that (Paging von Doom, Victor von Doom, you have a call)….
Golddiger is not the best of nicknames mind. Given that, unless context gives a clue (which yours did mind), it could either refer to the geomancer miner, Harem or any other prospective greedy person, with eyes on him.
Not to mention the infamous Gina Diggers of Gold Digger comic fame.
I was looking at the picture from the brawl that may not have really happened in the last panel and thought it looked like something from pro-wrestling. Then I noticed what DaveB titled todays page. As it turned out, it really was a wrestling move.
Finally someone mentions it. Orton’s version is the RKO, though he’s one of three wrestlers to prominently use it as a Finisher.
It’s also been known as the Diamond Cutter when used by Diamond Dallas Page, who gave it widespread recognition in the 90s. Page once claimed he could perform a different variation, one a week, every week, for a year. A compilation of videos backed his claim up.
It’s more generically known as a Cutter, though its original name was the Ace Crusher, after Johnny Ace (AKA John Laurenitis) who is credited with the move. If you want to get really, really technical, it’s a three-quarter facelock front face bulldog.
Now for the fun stuff, usage of the cutter in everyday life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab-ATlhqcrY
You know, while watching iZombie, it occurred to me that Sydney is pale, blonde and also likes supremely hot spices. I wonder how long before some fan of the show or comic makes a reference.
I predict such reference will occur 11/12/15 at 8:18 am central time.
Good eye though. Those zombies are everywhere.
Well, was talking in-comic universe.