Grrl Power #374 – It’s a club of +2 annoyance vs. Sydney
Now I want beef brisket noodle soup. :p
Happy Thanksgiving to those of you celebrating it. Comments may be a bit slow today as lots of people are away from their usual routines, and instead trying to kill time until dinner is ready by catching up on their favorite webcomics… No wait, then traffic would be flat. Well, whatever.
Harem is evidently privy to a method of speaking in a club that allows you to be heard without screaming. May. Be. You. Talk. In. Be. Tween. The. Beats? Everyone else who came to the club with them is dancing in case you were wondering where they were.
To spare people from zooming in and squinting, Sydney’s dialog in panel 3 is
“Make sure they’re vegetarian! Also see if the cheese is from humanely [cut off]”
“Ask if they have anything hotter than jalapeños!!”
“Maybe see if they have super hot wing sauce or… [cut off]”
Normally I like making each page a complete… clause? I guess that’s the best way to put it. One page isn’t one scene, but I still like wrapping up the main thought on each page and not have obtrusively dangling stuff out there like there is on this one, but as I gear up to the next storyline, not everything that happens on every page will be resolved right away. We’ll have to see how good I am at resisting the urge to throw my hands up and going “Ooh ooh! I know!” when people speculate in the comments.
One thing I could have done better with the comic so far is showing the fervor of the public surrounding the team’s celebrity even in these incipient days. If this was a manga and I had to turn in 12 (or whatever their schedule is) pages a week (and was capable of doing that.) I probably would have padded the page count out a little by showing people being interviewed about how excited or scared they are about the team and individual members. (Mostly excited) Or instead of having a few arms sticking in from off panel on the previous page taking photos, do a whole page of a crowd going nuts as they pull up. Presumably they took a car of some sort and Halo didn’t fly them all in her shield since fitting 5 people in there at once would only leave them with a few minutes of air.) I may yet in the future, even if those pages would be more about mood and pacing than cramming a bunch of jokes and dialog in to a single page. (Actually I thought of a decent gag as I was writing that paragraph so maybe I’ll save a few of those up and eventually do a page like that.)
Another reminder about the Amazon associate link. I think most people know how that works by now, but just in case you don’t, click on it then shop like normal, then I get a % of the sale without it costing you anything extra. I just thought of this too, when you distribute your Xmas wish list to your friends and family, (if that’s how your family do) you can also give them links via that associate link and trick them into supporting the comic. At least I think you can. Everyone try that. For science and stuff.
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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HORRIBLE CLIFFHANGER ALERT
CAN’T STAND WAITING UNTIL MONDAY lol
I’m pretty sure that, as a raw recruit, Dabbler being an alien is way above her paygrade also, since the other recruits (except maybe Jiggawatt) don’t seem to know the truth about her (at least from what I’ve gleaned from the comic).
Mind you, if they want to keep the secrets, from the recruits, they are going to have to upgrade their security protocols. Previously they probably just used to sweep for bugs. Now they have to keep an eye open for spiders too!
You are a cruel master DaveB, to leave us with such a cliffhanger
AGREED lol
I’m with this guy. That’s just mean!
It’s okay, guys. We’re all smart, genre savvy nerds here. We can induce what Zeph’s beef brisket noodle soup recipe is!
No, wait, I meant what the pay grade secret is that je was talking about.
I’m going to guess… something on the origin of superpowers.
Yup. A reccuring thought for me is “what happens to the orbs if Sydney dies?”. It’s not unreasonable to assume they would turn FFA. As such, if Sydney were to reveal in public how she aquired her powers her life may very well be in grave danger from regular humans (or super villians) wishing to obtain her powers.
She’s being chaperoned by someone that they know is a double spy (aka Daph). He may feel a need to share that with her to ensure she is not recruited to the other side.
I very much agree that Harem is a bad risk here.
But not one that Archon is necessarily aware of. She does take off her collar (to avoid being tracked), when she teleports to Deus. Granted he is counting on her being a double agent, so you are probably OK in assuming that though.
Importantly however, she is not the chaperone. Anvil is. Who may be accompanied by an even more senior officer, Super Hiro.
I think Harem is actually working with Arc-Dark because if you looked into the first time she is seen talking with the crooked company boss, her collar is sitting on his desk in his office.
Taking the collar off before going to see him would be an indicator of her working against Ark-Swat, but having it there at all could have just been her way of bugging the meeting.
What would ultimately prove whether she was untrue was whether there was lipstick on her collar.
Actually, the blog underneath this page says that the collar was on Harem’s nightstand. That means she left it behind so that Archon would not know she was paying Deus a visit.
which means nothing when all the other bodies have a real-time info feed from the “Missing” body. Onne of the others could’ve been in the General’s office reciting the entire conversation into a tape recorder for all we know.
Technically we don’t know that Deus at Machina Industries (dang they need to fire him) is crooked. Hypothetically, he could be just enjoying the personal satisfaction of thinking of himself as an evil overlord, with no intent to actually do anything evil (with the arguable exception of spying and knowing things they don’t want him to know).
I wouldn’t put money on that theory though.
I still believe that Deus is NOT a bad guy. At least not a classical bad guy. He might be some red line through the comic, something that turns out to be behind several.
Off course it’s possible that he turns out to be the ultimate big bad (he WAS on this page after all, along with Vehemence https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1189 )
Though I still believe he has some other motivation. Something that may not be in line with Archon’s plans, but definitely isn’t in any way evil
No no, the true mastermind always works from behind the scenes. In that picture Vehemence and Deus were peers. But who did we see behind Vehemence?
The Evil Squirrel Overlord!!!
*Sigh* Shouldn’t be surprised YOU picked that up Yorp, Earth canines do seen obsessed with the creatures called “Squirrels”…
Grace?
Depends which world. She is a terrifying martial force in one. In another she is cute and cuddly. Most of the time. But neither are evil overlords.
strictly speaking, Deus’s motivation may well be what he already claimed- a government contractor will always find information on what the government is doing useful- if only so that they can anticipate what the government might be looking to buy next, so they can develop one.
OR, he could just be an obsessive super-hero fanboi who uses his wealth and influence to dig up insider secrets he can obsessively squee over.
He wouldn’t be the first.
As an example, when Max & Sydney stopped by the comic shop, Brad tried (& failed miserably), but Brad doesn’t have the kind of resources Dues has to obsess effectively.
They are being chaperoned by Anvil, which is a great choice btw. She’s calm and if anyone wants to try anything…
Anvil standing in the middle of a bar brawl is like fighting a fire with a fuel truck.
Naa, she can choose to soak up any attack, without even the attacker being harmed. That is a perfect defensive power, for such circumstances.
Na, it’d be more like trying to burn down a sandcastle.
actually, there are chemicals that CAN burn sand. Granted, they are so oxidising they you’d have a job getting them to the sandcastle, but it can be done. Trying to defeat Anvil by punching her would work about as well as it would against Vehemence.
Shush! You might tempt Sydney, with your topping suggestion!
I think even Sydney would draw the line at chlorine trifluoride…
Good GOD who is the maniac that stores almost a full ton of that stuff in bulk in the first place?
Ishidan: I don’t know, but it bothers me that they live in my state. The spill that Electronbod was talking about occurred in a warehouse in Texas.
In fact, chlorine triflouride is hypergolic (self-igniting), and it’s a better oxidizer than oxygen. Which means it burns pretty much anything… concrete, gravel, asbestos, even things which you thought were already burned to hell and gone. In World War II, the Nazis were interested in using it for self-igniting flamethrowers… and even they decided it was too hard to handle.
The primary issue is containing the stuff… the only reason it’s safe to store in metal cylinders is because a thin layer of metal oxide forms on the inside of the cylinder, which protects it from further reaction. But if that container gets shaken hard enough, you end up with an out-of-control cylinder of burning-from-the-inside metal, in which case I hope you invested in a good pair of running shoes.
I dunno, I’m more interested in Zeph’s beef brisket noodle soup recipe. I could actually use that.
Except that his recipe uses demon sauce instead of oyster sauce and this glowing singing plant instead of pak choy.
Must resist… Joke.. Dabbler… And said sauce….
hey sydney doesn’t seem to be wearing her glasses on panel 2 btw
Maybe Harem told her to take them off, otherwise the camera flashes would reflect, messing with the photos everyone was snagging?
I concur. Although maybe Sydney herself chose to take them off. A more likely reason (especially if suggested by Harem, as you suggest) would be that the round glasses have a cute look. And cute is not the image they were aiming for.
Sydney is a cos-player, so will be very aware of keeping a group stylistically consistent, when posing for a photo. As we can see, from their matching poses.
Hence why she’s “deaf and blind” :P
Whoops, not sure how I forgot that.
I mean, yeah, she took her glasses off for the photos. :/
You are drawing these comics four pages in advance now. Briefly forgetting why you made a particular call is understandable, with that amount of delay.
Good job on building up the buffer though.
Well it seems to me that contacts would be a good idea to replace the glasses anyway. I am far more nearsighted than Sydney and I can use them. As she now has access to both better healthcare and money it might be an easier way to go both for her and you. If you want to keep the glasses for the look she could use them on her down time at home. I often did that myself.
Contacts don’t work well for everyone, and for reasons besides near/farsightedness. I can’t use them as often as I’d like because they make it very difficult for my eyes to focus if I’m at all tired.
They also are less comfortable for some people, and run a slight risk of damaging your eyes.
In the end, it’s Sydney’s personal choice whether she wear contacts. (And DaveB’s whether he wants to change her character design.) Given that none of her powers would require her to be in close contact with anyone she’s engaging (and many require her to be at a distance, in fact), there’s no real reason to stay away from glasses. For that matter, given that Arc is trialing VR-glasses for engagements anyway, she might just get a pair that have the VR features built in and be done with it.
Well when your glasses weigh as much as a cellphone any other option is better. Contacts did tend to dry out my eyes a bit but when you have indentations in your nose from the frames it’s a small price to pay. Laser surgery is also an option she could afford. Also glasses actually distort your vision and limit your peripheral vision. Especially if your prescription is strong.
Both Halo and Harem (on one of her bodies) wear glasses. But in panel 2, where they both choose to pose without them, they are sending a subtle message to the genre-savvy.
“We are not vigilantes, who will hide behind masks. Nor are we aliens, who seek to disguise our appearance with glasses. You may take photos of us, as we really are.”
True, but her prescription doesn’t appear to be that strong – it looks to be more like mine: Enough that you notice immediately when you’re not wearing your glasses, but not actually strong enough that you worry about it too much. If she’s worried about peripheral vision, wrap-around glasses are available. (Assuming her prescription isn’t to strong for them – I’m nearsighted and can get them, so it’s possible.) I’m guessing it hasn’t mattered to much to the owner of a comic shop – but she may want to make sure her ‘combat gear’ glasses have them, if it worries her.
I won’t deny there are cases where other options are better, or that other options exist, but all options have downsides (including glasses), and it’s up to her to choose which set of benefits and tradeoffs matter to her. I just didn’t like the implication in your original post that she needs to stop wearing glasses. She doesn’t – she may want to, but it may not matter to her.
The glasses were probably causing issues – it’s dark, and they tend to reflect flashes, unless positioned correctly. So, she took them off to prevent people from complaining.
Actually, the lottery Sydney won is more like “one in a billion”. She was not born with superpowers. She literally found them.
Shachar
try 1 in 7 billion… she’s the only “found” super on earth as far as we have seen up to now. the rest are either imported from elsewhere, or developed “naturally”
I’ve often thought that a team of Navy divers is currently combing the area where she found the spheres for more artifacts…
Assuming they know where to look. Zephan was interrupted by Harem when he tried to ask exactly where she found them. Unless she explained more “off screen,” as it were, all they know is that it was somewhere around the Florida Keys.
Actually, that she SAID was somewhere around the Florida Keys.
Considering how Sydney revealed that particular factoid, I would be looking for a LOT more data before sending any people out for a look. There is obviously a lot being kept back there.
My theory is that MAYBE she found the Orbs near the Florida Keys, as she said, but she was absolutely someplace she really wasn’t supposed to be, currently unsaid. Like Cuban territorial waters, perhaps?
I suppose anything is possible at this point. All we actually do know about the place so far is that she was not out of sight of land, per this picture, and that they seemed to be in a coral reef when she found them, per this picture.
If and when DaveB finally decides to point out the exact spot, do you suppose the site will become known as Point Sydney?
All we actually do know about the e
Ignore that. I meant to delete it as I was editing that post. Bad Ignoble!
Too late. You’ve already said too much.
;)
I think the real danger comes from Electronbod interacting with that post. If his “e-” meets its “e” there could be a strange reaction!
Yorp, you shallow puppy, I can think of just a singular path of attack which you cannot avoid… a word quiz! (Nothing taxing or difficult, mind. Common skills will do.) If you scan this paragraph you would not think it in any way abnormal. Can your analysis show what is missing, and what is in plain sight?
Entertaining idea Electronbod. Yes, challenge accepted. Refereed bye the Earl E, near EE towne.
Letters.
Correct, the post contained all the letters of the alphabet except ‘e’. Else why would I include words like ‘quiz’ and ‘taxing’? :P
Well I had considered that you might have been taking the ‘p’. Because it was in plain sight. But deduced that it was not a silent ‘p’ (unlike in swimming pool), so therefore could not be missing.
But why did you call me “naughty, naughty, very naughty“? I found all your missing letters, and returned them in every word of my reply. :’-(
There’s a city in the background of the Aquapirate picture, anyone recognize the buildings?
1) the Aquapirate picture isn’t necessarily cannon.
2) it was when she was testing them, and could have happened after she moved some distance.
3) the city in the background is just random building shapes and isn’t like any city anywhere
Heh heh heh… “NOT THE FACE!”
Wasn’t she lying about that?
She certainly was giving all the signs. On both occasions. And both Maxima and Zephan picked up on that.
(completely ignoring the whole conversation there…)
so, 1 in a billion you say…
there is around 7 billion people on the earth.
that would mean, that in the whole world there are only 7 supers…
yeah, unless you are about a supper specific power, that doesn’t work.
Kam’s point was about artificially granted powers, as opposed to ones born naturally, so it is not an unreasonable point to raise.
Note however that Zephan himself uses artefacts. We do not know if they are magical, super-technology based or simply ones that originate from the same origins as super-powers. Whichever way it turns out to be though, he too gains super-powers from those.
Plus when Maxima talks about how ‘people who have powers, OR HAVE SPECIAL ARTIFACTS, are an important national resource,’ you see a silhouette of someone who has some sort of ‘special sword’ – so there’s probably other people who have superpowered artifacts. It’s just Sydney’s particular artifacts give her an unheard suite of powers, all of which are astonishingly powerful.
but the scope or type of her powers doesn’t really matter in this discussion does it?
That silhouette was Zeph with one of the artifacts he found during his life.
I’m not sure, they seemed pretty surprised about artifacts giving her powers here: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/479
Maybe super-powered relics are rarer than super powered people? It’s not like you can wander down the shops & just buy a magic sword of Rule-All-England…
*Makes sure my own Cybertronian relics are well hidden…*
“Shuts the door to the Cybertron portal room.”
I assumed most artifacts are held by people who know what they can do and knowledgeable about such things. Sydney just blundered upon them and NOBODY knows where they came from.
Either that or they are still interred in the death trap filled catacombs.
…Or launched across the galaxy to a “random” planet where their war inevitably spreads onto anyway…
*Reconfirms relic is still safe & backdoor controls to Megatron’s Space Bridge are still hard-wired into the ship…*
Love being able to control where both ends shop up… :p
Achilles would fit into the found cathegory as well.. and there are probably quite a few supers with ‘found’ or ‘trained’ super powers out there.
Undoubtedly. There would be at least a few magical artifacts around, for one.
Zephan himself is a “retired adventurer”, a title that makes me willing to bet he’s got quite a few found powers laying around.
In some of the explanation pages it appear shadows and one look like Zephan with some sort of mystic sword.
That would be Page 84. DaveB in the comments confirmed it was Zephan.
So, things above her paygrade that she already knows include:
Dabbler
X (Dabbler’s Handler)
The true nature of Maxima’s power (switching between powers). She figured this one out herself, it’s unknown if Maxima even knows she knows this.
Anything else?
Dabbler and X i can remember, but where was the part with Maxima?
As part of her plan to defeat Vehemence, Sydney had figured out how Maxima’s powers work and incorporated it in her plan
the V figured that lightning apparently weakens her.
sydney decided that if the lightning is removed, she will go back to full.
we still don’t know if Sydney figured the pool.
Lightning doesnt actually weaken Maxima. She just needed to put her armor at maximum because of Vehemence trying to kill her with his superstrength PLUS electrocute her, so since her armor was at maximum, her strength, speed, flight, etc had to be reduced.
yeah, but the point is, does Sydney know that?
i don’t think she does.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1569 There was a checkmark next to the “I wasn’t expecting fear vomit” memory.
Mind you that does bring up a very good reason why Sydney needs to be kept in the loop. Over and above her truesight ability, that is. Halo has proven herself to be an analytical asset. One significantly capable enough to spot things that even veteran military commanders, including Maxima, failed to deduce.
Combine Halo’s truesight with her detective powers, and she will be an invaluable intelligence analyst. Provided Sydney is provided with the necessary facts, in order to draw sound conclusions.
She knows about The Golddigger. That has to be a massive secret….
But it was revealed to all the recruits, so while a secret, it is not above her paygrade to know about.
Except that the Gold Digger was revealed to the entire team, and probably covered by the NDA that would have been in her paperwork. This seems like something that isn’t even known by most of the team, only the brass and select members
Golddigger’s identity wasn’t part of the reveal – without that it doesn’t strike me as much of a secret.
This is way past the point of being timely, but since the guy literally pulls gold out of the surrounding material in the Earth’s crust he should have the name of Goldwringer (with apologies to Fleming).
I don’t thing she has it figured out yet. When Maxima was choked by Vehemence, she put everything into defense so that she wasn’t strong enough to get rid of him. Sydney mistook that for a weakness to electricity.
Nope. Vehemence mistook it for a weakness to electricity.
Sydney figured out the true reason, in much the same way as Dabbler did (it’s explained somewhere in the author description under a comic)
Yeah, weaknesses are weird – Anvil can swap punches with the Hulk but a cop with a taser could stop her (I think, it’s what Nemesis seemed to do)
Not exactly. FWTDT actually drained her stored kinetic energy. It seemingly had the same effect as a taser, but the execution was very different.
no, she first tried to shoke him, which resulted in him zapping her,
THEN she decided to punch him, which DT blocked with a drain.
anvil is not resistant to lightning, because her power is purely kinetic.
to choke him*
Right, but Sydney didn’t know any better. She had to ask Harem about it. In which comic was it shown that Sydney recognized the pattern?
it’s not In the author note of that page I believe Dave mentions that was the final puzzle piece for her to figure it out.
how about the fact that the leaders of north america had a secret skype meeting with the archon brass? you know the one sydney stormed in on.
how about that dabbler is probably a wanted criminal in parts of the galaxy? after dabbs revealed that 1/2 of her sword was made out of a throne that i doubt dabbs payed for.
there are other ways to pay.
besides, i doubt she would cause something she cannot deal with.
you mean like she wouldn’t cross swords with someone who could poke her eye out or lob off a lim? one of dabbs main character flaws is that she is overconfident
mistakes can be made, yes.
but fighting as an adventurer, and stealing stuff are 2 completely different things.
the least one could to, is to check the status of the person you are stealing from,
as an adventurer she likes fighting, so she will want to play a bit. but before the fight happens i would expect her to be in full mental capacity, which in her case should be a lot.
Dabbler has been directly confiding some things to Sydney. Some of which she may not have chosen to tell Archon (potentially, given her mischievous nature). So we can include the following:
• Succubus society, including their schooling.*
• Living amongst the demonic-appearing Succubi there are also angelic-looking aliens.*
• Mind-wiping magic, being used on humans.
• The existence of a galactic civilisation (Maxima is in on this one).
My favourite irony is that Sydney might have higher (Succubus) clearance than Maxima.
* The school scene is canon, as opposed to an imagined scene. Stipulated by Dave. As such it is reasonable to take that picture as us being shown what Sydney was being told more of, in words.
Maxima reluctantly admits she “uh… used to be sort of a nerd”.
Sydney celebrates her nerd-ness with pride. (Same page, and several other instances.)
Dabbler embraces what she is with great enthusiasm, and appears to appreciate a similar attitude in others. (Also, I suspect that by succubus standards Dabbler is a nerd. And a geek.) So I can easily see Dabbler having more respect for Syd (and Leon) as a person than for Max.
I imagine we’re dealing with a Stargate-like ‘ancient astronaut’ situation – what we call ‘demons’ and ‘angels’ are different species of advanced alien, who have been visiting Earth for centuries. They eschew space travel in lieu of dimensional portals, which primitive humans see as ‘magic circles’ or ‘crop circles’.
Oooh, I like the way the coloring is done in panel 3. Not sure we’ve seen this before.
Thanks. I always wanted the outdoor nighttime parking lot fight to have a different color palette to it, but I couldn’t figure out how to manage that while keeping up with the page schedule, so for this much shorter club scene I thought I’d experiment a little. It’s kind of combining my regular coloring with the way Keith does it. It takes longer but I like that it shifts the palette a bit. I’m still working on refining it.
The parking lot fight would probably have needed a somewhat different color palette from the night club, though. The fight had explosions and lasers, but not constant strobe lights and other mood lighting.
To be honest, DABBLER was way above her pay grade (alien and demon). Odds are it’s something to do with the Comm-Ball.
Unless it’s the knowledge that anthro-Ponies are real…
Yep. Arc-Light will have need of her True-Sight. Maxima and Zephan have already discussed how they would have hired Sydney even if that was her only power! Clearly they have significant need for it. But, in order for Halo to use it effectively, they will need to keep her fully informed.
This is especially true as the orb only grants the sight to Halo. It does not unmask the illusion, or whatever has been revealed. Note that X chose to lower her invisibility, so folks (other than just Sydney and Dabbler, via porno sense) could see her.
Indeed, and her ability is usefull enough to make it worth filling her in on things that would normaly be above her grade. Though as well as briefing her on things they’re going to want her to look for and uses they have for her truesight they’re also going to have to brief her on “things she shouldn’t know but will probably accidentally find anyway and need to know to keep her mouth shut about”. For examples, see her accidental discovery of Dabbler’s true form and the existence of X.
i just went back and looked everything about x looks like a guy to me so unless dave said somthing somewhere i missed….
X is choosing to completely mask her identity. She has not chosen to reveal her gender yet, and some women have less curvaceous bodies than others. If having to structure a sentence with a gender, when it is unknown, I choose not to default only to the male gender.
Granted X clearly does have super powers, so we might assume that she will have the distinctive looks that go with it. However she, like Halo, might have acquired powers, rather than having been born with them.
Finally X is a stealth-oriented spy. Figuring out how to conceal her silhouette will be child’s play for someone capable enough to even turn invisible!
i wasent looking at cerves facters inxluded:
hight
shoulder breadth
hand size
torso size ratio
Shh! It is not polite to tell a chick she looks like a guy!
As would Arc-Dark.
Is that Vinly Scratch on the decks? Top Right Panel 1?
DJ PON3 confirmed.
Represent for SCRATCH!
Um, I recognized that DJ, too :-[
That doesn’t make me a brony, though!
by now even zombies know her, don’t worry…
*eats your brains*
*slaps ICountFrom0 on wrist*
Bad zombie! We don’t snack on fellow readers, no matter how tasty they might look.
A Gray Phantom, how are you buddy? I hope you did not need those?
*turns head sideways, with a very worried look*
Cameo spotted!
The Muppet, the unicorn or a third?
DJ PON3! Love the reference
Glad I’m not the only one who saw that
Reasons why she needs to be briefed:
She’ll find out anyway with her super true sight, and without briefing it’ll probably scare/confuse the bejesus out of her.
Maybe they want to use her true sight, and for that she’ll need to know some super high level stuff.
Basically, probably all related to her true sight
it might also have something to do with her comic world knowledge.
but yes, true sight is rather likely too.
either way, something is happening, and they want her help, or don’t want her to freak out. possibly both.
Ok, let the speculation begin!
The siomple answer is that her truesight ability would make it virtually impossible to disguise things, which could present a problem. Though this doesn’t explain why Zeph is just thinking about it now.
Also, while Arianna being overruled is amusing, it set’s a bad precedence for Archon. The worst thing that could happen at the moment is the person in charge of making the team look respectable being rendered useless because of a civilian vs military thing. Even worse is that Maxima is clearly enabling this behaviour from the recruits. Amusing, but unprofessional.
If the team started taking its most important cues from the ‘image specialist’ rather than the tactical leader, then I would be REALLY worried.
Arianna’s function is necessary, but it is NOT the most important part of what they do – and she has already done enough skeevy things that I’d only trust her in an advisory role at best.
Worm has a good example of this, when Weaver complains about how useless butterflies are. Also, Coockblocker announcing his name on live TV so the PR guy can’t stop him
*Clockblocker – my mobile has some strange ideas sometimes >_<
I’m sorry. I haven’t the slightest idea what the heck you are talking about.
Worm – very long, very good online superhero story.
Weaver – Superhero who controls insects. Including useful ones like spiders, wasps, bees, flies – you’d be amazed what can be done with enough flies and spider silk. At one point, the hero’s PR person insists that she should only use butterflies because it makes for better photo ops than the ickier bugs (she compromises be simply having the butterflies _surrounding_ the other bugs and, when she pulls the entire team’s fat out of the fire with icky bugs, the rest of the team unanimously decides to remember it as her taking down the bad guys with butterflies).
Clockblocker – Another Super, who can briefly freeze anything he touches in time.
…does that help?
It does, thank you.
Zephan’s beef brisket noodle soup recipe was obtained from a deep-cover operative within the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
He’s also got a secret sauce recipe that was “obtained” from an ancient clan of Tartars…And they will stop at nothing to keep it secret.
He stores that information in the same folder as the Colonel Sander’s chicken recipe and the Caramilk “secret” manufacturing process (easy to figure out if you think about it). Personally, I think the beep soup will taste the best.
Oops, beef soup.
should’ve kept it as Beep Soup just so we could postulate what you were saying.
I would’ve figured it to be a reference to Sydney dishing out two bowls of that, right after the Anvil dropped…
LOL, Beep Soup. So good, you’ll swear your head off… XD
Wouldn’t that be Bleep Soup then? :)
Not if you opt for the perfect solution. But it does need your help. If only for road runner serving suggestions.
People you never want to hear “Uh oh” from:
1. Intelligence Agents
2. Military Commanders
3. Chefs
4. Demolitions Experts
5. Wizards
6. Your doctor
7. Lion Tamers
8. Meteorologists
9. The writers of the hit TV show “Lost”
10: Bioengineers specializing in viruses and diseases.
11: Your partner, after sex
12: Anyone wearing a diaper.
13: Computer Repair Technicians
14: Anyone working on power lines, sewage pipes, cable lines, or water pipes.
15: Your drug dealer.
+1 for each of you
Very true.
Your accountant.
16. Your proctologist
17. Your mechanic
18. Your partner, DURING sex
19. Whoever does your taxes.
20. Someone who gets to watch The Walking Dead before you do.
see above for19
18.. Uhhhhh Ooohhhhhhh
16. Anyone working with nuclear reactors, weapons or materials.
17. Your computer technician.
See 13.
In that case, #17 would be: a Surgeon
18. NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid network.
19.SETI.
20. God.
21. Auto Mechanic.
22. Captain of a Cruise Liner. To be quickly followed by “My Bad.”
23. the hero/super that just acted to save the world
24:
dammit. try that again.
24: Doc (https://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb440.html)
Doctor is #6. Not, The Doctor, but him saying Oops might be a problem too.
Oof. Yeah, that would be bad.
Lets see, Dabbler being an alien/demon (Sydney took this in her stride surprisingly easily, so Zeph probably forgot it wasn’t something she wasn’t supposed to know).
The truesight thing is probably another good one, if archon is hiding anything with illusion, Syd is going to see through it.
I often wonder about the Paygrade thing. Does it mean they have to pay her more to keep her quite? What is a super not with Archon has true sight? or mindreading abilities? and is not quite adept at controlling them? Could they be arrested for learning confidential information? Would they be forced to join archon?
Above her paygrade is just a way of saying it’s above her rank. Your pay goes up if your rank goes up
Seems it would be simpler to just say ‘rank’. So as not to confuse pedantic literal people like myself.
The term is generic in society. Here it is being applied to someone in the military. But it was coined such that it works, as a good rule of dewclaw, for people in any organisation. Loosely speaking, the more you are paid, the higher the organisation values you.
Of course, it is only a turn of phrase, so there will be exceptions, but it would be rare for someone extremely lowly paid to be granted greater security privileges, than someone very highly paid. The closer those two extremes come together, the more the concept breaks down.
However some security privileges are literally defined this way. A civil service organisation would not have ranks, but it does have pay-grades. And certain areas might be off-limits to anyone below a particular pay-grade (typically the one which distinguishes management from staff). Likewise memos, with sensitive information, may only be distributed to those above a set pay-grade.
Actually, many civil service pay grades give them semi-official ranks as well – useful again in emergency situations where you need to quickly answer ‘Who’s in charge?’. An example I know of is that the Foreign Service pay grades have equivalent ranks – so for instance if a coup happens in a country and it’s suddenly no longer safe for Americans, the highest-ranking local American official can call for and direct an evacuation. Typically in that case the highest rank is the Ambassador, but if there’s a ship in port it could be an Admiral, or it could be the head of the local Marine contingent, or the head of the local foreign aid (USAID) office, or whatever. The point is that there’s a clear system for saying ‘this is the person who’s in charge in an emergency’, and it transcends military in some cases.
Pay grade refers to your rank, literally the “grade” (or tier, or level, etc) for which you get paid; the higher your rank, the higher your pay grade. People who have higher ranks and higher security clearance get paid more, so anything that you aren’t qualified or allowed to make a decision about or know is “above your pay grade,” meaning that you need to take it to somebody higher up on the ladder.
You can’t be compelled to join a government organization if you learn something classified, but depending on what it is and how you learned it, you could be required to sign a binding non-disclosure agreement with pretty severe consequences, or even go to jail if it was obtained illegally–but for the illegal act that got you the information, not for just knowing it.
It also helps set up the chain of command within the military. To keep it simple, enlisted ranks are E-1 through E-9 and officer ranks are O-1 through O-10 (depending on the branch, those ranks are given names like Petty Officer, Gunnery Sergeant, Airman, Lieutenant, Captain, Colonel, etc etc). Orders always run down in ranks, so if an O-5 tells an E-6 to do something, the E-6 had better do it (as long as it’s a lawful order). Especially in extreme cases, this structure is important. If a group of soldiers is stranded or captured, the highest ranking person is supposed to take charge to get them out of that situation.
Zn O1-3 does not give orders to an E-7+ it makes requests.
A smart 01 to 03 makes requests of E7+. However that doesn’t stop them from giving orders. If it comes down to it, a 2nd Lieutenant can give an order to a Command Sergeant Major and the CSM will legally have to obey it.
The 2LT better have a damn good reason, of course.
Actually Company/Battery/Troop Commanders (O3) give platoon sergeants (E7) orders all the time.
…what is it about that part of the Oath that specifies “..obey LAWFULLY issued orders from designated superiors” that tends to trip up so many people. any order that’s UNLAWFUL is, by Oath, required to be disobeyed.
There’s also a whole buttload (yes, it’s an actual unit of measurement) of cases where obeying an order to perform a criminal action IS prosecuted AND the one who issued the order is also prosecuted. There’s a Maxim of Law that sums it up quite nicely…”I was just obeying orders” is NOT a valid legal defense.
there are also cases where soldiers have been charged for refusing to commit a felony when ordered to by a higher ranking sergeant.(notice the words i’m NOT using in the description.) granted 45/45 is still better IMHO than being very permanent party in Kansas.
(browser acting screwy, hope this posts in the right place)
I don’t think they are required to DISOBEY an unlawful order, merely to DISREGARD it. (Of course, this only comes up if they are ordered to do something that would be lawful for them to do, but unlawful for the other person to order them to do.)
Prime example of this is when I had an Ensign try to get me to wash his personal vehicle. Not an illegal order, but an Ensign cannot order someone on duty to do anything for personal property. Ensign tried to strongarm me to do it, but our XO overheard, made the Ensign wash the duty vehicles, then gave me $50 to wash his personal vehicle as soon as I was done with my immediate work, which I gladly did. XO’s was a paid request, and I had every right to refuse it. I’m just not stupid enough to refuse $50 from the XO. It was funny though watching an Ensign wash 5 duty vehicles inside and out, and then have the XO personally examine them. Some guys need to learn a lesson on how to be a proper leader, especially fresh academy Ensigns who never served enlisted and have a superiority complex.
But that really is more of a chain of command thing then a rank thing.
However you cannot discount Maxim #2, “A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn’t know what’s going on.”
and a running EOD tech outranks everyone.
Except for this brief moment of mayhem, yes.
Sydney may be expecting ninjas, but she was caught off-guard by the sudden view of a demon. I suppose she could be excused in that particular instance…
;)
Technically “Above their pay grade” really means authority, responsibility, and training – not security clearance. (At age 18 I was an E-3 and my clearance was quit high. It happens when there is a need.) Still, everyone says it.
Yes, there is a weird split personality/dichotomy in military thinking.
Yup. I know someone who served as a warrant officer, yet had atomic clearance, as he commanded a nuclear-armed unit. In the British Army that automatically grants you unlimited security clearance. Anybody who is authorised to (with the Prime Minister’s approval) start World War III, needs to have access to any and all of the nation’s secrets, after all.
When he told me about that, it gave me a mental image of a cross-service function somewhere. When a call goes out “anybody below top secret clearance, please clear the room immediately”. With numerous majors, colonels, naval captains commodores and wing commanders having to file out. All glaring at the smug-looking warrant officer, who clearly has no intention of getting out of his chair!
And don’t forget the private who is setting up/ cleaning up the meeting.
Janitors have the highest security of them all.
That is why I would already be working as one, if I were the head of security.
Besides which, just think of all the platefuls of sandwiches, that are catered for at such top meetings, but hardly get touched!
Yeah, when covering the handling of classified info, there’s also consideration taken on a “need to know” basis that doesn’t always correspond with paygrade.
So morning pt after clubbing? No Sydney, not on your commander’s boots. Oh wait, she already did that.
I guess somewhere between training and PR stuff she has to attend to her shop? I hope for her that one of the two orbs can stop time or has at least a calender function.
Not really, she isnt drinking any alcohol, to be honest, I dont enjoy clubbing all that much either. Its loud, there is no one to talk to, you cant hear anyone or talk at all, and there are a million and one things I would be thinking about doing instead the whole time I was there.
I am sure Sydney is resenting Harem for dragging her there right now, not a recipe for having fun.
Above her paygrade?
Final scene in MIB2 comes to mind.
…All those tentacles…
…Cannot unsee…
“Offers MD a Mindwipe towellet”
Thanks, but I’ve got plenty of Brain Bleach™. It’s just that Selina was such a hottie that I don’t want to unsee her, tentacles or not…
Just beware, if she invites you round for dinner.
Can’t say I think much of her myself. She is most definitely not a dog person. Nor is her space-ship.
So, what’s with the two fingered salute? We see that in a lot of pictures of young women in real life too and I’m sure they can’t all be trying to insult the British. Does anybody know what that’s all about?
It’s a peace sign (in North America). While it doesn’t have that meaning any more, people still sometimes flash it for photos (it has become one of those cultural things).
Nearly always done for photos in Japan. :D
Japanese girls in particular like to hold the fingers horizontally, next to the eyes. For special manga-cuteness effect, I guess.
As Invariable says below though, with the hand palm out, the gesture is inoffensive in Britain, and is even used there sometimes too. Especially if trying to convey a hippy tone.
The way that the hand is held is important – with the palm facing away from you, the gesture means peace or victory (historically stems from “V” for victory; used from the WWII onwards I think). They palm held inwards conveys a completely different and offensive meaning in the UK (and possibly elsewhere) – much like an extended middle finger.
dems the fingers used for pulling back arrows on a bow, also known as your plucking fingers. Captured archer prisoners would have one or both cut off so they couldn’t draw and fire arrows anymore. So those still with their fingers would hold them up with palm inward, saying “pluck you” to insult those without.
From there you can figure the rest.
Worst possible scenario:
One of ’em bio-logical attacks.
(And the obvious aftermath)
Is Halo planning on emptying the club with a “Spicy food induced burp of Doom” or will it just be a happy accident?
Yes
Wait a few more hours for the Toxic Gas Warfare! Hmm, lunch wasn’t that spicy today so maybe not. Yes, woman pass gas too, especially if their internal fauna are a little out of sorts.
I guess transforming into twenty-sided dice counts, as out of sorts.
Those dice were referring to her reproductive system, not her digestive system, as I was.
It seems Arianna is a little P.O.’d over Sydney leaving the base and I hope the other Harem won’t cause ANY trouble…!
BTW-What does Zephan mean by discuss things above her pay grade???
From the context, it sounds like he’s saying that there are things a new and untrained recruit like her should not yet know because it’s all top secret, but which they need to tell Sydney anyway, for some reason.
You try to speak in a loud club with an accent. Luckily, I’ve developed a rudimentary sign language that doesn’t get me in trouble most of the time.
Am I the only one who’s suddenly hungry for a nacho?
For me, it is still early in the morning. Nachos for breakfast is not appealing.
I live in Texas, so it’s morning for me too. The difference is that I work nights, so I’m a bit more casual about what I eat and when.
Your steer has had it’s arse wiped, and a candle waved underneath it. Would you want me to walk it over to your table? Or should I let it graze, until you are ready to eat?
Well, maybe not quite that casual . . .
sorry that was for you (burp).
There’s rare, and there is … yeah. That might need a little more cooking.
Well, it probably has to do with her true-sight orb ability, so I’m thinking we have aliens wandering about, disguised as humans or such, in public; similar to “MIB”, although not as extensively.
Or some spy technogear floating around, waiting to be spotted. Or a base hidden in plain sight.
Sydney: “WTF?!? I thought that the twin towers had been destroyed in 9/11”
Max: “We rebuilt them, then hid them. Dabbler did a thing.”
Who is the fifth guy on Mt. Rushmore?
The name of the Unknown Soldier.
Who is really buried in Grant’s tomb.
The real reason why two of Cleopatra’s Needles were brought to New York City.
Why are all the fire plugs painted black?
HEY! The spirals on barber shop poles are going the wrong way!?!
There was a fourth “Lord of the Rings” book AND movie?
The truth behind the original radio broadcast of Orson Wells’ War of the Worlds, also comes to mind.
Lord John Warfin wishes to talk to you.
If he can’t see me, then he can’t catch me…
John Smallberries and John Bigbootea are coming for you.
The late great Nick Pollotta had Bureau 13 headquartered in the invisible third tower of the WTC.
Bureau 13 pre-dated 9/11, so that is fine. Had another author attempted to do something similar however, after the terrorist attacks, I would find that distasteful.
Mind you, box-office takings show me to be in the minority for such things. For instance I dislike seeing fictional dramatisations of specific modern incidents (for example Black Hawk down). This is distinct from setting something generic, even though it is in a contemporary setting (say in Iraq or Afghanistan). Provided it does not directly correspond to any particular true event.
The closer such a movie is made, to the date it actually took place, the more disquiet I feel. At the very least you would want any children, who had lost their parents,* to have had the time to grow up. Before having to face their family tragedy being remade, as entertainment, for the movie-going public!
* No matter what nationality or who’s side their parents happened to be on.
Depends a bit to me on the tone and purpose of the film – if it’s to inform and remember what happened, then being made close in time has less impact on that to me. If it’s more set up to sensationalize and entertain, then I tend to feel they’re being less respectful of the people involved.
Granted. However documentaries are more fit, for both the former purposes.
At the end of the day a movie’s purpose, in contemporary society, is to entertain and make money. So, no matter what might be said to the contrary, there will always be disrespect involved, in such enterprises. To some degree, or another. Unless there is no loss of life, or other tragedy involved. But purely feel-good movies are not exactly commonplace.
why can’t halo know about me? I am not going to leak yorps existence to her!
That Harem’s ‘what borks one borks all’ rule applies to friendly-fire chemical warfare?
Mmm, the DJ has big purple sunglasses on. Probably a style thing. Maybe to cover up a light-sensitive issue. Or maybe it is to cover up her giant multi-faceted bug eyes!
Beware the Buzzing Bee!
I appreciate that you’re not a brony.
Wow, those glasses let a pony pass herself off as almost human? Did she pick those up on Krypton?
So, do you have a favourite pony?
Broman Pony. It’s the pony that likes to dress up as a human and hang out with other pony’s that do the same.
I’m not really into all of that Brony stuff. I’m more partial towards https://pepperminthelmet.com/comic/brokemon/
https://pepperminthelmet.com/comic/birthday/
is mine
Sold.
*inserts Peppermint Helmet at the top of the “Read Next” list*
You might enjoy the completed work named “Tripp” (https://www.trippcomic.com/archives/archive/poet-b5e016f) by the same author. After finishing the story-based book, he went on to Peppermint Helmet & has other works developing in the background now.
Happy Thanksgiving, to DaveB and the rest of our American cousins!
Thank you. And a happy . . . um, Thursday to you.
Aw, thanks Yorp.
Looking forward to the food part. Less so the family cooking brawl part, but I suppose you have to have the one for the other.
Am I the only one who’s noticed that Arianna has let her hair down?
no, you are just the only one who cared enough to write about it.
maybe she was in a process of fixing it or something?
Or maybe she’s heading out for some dinner now and needed the chopsticks?
I has not noticed, but I care!
It might be a sign that she is off on a
datebusiness meeting, with Suzie News.Or it’s late in the evening, and her work for the day is done. So she let her hair down
Yay, Vinyl Scratch / DJ Pon3 reference. Ms. Bass cannon is perfect for an OONTZ-club.
And yes, I am a Brony.
Same. I wholeheartedly love the presence of Vinyl Scratch in this page. My favorite side pony.
At the 5th panel
Doesn’t Sydney have ADD? she wont be focused either way.
Actually, as someone who has been diagnosed as having ADHD, I can say with a fair hope of accuracy that sometimes PT (Physical Training) can be an aid in focus for people with ADHD. Google “Riding is my Ritalin” for an interesting insight into the world of people with ADHD.
Hangovers and sleep deprivation though might not help.
True! Hangovers are hard, but Sydney appears not to be drinking. Sleep deprivation seriously aggravates ADHD, though. So, good point!
$20 says she rides out in Anvil’s arms, like a sleeping two-year-old being carried by a parent. And just because she falls asleep, not from getting drunk, especially since alcohol has negative effects on many prescription drugs, and I’m guessing ADD meds count.
The problem with selfies at that range is that the focal length will be off. Either the close object or the far object will be badly out of focus, up to the camera to choose.
To turn in 12 pages a week you would have to have a couple assistants to do the coloring and backgrounds…
So on your character page everyone have power levels from 1 to 9 where Maxima is at 9.
Wouldn’t it be much better if the levels where by a factor of a thousand . And an actual thing mentioned in the comic. Then if/When someone finally surpasses Maxima you can pull the obvious joke.
I’m not even going to mention it.
The ratings are dynamic, and change over time. If there is someone who is a whole ball-park ahead of Maxima, they get the top star rating and she goes down one.
It is also worth noting that the stars appear to be geometric in nature, rather than representing a linear improvement. That very much bears out with the individual power ratings, anyhow. Further, each star indicating that the individual can invariably beat someone of a lower rank, in an opposed or competitive situation. All other things being equal.
The 1 to 9 scale could be logarithmic, like earthquakes. :) So it would take a lot more power to go from 7 to 8 than from 3 to 4.
Hmm, lets see. The best way to try to guess what the pay grade busting knowledge is, is to figure out why it might be needed to tell her. The most likely explanation is, much like dabbler, her powers will let her discover it entirely by accident, or at least, could do so potentially. Much like dabbler, it was random luck that sydney saw through her disguise. So thats one possibility, there are other things hidden by illusions that sydney is not supposed to know about, and they want to tell her what they are ahead of time to avoid any blurting out of confidential info when she gets surprised.
My guess is actually going to be the existence of magic. They are eager to keep the alien/demon factoid quiet, I wouldnt be surprised if they want to keep the entire supernatural thing under wraps. Remember I dont think we have seen anyone cast a spell in front of sydney or mention magic aside from random guesses as to what her orbs are. Super powers are one thing, supernatural is another. And its entirely possible that sydney could spot the hidden workshops and magi labs built into archon if she uses her com orb at the wrong spot. Thats also the sort of thing she WOULD blurt out if noone tells her ahead of time that she cant.
Nice idea, but she knows about Dabbler’s use of magic. Dabbler cast a few spells during the Steakhouse Rumble, including one right at the end (on Vehemence) in front of Sydney. And Syd asked about Dab’s ‘love spell’ on Jabberwokky on the next page.
Not to mention both Gwen and Dabbler casting spells, and discussing them, right in front of Sydney, in the interview.
That club is doomed…
Not until Harem orders a nice can of “Cleansing Cola”…
Ugh… I dislike clubs. Not the music. Or the volume of the music. Just clubs in general. And people. Can’t forget the people. That’s something to dislike.
People suck.
But those who are willing to do so, because they really like you, should be granted some leeway.
And you should probably suck them back
Fives!
I will offer as close as I can.
Although it is the sentiment that counts..
I was beginning to think no one else was going to notice that XD
Like I noticed this didn’t reply to the person I hit the reply button for >.>
Ruh-roh. Also, yay, freckles!
someone a MLP fan :D i see vinyl scratch up their.
Lovely having such a strong MLP demographic, within the readership, as y’all have such pretty avatars.
First thing I saw. :D
Also, first thing in the morning for Sydney is noon.
Too bad first thing in the morning for the military is 0500 (5:00 AM for most people). If you are off-base (No, not that way!), you get to report in for 0600.
There’s always time for Nacos!
and +1 to Vinyl Scratch on the decks, its the little things that make me love this comic more :)
Another purdy avatar!
*hugs the ponies*
Size differences can make hugging awkward, but the smaller the differential, the easier a hug gets.