Grrl Power #375 – Intergalactic waitress of mystery?
Of course it’s almost immediately after Zephan has his revelation that Sydney starts to discover something is up. I guess that sort of thing could happen all the time in the real world, it’s only because we’re third party observers that we’re aware of the serendipity of the timing. So for those of you who guessed it would have something to do with her truesight, you get a know prize!
Now that Sydney is cluing in on something, she has to figure out what it is. I shall refrain from my own pseudo speculation as it would likely all be red-herrings anyway. At least she didn’t try and hit Jeanie with a chair.
Obligatory Amazon referral link for you guys. I may post a bit more in my comment later but I didn’t manage to get this up till 3 am. Last minute art fixes and driver issues. :/ And Fallout 4
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.
Am I the only one who’s first thought was that this club is operated by Archon?
My first thought was that so Dabbler is not the only Alien on the planet?
well they could have just been living with us for a very long time. hell they could have been here first for all we know. and the decendants hide who they are cause humanity can’t handle it.
Perhaps because Hell is a place on Earth?
Showing my age, but I thought blue heaven was a place on earth :-)
my first thought was Abraham had a daughter……..
*high fives cowboyken*
Would that make her the Blue Lady?
maybe lady blue if she had appetites, dab would love her.
Hell IS a place on Earth. Look up “Hell, MI” some time in Google Maps…
My first thought was: “Fishy.” It made me think of Lovecraft’s deep ones in innsmouth.
Truesight should show her true form, right? Not a glamour or other disguise.. So if it is an alien in disguise, their real form is almost 100% human.
I’m guessing it is a super who doesn’t know she is a super, and her power will be something aquatic-related, given the greenish color, almost gill-like features around the neck, and stream-lined face. With a secondary power of appearing like a 100% normal human.
She’s got the boobs and low body fat to be a super.
Or maybe she is an alien, and we’ve seen two of them now, which would explain why they are keeping the truesight classified (which didn’t really make sense to me before).
Sexy Alien Woman is Sexy o.o
I see General Faulk has a kindred spirit (not that I am disagreeing with you mind).
Mmm, I sense wheels within wheels.
There is now a three-pronged threat, two of which could be directed specifically to the head of Archon.
Her hand was not on the orb when she showed human. It was on the orb when she showed green.
Yes, but her green form is a two armed bipedal with what appear to be engorged breasts(something only found in humans in reality), a face with roughly human characteristics, hairless except the head, opposable thumbs(also rare, but not as rare as boobs), has five fingers, overall human proportions(human clothes fit her)etc.
Almost entirely human.
Incorrect. Peggy clarified all this, in her Q&A with Sydney. All truesight does is remove any supernatural elements, such as invisibility, shapechanging, illusions and the like. It does not penetrate rubber masks, surgical alterations or reveal what is under makeup.
So the above scene has unmasked the glamour. But it does not mean that what Sydney is seeing, underneath that, is actually as it appears. Provided the waitress is wearing a regular disguise underneath her illusion (or whatever caused the unnatural difference).
my question is that no one else noticed. last time sydney did it everyone was able to see past the glamor charm. well i guess sense she had to concentrate on the orb to see the Aura on the floor during the fight. that she just not concentrating enough to blow the charm to hell.
The orb lets just Sydney see through the visual illusions. We get to see through for entertainment / story purposes. During the meeting Sydney saw through Dabbler’s glamour and X’s invisibility. To everyone else in the room Dabbler was still a blonde 11, and X was see-through. When Sydney swung the chair at Dabbler she most likely still had her glamour up, depending on when Dave wanted it timed that she dropped it for everyone else.
+1
No, last time they responded to A) Sydney swinging a chair yelling “DEMON!!” and B) Dabbler dropping her glamour once she realize that Syd saw through it.
Yes, but why would she wear a disguise under her disguise? o_O
Indeed. So it is perfectly fair to assume that what Sydney is seeing is the genuine Jeanie. However it need not be. Here are a few reasons why it might not, because Jeanie is:
• paranoid and layers her disguises routinely (perhaps fearing her glamour will cease working, or is clinically insane, or is just as quirky as Sydney is)
• a prophetess. Thus knowing that Sydney would penetrate her glamour tonight.
• is well informed, by a spy network. She was tipped off about Halo & tonight’s planned visit.
• wearing a cos-play outfit. Her glamour is just so she does not have problems at work.
• wearing a suit which gathers power by chlorophyll/sunlight, body warmth and kinetic energy from movement. This generates the power for her cloaking device. Thus, if she wants to remain concealed at night, she needs an active job. The suit also features oxygen filtering, via a gill-like mechanism, plus vision-enhancing lenses. A dedicated computer is fitted in the forehead region to provide advanced sensory processing, in particular for the sophisticated olfactory sensor.
• suffers from body dysmorphism and hates her natural looks, thus goes to extremes to alter or conceal them. In real-world cases this includes cosmetic surgery. With access to advanced technomagic Jeanie has taken this to an extreme, in order to distance herself as much as possible from her original looks. Plus it is a mental condition where even the new looks will not satisfy them. Hence also using the glamour.
• has powerful enemies. Ones who have the potential to penetrate her outer disguise. Thus necessitating a secondary line of defence. Probably choosing a green-skinned demon (or alien) species, which would have a plausible reason for being on Earth in disguise.
• is the goddess of trickery and is messing with Sydney, big time.
• is a normal person, but the Comm Ball is malfunctioning. Until Halo reads the instruction manual, and realises that she must rub it, with an artichoke, once every four months, it will become increasingly erratic.
Life support?
• The glamour™ does not have tactile illusion, so padding or prosthetics is used to cover for physical contact at work and play. Sydney only sees the humanoid “encounter suit” version.
Though Dabbler’s glamour did include clothes (if she wants to).
It can be presumed that those clothes do provide some form of tactile illusion. Otherwise touching her would break the entire illusion (going through the clothes and feeling skin).
Now offcourse, it’s possible that succubi glamour is way more powerful than what Jainie has access to, and she can only change colours
Dabbler’s arms are still tangible.
• is the goddess of trickery and is messing with Sydney, big time.
Sydney meets Loki, the mind boggles.
You’re mistaken. Loki is male. However, the Lakota spider-trickster goddess exists. Her name is Iktomi, and I 100% ship her with an African spider-trickster god named Anansi.
…And Vance (Grrl Power’s own resident “spiderman”) would ship that too.
He may be male, but he once took the form of a female horse for a trick. He was supposed to just lure the horse away (Loki and the Master Builder, if you’re curious about the story), but wasn’t fast enough. It caught him, and impregnated him (as a female horse).
Loki (a male god) gave birth to an 8 legged horse (Sleipnir. Odin’s horse)
TL;DR: Loki took the form of a female horse, gave birth to a horse
Was just about to make the same comment. And, much as i love the ‘original’ Eddas, Happle Tea covered this rather nicely too.
Oh, there are some swears starting with an ‘f’ under that link if that offends you. If it doesn’t and the origins of said f-word are of interest, then do check the amazing Dr Kate Wiles on the subject
And… I’m spinning wildly off topic here :D
Umm. not sure why I scare-quoted original when talking about the Eddas. please ignore
Spider gods and spider monsters like the the Seneca, a spider demon as big as a man, and it hides its heart which is its only weakness. Find the heart and destroy it and the creature is vanquished. However it is very powerful. It is called a “Djien” and you have a better chance of dying and being eaten than finding its heart.
Loki is a trickster god, so ‘his’ gender is open to great debate. ‘He’ can become female at a whim. And even a female of an entirely different species. ‘He’ gave birth to the Fenris wolf, after all. And also Slephnir. Giving birth is typically a hard task for a male.
Loki, or Raven, or Coyote, or Woden, or Anansi, or Eris, or… Huh, the family dementia must be catching up with me, that is all I can recall off the top of my head. I’ve always been a big fan of the Tricksters. (I was raised by Coyotes in a dream as a kid, and ever since y life has been full-on Chaotic Weird! Even forty+ years later I am still coming up with fun ways to interpret that dream…)
The interesting thing to me is that she’s smiling in the glamour but not (that or her facial musculature is different enough that it’s not recognizable) in her actual face. At least, I assume her expression in panel 3 is the same as in panel 5 since Sydney hadn’t said anything weird yet.
Be wary of attempting to impose human facial expression recognition, on non-human species. This is not a smile. It is actually “I am out of breath”.
Actually, it’s more likely “It’s to hot”. Dogs don’t sweat, they have to control their body heat through their lungs instead. There’s some overlap, though, since, well, sweating and being out of breath often go hand in hand.
Yea, I considered that, when I re-read it later, myself. I figured that I had opted for the version I did because it has been cold here, despite blue skies. So seeing my Jack Russell, with that expression, would only have the interpretation I chose.
I kept my claws crossed that some dog-friendly person, perhaps from a presently warmer hemisphere, might pick up the point I omitted. Although you seem like more of a cat-person, you did the job well.
*wags tail companionably*
But, some dogs do actually genuinely smile. We had one growing up that would smile and wag its tail if it liked you, and was constantly scaring people as a result- they thought she was baring her teeth at them. We were always having to explain “no, she’s just smiling”, lol.
Humans have used selective breeding to create a number of breeds of dog, which look like they are smiling, just because of the shape of their muzzles. Opening their mouths emphasises this effect. As with any behaviour, dogs can be trained (consciously or inadvertently, as the case may be) to repeat the action, if it is rewarded.
So saying “good girl” and petting her, when she imitated a smile, would encourage her to do that, anytime she was seeking attention. So, yes, dogs can smile. Or sit up and beg. Or roll over. But it is the tail that you need to look at, if you want to confirm that they are enjoying it.
Yours was wagging hers, so that is fine. But it can lead to miscommunication, if you believe that the smile is directly showing her emotion. Especially as it is just an open mouth.
In my case, my Jack Russell could have died, a year or so ago, if I had made that mistake. During the night, I found her both shivering and holding her mouth open. As a breed Jack Russells can shiver either because they are cold or due to excitement (or fear, but their body language easily eliminates that option).
Had I taken her open mouth as being a smile, due to her being excited, then I might not have realised that anything was amiss. As it was, she had a viral infection, which was destabilising her temperature regulation. She had her mouth open to cool off, and the shivering was an unusual response to severe over-heating.
Fortunately I did not hesitate in taking her to the vets. As it was she almost died twice, over the next couple of days. Although it took major surgery, and antibiotics, they managed to cured her.
That said, dogs do look so cute, when they appear to be smiling, so I know exactly what you describe. And if a dog is emulating a smile, in an attempt to get attention and affection, that is not an unreasonable analogy to why humans smile. Dogs just do it as a learnt behaviour, rather than instinctively. Which a few folks have to be taught likewise. So all is good.
people often get scared when I smile too. I wonder why?
“Jeanie, you’d get more tips if you smiled when you serve.”
“I don’t really do ‘smile’, but,” (adjusts glamour) “how’s this?”
“Eek! I mean, er,…”
“… I’ll work on it.”
:-D
https://cdn.movieweb.com/img.news.tops/NEvGDVMTeTePzE_1_b.jpg
Would that be similar to Florance’s version?
Here’s a smile that could use some work…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8x8xqZzD8w
That’s very likely. She also seems unable to frown like a human (the narrowed eyes in the last panel appear to be her equivalent) and has no eyebrows to move anyway.
It all makes her seem much less like a human with green skin, and more alien, so kudos to DaveB for that.
+1
Likewise to Random832, as I omitted to do that earlier (in my haste to add my caveat).
Makes sense, really. Dabbler couldn’t be the *only* extraterrestrial on the planet.
*examines avatar carefully*
I concur.
*wags tail cheekily*
Hey, if she filled out the proper paperwork and is a resident alien working, with a visa card, dunno what the problem would be. >.>
None.
Well that depends on whether you are talking legal or social.
The whole ‘aliens are amongst us’ would have quite the impact on society
So either Sydney does the logical thing and goes to Dabbler for answers or just calls Max, OR she freaks out and hilarity ensues.
It seems to me that after the events of the last few days for Sydney, that she will text Max (too loud in the club for a phone call) and inform her of what she has seen and ask if this is something to be concerned about. I am pretty sure that considering the earlier shots where there were non humans revealed in the background when Sydney was using her truesight orb that aliens disguised as human is not uncommon, and is unlikely to be unknown to ARCLight.
Or, perhaps, Zephan’s comic timing, from the previous page, is just a red herring? Whilst they probably do involve the comm-ball’s capabilities, Sydney has stumbled onto something else too.
Given that Archon were willing to hire Sydney (I repeat SYDNEY), just on the strength of her true-sight, they clearly have a significant need, for the ability to unmask supernatural disguises. Which tends to imply that whilst they might suspect that there are deceptive practices going on, they probably have not been able to unmask such themselves.
Or they don’t feel Zephan himself (who can) should be a field asset. It helps to have both a person who can yell “Alien boogerface!” and survive the reaction from the outraged “outed” individual.
Sydney probably should make the call/send the text from a secure area, or failing that, from a reasonably private one.
Please note, I just used the words “probably should” and Sydney’s name in the same sentence.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised they’re hiding out everywhere.
She is cute though…
For some reason, when I go looking for aliens I find the ones that aren’t cute. Evidently, the cute ones aren’t hiding wherever I happen to be looking.
That’s because the cute ones get the better disguises, because they’re cute
Yeeeeaaaah. Maybe you shouldn’t be looking in warzones and toxic waste dumps.
Or his bathroom.
The interesting thing about this is the theory that they were discussing about how aliens were responsible for the supers in both powers and physical attractiveness.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/880
Perhaps this “theory” isn’t a theory after all.
They Live!
This was exactly my thoughts when reading this!
Let’s hope Sydney doesn’t regret what using the orb on “Jeanie” there…..
Oh I get it, she’s an alien.
Quite likely. Or a super with a different body-type, like Maxima. Plus there are other possibilities, albeit each becoming less likely. But not significantly less so, given the genre.
True true I happen to agree with that.
But Maxima doesn’t have a glamour. If she had a little doodad she could use to turn one on and off… would she use it? (Could anyone make them besides Dabbler? Maybe that lass who reminded me of Agatha Heterodyne?
If she had acquired it when younger, I would imagine so. Now though she has had too many years fighting for her right, to be who she is, and not have to put up with any s**t for being that. So I very much doubt she would opt for it full-time.
However she might still fancy occasional anonymity, say if popping down to the bank.
look at raven in the X-men movie for why max doesn’t get a glamour from anyone. (the sene in question is when she’s in the choper with the congressman)
Maybe Scottostanek and I were right? I’m going to think that anyway until that inevitable moment when I’m proven wrong.
I think that would be the above her pay grade she needs to be read in on. She would also be the chaperon.
Nah, the chaperon is Anvil. No need to imagine a secretly-working-for-archon- alien keeping an eye on Sydney when there are known Archon officers already doing that
Alien, supernatural, super, whatever. She is different enough from normal humans to require a protective illusion (to protect her from us). Max is the same way, but golden skin and purple hair just make her unusual not scary different (until you get to know her). We know vampires are real, as are a number of other supernatural creatures. Given that human supers didn’t show up in noticeable numbers until the 1980s it well could be that supernaturals used to outnumber supers (or still do) until recently.
The club is just a front for the real operation. The name OONTZ stands for:
Outworlder
Orientation (and)
Naturalization
Terminal,
Zodiac sector.
Off-world
Outreach
Negotiators’
Transit
Zone
Jeanie is a surgically altered human, in-between off-world assignments.
both dependent on which way your headed
When she uses true sight on a illusioned person, does the illusion break starting from that point then closes back towards that point when she lets go? or does the illusion break apart towards that point then builds up from that point? Or the reverse?
Neither. The illusion (/shapechange etc) is not itself changed. Lots of people are presently looking at Sydney, as she is an overnight international celebrity But nobody has noticed Jeanie alter, because she has not. To everybody else the glamour remained intact, and she looked like a human waitress, at all times.
This is exactly the same as in the interview, Sydney could see X, in the corner of the room, but even when she pointed X out, nobody else could tell she was there. As confirmed by one of them asking “what is she pointing at?” X then chose to lower the invisibility, to communicate.
As to the timing, the true sight only works whilst Sydney is touching the Truesight orb. As you can see panels 5 & 6, where the inserts clarify what Sydney is seeing, when she initially releases and then grasps the ball again.
Tactically this is very important. Anytime Halo is facing a foe with supernatural alteration capabilities, she has to dedicate one of her two power choices to using the Truesight orb. Or risk them deceiving her. Which means Halo can only pick a single other power to use, at such times.
Quickly swapping to the yellow orb, for periodic checks, is a possible solution, of course. But may not always be possible, if the other two are being used for life-critical functions.
you know, this is actually a really valid if awkwardly phrased question. The true-sight effect is clearly non-instantaneous, so it’s not light based. There’s a circular interference between the illusion here and the true-sight that suggests that either the illusion is spheroidal, or the true-sight expands spherically.
Panel 5 – Truesight recedes from point closest to sphere/observer.
Panel 6 – Truesight activates from point closest to sphere/observer.
So Sydney’s true sight is something like sonar, that ‘pings’ things and returns an image?
Most other activations of Sydney’s true-sight haven’t shown any process or transition, so it’s hard to say for sure.
Very interesting observation. I had noticed the effect, but not read that into it. However it could indeed be a sound conclusion.
The one caveat I would put in is to make room for artistic licence. Dave clearly would want to give us a transitioning effect here, to convey the impression of change. In old cinema effects, this would be done with a cut, from a shot with makeup on to one without, or vice versa. Whereas modern effects can convincingly pull off ‘things changing as you look at them’.
This however cannot be done in a static medium, like a comic (well without programming in animation, that is), so I would expect a artistic flair to mimic the more sophisticated transitioning effects us modern audiences would be expecting.
That said, I do not propose this to discount your interpretation. But, as you say, we have not seen anything else that would imply this, to date. So, personally, I will put this into the ‘keep an eye open’ category, to see if the effect occurs again. If it is a gradual reveal, a large illusion (say of a building) could have a significant lag, before it is uncovered completely.
I noticed that too but just attributed the difference to a different illusion type being broken by the orb from the ones the lacked the effect.
The shield has shown a transition effect before.
Yep. And that is an important one, as it is consistent with various other small details, which point to how the shield works.
It is worth noting that Dave resolves the question, regarding the Truesight Orb, in his commentary, on the next page. It is just a special effect, as opposed to being a property of that orb.
No “They Live” jokes? I am disappoint.
Several actually. You just need to click on pages 1 and 2 of the comments, to find them.
Oh, and one further up this page.
I looked, must’ve missed them.
Just put on the damn glasses!
There are 756 comments. It is fair that folks can miss some in a scan through.
A tip if looking for something specific though, just use your browsers “find” option (ctrl + F on Chrome) to search for the term. Remembering to repeat it on each page of the comments.
It is a new month, please cast your vote for Grrl Power, at the Top Web-Comics voting.
Great job, everybody, in keeping us in the number one spot, all the way to the end of last month! Although it is a nice acknowledgement of the great work Dave does on the comic, and the saucy vote incentive, it also helps to finance the comic, indirectly.
Keeping that spot attracts more readers to the comic, including potential patreons. Not to mention the lesser revenue streams that everyone, no matter what their means, can help out with. Such as the advertising (if we tell add-blocker to make an exception for GrrlPower.com) and, if we are buying Christmas presents via Amazon, being sure to do that via the Grrl Power link.
Even those of us not situated in the USA can use that link, although, it does require the extra step of (for example) telling it to “Visit Amazon.co.uk” instead of using the “.com” version. The option should be at the top of the Amazon page, and I expect it will offer the domain appropriate to your locale (depending on your browser settings). Or pick the country of your preference, from the choices at the bottom of their page.
Looks like we better mobilise. Just voted and noticed we’re at number 4 (by a large margin) at the moment.
Vote once (per IP address), Vote often!
100 out of 3rd
Don’t other Supers, like Maxima, have external manifestations or side-effects of their powers? Jeanie Might just be a Super with Illusion Powers.
Or, she could be an Alien….which, could prompt some politicians to talk about building a wall around the planet to keep out them no-good, job taking Aliens.
Indeed.
There’s little reason for a super to be working in a nightclub though
Earning a salary is a fairly good reason. Pretty much the normal one that people have for working. If her only super-power is the ability to create an illusion, to look human, it would limit her super employment prospects.
The only way she could show off her power, is to reveal her normally inhuman looks. Which would probably only serve to make her life miserable. I would not feel happy being relegated to essentially being a circus freak, as a way of earning a living. Far better to live an anonymous life, as a normal person.
And even if she does have some moderately useful powers (say being aquatic, and able to breathe underwater with gills), she may still prefer a quiet anonymous life. Plus this city appears to be inland. If she has family and other roots here, there may simply not be the employment prospects for a swimming super.
Or she may actually get work, say in river salvage or helping police hunt for bodies. But such work is likely to be sporadic. As with any such jobs, a night-job might be needed to supplement the income.
Sure, but so far superpowers have all been shown to be, well, super.
Ahh, but Dave has specifically stated that not all need be. Remember we have only seen individuals who are either fit enough to join Archon or powerful enough to think they have a chance of beating them. The rest are still going about their day jobs. Some of whom will have powers that, although impossible for any normal human to repeat (without equipment), are less than inspiring.
I think the TV Tropes people would call it a Contrived Coincidence that the one and only time we see Sydney idly fondling one of her balls *Childish Giggling* is just in time to see something like this, but it’s as good a narrative device as any.
Maybe if she spent a little time playing with those two unknown orbs, she’d stumble onto what they do a little faster?
Hardly, we have seen Sydney doing plenty of similar things.
• Examining the orbs for sigils and buttons. Including actually finding a useful one on the comm ball.
• Doing repeated sweeps for ninjas, using that very orb. Even when there was nothing to find.
• Has
stoodfloated, with it in hand, disappointed that her scan apparently failed.Something she may well have done here, in between pages, having checked the club, from her table, without success. Not realising that the individual she might have found was in the kitchen, picking up her meal.
Exactly repeating previous actions is tired and formulaic. I prefer that Dave keeps individuals acting within a range of behaviours, that are constant with their character. Which this most certainly was. Other similar actions (idly playing, when bored) which spring to mind are:
• Turning the flaw on the window into a visual toy (whilst waiting to go into the interview).
• Playing with her food.
• Doing the leap up into the air, and accidentally punching a hole through the ceiling. Making use of the orb in hand, be that inadvertently or on purpose.
The guy in your second link might be the same species (or whatever) as the waitress
I’m sure this has been said, but I think she is a Succubus. A bar would be a great place to feed off of emotions.
A couple of times, but no harm in that. Succubi do come in a wide variety of forms (see final panel linked), so you could well be right. And a number do have points of similarity, although only when picking points on different individuals. Such as breasts, hair, tones of skin, aquatic features and non-human eyes.
Jeanie is lacking in horns, but they are merely common, in that scene, rather than a required feature. And her hair is bulky enough that small ones might be hidden within.
What I have not seen though is anyone suggesting that Jeanie might be a genie. Not that they are renowned for aquatic features mind. So yours makes more sense. I would still be wary of using the “w” word around her though (you know, the one rhyming with “fish”).
hey go easy on anya’s cousin she just got into the business.
True. We haven’t even seen her curse anyone yet.
Off-topic, but… is there a way to get a list of all of the network ads? i.e. the ones that aren’t google, aren’t project wonderful, and are almost all for other webcomics. This is the third time this month that one has caught my eye as I was leaving a page and I couldn’t get it back because going back refreshes to a different one.
All I can think of is quotes from They Live!
Respect to Harem. She seems to be able to knock back her alcohol, at a respectable rate. It looks like she has had three shots, or spirits, in the time it took the nachos to be prepared. Unless she cheated and summoned extra stomachs to the table.
*sniff sniff*
I wonder what Sydney has been drinking?
Oh, and panel 4 just cracks me up, every time I look at Sydney’s bulging eyed, surprised expression! It fits the moment so well.
A Virgin Cuban Libre perhaps?
Just a little nit-pick, but the truesight orb was held in the right hand in panels 4, 5, 6 & 8, then jumped to the left hand for panel 9.
Humans are show-offs. I notice them doing that all the time.
“Ooh, look at me, I have opposable thumbs. See how I can effortlessly swap my pen from my right hand to my left.”
Well see what I can do!
do not make me link a squirl stuffing it’s cheeks
In Jeanie’s who’s who, there is an extra “is also”
… and the last word (“disguise”) is missing the first ‘s’.
The question is how many species are there? Some just go crazy and have not one or two but dozens. We’d be lucky if there is just one within our galaxy alive now and have some kind of star travel that is faster than light, like say hyper spacial travel. Skip over that bothersome light speed.
They could be hiding in plain sight, remember the corpse looking aliens of “They Live”? Supposedly Dr. Nicola Tesla said he believed that “they were among us” in disguise. Di-guise means to drop the false guise, guys. Like dis-assemble. Maybe not.
So, Dave, is the guy at the Grand Canyon (Panel #6) really an alien revealed by Sydney’s use of the Comm-Ball, or was he just a graphical glitch? (Or was he perhaps a graphical glitch who is now retroactively an alien revealed by Sydney’s use of the Comm-Ball?)
Oh wow, good eye. I totally missed that guy turning grey/purple.
Yeah, I figured it was the sky color filling an empty spot by mistake, but then there was a lot of discussion about it, and Dave never really chimed in. I think he may have wanted to downplay it because, guess what, it’s a major plot point! But now that we know that aliens do walk among us…
DaveB is very good, at concealing small points.
I think the bigger question is, how did the kid spot it. To the right of him.
I think the kid is just freaking out at seeing a couple of people standing in the air above her. If you look at panel 4, she is pointing up at them, rather than at the blue guy.
The one that had me laughing, when checking that though, was the woman in the red top. Clearly she has seen everyone looking up, so is trying to spot what they are looking at. However she has failed to actually follow their eye-lines, and has her back to the flyers, so is looking in completely the wrong places.
“Jackie, you were at the Grand Canyon yesterday, weren’t you? I heard that a couple of supers were seen flying over it? Apparently there were clips on YouTube, and everything.”
“Bah, must be a hoax. I was there all day. A bunch of tourists were pointing up at one point, but the only thing I saw was an eagle. Some folks are really gullible!”
*claws crossed*
I would love it to be a running gag. Any time there is a crowd scene, for some spectacular event, she will be there, but looking the wrong way. Turns out that she has super serendipity, but is cursed with cluelessness.
She does not look particularly super, but it could either be that she acquired the power, rather than being born with it. Or perhaps the less useful the power, the less the degree of buffness?
Waiiiiit a second… that guy IS an alien! It’s not just his color, he’s magically grown super ears! Visible on both sides of his head!
Wow! Talk about your fine details! I’ve looked at that guy five or six times and never noticed the ears until now.
the kicker? Greenie/Jeanie is plausible mis-parsed. Source: me, having audio processing problems that leak over to visual language interpretation under heavy audio loads
Probably agents of archon. Dabbler admitted knowing about X. They would have immediately attempted to replace them with a species she would have more trouble detecting. Since X’s weakness was being too human. Probably androids. Knowing about about halo, Jeanie went over to test her with multiple layers of disguise. Did you say greenie? My guess is hypnosis was successful. It is how ‘The Shadow’ maintained his invisibility.
Yeah, loudness makes it hard to read… ;) Also, generally not a good idea to voice all your interior monologue out loud, Sydney, especially if you’re talking about cover. :P
That girl’s real form looks hotter than her illusion.
Personally, I’ve always found that atomic butthole is no better in the evening than in the morning
“Very loud in here! Makes it hard to read” Oh, thank god, I’m not the only one who’s like that.