Grrl Power #421 – Let’s get physical
The doc is a bit of an anti-Maxima when it comes to tolerating quirky supers. In her career she’s met more than her share.
In a week that doesn’t involve a super battle royale, she’s only at the base once a week, since her powers put her in such high demand. She works in trauma wards around the city, but after the fight she was needed to get the team back to ship shape. (As well help with some of the more significant injuries to the red team.) Archon has priority on her time, but Max would probably defer it if a school bus flipped over or something. There’s also a small staff of non-powered doctors who fill in at Arc-SWAT the rest of the time, but Doc Chevy prefers to do the initial physical herself when the rare opportunity presents itself.
“Uie Maa,” I’m told from some Google searches and twitter Q&A means something like “Dear mother.” I wanted her to say something along the lines of “Good lord that was loud.” but make it sound like someone who also spoke Hindi might say. In case that doesn’t read right to someone who actually is bilingual, if you have a more organic suggestion I may change it.
Sydney’s reaction to Harem’s arrival seems to be a conditioned response at this point. The exploding cuff merely startled her.
On a completely unrelated note, Overwatch is really good. It’s basically Team Fortress 3, minus the hat economy, and the character designs are bonkers good. I mention it cause I may do some fan art since one of the characters in the game looks rather a lot like one of mine. Coincidentally I’m sure. I’d be surprised if anyone at Blizzard even knew of my little comic here, but I thought it’d be cool to draw them together.
In the meantime, here’s a (vote incentive) painting I did of Max in that new style I’m experimenting with, being skeptical/displeased with something it seems. I have mixed feelings about it. It’s alternately pretty good and a little wonky. I’d like it more if it took less time to draw, but I was playing with brushes at the same time and learning as I went so hopefully the next one will look better and take less time.
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Hm, I know it’s a cartoon, but where are the blood vessels in panel one?
Unless Dabbler loaned Sydney another fake eye…
It’s a symptom of her Severe Poor Health
It’s actually a symptom of anime-ism and awesomeness.
Is it just my paranoia or does it kinda look like a magic circle?
Kinda looks like a peacocks tail
I don’t know if someone noticed already but I might have found a mistake in the lower left panel.
Doc says: “We’ll to have to reschedule.” There’s two “to”s in there.
Whoops. That’s a sure sign that line went through some editing. I’ll get it fixed.
Yes, it was mentioned in one of the early posts on page one of the comments
Seeing how considerate harem is…. Do they have a punishment policy established for her when her tel ports go like this, or are you hey simply waiting to hote ‘misadventure’ on a report detailing the cause of her injuries?
This is two bad teleports in the same week – the other being a teleport into a closed door meeting.
Huh… I wonder, is this inconsiderate teleporting simply her being airheaded, or is she doing it on purpose for some reason? We do know she’s at least a double agent and working for Deus. Maybe she’s doing it to get access to information she shouldn’t have; Arc-swat may be used to her teleporting randomly in on things by now that they don’t properly secure the confidential documents from her eyes.
as seen in earlier pages of this issue, harem is being made to go through some basic training with the other recruits again because of her “discipline issues”, so yeah, she’s being punished… just not enough!
Sometimes I wonder if Syd actually has an extremely fast reaction speed, and seriously considers her response to events such as Harem popping in. Deciding on the reactions displayed so far as the logical ones fits her >.<
When an Indian woman married to a Thai man needs a mask, it might be time for an intervention.
What? o_O
I don’t remember the doctor mentioning her husband’s nationality, but he means: when a woman from a culture known for very spicy food and married to a man from a culture know for very spicy food needs to get protected from someone’s breath from eating spicy food, something is not right AT ALL.
Oh, okay, wasn’t sure what they meant by a ‘mask’, and was thinking one of those costume masks
Her name is Thai.
But she swears in Hindi
The two items are not mutually exclusive. Notice the bindi on her forehead? She’s Hindi, her husband may be Thai, thus explaining her name.
Yes, did notice Steve’s daughter (:P), but her husband could be Hungarian for all we know, or not married at all
Ah, okay… Honestly, I did not know what origin her name was (I’d have guessed Indonesian, but I would not even have excluded Indian… :-) ). So, thanks. :-)
Indian and Thai food is known to be very much the spicy-hot
How about Monica Bellucci or Sophie Marceau for Dabs? Both have the sultry voice and an incredibly sexy accent. I agree on Mary McGlynn for Max… Harem… hmmm… How about Pink? She has that smoky, fun voice. Give “Funhouse” a listen… I think of Pinky Harem every time I hear it.
Deus… Dwayne Johnson would be good I suppose… Christian Bale, maybe? Not as Batmannish as he got in the Batman movies, but he’s got the range needed I think. Maybe Daniel Craig.
Heatwave/Brooke? Anna Paquin with her southern, Louisiana, Rogue Accent
Math? It’s gotta be Steve Buscemi…
Super Hiro… Jackie Chan
Who ever gets to play Deus needs to have a smooth voice, but powerful
Would enjoy having Wentworth Miller play someone, but not sure who has the similar personality of Snarky Snart (aka, Captain Cold), he has the smoothness for Deus, but too much ‘snark’
Deus? Nick Cage no doubt.
Ron Perlman?
A bit of a work out needed to be Deus, but Vincent D’Onofrio did exactly that (smooth voice, but powerful) as Kingpin in the 2015 Daredevil series
Wentworth Miller might make a good Math or vector.
Vector is possible, doesn’t come across as ‘skeevy’ like Math; as coulterww Steve Buscemi would make a good Math (and kinda looks like him a little
The eye chart behind Sydney keeps changing between letters and weird symbols.
There’s two different charts.
Three charts on the wall behind Sydney: the usual ‘human’ eyechart, an ‘alien’ eyechart (for Dabbles?) and one with an eyeball linking to stickfigures (one of whom is on fire?)
Dave meant 2 eye charts, as in charts intended to test vision thru seeing how small a font they can read, the 3rd chart you mentioned is prolly just a warning sign, since eye charts tend not to include depictions of fire
The symbols look to be possibly Interlac or Kryptonian based. Amiright?
In panels 2 & 3, the symbol chart is directly to the left of the “person on fire” chart. In panel 5, the chart directly to the left of the “person on fire” chart is the normal letter chart. Panel 7 shows all three charts in the order shown in panels 2 & 3, but panel 8 appears to revert to the order shown in panel 5.
An eyechart that changes / varies content might be useful when checking certain supers. Amongst other things, it stops dead that old old dodge of cheating on the eyetest by memorizing the chart beforehand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh__Anjhn6M
this is a bit of a late reply, however the guy cheats by remembering what was said, not with memorizing the actual chart.
What if Dr.Chevy actually started out as a ventinary surgeon????
It could explain a lot.
Also, if one wanted a doctor who could deal with alien / non-human physiolgies, then prior veterinary training would arguably form a very very good basis.
Yeah especially if she got a wide range of experience such as marine life.
There’s no Hippocrates here, Harem. You’re on your own.
I assume she’s refering to the “do no harm” part of the Hippocratic Oath, well the oath may of been written after Hippocrates died, and there’s no requirement for a doctor to follow it
Actually, fairly sure that taking the Hippo Oath is still part of becoming a registered doctor
Modern hippocratic oath has nothing about doing no harm in it
HIPPOCRATIC OATH, MODERN VERSION
I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.
I will not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
If they changed it, why not change the name as well?
Public Domain means never having to say you owe royalties. :D
Didn’t mean that, just, if the oath is different, then why not change it to name of the founder of Modern Medicine or something
For the same reason the Constitution remains the Constitution after it gets amended. The Hippocratic Oath, like a handful of other such things, is a living document, and is intended to go through formal revisions and changes every so often. Thus, even if it gets changed, it still remains the Hippocratic Oath, because it changes in response to changing understanding of science, technology, society, and so forth and so on.
By the way, please note: a living document is one that is meant to have a formal revision process. It is NOT a document that can be interpreted however you wish to serve any goals, ideals, or positions you may wish to adopt, which is why citing the Constitution as a “living document” to support a position on an issue that does not readily agree with the document’s actual words is NOT evidence of sophistication, nuanced understanding of issues, or even of your intelligence. It IS a great indicator that you have no business trying to interpret law for the rest of us, and I don’t care which party you belong to. Citing the Constitution as the basis for your anti-gun position is just as invalid as citing as the basis for your anti-abortion position.
Er…I may have had one too many run-ins with assholes over this issue.
P.S. for all those people pushing an amendment to make this legal, or that illegal: please note that the Constitution is an outline of how laws are made, and what areas may not be tread upon. It is not a place to state the ultimate and unchangeable legality or illegality of a particular action, concept, or way of living. All it does is state that laws will be made in such and such a way, to fit circumstances that fit a specific set (or sets) of conditions. The only time the Constitution has EVER been used as a specific tool of law was the Prohibition, which may well have been one of the most spectacular failures of law in legal history.
Not quite true; the whole point of the Supreme Court is the theory that the Constitution is absolutely prohibitive ON THE GOVERNMENT’S ACTIONS. For example, it is entirely legal for a newspaper to restrict free speech with its control of its editorial page; it is entirely unconstitutional for the US government to do anything remotely the same except on very narrow grounds.
And while the Prohibition may have been a spectacular failure, the government did it again, without an amendment, by sneaking drug-prohibition in through the back door. With pretty much the same results.
And yet because the media is subject to government censorship and control, that line of thinking on restricting the government’s power goes out the window.
Media Censorship is supposed to be left up to the owner of the paper or network, Government Censorship (in the US anyway) is supposed to never happen
They may influence or make suggestions to the owner, but the owner can tell the Government to go shove it
The media is subject to government censorship…sort of. There are certain things that the media is not supposed to snoop into because publishing full details on, say, the CIA’s human assets would almost certainly lead to people getting killed. For a variety of reasons, even though the Constitution says “no restrictions on freedom of the press,” the Supreme Court has ruled that the government has a responsibility to keep that a secret, and to get pretty darned cheesed off when some enterprising reporter manages to talk their way into Langley and publish that information anyway.
There are also a number of libel laws (which apparently cannot be enforced if the government is the subject), plus other things that are basically common sense. No publishing stories just to panic your readers, for instance–we’ve had deaths on account of that before, and figuring out how to respond to that just opens too many cans of worms that are best left closed.
There are a set of professional ethics for reporters, and, like all sets of formal professional ethics, violating those ethics is supposed to lead to the reporter in question being legally forbidden from ever entering journalism again. Unlike, say, a medical code of ethics, journalist ethics are not enforceable by law (at least, not in the United States), and will not protect a journalist who is ordered to divulge his or her sources in a court of law.
None of this is really meant to hurt the press’s freedom to publish whatever they damn well please, however–instead, it just tries to keep people from getting killed over what gets published. Which, honestly, I suspect most of us can live with.
That is…only sort of true. The US Supreme Court exists because the United States operates under common law, like England and many of its colonies, and not under civil law, like most of the rest of Europe. Because of how common law works, the existence of a separate body which is capable of issuing definitive rulings on matters of law, precedent, and interpretation is required–hence the US Supreme Court, and its equivalents in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Nations that operate under civil law do not need to maintain such bodies, and, to my knowledge, rarely do so, as any decisions are made by the legislative or executive branches.
Basically, the idea is this: common law takes the laws already in existence, and applies simple common sense and the current societal understanding of the issue in question to each individual case. So, for example, a common law court could rule that the deliberate and knowing emotional and intellectual manipulation of a retarded person into murdering their brother in itself constituted grounds for accusing the manipulator of murder, using the retarded person as their “weapon,” because it fit with current understanding of the human condition, and simple common sense…even though it may not currently be considered a crime by the existing criminal code.
The catch is that, because common law considers cases on an individual basis, each case effectively makes the law. So if the manipulator from the example above is tried as a murderer, because the court so ruled, all other people accused of doing the same thing would also have to be tried as murderers as well. Which could be a problem if it were to turn out that said manipulator was a six year old girl who was not capable of understanding just what kind of damage her manipulations could do. Or if another court, elsewhere, decides that a manipulator who commits such a deed cannot be tried for murder, but must be tried for another crime. Or if…but you get the idea.
The Supreme Court’s job is basically to resolve that kind of dispute…or, as society, science, and religious understanding (all law is based on religious beliefs–never imagine otherwise) all change, to overturn laws and/or judicial rulings that are no longer in line with modern understanding. A textbook example of this would be Roe V. Wade, which, thanks to advancing technology, now poses a number of unclear circumstances that could, potentially, make abortion completely illegal. Given an unexpected conflict between law and technology…the law has to change, and only a body like the Supreme Court could change it.
That pressure cuff exploding actually happened to me once. Granted, is wasn’t exactly a dramatic explosion, it just ripped and started slowly leaking. And it wasn’t cause by an overdose of spicy noodles, but because the cuff was too small. It was still pretty funny though.
Maybe she has a passive power from the mystery orbs that refuses to let things constrict to tightly on her arm?
Umm, why would she need the arm of her ‘un-teleported’ self fixed? Surely the process of unmaking is rather final, and she would just ‘port’ a duplicate of one of her selves into existence and then give it a makeover from there. Isn’t that how she does it?
Or does that self merely get stored away in an existential nightmare locker, to be called back into being at will? This conjures Worm to mind, what with the alt-dimensional power shenanigans going on.
And even if it is somehow stored away, why wouldn’t she dissolve/unmake/ignore it and make a new one, with perfect health, instead? Since it is already in oblivion anyway.
Yes with the locker storing, no with the final unmaking, from what we know so far.
And the ‘stored’ version is effectively time-stopped during storage. Meaning that version of Daphne is now several days younger than the rest of the copies. She is also getting further out of sync with the rest of her copies’ monthly cycle. So now in addition to feeling the broken wrist, all of her get share feeling that other thing multiple times this month.
Having a ‘fridge logic’, or ‘fridge horror’ moment here, I just realized that if all copies were out of sync with each other she could be subjected to a perpetual state of PMS.
while tragic indeed if accurate, we know that most supers, harem included, seem to get some kind of idealized body as part of the package, bombshell looks, no body-hair, implausibly sized and perky boobs, the whole “most common superpower” package really. Accordingly it’s pretty likely that the discomforts of their monthly cycle would be minimal if even painful at all.
Granted, it would probably be a damnable hassle trying to keep track of Which of your bodies cant go into the pool and such when the physical sensations involved get shared by all the bodies.
She doesn’t get ‘unmade’, she goes into ‘hammer-space storage’ and comes out in the exact same condition she was in when she went in
(my) Current theory is that although she could make a new self with perfect health, she chooses not to, because that would be effectively killing off that body (I think she has a current max number of 5 existing bodies). Jury is out on whether she has ever done that before (but I think it likely during her early days of experimenting with her powers), and if so, it might have been unpleasant.
I suppose that it is also possible that she simply cannot ‘permanently unmake’ an old self, and leaving one in limbo forever would limit her to fewer selves until she ‘leveled up’ enough to manifest a new one.
Indian here. “Uie Maa” was pretty much spot on. It’s a very natural thing to say in such a situation.
Good to know, thanks! Google actually came through this time.
I want to see more game modes before I drop 40 for the PC version. Right now Overwatch has functionally two game modes. Payload/Assault Control Point and King of the Kill CP (best of 3) is not enough.
Payload Race, Standard Control Point (tug of war style), Capture the Flag.
if price is the issue, there are 3rd party ways of getting it cheaper, as long as you don’t mind a digital copy
Just a thought after watching some TV this weekend. Forged in Fire is a knife-making competition. Think Chopped, but with blacksmiths, not cooks.
Host: Welcome to The Forge. Today we are having a special Archon edition of Forged in Fire. Let’s meet the contestants.
Dabbler: My name is Xuriel, but you can call me Dabbler. My ancestry is from many places; I have lived all sorts of places and I am proficient in many things. Today, I get to show you that knife making is yet another area I can excel.
Heatwave: My name is Brooke, code-name is Heatwave. I am hot stuff, hotter than these little ovens anyway. Let’s see the others keep up with me, when I can work my blade by hand.
Anvil: My name is Kenya; my code-name is Anvil. It just seems appropriate that I am in a place that has this kind of anvil [ lifts the anvil and attached block up to her chest height (6 feet or so) ].
Halo: Last but not least, except in stature [ Glancing at Anvil ], my name is Sydney and I am the Mighty Halo! See I have these orbs [ points up ] that form a … never mind. I have been tinkering with various things for quite some time and I relish the opportunity to show everybody what I can do. [ Caption: Comic store owner / Archon Field Agent. 2 months part-time blacksmith ]
Host: Standing by me, is their commanding officer, Lt. Colonel Leander, code-named Maxima.
Maxima: For the record, we only recently trusting Halo with sharp objects.
Halo: [ Glare at Maxima ]
Host: La..a..a..a..dy …
Maxima: Dabbler, cut that out! [ Dabbler pouts at Maxima ]
Host: [ Shakes head to clear it ] Ah, yes. As I was saying. Ladies, welcome to The Forge. You are going make a blade of your own design in your signature style using the materials and equipment we provide. You will be given 10 minutes to design your blade and then 3 hours to forge your weapon. At the end of that time, you will present your knives to our panel of judges, who will critique your work. After that, one of you will surrender your weapons and leave the forge. Eventually, your knives will be subjected to an ice chop and paper cut. [ Sydney shivers at the mention of paper cuts ] [ On screen is shown a knife being used to cut through the pages of a book ]
Host: Your knife must meet the following criteria: The blade, not including the tang, must be between 10 and 13 inches in length. The overall length, including the handle, must not be more than 22 inches long. Under this cloth is the material you will be able to use to create your knives: [ removes cloth ] This welded steel sculpture. Come on up and identify the parts you want to use in the making of your blade. [ Dabbler reaches out for some of the materials, but is admonished before touching the sculpture. ] Don’t get your materials yet. You get to use the next ten minutes to design your knife, after that you get to collect your materials and forge your knife, and your design time starts … NOW!
In a montage, we watch the contestants drawing various blades on craft paper; Dabbler’s is the most elaborate, showing curls and recurves, with a fancy guard. Sydney is drawing a blade almost as long as her arm; on the page can be seen several other designs with big X‘s through them. Heatwave is taking her time and really concentrating (the tip of her tongue is sticking out) to draw a fairly simple design. Anvil is seen measuring her design to make sure it fits the criteria.
Host: Smiths, your design time ends in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Put down your pencils. Your three-hour forging time starts NOW!
All four head for the sculpture. Anvil reaches in a breaks off a long steel rod. Sydney snakes the light-hook into holes in the sculpture to pop out a flat bar. A glow appears around Dabbler’s hands and 4 flat bars leave various places in the sculpture and fly to her hands. Heatwave looks at the mangled mess that is left and reaches in and runs her finger along a weld, causing it to melt. She does this a couple more times and extracts a gently curved sheet of steel, about a foot square and 3/8″ thick. Everybody heads back into the main area.
Judge: I am surprised with her choice of that steel plate. As it is, that plate will not fit into the forges.
Brooke starts running her finger through the steel plate, like it was a pad of soft candy, forming a rough (very rough) outline of her knife. She then picks up the knife and concentrates. The knife starts to glow and she pushes it flat on her anvil.
Anvil is seen heating up her rod and then grabbing it with tongs and taking it back to her anvil.
Judge: I don’t think that steel is hot enough yet to be worked yet. It needs another minute or two in the forge before it can be worked by hammer.
Anvil grabs a hammer and swings it above her head, checking to make sure she is not going to hit anything above her.
Judge 2: Maybe if she was working it with one of the power hammers, but there is no way …
Anvil swings the hammer down near the end of her rod away from her. We see a very thin section near the end that she has flattened out with one hit. She starts working on the rest of the rod, flattening it out.
Judge 2: I guess I stand corrected.
Heatwave is pulling her knife blade like sticky toffee, stretching it out and making it thinner. She then quenches it in water to cool it and goes over to the belt sanders.
A big belch of thick black smoke comes out of the forge Sydney is standing beside. She lets go of the red orb and lets it return to the halo above her head. She is looking shame-faced.
Halo: [ Cut-away interview ] I really shouldn’t have tried to increase the temperature in the forge by blasting it with the PPO. Well, at least it wasn’t one I have to pay for.
Oh, dear. I did not realize how long I made this. Besides I am out of gags for this.
That’s okay. Just move it to a fan-fiction archive and link it here. That way, you can add more to it at your own leisure and we can comment on it easier.
It’s a great start, by the way. I’d like to see more.
Agrecian, would enjoy reading more :D
Long is the perfectly normal around here. :D
Also, nice stuff (needs more bad puns, though).
Wherever you decide to do it, make sure of the metallurgy, in addition to the super powers display. Most particularly, you have stated the raw material is steel. When making a steel blade of highest utility, using the qualities of ferrous carbide in the steel is useful. That means that instead of raising the temperature above red hot, as some characters were doing, one should keep the temperature just below red heat. If one has the chance, that should be done for 16-72 hours, depending on carbon content of the alloy, to let more of the ferrous carbide come out of solution and agglomerate in microspheres.
Start with 2 thin bars, one of which still has its ferrous carbide dissolved fully, then one of which has a far higher carbon content.
Working the high carbon steel bar at temps below red hot allows the ferrous carbide to stay undissolved while being worked. This work should start with forging each steel bar out to just under twice the desired blade +tang length, folding one end back onto the other, and then forging the 2 halves flat into one welded bar again, or the length it had before the fold. Repeat this at least ten times. The ferrous carbide microspheres will now be stretched out into strong thin wavy threads within the steel, strengthening it along the axis the threads lay upon.
The low carbon bar is used as the thin back piece for the finally forged blade, giving it flexibility and toughness. The high carbon bar gives you the cutting edge. In the final forging its is wrapped around the front half of the lower carbon steel on a fold parallel to the axis of the ferrous carbide threads. They are forged together at less than red heat, under highest working pressure. Yes, Anvil will have substantial advantages there. Never allow the high carbon edge to get to red heat, and its ferrous carbide threads will make the blade both very strong and capable of holding the best possible edge.
Lastly, again under less than red heat, draw the blade tip a bit out and backwards towards the low carbon backside of the blade. This will again strengthen the blade for cutting. Now sharpen the blade, and fit the grips over the tang, and present your blade for inspection.
Maybe if they had 2 days to work on it, but this is one of those bogus reality shows where they have to do the whole thing in a very much shorter span of time (190 minutes from the design stage to completion)
Have watch a few episode of that “Face Off” show, and it amazes me that they expect someone to complete a full creature costume, from scratch, in just two days (and not even a full 48 hours), fairly sure even tat professional on the judging panel has ever had to work in such a short timeframe
Also pisses me off that the ‘worst’ artist gets eliminated, would much prefer, personally, a score system, that way someone who may be terrible in one genre may make a comeback in another (you saw it often on Idol: a performer who is ‘specialised’ in one genre gets eliminated right before the week featuring their music, the metalhead gets eliminated during “Country Week” and the remaining contestants get told “Next week, will be Metal Week”, you can almost hear the metaller going “Oh you have got to be shitting me!!”)
I would like to see this.
The dreaded DRE!!!
I wonder if Sydney is actually used to the exploding cuff thing already, and just hasn’t gotten an answer from the normal doctors before. Or didn’t pay any attention. Or possibly misconstrued it’s meaning.
I can imagine such scenes as:
BAM!
> “Miss Scoville, you’re bloodpressure is dangerously high to say the least”
>> “Hey doc, when did you get the new magazine? Ooh, your head thingie is really shiny. How often do you polish it. Crud! It’s 7 after, I gotta go, new comic shipment today! Bye!”
~~~
BAM!
> “Ack!”
>> “Nurse, I think there’s something wrong with the doc, he’s on the floor and his eyes look all crazy.”
~~~
BAM!
> “Ha hah…. If you want to prank someone, I’d suggest Dr Philostee at the Oakpatch clinic. I’m sure he’d enjoy having you as a patient. I’ll have your records transferred immediately.”
>> “Huh? Is something wrong?”
> ” Oh no, he just owes me money.”
>> “Uh… ok…”
~~~
BAM!
>> “You’ve got a funny look on your face doc, what’s wrong? Is it cancer?! I can’t have cancer now, the new Marvel movie comes out next month and I’ve already bought tickets!”
> “No Miss Scoville, you’re fine. Though I apparently some of my equipment is defective.”
>> “I’m ok? Oh good. I’d hate to miss the movie. Though if I were in a wheelchair I could probably get to the front of the line. Hmmm….”
> “Let’s continue this another time, I have to call my equipment supplier. And find a better one as well.”
~~~
BAM!
>> “Doc? Doctor?”
> “Huh? Oh yes, Miss Scoville. Do you have a question?”
>> “Is everything ok? Am I sick or something?”
> “Miss Scoville, your blood pressure seems to be… err, unique to medical science.”
>> “That’s good, right?”
> “Let me put it this way, if your blood pressure was compared to the hydraulic systems of a multi-ton hydraulic press, you’d win.”
>> “Ooh. That sounds cool…”
> “No mam, it’s actually very…”
>> “Does this mean I have super strength? I know, I’ll lift your desk… Uhhh. That didn’t work. Maybe I need something heavier, like a car.”
> “Miss Scoville! I suggest you do your testing for super powers someplace else, our insurance doesn’t cover things like that. Also, I’ve decided I’m going to retire from my practice and move to Idaho.”
>> “Idaho? Where all those potatoes come from? I think I know someone there, maybe I could visit.”
> “On second thought, maybe Alaska. Yes, definitely Alaska. Then all I have to put up with is angry fishermen and polar bears.”
>> “Ooh! I can knit you some woolies! Wait, I have to learn how to knit first. Maybe if…”
> “JUST GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!”
>> “Ok. I was just trying to be nice.”
~~~
I’m sure that seemed funnier in my head with the full video effects and all. ;)
Except that this happened because the cuff was damaged, not because Sydney’s blood pressure is too high. So this was a first time for her, too.
We don’t know if it really was damaged, Doc Pravat just assumed it was because of Varia’s ‘unique’ gift
But, going by the wide eyed look on Sydney, it does seem like it was new to her as well
One can get away with having a much lower tolerance for how much shit you’ll put up with when you’re the White Mage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZTEtzsOtDw
Except when that shit comes from the regenerator, invulnerable person, or in some cases, alchemist. But most of the time…yeah, don’t piss off your Healer.
Worse, don’t kill the other party’s healer. Especially if it’s that cute flower girl.
OK, Dave, honest question – how do you come up with the names for your characters? I read Dr. Chevy’s full name and couldn’t even begin to figure out how to pronounce all of that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEXgH-rnjs Helps with the pronunciation.
I noticed the name Mike linked in the credits of Family Guy and I thought it was funny how long it was, and figured it was as good a name as any.
The vote incentive is nice. The lips seem to hover over the rest of the picture, maybe some shadowing under them and reflected highlights of yellow from her skin.
i like doc Chevy already! i like doctors who can basically threaten/wrestle their patients into submission, like Ratchet (Transformers) or Tsunade (Naruto)
+1 for Overwatch mention. Been playing it all weekend. I’m probably considered a total weirdo because I LIKE playing support, but then, I like programming in assembly language, so I guess the weirdo part is well established.
Asked a gaming co-worker (who hasn’t seen the game yet, except in passing) which character I would be playing, he said, “Female… medic.” Yep, I’m that predictable. Played Mercy every game except one.
Haven’t played Zarya yet except in practice, but you know how many pub games need an extra tank more than they need a medic? Yeah, numbers like that tend to fall off the end of the Bell curve onto the floor and roll into the corner.
Maybe I lack creativity but I have about 2x the play time with Phara than anyone else, though Soldier 76 and Mercy were catching up toward the end there. Sometimes it’s fun to hid in the corner and Heal/Boost Bastian. It makes it so the other team actually has to coordinate to break your defenses.
Doc Chevy is great. Not at all like Doctor Beth.
Doc Chevy’s amended oath : Do no harm…that you can’t fix.
Also, that mint prescription…
https://www.amazon.com/Spartan-Morale-Patch-Foliage-Green/dp/B00DIB6LOW
Also, her contacts? Maybe I’m just not looking right, but I don’t see the distinctive lens edge.
Hugely minor detail though, and probably doesn’t matter. Maybe she took them off for an eye exam?
She obviously took her glasses off, she doesn’t need them all the time (or that noodle incident wound never have happened)
Pretty sure we *all* agreed not to mention that incident again. ::vicious scowl::
:D
What rank and branch of the military does Dr. Chevy come from???
She could be civilian
She’s a Captain, (because that’s what Google told me most doctors in the military are) and she’s with Archon since they’re anticipating that supers won’t be able to be deployed in other countries. Though in weird cases like hers where she is strictly a healer that’d probably be ok, depending on the wording of the treaty.
Hi there.
this has nothing to do with this strip but I think DaveB should read this.
I was looking at
(If you like Grrl Power
Then you might like…)
and found that empowered isnt marked ether r/x dont really know which it deserves, but I do know i does deserve one of them.
It may simply be a matter of space: he can only fit two symbols and chose what he figured was the most important
Yeah I guess it should probably have an R.
You haven’t lived until the nurse looks at you and says “Hmm your blood pressure is really low let me change the cuff and check again.” It was still low after that low as in the do you have a heart beat right now low. Family trait mom had a similar problem. Nothing wrong with the heart we just have low pressure from time to time.
Same here, have low blood pressure, relaxing (or sleeping) could potentially kill me (there have been times passed out while going to sleep because the pressure gets too low)
I had to learn some meditation techniques to get cleared for duty, or (what I did to get cleared for my first check, quite by accident, because I knew I’d be peeing in a cup) drink a lot of water, because my normal resting heart rate at my normal level of hydration is ~100 bpm. Always has been. Oddly, 99 was just fine. 100 was “go sit down and relax until it drops below 100”. Not low blood pressures, but similar oddity.
Prostate, eh. What about a hernia check?
That’s not as embarrassing, and the point was, the Doc could have been giving a male their medical
Thats a win for harem though…..
Not if it was General Faulke’s medical :P
Don’t know what a hernia check is, I take it.
Does “turn your head and cough” mean anything to you?
Women have to do that as well? o_O Didn’t think they had anything for the doctor to ‘cup and squeeze’
Just did a little search again with the Hindi translations, and depending on the intonation, Doc could be saying “My Mother” (इ माँ & इ मां), “In Me” (इ म) or “My Mind” (इ मन) :D
Checked Thai, and there are just far too many variables (‘Uie’ by itself {อุอิ} translates into “Warming Impact” and “Maa” on it’s own could be “Dog” {หมา}, “Horse” {ม้า} or “Demon” {มาห์})
over watch is amazing!! Playing on PC? I bought it over the weekend because of the Beta.
Thought that that was released ages ago, plenty of Hentai already
If Sydney wants to see how high Dr. Chevy’s blood pressure can go, she needs to make the comment:
“You know, you really need to take better care of this office. A lot of those ceiling tiles have big cracks and dents in them.”
Will Daphne ever learn to *VORP* to the door and knock before entering?
probably not until she gets caught as a double agent first…
Or gets shot.
I bet it’s really unpleasant, but not fatal, as long as only one of her gets shot.
Maybe they should do that just to solve the disciplinary issue. ^_^
Modern physician aren’t necessarily required to recite any oath even a modernized variant of the Hippocratic oath (it is generally up to the medical education facility they attended) and even in cases they do have to recite an oath it is typically considered a ceremonial obligation rather than a legal one.
That explains the downturn in care: sad that most people will only be kind if legally forced to
Just saw the fanart of Maxi getting a deep-tissue massage from Hulk, shoulda been Shulkie though :P
One of the things that might bugs me about this scene is the idea of a super with its possibly exclusive healing powers – that is, the ability to heal others, without having other powers too (like invulnerability, strength, force fields, etc).
I once was introduced to a story of someone who had a power to heal. They could have used it to heal the sick. To heal the injured. Perhaps even to revive the dead and cure the blind. But if they did any of that, word would get out. People would seek out their power to be healed. If their power had a personal cost, they would surely be asked to heal beyond the limits of their power. Imagine a healer who said ‘no’, if for no other reason than they’d already given their all. What would you say or do to such a miracle healer who refused to save the life of the one you loved, simply because they were ‘tired’? Even if the healing came without personal cost, it would cary a far more subtle price. How might nations treat such a healer? Less as a person and more as a treasure. A treasure to be locked away, or stolen. Fought over, protected, or even destroyed.
A healer who was smart enough to see all this might look at their situation and heal people regardless of the situation…
Or they might never use their power at all, because right or wrong, in their view the cost of using the power could only ever out weigh the cost of never using it.
—
So perhaps the doc is exactly what she appears to be – a super healer, but in the world as it is presents in this comic, I expect there’s something more to her. Something to make the cost of her healing worth it to her.
One side-story in the Babylon 5 universe was a scientist who found the secret to eternal life in the form of a serum that had to be taken regularly. The only problem was that the serum had to be created by extracting it from a living brain, and the process killed the person it was taken from.
The Vorlons saw that this could lead to widespread death for millions to preserve the life of a few, and blew up the scientist and his laboratory before the secret could get out.
From a RPG perspective, super-powered healers are a real problem, especially in the field. Players take all kinds of risks they might otherwise take because, hey, we’ve got healer. As the GM, one has to up the stakes from the NPC villain side, damage wise, to instill the same amount of threat that would exist without the Healer there – dangerous habit to start doing, both for game balance and players having fun.
As to the Healer themselves, they suddenly find themselves to be Duke of New York A-Number-One target once their power set becomes known. And suddenly every fight becomes “Protect the Healer!”.
I don’t ever tell someone they can’t play a healer, but I point out the points noted above and most of them either decline to play one or rewrite the healing as something that heals on a smaller scale from combat round to combat round but has a higher upper limit over the long term.
The healer who could heal by introducing various hormones, psychoactive molecules, and proteins into a person also realized they could also mess someone up big time by overloading someone with those same molecules was a hoot (You are under arrest! Surrender peacefully or Doctor Feelgood will make you regret it!). His NPC “cheerleading” section was also hilarious (Boomboxes, hiphugger shorts, dress shirts tied in the front, and kinky boots).
“they would otherwise NOT take”
Bah.
And in addition, I have no idea why I somehow replied to O.B. Juan (besides the warm fuzzy feeling ones gets via proximity to him, of course). Should have been a reply to Torrenal
Sounds similar to a “Star Wars” knock-off: “The Humanoid”
My problem with the concept of super healers like the doc here is that scenarios like you mentioned stunt the the development of medicinal science. When you can return any human body to a healthy state, you risk whatever advancement we might have made in learning how to treat that person. Might have gained some insight into curing a fatal desease from a patient, but preservation of life takes precedence, so progess slows to a crawl in whatever state she’s in until the doc herself dies.
Well, from a purely writing standpoint, I put her in the comic so I could let the team get a little beat up and be back in action in a few days without me having to draw a bunch of casts or give the whole team healing powers.
As a character she’ll probably evolve beyond that as the comic goes on, I mean, she’s developed quite a bit just on this page and the next.
Was and still am a fan. I’m just voicing my opinion on a trope thats bothered me for years because I was hoping for feedback. I know a normal person would use this power indiscriminately, but was never sure whether or not a professional would see it as a problem or not. I brought it up here since this comic does a good job of poking holes in things we never bother to question. I have no doubt that the comic will continue to be wonderful in the future
Dig the new experiments with brush styles, Maximas expression and colour look gorgeous. Matt Kohr has a set of brishes that might streamline the painting process for you? You should check his site out, its helped me get my act together and start painting again.
In case anybody is curious, this guy right here is the artist who did the picture I linked in the first page of these comments.