Grrl Power #464 – These books prefer to be judged by their covers
Ingsol asserting the member races are monsters on the inside isn’t really supported by their behavior so far. Even Grumpy Gus Azilus was making a fair point.
I’m not entirely sure if it will come up in the comic, at least in this scene, (I haven’t written this far ahead) but there are really strict rules about fighting of any kind in the Council chamber. They learned long ago in order to be productive that civility needs to be enforced, by force if necessary. Some groups with irreconcilable grievances boycott the meetings, but then of course they don’t get to participate in the decision making process. So it’s either show up (and behave) or shut up. Actually Maxima has been pushing the limits of acceptable behavior by growling at her subordinates, but since she’s limiting it to her own group and waving her fists at the Elves or something, it’s flying under the radar for now.
#MakeComics In the interest of tightening up the pages and doing some semblance of editing, I cut some stuff from this page. I also just didn’t have room on the page if there was any chance of making the art non-microscopic. I figured I’d include it here in a shameless attempt to eat my cake and have it too. :)
Ingsol (speaking in one of those yellow caption blocks): I won’t belabor this point, as we’ve all seen the projections on the loss of life, human and otherwise, should there be a catastrophic failure. Not to mention the extended social, religious, political and economic reverberations would change the course of world.
This dialog over a picture of a board room full of executives jumping out of their chairs in alarm while a Lamia in board room pointing at chart, unaware her snake butt hanging out of her skirt, saying “What? It’s not that bad guys we only missed goal by 4%”
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. (As soon as I get up. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
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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"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
That guy is STILL going to get laid….
Yes, because even a married barmaid at the end of a long shift can’t resist the booze breath of someone who has enough dog in them to hump anything with (or without) a pulse.
You never know. She might be lookin’ for a little tail.
agreed, she also looks like someone who likes it a bit ruff
You guys are hilarious – absolutely off the leash – it’s got me howling
Well his tail is wagging so he’s obviously “happy to see her”.
Ok, the pair of you won me over. And I’m not even in to guys.
Personally I love birds.
*wags tail*
Just don’t flip any of them at you?
Don,t now he looks like a houndog. She might bitch about it.
I`m sure sure he’s all bark in his pants for her
Just as long as she has the warp and wolf of him.
“…civility needs to be enforced, by force if necessary.”
I can imagine it devolving to this:
“Be on your best behaviour, so no fighting. And if you disagree, I’ll give you a beating.”
“if you want a fight, you might try a round with me, and we will see then how eager you are.”
“If you think streangth can be an argument, then that’s an argument against you.”
seems fair to me, if not best worded.
Like my dad used to tell me when I was a wee lad: Stop crying or I’ll give you a reason to cry.
actually, reading it again…
the second sentence of KFox’s version sounds like “might makes right”.
no.
one is trying to maintain peace (just badly worded) the other is outright threatening.
“And if you disagree, I’ll give you a beating” sounds like someone actually using muscle as an argument.
I read it as an extension of the council’s “troubleshooting.” If you start a fight in the council chambers, the council’s enforcers will finish it, probably by killing all the participants in the fight.
Perfectly logical way to end a fight. End all combatants lives. If nobody is left to start it again no future problems exist.
It’s not a threat if you are actually going to carry it out, it’s a warning: “If your shit-stirring starts any violence, I will stir your shit while it’s still in your bowels!” Not a threat, it’s a warning
Always worked for me when I was a bouncer. :-)
Lol.
You mean it’s not already like this in society?
While not an exact parallel, it reminds me of “the beatings will continue until morale improves”.
Does it matter if it is muscling them? From what we’ve gleaned here, they’re usually less… humane, in their actions, when not in the Council Chambers. If they bring that in here, the one place they can have any sort of unity, they need to leave that crap outside the door. Which, considering how many different minds and backgrounds and tempers are present (anyone over a thousand years old is going to balk at someone under a hundred telling them to respect and listen, like a child telling an adult to shut up and play nice), then the one thing they can all understand and respect is they will get their asses handed to them if they don’t play ball.
So he has a bad case of “get off my front lawn!”
Sydney suffered from that, at the beginning of this book. Not to mention any time Dabbler gets too close.
Ingsol in panel 6 is an unfortunate mustache and soul patch removal away from a very unfortunate look.
Oh my… I see what you mean now you pointed it out.
Heil Ingsol!
Fortunately, one of the ‘curses’ of vampirism seems to be an inability to change your hair. Remember Claudia from Interview With A Vampire? Also, Azilius, who cannot seem to stop being bald? We are quite safe from Ingsol Hitler.
Wait, does that make Les a Daywalker? A Vampire who can survive the mid-day sun? o_O
I’m sure even a vampire has more respect for human life than him
Actually, I was thinking more Reed Richards what with the white sideburns.
Not Hitler, right?
https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/58/129958-004-C9B8B89D.jpg
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/images/adolf-hitler-34.jpg
Face’s shape is clearly different, and so are eyes, nose, chin, lips, cheek bones, eyebrows, ears and hairdo. Aside the intense stare and hair’s color I don’t think they have one facial feature alike.
Grey skin.
OMG, you are right!
J. Jonah Jameson?
I was about two comments above yours when I thought of that. Didn’t someone say something about him being upset about people comparing his mustache with a certain other person’s?
Charlie Chaplin?
Not quite, although he did a good, although unfortunately not well-received, spoof of who I was referring to.
What do you have against Charlie Chaplin? o_O
I find it interesting that Ingsol will actually refer to everyone present as monsters. Do they just accept that as fact through self-awareness or does the word “monster” have different connotations to them compared to what we think?
Inhuman feelings, urges, etc… ?
I wondered about that too. Seems like Sydney is pointedly show looking at one of her team mates. Wonder if its Dabbler and we are supposed to think of her unique hunger and how it alters her worldview and interactions with everyone. (and what she might be like if really pushed/hungry??) Stuff like that.
Human’s can be quite monstrous if only in behaviour alone. Add to the fact monster derives from the term monster something abnormal (similar to how kaiju simply means strange beast) one can be a monster is in so many ways.
Even without the use of her orbs Sydney has displayed monstrous abilities, like her living up to her family name and flipping & damn near mauling a super.
The look might simply be a reference to how just last page Sydney said she wanted to hang out and do cool monster stuff.
Originally the word ‘monster’ just meant somebody/somebeing/something that was distinctive enough to draw a lot of people’s attention, coming from the same root as ‘demonstration’….
“If there is evil in this world, it lurks in the hearts of man” – Edward D. Morrison
Yes, but apart from Lamont Cranston, who knows what evil that is?
“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.”
Thank you for that ref.
Damn, you stole it from me.. LOL
And me. I’m somewhat indignant about it but I won’t cast judgement.
As a Christian minister once told me, from the biblical perspective, only humans can possibly be evil since (according to the bible) all other life is living the way God intended.
Which would mean we’re the only beings with free will. Seems a tad arrogant to me but I’m pretty sure it’s in there.
Whether it’s arrogant or not depends on whether it’s true or not.
Nope, it depends on your reasons to believe it. You think it’s because humans are the only ones worthy to have it? That’s arrogance, no matter what.
Tree of knowledge of good and evil is what gave humans free will. If you don’t have the ability to know what disobedience to God is, you can’t be. “Ignorance is no defense” is a much later, secular concept regarding human laws. Yeah, arrogance is right.
Theologically, freedom of will for humans preceeds the knowledge of good and evil, but a strong case can be made that choice presupposes awareness of options and full disclosure of consequences. At least one version of the story says that merely eating of the fruit would cause them to die, which implies but does not concretely mean immediate death. The myth is not intended to be unassailable, it’s meant to show that actions have consequences, that even the consequences we foresee may not play out the way we expect, and even what seems a good thing (knowledge of good and evil, which the serpent equates with being like God, and who wouldn’t like to draw nearer to axiomatic perfection) may also have immense downsides.
The “fact” that God commanded Adam & Eve not to eat of the tree and yet they were able that some level of free will was in effect (unless you believe in pre-determinism, in which case all of what I typed is both moot and a foregone event).
We were discussing whether humans were the only beings that possessed free will, not whether they were the only beings that were worthy of possessing free will. If a statement is true (i.e., it corresponds with reality), then there is nothing arrogant about believing or asserting that it is true. On the contrary, denying the truth of a true statement is a mark of ignorance
I was replying to your afirmation and used a related example.
Arrogance have to do with self-importance. What matter is if you see something as unjustified relevant to your importance. If you believe in something but you do not think it makes you more important, you are not being arrogant independiently of it being true or not. What the accuracy of your believe makes you is right or wrong.
Ignorance is to do not know something (not a sin, BTW). If someone have all the relevant information and still denies something it’s not ignorance but something else, like lying, stupidity, stubbornness, et cetera.
Off topic: “stubbornness” must be the word with more double consonants in the damn language!
Possessionlessness.
Meh, mine have three different double consonants :P
Stubbornnesslessville.
Damn!
Grey squirrels are evil!
And Red Squirrels are screwy, and Brown Squirrels are secret.
Racist.
No, that would be “speciest.” Yorp’s a dog, not a squirrel or a human.
Except that he’s not anti-squirrel, he’s anti GREY squirrel.
Grey squirrel is just their species name. Alternatively I could use Sciurus carolinensis, to uniquely identify them. They are a distinctly different species to, and unable to interbreed with, good squirrels. I would give you their scientific name too, but it is vulgar.
Oh, I guess I walked right into that one. I was too focused on the colour and forgot there was a genuine distinction between red and grey squirrels. Unlike black or white ones.
All squirrels are evil.
Grey squirrels are the ringleaders.
He does not actually. Bear in mind at the top of the page he is primarily addressing the Council delegates. But towards the end he is clearly speaking mainly to the guests, in general, and Sydney in particular.
For the final panel, and in context (how humans will view supernaturals, who get revealed by this problem), Ingsol is initially talking about the outward appearance of the supernatural races and how they will be perceived, due to the historic legacy and humanity’s xenophobia.
Then he goes on to warn Sydney that the behaviours of some will actually be that of monsters. Be they pretty, or monstrous-looking, on the outside. Partially this will be that ‘all people have the capacity to be either good or bad’. But it will also be due to the fact that some races will have compulsions, such as feeding on blood or the urge to hunt prey, and rip it apart, which will compound the problem.
Self awareness. But he does not think of them as all being monsters. He is just an astute diplomat, who is using the language appropriate to the audience he is addressing. The word “monster” is there specifically to shake Sydney out of the complacency, which could endanger her, in the course of her duties.
I didn’t take it that way, but now you made me noticed that Ingsol do is looking at Syd in the last panel. You probably are right, which makes Ingsol’s speech a lot more interesting.
I think Ingsol’s comment about “Monsters” reflect that these people Sydney is meeting consider themselves as being other than Human — and that many of them consider Humans to be a prey species, (or at least an Important Part of a Good Breakfast, as they used to say back in my day).
Considering how things sound about the way they behave outside the chambers, they might actually be ‘monstrous’, giving in to their baser and harmful urges might be much easier for them than most people. There’s a reason why they police themselves, and part of the reason the Veil is there is to help cover up… slippage.
Calling Lethane now… Gorgon
That’s where my mind went, too. In the Who’s who, it says there’s probably a reason that her eyes are covered. Thinking back then to Greek mythology suggests Medusa. We see hair coming out from under her hood though, not snakes . . .
The Veil at work again?
Speaking of the Who’s Who, is see that Not Blade is back again and didn’t get into it. I guess he’ll have to wait until his real name is mentioned in the comic.
I doubt it’s the Veil, as the other council members are not disguised to us.
I’m guessing she is associated with Nyx in some way.
We saw a gorgon in action a few panels back (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2253), petrification and all. Normal human hair.
Pages* obviously.
The cloaks do match. And we have not seen Lethane’s lower torso. Nor has Sydney, as they have had a table in between each other, in the only two scenes Sydney has faced her.
Her name suggests a link with Lethe who was the Greek spirit of forgetfulness, oblivion and concealment (also the name of the river of forgetfulness in Hades). Explains why her eyes are covered both from a practical and a thematic viewpoint.
And now we wait for DaveB to prove us all wrong :-)
She might even be able to make The Silence forget meeting her…
Huh, I completely missed that. Thanks for pointing it out.
Well, in RL mythologic Gorgons do not have snake bodies, while Nagas do and also have normal hair, but they stares do not turn people into stone (just kill)
However I decided to google a little first, and it came out that Medusa in the movie Clash of the Titans was (inaccurately) portrayed with a snake body . Also, the same way are pictured the members of a race called Gorgons in the game God of War (half woman, half serpent, snakes for hair, stone stare).
So that could be a Grrlpower version of either a God of War Gorgon with normal hair or a RL mythologyc Naga with stone stare.
BTW, I have yet to dig into the Lamia thing, Google Image do is full of half snake “Lamia” but as far as I remember the myth say nothing about that.
Ok, I will say that the culprit was Kenkou Cross, at Japan, with Monster Girl Encyclopedia I.
https://monstergirlencyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Monster_Girl_Encyclopedia_I
Just remember, that ‘Medusa’ was her name, not her species, just like ‘Hades’ was a person, not a place
Oooh, a connoisseur, what a pleasure :)
Is Dabbler chewing gum?
Possibly. It might be easier to tell once the new patreon page is up.
OK, guess you can let me know then.
Maybe she has that expression because she is secretly kicking arse?
Think carefully about that subject. Do you really wish to know what Dabbler has in her mouth at any given moment?
Maybe once she knew that Sydney had it in her utility belt, she wanted some?
Unless she’s doing that thing where you move air from cheek to cheek when bored.
Or, she’s ‘flirting’ with Deco across the table ;)
I give it two pages to become “under”.
Deco may be a ‘pureblood’, and finished ‘finishing school’, but Dabbles could still flirt her under the table ;)
but since she’s limiting it to her own group and not waving her fists at the Elves or something
Hmm, calling it now. The sigil was damaged when Sydney first tested out the PPO.
Originally the word ‘monster’ just meant somebody/somebeing/something that was distinctive enough to draw a lot of people’s attention, coming from the same root as ‘demonstration’….
i’m thinking it was those other fires/explosions, etc that they were also investigating, when the short guy with the map table back at HQ was asking Halo to identify which explosions were hers.
She spotted another item marked on that map.
Perhaps the foreshadowing of which she spoke?
Part of me is a little sad it wasn’t during the Vehemence fight
We don’t know when she tested it outside, and unless the Sigil was disguised as a tree, seriously doubt it would have been because of Sydney anyway
Oops! The preceding comment should have been further up the page, in reply to the post about Ingsol using the term “monsters”.”
Anyway, about the idea that Sydney testing the PPO was what damaged the
pylonsigil: Didn’t she carry out those tests long enough ago that, if it was so, the problem should already have been noticed before this?I agree. And it would be a very silly place to put a sensitive piece of equipment. Right in the middle of a firing range! The counter-arguments do have merit though. There was a whole layer, with various different symbols, on the tracking map. Which Sydney was looking at earlier today, after her nap.
Depending on how quickly the problem got noticed and added to the data, that may have indeed included something related to this incident. Perhaps linked to the sabotage, or even others that might be sightings due to the damage.
“And it would be a very silly place to put a sensitive piece of equipment. Right in the middle of a firing range!”
I think yuffiek’s “when Sydney first tested out the PPO” (which I guess Simreeve was replying to) refer the time she did it all by herself deep into a forest.
Oh indeed. My bad, especially the ‘silly’ part.
But still implausible, as that was months ago. Any damage should have been both detected and repaired long ago.
However, it would be funny. So maybe.
I agreee.
Correction: Before her nap.
Hitler, Stalin and Mao (and that’s just the three most egregious) were all quite human, and yet, singly or in bunches, had a body count that dwarfed that of Godzilla and all the other daikaiju put together.
There are a few reasons for that, I’d suspect. Some would be monsters by need: vampires drink blood, the plant people probably feast on carcasses all the time, and cyclops don’t tend to have a problem eating people. No matter what, they are not exactly the same as humans. They have a different culture, with very different views on stuff like hurting people, killing each other, or the occasional cattle mutilation. I’m looking at the distinguished representative from Mexico and his pals in the alien delegation for that one. Even the mages might have some weird rituals involving regularly making deals with demons, even if the deal is, “Hey, nice meeting this week, Frank. Let’s go watch wrestling. Tell you what, I’ll order the PPV, but you have to provide all the snacks.”
So probably some pretty big cultural differences that are generally incompatible with most of human society.
It’s all to do with point of view.
Think how you chicken eating humans look to bird-kind.
Eating humans might not seem monstrous to them.
Which reminds me of a moment from Red Dwarf:
“It seemed to me that if humanoids eat chicken then obviously they’d eat their own species; otherwise they’d just be picking on the chicken.”
-Kryten
Not quite.
Hitler, like various other despots such as Nero and ‘the Tyrant of the East’ (responsible for WW3), was just a body animated by Gharlane of Eddore…
:p
E.E. Smith FTW!
Well, that takes me back. :-)
I should make it clear that I associate the name Gharlane of Eddore with the Usenet personality. RIP.
My people!
Still re-read my tattered Lensman paperbacks every couple-few years..
I’ve still only seen the shitty/lovely 80’s anime of Lens Man. I’ve been meaning to read the books eventually.
That was one of the incomplete series, in my library. I used to keep an eye open for replacements, any time I was browsing specialist second hand sci fi book stalls and shops. Not easy to find in the UK though, at the time. And I was not into ordering stuff off the net then.
Someday I will have a minion and money to spare though. Then I can point the minion at the library and instruct them to find all the missing books, in my older collections. The newer ones tend to all be complete. Up until… the day the buying stopped…
*sniff*
Yorp, I just checked Amazon, the kindle editions of most of the Lensman novels are no more than $0.99 US.
Thanks. No kindle sadly. But still want those gaps filled in my library. So I still want a librarian.
*empties a packet of peanuts into a bowl, and hopefully puts it in the library*
Six thousand books should be enough critical mass for L-Space to form. Now I just need to wait and see if an applicant arrives. Ooh, ooh. Bananas. That will help. I’m off to the shops!
If Amazon allows dl’ing e-books to non-Kindle devices (my apologies for not being inquisitive enough to find out myself.), you should be able to find a freeware reader for most file formats (my favorites are STDU Viewer and Calibre).
The cable of my monitor is not long enough to allow me to read on top of my favourite hillside.
Not that I am bothered mind. Tummy rubs, ear scratches and contemplating the secrets of the universe is enough for me.
Sydney just needs a few more upgrade points to go Starkly Coruscant on the PPO…
Methinks Ingsol has just given Sydney a dual purpose warning. Openly: do not assume all the supernaturals are nice. Veiled: you just invited a bunch of us vampires into your home.
Probably not safe to feast on her. Think how far up the Scoville scale her blood would be.
Being immortal will stop it killing them, but it’s gonna hurt so bad, they will wish they weren’t.
Wonder if she uses garlic as liberally.
While I can’t say with 100% certainty that it wouldn’t end up in the blood stream, it seems unlikely and I can certainly assure you that even her level of capsaicin intake doesn’t do anything to deter blood banks.
Maybe in our world. In their world she doesn’t have blood. It’s just hot sauce.
“Need capsaicin! Too much blood in my spice stream!”
Which is really quite civil of him, I would think.
Besides, I doubt most members of the Council would consider Archon members to be ‘on the menu’. Too much potential for a diplomatic incident, and in Halo’s case in particular, someone whose consent they’d need to be very clear about for feeding purposes, because if she objects in the slightest, they could get Lighthooked over the horizon.
Thing is, if it turns out to be sabotage (which I think the clever Yorpie Snax™ are on), then there is a faction which does want to create incidents, which will bring the supernatural out from behind the Veil. Doubtless you are right though, in as much as they will not want to be identified themselves.
However they might push a gullible pawn in Sydney’s direction. Perhaps figuring that she is naive enough to mishandle the situation and thereby let the world see the supernatural first hand. Plus do not forget that Sydney currently has the paparazzi camped out on her lawn.
I really don’t think there is any danger of a large quantity of vampires showing up inside a building where there are people who can literally turn into lightning, teleport, can be hit by high explosives without damage and then there’s Math.
Agreed. But Sydney only lives there part of the time. And her private home has lots of reporters camped out on her lawn. Perfect witnesses, with handy live broadcast equipment, if the DVF want to bring the supernatural to the attention of the world.
I see that the guy at the bar has piqued the curiosity of the waitress with that wagging tail.
That part made me laugh out loud! ☺
And then there is Sydney when Ingsol starts talking about “leveraging every available resource.” The wink, the big grin and the thumbs up are hysterical. I’m glad she didn’t take Scarlett’s advice on the last page . . .
Oh, that’s what she’s doing. I thought she was like holding her thumb and pinkie out and shaking her hand, and was very confuzzled as to what was going. Then I just assumed, eh it’s Sydney and moved on, but still, nice to realize what she was actually doing.
Personally I misread Sydney’s eye-line* and thought she was looking at whoever was opposite her, on the table. Thereby taking it as her being distracted from the speech.
For information the individual opposite would be Decolette, which did actually make sense, in that she had spoken on the previous page. But it does not hold up under scrutiny though, as Sydney would not be enthusiastically doing a thumbs up to Decolette’s “But they’re so sexy!” Plus she said that at the top of the page. So there would be too long a delay for Sydney to be (directly) responding to it now.
* Having seen his comment, I now agree with Ignoble that Sydney is actually looking at Ingsol. And the actions do make sense, in that context.
I’m betting that people wont see them as monsters but as stereotypes.
I suppose that could happen, if the Veil malfunctioned.
A thousand years of baldness…
WOW! That had to be a hell of a curse.
Especially since, prior to being turned, he had been a vain Medieval noble whose skill in the joust was matched only by his beautiful locks.
What a horrible knight to have a curse.
Oh, that was bad. :P
That pun was pretty good, I thought.
And his good looks got him a contract with a sponsor that made equipment for the tournaments. Their slogan was ‘Joust Do It’.
A thousand and one years of a bald knight versus a thousand and one Arabian nights.
Place your bets now.
I want to place my bet on the winner.
I’m sure Azilus would tell you he can’t lose, but he looks like a bald-faced liar to me.
Azilius probably doesn’t realize that acomophilia is a thing…
Aka no-comb-ophilia?
But trying to argue in favor of it, one just doesn’t have a leg to stand on…
No no, that is Lethane’s issue, not Azilius’s’s’s’s.
*wiggles tail serpentine-like*
It would probably be worse if the carpet matched the drapes, or lack thereof.
Linoleum and blinds.
That depends on one’s view of hair. Having no hair would also mean not having to endure getting haircuts.
Or dandruff, or lice
Is Lethane related to…Medusa???
It seems likely.
When he says that some of them can assume pleasing forms but “they’re just masks”, how is that any different from the status quo? Is he implying that those groups would have a distinct and undeserved advantage?
I still want to see that missing panel, it sounds cute :)
Less wrinkles and more hair?
Max made the cover of ‘obviouslynotTIMEtoavoidcopyrightissues’ magazine!
This is a satirical piece, so can avoid copyright issues on the grounds that it is parodying how Time normally portray current events.
Further it is unlikely that anybody would consider that is an official Time magazine cover. However, even if they did, then this can be viewed as review of how Time magazine might cover such a story in real life. Reviews are also exempt under copyright law. Provided they do not sample too much of the work in question. Which this does not, being no more than just a cover.
Finally it is a favourable facsimile, which is unlikely to harm the brand. Thus strengthening any defence against a claim of copyright infringement.
Much like the Predatob mask.
Rather, ‘obviously TIME Magazine used under fair use.’ It’s a one-off gag, so it’s not a cause for action. The fact that it arguably is a positive for TimeWarner, as it reinforces TIME’s reputation as a mainstream news outlet, is just gravy.
Um, I’m not sure “one-off gag” is the right way to say why it’s fair use.
As for trademark: It’s a simulated cover within a comic panel set in a fantasy version of our world, without any intention to infringe on trademark in a confusing way. If it were used as the cover of a book, it might be a trademark issue.
I don’t think copyright as such applies here. I believe logos are largely handled under trademark law.
I am not your solicitor, local laws may vary a little, but as I understand USA law (where this is published) and the Berne Convention (which is the usual mechanism of international copyright rules), there’s literally no credible cause to sue here.
“there’s literally no credible cause to sue here”
That doesn’t mean there aren’t those who will try to anyway.
Such things happen from time to time. Employed by an executive with a bully-boy mentality, hoping that fear of a legal costs will make the victim fold over, despite his lawyers telling him that the case has no merit.
The world then rallies around the financial underdog and both berates and ridicules the company involved.
Who soon listen to their public relations advisers, that loosing a law suit brought frivolously will seriously harm their reputation.
And in some cases, the lawsuit literally backfires, as in the case of Howard Johnson’s Hotels vs Howard Johnson. (This was 1984, the year before the hotel chain got bought out by Wyndham Worldwide.)
Two lawyers working for the hotel chain were driving through rural America, and found a motel named Howard Johnson’s Motel. They immediately began legal proceedings against the owner (whose real name was, you guessed it, Howard Johnson). They demanded that he pay the hotel chain for using their name for 30 years.
However, the lawsuit backfired spectacularly when the judge performed the research that the prosecutors failed to do. He discovered that the Howard Johnson Motel opened in 1953. The first Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge opened one year later, in 1954.
So not only did the judge find in favor of Mr. Johnson, but he ordered the Howard Johnson’s Hotel chain to pay the defendant for using his name for 30 years. Mr. Johnson promptly closed his motel and retired with that money. xD
To the sweet smell of justice pancakes, for breakfast, every morning.
Another spectacular backfire was Universal Studios, Inc. vs. Nintendo Co., Ltd. over the video game Donkey Kong (which they claimed was a trademark infringement on King Kong).
Well, the long-short of it is that the judge ruled that Universal did NOT own King Kong, and even if they did, that at best, Donkey Kong was a parody of King Kong. (Parody is protected speech under the First Amendment.)
In fact, it turned out that Universal had argued in a previous court case against RKO General, Inc., that King Kong was in the public domain! The judge pretty much told Universal that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. King Kong cannot be public domain and owned by Universal.
Judgement for Nintendo. This lawsuit was the one that cemented Nintendo’s position as a major player in the video game industry, and was #20 on a list of “the top 25 dumbest moments in gaming”. You can read about it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_City_Studios,_Inc._v._Nintendo_Co.,_Ltd.
Come to think of it, I remember a case on Caso Cerado (think The People’s Court, except in Spanish) where one street seller of illegal DVDs was suing another seller of illegal DVDs for selling them on his “territory” (i.e., the spot he usually sold). Before throwing the case out (which should have taken about 5 minutes, except they have a half-hour to fill per case IIRC), the judge counseled them to find another line of work (or at least find different, that is, legal, items to sell).
What of hydrae and other presumably non-sapient creatures that may not be intelligent enough to stay quiet? Are they extinct?
Dragons are still up in the air. The depiction of dragon intelligence varies: sometimes they only become intelligent enough to talk after decades or centuries.
“Dragons are still up in the air.” That’s a good one. ;)
And sometimes they crack the shell able to converse about the Theory of Relativity and it’s possible uses in interstellar travel by using the energy of gravity along the system elliptic to increase velocity toward the nearest stellar object..
I think the Council put them in special houses, where they can blend in easily. Those houses having different names, around the globe. Such as ‘lords’, ‘parliament’, ‘congress’ and ‘white’.
Heh, nice :) TBH I frowned for a moment before it clicked: white… house.
All I keep thinking of is that Max’s rotary cannon has been rendered useless by taking that photo.
Max’s strength comes from a zero-range telekinesis effect, its how she was able to hoist an entire ambulance up with one hand holding on to a corner and causing no damage to the vehicle. For the same reason that gun should suffer no damage from her simply lifting it by a relatively fragile end.
I think we need a separate comic done in Warner Cartoon mode where an A-10 ‘Warthog’ (piloted by Elmer Fudd) flies up to an airborne Max and shoots its cannon at her. Max grabs the spinning barrel of the gun and the plane halts in mid air and starts spinning in the reverse direction.
Of course this comic would not be ‘canon’.
In other words:
https://www.lfg.co/tda/strip/6/
Is it just me or the art is a bit different in this page ?
Namely Ingsol in panel 6, and everyone but Sydney in panel 2 do not look as usual : different face shape, pencil strokes a bit heavier, maybe some differences in coloring…
DaveB’s been pretty up-front that this last month or so he has been messing around with techniques in order to get a little faster in his art output. I assume because he’s got Writer’s Clock – too much story to tell and trying to figure out how to tell as much of it as possible. That’s what you’re seeing.
Yup, in particular it is the background characters (Sydney is an exception as she is a point of focus, given her action). Doubtless, as Dave likes to do a lot of characters on some pages, finding a good way to do the ancillary ones (scene wise), without wasting too much time, is something important to experiment with.
Speaking of wolfmen copulating with bartenders.
Do wolf men have wolf-like penises?
If so does the veil keep the female from feeling the pain that would bring?
I would hope they stop at the knot
I would guess that only the fully wolf form would have a fully wolf penis and the fully man form a fully human penis.
And anyone having sex with a hybrid werewolf… well they already have issues. Or, hopefully, are another werewolf, and thus compatible.
Thought it was the cats that had the barbs, at least it isn’t a pig with the corkscrew (or would that be, a cockscrew?) who then proceeds (after a full half hour of ejaculating) ‘plugging up’ the entrance with a special ‘glue’
Dogs do not have barbs, but do have a bulbus glandis, which locks the partners together, during mating.
Yes, have seen enough hentai to know about the ‘bulb’, bad enough when going in the ‘correct’ hole, butt when it goes in the other… O_O
or a porkscrew?
Yes, that does sound better, seeing how ‘to pork someone’ can also mean ‘to have intercourse with someone’ :D
Won’t unveiled monsters be taken for Supers with a strange mutation?
If Arianna’s press conference plan works, yes.
Maybe, but there might still be consequences, such as awaraness increased for the type of of the unveiled monster. So let’s say a werewolf get unveiled and passes it as being super (including some influence from the moon and weakness to silver, if that’s canon here). At first it’s fine, but now people know werewolves could exist and that could weaken the Veil’s influence regarding werewolves
+1
“Every available resource” apparently means a superwoman, a succubus-mage, and… um… whatever Sydney is.
Sydney is mugging for the crowd, that’s what Sydney is.
Sydney is a utility belt.
With a Utility Belt.
That’s an excelent definition, in more sense than one :)
Gorgeous.
Oh, in that context. Umm… Apex Heroine in Training, of course!
She does seem to be AHIT with everyone she meets >_>
I’m just sad we won’t get to see business-suited Lamia hottie.
Um, have another look at panel 1. There is nothing precluding a creature from either ancient Greek legend or of a demonic nature (see panel 2).
r panel 1a and panel 1b, respectively, if you prefer that notation system, for overlapping panels. I think I will stick to the former myself though.
That’s a reference to the author comment about a panel dropped because of space limitations. And I’d have liked to see it too.
It would be pretty funny if one of the board members looked intrigued instead of alarmed. I’d expect there are plenty of xenophiles around. :)
*nods*
:-)
Meh. I’m not interested in lamias by that name.
How about by another name? Rose.
“I’d expect there are plenty of xenophiles around.”
Count me in :) and maybe we are not alone…
Ingsol: “Hi Lethane. How is the Veil shut down finally going?”
Lethane: “The worst way possible!”
Ingsol: “What? There was some incident?”
Lethane: “I just came back to meet my human boyfriend. Do you remember him?”
Ingsol: “Of course, that exotic looking redheaded Scottish… oh my, don’t tell me he fears you now.”
Lethan: “Worst! He turned out to be a plain boring four armed Cyclops! Can you believe my luck?!”
Ingsol: “…”
In one move the cyclops race lost their eye in a deal to be able to see the future. Shame he did not have the foresight to foresee that four arms would be a problem and, forearmed with that knowledge forswear Illusions in favour of a permanent shapechange. Forsooth.
It was unavoidable, forewarned is fourarmed.
move = movie
Four seconds more for a re-read. F.
Krull? Wasn’t the kicker that the future they saw was where and how they died?
Yes. And if they tried to deny their fate, it invariably resulted in an even more painful death.
How powerful are vampires compared to the average super?
That would depend on the how powerful the average vampire is.
Everything is relative. :D
Also, that would be telling. Hi-mit-su da!
There are multiple ways of determining ‘average’. Do you want to know the most common category of vampire, versus the most common category of super?
In which case you are talking about vampires under 100 years old. Mathematically those will be the most numerous. Either they try to maintain a stable population, in which case accidental death and miscellaneous misadventures, will gradually kill vampires off over time. We know this to be true, in as much as very old vampires are very rare. And newly created vampires, to replenish the ranks, will boost the numbers of the under 100s.
Or, alternatively, and assuming that they do generally feed off humans and keep their population size comparable to their food source, then vampire populations are growing just as fast as the humans are. Given that I recall the Earth had 6 billion humans, when I was a school pup, and it is now over 7 billion, that means there will have been a big jump in the number of young vampires this generation. So, again, the under 100s will be the most common.
Young vampires, in the Grrl Power Verse are weak vampires. Although we know that vampires vary widely in their abilities (in addition to their age), presumably having different lineages of vampires with different capabilities, we also know that young vampires are the weakest. Plus, thanks to Sydney’s cunning police interrogation technique,* it sounds like sunlight is generally fatal.
So those average vampires are pretty weak. Even a regular human could potentially kill them in daylight.
Therefore even though we can deduce that weak supers are also the most common (one star on the super scale and maybe not even with a useful combat capability), they should have the advantage, if they exploit the vampire’s vulnerability(s).
If you are alternatively asking for ‘average in the midpoint of power between weakest and most powerful’, then that does get too hard to guesstimate effectively, until we have seen something to give a clue. Ingsol, as a seven hundred year old vampire, will be amongst the more powerful, yet we have not had anything to hint at his capabilities. Beyond that he can fail at being intimidating.
* ‘Sane cop, weird cop’, as it is known in the trade.
regarding that magazine, obviously the miniguns aren`t the most powerful things on that page. they are missing the bayonettes!
:-D
Unless I am mistaken, the sentence “There are, unfortunately many available culprits.” should probably be “There are, unfortunately, many available culprits.” with the extra comma.
Unless I am mistaken, your screen name, unfortunately does not match the image displayed.
(sorry, couldn’t resist the opportunity)
Unless I’m mistaken, you aren’t mistaken.
Whether or not your Mr. Taken is a whole ‘nother issue.
“you’re”, not “your”…
Same missing comma :(.
Whereas you have an extra colon.
*discreetly slides over a colostomy bag*
Oh, and some folks here have resolution issues. Let me close that parenthesis for you. )
Hmm what with Vehmence going on a rampage and all; maybe the damage to the sigil and V’s attack are connected as a way to force the supernaturals out into the open.
Possibly. However Vehemence struck me as being very open about his motivations. And probably both too arrogant and smart to become a fall guy.
If I am wrong though (not an infrequent occurrence) then Vehemence was nothing but a pawn. Who was using Opal and thingy as pawns. With some hidden mastermind, yet to be revealed (OK the already-spotted Evil Squirrel Overlord), controlling thins from behind the scenes. Perhaps with another pair of overlords, above him, in this very chamber! And maybe a greater conspiracy, beyond that, only to be uncovered when they are defeated!!
E.E. Doc Smith would be very proud.
thins = things
In panel 1 Sydney appears to be making a ‘call me’ sign to someone on the other side of the table. Any idea who? DaveB said he had to restructure this page. Maybe that part got cut out.
I think Ignoble calls it right above. But note my subsequent comments, in regard to who is opposite.
My assumption is that the cut was made at the planning/sketching stage, rather than at the end. And Dave will have adjusted any interrelationships accordingly. Something may have gone wrong mind. But the result works well under Ignoble‘s interpretation, so I do not think that would be the case.
I thought she was mugging to the readers.
It looks like the wolf at the bar may have had relations with other women in the past.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/this-9-week-old-baby-has-more-hair-than-most-193750299.html
Judging by both 30s Purply before and Lethane now, I will say that Dave is mastering the “lovely face” thing.
I’d love to think that, despite all their worry over a ‘revelation’, things would actually go a lot differently.
Namely, most everyone would just take it in stride.
Like, all the Llamia businesswoman’s coworkers would be startled for a second, then just continue on as regular, until at the end of the meeting Greg comes up to her and says “By the way, that’s a lovely pattern on your scales.”, then walks off.
Of course, not everyone would take it so in stride- any ‘extremists’ of any stripe would probably go nuts, and some third-world countries might have slight issues. But I think most of the cosmopolitan population has been introduced to so many out-there ideas via media that they’d be either excited or indifferent to things.
Or possibly, “Well, that explains a lot…”
I imagine a lot of groups like that will react the same way with supers. Assuming they are gods in human form, the Annunaki, demons, angels, ect…. heck there are already so many conspiracy theories in the real world that there could be an alien invasion tomorrow and a group (as in this group actually exists) will insist its all holograms being used by a new world order to take control of the masses.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find supers who think they themselves are such things and have made cults.
-had a character myself like this back in the day, called himself Messiah. He could walk on water (but only lukewarm water), could heal minor injuries, levitate about three inches off the ground, and his biggest power was causing storms to stop if he got them just as they were starting.
he formed a cult of like minded supers he named “the angels”, and insisted anyone who didn’t follow him or believed him were actually demons come to Earth.
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!”
*thump*
“Who threw that? Mother, how could you‽”
So why would the mother think she’s without sin and why would she throw stones at the speaker?
I’m pretty sure he’s quoting Life of Brian.
As penance for not being sure (and not actually owing it), I’ll rent and watch it again.
No really, the scene for are taking about is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIaORknS1Dk
But watch the movie again anyway, worth it :)
Ok, ok, just in case you are serious: it’s an old joke based on John 8:7, here a similar version:
https://www.jokesbar.com/religious-jokes/497-stone-the-prostitute.html
Plus, under Catholic dogma, Mary was free from original sin.
Surely water walking is redundant if you have low-height levitation?
Some versions of levitation are strictly up-down only. With that kind of limitation, the water walking would provide useful horizontal movement. And even without it is probably a lot faster.
Yeah he only had up and down levitation, its more impressive to walk across water than to make it seem like you might be standing on, that and his levitation only worked on solid flat surfaces *Messiah was all about the mix of powers looking impressive while each individual one was near useless*
I had a character who was worshipped as the returned Amon-Ra. Which he hated.
Hated it even more when someone calling himself Set came back shortly thereafter.
You know, I was thinking about those pro-revelate supernaturals. What if they believe (as some commenters do) that The Veil is a bad thing to humans? It wouldn’t be the first time someone finds themselves belonging to a culture some of its customs they find immoral. Among humans there are those willing to fight for the rights of beings that do not belong to their group, kind, race, or even specie. Some of those “radicalized pro-revelators” could be caring about WE humans.
Maybe they want to be our liberators.
That would be my assumption. There will always be more than one motive, but that is the most likely one, which springs to mind.
As an alternative, for a less-obvious motive (assuming there is some diabolical plot underneath the rosy facade that is built for the pawns, there could be an individual, or group, who would prosper in a climate of war and extermination.
Look at Vehemence for an example (to illustrate the point, but not as a suspect, in my mind). Although he has been suggested. As has Deus. But there are a whole bunch of monstrous races right here, so we do not need to look far afield, to find suspects. And Ingsol has pointed out that there will be those with monstrous motives here.
*peers behind Azilus, pointedly*
My first interpretation was more boring.
I think those pro-reveal are likely supernatural that feel they would benefit for be able to act openly, but maybe for more mundane reasons than war, domination or inter species altruism.
They (or some) could believe that a peaceful convivence is possible and have personal reasons to want it. Some could aim to just live free, no liking a life of fear and secrecy. Others could think their abilities, like some superpowers, are valuable or can give them an edge and want the right to use them. Some could long for just be themselves in front of everybody, to get out of the closet so to speak. Others could want to do it just for principle. And so on.
It is far too easy for a monster to stay a monster when it is hidden from its prey.
Also some may want to follow Dabbler’s example and get to be superheroes too.
Please tell me the Lamia was working in a marketing company! If so, they have a winner of an ad campaign on their hands:
“Our competition is selling you snake oil! And I should know…”
So, who are the Aenids? I can’t find anything on that term in the interwebs…
Ahh, you are referring to the Who’s Who entry. That did not get picked up when doing a page search, so I was stumped about what you were talking about for a while. It is probably drawn from the Aeneid.
DaveB there is an inconsistency I should point out. When Lethane was originally introduced, Maxima used the following dialogue:
“Lethane speaks for the Odyssians”
Of course Maxima was rattling off a whole bunch of names and organisations, off the top of her head. So I understand if she made a mistake. But thought I would point it out in case that was not your intention.
Yeah, I was aware of Virgil’s Aeneid and though I’ve never read it, the abridged versions I did read didn’t really include mentions to fantasy races, only the gods.
The Odysseans (races mentioned in the Odyssey) would make more sense though.
::coughs and points his ears upwards and to the right::
DaveB included the answer in the Lethane Who’s Who character profile.
Almost missed it, myself…
And on a side note, Lethane’s rather attractive for a biped (assuming she is one, of course…).
There is a good chance she is a uniped. Poor girl.
How… pedestrian… of her.
The alien rule of (I may be just as intelligent if not more so than you, but my thought process is either completely different or different enough that we can’t get along with out masks). Or in short “orange and blue morality is best left not poked at”
I would suspect some supernatural of wanting to play off the super thing to pose as supers…a certain succubus for example has already gotten away with it as a precedence.
Also I must commend the author for something, although chances are he may not have thought of it, of avoiding going down a potential dark path of ironic twist.
-something I thought of as soon a vampire was present, what if what one of the two mystery orbs did was *remove supernatural elements from an altered human body* or something along the lines of *anti-magic killer/instant vampire killer* type abilities.
Kurt Busiek’s Astro City had a major hero who was a vampire (Confessor). Sadly, he has since passed on and his sidekick has taken up his mantle, if not his ‘condition”. Both spent most of their time in Shadow Hill.
“Orb of Disruption”, eh? I’d prefer the “Orb of Curse Removal” that can cure any magical “infection” (Vampirism therianthropy, and so on..), but your’s is also a neat idea.
The lamia comment:
this is the sort of thing I’ve thought of when considering “monster girls” and such operating in a human environment. houses, offices, how rotating doors work. All these and much more are built with a biped in mind. the veil is a mask, I assume physical things are still there, like a long lamia body, demon wings, tails, centaur lower half, spikes, ect…operating in a human world would be rather difficult for a non shapeshifter even if people were made not to notice them.
Girls go to finishing school and get taught how to get out of a car, whilst wearing a short skirt, without showing any naughty bits. Lamia finishing school probably gives handy tips like ‘avoid using revolving doors’.
The rate at which some celebrities show such “naughty bits” makes me wonder whether they aren’t, in fact, doing it on purpose to keep their names in the news.
Actually many are. It was revealed that their coaches and managers will encourage this behavior to cultivate an image and keep them relevant in the eyes of the media.
Especially for centauroids. They’re not going to be able to drive a car, and public transportation was not designed with someone who is literally the size of a horse in mind. You’d know them when you see them, though… they’d be the ones who insisted on one of those standing desks, in an office where people won’t be tripping over his feet (or bumping into his hindquarters) all the time.
Lamias might have it a little bit easier, because they can at least coil up when they’re “sitting” in their office chair, so that people aren’t constantly stepping on her. As for the winged creatures… depends on the design of the wings and whether or not they can be folded close to the body, like the wings of the Seshayan (from the long-defunct Alternity RPG).
Image of two Seshayan. Note how one of them has its wings wrapped tight around its body:
https://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/228868/seshayan.jpg
Of course, Skin Deep has a solution for this, for races that have an amulet, anyway. A centaur using his amulet to appear human would be able to drive a sports car because TA DA! Magic! Similarly, species like Pterippi (aka Pegasi, aka winged horses) who can’t normally talk in their fullform, can talk in half form or human form, because TA DA! Magic!
The amulets in Skin Deep have very powerful magic, derived from a phoenix “egg” (which is almost pure magic) and shaped by sphinxes (who are more powerful magic-users than dragons, which led to the dragon-sphinx war that nearly wiped out both races).
If you haven’t already, you should check it out. It’s good reading. (The art improves dramatically after Orientations, which is the first chapter.)
https://www.skindeepcomic.com
The flexi-wings, also like Gargoyles (animated series) and the Architect Demons of my own series…which are physically inspired by those same gargoyles admittedly, who can wrap their wings around like a cape.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/50/Demona.png/250px-Demona.png
the character of Brooklyn even once had his wings wrapped up under a jacket. you can see them trailing down over his legs
https://weliveagain.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/4.jpg
Lethane!!!! Ahaha- I get it…. She has her eyes…COVERED! Right?! Anyone know any greek mythos? No? Google it.
All I can think of is Lethe, one of the rivers from the underworld. But I don’t know what the covered eyes signify with that.
Lethane 384 is a poison. Albeit an insecticide. Blood taken from one side of a gorgon is poisonous. Blood from the other can bring the dead back to life.
Oh and look at the eyes and you do a good statue impersonation.
All that takes is a bit of practice.
‘Λήθη’ or ‘Lethe’ can mean ‘concealment,’ at least of a kind. (Classically, in the sense of things unknown, forgetfulness, or ignorance.) I surmise that this is what Donovan Demot is thinking of.
Sounds good.
Greek? He was from France.
Sydney, if you think that the Veil should be lifted, be careful not to direct the suggestion to Lethane. You might get a stony reception.
The answer might rock her world?
Is it just me or does Dabbler’s chest look like it would pop if someone got a pin to close to it?
too close…
*pulls nose off monitor*
Oh, sorry!
…and yet so far.
1. Aenids? I thought they were Odysseans?
2. Whoo, points for a lamia in the proposed cutaway scene (I may be biased).
3. Whoo! Dave used, “eat my cake and have it too,” correctly!
Cake? They’re serving cake? And I didn’t get any? :(
Yes, so happy about that as well, and yet someone in the comments got it the wrong way around