Grrl Power #549 – Vampire the mass of bats
Sydney had to sit through the rest of that class, and probably a few others, but fortunately you guys don’t have to. This scene obviously takes place in the evening. Bat vampires are just as vulnerable to the sun as person shaped vampires. As to the answer to the rest of Sydney’s questions, she’ll have to wait. Maxima’s question does take precedence, what with her being commanding officer and all. You know how Sydney is. She could have kept the question train going for another 20 pages, but don’t worry, not this time guys.
Edit: A lot of people were confused by the jump from the last scene, so I added a “Later…” type caption which will hopefully help. Also I took the opportunity to shrink Max’s head a bit in the first panel because it was pretty huge. Of course, now I can’t help but notice it’s smaller than Sydney’s, which is why I drew it as bid as I did in the first place. But the big head suits Sydney, while Max is supposed to be proportioned like a normal, albeit fit yet curvy human woman.
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Remind me to run my mouth around Maxima.
You say that but wouldn’t it be like having your face mushed into a statue?
Nope. She got an EM field around her body so squishy and supple when she wants and titanium other times.
For us? Yeah, mushing into a statue.
By the looks of the shape of Sydney’s face in the last panel compared to Maxima’s boob, very much statue.
Very much not a statue, because we only see half of her face and she doesn’t look in pain
Technically, not a statue. *puts on sunglasses*
It’s a bust.
Thanks for keeping us abreast of the situation.
is singing, “Tanks for her mammories…”
Something smells fishie…
Sort of like this drawing?
links to “no hotlinking” page.
Sounds like something Math and Dabbler would say.
I think Max only pulled that move because Sydney is a fellow female. I think she would have another move for a guy who ran his mouth too much. How would you like to be Gibbs slapped by someone who can punch through a brick wall?
Also because she’s got this big sister/little sister vibe going with Sydney.
I got a question. Why does the vampire turn into FRUIT bats?
Because she does not like eating people.
Well, she did enjoy nibbling the super who could replenish his own blood. He is an ethical source of blood.
I suspect it is simply down to those being a pretty type of bat. All the rest tend rather more towards nightmare inducing.
We do know that werewolves can personalise their appearance, such as having hair or fur. Perhaps vampires are similar? The greater their shapeshifting skill the more varied the appearance or capabilities of the forms.
Being able to survive on fruit would be a definite advantage if trying to avoid snacking on free-range people.
Well the juice of the fruit is akin to the blood of the plant…or the sap perhaps….Who knows? >.>!
Vegetarian Vampire? I wonder if she sparkles…
Her own ‘dad’ has threatened her with a steak if she did :P
Most fruit bats (as in all the ones I can think of, but you never know for sure) are diurnal and lack echolocation. Picking one of those for your vampire bat form might mean having less individual animals to preserve conservation of mass, but it is going to suck when the sun has not set yet. She could make a real ash of herself that way.
I skree what you did there.
I’m glad to see Maxima transitioned mostly back to yellow-gold-colored. The twenty or so pages where she was orange were disconcerting.
My full-on favorite is the closeup on #474, but obviously that kind of thing takes a long time to draw.
Yeah, playing with how I color the pages, especially the skin tones, and Max got a little out of hand there, so I pulled it back a bit.
I feel like I missed a page…
Dave is aware that he has made the transition rather abrupt.
Transition nothing; I don’t remember anything about a vampire sneaking into the bat. If this actually did happen, link please?
Do you remember this?
Is that not enough foreshadowing, of both a transition approaching and the possibility that the universe might accept the challenge?
It even did a count-down for you, ending on:
Well the wished-for fast forward happened. For us. Sydney had to go through the boring part of the day…
and something interesting after that.
We now pick it up after sun-set, as built up by the entire previous page.
Non-traditional, but I like it. You are too bound by relying on conventions. Live outside the box for a page. The author is inviting you to write a few hours of the story, in your own mind.
Okay, thanks. I was a little confused on that point myself. Ah-doy.
Or he could just make a little editor’s note bar at the top of the page that says “MUCH LATER…” like every other comic book in existence.
Seriously… if the transition needs a caption in trade paperback format, why on earth wouldn’t you use one in a format where the fans only get to read *one page per day!?*
*cries*
My well-crafted and helpful reply got eaten by the internet.
I will just go… over there…
*waves paw vaguely*
I may be gone … some time.
your eaten text has become a part of the greater meme, like midichlorians for the internet. It shall revive all of the limitless possibilities of , um, whatever it was about..yeah..
The new “Later” caption helps, but I still say that it would have been better to let us SEE the vampire trying to sneak into the base before we got this page. As it stands, this is like watching a Star Trek episode, where we see the Enterprise peacefully gliding through empty space, with totally placid “nothing’s really happening” background music, and then the next scene is Kirk/Picard/Janeway/Archer barking “Why did you fire on my ship?” at a captive Klingon/Borg/Kazon/Xindi.
Why is Sydney here?
I mean, obviously she knows about the underworld so she has clearance but as a recruit I simply can’t imagine why Sydney’s presence is required or even desired for the waking and interrogation of an intruder.
Best I can come up with is that they want a 2nd super in case one is hypnotised by the vamp stare. I thought that maybe she was using a power like her shield to prevent escape or the comm ball to detect magic but they seem to have other supers who are cleared for this.
Your deductions are good.
Don’t forget that even though Sydney is only a recruit she clearly has one of the strongest power sets in the organisation (and thereby likely the world). So she will very often be called upon deal with things that nobody else can.
Here she can get a feel for interrogating a prisoner under controlled conditions. The next time she may have to do it could be in the field in a life-or-death situation. She has already faced several, in less than a week. So this is no idle issue, it is a part of her life. Humans, normally get to finish basic before that happens, but not so supers with rare powers.
Which is the other reason why Halo is here, she has the only power, on the team, we know of capable of countering mental attacks (namely her shield). So if Crimson does try anything like that Maxima has backup.
Not to mention, Maxima is personally training Sydney, since her powerset is so powerful, varied, and new.
Several points though.
1) Sydneys ability to see thru so many illusions, plus how far reaching the orbs can all be means she pretty much needs to stay near her trainer with the much higher clearance level who is allowed to tell Sydney what she finds out, and why not to tell others about it, plus who is strong enough to stop problems that occur (the caught in chains underwater thing for example).
2) The orbs are new powers, so it makes sense in a situation where there is little danger to bring Sydney along for as much “sidekick” training and experimenting as possible.
3) Maxima has already seen that Sydneys adhd nerd mind is actually really oddly good at understanding situations lots of other people dont grasp. In an uncommon situation, its possible, even likely, that Sydney will intuitively grasp the endgame / current plan before anyone else, and know what is needed to stop or change it for ARC’s benefit. The more info tossed at Sydney, the easier those possibilities will fly thru her head.
Yeah, I get most of that but it still feels like a situation where Maxima’s orders to Sydney would be along the lines of “stand back and keep your shield up while I show you how to interrogate” or such.
They also have better experts on Vamp lore to advise but maybe Halo had something to do with discovering her or such. I’m sure it’ll make sense in a moment, and yeah, I know Max could be tensed at the ready to save Halo with super speed.
Good points Sel.
Regarding Maxima’s orders, you are right Charles81 they probably were “stand back … while I show you how to interrogate”. This is not inconsistent with Sydney’s behaviour, as she has had other things distract her since, like a conversation and then really cute bats waking up and transforming into a vampire.
Likewise with why Maxima did not just give her that instruction now, but has moved on to plan Shut-up-Sydney-when-she-ignores-orders.
As regards the ‘and keep your shield up’ there are two problems with that. Firstly it is a very poor interrogation technique. Face to face contact is important, and you do not want to have a barrier getting in the way. Modern techniques do not involve using violence and tend to de-emphasise intimidation.
Rather you win over the person, get them talking in as natural way as possible and guide them to telling you things. Putting them at their ease helps that process. Placing a barrier between them and you puts them on their guard, and gets demands to see a lawyer issued.
Secondly do not forget Crimson’s status. She is a member of the senior diplomatic team on the Twilgiht Council. So think of her like a member of the United Nations Security Council, when you are considering her status.
This is a quiet
bedsidemorgue-slab-side chat, with a diplomat who got incapacitated by base security, not an interrogation. In diplomatic language, anyhow.A member of the United Nations Security Council who just tried to sneak into the Whitehouse
That would not invalidate diplomatic immunity. Whilst we have no hint that there is anything similar for Council diplomats, you really do not want to provoke a diplomatic incident or even a war, with the collective might of the supernatural.
Getting into a war with a regular nation could get you invaded, enslaved or even suffer genocide. The Council can do far worse.
Sidekick !?! She is an apex heroine in training!
… was just reading the archives lately.
Harem would like to remind you that the full title is “Apex SuperHeroine in Training”, because she’s ASHiT at times
Part of the Fast Action Response Team.
Who? Sydney or Harem? :D
Also, if Maxima were to get wammied by some kinda hypnosis, mind control thing, Sydney is quite possibly the only known friendly human super that could possibly subdue her, or at the very least survive long enough to take out the vamp. The only other friendly who might be able to do the same would be Dabbler, who is currently (presumably) off researching the issue with Jabberwocky, and Max is miffed at her presently (more than usual, at any rate), ergo Dabbler is not present.
Sydney is here because shes the main character and gets preferential treatment.Any other excuse is just an excuse because obviously Archon is kitted out to easily capture a vampire so Sydney as a security measure is like using a chocolate teapot in preference to a real one ^^
Think of it this way. This is a strange version of good cop/ bad cop. Keep the interviewee on their heels by Halo’s rapid fire madness from the start, and then let Max come in with the sanity and logic. Halo would also be wonderful for most cases to make people feel more comfortable. She’s personable, while Max is…let’s just gently say not. All in all, having Halo their makes a certain bit of sense. Especially since she still needs training in how to interogate.
Good cop / weird cop (at least from the point of the one being interviewed)
Good cop/weird cop is good enough logic. Anything that distracts the suspect makes it that much harder to lie or tell a convincing lie.
And while Maxima may have to “believe” some lies [“just a test of your security”], we are practically certain of hidden, likely hostile, motives here. Otherwise it is hard to see why we have this page.
The same sort of point is another reason why Sidney is present. The story centers on her. Therefore she is in every scene we can cram her in. We really need a reason to leave her out.
If the bats try to escape, she can make a big force field, capturing the three of them, Max handles the rest
Hey, Yorp, something I always wanted to ask … What is the origin of your gravatar avatar in the comments?
I’m not Yorpie, but I know this one (I think). Yorp!
Now I wish I had named myself K’Yaa.
Yup, that is the one. Copied and modified with permission. I wanted it to be facing the comments, rather than away. Plus I changed the background to blend in here.
Not that Dave minds any of the readers creating gravatars, from the comic, for their personal use.
Which we should take with the usual caveats, such as ‘not for commercial use’ etc.
This page makes a great deal more sense if you consider it was drawn from the perspective of the vampiress. Oblivion – then waking up to people talking about *something confusing* – with the obligatory “oh, he/she/it/they are waking up now.”
Under those circumstances, it is not necessary to perform much in the way of storyline continuity. The abruptness of the change from the previous page leaves the reader with the same sense of confusion being felt by Crimson, who probably is trying to sort out something along the lines of “What hit me?”
An excellent literary device. Very Zen.
Bravo. Very well said.
Also. if you read the entire comic, the flow isn’t as off as some might think, its more like a scene or chapter transition.
Though it wouldve been nice to see how they caught a fricking vampire so damn easily even if she is a noob one this is kind of embarrassing.
Motion sensor on the access point, combined with a sleeping gas response would do it easily. Pretty standard base security in the super hero genre.* Not something that a vampire may have been expecting though. So embarrassing, to have been caught, but not a shameful sign of incompetence.
* Real world issues with traps (even remotely activated systems) and knock-out gas being another matter. But we must also consider that real high security bases will have unseen defenses and any use of them will be covered by state secrecy policies (and/or laws, such as in the UK). So we cannot speak with certainty over whether such things may, or may not, be used in key facilities.
Undead that need to breathe just adds more confusion to things though,Still maybe the batform decorpsifys them so they now need to breathe or something??? Id say connecting intruders to the national grid and increasing the voltage steadily until they cant move,That one would theoratically(but not in reality) work on even Maxima.
You can’t speak without drawing air into your lungs. Even if you do not need to breathe. Plus it is also necessary if trying to either pass as human or put humans at their ease. Both of which a diplomat is likely to do regularly enough that it could be habitual.
Quite a lot of fictional vampire types aren’t really magically animated corpses
That was my thinking. :)
(Originally, I just wanted to say, that the “Later…”-box works just perfect for me.)
And now for something thing completely different:
> This page makes a great deal more sense if you consider it was drawn from the perspective of the vampiress. Oblivion – then waking up to people talking about *something confusing* – with the obligatory “oh, he/she/it/they are waking up now.”
Buuut then at least waking up should be seen from a “first player perspective”(is that correct??) of the vampire, that is, first waking up (halfway), then getting aware of ones environment – that is:
I’d say, Panel 1 and panel 2 should be exchanged. Please imagine…
Or rather, the overlay panels 2, 3 & 4 should get moved to the left and Sydney & Max talking should be at the right side from them.
(Also, “something thing” -> “something”.)
It looks like Halo isn’t wearing her neck band. She had it on the last page.
Just You, it’s that white strip just peeking out from the bluish-grey collar, it’s difficult to see, seeing how she’s only in three panels (what? she’s no longer the main character anymore? o_O) and we don’t see her from the front
I see it now. Max wears her’s high up her long neck, Sydney seems to have hers way down by her collar bone.
Remember that Sydney is either the shortest, or the second shortest person on the team, and until ?Ashleigh?, um. the clothes guy with the Fashion Ninja’s (whatever his name was…) made her tailored uniform, she had to borrow Peggy’s stuff because nothing they found was small enough for her… at least she didn’t have to use one of Hiro’s collars, She’d probably be able to wear it as a BELT!!
I can see Sydney in the interrogation section, once fully trained; she’ll barrage the incarcerated at this speed until they crack just to get her to stop.
Forget ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’, Sydney would be half of ‘PsychoHyperIntense Cop, Calm Cop’ (extra brownies or Yorpies if you get the idea behind pun, correctly!)
I think she did it just to get squished into Max’s boobs…. face, meet boob.
I can totally understand this motivation.
Ooo, just thought of something: maybe Scar was attempting to ‘sneak in’ because she heard how fun it was in there from Kronachrome and wanted to see what it was like for herself, but seeing how she’s not supposed to reveal her true self and didn’t have a formal invite, she planned on ‘sneaking in’ and waiting until it was dark and then finding Maxi or Sydney when there were less people around, she didn’t count on their security being tight enough to catch a cute bat
Or, maybe she has found something and didn’t want to talk to her ‘dad’ or ‘uncle Barkley’, and didn’t have any other way of contacting Maxi…
Socialising, for one reason or another, is a plausible reason. If she failed to do it through official channels, she would need to rely on sneaking in. We can see how someone who can shapechange into bats would get used to doing that, rather than organising things the formal way. Especially if it was something personal.
Okay so I’m a bit confused. I think I missed something. When did the vampire woman whose name escapes me sneak into the Archon compound?
Her name is Crimson. It’s right there in the who’s who, doy.
She didnt.Im guessing the writer wants to speed the plot along so heres an unexplained vampire with all the info the plot needs to move things along quicker.Yknow as much as i like beachscenes Idve preferred to have seen how Crimson actually turned up than finding out that Halo likes fart based humour.Ah well*shrugs*
I am more interested in why she is here.
Plus I am very glad that I got to see just how traumatic the thought of exposing her body is to Sydney. That is a profound character trait that is necessary to understand her character. Skipping that and having it appear in a significant scene later (say a wardrobe accident when in a major fight) would mean we fail to understand her reactions at that time.
Whereas ‘bats getting caught’? Meh, not profound. Loads of ways of doing that. Mildly interesting, but not on a par with revealing the extent of a major psychological issue for the protagonist.
Sydney being Sydney is by far not profound,Shes got a long track record for overreacting to things which is impressive since im not sure if shes worked at archon for even a week yet.
Ahh, another pro-sexual harassment person, I see. If it would not bother you then it is overreacting. But only if meets your approved threshold does it become a matter worthy of either depiction or compassion. Regardless of how deeply or profoundly the victim is hurt.
You say this like Syds not overeacted to like a billion non sexual things before this.Dont fire sex based chaff to distract from the point.
It is not chaff. The previous incidents were play-acting. As opposed to Sydney’s response to Harem’s sexual harassment, which showed a physiological reaction. It is self-evident that she was not making a joke, or (for example) pouring ketchup on her face, on a whim.
That was blood running down her face. And the reactions of her team-mates showed that they took it very seriously. It was not a throw-away visual gag. Sydney even still had the cotton buds in her nose in the next scene. Indicating that the nosebleed was real.
Further, are you seriously trying to assert that it is OK to sexually harass people who habitually behave in a child-like manner? Do you not think that not being fully emotionally mature is a good warning sign that Sydney would be more vulnerable to such emotional assaults than other people her age?
On top of which there was Sydney several times mentioning how insecure she is over this very issue. Including in Harem’s presence (such as in the showers). Not to mention Sydney being so shy that she dressed up like an Egyptian mummy to avoid exposure.
But the very fact that Sydney’s normal behavior does include a lot of overreactions is proof as to why the pool prank and its consequences was an important scene to show. It leaves us in no doubt that this is a very serious issue for Sydney.
Well those of us who consider her emotions, and do not just write her off because of her eccentricities.
Fine ill briefly follow your chaff then,No sexual harassment is wrong even in bloody Carry On films which due to the time they were made in and the characters in general was seen as pretty acceptable at the time.
I tend to react very little to Sydneys emotions because most of the time she overemotes at everything,Or are you trying to say Sydney is a massive Jerkass who plays everything up for her own amusement most of the time?-Going all the way to actively trying to assault people who surprise her because doing that amuses her?As sure as I am that Sydney would never go streaking and Im sure the very idea of doing so disturbs her her reaction is par for the course rather than something unusual.
Sydney assaulted people who surprised her. Which is different to how you portrayed it. And she has worked hard on toning down that reflex, such that she has not hit Harem in several days and avoided whacking Vale, when she appeared as if from the shadows.
It is perfectly reasonable to have subdued reactions to someone who emotes heavily, if that does not appeal to you.
Why would Halo even be in the room? She’s got the lightbee thingy and can teleport in if Maxima gets in trouble, but doesn’t need to actually be there.
I like to think that Maxima let her come because she wants to avert wacky shenanigans and is slowly getting used to Syds chaotic tendancys
But has Sydney told anyone about the teleport ability yet?
Not to our knowledge. Which would invalidate the above plan, as you imply.
Plus that is clearly a capacity that Halo and Archon would want to keep secret, for emergencies. As opposed to using it in a routine interrogation. Crimson is not an elder vampire so her threat level is not high.
So having to reveal a major capability, to deal with a moderate threat (if she turned hostile) is not a good stratigic option. It is a good tactical one mind, to deal with this immediate situation (if Archon know about it). But not when considering long-term planning.
Plus it would delay any response by Halo unduly. Presently she could potentially raise the shield around both herself and Maxima, to cut off any apparent attempt to mesmarise her. We did see Maxima struggling to resist the previous one (by the construct) so Halo may be able to both spot that and respond prior to it overcoming her willpower. But only if she is fast.
Having to do a two-stage response (teleport and raise shield) may delay that.
However the plan is very good from the point of view of it removes the risk of Halo herself being the target, and being mesmerized before she has a chance to raise the shield. So your idea is good, from several points.
I think it is unlikely that a relatively young vampire (under 100 years old) would be able to control both Maxima and Sydney simultaneously though. So if one is attacked, the other should be able to counter it. Maxima’s technique might require some healing (or create some dusting work for the janitor).
Weird thought that just popped into my head not really supported by any solid evidence:
What if Crimson snuck in because she’s in danger because something happened to the Twilight Council and/or Ingsol was taken captive or killed?
Because Crimson doesn’t look too happy in panel 6. She looks apprehensive, and I get the feeling it’s not because she was caught by Archon.
Thank you, for acknowledging that the panels with the sleeping bats are panels and not insets
That is a reasonable possibility.
I seem to recall Crimson being apprehensive about Sydney’s behaviour in the Council. Plus waking up to being interrogated by her, in a morgue (or similar) is going to be adding ‘disconcerting’ into the mix. So I do not think the supporting evidence is that strong.
But there would need to be some motive for coming here. Plus we know that Archon and the Council do have official communications channels. So, just like Maxima knew the safe route to get to the Council, anyone on official business, from them, should likewise have an authorised way to approach Archon.
Yet Crimson did not follow that. And your explanation offers a viable explanation for that.
Another being that she was spying on them. Perhaps to check out that Krona was being properly cared for? We can assume that Archon or Krona were keeping them updated. But it is not unreasonable that they would want to verify it, without relying on possibly ‘sanitised’ messages.
Or maybe she wanted to check if Sydney could get hold of Batman #8 for her, and did not get a chance to ask where her shop was?
I always get a bit lost when there’s a jump like this where the scene completely changes with no obvious connection from the previous strip.
Which makes me wish you’d put a little box in the corner saying something like “later after AR writing class” or some other helpful indicator of time and location changes so it would be easier to follow.
It is not just you, so this is actually a fascinating phenomenon. Given that there was an entire page devoted to Sydney attempting to get time to fast-forward to evening. That is an extremely obvious connection, that many people are failing to grasp.
I can understand it from reading the final page in isolation, but not if flipping back to check. Normally I can spot what psychological aspect might be causing such an apparent paradox. Especially given that I have been on the ‘not getting it’ side of the equation in the past. Plus I did do the page-flipping back thing myself.
Whilst the technique may be unconventional, we have seen Sydney attempt to move time forwards before and have had Maxima tease her about it. And Sydney’s behaviour was very much hearkening back to that. Yet even those previous hints are not helping folks piece it together. Mmm.
While I also got it, I certainly wouldn’t call it obvious, I actually think it’s rather subtle. Obvious connections are explicit in nature (ie, previous page shows Maxima punching someone through a wall, current page shows them standing up outside and running away), whereas this was very implicit and nuanced, and if I had seen it before the update, it likely would have taken me longer to get it than it did.
The time skip was no issue for me.
Yes, there was an obvious disconnect which seemed to be anti-foreshadowed if anything (explicit failure of time powers) but what actually failed to gel was the unmentioned and presumably very tempory change of point of view character.
Dialogue that started mid-sentence with no obvious indication that we are now following Crimson had me running several checks to try and find out what I’d missed to have Sydney so suddenly coming to.
these sudden jumps in time make me think i’m missing out on several pages.
You can always contribute to the Patreon scheme and see if they get any missing ones? Probably not, as I am sure that would be promoted heavily. But it would satisfy your curiosity and be beneficial, in its own right.
Maybe there is even an adult version of each of the hypothetical ‘bonus pages’?
wish i could support monthly. but right now i lack steady income. once i do get better income i might support this patreon. on top of my “to support” list. but i don’t think any story pages are held back
I am in the same boat. I was only floating the idea as a way of mixing up my replies to that question. It .has occurred a few times.
Okay, there was no confusion when they went from the Council Hall to the Wars Compound, no confusion when they went from Sydney’s crash to Sydney playing with Vahriah’s sex-hair, so why all the sudden stupidity over this page? o_O
Two key factors. Picking it up in mid conversation. Then, when flipping back a page to check (or consulting their memory) failing to get the joke that time did jump, just like Sydney was attempting.
It made me chuckle.
*wags tail in appreciation*
Both those examples can be considered ‘mid conversation’, because they were already talking about something when we switched to them, what you meant, possibly, was ‘mid-sentence‘
Mid-conversation jumps are a common writing technique to skip over boring pleasantries and get to the important details. Mid-sentence ones are also a common writing tool but more for when the character who’s point of view we are seeing from is suddenly conscious.
This causes confusion because the character who’s point of view we see from is almost always Sydney and the one that would explain that particular trick isn’t even in a recognisable shape when we start reading.
Huh that came out of nowhere.10-1 she literally came here to bring information.Seriously in this universe vampires suuuuuck!
Or the Archon HQ security is high quality, and she did not go in by a safe route, like through reception. Dave has indicated that the building does have good anti-super defenses, which would cater for supernaturals too, I am sure.
It is not like flying into a normal office building and getting caught in the blinds. :-D
Aaaaaaactuallly Ive forgive any percieved sin that this comic has ever done if she DID get caught in the blinds flying through an open window!=D
:-D
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+1
Always, every day, at least once
Speaking of unfortunate color combinations, am I the only one who visually parsed the table fulla unconscious vampire bats as a tray fulla chocolate chip cookies that were just beginning to flatten out at first?
Yes, nobody else has reported that.
I would skip eating any cookies looking like that, if I were you. Unless at a Halloween party, there would be something mighty suspicious about a normal batch of cookies that looked that way.
*looks at Yorp, grumbles, and throws out the specially made bat-shaped cookies that I just slaved over the stove to make for you all*
Fine.
Bat-shaped cookies are fine, Pander.
Furry bat-shaped cookies are suspect.
Furry anything-meant-to-be-a-food-item tends to be suspect in general. Like the saying about deli-sliced roast beef: Green that shines = mighty fine. Green and furry = throw it out in a hurry!
(For those that don’t know: Meat contains iron, fat, and many other compounds. When light hits a slice of meat, especially one that is thinly-sliced and cut against the grain, it splits into colors like a rainbow. There are also various pigments in meat compounds which can give it an iridescent or greenish cast when exposed to heat and processing. So ‘green and shiny’ is safe to eat. Green and furry means it’s growing mold.)
*cries*
Food would be nice.
Just a note but just like any comic, generally we, the readers, dont watch all the regular everyday stuff happening. It tends to get skipped unless its important to the story just like what is happening now. As disconnected as it seems to us when we are only reading a page a week, if you read it in chapters or books like a comic then it would flow alot more “normally” to you. (also the fact we do 1 page a week means we aren’t reading a chapter at a time either, so that changes how we percive the story on whole also)
Two pages a week, but agree with your post
Wait wait wait…. what happened here between Sydney looking at the sky and this page? Did I miss something?
Yes, the pages stuck together. You know that there is a strict no-eating or drinking, whilst reading this comic rule, right? The comic is not liable for any injury or damage caused if doing so.
Do not attempt to separate the pages, using the steam from a kettle, as that would be extremely hazardous to your monitor or smartphone.
I am afraid you are stuck with it being like this, and will just have to guess what happened.
Halo was pretty awesome though. Such a shame you missed her, in the shower, getting over her inhibitions.
If the pages stuck together include a gratuitous shower scene I only hope that it’s food and/or drink which have stuck the pages together.
You missed the most awesome pages Cortanis. The meeting was interrupted by three of the ‘big bads’ from the splash page a while back, and then DaveB said he was going to delete all those pages so only those who saw it would know what happened and we were all sworn to secrecy to those who did not see it. Sorry, would love to tell you what happened but… you know… secret.
You see… I’m going to eat you and Yorp’s souls now. It’s not up for debate. You didn’t even notice when I took them did you two?
Oh please, that’s an empty threat. I’m a lawyer, therefore I clearly don’t have any soul.
Of course… you sold it off years ago. Guess who I bought it off of?
I don’t want it back anyway. I would lose all my lawyer powers.
Her Bats are cute. Why are they so cute? WHY AM I ACTUALLY CALLING BATS CUTE?!
::runs around flailing::
Because those are the cute fruit bat variety. As opposed to the spawn-of-Satan-looking bug-eating and blood-licking varieties.
Actually I must be fair, even the other types can be cute. If they can overcome their face drawback.
guessing dabs just heard another dog whistle.
Have we gotten the W.O.G. definition of vampire physiology in the GRRL-verse?
1) Do they breathe? Do they have heartbeats and circulation? (If not, then sex may be a problem since a certain male body part needs blood to um, rise to the occasion.)
2) When split into bats, do the bats also act as if alive with their own heartbeats or are they just magic constructs? Can they feed on their own?
3) We have seen an aversion to sunlight, but do the garlic and holy water weaknesses exist as well? (Why hasn’t anyone ever thought of garlic infused holy water?)
3) Why garlic infuse your holy water if it works well enough already?
2) It’s like the possession via suggestion seen in the Diskworld books. Her consciousness essentially exists without a body and helps orchestrate the otherwise very simpleminded horde.
At least, I think Dave said that when we first saw a vampire morph. Could have been someone else, though.
1) It has been shown that loss of libido in older women can also, at least partly, be traced to a lack of blood flow to the genitals. It’s not necessarily as functional a problem as for men but it would still be an issue for both sexes.
The reason you infuse the holy water with garlic is because in a universe where both garlic and holy water are effective, garlic tends to work via smell, and is more about driving them away, whereas the holy water has to make physical contact to work, and so if you are strategic with your flasks of holy water, you can use it to your advantage even if you miss, as a puddle of garlic infused holy water limits their mobility much more than just a puddle of holy water.
But is it more effective than a puddle of garlic juice?
Maybe this scene will explain what happens with garlic infused holy water
Sydney’s head (along with the rest of her) appears larger because she is a little closer to the viewpoint than Max is.
Maybe it’s Jabberwocky that brings Crimson to Archon?!?!?
ARC’s new, (and technically legal), interrogation technique:
You have a choice, you can sit there and answer the questions Maxima asks you or you can have Halo ask you hundreds of questions so fast that you don’t realize you gave up your boss between “fasten/zip or zip/fasten?” and “favorite Enterprise?”
Legit don’t remember when vamp got captured.. haha
well good excuse for a reread i guess
At a military compound somewhere in the desert
“You’re what?!”
The soldier leaned forward, his jaw set as he gripped his desk “Building Weapons to kill, contain, or disable supers.” he said calmly, glaring at the ARC rep
“Why?”
“Imagine you’re some infantry grunt on convoy, and some motherfucker with arms as big as tree trunks starts charging you. This fucker is ignoring the .50, grenades, and even AT rockets. You keep firing your dinky little M4 because its all you can do as this bastard flips vehicles, and turns men and women you’ve known for 18 months into paste. Then he reaches you.” The soldier, then wheels from behind his desk, showing that his legs are completely gone. “He decides to play with you. Starts tearing you apart. Limb. By. Limb. You know you’re going to die. You can barely scream when he finishes your left leg, and starts on your right. Then, the supers on your side FINALLY arrive, and save your ass. You are the only survivor out of FORTY. Thats what happened to me. and when it happens to you, then you can lecture me about morals. I’m giving our guys, the normal guys, an edge.”
Actually once the honeymoon period is over I imagine that quite a lot of people will be demanding that some anti super hardware gets mass produced.In fact given that Maxima spent several years supermanning tanks and so on I imagine more than a few governments already started throwing money at super killer level weapons =)
Got to the last panel and the old brain kept yelling — “The Breast Laid Plans…”
’cause… Sydney… um… Max’s…. er… that is… wow…. I need to get out more.
Could you remind me on which page she was trying to sneak into the base? #confused
It wasn’t shown in the comic. This page is her waking up after getting klonked. It’s discussed on the next page.
In universes that use corpse-based vampires, I always wonder about how you would render one unconscious without destroying it. You can’t gas or dart them; they have no metabolism. You can’t taze them or concuss them; no working central nervous system. They are like zombies, only worse.
Most universes seem to use slightly sexier “un-dead” vampires, as in “they used to be dead, but becoming a vampire somehow resurrected their body into life”. Thus they have and need their functional innards to, er, function. This trades some vulnerability for being more lifelike; they can have a pulse and breathe, but they also feel pain and can be knocked out.
This does often impact how they deal with things like being shot with a gun or being punched by a super. It amuses me to think that Maxima dealt with the bat swarm by flying at super speed and tapping each bat on the head with a finger.
It also occurs that maybe our vampiress was rendered unconscious by the rising sun, rather than by any security measure on hand at Archon HQ.
I take it that these are post Lamb of God vampires then?
Free Stuff Alert!
The old ‘classic’ Sci-Fi magazine Galaxy has been uploaded into the site archive.org for personal use. There are 355 issues from 1950 to 1976 and include work from all the old big name writers. The reviewer who posted the link says the time line ranges from the earlier pulp ‘bug eyed monster’ stories to later hard science and social issues themes.
https://archive.org/details/galaxymagazine&tab=collection
They also have copies of the more ‘planet of buxom women’ style Sci-Fi magazine ‘If’ from the same period. https://archive.org/details/ifmagazine&tab=collection
It is worth looking at the collections just to see the cool cover art. (Some of the aliens have 4 arms)
Here is a random sample I clicked on from one of the early years of Galaxy.
He’d been plucked out of his warm
bed in Callahan Hall by a telepathic
suitcase named something like
Lirld which was equipped with
quantities of eyes and tentacles.
He’d been sucked down to some
planet in an entirely different sys-
tem near the center of the Gal-
axy, clad in nothing but apple-
green pajamas.
He was on a world of telepaths
who couldn’t hear him at all, but
upon whom he could eavesdrop
with ease, his brain evidently be-
ing a sufficiently sensitive anten-
na. He was scheduled shortly to
undergo a “careful examination,”
a prospect he did not relish, the
more so as he was evidently
looked upon as a sort of mon-
strous laboratory animal.
Thanks. I like free stuff notifications.
*wags tail in appreciative fee-style*
Oh wow, I have f.lux on and it apparently makes Max look like a normal human, with white skin and brown hair.
Sydney’s hair over Maxima’s boobs. HOT!
DAVE! UNSUBSCRIBE IS NOT WORKING! I made the mistake of asking for comment notifications on my first post to this thread, and 200+ notifications later, I’ve tried the Unsubscribe link in the email twice, and the bot claims that I’m unsubscribed, yet I keep getting the emails.
I am sure Dave will sort this as soon as he gets a chance. It may not have a quick fix, if there is a complex problem behind it, as Dave has to do his own IT stuff.
Hopefully that will not be the case though. I know that it used to work, as I accidentally clicked on it once and it did stop notifications, until I reinstated it. So I am guessing it is just a problem with the latest WordPress update and Dave may be able to download a ready-made fix, from wherever he got the notification code, in the first place.
But, either way, no need to worry overly. The subscription is only for the page you selected it on (presumably this one) and the pace of notifications drops off fast the further away from update day we are. So you are already over the worst of it.
Oh, and that reminds me…
*clicks on ‘Email me when new comments are added to this thread’*
I think I unsubscribed you. Email me at grrlpowercomic-at-gmail if you’re still getting buried with stuff and I’ll look a bit deeper.
Wait… I seem to recognize some of those questions when we last saw Crimson…
Is Sydney reading the comments on her own comic?
Of course.
who else would use a name like spicefreak in chat? (lol I just tease so no be upset please)
Hey, Dave, is it normal that the Cast page is down?
I can answer that one. Yes.
There was an incompatibility with a WordPress update, so it had to be taken down until that can be fixed. Which may be some time.
Thanks
Does Sydney carry spare glasses in her utility belt?
That was not listed, but you make a very good point. She did drop hers in the fight with Shadow Boxer. She is bound to loose or damage them again, in some future engagement, so she would be very wise to do that.