Hmm. This may raise a few questions. Chances are at least some of them will be addressed in the following pages.
BTW I was hoping I could knock out a 3 panel page fairly quickly and work on a Thursday comic, but 1) drawing people from that low angle in panel 1 is super hard, 2) that picture of Maxima in panel 3 took forever for some reason, and 3) Deus Ex:HR is super good. :P
If you enjoy the comic, share it and/or throw me a vote and maybe someone else who will enjoy the comic will find their way here. Thanks!
Patreon is like Kickstarter for microtransactions - That is, giving ongoing support (the most delicious kind) to independent artists you enjoy.
Shopping through the Amazon link doesn't cost you anything extra and I get a small % of each sale for the referral.
The good ‘ol Paypal tip jar, good for hit and run donations.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
M
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
N
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
!
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
R
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
X
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Are you telling us that they planned this? (redundant question is redundant)
also: epic series ^_^ Just finished catching up ^_^
Wait, hold on, What just happened? Are these guys WORKING with her?
I’m so confused.
The guy… is multiple people… who were not actually trying to rob the bank.
EVERYTHING IS A LIE!
There IS no Spoon!
but there is a spork and it will kill us all !!! https://xkcd.com/419/
I will never be able to look at a Spork the same after seeing pic #419.
May never use one again either …
The spork is the transsexual of the utensil drawer anyway.
mostly just the cake is a lie, but yeah, i get your point
10 cookies, a TF Gun, and a six-pack of unlabelled sodas says this was a field exercise or similar test scenario.
And no, David, you cannot bet against me. You’re the author/artist, it’d be cheating.
Heh, wouldn’t that be fun.
Or possibly Dabbler (probably) was tracking some energy anomaly and they set this up to see: A) What it might be. B) Who it is (or in this case who is carrying it). C) Whether the person would be a potential hero or villain/threat/other. In all these questions it’s still a setup but with a very different purpose, to smoke out Sydney in which case it worked like a charm.
Also just because the main characters are female doesn’t mean that there are no non-team members that have powers that are male, support staff maybe? Not very powerful but tough enough to withstand this kind of training or smoke out scenario? I notice he’s speaking normally too. So since I’m disagreeing on both cases I guess I’m betting against you, what were the stakes again?
@WEKM Modesty Blaze books covered the same subject of shoulder holster versus boobs, and did it very intelligently. They simply don’t work with even a modestly well endowed woman but there are some holsters that will work. Moving the gun lower on the side under the breasts or even to the hips and forward for a cross draw, or moving it behind the back. Maxima’s holster is far too high and placed wrong for any woman to actually use in a fast draw situation with her “Endowments” (I mastered in PC rhetoric ^_~). Ideally it should be moved lower and tilted a little more forward so the gun is more level and she reached under the Breasts but that presents some problems. First that gun is just too long for that, even with a longer coat it would be sticking several inches out of her back, 4 to 6 at a guess, making concealment even more absurd than it already is. Second that would make it far too easy to grab given the size of the gun. Let’s face it the idea of a shoulder holster is concealment and that monster isn’t really concealable (unless Dabbler or somebody has rigged a holster that’s larger inside than outside) it should be in a hip holster. Don’t get me wrong she needs a concealable sidearm for her work, something like a Walther Kampfpistole Z, which is like a flare gun that can fire solid bullets. I would think it could handle the kind of ammo she needs.
10 Cookies, a TF (Transformation) Gun, and a six pack of unlabelled sodas (from Germahn Labs)
EGS FTW! ( egscomics.com )
Nanase approves of this message.
Hell yeah. I’m a registered bunny
On the subject of holsters for Maxima’s gun. I was remembering a knife holster, (machete really) that strapped to the back with the handle pointing down towards the hip. A jacket like she has would cover it, and it would still be easily drawn. Although it would need a serious back plate to make it bearable when sitting in a car seat for any length of time.
I’m taking that bet, I think they are “villains” who keep breaking out, and got hired to keep supers sharp as a result. kinda like the government hires hackers that they catch.
Agency for supes that intends to cause some mayhem in order to promote itself ? Smells of a False Flag operation of some kind.
If it was a PR-Stunt i would have expected some training for Maxima that makes it easier for her to deal ewith the people.
On the subject of boobs and shoulder holsters. Had a friend who was rather busty, and carried in a shoulder holster under her jacket. All was well till one day we were practicing speed draws and she totally bashed, scrapped and pinched her left when she tried to do a panic draw.
The way she went down, if it had been an actual conflict, she would have been toast.
We worked with her and got her a different in-the-pants holster that worked much better for her, and also let her ditch her jacket more often on sunny days. Wins all around.
Although, I seriously doubt that we could manage to get that beast in the waistband of Maxima’s pants without her looking like a hermaphrodite.
Tough to stow a piece that big. I carry out of habit (lived in a ghetto back in my college days because that was all I could afford), and it’s really difficult to find a comfortable holster when you live in a climate that’s not conducive to jackets and long sleeves. I’d suggest a small-of-the-back holster (works great for my 1911s and Baby Eagle), but with that short jacket showing her midriff, it would be pretty obvious. A shooting buddy of mine had a leatherworker custom make a holster for his 44 Ruger Super Blackhawk so he could carry it against his back under a simple t-shirt. It was inverted and placed on a bandolier that snugs around the torso with the barrel pointing up toward the left shoulderblade. The handle is easily reached, sitting over the right kidney. It’s not noticeable unless the shirt is extremely tight, and you can carry just about any handgun given the size of most peoples’ backs. Heck, if you’re a big guy, you can carry a riot gun with a collapsable stock that way. Mind you, custom making the holsters isn’t cheap.
Hey,
Any way I could get in touch with your friend? I’m in the market for a new holster
He said he contracted Hays Holsters of Washington. It’s a little one man operation and you’ll probably have to contact the owner directly if you want something that special, but I’m told he’s very accomodating if you’re clear about what you want.
Ok which of the cast has the ability to assume different forms?
i’m guessing that would be harem, although she has yet to appear in the comic
Harem, from her description, can only make duplicates of herself. Those duplicates can look as different as you can make them with clothing/jewelry/etc, but they are all her. (And they can only look different because she’s spent the time to make them look different.)
Dabbler, on the other hand, has a whole range of powers and abilities, some of which might allow her to appear to look like someone else. (Although she explicitly can’t shapeshift.)
Or…. it might be Halo… DUN DUN DUNNNN!
Okay, probably not, I’m guessing it was a setup to draw out potential supers (IE Sydney)
could be dabbler is using some of her powers ON harem? its possibly a really complex illusion or something. but i wouldn’t bet on it myself i think these two are undercover or it might be a fake maxima so thats three possibilities
OK, and now I’m confused.
uhh wow nice twist
Speaking of working with others.
Have you considered working out the force composition of the unit that Maxima is part of?
Takes work now but it’ll make life easier later to keep things consistent (and the scrutineers under the commenters of your back).
I’m not really sure what you mean by force composition. If you mean, who’s on the team and how they’re assigned by virtue of what powers they have, the big issue that they have to work around is that powers are rare and they can’t go to a weapons manufacturer and say “here’s what we need”.
by force composition i’m assuming he’s referring to support, since you already have laid out the main players in the bio section.
does the team have a “spy” team that keeps an eye out for potential recruits?
you gave us a shot of what appears to be a hanger or large ready room early on, but where is thier command center, and how is it laid out?
i “think” these are the kinds of things he’s asking about.
What I’m suggesting is (or can be) quite a bit of work and as a GM I can say that 90% will never be used. But once you have need of something it is nice to have it be consistent since you prepared this in advance.
I meant the rest of the unit Maxima is part of, excluding the supers.
Seeing that currently it has at least 1 flying super, Maxima, does it have flight of planes?
What kind of transportation is there for the non flyers if they have to respond quickly?
Is the unit a JSOC SMU (most likely seeing the main characters capabilities) or works it directly under SOCOM?.
Is there an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act regarding super powers as there is now regarding transportation/use of nuclear materials? If there is an exception does the unit do it’s own clean up & containment, does it rely on the closest base to supply manpower or both (seeing Peggy in the main character line up and Maximas rank)?
These are fairly general questions about what else is in the unit. It is possible to be as detailed as (for example) saying there are special teams with SAMs, adapted by Dabbler, that can target flying humans flying.
I doubt you need to go as deep as that last example seeing what you’ve written/drawn so far but the more general ones can be useful since armed forces tend to be rigid and laying out a structure gives you handles to what is (un)available at anyone time or characters can(not) legally do.
Yeah I think I’ve got most of that covered, it probably won’t satisfy military buffs (as a non-military person myself, there’s a lot of details I’ll be missing, for instance I had to look up JSOC) but I think the set up I have is way more realistic than say, the Avengers or something, which seems to operate with essentially unlimited funds and virtually no oversight. I may be wrong about that, I haven’t read Avengers for like 15 years.
you could alwasy rope one of the more knowledge persons from the comments into reviewing your setup ;)
No need really. So far I’ve seen only constructive criticism when people notice a a glitch. In my case the fact that I’m trying to meddle in the constructive process behind the comic just means that I really like it (as in first comic ever that I felt the need to comment on) and am trying, in my own way, to help make it even better.
I have an org chart (yes, I’m a big nerd for my own comic that way) that is over a year old and is in dire need of an update. Maybe once I get closer to talking about the force structure, I’ll post that on DA and ask for some input so that I look like I know what I’m talking about.
The bank robber was in the shot on page four. rember? I thought it was strange he was holding up a bank.
It’s not him. They just look similar cause I’m not nearly as good at drawing guys as I am at gals. It doesn’t help that they both have the same haircut though.
I couldn’t help notice that this guy look a LOT like the one on this page: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/60
actually I think it looks more like the other guy, but yes i see what you mean
Hey, could it be something like a Test to see how Sidney would react, ’cause Maxima seem’s to know that there is something strange about Sidney, and maybe they’re watching her since she got this strange thing she keep with her and we don’t know anything about !
Anyway, i’m on Deus Ex too, and i can’t see how you found the time to draw with such a game in your hand oO
I cashed in some time-off on Friday. Played DE for a few hours, then finished this page and started penciling page 57. Page 56 is penciled and mostly inked. I hope I can finish both this week. I really need to build up my buffer with all the games coming out. If you look at my blog post titled “Son of a…” it’s a list of all the stuff coming out before the end of the year, and Torchlight 2 and Diablo 3 aren’t even on it cause we don’t have a release date for them yet. Plus, obviously if I get my buffer to a certain point that I’m comfortable with it I’ll post an additional comic every once in a while.
Stupid great golden boobs!
Gaaahh!
A test to find/recruit/apprehend Sydney ?!?
Dabbler might have detected each instance of the Mysterious Objects’s “separation anxiety”,
Plotted it on a map, and narrowed it down to the comix store employee to goes to the bank
but stops off for an early lunch.
PS: I hope everyone in the bank EXCEPT Sydney was in on it.
There have been instances of “tests” where people weren’t informed and things went wrong.
Think of the intern who called for a news crew.
Well it’s good to know Max isn’t hard everywhere. Would really suck if she was and people keep catching her on a blind corner.
*turn corner*
*BAM, bewbs to the face*
*guy is now knocked out several yards down the hall, with a grin*
If she had steely-invulnerable cleavage, anyone hit by them would not be grinning unless they were the kind of person who enjoyed being bashed in the face with those portable door-busters the FBI uses.
You’re thinking wrong. Don’t think how hard you got hit, think what you got hit with. Bewbs that shatter your face, are still bewbs.
at 6 months or 60 a man will still go gaga over a nice pair.-Bill Engvall
Unless he actually has some control over himself. While I can be momentarily distracted once in a while I really don’t find massive breasts that attractive.
They don’t have to be enormous to be appreciated.
all this talk of Bewbies and not a Baka to be seen makes me wonder which rock he’s hiding under…
Very true and you know what they say the bigger they are the harder they they fall ( or sag). :)
Sorry, but I’ve been bludgeoned by strippers with big fake knockers before and the experience was highly overrated.
Two words to describe it all – Whiplash – lawyers
Dave mentions that Max is a “Power-shifter” basicly it’s a case of her body doing what she needs/wants at that moment. Not sure if she can do multiple powers or not, but she’s been shown to shift from Armor to Speed,to Strength and back again.
One of the X-teams a few years ago had a similar member named “Lifeguard” who’s powers literally were whatever she needed at that moment to survive/rescue. I do remember her shifting from Colossus-style metal skin to gills and fins after dropping into the ocean on a mission.
inpenatrable dosn’t always mean hard, just not able to be punctured. So they probaly soft.
“Are you guys ok?”
Is she talking to the bank robbers or her boobs?
Maxima? being /polite/ ? …. Something’s up.
I was afraid of this ever since page 196 (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/196) when they had Sydney on camera.
yeah,, was thinking same thing,,, considering what happened at the restaurant and the camera thing,, i would not be surprised if this WAS a test ,, or smokeout,,
Just a security camera guys. They have them in nost parking lots for security and insurance purposes.
The new Deus Ex IS fantastic. In fact, it may be the first video game I could ever consider “profound”.
Being a long time player of the Champions pen and paper RPG. I had a sinkin suspicious that something like this might be happening to Syds.
Oooh, plot!
Hope you didn’t buy Deus Ex at Gamestop, because they opened the boxes early, removed an item, and then re-wrapped it.
I’m a steam addict all the way. Haven’t bought a PC game in a box in like 3 years, much to the chagrin to the state of my game box collection.
remember the comic? re-wrapping products is a necessary art-form in that line of work.
what was the removed item?
A coupon for an online service. (I can’t recall which one off the top of my head.)
Now that they’ve been caught at it, they are giving out gift cards in apology.
Oooo i was thinking about picking up Deus ex: hr to thanks for the endorsment Dave also Max looks super hot as always tho im not surprized shes curses her boobs probly why the grew so big
Maybe Maxima needs Lee van Cleefs holster…
+200 Internets for the LeeVan Cleef reference. LOL
The plot thickens! Also, I think a busted a synapses just now.
By the way. You have succeeded in making a cliffhanger that possibly made my brain explode. Don’t worry it will grow back in time for next weeks.
If someone with Max’s… build needs to carry a gun that large, an inverted holster under the arm might work. Butt hangs down almost to belt level, with the barrel up. Breakaway strap holds gun suspended that way. Functions more like a cross-draw than a shoulder holster, but allows concealed carry of guns with 6″ barrels (under a jacket, of course).
It’s a TARDIS hostler!!! Easy as that.
Holster. h-o-l-s-t-e-r. Forgive my spelling please.
she talking to us?
It just hit me, but isn’t that the guy from page 4?
I’m really trying to give this comic a chance. I really am. However, the pace is painfully slow. The character development is almost nonexistent. The promise (multiple times) of more than one update per week has become a running joke.
Seriously, we could leave this place for six months and come back to find about as much new material as most other places would have in a week. Not a strong start by any means.
A full year into the comic and only two main characters have been introduced, and the main character has been to work, to eat, and to the bank.
That’s it?
I spy a Sir Whingealot.
Bear in mind that this is a FREE webcomic, likely produced around the author’s/artist’s work schedule. He doesn’t have any obligation to post any updates at all.
Something is better than nothing. Remember it.
Sure, Dr Lot. In a perfect world, where one gets everything one wants (and, presumably, Dave doesn’t actually have or need a life), maybe this free strp could meet your requirements. Sorry to disappoint.
You’re right, I should stop mentioning the Thurdsday comic, at least until I get my buffer in better shape. One of the things that kept me from ever doing this comic was knowing how slow I’d be at posting it, but then after years and years of thinking like that I realized that if I had been posting slowly all that time, I’d have 300 pages done. At least now I’m doing it. Believe me I wish I could go faster.
There is a Korean webcomic called Orange Marmalaid, in it the author sometimes shows how he makes his comic. The art in it is awsome by the way. You can acces it on most manga sites or go to webtoonslive. It might give you some hints on how to make a faster webcomic.
Cool I’ll have to check that out. Though those mangaka (I don’t know what a Korean mangaka is called) are insane workhorses. Some of them put in 14 hour days, 7 days a week.
so leave. I mean really who’s twisting your arm. I take it you have more valuble things to do with your time then wait for the next update, like maybe making your own comic at a blisting pace and brilliant quality, chock full of whit and charm.
First comment for me.
Noticed the guy there on the stretcher is in the background on comic #4.
Does anyone remember the Wildcard series? Or was I the only one who read those books? Great superheros.
They were okay at first, but there were too many authors going too many directions by about book 3.
That was part of the setup they wrote each from a different perspective. Have you ever had to get a story from more than one person? They never quite match up perfectly. I think my favorite superhero was “The Great and Powerful Turtle”. The one that was the most fun was “Captain Trips”.
Yeah. I remember. They are still making books out in that series. One of them came out about two months ago,Look it up, its stayed relevent to the times. Like they have One with a superhero reality show.
it’s a trap!!! or a test for sid…
its a recruitment tactic isn’t it ?!
Makes me think that some one found out about Halo and wanted to test her.
Seems so. But I am guessing that there is still a twist or three yet to come.
Semms unlikely to me that this was a setup. 1) They’d have to know she was coming to 2) which specific bank 3) and when, soon enough for Maxima to already be there, and 4) arrange the Black Flag opponents (the bank ‘robbers’). Be a LOT simpler to just drop by her house one day after work and say, “Pardon me, may I speak with you a moment?….”
But not as dramatic….
It could still be a smoke out tactic however.
We have all these powers that are apparently appearing all over the world. Chances are that these powered individuals are drawn to conflicts, could be how powers work, putting their wielder into the middle of things automatically. Sorta trouble magnet type of thing, or people them selves could be doing it. If they know they have powers they would react differently to situations.
So setting up a conflict could be a good way to draw out powered individuals.
There is also the possibility that she is under surveillance, if she is they would already know that she was going to the bank, and it would simply be a matter of getting there first.
i aggree,, beside seeing how her lunch at the restaurant is an usual thing i assume the consequences are to,, hence a red flag for the goverment that there might be a super involved or something,,, second,the security feed we see when she get to the bank,, could well not be her first,, third,,if they suspect her it would be easy to find out wich bank she do business with considering she co-own a store.as for timing,, not realy a problem,,, all they needed was harem watching the restaurant-comic store-bank-house and so on by herselves:)
“ARE YOU GUYS OK?” said while looking at general direction of – the ceiling??! I hereby predict that another surprise is due… No idea what it could be though.
Sorry, that was not supposed to get there…
Or – if they wanted to be dramatic – they could have set up a robbery of the comic shop. Where they could do it almost any time.
My thoughts exactly: If “they” had that much info to plan a setup like this – with a timing window of not more than maybe 15 minutes for taking place – and the resources to do it, then they would have way enough info & resources to make a similar show at a better place & time… (The timing window could be wider if everybody within the bank was involved in the plot. But we know already that this is not the case because of guy complaining to Max about security & getting shot.)
It’s a cool thought, but things just don’t add up quite right for it.
Without repeating what others have said, even if they did suspect Sydney specifically, why would Maxima already be there? In that situation you would not likely get any display from “Halo,” it was dumb luck that Sydney even interfered. (Or dumb… something else. >;) ) If they wanted to smoke her or anyone else out, it would be more practical to have the robbers go in unhindered so that the smokee would be prompted to do something.
I’d say it was definitely a smokeout and test for Sydney — seeing how she would act and respond while one of the most powerful supers is standing right there, just in case things went really pear shaped. It explains a lot about what the guys (and Max) did and did not do during the “robbery” – responding in strange ways at strange times. The guys seem to have enough toughness and strength to handle the rough and tumble — though they’re not invulnerable (not to Sydney’s pepper bees anyway) – at least by Max’s concern. Nice to see a twist that makes some of the previous comics make a lot more sense.
Oh, man, I just caught up with this comic, and I have to say that I haven’t laughed this hard in months! You are definitely going into my favorites. I’ll be watching you. ^_^
Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying it.
Oh I look forward to seeing just where this goes next. >,..,>
Well I will agree that this page most likely means the whole bank robbery was a setup. However I was already leaning towards that conclusion. The sheer amount of time and attention Maxima has spent/directed with/towards Sydney lead me to that conclusion. Plus after Sydney puked on her boots Max was still being very nice to Syd, and given how Max handles people in general, she had to be there to find Syd. Most likely they have had Sydney under surveilance since shortly after she found whats in the tube.
Oh and why do the 2 robbers look the same or does his shirt color keep changing?
I am guessing they just look the same and one is wearing blue and one is wearing green.
Robber #1 – Grey shirt with turtle neck, shaved head (with a little stubble) and a pointy chin. He was slapped by Maxima.
Robber #2 – Green shirt, short brown hair, and a broad flat chin. He was tongue-tossed and atomic elbow-slammed by Sydney.
They “look the same” because we’ve never really seen them clearly. Before they were on stretchers, they were both wearing large shades, hats, coats, all to help obscure their features like any bank robber would want to do. Now they are not wearing those distinct shades and we’ve never had a page that showed them both, and few clear shots of either of them, so we never really got to notice their differing features.
The… flexibility I have when I draw faces can make it hard to tell people apart. Not just the strange face shapes that a goofy manga style allows for that sort of thing but also the general inconsistency in my art. They were easy to tell apart when one of them had a hat on, but I’ll take that as a lesson for next time I need some robbers for the characters to beat up on. I’ll give one of them a beard, an eye patch and a peg-nose, and the other one will be a giant anthropomorphic spider in a trenchcoat. :)
Give one of them a scar! XD
Or that, sure.
This is one of the purposes of hair color in manga/anime. ;)
Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have pink hair?
This is why I support genetic engineering. I mean, besides all the disease curing and stuff.
I’m in favor of us growing a new set of teeth every ten to twenty years. Sugary snacks not so bad any more and the dentists shouldn’t be against it because of braces for new teeth every decade or so for some people.
Dude, spider in a trenchcoat FTW.
You should totally do that.
Oh ok so the one in the image did not just have a gun in the face.