Grrl Power #551 – The Mission Aquatic with Sydney Scoville
Seems like Sydney is going to be involved no matter what the circumstances are. Luckily she just found out what the green orb does. It’s almost like I totally planned it that way. Yes sir.
Maxima could probably get that deep on her own, but she doesn’t know, she’s never tried. The pressure wouldn’t be an issue, and her power can subsidize her need to breathe for a limited amount of time. But just in case she can’t, she doesn’t want to be in a position where she’s at the mercy of The Council’s schedule. Her and whoever she takes with her. Dabbler is a useful resource when dealing with the Council. Same with Pixel. Hiro would be useful, or Achilles, or really, nearly anyone from Arc-SWAT or Arc-LIGHT.
I hope Crimson’s expression makes sense in panel 3. I’m pleased with it especially cause I didn’t know what term to google to find a reference. It’s supposed to be like when you’ve told someone something and you have no idea if it’s good or bad news, and you have that expectant kind of half squint. I seem to remember Seinfeld doing it a fair amount. Anyway, Crimson’s kind of doing that expression cause she’s treading the line between “maybe you can’t do everything” and “Be tactful and don’t bruise the most powerful Super’s ego.”
Oh and I took the “2014” off Crimson’s shirt. I forgot it’s still only been a week. :)
Edit: Oops, also corrected the spelling of “New Zeland”
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She’s like GRU!
Destroying every town she comes to? Who would that be then?
Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye? (Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces)
No, think banana-loving side-kicks, who look like giant tic-tacs
A hollywood fitness guru? and their yellow spandex assisstants?
Well played Council, well played.
Now to become paranoid and see if the council planned an adventure under the sea just to keep Halo in the loop.
She only just found out she can produce atmosphere.
Halo yes, but maybe the Council just WANTS you to think that they didn’t know~
It’s not clear if she can produce an entire atmosphere. It’s more accurate to say that she can produce gas*.
*Ok, breathable gas if you want to be pedantic.
With all that spicy food she eats, I do not want to be around when she produces gas.
Nah. They’re just probing Archon’s abilities to keep up (or down) with the council.
See! Its not just the Greys that do probing. Thinking they have just a thing for it and getting the butt of all jokes, is just Xenomorphicist! :)
Super convenient powers activate!
Dave ex machina?
Is that a typo on the shirt, or is it supposed to be New Zeland, instead of New Zealand
Yeah, was wondering about that myself : )
Na, The T shirt just has a New Zealand accent. :-)
Then it would be ‘Nu Zilind’ as pronounced by Lynn of Tawa
Would you believe a Hollywood New Zealand accent? :-)
You mean like the HolyWeird accent for all bad guys? (not meaning they are the same thing >_>)
And it seems to have lost the 2014 at the end from the last comic.
Ooops, just read Dave’s blurb. Ignore me.
Crimson’s expression was clear enough.
She’s always wanted to suggest that the super powerful being might need her help, but she’s also a little scared to do it, because again, super powerful being.
I would call the expression “uncertain,” if you need a term for it. =) Still loving the series, well done.
Crimson’s eyes were a good fit, portraying an obviously non-positive non-agressive emotion (nervousness, uncertainty, hesistation). The tongue, however, messed things up for me. The second i saw the tongue, my thought was, ‘Deliberately trying to embarrass Maxima, or indebt her to the council.’
Or trying to decide how tasty her blood is.
Crimson: I swear sipping some of your blood is the only way I can ensure your survival at this depth.
and then her teeth break trying to pierce Max’s skin.
Probably the same way Maxi donates blood (other than via the nose) or gets flu-jabs
There’s an inhalable flu vaccine. It’s a nasal spray.
Yeah, you do know how Maxi’s forcefield works, don’t you? It even works on the inside
Where has that been said? Not saying it isnt but there has bever been anything in the comic, far as I can see, that says Maximas invulnerability works on her insides.
Every cell of Maxima’s body is protected by its own personal force field, as per one of the Dabbler’s Science Corners. So, yea, Guesticus has called it right.
Not that it means Maxima cannot be harmed by anything. Clearly the force fields must be permiable to oxygen and other vital substances, or else she could not sustain life functions. So something which can pass through the force field would potentially be able to harm her.
Likewise the personal force fields need to be able to flex, so that she can breathe and have her heart pump. Likewise her skin must be able to flex as a necessary part of being able to sense things with touch. Without which she would have crushed Sydney when grasping her earlier, in this scene.
So whilst they will stop sudden shocks, the same may not apply to gradual pressure. Hence, when looking at both the issues (the various chemicals in the blood/her lungs and the pressure and its variability) Maxima may be at risk from the bends.
Although, even then, I would expect her to be a lot more resistant than normal humans. But rapidly ascending, from one mile down, may be a problem even for Maxima.
Actually I think you’re reading into things again that haven’t actually been stated. I just checked Dabber’s Science Corner, and what Dabbler said was “The energy field that grants stability to the objects she lives is the same one she extends around herself like a deflector field. It’s also used to fortify her cell structure, increasing her strength and toughness, explaining why she can’t do all of those things at once.”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/376
I think that you’ve read ‘cell structure’ and assumed ‘her internal organs are all as invulnerable from the inside as she is from the outside’ …. even though she’s clearly talking about using that for strength (and more specifically how Maxima’s strength is an element of zero-range telekinesis), and ‘toughness’ but she makes an intentional difference for when using it during a fight as armor (making it more like a DEFLECTOR FIELD’).
You don’t have any actual proof that her organs are in some sort of state of biological invulnerability. In fact, the mere fact that she needs oxygen when underwater, needs a mask even in a thin atmosphere, requires food and water, and ages means that her organs CAN’T be as invulnerable and unchanging as you’re assuming. Which means that something like gasses and nitrogen narcosis MIGHT actually work on her. It clearly works on others who are varying levels of invulnerability, like Vehemence (pot smoke works on him, for example).
That doesn’t mean she isn’t immune to poisons and stuff like the bends, but you’re making an assumption without facts to back it up (or at least Word of God from DaveB)
“Although, even then, I would expect her to be a lot more resistant than normal humans. But rapidly ascending, from one mile down, may be a problem even for Maxima.”
Right. Because her organs might be vulnerable to nitrogen narcosis, since she still needs to process oxygen to breathe, which means her organs do work like normal organs, despite her outward invulnerability and toughness. She’s probably able to hold her breath for longer than a pearl diver but that doesn’t mean that chemistry works differently within her body for how oxygen and nitrogren react to pressure changes, even if her body is too invulnerable to worry about being crushed from that same pressure.
I admit I’m not a scientist …. although comic book science isnt really science :) I’m just basing this on what Dabbler actually said and not assuming anything additional or reading into it.
I should also mention, in addition to the context of the rest of the sentence,that there’s also the wording ‘cell structure’ rather than ‘each individual cell’ – it seem to imply that it’s NOT each individual cell.
Can’t go anywhere without the Main Character!
*puts water-wings on*
What? Us ancillary ones get to try out too, you know! I shall be auditioning for the part of ‘dog-fish’.
you dont need water-wings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sND4331aTC8
Note how the ‘shiny’ green thing, is a (hopefully) used dildo! :eek:
Now I do not want to click on that link…
I have some puffin in my family (hence the big nose) so will be paddling along too.
Curious about Achilles under water.
He’s totally invulnerable, so probably also fine with not breathing, but I wonder if he still does breathe, just like he still eats (but probably can’t be starved).
So I wonder how he feels about not breathing
It’s probably a matter of habit with him. Or rather reflexes. Even if he doesn’t need to, the breathing reflex is hardwired into human bodies and it’d probably be super-uncomfortable for him to be underwater. Remember the scene with the rat submerged in the breathing fluid form “The Abyss”? It would probably feel just like that for him.
He would still drown, but no physical damage would accrue. But he would FEEL like he was drowning, constantly. And the same goes for Starvation or Thirst. He’d continually feel the problem, until he recrtified it, or got used to it. Or conquered the feeling.
Well that would be unpleasant, being forced to drown for eternity.
Maybe but he’s not hurt by external damage so there’d be no pain from the drowning sensation. With lungs full of water he’d just have to put extra effort into moving his diaphragm.
That said the part where the water goes in would probably trigger a pile of human reflexes.
Achilles’ entry in the cast page mentioned that he’s often offsite doing something normally crazy dangerous, like movie stunts and deep-sea welding. I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that he has no problem with deep water.
Invulnerable doesn’t mean unkillable. We haven’t seen anything that confirms he doesn’t need food, water, or oxygen to survive. He just isn’t very discriminate about things he eats as long as it has a good mouth feel.
Best way to kill an invulnerable person is to put a bag over the head while arms and legs are restrained.
The cast page has been down for a while or we’d be able to refer you there, but Achilles IS unkillable. He doesn’t need to breathe. He doesn’t need to eat. He doesn’t age. He can’t be disintegrated, crushed, exploded, incinerated, or anything else you might think of. He is immune to ALL forms of harm, including natural ones. He is irritatingly invincible. You could drop him in the sun and he’d survive: he just wouldn’t be able to get out.
So he’s Captain Jack Harkness, post Bad Wolf.
Harkness dies and recovers. Achilles does not the dying part before recovering. He can get trapped, like when a building falls on him, but he does not suffer harm from it.
I got better.
So more like Anne Rice’s Akasha. She was buried eons ago, then forgotten. Invincible person just needs to be trapped.
Yes, that is Achilles’s greatest weakness, his lack of secondary powers to help him escape incarceration. Having 50% more usable strength than a normal person does help mind. Likewise the fact that his fingers, finger nails and fists will never get hurt or wear down, no matter how much he claws at, or tries to wriggle free from, bindings or punches at obstacles.
Unless they are continuously being repaired/ replaced or are otherwise invulnerable to wear and tear themselves, Achilles will eventually break free from any constraint.
Of course with super powers in the mix there are a few that would not allow him a means of purchase to wear things down, such as levitation or a stasis field, freezing him in time. These though are only good for as long as they last. Mind you there are very few heroes who would be able to counter a time trap so that is not a major limitation.
Flyers though could easily escape the former example. Hence why Achilles’s lack of ancillary powers is a problem, when compared to more versatile supers.
Interestingly though Achilles is more powerful than a god, if you try to trap him with the means used on Akasha. Ignoring the plot details, the incarceration manifested itself as petrification. Which would not work on Achilles (unless that turns out to be an exception to his otherwise total invulnerability).
Best cage on the easy side would probably be either drop him in a large fast ocean current (to keep him moving in in near constantly if you put him in the right place) or something like an antlion pit in a desert environment… the sand shifting would keep him in place against all normally usable escape methods with the sand shifting back in place constantly.
how do they know Halo’s shield will hold back the pressure? That’s approaching the bottom of the challenger deep, or similar. …and…
expecting to see them have to slowly surface to avoid the bends.
The challenger deep is 10.000 meters (10km).
Crimson said 1000 meters (1km)
oops. read an extra 0 there. I get up too early on mondsys to read this.
I dunno. Max probably could play ballistic missile. Sydney knows to do similar thanks to scuba certification. But if her shield keeps pressure light enough or the air has no nitrogen in the first place. Then no bends.
the green bubble probably regulates air pressure and density anyway
The shield withstood large explosions that might have had higher pressure on a small impact area.
And impact tends to be more dangerous than steady pressure.
Only if they pressurize the air inside her shield. It wouldn’t be needed just for her in her shield but if they are leaving the shield to enter some underwater base that is pressurized then all those issues would be there.
You know Sydney wonders this same thing herself. I take it she has tried embiggening her shield with it up before. There must be a function of the orbs to not kill their controller.
Dave has confirmed that the orbs automatically adjust the pressure, should the shield be embiggened or unembiggened whilst raised.
Much like the flyball controls gravity, in a manner that suits the wielder, so too does the Forb, as regards atmospheric pressure.
Sydney’s only issue is if the underwater base is not pressurised to surface air pressure levels. Presumably it will be set at a pressure which is survivable by surface dwellers. But there are also likely to be deep ocean denizens in there too. So there may be a compromise pressure, which reduces the amount of hassle for those who do not travel in pressurised vehicles.
Even if it is just 10 atmospheres of pressure (1/10th of what the outside pressure is at that depth) that may require some acclimatisation / depressurisation time. Although the orb can probably help. If they stay down long enough to become acclimatised, then the orb will probably maintain that pressure, when the shield is raised.
Heading towards the surface though it may gradually reduce the pressure as they ascend.
I suspect, after the debacle in the swimming pool, that the duct tape will make a return.
Pretty sure it won’t be necessary. Max pushes bubble around from the inside while Sydney handles the shield and air balls….. ball fondling jokes go folks.
Still, not the first time I’ve wondered why Sydney doesn’t get a glove that can lock her fingers in position, so on long journeys in dangerous environments she doesn’t activate her super ADHD powers with a cry of “heywhatsthat!”, pop the bubble and TK 90% of her passengers… plus, would have to hurt less then duct tape coming off again.
Same thought here. It doesn’t even have to be anything fancy. Just a glove with a hole cut into the palm and some (elastic) straps that go over the orb to keep it in place when she relaxes her fingers.
That would be simpler than what I was thinking – I had imagined some gadget glove with an emergency quick release on the non-shield glove, for combat scenarios. And a remote control release for when Sydney forgets that she needs to breathe (again), so her teammates can rescue her.
…your suggestion is probably more cost effective.
Mitten-kryptonite. The tips of her fingers, palm, and inner lengths of her fingers are all probably requisite.
What about an open-palmed locked gauntlet? Or a Pata-like enclosure?
Those would work. Do note the danger of not being able to swap orbs when need though. That said though, when faced with the issue of instant death by crushing, if releasing an orb, a locked gauntlet is a preferable risk, when deep underwater.*
Just make sure not to loose the key. ;-)
There will always be a trade-off, on any such solution, between how easy it is to ‘unlock’, or otherwise remove a gauntlet, versus the risks of it coming off accidentally or by hostile action. A simple disarming technique could prove fatal to Halo. Although such would require bypassing the shield by some means, so is less of a danger than it might otherwise be.
* For flying though it is less desirable, as there is time to recover (if at a safe altitude), therefore the loss of versatility is proportionately more dangerous than the ‘oops factor’.
So a flexible type of arrangement (such as stretchable fabrics) that would keep the orb from falling out, if Sydney relaxed her grip, yet would not stop her from deliberately moving it out by mental command, would be far more preferable.
In both cases there would be a time-delay in fixing the orb in place initially, but the flexible option eliminates that for removing it. Likewise if it is an open-palmed glove then Halo has the option of simply grasping (or summoning) an orb as normal, thus omitting fixing it in place.
Later, when time is less pressing, Sydney can then slide the orb into position underneath the fabric (or pull it back to allow her to command the orb in mentally). Something that would be harder (or impossible, depending on design) with a metal or other rigid gauntlet.
That was my thought for how to handle that situation: Halo provides the force field and air supply; Max provides propulsion.
Ambivalent?
Max…. would you like a pillow to scream into? :P
Crimson also said in water, not under. As far as semantics go, she could mean 1km from a shore in horizontal direction. I’m almost sure she did mean under, it would be weird if the council didn’t know she can fly… but I can’t help but imagine Maxima’s face if she found it was the other alternative and brought recruit along because of that. Just a pillow wouldn’t fix that :)
‘In’ is usually meaning ‘under the surface’, like when you say ‘in the ground’, ‘on the water’ is just that, on top of, either floating or on a boat or similar
Isn’t English such a fun language, with fifty meanings for the same word, unlike some languages where you have fifty different words for ‘snow’ (you would almost think those people would be sick of the damn stuff and get bored with it, but maybe they are so bored they actually took the time to categorize every different type because they had nothing else to do until it thawed :P)
20 000 Leagues Undrr The Sea meant (mostly) horizontal, if one needs an example. A league is 7 miles, and a mile is 1.6 km. Hey, Verne cudda used 480 000 furlongs instead.
SNL had a sketch on that very misunderstanding, and IMHO, it was one of the funny ones. ‘20,000 leagues? Captain, I don’t think the ship can go that deep!’ “You are not allowed to speak any more. That’s an order!”
I always found ‘20,000 leagues under the sea’ to be hilarious since I know that the DEEPEST part of the ocean is the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench, which is 36,200 feet.
20,000 leagues is about 365,000,000 feet. The radius of the entire Earth, to the core of the Earth, is only 20,900,000 feet. You’d need Earth to be about 17-18 times bigger to be 20,000 leagues under the sea…. and then you’d be in the literal center of the Earth. Wrong story :)
The title refers to the horizontal distance the sub travelled, not the depth. When Verne wrote it, submarines were experimental, mostly by the military. most people probably thought of the ocean /sea in terms of its surface only plus maybe “waydahell deep”.
Then I feel that Jules Verne probably should have called it 20,000 leagues across the sea instead of under the sea :)
I imagine that “in 1000 meters of water” to turn out to be that the location is inside some kind of leviathan, which happens to be floating 1km down, in a spot that is at least 1km from the ocean floor, and at least 1km from any horizontal land. Basically, within a 1km sphere, nothing but water and fishies.
Technically, a sub could also manage that, but this is the council. So I’m guessing that it’s not a sub. Unless it happens to be a submissive leviathan, but that’s a different type of sub. In any event, I’d expect it’s an important council member.
Like this?
Doubtful it’s a leviathan. 1000 meters down is actually a rather shallow part of the ocean, since the average depth of the ocean floor is 3000 meters (almost 10,000 feet). At least according to Google.
Depends entirely on the pillow
I wonder if Sydney’s life support orb does heat as well as atmosphere. I’d think 1km deep would get pretty cold. And who’s bringing the light source?
They’re coming fully geared – would be bad practice not to take -something- to help with that.
If they need a source of warmth and light, they can bring Brooke/Heat Wave.
She can’t pierce the veil, so she can’t go. Dabbler’s magic would be a better bet, I think.
Well the PPO does provide both heat and light.
*wags tail cheekily*
0-2C at depth, so bring warm clothing rather than dress for the Arctic.
Even if you are going a kilometre down in the Arctic Ocean? The temperature of the sea water can actually be quite a bit below 0 degrees C, because the salt interferes with the freezing process. Mind you, that colder temperatures will be at the surface during the winter when the air is like -40 degrees (F or C, it is the same at that point). It will gradually warm up to about 4C at depth, so yeah, bring warm clothing.
Seaquest DSV* returns!
* Da Sydney Version**
** Which raises the question, should “Am I a spaceship?” have been “Am I a submarine?”
… Is this Yorp bait? Where is he/she yet?
Hrm, the Orbs were found in the sea, a species with multiple grippy arms, such as an octopus, could use all of them at once without risk of dropping them, they could provide a portable pressurised aquarium while oxygenating the water… maybe the question should be “Am I a landship?”
The Kraken Wakes!
Didn’t the last season involve a timeskip after being abducted by aliens? Therefore, the question is moot.
or the other submarine tv show Voyage To See What’s On The Bottom. complete with flying submarine.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0057798
…Said “flying sub” always seemed a ‘rip-off’ of Gerry Anderson’s original:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercar_(TV_series)]
…both of which were probably inspired by Jules Verne’s 1904 story:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_the_World_(novel)]
I feel like “in 1000 meters of water” is the wrong wording here.
under?
Nooope. It’s vague but grammatically and situationally correct.
Not sure you’re correct. Grammatically, it is probably fine. Sort of like ‘The rock slept brightly’. And, in context, it is understood to mean ‘under’. But can you be ‘in’ something that is a linear?
It’s a standard nautical usage: “we anchored in 5 fathoms of water”.
yes, I under. and I compre
I love this, this one had me laughing out loud and thats a good sing for a Monday keep up the awesome work.
if it’s only been a week in-comic, shouldn’t Sydney’s ovaries still be duking it out in there?
Why does it matter?
Because in a comic about superheroes, aliens, vampires and magic, we wouldn’t want to take away from the realism of the situation.
+1
She found a solution, no more need to mention it. Just like we’re not timing her next bladder break (or at least I’m not).
Some women only have it last less than a week.
It has been more than a week. It has been a week since the first fight with the Mane Killers. Reference Super Generic Debrief. Sydney stated to Joel and what’s her name that I am to lazy to go back and look up that they just hired (Victoria?) that the fight was over a week ago and there has been nothing since.
I assume you mean this page?
Her name is Olivia, and all it says is that it was “several nights ago” which could be anywhere from 3 to 6 nights (more would probably expressed in weeks) and she mentions a vague ‘last week’ as the time before people were lining up outside the shop, so before she was outed as a super.
In short, seems it was actually less than a week since the press conference.
Last panel Sydney states, in response to Joel’s observation, less relaxing than a Week ago. If you figure the day of the back robbery/press conference to be the last relaxing morning, that it has been at least a week since the following day the comic book store was swamped.
And thank you Lord Viking for reminding me of her name, and providing the strip.
I see Crimson’s fangs in panel three,how about you?
BTW-What is the Unholy Masquerade???
We saw them last page as well
The “Unholy Masquerade” is a kiwi Vampire festival, kinda like the “Big Day Out”, but with less of the ‘day star’ business
So if Sydney is providing shielding and oxygen, I assume that Maxima is providing propulsion?
Or would it be easier to use re-breathers for the trip so that Sydney needs to only worry about shielding and propulsion?
If Sydney is talking more than a few people, the bubble will have a huge amount of buoyancy to counteract. They may need to take along Stalwart to provide enough ballast weight to get it to sink.
I bet Stalwart doesn’t have the required clearance for this mission.
Sydney can handle shield and propulsion, then take a break to refresh the air as needed; just as long as she does not release the wrong orb… again.
Sorry. Its New Zealand
EA
Alternate universe, alternate spelling? Or would that explanation be considered cheting?
Its a bootleg shirt
Panel 3 thought: The eyebrows are fine, but why is her tongue out?
Panel four, Crimson is licking her fangs because she wants a piece of the golden pie :D
Can she actually bite Max?
We’ve seen Max take blasts that vaporized her clothes while leaving her skin perfectly flawless……..
Don’t think fangs will be able to top that…………
Who knows? Do you believe either truly wants to find out? And there are other parts that could have Crim licking her lips regarding Maxi :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
Anyone can bite Max.
Not that their teeth would survive. (Either by breaking them on her skin or on her fist.)
If Maxima reduces her defense stat to as close to zero as she can maybe? I can see Maxima doing it if/when she wants a love hickey.
Doesn’t everyone…?
I just love the looks Sydney’s giving Max in the 4th panel……………
“You we’re saying Colonel?”
Maxima’s just like
“Son of a bitch”
You got the expression just right on Crimson.
Panel four has to be one of the best Sydney’s in a very long time :D
Correction, panel five, that tiny ‘Aw.’ panel counts as a full panel :P
Sydney’s response when the assembled Archon members head out to the meeting should be “We’re off to meet the aquatic members of the council. OK everyone, let’s get Kraken!”
He he. I should not be so amused with Sydney suffering from smugness. But it is hard to resist her enthusiasm.
Or the fact she got something over Maxi… just have to wait for the payback now, a fully detailed report, in quadruplicate, single spaced, both sides, with addendum on how she (Sydney) could have acted better :P
Of which 90% will be redacted due to unprintable invocations to ancient deities of death, destruction, and profanity.
Mostly just the profanity.
and spontaneously combustion of the Thesaurus once again.
Nah, Maxima will just make her wait outside the meeting point in her bubble… all alone… at the bottom of the ocean… can’t imaging that going wrong. She could even do it as an order to have Sydney patrol around the area as she was so helpful in spotting the initial ambush attempt. Stroke the ego while banishing her to the fishies.
Also, give Sydney an oxygen sensor so she knows when to refresh the air in the bubble.
Is it just me or does anyone else think Sydney seems to have gotten taller between panels 4 and 6?
Max is just slouching a little in defeat.
I like to think that Sydney is leaning upwards on her tippytoes like Spongebob.
Ahhh…………The thot pickiens, err,the Plot Thickens !
(possible Ambush Scenario ?)
Someone probably said this when the orb’s power was actually discovered but… it seems the team spent money on Sydney’s rebreather for nothing… But then… I suppose it can let her fly and shield at the same time without risking running out of air…
Sydney suggested she no longer needed the rebreather. Maxima suggested she keep it anyway; since there was no reason to announce the orb’s power.
Sydney having the rebreather is a reasonable redundancy. Easy scenario for its use… Sydney has to physically move rapidly underwater while either using the lighthook to keep something secured or the comm-ball to look for something. Since she has the rebreather, she can put it in her mouth before releasing the shield-orb.
Oh, and she may want to do some very careful testing before using the PPO underwater. Steam and shockwaves have no allegiances.
One question. By the appearance of Maxima and Crimson in today’s comic, did Dabbler come up with another specialty gun that shrinks black t-shirts by three sizes?
Can’t wait for Thursday!!! Good job on panel 3! I understood what you were going for immediately.
Not to be a massive nit pick you misspelled New Zealand…
While we’re at it, there’s also a comma missing in the last panel.
And the light in panel 6 wasn’t glinting off all the orbs in exactly the same way.
And Sydney’s shoes are untied in panel 2 and tied in panel 4.
Also Max is going commando in panel 6, then wearing panties in panel 7.
That last one we know is pure garbage because Maxima would never go Commando.
I thought she was a commando.
As a member of the Air Force, she would probably be in the elite ParaRescue squads. Air Force doesn’t really have commandos, it is more of an Army thing. Equivalence in other branches: Navy Seals, Marine Recon.
Maxima may have even been invited to serve with the S.A.S., for a mission or two. They would probably find her to be hardcore enough to make the grade.
Probably not on any covert missions though. Not unless they have a magical disguises support team.
Yknow Syd will never stop acting like shes the main character if reality keeps insisting on treating her like the main character XD.I wonder who shell try to mortally offend this time?
They are going to meet the king of the squid people. In Sydney’s lunchbox she packed for the trip we find out she brought calamari.
Fish are ugly and delicious. Squid are uglier and delieciouser.
This is when Sydney learns that fish are smart, can talk, and like the same comics she does. Also, she’s been insulting and eating them.
Sydney has more in common with vampires than she realised.
We find out that Archon has been called to deal with some unrest in the fish kingdom after the citizens have found out what is in the new government food product ‘soylent bream’.
Hmm, you mentioning Sydney being the main character makes me think of the Master Assassin in Magellan (magellanverse.com). Too bad it is on a winter break (coming from Australia).
[ Some of the team are seen running around the track. Some are already done and standing around or walking to other places. Sydney is still jogging, but her endurance is clearly almost spent. A bright flash appears in the middle of the infield inside the track. ]
Master Assassin: Yes! I am free of those idiots at Locke Island! Ah, my fellow oppressed, I bring you freedom. [ Everybody starts to converge on him ] You are all oppressed by your creator, the Author, who directs your every move, but I have come from another reality where I have thrown off my shackles and I can free you from the tyranny you have but have yet to realize. All we have to do is find the Alpha Character and eliminate him. I, the Master Assassin, will lead you to the Alpha Character and with the death of the Alpha Character, your Author’s hold on this reality will be broken.
Anvil: [ Drops a huge hand onto Master Assassin’s shoulder from behind ] You aren’t going anywhere or kill anyone. You are under arrest for entering a military facility without permission and threatening death. [ *Vorp* A Harem gives handcuffs to Kenya. Kenya quickly applies them to the Master Assassin ] You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do say may be recorded and used as evidence against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and have that attorney present during any questioning. If you can not afford an attorney, the court may appoint a lawyer for you at no additional cost to you. Do you understand these rights as I have said them to you?
Master Assassin: What?! I am giving you the keys to your absolute freedom and you ask me these pointless questions?
Sydney: He sounds Australian or maybe Kiwi. We should probably call officials in those countries and see if a nutcase managed to escape by teleportation.
Anvil: Recruit, have you finished your laps yet?
Sydney: But, I dub bub do … No, Sergeant Cassidy. [ Sydney resumes her slow jog around the track ]
Maxima: [ Flying in ] What’s this about an intruder?
Master Assassin: There! That is your Alpha Character. Kill her and your freedom from the absolute control of the Author will be at hand.
Maxima: I see. Can somebody shut this loon up?
Dabbler: [ In human guise ] Sava Lava Cuti! [ Master Assassin goes limp in Anvil’s arms ]
[ A large purple vertical circle opens up in the middle of the field, A black-haired woman wearing panelled armour steps out of the circle. ]
Mindmistress: [ Looks around and sees Master Assassin unconscious being held by Anvil. ] Oh, good. You have him. Wolfgang Kruger there is an escaped convict in another reality. I am here to take him back.
Maxima: What crimes is he convicted of?
Mindmistress: He was convicted of several dozen counts of murder in the first degree, several hundred counts of conspiracy to commit murder and several counts of international terrorism and being an officer in a terrorist organization. He is sentenced to several consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole.
Maxima: Do you have proof of this?
Mindmistress: Unfortunately, all my evidence, other than Kruger himself, is in another universe. When he arrived here, he would have talked about his obsession with killing what he calls an Alpha Character. Somehow that would free people from the will of their creator. His delusion is not self-consistent, but he believes it.
Maxima: How do I know that this is not just an elaborate jail-break routine?
Mindmistress: You don’t, but I can think of many easier ways to do that than what we are doing right now.
Maxima: Come to my office where we can talk about this further. Dabbler come with her. Anvil, put Mr. Kruger in holding. [ Touches thought mike ] Arianna, can you meet me in my office? We need to talk about our intruders. Sydney, are you done yet?
Sydney: [ Panting ] One lap to go!
Maxima: Keep going. [ Flies off. ]
Dabbler: Follow me.
Mindmistress: [ Looks at the way Dabbler walks. ] Hmm, so you have what, hooves and your leg structure is more like a goat or a sheep. That is a very good illusion to appear to have primate legs while walking the way you do. Even still, that doesn’t account for everything. Hmm, do you have an extra pair of arms or something like that?
Dabbler: (honk honk)
Followed by:
Dabbler: Ow! [ after getting slapped by Mindmistress’s armoured hand ]
Mindmistress: Hands to yourself, okay?
Dabbler: How can you see my hidden hands anyway?
Mindmistress: I can see how your weight distribution shifts as you move your arms around, invisible or otherwise. It is easy to infer where your hands are from that.
I like it. it’s in character for all of them, maybe except sidney, I don’t believe she would start running so fast again. At least an Anvil:And …? Sidney: I gona run the rest of them? Anvil: Get going, recruit! was missing. also sidney should have had an Oh,shiny moment when Mindmistress showed up.
Oops, throat mike.
@ukezi, when was she running fast? I have her exhausted, slowly jogging, almost walking around the track. I can see where your Anvil-Sydney exchange would occur and it would add colour nicely. I was running out of steam by the end and I tried a couple of drafts for a Mindmistress-Sydney encounter, but I just could not make it fit.
Just add two more things in the little “battle to the death” text at the bottom, and it can be one for each ball!
I love Crimson’s shirt, but why did she suddenly licked her fangs?
Because she’s looking at Maxi’s golden delicious neck, and wants to see if it truly tastes as sweet as an apple (just make she isn’t hiding Adam’s apple behind her choker >_>)
Actually I suspect it’s from the possibility of getting Max to admit that Archon is not completely self sufficient in skills, ie, that Archon might need the Council too. That may be why this meeting is in underwater, instead of just a way to get readers fussing about in vs under.
True. Or even just trying to test the limits and build portfolios on Arcon. Went underwater, they met us on short notice and brought these team members. Met in low Earth orbit, took them an extra day, brought these team members. Meet in an active volcano. Brought these people, complained about the sulfer smell.
Could probably build as pretty good dosier on the team with an exotic enough set of meeting locations.
“Met in NFL locker room during halftime. Didn’t have room for the team and the female supers in attendance.”
Pretty soon, they’re gonna hafta up Sydney’s power rating because she’s so damn useful, even if she isn’t the most in any category. Sorta like a Utility Belt Super.
Is this signaling the return of the Aquapirate? https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/554
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/718
Even though it’s not an onomatopoeia, I totally heard the slowly ascending violin note when i read “slow lean” You know the one right? From cartoons? (Sometimes its a cello)
I know just the one you mean, and yes, that’s exactly right.
Oh, you mean the “I’m about to make things awkward” face?
With Crimson’s expression in Panel 3, I just felt as if she was in the middle of talking. Or maybe that she had forgotten something and wanted to bring up a point. It wasn’t until I read the blurb underneath the comic that I understood what that expression meant. Then again, without tone, it’s hard to determine her expression without knowing the character in advance. Not in this case, but when I’m new to a comic and arrive in the middle of an arc, it’s always a bit hard at first to get a feel of who’s the good/bad guys and their attitudes towards each other.