Grrl Power #57 – Why is this computer so loud?
Wait what comic is this? Oh, we’ve just switched scenes for a moment. Don’t worry, we’ll see some Sydney antics on the next page, which honestly is the most fun to write and draw, but I’m also trying to tell a story here (of sorts).
Hopefully I’m not setting Arianna up to be too much of a bad guy here. Her and Maxima will butt heads a lot but she’s still a good guy in her own way. Bear with me as I learn how to draw someone who isn’t in their 20’s or early 30’s. I think there are a lot of artists out there, especially in manga that have no idea how to draw older people, so they just put bags under their eyes. I figure Arianna’s is a healthy early 40’s since she is a lawyer and in charge of PR for the team. It bugs me in manga how there’s usually no one between the ages of 23 and 60. (Depending on the genre of course, but when I say manga, I mean stuff of the shounen, seinen and harem bent, which is 90% of the stuff that I was introduced to manga with.)
Oh, and I had to spend $800 on brakes this weekend, so there goes my advertising budget for a while. If you do enjoy the comic, do me a favor and share it with a friend. Don’t spam anyone, just… you know – if you know someone who’d like it, send them a link, click the Like or +1, tweet it, whatever. Thanks!
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"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Heheh. I see Max doesn’t like the camera. Also, perfect ringtone for her.
How did that camera phone even survive long enough to record the pic?
Shouldn’t that be “How did that camera survive after taking the pic” ? You’d think maxima would have destroyed it.
You just need the SD card to survive, not the whole camera/phone.
I agree the perfect ring tone for her!
Love the ringtone, and like some others said, I had it figured out without the hint. :)
I don’t know about the ringtone.
For some reason, Alice Cooper’s No More Mr Nice Guy seems to fit her as well.
That implies that she was nice at one point. I mean, way back she was I guess. I’d love to do her origin story some time.
She can be nice … when not dealing with idiots … obviously, it doesn’t happen often.
I was actually thinking “Duel of Fates” from the prequels would’ve been more apropos (though much harder to identify in written form)…
I played “Duel of the Fates” in my school orchestra. That, and the themes from Doctor Who and Indiana Jones, and some of the music from The Lord of the Rings. The conductor believed in using “culturally relevant” music to keep our interest instead of classical stuff we’d never heard of. That was years ago…
i dont know,,, i think march of the valkyries would suit her fine,,,, or maybe the jaws theme :)
i think the song you where looking for was Wagners. “Flight of the Valkyrie”
and yes totally agree that would be an awesome ring tone for her.
Different people are going to have different ringtones for her. Just wait till she finds out that someone has Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” for her.
Let me guess: Dabbler?
Probably one of the guys on the team. Not sure what Dabbler’s would be for Max.
California girl maybe? Something guaranteed to get a rise out of her anyway.
“I kissed a girl” perhaps? Or perhaps “It’s raining men”? :P
Say, that’s a Razor Lachesis mouse right?
And Leon never answered the question, he avoided it. In a over the top sarcastic way, already like him.
Nah, it’s missing the glowing logo on the back end of the mouse.
I know this, because I have the Lachesis sitting in front of me, connected to my computer :P
I tried using some Sketchup models to build Leon’s desk but that program really isn’t easy to use when it comes to setting up anything other than lego-like building exteriors, so I just drew it. It’s probably a Razer of some sort, though his keyboard is definitely a Logitech G15.
I half expected him to have more than one keyboard. A true computer genius/hacker can do so much more with 100+ hotkeys.
Sketchup can do a lot more than you think. I’m amazed by the capabilities of the program with the proper add-ons. not up to the standards of 3ds Max but you would be surprised.
Wow, didn’t expect the scene change… should have had the spanish inquisition guys in a photo or something on the desk as a joke (No one expects them) but i’ve gotta say… love Leon already, even if he’s just a minor character.
Sydney should be outside the ambulance recording everything preferably using one of her power spheres so nobody can tamper with the record.
Does anyone else imagine sydney at this point peering in through a window and trying to listen in on the conversation in the ambulance?
“Oh my god, this was stag…” *Grabbed and dragged off by maxima*
Nice to know I’m not the only one thinking that. LOL
Considered it, but most likely she’s still trying to get her tube out from under the car
That is a distinct possibility as well.
And given Sydney’s personality the most likely IMO. lol
hydrolic jacks are your friend
I don’t think sydney is tall enough to look through the window, plus those ambulances are pretty sound proof, but it was a very good image to think about.
I can only imagine the shenanigans these two must perpetrate to the chagrin of Maxima and the others in the team.
It’s not what these two get up to, it’s the hair-brained stunts Arianna comes up with that gives Maxima headaches (IMHO).
800 on brakes?! what kind of brakes, Semi tractor trailer brakes?! Wow, you were ripped off. Brakes are really easy to replace (except for drum brakes) I’m a woman and I do my own brakes in under 20 minutes. (Being a paper girl I gotta know how to do these things) get the lifetime from autozone, then when they get bad simply exchange them out. Of course, if it’s also the master cylinder, the wheel cylinders, calipers, and the brake lines, that’s when it gets rather pricy.
Good page, I love the action here and how you did her to look older.
oh yeah, I like the “no photo” pic of Max
I have an small SUV, the rear brakes are the drum kind which I know nothing about, the front brakes are the clampy kind, those I can replace myself, I know I should have, but my back’s been giving me problems lately and I didn’t want to aggravate it getting the wheels off. Plus it would have taken an hour or two to get the parts and swap them out and I only had this page partly colored yesterday. I know they hosed me on labor but at least I’ve the car got it paid off now. I’ll just pretend they’re more care payments for a few months. :P
Yeah they really hosed you on labor… The rears you can do for under $200 (depending on the cost of the drums) and the front you can do for under $100… Thats new shoes/pads and rotors/drums….
$500 for labor… wow I wish I could put that much in my pocket for less than 2hours of work….
for sure, you sure they didnt do the extra parts? I only paid 60 for getting my back brakes changed, and those were the drums
Have to agree you got hosed. I will pay someone else to do disk brakes (hate fighting the calipers) but I was replacing drum brakes 30 years ago and they haven’t changed that much. Easy peasy 30 minute job at most (assuming no drum damage) if you know how to change a tire it’s not much more complicated.
the real trick to getting a good discount is to wear a snap on cap to the mechanics. they generally will figure your a gear head and cut the bullshit.
Ok I can see $800 if you got new drums, shoes, pads, and rotors, and they may have needed to flush the brake system or used a $2,000 scan tool to properly cycle the antilock brake system while flushing it also if you needed a new brake cylinder in the back or a caliper in the front then it WOULD need flushing or bleeding with the special scan tool and that takes a tech who has training how to use it. The shop has to cover the cost of the scan tool and training to use it somehow.
It ha been my experience tha a majority of the auto mechanics out there are out to get as much money out of their customers as they can. So if they see someone come in who they feel knows very little about cars, they will try to charge them as much as they feel they can safely get before the customer becomes furious and calls the BBB on their ass. Of course, I could have just had to have chosen shady car mechanics, and missed the good ones, but that’s what I’ve experienced.
Last two cars I got from larger dealers with a rep for being legit. I have any trouble, I took the car to their service department – which admittedly is a 30 minute trip, but the security of being able to trust your mechanic is worth it.
If you think you are getting ripped off take the detail sheet with all the charges around to a few other places and ask them what they would have charged… if they give you something pretty close then generally you can stop worrying.
Sad how little the industry gets regulated in most states. Fortunately up here they HAVE TO post their pricing up from and in BIG print. This thanks to both the Provincial Government getting it somewhat right and the insurance industry taking a hissy-fit and browbeating the politicians into regulating the industry. Nothing says “can do” than threatening to support the other party.
… up front …. [ spell check doesn’t work when its the wrong word ]
$800.00 for brakes is not all that unreasonable … for parts and labor that is acutally pretty reasonable.
Provided that the following were done for the cost of $800.00: Replaced Pads and Rotors, Replaced Drums, Shoes, Hardware … and Bleed the Brakes.
(Please excuse the bad spelling and grammer)
The typical labor rate (this varies a lot) in my area is about $100.00 per hour … any shop public or private are required by law to have their labor rates in plain view of the customer.
The labor for removal and repair/replacement (R&R) for front brake pads and rotors is about 1.5 – 2.0 hours … or about $200.00 (high side estimate)
The labor for R&R of rear drums, shoes, and hardware is about 1.5 – 2.5 hours … or about $250.00 (est).
The labor for Bleeding brakes (abs or not) is usally around 1.0 hours … about $100.00 (est) this usally includes the cost of brake fluid as well.
Total labor cost would have been around $550.00 (high side estimate).
Now before everyone here goes … WTF @!%$ … Labor hours (not labor rates) for performing work on vehilces are set in the auto industry as a whole by the following publishers, Haynes Labor guides, Mitchell Labor guides, Chiltion Labor guides, and All-Data labor guides. These four are the accepted labor guides used thoughout the industry. This is to keep the industry fair and (ahem) mostly honest. The way that labor hours are typically determined (according to Chilton) is they take 4 high qualified techs and have them perform the same work on a vehicle (ie change brakes) and then use the time from either an average of all four or the lowest time for completion of the work. These services are montiered by ASE (automotive service and excellence) to ensure accucacy and honesty. Many people often wonder how labor hours work for techs … Simply if a job (brakes in this case) … the total labor charge would be 5.5 hours times the labor rate THIS DOES NOT CHANGE even if the tech takes 10 hours to complete the work he still only get paid 5.5 hours (these hours count as payable hours to the tech on a paycheck). The way techs can make a lot of money is by finishing jobs below the billed labor hours (ie finish a 5.5 hour job in 2 hours … the tech still gets paid 5.5 hours). If a tech is good and do this on a daily basis it is possible for a good tech to earn as much as 20 to 30 hours per day and as much as 100 to 150 hours in a week (the tech does not get paid $100.00/hour most good techs get paid abour $25-40 per hour or in a week a good tech can earn $4000 to $6000/per week). Private shops techs usally get paid less … usally around $15.00 to $25.00 and some dealer techs can get as much as $50.00. Now before everyone goes … “I should be a tech.” … they don’t always get that kinda of pay. Most shops only pay techs by the labor hours that they work … if a shop has no work or only a few vehicles a day … is possible for techs to get paid only 5 hours or less a day even though they stay there the whole day (8 – 12 hours) in some areas where I live … tech can even have weeks were they don’t get a pay check at all … basiclly if there is no work … techs don’t get paid. The high end techs sometimes get an hourly wage in addition to labor hours paid … but not many and this wage is often like that of hostess personal … usally min wage or less). So after everthing is said and done most shops make very little (mostly break even) when it comes to labor (also keep in mind … a shop usally charges the tech back if work that he did comes back ie warranty … so it is often in the best intrest of the tech to do a good job). If you want to make sure that the labor hours for work to be done on your vehicle there are a few web sites that offer the information for free. Sadly these labor guides are almost an industry secret and almost impossible to find anywhere any more (at one point your local libraies used to have them) and NO shop (unless you really know the shop well) will ever show you a labor guide.
Where shops … ALL shops .. make their money is in reselling parts. This is why most if not all the shop in a given area will often NOT use customer provided parts … unless prior arangements have been made.
Cost of NEW pads for his SUV (assuming it is a full size 4wd) to shop $15 (economy pads) resale to customer $40.00.
Cost of NEW rotors (each) $20.00 …. resale to customer $85.00 each.
Cost of NEW drums (each) $35.00 … resale to customer $100.00 each.
Cost of NEW shoes (set) $15.00 (economy) … resale to customer $45.00
Cost of NEW hardware (set) $10.00 … resale to customer $20.00
Total Parts cost to shop $150.00 … resale to customer $475.00 (total for all parts).
SO … add the labor and parts cost up and you get $1500.00 (high side estimate). As for parts cost is a VERY consertive estimate. Most Company shops (ie Sears, NTB, Merchants, Tires Plus, etc) use their own formulas for marking parts up … some as much as 500%. Most private shops usally charge whatever the suggested list price is for the parts they get (mark up can be anywhere from 20% to as much as 200% depending on products).
The biggest reason shops get a bad rep is because a lot of dissruputable shops will charge for parts (usally) that do not need to be service or change. In my line of work I see this a lot (in case anyone was wondering … I work as a jobber … a person that sells the parts to the shops that do the work. So these prices and numbers are not being “Made up”. These are actually prices that I have heard shops quote to customers). Also a lot of shops try to add services that cost a lot but do almost nothing. If you have ever paid for a 100k check up (usally about $100 or more) all that is a 100 point check list that takes about 15 mins to complete and pays the tech almost nothing (usally about .15 hours). Same thing applies for most “Flush” services. Transmissions flushes, Engines Flushes, etc typical cost about $125.00 plus the cost of fluids (so about $200) and the work is done by an “installer” (think an hourly worker not and flat rate worker) and the machine does the work almost automaticlly. This make the shops a lot of money cause it is often oversold (most vehicles don’t need a flush of any kind save the brake fluid every other year, anti-freeze once every 5 years, and most auto transmission of newer care never need it, power steering flushes are a good idea about once every 2 years)
So in conclusion … $800.00 for brakes is not all that bad … cause it could have been worse.
This sort of thing NEVER ends well.
People already have a high level of mistrust in government. And all it takes is one mistake or snitch, and your goodwill publicity stunt turns into an evil attempt to manipulate public opinion. That teamed with the good chance that people are most likely already worried about a super type that can possibly manipulate them mentally and all kinds of things go bad.
I worked at a company where they handed out a safety award for an incident, and later we found out that it was in fact staged. About a quarter of us left the company over the scandal. I don’t even list them on my resume unless I am questioned about the employment gap and can explain in person.
That stuff is just wrong and I hope Maxima or Sydney, (or both) expose it at the publicity event. PR people need to get a black eye every now and then to remind them that their whole purpose in life is not to pull the wool over our eyes, but to put the best light on things that happen and let us decide how we feel about it.
Stepping away from the rant stand now.
Oh and for older people in anime style. A few wrinkles at the corners of the eyes and mouth, a crease on the brow or above the nose, just subtle and it can work, and you can still keep the look that someone is still attractive despite being slightly older.
I also love the obvious confidence in Leon. A man who knows what to do, how to do it and is insulted that you would think he would make such a rookie mistake. This is the kind of man that will crash your home system for even hinting such a thing. Yes, even that ultra secure system you have at home that has no network connection.
After all, there are ways to read a hard drive right through your walls. All that needs to happen is it be powered up and all read and write transactions can be picked up with a 70-80% data accuracy. And my info on that is a few years out of date. They may have upped it even more since last I checked.
Oh, and by the way, with some other software, it also works with RAM, so even your passwords as such are not safe.
Oh, just so none of you start freaking out. This hardware is really expensive, requires great skill, and is not fool proof. As well, it is easy enough to defend against when you have need. And I doubt any of you have data highly secret enough to worry about this level of data mining, without already having such precautions in place.
Friend of mine has been a regular attendee at the DefCon hacker/ security convention. Some of the stories I have heard…
There is no such thing as a completely secure electronic system. It might be astronomically difficult to get into, but it’s safer to assume it can be done and take precautions.
As a friend of mine said at one point. “If it is made by Man, There’s a flaw. Where there is a flaw, someone can exploit it. Perfection cannot exist in the world of Man”
I like that. I may steal it for my tagline at some point. Is the quote attributed to anyone?
It’s not like nature is perfect either.
At the time me and my friend were talking about how every structure,organism,even down to the atomic level has inherent flaws or weak points in their construction. On reflection I guess the line should be the “world of mortals” instead of “world of Man”…Hmmm
And Neph, feel free to use it, just don’t be too surprised if you see me use it too :P
The difference is that nature doesn’t care about perfection. Perfection is a concept made up by humans.
me i prefer to say this; humans are perfect because of theyr imperfection,,,,,my second favorite saying is;; everyone is crazy somehow,, its just that some kinds of crazy are tolerated and others not
I prefer Einstein. “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.” And my friend’s variation, “Never underestimate human stupidity.” I think of that every time I read something about homeopathy or the anti-vaccination movement, or some criminal writing a hold-up note on the back of his birth certificate. I think… that can’t be real, but they are.
I also like “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
I made that one my watchword years ago…I got a lot calmer after that. But then I learned the real reason drive-through ATMs have braille instructions, and I added “Never attribute to stupidity what can adequately be explained by you not having all the information or not thinking it through,” and now I’m a lot happier, because I’m no longer surrounded by idiots.
I think it has something to do with ADA compliance, but I can also see it as being a case of it being cheaper for the manufacturers to only make one set of dies for each model of machine. BTW, I have occasionally used drive up ATMs while on foot, so braille on the keys doesn’t strike me as being that stupid. Also, I can imagine that a passenger in the back seat might want to use the ATM although the fact that back seat windows don’t generally roll all the way down militates against that.
It’s the second reason, kind of. Since ATMs are modular, there’s no way to predict at the factory which ones will be walkups and which ones will be drivethroughs — and at the factory it’s so cheap as to be nearly free to put the Braille on. Afterward, not so much.
BTW, there’s also an excellent reason why the One Ring had to be taken to Mordor on foot instead of using a giant eagle. But this is getting more and more off-topic, so let’s leave it at that.
At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (nuclear lab in Livermore, CA, USA) the main computer system has it’s own electrical grid to prevent spies from using the electrical wiring as data cables. There are specification for keeping computers away from external power lines and away from exterior walls of buildings. Fiber-optic data lines are used as much as possible to reduce emitted electromagnetic waves.
I figured. I don’t know that much about computer security, but I do know a bit of physics and the like.
The hight-sensitive equipment required to read (relatively) tiny electrical impulses I can only to be found at either NSA-level intelligence agencies or very rich corporate spies.
Unless you have nuclear secrets on a PC, I doubt most people would have to worry.
When talking organizations with those levels of resources ….
Heck, just a few concealed minicams in the right places and/or a dude with binocs and who is unafraid of dumpster-diving would probably be effective enough for most intel ops.
It can do what you described but you want to be close since most of the computer is encased in metal degrading the noise emitted by the various components (think 1 wall away to read the HD/RAM).
What you can do with the average keyboard and screen is something different with a decent filter you can setup shop 80 meters (90 yards) or so and reproduce both (assuming you have a direct line of sight since walls tend to degrade the emitted noise).
Oh and the monitor eavesdropping is not expensive.
Van Eck managed to do it i the 80s with a TV and less then $25 in parts.
That only worked back then because monitors were Cathode ray Tubes [ long gone ] and a majority of them back then sold in NA would have never passed the EMI emissions guidelines … why yes, we will just spray on some of this conductive carbon paint and it will block all the harmful EM fields … [ bleah ] … and the expensive ones were housed in metal cases …heck even the Teledon monitor I have sitting in the basement is housed in the equivalent of a Faraday cage.
Today’s systems of flat panels use very low energies and are easier to shield with the material, except for the plasma screens some execs like to use to show off with.
Hey, do they still use the mu-alloy for shielding?
Why bother reading the screen and it’s only getting easier to read what is sent through the cable to the screen with the new DVI standard.
You should try reading toriko or eat man some time then.
I’ve read Eatman and I agree. That’s a great comic. Bolt himself is LOL-material (he once drank four gallons of industrial alcohol and then said “I’m a little tipsy.”)
I’ve decided that Leon looks like David Krumholtz and will read all his lines with David’s voice in my head.
Looks like the old G15 keyboard, oh how I miss those (Casualty of spilled soda, all 3 of them). The new orange light ones aren’t quite as awesome and doesn’t go quite as well with the blue Razer mice.
Also I like that Leon had Steam friends list open :D
Quite the multitasker isn’t he?
Browser showing GrrlPower
No less than 3 windows with Youtube
Twitter
FTP client
IRC client
A window with what looks like a performance graph
I cannot identify the Dark window to the left of his head, could be another part of Steam, possibly the Library page.
As well as the window in the top right corner of the screen to his left.
Ding, a prize for being the first to notice (or post) that he’s reading the comic. Of course, I couldn’t help but throw that in there. He’s got all the youtube windows open cause he’s uploading the videos. In reality though he’d probably do it all through scripts that sent the video to remote machines with different IPs for them to upload, but we can assume he can mask all that stuff from his local machine. Some of the windows are networking and bandwidth graphs I pulled off GIS, the gray window to his left is Premiere or something, I had to hide most of it cause the screenshot I found oddly didn’t have footage of the bank heist in it, and by the time I was adding those screens to the page I was about ready to be done.
Is it a bad sign that I knew the ringtone was Imperial march, but didn’t ntice the little note above the phone until my second read through?
No. You are merely a person who has watched a movie series that nearly every person on the planet has seen. But don’t worry, becouse you are wrighting about a webcomic THAT is what makes you a geek like the rest of us.
Of course crazy girl (Sydney) hasn’t said anything online, she’s busy thinking of some way to free her tube.
More like writing maxima’s name on the list and figuring out how to get back at her for sticking the tube strap under that wheel.
Rule number so-and-so: always carry a multitool.
And a flashlight.
Possibly a lighter.
But more… it’d be an unusual shoulder strap that couldn’t just be unhooked and left behind, or the rings where it attaches bent open by hand, even without a knife or whatnot.
I was more interested in how it came to be under the tire in the first place. I’m imagining Max just lifting the car and tucking the strap under the tire, even though we didn’t see that onscreen.
Of course, I expect the tube *contains* a multitool, so Sydney *could* (if nobody’s around for a moment) just open the tube and lift the car back off.
I always do. Well… I used to always have a multi-tool, but then I got a job doing groundskeeping at a zoo. After the third time I almost lost a finger to a non-locking blade I put away the leatherman and and got a proper locking pocket knife.
Yes. I know they make multi-tools that lock now, but they still weight 5 times what my nice little Applegate-Fairburn pattern folder does, and I own a toolbag for a reason.
I am going to use my psychic powers to say that Sydney is going to open the tube very soon in front of a large number of people.
On a different note: I think the Masters in History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi are over 23…
Love the comic so far, just found it not too long ago and am finished reading up to this page. So, just add another stalker for this page, and beware another artist studying your drawing techniques. I’ll definitely be keeping up with it. Also love the detail you put into the pages. o.O I know alot of people who skip the details because of laziness, but I guess you gotta make up for only being able to post once a week. Eagerly awaiting next one.
Thanks, glad you’re enjoying it. It feels weird to know that people are looking to my art for technique, since I’m still very much learning a lot of things. Maybe I should tell you who my biggest influences are and you can go straight to the source. When I get stuck I look at Fred Perry who does Gold Digger for Antarctic Press, Joe Madureira, & Adam Warren mostly. It depends on who I’m drawing though. Sydney has much more of the anime aesthetic, so I’ll look at Gold Digger for zany expressions, also I think Fred’s panels and action are really good. Maxima’s built around the “mainstream comic” look so I’ll hit up Madureira or other really great pencilers for hands, faces, etc. Unfortunately, while I think Madureira is probably the best “mainstream” artist, I think all the characters he draw are lifeless and hollow. The only emotions I’ve ever seen him draw are stoic, scowling, and punching, which is why I love an excuse to draw Maxima with a Sydney provoked crazy expression on her face.
Also, manga does action better than American comics, hands down. Most fights in American comics are 1 or 2 hits at the most and even then the poses and blocking of the panel are usually pretty blah. Masahiko Nakahira (I think) is great at action, he did a Cammy manga one shot which is amazing, but most Shounen manga will have better action sequences that anything you’ll find in American comics.
I should really compile stuff like this onto the About page.
Manga does action better than american comics? You think so?
I usually find manga action scenes completely indecipherable. It’s all blurred backgrounds, speed lines, impossible poses and fever-dream physics. When I think of good action in a comic the first thing that pops into my head is “The Dark Knight returns.” Yes, the action scenes tend to be short. My experiences in fencing and martial arts make that more believable to me than 40 minute fights with Katanas.
Even in Anime the actual fights tend to be little more than a few streaky backgrounds and a lot of dialogue, although series like Kenshin and Naruto have moved things in a direction where you can at least see them moving, and there is a nod to physics (but only a nod.) ^_^
Well let me clarify. Manga absolutely can be a total mess when it comes to action, especially in the shounen teenagers with superpowers genre. A lot of newer books can totally be indecipherable. I guess what I like about manga is that fights are usually 1 on 1 and the last more than 1 or 2 panels. If it’s Batman vs. a thug in an alley, that’s fine, but if he’s fighting Terminator (the guy with the half orange mask, not the Skynet one) it should be longer and show motion and action and not just a bunch of pinup poses of someone clocking someone else.
I’m sure in the post manga era, there are some great looking fights in American comics, I’d love to see some, but my memory of them is one hit pinups at best.
Ironically, (it’s probably not ironic, I can’t think of a better word) the action in american cartoons is usually way better than in anime. Anime tends to use manga as storyboards so you’d think it’d be well animated, but it’s usually a lot of non-animated pin up looking characters sliding past each other whereas in American cartoons, the recent DC stuff especially, they actually animate the fights. There’s always exceptions of course. The very first fight in Cowboy Beebop with Spike vs. some bounty was great, and the last fight in Ninja Scrolls (the movie not the show) between the main guy and Genma was amazing.
This is what I think of when I think of American comics action: (I don’t think there’s a way to do page number in the link so bear with me here)
Comixology-Batman-101. Scroll through this to the Batwing pinup in the middle. Page 13 I think if you use the thumbnail viewer.
First off, it’s a pinup, it’s two guys floating in the air. Are they falling? Did the both jump at each other? There’s no sense of motion. On the next page, Batwing is blocking a left handed attack with his left hand, shouldn’t he use his right? Also, it’s the same hand he was grabbing the guy’s throat with in the previous panel. Again there’s no sense of motion. The next panel is ok but not great, he’s hitting the guy with a right-cross, which flows from the previous panel, and the guy is tilted to Batwing’s left, but the guy has his head back like he got hit with an uppercut. His head should be turned to his left. Personally I’d prefer some blur or speed lines, you don’t have to crap up the whole panel with them but something that indicates motion since the art itself doesn’t really do the job. Maybe some spit coming out of the guy’s mouth. The last panel is just ok again, it’s just the guy hitting the ground, but where is Batwing? Showing how far he flew in relation to Batwing would show motion and the force of the punch. It’s not bad but it could be better. The art is all good, but the penciler should probably go and review “How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way” for some tips on action.
I’d love to see some examples of better action in an American comic though.
That’s not all to say I’m the king of action. I’ve only put a tiny amount in the comic so far and the most actiony scene with Sydney flipping the guy didn’t come out how I had originally envisioned it cause I had to cut a panel or two in order to fit everything the way I wanted, but when we get to the proper action, hopefully I’ll be able to can put my money where my mouth is.
Jack Kirby used to do creative extended fight scenes, especially involving Captain America. See early issues of Avengers.
All those manga, and other artists have to do, is to actually look at people. What every artist including myself can do. It also depends on the artist.
I wonder if Sydney is just too manic to spend time typing anything right now. I will amend your prediction Dan by saying that some one or some thing will force the exposure of Sydney‘s secret.
Have to agree w/ previous post about how to indicate age… crow’s feet at corners of eyes are the first indicator, followed by gradually deepening vertical lines at corners of mouth and horizontal ones across forehead. Men also have the amazing disappearing hairline trick. Of course, once you start really getting up there you start seeing the dreaded “turkey-neck” and “bulldog-jowls”.
That’s the basic way to indicate age, and it’s what I ususally see in comics like… I pick on manga cause most manga artists are really good at drawing the one thing they draw, which is the manga idealized aesthetic of a 12-16 year old, so when they try and draw older people, they add crow’s feet and other wrinkles but the structure of the face doesn’t change much. The older someone is, the higher on the face the eyes appear… that is, your face gets longer as you age. It’s obvious if you compare a baby to an old man, the difference between a 20 something and a 40 something is a lot more subtle. I’m not sure that my art is quite capable of that subtlety yet, but hopefully within a few pages of drawing Arianna I’ll have her sorted out a bit more.
Just say she knows a good plastic surgon. She’s in the PR bizz, so image is everything for her a good plastic surgon is just one of the tools of the trade for her.
I’m 30+ and I don’t have any crow’s feet. I mean, unless I’m pinching my face up but that’ll happen to anyone then.
I’ve obserbed a pattern over the last few years. People born between 1970 and 1975 look young, 1975-1980 smart (expecialy the girls) 1980-1985 athletic X-games and such, 1985- 1990 grew up fast ( rember early 2000 where 12 year old girls looked 18? SCARY!!) 1990-1995 More apt to follow the croud do as they are told . I say prenatal genetic shots. Just a thought
Odd most of the people I know born in the late 80’s all looke like the come from Jersey Shore and try to act all “Gangsta’ ” Thanks the Gods at least some are figuring out that nothing looks more idiotic then a 21 year old white farm boy trying to look and talk like he’s from bloody Compton or some s#!t.
If you want to see a good anime (seinen, supernatural) that does a good job of showing age, watch Rin: Daughters of the Mnemosyne. Warning though: its has very NSFW parts, but its mostly just blood and occasionally tits and some sexuality. Its only 6 episodes, and probably one of the best anime I have ever seen. Amazing story.
I’ve seen that. Got it on DVD actually. It was pretty good, and yeah, it has a few characters that age throughout, I just need to get some good reference photos and practice a bit.
You can watch it online at Otaku center for free.
Long time reader, first time commentor :)
I think you did fairly well at drawing someone of the +30 demographic, though some parenthesis lines around her mouth would help, those usually show up post-thirty. (that’s the line lines that run down from the nose around the lips)
I also LOVE the callerID photo she has for Maxima, so fitting.
It may be just me, but Leon totally reminds of that “Mr. Universe” hacker guy from the movie “Serenity.” Don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but it’s totally awesome.
I actually based him… well, I guess his haircut mostly, on an Indian friend of mine. Leon’s kind of a mutt, Greek/Mediterranean mostly. I guess I had a vague image of… remember the guy in True Lies who was in the briefing and said something like “they call him the sand spider cause it’s scary” I think he was in the van at the beginning with Tom Arnold. That’s a terrible example because 1) I actually haven’t seen True Lies in years and also I think that guy had like 10 lines in the whole movie. But basically you’re right, he kinda looks like that.
I think he bears a striking resemblance to L from Death Note. Loom at the fifth- and fourth-last panels. I’m actually a bit surprised he wasn’t modeled on him.
Anyway, Leon might have just become my favorite character in the comic.
That’s what I said further up.
Mr. Universe from Serenity is played by David Krumholtz (Also known from Numb3rs and the Santa Clause movies)
The story is getting sooo good! The expressions are awesome and all those little details contribute so much to the pleasure of reading this comic!
For instance: I read this page three times and each time found something new and funny to laugh about…
Nice touch on the cellphone – “TRACE”
perfect ringtone id for maxima
Two things:
First of all, I’m really enjoying the comic. Great work!
Second of all, I hate to be that guy, but… shouldn’t it be “it SEEMS that some responsible hactivist…”?
1) Thanks!
2) Yup. Durn it.
I read through all the comments to see if anyone else noticed. :)
It just seemed to stick out so badly. You might have a friend read the text before you submit it. Proofreading you own work is not a good idea because YOU know what it says and will miss many errors due to reality running headlong into belief or visa-verse.
hey! Dave B just came up with a new catch phrase. Hopefully the idea will catch on that if you are a hacker, you can do some good with your time instead of making those crappy viruses.
Hmm, if Leon is actually watching the security footage, then he’s in a good position to notice that “that crazy girl” and her poster tube exhibit some … nonstandard … reactions to the laws of physics. For instance https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/196 or maybe panel two of https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/201 or even https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/268
You forgot to have him create a GUI interface in Visual Basic to track the IP address… https://bit.ly/xOPWk
Hah hah I fucking hate that. Do TV/Hollywood writers think that their audience has never used a computer before? I loved in Contagion there’s a scene where Morpheus and one of the lady scientists are talking about how the virus works, and it’s all non-dumbed down molecular biology lingo, and there’s no dumbass general standing there going “In English please.” It was a great scene cause it was 2 scientists talking about complicated shit that they couldn’t figure out. No need to explain it to the audience. I hate how the phrase “In English please.” basically translates to “I’m a moron.”
$800 for brakes! Maybe when you go vehicle shopping you should worry more about the price of parts than the car. Kind of like printer ink.
By the way, I really like how “Trace” is a button on that phone….
And the button next to it is “TRACE+ACCEPT”; I guess if you”re as likely to tick off the number of people Arianna seems to by her actions, having the ability to locate the source of some calls would be a necessity.
Well their phone platform is a custom variant of android, the whole team has those options, cause it’s just as likely that someone will call one of the supers with “there’s a bomb on a bus…” type scenarios.
I figured that those functions would be standard for the team’s phones. Although unless they have greater CPU power than a normal cell the actual trace would be handled remotely and the results passed back to the phone.
Phone traces do not work like in the movies. By the time the call’s gone through and started ringing, the phone company has recorded where it was from, and can in theory at least tell you the whole path. Caller ID is the same tech, applied in the consumer sector.
Now, there are some ways to avoid that being useful (tie a couple of phone handsets together, or have your own VOIP system that hands off to the regular phone system would be ideas), but a ‘trace’ button wouldn’t help there either, really.
I’m sure basically nothing works like it does in the movie. Let’s assume that button is used to signal to Leon and other techs on the team that something is up with a call and more than caller ID needs to be known about it so they can look for anomalies in the audio, check for the things you mentioned, etc.
I assume the blonde is Arianna, what are those things in her hair?
Hair sticks/pins
It’s a very old way of securing long hair in a bun. But always worth learning. Adds a nice touch of class. As well, with the proper materials, hair sticks make excellent improvised weapons. Japanese Geisha had an entire martial arts style based on their use.
Thanx… Maybe they’re some kind of lightweight alloy finished to look like wood.
They used to be carved from Ivory or Waxwood (The same wood Bo staffs are often made from). These days you can find them in enameled metal.
I think most of this reports will be about Sydney not Maxima.
Yeah, well, she shoulder-tossed one dude by his tongue, then cleared the entire building with her toxic breath. I question if many supers could do both those tricks.
So, basically, we can call this new guy, Leon, Mr. Universe?
Is it weird that I recognised the rhythm and started humming before I even read the words “(Imperial March)”?
I already commented on that .question earlier. scroll up to see response.
okay, I hate being “the self-appointed grammar nazi,” but it’s one of my myriad character flaws… In the “who’s who” window – did you mean to refer to Arianna as “lead council” (i.e. in charge of the board that supervises the team) or “lead counsel” (i.e. advisor in a specific field, like law or medicine)?
Ah, thanks for pointing that out. I should change that anyway, as she’s not an active litigator/defense for the team, but she is a lawyer and can handle legal advise, and is also in charge of their actual legal team, but her primary focus is PR. Maybe that makes her a lawyer wrangler?
By the way, Dave B. CTU what does it stand for? I’m curious.
CTU is “Counter Terrorism Unit” from 24. For a while it was a joke, at least among my friends, that all computer hacking involved opening a port. Also that CTU needed a much better employee screening process since the were betrayed by someone on the inside at least once a season. At least.
Thanks!
Is “Geek” actually Leon’s superhero code name, or is Arianna just using it as a general epithet?
She’s calling him a geek. ;)
You all realize of course that the longer Maxima stays in the ambulance talking or on the phone, the longer the news crew has to interview Sydney?
Scary idea, I feel sory for the news ancor. some spazzy girl a actual hero, you don’t know what the hell she could say, expecialy if she get’s in to one of her cussing rants.
And since it was downloaded on to Utube they know she could go into one. Wince. HA!HA!HA!! I can just see them thinking about that posible outcome and getting flopsweat at the posibility
I’m enjoying the mental image of Maxima opening the back door of the ambulance and seeing Sydney in full pantomime hysterical rant mode describing the robbery to the camera(s).
Hmmm… Anyone know if that bank footage would have sound? Pleasepleaseplease let someone have recorded Sydney’s rant and uploaded it. That audio alone would guarantee her a record number of hits on YouTube. And quite possibly her own morning radio talk show… :)
Nah I figure having a camera being shoved in her face will send her into a panic and unleash her Inventive Invective attack upon the newsies.
BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!
When I saw the picture she had of Maxima I just HAD to laugh out loud! Funniest thing all this week and last!
You totally need a high-res shot of that pic to use for the character bio snapshots at the top of the page.
Also, you talk of Google plus, but are YOU on Google plus? I just checked the list of comic authors I follow on there but didn’t see your name.
Yeah I’m on G+, I guess the link to me is https://plus.google.com/110346312265898458547
I don’t really do much with it, I’m mostly waiting for them to have the ability to do fan pages websites/products and then I’ll make a proper page for the comic.
That has got to be the cleanest computer desk I’ve ever seen. No post-it notes, no disheveled papers, no coffee mug stains, etc. I’m assuming super cleanliness is Leon’s super power.
Also just to note it: nice touch with the wrapped wires in the back-ish ground there.
Kinda disappointed the can on the far left isn’t on its side. :(
You can ascribe that to me not wanting to spend time drawing clutter. I feel bad cause I’m reading Bakumon, the manga about being a manga artist from the guys who made Death Note, and the background work is amazing. I assume there’s a guy whose full time job is doing backgrounds working on the title, and I’m just one guy (plus my girlfriend is doing a lot of the inks now too) but man I’d love to have a dedicated background guy.
Of course it’s clean. He’s a high-end geek. He never touches paper, it’s all in the computer. ;)
(Though the lack of geek toys is interesting.)
Some people can be brilliant and immaculate at their work stations. It will be interesting if we ever see his home or apartment to see if it is equally tidy or a mess. (Remember the one is Jurassic Park? He was a mess, but he also loved eating too all the time.)
I’m guessing when Maxima is done she will take Sydney by the scruff of her shirt and whisk her away before she blabs anything sensitive or stupid. [Maxima is the professional after all and Sydney the shave-tail green-horn rookie.]
By the way the work is excellent by both of you. A joy to read and also just examine the pages time and again. See if there are subtle “Easter Eggs” in some of the panels. [You never know do you?]
Dave, you might want to look at the grammar in Leon’s first question in panel 5 again. There’s a ‘D’ missing in there.
Son of a… I’m not a moron guys I swear. It’s fixed.