Grrl Power #602 – You’ve got a little something on your cheek
Again, this is more than I wanted to show of Vale at this point in the comic, but it’s fine. I suspect this little reveal might present more questions than answers.
Vale makes a good henchwoman because not only can she literally ignore being impaled through the skull, but she brings significant creep out factor to the table. Intimidation is important for bodyguards, and most people who see that will probably give her a wide berth. Also she seems pretty loyal so far.
I’ve found a new book series I’m enjoying immensely. Star Justice. The short version is; Space Marine gets experimented on and essentially turned into a were-tiger. Hilarity ensues. Actually mostly violence… and technically it’s a harem setup, in the sense that the main character is male and nearly every other significant character he meets is female, many of whom join him on his adventures, and most of whom express sexual interest in him to some degree. Well, okay, that doesn’t sound like I should be saying “technically” at all. That’s flat out a harem setup, but I feel like there should be some sort of asterisk on “harem” because the female characters are significant and important parts of the story, not just notches on his bedpost – and they’re all likeable (IMO) either straight away or after some initial antagonism is resolved. The sex scenes are terse and non-graphic which is really my preference in novels. I like it when characters I like hook up, but I don’t really need the gory details.
I won’t spoil anything, but one night I went to bed planning on reading a few chapters, and I got to a point where there is a rather significant turn of events, and I wound up finishing the book and reading like 30% of the next one before I had to quit because it was 5 in the morning. :P
Anyway, I’ve enjoyed it a lot, maybe you will too. This sort of thing is hugely subjective.
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She may not be a super but she looks like an ancient spirit. Maybe thats why she works for Deus – if he is responsible for building the artifical looking body. By the way what material is that? Looks a little bit like jade oder ceramic.
On another thought she could be a spirit of an artifact like the sword she was so protective about (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/797).
I am pretty sure that is NOT Jade or ceramic… O_O O_O O_O
Either way its an interesting turn of events.
Something on the page you linked to. “No one on this planet…” she says.
Experience of other planets?
Nice catch, that could’ve been some very early foreshadowing of her not being a human and/or her knowing about there being other planets with life (and illusionists).
It would be very interesting to find out what Vale looks like to Sydney when she is using the Comm Balls truesight.
Hmmm. May depend on the mode. On default it saw through Dab’s glamour. But only let her see through objects (the approaching army at the council attack) after tweaking the settings.
It might not see through Vale’s crispy shell by default.
the vale suit looks like a material surface. So Sydneys orb would just show that. We know she cant see through masks, ect. maybe she would see some magic glow in Vale.
Masks — or veils.
Vale.
The foreshadowing was right there, all this time.
this
Agreed. Assuming of course that the covering material is not magical in nature, such as from a spell. But if it is spun of finest Vance silk then it would not appear any different under True Sight, as that is indeed what it is.
She looks like a Medium Old One.
(Because the Great Old Ones were usually bigger. Ha haa… ha.)
Yog-Sogoth scheduled your appointment 15 minutes ago with Azathoth to discuss your power bill
And don’t be late.
There are severe “penalties” for missing an appointment…Usually, it’s to determine if you’re chewy or crispy.
Another demon….
Not quite (I don’t actually know), if Dave is entirely joking then maybe it’s not, “Eldrich Hellsmoke Necroplasm.” If it is none of those things then she might not be Extraplanar, Demonic, or Undead.
Let’s see… strong, possibly entirely non-physical (already drawing a blank)… I need to see the next page and how she puts herself back together, if we even get to see. Could her skin be a suit and if so maybe it is not providing a strength bonus? I’m glad for this reveal, it absolutely provides more questions than answers.
An option you left out is magical construct, which would make her a golem of a kind, physically as well as …spiritualy? Soul-ly? That leaves lots of room for “What kind of magical construct” and also “What is the body made of”. A magical construct made with demonic energies would look pretty awful when you see its true form, probably.
And in fantasy there is usually a lot of research into anti-demon magic so controlling a demon-energy being might be a walk in the park, given how many advanced races there are–as long as the demon-energy being isn’t also highly intelligent and trained to counter those magics, which a magical construct probably wouldn’t be.
I was just listing the items covered at the bottom of the page, ya know?
It could be some, none, or all of those. I just doubt she is, “another demon.” She may be a devil (some kind of contract work) which would be funny because it seems D found an exploit if that is the case. I find it funny how she is so quiet, brooding or not engaged? I wonder how much person-hood she has. I mean, basically none because she is a series of drawings but what about in universe. If Vale is a construct then she is dangerously close to Sciona (artificer) and we would find out soon based on how masterfully Sciona, er masters even sentient golems. Based on what is said in the comments, I don’t think we are getting answers about Vale soon so I don’t think she is a construct (but maybe). Shouldn’t Sciona sense if Vale is a construct and if Vale is a construct something tells me D would have about a hundred of her vice one.
Malumi?
Well she is showing less reaction to attacks than Alucard from hellsing does so maybe?That said just calling her a demon Id consider relatively lazy and Dave can be accused of many things but he cant be accused of that ^^.
100% unexpected there
Make that 200%…
Ahem…
Eh about 10% here but only cause Sciona was informed by Deus that shed at least have a (Small)shot of winning in a fight.
Beginning of the month, share some love and vote the comic.
Should be voting every day
Yes, but most of the votes are around the first week.
That’s because most voters only do it for the reward, and not just here: if you like the webic, vote every day!!!! Not just when they have a new invotive
I’m hoping to have an entry in the VDSD thing this year, so I’ll update the incentive at some point. I know it’s stale.
May be ‘stale’, butt not voting just for the invotive
Love the changes in Sciona’s face there. Perfect switch from smug to ‘oh-crap-I-shouldn’t-have-done-that’ (or sheepish, if you’re boring).
Now that I think about it she really should know better a true fighter light that would not turn their back on the enemy unless they have supreme confidence that they can handle anything that the enemy is likely to throw at their back or are completely unconcerned figuring that the enemy can not hurt them. Then again this is probably the type of mistake that Sciona herself would have made.
“and it was at that moment…”
so… my first guess… mana construct, or something, like the fate servants, just a bit more eldritch…
second guess… her skin is merely a form of containment for whats inside. the eyes! the fuckin EYES!!! thats some noneucledian shit going on in there!
speaking of eyes, noone mentioned Sciona’s eyes.
we have only seen her with dark outside and off-white inside, but never completely one color like here, with only barest hints that they are not actually one colour, and you can see the transition.
is that a function of what she is? or is she under some kind of effect?
this is not where it was supposed to go.
It looks like a function of going to “brown alert” as she realises just how thoroughly she is in trouble…
Bring me my brown pants!
Even someone as stupid as Sciona can get a clue if its obvious enough.Its why dispite her capabilities I consider Sciona to be a F tier Villain n.n.
If “F” is meant to signify a low rank, please do not forget that Sciona can make autonomous devices which can both duplicate super powers and (when not broken) take out the most powerful super on the planet!
She could have the infinity gauntlet and shed still be an epic failure who cant plan 5 minutes ahead without other people holding her hand for her.Sciona is literally the dumbest most short sighted villain I have ever seen and if she even had an average level of intelligence shed be a huge threat but instead shes the kind of villain whos only a threat because of her toys and is easy to defeat cause she barely knows how to use them to good effect.There is no surprise that when we first met her she was already reduced to being half a head.
Amazing how such a retard was able to convince several members of the Twilight Council to work for her. And plan an assault which bypassed all the Twilight Council’s defences at their HQ and catch them with their pants down in a surprise attack. One which had her minions armed with munitions selected to kill most supernatural beings (note that this is an indication that she selected her toys tactically well, it is not just a matter of having good ones).
Any military plan can fail though if the enemy gets surprise reinforcements at the last moment. In this case the arrival of a team of the most powerful supers on the planet would have thrown any villain’s plans into disarray. Sciona knew her supernatural enemies well, but supers are a new element that she has no prior experience with. So has fared poorly against them.
However, despite that, she has managed to spot an invisible super jaguar sneaking into her base. And lure the most powerful super hero into a position where she could attack her with a mind attack that should have defeated her (barring a bit of bad luck with a cracked lens).
Sorry your hating really is unconvincing. And if ‘she is literally the dumbest most short sighted villain you have ever seen’, you must have had very limited reading and/or viewing experience. Or you have someone giving you very good advice about which films and books to avoid. For your entire life to date.
That aside though, as with others you are mistaking a villain who has severe emotional issues for one who is dumb. They are not the same thing. Falling foul of your emotions can indeed make you do dumb things, which Sciona indubitably has done. However whenever she has kept her emotions under control she has been devastatingly effective.
See how efficiently she penetrated the daunting defences of the Dark Reliquary. Up until Deus’s surprise appearance and taunting threw her off her game.
I dunno if i was a member of the Twilight council and needed a fallguy that noone would believe Id ever join forces with Sciona would be at the top of the list…..Assuming Id also planned for her self defeating levels of chronic backstabbing that is.
Gee I wonder how the cunning supa smarrrt Sciona managed to infiltrate the twilight councils inner sanctum with multiple twilight council members spoon feeding her all the information that shed ever need and possibly handicapping the twilight councils defences and security protocols in hard to trace ways in the background,Truly she is the Sun Tzu of our times!
Oh yeah she is truly amazing!She managed to spot one of the mardi gras parade sneaking into her base with her wards……and then apparently immediately decided to…..waste time capri-ing her somehow assuming that she could still hold that facility against the possibly thousands of heavily armed attackers that could be arriving within the hour.Truly she is the Tesla of our times.
Thankfully Im not here to convince anyone of anything for the mostpart though ill gladly hear a list of dumber villains cause i think even Bay films have more intelligent characters in them.Also once again the Reliquary was another case of handholding for her,Sure the vampires couldnt have gotten in without her bloodmagic but without them she wouldnt even have been able to know how to make the door in let alone find the bloody place =).
Ahh, so being able to gain allies and effectively use the information they provide is something that Sun Tzu would not advise? Likewise coming up with a plan to defeat the enemy before they even know that they are at war? Gotcha.
So granting her force super powers, capable of defeating all the enemies present, whilst not exposing herself to attack was stupid? Gotcha. Or at least getting a better idea of your definition of ‘stupid’.
Ahh, you seem to have forgotten her ability to affect the mind of the enemy’s leader? Maxima alone could wipe out any forces arrayed against her! Sciona’s plan, despite being devised against a surprise intrusion, had a reasonable chance of significant success.
Plus Sciona clearly had a safe escape route available, should things go badly. So was able to safely engage the enemy, gain several super powers (potentially including the ability to control Halo’s orbs), learnt more about her new foes, and discovered the need to protect the mind-attack weapon’s lens better. All without particular risk to herself.
Even her rear guard managed to successfully escape!
Sciona was not making the foolish last stand that you are trying to smear her with. She fought a successful guerrilla engagement!
*Inhails deep and gives a supprised gasp*
S̟̹̜͍̮̋̉ͫ̏͐ͤH̖͚̯̺ͧE̗͕̙͐ͫ͆̊ ͍͍̝͋̆̓ͤ̚C̞̘̣͉ͧ̂ͯ̎̔͊̓O̯̝̞͔̞̗M͔͓Eͥ͆̐͐͊Ṡ̥̗͖̼̝̤̄͂̏
Nyarlathotep?
And if she doesn’t she kicks you out of bed.
And through the wall, and out into a 30 story drop.
Get me my fork…. I shall be fine..
Forking hell, that is very Count de Monte Cristo of you.
Zalgo?!
Looks more like a ‘noble viking tiger wearing a samurai helmet’ to me.
Oh, the writing, yea. The catch phrase is the give-away.
ooooooookaaaaaaayyyyyy! I definately wasn’t expecting that. Is she a super construct of some kind?
In truth, impossible to say at this point. Eyes look a bit like Mr. Tentacles, but that weird energy matrix could be anything from an alien healing field to leaks from a containment shell.
Be fun if her next words were on the order of “BTW, damage my shell again and Deus says I get to eat you. So please, go right ahead.”
Depends on why she is loyal to Deus.
He is good at finding what people want. He seems to be more carrot than stick. Probably not a bad evil boss to work for. He’ll give you what you want, plus a nice pension plan, if you do his bidding.
Better to have people working for you because they like you rather than they fear you.
And he doesn’t seem one to hold a grudge.
Yeah, he’s totally pragmatic. Perhaps my favourite kind of villain.
If anything, I think he’s Lawful Evil…
he does bad things, but he’s got his own moral code, which seems to be fair…
we’ve seen some of his machinations, but not much of his intentions, so I may be way off here…
No, Deus clearly breaks a lot of laws. He also plans a lot. It’s plainly obvious he’s not totally chaotic and not totally evil. We have the N/N. The unpredictable.
Being lawful evil does not mean they’ll follow societal laws. He’s probably got a well-defined code for his own behavior, and it’s one he adheres to. That’s lawful alignment.
This is the problem when you try to make a code of conduct into law. I really can’t place Deus into the word “Diabolical” though. Read up on the N/N alignment first.
https://easydamus.com/trueneutral.html
“Neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion.”
We also know the one character flaw Deus has is his megalomania. He is one hell of a performer. Discarding the fact that he actually does have the power to do all these things he just wants to be seen (every single time) as the guy who can do things for you. He’s just as willing to help evil as much as good. If smug was a super power he’d have the market cornered for it.
The best part is he has zero limits on how far he will go for a good joke. Such a nice pretty bowl I got from the country which I overthrew the leader and made a better place.
Depends on who you ask, really. Personally, I think Dues would like being compared to Sauron.
https://www.rhjunior.com/goblin-hollow-0058/
Then again, he might consider himself closer to Jafar in that one. Somehow, I don’t think Dave will tell us outright, so unless someone brings it up in-comic while Dues is there, we won’t find out. *shrug* :)
Wait a second. what evil has he done that we know of? Assassinated a corrupt despot, replacing him with an incorruptible despot (himself). CIA tried do that a dozen times or more during the cold war, probably more afterward. Remember he’s a ass with a maniacal cackle condition. Society has forced him into the role he’s living. He couldn’t be a suave debonair benefactor of humanity (Bruce Wayne?) with a case of Villainous Tourette’s syndrome. Too many prejudge him by his evil-sounding laugh. Imagine the poor first grader Deus, cackling gleefully as he gives Susie friendly helpful pushes on the swingset during recess.
See? You did it just now, didn’t you? You imagined Deus pushing her so hard she went flying round over the top of the swing, then ballistically over the merry-go-round. You’re just like all the rest, forcing a life of villainy on children afflicted with the irresistable compulsion to scream “I’ll destroy you all!“
I just pictured him attaching rocket propulsion to the swing instead.
If he did that, it would only be because little Susie wanted a swing that could literally go 360 degrees around. And with failsafes so she could get off safely.
…And all so he could smirk at Maxima when she showed up thinking to save little Susie, only to hear the girl squeal, “Again!”
Exactly Garbler. What has he ever really done that’s evil?
Assassinated a murderous dictator? That’s in the ‘good’ category actually.
Revitalized a poor and embattled people? Chalk another in good category.
Took a bunch of powerful artifacts rather than an actually evil person would have been able to take? Well… not good, but not evil either. Neutral. He’s a capitalist and there was an opportunity.
Helps Archon? That seems to be good.
Gives millions (possibly billions) to charity? That seem to definitely be good
Likes to have thunder and lightning crackle as he laughs maniacally? Hey now… having showmanship is NOT evil.
Everything Dues has done has not been in pursuit of good or evil, Just money… Everything made good business sense… it’s not an assassination and coup, it’s a long term investment..
Making a thunder clicker was not in the pursuit of money. That expressed one of his core drives. Expressing his inner megalomania.
Deus is after power. Money is just a tool. One which he probably enjoys too. But not so much that he is not willing to part with a massive proportion of it, for the benefit of others (he must have done, in order to improve the standard of living in his impoverished country). OK he is getting returns for that, as you say.
But, as he is investing for a reason, what history will judge him on is what his ultimate goals are. Is it just to die with the most toys?
Yeah Deus is definately a Lord Vetinari from Discworld type.He loves to play with Villain tropes but ultimately he follows the rules as long as they line up with his personal ethics.
Let’s hope that Vale’s loyalty is not based on the old trope that Deus summoned her with some ritual and she is bound to do his bidding so long as he has possession of the mystic mcguffin. That always ends badly when the control is broken.
I would suggest that someone look around Deus’ office to see if there is an old-fashioned oil lamp laying around somewhere that has a burnished spot on the side as is someone recently rubbed it with something.
The mystic mcguffin could be that ninja sword Vale yanked out of Harem’s hands lo these many pages ago. I’m guessing Vale is bound to it in some way.
Or that’s just a normal sword Vale didn’t Harem cutting herself on/dropping and breaking cause it’s expensive…
Could be a Murasame(sp)(not the soul drinker/ evil/powerful sword, just one made by Murasame)
Or it could be a Stradivarius? You know, during his very brief divergence into sword making, to see if his varnish techniques could be adapted to improve swords too.
I would imagine Vale is doing this on a lark. When you have phenomenal ‘cosmic’ powers, It’s easy to get bored. Maybe she works for Dues case he helped her obtain a ‘enviro-suit’ of sorts. It kinda seems that she is learning about this world.
When I see Deus I think of this… https://moelane.com/2017/03/25/organization-seed-v-u-l-t-u-r-e/#more-101955
Hah hah.
Thank you. One tries. :) Deus would be a bit too ruthless to run it, though.
I love those guys!
It’s me or Sciona lose the eyes little by little in the four last panels?
Not just you, and she doesn’t ‘lose’ them, they just retract into teeny-tiny pinpricks (like her sphincter around this time… )
Ah, the ever-popular butt-pucker…
Nature’s way of telling you that you have an urgent appointment anywhere else but here.
I have to say I did not see that coming. Then again he did react to the implication that his swords were replicas in a suspicious manner so I guess that was foreshadowing of the supernatural before the twilight council was even introduced.
Aaaannd that was totally not what I expected.
I just realized something… She doesn’t move her lips when she talks..
How can you tell? She doesn’t talk much, but when she does her lips are parted.
This is a stationary comic, no one’s lips move when they ‘talk’
Omigawd! Are you a thientist? You seem thuper thmart.
.
(not harshing on you here, it was just too funny not to)
Oh noes, Sciona ruined her haircut!
And the face, but who needs that?
Not to mention the big hole she just made through her jumpsuit.
Which I just did. Oops. Never mind.
Perhaps the hole will stay….
Seems Deus has his own “Enchantress” on the payroll…..
So she can talk after all. If she is even a she is not as certain anymore.
She talked way back when we first met Deus.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/797
ookaay. I have no idea what she is. But I am now more impressed by her ride with Sydney now as it means some form of elder spirit was getting creeped out by our little heroine.
And that’s why it pays for a hero to have a good rogues gallery.
“Did you just creep out Cthulhu / Nyarlathotep?”
+̡̧̹̬̖̗ͦ1̤̰ͯͪ͐̋ͩ͆̀͘̕
Loving Sci-fright’s expressions on this page: only you could make her even cuter :D
May just be me (probably just me), butt… kinda less impressed by Vale now
And completely unimpressed by Smugdouche: why the frock would he interrupt a kick-ass battle like this just to reassert his offer to Sci-fright to have a look at what he had? o_O
To inform them that ARC is enroute probably.
To make sure that Vale wouldn’t kill Sciona.
I’d say that’s probably the reason, IFF Sciona stops fighting right now. Not after “a few more hits”, RIGHT NOW.
If that’s the case, he would have done it before she even left the building
Because Sconia just got her bargaing postion reframed. Realizing that Vale could kill her at a whim will make Sconia much more open to purchasing relics from Deus. And Deus is a businessman, not a thug.
Deus is not totally evil … unlike the tobacco industry, he understands killing customers is a bad thing.
Yeah this looks to have turned into a rather odd “mugging the monster” moment.
As in a monster tried to mug a guy…who turned out to have a BIGGER monster on his payroll. And ending with the guy wanting to continue business with monster 1. Yeah, can’t say I’ve seen that too often.
Whilst I am not a fan of it, Dave has studied TVTropes. He probably made a wall-chart of ‘boy meets girl’ and every variant of that and every other trope. Then looked for the wastelands on the wall where no author has ever tippy-toed!
Or, like, he is just naturally innovative. ;-)
He’d rather get paid than have to clean up a corpse and have to answer questions from Archon, or get the Twilight Council snooping around his pad.
If the latter happened, Vale might get fat from all the food.
Pretty quick reuse of a post-comic blurb joke. But maybe it was on purpose?
What happened to Sciona? She looks like she’s staring through a broken window… Just noticed she’s got a glass visor on her helmet… That’s a really dumb idea because anything that breaks the glass will send the shards back through to the eyes.
Motorcycle helmets are different as they’re built in a way that the impact stresses are directed away from the glass, and it doesn’t break into your face.
It’s just some wild hairs after the trip to the heliport.
Took me a minute too. “Is it a hair? Is… her face cracked? What’s… oh, visor. It was glow-y a couple comics back, like a tac-readout or something.”
Two thoughts on Sciona’s combat preps. First: breaking it probably requires a great deal more effort than glass, probably had some benefits beyond “keeping bugs out of eyes while flying” and likely came with the suit of possibly power armor she felt necessary to face Vale…
Second: She’s a backstabbing, petulant, vain asshole villain with, I suspect, adequate healing/toughness to ignore glass shards in face/eyes. She’d totally wear something that impractical for the look… partly to bolster self-confidence to avoid being unduly intimidated.
Third: Artist probably needed a way to show a bit of battle damage from the off-camera punch… landing damage would be behind her, and the focus today was more on Vale… for good reason. And the face was going to be in a few close-ups for expressions so… I think it was a good tactical decision for the author more than the villain. :D
I’m thinking that maybe Sciona’s “oh $#!&” is because Vale’s effortlessly pushing her around WITH the armor and any other boosts she’s grabbed.
Who says that’s glass? Just think of how strong Vale is, and then consider some of the other things that visor could be made of…
YAY! Transparent Aluminum (*ahem adamantium / unobtainium etc.)
“Taking a call here…
“Well, that was just rude – now I’ve gotta fix my face.”
Vale… A vale is a valley…
Hmm… Trying to figure out if her name is a clue as to what she is.
For some reason, I am currently taking it as an alternate spelling of “veil”. As in, her appearance obscures what is actually there.
My guess at the moment is some eldritch horror in a human shaped shell.
Guu left the jungle, took on an adult form at all times only with short hair, got obsessed with Mad Max and a job as a body guard LoL
https://78.media.tumblr.com/53fd2d35ebc5523750e043ff9a09f305/tumblr_nri6gbXrfC1tsmbjio4_500.gif
https://img-cache.cdn.gaiaonline.com/29c57671f637df5b4e07d0c983faac27/https://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j289/HYPERSHADOW98/HaleGuu-GuuchineGun-02.gif
Vale == Uncanny Valley?
uncany valley is effect of something looking almost human, but still; different enough that brain identifies as “wrong”.
there is nothing “uncany” about her at the moment. she is just plain wrong.
I was reminded more of Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. “Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks
In Vallombrosa, where th’ Etrurian shades…”. Vallombrosa = Vale of Shades. Perhaps Vale is a vessel for the dead?
That … is quite clever! My compliments.
A valley… is that anything like an abyss?
The only valley I see is in panel one.
“and though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death” maybe?
“As I motorboat thru the valley of the shadow of death…”
Uh huh:
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/odinsphere/images/2/29/QueenOdetteNetherworldOS2.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20150702210228
Dunno, it may just be me, but I felt a very different, Not Safe For Work, direction was intended.
Yeah, but I can’t find anyone motorboating a death goddess *unless Deadpool did once*, so found a large breasted death goddess instead.
You must try harder!
To motorboat Death? o_O
We all have to die somehow. Of the ways to go, that would be preferable to the ones I have come close to.
AHH…SICK!!!
I love last panel Sciona’s face. Well done Dave! Definitely one of my faves so far (just behind about every second face Sydney makes :) ). There was a brief moment, where my mind screamed “protect!”.
Hm… I wonder I Vale is hinting that she made a deal she wasn’t super happy with at one point.
(Also, I apparently ended up posting on another page, the one about the novel, I think, while trying to post here. Sorry. This comment system is unfriendly to Chrome mobile users, it seems (doing things like expanding the comment box over the submit option.)
She could also be hinting that the price can always go higher if Sciona’s not willing to play ball.
Maybe she’s just saying it depends on how much Sciona has saved up. If psycho blood mage/artificer Elf-girl hasn’t been saving up her pennies, she won’t be able to afford shopping at Machina Industries.
I think I’m in love XD.
Seriously though, that was pretty epic. I can’t wait to see what exactly she is one of these days. Or a full reveal of her true form.
I’ve been reading Star Justice for a while, and as far as I’ve read Adam is still arguing with himself as to why sleeping with any of them would be wrong or a betrayal to the others of them. It’s nice to see the harem set up, but a guy who is good enough to hold out on it instead of charging in dick first.
Boobies.
Well, that answers the question of if Vale is a Maxima knockoff…
Still leaves the question on how she is related to Pixelicious though…
Pixel changes her hair color by hacking herself.
So…
Pixel pranks?
Or, maybe Vale chose that hairstyle and colour after meeting Pixelicious…
Or maybe Vale is Krona’s mom.
Yeah, that’s the other relationship was thinking of (well, more of simply a familial connection)
I really like that, by all appearances, Vale doesn’t miss a beat despite the damage, nor did she even bring it up. That’s gotta be the most disturbing part for Sciona, A devastating sneak attack like that and not even an “ouch” or a “that was unwise”. It comes off as entirely irrelevant to Vale.
the eternal struggle of OP beings everywhere.
Do I brush off your attack as it was nothing to me as an ominous sign.
Do I get dramatic, up the creep factor with a “that was unwise impudent mortal*
Do I like it mildly annoyed me like gnat on my arm, just barely acknowledging it as I swat aside the nuisance.
Or just glare and maim and/or kill.
I imagine the phone call made the first choice optimal.
Vale’s particular abilities are interesting, as is her origin, but I’m particularly curious about the reason for her loyalty to Deus. Old X Face has a mighty fine suite of toys, and some quite competent henchmen at his disposal, but Vale seems like the linchpin of his operation so far. So, what induces her to follow Deus, rather then usurp him?
Genuine loyalty could be at the bottom of it, but if so, how did he earn it? Is her just that persuasive? Or, does he have some sort of MacGuffin that allows him to control her?
I’m genuinely excited to see her develop as a character.
Affably Evil from TV Tropes. In particular, look under the Western Animation examples for The Simpsons’ instance of it. James Bond villain who’s also a good boss.
Summoned the genie and immediately offered freedom from the curse of the lamp? Thus getting a semipowerful nearly cosmic ally willing to hang around for a few decades while his new buddy dies?
Something like that seems in character for him. He’s clearly a deal-maker, and likes to think of himself as one of the good guys, who doesn’t mind “making the hard choices required” to make the world a better place. Winning the loyalty of some ancient magical pixie chick, who believes in the concept of benevolent feudalism was probably very high on his to-do list.
“Depending on your proclivities” makes it sound like the price is a service given in exchange, not trade of a money or objects. So depending on Sciona’s proclivities she might or might not mind the service.
I was wondering if anybody else was going to bring this up.
Yeah eg his price is doing a job for him which might be an easy job but she might not be able to stomach working for someone else.
I kinda suspect that the “work” Deus might have in mind could only be shown behind an age gate… He does seem to like beautiful, powerful, non-standard coloured women…
If sciona was smart and we have every reason to believe she is both with patience and planning. She should just withdraw and tell Vale Dues can keep whatever McGuffin she was after. Completely derail Deus’s plans and planned gloating and over charging the price. Nothing deflates an items value more then the prime buyer not wanting the product any longer.
Then have some time go by and just have a third party view the items and buy it for better price. Or if he sells it to someone else target them.
I doubt her pried would allow the use of a third party again, though.
Well, now. Keep in mind that Sciona only recently got her body back. This little incident should remind her she’s not invulnerable or indestructible; it’s a good time to learn some humility and caution and shelve the ol’ pride.
Also, she kind of ruined her rep for recruiting 3rd parties, just sayin’.
We have very little reason to expect Sciona to be smart. She has not done a single smart thing since Deus came on screen, and mostly just been used as the butt of jokes. Again seen this page, when Sciona yet again does something stupid.
At this point I’m halfway considering that Deus is a super himself and his power is a competence-absorption field, because the instant he comes on camera everyone else turns from savvy planners and experiences officers to highschoolers.
It may appear that way to the stupid.
My apologies, this is not intended as a taunt, but rather an example of one (and it would be undeserved, as your observation was fair, even if I disagree with the conclusion). Deus has thrown Sciona off her game, by tactically insulting her, on both occasions he has met her. Successfully managing to push her buttons, to make her angry. Once someone looses their cool then it does not matter how smart they normally are, they will be likely to make dumb moves.
Further Deus tends to do this with everybody. It is clearly a tactic that he favours, and it works. So although it appears to be stupidity in others, it is actually a reflection of him being good at manipulating other people’s emotions. Sometimes with the aim of getting respect (such as in the TV interview). Other times to throw people off in negotiations.
He even did this with Maxima. Teasing her about the geode, for example. Before cunningly flipping things around by freely offering it to her. Switching her from being annoyed, to feeling that it was OK for him to hang on to it.
And really hoping that that ‘tactic’ backfires in a HUGE way one day, and Vale (or anyone else) isn’t around to pull his smug arse out of the fire and he gets mud-holed!!!
Yes, yes, I know everything is Deus’s plan and all that. That is sort of my point. EVERYONE falls for Deus. When he’s on screen he’s the only person allowed to be “cool”.
Heck, this entire scene seems to exist largely because the narrative couldn’t let the one thing anyone has done that was a *highly minor* bother to Deus (Sciona triggering the self-destruct) not be something where Deus still “won” – it was clearly not meant to showcase Vale, since Dave is straight up saying he didn’t want to showcase Vale yet but he realized he wrote himself into a place where the character would do so, and it was clearly not meant to showcase Sciona since she’s being treated as a clown. So, narratively, it seems like the primary point of this scene is to establish how complete Deus’s leg up over Sciona is.
I’m kind of getting genuinely worrying that Dave might be falling too much in love with his villain, which is a thing that has ruined a great many superhero comics, so excuse me if I’m a little twitchy.
Villain, villain? I know you are not referring to Sciona, as you called her a clown. See now if you are trying to pigeon hole a hero into a villain role, no wonder you are misapprehending Dave’s intentions!
Don’t forget that Dave’s interests lie in the things outside of combat. We get to see a lot of the cop’s side of the story in those areas, such as on the firing range, in the showers, out for a meal, clubbing, running on the track and so on. Deus is a character who he is using to explore the morally ambiguous areas of big business and how they can adapt to a world with super powers.
As for things going his way, you may want to read through past comments to see how much folks bitch when heroes do dumb things, and villains alike (in Sciona’s case due to anger management, lack of empathy etc). Now it is your turn to be wary that Deus is not making such mistakes.
Taken collectively our audience does not allow much wiggle room, does it” “Thou shalt write within the confines of these two parallel dotted lines. Tho characters must not be incompetent nor competent.”
Personally I do not want mediocrity. The super genre is about characters who excel at certain things. Math is a paramount martial artist. Likewise Peggy for sniping. Deus’s thing is being a mastermind.
If you have a master manipulator, who we can actually see in-comic doing all the right things to have the consequences portrayed, that is a fair depiction. There are some people who do work the system well enough to have things go their way. Look at Richard Branston, Bill Gates and their ilk.
Now that is not to say that they go unopposed, they are forever having to fight off rivals’ machinations, (see above) defend themselves against law suits, (see comments for how Deus has been protecting himself from those) cope with some poor decisions they have made (leaving Maxima with the impression they were dating).
But most of the time they can appear on TV looking smug. For a reason. They are rich, powerful and successful. And have managed to avoid being put behind bars.
Deus is such a character. Someone who likes pushing the boundaries. Doing things which check all the boxes for ‘megalomaniac super-villain’, yet with things usually not being as simple as that, when you see the full picture.
That is not a hole Dave is digging his writing into. It is a fascinating area to explore and he is doing a magnificent job of it!
The thing is, you’re kind of making my point. The narrative is treating Deus as a “hero”, and in fact as far more of one than Max or Sydney get to enjoy. Deus is not really being used to explore anything. I mean, heck, just for the most blatant example, here we have a rich white dude that conquered a third world country to “improve” it, and instead of this being a complex thing, through the power of apparently just being smarter than literally everyone else that has ever held any kind of office he turned his fiefdom into a paradise, with the narrative not even vaguely pointing out that this is fucking colonialism and colonialism *does not improve the lives of people* and honestly to even suggest that it does is the kind of thing an author should probably approach with care.
So Deus is a man that gets to have all the trappings of a villain, who is a mega-rich blatantly sociopathic CEO (which is nearly synonymous with evil), who gets to do whatever the fuck he wants with no regards to anything while the Max and Sydney side of the story is *constantly* beating Sydney with the fact that actions have consequences… and for whom everything he does simply works and he gets to be lauded as a hero constantly by the author. Deus does not get consequences. Deus never needs to go off plan. Deus never even has to dust his coat. Everything contorts itself so Deus barely even needs to manipulate people, they basically stupid themselves for him.
So no, I’m not sold on Deus as an analysis of anything. That dog won’t hunt, monsignor.
I dunno. Americans seem to be happier living where they do now, than when their ancestors were in Europe. At the cost paid by the indigenous peoples, and slaves, needless to say.
Generally speaking though, yea, historically there is a lot of weight on the negative side.
Personally though I think there was a fundamental flaw in implementing a statement of principle. “Make the World England” sought to make the English first class citizens and everybody else second (with similar principles from the other European powers). Whereas if all the colonies were accorded the same status as England, and the English, then history may have turned out differently.
Mind you they were failing to learn from history. Alexander the Great had exactly the policy I described. Once conquered, the populace of every subject nation became citizens of his expanding empire. With the Greeks not having any greater status, in principle, than the new citizens.
This meant that Alexander had to devote far less of his time to putting down rebellions, when compared to other conquering nations. Thus allowing him to concentrate on continuing expansion. Meanwhile the economies of all the nations thrived.
The latter being something that the later European powers focused exclusively on. To their detriment as they had to constantly battle citizens who resented the second class status afforded to them, along with the lack of self-determination which goes with that.
Importantly the European powers failed to pay attention to how quickly Alexander’s empire broke down, once his egalitarian principles were abandoned. They could have chosen a sounder long-term path.
If you do have a dictator who prioritises elimination of corruption (absolutely vital), then putting in cost-effective infrastructure upgrades (not just $1 worth for every $1,000 assigned to the task) which are targeted at improving the standard of living of all the citizens (and prioritising genuine sustainable improvement, over high status projects), and continue to make decisions with these kinds of priorities, then you can actually improve a nation.
Provided the person calling the shots is a talented enough economist and business man to pull it off. And is not just in it to satisfy personal greed and self-aggrandisement.
If you start out with the assumption that Deus is just in it for the latter (i.e. through only viewing him as a villain, as you keep doing), then you are right that the attempt would be doomed to failure. But if he genuinely does work to improving the lot of the common people (at the cost of not being able to build up his offshore bank accounts as much) the prospect does become plausible.
Especially as he was wise enough to keep a figurehead to front his plan.
I know of a number of African countries, which are heavily dependant on international conglomerates to provide capital investment and infrastructure upgrades. Sadly they are in it purely for their profit. So the improvements they offer are as minimal a trade off as may be necessary for PR purposes.
Plus the world generally does not approve of corporations running countries.
It will all make sense later when he has to ask Archon to help him save his baby from being kidnapped by Oberon king of the fairies.
I love David Xanatos character xD
I always pictured David Xanotos as being an honors graduate at the Lex Luthor school of villainy. And having taken a correspondence course and Batman prep deity / counter trap specialization. Hence his choosing the name Deus as in Deus ex machina .
Nah, Lexie learnt everything he knows from Xanatos, butt that doesn’t mean he knows even half what Xanie does
Completely agree with you regarding Smugdouche-can-do-no-wrong
Without details we have no idea how critical this item or items are for Sciona. It might be that time is critical and she can’t afford to wait it out. Also odds are that Deus know exactly why she needs that trinket. After all it wasn’t simply coincident that he ended up in that vault with his shopping cart just as she had taken out the defenses. It was all planed for by him, and I’m guessing that includes riling up Sciona enough that she forgot at least some of what she was shopping for in the first place.
So he probably know just what the swag is worth for Sciona, and how far he can push her.
And don’t forget that unless he has some equally pressing need for something only Sciona can do then he can easily afford to just stash that item away. It’s not like he needs the money.
Vale: “My hair! You messed up my hair!”
That probably upsets her more than the supposed heart and brain strikes.
So… Uh… Does Sciona have a crack running through her face that closely matches the new one in Vale’s face? Or is that hair or something that hasn’t moved even slightly in three panels and wasn’t there before?
That’s a broken visor. I wouldn’t have even known she had one from the previous pages.
Glad it wasn’t just me. I thought it was my lousy eyesight, but I certainly never noticed the visor until just now. So, umm… what’s up with the visor anyway? Guess it makes a nice hairband, at least. Especially since it took a hit hard enough to break it yet managed to stay on and keep every hair in place. In fact, hairband that tight would probably hurt right in the temples.
Yea, I also had to go back and realized she’s been wearing a visor this whole time. Nice high-quality recently-cleaned glass there. As someone who wears rimless glasses, sometimes my photos look like I just have to metal sticks on the side of my head if you get them from the right angle, and they’re not wrap-around unlike Sciona’s visor (speaking of which… I wonder how hard it would be to replace my glasses with something like that…)
This was — really *none* of the things I was even half-expecting. How wonderful. =)
Yeah, this definitely makes Vale even more interesting. And I’m beginning to wonder how Sciona has stayed alive for this long, honestly — as was pointed out above, she *really* should have known that nobody is going to turn their back on her unless they’re really confident they can handle the inevitable sneak attack. Though, to be fair, on the other hand — Sciona doesn’t think Vale is just a really powerful super now, and that’s valuable information. Could be she was expecting the sneak attack to fail, but would at least give her a better idea of Vale’s abilities.
Sciona needs a big ole’ anime sweat drop coming down her face in that last panel.
I can just see her internal dialog… Okay… I got my powers back and I think I am pretty hot shit… but Dues has been running laps around me all day… maybe I should just play this one vanilla…
Ya, when you impale some one through the chest and head, still talking on the phone is not the reaction the impaler generally expects.
…this reminds me of a line from an issue of Fantastic Four- Sandman to Ben Grimm:”You used to at least wince when I hit you!”
It is possible that Vale is some sort of non-euclidian ET-maybe a surviving redshirt from a failed expedition that Deus saved. That would explain both her loyalty to Deus+her nonconformity with the human supers size template…
DaveB, I’ve read the first two books in his Tamer series, and have to say I agree on the worth of the author. Amazon has, of course, been trying to get me interested in buying the Star Justice series as well, but between its title (Star Justice, really?) and the ugh cover art I’ve avoided it.
Will give its first volume a try on your recommendation.
I was lucky to find the “Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians” books in audio book without the regular cover because the covers on those books are terrible.
I had been reading (and mostly liking) Star Justice, until Queen of Hearts – at which point I put it down and stopped reading partway through, and haven’t picked it back up.
Any reason why? o_O
I’ve done that with one series, but probably for an entirely different reason. It was the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and I stopped at the second to last book, not because I didn’t like it but because I just didn’t want it to end.
After investing so much time reading the nine first books, some of them several times just to get the hang of what’s going on, I have a tough time seeing it all end. And frankly I can’t imagine the author trying to tie up even a fraction of the loose ends in a single book.
It’s worth keeping going with that; there’s still lots of loose ends about when it is finished, but many of the key ones are indeed put in at least a reasonable state. Others are cleared up somewhat by Ian Esslemont’s Malazan Empire books, but be aware that loose ends are pretty common outcomes all the same.
Life very really ever ends with loose-ends neatly tied up, so why should a book? Unless the book series finishes with the end of the Universe and Everything, you should be left with questions, with wanting to know what happened next
And Cpt., it’s perfectly acceptable to not want something to end, to have something go on forever, butt, sometimes, even the greatest story eventually reaches it’s end, butt as long as you remember it, does it actually end?
Well, obviously a high sentient grade, magic-tech hybrid android-golem powered by an atom of dark matter with the primary ability of being able to tie into the local gravity well (hence the ability to be unmoved).
It’s so obvious! DUH!
BTW, they are difficult to destroy, but it can be done. One simply has to accept collateral damage is going to happen, usually the lose of the planet or immediate solar system. The best way is to simply send the star nova and check back in a few million years to see if you got a lucky hit.
I’ve only had to destroy one in my career, but I have had good relations with several more since. (Including one all-night “date” that got me drummed out of the Interstellar Army and banned, for life, from every known Radio Shack in the Universe, but let’s not talk about that, okay?)
From all THREE Radio Shacks?!
Yes. *sigh* And I really like those robot arms that they always seem to have in stock and on display.