Grrl Power #608 – Twofer
Well, I guess Deus delivers as advertised.
I decided on this page that Sciona can retract her wings down to something that looks like those Chinese spirit light things. Just cause, I don’t know, it’d be more convenient. For her, cause she wouldn’t have to worry about knocking her lamp over every time she got home and turned around to lock the door. Also for me, artistically at least.
So a few clarifying points about the last page, which garnered some, ah, mixed reactions. First off, I’m not defending any of the characters involved. It was definitely shady. Deus is a cad, and he knows what he wants and is good at getting it. But to clarify:
1) Sciona was not tied up at all. Some people seemed to think she was bound. I was originally going to make her nude under her armor, but then I decided to make it like she’s got some kind of liquid bodysuit in between her and the armor. Those are supposed to be gloopy tendrils of it retracting from her as she steps out of it. Drawing a sequence of things happening that would hugely benefit from animation is tough when you only have so much space on a page. I could have maybe done a longer shot once she had cleared the armor, but it didn’t occur to me people might think she was tied up, and also I would have had to put something over her bits, like hair hanging over her nurps, but in reality, hair doesn’t really come to rest there unless it’s taped. (or I guess it could cover stuff if she was slouching a bit) Or I could have put some obnoxious word bubbles in the way I guess.
2) Sciona wasn’t obligated to take a roll in the hay with him. He said he doubted she could meet his price tag, but she was free to leave and go knock over a bank or come back with a couple of Rembrandts under her arm. It was definitely the most expedient route, however. I guess some people thought Vale was there to try and kill her if she didn’t accept the deal or something, but the page doesn’t really make that clear one way or the other.
Again, not defending it.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"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.
Hmmm – so he IS no slouch at physical fitness…
But those boxers are painted on. Maybe he is like Action Man, but with working tongue.
You mean plastic underpants and a trademark?
He could be waering something like spandex biker shorts style underwear. I used to wear something similar when I was younger.
Under armor makesbriefs and they cling like yogapants
at least he has a bump there; I remember going over a comic in a comics analysis class were John Stewart [the green lantern] had clothes so tight you could see every muscle….but his crotch was frickin concave
Maybe Green Lantern’s FTM?
Would explain a few things :P
That Deus is physically fit has been obvious for quite some time.
And even his level of physical fitness as a middle-aged man who is the brains behind a multi-national corporation seems to be easily overlooked by some.
That his level of physical fitness meets that needed to be a super, well that has always been a matter of contention.
But now? Who is going to claim that Deus isn’t a super? The man who can, without even presenting the dick much less penetrating her, can bring to orgasm Sciona, who is in enough control of her own body that she can survive after having the bottom 90% of her body severed, well this is a superpower.
…Really, really looking forward to when we’re off the “Deus is awesome at everything” stage. Stupid webcomic time.
So, on better topics, think the artifacts she mentioned are blood magic related, or something she needs in particular to execute a master plan?
Maybe that’s his superpower (if he has one).
He’s perfect at everything because everyone thinks he is. It’d be a reason for his arrogance. If he convinces someone he’s the strongest then he is.
With a name like Deus I can see his powers functioning on belief.
What if Deus’ power is something like a subservience-based ejaculate power?
We need to worry about Harem and Opal.
That would actually be a really cool power.
That would make sense… Dabbler runs on tantric energy, Vehemence runs on vehemic energy, and Deus runs on divine (worship) energy.
Deus clearly runs on Greed. His modus operandi is to let greedy people know that he can help them get what they want, feed off the greed when they come to him, and then help them satisfy that greed so that they A) advertise his services to yet-more greedy people and B) come back when they themselves are greedy again. It’s like a buffet that adds 2 dishes for every 1 you eat…
He even spelled it out on TV!
While I’m not entirely disagreeing if, I were to hazard a guess I’d say Deus could pick up on what a person wants or desires are, even if a person didn’t know themselves.
Of course a persons desires would always be measured up against other factors such as their distrust or hatred for Deus or his goals, but it could explain his outlook. I guess my views are dependant on whether or not Dave is doing a take on the seven deadly sins or not.
What would you call the greed based energy? …avaritic?
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed — for lack of a better word — is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind.
*checks locks and bolts on Pander‘s attic hatch*
Well they look to be sound. And no signs of scratches or other tell-tale lock-picking clues around the mechanism.
You had me worried, sounding so much like your sister!
Oh, I haven’t seen this book before. Was it a gift from her?
*puts “Mein Kampf 2, the Wonders of Capitalism” back in the gap on the bookshelf*
I was quoting Gordon Gekko from the movie, Wall Street. :)
I must confess, I’m not a fan of how this has played out. I could certainly imagine Deus giving Sciona access to items and forgoing $80mil to show off his wealth a bit but with only Sciona as the real audience and the sex essentially seeming to be more in her favour than his, it just doesn’t make sense all around.
He can’t be hoping to team up with her or really use her in the future because she can’t be trusted. But if she’s supposed to be a highly skilled artificier and blood mage (to the extent the council couldn’t think of anyone else really capable) I’d have thought he’d try to call on some of those skills.
My best guess is that either 1. He has some power, obligation or goals that are forwarded by sleeping with her or 2. He’s manipulating her into a more trusting position, reliant on him for assistance so he can discern her schemes better to either alter or benefit from them.
Well, now I can’t really agree with the “Sex being in her favour” thing. Sex doesn’t really have a winner in most cases. It’s a mutual thing. I’m betting Deus had a lovely time with an ageless vampire in a new, probably flawless body who was probably trying to prove she was better than him in the sack.
The whole deal’s pretty shady, but I wouldn’t really count it as evil. A gray area more than a black one. Deus, being a scumbag, asked. Sciona, being desperate/curious/bored/lazy chose that option.
Heck, given how Deus acts, if he had the scythe and had Sciona asked… I can fully see him giving it to her on credit. I rather doubt he’d have trouble collecting on that debt when it came due.
Both are good and plausible explanations for his behavior–and they’re not mutually exclusive!
SERIOUSLY?
In a few pages Deus will be revealed to spread alien brain parasites, or try to soften Sciona into having repeated business without all the fuss, or have as many super/magic boosted children as possible, or even be able to claim he slept with half of the top 10 (top 100?) most powerful women in the world for his ego’s sake.
Finish your drink first, Deus, repeated business is “coming”
If not all of the above.
Hmm, yes,
he did use the Onryo cockring, it transforms your semen into tiny slime-girl versions of an Onryo like Sadako Yamamura that crawl around inside your victim’s body even able to find their way to the brain to control them.
That’s…. only specific…..
The vault had many rooms, they got into one that seemed to have…an almost random assortment of McGuffins from a device to regenerate ones self, to another similar device to morph a body as one wishes but costs 99 lives, and a dimensional wall cutting scythe.
another room was hinted at to have creepy dolls (hence I kind of doubt the whole “a bunch of apocalypse weapons” conclusion for justifying things in the vault),
so a room filled with the creations of perverted wizards shouldn’t be too far fetched. Sex toys of the gods LoL.
According to Decolette the vault contains “Armageddon in many small inconvenient packages”. Contextually this was at a point when the Council were embarrassed to be admitting to Archon that there is a problem. So there would be no incentive to exaggerate the scale of the problem. To the contrary they would have preferred to downplay the gravity, if it were not for the impending end of the world!
That same statement can also be stated to imply if someone got most or all of the items they could pull something crazy off.
or some certain items.
However not the ones we’ve seen so far could on their own have such an impact.
Also I think its second nature for secret supernatural society members to exaggerate things; and calling Archon is had more to do with the fact Maxima and her team already showed them up in dealing with the Blood powered golems, and has the advantage of not having their weaknesses to exploit by Sciona.
While i think D is very smart he is also quite arrogant and even if nobody else will ever know about this I still think it is an ego thing for him.
His arrogance seems to be well-founded so far.
One obvious thing…
Sciona was once on the council. She’d be an awesome source of intel. If he had to get all his vault info through secondary sources, it could have been costly and expensive, but having Sciona against them and his ally drops the price tag considerably.
So, basically, she’s be paying for sex with him with information… making Deus either one of the cheapest or most expensive prostitutes since the cold war, depending on how you look at it. (Barring suspicions regarding the current state of the Whitehouse, mind you.)
Another…
He has connections with Archon. He’s made it clear he respects those he works with. He’s actually put himself in a weird situation there, risking that stance. That said, if he makes it clear to her that if she ever betrays him, he’ll out her, then he can have his cake and eat it too (as his respect for her is conditional), just anticipating her eventual betrayal (which she has a rep for), and until that point if Archon catches him with Sciona, he can easily claim he was lulling her into a false sense of security so he could trap her.
He cant trust her to not stab him in the back for her own advancement… But he can trust her to not do so as long as he’s got Vale in his corner because That particular pecking order has been very clearly established by now.
As for what she can do for him… she kept herself alive while reduced to the upper half of a skull and her base gray matter. She’s obviously to blood-mages what Maxima is to the battler-type of superheroes. I could think of a few hundred ways Deus could make use of her skills, be it to keep someone alive when they should be dead, kill someone he needs killing … She’s already demonstrated the ability to go where people really really Really dont want to let people get to, Gather information to do said breaking and entering etc… Heck, Deus is (unless it turns out he’s not after all) human, he must be aware that the sweet life he lives Could potentially be quickly and ever so anticlimactically ended by any number of things, most of which he has protection from.. Sciona could probably potentially provide contingency solutions that noone else could and would offer to him, once he has the right carrot.
Note that on this page he asks her what exactly she’s looking for, its quite possible that he had a hunch but did not, in fact, actually know what said item was… Now he does, once he has it he can dangle the carrot or possibly make it a stick if he has to.
Drugs won’t retrieve the item and dangle it to her because he’s already promised it in exchange for their carnal encounter and likes to keep his word.
As for how he could use her Blood Mage and artificer abilities, I agree! But he didn’t ask for ANY of that in exchange for the item, only intercourse. That’s what I’m confused about. She potentially had many valuable things to provide beyond a bonk.
Deus also offered Maxima some fancy jewellery and recently offered to return her geode. The former would have been very valuable by Maxima’s standards (if pocket change for Deus), whilst the latter is of potentially incalculable value, if it could (in due course) unlock the secret of how Maxima gained her powers.
Likewise Deus gave Sydney a cutting edge miniaturised rebreather. Something that competing corporations would give their eye teeth to get their hands on, to try and get it to market before he did.
All of which Deus has done for no reason other than as a gesture of good will, in order to curry favour.
This is normal practice amongst the super rich. Even though he has put an $80,000,000 price tag on the artefact he could easily get a far greater return than that by having her as an ally, in some future scheme. Plus he gained a couple of room-fulls of such items, so it will not be missed (or would not if it was actually one of the ones he snagged).
Normal people would have a date, maybe with a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers. This was Deus’s solution for ‘what do you get a bloodmage who has everything (that money can buy)?’
Umm, SmugD didn’t give Sydney the rebreather as a ‘gesture of good will, in order to curry favour’, he gave it to a member of Archon because he supposedly is the Archon supplier of such tech and Sydney just happened to be the one in almost immediate need of said tech (which was being gone over with a nano-finetip comb by Dabbles and Gadget to check for bugs or similar devices)
You have been in the military, you know how troops are issued equipment. We have even seen Archon’s version of it. A clothier/armourer supplying the uniform/armour and a sergeant issuing the daily use equipment.
The rebreather was a request for a piece of equipment that did not exist (we know, because we looked up all the latest cutting edge gear and we have several years advantage over the Grrlverse). It is far smaller than anything being produced by any company.
Ergo this item was made to order (or otherwise came about by some extraordinary means). And was personally delivered to a recruit by the Chief Executive of the supplying company.
So, yes, you are right. But Deus ensured that the request got prioritised for research, development and completion, to his office before the first time he got to meet Halo.
He knows first impressions count, and he wanted to ensure that Sydney left his office grateful for a piece of equipment she highly valued.
Just as he tried to do with Sciona, and doubtless will see through his commitment to provide the item. The fact that it is not in his possession will not be allowed to impede that.
Yeah I was kind of thinking the same. Was really hoping he wouldn’t outperform the “powerful supernatural being with superhuman capabilities”. Like yeah I’m assuming he might be a super too, but still. I guess part of it is that while he may be a cool character and villain, I still don’t /like/ him and I’d really like to see him finally knocked down a peg. But so far literally everything has gone in his favor with no real setbacks. He is just so rightfully overconfident it gets a little frustrating. Everyone thinks highly of him, and those that don’t are proven wrong. He has a likable member of the time serving as a spy and mistress. He has the respect (sort of) of the leader of the team, who is a good and smart person but even she can’t see through him. And now a mercenary who we thought was really powerful is brought low but his /sexual prowess/.
Just dang. I just want to see one thing not go his way. I assume it will eventually. And it will probably be Sydney’s fault. But kind of reaching my limit on putting up with this guy being perfect at everything.
Guess that could be his power or something like Wornstone predicts. He is whatever people believe he is. Would have thought Sciona needed more convincing though.
If he does have some sort of belief/confidence power that’s probably why Vale was there. I’d imagine hes ensured she sees him succeed so much that by this time she believes him to be insurmountable in a number of fields. Between her iron-clad certainty that he’s incredibly good at this and Sciona’s assumed disregard for his skill I’d wager the balance was still very much in his favor!
Deus is the reincarnation of Xanatos. Xanatos basically never loses unless he’s facing the protagonists directly, and even then he pretty much always has a contingency plan that forwards his agenda somehow. And like Xanatos he is certainly not good, but neither is he pointlessly, kitten-eating Evil. If he’s working with Evil cultists you can be sure he has a double cross planned, or he’s only letting them summon their Master because Agl’thphtblaphomob the World Eater owes him a favor and he’s calling in the debt.
“He has the respect (sort of) of the leader of the team, who is a good and smart person but even she can’t see through him.”
As far as I know, Maxima does not have x-ray vision. Maybe Deus is made of lead!
Well, he does share the same density :P
To be fair, Dave is kind of setting up Deus as “the final boss”, and heroes are judged by their rogues gallery… so to show off how awesome Sydney is, getting him at the peak of the mountain before she gets to him will just make victory the sweeter, and Sydney more awesome.
I know what you mean. It’s this kind of smug, arrogant, unassailable, overweening success and confidence that can make a character not only unlikable but irritating in the extreme and not in a good way. I too would like someone to give him a metaphorical swift kick in the teeth.
My reasons for disliking Deus are plenty. He’s a thief and thieves can’t be trusted. He was willing to offer Sciona a whore’s bargain and then she didn’t get the item she wanted. (By the way, she should have checked to see if he had the item in question before spreading her legs for him but she’s not always the sharpest tool in the shed.) Deus has shown he’s willing to have sex with someone to whom he has no emotional attachment. He’s willing to have sex with non-humans. He doesn’t mind having sex with other people watching. He’s got the habits of a pilferer and the morals of a prostitute. I don’t care how rich someone is or what fancy accoutrements they have. White trash is white trash.
So I am getting a hint that you are not keen on Deus then?
He’s not White trash, he’s rich trash, and that comes in every shade (and is actually waayyy worse, because they have the money and the {bought} influence to escape the consequences of their actions)
Looking at Panel 1: For a bit I thought “All that just for an iPad”?
Actually the iPad was just to deliver the list of items that he category that he took from The Vault. The 80 million dollars wasn’t to acquire the item she want it but just to look through his inventory and see if he had it. As for the actual item that she’s looking for the cooked worm Fusion used it to escape arcswat
“I expect you to honor your deal and help me locate it.” sounds like getting the item was part of the payment as well. Sciona assumed Deus took it, and to me it looks like even Deus was a little surprised that what she wanted wasn’t on his list.
If we go back to the page where he made the offer his exact words were ” I can let you peruse my inventory. for the right price.” But I guess I can see your point by looking on the last page. She did say that she both expected to be impressed and afterwards expected to be given what she wants. Deuces reply was that he was about to give her things that she didn’t even know she needed though that does not specifically state that he will give her the item she seeks.
That sounded more to me that DaveB forgot what she was after, initially she demanded “All of it!”, so unless the scythe comes in ready-to-assemble pieces, something seems off to me
I thought it was just that he was good enough to make her forget about all but her most pressing need.
I think she said all of it to imply that she was in a position to take it all. It would fit that In her display of “humans here no right to have The articles in the vault in the 1st place and so for how dare Dues even think that himself as worthy of possessing such magical artifacts regard less of what are effect I’m after I’m gonna take all of them just to spite you” attitude that she seems to be working with.
Sciona was so distracted by her own (new) sexy that she forgot about the Brane Ripper.
It’s the item that she crushed the pillar to.
The brane ripper? From my knowledge acquired by reading random astrophysics articles in the New Scientist, that’s bad.
I suspect it’s the thing that Wyrmil/Cooter escaped with.
… He did use it to carve a hole for a curious and sexually (bored? complacent?) tentacle entity to writhe through.
That could make things awkward should she acquire it and try to use it. She tries to summon the tentacles and they are sitting on the Arc sofa, not moving.
Yes I had a similar train of thought.
I was thinking along similar lines as you are (if Im correct). As in the ability to rip through dimensional membranes to access other dimensions or parallel realities. Cant wait to see if this idea is on track. And if so, what is Sciona’s ultimate goal in being able to traipse about the multiverse.
She is looking for the universe where NSYNC didn’t break up. She’s a big fan.
No, scratch that. She is looking for the universe that still has McDonald’s Szechuan dipping sauce.
oh, they still have it in every mcDonald’s, it’s just that it’s still the original batch, and it’s past the expiration date. so, it’s working the counter. (and if you’ve ever walked into a McD’s and seen one of the staff and thought ‘he/she’s pretty hot, y’know what I mean)
Hmm, considering the spelling on the Brane Ripper, Sciona’s looking for something that cuts holes between dimensions…
Is this something involving Sydney’s “Wearing the Cape” appearance?
Remember the sickle-like thing Wyrmil!Cooter escaped with? The thing that opened a rift and let Trent (the mass of gibbering, writhing tentacles) come through? It definitely seems to be something that puts our reality in contact with other realities/dimensions/universes…
Yeah, I realized that when I read the comment above mine. (stupid lack of an editing function)
So…in the scene where we see Trent on the Arc couch, I guess he’s wearing a…
*puts on sunglasses*
…Trent coat.
Pray that Vale doesn’t use this moment for blackmail material…
And who would Vail be blackmailing? Deus is her employer and Sciona is not likely to care
And if Vale does try to blackmail, Sciona could choose the nuclear option and choose to release some compromising photos of Sciona and Vale… Oh, wait, too late…
I think you mean Vale, not Vail as Amberley isn’t in this comic.
Most of theses past are done on a cell phone often through swipe typing because it’s so hard to tap the individual characters. This makes it even easier to miss when changes a word that you know you put in correctly as you hit the spacebar.
Deus sooo needs a Vader moment here. “I have altered the deal. Pray that I don’t alter it further.”
This deal’s getting worse all the time…
“Those are supposed to be gloopy tendrils of it retracting from her as she steps out of it. Drawing a sequence of things happening that would hugely benefit from animation is tough when you only have so much space on a page.”
Aww, and here I thought it was symbiotic in nature. I was banking more on actual living armor given she’s a blood mage and all, but I guess that works too.
I thought Vale’s role was actually summed up pretty clear in the little comic blurb at the bottom of last page though….. which also begs the question, has she done it with him too?
I don’t think that description necessarily invalidates that possibility. A symbiote doesn’t have to be permanently attached (some do, but not all).
I’m aware, but he clarifies that it’s just a kind of under armor and nothing else.
Amazingly enough, Deus didn’t think up the idea for POWERTHIRST! But, Electro-Lotz is better at providing MANERGY!
And it’s a good thing too. If he drank Powerthirst, he and Sciona would have so many babies. We’d never be able to get on to any other plot points.
In case people don’t know what POWERTHIRST is
It has been far too long since I watched this.
I watched it for far too long. Over fifteen seconds gave me a headache!
FOUR HUNDRED BABIES!
THEY’LL BE GOOD AT SPORTS!
So… When Sciona inevitably betrays Deus at some later date, can we refer to her Deus’ Ex?
[YOU_WIN_THIS_TIME.gif here]
Nah–we’ve already got “Deus Ex Maxima”… ;-)
You get all of the fake points sir!
Exactly *why* does she want Trent (the tentacle creature)? Or does the BR (brane ripper) connect to more than one dimension.
Deus hasn’t quite scratched all her itches…
I would suspect it connet5s to other dimension or a general summoning feature. In the case of trent, the user needed a major distraction which involved distracting a succubus amongst others and so Trent as the summond creature. While the expected results did not happen, distraction sufficient for escape did occure.
chances are its a randomizer dimension ripper, cutting short lived portals in other dimensions, or else requires focus to get the specific desired dimension.
if she herself heralds from another dimension this could be a case of *summon my army to this plane*.
Hmmm
Deus is Very fit and muscular. A regular beefcake essentially.
But I also notice no body hair
Supers are known to have crazy level, idealist bodies with no body hair.
More and more I’m thinking he’s a super in some capacity. But it’s easy enough to imagine he’s also egotistical enough to really work out for that body and even pay every body sculpting expert there is to design him into something rivaling a super.
‘Normal’ hyu-mons also come in ‘hairless ape’ flavour, just look at body builders
Thing is, all Supers look like that, butt not all who look like that are Supers
Frankly, given that he looks like two mac trucks trying to fit into a suit, I’d say he’s a super. I was a little thrown when I saw he could grow a beard (the flashback with the kid gives him stubble), but then I saw Hiro with that as well. So yeah, Deus is a super, likely holding back for a dramatic moment.
Honestly what got me on the last page wasn’t so much what was about to happen, although I definitely had a knee jerk reaction to it and didn’t really type out any deeper thoughts past “I’m mad” essentially. Which I apologize for.
What got me was that I expected Sciona to… I don’t know, have a little pride? Getting her body back made her seem like she had a lot of pride in herself, sort of akin to Maxima in a twisted kind of way. That was just my interpretation.
I also think everything surrounding Deus is just juvenile and a little amateur-ish. It’s not very exciting to follow around a character who gets everything he wants. Seeing him getting knocked down a peg or two would be satisfying. He’s also got a punchable face, so that might be a contributing factor.
Agrecian
Speaking of transforming bodies, I wonder how Cthilla is getting on with changing hers.
Pride = not having sex?
More like…
Not exchanging sexual favors for something you want = Pride.
Sciona strikes me as a ‘whatever it takes to get what I want’ sort of person. I’d also say she’s probably more vain than proud.
Personally never felt Sci-fright was physically restrained, butt plenty of people misinterpreted her stepping out of her battle suit as Vale stripping her
It was like those pictures you have to squint at but get when someone points out what it is.
I didn’t realise she was stepping out of her own armour (held on by purple slime) till someone else said.
Deus… Zeus?
Certainly seems in character for him.. Wouldn’t want to be in in Scionas shoes when Hera finds out.
that would be the root word for Deus, yes.
This whole mini-arc seems like a change of writer not bothering to read past scripts, and just a complete DCCU mess!!
If Sci-fright desperately wanted that scythe, don’t care how pissed she was at SmugD or ecstatic to get her (upgraded) body back, seriously doubt she would have left without it
Also doubt it was that sickle that Wrymoot used, because that had been in the case that Sci-fright smashed, and, again, seriously she would have smashed that if that was the item she wanted
Also again, when she smashed in SmugD’s office, she demanded it back, and she wanted all of it, implying it was not just one thing butt several (or a canister of fluid)
On this page, the fact SmugD knows where it is, implies that it was never in the Vault to begin with (as some people believe) and that he did arrange for it to be stolen from one of her hideouts and had it stashed somewhere else (a very unpopular theory amongst the “Deus is the Greatest” cheerleader squad)
DCCU? What is that?
I interpret things a bit differently:
“doubt she would have left without it”: She may be the sort who cannot improvise easily (we know her plans went to sh** quickly). Or is impulsive (she smashed death magic containment and suddenly had a deadline). She did get her primary objective, she just apparently missed some secondary ones. And we didn’t actually see the end of the vault scene, so we don’t know how much of her leaving was coerced or in a rush.
“doubt it was that sickle that Wrymoot used, because … she would have smashed [snatched?] that if that was the item she wanted”: See above about poor improvisation and unclear finish to the scene. Also, who says she saw the sickle at the time? After Wyrmil got betrayed, he may have deliberately hid it.
“she demanded it back, and she wanted all of it”: She always acted like all of the vault was hers. So she could have just been referring to all of the vault items.
All that being said, Deus is exactly the sort who would steal from another villain, so he might have raided some of her bases. It’s just not clear to me that there are any plot problems as opposed to “that could have been scripted more clearly”.
Went back and looked, so I have to correct myself. We did see her leave, and it was apparently her choice, so that comment is wrong. Still could have been stupid impulse.
I assume ‘DCCU’ is supposed to be ‘DC Cinematic Universe’, which is officially DCEU, as distinct from the Arrowverse
Sciona has shown herself repeatedly to be childishly impulsive when things don’t go her way.
A tradition for super weapons is for them to be broken in a number of parts [which usually the heroes have to collect, but…] So if this is the case here, and our girl was unaware of that, or just didn’t think her foes would think of it [and she has not impressed many of us with her deep and complete planning] she might well have broken into the vault assuming she would find the super tool ready to use and only later discovered she only had part. But once she knew there were two parts, she should realize there could be 3 or more.
Deux knows more about the toy of interest, but he has only mentioned partial knowledge and he has routinely been “honest”, so we should not assume perfect knowledge on his part. And partial knowledge makes for a more interesting “race” for the prize.
Elves.
Am I right, guys? Am I right?
Snotling-fondling fairies.
For someone who is supposedly as ‘adept’ as he is, he makes Ken look packed
Y’know how some women with large breasts wear binders or sportbras to restrain themselves?
Deus has pants like that.
The *right* size is far better than too big. Of course, the right size varies woman to woman, and to some extent over time. But that’s not a problem for him: one of his super powers is being the right size for *her*. And since Sciona was in `as new` condition, that right size was smaller. Actually, smaller than now, even, as she’s not quite `as new` any longer.
… man the comments these last couple of days have been weird. Are people not aware that people *enjoy* sex? It’s kind of a thing.
This is very true. At the end of the day, while I’m not going to say this was what I wanted out of this story arc, It ultimately does make sense and the parties invovled were entirely consenting and while there was pressure on Deus’ part, it wasn’t a forced consent situation. And Sci has literally not been able to for quite some time, so in her shoes i’d probably want to take the new hardware for a test drive too.
Deus is literally a big kid with his power, as much as we can tell, which I think in many ways will be his major flaw. even when your already rich, it takes a certain level of carefree attitude to willing trade 80 mil for a bedroom tumble.
Jesus F. Christ, can we not have shady characters with shady morals that make (gasp!) shady actions *of sexual-activities-kind* anymore? Two ruthless sociopaths in a power struggle over an illicitly-obtained goods is okay, but God forbid one of them solicits a sexual favor from the ther one! They should’ve had a bout of violence, injuring and maiming each other, that’d be perfectly fine and all, but sex? The sex is too a divine and mystical act with inescapable long-standing consequences, to be touched lighlty upon.
Seriously.
Normally when someone is doing it for payment, they aren’t doing it for pleasure.
Exactly who is doing it for ‘payment’ here?
If you think Deus basically said his price tag was $80M for a roll in the sack, you read it very wrong.
Part of Deus’s assertion was, despite the fact she was doing it for payment, she would enjoy it. And it looks like he was right, though not as right as he thought he was.
Her payment is the Brane Ripper.
I might have raised more a hue-and-cry over the last page if we hadn’t just had the scene with Deus+Harem. I mention when I see something unexpected because those are the moments that tend to stand out in my mind, but they’re not really complaints.
Also, every time we get a scene that….is more extreme than I’m expecting? Yeah lets go with that.
Anyway, any time we have one of those moments it recalibrates my expectations going forward.
I am sorry Dave but this help nothing the last page is horrible the conclusion make it no better both Sciona and Deus character are gone entirely for another pointless bit of pointless fanservice that help nothing
can we go back to grrlpower no please
I consider this whole subplot sordid. The quicker we’re back to the protagonist, the better.
Seconded.
To add my own two cents to what happened last page, it was just… Poorly done. The whole “pay me 80 million, OR I suppose we could just have sex instead” doesn’t nearly come across as a compliment, at least not how it was presented. More over, it gave the impression that he was “forcing” her into it given that she has nowhere near that amount of currency, and it’s not exactly a sum one would find easy to get. (Although sure, Sciona with her magic powers could probably get it in a not too long timespan, if through probably illegal means.) Even so, though, it came across as an amount of money to signify it’d be impossible to get, with the only other option equaling. “If you want this, you’ll have to join me in bed.”… And the whole suggestion that Deus would actually “pay” for sex I actually find subtracts from his character. He’s supposed to be this big playboy, and he gets the girl by… This?
How I think things could have gone much better, and still end up with pretty much the same result: Deus asks Sciona to do a little blood magic for him down the line as payment, then, like a smooth bastard, brings up the points that were raised previous page, get her actually interested, might even offer a little incentive, and then end up like this… Have your cake and eat it too.
I get the feeling in a few years, Halo’s response to the “pay me 80 million, OR I suppose we could just have sex instead”, coming from someone she felt was as repulsive as Sciona thought Deus was (say, Cooter?) would be, “Wow… that’s a lot of money. But ok… do you prefer check, visa, or PayPal?” (Note: I don’t think Halo’s pulling in enough right now to get there in a few years. But as much as she’s pulling in as a trainee, I’m guessing she will before long.)
Sciona probably doesn’t have quite that much, but it really isn’t out of the question for her to get it. This was just easier.
As far as how Deus gets the girl? It’s like Leisure Suit Larry: by any means consensual that works. But I think Deus’s need for consent is more character than Larry’s.
Hey DaveB, I think you could have made it work with: p607 panel 1: knees and above of the two facing each other, Sciona pointing behind her or pressing a magic button on her armor. 2:Split Panel condensed to one panel with the armor stepping back off of Sciona. 3: Some ferrofluid action with a bubble of the liquid suit bunched up in the middle of the hollowed out armor.
Also, there may have been some order of operations issues: she started stripping before the conversation. I bet if you’d dropped the two sub panels of 6, narrowed it and moved it to panel 2, and then moved the dismounting of the armor to the next level (and change the dialog to something like ‘behold mortal’) followed by Vale’s comment in panel 5 (maybe move 6A to the bottom right?) you could have just about all of it the same. I think you’d only need to have drawn her armored face for the shot where Deus is behind Sciona. And maybe for 6b if you wanted to move it to the beginning of the stripping sequence?
Yeah, I could have laid it out better. Welp, lesson for next time.
yay…mix of story and corny porn…
Anyone else thinking of the film White Chicks and the wheelchair thing?
Some folks making fun of Deus’ apparent lack of endowment given how tight his briefs seem to be…
Y’know how some women with large breasts wear binders or sportbras to restrain themselves?
Deus has underpants like that.
Bigger on the inside?
Only when he is wearing his ‘blue boxers’.
Huh, I guess I could have given him a bit more of a bulge.
To be fair, he could be more of a grower or, like Math, not being the biggest dude on the team doesnt really hold you back when you got the skills.
Or a bit of a ‘sausage down the leg’ look
“Well, when I don’t wear these, small children scream and point and cry.
“It’s nice when women do that, but I like kids – kids are cool. So I wear these.
“What? I like little kids and I don’t want to make them cry. What’s your beef?”
“Sorry, that came out wro.. I mean that wasn’t a slam or… okay this is getting complicated. Shut up.”
Excuse me, sir. You forgot your hat.
*tosses hat, it sails though the air and lands, spinning, on the end of a rather indiscreet bulge, like a horseshoe on a pole*
Kind of disappointed that Deus isn’t drinking Brawndo. Because, you know, it’s got electrolytes.
It has what plants crave!
I had wondered how much ‘splainin’ DaveB would have to do on this strip after Monday’s.. Bloody political correctness. Its a comic strip. That most of its readers don’t even pay to read. If it offends.. the door is thataways.
My thoughts exactly.
So, at this point, Harem has told Max that Sciona showed up. Did she go into any more detail? Does she know any more detail? I know she was here when Vale tossed Sciona out the window. Did she stick around for any of these later negotiations?
Mostly, does she know/tell Max about the scythe Sciona is after?
I’m assuming that this takes place after Maxima came and went.
I’m 99% sure that harem told max very, very little beyond what we saw. Why? Because Deus openly made a statement of “I am sure we can do business” to Sciona in Harem’s presence and mentioned a prior encounter… This directly contradicts some of the things he tells Maximal later on.
This pretty firmly establishes that unless Deus is an utter moron (and all we have seen thus far suggests he is, in fact, not) He must be absolutely 100% confident that Harem will not spill on him to Maxima… Why? Because if she did, that’s it… that’s solid evidence that he has been making deals with a mass murdering supervillain and Archon will be officially On to him.
Its kind of like the difference between Lex luthor secretly running all the crime in Metropolis (along with 80% of the legitimate business, depending on which version of that scene you go with), and superman Knowing he does, In one the game is afoot… in the other its over the second superman decides to punt Lex to the moon. And while Maxima wont violate the law… she’s got the full power of said laws behind her in conducting investigations… and if Deus and his company is confirmed to be doing shady shit like this… oh theyre going down.
sorry, hit reply early…
So the point of this is, he cant possibly be worried that Harem will spill his beans or he would, at the least, be trying to sweep Sciona out the door and under the deepest rug he can find Asap, not making deals with her because her ass Cant be worth costing Deus potentially everything he owns including his personal freedom.
Ergo, Harem is in his pocket and he knows it. (he could be wrong but.. again, moron he is not so that seems unlikely). Which supports my personal theory that Harem is simply not a nice girl at all.. I mean she’s socially aware enough to play nice with people who matter in her view… but she’s completely willing to let those that dont matter to her get hurt or killed and not feel guilty about it.. case in point, she’s basically aiding and abetting a person who she now know Works with Sciona. If that bothered her, she could come clean right now, sell out deus and actually do her job as the person meant to be watching/spying on him for Archon.
There’s also little hints of this such as when Sydney was confidentially sharing wiht Harem and two other teammates that she was vegan… it didnt take Harem a Second to out her to the others for the fun of that. And while this is not an evil move comparable to protecting murderers… it certainly demonstrates that she’s quite callous and carefree about who she gets hurt over a prank. The same was demonstrated near the start of the comic when she made kissy lip marks all over one of the guys in the ambulance… She had to have known this would hurt and/or upset Maxima And potentially damage Maxima’s public and professional image, and it didnt occur to her at all how it would affect Heatwave, who’s boyfriend was the one getting smooches all over while strapped down, who wound up very unhappy with the event…
These and other little hints and now this bit leaves me strongly inclined to think that Harem, if this were D&D, is at best chaotic neutral and not chaotic good. She might even be CE except she doesnt actually get off on murder and is smart enough to realise pretending to be nice will work better for her in the long run.
This strongly suggests that when it decision time comes, Harem will hesitate to support -or just outright betray- Archon. She may have 50 years’ life experience, but I gather she hasn’t spent enough of it in bed to avoid becoming Deus’ sex thrall.
To steal from todays title, with Harem, Deus gets a ‘Fivefer’
Mmm, supports the possibility. But I would not elevate it to ‘strongly’.
Just injecting a bit of balance mind. As Guesticus is all too aware I am Harem’s biggest critic. However, just like Deus is a bad guy, who can pass as good (despite me enjoying teasing folks about him being a good guy), I think, at heart, Harem is the reverse of that.
The biggest thing supporting your contention is the fact that Harem has a strong libido. And that is a powerful motivator to push somebody towards misdeeds. Especially when directed by a cunning manipulator like Deus. And, timed right, that can indeed nudge someone over the edge into committing some pivotal act that turns them into a traitor.
However the single biggest point in Harem’s favour is that when Shadow Boxer was trying to backstab Halo, Harem was desperately trying to get in, through the force-field, despite her teleport being blocked. And genuinely looking fearful for Sydney’s life.
I think Daphne is basically good at heart, but is a thrill-seeker, who is taking dangerous risks and fooling herself into thinking they are OK. So is the epitome of the warning to avoid keeping bad company. Because she is in great risk of falling for Deus’s Machiavellian* ploys, as you say.
But, if she gets to spot the tipping point, before she has committed herself to becoming a traitor, I suspect that Harem’s heart will want her to stay on the good side. She was shocked when she realised how profoundly hurt Sydney, with her casual sexual teasing at the pool-side. Hopefully she will get enough life-experiences like that to make her think more about the serious consequences of her actions.
* Machina industries is a really good company name.
Unless Harem informs Max and Archon at large that deus mentioned having met Sciona before that time at the office, and stating that he could make her an offer for doing business… that’s betraying them right there, and if she Does… then she’s betraying Deus. She’s already at the point where she really has to choose, because she’s either covering for the guy working with a massmurderer… or she doesnt.
While one could argue and debate the morality of this… In the eyes of the law its pretty cut and dry.
He he he. Yes, of course it would have to be the item that Wyrmil took.
And I am glad that, despite his caddish behaviour, on the previous page, Deus is keeping to the spirit of his agreement, not the letter of it. That is the appropriate behaviour for a business man, who is seeking to maintain a good reputation.
So not a man of good character,* but still a good business man.
* There would need to be some sort of qualifier. He does do good things, amongst the bad. So he can be labelled as having ‘somewhat good’ character. Although the general public are unlikely to know the flaws, based on what we have seen. Those who get to see his bad side are generously enough dealt with (and in a compromising enough position themselves) that they are unlikely to go around advertising the fact.
Lets hope it has a function to expand out to appropriately epic western two-handed scythe dimensions. While its true its not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog, waving around something that’s not even Japanese hand scythe sized would be a bit of a letdown.
*softly growls*, *wags tail*
*softly growls*, *wags tail*
*cocks head to one side*
*wags tail*
*Chases Yorpie’s tail while barking*
I feel like I’m getting mixed signals here…
Yea, I was very unsure as to the intent. For several re-reads.
*chases Mister`Wolfe‘s tail whilst barking*
*Throws a squeaky toy into the mix*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P04EbzCKgE
*hears this whenever people mention squeaky toys*
Is that a remix with deliberately irritating ‘music’? Because I don’t remember it sounding quite so awful the first time someone linked that?
far as I know it’s the same one. if it’s been linked before it was most likely I that linked it.
could be wrong, though, maybe it was originally ‘mary had a little lamb’
I want a Dabbler tested ranking for the men here. [And women. Why not?]
Well, there’s the Kinsey scale, but that’s not really what you are looking for. There would be a helluva lot of variables involved, but it sounds like a good passion *cough* project for Dabbler in her off hours..
This is glorious. We need a Dabbler scene with him now. XD
Electrolytes – they’re what pants – uh, plants – crave.
You know, the more I see if deus’ figure, the more I’m convinced he’s benefiting from super-physique. It takes A LOT of work to be able to maintain that level of body fat, and I just don’t see a businessman like him having that kind of time. So it begs the question as to what his powers are, and I do have to wonder if they’re based on his powers of persuasion, or maybe some sort of awe-sink, functioning the way dabbler and vehemence worked. Additionally, assuming he’s on the same playing field as dabbler and vehemence, then perhaps his name is the main giveaway point, and he has the powers of a god. Not a specific god, but the powers all “gods” shared if they were considered supers. Which would be that they draw strength from worship. Succubus do lust, Malumi do violence, and gods do…. awe? I guess. I don’t have a good name for worship/awe/belief type energy. Basically the more powerful a person believes he is, whether that means monetarily, politically, economically, or sexually, the more powerful he becomes. He’ll id wager the entire reason he’s selling all those vault artifacts is because he wants the magical/alien community to believe he’s so powerful he has no need for the artifacts. He’s basically trying to expand his influence.to other planets. He’ll the whole “lift up an impoverished African nation” thing he was doing earlier in the comic points to him trying to make it so that the areas of the world that otherwise would never have heard of him also know about and worship him
Hiring Good Subordinates™ and getting out of their way to do their jobs is a valid (and proven) management strategy.
Not saying you’re wrong, mind – I suspect you’re dead on – but good time management is a thing successful people have, and a big part of that is hiring competent and trustworthy people for mission critical jobs.
I don’t know why, but black sclera are sexy as fuck!
Okay, officially bored of Deus winning at everything now. How much longer before we move back to the heroes?
To be fair we did just have a scene with them, in Deus’s office.
The good news is that this has the feel of ‘jump to the next scene’, at the end.
The bad news is that, even if we do go back to the heroes, they are working hard on catching up with Sciona (and the artefacts, even though that they do not realise she did not get them).
So it probably will not be too long until they catch up with her and/or the artefacts. And possibly Deus too, depending on how things pan out and whether Sciona informs on Deus (or they get caught in an incriminating scene, such as we see above)
Unless Deus wins and keeps his involvement secret. So either he needs to loose, at that, or we will be seeing more of him.
So a loose-loose situation, from your point of view. Barring, of course, getting to focus on the heroes.
I kinda got a similar feeling when we had to deal with Dabbler being nigh unstoppable in the brawl leading up to Vehemence. Deus is definitely reaching obnoxious levels, especially since it feels like Sciona has taken a complete character turn now that she’s restored. Granted, he probably has a point that she had…*ahem*…Needs to attend to now that she has the proper equipment. But still, in her fused body she was an unstoppable mastermind, but now she’s taking pratfalls and being entirely too passive. I expected her to become MORE fearsome when restored, but instead she’s becoming a joke. All in the service of “Deus must win everything.”
Dude needs to be taken down a peg, and I’d be happy if it was by her hand (or laser wing, as it were). She already threw mud in his eye in the vault by breaking the kill-field containment, she should continue to be a thorn in his side. Occasional ally, sure, but she damn well better be backstabbing him later.
Yeah, maybe that’s what rankles me. Sciona was being set up to be an awesome and dangerous villain in her own right, and now is being metaphorically kicked around by some rich guy whose response to every situation is “Just as planned…”.
So here’s a question that occurred to me. If Harem has to have a body on duty at all times, how the heck does she sleep? There’s nothing in her powerset to offset the need to sleep, and I don’t see how she could sleep with one body active anymore than I can sleep with one eye open and watching TV. It’s well established she all her selves experience everything, so it’s not like it matters if 4 Harems have their eyes closed if the last one is up and about.
She has one quantumly entangled brain, but it is spread out over 5 physical brains. Each brain can partially dampen out the sensory data from the others except in in the case of very strong stimuli. (I’ll have what she’s having.) It is like trying to sleep in very noisy room. Possible, but it takes practice.
In case of emergency, I wonder if she could send a ‘WAKE UP!’ signal to a body she knows to be asleep?
For me, the question is: does her body have to be conscious to be put into ‘storage’?
That would be one way to capture and hold her: if they are quick enough or subtle enough (fast acting tranq or slow-working gas, so by the time she detects the gas she is too ‘out of it’ to react to what is going on) and they have a forcefield generator (we know she can’t *VORP* through Mr Bublé and she is effectively ‘cut off’ from her other bodies while inside)
Is that what happened to her 6th body? SmugD is holding it somewhere she can’t detect? o_O
Is there something wrong with Deus’ abs in panel 1? The left and rights ones are different shapes…
looking at panel 7, it seems consistent?
Huh, you’re right. The bottom of the water bottle perfectly lines up with the oddly shaped ab muscle. I suspect we’ve seen some copy+paste voodoo.
And still anatomically ‘off’: two ‘half’ abs on one side, one ‘almost double’ and one ‘sliver’ of an abs on the other? o_O
Nah, one of the abs striations are just blocked by Sciona’s arm.
Actually 2 are blocked by her arm in panel 7.
You are looking at the wrong part of SmugD’s anatomy: look at the abs above Sci-fright’s hand in panel one, and the abs on the right, notice anything wrong? o_O
OHHH I see what you’re talking about now. Yeah that seems like an artistic mistake.
Totally missed it before.
*prepares a field of pitch-covered torches, lights them, and passes them round*
BURN THE HERETIC!
BURN THE HERETIC!
BUR …
Oh, hang on, yea. Does look kinda odd.