Grrl Power #70 – Punked
When you hear of someone with the power to make copies of themselves, the first thought is “what if one of them dies?” Don’t worry the comic isn’t going to get all dark all of a sudden – I don’t even have a storyline remotely in mind where we find that out with Harem. However, her little prank won’t be without consequences.
Now, Sydney’s made Max look foolish more than once already, so you may be asking why Max is suddenly so lit up. One of Sydney’s unofficial superpowers is that she’s strangely disarming, she didn’t make Max look like some sort of sexual deviant (and with no way to explain it without possibly spilling something about the, let’s call it gray ops, going on right under the press’s nose, and she’s not Maxima’s subordinate. Though really it’s the second thing. Max is a little wound up when it comes to anything pertaining to her sexuality. She doesn’t even like the word sexuality in the same sentence as her name. As far as she’s concerned, if you wouldn’t say it about a guy, she doesn’t want it said about her, and the word sexuality is almost never used when talking about guys.
Last panel as a wallpaper = Win!
An example: a good sobering glare to send off to any AA meetings.
‘Don’t drink and drive or else!’ *Glare of flamaing incineration
Also good outside a principal’s office.
You know what, I find myself wondering how Harem’s power works. She can teleport, fine. And she leaves a copy of herself behind, also fine (although it more works out to the ability to create copies of herself at range). But why do the alterations to the copies to make them ‘unique’ persist?
With the way that power is explained, I find myself thinking she should have to dispel one of her copies before teleporting (so she can leave one behind and still be under her maximum) and the new copy should look identical to whichever one of her teleported.
Does that make sense or am I just over-thinking things?
I suppose the alternative is that she “can” leave a copy behind rather than that she “has to” but the cast page might need rewording then.
They aren’t different. Dave has explained it as she has customized her alternates over time to make them look different. Clothing, hair dye and even tattoos as I remember it but without that customization they would look identical. Must blow her budget on clothing though, right out of the water.
Yes. How do they keep the different hair cuts and tattoos through teleportation?
Remember, she doesn’t have five bodies and can teleport, she makes extra bodies when she teleports, up to five. Then (and the cast page is unclear) she either can’t teleport until she dispels one (which is how it is phrased) or she can teleport but stops making extra bodies. This kind of thing needs clarifying at some point, even if I can infer it’s probably the latter.
My original concept for her was simply that she could make copies, but then I got tangled up in “when she makes a copy, does she have to be touching it, or how close does she have to be, or can she absorb one only while in contact with it” Stuff like that. Then I realized that if I remove the range limitations entirely, she’s effectively got two powers. So she can make up to 4 dupes (for a total of 5) but once she’s at that limit, in order to move one from one place to another, she has to rely on teleporting, i.e. disappear at one location and reappear at another.
A possible limitation on her teleport trick: when one of her is teleporting, she has to have at least one of her stationary… sort of an anchor for her teleport’s GPS or something. I haven’t got the stats of such a thing down, but I have played Champions (Hero Games Superhero genre RPG) enough that I know you can do anything with the available powers. I even put together a hero whose powers were all a side effect of him being a walking fusion reaction… Hero Science, is there anything it can’t do?
Curiosity question about the cast page. I have checked this website from three different computers at different resolutions and each has the same problem, Arrianna’s and Joel’s Bio pics are compressed to a thin line. I can right click/save the picture and read it just fine that way but nothing seems to correct the situation online. However when I looked at the cast page on my phone the page looks the way it is supposed to. These are the only pics this happens with. Is anyone else having this issue?
That’s weird. What browser are you using? That page is due for a bit of an overhaul anyway, and I’d like to think I know a bit more about HTML now than when I originally built it.
All three use Internet explorer. Not sure about the different versions but two of the computers are only a year old. My next computer will get chrome on it from the start unless I get a mac this time. When I tried out chrome on my computer last time it lost a bunch of my files. Firefox just fried the harddrive.
I also have this issue. I use IE8 on a reasonably current pc running Windows 7
Hmm, I think I know what’s wrong (besides people using IE in general I mean) I’ll see if I can fix it tonight.
I believe you hit on the problem when you mentioned IE. Only use that plague-ridden piece of junk when no other will work which is rare. Firefox , Chrome or anything else is better and less targeted by hackers and scammers.
Ashraf, of DotTech.org, refers to Internet Explorer ans “The worlds best Firefox downloader.” I tend to agree.
That’s about the only thing it’s good for.
Unless he is referring to the news woman as “colonel”, shouldn’t
“That’s a very good question colonel.” — Telling the colonel that that her question was good.
actually be
“That’s a very good question. Colonel?” — Commenting on the question being good, then asking the colonel for comment.
Oh, and, totally awesome update!!!
I can’t wait to see how Maxima deals with her little “discipline issue.”
Not necessarily. There’s nothing to show that he’s addressing the newswoman, so it’s easily interpreted as Cpl. Rock (to coin a name, and guess a rank) making it known to Maxima that he doesn’t consider it a trivial issue either. Perhaps Cpl. Rock is Arianna’s PR-Commissar representative on the team – they’re going to need one if this level of practical joking continues. In a well-contained situation, the explanation would probably wait until they got back to base, but the presence of cameras mean immediate speculation requiring immediate explanation.
I think a good explanation is that they use sedative patches to help control captured supers. Upon opening the packets, Maxima had found that someone had ordered them to look like “kissy-stickers”…. hence the “discipline issue” she has to deal with, and the kisses on the soldiers.
Should work as no one looks too close and notices that not all the kiss marks are identical.
Think is, while I can see the PR woman thinking of this, I don’t know if the pissed off Maxima can come up with this as an explanation on the spur of the moment. Of course, if she shifts her stats into speed, she might be able to take a week to ponder in a few seconds of everyone else’s time.
ok small little tiny really insignificant minuscule catch that for whatever reason caught my eye and that’s the choker on harem neck it full view in panel 6 but nothing in 4 or 5. stupid yes i know but ugh I’m slightly ocd and that jumped out at me.
Well, her chin is more or less lowered in panels 4 & 5, so a case could be made that the choker is merely concealed there.
Yeah I had considered drawing the edge of it under there, but there are so many other details to keep track of on each page I figured it wouldn’t break anyone’e heart if I didn’t. I probably do need to go through each page and do a corrections sweep. The temptation to do all new art in some places would be strong though.
I wasn’t going to say anything because there really wasn’t any impact beyond momentary distraction; but if you’re going to go through and make a corrective sweep anyway… I don’t know what kind of material the chokers are made of, but their “clinginess” borders on paint/tattoo – even a filmy, clingy cloth, like silk, would maintain a little separation from the skin, even if it’s just across gaps. It’s gotten much better, but was most noticeable in the first couple close-ups of Max
Yeah I could add a little shadow under it here or there, but I don’t really need more details to keep track of on each page that slow down the art even more. (Like the shinies on Max that I keep forgetting to add now that they’re in direct sunlight) I’ll probably do it on a few closeups to show that it’s not painted on but not on every panel.
Wondering how Arianna is reacting to this sudden turn of events. Possible head explosion to come?
I mean, she was very smug about the apparent success of her moronic PR scheme. Then Sydney suddenly goes off the deep end, and now this. That official press conference Arianna was building up to will now be more like a circus. Interesting times. ;)
Okay, Harem is an interesting character to be sure, but as a person, I don’t like her at all. This stunt showed remarkably poor judgement and no regard for consequences (seriously, it has the potential to destroy three people’s careers, depending on how the public and the higher-ups react).
And the way she treated Leon earlier…she clearly meant to get him all worked up, smugly certain that he wouldn’t dare act on it. I guess she thinks it’s funny to make nerds squirm helplessly. That’s pure contempt right there, and it’s purely contemptible.
I am really looking forward to seeing Colonel Max lower the boom.
It’s almost as if she is acting like a teenager. Oh wait… she is.
That explains her behavior, but it doesn’t excuse it.
The only good thing about teenagers is that most of them grow out of it.
And someone reminding Maxima of that is probably Harem’s best chance for actually living that long.
All Max has to say is that she summoned one of her team members to keep an eye on the super-powered bank robbers while she was dealing with the media, and Harem’s presence is explained and the “WTF were you thinking?” ball is firmly back in her court, without revealing Arianna’s “No, seriously, WTF were you thinking?” that started it all.
A thought just occurred to me. Did Harem replace the drive before or after the kissy part? if it was after, then the evidence is on the recording.
I wonder if she did after did she give the drive to Leon. I’m pretty sure he knows she was messing with him earlier and he could get back at her by showing it to the rest of the team.
nope, she had the SD card/ flash drive in her hand as she got tossed onto the guys face, and if she put it back into the security system before she started the kiss-fest, then OOPSIE!! she’s caught… BUT… if she did the kissing BEFORE she put it back in, then it would only show Maxima getting in and deactivating the cams (like she wanted Leon to originally do), then it gets reactivated with the lipstick in place… nothing to show it was anybody BUT Max…
Harem shows poor judgement and immaturity both here and with Leon, as Prester Fred points out. Also, the shoulderboobing of Leon counts as a form of bullying, as she knows he can’t respond in kind without committing a criminal offense. However, quite a few of my favorite fictional characters would be a pure misery to actually live with, and we do have Anvil and Maxima around to slap Harem down when she gets too rowdy. She has now gotten too rowdy, slapping down to follow. Who knows, considerable personal growth could result.
AFTER she finishes healing, of course.
Yeah I never tend to self insert myself into fan fiction, or even with my own characters, but really, I don’t see that many of my characters would be all that fun to hang out with. Anvil would be ok if a little boring, I think I could deal with Harem, Sydney would be fun to know as a friend of a friend, but like other people’s pets, it’s better if you can walk away once you’re done dangling the string for them.
My worry is that as a writer I either don’t set up enough conflict among my characters to be interesting (doesn’t seem to be a problem so far) or that I won’t be able to come up with bad guys that aren’t just two dimensional, and at least some of them will be potentially sympathetic. I don’t know why that concerns me so much, when I see some bad guy in a movie or a TV show, it doesn’t matter to me if they come across as underdeveloped cause I know there are a lot of short sighted thoughtless jerks in the world.
I wish to restate a request to see Max with a love-interest. The need for her to keep her private life private guarantees comedy.
I would volunteer for the job. I’m a 6’5″ trucker, ex-Mil. She wouldn’t be to hard to handle. “Ruff & Tough” girls always like puppies. My little trucker Buddies (2 mastiff pups) would be licking Max to death in an instant. BTW they work on LEO’s quite well also. ;)
Just remember that Maxima has powers beyond those of moral women and men. She might accidentally break you during the heat of passion. Superman had that problem too. Rogue of the X Men had it even worse, no skin to skin contact.
Unlike Superman, Max can control her powers and how powerful they are. So I doubt she will accidentally harm a lover re: Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex.
Being as they both are in the same branch of the service, this is clearly an article 89 offense.
https://usmilitary.about.com/od/punitivearticles/a/mcm89.htm
This is not taken lightly by active duty officers, not when it is at this level. Under UCMJ this could mean jail time and/or discharge from the service. Especially as Maxima is an officer in a *newly formed* branch of the service – any substantial lapse of discipline means one or more of the established services would use such as ammunition to arguing ARC should be placed under ‘proper’ (read: their) control.
Ooh, neat link, thanks. Reading it kind of makes what I have in mind seem really dumb. :P
The key component to the UCMJ, irrespective of the articles invoked, is the role of the Commanding Officer. The commander decides what will be done in response to a lapse in discipline, from willful blindness (not a good idea, and usually ends up making things worse), to “throwing the book” and bringing the full weight of the military justice system down on the offender.
This particular unit maintains notably lax standards (probably largely out of necessity, given the individuals therein), so predictably, the members act out in various ways, up to and including outright disrespect for the commander. Being career military, Max is sure to recognize this, and knows she will have to correct this behavior as quickly and directly as possible.
As a teenager, Daphne “pushes the envelope” so she can better understand her place in this organization–Max will have to provide the structure and… clarify matters for her.
If I understand correctly, this applies to Harem if they make it a pubic issue. Since people with powers are rare they would want to keep Harem, since they want good publicity they maybe encouraged to keep this prank of hers off the radar by encouraging Maxima to take the fall in the public eye, meaning that to save political face there is very little Maxima can through traditional means of punishment without unwanted complications.
I don’t know if she planned it that way but couldn’t the current politics of their situation be protecting Harem from discharge or jail time?
nope, doesn’t matter if it’s public or not, the disrespect is right THERE… AND captured on film!
HOWEVER…
just because Max is an Active Duty Air-Force Officer, AND Told Harem that she wants one of her copies to be in uniform at all times… does NOT mean that Harem is ACTUALLY IN the Military!!… like the soon-to-be- CORPORAL Sydney (pg 4)… one does NOT make Corporal in that short of time, let alone referring to the Military as “the OTHER job” thus implying her comic book store is her PRIMARY JOB!… uh, uh… the Military don’t *like* that kind of mind-set, so it implies that Sydney is NOT in the military, but has a let’s call it an “honorary rank” for chain-of-command and public relations/liaison purposes… and if THAT is true, then HAREM might not be in the military at all either!… and thusly… the UCMJ Article 89 goes out the window! it just doesn’t apply at all!
i think that all it meant was that Max wanted SOMEBODY to be able to ACT THE PART on a moments notice, so that she has some sort of “back-up” in case something unwarranted happens and needs an instantly *obviously* military person to be present, and who better than a person that can make a copy of themselves AND teleport? that way the John Q. Public is left with a feel-good sensation that either “the Supers are being watched for making sure they don’t get in over their heads on missions” or that “they’re being *watched* so they don’t get *out of control*, and that controllers didn’t want their investment to get damaged so they sent *help*” which viewpoint used depends on the leanings of the individual people, for one that distrusts the whole concept of “supers” they would like the fact that the “Government” is keeping tabs on them, whereas with the person that is OK with Supers (ie. Sydney, etc…) would see it as “When my team-mate needs help, i know that somebody will be there to provide that help…”
You have a number of very good points there, It will, as you said, be determined by whether or not the crew we have seen so far for ARC really are (legally) fully members of the military. They might technically be civilian contractors with courtesy rank other than Maxima herself.
Please note that Max tells Harem ‘I want one of you in uniform’. If Daphne were actually in the military (Enlisted or Officer), Max could make it an order. The way she phrases it implies that Harem isn’t actually in the military, she’s a civilian.
I find your typo of calling it a “pubic” issue ironic given Harem’s previous actions lol
My two cents ….
Firstly, an officer using Article 89 (especially in an apparently “informal’ unit like ARC SWAT) would probably only do so if totally past all other options. Furthermore, whatever happens, they could face suggestions that they are not up to the job.
Secondly, if the accused is found guilty, then their future in that organization is FUBAR. Even if found not guilty, the only reasonable recourse would be to transfer that person FAR AWAY from that particular officer. To retain the status quo would certainly be the worst possible thing for unit cohesion and discipline.
Thirdly, Max is ARC SWAT’s military field commander (or something like that ;) ). She very literally cannot let this slide, regardless of what Arianna might say or do. My impression is that she will handle this “in-house”. Which suggests further that, whatever Max does, will be very obvious (so that neither Harem or anybody else can possibly misinterpret the ‘message’) and nasty enough to make Harem wish that Article 89 had been used.
In short, Harem’s @$$ is grass.
What you said. Exactly.
This *cannot* be allowed to pass by Maxima.
This was my thinking as well. The phrase “hit you so hard your copies will be bruised” comes to mind …
Doesn’t have to be actual violence involved. Possibly better if it isn’t – officers maintaining discipline by beating up on their subordinates is mostly seen as a very very bad move these days. I am sure an “informal combat training session” or three is a distinct possibility – but that will be entirely above board, and probably only a foretaste.
All Max has to do is think of a whole bunch of in-unit jobs that Harem is certain to hate, then make sure she has ALL of those jobs pretty much forever. Doubt if ARC SWAT operatives do much potato-peeling, but I am sure something can be found.
Hmm… perhaps it will be a punishment most befitting her moniker…
… I see leather ropes, hand cuffs, and a riding crop in HAREM’s future.
Pretty sure Hartem would have all those items already.
More likely, Max will find (or create) the kind of in-unit jobs that even Mike Rowe would turn down, then assign Harem to them.
yep! and then Max would assign SPECIFIC COPIES to do those jobs too.
How about they fall under the heading of milatary contractors? Also known as mercinaries. Milatary contractors spend a lot of time and money making sure that they don’t fall under anybodies legal jurisdiction, so the atmosphere can be a lot more lax. It can also be how Sydney and others have a rank in the organisation whithout going through basic.
The characters’ facial expressions and body language are getting really well done, awesome job!
Thanks a lot! It is hugely challenging seeing as I come from the land of superhero pinups and serious expressions. Well, I’ve also done my fair share of goofy expressions too but they weren’t attached to human faces. I went through my archive recently and cringed at my lack of consistency. I wanted to start redrawing stuff. :P
While I appreciate seeing improvements while I’m archive diving a mature webcomic, I also plan on rolling this stuff up into a book eventually, so I’ll have to make some decisions about how uniform I want it to look. If I go in and make an improvement here and there, they’ll show up in the archive but I won’t be changing anything established. Just stuff like making the font consistent throughout, keeping people’s faces from changing shape from panel to panel, stuff like that.
Dave,
Your call, of course, but for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t go too far to re-tweaking — part of the value of putting all this into a book is in seeing the evolution, both of the characters and of you as an artist. It can admittedly be painful to let people see your personal journey, but it does add another dimension to the product. If you want proof, look at the Star Wars franchise – I take nothing away from Mr Lucas, but his insistence on remaking the same material over and over has made him the subject of much mocking and ridicule…
Agreed.
You’re right, I was just thinking that reading it all compressed into a book would make the changes in art really stark over such a short period. Really though, I’m kidding myself if I think I have the time to go back and redraw panels, but I do need to fix a few things, like there’s a page or two where I have the wrong colors on the chokers, things like that. Also I changed how I do the panels halfway through, I went from photoshop to illustrator and I think the font size changed, I need to correct that for the book, but yeah, I don’t have the time to go redraw whole panels or pages.
Things are looking good. They look real and the expressions are well done. The way you have it depicted they are very loose in discipline not like in a normal military service.
well, that would make sense because the only two people that have been positively ID’ed as being in the military are Maxima, and the yet to be seen, Peggy… Anvil’s Bio says she was recruited into the HERO game… not recruited into the MILITARY. so I’d guess that she’s not an “actual” military member as most of us viewers would recognize it either. and a standard military unit doesn’t have a LAWYER, they’d have a J.A.G (the MILITARY version of a lawyer) so, Arianna isn’t in the Military, same goes for Leon, too.
Why in panel one is the reporter just a floating head?
I think DaveB had planned on putting her head in a circle inset but forgot.
I was just indicating who was speaking, since she doesn’t appear in either of the panels with the world bubbles. It’s something I think I first saw in Dirty Pair comics by Adam Warren, though he may have put the heads inside the word bubbles. I’ll have to go take a look at that.
is that a “Thing 4” shirt that Harem is wearing? is that a reference to “The Cat in the Hat” with the “Thing One and Thing Two” creatures?
I didnt catch the reference, but I think one of the other harem girls was wearing a “Thing 1” several comics back.
Actually that was this version of Harem. She hasn’t changed shirts but it does look like the Thing 1 is now Thing 4. Of course since it’s obscured it could be just a shadow.
That’s just a line indicating underboob wrinkle overlapping the 1. It’s easy to tell at 600 DPI. :P
Me thinks Harem is about to lose one of her copies…
I get all these comments at my gmail account, it sure makes for some interesting ads on the side.
Military Discount
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Can’t wait till I do a few pages featuring Dabbler. :)
Let’s see:
Devil Worship in Your Area
D and D Books for Sale
Psychological Counseling
:)
Natural female enhancement pills – works like *magic*!
Cheap travel! Visit new and interesting places you never knew existed!
Nail polish and manicure specials.
Oh, oh, i wanna play that game too !
Lets see …
Nerds for sale.
Super Villains R US.
Three easy steps to fail at programming.
Interracial horse maneuvering competition.
Rhichard Burns rallies 48 femi-nazies.
Car Design – How to crash in style.
… am-i-doin-it-rite ? :D
So if I were to post enough comments about menstruation and tampons, would you start receiving ads for maxi-pads?
Probably, but honestly I don’t know how google makes any money off these ads. I’m blind to most advertising since it’s so ubiquitous in our world.
I see how this goes.
Maxima goes to punish Harem, and Sydney escapes! Also the money she was supposed to deposit at the bank never got deposited, so she takes the fall for the store going under, forcing her to look for another job. Low and behold, an opening in the military! if only she reveals what’s in the tube!
Qute the devious woman Harem seems to be. And although I can’t wait to find out the secret of her powers, or story behind them anyways, since her team themselves know *not a secret if everyone knows after all~*.
But so far this is an insanely awesome comic! Hehe I can’t wait to see what happens next!
uh oh
I wont have to worry about that. Because My Super Power is…….
……,
Wait for it………
………..,
“Negation”!
See Problem solved. :P
I’ve worked as a contractor with the Army a while back. I had to adhere to military dress limits while doing so, but it was not 100% regulation codes (high & tight, buffed boots, etc). Let’s just say that superior officers & pranks by contractors gets dicey. I suspect Max will bluster some, then get some help to get even.
I think Max is going to put her best foot forward and the other up Harem’s ass.
I simply love this webcomic. I want this to enhance your life and career and will tell all my friends about it. I like the art and individual characters so far represented and HOw they are shown…i would date sydney in a second…Quirkyness ROCKS. Tyvm for all the cool and very enjoyavble goodness and tyvm for taking the time to do this update at this time of year! Merry Christmas and God bless you and your life and work…too cool! ^_^
Thanks a lot I’m glad you like it! Hopefully one day I’ll be able to do it for a living.
That´s what you get for not playing well with others.
If Max would have reigned in her militant feminism, and wouldn´t have hit other officers (maybe even superiors) she might not have been “promoted” to a unit consisting of freaks, deviants and Sorcerorcyborgaliens.
Remember: You can be as fanatic as you wish, just keep it to yourself.
How?
Do the SECOND thing that comes to mind.
Also, i realised something:
Last time i read it, Sydney´s bio said “private”, didn´t Max call her corporal on page 3 (or 4)?
Yeah, the ranks on the bio page need to be revisited in a big way. The ranks were assigned kind of arbitrarily when I set that page up and I’ve done a bit more research into military structure since then.
reminds me of archive issue 197 DOOOOM!! *omonus clouds spontaniosly form and the famos dracula lightning shadow should appear around the eyes* bwa bwa bwlalalalaaaaaaan (that was my pipe organ impersonation)
Anybody else who can actually hear Harem’s highly pitched and hoarse laughter?
Will Dabbler’s appearance in other comics be mentioned in this one? Then again, I wouldn’t see how it would come up in conversation, unless she was the one that brought it up. Maybe if Sydney was quizzing her in her excited fangirl stream-of-consciousness style.
I wouldn’t want to be Harem right about now. That is one scarey look that Maxima is doing. o.o I’d probably have dug a hole and hid in it for a long while.
I still don’t understand the part about one of her spares showing up at the hearing.
If you’re at a murder trial, and the person you’re accused of killing shows up and says “I’m dead and that’s the person that killed me” The trial’s probably over at that point. In a conventional world anyway. In a superhero world… who knows, you’d practically have to make new laws every time a super was in court.
DaveB you may want to work up one or two Supreme Court cases on this so that it would be a casual reference to the legal aspect of all this that would crop up in such worlds. Look what happened to all Supers in “The Incredibles” world.
Maxima’s forehead is clipping through her hair… =p
She’s beautiful when she’s the victim of a prank
Maxima is lethal if you piss her off.
Ahh, that dawning moment of realisation, in panel 6. It cracks me up, every time I read it. And the deepening impending sense of doom, conveyed by the rest of the page, only serves to intensify that. Masterfully done!
Haha, a reference! I think I couldn’t be happier.
Crap, screwed up my formatting. I meant a Super Happy Fun Ball reference. (Link is still good, links to the original SNL Sketch)
do not taunt the super happy fun ball.