Grrl Power #726 – A return to abnormalcy
This scene would go down really different with just about any other Lieutenant Colonels in the military. Granted, there are fewer R. Lee Ermey types in the service these days, but glomping your XO is probably still generally frowned upon.
Yes. Dabbler went to Balor University. (She was 85% of the way to six different doctorates before wandering off.) Their collegiate rivals in the Doom Bowl was and still is Pit Fiend U. Although watch out for Marilith U. They only allow lady demons to enroll there, but while sexual dimorphism is fairly extreme among demons in general, we are talking about species that can summon fire whips and regenerate from eating corpses and… I don’t know, fly and breathe fire and probably other stuff with fire, the amount of muscle mass you’re walking around with matters for a lot less when it comes to collegiate sports.
A few things about this page. The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that it looks a little different. So here’s the thing. I’m getting ready to move from one side of town to the other. This involves selling my house, which involves getting my house ready to sell. At this point, anyone who’s sold a house and moved may be surprised that this page is anything more than stick figures, because, damn, it’s a lot of work. Though I will say it’s probably healthy to have a bit of a stuff purge every once in a while. I tend to slough off about 20% of my stuff every time I do.
This feels like a good time to thank everyone for your support over the years, financial or otherwise. It’s amazing that I can do things like living in a houses because of all your support. You guys are my wonderbra.
Anyway, I had to find a way to speed up the comic process a bit. I was going to post this page with just the flat colors, but I experimented with a sort of cell shading with some smoothing around the curvy bits, and a few highlights. This took a lot less time than my more rendery style, so I may stick with it for a while, or I may be forced to be resort to just flats here and there for a few weeks, so we’ll see.
But Dave, don’t you have a guy who colors pages for you sometimes? Yes, but I spent nearly $200 on empty boxes and stuff like tape and bubble wrap this month, so you know. Choices.
Something else different about this page is that it’s a bit bigger. Updating the back end of the site made it easier to make the whole thing wider, and I’ve thought for the longest time that the dialog font I use is a smidge small for the size I post the pages at. Hopefully this will help with that. And also… it just makes the page bigger.
Edit: Whoops! Fixed the left-handed salute.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Heartwarming yet shippable. Would be a hilarious twist if after all the superbodies after Max, it was petite little Sydney that snuck in there.
As much fun as that ship is to imagine, I’ve rather gotten the impression that they’re both straight. Or, at the very least, they’re both interested enough in men that Hiro walking by after losing his shirt for the umpteen millionth time would be enough to distract them from each other if they did turn out to be bi.
Besides, their relationship seems more like “big sister/little sister” than “saphic lovers” to me.
Well, yes. Though Sydney’s more middle of the road… all roads thanks to Frix. Really stretches the Pan… It’s just more likely than say Math with anyone but lotion and Kleenex. Not my preferred ship, to be sure, but seeds can sprout from the most unlikely places.
I was thrown for a moment by Max’s face. It isn’t as shiny as it was before. It’s basically a dark yellow face, no shine at all. It’s a very touching reunion, but it just doesn’t look like max.
Nobody looks like themselves anymore. :/
I think it’s all that crap they’ve been putting into the water. Anyway, Max hailed a taxi cap so *I* hailed a taxi cab…
Turanga Leela. Just with 2 eyes… and superpowers to add on to the buttkickery.
What got me wasn’t the lack of shine, it was the lack of defined cheekbones- one of Max’s strongest facial characteristics. There’s a hint of them in panel 2, but by the last panel her face is more “anime egg”.
Beautiful reunion, regardless. I think Iron Cloth’s ninjas were helping the kitchen prep onions for the party…
Agreed, the faces look very different. Max’s characteristic, angular features seem gone…
I am not sure if that is a style choice or if it is part of the simplification because of Dave moving…
#717 shows Max looking much more Max-like, so I’d place the blame on the moving-caused simplification.
Ease up, guys, and read the artist’s comment below the strip. He’s getting ready to move and is juggling packing/organizing with getting out the strip.
It’s nighttime, so they’ve dimmed the lights. Less light means less shine. It’ll be like this for the next few hours in comic, which should be just about enough time for Dave to move, unpack, and sell a house… listed in order from least time consuming to most time consuming.
Max is saluting with the wrong hand.
and now her hair part jumped sides
Just a little thing from the military perspective….but a left handed salute is a purposely disrespectful gesture. I understand the scene, but as a military person the scene shows Max flipping Halo off. In the grand scheme of things its no big shakes and I really like the comic. It just jumped out at me when I read the strip.
Corrected just as I posted. Now I feel like a troll. Now I must offer patronage and dog treats to make up for it!
I wondered. Now we just need the next panel flipped.
There is a sole, single circumstance under which an American soldier can offer a left-handed salute – something to do with being on high alert and armed, when your rifle takes precedence. Can’t remember the details.
Actually, after 8 years in the Marines, I know that if you are with your rifle, there are proper salutes with it. If slung on the shoulder, you bring your hand parallel with the ground, the palm down, to the sling. If held at port-arms, you bring the rifle in front of you, barrel pointing up. If standing at attention with it, you bring your arm across your body and place the tips of your fingers to the barrel of the rifle.
Corrected just as I posted! Now I feel like a troll! Guilt will force me to offer patronage and dog treats!
No Kitty treats! :(
Fresh tuna instead?
I’m actually kinda digging the style Change…
I don’t know, but this is the most “real” Max has looked to me.
Possible his normal style is just a step inside the uncanny valley for me and this is a step back out.
Exactly this. This feels a bit more like a return to the old days of Sydney at the bank and just after, when the art for this comic was at its least Uncanny Valley. Recently we’ve been very deep inside said valley. I am very much digging this.
Is it just me, or does Maxima look younger than usual in this comic? It’s not the outfit; it’s something about the face. There are fewer hard edges to it.
Probably because she’s feeling soft at the moment.
Fixed the left-handed salute by simply flopping the panel. Dontcha just love doing art on the computer?
FWIW I also like this shading style better as well.
now he just needs to flip Max’s head to fix her hair part jumping from side to side
She has been taking lessons from the Barberian while Sydney was away. She has picked up the ability to change hairstyles at will.
left handed salute still shows on panel 4 (it is left hand that’s up when Sydney hugs her)
I came along too late to see the original strip, but when I look at Panel 4 now I see it as Sydney has pinned Max’s right arm across her torso as it came down from the salute, and the left arm is reflexively raised to counter Syd’s glomp attack.
Admitted, Archon is a new organization and may have different rules, but you never salute indoors, you never salute when not in uniform and officers don’t salute recruits first – though in this case I’d pass that off as a sort of “welcome home from presumed dead” thing.
That said, when Sydney makes her report, she’s supposed to salute, indoors or out. Because it’s official business. So a salute while saying “reporting in” would have been appropriate, but not otherwise.
WTF, she’s only been on the job for a week or so. Lots of training to go still.
https://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/getting-the-lowdown-on-customs-and-courtesies.html
Oh – guards do salute as well. Had actually forgotten that.
One caveat to your statement: service-members (and veterans) MAY salute the U.S. flag/colors when in civilian attire at appropriate times, i.e reverie, retreat, national anthem, or “in passing” situations. Only times I know of.
But, yeah, Max should definitely know better.
Changed recently, to that.
Never salute indoors? Really? Never heard of that one, and I have been in the Canadian military for 23 years.
Different services, different customs. Also there are alterations for circumstance, when I was a JROTC cadet we weren’t allowed to wear the uniform off-campus because Vietnam, and otherwise we never went outdoors, so hallways were “outside” and salutes were exchanged, but not in class.
To be perfectly honest, I think this version of the art looks better.
Awesome art style now. Keep it.
I like it also. And if it has the added plus of making it a bit less work for DaveB, even better. Especially right now, with him moving. You don’t realize how much crap you have until you move.
Umm, higher ranks do NOT initiate a salute, they return them.
Sydney is the one who should have saluted first.
Senior ranks sometimes DO salute a junior, but he probably have the CMH or similarly ranked medal on his chest, then….
Pretty much correct. While there is no official regulation on saluting a winner of a CMH, tradition has established that they are always saluted first when salutes are being exchanged.
What if both are recipients? o_O
Sydney is also a Civvie who just went through literal hell on another planet and survived.
and she’s someone Maxima respects.
So i think we can toss military protocol out the window. there’s a time and place for it, and this ISN’T it.
No, Dabbles is a Civvie, Sydney is Enlisted (whatever that means, can remember confusion on whether she is a Recruit or Rookie, butt she is not a ‘Civvie’)
One question on that: What’s the protocol on who salutes first for a returning MIA?
When you say sexual dimorphism, which way round are you think for size? I’d expect the females to be bigger generally speaking based off Earth but the implication you make is the reverse.
There are certainly animals for which the female is larger on average, but demons of the type we’re dealing with tend to look like monstrous versions of humans, and the sexual dimorphism in humans involves the males being physically larger by adulthood.
Demonic Morphism is…complicated, a combination of power level and gender. Oddly, it goes from tiny skinny things to giant hideous things to human looking to giant muscular humans then back down to not so muscular but surreal-uncanny valley “attractive” humans…and some cases weird small and (cute) in a kitten with tiny horns sort of way.
Like if you see a tiny priestess demoness with little horns, folded moth like wings, and an adorable smile. Chances are she is a thousand times more powerful than those troll-oni guards escorting her through Hell’s shopping plaza.
Speaking of that, Wiki or Google the Blanket Octopus.
For years the applicable scientists couldn’t find male specimens.
They weren’t looking closely enough.
Wow, those are terrifying. This is why I love the ocean, but have fully justifiable fear of what’s in it.
I just thought Dabbler was a Finn Balor fan. That man’s abs are impressive. (Wrestling!)
Was thinking of Finn as well :D
Did you see his win at Wrestlemania?
I went to Deer College (http://www.scp-wiki.net/about-deer) myself.
(If Archon can be a thing in this world, the SCP Foundation damn well can be)
When did Max get Pointy Ears???
Max has always had pointy ears.
Well not quite. She had normal ears before she gained her shining personality… er skin.
I’ll give you that.
I’d completely forgotten we’d seen her before the change in flash-backs…
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-38-about-time-they-noticed-her/
The second time we see her, and the first time she’s properly “introduced”.
Pointy ears and all.
It came up back when Max introduced Sydney to the Twilight Council and that one elf-douche started trying to flirt with her.
I like the art style. It makes it feel like stills from an animated series version.
They say that three moves are as good as a fire.
Also, count me on the simpler style bandwagon. It’s even a good transition point in the plot arc: shiny 3d-ish space adventure, more down-to-earth down on earth.
This. I was trying to pin down the difference, and it’s like in the 90s when all the animated series hopped on the computer animation bandwagon. They did their best to reach the limits of cutting edge realism, but we ended up with Transformers Beast Wars. I, for one, value character expressiveness over amazing textures, and while it’s not something Dave lacks in either style, I think that the animated series version keeps the focus on the characters without the details distracting from it.
This was meant for Alhana’s comment, not my own.
Left Hand Salutes are only allowed in the Navy and on a ship when the person’s right hand is not readily available render the salute. Also, the service member junior in rank initiates the salute and is then returned by the senior.
for the record i REALLY LIKE the colouring of this page.
except the last panel. max’s face looks a little TOO flat or something.
might actually be the fault of the inking rather than the colour.
love alll the other panels thou!!
I’m actually liking the current art style. It being faster/easier is just icing on the cake. I think there’s a lot to be said for easy readability and lack of detail in day-to-day pages, and it’s been a long-standing tradition in the comics world that you spend more of your budget on cover pages and big action splashes.
*Ahem*. Dabblers cookie bop needs the full 3D art shading treatment
Ah. I estimated it at 9 pages for Sydney to see Maxima and it was 8. Pretty close though.
Please, keep this style. This is not a dig at you, but recently since the style change the comic’s been hitting high levels of Uncanny Valley. And while I’m generally here for the story, that does make an impact.
I actually really like the shading. This is what a comic should look like. I like cel shading and border lines in my comic art. So sue me. ;-)
I missed the initial posting of the Comic so I missed the left handed salute thing… If I had seen it the most obvious thing to jump out at me would have been that he was saluting and looking into a mirror for reference… in which case he’d draw what he saw… hence the honest mistake. (look in a mirror, salute with your right hand and imagine drawing what you see… then transpose it to page… the right hand becomes the left in the drawn image)
As far as Max Saluting first, remember that Sydney did something incredibly brave that saved everyone else’s life at the cost of her getting stranded off planet. Max Saluting first would be a sign of how much she respected Sydney for having made the sacrifice (even though that was not Sydney’s intention). In Sydney’s world this would be on par with our real world military saluting Medal of Honor recipients first. It won’t happen again, as discipline would need to be restored and Sydney’s training resumed but just this once, and besides, Max isn’t in uniform…
I noticed right away that Max sort of had a soft spot for Sydney from the very beginning. It’s been a recurring theme since the beginning, especially in situations where Max and Sydney are one on one with no one else watching. This is definitely a chink in the persona she allows other to see, but its probably a one time thing. At most, Max just won’t allow others to see any further PDA. As worried as Max has been about Sydney, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Max sequestered in her quarters, slumped against the wall on the verge of tears in relief at having Sydney back.
As far as everyone looking different, I noticed it at first, but I marked it down as Dave just not having drawn those particular characters much lately. I draw occasionally… planes and tanks and stuff… When I have spent a great deal of time on one specific subject, it takes me awhile to get back into drawing other stuff.
Well there is the glomp but between the boldingand the italic font I was like ok I know first coffe time but if Is quietly having another she gets away with saying something that’s totally inapropreat for me… moment.
Honestly I like the simpler color method, fits the art style better.
I think Balor U. has an ongoing rivalry with Slippery Roc University.
> sort of cell shading with some smoothing around the curvy bits
Isn’t your art like, 75-80% curvy bits?
Careful Max… your adorable is showing.
Sorry, I didn’t notice the art change over the subtle nod to the personalities present by way of how “ease of access” their pants or lack there of are.
Science time: Maxima is shiny, i.e. reflective. Therefor, Sydney is experiencing the heat of her own body, reflected back to her.
Nope. Hug a shiny metal thing and your body heat won’t make it feel warm. But the nuclear reactor inside it? That’ll make it feel warm.
Also if Max has normal human body temperature she would feel warmer as her skin would be a better heat conductor. Her core would be warmer then Sydney’s hands so she will feel like a 38° metal thing.
I’m gonna say I like the new art style, but you’re gonna have to work on Maxima with this style. Maybe color her with a brighter yellow or something because right now she just looks like a high elf. Also, you’re going to have to do something to emphasize her cheekbones with this style.
Basically you’ve just lost everything that makes Maxima look like Maxima. Other than that I like it.
I honestly didn’t even notice any difference until you said something, and even then it’s just that Max looks a bit less shiny in the comic. Less plated and polished gold and more burnished steel in this comic. Which is fine! I can tell (especially in panel 2 with the shoulder shine) that she is shiny, but it’s just not “GAH! You shine like the SUN!” level of shiny.
Do it for a bit, see how you like it, and maybe get 3 comics a week! :D Good luck with the move!
I honestly didn’t even notice any difference until you said something, and even then it’s just that Max looks a bit less shiny in the comic. Less plated and polished gold and more burnished steel in this comic. Which is fine! I can tell (especially in panel 2 with the shoulder shine) that she is shiny, but it’s just not “GAH! You shine like the SUN!” level of shiny.
Do it for a bit, see how you like it, and maybe get 3 comics a week! :D Good luck with the move!
Bit difficult to ‘shine like the sun’, when one is indoors at night and don’t produce your own light source
There was nothing wrong with Maxi using her left hand to salute
It has been brought to my attention by the greatest comic writer ever that I am nothing but a toxic sock-puppet troll that irritates everyone, so would like to say it’s been pleasant being part of this community, but that is obviously a lie as I was never actually part of it
Goodbye
while I may disagree with your take on things a LOT I never thought of you as toxic
Haven’t seen him on other webcomics then. this is probably the seventh or eighth webcomic i’ve seen him either get banned from the comment section of, or asked to leave.
it’s not that he doesn’t say relevant stuff… it’s just when he starts bitching that a comic isn’t going the way he wants it to at the person WRITING it that he ends up looking like a toxic shithead. Rich Morris of YAFGC is another guy who’s banned him. Think he might’ve pissed off KK of Spinnerette too at one point.
in any event, honestly, i think Guesticus should really just write his own Webcomic. find out how it feels to have someone like him commenting on his stuff.
I’ve never been popular enough to have anyone get (too obsessed) with something I wrote; but I have had some guys not take no for an answer on a commission or two…like violently react to being politely told not interested…actually I stopped doing commissions as I had one too many like that.
Anywho, I rarely do the comment sections of most comics, but I will say Spinnerette is one of those comics I gave up on. Not for it getting dark or anything (if that were the case I’d have given up on Sluggy Freelance long ago)…although near giving up on reading Sandra and Woo (I get the vibe he wants to do more mature stories but feels obligated to continue Sandra and Woo and tug that line really hard at times making it a tad awkward)…anywho, Spinnerette was more a *crucial story elements pay only*, while I understand wanting to be paid for your work; when you sell the main story as free to read (please donate), but then have whole chapters of important events and character development withheld for donators only; it can make those not able to donate feel they are being pushed away.
-basically while archive crawling that series I ran into those several times with the next part acting like you bought the previous so were caught up, and back then I was like…eh, at this point I’d have to buy several arcs to get the whole story…but possibly no longer available given when this was…so screw it I’ll just read something else-
Just to nip this; in the off chance the creator of Spinnerette hasn’t done that in years, I wouldn’t know. It was like…five years ago or so I came across that comic and tried to archive crawl it; only to give up after hitting I think two or three of those *skips*, so stopped the archive crawl and found another superhero comic to archive crawl (which would have been one I continue to check out, Super Redundant Heroes)…man some of these have been going on longer you’d think…my niece and one nephew are YOUNGER than Sluggy Freelance. Most comics online tend to stop or *fizzle out* after a few years; so any that can keep going and keep you interested like Grrl Power is something to be impressed by.
Have never had any problem with the direction any comic is heading (not even YAFGC)
The problem with Rich is, he doesn’t like me using nicknames for his characters, and that’s the extent of it: have never (previously) said anything negative about the comic (have even praised his unique style several times) and the only time have commented negatively abut his characters is when they do something stupid (which several people have done)
Never had any problems or issues with Krowe, still read Spinnerette and back his KickStarter every time
“I am nothing but a toxic sock-puppet troll that irritates everyone
…
Goodbye”
Or maybe, be less of a toxic sock-puppet troll and stick around.
Either way, nice job injecting some high-school-ish drama into the comments, they do get boring sometimes.
That opinion is apparently held by just one author (and his friends), simply because use nicknames for his characters, other authors have a completely opposite opinion (one, in fact, has started using one of the nicknames himself)
So maybe, out of respect for the author, use the names the author would prefer the characters to be called?
To do otherwise is just being a d-bag.
That might hold vapour, if it was only me who was using nicknames for his characters (and some even started using nicknames came up with)
Same with calling out his characters when they do something stupid (which happened on the next page, and the comments were full of posts pointing that out)
That opinion’s held by people because you ACT that way, Guest.
Fact is, if stuff in a webcomic YOU aren;t writing/drawing isn’t going how you like, TFB.
and FYI, Rich got pissed because several of said nicknames you used for his characters were thinly-veiled insults aimed at him.
Ha its funny cause the entire administration of Baylor is going to hell for hiding rape
And especially the Athletics Department. They keep finding new sexual assault victims by team members and faculty.
Beautiful work as usual. Thanks so much for being able to post anything at all while moving. I am packing the house to move myself and took a break to read this. Small World eh?
Good luck with your move and thanks for the amazing story :D
Maxima is supposed to return Sydney’s salute in America.
Of course most Lt Col.’s aren’t the type of people to demand a salute anywhere, let alone out of uniform when it’s not appropriate…
Majors though, Majors tend to get a little whiny.
You Salute the uniform, not the person in it, however there are exceptions.
I’m a retired MP… No one and I do mean NO ONE was worse than Captain’s wives. If I had a penny for every time I heard “Do you know who my husband is?” in an effort to get out of a ticket I’d be a rich man. My response was always, “Who your husband is doesn’t matter ma’am… he’s not the one I’m writing the ticket to, but he’s the one who is going to have to explain to his commander why his wife tried to use his rank to get out of a ticket.” I was usually on the fence about writing the ticket until first contact. Be contrite and admit your mistake, you’ll likely get a warning. Get belligerent? Oh yeah… you’re getting a ticket. For every infraction. Speed… failure to signal, tail light out… and if you keep throwing your husband’s rank in my face, I’ll throw disorderly conduct in there for good measure.
I remember one of my high school friends at Gunter pulled that when Driving with me as a passenger, I told him yes I’m sure he does, your the one whos Dad is going to confiscate his sons keys until you graduate and move out for pulling that.
He did at least until after they moved. Mostly because did 50 on the old flightline.
I know another military dependant (there spouse) who actually got her husbands security clearance revoked when he was working with the Data center.
Sydney didn’t salute though… she *GLOMP*ed