Grrl Power #735 – Reindeer games and the inclusion thereof
I think it was a fair question, to be honest. Leon maybe could have put it more delicately, but if you’re coming up with a comprehensive list of solutions to Sydney’s conundrum, that question should be asked at some point.
An unfair question, in my opinion, is “Why would you jump straight to that!?” Honestly, if the guy in a M/F/F triangle doesn’t consider the possibility of a threesome at some point… well, I don’t even know what to say to that. I’m not saying every guy in that situation would be bucking for it, some guys might be intimidated by the idea. I mean, there are performance considerations. But he’d still have the idea. Even if he thought it’d be disastrous, it’s probably on a lot of guys’ buckets lists. Heck, it might be on a lot of women’s bucket lists for all I know (though probably the M/F/M variant) but no one should honestly be surprised when a guy mentions it at some point. “Hah hah, I’m just kidding about a threesome, but seriously, what’s the deal with that? It’s a joke! But just for fun, let’s make a short list of your friends and sister… ow!”
So, can Krona hack people’s minds and personalities? Well, we know she can hack people’s bladders at any rate. If she hacked someone who didn’t like pickles so that they liked pickles, is she hacking their mind or their tongue?
The answer is, given Archon’s reaction to the news that she might be able to hack time, Krona has not been at all forthcoming as to the extent of her abilities. She doesn’t hold a grudge against Maxima, she understands what Archon was worried about, but she doesn’t want to give them any additional ammunition when it comes to evaluating her threat level. As for us readers, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Edit: Huh. Well, reaction to this page has caught me by surprise. I didn’t think anything of the ‘little girl gives guy a bonk on the head for acting like a dope’ trope but a lot of people are reacting like Sydney and Krona are attacking Leon with knives. Which, again, is surprising, considering that they’re not (cartoon bumps ≠ medical emergency) considering that Sydney could obviously cause grievous bodily harm if she wanted to. Krona could at the very least make Leon wet himself or make his keys move 10 feet from where he normally keeps them, and in my case that would mean they would effectively be lost forever.
Okay, so a few points. Some people are saying Leon isn’t even being included in the discussion, but Sydney’s question about monogamy was for both of them. It’s just that Leon jumped straight to the sexual aspect of it. Granted, both Krona and Sydney assumed that he’d be okay with it. They happened to be correct.
For anyone asking if it’d be okay if the situation was reversed and two guys were beating up on a girl? I mean, part of me wants to say that if it was playful little arm punches, in an ideal world free of all trace of sexism… yes? But that’s not the world we live in. In the real world, while there is such a thing as female on male violence, domestic or otherwise, I don’t think anyone can argue that a shitload more women get beaten or killed by men than the other way around. So no, of course the reversal of the above situation wouldn’t work.
But – I’ll give it some thought. It never occurred to me that this page would trigger such vehement reactions, so maybe that’s on me.
I have a book recommendation. This one is not a harem book nor does it have any sex in it (I know, who are you and what have you done with Dave, hah hah) but it is a superhero book, and I’ve been burning through the series ever since I picked up the first one. As you can see (or not, the thumbnail is kind of small) it’s called Arsenal, and is about a wheelchair bound super tinkerer who develops a suit of armor and proceeds to kick a lot of butt. (She can kick in the armor. And walk.) Of course she upgrades the armor constantly. I’m halfway through the 6th book, and I think she’s up to the Mark VII now? Good stuff. Oh, and half the books have egregious cliffhangers, so be prepared for that. :)
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.
And boot to the head. And who know’s maybe poly is fof her .
Kind of more disappointed in the edits to your caption, even more so than the initial comic or comment. Just because male on female violence is more common in no way makes it okay for women to attack men like that. Loved how many comments call out the inherent sexism in acting as though Leon is their sex slave and meet any attempt of his to have some agency in this “adventurous sexual progressivism” with violence.
Yea I get it’s a gag, but suggesting that bludgeoning damage is somehow okay and that the line is drawn at knives is very concerning… Would it be okay for them to Savage him with socks filled with BBs? Sydney threw a literal combat boots at him, that could easily be a concussion, brain damage, etc
Violence is violence and if it’s wrong for men to abuse women and treat them as sexual property (it is btw) then it’s wrong for women to do the same.
I’ve devoured all your stuff and have loved it so far, and can even understand this backlash could have been a surprise, but the correct response would be to apologise and move on, not double down on it and suggest that physical abuse is okay as long as they aren’t using knives and that women can use men as functional sex slaves and harm them all because men on women violence is more common.
Play your cards carefully going forward, Leon is probably the personification of a lot of your readers, would be bad to alienate them.
I think the problem is that there is a disconnect between the seriousness of the situation between the readers and the author. This was obviously designed with the same attempt of humor as a duck season episode of Bugs Bunny. It landed flat. That’s all it really means on the violence front. I think the real problem (I mentioned in another comment) was the lack of consistency between the characters. It didn’t feel like I was watching Leon hearing something and saying something stupid in response.
It felt like completely disconnected conversations were being had and then things went completely sideways for no real reason considering the context (talking about shenanigans, and then when he mentions said potential implied shenanigans getting the boot x2).
I mean, there are far too many differences between a 2019 webcomic about superheroes and a kids cartoon that is almost a century old now to use as a justification.
In Looney tunes most of the cast were either anthro animals or stereotypical people, all of them were functionally immortal and indestructible so a head lump for them would be on par with someone flicking a wadded up scrap of paper at us, less so even.
In Grrl Power, people die quite normally and also take crippling damage so the proverbial head bonk does not have the same inconsequential weighting as to allow it to be a purely comedic bit.
On top of that and the situation of two females sexually and physically abusing a male as sexual property, Leon is a ‘normal’ whereas Sydney and Krona are both ‘Supers’ so now you have two supers sexually and physically abusing a normal as sexual property. This is really distasteful on both sides of the 4th wall…
I said attempt. Attempt of humor. Different situation obviously. Maybe I should have mentioned anime instead, since it sometimes includes humans getting the stuffing knocked out of them. Honestly the point is that the damage was meant to be effectively temporary and not anywhere near the pain amount initially displayed. The ‘attempt’ failed obviously, but it was an attempt made. And I even mentioned the “disconnect in seriousness between the readers and the author.” Because thats all it was.
While they were assaulting him, yes (although I think in universe it was a much much lighter attack), I don’t think it could be said that they were sexually abusing him. Yes, its rather…I guess, rude? For someone to come up to your partner and ask if they’ll share, that is. If you think about it though, it might happen more often that we think normally. Swingers. Threesomes and up. Cheaters where the person they are cheating with knows the relationship. It was just done more aggressively than normal (except maybe for swingers…I bet they have to be pretty aggressive about it).
Even anime is fantastical with things like Buster blades, Shinigami, where humans are far more capable of sustaining and recovering from injury, but I get what you are saying.
The sexual aspect of the abuse was not from the question, it was from the immediate and violent responses from both females in response to Leon speaking. They were effectively denying him agency in his own sex life, by punishing him for trying to take agency in it. It’s definitely a mental thing, but no less serious since this is in effect what it means to be a sex slave.
Definitely a disconnect for sure. I’m certain Dave didn’t mean for it to come off this way. However his edits went the wrong way. His edits functionally say that the abuse was okay because A) They weren’t using knives, and B) more women are assaulted by men anyway. I’d have suggested an apology with clarification that he didn’t mean for this to come off as horrid as it did, and move on.
I don’t think he was even up to the level of “agency”… I was reading it as an attempt to eliminate confusion about exactly what was being discussed, not actually up to participating in the discussion.
He really isn’t joking… he’s just verifying that THEY are not serious.
Yeah the bumps suggest something worse but in comic they just throw their shoes at him and I don’t think it was too hard judging form their posture in the throw. It’s more of a “booo” reaction than an attack.
There was no disconnect from me
For me, it was the societal implication that it’s okay, even humorous (and earned), for a woman to hit a man causing head-bumps (which is just as ‘realistic’ a depiction as if it was little birdies {or nerd equivalent} flying around his head)
Male on female violence actually isn’t more common than female on male violence. At all. Seriously, almost half of all domestic violence victims are men (I’ve seen the numbers). People just ignore female on male violence. Seriously, women who frequently hit and/or throw things at their boyfriends or husbands are distressingly common, but on the rare occasion it gets reported the man gets arrested for domestic abuse every time. I’ve got a friend who got called abusive because his wife ended up with a bruise on her arm where he blocked a punch aimed for his face after having a salt shaker, a glass, and a frying pan thrown at him. Just a couple months ago there was a guy who was live streaming on twitch as his wife verbally abused him, threw stuff at him, hit him, and tried to break his computer for a good 5 or 10 minutes before he finally defended himself against the violence being thrown at him and he’s the one everyone said was abusive.
This stuff happens ALL THE FREAKING TIME! Our society seems to think it’s OK for a woman to hit a man but a man who so much as lifts a finger to a woman, even in self defense, is apparently a monster.
And, frankly, using it as a gag for humor makes that rather serious problem worse. If Krona and Sydney don’t face some consequences for assaulting Leon here then it just contributes to the idea that women can beat on men with impunity.
Thank you.
Personally hoping for the next page to have Maxi storm in and blow the pair of them up, because we all know everyone in the next room is
eavesdroppingover-hearing what is happeningI didn’t feel like I was doubling down, just explaining my surprise, along with saying that I’d give it some thought.
I think the problem is that, in my head, there’s no intent to injure. I think it’s okay for someone to slug a friend in the arm if they’re being a dork, so long as that punch doesn’t rise above a certain threshold to where it becomes injurious. People have a certain leeway with their friends, but some people are leaping to brain injuries and the two of them getting into legal trouble and a bunch of hypothetical stuff that didn’t happen on the page.
Is it the healthiest start to a relationship? Probably not, but dating Sydney (or being her friend or being around her at all) would probably involve getting slugged in the arm occasionally. I’ve made jokes about Hammerspace in the comic before, and anyone who’s read a manga knows there’s exactly one use for Hammerspace hammers, but the comments to those pages were never like “Whoa, what are you promoting here?”
So after 700+ pages of establishing Sydney behaving as she does, this reaction to Sydney behaving like Sydney just totally caught me off guard.
There’s enough comments about it that I have to assume that I’ve just totally missed the boat on cartoonish tsundere violence becoming objectionable at some point. Now I have to decide if I’m going to edit the next page. It’s not an extension of this scene but there’s a few transitional panels. Shit, I don’t really have time… (doesn’t help that I spent two hours trying to write this post.) So you guys might get a page with some stick figures in one panel, but we’ll see.
For me, personally, it wasn’t the ‘violence’ (clearly the head bumps are for comedic purposes, not a sign of actual injury) so much as their reaction to something Sydney suggested first
You don’t have to change the next page, as long as at some point Maxi has a word (or a dozen) with Sydney about how she (re)acted
I don’t think you’d have had any backlash if they’d just slugged him on the arm, but they didn’t. It looks like they beat him pretty severely. And then threw heavy boots at his face, which at the very least would have broken his nose. This is far beyond both what you were aiming for and the faux-violence Sydney’s displayed thus far. Till now she’s been like my little sister – who never seriously hurts anyone – in that regard, but this is more like my friend’s psycho wife – see my above comment for what she’s like.
There’s a lot more I was going to say, but you’ve been berated plenty. All I ask is that you learn from your mistake. You’ve made a fantastic comic thus far and this is the only major misstep you’ve had (God knows the folks at DC and Marvel could learn a thing or two about storytelling from you). Move on and keep doing what you’re good at.
DaveB, for whatever it’s worth, I’d say roll with your original page. With the exception of these two panels, it does feel like the Sydney’s growing out of the whole “tiny fists of fury” stage of her behavior. So even if tsundere slapstick is an issue, it feels like it’s self-correcting as Sydney takes the occasional cross-class level in “mature human being.”
I think part of the dissonance in regards to the last two panels came from Krona joining in. We have had well more than 700 pages, and consistently Sydney has been shown to have a penchant for punches (a punchant, if you will). She’s been called out on it more than once, which is as it should be — with Max even invoking Gwen Stacy in an effort to get through to Sydney the idea that she could kill someone with that kind of behavior now that she has access to an array of powers. We’ve had zero pages indicating that Krona tends to violent reactions (unless you count hacking underwear to cause a thong wedgie as violent) and one page that indicates that she thinks things through quite a bit before doing something potentially harmful (the save point hack).
If Sydney had used her “7th dan black belt in cursing” on Leon in response to his acute case of foot-in-mouth disease, it wouldn’t have made me go “Wait . . . what?” (“Giggity-giggty-gargling, Hefner-humping leisure-suit-less Larry!” springs to mind as a possibility). It just felt like a step back for her to chuck one of her Chucks, as it were.
As the man I have to assume is Dabbler’s favorite secret agent once said: “Who throws a shoe? Honestly!”
To be fair, Math totally deserved to get decked by Sydney :)
I’d say continue with the direction you were intending to go. I was also taken aback by the physical attacks at his statements and questions as they basically negotiated shared access to his romantic attentions. I do agree that slugs to the arms are different to head strikes. Most of the women that have struck me have been shocked when I struck back or called them on their perceived entitlement to hit me without consequence.
As for intimate partner violence, what is commonly known is wrong. Much of that research has been done at DV shelters that only accept women leading to huge bias. Even some of the researchers that created the most common model, Duluth, admit they completely ignored male victims in their studies and recommend against using the model.
I’d suggest looking at some aggregated data from over 1700 studies conducted.
https://domesticviolenceresearch.org/domestic-violence-facts-and-statistics-at-a-glance/
Don’t. Your strip, your vision, and other than the Patreon supporters none of the peanut gallery here should have your ear on direction.
I think the issue is the tonal disconnect between the discussion and lighthearted cartoon violence. The discussion is a serious one that could make it break relationships for all involved, and the wrong word could cause all sorts of resentment and pain… Which just doesn’t work with slapstick. The tone of the scene has been set as serious, and so the violence is taken seriously.
I’ve been participating in the discussion of **what’s okay**, but in no way should that constrain how you write your comic.
It’s a story. More. It’s YOUR story.
I probably would have given it very little attention if there were a next page that contained a proper cap to the runner.
Go with what you have.
Actually, the little comic you often put at the bottom could handle part of defusing this.
Move along…
Just thought I’d throw my two cents in on something I didn’t see mentioned.
I think the art style influences how seriously the reader takes things. The more detailed and less stylized the art is, the more likely the events depicted are liable to be taken seriously.
More stylized anime art sort of straddles a boundary between “realistic” and “stylized” that makes it fairly easy to take it either way based on subtle cues, or more overt ones. Often in anime, something like this will be accompanied by hyper-exaggerated expressions. I know that the original Teen Titans series occasionally went into chibi style, but can’t remember many specific examples.
Compare this page, which I think works very well. However it wouldn’t be a good look if the reporters had been knocked over into the dust with the normal art style for that time, let alone the recent art with more detailed shading.
Granted, there were the two cases where Dabbler got clocked without an art shift, but in both those cases she had done something physically or mentally intrusive making the response more understandable.
It’s just one more factor to consider.
I’m coming late to the party, so this may have already been mentioned, but if Leon keeps it up, he may find himself without even one girlfriend.
He should dump them both right now anyway. They apparently think it’s OK to beat him up. Seriously. What would you say if it were him who hit one of them? Reversing the genders of the abuser and the victim does not suddenly make it OK.
Exactly right.
No, it’s not that it’s ‘okay to beat him up’, butt they are blaming him for something that Sydney first suggested
Imo, having a hierarchical relationship structure leads to more jealousy, not less.
Is this comment an opening to discussion, or is it meant as more “point-in-fact” of your experience?
…I think my first comment got lost, so sorry if this is a duplicate.
Is this comment toward an open discussion on the idea, or more “point-of-fact” of your experience?
It really depends on the people, and their expectations of the relationship.
For example, I have a wife, a girlfriend, a woman I occasionally go on dates with, and one friend with *very* occasional benefits (lives halfway across the country, see her less than once a year, etc). All four of these women are also married to somebody else.
With the exception of my wife, I expect that, should something come up that came down to “him or me”, the choice would be “him”. This would hurt, but I don’t see it as something likely to result in jealousy, in either direction.
My experience with jealousy is that it usually comes from not having needs met, rather than the style of relationship (open, closed, swinging, don’t ask / don’t tell, hierarchical, relationship anarchy, or whatever). And if somebody is feeling jealous, there should be conversations about what needs aren’t being met, and how to better handle that.
Yups, it all comes down to how the relationship is structured and as long as everyone involved knows what is expected, and, as you said, as long as the needs are met there should be no reason for jealousy
Quite telling that “committed monogamous” isn’t on your radar.
My apologies to DaveB. I should have kept my comments restricted to the characters and not the author; at least, not yet. Yes the women are being inappropriate, but the whole situation is inappropriate for the work place, much less a military facility. Krona should not have been sitting on Leon’s lap. That is on both Leon and Krona. They should have taken their PDA to a more appropriate location, unless one or both were on duty, in which case, they are both at fault. The subjects of conversation from the last page and this page were highly inappropriate, and the women’s treatment of Leon should not only get them in a lot of trouble with HR and their commanders, but Leon should pretty much dump them both on the spot. I am hoping that DaveB will resolve this unfunny situation in a serious manner before getting back to his usual material.
While I get the idea of the cartoon violence gag, one thing did confuse me. What was the tone of how he asked about the “Can’t you hack yourself?” Because the sentence can be understood a few different ways depending on what he meant and how he inflected the words.
It could be a legitimate question, asking her if she had the ability.
It could be a mention of the probable ability to do so in case she didn’t realize it.
Or it could be that he was requesting it be done.
The last one seems to be the one they are assuming from the instant hes said it, but it just doesn’t sound likely to have happened. Some really fucked up things had to be going through his head for him to have said that out loud. On the other hand, in a society of people that could literally have any ability, and hers being especially confusing, who wouldn’t ask her a question every now and then about how her stuff works.
I think he got screwed over here. I think you were going for the “stupid boy doesn’t know how to shut his mouth” trope, which worked the first time…fell kinda flat the second…and then was completely off-base the third.
Ugh, how do you nest comments in this forum? my above was a response to you @Shadowhawk.
Sorry, I can’t figure out how to have a reply nest correctly via the gravatar forum thing. I’m an idiot or this is a really simplistic and clunky interface, prolly option 1 lol
lol, didn’t even click the ‘reply’ link to this comment. I’ve hopelessly entangled myself in a fractally complex gravatar web :D
That’s how I’m reading it, too. It’s quite possible that Krona just finds the idea of hacking minds and/or herself so objectionable that she has a kneejerk reaction to the subject being broached without extreme tenderness but we have not seen such established and each question Leon asked seemed more legitimate than the last.
Probably had experience trying with horrible results.
Or is afraid of the implied results. Or is afraid of the potential public or legal backlash that would occur if she was found to be doing it. Who knows.
I don’t think that explains Sydneys response still though. Sydney’s response only makes sense if its implied that he suggested it as a request.
Rational maybe, not legitimate, like the scolding is waking him up to the situation more, and more. He went from blurting out the first thought to occur to him, to asking a sort of “not serious” question, to now asking a serious question, with terrible implications, and terrible timing. The question is rational, it’s a logical question to ask at some point, but it is not a question he should legitimately be asking now.
No matter how you look at it, that is not a good question to ask, it’s going to come off as asking her to edit herself, so that she will be happy with something she finds objectionable.
She is considering editing herself anyway: by seeing how she feels about Sydney dating Leon while she is dating him, Leon’s question was about whether she could use her Reality Hacking ability to do it
People are talking about violence ect.
But when did I miss Leon and Sydney ever having a thing? Like I know she nerd tested him, but that’s it? All of this just seems so hamfisted in…
She liked him since the nerd test. It was implied that if “THE LIST” being written in right-side-up is considered the things she hated the most, then “THE LIST” being written in upside-down means the opposite, the things she really really likes. That and the blushing after she looked past the booklet. There were also mentions of her interest when they were at the diner just before the group of villains attack (page #190). I don’t remember any other times they even got the chance to talk, so it has to be left at that. They didn’t have many chances to develop because there wasn’t time-thats why she went for aggression.
Pretty sure they spent quite a while chatting on Sydney’s first(?) night at HQ. He was playing a video game or something. Unless that was someone else, but I imagine it had to have been Leon.
But even given that, it still seems weird to me that she’d want to date him badly enough to ask Krona and Leon if they’re willing to consider non-monogamy. First of all, given his behaviour on this page and the last, I’m amazed she finds him appealing at all. Not that he’s been horrible; but for his first appearance since she got back (in fact, IIRC it’s his first appearance in ages, period), he’s not doing a great job of reminding either us or Sydney why she likes him in the first place. Second of all, I’d have to basically be madly in love with someone to consider asking that, and even then I’m not sure I would, because I’d have no desire to make things that awkward (if they reacted badly) with people I’m expecting to see on a regular basis.
I remember that-I think it was one of the first nights she had to wake up super early but she ended up spending most of the night chatting it up with him. There’s definitely been enough evidence of her attraction to him, and why she might be attracted (at least, considering how she thinks about things) to him. Also, I think the whole point of these past several chapters has been to show that her idea of societal norms are being eaten away by Dabblers consistent displays. She finally caved at an interesting moment and its kinda broken her (note how she asks the question). She hasn’t learned how to think this way, it was just kinda thrust on her, and shes trying to figure it out.
1. It hasn’t been that long in comic time, from Sydney’s pov especially.
2. She nearly died recently, twice if you count the plasma discharge in the bathroom on Cora’s ship.
She decided to leap into romance, not leave any regrets, or missed opportunities, and since there was some definite mutual attraction with Leon… she hadn’t thought of a back-up if he turned her down, or was in a relationship, since he wasn’t a couple days ago, when she last saw him.
I know it hasn’t been that long in comic time, but that only means so much when it’s been a really long time for the reader. The reader doesn’t live in comic time.
Your second point is good, though.
Dave, you said “I don’t think anyone can argue that a shitload more women get beaten or killed by men than the other way around”. I would you suggest you find a very good grammar book. When parsed according to the rules of English Grammar, that statement means more MEN are beaten and killed by women than women are beaten and killed by men. The correct statement is “I don’t think anyone can argue AGAINST THE FACT that a shitload more women get beaten or killed by men than the other way around”.
I think it was correct the other way, it just lacked proper punctuation. Your sentence comes off a little clunky.
It wasn’t correct the other way. TexIII’s edit is clunky, but correct. Even better would be “I don’t think anyone can argue that a shitload more women don’t get beaten or killed by men than the other way around.”
It’s like “I couldn’t care less” (correct) vs. “I could care less” (incorrect but very common in North America). People get confused by the negative, and they remove it even though it’s supposed to be there. In the sentence we’re discussing, it’s even more confusing because the correct sentence needs two negatives, which are even more likely to confuse both the reader and the writer. So, again, one of them gets removed even though it’s supposed to be there.
Unfortunately, this is standard operating procedure in our society. Women are allowed to treat men as absolute shit and the men have to sit there and take it. However, if the man lifts one finger to defend himself, he is declared to be a pervert and is ostracized for ever and all time.
Very succinctly put.
Nevertheless, Leon should quit while he still has a head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8VD4JXUozM
So many differences between the above, and a clip from a show the better part of a century old. Different day and ahe. Also the cast of the Looney tunes show was most anthro animals or stereotypical personifications not a concept, all in a setting where all characters were functionally immortal so various head bonks are a non issue.
In this setting, they are most definitely not all immortal and Leon isn’t even super so really in addition to females abusing a male as sexual property, you have supers abusing a normal as sexual property. It’s a bad thing on either side of the 4th wall.
First of all, I’d like to say that this page is a total bomb. As in, a comedian bombing at a show.
That being said, it’s page 735, so to go that far before bombing is pretty good.
But that being said… I’m hopeful that DaveB will build off of this, with both women being informed that they just physically assaulted their prospective romantic partner and that is NOT okay (preferably by Maxima. “Dammit, Sydney! Do you really think I’d approve of that kind of thing!? What kind of straw pseudo-feminist do you think I am!?”), and Leon walking away from both of them while they realize that they just physically assaulted Leon for asking the exact same questions that Sydney then echoed. While treating him as if he has ZERO say in the matter.
I actually like the idea of a deconstruction, where Max chews them out for it. Like how she chewed Harem out for telling Sydney to flash everyone in payback for accidentally taking off her bikini top.
However, they didn’t treat him as if he had zero say in the matter. As DaveB pointed out, Sydney’s question was for both of them. Even if Krona said yes, it’s not like they wouldn’t make sure Leon was okay with it too.
Guys I thing we banged up on Dave enough. It’s not Avengers 200 or even Spider-Man hitting MJ hard enough to knock her for a loop while pregnant. It’s more intended to be slapstick. Now if you will excuse me, I need to find a jpeg of a sofa and throw it at David in mock outrage…..
http://egscomics.com/comic/2013-10-08
Oh God, that page was over five years ago? Where does the time go?
6 1/2 years as of 5/12/2019, actually.
In-comic time it’s been, what, a couple weeks or three? Elliot and Ashley have gone out 3 times now, on consecutive weekends, and she was introduced in the comic 6 1/2 years ago, and named 5 1/2 years ago (which is when Elliot asked her out, incidentally.)
Actually, 5 1/2 years as of 5/12/2019. Thus “over five years ago”.
Not that it matters what I think here in my minority corner, but I’m ok with how it was written. It’s realistic humor versus idealistic boredom.
I agree.
I decided that I will ignore whole discussion, and just enjoy the comic.
Same here, this actually the longest i have ever spent diving through the comments, I usually just scan for someone thinking whatever thought I had, then moving on, but today….
Dito. I think people are taking this way to seriously. Of course actual violence is bad, no matter who does it to whom, but these are just comical comic bumps.
People get upset over a couple girls bopping a guy on the head? I grew up with cartoon violence at it’s best, coyotes getting mangled in multiple manners, cross dressing rabbits abusing ignorant hunters and blowing their heads off, roosters beating dogs with a 2×4, the list goes on. When the artist has a lot to say and very little space in which to say it, it takes a certain amount of disconnect from reality to allow for the story to be told. If you can’t remember that this is a comic, that this is not reality, and that no one was actually hurt in the drawing of this comic (so far as I know, the writer might have gotten a hand cramp) then maybe ya’ll should re-evaluate your reality. I don’t see anyone complaining about the attempted genocide of an entire race, the objectification of women, the objectification of men, the use of stereotypes, etc…. It’s a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror,Super Hero mash-up of epic proportions and sooner or later someone is gonna get offended, but did it have to be this? Maybe you all are just upset they took it out on him, instead of having a jello wrestling match in thongs to determine which one gets to date him instead of just giving him a good smack to knock some sense into him. On a more serious note, I can understand why some of you have felt this way, I just don’t believe that what your reading into it is what the artist intended when he wrote/drew it.
The issue is you are comparing a cartoon full of mostly anthro animals, all of which are functionally immortal/indestructible, to a 2019 webcomic featuring loads of people, the majority of which are not indestructible.
What is a cartoonish head lump to an indestructible duck? It matters less than if I were to flick a rolled up scrap of paper at you. Now if I were to lob a spec ops designed combat boot at you, crafted to withstand the rigors of superhero combat, I feel like you’d be rather cross with me, assuming you were still conscious, and would have a concussion rather than a cartoonish, bandaided head lump.
People irl are miffed because of the cavalier way in which they planned out Leon’s upcoming sexual life, and then harmed him for daring to interject, functionally denying him agency in his own sex life (sex slave much)
People inside the 4th wall would be horrified not only because of the above, but also because two supers are doing that to a non super, something ARCHON is all about preventing.
Not saying Dave was in the wrong by making this page, but I think he could have handled the backlash better. His edits read more like “its ok since they weren’t using knives” and “its okay since more men abuse women anyway”
This comic is only as realistic as the author wants any specific scene to be, it is cartoony here and there, pretty sure the lumps on Leon’s head are cartoon lumps. Would it have helped, if the art was more chibi, or anime-like?
Pretty sure the bumps are just chibi anime style ones to signify “ow!”… not real injuries. At least I hope so or Id think Sydney and Krona are horrible people who should be in jail or a mental facility.:)
I’m glad Leon said it so I didn’t have to. (gets clobbered anyway)
1. The lumps on the head sticking out above his hair, not real. I have had a severe concussion, the contusion cover the majority of my skull, but doesn’t stick out like a pimple. So, this is a visual effect like the suddenly appearing shoes on the “Leo cam” that represent him getting verbally beat up, not physically. The “Leo cam” itself is a clue. He doesn’t have a built in camera, this the visual representation of the emotional fallout from his comment. Comics frequently use visual effects to represent non physical concepts.
2. My mother taught my sister’s and me to date several people (play the field) and not to get serious with anyone until we had formed a close bond. Americans, since the sexual revolution of the 60s have too quickly become serial monogamists because they have sex so early in a relationship. Sydney, Frix being the exception, is not a promiscuous girl, she is more conservative in this respect and is likely in tune with the going to the movies etc scenario Krona voiced.
3. Neither of these girls are the type to hit the guy they like with any force likely to hurt him. They might playfully slap him on the shoulder, but beyond that, no. If you’ve read this comic long enough you know that. Quit looking for reasons to be offended. Dave has, if you think about it, shown the juvenile guys reading the comic, that Leon’s juvenile interpretation of these topics are not ok from the female perspective. He may think these things, but women rarely want to hear them coming from the guy.
4. Threesomes are hard work. It’s difficult because it’s tough to divide your attention between your two partners equally. At any given time, one person is getting more attention than the others. This brings emotional competition into an otherwise non competitive situation unless everyone is “into” everyone else. That’s not the situation with heterosexuals. I can’t speak for the other orientations, but when one is the object of affections of two, and not all are equal attracted to all, I’d say it’s a safe bet. So, while it may be fun to consider, it’s not in practice among people that CARE for each other. Both of these girls clearly care for Leo, so he would be wise, which he clearly isn’t, to avoid that situation.
Good comic strip Dave, the adage, “… but you can’t please all the people, all the time” comes to mind. If the characters always did what I expected or approved of it, would be boring and I wouldn’t read it so long.
You’re really reaching to justify an unintentionally bad comic. As I’m sure you’ve read the comic from Panel 1 you’d know it is absolutely in character for Syndey to lob a combat boot, it is also logical for the trope Dave alluded to here.
What’s out of character is for Sydney to participate in the general physical and sexual abuse of Leon, functionally assigning him the role of sexual property by punishing him for trying to have some form of agency in his own sex life.
Not saying this comic was intentionally written to give tacit permission for all women to abuse men in such a way, (though his comment edits definitely sound like that) however, that is how the comic ended up. No, people aren’t looking for ways to be offended, yes people are justifiably upset at this seeming tacit approval of male abuse.
An additional factor worth considerin is that as a non super powered nerd, Leon sort of personifies much of Dave’s readership, at the very least he might be considered their ‘spirit animal’ in keeping with the meme of the same name wherein people describe a person/creature/attidude with which they strongly identify and empathize as their ‘spirit animal.’ so now from a psychological standpoint, some readers could be seeing their beloved sydney abuse “them.”
It’s one of those rare “everyone is justified” situations.
I’m sure Dave didn’t mean to draw up a comic with the message that its ok for women to use and abuse men as sexual property.
Likewise, as this is how the comic page very much ended up, the readers are justified in their upset.
I would say it was a bad move to ‘double down’ on the issue by editing in comments suggesting that this abuse was okay because A) They weren’t using knives, and B) more women are abused by men anyway.
“What’s out of character is for Sydney to participate in the general physical and sexual abuse of Leon, functionally assigning him the role of sexual property by punishing him for trying to have some form of agency in his own sex life.”
Man, I wish I could stretch that far without hurting myself.
Not only would this not be classified as sexual assault in any modern country; your assertion is about as logical as saying that Math’s behaviour is approval of peeping.
Math’s behavior stays within certain limits. He flirts, he groans, he makes it clear he’s interested in every woman in the vicinity… he does not grope (except during combat or sparring – and during sparring sessions he’s helping train his teammates, so teaching them to cope with taunting and distractions is a GOOD thing). Nor does he inform a teammate, “we shall date!” or otherwise imply she has no choice regarding what happens. And he most certainly does not physically strike them for saying something he dislikes.
“(except during combat or sparring – and during sparring sessions he’s helping train his teammates, so teaching them to cope with taunting and distractions is a GOOD thing)”
Except it’s not. A woman learning how to fight does not give a man permission to grope, fondle, or hump her during training that would actually be sexual assault.
Also: Are you’re taking that line way too seriously considering how bombastic and over the top Sydney usually is. Like when she called Dabbler a slut or Felix “her” boyfriend.
I agree with most of the things you say, but some types of threesome can have attention evenly divided. Think spitroast as an example of MFM, or woman on top and another on face as an example of FMF.
Huh… well I don’t know if there’s a vote going, but I rolled with the cartoonish “violence” with nary a ripple in my half-closeted SJW conscience.
Female abuse of men (and children) is a real problem that’s frequently dismissed and downplayed in our world, but it’s not very often physical abuse that’s the real issue there. Not what I’m seeing on this page.
I suppose if 6’+ Leon wants badly enough to stop getting smacked in the head by a pair of lolis, he DOES at least have the option of standing up. :P (Also, I feel safe assuming he watches a lot of anime, so if one or the other starts pulling giant hammers out of precisely nowhere… he’ll probably be thrilled to realize he’s now the MC. ;)
What did slip right by me until the tag-line at the bottom of the page (there a proper term for that?) was that these boots were thrown. Perhaps because they came at the viewer bottom-first, and perhaps because yeah, rapid removal of boots isn’t realistic enough to be the default assumption… I’d just assumed they were kicking him, boots on. A closer second look shows me the boots are detached, but my eye slid right over that detail on the first pass.
Yeah, I took it as caroonish from the start too, he was suddenly “booted” from the discussion.
Well Dabbler has a “literal hammer” which if Karona finds out about it…..she might be able to hack into reality.
To answer why I think the lumps on head are not actual physical wounds: Dave uses facial distortion like anime and other cartoons to exaggerate reactions. No one that sees it thinks Sydney’s head physically grows to twice it’s normal size and the eyes quadruple when she reacts to something. Why would you think Leon’s bumps on head are any different?
Some people are just way to sensitive and should get over it. :p
Are Krona and Sydney over reacting to the questions, of course, but it’s obviously supposed to be “Hey now!” type bumps and not “Going to literally kill you.” hits.
I mean, yes, the idea of if sexes were reversed, this would be seen totally different did cross my mind, but at the same time, no one but an idiot should be taking it serious at this point.
Though, Sydney brought it up, she should’ve expected the question.
I don’t know, if you reverse the sexes, but keep their proportions the same, i think it stay the same, and I’ve seen similar things in anime already. Two guys arguing over the mistakes of a girl, while she’s present, and then berating her when she tries to speak up for herself has happened.
Leon… Yea – he’s never been in a poly (or if you prefer, “Polyam”) relationship and is going to screw it up because we ALL screw it up the first time.
1) Polyamory doesn’t mean or NOT mean threesomes. Leon’s question is actually something like the first or second most common one after the topic is brought up. (The other is “Isn’t That Just Cheating?”) That he asks means he’s probably only seen Dabbler’s and Harem’s version of open relationships.
2) Krona hacking her own brain to want to accept Polyamory: That is an INCREDIBLY bad idea. Even if it was something like “Quit smoking” it doesn’t end and you keep going until you’re insane or a drooling idiot. Self-modifying code is hard; self-modifying ALGORITHMS is a REALLY bad idea. Besides, would you want to program in a change to your self-identity? Change your political beliefs, your gender preferences, etc.?
Given that’s twice they’ve assaulted him I hope they get into major league trouble :)
If I were Leon I’d forget both of those two violent femmes and make a play for Pixel, hoping for better.
GIBBS SLAPS
I will readily admit that I am probably more prone to gibbs slapping my male friends when they say something stupid than they would be to do the same to me. Probably because they outweigh my by 100+ pounds and they could probably hurt me a lot more than I can hurt them.:) But I prefer to think its because I never say anything stupid and they just acknowledge my awesomeness:). Its definitely not since I say stupid things frequently. But I prefer to think that it is.
Clearly it’s the awesomeness thing.
Aw shucks. :)
Thanks.
I saw the little bubbles in his hair, and presumed that meant they smacked his hair or his arm with the backs of their fingers. And when they threw the boots, they were standing like a yard/meter away, so those boots aren’t going to hit hard. (Remember, this is Sydney & Krona, not Anvil & Maxima!)
In the real universe, I’d not have smacked him that first round, but definitely by the threesome comment (dirty looks only, then armsmack, then boots)…but I can understand the comedy beat going on. We don’t see all the deliveries of the (literal-ish) punchlines, but that’s what they are. This is a cartoon-ish universe to some extent. It’s not a 16 Ton Weight or an Anvil of classic cartoonish comedy beat “violence” (airquotes because the characters never permanently suffered harm or died), but it is a comedy beat.
Lastly, could Sydney taking off her combat boots and even just waving them threateningly under Leon’s nose be considered chemical warfare, considering she’s been on the (decimated) surface of an alien world, and tromping around for hours, sweating from combat, nerves, and travel…?
Heck, as long as we’re talking brain hacking, Krona could go that extra mile and hack herself and Sydney to be bisexual, just the make the Threesome complete! Or, you know, drop Leon from the equation entirely…
But yeah, seriously, I’m kinda interested to see if this is something Krona can do (mental hack), whether she’s thought about doing it, whether she’s tried it. If it’s actually something she can do, that’s pretty darned scary – especially if she can do it to other people.
It might be something for which she has such a huge mental “NOPE” that she’s subconsciously afraid to find out whether or not she can do it. And now, Leon’s gotten her thinking…
“I don’t think anyone can argue that a shitload more women get beaten or killed by men than the other way around.”
Uh, yeah, actually, REALITY can argue that, quite vehemently. Every serious study of domestic violence has reached the same conclusion: that it’s not a gendered issue. There are nuances: which sex is more likely to suffer grievously, which is more often killed, which uses weapons, which initiates, but when it comes to plain ol’ who’s the victim and who’s the perpetrator, it’s an even 50/50 split and always has been. Maybe when you’re being called out for your hilarious cartoon domestic abuse do a little research before you rebut.
You refuted your own argument. “There are nuances: which sex is more likely to suffer grievously, which is more often killed, which uses weapons, which initiates”. The point is that while both men and women are capable of being abusers, the results of male on female domestic violence tend to be more physical and therefore more prone to, y’know, death.
Do a little research yourself, men are not killed by women in even close to the same numbers as women are killed by men. That doesn’t invalidate the awfulness of a woman murdering her partner, but it’s just how it is. Things don’t have to be an even split for it to be wrong. And that also doesn’t make non-physical forms of abuse, which women are more often perpetrators of, okay either. It’s not “better” to abuse your partner sexually or mentally than it is to hit them, but it should be acknowledged that those forms of abuse tend to leave less bodies.
Also, did no one in this comment section have mixed gender friend groups growing up??? I have 100% thrown things at someone, footwear or otherwise, when they said something stupid. I have punched male friends in the shoulder or smacked them on the back of the head when they were inappropriate. And, guess what, they did the same to me. But we didn’t actually hurt each other, I doubt we even left bruises most of the time. We have absolutely no reason to assume that Sydney would try to actually hurt Leon, and based on the fact that he’s continuing a normal conversation, not flinching, wincing or otherwise showing any signs of pain other than a cartoonish lump indicating where exactly he was hit, it’s pretty safe to assume that he’s fine.
The only times we’ve seen Sydney cause real harm were in situations where she was in danger. Jumping immediately to an assumption of abuse is not only ridiculous, it takes away from the seriousness of real domestic abuse. I had to watch my mother abuse my father in almost every possible way, I know what female on male violence looks like, and tossing your boot casually at a dude when he says a stupid thing, with no intent of harm? Yeah that ain’t it.
I am supremely disappointed in this comment section. And I lean hard to the left, so I would probably be classified as a “SJW”, by most metrics, and I still think most of you are overreacting.
Meanwhile, Pander commented about being an attorney who worked for the ADA, and who has a cousin who is a cop, who has seen far more cases of female-on-male abuse than the reverse; James discussed a case where a coworker was arrested after calling 911 after his ex attacked him; Guesticular Torsion confessed to being a survivor of a female rapist; and Bowman describes having escaped a long term physically abusive relationship where he literally had to go into hiding after escaping because he was afraid she would track him down and murder him.
You are expressing supreme disappointment in actual survivors of abuse coming forward to talk about how this page reminded them of their actual, RL experiences with abuse.
Actually, that’s not “refuted”. “Refute” would indicate that something was proven wrong, rather than a statement had social and scientific nuances.
For instance, this statement of yours – “Men are not killed by women in even close to the same numbers as women are killed by men” is fairly well founded… but irrelevant, since NO ONE WAS KILLED IN THIS COMIC!
The RELEVANT statement – “men are not abused by women in even close to the same numbers as women are abused by men” – is absolutely refuted by even a cursory look at the research.
Your attempt is like pretending that every abortion was a healthy fetus the day before a live birth… or at the opposite end, a clump of a couple of dozen cells. It’s argumentation, not reasoned discussion.
It’s not about “capable”. Women do abuse men, psychologically and physically. Men do abuse women, psychologically and physically. It’s not normal, it’s not acceptable, it’s not excusable, it’s not okay.
And, NO, female on male domestic abuse is not less physical than the reverse. That’s just wrong.
It’s funny, because to me the “can’t you hack yourself” is *drastically* more inappropriate and insulting a question than either of the others he asked.
The threesome one would be an easy misunderstanding (heck, I made it based on how she phrased the question and that Dabbler was mentioned) and certainly something you’d want to clarify given the situation, the joke in the previous page wasn’t particularly inappropriate either.
But asking someone if they can literally (and maybe permanently) modify their personality to solve a problem? THAT is insulting. Incredibly so. It’s the approximate equivalent of saying “Well, you’re not comfortable with this situation, but couldn’t you just take some mind-altering drugs to make yourself okay?” Except worse, since you’re talking about a literal personalit editor, and effectively forcing current-you to become someone different. Sure, the edit would be something you’d do yourself, but it would only take a moment of weakness or pressure to make a permanent change that you then wouldn’t even be able to process was different.
That’s severely screwed-up to me.
If it’s any consolation to the author, with the flying footwear I immediately thought of an old Monty Python skit of “A Boot to the Head”. When I am looking at a comic strip, I am not in a serious mode.
“Boot to the Head is a comedy album performed by the Canadian comedy troupe The Frantics. Originally released as an LP in 1987, it was re-issued in 1996 as a CD with the same track listing. The album features a number of skits from their radio show Frantic Times, as well as a few sketches that could not be aired to a general audience. The sketches were recorded over a three-day period in front of a live audience at the Toronto Free Theatre.”
So, at this point Sydney and Krona are standing there barefoot. So Leon should run off with their shoes and make them attend the party that way.
Turnabout is fair play and all that.
Dave mentions that Krona is kinda not being forthcoming about her abilities; remember that Sydney is essentially doing the same thing in not mentioning her new teleportation ability to Maxima. I can kinda understand this, especially since 1) her association with Archon is new and 2) Archon ITSELF is new. A lot of the interactions and implications are gonna be kind of “seat-of-the-pants” for a while so I think an overabundance of caution is probably at least not unexpected.
Just want to say, as someone who did work for a year in the ADA office and has a cousin who is a police officer in a major city, before moving to the much easier field of intellectual property, that sorry DaveB, you’re technically incorrect. Female on male violence actually happens significantly more than nale on female violence. The thing that skews the perception is that men tend to be significantly stronger and tougher than women in real life, so women who actually get injured by make violence winds up being significantly higher than the reverse. It tends to be very culturally accepted that a woman will hit a guy and the guy has to restrain himself or he is being abusive, and the narrative even among arrests is that even if the man calls the police over an assault by a woman, he tends to also be arrested as well, while the reverse happens far less frequently. Women are also more likely to use a weapon when they are the perpetrator AND actually injure the man, rather than the reverse. Also, and i will need to look this part up to nake sure, nationally they tend to receive less jail time for the same charges of violence, regardless of whether the victim is nale or female.
This is not necessarily the case worldwide, but it is in most western democracies. I can post more in deoth later when I am not on my phone or at work.
That matches my research on all counts. Women serve significantly shorter sentences for everything… or almost everything. The absolute statement makes me itch, and I can see some child abuse charges that might stick more for women… but my review says they don’t.
Many judges have admitted this as well. And I’m not just talking about personal anecdotal examples.
“If she hacked someone who didn’t like pickles so that they liked pickles, is she hacking their mind or their tongue?”
That could equally apply to Sydney not liking girls.
Pretty sure the way I read it was Leon asking if Krona can hack her OWN MIND, not Sydney. It would be a lot more of a violation to hack someone ELSE’s mind, if Krona was capable of that to begin with (which I mentioned in a previous page might be a lot more difficult since the human mind has a LOT more variables, processing power-wise, than taste buds or a bladder).
Omg….. SO many people taking this COMIC STRIP way too seriously. This is a TROPE. And its funny! Even my 19 year old daughter thought it was funny and thought that too many people are way too ……sensitive. I think the word used was “snowflakes.”
Dave, you were fine. Keep it up. Btw…. None of them can date. They work together. Leon is part of their support team. I mean…if you want to keep going the “reality” route. But let’s not. Have him fall in love with Pixel. SO MANY “here kitty kitty” jokes…….
This is the same comic where Maxima gave an employee a superwedgie as a punishment for misbehavior, math tickled a coworker with his feet, Sydney bashed harem in the face just for surprising her, bashed dabbler with an orb for FAILING to get bashed in the face by her, and attacked Achilles with powers just out of irritation.
We should have long since accepted that when violence is being portrayed in this comic during comedic moments it is not the same thing as during serious moments. I don’t recall this level of visceral reaction in any of those previous scenes I’ve just listed.
Does the author clearly have lessons to learn about relationships and violence? Clearly. But acting like this is some “new low” that has been sunk to is just ridiculous. This comic has always pushed the boundaries on comedic violence and appropriate behavior.
The important thing to see here is what Leon takes away from this scene. If he is feeling abused then he was abused, but if he feels lightly chastised then we can chalk it up there with some of the incidents I listed above… as an exaggerated comedic event that should not be replicated in the real world but that works in the medium of this story.
Unless an author or writer specifically says, “All my characters are just aspects of me that I share with you”, do not assume that all the characters are just aspects of the author that they share with us. You cannot infer from a comic that the author is violent, bigoted, polyamorous, nor any other negative (or positive) that they do not lay claim to in their comments.
Maybe DaveB has something to learn. WHO ARE YOU TO ANALYZE HIM?
Maxima is a commanding officer and can get away with that sort of thing as a NJP (Non Judicial Punishment). Math tickled his coworker during an impromptu sparring session while she had him in a grappling hold. Sydney apologized to Harem for the unwarranted and accidental strike. Maxima has repeatedly chewed Sydney out for assaulting her teammates like that.
I’d like to point out that I was in a relationship where the woman would hit me hard enough to hurt and to make me fear for my personal safety.
If I had a superhero I was dating hit me hard enough to leave a mark, I’d not only break up with her but I’d have her up on charges within the organization and with the local police. It doesn’t matter how much I cared for her or loved her. I already went through a relationship where I loved someone enough that I overlooked physical danger I was in. And after I quit overlooking the physical danger, I went through a period where I was afraid to break up with her because I thought she would end my life. Then after breaking up, I moved to another state and went into hiding for years because I thought there was a non-zero chance that she’d show up on my doorstep someday to kill me.
Never again.
I know this scene was played for a joke. But it brought back some very bad memories.
And this is where the SJW’s everything is politics fallas flat; because they always get offended and take it in the worst way. Compare this to the meme of Spanish moms being able to hit you with their shoe and knock you down from a block away.
More importantly go back and declare Fred Perry’s Gold Digger series to be off limits and politically incorrect just because Dave used humor similarly to FP’s sight gags.
/stand up comics already know this, SJWs are irrational when it comes to a joke.
Give the poor guy a break! The humor used IS what is generally considered funny in our culture – i.e. people laugh when a guy gets slapped or punch by a girl for an off-color or thoughtless remark. It is only now slowly being realized that this is a form of socially accepted abuse of men, even though we have been very quick to point out much smaller incidents as abuses of women. And remember, the comic HAS seen such treatment of women by women – remember Max giving Harem the wedgie after the lipstick prank!
Thanks for the mention! I love writing superheroes and I do it for people to enjoy. I’m glad you are liking the series. You’re an awesome artist and writer yourself. I’m reading your comic from the beginning and I’m really enjoying it!!!
Is Arsenal inspired in any way by ‘Mecha Maid’ in the “Spinnerette” webic? She is a girl forced in to a wheelchair butt has managed to build a combat suit and become a Super Hero
Probably not, and it’s a more common theme than personally aware of, just Mecha Maid came to mind when reading the blurb and nothing negative was meant by the association
No, but it sounds awesome. My primary inspirations are “Armor” by John Steakley and Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. And of course, Iron Man.
Kindle Unlimited is my friend, on book six of your series now (was reading it before DaveB pointed it out).
Thank you! I’m working on book 8 now. If you get bored in the meantime, check out The Wraith, it’s my other series set in the same universe.
At this point, Leon’s best option is to reject Sydney, dump Krons, and sign up for an interplanetary dating service. Or start one. I’m sure Dabbler would LOVE to be involved!