Grrl Power #780 – Deconsecrated
Yeah, it’s a pretty big church. Or was. I modeled the interior after what I remember of the church my parents used to drag me too, and it was no megachurch, but it was a custom built job, and it had a balcony and a vaulted ceiling. Hope Joel and co. like that air conditioning bill.
The stained glass window blinding everyone while they shop isn’t ideal. In the comic, the building was built facing east so it would catch the sun in the stained glass for morning services, but like most comic shops, they don’t open at 8:00am. They probably open at 11am? By that time the glare from the stained glass window is probably mostly down at the diaz.
Still, it’s got to be annoying trying to bag and sort comics with that crap reflecting off the display case right into your eyes. Maybe there’s a curtain?
And yes, the parking lot behind Sydney is empty and if they’re doing the sort of business that would allow them to move into such a huge property, the lot should be busting with people waiting for the doors to open, but… I don’t know. It was a time thing honestly. That last panel took a while to draw, but for an in-universe explanation, maybe uh… that’s the employee parking lot and juuuuust off camera is where the customers park? Realistically, Sydney should have gotten mobbed by reporters and fans and alien abduction conspiracy theorists and about a thousand other people but damn, I don’t want to have to draw that every time she goes to the comic shop. Maybe I should draw it at least once just to establish it, then have Sydney discover a roof access door she uses from then on.
Here’s another book series I’ve been enjoying. The Celestine Chronicles. I like it because it’s… I don’t know, more serious somehow? Darker in a way, but not grimdark. I think my favorite part about it is that the MC is reluctant… at like everything. He doesn’t want to add women to his harem because he’s freaked out that they’re all monsters. Yes, it’s technically a monster girl harem series, but not like a dumb anime monster girl one. They’re mostly from greek mythology. Also in an unusual twist, there are several guys that eventually join his troupe. (Not his harem, mind you, just his adventuring party.) Most harems are literally just the one guy and N+1 women, so their inclusion changes the dynamic of the group a bit. Anyway, book 5 came out recently, so if you like the first on there’s there’s more meat there to sink your teeth into.
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There is probably some kind of locked roof access, or at least an air/ventilation soffet.
So she could always hologram swap her way inside and out of sight.
Because the roof is not flat (and to some extent because of the weight of the condensing units) the HVAC will be on the outside with plenums running up the outside wall. Fake flying buttresses help obscure this from the parking lot.
Considering I think we both agree the building was built during the age of AC, why not hide the plenums IN the presumably merely decorative flying buttresses?
Although, the way I’m familiar with such things would be for a pair of copper pipes to run, carrying the freon, between the outside evaporator unit and the the inside condenser unit. Which would be even easier to hide, and easier to hide inside the aesthetic only architectural elements.
You want the evaporators inside the building to conserve heat loss. The condensing units blow out a lot of heat, so you want those outdoor. The fake buttresses don’t look large enough to conceal the air returns for a building this large, so you would run them up the outside walls and connect to the interior ductwork near the roof.
Since the previous image didn’t show the full roof, there is still the possibility of a bell tower on the roof, which could easily double as an area for equipment to hide, and would likely have extra resources put in to make sure it can hold the weight since bells are heavy af.
Where I work, the only thing connecting the evaporators to the condensers are a couple lines of copper tubing each, one of which is insulated. Those are covered in what looks like rain-gutter down-spout. One of the two in each pair IS inside the building, and the other IS mounted on a poured concrete pad outside. There is an air-exchange mechanism, for fresh air, built into the ends of the building, but again, under the roof. No air is piped from the Condenser to (or from) the Evaporator; only Freon.
Ah, I got the Condenser and Evaporator flipped.
@Meerling Except for that minor detail of the function of the comm ball being top secret and there is going to be lárge glass pointing at that building from every direction by skanky photographers who can’t be threatened by having access removed that they were never granted in the first place.
Okay, but like, clearly the light on the floor shouldn’t have Sydnie’s head near the front door unless the stained glass window was upside down.
Unless she’s entering from the opposite side. Which I’d guess is the case from the image in the last page. plus the fact that stained glass is often above the pulpit, and we see the edge of the dais where the altar and pulpit would likely be at the end opposite she entered.
One problem with that is her shadow: throughout her entire exchange with rufus, the light clearly comes from behind her, which shouldnt make sense if the sun is on the other side, she should be in the shadow of the church… tiny details but DaveB always flagellates himself for that kind of stuff so lets give him some more food
Well, there would be more light behind her, coming though the outside glass even on the wrong side of the building, than in front of her and behind him, but it should probably be too diffuse for a shadow.
if you go to the previous page there arent as many windows as there is in this page
the previous page has 4 this page has….alot more
I was wondering about that as well!
Of course it should.
The window is on the back side of the building.
On the other hand, the image has been mirror switched from the image when looked at from outside.
It should be the same as yesterday’s image.
Ha, nice catch. I didn’t even notice that.
The stained glass window isn’t on the front of the building, but the back of it… I suggest checking out a church that has such a large stained glass window some time. It’s always behind the altar, which is at the opposite end from the front door.
Well … not always.
Half the churches with such windows in my city, the window is at the back of the sanctuary – opposite end of the pulpit/altar.
The window is above the main entry door – which is facing the main street running past the church.
In the 1970’s, most of the windows were also set to be lit (from inside) at night. So people inside can’t even see the windows anymore. But the lit stained glass looks great from outside at night. lol
Possible it has them at the front and back, and the light is coming from behind the store…
The reason that a large mob of reporter, fans, and alien conspiracy theorists is simple; no one knew she was going to be going in to the store.
She was on the team for only a couple weeks before “disappearing” no one yet knew that she ALWAYS made it in on the most sacred day of the week, Wednesday, for new comic book day.
Glad to see things finally slow back down and Sydney getting some time to decompress. I hope the next arc we get to meet her parents (who I assume that she hasn’t had a chance to visit since becoming a superhero. Bad Sydney, your mother must be worried sick. Your father has probably been practicing his best “Johnathan Kent” routine and is just waiting for you to visit.).
Or another reason there was not a large mob of reporters is Arianna made it clear that anyone bothering her in the store or at her home would be put at the end of the line for interviews and media friendly interactions.
I suspect that is a rule, and not a Sydney specific one.
Yes, I know. It’s a rule that Arianna said would be a rule to Sydney after she mentioned that reporters had been camping out her apartment and her store.
The empty parking lot is fine, it’s Wednesday morning. People are at work.
Wednesday is new comic day at my favorite shop. The books get delivered in the morning, then sorted into the pull boxes in time for picking them up after work. The store gets busy after 3:00 pm with school getting out, and stays busy until an hour before closing.
I noticed that her interaction with Rufus was in a full front of building foyer. Brown tiled floor between outer and inner doors. You can see the tiles behind her when she is yelling at Joel.
That’s panel-7 ~ she’s ^yelling^ at him in panel-5.
She’s probably in early enough that there aren’t any crowds yet. Some fans will probably show up early IN CASE she or one of the other Archron people show up. (Once she’s spotted, it’s going to be a flood.)
Registers?
So, there are TWO additional employees. Not bad from “We’re going to close down!!” earlier in the year.
She had to be let in, the door was locked. They aren’t open.
Access to “official arc-swat merch” will proberbly help especialy since Sydney can vouch for the source
Uh, is that a Maxima poster next to Olivia? (I think that’s Olivia.)
A super in a tank pose and Heatwave’s poster next to her… could be Max , but you usually post Beef next to Cheesecake brings everyone to the yard… so Hiro or another super?
I wonder if there’s an official Merchandise store at the Arc Swat Building too (public side).
If So, does the comic shop have a kiosk there too, with a catalogue, location etc? And Sample comics of the New Super Heroes? Those would be collector items. (I had a Spiderman Hostess Comic book in PRISTINE condition I later sold for down payment on a GTO in the 80’s)
There’s Marvel and DC and Darkhorse and Ace and now Real Heroes’ comics… I wonder who they get to publish those. Hopefully some small Press that let Arianna dictate terms because they just saw the $ign.
And Olivia’s Brother should work at the Kiosk at AS Public side and help with the Tours and stuff. He’s also always flirting with the girls from C-Cups.
Bonus if Halo discovers him wearing Cosplay that’s TIGHT… Olivia can smirk and say that she suggested that to Arianna who looked at her brother/cousin and decided it was an awesome idea.
So Bro-cousin should be arriving as soon as he signs all sorts of NDAs to let the Comic book shop crew know what went down at Arc Swat Yesterday and why he didn’t call in…there was a blackout electronically.
Also Comic Book shop should be declared NEUTRAL GROUND.
Here Villain Fans can come and get their books signed (as long as the villain isn’t a mass murderer). Due to Operation Last Wish’s efforts. see the Reddit Thread on that.
Also Comic Book AFTER DARK PARTIES with Supers… if Lobby has access to second floor w/o risking stock (or basement) they could have adult themed parties after hours (if they are closed Sundays especially- or shortened hours (i.e. not open during local church hours to prevent conflict – and also to prevent adults from using them as a day care facility (YES THIS IS A PROBLEM!! Trust me on this.) )
We had to put in a specific room we called the Lost Kids (video game and common trashed comics) where we could stash them. It was supposed to be a room for gaming table top, but enough parents would dump their kids there that we had to segregate them or face damage and loss on shelved items. We put up a big sign “WE ARE NOT A DAYCARE!” “Children under 13 require an adult to be with them. Not just an older sibling.”
Back to the After Dark Theme— once a month like a mini-con? A mini-rave (other weekends are gaming tourneys?)
House rule don’t come dressed as Halo. And if yer a villain or powered you must register and accept the neutral status of the location. And please sign up with Make a Wish Foundation Hospital visits!
Dabbler’s Night probably won’t get a repeat. Cause tentacles…though Olivia might think that was cool. Halo hopes she didn’t install the tentacles in a closet like on Cora’s ship.
Also the tentacle dude from the arc previous to the alien jump… He could live down there and work as janitor/security… also DJ on party nights… A minor Hero called “Light and Sound” sometimes “Rave” is his new sidekick. They handle the floor show and dance floor.
Halo now needs to get an Alien house pet as a guard. Thinking something Cat like or badger like but fuzzy cute.
Halo also probably will put in a Crash Pad/padded room upstairs away from it all. The doggy door is almost as big as the room’s door. (Halo can use just by ducking a little.)
—
Later that afternoon – Joel’s reading the local paper (online).
“So Aliens are really real? Sydney…any of your ‘Friends’ able to install Shields for us? Just in case?”
“Maybe…-shrug- I can ask.”
“Cause even if your shield can get that big…you’re not gonna be here all the time…it’s a safety thing. Maybe your bosses can field test the tech and give us a break…I’m sure even hospitals will want one. Big Super Fights… Invasion by alien mushroom men…it’s be big business.”
(Somewhere halfway around the world from this room DEUS Perks up. “My profit senses are tingling and I have no idea why. Tell me I bought portable shield generators… for some reason that seems important. Can we make them from what we have or do we risk another trip? I feel like I’m missing an opportunity…” )
Sydney “Joel are you worried about our customers? Or our merchandise? Or maybe about your miniatures?”
Joel (blushing) “A little from Column A B and C? It’s not like it’s not all happened since you became a super hero…right?”
Sydney “Right…sigh…I’ll ask for anti Kaiju level shields…which means we’ll be lucky to get something that can stop birds shitting on my car…maybe.” (actually makes notes in her smart phone and texts Arianna)
Joel “also…not saying it might be illegal…but any Alien toys or tech that we might be able to sell here? The insurance payments are pretty stiff. LLoyd’s gave us a group deal since you were insured with them.”
Halo thinks about her Holo (hard light?) Fairy wings and wonders if it’d be safe to demo inside …when it hits her.
“I’m insured by Lloyds? Lloyds of London?”
Joel “Yeah. Arianna said all the big names were. Also government insurance, but you should have heard her swear a streak when she talked about the paperwork and how they didn’t like being told some stuff was classified. Yeah so you’re covered and we’re covered if some villain dingus gets thrown through a wall around here by a super. Doubly so if it’s by an arc swat…come to think of it, we don’t have any coverage for Alien invasions….need shields and an Alien Rider.”
OLivia “Heh. Dabbler probably counts for the latter…” High Fives Sydney…
Sydney “Tell me you got Arianna swearing on tape…video would be even better. That’s gold level blackmail stuff I can give to Max to use…maybe during a power point presentation on decorum…” (opens her book and makes notes) “Wait, Olivia…alien rider? When did you met Dabbler?”
“She helped us move. That hammerspace thing of hers is awesome! Also Harem Helped with the fragile items. She’s fun. We’re going to the Disco next weekend. If nothing comes up, that is.”
Joel “Funny thing we had a soft opening party and I swear none of us remembers anything from after midnight. It’s like we all got amnesia…though I think we…we all got laid.”
Sydney “TMI!!”
Olivia (smugly) “Some of us might remember things…and there’s probably video of it. We did set up the security cameras first thing…remember?”
Joel and the other guys suddenly look panicked.
“Tell me you didn’t…”
“Best Selling Hentai video we’ve ever stocked. You guys will be famous!”
High fives Sydney.
“Men are so Gullible!”
This has already been done, in the series Common Grounds. Except it was a punny name since the shop was a coffee shop, not a comic shop. But as memory serves it was established by a retired villain who wanted a place that could cater to supers on both sides of the law. And despite being retired he was powerful enough to enforce the “no battles in my shop” rule.
And like this comic it was a “slice of life” comic focused on issues unique to supers and not fights between heroes and villains. For example one story was a reporter interviewing a speedster who was basically broke because his super-fast metabolism required him to eat all the time, which is expensive. And then he had to spend similar amounts of time getting rid of the food he ate. And he couldn’t keep a girlfriend because of friction burns. And holding a conversation with another person was painfully boring for him because of how ‘slow’ the normals spoke and reacted. Etc. He was basically a miserable person because of his powers.
DC had a story line with a similar element in the Knight and Squire limited series (6 issues).
Jarvis Poker, the British Joker, was a villain that was inspired by his perception of what he thought the original Joker was like, but he’s basically the 1966 TV Joker version. Whimsical crimes, comedy-based gimmicks, doesn’t kill, etc. He regularly drinks at a pub called Time in a Bottle with other heroes and villains. The location where the pub was later built is protected by an ancient truce magic, that causes lethal weapons and other deadly force to be unable to be used within its bounds.
The story line eventually involves the original Joker showing up, Jarvis realizing how horrifying and not at all funny Joker is, and an effort to trick Joker into entering the pub, where all his poisons and weapons would be neutralized (and he’d be faced with trying to win an unarmed, deadly-force-barred brawl with a pub full of angry villains and heroes).
Side note: There’s also a British villain team in the story called Double Entendre (twins who always speak in, you guessed it, double entendres), the Milkman (throws milk bottles with various special abilities, quips phrases like “that didn’t go past yer eyes,” and he’s based on a character from a Benny Hill song), cyborg heroes from the west of England called the Cidermen (regional fondness for hard cider crossed with Cybermen), Birthday Girl (psychokinetically controls helium balloons, powers only work when she’s naked, and of course the balloons always block line of sight to anything risque). It’s worth a read just for the British culture puns and references.
Heh, reading that, and getting to the Milkman, knew he was going to be based on Ernie :D
Was his archenemy called Ted Baker? :P
Do we need a side comic “Street Heroes” set in this universe too?
“Beat Box,” “Light and Sound,” “Rave,” and the gritty detective “Trent Trentacle” He acts as their agent and helps them combat crime (though usually finding lost pets or kids…retrieving stuff that falls down drains)
(his powers are obvious what are their’s? They’d be classified as C or D class Heroes. (maybe E?) Have limited use for powers and probably not affected by the Sex appeal part…so would be similar in nature as Halo…until they express their powers ?(like a certain Leopardess?))
Power ideas:
Beat Box: Ability to simulate the sound of any acoustic or amplified musical instrument they’ve every been exposed to, using only their voice (probably could duplicate any sound, and the limitation to music is psychological). Could be weaponized by Dabbler, for instance, building an instrument that produces disorienting music, brown notes, etc. or by reproducing the sound and decibel level of being right next to the stage amps at a Swedish Death Metal concert.
Light and Sound: Twins: one can absorb light, the other absorbs sound. When they’re in contact with each other, the sound absorber can release the other’s stored light energy, and vice versa. Think Marvel’s Fenris (the von Strucker twins) or DC’s Wonder Twins, crossed with Dazzler. (For Whom the Death Tolls will, of course, be ticked off that they didn’t choose the name Flash/Bang).
Rave: Is able to cause others to hallucinate after images, strobing movement, odd lights, etc. by touch, similar to being intoxicated/high at a rave — a literal contact high.
Flash bang would admittedly be a much better name for the twins :)
Only if they were villains
Nah it’s just a much better name than ‘Light and Sound’ in general.
Odd thing is, have a memory of seeing this, either a half-forgotten show or a dream, butt definitely saw them in action…
Sounds like a minor character from Worm?
No what that is
Flash Bang would get a visit from Dabbler out of Curiosity. So you’re the “quickie” twins?
Nooo we do sound and light shows…but we have to touch for it to manifest…
Oh? I can work with that…imagine the sounds the three of us could make…and infront of a live audience?WOW!
Umm… (one twin looks intrigued the other shocked and horrified)
Rave should be able to work outside of touch range. He helps with the show. Maybe he can focus on one person at a dance and make them stand out w/special effects. He needs ambient light and sound to work with… cause no one appreciates different gradients of the darkness w/o some sort of contrast…everyone thought he made shadow puppets at first and bad ones at that. Until he went to a party and got to really test his “Thing.”
So what would Trent(acle)’s powers be. Observation…(has literally dozens of eyes) Hentai (well duh, he’s all tentacles. A mass of them.) Doesn’t want to get shoved into a closet and forgotten. Loves old Detective noir movies and can do a mean Cagney or even Hammer.
… yeah, Rufus is totally not a henchman or something playing it incognito to surveil Sydney’s business, the one place Sydney goes regularly that does not require high security clearance.
*I mean, that smirk on Panel 7. That’s a classic mask villain smirk. It’s the ‘proceeding as I planed’ smirk*
I thought Rufus was the DM on page 3 tbh.
Still trying to figure out who the other 2 guys were at that tabletop gaming session, as Joel was on the front desk, no character looked like Olivia’s brother or the rude comic guy that “was promised super heroes” when going to the comic store.
*goes back to page 3*
…. damnit!
Doesn’t mean he’s not playing a long game, or got seduced by the charms of Sydney :P
is the place big enough to hold dnd sessions?
When they are playing the superhero RPG at the beginning of the comic, they are playing at the counter by the entrance.
That might have just been so they could play right up until the last minute before opening the store though.
It may not be holy, yet it still has a Halo.
And now it is officially Halo’d ground.
ow sprained something with that
Will this be enough for Sydney to start hitting the bottle???
(Unless Sydney and liquor don’t mix!?!?!?)
She didn’t have one alcoholic drink during the entire Club Oontz sequence.
She doesn’t have much body mass. Or it could be the common nerd frugality to save for nerd purchases.
Alcohol could also be forbidden by her MD due to her medication.
Good point.
I don’t think it was allowed when I was on Seroquel or when I was on Klonopin
Not that I spend money on alcohol very often anyway.
Main issue with a big window is what it’ll do to the comics. UV damage is a thing.
It’s almost like stained glass actually blocks 100% of UV because of the fact that it’s laced with lead… That’s why the type of glass is sometimes called “leaded glass”.
Lead is in a lot of glass colors, particularly yellows and reds. But not all colors. Cobalt doesn’t need any help what so ever to turn things blue. Like, just a grain of that shit will leave a blue spot. So some of the glass will be 100% if absorptive and some of it will only do 5%. That is, assuming that is real stained glass, which, given the design, it isn’t. Some of the shapes show just can’t be cut out of glass. So more than likely it is a large film that covers a clear window, and is probably blocks 100% uva and up b.
No. It’s called Leaded Glass because in a traditional stained glass window made of individual pieces of coloured glass the pieces are held together with strips of lead. Which is why those windows get destroyed so easily in fires, because the lead holding them together melts.
Actually, it’s “leaded” glass because in traditional stained glass, the joints between the pieces of glass are made of lead strips with an “H” profile, (Called “canes”.) to lock around both pieces. Then the intersections are soldered to hold the whole thing together.
In Tiffany style, you wrap the edges of the glass with copper foil, and then solder between the foil lined edges.
Then there’s a modern style where you paint the glass with powdered glass pigments in a binder solution, and send it through an oven to fuse it all together. That can be really detailed, but it’s usually used for detail pieces like faces.
But that window? Either stain glass paint or a film, because genuine stained glass that size would be freaking EXPENSIVE. As in, costs as much as the rest of the building.
This is one of those cases where you’re both right. Lead is used to make colors more vivid, which is why it was used in paint until banned. And it can be used as the canes in stained glass works. And in a third function it can also be used to make glass crystal, which is typically clear and used for glassware, decanters, etc.
Lubricant in gasoline (another banned use), pipes (not just the Romans but done in the US and probably many other nations), lead has so many uses and is so relatively cheap that it is no surprise that it took a long time after the huge negatives it can have on human health were discovered before it was banned from use.
And lead glasses have a distinctive sound when you (gently) flick them
Can still remember when Unleaded Fuel was a new alternative at the pumps
Thanks Oberon. Usually when I think of leaded glass, think of crystal. I have tried stained glass, and I’m sure everyone will be shocked to hear thAt the sodder used no longer contains lead. Still melts at a low temperature, because otherwise it wouldn’t work. But i’m a Potter by training and I know they use a lot of the same Frits in glass making as we do for glazes, and use use Frits because the lead is already bonded to glass to you won’t be inhaling lead powder or splashing your hands in it when you’re making glaze or glazing. Lead in glass is something I’ve discussed with my glass blower friends.
Still, the point is moot because that can’t actually be glass. It has to be (at least for now) a printed film, if for no other reason than the eyes.
No, the eyes you can do by fusing. Heck, at that scale they could be conventional stained glass.
But even with film, that wouldn’t be a single pane of glass, it’s too large. It should be divided into multiple panes.
How did you not include minis in your list of lead uses?
Down at the local tint shop they had a film that blocked 99% of UV and 95% of infrared. It basically looked like regular glass. I can’t remember the name – but I remember the price tag was ridiculous. I imagine they wouldn’t have overlooked such a glaring issue in such a huge comics shop. (heh, glaring)
polarized glass is a thing, too.
A holy place that is losing more and more members every day.
I bet Joel put the new guy up to it. “Hey, go let Sydney in and pretend you don’t know who she is. It’ll be so funny.”
I suddenly have a question… What happens if Sydney has her shield up, people inside of her shield, and she teleports… Do they go with her, or what?
The teleport was an upgrade to the telepresence hologram, which can only look like Sydney and her clothes. From that I would assume just Sydney would teleport in any circumstances…barring buying more com orb nodes and figuring out what they do.
Hmmm – she DID have the shield up when she teleported while fighting aliens so that’s a thing.
Most likely it swaps the entire volume of the shield because otherwise, she could accidentally allow in random things and that would be a “security breach” and that could really ruin her day!
Sydney used the teleport with her bubble up from within the wreckage to attack Squidward. The debris in the bubble didn’t go with her.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-662-interstellar-proctologist/
Actually, zoom in on that picture and you can see the shields hexagonal lines “in front” of any of the stuff in the background,, there isn’t any debris in the shield before Sydney teleport’s .
On the subject of the shield, yes, anything inside the shield should teleport along with Sydney – if it did not, Sydney would die from lack of air right after the teleport, or suffer some kind of decompression type side effects. (we know from the super brawl at the steak place that Sydney’s orb is airtight). There is however probably a safety system, so Sydney can’t teleport with alot of people / mass (unless she gets the point upgrade later that allows it).
In short, she can teleport other things along with her if the orb is up, but it will almost certainly require another point upgrade to unlock….. atm the same auto safety system that the PPO has/had would prevent Sydney from teleporting at all currently
Since that is classified, Halo would only try that in an emergency. As far as we know only Halo and Maxima, know about it, presumably.
So the stained glass “shadow” indicates that the window is now upside down. Whoops!
Not upside down, backwards
yeah, I figured out I had the layout confused when I looked at it this afternoon. She’s looking at the building from behind to see the stained glass, not the front.
he seems…unusually calm about her …being alive-ness
Why would he be shocked about that? She was on an official training exercise
She has recently been featured in the news, as she returned with aliens.
Joel does not usually check the news. He missed the super fight at the restaurant and the bank robbery too.
Except, this time, Jo-El will have Archon (or at least Daphne) to warn him that Sydney is back in town :P
Does Sydney know Stan Lee died yet?
Good chance the back wall behind where the altar used to be, i.e. the wall at the back of the raised area (Sanctuary in some churches), is a large painting of Stan Lee with year of birth & year of death at the bottom.
He hasn’t died yet!
Grrl Verse is set in 2010 or 2011
As for the back wall, that’s where the damn stained glass window is!!
The new influx of alien tech means stan lee can live forever in grrl power’s universe….. wooo~!
Looking at the store layout I have to ask, where’s the new comic wall?
I think that is what Olivia is stocking. They are carrying so many titles that you only get to see a five inch wide portion of each cover.
That’s the graphic novel section From the looks of it.
Or the regular novel section
So maybe this has been brought up in the comments, but.
I keep on trying to compare the church to what we saw (allegedly after this move, in a flash-forward to some unspecific date in the future past this point) from the store originally:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-3/
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-4/
Comics 3 and 4 are part of the flash-forward which are meant to take place after this comic, but for the life of me I can’t figure out the similarity between the church-comicstore and the layout seen way back there. I can maybe spot Rufus in the comic there (it’s a little difficult to tell with the art evolution), but the building they’re in there looks nothing like the church here.
Did they move again some time in the future between now and that future of the flash-forward, or is it a continuity error, or is it just “trust that we haven’t seen the layout of the church/comic store enough to make the connection between it and how it appeared in the old art”?
It’s a miracle.
Or maybe they have so much business that they decide to reopen the old branch? Or, more likely, that they open other branches, and they have more conventional shop layouts. Houston (as a city fitting the bill for the size and location of the Archon HQ) is big enough that it can support more than one shop in a chain, and still be profitable. If the demand is sufficient.
Oddly I tend to think of it as being in maybe just outside the greater San Antonio area. (Or Austin), But that may be partly Dans not liking to draw building packed landscapes,
Actually, after looking at the picture from comic #4 and today’s comic, there’s a lot of similarities that I see from the angle. The main difference is themain counter that Joel is behind is curved originally, and it’s cornered now. And the stairs are closer in the #4 comic than they are in the current one (which is probably offscreen). Everything else is offscreen as well, and there’s a bookshelf missing.
Or she could have more than one location in comic #4, since this is still a flashback. OR this store might… not survive the next few months/years.
The image in comic #4 is from the opposite angle to this one
Here, she entered from the left, in comic #4 she exits on the right, plus, stairs to the left of the entrance here and on the right in comic #4, and they are designed differently (comic #4 has them right beside the door and curve around the corner, here they are half way down the wall and go straight)
Actually, far too many differences for this to be the same store
Nah, most of the differences that do exist I could chalk up to differences in art style and evolution, and probably simply forgetting what he drew all that time ago. The basis layout still looks the same.
The only problem with saying it may be years is if you read the box text at the bottom of page 4 of the comic it says and I quote “Let me back up a few months.” So either by linear time the beginning pages will happen in the next few weeks for Sydney or by her timeline, not counting the missing months, some time in the next month or two. Either way the store pictured in page 4 is not the old store because of the stairs leading to a second level and the original store was a one story strip mall storefront and not this one with the current layout from what we can see. This one, straight staircase facing the back of the building, the one from page 4 curving bottom of the stairs facing the front of the building. The possibility of having such inconsistent construction is highly unlikely. So either Dave didn’t like the layout as it was presented and chose to do something different or he is not going to say this is or isn’t the same building as from page 4. Until he personally speaks up and makes a statement everything we say is pure speculation.
I think this is the same as those pages, but the layout has been altered between now and when that introduction was.
Or the author decided to update the style to match the current comic style and not the original style.
Either way, I think we will start to see more of the store in the next few pages while Joel explains what has happened here during the last 53ish days that Sydney was “training” or whatever excuse Arianna tried to use.
The game room on the first page is a small, different room, probably converted choir loft or something. The main room on second page is part of the bottom left of the CURRENT page we don’t see because it’s cut off.
Like the fact the Stained Glass Sydney is the bottom RIGHT, and not over the door, it’s a little confusing when you don’t see the full picture.
So, I was wondering where Rufus went to after opening the door for Sydney, but then I realized he was probably headed for the bank…
Or, simply still in the lobby area re-locking the front door
You never know WHO you’ll run into at that bank!
At Sydney’s bank? Nuns I think.
And blushing seamen :D
Superheros and future television anchors.
Heading for the bank, you say…
Wonder what his Power will turn out to be.
Rufus? Why do I have a hunch this guy is a were or some sort of super with furry-themed powers?
Furthermore, he may be a barkbark, eh, sorry DarkArc secret agent too.
Making a big move and business decision without primary input of your partner (even if they are absent) is hugely not cool and ariana should have at least given sydney a heads up!!!
I think Arianna did give Sydney a heads up in a roundabout way.
Remember the conversation about how much pay Sydney was owed?
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-728-she-spent-two-months-not-existing-for-tax-purposes/
DaveB has indicated that Arc Swat gets paid like the NFL. I suspect that Arianna used her power of Attorney to invest most of Sydney’s income from while she was gone to pay for this building and remodeling. Maybe some more for the initial increased stock.
It would be easier to keep Sydney from blowing her stack about the missing money if she sees the new store it bought herself before explanations.
Yups, and investing the money in the store that would benefit Jo-El and Olive would be better than simply investing it for her self (Sydney’s self, not Ari’s self), Sydney made sure they knew how big of a deal her regular business was so Ari would make sure that wasn’t neglected (plus, Maxi is a no-longer-closeted geek/nerd so she would agree to the investment, if not actually be the one to come up with the idea)
So I’m guessing that they set up a game room in the choir loft, accessible via the stairs. That way the gamers are a bit out of the way and they can have big gaming tables set up permanently.
That… could make sense, seeing how Jo-El wasn’t in the session butt was at the front counter
Except, the layout of the front of the store doesn’t match
Meh. Remember that was like page 5, while this is page 780. Try to think of that earlier view of the store as a rough sketch.
Nah, that was page four, and more likely a third store (after Sydney shut down the Church of Sydney before they even opened :P )
We finally have a name for the other guy at the dnd table. His name is rufus.
Yeah, and the other guy is Olive’s brother/cousin?
No, Tony’s skin tone is the same as Olivia’s.
Tony’s probably off doing dumb boy stuff , like they do.
Yeah, didn’t think it was Tony playing D&D, which means, there is still one member unaccounted
Hm, looks on the sparse side… well, it’s new, but they should plan for more tall shelves. Oh, and maybe tables? That’d be a way to fill space…. or have some statues or something….
I had heard you muricans worshipped capitalism but this is just obscene with the false idols. It wont be long until you heathens are smote down.
Most of us don’t, also most of us are not Rednecks.
We took it up as a religion to compete against the wildly popular European religion of colonial imperialism.
I must for French pop culture reference introduce Superdupont :
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51NUbvWLEcL._SX383_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdupont
We Need You!…
To surrender or run away!
Imagine a badass French supehero saying about Hiro:
“It’s basicaly Superdupont, with a complete relooking and cosmetic surgery”
Basicaly I can see Sydney exploding in laugther.
Sydney could have studied french to read comics like:
The Airtight Garage (Le Garage hermétique) and The incal (L’incal) by Moebius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Giraud
Two fan of Moebius work where Stan Lee and Hayao Miyazaki
,
Valérian and Laureline (Valérian et Laureline ) -a likely source of inspiration for star wars –
Heavy Metal ( Metal Hurlant ) was a french comics two
The shop is probably closed today.
That would explain the lack of crowds. If they get such massive crowds and a small staff, they’d probably pick a low-volume day and dedicate that one to restocking.
It’s Wednesday, the day Halo gets to spend the morning at the comic store.
Also the day Diamond delivers the new comics. All the store employees work part of the day on Wednesday.
It’s probably eight o’clock in the morning and Sydney will have to be back at Archon after lunch.
Sydney didn’t appear to be expecting to be showing up on a day they were closed. She was surprised there were no customers waiting for them to open. And shrinking your hours in a new location is a great way to fail as a business.
What is your basis for asserting that she didn’t expect them to be closed?
They have always been closed when she arrives on Wednesday because it was just her and Jo-El putting out the diamond order and because comic book shops typically open at eleven. I would say that she was annoyed that the shop had moved…and then further annoyed that it wasn’t keyed like the old shop which she had the key to.
She probably not come to grips with the sort of building it is, or the window either.
Either way, comic book stores don’t generally open until an hour before noon and even if the shop is so successful they can run extended hours they wouldn’t do so on comics delivery day.
As I already said, my slow friend, one does not typically say anything resembling “shouldn’t there be a line?” when approaching a business which is closed for the day, or even closed for several more hours. Lines imply customers, customers implies people who are aware of your hours of operation and don’t just waste their time cooling their heels in front of a closed store like Black Friday idiot shoppers all hoping to be the one who will get the single TV available at some huge discount.
Except, Sydney was expecting the line to be for her, seeing how she gloriously returned (with proof of extra-terrestrial life) the previous day
You clearly know nothing about a comic store, even though numerous people have explained how it works, even on New Comic Day
Again: she was expecting the line to be for her, and then shocked to find the store empty and feared it had shut down
You’ve invented that entire “she was expecting the line to be for her” bit, which is definitely not in the comic itself. It’s not an absolutely terrible assumption, unlike most of your vacuous speculations or outright inventions, but it is shot down by her very next sentence, so you really have no excuse for being stupid, as per your usual state of being: “Did business dry up the moment I disappeared?” Do you see now how she is speaking directly about her expectations for regular business, and not some kind of welcome party for herself specifically? It’s not hard to grasp, if you can rub at least two brain cells together. It’s a real pity you can’t manage that.
Remember also, since I know it is hard for you, that Sydney wasn’t missing as far as the public was aware. And there is no “glorious return” when you have just been away for training. If you’d just read the words that are there and would stop inserting your own personal fantasies these things would be clear to you.
Sydney expecting a line and her comment about the business were two separate statements
Again, there is never a line for a regular comic day, not even a New Comic Day
When someone goes away, even for training, they usually tend to, what is that word again? oh yeah, return when they have finished. The ‘glorious’ part was bringing proof of extra-terrestrial life
Also, we are talking about Sydney here, last time we saw her at the store, there was a huge line just to see her, so it’s not that far removed to have her believe they would show up for her again the day after she brought back some real life aliens, specially seeing how she thought the business failed immediately after she left the planet
“Shrinking your hours” was also not in the comic itself, that was something you made up because you have no idea how a comic store works
No, you lackwit, they are the same statement. One sentence directly follows the other, and the context is clearly not changed at all. There is no line, has business dried up?
As to who knows more about how a comic shop operates, you can have that one if it fills you with a sense of pride. I’ll just remind you that this isn’t a comic shop, it’s a fictional comic shop and it runs just as much like a real comic shop as the fictional military unit in this comic runs like a real military unit. Which is to say, not much like reality at all. So no matter how much you might think that there is never a line before opening due to your vast body of knowledge on how comic shops and their customers operate, you not only contradict yourself, because that is exactly how stupid you are, when you cite the earlier line, but clearly the author of this comic thinks that there should be a line before opening, because we have the canon musings of his main character wondering why there isn’t a line before opening.
In summary: You are a self-contradicting tool, incapable of making a rational argument.
Just because two sentences follow each other doesn’t mean they are not separate
“this isn’t a comic shop, it’s a fictional comic shop”
Just because a character believes something, doesn’t mean the author believes the same thing
Where did say that there should be a line? So how did contradict by now saying there wouldn’t be one? o_O
The only reason there was a line last time, was because of Sydney, not because of the products
The only ‘tool’ here is you, and now that the weekend is over, we won’t have to put up with you for another week
You were clearly dropped on your head repeatedly as a child. And then some more as adult. And yet again almost daily since. You can’t put together a coherent sentence, can’t interpret clear context and instead spin vacuous fantasies, deliberately misspell words and character names, and are an all-around idiot.
Rich Morris has your number: You are a Butthead.
OK, IN ALL SERIOUSNESS!!
…How much for the Halo tee shirt? And a choker??…
Random thought but assuming they have a game room. Do they have a vending machine that only vends Sodas of Status Quola for when Harem shows up?
actually. that should be the logical next sketch, as the two talk about the change, the parking lot begins to fill up and the line starts to form with about 4 or 5 other people hitting up the counter to log into registers.
that Sydney’s small comic shop has (potentially) become a booming business, that surprises even her.
apologies if anyone else has made the same reccomendation, but im predominately thinking of the statement about the empty parking lot.
That does sound likely, specially if it is the morning: most shops (even famous comic stores) don’t open too early, some open later than others
I don’t get the same exact same thing as a person in a different age where I can see how I can get to the end and be able.
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
She’s got a lot of reading to catch up on. Afterall, she needs keep up on tactics and tricks.
Hmm…
How much effort would it take Sydney to convince someone to put a full-size holographic Duel Arena in the basement? I’m sure that Deus could probably whip his spare out of storage…
Store seems to be a bit short of comic books. Or perhaps the two moving vans with the week’s shipment haven’t arrived yet.
There are more upstairs. The table they were playing the Superhero RPG on at the beginning was surrounded by shelves holding comic book boxes
OH!
I just got the connections!
“Halo” is missing and believed dead,
…thus an “angel” with a halo.
…which is now being used as holy icongraphy by Joel to sell comics.
Well, Halo wasn’t reported to be dead, but rather sequestered for training.
On the other hand, sequestered for training wasn’t a plausible lie because she didn’t contact her parents first. Of course, only her parents would know that, and Sydney’s dad would have gone along with the ruse.
Depending on what the ‘training’ was supposed to be, she wouldn’t have been allowed to contact her parents first anyway
Thinking about it, I think the parking lot being empty is pretty reasonable given the recent attempted alien invasion. People are far more likely to be doomsday prepping than heading down to the comic store to pick up their comic box.
They are also more than likely going to pick them up after work or during their lunch break anyway
I find something supremely beautiful and satisfying about turning a church into a comic shop.