Grrl Power #781 – Iconic
This page was inspired largely by a comment someone left waaaaay long ago saying they thought it was odd that Sydney received her own superhero logo with zero fanfare. I agreed, but wherever the comic was at that point, the moment had passed. I guess someone handed her the shirt one day and just said “here, wear this.”
As far as the rest of the page goes, it’s just shop talk. They’ve expanded from comics and the odd collectible into a full blown nerd emporium. Tabletop games, RPG, miniatures, CCGs, genre relevant novels, puzzles, etc.
Also, the previous page, as much as it showed, was only half of the one room. Joel and co. haven’t figured out what to do with the balcony area yet, but there are a bunch of other rooms in the building they’re planning on using for tabletop gaming and other CCG tournaments and other stuff. I originally had written the page after this one as a bit of a tour of the building, but realized it was a weird page as it was informative but not especially entertaining.
Joel glazes over Archon’s stake in the store, and Arianna’s contribution to the rapid nature of the purchase of the new property, all the moving, the window, all that stuff. Arianna’s not trying to take over the business, but she recognizes that Sydney’s store is going to become a bit of a mecca for superheroes one way or another.
I added a PNG of the stained glass panel to DA.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. 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.
Yeah, everybody knows “H” is for “hockey.”
Yeah, I thought it was a hockey emblem too, for something like Hell’s Bells team or something, the sides of the emblem look like horns
Now I kind of want there to be a hockey team with a halo logo: the Holy Pucks.
Team Halo Baseball. Wait… no… I’m fairly sure that was never seen by majority of people here.
Wouldn’t a hockey sweater have long sleeves?
That’s not a sweater, that’s just a T-shirt with a logo that they sell to fans. You can get those in everything from Texans (US football, a mostly winter sport) Sumer weight tank tops to Rockets (NBA Basketball team played indoors in heated courts by people wearing light weight shirts and shorts) winter coats( which, ironically I don’t think I ever saw them wear those even at there official store, although Harden did wear the official rockets Jacket over a silver and black hooded sweatshirt.
It is vaguely like the Nike logo, so a non-sports/sporting goods company following person like Sydney can be excused for making that assumption.
On the other hand, it is pretty obviously an ‘H,’ (It’s not an ‘H.’ On my planet it means halo. Well, here it’s an ‘H’)and the cross bar of the ‘H’ is at least vaguely looking like it is circling around the ‘H.’
And here I thought it was just a “Halo 2” advert t-shirt
She didn’t know. That’s very Sydney.
How long has she been wearing that thing now?
Since page 433. But you don’t see it clearly until page 434.
Since Day #2 of her being in Archon I think (in 2016 our time).
From her POV about one week. Remember her original outfit was yellow and white wonderwoman t shirt. In fact apart from her Gold Halo shirt, the grey uniform t thirt and Wonder Woman,, and the Tuby montage, I think I’ve only seen her uniform grey when she was in uniform and on duty, it’s entirely possible harem just popped over to wherever they store spare outfits and grabbed a fresh shirt for her first night out without tellingg her here’s your team logo shirt.
What I mean is the first time we saw her WEAR the shirt was on Day #2. Maybe Day #3?
I could be wrong though. I know she’s probably only been in Archon, from her perspective, for a few (2-3) weeks as of now. There were a couple of minor time skips between page 433 and now.
I am not sure if she changed out of the shirt to another shirt since then. The stuff you mentioned with the wonder woman shirt is before the page that daedster mentioned. I think the deadpool shirt was also before that point.
Her quarters on base probably have a drawer of them and she didn’t think about it.
For the upstairs is easy: Just a dedicated room to activities. Public tprpgs, warhamereske tournaments, workshop teaching for cosplayers… You name it.
Ahhh…. Cosplay. All Fun and Games until some decides to use the resources it provides to build a fully functional Iron Man Armor after watching the necessary Hacksmith YouTube video.
What with it being a Superhero world, there’ll be Supergeniuses as well as a new paradigm of Alien Tech possibly available.
So this could actually happen.
Though I’m sure they’re just as likely to build an Ironmonger or Titanium-Man armour as they Iron Man or Warmachine armour. They could even build Steel’s armour.
Or an Iron Storm Armor via combine Iron Man with Thor
how come no one ever cosplays Settlers of Catan?
Because cosplaying trading wool for wood is kinda difficult to get across without explanations?
Dabbler pulls it off…
Yeah, but she always phrases is as “Wood for sheep.”
“Cosplaying wood for sheep” sounds like an outsider’s image of what happens at furry conventions.
Outsiders get that from emergency room nurses, who have to deal with the few real people who create the stereotype.
The SCA has a similar reputation problem because of attendees who hold orgies, even though the orgies are usually at a hotel nearby and not at the park or campground where the event is held.
Par for the course, as you can’t really educate the public about your hobby unless the public is interested in your hobby.
Not to mention how hard it is to cosplay building the longest road
Speaking of Arianna… Is she a super?
She does seem to have a good build and height comparable to other metahumans. It’s just her role in ARCHON is for business, legal, and PR purposes, so she’s always in a suit.
And obligatory logic caveat: just because all supers in this universe have perfect physiques doesn’t necessarily mean all people with perfect physiques are supers- hence the question.
Apologies for this double post which is also wrongly replied to this comment. Please ignore this.
Who knows perhaps on non combat type she has the right body type (or just perhaps shes speeds 15 hours a week in gym.
All lawyers are supers.
But seriously no, Arianna is not a super from what we’ve seen in the comic. Just highly skilled. Like Peggy or Zephan or Leon or Sean or Aurelius are highly skilled/possibly the best in their fields.
Of lawyers are supers; passing the bar bestows the POWER OF ATTORNEY!
I’ll show myself out…
what if you stop inside the bar?
Duuuh! You get drunk of course! [ Bedum-ching ] Passing the Bar is only the first step.
I am Arianna. Phoenix”s twin sister. Great power was bestowed on the the day i held aloft the sword of justice and said “”For the Power of Attorney!!!! I OBJECT !!!!!!”
I’m just going to give you a polite golf clap for that pun. I won’t send the ninjas to kill you.
I think they should add a small cafe. Many/ most churches have kitchens and if they’re actually that busy, maybe they should put that kitchen to use. I’m not sure where the balcony is compared to the supposed kitchen, but that could be used for part of the cafe.
I’m pretty certain that depends on how “young” the churches are:
If they are from the 1970s or younger, yes, then they are likely to have a kitchen.
However, if they are from the 1930s or older, then they are not likely to have kitchens at all.
That is my impression, at least.
I’ve been in churches from the 30s or older with kitchens. They were extensively remodeled in the 70s or 80s, and their kitchen were clearly added at that time, but they existed. (I’ve not spent much time in churches since the mid 90s.)
Not to mention a dedicated area for signings and meet-and-greets so that they don’t crowd the main part of the store.
Basically it’s a Quake2 logo gone gold and stretched…
The not stretched version is her choker.
Sydney? Arianna’s a potential supervillain. You need to keep a closer eye on her activities than that.
For a second I read that as “closet eye”.
Sydney should see what else is in her closet?
If this was a big 2 comic the team would learn she was involved in some sort of bad idea, Arianna would respond by ranting about how they don’t know what’s good for them and place them all in mind control collars (Internet “fan art” would follow) but Harem would be able to keep one of her brains free and go on the run first freeing Anvil who would stay behind to fight the rest of the team so Harem could escape then Sydney would run out of air because she hasn’t been keeping her air tank full and her mind control stops her from using the air orb so Harem gives her mouth to mouth resuscitation.
Next issue starts with Sydney bringing Harem in but it’s revealed that her collar has been modified to signal that it’s working fine but Sydney is in full control…
In this comic Arianna would be saying no to anything that might make her job that much harder.
They’ve been wearing mind control collars for a while now…
On that subject, I unimpressed with what DC did to Maxwell Lord. But I had already lost all trust in them after they stuffed Sue Dibney into the fridge. And them killing off Big Barda just reconfirmed it.
Barda died? Scott must be shattered, what happened to him? Mind you I haven’t followed that comic since the early ’70s so I have decades of catching up to do.
Not since the 70s?
Not sure if sarcasm or not ….
If not:
Yes, her death was a thing, but she got better, uncertain how, when or why.
And that was even before the New 52’s reboot.
Sadly, even after 70 years, DC still seems to think that continuity only needs to be followed sometimes… Which means they still don’t understand the meaning of the word continuity.
Barda’s alive again btw (at the end of Final Crisis on New Genesis).
She just caught a temporary case of death from Infinity Man, but apparently she got better.
Poll: Leant or Loaned
How do you say it?
Dictionary says loaned, i thought it was load lend lent….
Lent or Loaned are both acceptable
Catholic here: “Lent” means something different to us… ;) I think it’s spelled leant.
know the word “lender” I thought it was lend’t or something like that, never looked it up because I always used loaned (always had visions of a super offensive red-neck talking if I heard someone use the word lint, leandt lent, leant, lynt (-___-)
Lender is another superhero….the Loan Arranger.
I’ll show myself out now.
Sadly The Loan Arranger …. There are at least two in my corner of the world are both be-speckled, grey haired, trollish little money grubbing gnomes that would make Gollum feel uncomfortable in their presence.
* giggles *
Looked it up again. Lent for catholics is the traditional 40 day fasting period.
Loan loaned loaned is mostly synonymous with lend lend lent (forms: present infinitive, past infinitive, past participle. It’s the way i learned it in german school).
Leant is from lean leaned leant, and has nothing to do with money and more with posture.
It should be lent, same spelling as as the religious event. Leant is an outdated spelling of leaned, (though still in some use by British authors despite leaned being more common in the UK too)
Is it odd that I _say_ “leant” but write it “leaned”?
Leant is definitely wrong. That means ‘past tense of lean.’ (ie, leaned)
It’s loaned or lent.
Either is correct; pick your preference according to your character and scenario. ‘Loaned’ can have more connotations of being something major and official, probably with paperwork involved. ‘Lent’* tends to be more informal, which may better suit the implied scenario of ‘here, you can use this shirt while yours is in the wash’.
‘Leant’ is a modification of ‘lean’ rather than ‘loan’, and as such is definitely not the word you’re looking for. Not to mention that it would almost certainly be written ‘leaned’ instead, regardless of local pronunciation.
*Yes, ‘Lent’ also refers to the period of prayer and preparation leading up to Easter (for many Christian denominations, not just Catholics). Just like ‘bow’ can refer to the thing that shoots arrows, the front end of a ship, a gesture of respect, a knot with decorative loops…
That is her logo? I thought that was the Quake 2 logo (a little distorted, maybe…).
But now that I think about it, I’m not sure why I thought that Sidney would wear a logo of a 20+ old videogame.
Who wouldn’t wear the logo of a 20+ year old video game? It’s called nostalgia.
Considering trademark infringement law, Arianna probably already bought the right just as a precaution. That’s what good lawyers.
Yes, you are correct. No self-respecting, fashion-conscious nerd and/or geek would ever be caught wearing a t-shirt with a logo of a game that is decades old, much less create and wear costumes of same, or gather in large groups to celebrate same… If such did happen, our friends in Canada and Japan would help bring us back to the path of righteousness.
It is just that quake 2 is not exactly iconic. I remember it because I have played it (sigh, I am old) but it isn’t really well remebered. And Sidney is just 21, she is too young to remember it, so why she should wear, or even own, a shirt with its logo?
Free t-shirt.
Looks kind of cool.
Fairly sure that Sidney has worn logos to old games, just like I am sure she knows obscure knowledge of very old comic books due to having read the back issues, and this would be before she owned part of a comic shop.
Exposure via nerd parental units.
Hope they stock Indie Comics, would love to sell my upcoming series there.
Anyone mind if I post a link for the Indiegogo crowdfunding page here once it goes up?
I don’t know. I think many people are selectively observant.
My selective hearing didn’t select that.
Most people have limited observational capabilities, meaning that they cannot pay attention to everything at once. Whether they can actually choose or “select” which things to observe is another matter.
i’m more curious about the altar. did they place a statue of the Emperor of Mankind on it?
I’ve seen some really cool statues in various comic book stores so, it’s possible.
Although, why limit it to just that?
Ideas…
Our Mother, who art in business, HALO be thy name…
It’s a place for the current standee.
The altar itself was probably removed when the church was decommissioned, but the architecture will still make its position the focal point of the room.
Personally, I’d take the classical route with a Sword in the Stone. It’s something that’ll stay a cultural touchpoint image long after most statues/standees are forgotten, and it’s less likely to upset customers with religious tendencies/sympathies than putting a character there (especially with the traditional longsword shape being a nod to the building’s previous use). Plus, of course, it’s an open if unstated invitation for the photo opportunity; put a charity collection box nearby and see who takes the hint.
Optional extra: instead of a single-piece sculpture, have it be an actual (display reproduction) sword that’s only released (via recognition magic or technology) when Joel draws it from the ‘stone’ base. Depending on the method chosen, letting Joel himself into the secret may be optional…
‘Leant’ as in she has 10 of them and didn’t notice?
I’m surprised the logo isn’t on her panties.
We haven’t seen Sidney in her panties enough to be certain of this.
Want to find out?
Use Math.
True, he probably wouldn’t complain.
But would the logo be on the front or back of said panties?
Speaking of Arianna…
Is she a super?
She does have a good physique and height comparable to other metahumans. It’s just that she’s a lawyer/businessperson and thus always in a suit.
And obligatory logic acknowledgement: if all supers have perfect physiques in this universe, it doesn’t follow that all people with great physiques are supers. Hence the question.
The power of the Schwartz.
No no no no no… Arianna has the power of Mwerchandicing!
In all seriousness though – she probably has a super memory / intelligence that allows her to remember and calculate on the fly. Like it wouldn’t be that extreme to – Just by looking at a scenario calculate trajectories, force, destination and effect in her head whether it be a bullet or a profit margin. Of course if she doesn’t have speed or strength that kind of power would be more useful where she is !
Suddenly reminded of how I first heard of Grrl Power: a postcard handed out at a con years ago.
Arianna: “I’m a lawyer and public relations manager for a powerful government agency.”
Maxima: “I can liquify a tank.”
That said… noticed something interesting. Every so often, Arianna wears a scarf around her neck – exactly where the others on the team would wear a neckband. Perhaps she’s hiding her own neckband, just in case?
Maybe sh’es hiding vampire bites, instead?
_________________________________
So, how long before the first idiot trying to make their name as a super-villain attacks this shop in the hope of drawing Halo’s attention?
I think Vehement cleared most of dumb ones in his opening attack. Those prone to vainglory and hyper aggression.
Sydney is a public figure now. Where she works, lives, and frequents are known. Drawing her out is as simple as posting a call out video, then making sure you get on the local live news doing something super villinay. Like wrongway walking down the middle of a freeway during rush hour, holding a sign that says “Halo Fight Me!” Of course you may get Jiggawatt or Hiro instead.
If you want to insure your dream 1v1 you have to ambush your target. I’d you don’t want the fight to be Maximally interrupted, you need to quickly move the fight to a difficult to find location. So anywhere but a celebrity’s comic shop, that is within minium flight from Archon HQ.
Attacking Halo has the inevitable side effect of a body count if you make her use the PPO, the best you can hope for in that case is that your name is not listed in the “dead” column. Maybe “unable to find body, presumed dead” column.
which means they will somehow get better within … no wait this is Grrlpower….probably never since we already know about sciona and Halo assumes she’s alive.
Seriously though, with super comics why would anyone assume dead just because you can’t find the body? Even real world law enforcement rarely does that unless they have a darn good reason to presume the suspect is actualy dead.
Thus, Habeas Corpus, Show me the body.
So Habeas Pecunia would be “Show me the money”?
The funny thing about Spaceballs (one of many funny things really, the movie was hilarious) is that in order to make the movie without having to get into a lawsuit with Lucasfilms about how the movie was satire under fair use (Mel Brooks would have won but it would have taken some time), Mel Brooks promised to not to sell any toys or various other forms of merchandise of the characters in the movie for YEARS following the movie’s release.
Wait – when DID she get that shirt. I know the H on her collar appeared year three, but I don’t remember when she got that shirt.
Yea, does any one know the first page it showed up?
I think the first instance of her wearing it is here, https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-433-the-bubble-bus/ , on route for the Council meeting.
She was told to wear civilian clothing, but likely had not moved much of her wardrobe to Archon yet. She probably asked for something to wear, and was given that, possibly by Ariana who probably had the fashion designer guy make it up, for reasons listed in Dave’s comments below the page.
That page for note that while the color scheme is a repeat, the logo was debuted there.
Does note*
Also note we see Maxima flying in the standard ‘Superman’ pose. I am not sure if this is actually more aerodynamic, or if everyone does it that way out of just cultural habit from seeing it like that for years.
One time Deus asked Maxima what she REALLY wanted and she replied ‘an invisible jet’. She should trying flying in the seated position just to confuse the media.
The post has been addressed over the shows like Lois & Clark and Supergirl. The fist in front means you’re not feeling the full-force of the wind on your face. It’s actually in that regard defensive rather than to improve aerodynamics. It also protects against bugs, birds etc that you may run into when flying so you don’t end up with bugsplats all over your face!
Ha! I just had a chuckle imagining a big green grasshopper streak down Maxima’s cheek.
The nice thing about Maxima’s skin is that it’s very non-stick. Not great when she’s trying to apply camouflage paint or use something (anything) to cut down on how reflective and glare-prone it is. Good for not having bug guts stick to her in flight, though.
It’s also possible that since her aura protects her clothes (at least to an extent, since some attacks don’t even smudge her clothes, while others can shred her clothes but not pierce her skin), it might act like the deflector dish on Star Fleet vehicles and brush off small, high-relative-speed bits, bugs, and birds before they actually touch her.
Now that I think of it, since Hiro doesn’t have an aura like that, maybe he has a closet full of black shirts because those wouldn’t show bug specks.
Having spent much of my teens and part of my mid twenties on motorcycles, I can assure you that if that is his plan then Hiro should switch to yellow and black mottled shirts.
I’m betting that Arianna and her team have copyrighted a stylized version of every letter of the alphabet. You know, just in case.
They may have tried, but prior case law would have probably said, uhhh, no. Zilog attempted to trademark the letter Z and was told no.
Besides, the team currently includes Halo, Harem, Heatwave, Hiro… Maxima and Math; Anvil, Achilles and Amorphous… how many different versions of each letter would it be practical to copyright in advance?
Arianna: “Trademark… them… all” {fans self}
Yeah, it’d be a total waste of time and money to guess a bunch of letter and power combinations to trademark “just in case” the team gets new members, hoping you have a suitable one. Not sure how enforceable a TM is anyways if you don’t even use it publicly for the next few years…? ** cough cough Pander? **
On the other hand, if you can trademark a color, why not collect the TM alphabet of your favorite superheroes?
Sydney’s logo is not just a letter, it IS trademarked. Just like superman’s S is trademarked, and Wonder Woman’s W is trademarked, and the Avengers’ A is trademarked. Or the golden Arches ‘M’ of McDonalds.
Because it’s not just a letter. It’s a particular style of a letter – it’s a design. And designs can by trademarked.
A trademark needs to have a distinctive character. So you cannot trademark generic words (recently someone tried and failed to trademark the word ‘react’ for their youtube videos, for example). You cannot trademark the names of cities or countries. You cannot trademark religious iconography and names. You cannot trademark a letter by itself.
You CAN trademark certain colors, but only within a limited framework. T-Mobile did not actually trademark the color pink. They trademarked a very specific hue, in a very specific design style (white lettering on a magenta-pink background (Pantone 676C) in a square or rectangle. The court ruled that AIO (AT&T) used that color specifically to try to confuse consumers and blur the lines between the copmanies. But if I made a superhero who wore a costume that had that hue, I doubt they’d be able to successfully sue on that. There would be too many differences. AIO and T-Mobile were both in the same business, and THAT combined with the same exact hue was considered too close.
A letter alone, however, has already been ruled, multiple times, to not be distinct enough to be trademarkable. They’d be trademarking the design of the letter, not the letter itself. Article writers who claim they can be trademarked do not understand intellectual property law at all, and confuse this very obvious distinction. And they can be VERY anal when making a distinction in the details of those letter designs and the field in which the design is being used. Whataburger is not getting successfully sued by DC comics, for example, even though DC comics probably did CONSIDER trying (after Whataburger was using the logo for a good 40+ years, unchallenged because of how they were in different industries, they werent trying to confuse consumers, and there were distinct differences). Also Wonder Woman might lose if they did try, since they didnt use the current Wonder Woman logo until 1985 :)
Point is, normal letters cannot be trademarked, but the design of a letter for a specific product or service can be.
Btw, a trademark IS enforceable even if you don’t use it publicly for a few years. When you file for a trademark, you go through a database which has every trademark available in it, then another lawyer (or series of lawyers) searches to make sure your design is unique enough to be trademarked. It usually would take a particular set of circumstances for it to be considered trademark squatting (bad faith trademarking), where you’re not only not using it, but have no actual reasonable plans to EVER use the trademark in the future. Plus the wider you’re protecting the trademark, the more money it costs to do so, and you have to keep up that trademark protection every 10 years or so.
It can get expensive depending on the number of trademarks and how widely enforced it is.
Oh… also if it’s not publicly being used, it’s easier for someone else to FIGHT the trademark by saying ‘I was publicly using this trademark for 10 years before so-and-so company decided to challenge it with their trademark which they were not using EVER.’
At which point all the money you spent squatting on that trademark can be considered wasted.
As a nerd, I really enjoy all the small details in this page. Like the recreated game box art in panel 1 and recognizing the RPG systems in panel 2 (Ars Magica in the middle row).
[nerdon]Ars Magica 4th edition (brown covers) and 5th edition (yellowish covers). Best rpg magic system ever. Eeeeeeeeeeeee! [/nerdon]
Like several people here, I also thought her shirt was just a weird quake 2 logo.
Also, I’d like to visit that store. It looks like my kind of place. I mean, aside from the fact that it gets a lot of customers and thus I’d have to interact with other living beings in person. That’s not so fun.
The giant spotlight is already on order. Elaborate mirror array reflecting it through her bedroom window finalizing design now. Batarangs proving problematic. Personalised credit card already prepared. Sydney brand shark repellent being bottled as we speak
Well most Indie shops/stores that sell Tabletop Games, Boardgames, CCGs, etc. usually allow their customers to come in and play them if they have the space.
It’s a good way of attracting customers while showing off the products they sell. (and saves the store employees from having to do regular demonstration games).
That balcony area could be perfect for something like that, especially if they have multiple groups or decide to host tournaments.
Please, for the love of everything holy: if they have the space, subdivide it into windowed rooms with individual AC controls. And put the snack bar up there so that an employee is present at all times.
HEPA + Carbon filtering and able to be fully washed down with floor drains and all that. Cheetos dust and exploding coke bottles do a number on gaming space. Sticky floors/chairs is also a problem with “some” customers.
As for the main space between the front window and the edge of the balcony, I would suggest a maid/butler cafe. Maybe get an interstellar coffee franchise as a sponsor [Star-Bucks] Alien cosplayers encouraged to apply. ;)
Most aliens on Earth are effectively cosplayers, since they walk around all day dressed as humans.
I *never*!
I don’t have to, thanks to the Veil.
While I can’t say anything for certain, because I know some people are *very* good at their cosplay, just from casual observances, it feels to me like I’m not in the minority on this point.
Thus: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=yaya+cosplay
This.But more. A shop like this should utilize all spare space for gaming tables. Running game nights and tournaments drives sales in a massive way.
If I were them, I’d put a bar up in the balcony.
You have no clue as to how anal alcohol licensing is in Texas. That’s a headache best left to people for whom alcohol is a core part of their business.
And I apologize for saying that snarky.
The fees and regulations and restrictions are annoying.
Plus, you want to be able to let gamers (some of whom are minors) play all nighters, and you aren’t allowed to do that with booze sales.
The problem with reading this first thing Monday morning is how long it took my brain to sort out that it was the alcohol licensing, and how anal it is, rather than it being the anal alcohol, and how it is licensed (and if that were a thing, I would hope the how was both strictly and rarely).
How about a snack shop with a soda fountain?
Although, that wouldn’t be a good idea. Spilled drinks.
My local shop sells sodas and snacks. They have two strict rules: no open containers outside the gaming area (THIS MEANS YOU!) and whoever signed up for the time slot is responsible for any spillage damage to the wargaming terrain tables (the regular, plain roleplaying tables are pretty spill-proof).
Some of Texas’ rules are much better than say, California.
I can have my entire family with me at a bar if I like. I can even allow my underage daughter to drink alcohol in my presence if I like, if I buy it for her and ensure none of the alcohol leaves my presence. None of those things are allowable in California.
That said, *SELLING* hard liquor in Texas is undeniably insane. The rules are byzantine, out of touch with reality, and easily circumvented if you’re persistent enough.
I think laws should all have a clearly stated purpose, and if it can be shown that the law does not serve that purpose, or has significant “side-effects” contrary to its stated purpose that suggest it is really intended to curtail the free exercise of legal rights without actually making them illegal, then the law should be automatically unenforceable.
Otherwise, law is just a game of Nomic, where the players attempt to trick the other players into giving up their rights.
The liquor laws have purposes.
The legislature planning how to achieve those purposes is often verbose and ambiguous results in bizarre or unworkable statutes.
And my point is that being ambiguous should automatically make them invalid and unenforceable. Some may have legitimate purposes, but others are all but transparent efforts to inhibit and discourage people from doing things they are legally allowed to do, because openly making those things illegal wouldn’t be accepted either by the citizens or the courts. Our legislatures are not full of our best and brightest, but the most opinionated, devious and power-hungry.
What’s insane is we have ice houses, they literaly have toughs of beer, help your self! And you can actualy sell beer that way. What makes it even more bizarre? You can legally sell beer that way at a location that has a Tex mex place they denied a alcohol serving license to. Another (Chinese) restaurant tried to get a license to serve alcoholic and was shot down.
Why? Because it was too close to a high school, that was closer to the Tex mex place that sold beer in self help troughs than the Chinese restaurant.
(° ).(° ) : roll•eyes :
That may be what YOU’d do in THEIR POSITION ~ but if you ^were^ them, you’d do exactly what ^they’d^ do, because you would be THEM!
Quite decent to merge instead of downrigmght pushing the competition out of business. That way it generates some goodwill and people can keep eating.
“You know that superhero comic shop, with those real supers? We’re working with them now. It’s awesome, we can sell merchandise, get autographs and they are quite nice too, even tjat golden major if you get to know her and don’t act stupid.”
Yup, it’s downright saintly by modern business standards.
I just hope Machina Industries wasn’t running one or more of those companies on the quiet…
Deus is probably ‘buying’ a convention or three. Which he will carefully then design to maximize their desirability to potential attendees, with a special emphasis on Cosplay and Costuming: as somebody else noted, that’s where the supers and gadgeteers are most likely to manifest. Getting first crack at *those* would be totally worth the investment; Hell, Deus’d give away general admission con passes for free, except that it’d look hyper-suspicious.
Oh he’s been doing that for quite a while already. it’s called DragonCon.
I dunno. Maybe it’s just me, but Deus strikes me as more “Chaotic ambitious” with delusions of evil than actually evil. Maybe chaotic stupid. I rather get the feeling he’d have tried to offer the Fel jobs. At any rate, he’s not out to conquer the world or anything so daft as that. He just wants to make money and maybe get Maxima in bed.
I think Deus wants to own the world, and for that matter, the rest of the galaxy, and have sex with all the ladies. But he doesn’t want to rule it or them, because he knows that would be a lot of headaches.
It’s not just nice, but it also makes sense from a business standpoint. I think each of the others would have had a slightly different specialty, so you not only end up with their inventory, you also add in their expertise to the mix. Not to mention as partial owners, they have a stake in making it all work.
Not sure about the legal complications around diluting an owner’s equity while they are missing offworld/presumed dead, but yeah – if they were competent competitors *of course* you want to get them working for you if at all possible.
I was just wondering about how they were covering for the fact that Sydney was MIA at the time. I would think the other store owners would question why one half of a business partnership was never present for such (to the businesses) important discussions. Sure, the cover story of her being sequestered for training (if I recall right) might work, but I still find it odd they’d move on with it until she was back and could OK it.
Though Arianna may have had something to do with that.
It’s my impression that the big reason this doesn’t happen more in real life is that a lot of people get really invested in owning their own business. Frequently, they have issues with how their competitors do business.
In the Event Horizon Comics situation, the writing was clearly on the wall: they’d been winning, and then suddenly EHC had a draw that they couldn’t hope to touch: Not only did EHC have a superhero making appearances, they had many of them, due to the owner being a superhero with superhero friends. Hiring one superhero to make appearances was probably a bit out of their budget. Hiring enough to compete with EHC was right out. It probably helped significantly in making that decision that Joel was looking to delegate some of his owner responsibility, as he went from running a business whose biggest problem was remaining solvent, to running a business with more logistical issues than he could track.
The bit with doing the merger while Sydney was out of pocket is tricky. However, if Joel was the majority owner, it’s not necessarily that tricky. If they’re equal partners or Sydney had the larger stake, then I think the only way it could’ve happened was for Arianna to act as Syndey’s lawyer with power of attorney and stuff. Which was probably at least stretching her authority, if not outright violating the terms of her power of attorney for Sydney.
Of course, that depends on exactly how broad it was. IMHO, Sydney is already failing legal sense, due to having gone along with letting Arianna act as her lawyer, despite a very clear conflict of interest. But we don’t know the exact definition of said power of attorney. I’d think it *should* be limited to Sydney’s superhero activities, but I’m guessing that Arianna didn’t have it that limited.
To be honest, I hadn’t noticed that logo…
Okay! So it looks like Arianna will see Dabbler waiting for her when she arrives in the afterlife. :p
LOL I can believe Sydney didn’t realize that shirt was her personal logo. It has some similarities to the Under Armour logo, so as someone who believably knows nothing about sports brands, I can see her getting tricked…
I like to think the reason why she wears it so much without knowing what it is, is because Arianna placed several of them in her wardrobe at her Archon bunk.
My head canon says she hasn’t moved *any* of her clothes to Archon, apart from the ones she took off there, because she found the room was suspiciously stocked with clothing that somehow happens to fit her, and didn’t think anything more of it. It’s clear that nobody’s trying to give a message, because it’s all basic white t-shirts with this weird but harmless looking logo, yellow long sleeve shirts with the logo in white, mostly white underwear, jeans, and socks. It’s on the underwear and socks, too, but she hasn’t noticed that yet. I’m not sure why it’s not on the pants, or maybe I just haven’t noticed it yet.
At least, that’s what’s in the dresser. The closet’s full of her Q-vex outfits.
It’s also quite possible that the ‘civillian’clothing has been ‘enhanced’ slightly, also.
Rip-stop fibres and possibly a small enchantment or two to round it out.
I think the top row is Shadowrun rulebooks – the color of the one section is spot on for the series – all Books are black, but one is in that strange blue/lilac – wich would be “Paranormal Animals of North America”
I knew Arianna was behind the window. I deserve a cookie!
You deserve nothing for guessing the obvious
Now, dear, he can have a cookie. We all get a cookie. Isn’t that nice? Mmmm. Cookies.
I ran across something amusing in passing on the news this morning. Researchers have determined that chocolate chip cookies affect the same receptors in the brain that cocaine does.
Oh come on! Pretty please?
No, you must earn Cookie
That’s what the balcony area should be.
Cookie sales.
Now wouldn’t that be the best idea? Can’t stick around a comic shop from opening ’til closing without snacks such as chips, cookies, soda, etc.
They have the money for janitors to clean the balcony and all the obvious crumb accumulation below it.
Rather a silly item I caught in passing on the news today. Apparently, researchers have found that chocolate chip cookies affect the same receptors in the brain that cocaine does.
Maybe that’s why my doctor said I-
wait.
If you give a DarkwyndPT a cookie, it’s going to want a glass of milk. If you give a DarkwyndPT a glass of milk, it’s going to want a straw…
If you offer him pheasant, he rather has grouse.
If you put him in a house, he would much prefer a flat
If upu put him in a flat, then he’d rather have a house
If you set him on a mouse, then he only wants a rat
If you set him on a rat, then he’d rather chase a mouse
Admit it: you didn’t figure it out until this page
No, I figure it out 2 pages ago. I even comment in it.
Let’s face it. She hasn’t been on the job for a while with only possibly two official mission for them. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they waited a year or six months to give her an official hero symbol of only to establish that she had a future of was going to survive the businesses. So many new recruits in comics barely last that long.
Also while we are at it… Let’s be honest as you know that you would be doing the exact same thing if you just got your own hero symbol.
Deferring that for six months to a year only makes sense for people who *haven’t* become media darlings.
With all of the media attention Sydney gets, this was one of Arianna’s top priorities.
For what it’s worth, I would not do the same thing. At least, not with my outside voice.
You know, Joel doesn’t look as happy as I thought he would considering the business problems he had been worried about are gone. Is he annoyed that Sydney is getting prime billing here?
The problem being, while all of the old business problems are history, he now has about ten times as many new problems.
The new problems are not as urgent as the old problems, but there’s more of them. This isn’t even counting the stress he’s probably been under from having had to make a major business decision (the merger) without Sydney. He certainly was capable of making said decision, but not having the significant business partner around to ratify it had to have been stressful, especially considering the pivotal role said business partner currently has in the business.
Their old problems had something they could theoretically exert some control over, by marketing. Their new problems are that the business has grown so large, and so rapidly, that it’s difficult to control, and Joel’s own control has been diluted by the introduction of new partners. Perception of control is a significant factor in stress.
Some people are just very good at seeing the problems in any given situation. Solve those problems, and they’ll just start on their new situation. And some just have that sort of a face that never looks happy.
People who always see the problems can be very useful to any organisation, as they highlight potential liabilities when they can be addressed/avoided rather than when they go wrong in your face. But they’re most effective at one or two levels down from the top: they can focus on being the Devil’s Advocate, while someone else sets the strategic direction and delegates the fixing of the problems.
Unbelievable? Joel, you’ve known this woman for how long now? It should be more or less expected.
Sydney is what I call “Chaotic Random” and “Unintentional spontaneous Awesome”
It really is a really good superhero logo, clean, simple and easy to remember. I don’t supose DaveB would find it in his heart to paint the Mighty Halo as a traditional none-gag superheroine. I’d like to see that.
Maybe not DaveB, but a few others have. Take a look here or here for examples.
Not what I meant, I meant have Halo in a super suit, you know, Superman style, maybe a cool visor to account for her poor eyesight. White and gold. Maybe a cape since she is probebly immune to aircraft engines.
Hehe, probably for the best the gaming rooms aren’t up on the balcony. People *would* lose their dice over the edge and someone at some point *would* take a d20 to the head. XD
Metal dice should _probably_ be outlawed up there. :)
Now I want a tungsten full set of Platonic solids dice (AKA the D&D dice) that weighs about a pound for the full set.
As a church, it undoubtedly has many smaller classrooms used for Sunday school for kids that would be good for gaming rooms, they also undoubtedly have a fully functional kitchen and a room that can be used banquets and wedding receptions, that would make a good choice for a snack bar. Even just selling canned sodas and candy and bags of chips would be quite profitable and with the financial backing they seem to have, other food items prepared on site are bound to be profitable. When I lived in Dallas back in the day, Virtual World had a place there that had a snack bar, a library and it was a good place to hang out between matches. It was a sad day when they closed.
To avoid Texas health department colonoscopic scrutiny, they should just have a microwave and sell frozen pizza and microwave burritos like a gas station would do. Throw in three drink vending machines.
With reciprocal offers, they could have menus with coupons from nearby restaurants that deliver, and have those same restaurants hand out store flyers with promotional offers for first time customers.
Food problem solved with minimal regulatory overhead.
Anytime you serve prepared food for sale, there are regulations you have to deal with and most are very common sense and reasonable. You have to get a food services card showing you have taken a course in food safety, and most regulations boil down to keeping things clean and the food safe to eat. Prepackaged food like soda and candy and chips and such are not regulated the way prepared food is because those are regulated at the source.
Those aren’t the only costs.
With commercial food comes a section of building code that must be met, and meeting those building code requirements becomes an ongoing cost. In addition, the employees needed to run food service could elevate their employee count high enough to push them into another regulatory and taxation bracket.
It’s a losing proposition all around.
Actually there is a game store here in my town that has a full blown restaurant inside and it is probably way more profitable than the games. It’s called “Butter My Biscuit” and the food is awesome. Now I feel the need to go back and eat there again LOL
This store will probably make money hand over fist from signed Archon paraphernalia.
There is little gain in a bunch of people who know the comics and games business trying to jump into becoming restaurateurs on a learn as you go basis while simultaneously running a really large and profitable business that they already understand.
Sydney: “So now that I’ve got a superhero symbol, will there be a Mighty Halo-signal mounted on the top of Archon headquarters?”
Maxima: “No Sydney, we’ll just call you on the phone”
Sydney: “But HALO-SIGNAL!”
Maxima: “And even if we could assume you’d look at the sky every few seconds, and guarantee a cloudy night there’s the problem that it’d tell everyone else you’ve been called for”
Sydney: “… Ok, get Dabbler to work on it, she’d find some way to make it work. Probably an annoyingly sexy way, but still.”
Maxima: “Or we could just call your phone. Straightforward, reliable, solid.”
Sydney: “(grumble) … Yeah ok, but I want it on record that not having a Mighty Halo-Signal seems like a missed opportunity for awesomeness.”
Maxima: “Noted recruit”
Right. Because Sydney would be foolish enough to talk with Maxima about the Halo signal, rather than talking to Arianna. This is, after all, a marketting thing. Note the Halo symbol would not actually be used to signal Halo when it was time for her to go to work. As Maxima rightly points out, Sydney has a phone and a comm unit in her choker. There’s probably a comm unit in her wrist device, because redundancy for that doesn’t hurt and there’s room. I mean, realistically speaking, probably the only thing that’s needed for the wrist device to work as a communicator is the software, because it already has everything else for its other functions.
What the Halo symbol *would* be used for is to tell the press Syndey is about to show up to an event that happens on a cloudy night. Also, randomly, just to remind people it’s there.
“So, now that I’ve – ”
“No.”
“But, you – ”
“There’s no budget for a Halo-signal right now. ”
“But – !”
“We’d have to get everyone one, otherwise it wouldn’t be equitable. That’s why there’s no budget for it right now.”
“!… grr, fine. Maybe I can convince Maxima…”
*Adrianna sighs, continues to work at her desk. Suddenly, a beam of light pierces the heavens outside her window*
“Egads! The City needs my expert lawyering skills!! AWAY!!”
*leaps out window into Lawyemobile, speeds off*
Just put a spotlight behind the stained glass window.
sounds like a job for “Rave” or “Light and Show!” heh (see earlier comments in previous (this comic’s) page’s of comments)
Brief tour interlude.
Joel what’s this room you have barred from the outside?
Oh, that’s the room reserved by Dabbler for Hentai night.
Wait…showing her hentai anime picks…or being Hentai Hentai?
Not Sure, don’t know, don’t want to know. Olivia walked in last week and she made me get this installed for some reason.
Heh. Sounds like Dabbler. Has she tried to get Arianna to come ? I’d pay to see her face before and after…
Joel blinks slowly…
So…where’s my secret entrance? Got to have one for when crowds make it impossible for me to get in and out…
Upstairs…old belfry…and I was told to leave the runes alone.
Don’t touch the runes…got it.
That was…too easy.
Look I’ve seen what runes can do…like to a mountain…it’s now a gravel pit. that’s all I can say about it.
I got the security lecture. Thankfully I like living in my own world…the money and freedom is better.
Why does Sydney need a secret entrance? What crowd can make it impossible for somebody who can teleport and fly to get in and out? (She probably should make sure that nobody can *see* her as she’s teleporting, but since she can perceive through the light bee, that shouldn’t be a problem.)
Sure, she could zip through the crowd using the light bee (visible trail) or even Mr Bubble as a plow. But a) that’s bad PR to just blow through a crowd of fans, and b) missed opportunity to fly and get people talking about her secret entrance and buying
Hall of JusticeChurch of Halo / Archon Headquarters merch.Sorry Sydney can have a H.o.J. headquarters. Cincinnatti already has one. (Really. It was the model for it.)
https://www.american-rails.com/images/CUTAERIALSHT.jpg
I can haz edit? *’can’t’*
Maybe it’s just me, but Joel does not seem all that happy to see her. Arms crossed, no smile, no warmth in the conversation.
Jo-El has never displayed a happy emotional face since the series began.
He is always either neutral or annoyed.
He wasn’t even excited when Sydney revealed that she was a super at the shop after the restaurant fight.
As big as the store is, with you mentioning there being TCG tournaments, there would be a pretty sizable room (like probably the entire second or third floor) with just rows and rows of tables. My local game store also has a section for family board games, and closed rooms for pen’n’paper RPGs. Something to keep in mind regarding the overall layout.
That sounds like the basement of most of the churches I’ve been in. The tables in question are folding tables, and they have a place where they can stash them out of the way if they need the floor space. They also have dividers they can use to split the one big space into smaller spaces, and some of these dividers are normally deployed.
Am I the only one bothered by the fact, that Carcassonne box is bigger than Catan boxes in the first frame? Also, there’s a Carcassone big box on the right side, which is smaller than the regular Carcassone box?
I’m more bothered that they didn’t stand by copies of Marvel Dice Masters, or Sentinels Of The Multiverse.
I imagine the typical comic store crowd would not allow the set of super posters stay in stock. There would probably be a pretty much constant need to restock posters of each and every super on the team, with and without special costumes/ clothes of any kind. Hell a poster of any one of them in their gym outfit would break a printing press for demand… nevermind signed copies from a single store/source.
Well, it makes sense for Joel to glaze over the window, but I think you meant “gloss”. (Okay. Pedantic Lad Powers Deactivate)
Pedantic Lad would make a pretty cool super hero. Give him powers like Johnny Thunder in DC. Thunder controlled a mystic being (“genie,” really more of a 5th dimensional being like Mr. Mxyzptlk) by saying his name backwards (said name being Yz, pronounced Ooyayz, backwards sounding like “Say, you,” which was a phrase Johnny Thunder used habitually). P.L.’s genie could be Ylytkh, pronounced Eelooytkhe, backwards sounding like “Actually.”)
“Actually, magic doesn’t work like that”: counters a spell.
“Actually, a shield that big would draw far too much power to be sustainable”: drains the power source generating a force field.
That sort of thing.
Of course, his arch-nemesis would be the deadly but beautiful Hilda Grudge, better known as The Grammar Nazi.
“… the deadly but beautiful Hilda Grudge, better known as The Grammar Nazi. ”
\ (°_°) Heil grammar‼️ ;-þ
I just noticed this but why isn’t Syndey wearing her communication choker?
Because she’s off duty.
Carcassonne french town GPS: 43°13′N 2°21′E pop. 47,418 famous for it’s fortified city , Portions of the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves shot in and around Carcassonne, board game series Carcassonne and lastly in 2008 it’s accidental shoting duriing a demonstration show by 3rd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment.
The show simulates hostage taking.
But sh.. apen a sergeant keept live rounds into a blanks magazine 16 persons ( including 5 children ) where injured by a burst of autonatic fire .
Depending on the size of the balcony and how accessible it is, coffee counter/snack bar. Especially if they have the space to host games in any significant way. Although, around these parts, a larger church will have a basement which is more likely where there is already something set up for food (although, that might be the memories of my days in the Catholic church, and the importance of the pancake breakfast). Otherwise, more storage? Boring, and only really feasible with an elevator (paper gets heavy!). Maybe a space for premium models, kits, and collectables. Potentially a sit and read area where the stores novels, trade papers, manga, etc. can live. While you don’t necessarily want to be a library, it helps to make a spot where kids without a lot of income can sit and read (and develop a habit of coming in that eventually makes them spend their money there), or parents who are here with teens for a game session, can sit and quietly do their own thing. Or a VIP lounge, for those who have their VIP membership to the store (super exclusive, got to be cool to get in) can go to look down upon the peasants milling about below them. Like a god…
You know, just ideas on what I’d consider doing.
Even with the titles obscured, I recognize most of those books in the second panel.