Grrl Power #82 – Who’s interviewing who?
No plot movement in this installment, but I always had this scene in my head where Sydney meets the upper ranks of the team and steels herself for it by making it be known that they better watch their P’s and Q’s, whatever that means.
The general needs a name since he’ll be officially introduced on the next page. I’d call him General Hedaya but that might be a little obvious. Gwen’s reaction is heavily inspired by the scene in Alien 4 when it all starts going south, the alarms sound and it shows the General (played by Hedaya) sit up in bed wearing a tank top. Some woman behind me in the theater said very loudly “Oh my god that guy is so hairy.” Seriously I’ve seen comedy sketches where they glue hair onto someone so they can make jokes about body hair where the guy in the sketch was considerably less hairy than Hedaya.
I don’t know why, but this page took soooo long to draw. I watched 6 episodes of Cadfael and 14 of the old Mission Impossible series while working on it. Granted, it probably wouldn’t take as long if I wasn’t watching stuff out of the corner of eye. Still, Cadfael is good so check that out. It’s… imagine if PBS produced CSI set in the 1100’s. For serious.
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.
P’s & Q’s: Please and Thank You’s (Please and than-Q’s)
Also: For a name? hmmm… lets see… i’m usually pretty good at this…
General Patrick Quinton Anderson?
So you’ve got your P’s and Q’s, as well as your Q&A! see? Multi-tasking.
But seriously, I kind of like that name >.>
Indeed that’s a totally awesome name
I like how Gwen is doing David Copperfield “magic ta-da” hands in the third panel.
I can see how Mission Impossible playing in the background might influence some of this comic.
You should add a little ™ to “The List”.
General Tortelli, in honor of Hedaya’s character from Cheers
Hah hah, again, a little obvious.
How about general Cadfael? Since were talking about him today.
well, if we’re seriously considering Hedaya homages:
General Kam Butabi
or
General Rabin
bonus points for those that get the references
How about general Alford?
Might be a little less obvious because he was always just called Tully.
At least I think so, It´s been a while since I saw the Addams family.
Lots of hair… how about “Harry Furman”! :D
How about go to the comedy side with General Mayhem or General Disaster? Being as he’s the leader of a security conscious military group of superheros he might not use his real name.
Why not General Atlas?
in honor of….ugh…..something…..
Oh I love Cadfael~! I just found out about it a few days ago myself. It’s an absolutely WONDERFUL series.
My Lord, yes! Cadfael kicks ass! I have the whole series on DVD. Shame it only lasted four seasons.
Heh. Just got my lady the boxed set of Cadfael… awesome stuff!
Whoah, @ panel 9: Serious Sydney is damn serious. Not unprofessional, even.
Like a Boss.
Or even… an Adult.
And I’m increasingly impressed (since several pages) that she’s totally unimpressed by all this. As if… she had Powers. And knew it.
Is it just me or is the comic moved over to the right side, pushing the “who’s who” and voting links down below?
I hear an electronic powering up whine when she stares at me like that. AT ME. And her pen going off had all the gravity of a shotgun pumping a fresh shell into the chamber…..
Why is Max intimidated? Because Sydney is using a power that she can’t possibly defend herself against even with all the power she DOES have at her disposal.
Points to the General for breaking the ice and disarming both Max AND Arianna in one shot. He said that with so much stone cold conviction that I believe it. I have a bunch of ideas for what his name should be but none I like enough to care to submit. So good luck!
Yeah, VERY nice opening move by the General. Didn’t simply de-rail the train of thought – he dug up the tracks, blew up the bridge and burned all the maps.
maybe something classic with a twist like minkal like hinkel but with furry rodent added
Is it bad that I heard it as delivered by Tommy Lee Jones?
General Lee Thomas Jones? I like the sound of that.
I heard Alan Rickman tho.
ooohhh good choice.
Eighth panel, with the pointed stare, Sydney’s face looks, uh, awkward. I think the eyes are farther apart than usual. From my right, I think the right eye is just too far off.
Narrowed eyes just don’t work with Sydney. It made her look older.
That aside, the fourth panel was hilarious.
Good job! :)
It isn’t that the eyes are too far apart, it’s that thew eye on our right is too wide making it look farther apart.
Meh, everyone’s a critic. Careful, or you’ll end up in The List!
I’m still waiting to see what her powers are. I like Naturals, heroes who have no powers in their secret identities.
I want see what her powers are too.
I wonder if it’s going to be a funny sort of power, or something.
Any power is funny if used right.
FUNNY POWERS
1. controle friction on any object
2. super sense of smell
3. can make you laugh uncontrolably
I thought Chili Resistance, with toxic overflow was her superpower…
Didn’t expect to see another fan of Brother Cadfael online.
more than one but i haven’t watched an episode in ages.
Check out the books that inspired the series by Ellis Peters top stuff and a superbly researched peek into 1100 uk.
Shit just got real, yo. Didn’t think Sydney could take anything seriously. That change certainly nailed Maxima between the eyes. And I’ve never heard that line that General Hedaya trotted out before. Good one.
Now we’re cooking with gas! >:)
Many, many moons ago I worked as a line chef in a restaurant. We had a chef who, when the kitchen was hammered and humming and we were all working at top efficiency just to meet the demand, would call out “Now, we are cooking with gas!” Nice call back!
Once I was in a grocery story an my general vision found a black haired girl staring at me with the most hostile eyes. I didn’t know her an she never approached me. It was weird. One of the least weird things in my life. (I wonder if I resembled someone else she knew. Wouldn’t be the first time.)
Maybe in Greek myth, some name a bit more obscure like Callicantzaros the Greek name for satyrs. Hairy fellas of the pastoral landscape. (It is believed that any child born during the 12 days of Christmas are destined to be one of the Callicantzari. Some small to giants an during that 12 intercalary days between old an new years.) Just a thought.
Uh… Satyrs were from Greek myth in the first place. Also, a quick search for ‘callicantzari’ refers to them being more like vampires.
Don’t know if anyone’s said this or not, but I’m kind of hoping it’s the tube itself that causes all the do-funnies.
I’m kIng of hoping the story of how Sidney acquired the contents of the tube somehowe involves a trip she took to a comic convention.
Well if I recall correctly there is something in it. Just what is still a secret. A magic scan found “more than empty” in the tube. I’ll leave the rest to you.
Given the super-hero name he gave her I keep thinking its like this tiny cute halo that wants to float over her head (and had a hell of a time trapping it inside the poster tube), like a Thor’s hammer, only snarkier.
Maby one of the objects is a halo from an angel. Sort of like leftover weapons and tools from the big break up over having angels bow before man.
The ARKENHAMMER!!… Much more famous than the ArkenPliers…
Wrong comic…
Besides, Arkentube just doesn’t have much of a ring to it.
I dunno, I think Arkentube fits right in with Erfworld aesthetics…
I was talking about Lucifers rebelion.
My money’s on a Master-Chief action figure stuffed in there with the “artifacts”
What’s in the tube is a “them” not an “it”. My guess is “ioun stones”.
General Major. It was tough to get through the last couple of ranks.
When I was in the army I had a drill sergeant who’s last name was sergeant.
Sydney’s mere presence seems to inhibit other people’s ability to restrain themselves from blurting out Sydneyishly inappropriate (at least at a formal meeting with people you’ve just met) remarks.
Just a heads up the saying “Mind your P’s and Q’s” means to mind your Pints and Quarts. Pretty much it is saying don’t drink so much that you make an ass out of yourself.
There are several possible meanings for this saying, the one I was taught was (using a child’s pronunciation) “watch your Pea’s (please), and ‘Que’s (thank you’s)” (mind you manners).
Another is with old hand-printing presses letters are put in backwards, and a ‘p’ looks like a backwards ‘q’ and vice-versa, making it easy to accidentally use the wrong one (watch the small details).
Sounds like a bit of the old english rhyming slang. “Q” vaguely rhymes with “thank you”…
Also, this saying was popular back in the time where tabs were opened and based on a type of honors system to where you paid for your drinks at the end of the night. It was there to remind people to keep in mind the numbers of pints and quarts they were drinking so they didn’t overextend themselves to where they couldn’t pay the barkeep and look like an ass…
1) Cadfael is awesome.
2) Keep making pages as funny as this and I don’t care if the plot never progresses again. Ok, I will care…a little.
Panel 4: When both Max and Arianna o.O at something you said, it’s gotta be far out of bounds.
So why isn’t Arianna on the Who’s Who list?
She didn’t have any dialog on this page. The Who’s Who is more of a tool to inform new readers of… well, who’s who and give them a primer on character motivations. It’s also to remind infrequent readers when they swing back by. It’s just something to help compensate for the nature of webcomics. If you know the characters enough to wonder why someone’s not on it, then you don’t need it, and if a character is not on it, then it’s because knowing who they are isn’t vital for understanding what’s going on in the page. That or I forgot to add them.
There is a who’s who missing.
Who is the guy dressed like a general who said he is dead sexy?
that’s just it. he doesn’t have a name yet. people have been suggesting names since the page was posted.
I personally like “Patrick Quinton Anderson” it sounds tough, yet odd enough to get a Sydney response.
and if Dave doesn’t use it, I just might in the super-universe I’ve been getting all worked out (along with plot and such) for the comic I want to make. *has been planning this longer than i’ve known about GP*
Why not “General(ly) Hirsute” but spell the last name differently. – Herr Sutte and have him claim it was Sutter(land) (south african german descent – not greek. But Greek blood keeps sneaking into the family bloodline somehow. )
So General Sutte, you can call me Herr Sutte- then you’d have to give him a greek/german/south african blended accent that he uses on his off time.
And yes the general is a super… his body acts like velcro or maybe velcro is his bane? All the same -shiver- -gah!- Mental bleach needed.
or be a classic. General Starr (he’s got one right? or is it two?) (looks up…hmmm)
General Sutte or Herr Suit which sounds like Hair Suit, neh?
General James Ouzo- he’s always played characters that kinda Ooze doesn’t he?
as for the tube- I’m guessing when it opens – at least one item in there won’t be an artifact that got stuck in there just because, or just in case, or be something she forgot was in there. She doesn’t know if the “Things” inside will feel capricious one day and let a stranger peek inside.
So I’m thinking her fail safe device will be a spring snake or two. Which fits her character perfectly.
If it’s not that, it’s an emergency change of undies and bra- likely something manga/comic related and very embarrassing to Sydney. Of course she’ll blame it on the items inside for making her forget- and onto the list they’ll go again.
I think panel 2 would of worked better if the table was at the end of the room. But otherwise still loving the comic
You can blame that on my terrible lack of experience with perspective. It’s one thing to technically understand 1, 2 or 3 point perspective, it’s another to employ it effectively. I mocked up a quick floorplan for this level of the building, and this room is supposed to be square with one of those folding dividers that opens it up into a rectangle that’s twice as long. That’s why there’s two doors out in the hall if you look back a page or two. But apparently just the one half is rectangular now cause I suck at perspective.
Panel 4, Arianna and Maxima’s eyebrows in reaction to the General’s comment. This seems to be something completely outside what they expect of him.
hahahaha. I loved this entire page. My favorite part, however, was the detail in panel 1. Maxima looking down in irritation at the Cheetos’ finger marks on her uniform. was chuckling about that for a good while.
I’ve always loved a name I read in a favorite sci-fi book/series of mine: Zebadiah Ezekiel Romeo O’Mally. Break it down and the guy’s initials spell ZERO. The character had a sense of humor about it fortunately. Don’t think it really fits for the General here, but it’s been a name I’ve always wanted to use somewhere.
…I really need to stop looking into stuff people posted years ago and correcting them…that said, it’s Zebediah Ezekiel Rutgers O’Malley.
I love the pointed stare! It’s amazing!
I predict a Dabbler Science-Time interlude forthcoming.
My suggestion (and the forthcoming is rather stupid, I will admit). Harold Andrew Ippolita Ronald Yardley. Like I said, stupid, but it gave me a chuckle for a second while I looked it up.
I honestly can’t tell if the comic tries to be wacky comedy or serious with humorous elements.
I’m referring of course to Sydney. While other characters prank each other and joke around a few act a bit… insubordinate, everything about Sydney though is complete chaos. She for no reason eats (and is able to eat!) what must be bio-hazard grade food with fumes comparable to tear gas, and somehow seems to startle even otherwise quite fearless characters like Maxima..
I feel the comic would be better if it was a bit more focused.
I’d say, either go with wacky El Goonish Shive stuff like demonic ducks of distraction, magic hammers used to harmlessly stun men who make inappropriate comments about women and other crazy stuff.
or… go with a humorous take on super heroes in a otherwise fairly realistic (by comic book standards) world.
I personally like both. But the moment if feels like Sydney lives in the El Goonish Shive world, while everyone else lives in a more adult, bureaucratic and slightly more realistic version of the Teen Titans (TV Version).
Aside of that I enjoy the comic, and Sydney as a character.
There’s actually some (small amount of story) behind her predilection for spicy food. Which I’ll get to eventually.
As for the focus of the story/humor, that’s probably a valid complaint, (though EGS has had many quite serious moments in it) And I could definitely use a little more focus, or barring that, an experienced comic writer that could suggest a little editing. But that assumes that I’ve actually written out enough of the story to actually edit.
I see it very much as two worlds colliding. Sydney being her own ecosystem of chaos.
With my experience in reading numerous comics, and countless anime. I can safely say it is possible, and you are succeeding at it, to do a comic that takes place in a fairly serious world, and have characters who can switch between somewhat chaotic and comical, and it all work together.
For a prime example of such a series in anime (Slayers), the back story and main plot are dead serious, but the main characters and their antics will have you laughing, yet when the fight is on none of that detracts from them at all.
Hurray for the Slayers comment!!! and they like to break the forth wall alot.
I really like a mix of humor and seriousness, one of my favorite series ( I have many) is Garret PI which is like Mike Hammer meets the Hobbit. Even serious editorial cartoons have a bit of humor in them. Please continue as you are and amuse and enthrall me.
Hmm, Garret, P.I. sounds amusing. I’ll add that to my wishlist for when I get over my Warhammer 40K kick.
Author’s name is Glen Cook. First book in the series is “Sweet Silver Blues” and each book title has a metal or metal alloy in the title. Garret’s best friend is a amoral dark elf who nonetheless is a loyal and true friend.
Great series. Love how the women just keep on showing up.
Of course that’s how he knows the case is important. And why he usually takes the case. In the early books he usually got the snot kicked out of him at least once sorta like the old TV show “Rockford Files” but when he was aware of danger he always had a “trick” up his sleeve.
I always had hoped to see the Garrett series as a TV show – like perhaps on SciFi (SyFy)…Bruce Campbell would’ve been ideal (about 12 years ago..)
And if the Garrett series isn’t enough for you, there’s always the Myth-Adventure line from (the late) Robert Asprin…
Have all of those too. Much more camp than serious and the inevitable happy ending but entertaining nonetheless. Garrret is a bit darker with death an all to real possibility and endings that are not always happy.
My hope was a an RPG so I could be the guy the girls were after lol. :D
Seriously though his world would be great fun to experience full on.
Who do you play? I’m currently working on an Eldar Jetbike army but it’s slow going and not even close to ready yet.
I’m not playing it, I’m reading it. I really like the setting of the universe. I’m not sure what to read next. I’ve read the first three of the Horus Heresy, and I’ve read the Eisenhorn omnibus, and I’m on the third book of Ravenor.
L-Sama is also in both series.
Oops Insert below :P
Yup I’m a big fan of Slayers… well anything funny in general. One thing I enjoy a lot is taking what seems to be a dire situation, and subverting it with comedy. Obviously that doesn’t work if a show is all drama, but take for example Red Dwarf, where absurdity is the rule rather than the exception.
Love Red Dwarf. It’s also the only science fiction series I’ve ever seen where every episode could only be produced in a science fiction setting, a true accomplishment.
Hopefully you’ve Included Lost Universe with Slayers. It’s kind of a sister series. Where the Red World of Slayers is Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo’s, the Black World of Lost Universe belongs to Dark Star Dugradigdo (the penultimate big bad in Slayers Try).
I see this comic as the very essence of dark comedy – normal people’s normal reactions to outrageous circumstances… In this case, the ratio is reversed, with the world being relatively normal and the protagonist being the strange duck (very similar to The World According to Garp).
2 Thumbs Up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_comedy
Dark/Black comedy is basically dead baby jokes, gallows humour and the like, so that’s really not the right term for it.
There probably is a term for this type of humour, but I can’t recall what it would be.
Another author I enjoy John Irving! Hotel New Hampshire had a similar feel to it.
DaveB, this is your comic. Do what you feel is right.
Oh, and thanks for taking the time to reply to what we are wrighting on this messageboard. It makes it a fun and intresting part of the comic to know that you care about what your readers are thinking, even if it’s just a bunch of goofy ideas that we thought might be intresting.
Oh I read all the comments, I enjoy the feedback. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up with them when I have 10x the readers.
I personally like your story just the way it is. As a young friend of mine is fond of saying, “It’s covered in awesome sauce!” There’s no reason why you have to imitate anyone else when your style works so well.
It shows promise that you listen to feedback. Regardless of if it is comic book writing, or something entirely different like running companies, being able to listen to feedback is crucial.
Still, you should trust in yourself, this comic is based on your vision, so at the same time don’t let people tell you how you should be writing it either.
Best of luck :)
THREE Brother Cadfeal aficionados
I don’t know what happened, but the comic page isn’t showing at the moment (the time of this post).
Hmmm… Changed the theme in Firefox and the page came back. Don’t understand why changing the active theme caused the page to disappear, although the error console had a “Security Error: Content at https://www.stumbleupon.com/ may not load data from https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/453.” message.
And previous pages displayed without any problems… weird.
Gwen, Panel 3, that made me laugh out loud.
I think the next panel is pretty good too.
The general kind of reminds me of Tom Hanks for some reason?…
This page is funnier the 3rd time reading it than the first two!
The general must be “straight and flush” with confidence to make that kind of statement.
Its a weird comment for a general to throw out there. I’d think anyone who works for any level of government position or even higher level corperate jobs, would be too concerned about the ever present Sexual Harassment Lawsuit to say things like that, especially with someone you’ve never met before.
pretty sure it’s referencing the standard ‘dealing with an audiance is scary. just imagine them in their underwear and the absurdity helps counteract that. also helps you remember they’re only human’ trick.
he’s trying to psych her out if she was planning on using it.
Chargone is correct, but on top of that, the sexual harassment policy is a little different around here. The law is still the law but Maxima feels that reporting incidents up the line creates a victim culture for women. She’s not a fan of “letting someone else handle your problems for you so that you can go have a cry in the powder room” as she puts it – ignoring that many women, if not most, aren’t invincible superwomen that are highly coveted for their abilities, allowing them to get away with basically anything.
Basically she encourages people (mostly the women on the team – she doesn’t care about the guys’ problems) to deal with their issues, and encourages violence and/or public humiliation of offenders.
And all that being said, there are a few women on the team that are far more egregious offenders than any of the guys. But we’ll get into that later. :)
In addition to that, my understanding is that in term of sexual harrassment in the military, you can get away with SAYING almost anything, once. If the person it’s said too replies “red light,” then start backing up, and never say anything like that again. But then, I’ve been out of the service a long time, so what do I know.
That’s an urban myth. You most certainly can get in trouble the first time you say something.
Given that Maxima “encourages violence and/or public humiliation of offenders”, I’d say that Harem’s kissy-prank was spot on. And the Iludium wedgie. And Harem’s not-a-victim, “If you want to crank the pranks, you’re on!”
Hmmm… Maxima didn’t directly accept that challenge nor reject it …
Here’s me being That Guy: grammatically, it should be “who’s interviewing whom?”
I love the comic! Keep up the great work.
…Out of curiosity, when will Gwen have her bio put up on the cast page?
As soon as I hire an intern? :P
It’s on my to do list, along with the general and a whole revision to the cast page, new banners for project wonderful, adding a link to the 1 shirt I have for sale, making more shirts to sell so my store isn’t so pathetic, do new bonus art, finish a video project related to the comic, play Mass Effect 3, add a social media login for the comments section, go to the gym 4x a week, play Batman Arkham City, find time to play SSF4, catch up on about 20 webcomics, spend time with the wife, go to work, pay bills
In that order? :D
I say list. It’s more like “pile of scraps of papers with notes on them.”
Perhaps you should throw sleep in there. Probably you should do them in reverse order. The saying as I leaned it is you have a jar for a life. You want to put the big rocks in first and then fill in the gaps with the smaller stuff. If you do the reverse there may not be space for the big rocks. If you have read the schlock that is out there you may know that the longer comics have a well written story and then are drawn to that. if it goes long term then you can start grinding up some of those big rocks.