Grrl Power #823 – Vantablackbelt
This is why Math isn’t in charge of teaching recruits. Sydney was just wandering by and said “Hey, show me how to fight.” And Jabberwokky is always up for a scrap.
Here’s a picture of Math’s shirt, since I didn’t manage to have a good shot of it on the page.
I was trying to get a little ahead on the comic, but then I decided it was time someone taught Sydney how to fight, and small action doesn’t really work in comics, so I decided to make this page a double. Luckily the backgrounds for most panels were easier than usual.
I still have a lot to learn about proper comic action though. I think I overdid it with the speed lines actually. Honestly I think it would look better if I had some more background elements to root the action into the scene, like that low kick in panel 5. You can tell it’s a low kick because Jabber has her hands on the ground, but you can’t see it. I maybe should have left some elements of the mat showing or something. Honestly, there was a time factor involved. A better fight scene would have had them fighting over and through some obstacle course or gym equipment. That sort of thing might have to wait for an alternate future where I master using Blender so I can build a reusable set and not have to draw a bunch of gym equipment from a bunch of different angles. *shudder*
Edit: Okay, I changed the stinger. It was late and I forgot he made fists when he blocked.
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.
If you get this shirt made I need it in an 8xl please.
I will take one too; that is fantastic.
Gotta be super careful with anything WB-owned, copyright-wise. (They’re not quite Disney-power-level per se, but they aren’t wimpy, either.) This is clearly parody, a tiny image in a comic book…but a shirt sold for profit would be a wee bit different, I’d think…
Could change it to be one of the Martian tribes from the John Carter series they’re public domain
Basically the same thing right?
Or just a generic “Gray” alien.
Calling it now… Sydney’s final orb is ‘teacher orb’. Helps her learn. Upgrades include learning quickly, slowing down perceived time for mental processing for observation (not actually slowing, just speeding up reaction time), later adding new upgrade slots to other existing orbs, and finally learning a new orb. It spouts a new orb that will provide another upgradable power… like taking a pokemon to the pokemon daycare.
Ooo, what if the final orb is just a selector switch that lets you rotate the first six orbs through six different “sets” of six abilities each, for thirty-six total abilities?
Mind asplode.
That doesn’t really follow the established pattern of the orbs being the most eccentric design of a starship ever devised in science fiction.
Storage? Maybe one is a cargo bay.
Oh, it’s definitely cargo space, but it’s likely locked until Sydney is ready for her personal hammerspace. The previous owner probably left something crazy important in there… perhaps even a powerglove or small spaceship that allows Sydney to wield all orbs at the same time.
Or the previous owner themselves – went inside and left their keys in the wrong pocket.
Tsk. Think… “three sea shells.” Every starship needs several (one is not enough!) and they are rarely shown. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-712-turn-on-your-fart-light/
If Sydney had been holding the mystery orb, it would have disposed of the floating red embers and wiped her butt, too. It is a cornucopia of hoarded toilet paper, at the very least.
Back in my day, toilet paper was so plentiful that we literally hung it from the trees of our enimies.
In our area, teenagers would also use it on the trees of women they liked on Friday nights. Then Saturday morning they would happen to pass by, see them removing it, and offer to help. It made the girl’s family think they were a nicer guy, and maybe their approval.
Nods head
truely it was a golden age – we shall not see it’s like again…
SNERK!
Let guess … happened on Oct 31.
Been there … enjoyed that.
“Go back to the part where you made a fist.””
I love this comic.
That implies she DID understand some of it, right?
Yeah, I hadn’t realized it until I read the description that he started out with his hands in his pockets.
I guess the parts before that she must’ve been like “Okay, I’m not quite that strong or fast to do this.” but she might only be interested in learning throws and holds and stuff. I mean, according to the beginning of the comic she does have SOME experience in these types of martial arts, but her punches are like butterfly farts or something. :-)
She is lowly skilled in her own Wolverine kind of martial arts.
It’s designed trained around the things that make her special, so she trained her spiciness resistance to empower her burning breath weapon, but didn’t train a lot of speed, since her hyperactivity bonus and breath weapon are supposed to put her in a advantageous enough position and she has a fair amount of control of the orbs and corrigates with them for her lack of punching power.
Good news though- she has a 2d8 breath weapon with a 30-foot cone of poison/fire damage. Downside is she needs a hearty meal/short rest to recharge it.
In these terms. She is more like a warlock: low physique, powerfull cantrips and a few low level and easily rechargeable spells.
“DRAGON SLAVE!!!!” — Lina Inverse
I don’t think I’d go so far as to call her an “Enemy to all who live”. So far she’s been fairly modest in terms of collateral damage. Especially for somebody with “nuke the site from orbit” scale powers.
Really need to see Math vs Orange Cassidy
Math vs lu-tze
Always remember Rule One.
That isn’t going to be anywhere close to a fair fight. Lu-tze can punch him by punching him before he punched him.
Deja-Fu is weird.
Jaberwokky should be thankful Math grabbed her neck. From the frame, my mind was going for an illegal bewbage grab.
Oh from that angle his arm totally got a feel. There may also have been a feel in the off panel grapple.
Is it just me or does his hand seem backwards?
That’s just you. It takes some practice to be able to grab things quickly like that though.
Not just you, it does look like it is on backwards
For me, it’s the angle of his arm in panel not-grope that adds to that illusion
For what its worth, I didnt even notice the “over use of speedlines” nor the “grpunding” element you mention, I thin because I was focused where I should be, on the action and “movements”. So… looked fine to me. Even after you mentioned it I went back and re-read, and it didnt change anything, like…I didnt suddenly feel like I was missing what you were worried wasnt there.
Well considering this is a super and (near super: I recall Math is just bloody well amazing without the boost) in a battle, I think the heavy use of the action lines was totally correct. It gave the feel of more force and speed that would have been in the fray. Initially was kind of surprised at the absence of more sound effects but realized that would have been visually distracting. So lots of motion and speed: Thumbs up! The Sound Effects in my head: I need an upgrade I think. “Swoosh” just doesn’t do it. Cerebral downloads are so expensive now-a-days though. Still worth it for this comic.
…I just mentally borrow several of the whooshes from the sound FX found in Xena: Warrior Princess (they had a LOT of sound FX lol, especially in “Been There, Done That”). It works quite well for comic book format!
Oooo have to watch that. My default sound effects come from Adam West as Batman.
Ka-PowWie!
Trunch!
Klorm!
One critique about the fight, how the heck did Math transition from a grab with his right hand to the back of Jabber’s neck to restraining her left hand, somehow suplex her legs while also putting her upper body under his left leg. I am not working out the twisting that would require without breaking bones or phasing through bodies somehow. Am I am a 3D drafter, I’m good at thinking in 3D.
Oh, and somehow have her face-down on the mat!
To follow that you must first have a 7th dan black belt in macrame.
There’s no way Math can squat over Jabber without throwing her to the mat, so that’s probably what happened first (probably with his left hand free to deflect her leading arm to prevent a recovery).
Then he ducked behind and around her, and while stepping back over her used boyh arms to secur her feet, which are likely still in the air due to the force of the throwdown and with the speed which Math is known to move in a fight.
Grabbing her trailing arm with his left to pass over to his right is simply easy (for a “super” definition of easy) at that point.
…
… this is probably what happened. Probably. Mistakes could be made here.
I guess Math’s “get bored of porn” practice has paid off, he didn’t get distracted once!
Well his choice of hold, in panel 8, shows a distractible preference.
Actually, I was quite impressed with his control in Panel 8. He could easily have gone for a boob grope there, but bypassed them completely to go for that neck grab. Such restraint!
The problem is that Sydney asked, “Can you show me how to fight?”, not “Can you teach me how to fight?” She is not even at the level required to understand how that works. She is not ready to face either of them in a physical fight, unless she gets her shield up first. She can probably blow either of them out of the water when it comes to creative swearing.
I saw a documentary on the making of Full Metal Jacket over the weekend. Apparently, the guy playing the drill sergeant in the first half, who was also the military advisor for the movie, was given pretty much free reign when it came to his lines and he improvised most of profanity. If they did 5 takes, his lines got filthier each time. For some reason I am thinking he would give Sydney a run for her money.
Math ain’t a robot or evil genie. He can understand context. Either he was being cheeky or simply has never tried to lower his level to that of a teaching standard.
When you are the absolute best at something, it’s EXTREMELY hard to imagine what it’s like to know nothing about that subject.
There are a bunch of basic ground rules that are so ingrained in his very being that he can’t even imagine someone not knowing them.
Yah. Syddles is not yet ready for Master Classes.
Everyone in the Marine Corps pretty much learned to talk that way in that era.
I am certain that DaveB wouldn’t want any of the period running and marching cadences transcribed.
The trick was to go as long as possible with repeating an anatomical, perjorative, copulative, or scatological term.
It was an endeavor to which academic training in poetry could be put to almost practical use in a twisted sort of way.
Oh man, could you imagine the infinite loop that Drill Sergeant meeting Sydney and initiating a swearing contest would cause? It’d be the best comic to cut over to Max and [insert military officer] with the contest still active in the background.
“Well that was the mother of all bad ideas.”
“Yes, yes it was.”
would it be like when Tilk and the Runner from Atlantis spared? would there be a crowd taking bets and notes?
Before Bob Ross went into painting he had one last drill instructor assignment… this is that story.
Alas, Gunney is no longer with us.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Lee_Ermey
Maybe the Speedsters have actual visible speedlines.
The “lightning” that accompanies Speedsters in CW’s The Flash series were originally speed lines ala Carmine Infantino. On the show, they’re visible and are physical manifestations.
The way they did the speed in Smallville was infinitely superior to that crap in The Flush
In The Flush, you never actually see them moving, just fancy light-FX, Clarkie did an early version of X-Men’s Quicksilver (remember that scene where he arrived at the school when it went *BOOM* and he tossed them all out to safety? similar scene in Smallville: Clarkie is moving around ‘normally’ and everyone and everything else is basically frozen)
The ‘lightning’ is actually The Speed Force
Dodge, Dodge, Dodge, Dodge, Dodge, Block, Grapple, Pin. Got it.
ITYM:
Ho! Ha ha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust! Sproing!
I knew what you were referencing without even going to the link.
Thought it was going to be the rooftop discussion on why Groundhog’s Day is a bad idea, but I was pleasantly surprised. Now have to track down that entire episode which I somehow have never seen.
A PSA
(Especially for Bratty Roger)
You can drag the post window larger if you’ve written more than will fit on the default window. This will allow you to view your entire post before posting. Bottom right corner.
How!?
Keep in mind that the closest thing I have to a computer is my smartphone
Yes, interested in that knowledge as well
Just tried it on a PC, couldn’t find the spot
Closest could find, was the scroller, that doesn’t make the window bigger though
Only an option in some desktop browsers (Chrome, FF, Edge?) – a small ‘grip’ triangle is added to the corner of the text area, and the cursor changes to a diagonal arrow. See this image for reference.
Thank you, it’s always nice when people say it’s possible to do something to actually tell you how to do it, or which system they used to do it
For me, still using the dilapidated IE (shut it, would still be using Netscape Navigator if could) both right corners… aren’t even there, just white spots where the two lines don’t connect (left corners are fine, right are not), and that is only on the Comment window, not the Posted window
It also works in Pale Moon, if that’s of relevance to anyone. Thanks for the heads-up, Brichins, that’s an option I wasn’t previously aware of.
math reminds me of the wrestler orange cassidy. :D so laid back and still so awesome
Nah, the action lines were great, actually (and yes, I could tell she had her hands on the ground). The thing about the action lines? With these two, it works because we *know* they can be super-fast when fighting each other. Dabbler isn’t that fast, Achilles isn’t that fast, I don’t think Stalwart is that fast, and Anvil isn’t that fast…but these two, we already *know* it. So it works!
I really like Sydney’s point-blank request at the end of both pages, because it *does* remind us that we’re dealing with fantastically skilled (or powered) people being used as teachers, but who are NOT used to dealing with/training raw rank untrained recruits on a daily/monthly/yearly/career-ly basis.
Being a *good* teacher is its own superpower. (Yes, even IRL it’s a frikkin’ superpower, fight me!–Or better yet, first TRY to teach people so that they actually learn & improve; betcha you’ll wind up agreeing wholeheartedly!) People like Wolverine…don’t teach. People like Storm & Jean Grey…after they reached teacher-status at Professor Xavier’s Academy…they know it’s a huge deal. Those with a *gift* for teaching, like Bill Nye…? (Only one I could think of off the top of my head, just roll with it…) Superheroes.
And yet… I was going to say “all”, but then not all martial arts academies are there for the good or longterm future of the sport… The reputable schools do require their higher belt students to learn the principles of teaching, so as to ensure the received wisdom will be passed on.
David Nuttall pointed out that Sydney asked, “Can you show me how to fight?”, not “Can you teach me how to fight?” I am sure Math can — and actually would — teach Sydney, if asked.
Teaching is indeed a superpower, and it is past time teachers were recognised for their labours.
I never thought Bill Nye was much of a teacher, as he just seemed to drip condescension and made me want to be doing something else no matter how interesting the topic should be.
But I had a Quality Control teacher in college who could make you all excited to learn about X-Bar and R Carts, which should bore people to tears.
I would add Bob Ross (painter) I have done those classes and it realy is that easy.
I sincerely hope Math bought that shirt at Sydney’s shop, and you can never have too many speed lines.
Anyone else remember the scene in the movie The Presidio where Sean Connery beats up a thug in a bar only using one thumb?
“Left thumb only. Right one’s much to powerful for you.”
It looks like Math actually kind of lost here.
He has pulled his hands out of his pocket while fighting and since he started with his hands in his pockets, so I’ve reason to suspect he wanted to win without using his hands.
OTOH, from the blog, Syd had actually asked Math to show her how it’s done, and Jabbers was willing to be a sparring partner, so it’s not so much Math going for a win, rather to show that IF Syd puts in the work, this is how it can be done, you don’t have to actually beat the crap out of your adversary.
And if you follow his exploits, he starts most bouts with his hands safely tucked away…
An overwhelming part of Math’s character background is that he is bored by not getting a challenge, from anybody he fights. Now bear in mind that he is currently sparring with a Super Hero, who’s area of expertise and power set is focussed around hand to hand fighting. So I don’t think he is behaving like this to teach Sydney, or impress her or whatnot. Rather he is expending minimal effort to counter Jaberwokki because he is bored and it is not worth exerting himself any more.
There is at least one martial art which emphasises economy of motion, as best principle. Don’t make a showy or tiering counter, when a slight sway or minimalist block will do. Which Math will be a master of, amongst others. The principles of which he is drawing upon above, to suit his apathetic mood. Up until his temptation to sneak in a boob grope revitalises him a bit, for his showy finishing move.
Not sure why everyone thinks he would go for a grope – sure he’s an overt leer-er, but staring at his coworkers in bikinis (or a wardrobe malfunction in an actual fight) is way different than direct, obvious sexual assault on a coworker during a sparring match with onlookers. Even when grappling, there’s a pretty clear difference between an awkward slip and a grope, especially when he so clearly outclasses her.
I did not think he would go for a grope. However his hand is in a groping pose in panel 8, and his face very much shows the temptation, if not the intention.
His hand is in a reaching pose, because he is in the middle of reaching for her neck from below, it’s just unfortunate that his hand had to pass in front of her chest on the way
DaveB as a comfort: your lazy show fight writing is as far as I know the more realistic one, because most gyms and gym masters tend to avoid as much furniture hanging around, because the less furniture there is the less furniture someone can hurt him/herself at.
It really hurts being thrown into a wall/chair/coatrack/table/other person.
Usually for all parties except the thrower.
As long as the thrower succeeds in avoiding the furniture. Otherwise they can hurt their hand/arm/feet/leg.
This makes me think of the One Punch Man where King is wandering around trying to get various martial artists to teach him, and in the end Saitama tells him to just lift some weights. Or rather, Sydney doesn’t have the pre-requisite strength or flexibility to even begin building the kinesthetic sense required to perform any of these moves.
It does seem time for Syddles to learn how to wax cars… tanks… trucks… Bradley Fighting Machines…
That she doesn’t have the ability to become a highly skilled martial artist doesn’t mean she can’t be a valuable asset to the team in the field, especially in (semip-)prepared field work.
Her comm orb makes her the ultimate messenger in the heath of combat.
Her force field makes her very usefull against big groups of (semi-)greys, argo puller, protector and storm ram.
Her flight orb makes her very usefull in the case of a retreat and a fast reaction.
Her spicy breath and hyperactivity allow her to escape many hostage situations.
Her comic book knowledge is very usefull against normal super powered threats.
Her ppo is very usefull against groups of (semi-)greys.
The life support orb is a(n maybe) unique ability even in a group of supers, while I’ve to admit it’s mostly usefull in specific situations.
Her orb orbit control has proven to be a good backup system against sudden attacks.
Her tentacle orb allows effective crowd control and versatile usage.
This all ofcourse doesn’t mean she can’t get obsolete:
any magic user, Pixel and Varia beat her in power wideness, Maxima surpasses her in blast power, basically everyone on the field surpasses her in handling traps and sudden attacks, Achilles has (maybe)beaten her in blast resistance, she’s at most the 5th in the team in brute force, all teleporters beat her on (space) short distance travel, most magic users, Pixel and Maxima beat her in combined ability application, that guy with his adrenaline powers beats her in hyperactivity, alien spaceships are faster in (space) mid-long distance and Varia beats her in super power knowledge, so the only things in which she has yet to meet her equal are (space) long distance speed, (maybe)spiciness resistance, hard to disrupt messenger safe communication, compact mass atmosphere providence and (maybe)magic sight of which all are either uncertainly superior, gained short ago or applicable for very specific situations, but even if she gets surpassed in everything she’s still one of the strongest powered supers in the basket of ArcSwat, just like Stallward(he’s as far as we know not the best in anything).
I think it’s a given that Achilles has her beat en in blast resistance, since we’ve seen Sydney’s shield has it’s limits and his invulnerability so far hasn’t.
Problem is that the limit the shield has shown is not a limit we have any reason to believe Achilles has been successfully tested on without harm.
Literally no one said she can’t, or that she’s not powerful. Just that it’s premature to try learning how to fight like Jet Li before you can do a pushup.
Gobrimily stated she should start learning how to do other work than field work, which at least strongly implies this.
But the joke there was that Saitama actually thinks that ordinary exercise is how he himself got so powerful, and that it would work for anyone.
I was half way through the page when I saw him take his hands out of his pockets to block, and I thought, “Oh, crap, now she’s screwed.”
And I was right.
“I’m going to unbuckle your boot.”
Sometimes, when you have been utterly defeated, you have to take victory in the little things.
At least Jabberwocky made him take out the hands from his pockets, I’d count that as a big success.
And Sidney should totally develop a fighting style that made use of her orbs. We already seen her use them for attack and defense (even if sometime by accident), she “just” have to elaborate on that.
Is it me or does math appear more and more skeletal every time he makes an appearance?
I think Math is supposed to have a somewhat bony head but with strong cheek muscles.
That may be hard to draw.
No, compare his early appearance (just check his smugshot) and he is looking gaunter, whether that’s because he is dehydrated after months of enforced resistance-training or simply DaveB‘s change in art
Just noticed a possible defect in Jabbs’ technique: most of the time, she is not looking at Math, whereas he is looking at her (no, not in that way)
he is able to counter her moves because he is watching her moves, whereas she tends to be looking at her own (panel one, she’s following her own leg, possibly where Math had been, same in panel eight)
You cain’t read a book if you don’t look at the pages!
You can’t learn by studying something you already know!
She should already know how her body moves, she should be watching Math’s to figure out where to strike
You know what i would find interesting… Math realizing Sydney will never get past the basics of self defense, but WILL realize that the orbs are both unbreakable (apparently) and move based on sydneys thoughts, Math will get to create a completely new martial art based on how the orbs can instantly move and be used as fast as thought. (Examples Math could create are orbs blocking a bodies normal movement or use, the orbs ablity to hit from the odd angles, or let sydney move in odd places because the orbs can move her or be stands for her to jump off of.)
Hey Dave, maybe you should update the cast page.
Sydney isn’t an inferior flyer anymore and there has been added more cast.
Actually I appreciate that it shows the characters as they are at the beginning – the main audience for a cast page is people new to the story, and putting in the latest abilities and background means spoilers.
I also really like that he’s versioned the tags for each character to separate major reveals / upgrades for anyone browsing that way.
Good point
I discovered something random and wonderful today at work, when trying to pick out an extension to use in creating a new file type association.
The extension .slr is associated with the ArcSWAT Solar Radiation Input.
Ergo, ArcSWAT is a real world thing. Of some type…?
Why does Halo’s/Sydney’s collar (panel#10 & panel#12) look like a tattoo around her neck?!
To be fair, he only made a fist six moves in.
What the heck happened to Jabber’s tatoos?
To be honest, I still ship these two.
Panel 6, Math’s arms should be rotated 90 degrees. Catching that shin across the flat of his bones is significantly riskier & more painful.
I’m surprised nobody ever noticed that the copyright on this page says 2018, despite being posted in 2020. Sydney wasn’t even on Earth for most of 2018. I wasn’t sure Jabberwocky was training with them at the time, but I guess she was shown showering with the team on page 588. I imagine it’s just an error on the date, but I suppose it’s possible that the page could have been planned for earlier.