Grrl Power #84 – Double dog dare ya to open it
I’ve said in the past that the reveal is “soon,” well, now I can say it without the quotes. I’m sure Maxima would claim that she was intentionally trying to maneuver Sydney into opening the tube, but it’s really just both of their personalities clashing and the sparks are flying. Something’s got to give.
I like how Arianna is leaning into the frame in panel 8. That’s got to be weird looking from Sydney’s point of view, she just tipped over in her chair to interject something.
Reader Doc Savage suggested I name the General after Peter Falk, which I liked since I’ve been watching a lot of Columbo while I draw. Of course I managed to misspell his last name in the dialog and in the bio, but oh well. It’s more original now.
Oh and if you’re interested, Angela Melick does one of my favorite webcomics, Wasted Talent, which is a cutely drawn and funny autobio comic. Just thought I’d mention it cause her second book is out. She pimps it in a video here.
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.
I love Maxima and any interaction between her and Sydney is excellent. Also, I love panel 8 :D
Annnnnndd….she can’t open it XD
My thoughts exactly!
Sorry Dave I must know!!
(Hops into time machine)
…
…
(returns)
OH GOD THE HORROR!!!!
*Checks the settings/history*
Why were you looking into Syd’s underwear drawer?
Time machines can be finicky where they decide to park…
Told you to get the upgraded spatial/chronal navigation system.
No YOU told me to get a coffee cup holder cause you thought time travel takes TOO long!!
(If this makes it into the comic i will :3)
Nope,Az told you to get the coffee cup!
Sorry but my own temporal travels have accidentally removed that day from my history so I can no longer be held responsible. :)
See?! That’s why nothing got done that day!!
If you two somehow disrupt Sidney from opening that dam “Tube” next Sunday. I swear I will add you BOTH to my hunting list, or at least put you both in straps. Because I could just see DaveB using this…
POOF..2 guys just drop in and try to stop Sidney from opening the “Tube”…thus 25 to 30 more pages ensue.
Now where the hell did they park that time machine, ;)
Mutters….that is the last time….spoiling hunts…whats so special about hunting guys in the jungle…
That’s why I stay away from time travel, Too many variables you have to keep up with.
Oh God 1962 was a bitch and a half to sort out.
Nyah! You’ll never find it! I placed an undetectable cloaking device on it! MUAHAHAHAH…. oh flip I’ve lost it…
Dabbler repossessed it, she was saying something about going to watch Godzilla attack Tokyo with Mothra.
Ohh, so THAT’S How the 18th Godzilla movie happened…
Best.
Punchline.
Evar.
That’s it? Really? All that buildup about how cool they are, and that’s it?
Um… they can be cooler! Really!
Dave you really enjoy torturing your readers by dragging this out as long as possible don’t you?
Enjoying the comic but dying from the anticipation.
I can’t wait until Sydney’s cast bio is restored to it’s original info like it was when I first started reading this comic. I’ve almost forgotten what the **** in the tube do. On a related note: the cast page works perfectly when using IE again but now is out of whack for the top row bios when using google chrome. If you have a code expert on hand you might consider having the whole site looked at for other bugs.
I’m really not trying to drag it out, I’m just drawing it as it’s played out in my head a hundred dozen times. It’s about the journey, not the destination. As long as the ride is entertaining and all that. You guys are going to kill me next week. Seriously though, #86 is it.
Oh, and if you clear your cache it should load properly in Chrome. Hopefully. (CTRL+SHIFT+DEL)
*anxiously opens web comics* Dawwww. No tube opening yet? But a good rousing argument tween goldy and the young fry.
Dave I am loving the comic loads, It’s on my expanding list of AWESOME COMICS EVERYONE SHOULD READ CAUSE THEY’RE AWESOME list, but I would like to one day to make a webcomic, do you have any advice/tips/instructional videos/miracles to give?
I dunno, there’s a lot of articles out there with advice about that sort of thing. The biggest ones I can think of are 1) Be prepared for the amount of time it will take. Drawing this comic has basically supplanted all of my multiplayer gaming. I used to put loads of time into CoD4 and on, and I put about 6 hours in to CoD6 (MW3?), never touched the single player, and basically regret buying it. Still haven’t gotten Battlefield 3.
And 2) Do it because it’s something you want to do, not because you think it’s a get rich quick scheme. There are a lot of people who have put up comic and plaster them with ads the first chance then 8 months later the comic disappears cause the creator isn’t making his living off of it, forgetting that all the big names in webcomics have been at it for 6-10 years.
As far as art goes, just draw. And draw stuff you’re not used to drawing. When I first started this comic, I realized I hadn’t ever drawn anyone sitting down before. Or a Honda Element. Or the exterior of a strip mall. Sp that stuff took me twice as long to draw as it should have just cause of how many aborted attempts it took.
And for writing? I don’t know if I can give you advice on that. My comic is all character driven, so if you’re going to do that, make sure the characters are charming and/or engaging or interesting or something that will grab people. If you’re doing humor, make sure the jokes are actually funny. I shy away from ending a page on a punchline, I think you can get away with a mediocre joke if it’s used as a throwaway comment in the middle of the page, but rarely do I think my stuff is funny enough to go out on.
I’d recommend checking out https://www.webcomicalliance.com/ which has a lot of good material and also the Webcomics Weekly podcast.
I see Peggy, Zephan and… I’m guessing Achille’s actual aspect?
Also “Faulk” is cooler.
The interaction between Max and Sydney is just love!! It seems to me they’re going to be BFF against their own will LOL
Thanks you for commemorating the late great Peter Falk. Just imagining the ‘dead sexy’ comment in his voice makes me giggle all over again.
Just noticed the thingie at bottom left – “Duck season. Fire.” .
For me, that whole Bugs vs Daffy vs Elmer thing NEVER gets old, and it very nicely sums up that whole exchange between Max and a reluctant Sydney.
Wabbit season!
Best one was “Elmer Season!”. :D
naw, it was baseball season
When she opens the tube her face is bathed in an eldrich green light.
It’s beautiful! (Face melts)
No… not really.
As much as I’d like them to be tennis balls….
They should be translucent glowing energy balls.
i think they should look like tennis balls when the lights are on but have multicolored glows in the dark. unassuming look creepy in the dark would also make a plausible reason for the poster tube, so she can actually sleep at night. :)
second thought making them look like solid colored pool balls(sans numbers) would make more sense…
I’m guessing the Poster Tube contains…Posters. Magic Posters.
Good flippin lord, just open the TUBE! Argh! I don’t know if I can wait! What if the sky falls, or robots overthrow humanity before next week??
What I want to know is, who’s the guy with the glasses and sword?
Anyways, what I think is in the tube is something that gives her control over light (or something like that) due to her choice of powers in that super-hero game in the first 2-3 pages. (And it would be funny if she had to expose herself to light in order to power up.) Also, it probably will be something rather artillery-like, due to Anvil calling her “Big guns” in page 4.
Maybe it turns her into an angel-like thing, due to her name.
Gaaa! I wanna know!
Of course, now I notice that there is another page of comments.
Guess that says who the sword guy is.
Anvil calls her a “Big Gun” because there are three people listed with a higher power lvl then her, Max,Dabbler,and Syd. Since everyone else (including Anvil) is listed as a “5” I think it’s safe to say Syd has some firepower.
I did some digging around(in the character section), and there’s this:
“Syney’s knowledge of superhero fiction has repeatedly proven to be valuable to the team, as she seems to be better at coming up with power stunts that the power’s own owner in many cases.”
So she either has a power similar to the copy cap we see in page 1, or the team’s letting her think for them, which might be a possibility, however unlikely.
It’s possible Max does Strategy and Syd does Tactics (And if anyone says they are the same thing…EHHHH WRONG!!)
I should probably revise that to reflect what’s happened in the comic so far, not the scenarios that have played out in my mind. :P
The scientist in panel 4 reminds me of Professor Farnsworth from Futurama, kind of.
go watch invader zim. ;p
Well, I know that the professor is from Invader Zim…… But I still cant help reading his dialogue like Farnsworth
I think it’s always legitimate to read “oh my, no” as Farnsworth.
Similarly, “Good news!”.
“I can’t swallow that huge pill.”
“Well then, good news! It’s a suppository.”
— Fry and Farnsworth
Its a mini-figure of Sydney! (and accessories) She is currently sporting the Impervious to heat insignia, or perhaps the charm of cast iron stomach. Oh, and the shoes of super-power masking which she was told never to remove since she would immediately be flagged as a super without them.
With the right accessories she could be as tought as Max, but can’t change them instantly like Max can, and there are other accessories scattered all around the world that would buff her further.
There could be missions to go and collect the power-ups (Sydney’s already done a couple herself which is why she was away so long), or to perhaps take them from her “evil uncle” who has a stash – or to be funny her “evil second cousin twice removed on her mother’s side who would almost look like Sydney’s twin if Sydney was 38 years older… oh, and a man” – when you finally see him he looks a bit like a hippie with the long hair and pony tail that is disturbingly similar in style to Sydney but looks decidedly wrong with heavy stubble and wrinkles.
You know, it’ll be a bit of a shock if it just turns out to be Sydney’s Barbie Doll collection (all dressed in superhero costumes)! Though I actually think it’s more likely to be a set of Incan figurines of some sort – but that’s just me!
I think Sydney is setting herself up for a big let down with their reaction, but who knows, maybe they are just that snazzy.
The tube contains a sword. She will pull it out and cry “By the power of Greyskull!!”
HAHAHAHAHHAHA
Wouldn’t it be MORE fitting for the phrase to be: “For the Honor of Greyskull!”
(I mean, we ARE talking about the ladies.)
Max’ll kick your butt for that.
she-ra had her own call different from he-mans I believe this is in reference to that alternate invocation and as female syd would more fittingly use she-ra as a quote source not that syd is worried about what sex her quotes come from
OK I tried to make a link following the instructions at the bottom of the comment box, now I’m going to do it the way I do in my WP blog every freaking day. To reiterate what I posted before that vanished into the aether.
I was going to say “rocks” that just looked like regular rocks but that couldn’t get more than a few feet from each other (and Sydney after she picked them all up), but I like he idea of the glowing polyhedral dice with alien numbers on them. After all way back at the beginning of the comic she did say her “real” power was dice Karma.
Sydney has a lot of official unofficial powers. :)
I thought ther greatest offical power was eating atomic asian food and then swearing at a lev that would melt titanium even without the help of the hot sause…
So now we spend the next week guessing what is in the tube.
Until this page, I was thinking she was being “gender neutral” with the “them” and “they”; but this page confirms a plural meaning with “things”.
So what is in the tube?
A Halo and other angelic magical artifacts?
Energy orbs?
Semi abstract mischevious spiritual beings that can take many forms, including angelic ones, but mainly as tiny Chibi Sydney(es)?
the world wants to know.
Well she did tell what is in the tube on page 21 of this comic.
We just don’t know what the items look like.
I can only figure out two of the 3 shadow figures are.
Left — Unknown
Middle — Peggy
Right — Zephan Zeong
Check Page “1” comments. Dave tells us.
Actualy thats what was said on the other page.
I’m so excited! I can’t wait! I love this webcomic more than you will ever know! Mostly because I keep my love for it locked inside a box and hidden away in a dark room. The things I would do with Sydney…Like play D&D, Xbox, and eat spicy Thai food together.
Honestly, she’s my favorite comic female.
Enough of my gushing. Keep up the GREAT work Dave. And…
I CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK!!!!!!
DaveB, You should get a table, or something the Comic Con in Dallas this coming may. It’s close to where you live so you won’t have to travel too far, and you would actualy be able to see how many people actualy read your webcomic. I bet it’s a lot more than you think.
Come on it might be fun!
Once you see that the sword in panel 5 is crooked, hilt to blade, you can’t unsee it.
I meant Panel 7
Since the blade seems to not be directly attached to the hilt it could be an energy blade, or forged along the lines of the Kukri.
DaveB said it was a Vorple blade.
was meaning in terms of actual construction, not effects. ;)
In some D&D Manual, I think early Deities and Demigods, Excalibur is listed as a +5 Vorpal blade. Vorpal means it’s good at beheading people. I think if you get a natural 20 it’s an instant kill.
on anything that needs it’s head (Means it’s useless against all undead except vampires, oozes, etc etc.)
DnD 3.5 included the vorpal property as a weapon enchantment as well!
If you rolled 20, and then if you rolled to confirm the crit and succeeded, the head of your opponent was cut off. No matter what. So if you needed your head to live (don’t laugh, there’s skeletons, zombies, aberrations and oozes, just to name a few), this weapon was highly feared as in the capable hands of a fighter, it has a 5% instant kill chance every time you attack.
It was a near-end-game ability, usually first seen around level 17 or so. DnD 3.5 went from level 1-20, then had “epic” gaming from level 21-40. By level 40 you could challenge the very gods themselves.
and still get your head handed to you by a Hectonares (CR 53) ;)
How do you know it’s not a… uh… scimitar?
the form of the hilt and guard,,,with a shape like that if you put a curved blade like a scimitar it would throw of the balance of the sword in a weird way,,, and also tyhe base of the blade is to large to be a scimitar,,,
could be a Tulwar, neh? (cross between a broadsword and scimitar and about 4-5 ft in length. Had a barbarian/mongol type character in AD&D 2.0 that used such. Fought with scabbard on most of the time in cities though. Disdain for the locals not deserving the real touch of water steel.)
That’s why I was thinking of an oversized Kukri-type blade myself if it is an actual physical blade. It COULD be an energy blade type weapon.
It’s not as straight as you’d expect from a traditional broadsword, but nowhere near as much of a set (blade/grip angle) as some fencers use. If the sword favours the use of the point as well as the edge, I’d expect there to be a slight set so that it’s easier to line up the point with the arm for a lunge. Depending on the age of the weapon, it may be charmed so that a lunge has an increased chance of hitting the opponent in a vulnerable place (possibly originally intended to be used to hit the gaps between plate armour segments, thereby disabling the joints).
Why are you taking that approach? I’d just be all like:
You got something magical in the tube right? Did I tell you that we are all SUPERHEROES here? Wouldn’t you like to be a superhero too?
The girl is wearing a wonder-woman shirt, try to make an appeal here!
Well they don’t know that what’s in there gives her powers. It could be a tube full of alien spores for all they know.
Don’t worry Tim it’s not a “pod”! :D
So of course, they logically want the tube of alien spores opened up in front of their highest-ranking officer, most powerful soldier, and most intelligent mind.
Yup, if nothing else these guys can run the next Star Trek show.
Well thinking about it from a militaristic point of view and scientific one.
the data they have:
1: Sydney is telekinetically tethered to what ever is in the tube, it is able to cause her to fall and struggle if she gets to far, and they can also move the tube towards Sydney, both over the ground, and one instance so far through the air out of Maxima’s hands.
2: The force the contents of the tube can exert was great enough to bring Maxima to a dead stop, when up till that point deductive reasoning on Maxima’s side would have suggested Sydney would have been dragged out (she saw it happen that way); and Sydney was able to call the tube back to her, even exerting enough force to surprise Maxima and trip her.
(both by the way were caught on camera so I am expecting her friends/co-worker to find out rather quick she has something special going on).
3: A magical scan revealed Sydney has no powers, and the tube was empty…too empty. This would actually be extremly suspicious; for one it means what is in there can mask its presence; however isn’t smart enough to know that a hollow container shouldn’t be “completly empty” (if there was no air in it for instance the atmospheric pressure would crush the tube) *you’d be amazed how much air ways, hence vaccuuming sealing/crushing*.
So thus far the contents of the tube have demonstrated mobility, telekinetic force, and concealment.
Well they know that this normal human girl is carrying it around, and presumably didn’t find it in the tube, so they’re reasonably sure there isn’t anything toxic/radioactive or immediately dangerous in there. (Or course, if it was alien spores, they could be growing in Sydney’s brain which could explain her behavior.) Besides, how do you know they haven’t taken precautions like warding the room?
(I probably should have inserted some comment about them doing something like that. Actually that’d make for a good panel:
Max saying: Since we really don’t know what’s in there, I assume we’ve taken some precautions?
Zeph: The room is warded against radiation, psychic, and biological agents.
Max: Good, no need to risk top military command, our most powerful super, our head of intelligence, and… some lawyer, I guess.
Arianna: Hey!
I just assumed it was the old, no one can be prepared for everything, and besides her personality would likely have thrown them off as to any real level of danger. The biggest feat they’ve seen is tripping Maxima, which is a far cry from causing real harm to her (besides I’m sure the security camera footage has revealed enough to know she isn’t a threat herself). But again, no one can be prepared for everything (and usually if you think you are, something insane comes along to show you, you are wrong).
What that comes to I’d just think they didn’t think she would be a real danger, just wanted answers and likely to list her and any abilities she may have; the magic scan I’m sure would have detected alien spores LoL.
(actually yeah, you did already have an umbrella statement moment for them being prepared; the magic scan that was done. So why take her to a super-enforced room, when the scan didn’t reveal anything worthy of that…of course given the power ranking you gave her I think they may re-think that approach).
DaveB,
Your cast/character page is acting up. :(
Clear your cache. I updated it over the weekend. Should fix it.
Nope. Cleared my cache and opened the refreshed page in Chrome, FFox, and (for completeness) IE. The whole div.pop-inner cannot be displayed outside of the div.sidebar area.
Also fails in Opera. ;)
Gah. I see the problem. I’ll see if I have time to work on that tonight.
Ok it’s fixed. At least on my machine.
Is it weird that I think Sydney looks the cutest she has in a while in the “Definitely whisk worthy” panel?
If nobody has guess this yet, I’d like to put in my bid for the poster tube to be full of posters.
Oh my GOD you tease!
Just show us what’s in the dish! ARGH! I can’t TAKE it anymore!!!
And no, I’m not talking to Sid. I’m talking to David Barrack.
… Please…? It’s been a tease for like a year and a half now. I mean, this is as bad as waiting for Mary Jane and Spiderman to hook back up or for Doc Ock to die or waiting for the human torch to come back to life or when batman was killed off and we had to wait for him to return or OH MY GOD NO MORE!!!
In all seriousness though, I have to admit, this has been one hell of a fun ride thus far. I’m almost giddy for next Monday. Though I’m willing to bet she can’t open the case for some reason or another, and we’ll have to wait one more week.
I swear I’m not trying to jerk you guys around with the reveal. I even put it in Sydney’s bio originally cause it didn’t occur to me it would take this long to get to it. Heck I didn’t even think keeping it under wraps would even be that big of a deal, which shows how inexperienced I am as a writer. I guess it’s all about how you present it. I’m just drawing it as it’s played out in my head a jillion times.
And unlike Spiderman, I won’t have Mephisto retcon the tube opening 12 issues later cause the writers only know how to tell one kind of story. (Or more likely, the Editor in Chief thinks comics shouldn’t evolve past their basic premise. Luckily, I don’t have an EiC.)
Aha, don’t misunderstand – your usage of dramatic pause with the tube is definitely well played! I just needed to vent off a little steam.
Now if she pulls out some gear and does a magical girl transformation next week (a la sailormoon), you might have a riot on your hands. Or, at the very least, you’d be on Sid’s list. And yes, I realize the logical impossibility of that.
And yeah, I totally checked out the cast page the second I saw the “Halo” entry, but I was too late to see the power.
Honestly though, that whole Spiderman arc was bad writing. I know it’s been said to death, but they seriously wrote themselves into a corner.
I love how easily Sydney gets on Max’s nerves.
By the way Dave, this would be great week to jump to another Q&A session followed by a filler-art.
Do it! I wanna watch everyone squirm!
I will lace your coffee with Masochism sauce if he does. :P
syds thi meal adds only exist in comic (even if we wish they existed in a physical multiverse plane)
I’ll formulate it and THEN put it in his coffee.
I’ll help.
Ooooooh the tube is soon to be opened! So excited!
And you’re getting really good with your artwork, mate. 10th panel Max is pretty amazingly done.
Thanks! The hard part is doing it again. :P
I’m so worried as to what syd might consider cute
So what’s that graph in panel 7 representing? Possible ideas: weirdness scale, risk to public if not controlled, OMG AWESOME rating or possibility of corruption to the dark side.
It was supposed to be a little more obvious, but I forgot to make up a proper chart in Excel while I had access to it at work, so I had to fake it a little. It’s a graph of “Super population by nation” broken down into Supers, Elite Normals, focus users, and a bucket for magic/espers/supernatural. Maybe I’ll update that if I get a chance this week.
I know, Sydney opens the tube and a bunch of spring snakes shoot out! :D
She had put them in there to scare off anyone who opened the tube, and forgot about them!
Sydney: “Gee, I forgot those were in there.”
Everyone else: *manga sweat drop*
Then we’d all have to wait another week to see the real items that were under the spring snakes! :P
how odd because I can see that happening… and after the spring snakes the ‘things’ come out and yell at Sydney for the snakes
Hah hah I wish I had thought of this. :(
SPROING “Mother fuck buckets what the… oh right, my security precautions.”
yes it then what another week if over a year any way
There’s always later in-character commentary. This strikes me as something Harem would try to push…and once Dabber got wind of it…..
Dabbler*
Sorry….
I suggested that same thing a few weeks ago. :P
You still can do it Dave…just do it as the April Desktop reward for voting for Grrl Power.
Just have a half or slash corner panel w/max lecturing Sydney that even with its and her powers keeping her near in the tube. She needs to have a better concept of superhero gear security…
Sydney picture in same frame has a “Eureka” look and her version of the “lightbulb” going off over her head in anime style art of course! (or her thinking of a Chibi Sydney who has a lightbulb moment and tells her about it. That’d be what Sydney’s alter-ego angel/demons look like too- like Dabbler the angel should have a straight jacket since being in Sydney’s head oughta drive even a divine imaginary conscious representative image crazy. Her evil pepper t-shirt wearing mini succubus demon can always look smug or even amazed at times.. An “Ohhh why didn’t I think of that look.” (her shoulder conscious friends could be a source of much amusement later – as well as feeding readers one liners in the margin. (hell you even could do midweek specials to explain things ex-machina that you didn’t have room to cover or show in that week’s comic.)
continuing original idea-
Lower half of the panel have Sydney opening tube to show her new teammates the contents too (this would be after first revelation and her introductions to the team obviously.
Use that same dialogue for Sydney- add in background team members. Dabbler of course would be laughing her ass off as one of the others jumps and screams as dozens of spring-snakes fly out (as well as maybe a pair of boxers (sydney’s of course/hello kitty? (her emergency underwear?) and a rubber spider? or maybe a “Tuffy.” (I’d point out the sci-fi book, hell it’s Through the Looking Glass series. You’ll like it.) Tuffy is a purple spider/crab thing- cute in its original form- later it starts to look cooler as its companion grows up.
Duck Season? Fire? Where is Vice President Cheny? He would be the one to shoot off a mouth (as long as it is not his!) Never forget, Lawyers=Ducks. Otherwise someone as careful as him would never have shot one, right?
I fear the insides of the tube will be invisible, thus making sure we don’t get to see them for another page.
Hmm so will it be a back shot with her showing them what is in the tube but not us? I know totally evil but I was just thinking how could Dave drag it out more.
Opens tube shows Sydney from behind showing what is in the tube with an nice warm glow and surprised faces all around. Max simply stating okay maybe a little whisking.
We’ll it’s an artists tube, I’m betting its full of Sydneys fanfic arts. She’s probably got some trouble winkling the ornery spirits that are also inhabitng the tube out, Thats how awesome her fan fics are.