Grrl Power #890 – On brand
Maxima wearing “goldenrod” underwear is the same thing as a white woman wearing beige undies. It’s an attempt to make the underwear invisible if their shirt is too sheer. It’s certainly not to look good. A beige bra is the female equivalent of slightly off-white tighty whities with a saggy butt. Though I think the goldenrod actually looks okay on Max. Maybe it would look worse if it was more of a canary yellow. Of course, Maxima is supposed to be one of those women who is so crazy hot that she could cosplay as a potato sack and it’d still cause a bonerocalypse. Still, even in their primes it’s hard to imagine even Kate Beckinsale/Monica Bellucci/Megan Fox/Angelina Jolie/That tennis chick picking her wedgie/the hottest chick in the universe according to your preferences/etc. pulling off beige underwear. Honestly Jessica Biel in Blade 3 was pretty hot. She was in very good shape. Too bad that movie was ass – especially considering that Blade 2 is in my top 10 action movies of all time. Blade suplexes a footsoldier. One might be tempted to ask why the guy balanced himself on Blade’s shoulder perfectly upright without struggling, but that’s not the important part. What’s important is asking if you imagine Luke Skywalker suplexing a stormtrooper or James Bond piledriving a henchman? No, because they got no flourish.
What was I talking about? Oh, right, the comic.
I was going to put Maxima in an “ARMY” shirt, then I remembered “Oh, right, Arc-SWAT exists in this universe, duh.” While Max imposed a 6 month ban on personal endorsements for the team, Archon itself can sell merch.
And yes, Max can’t commandeer anything, but… if she can operationally justify it, she’s not going to get into trouble for it. She might not go back in that store to pay for the shirt and shorts (and probably some new drawers), but a Lt. Col probably has a personal assistant of some sort. And if not, she can just get Harem to pop in (literally) with her AmEx Black card.
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Fortunately his Mama taught him to always put on clean underwear before he goes out thugging with the gang.
Not clean, they are still the ones he wore on that one Valentines’ Day date… from last century
“Thugging with the Gang”
I think I’ve found the name of my band’s next album.
I second this ;)
Knew that plan wouldn’t last long, or work at all
Whoops! Somebody gave Dabbler a good bad idea that will be quite em bare ass ing for him.
Ah, that answers my question yesterday about what the undergarments were made of!
Lace!
Am I weird to wonder why she wouldn’t wear chain mail undergarments? Its not like she can chafe down there and they might tend to hold up better than others –as seen on TV these last couple panels. The only drawback would be a slight jingle when she walks, but the individual links could be connected with Kevlar wound wire.
Because she can still feel comfort and chainmail doesn’t offer her any protection.
Why not simply use Kevlar or some super-material?
Also, chainmail, besides being noisy, would be rather bulky.
Not to mention, it’s obvious that Maxima likes being pretty, even if she wants to be respected for her abilities more than her looks.
Yeah chain under garments only provide one thing cheap hair removal. The metal used is to fine to actually provide any protection looks great but is useless as armor. So the inverse armor rule doesn’t apply. For those that don’t know what the inverse armor the more skimpy the armor is the harder the person is to hit. IE Conan striding through the battle field in a loincloth where no one seems to be able to land a blow on him.
The better the material ‘wins’ against damage, especially abrasion, the better it’s going to ‘win’ against your skin. A lot of the particularly strong fibres are also relatively rigid as well, which means they’re less comfortable for the wearer.
There are woven-metal gloves for handling dangerous substances, so the technology exists for tough and breathable undergarments.
Trust me, I wore chain mail once while swimming. (To settle a D&D argument about which would be easier in chain mail: Walking across the bottom of a stream, or swimming across the top. Turns out they’re both feasible, but neither is easy.) You do NOT want chain mail where the sun don’t shine.
It’s bad enough while wearing a swim suit.
If I remember correctly they survive better because their closer to her skin and so have more ‘layers’ of her personal forcefield protecting them.
She can go back and pose for some selfies – and pay for damages etc..
Actually, a name brand would likely pay HER to wear their merch. That’s an advertising opportunity like no other and especially when likely the world is watching. Kind of like winning a free Super Bowl ad.
IIRC Deus tried that right off the bat with combat boots
The catch there was that it was Deus offering
Think about the revenue generated to the underwear company after that reveal. And that was an accident.
Publicity alone repay those clothes an hunderfold, easy.
I mean, that can honestly say that Maxima wear by Gap.
Figured Maxi would have been the type to leave an I.O.U., or some cash (with a healthy tip)
“Here is $1000”
“EEK!”
Lisa (a cashier in the Gap): Hey Gary, what was with that wind?
Gary (also a cashier): No idea. Hey, what’s this?
Lisa: You are holding a piece of paper. Duh.
Gary: It’s a note. It smells … burnt? (Just how fast did Maxima have to write the note?)
Lisa: Well what does it say?
Gary: It has 4 UPC’s stuck on it and it looks like credit card info. MasterCard begins with a 5, right? So that would be the expiry and the code on the back of the card. Man, the ink isn’t even dry yet; it smudges easily. (It is not actually the ink; it is the carbonized remains)
Customer: Excuse me, but it looks like that door is broken. The thing at the top that closes the door isn’t working properly and the door just flops around.
Lisa: Thank you for letting us know. Gary, I’m going to lock that door and let the manager know. So what are the items on the note anyway?
RE: paying for the new clothes.
Former Retail Wage Slave: this might not be universal, but the card readers in our self-checkouts were not shut down overnight specifically so the second and third shift employees could do a little shopping before, after and on breaks e.g. snagging something for lunch or picking up milk on their way out the door.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a GAP had a register swapped to card-only mode for similar reasons, in which case Max could have just checked out.
Except no register I know of would be able to process the transaction that fast.
I’m guessing DaveB would have mentioned it in the blog if she had done it, but there’s no reason Max couldn’t bring a bit of cash at times, to drop when she needs to acquire things
Cash tends to not be very explosion resistant.
If Max handed you her black card and some price tags and said “I’m in a hurry. Ring these up, I’ll be back for the card later.” would YOU not run the transaction?
Mind you… if he isn’t bashful then it might be hard to fight him with his captain flapping around… unless it’s tiny XD
Oh let’s be real, super men will likely be well endowed for the same reason super women are.
Well, it’s actually been confirmed
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-524-importinent-questions/
Are Maxima’s hands in that last panel describing the size?
That’s the implication – similar wordless communication between two females seen on Fracture Station: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-680-fancy-almost-bumping-into-you-here/
What’s with Dabbler’s face in panel 8? I mean, I’m sure she can unhinge her jaw for… reasons, but she’s just talking.
She’s yelling at Maxi
Dave often exaggerate facial expressions for comedy.
Well that’s going to be part of the revolving headshots for dabbler up above…
“Proper Idiot”
Gald we have a name for this guy now ;)
Because of course Dabbler has a spell for that…. Wait, wouldn’t that mean that she likely has a reverse of that spell even if she just uses it for fetish clothes? I get that she’s basically disintegrating his clothes, but what happened to the rest of those racks of grenades/flash bangs?
Yes, she used it after the Twilight Chamber Collapse (also on Maxi)
Anything not cloth (assumed) would just drop off. You can see the harness falling off in the last panel.
That reminds me of tabletop D&D (with mixed in other stuff) wherein the GM ruled that the ‘knock’ spell would in fact pull pins out of the grenades in a bandolier…
One of the reasons why writing mixed tech/magic is difficult It doesn’t take a lot of mana to drop a spark in your opponents’ gun powder or gas tank. Or fry their microcircuitry.
So this guy thought it would be a good idea to REALLY pass Max off? How long before she makes him a stain
?
Nah, she is going she is still going for an arrest. “I may or may not have jurisdiction on the aliens, but you are definitely in my jurisdiction. You are under arrest for assault on a federal law-enforcement official. I am sure other charges will be added later. You have the right to remain silent; anything you do say may be recorded and used as evidence against you in court. So shut the hell up! …”
Max may not be authorized to commandeer just anything, but who’s going to stop her? Also, making Lt. Col. means she’s demonstrated enough responsibility that she has plenty of leeway when it comes to forgiveness (as opposed to permission).
Also fame gives you a lot of leeway. If Dwayne Johnston ran into your store grabbed a shirt and said he’d back to pay for it later you’d probably believe him.
Uh-huh… Yeah. There was never any doubt from anyone the Maxima would be fine
It really makes the fights boring as we know Maxima will win
Hearing you whine is far worse. Leave like the other snowflakes did.
We’ve probably already had this discussion… But combat is really not the point of this comic. Maxima isn’t the main character either. Maxima swiftly and effortlessly defeating Arc-Swat’s enemies would mostly mean more time available to spend on the core content.
This comic is more about people losing their clothes for silly reason. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Superman has the same problem, and he’s had a continuous comic for over 80 years.
We know everyone is going to be fine. This is a flashback. The only people in danger are the ones not visible in the first few comics.
Also, did she take “Knuckle’s” knuckle dusters or just a little miss?
Of course Dabbler approves of this tactic, and of course she has a spell at hand to do just that more easily.
It might even have worked, if Maxima wasn’t also fast enough to be able to try out every piece of clothing in the store before the bad guys can even blink.
Okay, seeing how everyone is going o be fixated on the first and last panels for the next.. decade, haDve two questions about two other panels:
In panel seven, did Maxi ‘swipe’ the grenade Juggernot was tossing?
And in panel eight, what (or whom) went *FOOMP*? Dabbles’ dance partner from panel three?Never mind, can see her dance partners’ boot after looking at it moreWhat’s with Dabbler’s face in panel 8? I mean, I realize she can probably unhinge her jaw like a python for… reasons, but she’s just talking there.
I’m assuming the FOOMP is loud enough that she has to yell to be heard between the distance/over the sound? Although yelling that you know how to cast a spell in central New York in front of likely a good amount of cameras isn’t the best idea when you’re trying to keep magic under wraps.
I doubt that store will mind, honestly.
“Clothes so good, the first choice during a super fight”.
hummm, now i want to see how much those microscopic pac-mans can work.
it was a long time since this kind of fan-service, and i like it
It’s a rule in comics that the bad guy, if he suddenly loses his clothes, invariably is going to be wearing boxer shorts with little hearts or some other embarrassingly girly or silly design on them.
I believe it’s even a trope.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/GoofyPrintUnderwear/ComicBooks
And Max subverted the “defeated by modesty” trope:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DefeatByModesty
In this comic it isn’t. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-268-vehemence-revealed/
Embarrassing possibly, goofy underwear (or underwear period), not so much.
His polka dot underwear probably shredded also :)
My thoughts are the store will probably write off the merchandise. Then fire the sales staff that was there when the theft occurred. This lowers costs and lets them bring in new browbeatable people. PR might pick up the slogans. Though they would have to run it by Arc-Pr first. Who probably won’t like to draw attention to that. There would likely be a payout for clothing and damages.
Not necessarily. As Khyrin pointed out (and as my cousin who used to work retail can verify), the card readers in most stores are not shut down at night specifically so the 2nd- and 3rd-shift employees can do a little shopping before their shift, after their shift, and on breaks; e.g. snagging a gallon of milk on their way out the door. For all we know, Maxima might’ve swiped her AmEx Black, or left some cash.
I actually remember a story from about 15 years ago, when Magic: The Gathering was a big thing (well, bigger than it is today; I’m sure its popularity has fallen off a little because of competition from Yu Gi Oh and other trading card games) and the latest new set came out, someone broke into a comic book store to steal an entire case of the new cards… and left enough cash to pay for the cards and the broken door.
https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/collections/the-best-of-you-are-bad-guy-memes
Anyone sporting the title “Commander” will have an executive officer–that individual will be one rank lower. That’s a very different role than “admin”, which will be filled generally by some sub-NCO-ranked individual, and are allotted when the needs of the branch are that you have one. If you don’t have one, you have a command–you command. If you need to train them yourself, that means that they will learn it right.
Given the nature of this outfit, I expect that either the general’s admin will be available to Max, or that she has her own. Which is which depends on how much typing is being generated by the unit, most likely.
I believe we’ve met the General’s Admin? I want to say her name is.. Sandy?
Sandy works for Arianna.
She’s the senior field officer for Arc Swat. It’s almost definite that she would have one or more aides in the low officer or non-com ranks. If it were anywhere other than the US an enlisted valet (batman) would also be likely, but, as near as I can tell, we go in for that less than most other militaries.
Of course there’s also the fact that Arc has a (civilian?) specifically for PR who presumably has people working for her, and spinning “interesting” civilian interactions would likely fall to them.
LTCs don’t rate an aide. Maxima would have an XO, who is Hiro.
Archon can, of course, break/change all the normal rules.
The sound of a million microscopic pacman is my favorite soundeffect
Yeah…pretty sure that’s actually my favorite part of this whole page. :D
Yeah…pretty sure that’s my favorite part of this whole page. :D
Well…I guess this is what happens when I freak out over not seeing my reply and try again. *sheepish grin*
Share the file, you tease!
Advertising worth millions…
When Maxima needs clothes, she comes to the Gap
You could say,
:SUNGLASSES:
She Clothed her Gap!
:/
Of course Maxima’s ability to pause the battle while she runs out for a change of clothes also kind of indicates she should never have needed to do so in the first place?
Surprise vomit. Wasn’t expecting either bit of (presumably) sleight of hand, and still had armor up high.
I had no idea that GAP sold Arc-SWAT brand…!
The RL Gap needs to sell ARC-SWAT gear. Or, you know, Dave does. ARC-SWAT on the front, with a teeny-tiny asterisk; on the back, the asterisk with ‘* — Because it doesn’t exist in this universe … yet.’
I’ve been thinking for months that we should be seeing some ARC-merch appearing now that Archon’s been public for at least 2 months.
Possible already mentioned but that gun needs a leg strap, the weigh would be pulling her pants down with just a clip.
Also you don’t want it swinging around as you walk
Looks to me like its holster is attached to the belt that’s not going through her belt loops – might be extremely tight around her waist as she does have armored skin – one would presume it’s then attached with some sort of strap around her leg beneath the frame as well (?)
Surprisingly, declothesifying rolls off the tongue quite well.
David is skilled at making up new words.
Shoplifting? That right there is a celebrity endorsement!
Ask Amanda Bynes how well that option worked out for her.
For a split second, I thought the blurs to and from the Gap were Sydney.
Gap carries official ARC SWAT shirts? Its rare for them to carry anything from an outside licence holder
Looks like someone has a lot of words to eat from the last page’s comment section.
I kinda want this guy to join the team honestly.
Join the group he tried to kill?
There’s no attempted kill yet. He just blew Max’s comm and her belt.
Just because he has no way of actually killing her, doesn’t mean he didn’t try
Or are you telling me he has magical grenades that only damage someone’s clothing?
Using a grenade on someone, regardless of their potential capability to withstand the explosion, is still attempted murder. If you don’t believe me, go up to a cop wearing a bullet proof vest and shoot him in it with a small caliber handgun. You couldn’t possibly kill him (as long as you manage to hit the vest) but assuming you survive the encounter you’ll be charged with attempted murder.
Quite a few people wanted Kevin aka Vehemence to join the team after he tried to murder Maxima. And Jabberwocky is a member of Archon after her participation in that same fight. A member in some capacity, at least. She doesn’t seem to deploy with them ever, but is often seen at the Archon HQ.
Jabbs is there for two reasons: Kevin ‘forced’ her to be there (until they can prove otherwise), and to figure out what went wrong with Dabbles’ kiss-spell (even though they were never allowed to be in the same room together, and Jabbs is relatively normal when they are not in the same room, which kinda makes treating her, or even examining her, kinda rather difficult)
Have you changed your meds? That was the most cogent post I’ve seen from you in years.
You still didn’t think through your line of reasoning about treating Jabberwocky, as there would be no issues with testing her reaction to Dabbler’s presence under controlled conditions. And we’ve also seen that the “rule” about the two of them not being in the same room is trivially ignored by people of all ranks and positions within Archon, and that Maxima isn’t terribly concerned about people flaunting her authority by breaking the rule, even when compounded with questionable acts such as tying up someone with a what amounts to a mental disorder in the presence of the person she is fixated on…
Not to mention that it’s pretty much an idiot “rule” in the first place given the difficulties of keeping two people separated who work and play in the same facility.
“Eek”?
Having your clothes suddenly dissappear tends to cause that reaction.
As it’s three or so in the morning Ms Leander should have plenty of time to pay for that merchandise before or when the store opens. The store manager may decide that her signed IOU is more valuable as a collectible than the merchandise is and pay the bill herself.
Oops. Didn’t realize that that store was open.
As I said, her celebrity IOU is as good as cash and then some.
Even better: ask for the clothes back when she’s done with them, then turn around and sell them as the ARC-Swat equivalent of a Game-Worn Sports Jersey. You know how much ARC-Swat gear actually used in a superhero fight would go for? (I’m surprised Arianna hasn’t already been looking into this avenue of merchandising.)
How much do those uniform frames cost? Shirt only.
was just looking at the underwear and thought why did she wear one with a hole .. oh. lucky she changed then. It seems the invecible underwear wasn’t as reslient as we thought.
and is that grande being juggled or is it levitating?
poor dabbler she missed maxima as her target.
If the protective field is contagious with her skin, having the explosive shoved between her skin and the clothing is going to separate it a little bit. (And, ideally, should, for the same reason fireworks factories have strong walls and weak roofs.)
Max’s protective field is contagious?
Meant to say Contiguous.
Dabbler didn’t miss
Yes, Juggernot is juggling the grenade, because he’s an idiot
One hand juggled. That is, if that’s what you call tossing something up and down with one hand.
You can see in panel one that he’s either just pitched it up or is just about to catch it. In panel two it has a bit more altitude. In panel seven I guess it’s above the top of the panel. His open palm suggests that he’s still tossing off, however. In the last panel he appears to have misplaced it entirely.
cue the chatter of bullet resistant not bullet proof debate from fashion ninja
the where quite a few post about why was there not more stuff made by the same material as the underwear. Yet it seems the objects closet to maxima’s field is the reason not the cloth by it self.
Similar reason to why Clark Kent can have wardrobe malfunctions but Superman cant.
a wise man once said “authority is a function of firepower”, so yes Max does have the authority to do what ever she wants
?? I’m not sure where you live, but that’s not how it works in democratic countries.
Max works for a democratic government, so it is valid to question her actions (as people have done above). She does not have the authority to steal, no matter how strong she is.
More importantly, she has been established as a character with morals. To her, it would be obscene to use brute force without justification.
There is no “steal” in this situation, since there is no intention to deprive the owner of the thing without compensation. They will get paid, and no one is pedantic enough to claim she needs to discuss teh compensation during a firefight with active shooters outside… that puts the employees at risk if the guy comes in after her.
Max carries cash, so she probably dropped the tags and some cash on the counter, no note.
Max works for the U.S. government, which is a republic, though theoretically a democratic republic… maybe that’s what you’re talking about, but regardless, she is only subject to the government as much as she wants to be – same as all of the U.S., super or normal.
However, Max is one that is far more able, compared to most of us, to decide for herself how much she wants to be civil and work with the government, and how much she wants to rebel – it’s a value proposition.
Basically, so far as I can tell, you’ve introduced no information to contradict Mäntylahti-Piiras
That is how it works. In any place. Any kind of government.
That’s why mafia and gangs are powerful, in the U.S.
That’s why corporations are powerful, in the U.S. – granted, their firepower is largely economic and legal, rather than ballistic
That’s why people commit violent crimes at all, in the U.S. – they have power over someone because they have a weapon. Mind this isn’t only firearms… it applies to knives and acid and baseball bats to a somewhat lesser extent, but it still applies
That’s why the U.S. government itself has power (state governments, too) both in the world and over its citizens — despite second amendment protections, it has tried to control and at times even reduce the ownership of firearms and certain deadly weapons by the populace for that exact reason – they want the control. Why? Because…
Authority is a function of firepower
And that, incidentally, is why some citizens would rather their fellow citizens not be heavily armed. Because the type of people who believe that power would give them the right to control others are the type of people who seek out that power.
If a government truly represents its people, then against that government is violence against its people.
So, they are attempting to control others, because they are afraid of being controlled themselves?
That’s how civilization works. You find a set of rules that mostly everyone will agree on, rules that enable compromise. Nobody always wins, but nobody always loses either. And you get to keep playing, even when you lose. The point of the rules is to keep anyone from gaining a dominant position in which they can freely rewrite the rules in the favor. You have some basic rights to fall back on that enable you to survive, and perhaps convince others of your position, even when it’s unpopular.
Limiting violence is key to accomplishing that. When people turn to violence over their disagreements, it’s no longer about right or wrong, or convincing others of the superiority of your beliefs. It’s just about power and dominance.
There may be some problems that can only be solved with violence, but the first person to give up on dialogue is always in the wrong.
That still kinda is how it works in democratic countries, there’s just an extra layer to it: we impose those civil strictures on our fellow citizens by threat of force. Authority is kind of a slippery word anyway.
Panel 6 needs to be made into a recruiting poster.
Just maybe a different caption…
Or 1 and 3.