Grrl Power #904 – A fob carrying bad guy
Here’s a cheery page for Xmas eve, eh? Can you just feel the spirit?
So, presumably, Concretia knows where her body is. Like, she can home in on it. Now that she has rock-kinesis, keeping her away from herself would be pretty challenging. Sure, you could build a big plastic room, but that room has to be resting on or in rock of some sort… unless you keep her on a boat. That could work, Fire Nation Earth Bender prison style. That or a dirigible. That might prove to be overly conspicuous though.
I have a really bad habit of introducing new characters, bad guys especially, without them bursting onto a page and announcing that their name is “Dr. Melodramatic Introduction” or whatever. For now I guess we can call this guy “Dr. Has Issues with Women.” It’s a fair assumption.
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Concretia left Sydney’s glasses on. The glasses she got from a highly advanced civilization. The glasses that we KNOW have some sort of interstellar social networking built in, as we saw when she got sexted by her Woof boyfriend. I’m guessing that photo, movie, and x-ray modes, are all built in. Anyone counted Sydney’s blinks per second? She’s nowhere near as helpless as these chumps are clueless. She’s delivered mug shots to Arc-Light of everyone, by now.
Hopefully, yes. Although she may have delayed, to see if she could figure out another way to get out of this situation, without exposing one of her trump cards.
The reason why I say this is because Sydney knows there is a good chance that she will have to go up against Maxima (or some other Arc-SWAT member), if they ever come up against mind controllers or other foes capable of making someone’s allegiance swap. Having one or two totally secret capabilities would give her extra options in such a potentially deadly situation.
So if Sydney figured she could talk her way out of this, she may have held fire on exposing her glasses. Although, right now, she might be revising that decision, having seen how dangerous this villain is.
Not only that, but she would have to go up against Maxi and explain why she never told them about her NuGlasses (and then have to do the firearms course, again)
Keeping a Power in reserve is a useful tactic, but it cuts both ways. It’s all very well Halo having an ace in the sleeve for when she needs to take down Dark Maxima. But it means Dark Halo will be able to use that same ace when Maxima has to stop her!
Wait… how did she know about the orb tether?
Anyone who saw the footage from the bank robbery way back when knows about the tether, if not the specifics. It is amazing (and a bit worrisome) what a dedicated analyst can determine from simple TV footage in our world. So, people will know that the orbs cannot stay but so far away from Sydney and vice versa. They will also likely be able to deduce that if she cannot hold them, she cannot use them. Mittens are her Krytonite after all and LOTS of people have likely been studying her for weaknesses. For lots of reasons. Who knows what high tech craziness has been made available to sleazebags like Mr. Fob here.
Will it save him? Probably not.
If nothing else, every female villain is going to be ready to kill him on sight after the video of this from Sydney’s glasses goes viral. {Which it will}
Speaking of, I BET that no one outside of Arc has any idea about Sydney’s new glasses.
Nobody inside of Arc knows about her new glasses either.
Except Cora and Crew. Wich are on the scene.
Cora and Crew are not inside of Arc, they are still alien visitors
So, technically, they are outside of Arc
What you (kalenath) meant, was that no one in Arc has any idea about her glasses
Well, SHE didn’t know all of what they could do either until she went to the range. (Still not sure if that is everything her new glasses can do. Wonder if her ‘boyfriend’ has a tag on her?) I am betting that Max or Peggy at least realized that something had changed when she was suddenly WAY better at shooting. Besides the whole ‘lost on an alien world and leveling up her powers’ bit that is. Since that had nothing to do with pistols.
I am betting that at least ONE of Cora’s crew are monitoring this mess since Sydney is A) A friend and B) INSANELY powerful. They would be remiss not to keep tabs on her.
Ooooo… Sudden thought-
What is somone ELSE is monitoring said glasses. Say… Those Xenovarchy people?
People might make guesses, but up until now there’s been no point where she was forcibly prevented from touching the balls at a time she would want to use them, so the only people who KNOW that “mittens are her kryptonite” (up until now, anyway) are ARC’s higher-ups…and Harem. And therefore Deus, and anyone he chooses to inform…
2 VERY disturbing things I don’t think anyone has mentioned yer.
1) What if what Concretia is saying is not a phrase imposed by a misogynist control freak, but is instead actually Concretia’s father controlling his “frak” of a daughter?
2) That box in the last panel, it really looks like it should be a medicinal case, the kind people with emergency illnesses needed to keep with them to treat, like diabetes sugar spike or anaphylaxis shock. Sydney getting infected with a drug or a permenant mental effect would be very easily possible.
the question is.. is the footage from the steakhouse fight complete? could he have found out about the ADHD? Since the drug Sydney takes for ADHD is normally a stimulant (meth comment from earlier) Mr. medical case may get the shock of his life when he tries to drug her as her reactions to the normal choices for #2 are not likely to be helpful. (and we find out what that last ball is and it is most inconvenient for the subhuman clicker beast. )
1) nice call back to Xmen. makes sense too.
Very disturbing and well thought through, and I hope not, on both counts.
I think these people are more Friends of Humanity like
jesus christ, that’s creepy
You know, one sucker punch from Concretia when the ancient douchebag ain’t looking and his head goes “SPLAT!” and who’s got the bad girl button now, hmm?
We don’t know who else he might have standing by to murder her if something bad happens to him, sadly.
But I like the thought. It reminds me of that line from GoT: “Among my people a man can own a woman, or he can own a knife. Not both.”
like the two guys standing behind him.
This looks like a cult organization. Unless all three of them are taken out instantly.
Better that then what Halo would do to him with the lighthook orb (reminder she orininally named it the Molestorb)
could we have that as a patreon exclusive. where Sydney would use the molest orb on mr clicker. (i’m terrible with names and he isn’t worth straightening out i hope)
I’d wager that’s not an option, because he’s probably the only person who knows where her body is being kept.
Even if the glasses aren’t transmitting, there’s no way the choker wasn’t, and there’s no way Arc doesn’t have a protocol to bring down the hammer if a member’s attacked.
It also doesn’t make sense that Sydney’s shout to Maxima would only be heard BY Maxima, which is good because as I mentioned earlier Maxima’s choker was blasted off in Operation Golden Nudity earlier and on last look didn’t seem to have been replaced with the rest of her clothes.
So Maxima’s probably not inbound to wreck this plan, but Arc at large probably is. And Maxima’s not the only one on the team who can make good time.
(Insert puns here about Dabbler “making a good time” and Krona literally “MAKING time”)
Another theory on who these guys could be that didn’t occur to me till Pander on a previous page brought up Deus salvaging items from the Vault, items likely taken from people that the Twilight Council killed and secured as “too dangerous” or “too powerful” of items. A secret vault even Archon didn’t know about till it was broken into and their help was needed.
The Twilight Council then must have a black ops style item acquisitions team keeping an eye out for anything that exceeds a certain threshold of power falling into human hands or on the loose/poses a risk to them; and is sent to take the items by any means necessary with no regards to human laws or alliances.
So yeah, a group like that should be eying orbs that grant a human a plethora of super powers. and likely their members would have little regard for humans they kidnap to serve their purposes, seeing as many of them are likely centuries old and regard humans as lesser food creatures anyway…also chip on the shoulder regarding supers as a result.
I doubt this has anything to do with the Council but it’s POSSIBLE. I mean… there IS a hook for it. Back when they were looking for Sciona in teams, there was one spot which there was some mystical mumbo jumbo happening that was NOT related to Sciona, but that they said they’d need to investigate later. This group ‘could’ be involved in that.
Here’s the link where it’s referenced:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-505-team-sweep/
(Panel 7) – One of the Harems says :”Nothing to report at Lima One. Lime Two seems to have some spooky “Keep out” style glamor. It’s kind of cool but seems unrleated to our current search. Will refer to Arc-Light for follow up.”
this comic has a whole Chekov’s gun case at this point. But hey keeps you guessing which one or if something new is involved with each new scenario.
Honestly if I hadn’t been on unemployment a few months back I was going to donate the amount needed to request a character specifically to potentially activate the creepy dolls in the vault Chekov’s gun. But eh…for one…poor…and for another…honestly I can’t get that page up. Its likely my crappy old computer and how the internet is becoming less compatible with it by the day; but even on my phone that “are you 18” tab has just not been working on the patreon to get the rest of the donate options…also I think a cameo trying to do something like that is probably uncalled for.
but on topic, it is unlikely but ever since that was mentioned in the vault I had that floating around “what about Halo’s orbs” when they were talking about dangerous and powerful items being cached away down there. It does make one wander what the threshold on that is, because other magical items are obviously still floating about. So those must be some powerful creepy dolls LoL.
but if these guys are related to that keep out glamour then maybe someone with Arc-Dark by request of Arc-light has been trailing them; and they just messed up. But seriously Halo isn’t a super off the street or a vigilante, this isn’t like targeting Spider-man (pre-Avengers), this is like targeting Captain America; well known, likely has back up that even if you think are distracted will show up anyway. Its like, “We have captured Captain America, Hulk and Spider-Woman are busy downtown fighting Brickhouse *or whatever his name is the generic troll guy*, and Avalanche;..” oops, Dr. Strange has just shown up with Captain Marvel, Tigra, Hawkeye, and Scarlet Witch via a portal; turns out Dr. Strange had a *I am in danger even if I don’t act like it* distress spell put on him for just such an occasion.
“this comic has a whole Chekov’s gun case at this point. But hey keeps you guessing which one or if something new is involved with each new scenario.”
It’s actually one of many things I love about this comic. Pretty much why I think this is the best webcomic on the internet (and has been for a while now). DaveB tries to give some foreshadowing, so the audience can play along with ‘what’s going to happen next!’ :) I mean I also love the artwork but I especially love the story structure and the trope savvy nature of it all.
Plus it helps that most of the people on the comment forums are really fun to argue with without it (usually) getting all personal and mean. It’s a very ‘un-toxic fanbase’ (I’m not a fan of the term’toxic fanbase’ because it seems like people are insulting fans of a genre by taking a few bad apples and extrapolating to the whole bunch… but this fanbase is definitely the exact opposite of that in any case).
“Brickhouse *or whatever his name is the generic troll guy*,”
I think Brickhouse is DC (specifically from the Dakotaverse – Static Shock), not Marvel.
Do you mean Ulik? He’s an Asgardian rock troll and a Thor villain who’s supposed to be as physically powerful as Thor (and Hercules apparently in one story).
I may be mentally mixing a few people together like Ulik and Bi-Beast. But yeah Ulik would be the troll. I remember of a few comics of the powerhouse fighters going after (insert strong villain making a mess downtown) while the smarter villains targeted another superhero or unguarded location for the real prize…or just too advantage of the situation. But other comic companies have done the same thing too.
Also yeah, love this comic. If I wasn’t in a bad financial situation I’d donate more often (and not just for some cameo, but regular donations) those who can really should to support this comic for all the hard work that goes into it.
that page brings up another point being discussed on another page of comments here. the Whole Dabbler is holding back against the bad guys and coming across weaker than she is. As a magical adventurer with sci-fi elements in her adventures something tells me she really isn’t used to having to take opponents alive. She is using jokey spells and holding back too much; but probably doesn’t know *due to lack of experience* how to hold back enough to defeat an opponent without killing them. When you are used to casting some “mega death destruction” sort of spells, or making enemy soldiers burst into flames, be trapped in water bubbles, fried by lightning bolt, cut up by slicing winds, ect… you forget how much force is enough but not too little or too much to take someone down without killing them (or maiming them) *see Sciona leg blasted off*.
Don’t forget about her railgun. I suspect that if you put all the bad guys on whole Earth in line, she can shot through all of them and the projectile will barely slow down a bit.
Season’s greetings to one and all. In particular I hope you are enjoying the festive season DaveB.
Here you go Yorpie.
https://www.best-dog-treat-recipes.com/images/christmasdogbones_2.jpg
Red and Green Yorpie Snax for the holidays.
The villain looks like Jon Cryer.
20 seconds after halo manages to get free or be freed that pos will be very scared
Figured it was some big headed SOB, I’m wondering how long this idiocy is going to last before Max shows up? Knowing her she would of pulverized hench wench into oblivion shot that one guy in the balls with that hand cannon then went to help Halo who called for help.
Unlikely that Max is first on the scene. Her comms choker thing got exploded and didn’t get replaced with the rest of her gear.
Though if she’s got an ear bud thing too maybe it’s still fine? Not entirely clear.
There are four other people in the same engagement with working coms, if one of them doesn’t relay the cut-off message immediately it would be shocking.
Also not putting it past Dabbler to have some life sign (Astral imprint signature) type tracking spell set up for every member of the team like Dr. Strange or Dr. Fate would and portal right to Sydney’s location in an emergency.
If you even think Maxi would pulverize Henchie or oblivorate Juggernots’ nuts, then you, clearly, don’t know her
Maybe Max from her classified keg chugging middle east super exterminating days, but she’s pretty strict about LEO rules of engagement now. It took her a pretty long time to escalate the Vehemence fight to blowing off limbs. She gives her enemies so many chances and as much rope to hang themselves as they could ever want. They just need to learn to take the tank buster seriously.
If your durability tops out at oversized elephant cartridges then you have no business fighting a tank, even less fighting a tank busting super.
Wasn’t saying she couldn’t, just that she wouldn’t
And back then, they were at war, so things were different
I think I was agreeing with you but janked up my word choice and junk to make it really unclear.
I don’t know if this is a compliment or a complaint, but this guy… It’s the first time in a very long time I’ve had a visceral, physical, “HATE KILL” reaction. I literally saw red and had to stop myself from lashing out physically. At a comic strip on my phone.
So – Good job, I guess?
I mean I wanna tear him to bloody chunks like a DooM Marauder.
Sydney needs to get her teeth whitened. I thought there was a strip of tape over her mouth and wondered how she could still talk.
You want her teeth to glow in the dark? o_O
it is low level light area, so some things will look a wee bit different than in bright light
JFC. Im a serious freak with almost every kink/fetish in the book, and even I think thats fucking creepy as hell. Seriously craptastic use of a daddy kink *shudders*.
And im pretty sure its a kink, and not blood relation, cause a father of this style would want to be called “Father”, not daddy. “Father” demands obedience, “daddy” doesnt.
Yeah some people in the comments keep trying to defend him for some reason when it is obvious. If not obvious on panel (which it is), is spelled out in the blurb.
“Fortunately, I have a way to circumvent that.” I really hope it’s not duct-tape, cause I’m pretty sure if you taped her mouth shut, Sydney’s head would explode from the overpressure.
given what he is holding up when he says that I am guessing a needle with a paralyzing toxin in it.
It’s good writing. I wanna say that first.
…
..I had to stay away from this for a few days to process it.
Should maybe have come with a TW…iduno.
*deep breath*
…it doesn’t glorify this act of rape (yes, I am calling it that) and torture, and it doesn’t “just” drive home how “bad the bad guy is.”
This is not a non-lethal Woman in the Fridge.
It does try to answer – implicitly at least – the question of the methods The Shadowy Organization is using to control Concretia, and possibly others.
That being said….I want this bastard. Specifically, I want to slowly remove ever layer of his skin, in sequence, while he is forced to remain conscious, and just sufficiently anesthetized to remain conscious, being force to watch, because we also removed his eyelids.
But how do you REALLY feel about him?
more highly than I do, as mine includes the use of endorphin blockers and an adrenaline drip; also vibrating mild electric field razor tweezers and a map of the human nervous system.
Rhulan, “I fully intend to send you to hell, however before I do I plan to raise that level of suffering beyond anything your mortal mind ever experienced bar for them”
I like the way your mind works.
Let us add the microsurgical removal of every muscle we can, without killing him, one strand at a time, at the bone. Which should also be removed.
Basically…surgical disintegration. Until there is nothing left but a Brain In A Jar, with an intravenous feed of oxygen & sugar, to keep it alive, while it slowly goes utterly and incomprehensibly insane in a state of perfect sendep.
…
why bother lowering yourself that far?
just force the bastard through a woodchipper feet-first and walk away whistling with the knowledge that the world’s a better place now! ^_^
This was an excellent page to accidentally sign up for email notifications
The big question here is, how the hell does Monk-Sogynist fit into Hench Wench’s LLC? I mean, we know he’s not independent to that since she’s got Concretia’s earth powers (unless there’s another geokinetic in that group), but until he showed up I thought this was just another villain gang.
Another point, possible a good one… we haven’t yet seen if the Orbs have some kind of self defense / auto mode. Could be that last orbs function, or the orbs in general *this would only apply when the user is completely incapacitated, not just damage, like an auto pilot kinda thing, that can’t function if the user can help it
the last orb could have never been usable cuz all other orbs need contact thru hands, and as seen with atmosphere orb, they can only be used in right conditions. last orb might be some way of communicating with rest of orbs when physical contact can not be made and might be maintaining tether so they can not be stolen or left behind
So…Sydney gets Great Sage Auto-Battle Mode, a la TTIDAGRAAS?
…that’s sort of terrifying.
Y’know, on one hand this guy is a massive jerk. On the other hand though, it *is* pretty sloppy work to rely on only one, poorly understood method of restraining an enemy as potentially dangerous as Halo. Arc’s got access to aliens, maybe Dabbler built her a teleporter she could trigger by pushing a button on her belt or something, or a distress beacon or what have you. Really should be fully encased in concrete just loose enough to let her keep breathing for proper restraint.
I hope Sydney rips off his genitals via her tongue-fu grab.