Grrl Power #919 – Objection!
I like how it’s the act of merely stamping a printout of the LLC filing that takes away HenchWench’s powers. Although, using devil/fae rules, Arianna probably had to sign the line under the stamp before it affected her. Normally, someone would have to actually submit the suspended form with whatever office deals with that stuff for it to work, but as mentioned, Arianna has special lawyer powers.
If the stuff Arianna is saying is legal nonsense, I may go back in and edit some stuff based on comments. I googled around a bit and it seems like LLC’s are filed with a state’s Secretary of State office. Actually it seems like they deal with a lot of business stuff, but I’m still kind of guessing.
In audiobook news, Aether’s Revival book 2 is available in the spoken word format. It’s recorded by Andrea Parsneau, and while I usually prefer dual narrators to avoid bad falsetto/truesetto, Andrea is the woman of 350 voices. Maybe 375. I know “1,000” makes for better marketing, but it’s always hyperbolic. Even Mel Blanc was realistically topping out at like, 400.
I’ve never read cultivation novels before this series. Actually, I’m not sure I knew what cultivation was. For those of you who don’t, it was largely pioneered in eastern literature, and is kind of like LitRPG, except instead of leveling up from experience points or whatever, the heroes of cultivation novels do a lot of homework, meditate a lot and pop a plethora of pills. Like, mana pills, I guess. They fight stuff too, but it’s not like a 350 page dungeon crawl either.
It sounds tedious riveting, I know, but Schinhofen’s books have always been a bit more methodically paced/slice of life-y, which, I assume if you’re reading this comic, has at least some appeal to you. Schinhofen also did the Binding Words series, which is one of my favorites and I’ve recommended it here before.
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Damn this was anticlimatic.
Not every fight has to end in a death (just SmugD’s inevitable one)
I thought it was quite climatic. Climactic, too, even. Off-screen, Ariana is saying, “I love it when a plan comes togeth-I mean falls apart.” That said, I’d still hold out for next page, as HW has a whole street brawl’s worth of supers who are now done with said street brawl and angry with her, although I’m honestly hoping we’ll see a lot more of her in the future.
I typo’d while pointing out a typo! A skilled paralegal worth their salt would’ve caught that, as the legal ramifications of a name misspelling can be massive, but alas, Hench Wench was all tied up.
Off-screen Ariana will blow some smoke rings, sips on a glass of wine, chuckles softly and put her fingertips together while whispering to herself: “Just as planned”.
It was a comedy payoff to a comedy villain buildup. HW was crazy overpowered by her use of a contract. Thus, Arianna was her kryptonite, and didn’t even have to break a sweat to take her down.
(If we hadn’t been discussing it for months, it would have been a fun surprise. When I reread this chapter in a couple of months, I’ll see how enjoyable it really was…)
I will compare this to DBZ when Future Trunks blew up the Imperfect Cell from his timeline.
It feels anti-climatic as far as a super powered battle goes, but after everything the character(s) went through because of this character it is still damn satisfying to watch them go down smooth.
Ummm. Panel 1. Does Arianna have any Cat-girl heritage? Those eyes… Head Counsel would be just a stepping stone…
Well, at least Hench Wench seems to have gotten all her teeth back if that last panel is correct.
Spirit forms are usually more pliable than ‘real’ forms (I read a lot of fiction, okay?), so it’s likely that most of her injuries are mostly resolved beyond a vague exhaustion from having used so much of it.
she fused with a ghost form based on her own self perception, easy enough handwave to removed faults.
Hell she may now have better teeth than she did before this whole fight happened.
I appreciate that you just grabbed the license terms for NetHack as the legalese. It’s not like anyone’s gonna read it. :-D
XD As is appropriate for NetHack, I am dead.
Actually, Dave, the red line under the stamp is generally an artifact of the stamp. You see them under, beside, atop, etc… Depends on the it’s age, and how well it was crafted.
Or…Heck, Arianna may have accidentally touched the ink pad with the bottom bar of the stamp frame.
The red line is from the design itself, it is a self inking stamp that rotates as you press down.
No, that line is, as DaveB said, where Ari would have to sign to validate the stamping
As a former Notary Public, no, you do not have to sign anything under the stamp. The red lines are simply an artifact of the stamp
You don’t HAVE to sign, but some clerks will be pains in the neck if you don’t :) At least at the New York Supreme Court in my county. Court clerks can be almost as much on power trips as DMV workers.
I remember I once, YEARS AGO, had a notary stamp a will but they didnt sign it and the clerks were either being VERY bureaucratic or I was very green at the time, and they wouldnt accept it until I had the notary sign it.
I also had one time where the notary signed it with the wrong name, and even though a signature is ‘any mark intended to be the signature’ the clerks were having none of that and I had to go back to the notary to ask why they signed it with the wrong name (they had just gotten married and their notary commission was from their pre-married name apparently). Technically I was in the right there, but if the clerk doesn’t accept it, it’s less of a hassle to just get the notary to sign it/sign it again than argue with the clerk.
In any case, this wouldnt require a filing by a court clerk via Arianna. It would go directly to the judge. Arianna’s pretty high up on the chain and probably can call the Secretary of State or the judge at their home if she wanted. :) Annnd probably did.
Maybe a normal old fashioned stamp that you have to apply the ink to manually, but this is one of them fancy now-fangled self-inking stamps (and the red line is only on the bottom, kinda like where you would sign if you were to sign it)
The type of stamp you need to use actually differs depending on the state you’re in. Some require any sort of stamp, a few require a special stamp that’s also a press, and some states allow handwriting if you cannot use a stamp. New York actually says you can do this also, but it’s sort of specific in what you have to do if you don’t use a stamp.
You have to handwrite, type, or print, below the official signature, the ‘Statement of Authority,’ then your name, then the exact words “Notary Public State of New York” then the county in which you are qualified, and then your signature and printed/typed name. Also if the contract specifically has a space requiring a stamp, you HAVE to use the stamp.
In my experience, clerks hate this, and sometimes won’t accept it, or at least will give you a hard time though, even when it’s valid.
that 2nd last panel was actually pretty great humor plot, good old 90’s cartoons style; I suspect next scene shows bandaged henchwench in hospital
Fighting supers is one thing. But God help you if you get the lawyers involved.
This is what happens when the difference between a mere Paralegal (Henchwench) contends with that of a real licensed, professional Lawyer (Arianna). It’s like comparing a competent amateur to an experienced professional; it’s a whole different level.
still reminds me of the time Batman beat an Amazo by telling him the JLA was dibaned in the early grant morrioson run years ago
spelling error Disbanded.
On hearing the JLA was disbaned, Amazo immediately lost his Venom-enhanced strength.
I’ve honestly never heard of this. I’ve looked and can’t find it anywhere. The only thing I can find is where Batman used the weaknesses of the members of the Justice League to beat Amazo (ie, kryptonite, yellow, etc).
Which issue was this in? I’m genuinely curious, especially since you’re the third person who’s said this.
According to the footnote 17 in Wikipedia, this was in JLA 27 (March 1999).
Another model of Amazo is activated that can wield multiple powers at once and is programmed to automatically upgrade its abilities to match those of all active Justice League members. Initially not understanding this upgrade, the Justice League calls in reserve members to help defeat Amazo, which only results in its power increasing. On the Atom’s advice, Superman (active team chairman at the time) announces the League is officially disbanded. Programmed only to mimic the powers of active members, this Amazo is suddenly depowered and easily deactivated.[17]
Wow, okay thank you for showing me that. Just checked it out. Weird, that comic has Amazo get his powers from a way very different than it’s presented in other comics. :) Honestly a little confused about how Amazo’s powers even work in that comic, since he was using Superman’s powers even before Superman was in the fight :). Plus weird because the narration says ‘Amazo has all of our strengths and none of our weaknesses.’ which normally isnt how his powers work.
Still, very cool! Thanks for letting me know which issue.
Also really surprised at how good Plastic Man did against Amazo. I keep not remembering how dangerously powerful Plastic Man is.
What would be interesting would be to find out whether or not the same effect would have occurred if HW hadn’t heard the phone call. That is to say, if Arianna had nullified the contract without informing HW, would she still have been depowered? And if so, what is the speed of that propagation of information? If HW can continue to use contracted powers until she learns that the contract is null and void, there’s an obvious exploit there. Alternatively, if the nullification of powers propagates instantly, it may be possible to break physics (although given that they’ve already got FTL travel and comms in the setting, that’s already been done).
nope, it’s in real life too. look up “Quantum Entanglement”
Yes I’m familiar with the epr paradox.
See here for a humorous example of how you could use it to break physics as we currently understand them: https://xkcd.com/660/
It’s pretty obvious at this point that Henchwench’s powers are limited by her psychological constructs. They work that way because she thinks they do. Which is why it doesn’t matter that what Arianna said wasn’t really pertinent. It just had to SOUND nice and legal. The right person said the right things to trigger Henchwench’s shutdown.
It’s possible, but I’m not certain it’s as cut and dry as that because it opens up some pretty glaring problems. First it implies that every supers powers may only work the way they do because they believe that to be the case. Which is problematic in a setting where magic / super tech exists which could control belief. But even if only HW’s powers work that way, that still leaves her with some pretty simple exploits to “unlimited power”. It’d be as simple as comic book hypnotizing her to believe that she does, and that the contract which granted them to her couldn’t be nullified.
I had the same thought.
If your powers are based on legality, there is no necessity to i form you about your powers being suspended.
It’s like changing someone’s password and account details. All of a sudden, it doesn’t work and if the hacker is good, you will never find out what and how happened.
I was figuring there were four possibilities
1. Arianna really does have that power.
2. It’s an emergency power granted by the state in question.
3. She lied, but HW believed her.
4. Arianna doesn’t really have the power to nullify an LLC, but she believes she does.
Gives some interesting possibilities, eh?
If her powers are based on legal matters, you run into the problem that NOBODY knows the entire body of the law. Absolutely nobody.
Note that she didn’t NULLIFY the LLC, she “Suspended it, Pending an investigation”
That means if the investigation validates the contract, it could be reinstated.
True, that. However, since it’s a NY LLC, it’s under US law, and it will never fly. HW specifically said, on screen, that the LLC was formed at her request for the purpose of giving her their powers for this kind of engagement. That illegal purpose by itself is enough to void the LLC.
Because of Arianna’s role established explicitly for dealing with whatever crazy sh_t supers come up with, she almost certainly DOES have that power. After all, her action (if presumed legal) has only a temporary effect with no real effect on a normal corporation. They’d have to go through additional steps even to freeze the bank accounts of a real company.
Also note, Arianna had a “suspended” stamp, with no other words or symbols on it. What do you want to bet it is regularly only used for personnel matters? I can’t imagine that the head of Archon legal has any great frequency of suspending companies from operation.
“1. Arianna really does have that power.”
I think it’s more likely that DaveB did not realize that Arianna can’t legally have that power, but like I’ve said elsewhere, this is a very simple fix dialog-wise.
“2. It’s an emergency power granted by the state in question.”
It would be a normal power for any judge or the Secretary of State, so wouldnt actually need to be an ’emergency power.’
“3. She lied, but HW believed her.”
This is a possibility, since there are a lot of people assuming that HW’s powers are entirely psychosomatic in how they work in relation to the contracts and employment in general. However, that would make me wonder why bother with the ‘stamping the LLC with suspended’ since HW can’t see that anyway.
“4. Arianna doesn’t really have the power to nullify an LLC, but she believes she does.”
Also possibly so, but Arianna is presented as a competent attorney, and a competent attorney would know otherwise. So I’m just assuming this is a minor author error that can be fixed with a small change in dialog.
“If her powers are based on legal matters, you run into the problem that NOBODY knows the entire body of the law. Absolutely nobody.”
That’s where Westlaw and Lexis Nexis comes in. :)
It would certainly be more practical than torturing a small king.
As much as I love most of Schinhofen’s stuff, I really wish he’d describe characters in any way after the first moment they’re introduced. Like, I read book 1 3 years ago or whatever, remind me what people look like lol. The last binding words book was almost unreadable with how many characters there were that I had no reference for which person they were.
Any writer who has a series going should always use fresh beta readers who have not read the prior books. This kind of stuff would be caught, and the books would be more engaging and sell more. When someone picks up book 5 of a series, and can’t follow it, it’s the writer’s fault.
Oh hey, her teeth are back.
Given she no longer has any super-powers she’s surprisingly chipper for someone who in the last few minutes had a piece of rebar driven through her upper thigh from one side to the other.
Quite likely she can heal herself as part of all that transformation.
That will mostly help Concretia of course.
They really should at least let Henchwench contract as a personal trainer. That is her true calling, helping Supers make their powers work for them better. Hiring her individually for one hour sessions might also count towards the hundreds of years of community service she will be contracted to provide as part of her sentencing. A contract that restricts her from any other employment.
BRING OUT THE LAWHAMMER!
Who says a legal degree can’t make you a superhero?
So… If Varia hires HW directly (at will, natch), then the three of them could get skin-on-skin and use all 6 Amaze-balls
Wonder what Varia’s power does when someone with Varia’s power contacts Varia?
Probably a universal callback error with turtles all the way down.
Varia’s Power isn’t usually a straight copy of whoever she’s touching, even among those who do have their own Powers. Harem and (implicitly) Halo do allow her to tag along on their own abilities, but they’re the exceptions so far. My money would be on both Varia and HW manifesting different Powers, and no feedback loop (since Varia’s Power includes protection for herself and her donor). Further, I would expect that Varia gets the same Power from HW regardless of who (if anyone) she’s currently employed by and borrowing from.
As a regular person, albeit a talented one, Arianna has to spend a lot of time watching the super heroes do amazing things while not being able to help directly. This must be one of those few moments where Arianna’s skills actually got to help the main team in an action situation, and specifically Maxima, something not many people can claim.
“Max couldn’t beat HenchWench with all her powers. I did it with a phone call.” – Ariana
Well… you could argue that this was called ages and ages ago. Back when Dave was first starting the comic, he would hand out postcards at cons. One showed Arianna and Maxima, with the following introduction.
Arianna: “I’m a lawyer and public relations manager for a powerful government agency.”
Maxima: “I can liquify a tank.”
Sometimes, one must liquify a tank, and sometimes, one needs a lawyer. And, if things are really bad (or involve anything to do with either Sydney or Dabbler in public), one needs a public relations manager.
Hi. First comment here. Interesting comic but seems lots of fun. One big thing I note here is this HenchWench person. She doesn’t seem so much as evil as “drunk on power”. If she can actually be bound by a legal contract, the best possible use for her would be to have Arianna setup a contract with her (since it doesn’t have to be an LLC) with Archon itself (and thus all of its members including Maxima and Halo). Can you imagine? She could be bound by the law for strictly handling things and have numerous clauses in it for her to lose all of her powers at the slightest resistance to the chain of command, or bending laws (let alone breaking them), etc. Just a thought.
No – if it works for people who are not villains… which is strongly indicated by the fact that she got Concretia’s powers… then you bind HW to a “special projects” section of Archon, and you assign/transfer supers into or out of that section at need. That way HW has exactly the powers you want her to.
She can also, therefore, be used to teach each super some power stunts. Which makes her too damn powerful and useful and it can’t be allowed to work.
Paralegal?
Given the parameters of her power set I’m now wondering which came first: Were her powers predetermined by her profession, or did she studied law to make the most of her powers?
Probably the latter. I’m guessing she discovered her powers by accident, then wanted to learn more about the law to manipulate how she can get more out of her powers, but was too lazy or crazy or unintelligent (or all three) to pass the bar, and settled for being a paralegal instead, which requires a lot less rigor, and doesnt require bar certification.
Is it just me or does “special lawyer powers” sound like a particularly scary, if extremely situational, superpower?
It’s especially scary if you’re a restaurant that serves coffee….
Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants was a perfect storm of neglect and disinformation on McDonald’s part, a restaurant that serves coffee at reasonable temperatures has nothing to fear.
Not to mention a perfect victim to suffer those kind of injuries from a cup of coffee. I was actually on fire and my injuries were not as bad as the McDonald’s victim.
And yes, I have had a long and eventful life, eventful enough to partially validate the Writer’s Hypothesis, that we are all characters in somebody else’s story. It was really fun when I was the protagonist of a series of Hentai.
Yeah, people who know the actual facts of that case – as opposed to the version that turned into a meme – never use it as an example of a frivolous lawsuit. That poor woman had 3rd degree burns on her genitals. Think on that for a minute. The coffee was so damn hot that it caused 3rd degree burns. On her genitals.
And, contrary to popular belief, she was in the passenger seat of a parked car when it spilled. And the courts found that she was partially responsible and only awarded her half of what she asked for, which was significantly less than the millions usually quoted by the ignorant.
And she originally only asked for a very small amount, I think just enough to cover her medical expenses. but McDonald’s response pissed her off and that is when she sued them.
I have a couple of bones to pick with this. Lawyers can say anything they want on a phone call. They can say anything they want to the press. But they don’t get to shut down a business they don’t control without a judge to review and sign off on something like this, I thought. Writing up a warrant is fine – but a judge still has to sign it.
There’s also the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to consider, reserving all powers not granted to the Federal government to the States. Arianna, representing a Federal organization, can’t dictate what a secretary of state at the state level does – including reviews of anything.
I am not a lawyer, but I do think these are common practices in law.
She specifically noted that this was a power granted to Archon’s counsel – so this particular lawyer does apparently have that ability, to suspend business registrations on national security grounds. “Defense of the country” is well within the federal remit.
It doesn’t matter. The contract that she just shut down was ALSO illegal. Contracts that involve deception of one or more parties are not valid. Contracts that involve the commission of crimes are inherently invalid. But Henchwench THOUGHT it was all nice and legal, so her powers worked.
Now a lawyer told her that her fake-contract has been fake-cancelled, and that’s what did it.
It does matter. Who made the decision that it was illegal? Who agreed with it? There’s arguments about the Fourth Amendment (seizure of a business) as well – as well as a controversial Supreme Court decision (that I think is stupid) that declares corporations to be legal persons.
If it didn’t matter, then we would have “guilty until proven innocent”. A lot of times cases have been decided by evidence collected improperly being thrown out.
I’m not saying that Arianna’s wrong here. But they have to connect the dots with a judge, and jurisdiction matters. Otherwise, in half an hour Hench Wench will be thinking through her options in the back of the ARCHON van, and realize nobody showed her a signed warrant, and then Round Two begins.
Contracts that involve deception (or that are unconscionable) are valid but “voidable”, in whole or in part.
Contracts that involve / have the purpose of committing crimes are “void” and therefore invalid.
However, as long as the parties involved don’t know the contract is voidable/void, and believe and act as if they are bound by the contract, then they are effectively bound by the contract.
Now that all parties have been notified the contract is “suspended”, no one believes the contract is in force.
Poof.
This is correct. :)
Although a contract is only as good as it can be enforced, which is usually the whole point of having a contract. As soon as someone disputes the contract, you’re going to be able to need to enforce it. And if it’s unable to be enforced, then it’s pretty difficult to bind anyone to it. :)
Not impossible, since like you said, it could be unconscionable ‘in part’ (which usually just means taking out the unconscionable parts).
To expand on Pander’s comment, any contract must have an offer, a consideration, and an acceptance. This implies a meeting of the minds, i.e. unilateral understanding (without fear, fraud, mistake, or coercion) in order to be valid. It also requires such consideration (which includes forbearances from lawful action) to be lawful for the party in question. Thus a ‘contract’ to give five thousand dollars (a legal consideration) if the individual forbears to use crack cocaine or commit murder before the 18th birthday would not be valid, as there is no consideration on the second party. There is no lawful action there to forbear from in the US.
Likewise, contracts cannot engage on actions that states themselves cannot enforce via positive law (such as racial covenants in the Shelley v Kraemer case), involuntary servitude, or numerous other things. This limitation includes the severance clauses.
In the case of an LLC (a creature created by the state for the limitation of liabiliity, capable of holding property and court representation) if it were created for the purpose of criminal enterprise, it would likely be found void ab initio, having never had legal force, and thus all legal protections for the individual were also void.
Note: All information contained herein is not to be considered legal advice, consult your attorney, and don’t trust people on the internet on legal matters.
“Now a lawyer told her that her fake-contract has been fake-cancelled, and that’s what did it.”
This is hilarious and I like how Archone put it.
Your fake contract has been fake cancelled! :) OHNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *poof*
Since the LLC was being used for committing terrorist acts, and was in fact formed for that purpose, your argument is pretty silly that the Federal government couldn’t suspend it. The existence of the LLC is a violation of federal law.
Federal judges in a circuit that covers a state can take actions that interact with state law in matters controlled by that state, if there is a federal aspect. So can the executive, with due process… which in this case was reading the LLC documents, deciding they were problematic, and stamping them “suspended”.
There is a difference between Arianna personally declaring a corporation illegal/void (which she did not do) and her temporarily suspending it pending review by the proper authorities (which she did). The latter would have literally NO effect on a normal company. A janitorial service would still clean buildings. The government would have to go through additional steps to even freeze the company’s bank accounts.
Arianna did not ORDER the Secretary of State to do anything. She merely suspended the LLC until such time as the SoS DID a review… whose outcome is glaringly obvious from the facts. It is possible under other circumstances – if Arianna had overreached — that the LLC could have appealed and get itself un-suspended by complaining about said overreach by Arianna… except that her use of the powers is the epitome of non-overreach. She did the minimum necessary to halt active terrorism. It worked, and her suspension of the LLC will be confirmed by the NY SoS.
As such, your complaint has no merit.
His argument isnt actually silly, and does have merit. But it’s also very easily fixed with a minor change in Arianna’s dialog.
Everything Alex said here is actually correct. Arianna would not be the one shutting down the LLC – a judge would, or the Secretary of State would, or a clerk at the Secretary of State would.
Alex is also COMPLETELY correct about the 10th Amendment. The federal government can’t dictate how the state handles MOST things with some exceptions (ie, interstate commerce clause, etc).
The only place I disagree with Alex is that this actually has a VERY simple fix in dialog to make it completely legitimate.
Just change:
“I am hereby enacting federal powers granted to me as Archon’s head council to suspend your LLC on ethical grounds”
to
“I have the judge on standby/on the phone who is now suspending your LLC on grounds of illegality in the Operating Agreement”
Then it’s a judge doing the stamping, not Arianna. Arianna just brought it to the judge’s attention and presented the problem on the phone. Ta da. Now it’s constitutional. :) A state judge has every authority to do that. :)
Thank you. I didn’t forget that there was a simple fix – DaveB stated in the original post that he was open to changing the text based on these comments.
That said, he may want to do a mind-screw with the audience and set up Round Two, just by leaving the issue unsolved… <grin type=”evil”>
I realized my “round two” idea probably won’t work. Arianna is a competent lawyer and wouldn’t make the kind of mistake I’m talking about.
Or just pull back the frame on the next page to show the judge sitting on the other side of the desk, also smoking a cigar.
Judge: “Anything ELSE I can do for you, Ari?”
It’s not like anyone on the team — except maybe Sydney — will know that Arianna didn’t actually do what she said she did.
“Or just pull back the frame on the next page to show the judge sitting on the other side of the desk, also smoking a cigar.”
That works too. And would also be amusing.
My way just prevents having to draw more, and just means substituting a single sentence instead. Less work overall. :)
True, but I look at it as, “Arianna knowingly and with malicious intent spouting gobbledygook at the paralegal”… which imho is funnier.
(“Judge Espinosa” could also be teleconferenced in on that monitor, which would require no change to the panels already drawn.)
That works too. :)
Again, just thought changing a sentence is less work than drawing. But I have the artistic talent of a …. okay I have no artistic talent so not even going to bother to make an analogy, actually. I just figure words are easier than pictures.
If you find yourself liking cultivation books, check out the Cradle series by Will Wright (does a very good job of crafting progression from weak nobody to… well, I have suspensions of where it’s going to end but won’t spoil it.) 8 books in that series so far but probably only a couple more before it ends. I also recommend the Dragon Heart series by Kirill Klevanski. Russian writer but he’s gotten a very good translation team so it reads well in English. I never would have known if it hadn’t been mentioned. Has 2000 chapters planned, about half of that’s been translated and available now. It’s a very OP MC kinda situation, but the characters and the world are interesting and a fun read.
I feel this out was meh, but I like her reaction and the look on her :)
Long time reader, first time commenter. I was listening to an interview on CBC with the author of a book called “Hench”. It sounded like the kind of thing that folks that hang out around here may enjoy. Thanks for the comic and the laughs Dave.
Ah, yes, the hierachy of dread inspiring real world superpowers.
“I’m a martial artist.”
“I’m rich.”
“I’m a lawyer.”
“I’m with the IRS.”
“I’m crazy enough to take on Batman, but the IRS? Nooo thank you!” – the Joker
In panel 2, “enacting” and “council” are the wrong words. Instead of “enacting” try “exercising,” and “council” should be “counsel.” Enacting means making something a law; that’s not what Arianna is doing, and not something she can do, since she’s not a legislature. A council is a group of people; a counsel is a legal representative.
Exercise, exert…
For fun wordplay, I’d probably use “employ”.
For basic meaning, I’d use “engage”
Seriously, the Team should be looking into offering Henchwench a Jazza-esque contract, considering she brings all the toys to the game, and if she gets off on fighting as much as was shown, ARC can give her all she could want
I know, she has said it works with villains but has she even tried working with the good guys?
Both her alignment and her Legal Vulnerabilities would have to be psychological, wouldn’t they? I mean is there a ‘power spigot’ that gets turned on or off depending upon legal documents? That seems silly. Henchie gaining or losing access to her powers because of what she believes makes more sense.
I suspect HW is Lawful Evil alignment. And so is Arianna, but with more emphasis on the “Lawful” than the “Evil”. Has anyone done an alignment chart for the team? I think Sydney is Chaotic Good, but that might be me wanting her to be my alignment. Max is sometimes Lawful Good, sometimes Neutral Good so it’s hard to tell sometimes. Anyone want to do the rest of the team?
I can’t say I’ve ever seen Max not be Lawful. Following a set moral code is lawful, even when it might go over the top.
Well, she has been known to gloat a bit.
When she was asked if there were supers in whatever country she participated in a war with (Iraq?) and she responded “Fewer than there were”
That level of gloating may be legal, but I’m not sure it’s lawful.
The line between gloating and satisfaction is thin and fuzzy, especially when responding to a direct question like that (not to mention acting up for the camera, in her self-appointed roles of aggro magnet and deterrent).
Yep. Lawful alignment has nothing to do with whether you enjoy winning against opponents, or whether you gloat about it later. It has to do with how you play the game.
(Devils are known to gloat about winning their Lawful evil contract disputes, for example.)
Wait. If she did manage to get herself hired by Archron she’d be more powerful than Maxima. Terrifying.
It was specifically mentioned that her powers only work with Super *Villains* (or Super-Criminals, depending on severity). So her powers wouldn’t work with Archon.
Besides, it seems that her powers technically require a contract with the signatures of those she is working for to operate. I’m no business expert, but in a government job, you’re not hired by your direct field commander, you’re hired by the top brass. Archon’s contract would likely not require Maxima’s signature, let alone any of the other field operatives. So, my guess is that if she was to be hired by Archon, & her powers did work for anybody, then she’d probably end up with all the powers of General Faulk &/or Arianna.
Ie, Nothing.
if they hired her in a way to grant her those powers, they wouldn’t be dumb enough to hire her via a contract like the one she made. She would likely have, for example, a nullification clause that would terminate her official employment to the supers included (likely while preserving the main contract with Arianna who has no powers) in the event that she were to engage in any illegal action.
Weird, I was replying to Evonix but it embedded my reply into yours, Duke.
powers-be-gone stamp… fell the power of the legal system ?
I was sort of expecting something along these lines, & I do find it satisfying & funny, especially with how Hench Wench is now trying to talk her way out of getting pummelled into a fruit roll-up by the two women she was beating the snot out of.
I will admit, I was kinda hoping that Arianna would point out some sort of contractual mistake or loophole that would’ve rendered the whole contract null, like (for the sake of argument, I dunno if this is true) if she made herself the LLC Manager to prevent herself from being fired, then that would constitute a conflict of interest with the LLC, or that the others signed the contract under duress by ignorance, or something like that.
still a good ending.
Looking forward to finding out what happened to Dabbler…there was certainly enough debate over her when Hench Wench introduced herself.
It’s the difference between battling an engagement and winning the war. Arianna didn’t futz around like Montgomery, she ended it like Patton.
“Cute contract. Denied.”
I would guess, the reason Arianna just needs to rubberstamp the file and not send it in is because she is the ARCHON Head Council is special Federal Powers. I would not be surprised if the Secretary of State sends incorporation forms, cancelation forms or other such files to her for processing and filing if the files pertain to Atypical Individuals, as ARCHON is the federal authority for all matters Atypical. Therefor, she doesn’t need to send the file anywhere, since she herself is the filing and processing authority.
Unlikely. She would have no time to do anything else.
The LLC was simply formed and registered using the normal process through the NY SoS.
Arianna has federal powers related to supers and paranormal situations, which include broad abilities to do what needs to be done.
Suspending a corporate charter is a minor application of her powers. Explicitly deferring to the state government for a review to confirm her decision satisfies the Fourth Amendment “Due Process” and Tenth Amendment state/federal demarkation clauses.
So, one thing I’ve always found interesting, was the way that magic contracts are enforced. They’re frequently magically forced to act, or the violator will be hurt/self-destructed. Another interesting idea, that DaveB (or anyone) is free to use, is that they have to enforce the contract with their own magical power, which explains why the Fae and such form courts.
The Fae king/queen/whathaveyou sets basic rules to adhere to for contracts, including the ability to cancel them, and everyone that joins that court gains access to ‘lean’ on that courts powers. The court gains all the raw power of the… subscribers(?) which is what they desire. The more powerful a court is at enforcing their contracts, the more powerful a contract with that court is. Thus, the acquisition of strange and odd powers, keeping the fickle leaders pleased so they don’t void random contracts, and other such nonsense is explained.
In this case, the US justice system would be the fey court, and while it’s not magical in nature, it does have authority over a lot of magical creatures, even if they also answer to the council. Once Arianna stamps HWs contract, the contract is void (or injunctioned) so far as the US justice system is concerned, and all magical enforcement ends on their end, so only HWs magical power tries to enforce it.
injunctioned -> enjoined
Other than fed/state interplay issues, this is largely plausible. Including the self-satisfaction in the last panel. Throwaway lines in the next strips might include the right to notice and a hearing for review of Ariana’s decision whenever the bureaucracy gets around to it (could lead to a comeback for HW), the LLC being organized in any state other than Delaware being a rookie move, etc. Also, ‘counsel’, not ‘council’.
Discl.: private, gov’t, and military law background.
Shout-out to Arianna’s assistant who got that inch-deep stack of paper printed and on her desk, along with the handy “Suspended” stamp, in a timely way.
Yup, Sandy is the true heroine of the story :D
I think I see what is bothering me. A Contract and an LLC are two separate entities. LLC are for setting up a business, you don’t need a contract to do that all you need to do is register the business with the State you are filling it in, and it doesn’t even have to be your home state since so many LLC’s are filed in Delaware which has more business-friendly regulations than most other states.
A Contract is a legal agreement. You don’t need a Lawyer to make one, though it helps. In HenchWench’s case, she knows enough of the law to create contracts on her own.
Shutting down someone’s business does not usually invalidate a contract between them and someone else. Not unless the contract was between a party and the actual business.
Henchwench didn’t need to start her own business, she could work as an independent contractor without one. Having an LLC is good to protect someone from lawsuits and legal/financial liabilities associated with the work they are doing.
Since HenchWench is a criminal, that’s there least of her concerns.
Still, it is possible that she decided to start her own business, HenchWench, LLC., and tie her Contracts to that business. It’s just not very smart.
In this case there is an LLC agreement which is in fact a contract binding the parties to the Limited Liability Corporation that is formed by the agreement (being “Evil Inc not affiliated with the Webcomic”) in a way to have them collectively hire HW to give them her powers and to run the LLC for them. An LLC agreement is a legal contract that establishes the way that profits and legal liabilities are distributed among the members for their contributions.
It can be referenced either way, and suspending the LLC does reasonably end the conduit whereby HW was accessing the powers of the supers involved.
I realyrealyrealyrealy hope Vehemence never highers HW… even as a sparring partner. Eeep!
Wouldn’t Ariana be “counsel,” the term for a representative acting on behalf of another in a court of law. “Council” is a group of people who makes a stupid-ass decision that Samuel L. Jackson elects to ignore.
Good catch. You are right, the word should be Counsel, not Council.
And “enact” should be something like “exert”, “employ”, “engage” or “use”.
As for the Legal mumbo Jumbo I have one explanation.
This is Dave world and he has known Supers in said world, and he has not explained “I think?” on how long Supers have been around. But in any case there would be much legal laws in the book that we have in the “real world” so don’t worry about the little stuff, your world, your history….. Your Laws! (add the Law and Order Thump thump right here)
Also does anyone know if Dave ever played Hero System? Cause it seems to be drawn on Hero System, but thats just me.
The supers stepped out of the Veil a few months ago… basically the same month Sydney got her powers. They’ve been around a long time.
The announcement of ArcSwat was the first public acknowledgement that they existed.
The Hero system is one useful way to look at it. We analyze stuff in the comments section using the terms of several different RPG systems.
I don’t think the comic as a whole runs on any particular RPG system, but I think some of the characters originated and/or were inspired by real RPG cases. Dabbler’s the one who comes to mind: apparently DaveB honestly rolled up a character with a similar number of alternate origins and innate abilities once, before deciding to set her aside as fiction and roll up someone less overpowered for the campaign he was playing.
So now the question becomes what Other granted powers did the feds see fit to give her?
Probably anything she asked for given she’s the first Head Council Lawyer they know of.
If she want such a psychotic loony…Henchy would be goshawfully cute. Its the smile. Swear to Glob.
Kind of makes me wonder is Arianna learned Law in Hell.
Law School…. Hell…
Pot-ay-to…. Pot-ah-to.