Grrl Power #954 – Happy belated and otherwise
Glen is one of the previously unnamed fashion ninja from way back on page 316. One of Ashley’s assistant. Why they are ninjas instead of just seam… seamsters. Textile crafters? Whatever, it’s probably an interesting story. Which won’t be told now.
BTW, Maxima wasn’t acting grumpy earlier in the day because the team “forgot her birthday” or anything. She just had a mountain of paperwork to look forward to and it’s not exactly her favorite thing to do. A brief googling told me that Lt. Colonels probably don’t have aides, though it’s reasonable that Maxima could probably make a case for one, as she’s basically in charge of the whole base here in addition to being a critical field asset. General Faulk is usually running political interference for the team, and doesn’t often have input on field operations.
I had considered a page between this one and the last featuring superheroines in the shower showing Sydney de-saucing from the last page. Partially because we haven’t had one of those recently. The central gag being Frix showing up, not realizing the showers weren’t co-ed, queue some size-comparison comments, etc. I waffled on that briefly, but Frix isn’t a dummy, he’s an engineer and a medic. He’s smart enough at least know to ask what the shower situation is, if not just guess it outright. Plus I wanted to move things along after all the… dang it, I forgot to add Detla to the group shot. I guess she’s standing off to the right, along with everyone else who shows up in this scene that I didn’t have room for. Like Dabbler. Double dang it!
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I’m considering now the implications of having fashion ninjas lurking around the base. Like, does Commander Faulk arrive with a freshly-issued uniform, and then go home with a uniform that actually fits, and never notice when or how it happens? Does Digit, whose habits are usually on the ‘I wear coveralls and don’t really care about my clothes’ end of the spectrum, discover at the end of the day that she’s wearing a different outfit than she was when she put the coverall on? Does the HR lady have to wonder who changed her bra and how they did it without her noticing? And is she more, or less, upset about it considering that her new bra is nicer and a better fit?
Did Kevin, who checked in to the containment facility wearing magically-produced ‘Ka-Pants!’ sweatpants, set off furious research in what kind of weaving and dyeing and textile technology is in use in some extraplanar dimension? Are people right now secretly trying to clone the mysterious creatures whose pelts contributed the incredibly soft fibers or replicate the looms that allowed the triaxial weave?
Digit will not notice anything, that’s for sure.
She doesn’t even require ninjas’ for this. The janitor does it without her noticing.
Its mostly about Hiro being able to walk anywhere after being deshirted, raise his arms and drop them with the knowledge he’s been reshirted.
They would have to “cover” Hiro in shifts. That’s a Sisyphus task.
No Sydney, they don’t make your ass look fat. They make it look like a rock outcropping.
Poor Glen, looks like that is your last birthday. We all know what Sydney does with Ninjas
glen deserves a who’s who entry.
Yep. His birthday was almost forgotten, and now he has been meta forgotten. It’s almost like he is almost always invisible or something.
His entry is probably in the Who’s Who already, but hidden and we just can’t see it.
You have to be a real life ninja to see it.
Yeah.
And uh… I don’t see it. Nope. I definitely made a guess. *shiftyeyes*
Why tho. Glen has been on every comic page since the beginning.
Maxima almost certainly has an aide – likely a captain if going by regular military rules – and probably a staff of civilians to help with the ridiculous piles of paperwork as well.
Depends on which service ARC’s command structure is modeled after… If it’s USMC, a 0-5 (Lt. Colonel) is usually supported by a Sergeant Major (usually a senior one). I knew one who spent the last 9 years of his 30 running a desk for a Lt. Colonel (and then virtually the same job when his superior made Colonel). Tho… this may have changed in the intervening 30 years.
I know an O-6 (Colonel) usually has a staff of 4 to 6 split between office and command assistance. And I think you have to be a General to rate a Captain except as an Exec (and their usually Majors or Lt. Colonels). Generally though, enlisted do paperwork, officers do command. Which, in Maxima’s case, should mean that if Hiro is her Exec, she’s likely got a senior Sergeant (E-6 to maybe E-9) to help with the ENDLESS paperwork.
I am thinking that Anvil is Maxima’s RSM, who will have her own amount of endless paperwork, let alone Maxima’s pile of the stuff. Hiro is her 2IC and deputy; when they need split squads, he is given command of the second squad. Hiro’s biggest piece of paperwork is going to cover how 5 women’s washrooms all got sparking clean in 2 hours via toothbrush, but starting 15 minutes apart so that Harem could not synchronize the operations.
It’s the same in the UK, they’re just called Regimental Sergeant Majors. (Though the Adj (Capt) still does a lot of the secretary work). It seems to be a rule that the head of each department get an Enlisted/Warrant officer and an officer. I’ve yet to figure out the nature of that relationship though!
Unfortunately I can’t help you very much, the British Army went and fiddled with the whole Sar’Major thing, probably because pollytickians… I know in my Dad’s day a Warrant Officer (he was one) was an appointment, not a promotion, but you usually had to have made Sergeant first just to prove you could do it. Any Sar’Major was basically the Military version of civilian HR. A WOII would be looking after a Company (d’uh!) and the WOI would be looking after the Regiment. FWIW, my Dad spent much of The War in school, making sure everyone got their non-combat training, on top of organising all non-com welfare food and lodgings. Just to make things interesting, he had applied for and got secondment to the Pioneer Company early in The War. It seems Warrant Officers didn’t do much secretarial work.
I don’t think so. I believe the rank for a permanent aide is general officer. But then despite serving in the US Army I wasn’t at the rarefied levels where this would be any part of my actual experience. And said experience is also several decades old. So I’ll just throw up my arms and say “I guess!” and will let anyone with actual first hand experience set the record straight.
I do know that being a field asset isn’t a factor, as that would involve assigning and then unassigning aides based on deployment status. Officers are expected to carry out their duties regardless of the potential for combat. They don’t gain or lose aides based on deployment to a combat zone.
But then Archon might have vastly different rules, because typically you aren’t going to have a Lt Colonel leading combat missions.
In my own experience, Colonel is the last “field” rank. When you get to general you’re not expected to be anywhere near combat.
A colonel is typically in charge of a Batallion. In infantry that would consist of 3 Combat Companies, a Support Company (incl special weapons, comms, medics, intel section and the like), and a Logistics Company (trucks and cooks etc).
All up the command structure there are a parallel string of “Combat/strategy/tactical” roles and “Admin/paperwork/nittygritty” roles. Starting from Section Commander (a Corporal) with his 2IC, a Lance-corporal. Up from there is the platoon commander (a Luitenant) and Platoon Sergeant, Company Commander (Captain) and Company Sergeant Major, and so on. So the section commander talks to the platoon commander talks to the Company Commander etc about missions. The secion 2IC talks to the Platoon sergeant talks to the SargeantMajor about supplies and food and ammo and johnny’s sore toe.
A Batallion adjudant would typically be a Major.
As one rises through the ranks there is a bit of a swap between strategy and logistics roles so by the time one gets to be flag officer (or Warrant Officer for NCOs) one has a thorough appreciation of both sides of the structure and its challenges.
Again IMHO, YMMV.
Headcanon: they did forget Glen’s birthday, but he used his ninja skillz to add his name to the sign, and is playing along out of a generous spirit.
I really like that theory because of how funny it is.
I fully embrace this as canon. After all, how would anyone on base know if they never see Glen at the water cooler?
maybe Dabbler is IN the cake.
Before or after they baked it?…….
Dabbles tends to be half-baked half the time anyway :P
I think Lurch learned the last time.
It is Maxima’s birthday, and Glen’s, and they are also catching up on the one Sydney missed when she did not exist.
Anyone ever comment on Sydney jamming her gun in Concretia’s mouth and emptying the magazine?
Concretia commented on it. “Don’t do that! It’s slightly inconvenient!”
I admit, I’m waiting for the first time Sydney reacts to a surprise with a defensive grab at the shield orb rather than a comical startle move. Nobody will know how to respond!
Details get lost when the pages get shrunk eh?
I see Cora there and there’s probably more
Where? Can’t see her, unless it’s the blue-patch between Blondini (one of the Daphne’s) and Jiggs (can’t be part of Frix’s arm, it’s sticking out too far)
Can just make out her hair and eye
Wait – there are only 2 listed in the who’s who? Maybe this IS the training and everyone else we see is just an illusion, how cruel. Also I don’t see any cake anywhere, almost like the cake is a lie…
Only people who speak show up on the Who’s Who.
And given Glen only just got introduced by name, him not being there can be forgiven.
It’s a strange one for Maxima as the higher you go in the ranks the less your DIRECTLY involved in the immediate field action and more co-ordinating it, but with Maxima as the biggest guns and meatiest shield, she’s invaluable in the absolute front action.
…I’m trying to remember if she was always 34 or if her profile needs updating after this page XD
iirc, Colonel is the highest rank that is allowed to operate in the field. Like, actually leading people into battle. Anyone higher ranking than that is too important to be allowed to be killed and knows too much to allow them to be captured.
Amusing theory, how they see themselves.
Not really. As it happens, very few mind if Generals get killed, but being captured would be unfortunate. OTOH, Admirals very frequently go to sea, since capture is (these days) quite difficult to achieve. Going down with the ship and all that.
Pixel (or at least the short, blue haired one) has no eyes
I think she’s doing the anime “eyes closed happy wave” thing
And yes, I know of a couple people that actually do this in real life
I can see the character designs from Sydney’s homecoming,looks pretty cut and paste..!
Nice to see they’re making up for Sydney’s time in space.
Actually Id find out if Glen was one of the fashion ninjas and what tipple he, his boss, and buddy prefer. If he isn’t one to pass along to the other guys the question. Cause you know giant shard of rock that didn’t penetrate the uniform at least ranks a thank you bottle of booze. Or a really good dinner somewhere. Or both.
Oh, yeah, Sydney still owes him those candied ghost peppers, or whatever it was.
I think those were intended for Ashley; Glen is his assistant, but surely the entire fashion ninja clan rates a thank you for the show-stopping outfit.
Is that Joel on the right? If so, Im surprised they thought of him being involved. I assume that would have been Daphne’s doing since, I think, she’s the only one who has actually met him.
Yeah, that’s Joel, and he looks just as confused being there as we do seeing him there :D
On the other hand, he is the co-owner with Halo of the local (largest?) ArcMerch establishment, and would have been negotiating business contracts on Sydney’s behalf. He’s got to know at least the marketing/HR folks decently well by now, if not met a few others in business meetings. Plus, he and Olivia are the only non-Archon friends Sydney has, and it’s her birthday…
Let’s see. Left to right.
Back Row: Flix, Scarlet (Vampire), Ren, Slyvyrnus,
Middle Row: Anvil, Stalwart, Harem, Jigawatt, Vance, Varia, Ren, Ariana, Achilles, Mr. Amorphos, Leon, ?
Front Row: Pixel, Crona, Hiro, Heatwave, Sandy, Joel, Olivia
Yeah, even the crew from the comic shop is here. So who is the guy standing behind Joel and Olivia?
“So who is the guy standing behind Joel and Olivia?”
That might be the ninja’s boss, the tailor. Also, I think you listed Ren twice… I think behind Hiro’s left should is Math, not Ariana. He’s sportin’ that new hairstyle.
Bah, perspective. behind and to the left of Hiro (which is actually his right shoulder)…wanna buy a edit button. :P
Cora is standing behind Jiggawatt. You can just see her face (the blue spot) over Jiggawatt’s right shoulder.
Did Maxima’s shirt come with two skateboards?
*hands DaveB the only proper ‘Metal’ t-shirt.
Reading the author notes about there possibly being a shower scene reminds me about how little of Sydney we’ve seen compared to the rest of the supers.
Those of us who like the tomboy look are missing out on fanservice.
I did not read all entries do excuse if someone else mentioned it, but have a feeling that Dabbler is over at the “party favors” table either commenting or trying to figure out how to use them in a naughty way
Maxima seems like the kind of officer who tries to do all their own paperwork until a higher-ranking officer comes in and says, “Lieutenant Colonel, with all due respect, what the hell are you doing? We have clerks for that.”
That was my initial thought too. Because of the whole ‘rank confers privileges’ thing that Maxima said (back when referring to her private shower). Until I thought to myself… how would a clerk be able to write a report on what happened when that clerk wasnt there to report on what happened. I suppose she could relay what happened TO the clerk, and then that clerk fills out the paperwork, but the way to get the best information as accurately as possible is to have the eyewitnesses to the event report on what they personally saw.
That’s for the AAR, not the general day-to-day admin crap, not to mention actually filing the AAR
I don’t know what an AAR is.
After Action Report – similar to a police accident report, which is like homework for cops and (I presume) often completed with just as much enthusiasm and attention to detail.
Thanks for the info :)
Completly irrelevant question:
Could the agate that splashed on Maxima merely be the trigger? Sincesupers were starting to manifest, maybe she would have manifested laterwirhout it.
The contents, splashed on her and into her mouth; my hypothesis, is that that was alive and became a symbiotic organism!!
I feel like someone is going to get hirt next comic. Poor guy.
Now I want Glen to secretly be part of the spanish inquisition…
I wasn’t expecting that :O
No one does.
until they cant get bus fare.
I do not see Dabbler.I predict she jumps out of the cake in the next comic.
Ah, well. Squeezing 25 characters into one medium-sized panel is challenge enough.
NICE perspective in panel two!
I guess that the ceiling ninja is Glen?
No, I haven’t read any comments at all before posting.
How can you not know the name of the main character of the comic?
The G in Grrlpower stands for Glen! *shakes her head shamefully*
Lets see who DaveB left out of the group photo hrm…
Dabbler (he mentioned that)
Detla (he mentioned that as well)
General Faulk (probably doing important stuff in DC)
Peggy (but probably because they just came FROM her?)
Zephan
Gwen
Seneca (which is surprising since parties mean cake)
Duke (which is the biggest shame because he’s probably the life of every party)
Arianna
Specs
Digit
Altus
Gellen
Cora
I forget the name of the dwarf guy who does not know Peter Dinklage
I forget the name of the middle eastern guy who likes getting Maxima angry to take photos, Digit’s boss
And of course…
Jerry from Accounting. Because no one ever invites Jerry from Accounting. Jerry from Accounting sucks.
And before anyone goes and says it’s just Arc-swat people, obviously it’s not, since Slyv, Frix, Pixel, Sandy, Krona, Leon, Crimson, Joel, Olivia, and Ashley (there probably for Glen) are not in ARC-Swat. :)
Olivia wasn’t that dark-skinned
I’m almost certain that’s Olivia. DaveB’s artwork is sometimes a little inconsistent, especially with characters that havent been in a lot of pages like Olivia. Same type of outfit she usually wears and she’s standing right next to Joel. Maybe DaveB will mention who are the people in the picture though, but from what I can see they are, from left to right, front to back:
Anvil, Stalwart, one of the Harems, Jiggawatt in her new ‘do, Vance, Varia, Pixel, Crimson, Frix, Krona, Blulk, Slyv, Hiro, Math, Heatwave, Achilles, Amorphous, Sandy, Leon, Joel, Olivia, and Ashley.
Also I waswrong about Cora. She’s there talking to Harem, next to Frix.
Also I forgot that Jabberwokky is missing. She is probably still stuck in that death by tickle trap.
With regard to attendance, in a large enough organization the monthly birthday party is usually a come and go affair. Somebody still has to man the phones and cover the floor. It wasn’t unusual to come into a party where I worked only to find that the guest(s) of honor had already gone back to work but people were still cycling in and out for cake and punch. So, Sydney Max and Glen might stick around but everyone else would come and go in shifts.
Regarding Seneca, while it’s true that parties generally mean cake, cake is not currently on-screen. We only need to worry if, when the ‘camera’ pans around to where the cake is, Seneca is not already there. (And if the cake is no longer there, then it’s Seneca who has to worry…)
Digit’s boss and Maxima’s provocateur is Omar, and I think the short George-Lucas-lookalike techie was Verne but I can’t find his appearance to check.
No the midget’s name was Lucas Jorganson or something. You just reminded me by calling him George Lucas lookalike because Sydney said ‘so close’ about that :)
That sounds about right, actually. Maybe I was thinking of speculation that he was a ‘Verne-type’ super, in the classification of the Wearing the Cape universe; a tech-and-gadgets ‘mad science’ user.
Er I mean dwarf. Not midget. Keep forgetting they’re different.
Duke? You mean Goose, right?
I just had a weird idea: Sydney’s constantly active “life support” orb is actually responsible for the appearance of supers. It’s retroactively adjusting the local environment (i.e.: Earth) to fit with Sydney’s ideal world. As a proper nerd, that includes superheroes in a variety of types: superpowered mutants, mages, aliens, mad scientists, “normal” humans with super-training (Math, Ashley and his clothes ninjas, etc.), and so on.
Nice theory but unlikely, since supers have been appearing since Abraham Lincoln according to the press briefing, and probably before, responsible for myths like Paul Bunyon. And for at least a good portion of that time, the orbs would have been submerged and partially buried in the floor of the Florida Keys. So it’s probably not responsible for the existence of supers unless there’s some major twist that hasnt been shown to explain it.
A lot of the text on the page seems fuzzy? I compared it to some of the previous pages to double check. It’s a bit subtle but slightly off.
Maxima’s thumb, last panel, is kind of weirding me out. It appears almost as long as her index finger. She’s probably got a job lined up as a concert pianist, if this hero-ing gig doesn’t work out.
I bet Sydney thought she was alone on her space adventure!
At least she remembered to be thankful to Ashley, for armouring her up.
It occurs to me there’s a very good reason Sydney shouldn’t bother with carrying a gun; her shield. It would have to be tested with Maxima in the shield radius to catch the bullet, but I’m remembering the debris inside the shield incident on Alari Prime, and thinking a bullet would not exit the shield even if Syd fired it, her blaster orb does so only because it’s part of the design.
In the US Army and Marines, 2LTs lead platoons
freshly promoted 1LTs are often the Senior Plt Leader, at the Company Commander’s left hand
Captains are company commanders, with First Sergeants at their Right Hand
Majors in most branches are staff officers (Aviation and Medical outfits often have Captains as Platoon Leaders and Majors as Company Commanders, due to both the rank structures in those outfits, and the need for a somewhat older, more experienced commander.)
Battalion Commanders are generally Lt Colonels, with a Battalion Sgt Major at his Right Hand, and a Senior Captain or Major as the Operations Officer at his left.
Battalion Commanders are generally the last true ‘field commanders,’ albeit that Brigade Commanders (Generally full Colonels, despite the rank of Brigadier General) will often be quite far forward, especially during movement to contact.
Minion’s description of the system, from a British Point of view, is otherwise pretty well along the lines of what is found here in the US.
Oh, our Warrant Officers are now technically limited to one grade – Warrant Officer 1, with a Warrant from the Service Secretary of their department. All of the others – Chief Warrant Officers 2-5 – hold a Presidential Commission, just like Lts to Gens (or Ensigns to Admirals).
Glen the Ceiling Ninja is officially my new favorite member of Archon.
nice, they have a fashion ninja i guess he adjusts the various outfits so that they fit better, and if say hero puts a hole in one of his shirts glen probably patches it up as if it was never there, probably knows how to remove all manner of stain someone spills coffee on themselves and by the end of the day there is no stain fashion ninja will not allow it for he fights a secret war against stains, rips, tear, and ill-fitting clothes, faster and quieter than any dry cleaning service. … and I guess he does work for ark-light and maybe the occasional bit of wetwork for ark-dark but I’m guessing some arc teams come in covered in stuff that they feel needs to be dealt with (sort of like when Sydney fell through the blood portal you are gonna need someone in house to deal with that while she’s attempting to clean off and repress the memory of the full-body scab soup she just got dunked in) and have a nice seemingly fresh well-tailored uniform waiting for them
I like to think that during the entire plot of Grrl power Glen has saved the world multiple times but the subject never comes up because 1) Hes a ninja and always does it unseen and 2.) to him its like going out for groceries XD.
I want this to be canon too :)
The most significant missing feature (To me)
Is Disguise, Shape-shift, Transform
To allow the Researcher to Blend into the Population & Culture being Studied ;)