Grrl Power #966 – Special training
Skipping over bedroom shenanigans. There could be some cute and awkward pre-game moments to be had there, but I’ll leave that stuff up to you guys to fill in. As well as jokes about other things being filled in.
Using a prisoner as a punching bag under normal circumstances is obviously a horrific idea. In a world with super powers… there can be legitimate reasons for it. Weird, rare reasons. Like someone needing the occasional injection of Vitamin V. (V, in this case, does not stand for Velocity, 5, Vanadium, or alien lizard people)
Yes, literally the only reason Kevin started off with a boxer’s robe and hand wraps was for the barely-a-reveal in the final panel. Also he wanted to jog out into the middle of the quarry like Rocky.
I’m going back to the black ink lines for a bit. I don’t like them as much, but it does save me at least an hour of work. On top of that I’m going to try and simplify the coloring just a bit, because it has been taking me an average of 5 and a half to 6 days to get two pages done each week, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for nudie pinups or writing. (He said after posting a double sized page.) If I can get comic time down to 5 days, that will give me a little more breathing room and should speed up work on side projects like novels. Speaking of which…
Tamer: Enhancer 2 – Progress Update:
Almost finished the second to last chapter. Like there’s literally a dozen paragraphs left, but instead of doing that tonight I have to post some superheroine comic I’ve been working on. I am going to have to back up and do a little editing, because a new character’s behavior fluctuates too much from one moment to the next. I want them to develop one way, but my default writing flow is pulling them in another.
July’s vote incentive is up!
You guys don’t know who this is yet. (Her name is Xerxa.) I will give you one single guess what she might be from. (And no, it’s not Dabbler’s mother.) It was a piece I had half finished from a little while ago and given my time constraints this month, I threw a little polish and some background on it and here you are. Unfortunately there aren’t nine separate versions because she’s not wearing a ton to begin with. Hopefully you can read about that soon. I hope you like it, personally I think it turned out pretty good.
As always, nude version are up at Patreon.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Oh, him.
Whatever. Let’s get this over with.
Figured it out on panel 4 myself. This is a good challenge.
Just wait until someone tells her Sydney was the one who basically took him down.
Sydney did bugger all, except tell the others how to distract him with Hypno-boobies, and then dogpile him until he almost drowned to death
So she’s a consultant. Quite a good one.
Sydney is floating because she cant walk properly.
This is the best comment yet.
However, if I had the ability, I’d float in a half-lotus for as long as my flexibility would let me. Who the heck wants to walk when you can look that cool?
Experience Tranquility.
Because I’m a huge nerd with horrible posture and not very limber legs, I’d end up doing the superman standing-fly, or the green lantern standing-fly, or just a plain old ghoul/revenant float.
Ideally with the power to float/fly/hover/neutrally bouyant, would come extra arms, so no real need for legs any more, why not go full octopus.
Of course in a sci Fi setting I’d go for telekinesis rather than more arms, because you can hold an infinite number of things with telekinesis. (I’d still get four arms, have I mentioned I’m the founding member of SACHFA? The Society for the Advocacy of the Creation of Humans with Four Arms?)
I just wanna recreate the scene with doctor Manhattan building a reactor out of individual atoms, okay? Sue me :P
Hexapodia is the key insight.
Ooh! “A Fire Upon The Deep” is one of my favourite novels ever!
Read this one by Lois McMasters Bujold…..gengineering done right but resulting in an isolated population that really does well in space. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Free
Revisited in “Diplomatic Immunity” by the same author.
BTW her middle name is “McMaster” – no “s”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_McMaster_Bujold
I can’t remember the author, but there was a species of genetically engineered space dwellers called “Quaddies” from the early ’80s that basically were four armed human genetically engineered to not suffer deleterious effects of zero gravity.
Sometimes,when I want to show off, I go full-lotus and walk around on my knees.
Too much nerd-girl on beefcakewoofie action.
Me too.
I preferred the simpler look of the comic from around ~#300, instead of the more super detailed look Dave has been doing lately. Didn’t want to “complain” about it though, discouraging artistic growth and all that stuff.
I’ve mentioned this myself. Hyper-realized renders have their place for title cards or splash pages, but day-to-day pages benefit from the clarity of a simplified style, allowing you to focus on expression and dynamism and character movement.
Hopefully they are also faster to draw so there’s time for some actual plot, not just five pages on recolouring Max.
I love the black lines! I would be delighted if this heralded a return to the comic looking like good cartooning (like the original Vehemence fight) rather than the more recent “mediocre 3D rendering” look.
No insult to the comic artists and creators, but I genuinely prefer this style for the art to how things have been of late. Don’t get me wrong, it’s gorgeously done, and I love seeing it for the voting rewards and special centerfolds, but when I’m just reading and following the story, this style reads and flows easier, especially with the text bubbles and text itself in the mix.
Oh hey, the big guy is back. https://i.imgur.com/V4MH319.png
Oh no, this bore is back. XP
I really like the black lines, they add definition to the characters and draw it back from the realism you seemed to be going for with the shading/coloring which will really help when you draw them with cartoon-y faces. I didn’t want to complain, but like quite a few people have said the black lines look better.
Anybody else notice that Max now has her choice of lip color?
Looks chic.
Fairly sure that’s her normal shade: Kiss-me Redly
I thought it was Redly Nightshade
Paint the clown red?
Anyone? Anyone?
Ah, fine, Red Baron.
Redly Poison?
Color Me Red?
Scarlet Punch?
Better Off Red.
Red to Rights
… Seriously, that guy has an insane power. Feeding off of violence and conflict?
Dude would go far in Worm.
Vehemence versus Lung? “EVERYONE OUT OF THE UNIVERSE, QUICK!”
Lung would win 1 v 1, vehemence would be more effective during an endbringer fight or anything similar
Hm. I think he and Lung would want to both ‘warm up’ with each other pre-Endbringer. Otherwise Behemoth or Leviathan would just gib them before they had a chance to really crank things up.
Vs just an endbringer, (excluding simurgh, because her power might count as “violence” to power him up) yes, they both pretty much just go splat, but in an endbringer *fight?* We know lung can get big enough to take on behemoth, idk if he ever gets bigger than that, I don’t remember him getting to take on leviathan, and leviathan would have a strength, density, and drowning advantage over Vehemence.
Given pre-gaming? Vehemence could go toe to toe with any endbringer or lung.
Neither can go against Zion, because I know for a fact since Sydney can beat V with a shield, Zion could use a basic ass trump and beat him.
For that matter, Glory Girl would probably be either immune or strongly affected by V-field, and there would be a bunch of power interactions in general. Someone should get on SB or SV and start writing a crossover.
No, I’m pretty sure vehemence would win, he scales up faster than Lung, and could just snap his neck before he went 110% dragon. Hell, spiders almost killed Lung.
It took a lot of 30+ super brawl before he was able to take on Archon’s bricks – in a 1v1 he would take a while to power up. And we don’t exactly know what level he starts at, whereas Lung has a solid baseline.
Lung also has a counter to Vehemence with his flame aura – he can burn up the oxygen, forcing Vehemence to expend power to avoid suffocating.
Vehemint! The breath freshener you need when you’re in a foul mood.
Another vote for “keep the black outlines” here! Far prefer that style, and the time-saving aspect is an added bonus for you to boot!
Nobody is asking the actual important question here. Would Achilles be either the best or worst way to solve the vitamin v deficiency? It has been established that violence fuels him, so Achilles takes none damage ever, so is basically impervious to anything v could actually do., So would Achilles going wet noodle and acting as a bored punching bag on a monthly basis for the prisoner fuel him up with basically zero risk or would he not produce any vitamin because he is completely invulnerable?
The latter, I think. If neither party is capable of injuring the other, it’s not really “violence”, after all.
V has already mentioned that he powers up from attacking. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-265-in-summation/
He can just whale on Achilles to power up.
Pretty sure it’s still “violence” – in the sense an attack is being made with the intent to harm – regardless of how effective the attack is. I don’t know if it would be like…one of those sample spoon (at the ice cream shop?) sized serving of it, and thus take forever to actually get a decent “meal,” but I’m pretty sure it would feed him something.
I think Vehemence previously referred to getting some charge from ‘violent’ environmental happenings, such as thunderstorms or earthquakes. Not as much as from deliberate Person-on-Person violence (or perhaps better ‘tasting’), but better than nothing. That would imply that intent is a significant multiplier (or ‘seasoning’) for him, even if he can still use inanimate destruction.
i can tell you put a lot of hard work into this. i recently looked back at some of the earlier action scenes. it’s not just the coloring, but the angles and the bending of the camera to capture action (not sure what that’s called), i know is hard to draw. i enjoy seeing progressions in your drawing technique.
Keep the black lines. You’re doing comics stuff and black lines are traditional.
Always experiment with your process to make things better. I know of one comic where the writer/artist has toyed with color and retreated to B&W at least twice because of the issues color adds.
The only way to improve is by experimenting: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes even when it doesn’t you still improve a little
A good artist experiments with styles, and a great one knows when change doesn’t work
Black Lines Matter, good to see their return
Okay, how did they get Kev to agree to this? And how are they going to get him back into his box when this ends?
Probably some work credit for the prison commissary, or a Suicide Squad scenario to reduce sentence.
Also chances are they have in the time he has been imprisoned figured out a weak point in his powers *possibly he can’t defend against gas based attacks so a knock out gas device or spell is the key to stopping him. or so long as they get him before he can go hulk level *which required a bunch of supers having a brawl* he can’t defend against psychic attacks as well like sleep spells.
I’d suggest Dabbler knows some method or spell system or gadget that can be used to keep wrath demons like him under control: it’s just not something she could put together on the fly in the middle of an all-out brawl.
As for why he’s doing it, he’s always up for violence!
Maybe a good long spell in the Cannabis Smoker brought the spirit of Bob Marley into his heart, and he’s only here because they asked nicely, so he’s taken time out from his new job as a Kirby Consultant?
They appear to be out in the middle of nowhere. There probably isn’t enough energy around to fuel him up enough to be any type of serious threat to Max, so he knows that getting too froggy would only end badly for him. Plus they know his general power level based on his glowing lines, so they can end it well before he gets to any level of critical mass.
The bigger question is, can he gather enough energy to allow him to port away?
“Hey, there’s an alien chick who wants to fight strong opponents. You in?”
I don’t see Kev objecting under any circumstance, as long as he isn’t in the middle of something. Violence Feels Goood! I don’t know what anyone else was thinking letting him out, though. This screams “poor idea” even under controlled circumstances.
Honestly I appreciate the fact that they’re honoring Sydney’s word here and he gets to come out for another round now and again.
I just want to know who had to drink the potion. Does it shrink the drinker’s junk or make the drinker’s junk more flexible (allowing it to stretch so that something too big can wreck the drinker without wrecking the drinker).
Or does it transform Frix into a human temporarily? Or does it transform Sydney into a woof temporarily? I would like to see what that looks like.
Given the name of the potion I’m on Sydney drinking it prior to festivities.
To be honest, I like this look much better than what you’ve been using lately.
It’s your art so do what you want and we’ll still enjoy it but the faces in particular have been just a little offputting since you changed style awhile back, to me anyway.
And if this saves time and effort too, well then…. ;)
Mostly I’m all for you telling us this story for free. Free is good. All hail the storyteller/artist/patreon of freeloaders. Seriously. I have nothing to complain.
That said..
Been waiting for a comment like this to second. I honestly don’t like the recent art nearly as much as the earlier stuff. By all means, you do you, and if this has helped your goals as an artist, that’s great. “I don’t know art, but I know…” So I’m all for you going with a more simple style.
But mostly: All hail the story teller! All hail the artist! All hail the paetron of freeloaders!
+1.
Hm, hearing that ‘Delicious’ line as from one of demons in DCUO
Vehemence is smart enough to understand the importance of long-term reward vs. short-term gratification. He’s probably worked out some kind of deal where they occasionally let him out to get some “recreation” against some superpowered fighters and in exchange he doesn’t use the opportunity to go rampage through populated areas.
I don’t like discouraging artistic expression, but yeah I am also in the club of preferring this style, if only for nostalgia and being accustomed to it for superhero type stories.
oddly can compare this to playing Disgaea 6, they are doing these hololive inspired type 3-D models for this game (this series loves to experiment with new ideas), traditionally this game series uses 2-D pixel designs.
Now the 3-D clearly saved them on time, and even some level design elements as now ALL attacks take place in the RPG battle space instead of the simpler ones being on the map *which I consider a downgrade for an SRPG to not have on map attacks*, it also takes longer for every attack to the point its tempting to use the skip animation button even on basic attacks now that it has to switch to another screen but anywho.
the 3-D style over their previous pixel style is also an odd mix of improvement and awkward designs as the character designs are really hit or miss going into 3-D, some work but a lot just look odd or some aspect of their design like scrawny wings, freaky hair, or oversized head just translates weird to 3-D.
something I think also applies to this comic, some of the characters benefited, Maxima for instance definitely benefits from the tools available with the computer graphics, while some like Sydney tend to look awkward as she has more cartoon expressive features that just blend better in a more 2-D style in my opinion. Honestly could go through various characters and describe which looked better to me in one or the other style, although a few looked good in both; Dabbler seems to work in both equally well, although that may be due to her color scheme not being aided by the black outlines or 2-D shading effects.
Lol. Would have loved to have seen the opposite pictures to those memes Sydney was using to wordlessly explain her predicament, used to politely and wordlessly exolainxher resolution of said issues. I think that could have been hilariously effective.
and how may i ask are they getting him back in his cage? did the pull a subside squad and put a bomb in his head?
I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes back in the box willingly. ARC have already established that they’re willing to go lethal on a significant enough threat, so he’ll serve his time without rocking the boat. And he strikes me as the sort who’ll happily take a regular decent meal in the long term once he knows that going for the short-term feast will not end well for him.
He only got to the power level that he did at the Restaurant Rumble by being effectively an unknown, able to incite and draw on a mass brawl without ARC being aware of the growing threat; now that they know that such a threat exists, they know to watch out for Vehemence (or someone similar) trying the same trick again.
I wouldn’t put it past ARC to stick something in his head. Maybe not a bomb, but the sleep spell worked last time so what stops them from consulting their magical expert into making a remote control micro-rune they can implant inside his head and put him to sleep at the push of a button?
I recognize Math and possibly the Blulk. But I don’t recognize the blonde next to Sydney or the kid. I’m just looking at the low-res version on this site. Does the 2x version on Patreon show them off better?
The person standing next to Sydney in this page is Dabbler. I don’t think you’re commenting on the right page.
I don’t think you are looking at the right panel xD
Fairly sure the blond next to Ren is Math, no idea about the one between Math and Sydney (and yeah, had to look at the page again to spot those extras in panel six)
I hope that they have given him properly stretchy trousers this time!
All he wants is a decent pair of pants.
Guess the metal arm from when he regenerated was a temporary thing?
I’m hyped for this sparring match though, if it plays out. Will be fun to see how Detla handles this.
Surprised it hasn’t been mentioned, but I’m intrigued that Detla’s swarm sword can also bend into a staff. Arbitrary reconfigurations of the same weapon offers a lot of possibilities to a fighter, limited mainly by the user’s creativity and expertise.
Hmmmmm…. if V is not too pumped up, maybe reconfiguring it into cuffs might be a smart move.
Anything to slow him down so Detla can tickle him into submission!
Honestly, I don’t mind the black ink style at all. The hyper-detailed render images initially went out of comic-style and into uncanny-valley for me, and while your prowess with them has improved dramatically, I’d rather have black ink lined comics and an artist at the top of his game over hyper-detailed pages and an overworked artist.
Save the render style for epic scenes like final combat finishers or uber-dramatic reveals (spaceship descending on Arc-HQ, for instance), that way the contrast makes for extra emphasis.
It’s already been mentioned a ton in the comments but I VASTLY prefer this art style to the one you’ve been doing recently. I know a bunch of internet comments aren’t going to sway your art and what you do with it, but I hope you stick with this personally, especially as it’s quicker for you.
I’m actually like this style too – better than the early days, but the extra zhuzh over the last couple months doesn’t do anything for me. I’d way rather dial back the diminishing returns on the art and get more content each month – main storyline, side stories, character art, whatever.
I too don’t want to presume that forum comments will drive Dave’s artistic/business decisions, but given the general sentiment here I’d sure be interested to see the results of a Patreon user poll on art style vs increased content.
Want to say, I prefer the black ink lines, makes it feel more like a comic. Save yourself the time and effort.
Shouldn’t Sydney have a really big smile on her face, if there were already bedroom shenanigans to skip over?
I mean, I’d assume Dazzler would insist on providing a quality product, given the nature of succubi in this particular panverse.
Depends on which week this is
I’m a pretty big fan of the black line art being back. Also, I’m kind of hoping the next nudie will involve Sydney and Frix with a little of their *ahem* private moment.
I think I remember reading somewhere that Dave would never draw Sydney nude. Other characters, no problem. But only Sydney was off limits. Don’t remember if a reason was given
DaveB said at one point that he didn’t expect he would draw Sydney naked for the voting/Patreon incentives, as it didn’t suit with how the character would behave. This was before she met Frix, who has evidently been something of a relaxing influence.
DaveB…EXCUSE YOU? Whole grain mustard?? HORSERADISH!!
(A really spicy, eye-watering level wasabi mayo will suffice!)
If Delta joins ARC-Swat,would Max put her at the bottom of the ladder by assigning her to kitchen duty?
So … isn’t it just a bit risky to let this particular prisoner out for a sparring match?
Saw the TE2 update to the update. All good, brother. I still volunteer as tribute, and I’m glad to see Animus back in pages, again. ;-)
For the record, I wonder what it would be like to pull a Starlord with Nth tech. Y’know, a kid or young adult gets abducted, maybe even a new soldier. He gets experimented on and bonded with Nth tech (the not-nice way that Maxima and Halo got their Nth tech). Then he is used as a super weapon out in the greater galaxy, but eventually Cora & Co. end up facing or finding him and realizing he’s out of place. Could you imagine getting brought back to a world you no longer recognize and possibly don’t remember, with alien tech bonded to your body, and then having to reintegrate into the human species, if you’re even allowed to? …hmmm…I think I just thought up a new story. :-/
Correction: Vehemence, not Animus…although I like Animus better. ^_^
Arc-SWAT probably has precautions in place. One reason Kevin did so much damage the first time around was that the team was completely unprepared for him – they didn’t know his powers, or have any strategy in place to deal with him. They were basically stuck freestyling until Syd came up with a plan. This time around Dabs probably has much more effective non-lethal takedowns available, for one thing.
Another thing is, the amount of violence for Kevin to absorb is specifically limited here. One opponent in an isolated, partially enclosed area. No superbrawl for V to supercharge with means, even if he pounds Detla into paste, he’s not getting enough out of it to pose a serious threat.
Opportunity for a side joke. Kevin /vehemence powering down after this test. “Thanks for letting me out to see the sun as you promised Max. I’ll go back now.”
Sydney “Wait. Here I got you a present. It’s Grax eat it when you’re really stoned.”
Max “Is that the stuff you gave to…”
Sydney “What? There’s a lightshow involved…(under her breath) out of your ass. He might appreciate it.”
Max “How violent of a light show?”
Sydney “Back me up Dabbler. Grax…stoned…”
Dabbler “Sorry, I was thinking on how to help Kevin power down…this tickle laser might not be enough…and I was hoping he doesn’t count as an ARC Swat member even though he’s being helpful.” Nudges Sydney back. “Anyway, let Max try the Grax first. If she can handle it then Kevin can too.”
Sydney “How did Kevin power up so fast?”
Dabbler “Some paddlin’ afore we came here.”
Max “Huh. I assume that benefited both of you.”
Dabbler “I’ve been a bad girl, will you spank me too Max?”
Max ignores them and watches fight.
Sydney “Is she the only one here that hasn’t gotten laid recently?” /whisper to max
Dabbler “Max you should go on a date with Kevin.”
Max “He’s a prisoner…and if this goes on he’ll be a bit too big for any fun.”
Dabbler/Sydney “You know there’s this magic potion…”