Grrl Power #988 – It’s like herding horny demons
Meet Dexon, who has been languishing in the cameo cue for quite a while. Sometimes the character designs are hard to just slip into the comic and have them make sense. I probably could have stuck him in the background of the Twilight Council stuff, but I like the cameos to have more robust parts. So, instead, he gets stuck wrangling a giant warmongering demon. I imagine the benefits package is pretty good though. I mean, there are probably plenty of demons in Thoth’s army that are in it for the skull cracking, but still, you gotta take care of your people, and you’ll get a better quality of people if you provide good dental. Or… hornal. Whatever demons call horn care.
Tamer: Enhancer 2 – Progress Update:
Editing continues.
Also Far Cry 6, if I’m honest. I know, you’re like “Dave, weren’t you playing AC:Valhalla last we heard?” And yes, that was the case. Look, I have a type. I also bought Middle Earth: Shadows of War since Steam had it on sale along with all the expansion packs for like $11, and they removed the very grubby DLC store that got the game raked over the coals when it came out. So in the last month I’ve installed about 200GB of “climb a thing, look around, kill a guy, steal a horse, upgrade some gear” games. Still, I have to balance game time with comic and writing time, so I’m really only playing a few hours a week.
If you want my review of FC6; “It’s Far Cry 3.” Obviously the graphics are in line with current hardware, and you can get animal sidekicks, but the sidekicks can’t ride in any vehicles you steal, so I’m super bummed about that. If anything, FC6 makes me really wish that Far Cry 7 would take place on an alien world. Like, keep all the same gameplay mechanics, just have it take place on a new colony on some alien planet with weird flora and fauna, and there are aliens living among the humans. Maybe throw in some faction stuff, like human purists vs everyone, space carnivores vs space vegans, etc, and you have to run missions for the “space dwarves” race to earn favor and work your way up a tech tree of cool alien weapons, instead of 9 versions of MP5’s or whatever. Maybe make it slightly Metriodvania so you have to get the low-grav boots to go into the swamp, or the lidar goggles to explore the giant alien termite tunnels. Stuff like that. Just anything other than “Overthrow tiny island despot.” At least I assume there’s a despot in FC6. Fortunately you can skip nearly all of the cutscenes, and I just don’t care. Yeah, he’s bad. Let me shoot stuff and upgrade my pants.
I do hope to have the book’s first editing pass done in… a week? (And then I send it to a few people to get different eyes on it so it’s not riddled with typos. At least that gives me time to work on a cover.)
October’s vote incentive is up! This is a redraw of a comic I did in 2011 I think, but never published. I had originally pictured the comic going through an establishment phase, and then taking occasional breaks from the storylines for little one-off moments like these. Which I guess I could still do. I just got wrapped up in the story telling and forgot.
So Dabbler and Sydney are up late one evening on night watch but Dabbler has just discovered Cinemax…
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Power Point presentations and everything!
Them’s fighting words…there is no evil as great as power point presentations.
Seconded
They ARE demons…
Memos
OMG, you are triggering flashbacks to my military days. So many death by powerpoint lessons, including powerpoint lessons on how to make powerpoint lessons.
Apparently, an American General once asked a Russian post-USSR General
“What do yo think would have happened if we had gone to war?”
and the Russian General answered
“We would have killed you all while your were preparing your PowerPoint presentations”..
nothing is real without a PowerPoint. truly Microsoft has much to answer for.
because it needs to be done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvgfmEU2Ck
I love characters like this, at least when not over-saturated with them. Reminds me of Iron Man when Pepper comes in as Stark’s trying to get his armor off after his battle and she’s like ‘okay did not see this coming.’
I think both that scene and this one are probably worthy of the line “Let’s face it, this is not the worst thing you’ve caught me doing “…
https://youtu.be/wyJC8oqSqeI
Most people who know Dabbler know that for her things ether always start or end with sex. Its honestly a little predictable at this point, and that everyone should see coming. Or at least expect it.
When you have a hammer your problems look like nails.
She doesn’t always get her way, but if she did, that would probably be true
And anyone who hadn’t seen Dabbler coming before today…
… that would be an inclusive or, I take it.
Dexton is clearly very proud of the work he put in to the slideshow, so I think it’s only fair to give it a watch.
Middle managment can be a thankless job.
After all, there are still reports to be written & filed for upper management to do.
It’s sort of like going to the bathroom: The job is not done until the paperwork is finished.
Now it’s just waiting for Deus to hire Dexon for hoe PowerPoint skills
Hoe = his
Dexon is loyal, he doesn’t just hoe himself out like that.
Or Deus making a much better presentation to convice them that he’s much better suited to rule hell than the current rulers.
And somehow getting away with it to instate them to continue ruling, but paying rent for hell to Deus and giving quarterly updates on health and safety of all residents.
Deus may be good with presentations, but he lacks in technical PPT skills
He has peeps for that. Possibly soon Dexon. Extended PPT presentations ARE diabolical.
Yes, I definitely think that Deus should hire demons to make PowerPoint presentations. It would be in character for him.
“I only want to reform Hell into a more beneficial society. Is that really so wrong?” (insert maniacal laugher)
Cornal.
A good example of the “Distracted by the Sexy” trope?
I… I kinda want to see, erm, NSFW of Thothogoth. Is there any? (Am I weird for this?)
If you’re weird, I can at least say you’re not alone.
Thirded
The correct term would be Bovicare
More likely cornucare or ungulacare.
Ungulant refers to a digestive process, not skullware.
Ungulates are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, camels, sheep, deer, and hippopotamuses.
The term means, roughly, “being hoofed” or “hoofed animal”.
While most Ungulates have multi-chambered stomachs, the term you’re thinking of is RUMINANT.
As for horn care, either artiodactylcare or bovinecare as those families have true horns.
Yes, you’re quite right. Ruminant != ungulant.
I think that Pointycare Ins. would cover that.
For the mote stylish a local Horns, Hooves and Carnivores will do
So what is the odds that Tommy boy used his right horn as a bottle opener as a party trick in high school?
Both horns, at the same time
Minion who knows powerpoint? Deus will be SO ready to hire him.
And he is also a bishonen who bares his abs. Deus PR people will love him.
The Harem in Deus’ office is alreary planning on sleeping with him.
She, already has!!!
I think they mean Harem plans on sleeping with Dexon, Not Deus.
Star wipes are so lazy use a cross fade its less flashy which is the point
(Out of bordom and limited photo shop acess in HS i got really good at power point
Blorp
You can tell they’re demonic, they use PowerPoint! That thing just oozes chaos and evil.
You soooooo missed the opportunity to have Tom say ‘A lot came up since I came through the portal’
(With Dabbler in tiny font muttering in the background that she is /not/ a portal)
I totally agree. I’m making that part of my “Official” head canon!
You think she has something against objectification? Maybe afterwards it rubs her the wrong way? Don’t get me wrong objectification isn’t for everyone, but I would think Dabbler wouldn’t want to turn away a prospect because they wanted to objectify her or one of her orifices…
Actually I kind of want to add Dabbler’s toe at the bottom of panel 7 with her saying “That’s what he said!” or something. But the bubbles would read out of order.
I believe the proper term for a horn-care specialist would be a cornist.
Looks like Thothogoth is normal human size,easy for Maxima to handle…!
He seemed pretty easy for Maxima to handle in giant mode too.
Also easy for Dabbler to handle. But I think it’s safe to assume that Tom know other magic than size manipulation. Perhaps he can use his power and concentration on other spells while at normal size.
I like this new guy.
It’s queue, not cue.
Interestingly those words have common etymology.
it’s quite possible both those words got stuck in the same line.
At first I thought dabbler was halfway between a hoof and human foot. The hoof kinda merge with the stone wall.
cue – point
queue – line
Dexon, is Kaiwii!
Who is that on the cliff edge, Kevin Or Achilles!
Max
It’s Max.
It’s Maxima, as you can tell from the gold skin and purple hair.
First of all I love the toe wave, very nice touch. Second we’re back at number one on TWC, good job.
To be fair…
*gratuitous Letterkenny ref*
…we should at least let them make their pitch. I would like to see a “transcendent” slideshow.
Only the transitions are transcendent. The content is diabolical. And there is a huge discount for the first year of a two thousand year lock-in contract.
All our governments suck anyway. All hail demon overboard!
Here. Made this for you.
https://i.postimg.cc/T1WDBZQJ/5qhewj.jpg
Whoever claims demons are all about chaos have never seen the organizational slideshow.
In Panel 6, wouldn’t Dexon know her as Xuriel? I thought Dabbler was her earthbound name.
In Panels 3 & 4 I’m guessing that’s Tom’s tail waving back and forth? Took me a few moments to figure it out, but you can see a bit of it in Panel 7.
I think it’s that Xuriel is her actual name, and Dabbler is her nickname (because she dabbles in so many things). So her friends call her Dabbler when being casual. Which probably means Dexon is one of her friends.
I will argue that Far Cry Blood Dragon is the superior style of Far Cry. Putting Ubisoft “Climb A Thing” game play into 80s genre Sci-Fi over the top camp is ideal.
A Far Cry Blood Dragon: Virtues of Venus, could use even older 50s and 60s Sci-fi takes of Venus. As an alien Swamp world. Or even take it out solar system Far Cry Blood Dragon: Alpacas of Alpha Centauri, set in the triple star cluster of the Centauri stars with a bit of Flash Gordon flare.
Forget UbiSoft, I want to make those games myself.
Head canon says Dixon is an incubus, and will appear in any HQ background scenes that occur early in the morning, always with a different partner.
Also easts popcorn in the background while watching obstacle course drills.
Fairly sure Dabbles said there were no Incubus
She did, which I am sad about.
Um, why? You have an omnisexual being who’s capable of shapeshift. So it sounds to me like there are as many males as there are succubi who want to be male on a given evening.
If you care a lot about whether your boyfriend turn femme when they’re asleep and their concentration drops, I’m sure at least a few have learnt a more advanced version of shapeshift and can remain male indefinitely.
And as for whether or not some would want to be male on a given evening, back up to the part about “omnisexual.” There’s just about nothing that a succubus isn’t into if there’s a partner who’s so much into it that it stirs up the ol’ Tantric Energy.
Where was it revealed that Dabbles can shapeshift? She can cast an illusion to appear as you wildest female fantasy, but she doesn’t change her shape (remember when Maxi got an invisible groping from a disguised Dabbles?)
Oh, come on. As if they’d use PowerPoint. They probably use actual photograhic slides and there’s probably one that’s been loaded into the projector the wrong way up, or that’s inappropriate for an invasion pitch.
Also, their slides are probably animated and that one with the tentacles that really look like they’re dragging that guy into the frame with them really are dragging that guy into the frame with them.
Sooo, was the pact between Dabbler and Tom that she would locate a world for him to conquer? Did she come to Earth as a harbinger of doom and decide that she liked it here?
I’m still going with “Date for High School Reunion”
There are a fair number of democracies on this world, so they could look at establishing a political party if they think they’re that convincing. :p
Heck, they’d have a decent chance of WINNING elections in several countries – if they could get past the citizenship thing – get awarded citizenship or something.
Tom: “Vote for me because my opponent is a politician and I’m not!”
Opponent: “But he is a literal demon whose platform is to turn our country into a demonic hellscape”
Some Voters: “Eh, let’s give it a try”
I mean… if the Natural Environment Research Council’s experiences with the RRS Sir David Attenborough demonstrate anything, I’d say “Many Voters”
Any chance that a scene similar to this – minus the super element – may have happened at a workplace near you?
wait he tired out Dabbler?
Sure, why not :)
Dabbler just had not a three course but extremely filling many course meal. She needs some time to digest (and to bask in the afterglow, that’s a priority too)
Why do you think that?
Is there something I’m missing that indicates that she’s particularly tired?
Dexon said Dabbler looked “languid”. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/languid
I… missed that. Thanks
If Dexon would have a voice actor, I’m thinking David Spade would work. :)
Here’s the question: what would have been their actual strategy? Because if they were planning on pushing for democratic elections and letting the people of the world put it to a vote, then Maxima would be forced to confront the truth of what Deus told her: that her job is to preserve the status quo.
Fairly sure Maxi knows that, but it doesn’t change anything: her job is to enforce the rules and laws of the unUnited States of America
And right now, they are on U.S. “Sovereign” land without citizenship, passports or any official status that permits them to be there.
I’m thinking it was just conquest through brute force. We’re going to get a wave of just dumb extra-terrestrial (and -dimensional?) criminals/warlords/etc charging straight at Earth for a bit, while the smart ones take the time to do some research, planning, and prep.
Slideshow presentations. Truly they are unfathomably evil.
If the presentations have no depth, they are by definition unfathomable.
…. obviously the presentations need to be in 3d.
Well played, Reltzik. Well played indeed.
Hehehe…. If he left the portal open, then Maxima can fire her ‘f*ck everything in that general direction’ attack into it.
Nice powerpoints mean nothing in the face of thermonuclear armageddon.
Proper etiquette for superheroes facing demonic invasions is to not go for the instant overkill.
They should obviously open with Halo’s kaiju killer before launching the global extinction level event ;)
That would be a bad time to find out Maxi is not the most powerful in the Galaxy, and she just pissed off ones who are
Kinda like when the US launched that nuclear attack on the Dome-heads in “Mars Attacks”, and they used it to get high
to be fare a nuclear bomb would be a joke of a weapon against any interstellar or interdimensional capable species’ space craft.
if they have for instance shielding to survive being close a sun to collect energy or impact matter going at near light speed *annihilation resulting in nuke like explosions*, the possible hazards of sub-space, ect…
to be a little more precise a nuke is a city killer. However it is also an omnidirectional blast, you can still sometimes have structures standing after words, archways, the random wall, bits of sidewalk, ect… the amount of force on any given point isn’t much greater than a regular missile strike at that singular point, its just like launching millions of missiles in all directions hitting everything for at once.
Against a descent forcefield around a ship this dispersed energy wave could be less effective than a concentrated kinetic beam at a single point in the shield.
add that the heat and radiation aren’t likely to get through most advanced space craft hulls.
heck I determined that most fae and ethereal beings, even sub-ascended varieties should be immune to nuclear blasts.
*cannot be touched unless they want to be: thus immune to kinetic force, thus not harmed by the shockwave.
*can live in fire, volcanoes, walk on lightning ect.. thus the heat of the blast does nothing.
*they do not have regular or any recognizable biology, thus the radiation has no cells to denature and kill in the, so radiation is not a problem.
so yeah, nuke any ethereals and you just piss them off.
A nuclear bomb would have far less impact on an interstellar capable vessel, if it was properly prepared, but the means of propulsion (or effective translation) greatly affects how much stellar or interstellar matter it would be exposed to.
The method of travel they use in Children of the Mind, or perhaps more popularly, the Heart of Gold in HHGTTG, move nearly instantly without having to touch the intervening space, yet they move interstellar distances. The Heart of Gold might shrug off a nuclear explosion, but in Children of the Mind, it’s little more than a box with a door. A particularly strong wind, carrying something like a tree, might demolish it.
If there is actually a way to bend space around an object (like is thought to be done with warp bubbles) then a ship travelling would only have to fight decompression and stellar wind – granted not papier mâché, but would still be nothing to a nuclear explosion.
Even quite a few battle hardened ships would be quite damaged if someone teleported a nuke to within a few inches of the hull – that’s the method used in many an “under dog” type story, where an advanced and aggressive society is threatening a far less advanced one and gets overconfident, with shields and big guns, but then the less advanced society has a single fighter get through the lines and set off a bomb in just the wrong place.
A shield used to fend of interstellar mass for high speed travel through normal, unbent, space might not be on at the right time, and might leave the ship largely susceptible
As far as pissing off ethereals, if they’re unfazed by an attack, why would they be pissed off?
Ethereals , because you thought you could and tried.
But yeah ship types and how space is bent may also be a factor.
I always thought it would be a good plot device for a book or series to have a Faster-Than-Light drive that had to be psychically powered by the presence on board of one or more talented artists creating a Great piece of art. So, the fiction author writing a book might get you a couple of light years – if it’s a really good book, maybe a few dozen light years. That’s something that takes some writers a couple of months and others ten years. But then if they get writers’ block halfway through the voyage, you’re stuck.
Of course, you’ll always have freaks like Jackson Pollack, who once in a great while somehow create something so incredible that the process powers some ship a hundred light years but then nobody can figure out why it’s supposed to be so great, and for years and years and years afterward he can’t get inspired and produces nothing but crap and they’re stuck out there…..
the big problem I have with the nuke being this saves the day weapon in so many sci-fi shows and movies and especially older movies where aliens fear and/or want the secret of nuke *a tad more excusable in like 1950s sci-fi which all about symbolism and “red scare” than trying to portray a “realistic” scenario.
is this: it imagines a universe where no other advanced species ever developed the same weapon or technology. and that these space faring species haven’t had many times longer to develop more concentrated versions of it, more efficient uses for it, and developed more defenses against it over that time. That you wouldn’t have better metals, shields specifically for deflecting and safely dispersing the shockwave, radiation, and heat over them; possibly even absorbing them (especially if the same ships are thought to fly close to suns to refuel on plasma), among other defenses and advanced uses.
the nuke is not a Holy Grail of technology, is the equivalent of a pile of gunpowder having a match thrown on it, sure you can compress it, make a better wick, blasting caps, timers, ect…but they will never a gun, a cannon, a missile, or fireworks even, until you get more creative than “make go boom”. (yes I am aware there is more to it in a nuclear device than that, but comparatively speaking here), all it comes down to “make go boom” just bigger booms, less fall out, ect… when you encounter species that developed that same technology centuries, millennia, or much longer, ages ago. Yes you may still kill them if they don’t see if coming, but it is still bringing your iron spears to fight a warship out at sea with guided missiles and ship to shore cannons while insisting all you need to do is the ever simple task of rowing out to the ship and poking the captain with your stick…sure if everything stupidly and irrationally worked out in your favor you could do that, but realistically…its not happening.
Don’t believe it was that ‘aliens’ feared the nuke, it was simply the nuke was (still is) Mankind’s ‘Greatest Weapon’, emphasis on ‘weapon’
But that’s only because mankind doesn’t have Cee-Sabots™. Or a delivery vessel.
they were red scare movies where aliens were a stand in for Russians, Chinese, and anyone else “Not America”. But it gets comically dumb how often you’d see the anti-nuke movies where the aliens were listed as the good guys yet were all about telling mankind to disable their nukes or else the aliens would invade and destroy mankind….yeah there are some disturbing real world parallels there with a more powerful nation insisting a less advanced one disable their weapons or else be invaded “in the name of peace”.
The minute mankind develops a ship bigger than a VW beetle and capable of a significant fraction of lightspeed, that ship is mankind’s greatest weapon. Because that’ll do WAY more damage than a nuke.
In fact, even if we have no intention of using it as a weapon, the strategic considerations of anyone deciding whether we can be trusted will have to take it into account as a weapon because it *could* be used as one.
Nukes they don’t need to care about. If you’re capable of delivering nukes to their world, then the delivery system is a far more dangerous weapon than the nuke. It’s as irrelevant as if the pilot of the Enola Gay had tossed a molotov cocktail out the window just after opening the bomb bay.
Better ban all forms of transport because they can, and have, be used as weapons
Or people can stop being fucking morons for one second…
Well, that’s never going to happen. Well, it will, but only because all of humanity will have ceased to exist, possibly as a result of their own moronic behavior.
Are you reminding me of Larry Niven? Where the ship’s drive is equally effective as a weapon?
You only need Newton Laws to PROVE that any ship’s drive can be used as weapon. The only thing you need to turn ship into weapon is to NOT SLOW DOWN.
“the big problem I have with the nuke being this saves the day weapon […] is this: it imagines a universe where no other advanced species ever developed the same weapon or technology. and that these space faring species haven’t had many times longer to develop […] defenses against it over that time.” – Rhuen
That’s how it’s used in some cases, but in others it’s successful precisely because everyone else has moved beyond it. They’re all concentrating on defending against the threats of their own technological generation, and either overlook or deliberately trade down their defence against our relatively unsophisticated level of technology.
For instance, their ‘nominal’ scenario may assume a long-distance engagement using overwhelmingly powerful beam weapons. For this, it would make sense to mount minimal physical armour to reduce weight and improve dodging agility – anything strong enough to take even one hit would be unwieldy enough to be a sitting target. That works fine right up until someone gets a bomb into contact with the hull, be that through a tank run or a wave of torpedoes.
Consider a soldier of our time put up against one of 14th century Europe. In the open field with room to sight a rifle, the 21st century has the advantage. But once the ammunition runs out, or if the 14th century can get into melée range, the advantage swings the other way (even setting aside any differences in the quality and/or emphasis of training). The armour of the 21st is focused on resisting the fairly blunt impacts of bullets, and in trade-off is generally less capable against a stab or cut – especially if that can be aimed at a joint rather than centre-mass – whereas the armour of the 14th is designed to defeat bladed weapons.
the warship and airplanes scenario. Expanded upon with long range missile strike capabilities. Part of the issue here however is also relative forces. If a species decides to invade Earth and does any amount of research before hand; especially if they have any technology with plasma fuel, solar corona absorption, near light speed collisions, and such tech they should come a tad more prepared and have the capacity to brush off human weapons of any kind.
the whole the Asgard from Stargate never thought to use projectile weapons to fight the replicators is fine *if not a complete rip-off of the weakness in Star Trek’s Borg*, if it is an early encounter and they got ahead of themselves. Sure there might be some species that are a tad egotistical and use worm holes and such so don’t bother with any real intel and get blindsided by tech they didn’t think of; but anything going through space and bothers to use tactics to invade should be a tad more prepared and not be a cosmic case of Leroy Jenkins.
“Whatever demons call horn care.”
In this case, I think they call horn care “Dabbler”.
Welp. Comic just passed the reverse Bechdel Test.
(Tho it had admittedly already passed on page 769)
Arguably it doesn’t pass it here, as Dexon’s asking about whether this is an invasion (NOT a conversation about a woman) or a booty call (a conversation at least partially about a woman.)
Passed on page 14, when Joel tells Brad to order off E-Bay. Also #58, when Achilles and Amorphous have an exchange about whether to remove their magical disguises, and briefly talk more about their disguises on #91…