Grrl Power Guest Comic – John Troutman
As I suspected, A-kon kept me very busy and I got almost no drawing done this weekend, but I did get a great commission done by Fred Perry of Gold Digger fame, which I’ll use as this month’s vote incentive (unless I manage to knock out one of my own in the next week or two) – Vote to see it here and comment on it here.
I also got to meet and chat with a few fans which was cool, I’ll have to organize something more… uh, organized next year since I didn’t have a table or anything at the con, but I did manage to co-opt a panel. I was standing in line for “Traditional and Digital Comicing Basics” and neither of the panelists showed up, so after offering to run down to the Artist’s Alley to see if I could find them, I mentioned that I did a comic, and the people in line where like “sure whatever” so I did some Q&A for about half an hour then of the scheduled panelists ran in out of breath and we finished out the panel.
The bad news is no regular comic this week, the good news is I have several guest submissions, so I’ll put up one on Wednesday and Friday as well. This one is from John Troutman who does the comic Mary Elizabeth’s Sock. As you can see it’s a spot on Silver Age treatment of the team, down to fat belts and Jack Kirby Space TextureTM. All I can add to it is that Cosmic Hitler better hope he dies of natural causes long before Maxima snaps out of his control.
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.
This guest comic inadvertently raises a good point: Max can perhaps be mind controlled. Hope the team doesn’t run into any powerful telepaths.
I come from the future bearing knowledge. Someone tell Max that in five years from now, she gets mind-controlled!
Now I’m wondering if the old guy in the scuba class is Sydney Sr.
I don’t know what to say about this but What?
Well, people wanting multiple updates every week will be happy to know that there’s going to be three updates this week. “YEAH!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLTZctTG6cE
A squirrel with ADHD –
I do belive that is how squirrl are born. Hence the expresion squirrly.
A virile young squirrel named Cyril
Fell in love with a beautiful girl.
He loved her the most
But was pipped at the post
By a churl of a squirl called Earl.
I want to see.
sidney squirrel :),,,,, will probably not be that much of a change for her i say :)
Is that supposed to be Harem? I thought it was Heatwave…
I think it is Heatwave also. DaveB must of put the wrong person on the who’s who page.
Like the new one’s about Arianna and Anvil.
It’s the freckles that show the difference, although the choker does seem a bit in-between (Harem’s design in Heatwave’s colours). Of course, the real distinguisher is the dialogue: Harem makes a reasonable point to close off Anvil’s realisation; Heatwave would probably come up with a funny non-sequitur that would be nowhere near as effective in the front cover splash. (But what would she say? Send your suggestions on a postcard to the usual address, and we’ll send a No-Prize to the author of the best one received by next week!)
The little pictures on the side that list present characters kinda give it away as Heatwave guys :)
Actually I thought it was Harem at first too. :P
Fortunately if it weren’t for the freckles I would have said Harem too.
Okay I just reviewed and now I’m not sure who number 3 is.
The top along with the red hair is what makes me think the lady on our right is Heatwave. So I was thinking “What could our resident fire-starter and the big powerhouse do to Mr. Villian-of-the-Issue when Max is under sway and Sydney is chewing on grapes?” Let’s see; Anvil and Max could be a physical match, because Cosmic Hitler does not know how to access all of Max’s power, but this gives Headweave a chance to move in a distract the bad guy. This breaks his control on Max and then all Hell breaks loose!
Because it appears that the teleporter is actually on the scene instead of the flame-brain, I guess she could zip behind the bad guy and distract him with a wet willy.
When Max shakes off that mind control, that bozo is SO dead.
That’s more or less what I meant by Hell breaking loose.
Yeah I wasn’t sure either. My first impression was that it was Heatwave, but the choker and freckles made me think it was Harem. I suppose it doesn’t matter all that much either way for the purposes of this cover.
She’s definitely wearing Heatwave’s chocker, not Harem’s.
Grapes? My take is that’s one of her orbs. No reason Sydney can’t save the day in squirrel form, is there?
You know what? I pity the fool who tries to mind control Sydney. Dear god that would be scary.
Forget mind controle, I pitty the poor fool who tries to read Sydney’s mind.
Mindreader: Oh! Stop the madness, PLEASE stop the madness. No more….. AAAAGH!
Sydney mad? as Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen once said “I’m not mad, just slightly annoyed”
ranma’s nabiki uses that to subdue a psycic that was messing with the dojo
or cyborg and BB in ravens mind though she tried to make it not so bad for them
Being ADD myself I can say that it would be like trying to make sense out of a 1000 channel cable box that randomly changes channels every few seconds. Not madness but input overload.
Yup, I know feeling, having Aspberger’s myself. I remember back in college tutoring three of my classmates in three different subjects at the same time. It got as little confusing for my students when one learning physics thought the calculus stuff was for her. A pretty fun hour overall, if I recall.
Asperger’s and ADHD here. I think I win.
Anyway, yeah, there was a Simpsons episode where Bart snuck onto a roller coaster despite not being “this tall.” The seat belt bar came down and locked behind him, and he had just enough time to say “well that ain’t good” before the coaster took off.
I imagine a telepath would have a similar feeling just after locking onto Sydney’s mind and just before the hilarity ensued…
all things considered, i think you’re using an odd value of ‘win’ there :P
potentially Extremely useful in some situations and highly problematic the rest of the time. (i mean, Aspergers Alone is like that, so the combination…..)
I’m more of a Schizotyple myself. Odd, eccentric and an artist/writer. And terrible with most people.
The ADHD is one of the symptoms of Aspberger’s. As a child in the 70’s, I was diagnosed as hyperactive. In the 80’s as a teenager, I had ADD/ADHD. In the 2000’s, I finally got the Aspberger’s Autism label. It does not change who I am, but helps me understand me a little better. Now to stop being distracted and actually get to work.
Moderate ADD here (very mild by Sydney standards). For me it’s more like the every movie’s impression of the “Papparazzi walk” where the star is trying to navigate the sidewalk while every .05 seconds a flashbulb goes off from a different direction, overwhelming the view, except instead of a sidewalk, it’s an obstacle course…
For me it’s like shopping for cans of soup — when you don’t have a basket.
I always see my ADD as a game of Russian Roulette where all the guns are loaded. You don’t know if your going to die or if you’ll huddling in the corner trying to wash with bleach.
Yeah, why do i get the feeling that a squirrellfied Sydney is probably worse than the original, Cosmic Hitlers gunna get a nutt-wooping of squirrel-foo!
I’m in agreement.
She’s holding the tentacle orb an grinning. This cannot bode well for Cosmic Hitler.
Why does Cosmic Hitler have a dildo on his hat?
Looks like a cross between a Yamaka and a bishop’s Mitre…
Nope, it’s cause stinkin Nazis don’t deserve any better, though it should be repositioned a bit. Now we just need a picture showing Sydney (in squirrel form) blasting him to tiny, tiny, pieces with the PPO.
“With Sidney turned into a squirrel…” Oh, man, I wish this was a real story. And poor Arianna. Y’all just don’t realize how tough corporate counsel have it, especially in the more unusual organizations – although Kodiak bears… eh, it’s probably actually happened somewhere.
Andrianna should never have texted when she met that bear. Of course the bear should have never filed for bankruptcy.
The best part is that Maxima actually looks like a hippy!
And a link for those that don’t recall why that’s fantastic: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/370
Hay many moons ago I bought comic books with that look and that price. Though most of mine were in the 15 cent range so a brief burst of nostalgia. And interesting rendering of our heroines if they were in a different time and conception. Before the rise of the muscular female. Funny, Cosmic Hitler and with a strange looking tiara too. Like the frowning face on the arm band. I immediately thought of Captain America versus the Red Skull for the Cosmic Cube.
While the cover’s character style is more “Marvel”-ish, the Title-banner & the Checkered top-border are vintage DC-style…
…all-in-all, a little something for everyone!
It does look like an old comic cover, no muscles on women, one character could possibly be two different characters *I have issues where if they don’t have their signature costume, or are being done in civilian clothes that some characters would be hard to tell apart and the cover artist would sometimes mix them up, or even put somone on the cover with traits of two different characters just so they could say; why yes that could be…or…., and the villain is WWII based. Man you know how many villains from that era comic writers can’t even use anymore (Red Skull and Zemo are amongst the rare ones still in use; Mandarin too *but that was a bit later*).
Mandarin is the villain of Iron Man 3.
He better be, after all that ten rings stuff in the first movie I’ve been waiting for him. Got people online talking about Iron-Patriot, but considering that is Norman Osborn…not sure how the movie liscense works when one character in two different costumes ties to either Spider-man (Sony) or Avengers (in-house Marvel).
The word is that the guy in the Iron Patriot suit is not Norman, but is a known character from the comics, not sure how it works but that is the word.
It’s definitely a disadvantage that my characters don’t wear distinct outfits like superheros usually do, I mean, marketing and branding wise – and it was an oversight on my part to make vanilla Harem and Heatwave so similar in appearance. Really Harem should have something that makes her easy to identify no matter how she’s dressed, but the only thing I can think of (besides the chokers) is differently colored eyes, but Dabbler’s already got that going on. Something like a scar they all share wouldn’t make sense unless it was self inflicted.
But I see your point, the mixed up character elements (though unintentional according to John) is definitely a callback to an era when the editorial process was much more lax because comics were really just pulp entertainment. Good enough was good enough.
Well maybe a childhood accident before her powers manifested. It would be faded but still there.
You could give them battle uniforms except for Maxima to wear into battle. Body suits in their colors.
going to add just noticed the Kirby crackles, classic cosmic stuff (was kind of jaunting to see classic cosmic look in the Avengers movie given how “accurate” movies tend to be these days with outerspace depictions; but welcomed). That top boarder is reminding me of something, maybe Archie comics, but definetly a cheaper comic; maybe even a Fast Food promo comic.
Of course to be a real 70s era comic the story would have to have little or nothing to do with the cover.
Considering what happens to common muggers when they attack Sydney, Maxima isn’t the person Cosmic Hitler has to worry about most.
I pity him more when Sydney is transformed back to normal…
Sydneys a squirl so she obviously try to get some nuts and bury them….
Where oh where can she get some nuts?….
I see a Crumb influence here and in Mary Elizabeth’s Sock.
Oh noes! First KopyKraut and now Cosmic Hitler! It’s a Boss Fight!
For the record, I have no trouble telling the diff between Harem and Heatwave with Dave’s artwork, anyway.
This one… Yeah. Looks like Heatwave… but… *shrugs*
Sydney Squirrel is super-cute!
One of the costumed villains used on “Venture Bros.” was She-Hitler. Yep just as you see her in your mind. In a recent Spinnerette there are some Neo-Nazis battling a Confederate Women who practices Voo-Doo as a bokor. She is lily white and they had a falling out.
Not to be “that guy” but the character on Venture Brothers is “Girl Hitler”.
Yes I only saw the character once years ago. I was close wasn’t I?
Forgot to mention Sydney the cute pudgy squirrel.
I’m one of the fans DaveB saw at the con.
I had a great deal of fun with that. We talked about the creative process, Sydney, Maxima, good writing, and Dave’s plans for next year’s A-KON. Perhaps more people will go to see him.
Pickle flavoured cough syrup what?
Sounds like you had a good time, and this is a rather entertaining pic. Its rather scary thinking Sydney is probably even more hyperactive in squirrel mode though.
On a related note, as I look at this, you’ve reached No.1 on the TWC list. Congratulations!
You guys are crazy, thanks for all the votes!
crazy? us? what ever gave you that idea?,
we’re sane, it’s the rest of the world that’s crazy
This looks like a job for Q!
DaveB, have yo thought of doing a side strip in chibi-form for the Grrls? Basically an offshoot of silliness to act as a filler after you get that week’s comic done? It could move story along, explain things, be chibi-silli etc… I kinda miss the border comics you came up with earlier .. a lot.
This way you could feature a “What is XXXXXX doing this week?” bit of chibi-fun that you really don’t have to color and allow readers to learn what’s going on in the world at large as well as with other characters of Grrl Comic… Hey, you could even do a teaser chibi fest… “This week, Dabbler and Harem Shower…” — then have each covered in suds in a separate shower of show a room full of steam and then the two wrapped in towels… and then dabbler could suddenly realize that the readers (yeah break 4rth wall– she’s a magical telepath neh?) wanted to see the both of them showering together… and harem can just go “Oh! I feel dirty all of a sudden…” end panel towels cover panel and cut … leave readers hanging. (Grin, evil type #73)
That or just more of the silliness we all come to enjoy and look forward to. Heck it could even become a second webcomic for you to do in parallel with this one… “Super Deformed Grrl Power Chibi Fest!” (yeah it’s redundant, but how many folks know the origin of chibi?)
Then again, this just might be more work for you… only do it if it’s fun and easy enough to do that you can do it along with main comic.
B
Yeah I like doing the bumper comics when there’s something appropriate to put there and I have time to add them. I’d love to do more of anything for the comic, and obviously that includes more of the actual comic.
mmm,, purple orb,, aint that the forcefeild orb..,, thus maybe sidney will jump up on max’s back,, and activate the orb as she gnaw on it,, blocking Comic,, oops thats cosmic hitler’s control on her,, and then old school WHAM BAM panels like in the oldbatman tv show and we see him groaning in the middle of a crater as max crush the golden thing in her hand turning sidney back to normal
Sydney turned into a squirrel? Wouldn’t this cause her to become even more “How they hell did you beat Galactus” powerful than Squirrelgirl from the Great Lakes Avengers/Initiative?
ok list of items for tshirts from comic
1 always expect ninjas
2 is murder still illegal
3 unleash the filthy kraken
4 butterfly farts from mothra
5 unconventional judo
6 you’re on the list
7 my savory essence will attract the raptors
8 in case of direct sunlight – “stop drop and roll”
9 jedis in the house say whaaaat
10 “Space Lama: We welcome his expectoratory emminence”
11
It’s ferret balls…
…
*takes out scouter*
ARE OVER 9000!
*looks around*
12 (choose one from list or make a list shirt w/ image harem injury cascade)
Massively parallel wedgie!
Super Wedgie of Death!!!!
Pain chain-reaction
Hyper Combo Finish!
flawless victory haremality
13 multi-dimentional rube goldberg attack
14 “please make this girl stop cursing: I feel like I’m playing Diablo with the censor button”
15 hyperactivity: negates initiative bonus due to surprise.
16 Spit Take soda. we bet you can’t drink the whole thing…
17 ‘Top Ten Things I Said When I got Superpowers’
#1: “So when do I get my Goddamn D-Cups already?!?”
#2 I’m NOT wearing a g-string over spandex!
#3. yah it’s pritty but whats the point guys?
#4 wearing drinking Mothra nun-scaring Jubilex effluvia …
#5 Always Expect Ninjas!
# 6 – Hey my eyes are up here!!!
#7 Hey my boobs are down there! :P
# 8. No @#$!$%ing way am I wearing a *&%)*$% on a puddel !#%$@# knocking, cape!!!!
#9 Do not grab there if you don’t want me to drop you while flying you to safety!
#10: “The superwoman exists, and she’s American”
18 1.) Chihuahua level=Taco Bell (of course)
2.) Bear level= Favorite Big Burger (Hardee’s Six Dollar is mine)
3.) Godzilla level=All you can eat buffet and steak
4.) FUS RO DAH=Viking feast (whole roasted cows bread by the loaf etc.)
19 TRANSCENDED INSANITY!!!
20 Flask: “That’s all I know! I swear to God!”
Batman: “Swear to me!”
-*-*-*-
Flask: “That’s all I know! I swear to God!”
Sydney: “Swear by Grabthar’s Hammer!”
21 Repent quote needs to go on a T-shirt along with the pretzel bending of mugger
22 top five/8 or fifteen list of best quotes and curses for the lass w/”Oh the Humanity!” at the top as a title
23 : Five small outlines of Sydney going psycho-jutsu on someone or something…on back w/ ratings and maybe small blurb,
say… “Tongue-fu Jutsu face slam!” Ten Points!
The front can caption “Oh the Humanity! Oh the Laughs!” under that have Grrl Power in smaller letters.”
24 Its Schrodinger’s Shielded Tube of Quantum Uncertainty. Basically the cat is nekkid and doesn’t want to be looked at.
25 gwen scan frame
26 serious sydney gp 82 frames 7-10
27 syd’s royal kid frame
28 syd’s logan wedding image
29 What is this ‘sanity’ you speak of? Does it go well with cabbage?
30 thers’s going to be so much whisking you’ll think this is the cooking channel! they’re totally sweet! (syd pointing
at tube front image) reveal back image.
31 the harvest begins
32 does your mystical artifacts have a power-save sleep mode? They are Energy Star Compliant!
33 Since the balls are tethered to her, I think that this means Sydney is the only person in the world physically
incapable of insanity, or “losing her marbles” as some would call it. she doesn’t suffer from insanity, she causes it.
34 I always knew Sydney had enough balls to be a super hero… (reveal image) or reveal no text
35 WTF man WHAT IS HALO DOING WITH MY MARBLES
36 (max)I used to be sort of a nerd. (syd)you! say. that. with. pride!
37 syd flight – WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
38 Nerd Pride!
39 With Great power comes great messing around (Wheeee!)
40 this one makes a… pseudopod yentacle thingy. insert “I’ve seen enough hentai” joke here.
41 Badger Reaper
42 Escher’s Staircase has nothing on Syd’s brain.
43 paybacks a bitch, and her name is Miximilia Leander? with a picture of Maxima.
44 “PHYSICS?!? BITCH I’M A SUPERHERO!”
45 Syd puts on her new uniform for the first time:
“You know what’s the difference between you and me?” (To Max of course, wo doesn’t really get it.)
“I make this look good.” (Hastily pulls up force-field)
any others humans think should join this list?
and please do give a vote to remove if you don’t think a item would work
please don’t crash net connect this submission please
I think I counted five that were mine.
I believe that #3 is “unleash the filth kraken.”
This reminds me, the art for Dabbler’s picture on the cast page info popup needs to be updated (it has her old character design).
I’m a huge fan of your comic dave! Seriously i’m 350lb and 6ft 3in lolol
Have you ever thought of going to Tsubasacon in Huntington, WV?
I’ve actually never been to a con other than A-kon, it’s 20 minutes down the street from me. Eventually I’ll start going to others though. I’ll need to make a list of all the good ones.
That 20 minute drive is gonna be longer next year man. We be moving to the Hilton Anatole for A-kon 24.
On a side note maybe you passed me at some point on Saturday. I was wandering the con as Hidari Shotaro that day, complete with Double Driver.
Actually it’ll be shorter for me as I’m coming from north of Dallas. I won’t have to actually drive in Dallas to get to it. Just shoot down 35 and done.
Wait, so Cosmic Hitler turned Sydney into Squirrel Girl?
Bahahahaa, he just signed his own punishment!
I guess the powers that Cosmic Hitler has is literally god like. Transmutation being one of them. Like the Silver Surfer’s “power cosmic.”
Could I get an avatar of Sydney from this page?
Oops I should say please and thank you.
Here you go, this ought to work:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/squydney.jpg
Yay thanks.
Cosmic Hitler is an idiot. Squirrels love nuts. Sydney would be worshiped. Squirrel army sounds useless, but any more EGS references and one of them will turn out to be Grace Sciuridae.
Turned Sydney into a squirrel? Is there really a difference? Other than the fur and tail that is…
I.
Love.
The Silver Age.
NOT COSMIC HITLER!!!!!
So is this a retcon of Squirrel Girl’s origin story?
The unfocusable squirrel girl.