Grrl Power #1162 – Almost famous
Some people have asked why Max went to a bar, basically a singles bar, if she doesn’t want to get hit on. Well, her lack of inexperience in this area means she also lacks creativity. And it’s not like she didn’t want to potentially start up a conversation with some civvy guy, but the sudden run on her compounded with her stressful week and a bad start to the evening didn’t help. She’s slowly starting to mellow.
I’m bad with faces. I might have mentioned this before, but if an actor puts a wig on, there’s a good chance I won’t recognize them. At least not right away. They’ll be familiar, but I’ll take me about 5 minutes to get it. My wife on the other hand could compete with IMDB. We were watching a clip of something black and white, and this 12 year old boy appeared on screen, and my wife immediately said, “I think that’s Ian McKellan.” And it was. I’ve never even seen the guy when he was younger than 55, but it didn’t slow down the wife for a second. I assume I’d be a better artist if that part of my brain was more swole, or however brains work.
All that is to say, Maxima’s disguise would be super effective on me. My wife might not even notice the color and specularity change before she recognized her. So her mileage disguised as “caucasian” would vary wildly. Anytime she goes out in public like this, she’s rolling the dice. Once it’s known that Maxima has a way to appear non-shiny, the chance of her getting away with this goes down.
The May vote incentive is finally up! Digit has some new and exciting tech to show off, as well as some other things, albeit inadvertently.
Variant outfits and lack thereof over at Patreon, as well as the semi-usual bonus incentive related comic.
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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.
Off topic but one of the on line ads I saw recently was a black credit card being held by a gold woman’s hand.
I couldn’t save the image because clicking on it opened the ad.
Anyone else see that?
It’s an Adobe stock image. Just Google it.
Sorry. It’s long.
https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1170343463/photo/abstract-gold-hand-sculpture-holding-credit-card-the-best-banking-offer-for-vip-customers-3d.jpg?s=612×612&w=0&k=20&c=LrCmbEqyh_akaCcRtP6qAjnEFGNqVs0m4k7oSlDkqfs=
Honestly, I might’ve posted this here before, I think in this arc even, but my whole view of Clark Kent was thrown by a Tumblr post I saw that pointed out that the secret to Superman’s secret identity is that he doesn’t have one. Everyone knows that if you knocked off Batman’s mask, or Lantern’s, or Flash’s, it’d be a disaster, but Kal? When he’s not doing his thing, he’s probably at the North Pole with a cute reporter or two. (Actually, I think this is all but explicitly said, frequently, in the comics, of “Diana Prince,” so I’m not really sure why it took until that post for it to hit me in his case.)
Of course, Maxima is sort of the same way. She’s Colonel Maxine Leander. Wikipedia can probably tell you what hospital she was born in. What exactly happened to her, that’s classified, probably an experimental drug, but THAT it happened, that’s obvious. “Harper” is just a woman who kind of looks and acts like her.
Actually, a few little derailment of my train of thought from this post (specifically the comment “with a cute reporter or two”) had me wondering, “what does Lana canonically do for money,” so I Googled it and got:
>Lana now lives in Metropolis with Supergirl, and is working as the editor of the Business section of the Daily Planet.
“Oh, a junior editor, that makes se- wait WHAT.”
(I haven’t been reading comics for a while, honestly.)
Colonel Maxima Leander.
Lieutenant Colonel Maximillia Leander.
I win!!!!!! :)
You receive +1 Internet, irredeemable wherever fine books are sold.
I was talking with my wife about this situation, and had a realization of an amusing scenario. Maxima could really learn a lot from my character Moriko.
Moriko likes men, and likes them *a lot*. And women. She’s not Dabbler levels of thirsty, and never kept a ‘stable’ like our space captain seems to have, but before she got hitched she enjoyed sampling lots of variety.
She also broke bones and dislocated several joints of a twerp who tried to grab her after she said no. Maxima would probably love to hear that story and wish she could get away with it so easily herself. (different sort of world, different rules)
And for all of that, Moriko is now settled in happily with a husband and wife. I think the wide range of experiences and perspectives would be good for Maxima (Dabs is way, way to far on the other end of the spectrum to be very helpful here IMO ).
Not going to happen shy of someone getting Portaled to Another World, but it seems like it’d be interesting.
With regard to the grabby, demanding types, one wonders how it would play out if Max treated him as though he were invisible. She has both the strength and invulnerability to proceed with what ever she was doing in spite of anything a regular human might do. I suppose he might muss her hair but that is about all he could accomplish. It doesn’t really seem to fit her personality but it’s an interesting idea.
The issue is that there’s a high probability of said grabby jerk injuring himself on her if she does that, and while it would be funny, it would also result in her almost certainly being held liable since the only reason he was injured is that she acted like he wasn’t there while having superpowers. Not great PR, and potentially a crime depending on just *how* liable she’s held.
Always depends on where you are of course. In a near-real world, that’s a big issue to be sure.
The justice system in a world with readily available divine magic can be a bit different, and the world in my speculation above doesn’t have the modern sense of lawsuits. So the foreign little lording was fully healed by the next day, and when he tried to have charges pressed, the courts had Moriko simply submit to a truth spell, where she verified that she’d clearly told him no, and saw his grabbing at her as an attempt to force the issue, so she defended herself.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that she is a warrior monk from one of the local monasteries… The arrogant lord got himself in trouble because he didn’t take the time to really understand how things work in this particular country. And he took a singular interpretation of her following the goddess of passions. Moriko’s passions include being passionate about her martial arts. (I’ve described this goddess as being perfect for a battle-shonen protag)
Getting interviewed by Jon Stewart would be a highlight of my life.
unless he decided that you are an idiot. then it would be awful. and many people would witness your humiliation. immediately enter BUM cycle with two extra rounds already on you if this happens.
Who tries to woo unkown ladies with a forgotten bond of classmate ship?
Consider the best case. If it would get her to talk to you it would certainly be in a subject in which you would bore her out.
The only situation I would think this to be logical attempt is if you’re a wingman trying to spread insight over the girl.
Who assumes every conversation started in a bar is about “wooing ladies?”
Also, everyone seems to assuming that this is, explicitly, a “singles bar,” when there is _nothing_ in the text to suggest that. Neither is there anything that explicitly states Harper came to this specific bar by specific design.
I spent a couple years as a cabbie. Trust me when I say that it is _super_ common for people – especially inexperienced people – to wander into the nearest or most visible place after parking.
except in the last 3 pages where literally every guy there is lining up to hit on her.
JD, I have spent enough time in enough bars to be able to say with great confidence that this is nothing especially unique. Also, the last pag literally informed us that Dabbles built some mind-fuckery into the disguise choker.
I don’t assume this. First Maxima guesses this particular statement and immediately after that expresses discontent in shutting down an attempted flirt and than the guy states that he is not trying to flirt with her confirming that it could have been one.
I assume that if the central characters in the story state twice that expressing forgotten classmate ship is flirting. It apparently is in this story.
I don’t assume that. I assume that if Maxima and unnamed guy both state after each other that it could be flirting that, it could be flirting and that since flirting is fully based on social standards this means that someone has at least considered doing this.
First maxima states after she guesses this particular topic of conversation that “it’s like a muscle memory at this point”, which based on context(she just spend at least ten minutes shutting down potential suitors) seems to mean shutting down flirting attempts.
Second “unnamed guy” states explicitly that it’s not an attempt at flirting indicating that he sees that it could be.
“Also, everyone seems to assuming that this is, explicitly, a “singles bar,” when there is _nothing_ in the text to suggest that. ”
There are several things to suggest that actually.
1) The other women are there specifically to look for guys. Purple dress lady was pretty explicit about this. The women here clearly think this is a singles bar.
2) The line of men for Maxima implies they were there to form a connection with women. Which makes sense since a bar is typical for this sort of social interaction. The guys clearly think this is a singles bar.
3) Maxima herself is chiding herself right now about why she came to a bar of all places, and figuring out strategies for it. She seems to think this is a singles bar.
4) DaveB, in a Word of God moment, has said, “Some people have asked why Max went to a bar, basically a singles bar, if she doesn’t want to get hit on. Well, her lack of inexperience in this area means she also lacks creativity. And it’s not like she didn’t want to potentially start up a conversation with some civvy guy, but the sudden run on her compounded with her stressful week and a bad start to the evening didn’t help.”
You will note that DaveB did not say ‘this is not a singles bar’ as a response. He said WHY Maxima went to a singles bar. DaveB seems to think this is a singles bar. :)
PS I’m being a little cheeky, sorry. It’s meant to be funny not rude to you.
Y’know, when Pander contracts a ninja hit squad for retaliation against horrible puns, I consider it a Writ of Habeas Corpses…
Why.
Just… whyyyy
https://youtu.be/XU5N-IY6BPc
legal mandate. also according to this document- Lawyers love Latin.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-293/242292/20221003125252896_35295545_1-22.10.03%20-%20Novak-Parma%20-%20Onion%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf
and alternative- they are trying to advertise thier services to you. we all know you use Sam’s Ninjutsu Of Toledo.
They offer Buy Six Get One Free deals.
That’s our sister store. They practice Nunjutsu. Abbess Samantha is a great gal.
It did make the BBQ shopping a holy terror initially, since everything comes in packs of 8 or 12, but we’ve discovered that the leftovers simply vanish.
Ah, the leftovers, yes. That’d be Sister Tupper, she’s a lycanthrope.
“You can get rizz if you read my bizz”
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Man, Maxima is really a pretty awful person.
She’s super dismissive and rude towards pretty much any man who shows any sort of sexual drive, yet is happy to sexualize men at her leisure. She’s a proud feminist and functionally a demigod among mortals(this is even lampshaded), yet the thought of approaching a man herself doesn’t even enter her mind. Men are supposed to approach her, so that she may dismiss them as she wishes. She genuinely doesn’t seem to see the people around her as people, especially the men. But even the woman who approached her explaining the situation was dismissed from on high as the mere whining of peasant trash.
Its understandable, seeing as she’s functionally omnipotent in almost any way you might want to measure, and power corrupts. But its kinda weird that nobody ever seems bothered by how awful she is.
She isn’t approaching them because she doesn’t WANT a sexual encounter. At least, she hasn’t shown any indication of that. She just wanted to get out in public. HOWEVER, she chose to go what is fairly obviously a singles bar, or at least a bar known for people seeking romance and/or casual hookups.
As for her hypocrisy, her own subordinates have been calling her out. Even the ones she considers close friends, like Anvil, have made it clear that her opinions on gender relations are a foible they tolerate rather than an ideology they share.
(I have to add that I LOVE what Dave did with that arabic hero. “You should all be wearing burkas!” *already has his cell phone ready to take the shot of Maxima’s reaction* “You’re just too predictable, Colonel…”)
The first several panels are maxima wondering how best to attract a guy she is interested in. I’m not sure how much more explicit you need things to get. She is here to find a guy, but she never even contemplates approaching one herself.
And the people who have talked about Maxima’s complete disdain for half the human race have laughed it off like a weird quirk, rather than treat her like the bigot she is.
That looks more like she’s focused on repelling guys she’s not interested in than attracting any at all.
I’m curious where you’re getting “complete disdain for half the human race”. She gets along just fine with most of the recurring male characters in the comic.
so he is her fan
The author also notes that once Maxima’s ability to appear non-shiny is known, her chances of successfully disguising herself in public will decrease.