Grrl Power #117 – Table for Two
Apparently Fusion’s heat scale goes by how hot other things are perceived to be. Mostly explosions, but there are some notable exceptions. The “Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator” comes in just over “Like Gargling Thermite” but a bit behind “Gigaton Naquadria Bomb” 
but it’s a real step up to “The Sun” which is where Sydney will start looking. Above that, there’s really only “Pulsar” then “Quasar” and finally “The Big Bang” but you have to sign a waiver as soon as the food can be described in terms of astronomical bodies and events.
The comic takes me so long to draw because I spend a lot of time noodling the pencils, and sometimes I’ll draw a whole picture only to cut it entirely, so here’s an alternate version of Sydney’s expression for the last panel. I liked this one but I thought the head tilt was a little more condescending.
BTW the margin text on the bottom middle panel says “falsetto” in case it’s too small for anyone. If you think about it too hard, it’s weird when girls use a falsetto to indicate they’re speaking in a girl’s voice. Obviously it’s usually done in a slightly mocking fashion. Probably not the best thing to do to someone who’s going to be handling your food though.
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 I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!
^^ +1 to every one who does this holiday thing.
To every one else, it must suck that you don’t get to have a national day to “pig Out”.
But we still love you.
Thanks :) Here, in Bulgaria, it is St George’s day, in May. Locally referred to as the Slaying of the Lambs holiday, as lamb is the traditional way nationally, to pig out and celebrate.
Sounds yummy. You know I wonder if a tour of all the various traditional feast days would be/ has been profitable?
Sounds like a good idea. Of course, as Dave found out with “Luftwaffles” there is no such thing as a new idea. Which does not detract from it being appealing. Although, I am sure that it will have been tried, to some limited degree, by some folks. Whether anyone has made a successful commercial venture of it, is another matter. A reasonable chance that some company somewhere has, I would say.
*scribbles note to self* “When so rich that money does not matter, have a competent minion organise a year-long, round-the-world, holiday aiming to stay at each country when they hold a national feast day. Avoid the ones with icky food!”
While some foods may be “icky” there are usually enough yummy ones to make the feasts attractive to all.
If it’s National Offal Day somewhere, count me in.
Panel 4 – OMG it’s a pink-haired female scarface!
At the last restaurant they made a vague comment about,”do you know who her father was?” When do we find out about her mysterious father, and how does that connection allow her to eat burritos made of lava?
The connection bewteen her lineage and her ability to eat spicy foods, is that Wilbur Scoville created the Scoville Scale which is used to measure Capsacian content. So basicly she’s descended from the guy who told the world how hot spicy was in scientific terms.
Wow… I really like that explanations to Sydney’s capability to eat spicy food…
Considering I think it was based originally on how many squirts of sugar water it took to neutralize the Capsacian. Imagine having to squirt 1.5 million times. o_O
Wow, I dont think even *I* have squirted *that* many times ;)
The obvious explanation is that Ms. Scoville is part pepper, hence the name, the personality, and the amount of capsaicin in her blood.
I thought she might have at least mentioned that she has done this before to Peggy. It might have made it a little less….well, to put it nicely, mean. Not that I’m complaining how it’s going.
That was implied by “I Got This!”
I’m not too worried about the food handling. If anything, the waitress would risk upsetting the customer by denying them their specific request, and by giving her the spiciest (wow, that’s a word?) thing they could concoct, they’d make Sydney hella happy. Either way it’s a win win for Sydney and a jaw drop for the cooks and the waitress…this’ll be hilarious.
Yeah, I can hear the waitress already.
“Hey [insert name of chef] You’d better break out the haz-mat suit, and send one over to the hostess. We got someone looking for pain.” waitress proceeds to check over her own haz-mat suit which is clearly restaurant issue. before returning to check on a non Sydney table or two.
I like Peggy… she seems like the ‘most normal’; level headed person we’ve seen so far. Of course, I like Sydney too.. ’cause she’s so off the wall nerdish/tweakish. Anyway….
Why does it have to be that Peggy might be a ‘dyke’ due to a funky haircut? Seems most of the female ‘uber squad’ gets their kicks from teasing both sides of the sexual frontier.
There’s a lot about Peggy that says “lesbian” to me. Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason, which is that in many cases they are true. In this case, they’re not, and Peggy is pansexual, which is awesome. But if I met a girl who looked like Peggy IRL, I’d probably assume she was at least bisexual… and proceed to hit on her. XD Yes, I’m a lesbian, and even I end up judging the book by the cover sometimes
I don’t see why Sydney just doesn’t say “Look, call this place and ask them about me”….
Oh, wait… this is Sydney we’re talking about. Never mind. I understand now.
Speaking from my experiences of fast food when a customer gave my fellow employees and I grief like Sydney is doing there, I’d have to say that the waitress will more than likely bring her the spiciest thing, which is NOT listed on the menu in a valiant, albeit futile, attempt to punish ‘the evil customer.’
OMG! Is Peggy Pansexual?! New favorite character! LOVE LOVE LOVE! =D
fear the name scoville, for it is thy doom, and verily, the doom of thine eyes and nose!
pardon the bad shakesphere, but somebody had to warn the waitress.
I think Sydney is intentionally making the waitress angry so she will bring the absolutely hottest thing available.
Yup! Sometimes the best way to mess someone up is to give them EXACTLY what they ask for.
I remember once reading a story where a customer kept complaining that the coffee was too cold so they put the cup in a oven and basicly made the coffee 300+ degrees. When the lady drank the coffee her lips were burned. She put the cup down and said thank you.
That’s quite a Maxima-esque glare on that waitress…
(I guess Sydney will be OK: whatever she gets will be hot enough to kill any pathogens in the spit).
Of all the things all the heroines do that intimidate me, Sydney’s ability to eat nuclear food tops the list by far. A lot of people tell me to eat more spice and spices and herbs in my food, they never like eating what I cook. But if I put more than a few shakes of pepper on something it’s so hot I get nauseous! I cook salmon for the taste of salmon, not the dozen spices people load up on it so they can’t even taste the fish any more.
Surely I would be hospitalized at the smallest portion of what Sydney eats…
People have different tolerances to spicy (heat) and spice (seasoning) levels. This is fine. I have a roommate who a) can’t stand pepper, b) can’t stand cumin, and c) can’t stand anything hotter than a bell pepper. And I have my own bottle of ghost pepper sauce.
People need to stop telling other people what they *should* be doing. But since we can’t make them, do yourself a favor, stop listening to those kind of people, and don’t let them bother you. I’m sure you know what you can and can’t handle, what you do and don’t like, better than anyone else.
Just finished the archive, and now to wait for the next like every other mortal. I love your concept and your art. I wish mine was as good, maybe one day… Your main character is very original and surprisingly likable, all her faults included, but my favorite has to be Harem (and I mean all 5 of her)
Good luck with your work!
When does this update, anyway?
Monday 6AM central.
how would you what naquadria is i wonder
Hey Dave, did you know that it is possible to obtain pure capsaicin?
https://www.hotsauce.com/16-Million-PURE-Capsaicin-Crystals-2-0ml-p/hsc-16-million-crystals2.0.htm
Seems like dangerous stuff to be able to order it over the internet! An extract from Wikipedia
“Capsaicin is also the active ingredient in riot control and personal defense pepper spray chemical agents. When the spray comes in contact with skin, especially eyes or mucous membranes, it is very painful, and breathing small particles of it as it disperses can cause breathing difficulty, which serves to discourage assailants. Refer to the Scoville scale for a comparison of pepper spray to other sources of capsaicin.
In large quantities, capsaicin can cause death. Symptoms of overdose include difficulty breathing, blue skin, and convulsions. The large amount needed to kill an adult human and the low concentration of capsaicin in chilies make the risk of accidental poisoning by chili consumption negligible.”
Yep. Difficulty breathing, blue skin and convulsions are all pretty strong indicators that something is seriously amiss.
You can make pure capsaicin yourself. You don’t need any sort of organic enzymes, there’s an easy way. Take a bunch of capsicum peppers, cut them in half lengthways, put them in an airtight, watertight container, fill with a cheap vodka, where it covers the peppers, seal the lid. Let this sit for a few weeks. You can make capsicum cooking oils because the capsicum is in the oils of the plant, however capsicum is actually more soluble in alcohol than oil. So when the waiting is finished, you pick out the peppers, and then evaporate the alcohol using low heat. The residue left behind is pure capsaicin.
Of course you might want a gas mask while you’re doing it.
There’s a simple way that is more likely to not acquire someone else’s secretions. I just say, “Tell the chef, Fix it so hot that YOU wouldn’t eat it”
Ok, give us two Big Bang General Tso’s Chicken, and if it’s not hot enough, I have my own bottle of Ghost Pepper sauce. :)
Which would be hotter; The Big Bang or Heat Death of the Universe? (Both pale by magnitudes to ‘Total Multiversal Fusion’ and ‘Absolute Omniversal Meltdown’) And where you things like ‘Event Horizon’ and Singularity Collapse fit in, let alone Quantum, Temporal, Philosophical and Religious Thermal Factors. ‘String Theory Compression’, ‘Timeline Burn’, ‘Immovable Object Meets Unstoppable Force’, and ‘Infinity of Eternal Hell’. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. (And I mean ICEBERG.)
Don’t forget the Dark Matter/Dark Energy ripping apart a universe expanding faster and faster.
I have the feeling that most people who are, well, conessours of spicy will go there.
Once.
They will leave satified, but with melting eyeballs.
Am I the only one that thinks that Syd was incredibly rude on this page? Rude to pry into Peggy’s sexuality, and rude to the server who will certainly add some… I’ll just be straight with it and say she’ll add some phlegm to her meal.
If I were Peggy, I’d deflect the question and then not order anything at all for fear of contamination.
You were not alone. Many of us thought that. But it was for a reason, as can be seen overleaf.
One of the things I like most about this page is that Scalding Pop Tart Filling is only one star less than Dynamite.
Those first two panels perfectly describe my reaction to that same scene. :P And yes… It’s partly the hair. ;D
So, we’ve got a bisexual, or possibly a pansexual? That’s neat! :)
At the top of the list? Columb’s force on a plate.
Reading over this once again I’m reminded of a reddit commenter who had ordered spicy at a Thai restaurant but being Caucasian the waitress kept deliberately and condescendingly refusing to give them what they ordered and kept giving them the ‘white person special’ despite their repeated complaints. Later when he ordered by phone and gave a Thai name though the meal was spicy like he wanted it to be so it was clear she was deliberately screwing up his order so he called the manager to complain about her. Too bad there was no update on whether or not the waitress was punished or fired for it.