Grrl Power #1230 – Side hustle
So I’m experimenting with doing fewer panels without cutting down the content too much, or at least the dialog. It won’t work for every page, sometimes the dialog will be better served with back and forth expressions and reactions, but I felt for this page, it’s a guy talking to a fire-eyeball, so it works out here. We’ll see. So far it saves me a little time, though I immediately filled that time with more involved coloring than the previous page. Hopefully I’ll find a balance soon and get caught up on those pinup incentives. No, I haven’t forgotten about them.
Daniel Shinhofen’s newest book is out, Aether’s Revival 8. I just got it so I’m only one morning walk into it so far but it’s on track to be another solid entry. This is his “cultivation but without all the deep trappings of the Xianxia genre” series. I tried to read the Aleron Kong “The Land” series a while back, and I couldn’t make it through the first book. I just couldn’t get myself into the mindset of the feudal Chinese villager bowing and scraping and honor this and saving face that. It wasn’t for me. But AR is good. There is a harem in it, but, hmm, how to put it. It’s slow burn at first, and while the size of the harem grows kind of quickly after that, it doesn’t look like it will get as out of hand as it did in his Binding Words series, which I also really like, but honestly for reasons other than the harem stuff.
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The new vote incentive is up! Crimson and Scarlett have a present for Ingsol!
It’s them, they’re the present. They’ve decided that “Sire-versaries” are a thing and Ingsol has to be convinced this is a good idea each time. Everyone thinks his pair of names-that-are-synonyms-with-red sirelings who are both women and who were both turned in that age range that ensure peak hotness means he’s a dirty old man, but he actually isn’t. It just worked out that way. And don’t forget that while it looks like there’s a 25 year age gap between the girls and him, it’s actually much worse, as he is 700 years old, while Scarlett is something like 180 and Crimson is only 40. But at the same time it’s meaningless as they were both fully adults when they got turned, so it’s all copacetic.
As usual, Patreon has the pair of them in various states of undress.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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So. Many. Bubbles.
Is Tenzi box AI’ing herself out of her prison?
Yes. That’s exactly what she’s doing. I like that you picked that example.
I doubt she’ll get to escape THIS situation, but instead of being disposed of once her body is done being used for an alibi, instead of being disposed of THEN she’ll get to survive, because she’s making herself possibly useful.
Tenri found a weak spot. It’s somewhat effective. Seems like Lapha kept the tail, but denied Garamm the pleasure of really accepting/enjoying it.
Side note: shouldn’t Tenri also get a who is who spot? S/he does talk “a little” on this page.
You… do know Garamm has a tail already, right?
Lapha “denied Garamm the pleasure of really accepting/enjoying it”: hasn’t really accepted/enjoyed her tail, even though Garamm would have liked her to. At least that’s what I make of it.
I think that they are suggesting that Garamm is dismayed by Lapha not enjoying their new tail. It is kind of like when you are super interested in something (doesn’t have to be a fetish, it can be a game or hobby) and you get a friend or significant other to join you in it but they clearly aren’t into it. You’re happy to have them do the thing with you but their lack of enjoyment reduces the fun.
Garamm was the one who persuaded Lapha to get replacement body with a tail option. With obvious sexual undertones (only one-sided). I can imagine that finding someone who is actually interested may be tempting.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-932-designing-women/
(there was also small aftermath in vote incentives – first experience with the new tail, pinched between doors or something).
This reveal is probably why the recent aliens / demons weren’t in the who’s who so false info wasn’t given or the truth spoiled. Even just missing one name and correctly naming the others would have been a tell.
Is this gonna be the start of a Leverage-style spin-off? :P
Hmm, I foresee mistakes on the lizard’s side.
I feel like the mistake he is making is following Lapha with her risky, dangerous and ethically questionable schemes. He already admitted on the last page that he isn’t comfortable with the currently plan and “got caught up in it”.
Maybe this will result in him breaking free of her influence, which could well have a good outcome for him.
Garamm is such a himbo
Dave: Typo…or rather wordo….
Third panel second bubble, “You really thinK…”
I like the version of the Yes poster. Yes with a goatie?
Seriously… if you want to reduce the number of panels, ditch this whole page. It doesn’t move the story on, or tell us anything useful. This is a fun comic but it has serious pacing issues
Or maybe… this is a setup for a future turn around scene on the lizard man and if this page didn’t exist that turn around would have come out of nowhere and be blamed as badly written?
Just a theory
Sounds like a good theory
Or its just some random worldbuilding. Which is its own reward for some.
I can’t say I agree with the comment that this serves no purpose. Frankly having Tenri being possessed out of nowhere confused the hell out of me. I went back and reread the stuff abnout G&L, but I would have liked an intro to Tenri before this as well. And as for the opportunities of taking from the rich to give to the poor, I’m all for that :D
I also like this page. Sure, it’s keeping us “hanging on cliff” regarding how it will went with Sydney, but it’s interesting.
Or maybe it’s character development in a slice-of-life comic? Which is fun for some, such as myself.
This page is pretty funny in general, I like it.
And it continues the bit of his tail fetish + expands on demon society.
Also, sets up the inevitable betrayal against Lapha when Garamm joins Tenri’s team
Oh great, now I have to re-read what, a few years’ worth of strips (AGAIN) to get back on track of WTF is going on, I remember the (presumed-) woman on the bed & that lizard guy thing from the “space tourist trip gone wrong” -arc, but I have no idea what their names are & I don’t think I have ever seen that fun-size Eye of Sauron before.
Calm down, just skim read the comments over the last few days. Important parts of the old arc were summarized multiple times, including names and why the tail is important. Also includes multiple links, like this one:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-930-emergency-escape-lizard/
That’s when Lapha’s body was destroyed, and includes the names. The tail bit comes in two episodes later.
ahh, now I see, they “borrowed” Tenri’s body to try to kidnap Halo again.
This is a confusing comic when characters show up for a couple strips & disappear for a few years before appearing again in new bodies, or bodies that while the same as before, have gone through some outward changes that makes it hard to remember who they are…
That’s what internet nerds are for. As soon as the flame-head girl popped up in this new arc they started debating whether it was the same one as before in the comments, and included links. “Bet it’s the same demon!” “Can’t be, no Tail!”, etc.
I don’t have that kind of memory, so I rely on the nerds. I usually read the comic on day of release, then visit at least one more time when the next comic is released for commentary updates.
I am apparently a mega-nerd.
It’s why we love you, Pander! XD
Aw shucks.
Oy!
When did you sneak back in here w/o saying hi?!
…
Not even a ninja hit squad for ol’ time’s sake…
“ahh, now I see, they “borrowed” Tenri’s body to try to kidnap Halo again.”
I think shes aiming for Maxima again (Shes the one that took out The Fel & had Galactic coverage of that event) as Lapha mentioned her lack of presence several times in preceding pages.
While Maxima was restrained & breaking out of the stasis trap, Halo was pretty much out of the way as she was more tied up with Concretia, apart from Earthwide coverage & social media coverage of human girl eating spicy food at The Fracture her experiences on the Alari homeworld have largely been unknown\undocumented (with the exception of the team) with her attacking those invaders who are a unknown & significantly higher threat level than The Fel.
Halo is just a non super girl who has some very powerful ancient tech at her fingertips, if they made her a slave & restrained from using the orbs shes pretty much useless, the modus operation there would be to simply kill her, steal the orbs & try to find another to bond with them\figure out the tech.
Wouldn’t it be simpler to just put an explosive implant in her sinus cavity, that would take her brain out with a shaped charge if they didn’t periodically disarm it with a coded transmission?
Heck, if I could dream that up as a teen, (Voted “most likely to become a mad scientist and conquer the world” in my school yearbook.) hardened space mercenaries are certainly capable of it. Probably available in six packs in hardened space mercenary stores.
So you can have a “Total Recall” moment?
“Shove this thing up your nose. Don’t worry, it’s self-guiding.”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8sRsLG-qDxY
Did she take “guess your main kink” classes as well or was she just lucky? Either way, that’s a fun page, thank you for it :)
Given she’s at Leverage College, a stream on social hacking, profiling, and cold reading your marks seems a natural choice.
Tree spirits?
I know I’ve see that rabbit somewhere as well but can’t remember where.
I found this page to be great!
Tenri’s got’m by the tail of easy big money.
The nearest/richest/main-character-y-est person for any kind of financial swindle is Deus, and I feel like that would go poorly for anyone who tried to fleece him. Probably almost as poorly as trying to disguise yourself as a group of tourists and then assault a group of Earth’s mightest ARC-SWAT personnel.
Yeah, you’re gonna want to go after the moron billionaires like Trump and Musk
Well bless your heart.
Ah, but there is an entire galaxy out there he has access to. Out there there are probably a lot of people that have much more money than Deus. For a few of them loosing a few billion credits(?) might be a rounding error.
In comparison to that his current operation isn’t even pocket change.
Suck Hole’s organization appears to have a large collection of rich folks, and a real problem with coordination and planning. Also being criminal, they can’t go to the cops to complain. Maybe start there?
I think the bulk of the bigwigs from the Ascenders are currently in ARC custody (or dead), so not a lot of opportunity to swindle them. Might be able to get access to their offshore holdings if you play your cards right, but considering ARC is probably investigating those already, probably best to let them lie.
Deus is the kind of guy who would track every single half-penny his organization spends personally.
Well if you did manage to fleece dues he would probly be more impressed like a “im mad you stole money from me BUT im impressed ” and then cue job offer to work for him then he uses those skills to go after warlords that may still be in the area
Heh, Tenri is a smart girl, hope she gets her body back soon (after putting Lapha’s behind bars where it belongs :P )
You can already see his wheels turning. I’m expecting a “welcome to the crew” within the next few comics. They’ll probably end up dropping this for being low income high risk and switching to corporate/financial thievery given the payout margins. Kind of surprised they hadn’t already honestly. Body snatching doesn’t strike me as being particularly lucrative with a diversity margin that high. Makes finding a sale for something like organs or even slaves an all or nothing market considering dumb robotics could take care of manual labor leaving sapient intelligence in actual roles.
I feel the dialogue amount is right. Half of comics is witty storytelling, it can’t all be action shots. Also this moves this scene forward nicely, I rather like it when side characters get development.
So is she going to start singing “I ain’t got no boooooddy…”
Tenri’s assets are their voice, with which they have so far establishes that his motivation is attraction to Laphra and money. They offer him the latter with a side-order of maybe having her body available and for once interested in tail.
*This* is why you *never* negotiate with demons. They are better at it than you.
When was it stated that Tenri and Lapha’s species were demonic? Or infernal
hmph. Our Boy here talks a tough talk, but I think he has a moral core. After all, he’s not taking advantage of Lapha’s vacant-yet-available body for his own nefarious reasons. What sort of a slaver won’t rape an unconscious victim? One who’s talking a good game but really doesn’t feel it, that’s who.
I think Garamm will end up out of the slaver business by the end of the story arc.
“What sort of a slaver won’t rape an unconscious victim?”
That’s Lapha’s body, who is his partner in crime, not his victim, and expects him to safekeep her body. The body of his victim Tenri is currently piloted by Lapha to kidnap Sydney.
Agreed with your general conclusion though.
i just liek this lizard guy and his horniness.. i hope he get happy ending.. i meant as in ending.. i dont know – i like him but not his “gf”
Welp, someone’s definitely been doing her homework, and G-Dawg here is about to get thoroughly snookered. X’D
Last panel, 3rd to last bubble, ‘thing’ should be ‘think’.
She’ll escape if she can get into that body – or start working with him…
This is what I came here to say, typo spotted.
It is not a typo. The universal translator is glitching out again.
Yoda’s did that. Everyone thought he was speaking weird. (Personally it made me giggle, ’cause it was Grover’s voice, and I kept expecting ‘Near’….’Far’)
“You can chain her leg to the bed or something” (never mind that I can then mentally possess your untethered body…)
Can someone fill me in on the Lapha/Tenri situation? cuz I don’t get where we would have met both of them before and why Lapha needed Tenri’s host/body but would leave her own lying there.
I’m utterly confused.
Lapha was the boss of the alien mercenary group who tried to capture Maxima in New York City shortly after the Fel Ship invasion. She was using a time-slow-down ray thing. Then she was punched through a billboard by another super called Brut. Garamm is the merc group’s pilot and was the one who got her healed up, then rescued her after her body was eaten by some alien tourist guy.
Tenri is a member of Brelx’s group and one of Parfait’s friends from demon college.
Lapha had been hired to capture Maxima as part of a bounty but was definitely not given full info on Earth super capabilities, let alone Maxima’s capabilities, because they failed pretty spectacularly, but Garamm and Lapha managed to escape. She is apparently still focused on getting the bounty. Garamm just goes along with it even though he thinks it’s not a great idea since they don’t have great info, but he’s sweet on Lapha. He’s a chill dude for an alien mercenary.
Apparently, Lapha found out that Brelx was going to be coming to Earth and taking an Aethilith (Tenri and Lapha’s species) with them, so she kidnapped Tenri, and is hijacking her body to use in order to capture Maxima. But since Maxima did not come to the comic book shop, she’s settling on capturing another super – Sydney. Probably because she again has no idea that Sydney is not an actual super. Although she probably does know that the orbs can do some stuff like create Aetherium Causeways (which would be very valuable, according to Cora), since that was POSSIBLY figured out by Fracture Station after the Vehemence spar of Sydney vs Vehemenece.
Lapha and Tenri are from a species called Aethiliths, who are basically these sentient flame things, that don’t normally have a body so they have ‘blank’ bodies that they attach themselves to (sinec it’s frowned upon to hijack other sentient organic creature bodies). Lapha needed Tenri’s body because she figured it’s a good way of getting to Earth without alerting ARCHON that she’s back, and gives her the surprise attack option that she just used on Sydney to take over one of them.
Blank Aethelith bodies, however, are expensive, so she isnt going to just destroy her original body, which has some upgrades that she spent a lot of money to get after her original body was eaten back in New York City.
> Garamm is the merc group’s pilot
Where was that shown? So far he seems like his specialty have been things that requires muscle, like tackling Ray Comfort and stealing Brüt’s body.
In https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-931-escape-from-new-york/, he doesn’t know how to operate the escape pod and Lapha has to control his hands to do it.
I guess you’re right. I just assumed he was the pilot because he piloted the getaway ship, and didnt seem to have any weapons unlike the rest of them. He just had a healing device to heal up Lapha while her body was broken.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-894-plan-b-from-outer-space/
And Garamm only seemed to really be involved in fighting when Lapha in particular was endangered. He did not seem to bother to be in the fight against anyone not directly attacking Lapha. He also immediately STOPPED fighting Ray Cosmos after he was no longer threatening Lapha, and immediately went to Lapha after Brut punched her through the billboard.
Which makes me think he also might be the team’s medic :)
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-876-mercs-and-mayhem/comment-page-2/
Good catch, medic makes a lot of sense.
Thanks, so I didn’t actually miss any connection between Lapha and Tenri other than being the same species?
Nope. That’s pretty much the only connection that’s been shown so far – they’re the same species. There might be other connections, but it hasnt been shown in the comic as of yet.
TYPO alert: In Garam’s second-to-last speech bubble, he says “You really thinG that..” and it clearly should be “You really thinK that..”
Here’s something for off world militaries to consider-the old promotion purchase system as used by the British army during the 18th and 19th centuries…!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbt1vhSLkrM
Note:this video makes some uses of clips from the Sharpe series…
This question isn’t related to the current comic, but is there a reason why none of the Amazon links are working? Clicking on any of them takes me to a generic page with no Grrl Power related stuff in sight. Am I missing something completely obvious?
It’s just a referral link. The purpose of which is to advertise Amazon, while rewarding the link host for advertising Amazon. I’m surprised they still do that, considering that Amazon no longer really needs advertising. Everyone knows they exist.
There is, unfortunately, no GrrlPower merch to be had, at least at present.
It’s also a way to support artists you like without going to the extent of an actual Patreon donation — do the shopping you were going to do anyway, but do it through a referral link. Costs you nothing, gives them a few bucks.
That’s unfortunate…I’d definitely pay good money for at least a couple of volumes of the comic, were it available.
I think it’s a perfectly fine choice to reduce panels if the scene requires a lot of dialogue.
I didn’t realize the coloring on this page was “more involved”, probably mostly because I don’t know what that means, but even after comparing this page to the previous one I didn’t notice any changes.
I’m nitpicking, I know, but…
I would expect something more advanced than leather-bound paper books in an alien, multi-species university, where most species have achieved interstellar travel.
Just saying…
Books are durable, cheap, and require no power. They simply work, as long as you have light.
Yeah, but I find it highly unlikely for civilizations so far apart (both spatially and it technological progress) to have the EXACT SAME way of transferring knowledge.
Unless, in-world, books were introduced to humanity by visiting aliens.
I’ll go with that. Suspension of disbelief restored :)
It’s first and foremost a demon university. Leather-bound tomes are part of their cultural heritage.
it looks like “YSOABLL” could be an acronym for “All Boys”
Y So Often All Boy Love Love ;-)
It’s actually ‘YSOABII‘ (capital i not lower case L)
Unrelated to the page, but I had a thought:
If Sydney happens to think about it, she could use the Fly Ball to perform what the Crane Technique is supposed to be.
In The Karate Kid, the Crane Technique is supposed to have the martialist stand on one foot, then jump in the air using that foot, kick that foot, and then land on it. However, IRL it’s physically impossible for a person to jump off from the leg he’s standing on.
However, with the Fly Ball, Sydney doesn’t have that limitation.
Since when was it impossible to jump off from the leg one is standing on?
Never seen anyone play hopscotch? They often ‘hop’ with one leg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciMAbSaXsTc demonstrates it
I’ve just spent the last 3 days binge reading off and on and now I’m here. It’s pretty good.
Hm, based on your discussion of Xanxia stuff, I suspect it’s more the cultural stuff relating to ‘sucking up to anyone with super powers’ that ruffles your feathers. Like, you’ll see that sort of thing in a lot of Asian stuff, but it seems to taper off as Western influence happens from what I can tell. You’ll see bits and pieces of it in anything from Cyberpunk, to urban fantasy, to old fantasy. If you’ve ever read some really old European stuff, you’ll see the same thing involved in the shear amount of social posturing bullshit.
I mean, OG Dragonball shared a lot of the trappings of Xanxia stuff but it drifted away over time. I’ve usually found that Korean stuff with a ‘Murim’ tagline is easier to work with. While it still has a lot of the ‘bowing and scraping for the dude who can vaporize you with the blink of an eye’, Korean writers seem to dislike it. Chinese writers just dive straight into into with full Mary Sue Harem Isekai abandon and huge amounts of ‘he can even defeat me, someone who has eaten the seven star potato!’ nonsense (that reference blatantly stolen from Beware of Chicken!).
Not that you won’t see some of it, as it appears to be a common sales/PR tactic. You’ll see it in something like Solo Leveling when the MC gets powerful as the various antagonists attempt to court him to their side, even if that MC thought it was horseshit. I’ve noticed western authors, such as Road to Mastery or Path of Ascension have MCs that think that process can suck a fat dick even if they have to put up with it. How likely super powers would lead to that sort of thing becoming commonplace depends on your own views.
I want that NO poster. Any chance of a larger version?
Alas, I don’t think so, because it’s an extract of the cover of “keys to ascension” of the supergroup YES (the pun it’s beyond wonderful), made by Roger Dean, so I’m quite positive it would happen a copyright strike, if mr. Barrack should issue it in a larger version …