Grrl Power #1379 – Hadron couture
It’s a good thing Gellen found something Sydney liked right away, because otherwise, presenting her with the unlimited options that mass fabricators present would usually vapor lock her brain.
I’m not sure Maxima owns anything angora, but Sydney’s alternate suggestion doesn’t quite work with “don’t maliciously apply a cheese grater to Maxima’s leather jacket.” For one thing, that wouldn’t work if Max was wearing the thing, and for another, no one really takes cheese graters to leather coats so it wouldn’t be an aphorism that anyone would identify with.
Gellen was always supposed to look like an anime pretty boy. You know, all bishonen like. But I’m terrible at drawing “pretty” boys, and I always get him wrong, so this time I used reference. In this case, the reference I used was Shin, from Fist of the Northstar, which is about as far from a bishonen title as it gets. But Shin had the long chin and intense eyes, as opposed to everyone else who square jawed to the point of deformity.
I want Gellen to sound like Ricardo Montalban, just because I saw an episode of Columbo where he played a famous matador. Colombo was in Mexico on vacation with oft talked about but never seen wife, and according to this episode, matadors were apparently treated like Dukes or something. Anyway, Montalban said “matador” like “mat-ta-DOR!” and that always stuck with me for some reason.
But then, almost anything Montalban said was cool sounding. I wonder if he talked like that off camera? It would be cool to hear him order lunch at the craft services table a few times, but eventually it would be frustrating cause it’d take three times as long for him to order his hot pocket and frito pie. (In this hypothetical I’m assuming Montalban had terminal indigestion.)
Actually, I wonder what a conversation between Montalban, Jack Palance, James Earl Jones, Charles Dance, Stacy Keach, Morgan Freeman, and John Wayne would be like, assuming they all used their full on-camera actor voices. There’d be so much gravitas the Earth would disappear into a singularitas.
But seriously, imagine Jack “Believe it……. >inhale<………….. or NOOOOOOOT!” Palance ordering a cheeseburger.
“I’d like…… >inhale<……….. a cheeeeeeseburger….. with no pickles………. >inhale< extra….. dijon mustard….. >inhale<……”
You get the idea. How long until you’d be like, “OHMYGODJUSTWRITEITDOWN!”
There is a new one coming soon, I promise!
The vote incentive is finally done!
The update to the TWC image is pretty minor, but the Patreon version has the bonus comic as well as nude versions. I will strive to make the next one more timely.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
Reminder that Gellen is the self-appointed “funny man” of the crew. I’d link the relevant comic, but my last attempt got me blocked by commenting by WordPress.
He _is_ The Funny One.
Easy to find from the character tags, but it’s page 1250.
And yes, getting a lot of 403 these days.
First panel might have a spelling error.
trace the movents
When I saw that myself, I spent a few seconds thinking ‘movents’ were an alien species…
Also “live to live dangerously”
That might not be a most coherent sentence, but it makes sense for somone to say it. It means that his goal in life is to live dangerously. Spoken language is never as well ordered as written one.
Yes, but when there’s an actual saying “like to live dangerously” it’s probably a spelling error. Especially when it’s not the only error in the text
No, they live to live dangerously
Like, they ‘live to die young’
Living dangerously is what they live for
I get what they’re doing, but I would hate to work with people like this. They’re not really being funny, they’re just sexually harassing in cringe ways. I say ‘they’re not being funny’, because if they were at least Maxima would be laughing it off, but there’s not even a veneer of patience here with it.
I hear you. You do have to be mindful of what messages you’re sending and what culture you’re enabling. But:
Max has more of a sense of humor about these things than she lets on. She sighs, she rolls her eyes, she puts up with it. But sometimes she lets slip that she does like to have fun, too.
This kind of humor (and one’s reactions to it) can be a fine line to walk. You have to really know the people involved. But toeing that line can be a sign of good friendship.
The other thing, of course, is that this is a humor comic about sexy superheroes, and letting the characters have shenanigans matters more than what actually makes sense in a real military workplace.
Honestly I’m just getting tired with the whole “not being comfortable with sexual harassment makes you a prude” shtick. Dabbler, Cora and crew need to grow up; we’re way past being a prude and the aliens just sexually harassing. If we’re playing with it just being prudish, that’s just moving it to bullying.
Adults bullying others and going out of their way to make people uncomfortable is just cringe. It worked to establish a bit, but the repetitiveness is getting frustrating.
I’m reading it as a culture shock thing. More often with sci-fi ‘first contact’, the cultural conflicts arise because of different opinions on appropriate levels of violence, or hairstyle, or traditional racism things, but in this situation the aliens are incredibly cosmopolitan and specifically from a crew of raunchy space mercenary/adventurers interacting with super-attractive members of a special military force, so violence and looks are out the window on ‘what creates friction between the groups’. So, instead… sexuality and sexual freedom.
In a meta sense, it’s a good excuse for the sexy comics style stuff, but in a diagetic sense it’s a relatively low-stakes source of non-violent conflict that further examines the Puritan roots of American sexual culture.
Bear in mind that this is HIS culture. Compared to Dabbler, Cora’s crew have been remarkably restrained. Maxima is taking it with good humor because she understands that the alternative would be akin to kicking her way into a locals-only restaurant in Singapore, then complaining that the menu isn’t written in English and demanding proof that the meat isn’t made from dogs. Instead, her behavior is equivalent to… politely requesting an invitation to the restaurant, trusting her native hosts to order for her, and not rushing to assume they’d try to violate her own cultural taboos.
Blame Cora. She’s the maladjusted one who grew up having to use artificial limbs and is now overcompensating. She specifically hired these guys because of the their sexiness and “shenanigan amenable” attitudes.
Are guys like that going to behave like schmucks sometimes? Yes. Do they actually mean it in any kind of calculatedly malevolent or disrespectful way? I don’t think so. Nobody’s pressuring anyone for shenanigans, nor threatening, nor infantilizing, nor trash-talking, nor gaslighting, nor resentful or butthurt about Max’s saying ‘no’ to shenanigans of any kind.
Are they good behavior examples for the reading audience? Well, not while they’re acting like schmucks they aren’t. But that’s not the only way they act.
They are consummate professionals at their jobs, loyal to their friends, and willing to risk themselves to protect others. Not just Cora and each other, but also willing to put their ship and themselves in the way of a Fel attack on crowds of innocent bystanders. They are quick to make new friends, genuinely helpful with advice and information about broader galactic society, etc. There is a heck of a lot more good in them than there is harm or disrespect in the moments they spend acting like goofy schmucks.
IOW – they’re mostly good guys, a bit rough around the edges, who were selected as crew by someone who wanted consensual sexytimes almost as much as she wanted qualified professionals to help run the ship.
Personally I’d be way more likely to point a “shame on you” finger at Cora than any of them. Although we haven’t seen any indication that she’s in any way coercive or that it’s actually a condition of employment, the power relationship between employer and employee is one that far too easily lends itself to abuse.
Besides any possible disagreement about contemporary concerns about power imbalances in relationship being justified or exaggerated, IMO your argument is thrown off the mark by wrongly assuming the proper comparison for Cora and her crew is employer and employee. It is not: in all evidence they are an harmonious mix of elite adventurers team and non-exclusive polycule. Hard to say what came first, the working together part or the banging each other part, but in all evidence they have chosen each other as teammates and lovers. She leads the team by the consensus of her teammates, and they all share in their enterprise in similar ways. In all evidence, this is their dream job/lifestyle/calling, and they are exactly where and how they want to be (except they would not disdain getting the assets of Dabbler, Max, or Sydney).
Max is the guest here. Cora’s crew are not under any obligation to bend over backwards to accommodate her prudishness, which makes her an outlier among supers and is far from universal among modern Terrans.
But like max said, it’s an earth Teren thing. It’s a highlight of a culture clash not an attempt by the author to be funny. It plays of the established Lord that by galactic standards humans are prudish
The one thing that truly annoys me in this scene is Max’s arrogance in implying that her personal mixture of US-MIC Neo-Puritan prudishness, militant feminism, and Cursed with Awesome body issues is the norm with for all Terrans.
They are not. I am an Earthling just like her, and I would be much more at ease being a member of Cora’s crew or a version of Archon led by Dabbler than I would be having to put up with her foibles (and willingness to abuse her authority to impose them) day in and day out, esp. as a subordinate.
Heck, she is an outlier among Superion channelers and in her team, that as a rule seem much less straight-laced than her.
Does that go both ways for you? Like when Maxima harasses and pushes her own prudishness onto Dabbler (and worse, usually gets her way!)? Is it fine for Max to tell Dabbler to cover up or wear less sexy stuff, while not fine the other way around, or do you complain equally about the opposite? I’ve seen a lot of people who complain about the one but not the other (not specifically here, but generally speaking about this sort of thing).
When in Rome…
If you ask my opinion, Max is abusing her authority and wasting everyone’s time when she tries to force the likes of Dabbler to cover up or wear less sexy stuff. In no way a sensible clothing style makes the team a more effective fighting force. On the contrary, Dabs has a helluva lot of experience from her pre-Archon adventures and she is at her best fighting that way.
Moreover, there is a ton of evidence from superhero genre precedent (which Max as a closet nerd should be aware of) as well as RL experience of athletes and martial artists that skimpy and/or skintight clothing is optimal for people that need to move and fight using their abilities. Given the firepower that a Superion or Thaumion channeler is able to tap, mundane weapons and armor are useless and a burden for supers, mages, and supernaturals. In no way, being in combat fatigues instead of a Stripperific costume or shirtless would make them more effective fighters. Heck, it is a recurrent gag that Hiro somehow loses his shirt in any deployment and this hampers him or the team in no way.
To expand the point (although failure to realize this is as much the fault of Max, Archon leadership, and the US government) a great deal of military discipline and regulations that may be good for mundane grunts are useless, a distraction, or even counterproductive for supers, mages, and supernaturals. The time and effort spent drilling them into Superion or Thaumion channelers is so much wasted. They just need the kind of combat training the likes of the Avengers and the X-Men get, not all the salute stuff.
I like that he knows the Don’t Tug On Superman’s Cape reference, but he really Psylocked on to Max’s taste in clothing.
Yeah, I noticed the Heavens to Betsy outfit too, though Max might just be able to pull it off.
More importantly, the feathery boa neckline of her current outfit seems out of character for Max. Has Anvil been shopping again?
I think it’s supposed to be similar to a bomber jacket with fur around the neck.
Should have brought Mr violence magic. Dude would have exploded watching kaiju fight.
I wonder if his request to be given to Tom’s army was granted. With the vow that he would never attack Earth, of course.
Give him a slightly narrow face, curly hair instead of straight (and optionally a moustache) and have him voiced by Mandy Patinkin.
He had some of the funniest lines in the Princess Bride. And some of the most poignant.
the one piece “disguise” reminds me of Ms. Marvel or Psylocke
I would love to see some retro future outfits designed by Dave.
Same. Maybe Dave could have a “space clothes” fashion show later on in the story.
(I want to see a full sized image of Maxima wearing that suit in panel three.)
It would be funny to have Sydney do the catwalk in a variation of the AX-5 Hardshell Space Suit.
And it would probably end up being similar to the Big Daddy from Bioshock, but without the drill (but Sydney could make some form similar to that with the lighthook).
Just for the record, unlike English, Spanish words can have stress on other syllabes than the penultimate one. So, the way Montalban pronounced ‘Matador’, with stress on the last syllabe is not a quirk of his or his character, it’s just the correct pronunciation of that word.
Yep. Americans perennially put the accident on the wrong syllabus of loanwords.
You left out Christopher Lee, leveraging the full weight of that deep, rolling accent of his.
And Captain James T. Kirk
There’s…something…out there. — Something…on the wing.
Typos:
Panel 1, movents
Panel 6, live to live
Panel 6 is not a typo, not even an error
William Shatner (being overly dramatic: “I… would…like… a… /cheese/…/burger/… with… no… /onions/… uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh… /thank/… /you/.”
Christopher Walken (stressing odd words sprinkled with pauses): “I’ll take… the chef… /salad/… with… some of that… /tangy/ ranch… dressing and some captain’s… /wafers/ on the… side, /please/.”
Jeff Goldbloom (as if softly talking half to himself in a rambling train of thought): “I’m going to order… ummm… a couple of hot dogs with the cheese fries… yeah… because who doesn’t like that for lunch… heh… with a large Coke to drink. Hmmm? But wait a second… uhhhh… I just remembered… I’m a vegetarian. So… ummm… I think I’ll have… the falafel gyro instead. Yes… yes… that would be good lunch for me to have. Maybe… aha! AH!…with some mint iced tea… very refreshing. Yes.”
To be fair half the bragging rights is claiming you got to do it without being pile drive through a deck floor.
Yes it’s stupid… But people run from bulls to claim their moment of fame and far dumber people do things at Zoos which are just begging for them to get mauled by the far less reasonable zoo animals.
You need to avoid getting punched into mist a truly improbable number of times to be considered a “matador” of tugging on Superman’s cape.
Except that Superman wouldn’t punch anyone into mist just for tugging on his cape.
Just like how Maxima won’t punch anyone into mist just for teasing her. That’s why she’s a likeable character – because she’s the sort of person who, after a subordinate pulls THIS kind of stunt, will simply grumble and fume (and mostly at herself, for falling for it yet again): https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-365-the-actual-most-dangerous-game/
As the senior field officer for a military police unit, she is very capable of administering non-judicial discipline among her personnel. Guests and allies would be a slightly different matter.
Sydney should learn how awesome she’d look in space latex.
Maxima should learn how awesome she’d look in space latex.
.
.
.
Seriously though, I want to see Maxima wearing that “suit” in panel three.
Perhaps we can make a formal request for DaveB to have Maxima and Sydney wear the various suggested space suits for the vote incentive?
Sydney would look awesome in space latex
Spray on Smart-latex. Automatically set for yoga pants tightness and body exposure.
Might cause full body depilation on retraction.
But only once. Smart bubble or hardlight helmet sold separately.
Just… don’t use the DM outfits from “YAFGC”: those things bond for life (they literally become like a new skin)
No Sam Elliot in that hypothetical restaurant?
So long as he doesn’t mess around with Jim.
Trivia Time! So technically Columbo’s wife was seen – on her own TV detective show, “Mrs. Columbo”, played by Kate “Kathryn Janeway” Mulgrew. At least until she got an offscreen divorce from Detective Columbo between seasons… and then it was revealed that her ex-husband’s name was Philip (Detective Columbo’s first name was Frank). It was a bad show that only lasted one and a half seasons.
Vote incentives? Vote incentives.
Teeechnically, latex would also be a terrestrial product of plant-based origin, although there are synthetic varieties.
The concept of latex, even if limited specifically to natural latex (which “smart latex” probably isn’t), is not specific to Earth other than the fact that we’ve never discovered plants on other planets.
Modern commercial natural latex generally comes from Hevea brasiliensis (Para rubber tree), but e.g. Castilla elastica (Panama rubber tree), Ficus elastica (Indian rubber tree), Landolphia owariensis (Congo rubber plant), Taraxacum officinale (the common dandelion), and many many others produce latex. If we accept that other planets have recognizable complex forms of life, space latex from some non-terrestrial plant is no more outlandish than space leather from some non-terrestrial animal.
“…no one really takes cheese graters to leather coats…”
Never done anything in/around costuming, have you?
Cheese graters, belt/disc grinders, welding/soldering torches, all manners Nasty chemical and biological..
As far as I know there’s literally *nothing* that hasn’t been contemplated for, tried on, or perpetrated at leather jackets short of an actual nuke to get the Right Look.
And the nuke only because the jacket *has* to be ready and wearable next week because of deadlines..
Hell… Not even costuming for things like theatre or cosplay.
Half the rocker look for the 80s used those ideas and more. Safety pins, razor blades, sandpaper, lit cigarettes, foods/drinks/condiments deliberately applied to leave specific stains, paint, bleach, and more.
I’ve seen it all. And all of it done by 80s teens in the name of working to achieve the perfect punk/rocker/hair band look.
When my wife was a teen in the 80’s she took a brand-new pair of jeans purchased for school, hung them up on a clothesline, and shot them with a 00 buckshot from a 12ga shotgun. Then washed them in bleach. All to get a specific look, all while ignoring the fact that the lifespan of the jeans could now be measured in weeks and her (private religious) school would likely ban them anyway. Her parents were not happy to put it mildly.
Wow… That’s some pretty big holes. I published my first book about 2 years ago (a family medical tragedy has delayed the second in the series), and the main character uses special nickel plated 00-buck with hardened core in a hot load casing (pushing to the limit) as part of his mission load when he suspects he might have to deal with body armor. (I’m a research fiend when it comes to… well.. a lot of things but my writing in particular. Normally 00 wouldn’t penetrate body armor, especially impact plates, but the hot load and hardened core combo can at close enough range.) So I’ve seen a lot of pics of the damage that kind of shot can leave behind.
One of the more interesting I’ve seen as a teen in the 80s (a shotgun wouldn’t have been an option where I lived) is an old friend’s sister wearing a pair of brand new tight jeans and meticulously using the edges and flat sides of emery boards to sand patterns into the legs. By the time she was done she had the logos, emblems, or names of many of her favorite bands worn into the fabric before she used a condiment squirt bottle full of bleach to fade out most of the color of the denim except where she’d sanded. (She wasn’t wearing the jeans for that part.) After she washed them it made an interesting halo effect around the band art she’d sanded.
Standard hunting or defense 00 shot is 0.33″ or 8.4mm, with 9 soft lead balls in a 12-ga shell. The individual pellet holes in the jeans weren’t even that big because the round shot didn’t cut the fabric cleanly. It was a tiny hole surrounded by fuzzy strands of cloth. The hole would slowly get larger as more cloth “unwove” itself due to wearing and washing. Except for the first shot was from way too close. The wad of shot had expanded some but not enough so the pellets all hit in one spot creating a roughly 1″ hole surrounded by fuzz. Then she backed way up and peppered the rest of the jeans.
As for your book premise, you’re right. Soft lead buckshot won’t penetrate standard body armor, and definitely not impact plates… on the first hit. But still, all that lead hitting the body is a helluva force, and at close range can cause internal damage even without penetration. Multiple hits at close range in the same general area would increase likely hood of penetration and even without that would multiply the blunt-force damage.
As for “nickel-plated … with a hardened core”, are you talking about nickel-plated steel shot? There’s also solid tungsten shot, but that’s heavier and therefore slower than lead; it would carry velocity longer distances (used for long-range waterfowl hunting), but steel is faster at close “self defense” ranges and would be better at quick penetration of a vest.
Both are commonly available in commercial shot shells, and are used in areas that have banned toxic lead shot. But they typically aren’t available for “buckshot” sizes, so your protagonist still gets their “special” shells. Add in a “hot” load (extra powder)… yes, that should penetrate a cloth armor vest, especially at close range, but not impact plates. Level III plates can stop most common pointed high-velocity rifle rounds; Level IV plates are designed to stop armor-piercing rounds for one hit.
In the world of my books, about 10-15% of people have special Gifts… they actually follow a few different categorizations (Callings) and power rankings (though creative application can achieve effects that are more potent). In essence, it’s a type of “low fantasy magic” where people aren’t flying around, shooting lightning bolts, or armoring themselves with skin of stone. Scribes of various different types can do things like infuse contracts with binding power (Contract Scribes) while others can alter the qualities of armaments (Weapon Scribes). Among the Entrancer callings, Bards can influence groups, a Phobos can draw out and manifest people’s fears, while an Incubus/Succubus… well… while they’re not the same as in this comic they can still draw out desires (to the point of one ranked at level 6 can virtually change how their target perceives their appearance).
The main character is a Bonded… a Calling with three sub categories (Incarna, Invoked, and Marked) where the person is joined to some form of primal spirit, like a Totem Spirit, Loa, or Animist spirit. He’s also an Agent working for the House of Shadows (an officially sanctioned organization of assassins, spies, saboteurs, and so on). His brother is a very skilled Rank 5 Weapon Scribe and is also his armorer. So… alterations are made to most of his weapons. Magazines/ammo tubes hold more ammo than they should, his collapsible batons multiply their force of impact, and so on. All of his guns have the barrels enchanted to magnify projectile stability (long range guns, such as his sniper rifle modeled on the Barrett M107A1) or impact force (shorter range).
So imagine a Banelli M4 with a pistol grip and shock absorbing foldable stock with 00 nickel plated tungsten core hot load with a barrel that doubles the impact force. So you take a standard 9 pellet load with ~1,700 ft-lbs of energy, and coming out of his gun you have that same load at ~3,100 ft-lbs of energy (about 200 ft-lbs less than the muzzle force of the GAU-8 Avenger on an A-10 Thunderbolt)… but since it’s not streamlined (bullet shaped) it’s not going to end up going through something like two goons, the wall, and the house across the street. But those two body armored mercs at the foot of the staircase to the second floor are going to have a lot of holes in, or through, their center mass… before any stray pellets embed into the floor because of the firing angle.
And yes. As Max advised Sydney, he is rather careful about being aware of what is behind his target along with how much power a projectile might have when it gets there. (That’s one reason for short range firearms he prefers projectiles that transfers a lot of their force to the target… or first and second line targets if they’re positioned in close tandem.)
Wait… my math was slightly off since I write that reply just before going to sleep.
2×1,700=3,400… so actually it would hit close range with ~100 more ft-lbs than the GAU-6 Avenger.
Also, I should note that when thinking of the hole size in the jeans she shot with the 00 buck… I forgot to consider that the denim would offer virtually no resistance to the projectiles and the holes would be clean rather than having any flattening or “exit wounds” that come with a transfer of impact force. (I.e., it would be more like shooting a target arrow at a piece of construction paper rather than a paint ball at the same paper.)
Please, PLEASE let this trip help finally loosen Max up a little.
Why should she?
…You know, there *actually* might be tactical sense in that suggestion.
Sylv only just confirmed that at the very least the Xevoarchy is spying on earth by pulling “any and all media and internet traffic”. That means that Max’s attitudes, positions, and fashion sense (and just how strong her opinions about them are) are known quantities for anyone inclined to pay attention.
It’s very weak circumstantial evidence on its own…but when you’re talking about a new unknown fighter of massive power that’s surprisingly reminiscent of one of those Supers on Earth who took down the Fel battleship? Then those attitudes and fashions add up as stronger supporting data.
Conversely, going with something well outside of her norm for fashion sense creates an inconsistency that can help throw any observers off the trail, especially given how vocal she otherwise is in her dislike for those fashions. Basically, because it’s now a matter of public record that this kind of outfit would be *incredibly* out of character for her, using it would be a shocking effective disguise, akin to a Wallflower acting like Cassanova; less that it doesn’t look like her than that it’s so inconsistent with her character that people assume it *cannot* be her.
Hardly worth a damn if it’s the only way she’s trying to disguise herself, but as a contributing factor to a broader disguise, it’s deceptively powerful. Any decent AI running a profile match will flag that outfit not just as inconsistent with Maxima’s record but outright *incompatible*, better helping her to slip under the radar.
How is any of her opinions on fashion ‘matter of public record’?
When has she ever given an interview, out of uniform, about fashion?
“Public record” was perhaps the wrong term for it. Point being that Max is a superstar celebrity with strong opinions that she doesn’t try to hide. And broadly speaking, issues tangential to this get her hackles up pretty quickly, and she is pretty quick to tell the likes of Dabbler and Cora to tone it down the instant she becomes aware of their more provocative getups.
Similarly, she has shown no patience for people whose immediate reaction is to flirt with her (“Impress me with your silence”), and a very brusque “None of your business” when asked about her personal life. So anyone interested in compiling a dossier on her has a fair amount to start with in establishing her personality profile. Combine with her public appearances, and fashion sense and related opinions is a small reach at most.
It’s not enough for 100% confidence, but absolutely data that would be fed into any AI algorithms used to pre-screen for matches, or would be cross-referenced by any decision-makers who suspected a match.
If cotton and leather from Earth can create datapoints that track Earthlings, then so do the Earthlings’ very bodies. Even if Max’ body doesn’t shed any skin cells or hair, she exhales moisture that carries genome carrying particles. She eats, so she uses the toilet sooner or later. And in a high stakes event like what is coming, she might even get wounded to the point where she emits blood and spit.
And Sydney totally does all the human shedding and sweating and other kinds of emitting her genome particles all over the place.
Ok: who is going to put together the AI voices for this celebrity conversation bit?
I am ASTONISHED that Sydney didn’t go with Space Cowboy. Between Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, and Firefly, you’d think she’d be all over that.
Maybe she’s a secret Jetsons super-fan?
Ah retro future fashion. When every single designer thought that one piece body suits that required you to get practically naked whenever you wanted to use the bathroom would be the practical choice for the future.
I’m surprised no one mentioned the Spock eyebrow raise usually accompanied by some form of sarcasm or contemp fallowed by a extremely sarcastic comment or, in one case at least mild violence.
If you’re still aiming for pretty boy, you did pretty darn good with blondie here:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-320-dont-call-it-sidekick-school/
Also, would love to see a spread of your interpretations of more of the alien fashions.
“I am the matador” is so stupid, but still such a good and character-defining line. It’s not bad writing, but a genuine person being ridiculous on purpose. That’s not easy to capture.
According to what I remember from high school Spanish, emphasis normally goes on the last syllable that ends with a consonant. Otherwise, the word is written with an accent mark over the syllable that gets emphasis. If that’s accurate, that could explain why Montalban said “matador” like that.
Can we get a full version of Max in that costume for a vote incentive?
Don’t forget Jack Palance had emphysema and was doing really well to act as much as he did.
if the scanners are that precise this still screwed lol humans shed alot of hair and skin cells just standing around this may not be the case for max but Sydneys presence will be an issue
except we already know that humans have made it to space becasue Cora is a gene tweaked human. the scanners wouldn’t find anything out of place,
In my head canan ‘Retro Future’ is how the 50’s thought the future would dress. Like in ‘Flash Gordon’.
I wouldn’t consider Gallen a bishounen as he is now. But while reading the page I DID think “hmm, i guess this is the prettiest man appearing in this comic so far”
The trick to drawing pretty boy anime bishounens is. Take what you learnt of drawing pretty women, remove the boobs, remove the hips, on occassion add a smidge more shoulder. They gotta be lithe, sparkly, and a smidge fem.
Since the way DaveB draws men and women, the diffrences feel more exegerared than they are in real life. Anvils like the only woman with a more masc leaning built, still very feminine in how she dresses and styles herself though. So I’m really wondering what a man thats more fem leaning in this style would look like.
I WANT TO SEE PRETTIER MEN AT SOME POINT. I KNOW YOU HAVE THE SKILLS FOR PRETTY PEOPLE BEVAUSE YOU CAN DRAW PRETTY WOMEN. If we can get handsome women like Max… let us have a small treat of pretty men as a side character’s side character…
Actually wait now I’m thinking about trans people. Would a trans superhero get cursed with the superhero physique of their agab or would the superpowers give them free-hrt included superhero physique?
I love that we are seeing more of Maxima’s humoristic side. She’s not a feminazi which I love. She can see the humor in him messing with her and doesn’t get massively pissed off. I think Sydney despite her aura of annoyance has mellowed Maxima out even if she spikes Maxima’s blood pressure on the daily. I enjoy seeing her find humor in the sexy mishaps she has to put up with. There is definitely a line you don’t cross but she lests you know clearly where the line is. It’s good to see her character evolve.
OK, Max, I know you are sorta dating somebody, but bed that stud immediately. I mean, I’m a straight man, but that guy is huge and you need ’em big.
He’s the sort of guy that would spit into the wind or pull the mask off the Lone Ranger.
I’m surprised he didn’t show Max a costume consisting of two small post-it notes and a lick-n-stick tattoo, or something from the ‘black tape project’…they’d never find any dna traces, let alone a body :)