Grrl Power #1493 – Buff and wax?
I’d wager Max is thinking that it might be time to have “the talk” when she gets home. With Rowan, I mean. Going on a few dates under false pretenses is usually pretty inexcusable, but there are probably some circumstances when it’s… not terrible. Like if you just entered Witness Protection, and start dating a week later… that’s got to feel like a lot of lying. I mean it is, but that’s a case where it’s at least understandable. (Although, come to think of it, you’re probably discouraged from dating or doing anything that requires you to talk about yourself a lot within the first few months in WitPro, to give it time for your new identity to time to sink in. I have no idea either way, but it’d make sense.)
“Dating if you’re a superhero with a secret identity” is probably more of a gray area. I think you’d want to subtly but fairly quickly establish their views on the militarization of police powers and related industrial complexes – at least in the Grrl Verse. If you’re in most other super-verses like Marvel or DC, you’d want to establish their views on vigilante justice. (I think the Avengers are sanctioned law enforcement, depending on what stretch of the comic you’re reading. Maybe the Justice League too? I don’t actually know. But you rarely see Batman or Ant Man giving testimony in trials.)
Anyway, my point is, if you have a secret identity and you’re dating, figure out if you’re wasting your time and theirs early on by learning about their views on your day job. And if you have an intelligence branch as part of your superheroing outfit, do a background check to make sure your beau isn’t an agent of HYDRA or a Skrull infiltrator or some DC equivalent. Or just to make sure they’re not some influencer looking for a big vlog hit.
So you figure out if you’re compatible and that you trust them, you gotta come clean pretty early in the dating process. You can’t True Lies that shit and wait till you have a teenage kid together. Even then, I’m sure plenty of people will be all, “It’s totally unacceptable to lie on a date.” And that’s a valid… desire. Probably a little optimistic, but it’s nice to hope for a more ideal world.
So the next question is… is letting a naked alien man (what, like he’s going to get his pants wet?) wash smart latex off your back in the shower cheating? Galen (and/or Gellen) is going to get a pretty good look at Max’s bare butt. That said, until she grits back up, her butt is so shiny all he’s going to really see is his own face.
Oh, look who it is in the vote incentive. The NSFW version is finally up at Patreon. Plus a bonus pic.
I think she would get in trouble for doing this. She’d mess up the… floor of the waterfall? Is that what it’s called? The receiving pool? No, probably not that. Anyway, she’d churn things up and cause a ton of weird erosion.
Since you might be wondering, Niagara Falls is about 165 feet high, so Babezilla obviously doesn’t have to be full sized. I’d say she’s about 175-180 feet tall here?
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
Honestly wasn’t a fan of Rowan’s design, think it was the hair that got me, but I’ll take any excuse to see Max shiny and chrome. If they do have the talk I’m imagining he’s gonna see some golden boobs. That being said now whether this is cheating is a matter of perspective, from a space port hopping vagabond not really but from someone like Max from earth most definitely. So this is real surprising, good to see Max can have her flawed moments too.
Given that she wore the latex suit, Garen is just gonna see a chromatic difference.
Me imaging Gellen going to town on Max’s backside with one of those electric car buffer tools.
This.
Sydney did say that Maxima has screwy skin that Varia can’t gestalt with.
A power buffer is perfectly cromulent.
Or a sander then a buffer.
I really like this storyline less and less. I miss the story about superheroes on earth with a little outer space here and there. Will there be an actual story moving conclusion at the end? Also, this doesn’t feel like Maxima’s established character to do this. I love the comic but this storyline just feels off to me
I’d argue this is a new side of Max we haven’t seen before or at least not seen much of. She’s almost always in military boss mode. This is technically supposed to be an opportunity for her to cut loose. Everyone else is having fun with Cora’s harem of comely, buff, tall, alien dudes. Why shouldn’t she?
I do kind of agree that I don’t really like this story though but not because Max is having some fun here, her relationship with Rowan is pretty new, so I don’t know how to feel yet on that. My issue is that this feels like a pretty selfish move from everyone involved and it’s already shown it could be putting things at risk at a time when aliens are already looking at Earth as free real estate for super trafficking.
I still like the storyline, but I can see what you’re talking about. I haven’t counted but I feel like there have been more and longer stories dealing with the paranormal and extraterrestrial than there have been about supers.
Regarding Maxima, from what has been shown of her so far before in the story she doesn’t seem like the type to risk what she has with Rowan for a glance at Gellen’s body and a back rub. Already having to lie about her true identity to him is strain enough on their relationship without further complications.
This is a single arc, and reading day by day, week by week can always make pacing feel slow. In the future, reading back, you may well not find it feeling like quite so much of an imbalance.
At the same time the space stuff is touching onto the origin of Sydneys powers, which is…kinda pivotal to the comics plot.
I also don’t think Maxima has that much with Rowan yet. As noted, she is already lying about her true identity, they really are not that close, yet. Also, she has had WOEFULLY little dating experience or ability for most of her life, so…can’t really blame her for playing the field a little. The whole fight thing is about her stretching a little, getting to let loose. It’s effectively the same thing. We also have primarily seen her in a military setting, conversing with subordinates and clashing with Dabbler. It kinda makes sense she is a bit different in a different setting.
And most importantly, getting her back is literally a useful helping hand. I think some people are forgetting that, since the obvious amount on her back was on the previous page. She put down very strict boundaries, but removing the stuff from her back is literally something she can use a hand with.
I know what you mean. The comic started out as a world that adds superpowers to slapstick comedy and Sydney getting to know and messing with everything. I liked the tournament because Maxima finally being allowed to let loose has been a long time coming, but the rest has gotten rather fanservice-heavy, with less and less focus on the world’s mysteries.
I liked when Sydney curtsied before Obama. I’d kinda want for her to really mess with Trump, but I also don’t really want to see that face in this comic. :-)
This feels super out of character.
She has a boyfriend. She’s been raised with the morality of modernish America. She’d 100% consider this either cheating or close enough to count. She’s been shown repeatedly to be rigid in her morals.
This feels like the author got horny and is twisting a character out of shape for their own pleasure.
I really don’t like this behaviour from the author.
Would getting a massage or getting some help with sunscreen also be close enough to count as cheating? Max is quite repressed, but not this much. I would even count this as character development, as her coming out of her shell a bit.
That’s where context matters. Getting a massage on a massage table from a clothed masseur, or sunscreen rubbed on the back at a beach wearing swim suits, is a completely different thing from this.
Even arguing that being naked is normal for a shower, their previous banter makes it clear this isn’t just about performing a task of getting the gunk off her back.
She requires the removal of the stuff on her back. She set very clear boundaries, but is willing to let him help wash her back. You may consider it cheating, but I don’t see it.
Also, she has been shown to be rigid while in a military setting, at her job, interacting with subordinates. And even then, she absolutely still had very visible moments of being less rigid. The whole arc is about her getting to cut loose a little, for basically the first time in her life since getting powers. Even in “modernish American” morals, that’s pretty well known to go a hell of a lot further than a naked back rub with utilitarian purpose. Besides which, mistakes and drama happen.
Even if she wanted a massage, why wouldn’t she accept it while at least in her underwear?
If it was about the washing there are probably sponges and people of the same gender who could help. Or just keep her back blue if there really are no other solutions to get it off and it’s imperative that it not stay there.
I suppose it is too much to hope that we will get a chance to see Rowan’s sister again. :(
The trial testimony part rarely appears in police procedurals too. I do remember one very old Captain America where he was in court, but this was when his secret identity was dating AIM’s defense attorney. And there was a ridiculous Spider Man short in which MJ (when she was married to him) was on a jury for a criminal he had caught. He didn’t show up to testify so the defense was that Spider Man had actually done it, and MJ hung the jury in a blatantly unethical miscarriage of justice.
Daredevil and She Hulk saw a lot more trial scenes somehow.
Gellen saying that a woman like Maxima should have a million boyfriends heavily implies that where he is from men show a lot of restraint when it comes to women who are “only” 7s. The only men who would reject a 7 in our world are the super rare 10s and maybe the 9s, so there’s not a lot of difference in a woman’s dating pool size if she’s 7+.
I know he didn’t say that 7s wouldn’t be able to get a million boyfriends too, but that is implied because he’s obviously awestruck by her and wanted to express that.
Oh, Max is a cheat, gross
Is it cheating? Maybe. Is it questionable? Definitely.
Maxima is clearly enjoying her time away from duty, but it feels odd for the same woman who scared half a bar of potential suitors to be suddenly okay with someone she already turned down following her to the shower and talking about how big and productive his dick is.