Grrl Power #1494 – A play in five panels
Cora and crew are a work-hard play-hard type of team. They’ve all been in high-adrenaline life or death situations with each other, and Cora has definitely run loyalty with all the guys. They aren’t just hired hands, they’re… well, not a family, because they fuck. A lot. And there’s a fair bit of down time during FTL flight, and games get played.
To be clear, Maxima usually wears some kind of spray (or grit) that gives her a frosted look, to cut down on specularity and overall reflectiveness. She does not usually wear “advanced space” spray, due to a lack of access. The real reason for that is putting all that reflective crap all over her makes it take literally twice as long to draw her.
All I’ll tell you about the nurse’s outfit is that it does include two red crosses. They’re made out of tape, and I probably don’t need to tell you where they’re applied.
There was, expectedly, a lot of disagreement about whether or not co-ed showering and back-getting is cheating. The right answer, of course, is that’s the matter is entirely up to the people involved. One thing I didn’t see people taking much into consideration is the fact that Max is kind of used to getting away with a lot of stuff because of who she is. Everything from lots of little acts of insubordination, like taking umbrage with the fact that a lot of drill sergeant insult booties by calling them ladies. And then calling them out on it. “Oh, I see! Because the worst thing you can call a man is a woman! There’s nothing lower or worth less respect, is there? Well guess what? I’m not only stronger than any man on this base, I’m probably stronger than every man on this base!” Que base-wide tug of war contest. (Like I’ve said, Max has mellowed out a bit since her teen-early 20’s.) Up to other things that would probably have gotten a regular soldier demoted. Those sorts of incidents were few and far between, but when it comes right down to it, Maxima is a singular National Security Asset, and there are some people above other people who don’t care if she disobeyed an order when she 1) still accomplished the mission and 2) every other government is a little bit scared of her.
Now this isn’t to say that Max decided to not-really fool around but just show her butt to a large alien man and let him get her back, and did so maliciously, thinking, “I’m so hot and famous there’s no way anyone would be fool enough to dump me!” But there may be part of her psyche that tells her that things will go her way no matter what.
BTW, a SNERK is the opposite of a SNORT. A snort is just a short laugh-snore. A snerk is the same thing, but an exhale. Like a laugh-nose-blow. I thought I’d clarify because I’ve seen some comments in the distant past where people were asking.
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.






I was under the impression that snorts were on the exhale, and snerks on the inhale? But looking it up, they’re both on the exhale, it’s just snorts are well, louder.
A Snort is definitely an inhale.
When Snuff (a tobacco-based product) used to be a thing it was snorted by all the important people.
A snort actually means both. It can mean either making a rough nasal sound via forceful exhalation, or to inhale a drug via the nose.
So yeah, if it’s referring to the sound, it’s an exhalation. If we’re referring to certain white powders or fine powderd tobacco, It’s an inhalation
Yeah, was thinking the same thing, but, maybe, a snerk is more of a suppressed snort?
It’s a useful distinction; at least it gave DaveB some extra variety in showing the bank customer’s reactions to Sydney’s tirade…
Honestly I thought you were doing this intentionally with Max to go against the Mary sues allegations that got lobbed around earlier. To show she’s still got some flaws, despite her staunch stick in the mud mentality even she falls prey to thinking she’s above it but then sleazing it up like everyone else cause she thinks she’s bullet proof. To see if that ever actually bites her in the butt or if she’s right and she can get away with whatever she wants. Cause she’s gotta be aware if she’s being hypocritical, she even acknowledges she was part of the juiced up situation happening in earshot off screen.
Max isn’t a stick in the mud. She likes professionalism at work, and sees sleazing it up on the job as a problem. Which it is. She isn’t *at* work now.
Yeah she seems like a stick in the mud because she’s responsible for things like stopping Dabbler from holding orgies in the front lobby. Which, on the one hand I can’t say that I’d be upset to witness such an event, but on the other hand I wouldn’t want to be the poor schmuck trying to work with that going on in the background. She’s regularly been shown to be – somewhat fittingly – *comically* lax in some regards.
Not sure how being a stick in the mud would be mary sue territory.
God, I hate the term “Mary Sue”. The speed it took for the term to go from a fairly well-defined term for critiquing a specific type of fanfiction character, to a term meaning “(female) character I don’t like” has to be some sort of etymological record.
At least, until “Karen” came along, which equally swiftly went from a fairly specific (if still sexist) term to a general “I don’t like this woman and people get mad now if I were to call her a bitch or a cunt, so I’m going to call her a Karen.”
Well, Max has beaten everyone, never been at risk, does what she wants, is all special…I’m not saying she’s not a Mary Sue, but I do believe if I made a character like that in an RPG, she’d be called Mary Sue.
If a male character was made that way, likely the same.
Does Max have meaningful flaws? I’m not sure “Cheated on boyfriend” (not that I’m saying she cheated (she flirted for sure, but sure the rule of co ed shower and such may be different on the people involved) is a meaningful flaw.
That said, superheroes and main character, we don’t exactly expect them to lose.
What I find strange is how all the Max lovers likely whine that Superman is boring due to his powers and Max has all the same powers :p
You might wanna re-read the comic there, scooch. Because you’re wrong on every count about her.
Beaten everyone? Never been at risk?
At least two have managed to get away from Maxi (one twice), and she very much was at risk against Kev (until Sydney came up with her plan involving a rope and Dabbles) and Supermassive (until Wart landed on him)
Oh yes, the old “not calling her X… but totally calling her X” shtick never gets old (or correct)
This is just factualy false. Max has been at risk. If not for Sydney, she would have lost against Vehemence. Without her team, she would sustained lots of damage against Sciona.
She is mocked and foiled by some of her colleagues.
I don’t like what she just did here, but I need to wait to see if this is addressed later on / whether this comes back to bite her.
But from all the evidence that we have already, she is definitly not a Mary Sue.
Is that you Titan?
Erection puns have great growth potential.
Just had to INSERT that little pun huh? (goes back to feed cybernetically enhanced rhino) Largely these puns are boring and average.
We should try to rise to the challenge.
Don’t you people dare!!!!! Stop that right now!
*gets the ninja takeout speed-dial prepared*
As always you are standing firm on the subject of puns.
They have now been sent en route to your location. Since it’s been a while since I last had to send them out, I decided to triple the order.
Going for the Three-way option then
Aww, it’s the Fugu, Pepperoni with Pineapple just like G’ma used to feed us in the kennel. :)
I’m not even sure what that means, but I’m sending a ninja assassin to you anyway just in case it’s a pun.
Best to not go soft on potential punsters.
“Pepperoni with Pineapple just like G’ma used to feed us in the kennel”
Was the pineapple upside down?
Asking for a friend.
Maybe they are a family, they’re already best described as categories on pornhub so what’s adding one more. Help me step medic I’m stuck.
If a married couple are a family, then I don’t see why an open polycule can’t be.
Polyamory and Monogamy have more in common with each other than either of them has in common with Cheating.
You’re honoring your commitments to the people you love, or you’re not. That’s more important than the detail of how many people it happens to be.
yeah, the important thing in any relationship is communication and respect.
Doesn’t matter if it’s between two people or more. Shit like cheating is more relationship breaking for the fact that someone LIED to their partner(s) than the fact they had sex with someone else.
Where is the cheating? Where is the lying?
The cheating is being naked in the shower while a naked man washes her back.
That’s not cheating, that’s simply getting clean because nothing happened other than Maxi got clean
And again, where is the lying? Oh right, she is lying about nothing happening, forgot you had a live video feed in that camera and saw everything…
She’s literally lying to Rowan about who she really is.
THAT is going to hurt him more than any supervillain could.
My dear friend, Emma Bull, taught me the word *snerk*.
She’s good at it.
They’re a very “all hands on dick” crew.
Ok that does it. Ninja assassins incoming.
Mmm. Space burrito. In space.
The really impressive one is the *SNORK*. That one is usually involuntary, and accompanied by hiccups.
I still think Frix should be in any of those particular slutty outfits, such a sad ending, but it’s always up to the dice.
Poor Frix. Those crosses made of tape would stick to his fur. Maybe the maid outfit?
They probably have advanced space tape that only sticks when you want it to.
Digit looks somewhat upset by what she is witnessing despite having little to no interest in such things.
It’s because they are loud or that nurse outfit is not practical, is it?
I thought at first they were being loud. Then I thought it was due to Max possibly having super-hearing. Then I realized the others are hearing it too, so it’s back to Cora et al being loud.
Possibly deliberately loud in a “Aren’t you tempted to join in?” sort of way.
Yes, Gellen was called out in earlier comments for being too pushy. I suspect the whole crew is kind of that way. Possibly they’re not reading the room.
After all, they look human. Cora has said she’s human with some mods. Gellen may or may not be.
But *none* of them are from any culture or upbringing that is related to any Earth culture.
If most humans in space are descended from crew recruited in past centuries, any human culture out there would be *very* different. They might try to keep in touch by watching stuff broadcast from Earth, but that would mostly be TV shows. And we know just how realistic those are.
The potential for cultural misunderstandings is pretty breathtaking here.
She looks more annoyed that the loud crew are interrupting dinner and a show
So Gellen got soapy access long enough to wash Maxima’s lower back, and became “overstimulated”. Maxima appears to be feeling ever so slightly guilty for overstimulating Gellen. Imo Maxima and Rowan have not talked about any of this stuff yet. When they do, I predict Rowan will suffer chronic jaw-dropping.
Meanwhile, the blog reveals that Maxima was displaying bad habits previously unrevealed by the story. Most importantly: “there may be part of her psyche that tells her that things will go her way no matter what.” Amazing. It has taken 16 years of twice/week comics to find out that a pivotal character has a tiny Mary-Sue running around in her head! Maybe!
I think the net take-away from the tournament and shower scene will be Max introspecting about her behavior and seriously planning how to brief Rowan about his Top-Secret girlfriend. You can all continue arguing over whether Max was cheating, but it was also an important step in ☢️GrrlPower plot development.
I’d love to see some more Max introspection in general. Her worrying about how she ages was actually very interesting glimpse into her psyche even if it was dismissed with a joke. Super psychology in general is a fascinating aspect of Grrlpower that’s usually not explored much. Realistically Max exists in such an elite class above even the 1%. How does she stay grounded when there’s maybe a dozen known people on the planet that could possibly keep her in check? Two or three of them even work for her. Her realizing maybe she’s taking advantage of Rowan a bit just because of the power imbalance would be a great takeaway from this trip.
I think we all want to see the Max/Rowan reveal.
Ideally with double-takes and surprise teamwork at a supervillian-caused highrise fire.
Maybe while they’re both under the effects of a muting curse.
If he doesn’t make some comment about he risking to be the Lois Lane of the situation I will be disappointed.
“Max, If I start to get kidnapped by your enemies we’ll have to re-discuss our relationship”
That’s not mary sue-ness. that’s a character flaw. it’s literally the OPPOSITE of Mary Sue-ness.
It’s Arrogance.
Maybe so. I didn’t want to belabor my Mary-Sue analogy, but if M.-S. is a character for whom everything goes her way, then D.B. just said that Maxima herself at times thinks she may be a Mary-Sue. But if that tempts her to push other people around just because she has the strength to, and push to get away with it because of her beauty, isn’t that the first step from superheroine to supervillaine? In other words, if Maxima persuades herself that she deserves to be a Mary-Sue, then she has become arrogant and isn’t much of a hero any more.
I think that’s the most interesting aspect of this story line, and potential serious character development that will make the character more human and realistic.
Thanks for your comment.
Yeah, I’m with her. I’ve accidentally instigated stuff before… worst they really were a pair of stereotypes. Granted, I didn’t go nearly far as Max did. (Definitely z tier hench types, you know the kind that end up being the sacrifice early) ‘Oh yeah, ask him out ‘ yes I did invoke WITWTCH. While nobody died that summer, uh. Yeah. Uh it was “Freaks OFF the leash of responsibility”
Ok well now I have to ask what does WITWTCH mean? Because Google was no help to me to decipher this code.
I’m guessing it’s “What Is The Worst That Could Happen”.
Ohhhh ok thank you!
I was like no way Max is playing or watching Street Fighter before I realized it’s footage of her opponents during their fights. Ryu probably clears by the way. He’s really overpowered this season and got better throw okie. Even Max can’t beat throw loops.
They have four-pane windows* on that ship?
* light reflection on Max’s forehead
Could be a four-panel light fixture. Or an array of four screens for different readouts.
Ariana made some marketing deals with Microsoft. :)
Probably a ceiling light, given the angle.
Somewhere Sydney is laughing her ass off…..
For a long while, I haven’t really seen much of anything in the way of… I guess you would call it an emotional “tug” on Maxima’s character? Specifically, anything that challenged who she was at her core.
There was a load of discussion a few strips earlier around her being a Mary Sue. I don’t agree with her being one, although in some aspects, she is Sue-ish.
She’s been tested physically before; however, those moments were few and far between. Vehemence is basically the only one whose pushed her to the brink. And many times, any opponent who could’ve potentially done so (Vale, those monsters on the Alari homeworld, Super Massive, etc.) either backs down from a direct fight or something ends up getting in the way before she can face the sort of strain she went through against Vehemence.
She’s certainly FAILED to complete objectives that may end up biting her team in the future, such as her failure to capture Sciona. But those failures are mostly tied to her inability to get a certain thing done, rather than her opposition actually causing her non-insignificant physical pain. We’re currently in an arc where she is ALWAYS being pushed to her limits, thank God. So I really hope we get to see some of the physical pressure she was met with Vehemence, the difference being she isn’t bailed out by ARC-SWAT and instead ends up pressing on in some way that allows her to evolve.
She currently occupies the tenuous position of being one of the strongest, which contributes to her isolation from most of the human population, and it’s only through those who deal primarily in the world of superhumans that she can find any sort of connection at all. With Rowan being the sole exception to that. Outside of her friends, she seems almost aloof, and as you’ve pointed out in this strip, she has gotten away with a lot.
This makes for a good “core” for her character that makes her compelling to me. But throughout most of this webcomic’s history, she’s had very few, if any, outward flaws that affect the story in any substantial manner. Maxima’s struggles have always been more “lowkey” rather than anything truly pronounced. She always has men wanting to woo her, but because she’s just so awesome, kickass, and feminist, she rejects them all and gets to play a narrative “will they, won’t they” game with a plethora of attractive guys for eternity. She’s never incorrect in a way that has any narrative effect.
But this is all to say that, despite the maelstrom in the comments of the previous strip with her being washed down by Gellen, I actually do appreciate that you’re leaning on an aspect of her character that I’ve seldom seen covered in any substantive way. I don’t want it to blow up in her face for her to face “comeuppance” or whatever. But her facing a conflict that allows her to recontextualise how she approaches romantic relationships is an amazing step in the direction I’ve wanted her to go for a long while.
On the matter of cheating. It’s true that whether allowing Gellen to wash her back whilst they’re both naked counts as cheating is something that should only be defined by her and Rowan. But with the way she was denying Gellen sex, specifically on the grounds of having a boyfriend, she seems to operate on the predominantly monogamous Western view of relationships. Which is to say that her continued insistence on Rowan’s boyfriend status as a defence against Gellen’s presumably unwanted advances implies that Max thinks she and Rowan are exclusive.
Under this context, her initial denial of a man who’d already profusely expressed interest in having sex with her… and then allowing that same man to wash her back whilst they’re both naked in the shower… Well, they may not have done the deed, but “emotional affairs” are a thing.
This isn’t to say that Rowan and Max couldn’t have already talked this out and told each other that having naked showers with other naked people of the opposite sex isn’t off limits. But I really don’t want this to be the case, especially given everything I’ve already said. It would cheat Max out of some very useful character development. A heavy conversation with Rowan, where she has to confront her perceived invincibility caused by her near-physical invincibility because of her possible gallivanting around with spacemen, could be amazing.
Almost all supers are a bit sueish in some way. I think Dave handle it well as a writer.
I’d again like to mention that being a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu/Marty Stu) has a particular set of requirements beyond being a main character (or one of a group of main characters). And I don’t think Maxima fits ANY of those requirements.
That being said, Maxima does have (and I really hate to use this term because it’s cringe) ‘pretty privilege’ (or in her case, ‘sexy privilege’) where people who are very attractive do get away with a lot more stuff than others. But I do think that what she did would be wrong, and either cheating or at the very least, a betrayal of trust to ones significant other (I do like CuriousCard’s description of it as ’emotional cheating’), unless Rowan and Maxima discussed having a more open-ended relationship (which I doubt happened based both on Maxima’s canon attitude on such things and her use of ‘I have a boyfriend’ as a substitute for a much stronger ‘No’).
It WOULD be pretty interesting (and good storytelling, although maybe it would slow down things too much with the narrative?) if she did tell him the truth, and he actually at the very least said he needed time to think about the whole betrayal thing… after he was able to deal with the fact that his girlfriend is one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy and most famous and desirable women on the planet. I do consider Maxima to be someone capable of seeing things from other people’s perspective, and also capable of realizing that she can be wrong (although her arrogance, which is often easy to justify with her abilities, makes these types of emotional periods of self-aware growth a bit more rare than your average person).
For example, she DID apologize to the guy who made the bad Tolkien-esque pickup line at the bar because she realized she was being a bit of a jerk for no good reason, and did admit that Dabbler had a point about the ‘ “lady in the living room and a whore in the bedroom” saying, when Dabbler said that quote only is insulting if you leave it at that, and don’t extend it to its more intended meaning – that a woman should strive to excel in any situation (a diva on stage, a sociopath in the boardroom, a genius in the lab, an athlete in the gym, etc) and that a woman being good at sex is as important a requirement for a man at which to strive to excel as it is for a woman to strive to excel.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-197-feminist-v-feminist/
Yeah, no one in this comic is a Mary-Sue but I still think we should accept that supers are really good at many things they do and can get away clean with things that would ruin a real life human. Supers are supposed to be at least a bit unrealistic, it’s what to be expected from the superhero genre, especially a comedy like this. Characters like Maxima and Superman can be allowed to be generally awesome and not very complicated because the story is about more than them, especially when they are not the protagonist.
Again, Maxi did nothing with G in the shower, that’s why this page is happening: he got no release
At worst, Maxi is a tease (or, this could be viewed as a, painful, lesson to G: if a female (or anyone) repeatedly says ‘no’ to requests for sex, back the fuck off!)
“Again, Maxi did nothing with G in the shower,”
She invited him INTO the shower to rub down her back while they were naked. That’s not ‘nothing.’
“that’s why this page is happening: he got no release”
It’s pretty clear that Cora and Frix are messing with Maxima and teasing her about it.
“At worst, Maxi is a tease”
You do REALIZE Cora and Frix are teasing Maxima about what she did (without Gellen actually getting to ‘do the sex’), right?
“(or, this could be viewed as a, painful, lesson to G: if a female (or anyone) repeatedly says ‘no’ to requests for sex, back the fuck off!)”
Alternatively, the lesson is ‘if a woman says no multiple times, and says she has a boyfriend, just keep asking and maybe you’ll get naked shower time with her, even if you don’t get to do the sex. Much like men who go to a strip club to get lap dances from the strippers, even though they are not actually getting to have sex. I don’t think any guys who go to strip clubs are thinking ‘well, the sign says no sex with the strippers, so I sure learned my lesson on getting lap dance grinding sessions.’
You do know, that everyone is naked at all times, right? they just have differing layers of covering
The way you are going on, Maxi had better never have anything to do with anyone ever again
“You do know, that everyone is naked at all times, right?”
Definition of “naked:”
1) Without clothes – being completely unclothed or partially unclothed where sexual organs are visible. (definition as it applies to humans)
2) Uncovered or bare – lacking standard natural or artificial covering (definition as it applies to animals and/or plants or areas – ie, a bear that has had all its fur shaved off, a tree without leaves, a wall without any sort of pictures, wallpaper, or other coverings
3) Without concealment – Showing something plain, unadorned, or direct.
What. The. Hell. Are. You. Talking. About?
No, everyone is not naked at all times.
“they just have differing layers of covering”
I direct you back at the definition of ‘naked.’
“The way you are going on, Maxi had better never have anything to do with anyone ever again”
I think I need a new term to describe your arguing style other than strawman argument, because straw might be too solid and firm for your argument here. Vapor argument? Microscopic-pieces-of-sand argument?
you’re naked to neutrinos!
For there is no portable cover to stop those ghostly particles
Goddam peeping tom neutrinos. There oughta be a law.
I definitely agree. Having a man you know for a fact is sexually interested in you touch you while you’re naked in the shower even if the contact is non-sexual… it’s a lot of obvious lines getting crossed at once and Max obviously knows deep down that she’s been party to some soft-infidelity here. Like unless Rowan’s specifically said I’m cool with you naked showering with other dudes in your free time (which, why would he) then common sense prevails and says this isn’t cool girlfriend behaviour. I do think a part of it was definitely her getting stressed about the talk she has to have with her boyfriend about her secret identity and doing what feels good in the moment to get it off her mind while she’s off the clock.
And it’s interesting how the blog post is like, she’s not used to consequences for her actions/rules usually apply different to her unless she fucks up at work and there are very few people willing or capable of actually enforcing consequences with her in her personal life. Might also be that she’s only really dated people in the know previously (because she didn’t have Dabbler’s doohicky) so this is an issue she hasn’t dealt with before and she isn’t subconsciously keeping her behaviour reined in enough to not cause professional problems if/when they break up.
I wonder how many people who are so eager to brand Maxima with a Scarlet A would be this upset if Rowan’s firefighter buddies had taken him to a strip club and bought him a lap dance
I think the thing is that:
1) Yes I think most people who are branding Maxima would likewise brand Rowan; and
2) It’s more than just the readers’ view of this – it’s the idea that Maxima should not be a hypocrite, since SHE would likely feel Rowan was wrong if he went to a strip club and got a lap dance from a stripper without any pre-strip-club talk with Maxima about it, and Maxima’s feelings would be completely justified if he did such a thing.
I think you’re ascribing a level of prudishness and possessiveness to Maxima that the evidence simply doesn’t support.
I think the evidence most definitely DOES support a level of prudishness and possessiveness a lot more pronounced than most people on her super team.
And there IS some difference between ‘not a prude’ and ‘lets go have naked men shower with me and rub down my soapy, wet, bare back while I, too, am naked.’
I mean I’m pretty sure there’s SOME level between those two definitions.
A lot of commenters mistake her taking seriously her responsibility that no one in *her* *command* is made uncomfortable by a hostile work environment (which all too frequently manifests as unwanted sexual innuendo or advances) for prudishness.
When has she ever displayed possessiveness? Not a single instance comes to mind, but my knowledge of the comic isn’t quite encyclopedic.
When she came to Rowan’s defense in the fire station by ‘girly’ing it up’ to “defend her man.”
How the frog-in-a-space-blender is that being possessive?
Being possessive would be if there was another female in the station hitting on ‘her man’, and not just other guys
‘Her man’ is a possessive statement as it relates to their relationship. He asked for a display of possessiveness in the comic. I gave an example of a display of possessiveness in the comic. It took me about 5 seconds to think of one.
I know you don’t understand what the word ‘naked’ means from a previous post, but you also don’t understand what the word ‘possessive’ means? It was recently my birthday, but I think I might need to buy you a gift instead. Possibly a Mirriam-Webster dictionary.
Again, how is that being possessive? Defensive sure, because she was defending his honour (or his credibility) when his friends doubted Harper existed
Again, for it to be possessive (as in, she ‘owns’ Rowan) then it would need to be a bunch of females trying to ‘claim’ him for themselves
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1256-prepare-the-slo-mo-wind-machine/
When I hear ‘possessiveness’ in context of a boyfriend or girlfriend, I don’t necessarily think ‘ownership’ – i think ‘exclusivity.’ Which does seem to be the case with Maxima.
Yes, knew the scene you were talking about, and again, not being possessive
That’s neither what I meant by “possessiveness”, nor what I think most people think it means, particularly in the context of relationships. It’s not just “this is mine”, but also “and you can’t have it”. We’ve seen little of Max and Rowan’s relationship, but no indication that she’s tried to control his behavior or limit his interactions with other women. Even outside their relationship, the only things I can think of that Max has basically said “this is mine and you can’t have it” are her body and her mercury. And the latter only because it would harm someone.
In general, I think Max is a generous and magnanimous person, who treats her subordinates with a lot more compassion and consideration than most people in her military position would be expected to. What I, and I think BullCityFats as well, am saying is that people are making assumptions about how she will engage with a romantic partner that are based on a negative stereotype, rather than any of her behavior in the comic. Particularly those suggesting that she would be violent with Rowan if he did something she felt was inappropriate. People treat her like a raging, out-of-control man-hater, and I don’t think that’s at all fair, and reflects poorly on the people saying it.
Oh. Well I don’t think Maxima is an ‘out-of-control man-hater’ but she IS massively over-defensive against men in particular, and can be incredibly snippy because of that. She has apologized after-the-fact about it though when she’s done so, like she did at the bar. And she remained quite professional with the inappropriate cop as well.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1165-rawr/
Maxima even realizes this about herself, based on her own internal monologue in the bar just prior to her first meet-up with Rowan. Especially how she needs to ‘lower her defensiveness’ to men, since it’s ‘like muscle memory at this point.’ So no, she’s not a man-hater by any stretch of the imagination. But she is EXTREMELY over-defensive about men, most likely because they all find her insanely sexy…. yknow, since she is. And even after this many years she still isnt exactly used to it, apparently.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1162/
“Particularly those suggesting that she would be violent with Rowan if he did something she felt was inappropriate. People treat her like a raging, out-of-control man-hater, and I don’t think that’s at all fair, and reflects poorly on the people saying it.”
I definitely don’t think Maxima would be violent with Rowan if he did something she considered inappropriate though – she already showed that she limits that to ‘go away’ and shoving them away by the face, like she did with the drunk guy who said ‘I want to be in your pantsh.’ When you’re the most powerful person on the planet, you probably have had some time to learn to reign in your response to anger so there’s not a trail of broken bodies every time someone pisses you off.
That being said, she WOULD feel betrayed by Rowan if he did what she did. It just wouldn’t end in violence and a dead Rowan. At worst, it would end with breaking up with him.
What indication do we have that she would “feel betrayed by Rowan if he did what she did”? Yes, we have plenty of instances of her being defensive about male attention, but I don’t think there’s a single instance of a negative opinion about how many partners a man has had, or how casual those relationships were. She displayed zero displeasure at the revelation that Amphorus cheated on Brook. Her only concern was mind control. I can think of no instance in which she is upset about consensual sexual behavior, other than when it’s performed in public, in front of people who may not be consenting to seeing it. We just don’t have much information on her sexual ethics, aside from consent. We do not know what she considers “cheating”, and I feel that people are just making assumptions from their unfounded perception that she’s a sex-negative feminist.
She wasn’t angry at Mr Amorphous or Jiggawatt for their cheating on Heatwave specifically BECAUSE she saw it as mind control in the first place. Also there’s the fact that she doesnt necessarily hold others to her own sexual standards in that respect, since it’s not her business to tell other people how to behave in their sexual relationships as long as it does not affect the team, as Harem once scolded Maxima about when she asked her about her own sexual dalliances (and Maxima agreed she went a bit too far there because she was probably ‘channelling Sydney, which does seem like Maxima trying to avert blame when she says something inappropriate but that’s sort of consistent with Maxima when she says or does something that would be considered wrong (it’s one of her flaws that I’ve noticed).
My general point is that we don’t know what her sexual standards are, other than consent. People are inferring things that haven’t been stated, or even implied. They’re working off a stereotype, rather than information from the comic or the author. But yes, the information we do have indicates that she doesn’t necessarily hold other people to her standards, which is one of the things under debate here.
In response to your reply posting no indication that Maxima would feel betrayed if Rowan behaved with another woman as she just did with Gellen:
This is Maxima’s first actual relationship in a long time, perhaps since high school. We have a blog post about injuring a finger, and dating Deus as a covert investigation. That’s all I can recall. Therefore she has little personal experience with dating and other romantic matters, in spite of her overall maturity. And I believe that even a woman with wide experience would feel betrayed by her significant other in similar circumstances; she would just deal with the emotions better.
So I’m saying that in spite of Maxima’s armor and personal force field that she is thin-skinned when dealing with romantic betrayal, and I don’t blame her one bit for that. There is a reason that Anvil and the others worked so hard to get her out where she could meet men without revealing her identity. They love her and don’t want to see her lonely, but they know that the road to romance is not easy. So yes, if Rowan had a naked woman scrubbing him in the shower, Maxima would feel betrayed and cry her eyes out for a while on someone’s shoulder.
I also find it hard to believe that the Maxima-Rowan relationship has gone further than as seen in their park date. That is, some light petting and probably kissing. If they were having relations we’d have seen them in bed together. Because of that metric, I believe she is still known to him as Harper Lux, stuntwoman. All of the conjectural analysis of their agreements on what constitutes cheating remains conjecture until substantiated in some way in the comic or the blog. Hence, I believe that after the UCBA arc she’ll invite Rowan on a private date for an informal briefing that she has withheld information from him, this being a first step before he’s even told that she is a super or even military.
Max certainly isn’t prudish (not long after her intro she made a joke about the power perversion potential of Mr. Amorphous’s stretchiness), but she probably has a few issues related to incidents like the anecdote about her first intimate moment after her powers manifested (which probably made her worry that she might never be able to have a sex life, especially if the existence of other supers was still at the urban-legend level of obscurity).
Like I’ve said in the past, and in other posts, I don’t think Maxima is prudish per se. But she does veer more towards that end of the spectrum as it relates to HERSELF. Not to other people. She’s made sexual innuendo about Hiro, under her breath to Sydney, for example. And like you mentioned, the mention about how ‘Brooke must be a lucky lucky girl.’ to Mr. Amorphous. But when it comes to HERSELF, she tends to veer more towards the ‘men can be such pigs, sheesh’ attitude (her whole idea behind the ‘women should excel at everything they do’ explanation from Dabbler caught her totally off guard, for example, because one of the things was ‘a whore in the bedroom’ as part of the saying). Also because her ‘stupid boobs’ (in the ambulance with her gun) thought. It’s very obvious she does not tend to enjoy being the sexual center of attention, from both how she was in the bar, and how she had to ACTIVELY ‘lower her defenses’ as far as it related to trying to have some sort of social life and let guys actually try to pick her up without shooting them down at the slightest hint of interest. Or instantly shooting down the paparazzi asking her about her dating life. Admittedly, that’s not prudish – that’s her thinking it’s none of their business, but you do need to remember that she’s being judged in comparison to people like Dabbler (or Harem, etc). The only one who has tended to be more averse to sexual dsplays had been Sydney for obvious reasons of her not having a ‘perfect super body’ (they can make her feel both fat and scrawny simultaneously, or so I’m paraphrasing Sydney’s statement).
Part of it is definitely because Maxima’s high ranking, so fraternization is totally OUT… but she doesnt have that excuse when it came to the bar. Heck, even with Hiro, who she genuinely likes and is probably attracted to, she instantly thought he was hitting on her when he was trying to say that they should call the ‘taking in of the supers in the big super fight’ a ‘debriefing.’ And she for some reason blamed HIRO when ANVIL pushed both of them together when they were mostly naked after the SuperMannekiller explosion (although she apologized to him shortly later).
Although I think with the Rowan relationship, it’s making her a bit better in that respect. Which would make it a shame if she ruined the relationship by betraying his trust in the same way she’d feel betrayed if Rowan had done something remotely similar, since she DOES, in the comic, have a tendency to assume the worst about men’s attitudes about her, sexually (with the exception of Rowan)
I think it would really depend on what happened at the Strip club. If he’s gonna straight up let the lap dancer grind up on him, then that’s probably something you should make sure your partner is chill with before doing or resolve to be single, and id have lost respect for Rowan as a result.
However if he was just there because his buddies dragged him there to celebrate, and all he did was have some drinks, respectfully admire the view and repeatedly told the lap dancer no thank you, then I think many people would be able to contextualize it along the same lines of Maxima hanging around the Pleasure Barge with all Coras hunks and eye candy. I still think id let my boyfriend/girlfriend know if I was getting taken to a strip club though, even if i was just gonna sit at the bar the whole night.
Re: strip club behavior – I was invited to a good friend’s bachelor party after I had been married a few years. I had a history with strip clubs, so my wife knew it wasn’t a “good” place for me to go, but it was a pretty tame crew so she told me I could spend $20 and that was it. Well, $20 bought two lap dances from a 19 year old goddess with a habit of breaking the club’s rules for going too far. Then one of my buddies spent another $50 letting her keep going. She made it clear that all I had to do was offer her a decent 3-figure amount and we would have wound up in a hotel room. Moral of the story: strip clubs have rules, but they also hire “independent contractors” who can make up their own rules at the risk of getting fired from the club. The best dancers can get hired anywhere, so getting fired isn’t really the deterrent it’s supposed to be, and guys with money can get into deep trouble despite the rules.
Just remember this bit of wisdom: The point isn’t to avoid ever doing anything bad; the point is to fess up afterward and fully accept the consequences. You get better by learning from your failures, not all the times you avoided failing.
This is asolutley true. Good point.
Sometimes part of that means you don’t get forgiveness, but you move on and do better next time with the next person.
By Space Body Spray Satin
given her body is immune to basically all poisons
she drinks Mercury as a cocktail.
wouldn’t Maxima just use Spray on Varnish Satin Finish from the hardware store ?
or use Hair spray to make her skin slightly sticky
and then pat on Talcum body powder, or Bronze/Golden Mineral Makeup ?
the Hair spray would wash off with regualr soap and water
the Spray on varnish would likely last all day or week
the varnish would probably handle light washing but not scrubbing
Especially not the kind of scrubbing Maxima could apply to it. Power tools usually can’t apply that much force.
I don’t think Max necessarily needs to be showed up physically. I think it’s perfectly fine if her question is if she’s a good leader, or even if she’s a good leader she might still fail at something she considers her responsibility in her role, like keeping corruption down in ARC-light, or ensuring there’s no sexual harassment between coworkers in ARC-light, or one of them committing suicide despite going to see the mental health services/before having a chance ot see them and she blames herself for not seeing the signs herself and putting them in restraints so they couldn’t hurt themselves.
Or maybe ARC-light gets infiltrated and she blames herself for not spotting the infiltrator.
And of course a general mindset that she can get away with whatever she likes is a personal failing that are likely to have consequences further down the line if the rest of the country starts considering her nearly as much of a liability as an asset due to said attitude.
More immediately though, comes the question of what she thinks of herself if she has done something that, were the roles reversed, she would find unacceptable. If she insists on defending excuses for her actions for example, it might quickly lead to a mountain of defensiveness around something that she ultimately knows is indefensible (which makes her even more aggressive in trying to stop anyone from poking at it) leading to a general hyperdefensive/aggressive disorder around any subject even remotely close to the indefensible action.
That does seem to be her temperament; recall how stressed she clearly was when Halo was stranded on the Alari homeworld and there wasn’t damn all she could do about it.
“All I’ll tell you about the nurse’s outfit is that it does include two red crosses.”
Yeah. Right.
For “include,” read, “comprises.”
Fucking told ya nothing was gonna happen in that shower!
No, you insisted what did happen didn’t count cheating and people rightly told you “of course it does”
Nothing sexual happened!
Unless simply talking to someone of the opposite gender (clothed or not) is now considered ‘cheating’
No. No Sex happened.
It can definitely be viewed as a sexual situation, and the fact that Gellen is now joking about having a painful erection shows that it was certainly sexually stimulating to atleast one party.
Because she refers to him as her boyfriend, and not just some guys shes been on some dates with, others and I certainly seem to consider this kind of a skeevy thing to do behind your partners back.
This may all change if some flashback or information recontextualizes her and Rowans relationship as more open or chill with this sort of thing.
Being fully clothed in ten layers of thermal fleece can be viewed as a sexual situation
Both ‘intent’ and ‘actions’ are what count, and neither happened here
G isn’t the one joking, it’s Cora and Frix joking around
You do know that most males have no control over how their penis reacts to visual stimulation, right?
I can’t tell if you are being disingenuous or just legitimately can’t see my point.
Just because there CAN be sexual situations while filly clothed does not diminish the sexually charged nature of this situation.
Gellens intent in these situations was to have sex with Maxima, failing that seeing her naked and getting to touch her was consolation prize, as seen by his very enthusiastic smile and stripping in the last comic. Maximas actions allowed him to enter the shower with her, even without the intent or result of having sex she allowed him to be in the shower naked with her, not just in close proximity, but touching her.
I did misread Frix as Gellen fair point on that, but as to the erection point, yes I am painfully aware of that but I’m also aware that men also often enjoy that stimulation and will go out of their way to seek it out….such as repeatedly hitting on a woman and then offering to scrub her back. He was hoping for more, settled for less. That would be different from say, some friend or colleague who happened to get an errection if they were sharing a coed shower or seeing her in a tight bodysuit.
If you don’t see that all as being important context and intent fine, but then we are talking past each other.
Am I missing something, or does it state flatout whether they hooked up or not? Or, Is it left up to interpretation whether they hookup after seeing one another naked?
Max and Rowan will need to have a talk. I am leaning toward breaking them up. I feel Rowan is becoming an anchor to the Max’s character at this point.
If they had hooked up, he would not have a painful section doubtless caused by unsatisfied arousal. So they did not hook up.
Why do you feel like Rowan is an anchor? I feel like their relationship has barely been explored. We’ve only seen them go on a few dates and Max hasn’t even told him who she is yet. I also think Rowan as a normal non-super love interest can ground Max and make her more relatable and tell more interesting stories than if she partnered with someone like Deus or Hiro that’s so integrated into the super life experience.
I think Rowan offers Maxima a very ‘normal’ life, which can be a huge thing to someone like Maxima. Most superheroes in comics tend to want some sort of normalcy in their lives so they dont have to be superheroes 24/7. Superman explained this to Kara in Batman/Superman: Apocalypse rather poignantly. The Flash feels the same way about Iris (in comics and animated movies, not in the WB). Hawkeye does the same thing as well. So does Abigail Boylan (Cloud 9 from Avengers Initiative). Susan Storm has had several storylines where she wished she could occasionally have a normal life, at least as an escape from the constant Fantasic 4 adventures. Peter Parker has wanted the same escape from superheroics 24/7 as well in MANY iterations, despite his earnest desire to use his great power with great responsibility. Firestar for quite a while hated having to be a superhero 24/7 with no break for a normal life. Karoline Dean from the Runaways. Supergirl (although her cousin handles the double life far better than her). Big Barda in superman/Batmsn: Apocalypse. Martian Manhunter in the JLU cartoon. Jessica Jones after her enslavement by the Purple Man HATES being a superhero and constantly escapes the super life by delving into alcoholism and self destructive behavior. Cornelia from WITCH doesnt want to always have to deal with a life ofsuperpowers. Rogue, Mercury, and Wither from X-Men. The Bulleteer from Seven Soldiers of Victory. The list goes on and on for many others, feeling the need to have some sort of bridge to a ‘normal life’ since superheroics can become all-encompassing and mentally/emotionally exhausting otherwise.
Even Batman’s villains, in several iterations, actively do NOT want to know Batman’s identity because with no mundane identity,’ Batmsn would be even more of a terror to them. :)
Heck, even villains want a break from villainy (and not just a short Bat-funded stay in Arkham :P )
Some of the best stories are when you see the villains relaxing and just being like everyone else
About the Batman thing: you can almost say that he doesn’t want to have the villains (not just the super ones either) permanently gone because then he would have to be Bruce 365/1 (which includes being a traumatized orphan)
I find it amazing that you ignored about… 98 percent of my post to focus on Batman, were I said ‘Even Batman’ since Batman is the one hero in my list for whom he is almost psychological fixated on BEING Batman (to the point where when he holds Wonder Woman’s Lasso and is asked to say his name, he says Batman, instead of Bruce Wayne, or where, in Batman Beyond, he knows he’s not crazy when he hears his voice in his head telling him things, because the voice in his head is calling himself Bruce, instead of calling himself Batman.
Also, in Batman TAS, he had to go to his parents grave to beg the spirits of his parents to let him be happy and have a normal life. Or how (also in Batman TAS) the Mad Hatter gives Batman his FONDEST WISH in a virtual reality, and it’s NOT BEING BATMAN. Also the Black Mercy, when used on Batman, is his parents not dying in the alley so that he NEVER HAS TO BE BATMAN.
Anyway, you ignored the ENTIRE post’s point about how many heroes CRAVE, if not having to be superheroes, to at least be able to have a BREAK from being a superhero 24/7, which is why the secret identity is so important to someone like Clark Kent (although one can also argue that, for Clark, Superman is the alternate identity, and Clark Kent is who he really identifies as first and foremost)
Watch Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. Specifically the part where he and Kara are walking in the park in Metropolis at night, before Wonder Woman and the Amazons arrive to try to force Kara to be taken to Themyscira.
Kara: “It’s so beautiful here. Not like that other city where Grumpy-Ass lives.”
Clark: “Grumpy-Ass isn’t so bad once you get to know him.”
Kara: “What’s his problem anyway?”
Clark: “He just wants you to take things a little slower. Adapting to a new culture, or any culture, can be a little difficult.”
Kara: “Is that why you wear those glasses? As a way of adapting? Even though you can see better than anyone on the planet?”
(here’s the important statement by Clark/Superman)
Clark: “It’s a way for those of us who are … heroes… to have lives without the cape. It’s important to keep our identities a secret.”
Kara: “That’s why Mr. Friendly never takes off his lead-lined cowl.”
Clark: “You noticed the lead? I didn’t realize your X-ray vision had kicked in.”
(they come across a statue of Superman in the park, and Kara stops to look in surprise and realization about how people rarely see heroes as the real people they are behind the costume and superpowers)
Kara: “Oh… my. This… this is how they see you. Bigger than life. You’re their champion. These powers… do you ever regret having them?”
Clark: “No.”
Kara peers at him. “Not even a little?” (puts her finger and thumb together)
Clark shrugs a bit noncommittally in agreement.
Kara: “Can I tell you something?”
Clark: “You can tell me anything.”
Kara: “They terrify me. I mean, the responsibility. I don’t want to be anyone’s champion…. no offense.”
Clark: “None taken.”
Okay, just from that little snippet of dialog I have decided to find and watch this movie. Thanks.
It’s a GREAT movie. One of the top 5 DC Animated movies imho. And 10 times better than the comic on which it was based, which was also good already. There’s only one thing from the comic that they took out that should have been kept in the movie, but I won’t mention it yet because I don’t want to spoil the movie for you.
It’s my second favorite DC animated movie (the first is Under the Red Hood, and the third is Superman Unbound – also two movies I’d very much recommend). Tt’s not lost on my that two of my three favorite DC animated movies are heavily Supergirl-centric, but that’s because she’s always been one of my two favorite DC superheroes along with Stephanie Brown’s Batgirl/Spoiler/Robin.
That’s because the rest of your post was fine, and was pointing out that even villains have the same craving
Fair enough. I had just been limiting my response to heroes since Maxima is a supehero but yeah, I can think of many villains who also crave some normalcy in life as well.
It has been put forth on several occasions that Bruce is the fake persona and Batman is the real person. When Supes and Bats meet WW for the first time in one variation of the comic lore, she puts the lasso around Batman and he says he is Batman, not Bruce. Bruce is a cover and just a way for Batman to stay hidden and unknown. Alfred has to constantly remind Batman that Bruce has responsibilities that must be met, otherwise Bruce would rarely ever exist.
Or as Zatanna once put it in the comics, “Bruce died in that alley when his parents were killed, and that’s when Batman was born.”
Yup! And I think you might be referring to this comic page from Wonder Woman Annual #1 (2017), where they first meet, and in order to know to trust each other, they do something called ‘holding the perfect’ – sort of an oath of alliance, and to seal the oath, each of them simultaneously hold the lasso and speak their names.
Wonder Woman says “Diana of Themyscira, Daughter of Queen Hippolyta” – Because ‘Wonder Woman’ is the name Man’s World gave her, not her name or how she thinks of herself.
Superman says “Clark Kent. Kal-El.” – Because while he does recognize himself as both, Clark Kent and Kal-El, Superman is the fake persona for him. And first and foremost, he is Clark Kent, because that’s how he was raised. Then Kal-El, because that’s how he was born.
Then Batman says “Batman.” – That’s it. Not Bruce Wayne. He’s Batman dammit. Because Bruce Wayne is the mask. Anyone who wants to tell Batman otherwise will have to bring it up with his subconscious, as he tells Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond. :)
I’d upload the two pages, since I have the comic, but I don’t know how to do that on the comic message forum, and it’s really hard to apparently find those two pages online, but i could if I search through facebook or reddit. Instead i’ll just show this youtube short which has the pages.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eEcn2q_TmXs
Now some people occasionally say ‘Batman’s will is enough that he can resist the lasso. Or Hur hur, Batman was wearing gloves so he can lie. Nope on both counts. 1) Even Green Lanterns, who have some of the strongest wills in the universe, cannot resist the lasso compelling the truth. Even gods cannot resist it. Some might be able to break FREE of the lasso (like Supergirl does in New 52) but the magic compelling truth cannot be resisted if you have a mind in the first place (ie, that’s why the lasso could not affect Doomsday – at that point in time, the creature’s mind only was rage, no actual thought beyond that). Batman can’t resist it either. 2) Word of God of the author, holding the lasso with gloves does not protect you against telling the truth, any more than if they’re tied up with the lasso and it’s touching your clothes instead of your bare skin. There have been people who just SIT on the lasso and find themselves just babbling out the truth. Doesnt matter that it was touching their pants instead of their bare butts.
Personally never believed Maxi was going to actually do anything with G sexually (in the shower or anywhere out of the shower)
Intentionally blue-balling him to teach him a lesson? Certainly (specially if the said balls did a Grinch’s heart :P )
An outrageously slutty nurse’s outfit? Do I detect foreshadowing for the next vote incentive?
Only if it’s Frix wearing it :P
Maxi is definitely gonna have to have a talk with Rowan when she gets back, first and most importantly: does she even want to remain in a long-term committed relationship with him (or any one person)?
Lux has done one thing: shown that she can be in a relationship
She should feel dirty. Doesn’t take sex to cheat. Just letting another guy see you naked and rub you up in the shower qualifies. Of course, modern women, and their simps, think this is fine.
I’d be single as soon as I found out.
G didn’t ‘rub Maxi up’, he helped rub her down (remove the disguise that she could not see nor feel) without her letting him rub one out ;)
Dave, I think your definition of family is a bit twisted. In most families, the parents fuck. It’s just in Cora’s family, there’s a lot of prospective parents and no children. At least, no children that you’ve made us aware of.
She literally did nothing. That’s the problem.
She should feel bad – but not for getting Gellen turned on. Rather, she should feel bad for being so judgmental of Cora and her crew, when she is a GUEST in their HOME. Would she feel that way if they asked her to light a candle for a ceremony, for a religion they follow but that she doesn’t?
How is she being judgmental?
She feels bad for what she did, IS THAT NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU PEOPLE?
She does not feel bad though. She feels awkward for doing something that set up the current string of jokes, but she does not feel bad or regrets the actions.
Not yet at least, it may still come if Rowan ends up reacting negative to finding out about the shower.
Max may not have clicked to it right away but I would bet that many of us anticipated that Cora would be ready to relive Gellen’s … tension.
Surly he had to know that touching the Golden Goddess of Ash could have lasting effects. I had to snicker at the line “What did you do the Gellen?!?” Not a thing, it’s what Max DIDN’T do is the problem. But I’m sure Cora can help the poor guy out with this horrible infliction…
“Look, Rowan. I’m not like other girls.”
“Of course not. You’re special! … Wait, are you saying you’re a lesbian?
“To be honest, I guess I’d have to say I’m bi.”
“Far out! Who’s your partner? We could do a threesome.”
— WHAM —
Where did Maxima ever come out as bi? I don’t remember anything showing even that inclination in the comic, and I do tend to have a pretty good memory of what happens in comics. In fact, Maxima once definitively stated, outright… “I’m straight.” to Shioh (Rowan’s sister). Who is still my favorite minor non-super character in the comic so far, narrowly beating out Sydney’s mom.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1161-succubestie/
I know Harem is Bi (and Polyamorous), and Chimyriad is Ace, and Pixel is Lesbian (and in a relationship with Elsbeth/Ellie from the Council – Master Gault’s apprentice), and Peggy is mostly Lesbian (except when she gets ‘a-beggin for a preggin’ – her words, at which point she’s Bi).
Also know that Sydney is decidedly hetero (despite, in her words, being a tomboy). And Anvil is probably hetero from a lot of things she’s said in the comic, although those exact words have never been stated. And Jabberwokky is mostly hetero and not even into girls, except apparently “one time at a party – well… most parties” ( https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-237-the-tongue-is-mightier-than-the-sword-as-are-boobs/ )
But that’s about all that’s been said in the comics about sexual preferences so far as I can tell. I might be missing a few people though, like Mr Amorphous, Achilles, and Heatwave, all of whom I think are straight, at least from what’s been shown in the comic (plus two of them are in an exclusive relationship with each other (despite the one-time lust aura that went out of control).
But I don’t remember anywhere even implying that Maxima was bisexual.
When did Peggy beg for a pregnancy? From who?
My memory is imperfect, in or out of comics!
She was just talking with Sydney about her orientation, since of course Sydney asked.
Oh, additional snippet of info.
Apparently there WAS a page where Sydney specifically said she’s heterosexual – after an out-of-contol lust aura Parfait kissed her and she had to lick Parfait’s eyeball to make her stop. And Sydney did this even while in full exposure to that lust aura, so …. pretty sure she’s only into guys.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1193-kiss-monsters-gonna-get-ya/
Oh and Seneca is bi (newly discovered to be bisexual at least).
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1195-ratio-matters/
“BTW, a SNERK is the opposite of a SNORT. A snort is just a short laugh-snore. A snerk is the same thing, but an exhale. Like a laugh-nose-blow. I thought I’d clarify because I’ve seen some comments in the distant past where people were asking.”
Funny, I always thought that was the opposite.
We could be looking at something like a “founder effect” on spaceborne humanity. If humans in space are mostly descended from the abductees of previous centuries, we have to ask who those abductees were. And mostly we come up with folks on the margins of society.
Frontier populations where swarming men in the rush for resources attracted women who were “Shenanigan amenable” to use Dave’s phrase, into a certain type of professional life. Isolated military companies and their camp followers. Pirates and the populations of pirate-harboring “freeport” cities who wouldn’t be missed by their nations of origin. Isolated tribes (like island cutures) that had different cultural norms to prevent them from dying out by becoming too inbred. Those who were expected to escape at any opportunity anyway, like slaves or prisoners.
Just sayin’, conventional morality, including sexual mores, may not have been a huge cultural influence on the abductee population.
Who the lady with googles on the left? For second I thought Halo evolved, but no ring of balls…so a forgotten character.
That’s Digit (grrlpowercomic.fandom.com/wiki/Digit). She was brought along to try and learn about alien tech (preferably non-harpoon-related alien tech).
Digit, iirc, she’s the gal from ARC’s Engineering Division who keeps putting harpoons on things.
Yeah, Digit. Presumably she’s been down in the lab this whole time doing *something*.
Cue Cora asking:
“When the Hell did we install a harpoon-launcher on the ship!”
“And why is it facing inwards?”
“And how did it get through those force fields that are as powerful as a Fel Ship’s shields??????”
Apparently, Earth porn is REALLY popular off-Earth. Combine that with the space cultures probably having better video generating AI, and it’s a really good thing Max disguises herself when in the arena. Imagine if opponents recognized her and started quoting cheesy lines from porn videos (starring her) at her.
Interesting that her disguise has no visible orifices – perhaps she chose that on purpose for that very reason.
I do hope at some point we will see Maxima getting thoset golden buns soaped up, would have been the highlight of this entire arc.
“The right answer, of course, is that’s the matter is entirely up to the people involved”
and despite not being there, Rowan is involved. Max doesn’t get to just decide on her own “nope, doesn’t count”
She should feel dirty because she basically cheated on her boyfriend.
Except, that judgement is for you not her. But, hey. Whatever man, just don’t bleed on my rug… it brings the room together.
I love how the window pane shifts to the other side of her forehead when she tilts her head down and toward it…but what is the window pane doing in the ship?!
Lighting panels rather than window panes.
My head-canon is funnier.
True, Observation deck, maybe?