Grrl Power #271 – How do you disarm someone with super powers?
This is really Vehemence’s fault. Gentleman brawler or not, he made it clear their options were limited. If anything he’s lucky that Maxima didn’t start with his head. It would seem he forgot that Max is a solder first, and this would definitely be an ignominious end for Vehemence after such a promising start. On the other hand (sorry, V) that was also fantastically violent, so hopefully Max was right about there being a tipping point.
TV Tropes is running a kickstarter to spruce up their site, front and back end. They’re a good resource and drive a lot of traffic to a lot of webcomics so at least give it a look. Just be careful with your time if you go to TV Tropes proper, as the site is actually a time vampire.
I just want to casually remind everyone about the Amazon affiliate link since it’s cyber-Monday, something that e-tailers just made up a few years ago and now we all just accept is a thing. Evidently Saturday was “Small Business Saturday” in an attempt to win back some customers from the Amazons and Wal-Marts. I imagine within a few years nearly every day between Thanksgiving and Xmas will have its own name, from “Knick Nacks Thursday” to “Oh shit it’s nearly Xmas and I still need to do all my shopping Wednesday.”
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome which I can’t live without anymore, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Personally I think V is a demon. Dabbler has already said she didn’t know of humans that could wield the power of violence. Add in Sydney saw something when she used her true sight. So he may have teleportation “magic” like dabbler seems to when she escaped her own bands being used against her. Time for V to cut out and go. Like the rest of us after Thanksgiving, he’s eaten his fill and them some. Time to unbutton his new pants kick back on the couch and watch some TV.
When did Sydney use her truesight on him?
She used the com-ball to chat with him briefly during the fight (before Death Troll), but she’s established that her telepresence self doesn’t get the truesight. The only other times she’s been seen looking him over, she wasn’t using the com-ball – even in page 270 where she’s “hmm”-ing, the only ball she’s using is the shield, as all six of the others are visible above her head (one partly obscured by the “BOOM” sound effect).
Halo had to hold the orb when she chatted with V, and look at him with her own eyes first. Besides, her actions and decisions were excellent throughout the battle, so I’m sure she did not neglect to check V for illusions at some point, offstage.
That was telepresence – she wasn’t actually there, as evidenced by her departure involving disappearance into a little yellow dot that zipped away, and she’s established that the truesight doesn’t work when she’s doing that. Also, considering her initial reaction to Dabbler upon seeing her “true form”, if she’d seen anything demonic about V at some earlier point in the fight, there is zero chance she would not have mentioned it once they were fighting him.
But Halo must have had V in her “natural” line of sight *before* she used the telepresence and while she grabbed the com-ball to have a little chat, just to keep a safe distance.
First – there’s no evidence that the com-ball requires a “natural” line of sight to work, she may be able to walk into other rooms and around corners with it, and “scout”. And second – even if she did, that brings us back to the “no way she would not have mentioned this when they started fighting him” – which means either she didn’t see it, or it isn’t there.
I think Ed meant that seeing him (just standing there, all suspicious-like) with her own eyes was her reason for sending the com-ball over there in the first place, not that it requires line-of-sight to send it somewhere.
the true-sight effect is blocked by any “real” visual barrier, such as the newspaper mask used by Peggy. The remote-sydney projection however is intangible and can move through peoplee, no reason why it cant move through walls etc and go pretty much wherever within whatever the range limit is for how far it can go from Sydney. So for scouting, that thing is indeed fricking hard to beat in terms of value.
The original true sight might have been, but it has been upgraded since it was first tested when Sydney “leveled up” in page 183.
Upgraded in a completely unknown way. The upgrade may have simply increased the range her telepresence can wander off to, or it may have given her the ability to communicate with other orb-users (of which there are none she or we are aware of). Or it may have added or enhanced some other function that nobody is aware of yet.
Page 270 last panel 7. The only two balls not hovering around her when she says “Hmmm” are the force field and the true sight. The only visable things shes looking at are Max and V. Which is what lead me to believe she may have seen something more then what is showing as she looks directly at V.
Her truesight orb is indeed hovering around her head in that panel…It’s mostly hidden by her flight orb & the “Boom.” With her shield up, there’s still 6 other orbs hovering around her head.
It’s possible that V might be a demon. But it’s also possible that he might have an arcane link to a demon in return for vehemic power, but be human underneath… which fits slightly better with the tattoos, personality, and arcane knowledge, imho.
If this is so..
Pact with demon for unimaginable powers?
SWEET TITTING CHRIST HE’S LIKE A MALE BAYONETTA.
Just not as awesome.
*reaches for brain bleach VEHEMENTLY*
Don’t forget the TM. That cuts into MidnightDStroyer’s profits. :-P :-)
If the Disney Corp has taught anything to anybody, it’s that you don’t f*ck around with copyright lawyers. I got mine on speed-dial.
Uh-oh Bleh is in trouble. :-)
That, and never trust the bootlegs. It did NOTHING. X_X
Even Sydney tried to bootleg some Brain Bleach (TM) from one of her unknown orbs after V’s pants tore…She didn’t get any, did she? :D
Are you going to be mean to Sydney? Yorp may bite you if you are. :-)
Hey, that wasn’t my doing! I’ve only got a franchise, but I don’t control *all* aspects of the copyright protection.
Midnight I can’t reply to you directly, but, if you have a franchise you should have sent some along. :-P :-)
If Archon has a contract with the Brain Bleach ™ Corp, I wasn’t informed of it…I can’t send any without the contract first.
Hey, I don’t want to wind up getting sued back to the Stone Age…
Free samples are great advertising. :-)
He said he was a ‘natural’ user of vehemic energy.
Could have been lying.
Nope, he said he’s an “innate” user. To all visual evidence, that ability seems to be linked to his tattoos.
But now that Max has really screwed up the tattoo pattern, I’d guess that the ability to absorb it has either been reduced or negated.
Ah, I forgot all this. Part-demon, perhaps?
Which part, one wonders.
His pants.
From some of the reactions expressed when V’s first pair of pants tore, I’d guess that the demon part of him is *in* his pants…
/rimshot!/
No, NO rimshot, please!
*grabs bottle of Breach Blain*
Darn it, I almost phoned up the copyright lawyer for a false alarm.
“Curses! Foiled again!”
~Quote in the Public Domain
consider that they live in a world where normal humans are granted utterly superhuman abilites, often in complete defiance of physics as real life knows it. V having the ability to channel vehemic energy innately really is no more (or less really) unique than Death Toll’s nemesis ability, Anvil’s ability to absorb and channel kinetic energy and so on. Its a one of a kind ability sure but then so is pretty much Every powerset for every person with superpowers we have seen in the comic to date. Hence I sincerely doubt he’s got demonic ties or whatnot, odds are if he had then Sydney’s truesight would have given Some clue to this And there’s absolutely no way that Sydney would not have taken a moment to look him over with said truesight at least once by now.
My money’s still on him being a supermage, as in a superpowered being who’s powerset gives him a Hyuoge advantage at magery by giving him an easy to supply and immediately useful source of power to use for his spells.
If this were a true TV trope she would would have Super Power shot V in the kneecap and blown his leg off to incapacitate the perp.
/remember kids never ever take a swing at a cop (and Arc-SWAT are Federal LE )
But if she removed his leg then they couldn’t face off toe to toe.
Even now, Max can’t go face-to-face with V unless she flies. But now it’s too late to settle this peacefully with an arm-wrestling match…V’s already lost one of them.
It’s just a flesh wound
Nope. Bone was affected, which makes it *more* than just a flesh wound.
Tell that to the Black Knight.
Even though it was for the sake of humor, the black Knight was also wrong by calling it a flesh wound…Didn’t make it any less funny though.
Just a flesh wound, muscle strain, fractured bone, and a little loss of blood. Anything else?
Maybe V took ballet.
If V spent much time and/or expense to learn sign language, it’s gone to waste.
Then the next panel would have been: ‘I used to be a supervillain like you, but then I took a superhero-induced nuclear explosion to the kneecap.’
I’d just like to congratulate bleh on a hilarious-in-hindsight comment from the last page of the comic: “Lets still not forget, violence he commits himself still gives him power, so it will be a LOOOOOOOOOOONG while before his proverbial arms fall off.”
Vehemence can still keep going…he’s still got one arm left.
It’s just a flesh wound.
It’s just a flesh wound.
Come back here you pansy, I’ll bite your legs off!
And he’s not ‘defeeted’ yet. :D
He wasn’t too broken up about the loss of his eye. He hasn’t demonstrated it yet, but he could be about to use a power he may have had all along and just avoided using, perhaps he has it only when he acquires enough vehemic energy. The power of regeneration. Like wolverine. Then the question is only if blowing off an arm gives him more violence energy than the energy needed to grow it back. If not, it’s definitely his win.
his eye or his teeth, I meant to say. My point is, he was completely nonchalant about losing two ostensibly permanent teeth. If he DOESN’T have regeneration powers, then that means that this fight is far more extreme than anything he has ever experienced before, since he started out with perfect teeth and no apparent scars, so if he was being taken apart like never before, isn’t that a situation that would normally make someone upset?
That definitely depends on whether or not he can grow back his HEAD.
Which head? O.o
“…I’ll shoot something you can’t grow back.”
~ K, MIB movie
Nuclear armpit is next.
There is a comic by epic called Marshal Law, much like this paneled, kind of down to the grit where an X solder who is now a cop and is a superhero and more then a little off the deep end and likes to kill other suppers who are braking the law.
Me I like supper heroes who bleed and die, shows that some humanity is still there.
My mom is my favorite supper hero. XD
That’s certainly food for thought.
What do you know, so is mine. XD
The pitfalls of spell check, using the wrong word spelled correctly.
That’s why I turn off my checkers. If I make a mistake, at least it’s an honest one.
That’s why I turn of my chequers. If eye make a miss steak, at least its Anne honest won.
I’m trying to see what your talking about, using a dictionary and all that but the only thing I can see is the nuclear armpit reference, like Nuclear weapons so, that said I’m not good at creative writing, or spelling for that matter. Marshal?
I think they are talking about supper instead of super. It is easy to mistype something and I have done it myself many times, but hey we are all human. Don’t worry about it.
Yeah, we’re just having a little fun with a typo. Just because I (for one out of many) have been guilty of it doesn’t mean I’d be offended if someone else had a little fun with my own typos.
I think I am the one most offended when I make a typo. I am not saying I would be offended by someone making fun of it. I just don’t like making those kinds of mistakes. :-/
Not sure if this has been said, but how did the blood get through Sydney’s shield and onto her face? It has been shown that her shield can withstand some of Max’s most violent attacks, and this definitely does not fall under that category of devastation.
That’s Sydney’s own blood, after being punched many pages ago.
No blood got through. she is injured from before and turning green from being sick.
Aaaaand I forgot about the Nega knuckles, move along folks, nothing to see here
And that’s not blood on Sydney’s cheek, it’s a bruise given to her by Shadow Boxer.
Nearly 4 hours after Sammy owned his mistake it was still necessary to point it out again? Tough crowd!
*ahem*
Sammy, YOU FOOL! That’s Halo’s OWN BLOOD!
NOTHING got through her force field!!!!!!1!!!!!!One!!!!
Sammy, I’m just kidding for purposes of hyperbole.
Alternatively:
Didn’t you get the memo about the new TPS report cover sheet?
She wasn’t kidding when she said non-Arianna-friendly!
Remember when she told Sydney to position her shots? The only worse PR outcome for Arianna would be for the severed arm to land across the street in the middle of the news crews.
Oh, that hast go to happen. Please Dave. :-)
“hast go to happen”. Wow, I have to start checking my posts, before I click submit. :-/
Uh…. that arm wasn’t severed, it was vapourized, as in into its component particles.
Don’t care. Arianna’s reaction would just be too funny. Must see this. :-)
Don’t give up hope…At that particular zoom-level, we can’t tell if Max’s blast vaporized his arm or merely blew it off & away from the area. You *may* yet get to see that.
:-)
Meh, criminals putting up the kind of fight V is delivering get shot by cops all the time without any PR impact. Blowing off his arm is easily defended as being a necessary use of deadly force which still was applied carefully enough not to cause loss of life.
And if he keeps fighting then the head shot is just as justifiable.
I agree, I don’t see this as a PR nightmare at all, if spun correctly. It proves that, when faced with overwhelming odds, the good guys still have the power to prevail. Of course I’m assuming that the camera crew is still filming and not shitting their pants in hiding somewhere, literally.
Well, looks like the fight’s over now. Let’s give our special guest villain Vehemence a great big hand…what too soon? :)
I like how Dabbler’s using Sydney’s shield like a Bunker wall (that and her expression while doing it.)
dabbler saw that coming if noone else did and from the comments some people did (so odds on v pulling a black knight)
Yes, although I think DaveB made a joke here. I’m not sure poking her fingers into her ‘antennae’ would help much!
Actually, I’m pritty sure those are her ears.
It’s what she pointed to last time she talked about her hearing
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/641
Thanks. I know, I should have said ‘antenna / ear… things’. We’ve yet to learn exactly what they can do.
they’re kinda both, Dave’s called them “Ears Plus” because I asked if they were her ears or like a Moth’s Antennae (Since they appeared to grow from her eyebrows while watching the Bank Robbery footage)
Dabbler likes Hot Chicks too.
Dabbler likes EVERYBODY. I fully expect there to be a scene where Dabbler rejects someone, and ALL others present jawdrop at the event.
I just hope Anvil’s somewhere safe, too. On the plus side, she should be safe from flying debris and the force of the blast wave itself, but I’m not sure about other components of the blast (e.g. heat).
Aaannnd I was right.
Don’t make yourself so tough that the professional killer (military) has to go to non-lethal levels to stop you.
While YOU might be playing……they sure as hell are NOT.
Wasn’t quite what I was expecting…but…that will do.
Now the regeneration powers appear. >:D
Regenerating an entire arm takes ALOT of energy.
So even if he could do it, it’d probably drain him off his powers, and Maxima could simply do the same trick again on his head
…Says who? Wolverine can regenerate ad infinitum, growing back limbs is a piece of cake for Cell and Piccolo, Fast Heal and Regeneration are always on in dungeons and dragons and Pathfinder for no upkeep cost. I guess the orcs in Discworld need to eat a lot of pies after they heal, though. But that is my point: Regeneration has no real world counterpart, and there is no “baseline” for how powerful or tiring regeneration should be other than whatever the author felt would fit their story best. We have no idea how costly and ability regeneration is, in Grrlpower, other than that medic lady, and she did not seem tired from fixing up Sydney.
…Actually, she did seem very tired, come to think of it, but I think that had more to do with Sydney’s… Sydney-ness than anything to do with her injuries.
She just saw a dude get his arm blown off right in front of her. That would be enough to make most people feel rather ….ewwww.
actually, regen-wise, there is a few RL examples. Starfish and Planarian flatworms for two. still isn’t near-instant though.
Says the fact that DaveB is going for a more realistic universe, to the point of pointing out stupid things in comic book worlds.
Regenerating an arm would mean generating a NEW arm. That takes a crapton of energy (simple science, convirtion of energy)
Vehemence only grew because he spent alot of power doing so (because he had enough anwyay)
And the medic lady also didn’t magicly regenerate Sydney’s eye, dispite having healing powers, she simply accelerated the natural healing procces (which is why Sydney had to keep the patch on for several hours).
Also: Yes, there is a real life equivilant for regeneration for mammels:
https://www.nature.com/news/african-spiny-mice-can-regrow-lost-skin-1.11488#/ref-link-1
Also if he could, he would have already fixed his eye. Having dept perception is a pritty significant advantage
I was wondering if Max actually made V’s arm explode, instead of causing an explosion in the vicinity of V’s arm.
As far as why would Max possibly kill V if he doesn’t surrender now: Due to the nature of powers here, the threat of injury or death to innocents is greatly increased, plus V has actually threatened and attacked legal representatives in pursuit of their duty. V has received abundant warnings, and killing him, should he continue, would be fully justified. If he had been serious about challenging Max without endangering anyone else, he could easily have offered an invite to some deserted island or the middle of the desert, salt flats, etc, but this joker wants to duke it out in the middle of the city, with little or no regard to whomever, or whatever, may be in the vicinity. There is the possibility that innocent deaths have already occurred and have not come to light yet. What if the bridge construction area had a night watchman to guard the equipment? We have not confirmed that the diner’s personnel are all safely away. Then there is the matter of the noise drawing idiots with their cell phones who want to record the incident, so they can post it to the internet; although in that case I would classify it as suicide by stupidity.
I really hope everything turns out okay for V. I like him, despite all of his villainy. He seems to be a good guy, for all that he likes to fight. He really only lets loose on those whom he knows can take the hits, and he treats everyone as a human being, not just as an opponent, or a target. He seems to have established some kind of connection with Sydney, and honestly I was really looking forward to seeing that develop into a friendship. She seems like she is enjoying the fight, I suppose because this is the first time she’s really had the opportunity to truly let loose with her powers. But now that people are actually getting seriously hurt, she notes that she isn’t proud of her involvement. I know the whole “appealing to humanity” strategy usually ends in laughing derision on the part of the villain, but Vehemence has shown a surprising amount of humanity, and he seems to appreciate Sydney’s humanity in particular.
I don’t know about a ‘good guy’, but he is a cool character just for the fact he’s not a dumb brute. I also don’t mind a possible kinship of sorts between V and Sydney, so who knows.
I think Vehemence has certainly earned a solid spot in the “recurring villain” category…If he doesn’t push this fight to self-lethal levels.
I doubt he’ll disappear, and as I said elsewhere I think he’ll end up being back as a good guy, eventually, perhaps after some pretty massive mental rehabilitation. He just strikes me as too smart not to choose what is probably going to be the winning side.
Depends how he defines his personal victory conditions.
I think Sids going to toss her cookies again. I know i would if i was front row to that..
From what we’ve seen so far, Sydney’s already lost one lunch (on Max’s boots), didn’t get to finish her second lunch (atomic-powered noodle slap to her eye) & she was shown to have only two bites from her potato in the (now demolished) restaurant.
In effect, she doesn’t have much “cookies” for her to toss again…
Besides, Sydney isn’t in the “front row,” Max is. Sydney would be in the second row; still close enough to get plastered with Gallagher’s smashed watermelon…
please please please no regenerative powers that shtcks old. blow off an arm? oh i can grow it back! besides if he did have regenerative powers hes eye and teeth woulda healed. let him stay a one handed superhuman much more character and plot. personally i was hoping for Maxima to just keep beating on the guy till he was sooo big he couldn’t move or even better he accumulates soo much power he just pops…BOOM! ehehehehe
There’s a couple of instances where V used magic spells, so it’s possible that he might know some healing and/or regenerative magic…But it’ll cost him some power & time to use it. As far as it goes with his teeth & eye, he probably didn’t consider healing those as necessary since he was pretty much ignoring that damage so far.
If he has any ability to regenerate, it has to be by conscious & magical effort. It doesn’t happen automatically, like Wolverine’s regeneration does.
He also seems to know a lot of people, so might have an idea of where he can go for healing even if he can’t do it himself.
Once word gets around how he betrayed the rest of the villain group, who’s gonna trust him?
Once word gets around how he betrayed the rest of the villain group, who’s gonna refuse him?
of all the guys and gals there only V and Whom the Death Tolls has done any significant damage to the group…
Trust & refusal are two different things. Sure, someone might agree to help him, but without trust, they could just as easily sabotage him too. Maybe even pull it off in such a way that he can’t come back on them for doing it.
You have to place a lot less trust in someone to heal them than to follow them into a fight with gvt supersoldiers, however. And as he’s also been demonstrated to be very dangerous, the safest policy would seem to be to heal him without a fuss.
It’s funny that everyone always asumes regenerative powers are quick. We already know that the Arcon doctor healing Sydney’s eye (with healing powers), still required several hours for the eye to actually heal.
I’d say he CAN regenerate, but it takes him alot of time, and more importantly, alot of power.
So he probably CAN recover. But doing so would completly drain him off power (and take time). So there’s no way he could do it during the fight, and now, doing so would turn him back into a curbstomp for Maxima
I find it highly unlikely that Max alone will be the one to finish this fight, the main characters said what she was doing was the wrong way to do it after all, so you belief that regenerating will depower V so far he can’t fight is going to be wrong.
in my view the most likely out come is V gets more power off Max’s actions and starts beating Max, Sydney uses her new upgrade to find a weak point in V and uses the team to take him down
Just because the main character says something, doesn’t make it true. The main character isn’t god allmighty
in a way they are after all they are the voice of the author which is the “god” to this story. unless the author is teaching the main character a lesson they’re always right because they embody the morals of the story .
we’re now getting to max show off but this will fail and Sydney will step up
But the “god” of the story will have to, by necessity, keep a certain amount of ignorance in *all* the characters, including the main character. If this were an RPG game, it’s referred to as the barrier between player knowledge & character knowledge.
how many main character are omniscent?
I hope not – that makes Sydney a bit too much of a Mary Sue. I’m thinking more “victory with negative repercussions” here.
Maybe he can regenerate but didn’t use it on his eye and teeth because that would have tipped the team and he wanted to keep that power as a secret reserve?
This, V has been keeping things up his sleeve ever since this whole kerfluffle started. He organised the whole event to get his Vnergy noms, then revealed himself as the big bad so they’d take him down and feed him further, only revealing when it was too late to stop him that doing so had only helped him become too powerful for them to (safely) take down. I expect healing himself of relatively minor injuries, the teeth etc, would have discouraged the team from continuing their attack, in search of alternative ways to take him down that also would probably not feed his powers as effectively.
But as ive said in a comment section long long ago on a page far far away. V is being Way, Wahay too nonchalant about losing a fricking eye to be worried at all about if he will ever recover it. He has a way and knows it will work, he just hasnt used it yet because he wants the team to think they still have a chance (its no fun if they dont at least try to fight back after all).
The only questions is whether healing is something he can do himself (and if not, this is probably where he should be looking for an exit) or if he has some super-doc or magic club he can go visit for the healing later.
I Do doubt he planned on having as grevious a set of injuries to need fixing as This though.
I think the most significant of mistakes V made when he thought he had it all figured out: Despite the way Maxima warned criminals of the potentially lethal risk of fighting ARCSwat, I think he didn’t really account for the fact that they’re *military* with law enforcement powers.
Granted, because of the LE part they can’t kill a perp outright, but even civilian LE do have enough leeway in judging threat-levels to ramp it up to lethal levels. Because ZRCSwat *is* military, it mostly means that they have “lethal response” already authorized, even though they do have to follow procedures of escalation. All in all, it’s his *own fault* that ARCSwat has to ramp up their response to lethal levels.
Max is no hardass soldier.
Want to see what a super soldier with PTSD would do?
Read Marshall Law.
If Max was like that, she would have destroyed V looooong ago…
https://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/04/14/committed-marshal-law-the-most-underrated-book-in-comics/
Really hope V can come back from this, not for action’s sake just because… daaaamn…
Well, congrats to those who predicted Max was going to use her beam on him. Give yourselves a pat on the back… Er…
had it pegged awhile back he’d push her this far. was confirmed the moment she thought said “non-Arianna friendly”.
Yeah, if using a concrete and steel bridge support pillar to grind him like pepper in a mortar and pestle wasn’t considered “non-Arianna friendly”, the energy blast was pretty much the only thing left that could fit that description.
V are you all right? Well you aren’t much left anymore.
In an “arms” race, try to lead with your non-favored hand.
Who has one thumb and is ready to surrender .. this guy.
Next page he pulls a Piccalo. Immediately afterwards its established that maiming him no longer works, even on Maxima’s level.
Okay, I’ll admit that was pretty funny.
If he can regenerate articles of clothing that aren’t actually a part of his body, I’m betting an arm will be easy. (unless the pants actually were a part of his anatomy, in which case my mind goes off into odd places, and did he ever regenerate underwear? Was he wearing any in the first place? I didn’t see any KA-BOXERS or KA-BRIEFS… Does he wear women’s underwear or something instead? I never see him in Victoria’s Secret or the right areas of Target… Maybe he just buys lifetime supplies at Black Friday Sales? He’d definitely get a nice fix from the violence at those. Plus, he could use that to actually get one of those mythical big flat-screens, and more french oats. Like I said, odd places.)
Methinks that if he could fast regenerate, he would have KA-LEFT-EYEBALLed by now, if only to show off. He may have teleported a new set of pants from a closet somewhere. he probably doesn’t have an eyepatch or a spare arm lying around.
If this was manga he would grow tentacles from the severed arm. If it was hentia Dabbler would begin to get powered up shortly thereafter.
Reaches for brain bleach… hesitates hmmmm
Brain Bleach TM is trademarked by MidnightDStroyer. You will need to cantact his lawyers now. :-)
*contact*
MidnightDStroyer, may i borrow your brain bleach? for future events that is…
“Sets out a case of MS. Clean Brain ™ for anyone who needs it”
How well does that stuff work? I’m stuck using this ‘Breach Blain’… wait, made in China, I’m reading this backwards…
Use it once and you will not even remember who you are.
I’ve been running a special reduced-cost supply ever since V’s pants shredded…
Nope, I didn’t trademark it. I’ve merely got a *franchise* in it, not the whole industry itself. What that means is that I also have to help protect the TM, even though I don’t actually *hold* the TM.
The difference is subtle, but it’s there…
Okay, I was keeping my post too short. :-P :-)
Is it bad I want to see this?
Well that got out of hand.
He was unarmed before and now even less.
I think he is going to need a hand to get out of this one.
I clap for this outcome.
One thumb up.
Shut up, or I’ll rip YOUR arm off and beat you to death with it.
Captain Hook gives this comment one thumbs up.
It didn’t escalate quickly. I believe the words you’re looking for are “Shit got serious”.
Poor Sydney. She’s just having to really confront the reality of what she’s doing. Being a superhero isn’t all snappy speeches, pummeling bad guys unconscious while spouting witty one-liners, then striking a pose over them afterwards. This is real. Sometimes people are gonna die. The good and the bad. And she will, evebtually have to face the two worst moments of any super hero’s career. That time when you can’t save someone and have to watch them die, and when you realize that you can’t take the bad guy in alive and have to make the conscious decision to try and kill them. Good luck hon.
At least it’s something that she’s learning early in her new career. It’s bad to face that fact now, but it would be worse to face it at the time it *personally* happens to her.
That was not something I anticipated. If I’m right, that was Maxima, doing her namesake, and spiking her destructive powers to land that hit. Which means she is equally vulnerable in the moment she tries to land a hit. And to kill him, she has to hit his head. So many things that could go wrong in that moment. I am appeased though.
Actually this doesn’t seem to be anywhere near the gigantic blast she did on the press show, and she said that that wasn’t even her best
Well, I know at least one past commenter who will be overjoyed if this is how it ends (ok, can’t actually remember his name but it was vaguely angelic sounding… ) with Maxima brutalizing the guy until he surrenders so she can make good on her original build up as one of the worlds greatest with an actual big win against a strong super BEFORE she gets in over her head in later chapters.
The weird thing about this for me is that, other than the initial yell of pain or surprise he gives on receiving damage, he has so far just sort of shrugged everything off and kept going. Frankly loosing his eye should have been enough trauma and loss for Maxima to make this “surrender and we will get you help. Don’t and you’ll die by chunks.” speech. But not only does it not knock him out to loose so much he just keeps going. On top of that he doesn’t logically conclude that the loss of an eye makes this fight not worth it. To me an eye is worth more than a leg. I would think to a studious mage type that would be equally important. I mean he still SEEMS logical and capable of discussing things normally etc… So I had to assume he either was expecting a huge life altering pay off, knows a great regenerative healer (he seemed to know everybody else ARC didn’t!), or his nature is such that giving everything over to a fight once committed is the only way for him (ITS HIS NINJA WAY! or whatever Naruto says) as a warrior. I guess he could find that he just couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t try to become all that he could be just once no matter what the risk.
Anyway, for some reason he has been willing to loose half the light in the world on his way to reaching his goal and even been kind of casual about it. If he has anyway to use magic to “cheat” and keep fighting and turn the tables on Maxima I think he will. As long as he thinks he has a chance of winning I don’t think he’ll stop. If he can’t see a path to winning before Maxima takes his head off then I expect him to use his stored power to rabbit after acknowledging that Maxima won as the currently better warrior. “Until next time… ” I mean he was expecting to use that power to fight the whole team while taking out one of the strongest in the world. It must be enough juice for some amazing spells if he blows it all on a couple of spells like teleport or fly + conceal. I’ve been kind of expecting him to be able to regenerate as well considering his magical skill + nonchalance towards heavy damage + massive power reserves. So maybe he will start that before running to be nice to my curiousity (though it makes just as much sense to do it once free).
____________________________
Moving on. I assume Maxima has some kind of “shaped charge” power stunt she can pull with her explosions that was kind of foreshadowed by Atomic Bombshell being able to do the same thing. Otherwise the blast level to take out V would have been one of those uber area of effect thingies form earlier and been dangerous to everybody in the area (maybe even her). So that’s cool that the much hyped Maxima is showing her experience in a fight with power stunts. Damn effective power stunts. (apologies if I am using the word incorrectly I don’t play these games that are often referenced).
Sydney got to be a part of it a little. I’m really happy about that since many many updates ago in this and even the fight against Bell Tolls I was pushing for her to obscure a villains vision (I was hoping for the telepresence method but eh) so now I can pretend that I actually have some kind of influence on this comic which is great fun for any fan. (yeah I know it probably was just Dave thinking on his own maybe even ages ago but I can dream right? XP ) And there is still enough time for her to squeeze in another fight after some training before we catch up with the “present” to give her the new rank and “big guns” moniker. Her reaction to all this violence and gore during training will be interesting. If Dave still wants this to be somewhat realistic then I assume the team will have some kind of psychologist or counselor to help them through all this. Especially the newbies.
I don’t know if this is the end but it would be a satisfying one that fulfills the promise of its foreshadowing and Maxima’s build up. The only thing that would have been better is if she just killed him. Once he showed he could use his massive power build up to work spells then his abilities basically became completely unpredictable by any but master mages (Dabblers a dabbler really… ). Combine the ability to magically whip just about anything out of your ass with the ability to take lots of physical trauma and just stand around talking about it and I think you have a guy that needs to be just dropped. So while this ending will do the logical course would have been to ice him. If he rabbits using his wide repertoire of spells and massive mana gas tank then it hopefully will serve as a lessen to Maxima. Hopefully this is one of the things the General or someone suggests she review her decision making on. V at large after this display is a black mark on the ARCies. If he doesn’t rabbit then hopefully it is still brought up even though it will have no effect on public opinion of them or hopefully funding cause success paves over a lot of errors.
Thank you for the great content update Dave!
If you read all these musings you get a cookie. If it was the author who read all of this wall of text he gets two cookies!
I skimmed after the second paragraph, do I get half a cookie?
As to your ‘shape charge’ theory – I note that it looked like Maxima placed her hand on his arm before the BOOM. I suspect that if DaveB had to explain it this is Max using her ‘touch TK’ to focus her energy bomb. Essentially the TK field gets hypercharged with explosive BOOM.
In short: If she touches you the boom starts inside you.
same reason you don’t want Gambit touching you.
If true that is almost going beyond a mere power stunt to a level of control over her TK field I didn’t know she had. I hope she describes some of this stuff at some point (like that training time coming up).
I assumed if Atomic Bombshell, who only had blast/explosive powers, could learn the finesse to shape hers then so could Maxima. But then maybe AB had some of those “required secondary powers” everyone speaks of with her powers she could learn to manipulate. Whateley Academy was a collection of related serial stories so they often had the time to go into exactly how the supers learned to flex their original power set (sometimes seemingly just one power in the beginning) over time, experiment and study to cover previous weakness in their attack/defense. I suppose they won’t be able to do that with here with a mostly visual comic or it would turn into a wall of text too often. Probably should start collecting all of Dave’s comments on these subjects as that is probably where most of the explanations will be coming from…
This is one of the best bits, for me. Sydney has been helping, in both large and small ways, all throughout this fight. She took out two villains all by herself, and has helped against many others. And she has also helped her team out in many ways, deflecting shots against Jiggawatt and getting Anvil back in the action quickly and effectively. And now giving MarySuemixa the opening she needed to deliver, if not the coup de grâce, at least a telling blow.
I only hope that Halo, who appears to be the main character, continues to show her worth even with someone like MarySuemixa on the team.
Starting out doing such a good job of fulfilling a support role despite having no training and her other “shiny” related problems should go a long way to impressing them that she is officer material. Not to mention winning her the love of her team mates in a way that making big flashy attacks never would. I really enjoy this side of her.
I actually kinda like that Maxima went for his arm here instead of his head. It really shows alot about her as a character.
She apears very though, but secretly, she doesn’t actually want to kill anyone (this was a concious dicision not to. One with potential, calculated risk).
Basicly this whole fight has been a very strong ‘show not tell’ character development.
Just the last pannel here tells you a ton of information about Sydney
Whoops I sort of answered two people at once below… heh…
I posited this outcome several pages back when all the nonsense about V going beyond their ability to hurt him. Maxima has spent the entire time trying to arrest this guy, not kill him. Before now, she has not hit him with anything she didn’t think he could take. Straight up murder. Arcswat are law enforcement, not The Justice League. Watching Max “inter V would make my week. Yeah I like V as a character, a villainous one. Sometimes the villain dies.
I still figured she could hurt him but I was worried about how well she could control such an attack to not hurt herself or her team mates if she had to switch everything over to say blast. Since her last powered up blast display was by its very nature an area of effect thing. Turns out he was not that far gone so she could get him without creating a crater. Surprising but fun.
V had pushed things far enough, hurt enough people and declared his super violent intentions enough while ignoring their calls to surrender they could have killed him without making any official waves. Maybe some parts of the public might create an outcry just because the display of it is frightening.
At first I thought she was holding back because of Arianna and other higher ups pushing the less lethal nature of her new role in the weeks leading up to the official beginning of the new force but yeah some of it is also her. She doesn’t really strike me as the blood thirsty warrior woman some have been painting her as in the comments.
But also taking him down in pieces like this. With steady escalation and repeated warnings to surrender will go a long way to drive home her message that they are the super police and all other supers are just citizens who need to obey the rules just like everybody else. This orderly use of attacks mixed in with opportunities to talk where he refused to stop and in fact threatened them followed by the final take down gives a much better sense of law and order then just blowing him away the first time he escalated dangerously.
BUT she would have been well within her rights to do so against such an unpredictable opponent who’s powers keep increasing. It would have been less dangerous. I like what it says about her as a person and maybe even a cop. I’m not sure I am liking what it might say about her as the leader of the team out to protect us all from bizarre, unknown and unpredictable threats…
But none of that makes her a less interesting character. Far from it.
I agree with Sydney… Yikes! >_<;
With that kind of power, Max could've just cracked a pit under his feet, then piled debris on top of him until he tuckered himself out digging his way up, couldn't she?
The point is to finish the fight, not delay it.
Well, he broke THROUGH a big, several meter tall concrete pillar with enough speed to punch Maxima really hard
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1526
So not sure about that.
Also the goal now is to end the fight. Can’t risk him getting any stronger
V gets Stronger with every punch, digging his way through the Himalaya mountain range might take him some time depending on what charge level he starts at… But he’ll finish it stronger than when he started.
Speaking of tipping points, poor dude looks a wee bit unbalanced now…
Well, he did lose some weight, unevenly, from his left side…
Nah, he’s all right
I think it is time for me to say he is now ‘Mostly ‘Armless’.
I really wish we had the ability to upvote comments. So take this as my +1
Well, let’s just say that he’s leaning more to the right than before. The way things are going for him he’ll have to be a bit more conservative…
Yeah, Max had either better be right about there being a point of diminishing returns, or that Vehemence will prefer to let her THINK there is, get medical attention, and be imprisoned until he’s ready to leave (which is what I’d do in his position).
Personally, I think Max’ assumption is dangerously stupid. There’s plenty of examples in the literature of things that don’t have a known upper limit and no sign of diminishing returns (obvious example, the Incredible Hulk; also the Saiyajin Power Boost — bring them near death, they get stronger, every single time). She might have taken his arm off and now brought him to the point that her next blast will just annoy him.
Sure, she may be right, but that’s a really, REALLY risky tactic she was using there.
Agreed. This was yet another poor tactical choice on her part. If she gets called on it (and the other big one) in the debriefing, whether successful or not, I will be much more forgiving though. Maybe this is what she thinks the difference is between her old military career and this new “cop-like” job? Taking huge risks to save the perp’s life?
Another wonder I have been developing since last update has been the question: Is Vehemence totally dependent on his power to live now? Has he taken so much damage on the quest to get this god-like power, and now a lost limb, that his only hit-points are the false ones provided by his tank of violence mana? If he allows that power to ebb away will he just die? That would be interesting.
I think Maxima is making a fine example of transitioning from a soldier in the field into a “cop” on the street. If this were happening in some foreign country & on the field of battle-war zone, she would have already had plenty of right by military law to just blast his @$$ as soon as he actually attacked.
By the laws & procedures, cops have to determine the threat level of a perp, then go just that one step higher to *stop* the perp. That *is* the official usage of “escalation policy” & even considering that she’s on a super-human level against a super-human threat, Max has been remarkably self-restrained especially considering that she’s experienced as a soldier first.
She’s trying to be a good cop (military national force thingie?) and I appreciate that but these threats are just sooo unpredictable at first. I think after he started making spells, instant spell casts no less, in addition to all the super body enhancements near her level it was time to off him. I suppose she has to show some restraint and measured escalation against the bulk of supers but when they start doing crazy sort of “hybrid classes” (to borrow from games again) and one of those is as a mage of unknown levels and spells schools (or whatever) plus the already built in ability to zip over at near super speed and pop one of your team mates heads like a zit if some event or stray thought knocked him out of his “gentleman brawler” mode. At what point do we say, “Yeah, OK I have no idea what this guy is going to do next except it is gonna be powerful and I don’t even know if my attacks will work now so… its time to go all in to trying to kill him.”
I am sure Dave will give us his version of that scenario with a later villain.
Well, noone claimed she was perfect.
This is one of her flaws. She’s still hoping she can take him down alive
As for him surviving: Human beings don’t have hit points. He hasn’t taken any hits that actually damage vital areas, and with proper medical attention they can easely prevent him from bleeding out through that arm
He’s taken lots of damage and we don’t really know how deep it goes. Early on his eye could be destroyed or at least heavily damaged by a powerful projectile weapon. My guess is Maxima based her blows to his body (and one to his head) off of that and went a notch higher because it wasn’t his soft eye she was hitting. He could have suffered internal injuries. Pain and trauma just don’t take him down. I’m pretty sure he would quickly recover/ignore anything that doesn’t kill him. Even now he’s just standing there doing a little complaining about the initial pain and surprise but no one following this comic doubts for a moment if he was nutsy enough he could just start swinging with the other arm until she did take off his head.
We know his power initially, at its most basic function, feeds converted violence energies into his body to reinforce it and grant him the usual super body powers of strength, speed and durability. He even used it to increase his bodies mass. It may not be true at all but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to suggest his collected pool would keep him upright and functioning through damage that should have killed him or rendered him unconscious at the very least. So if that happens to be true then loosing that energy before getting treatment could kill him. The shock of loosing it suddenly might kill him even if his injuries weren’t quit lethal yet.
Course all of this is negated if he can use his mage abilities to heal himself.
I would assume (because this is how I would think) that Max is counting on Halo’s shielding abilities should this attack fail. Go for the heavy blow, hope it works, and pray to god that if it doesn’t NerdGrrl can keep the others safe. (I use the name NerdGrrl extremely affectionatly, btw)
No those don’t have fueling based limits that I know of; V has to have exposure and admitted that this is the first since LA Rodney King riots he has had this much. So I don’t see it as a unbounded fuel given a limited siphoning zone. Had he mentioned Arab Spring in Egypt or West Bank/Pakistan Province Protests I might see it as V powering up over days and along with power getting an increasing violence siphon radius (sphere). Because it seems portal chick answers his calls, so he should be able to get to any violent mass protests that happen which statistically occur outside the US. So he could have easily experimented with onsite war porn.
I think people tend to forget this is not Max’s first Rodeo. She is an experienced combat veteran who at the most conservative has killed a double digit number or combat supers. Maybe she has seem someone with similar powers albeit from a different source. Same with Dabbler. No one knows how many bodies she has to her credit but she has fought some scary things in the past. Max flat out warned people. Yeah, you think you are the most powerful person you know. Wrong.
Speaking from vast past personal experience is not even close to showboat bragging. On a desert battlefield, miles and miles from the civies, we can’t even guess the amount of damage Max can truly dish out.
…+1+- Max could have taken out everything above his belt and did not…
I’d guess that Max didn’t want a repeat display of when Vehemence took out everything *below* his belt…
Hmm. I suspect that Vehemence isn’t quite done yet.
But I also suspect that he’s lost the initiative and will either be surrendering, or running away soon.
Yeah, I’d say this fight is winding down at this point. Whether V goes peacefully under restraint or as fast as he can f*cking move to escape, pretty much the only thing left is the mop up.
Since Dave has already expressed his dislike of it, he’s probably getting pretty tired of drawing the rubble laying all over the place by now…
;)
Human bits is going to be a very different kind of rubble though…
If I were him, I’d accept the mercy even if I just got a big power boost. Let them treat me, let me heal, keep the power I’ve scarfed down, leave when ready. Find out if I can regenerate with this much power, but do it somewhere they can’t see me.
Alternatively, if he CAN regenerate at this level, he could do a Piccolo and suddenly re-grow his arm, eye, and teeth, then grin again at Maxima.
But I’m guessing he’s either running or surrendering; I’d hate to think he’d be so stupid as to continue the fight and get killed, after all the “I thought this out” stuff before.
He might not have enough power to burn to rebuild an arm and continue the fight. He’s also not stupid, thus far.
If he does continue fighting, he’s gonna get hurt really worse before it’s over.
I guess we’re going to pretty-quickly answer the question about whether or not heroes in this universe are willing to kill. (not that that was highly doubtful, what with a significant portion of them being barely-ex-military)
I know that cartoons and comic books try to keep things kid-friendly, most of the time, but when writers then try to make a story more adult the heroes essentially holding themselves back can come across as a little silly.
We already know Maxima is willing to kill. She said so during the press conference. And being a succubus, I’m pretty sure that Dabbler has taken her fair share of lives as well.
Ouch… D:
That pun though…
Even with all this high-damage fighting going on, max is still giving him a chance to “lay down his arms & surrender.”
December is looking to be Maxima vs Vehemence Month #2.
Let’s look at what we know:
1) Vehemence started the fight in pristine shape. Someone who powers up from violence would be covered in scars — unless they had a way to mitigate the price of their powers.
2) Vehemence has power to burn, so much that he’s showing entirely new abilities (growth, binding himself to the ground).
3) Vehemence is using a level of power that is lethal to normal humans.
By not taking his head off with her blast, Maxima is extending the fight and very likely giving her enemy another shot at her, and possibly at her team and nearby softer targets. I’d be surprised (but happy) if her tactic worked.
This is incorrect. Vehemence powers up if there is a car crash in his general vicinity. He powers up at a prize fight. He probably powers up by taking a visit through the power generation facilities of the Hoover Dam. There’s a lot of violence involved in water crashing down with enough force to turn multi-ton turbines, after all. He powers up from plenty of violent situations which don’t need to involve him getting punched in the face repeatedly.
And please note that he held back from this fight, completely unengaged and therefore unwounded and not covered in scars, until he had collected enough energy to take things to his next level: Him against the ARC team. Only then did he start collecting injuries, and from what he has said this appears to be his best feast of energy ever so far. Which implies that never before has he been subject to the kinds of attacks which have inured him here.
While the violence doesn’t necessarily need to involve him, the closer he is to it, the better. He’s also very willing to put himself into the fracas, as we’ve seen.
You also have to remember that, even before stepping into a fight himself, he’s still a super.
So unles he’d be fighting other supers, there’s not that much that could give him scars.
He’s to smart to step into a fight with someone until he thinks he has enough power. Just in this case, he underestimated ArchSwat
He knows the numbers — the amount of magical or physical power he can handle. When his eye was shot and teeth were knocked out, he kept on grinning and swinging. He knows how to fight. While it is slightly possible he has done all of this without a scratch, his nonchalance at his injuries suggests he can deal with the aftereffects just fine.
Jesus Christ, Max. I mean, Damn.
That was pretty cool though.
I’d give Max a hand for that, but V already did.
:D
Midnight!
That was … horrible! Truly. It was. I wish I’d been on earlier today so I could have said it in your place!
Well, not what I had in mind. I expected Sydney to go all slapstick on him and end up laughing his power away. She tried, but Max had other plans.
“Now stand aside, worthy adversary.”
“‘Tis but a scratch.”
“A scratch? Your arm’s off!”
“No it isn’t.”
“Well, what’s that, then?”
“I’ve had worse.”
“You liar!”
“He who wishes to cross the Bridge of Death must answer the questions three.”
Priceless. Friends almost had to tie me down to watch that. Wasnt I didn’t want to see it, but I didn’t really understand british humor before that. Now I do.
“How Not To Be Seen.”
Monty Python is more along the lines of adult humor. If you want something simpler, Benny Hill is geared more towards “schoolboy” type of humor.
I guess some of it is also the culture divide. I’m American, so a lot of the cultural aspects go right over my head. Every culture has aspects to it that unless you know something about the culture, their jokes leave you going “huh?”
As to Benny Hill, no argument.
First sorry for my english (German native Speaker)…
New Angle:
V is not a Full Demon, but if he dies a VIOLENT Death (Maxima works on it..), he will reborn as a full Malumi…the Energy transform him…that woul be awesome…
I like V!! He is cool!!
This is actually a fun idea… We do not actually know anything about how demons “work”, are they a separate species born and breeding like most carbon based life forms? Are they spiritual entities potentially “crafted” from sinful souls?
If so or even if there’s anyone on the planet with the ability to somehow make use of the souls of the slain, a soul like V’s with the ability to innately channel vehemic energy must surely be a prize worth fighting for.
Unless I missed something somewhere, there was never any implication he was a Demon, just that he was a Vehemic Energy User. Otherwise I think that Dabbler would have referred to him as the type of demon he was. He could be one, but I don’t recall any indications of that. If anyone can point to me signs of that, I’ll gladly go back and read it again.
Why do I get the feeling that he is about to sprout evil black tentacles out of his missing limb.
Because you want to see Dabbler get extremely turned on? :)
Well I guess they aren’t playing by schoolyard rules. 0_0
Could be the Super Saiyan school of hard knocks.
Does anyone else see Max sporting some Banana-Fingers?
And the man is turning into king kong, so add it up and what do you get? He’s going to eat her! Well no, probably not.
If V tries to eat Max, I think that might make Dabbler a bit jealous…Dabbs was looking pretty hungry when V lost his pants.
V could very well lose more than his arm. Unless he’s that good, then it might be worth it.
Given the the reactions to the pants-loss a few pages back, King Dong might be a more accurate discriptor!
I wonder if Vehemence, being a sort of violent dude to begin with, is going to go berserk from the pain instead of collapsing. If he does (an entirely natural reaction) he dies.
If he stays rational his best bet is to teleport out so he can heal however much he can. Assuming he can pop out before Max zaps him again.
Sydney winning this fight with a Deus Ex Machina power pulled out of the orbs would actually disappoint me a little. If she turns out to be that powerful the Army is never going to let her out in public again.
Dispite being powered by violence, he has been a smart guy so far. I have no doubt that, after taking a deep breath, he’s going to do the smart thing now aswel (or what he thinks is the smart thing).
So either escape (if he has a backup plan. I’m really hoping he does), or surrender (and then probably escape later)
He’s totally going to hit the eject button, a panel will open in V’s back, and the little alien/demon piloting him will run away to fight some more later when he’s built himself a fresh new meat-bot.
Rob, you forgot the flip side. He might be smart, but if you take into account that Vehemic Energy may be the equivalent of a mind altering substance … he might just be the equivalent of Drunk or Stoned at the moment.
As to “too strong to be out in public” … I think most of the team already qualifies for that. Until they go nuts and destroy schools or the like for fun, the military isn’t going to lock them up. It’s par and parcel for the Genre.
it wouldn’t be a deus ex machine style Sydney by her self save the day but Sydney will likely find the clue needed to beat V and use a team take down