Grrl Power #272 – Sandbagger Vance
When you blow someone’s arm off in a superhero comic, it’s really only going to go one of two ways. Since Vehemence is an Arch-Villain, it had to go this way. Maxima just needed to face someone who wasn’t going to be out-powered. It’s a rare situation for her to be sure. I’m sure some people will be disgruntled by this and others will be… uh, gruntled I guess, but don’t worry about the fight resetting or anything though, we’re entering the home stretch.
I needed Vehemence to be so tough that if he ever shows up in the comic again, everyone knows that the proper response is “Oh shit, run!” He was always my guy who could go toe to toe with the Hulk or Juggernaut, Superman or even Darkseid, assuming Darkseid didn’t open with the ol’ Omega Beams. Vehemence is smart enough to know not to face off against a threat like that without warming up a little, which is a large part of what makes him Arch tier. Ooh, I just had a thought, I know I said him vs. Vegeta in the little byline, or whatever it’s called, but imagine Vehemence vs. DC’s Parasite. I’m actually not sure how that fight would go down but it would definitely be bad for the city it takes place in.
Drawing armored limbs that don’t look like Colossus’s is challenging. I tries doing vertical strips of armor, but he wound up looking like a metal eel or something. Which… is kind of cool, just not the look I had in mind for him.
So the Patreon campaign recently exceeded $3000 which is amazing! Within a few weeks of a year after I lost my job actually, or as I prefer to think of it, was promoted to full time comic dude. I want to thank everyone for their support as it’s been a great year. It turns out I really don’t miss the commute to the office to grind away in a cube like I had done for the last 20 years. The milestone goal for $3000 was “really making a living for realsies” so when I my wife had the chance she signed me up with her health insurance. Being without for a year was a little harrowing, but spending 10-12 hours a day drawing is inherently less risky than commuting and being around other germ bags. Still, yesterday I got a gentle reminder that living lean is really only a short term solution. I woke up and some nerve or tendon in my shoulder had decided to twist around the wrong way so I was in a fair amount of pain and had a super limited range of motion. Fortunately sleeping on it the next night fixed it (hooray for the human body I guess?) I was hoping it would since I didn’t want to live out the rest of the month like that until the health insurance kicked in.
Speaking of the health insurance though, I picked $3000 because it’s a round number and that’s how our brains work, not because it was the number I came up with after sitting down and doing a budget. Since American healthcare is enormously expensive, riding on my wife’s plan is more than a car payment. At least it includes dental and vision, which the cheaper Obamacare options don’t, and I could definitely use some new specs and a good tooth scraping. Unfortunately I will probably have to add at least one more ad banner to the site to make up the difference. I don’t want to, and I know it’s a first world problem, but the good thing is that I should be cash positive after that which is nice since I don’t want to be one of those webcomicers that has to run a kickstarter to afford to attend an out of state con. It also makes the next Patreon milestone easy to pick, which is to ditch some of the ads.
So I’m looking forward to next year! The first story arc will be wrapped up, and I’m excited for the next one. I promise more than one day will pass during it. :) I can put together a book (honestly it may wind up being two or even three volumes just cause a 300(-ish) page color book might be hella expensive), run a kickstarter for that, and even start looking at some of those out of state cons.
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Well that small glimmer of hope is now lost. Time for the next plan.
Yes, Sydney should take this opportunity to say “Ok, you win. Hey, who’s up for miniature golf!” and then manifest a “golf club” just like the “serendipitous tumbleweed”.
So… reminded of another comic with an “Invincible Man” and how they killed him. So far he has shown super strength, toughness, and regeneration…
Choke him. He probably still needs to breath, choke or gas him. (Not necessarily a physical choke hold, because, duh.) Then when he’s nice and unconscious take him away.
It’s the anti-climactic non super flashy way to take him out. (Without introducing suitably interesting gadgetry or powers to make it seem more so.) But to be honest I’m surprised it wasn’t a first tactic. A lot of the time with superheroes we seem to forget that they need to do stupidly simply things like breath, eat, and go to the bathroom. This means in some way shape or form their basic biology has many weaknesses.
That assumes that you can somehow get past his super-strength and super-speed for long enough, and then push through the super-hard skin and super-tough neck muscles to the windpipe.
If you can do that, and hang on for at least 30 seconds, you ostensibly could just plain knock him out.
See comment section “(Not necessarily a physical choke hold, because, duh.)”
If Sydney can put her shield around someone else… If they can get him to inhale a noxious chemical or gas (Hard to fight when your lungs are full of a corrosive substance.) If someone can levitate and contain a puddle of water around his head… To assume they need to choke hold him is just childish, not everything has to be physically direct like that. Hell… if they could pin his arms a plastic grocery bag over his head could kill him.
For fuck’s sakes, you CANT have the shield without Sydney. PERIOD.
Not to mention Sydney’s Lighthook, which might just be the easiest way imaginable to choke someone. However, I’m guessing Vehemence can outpower that one now.
How about shooting a miniature smoke grenade into his mouth? Heh.
Pop a gas grenade down his mouth that emits nausea gas (cops *can* use that for crowd control, ya’ know). It’ll still power him up by making him violently ill, but might distract him to un-anchor him from the ground enough for the ‘ol launch into space tactic
The lighthook almost certainly isn’t strong enough to throttle him. So, shove it in his mouth and down his throat — after all, there’s a *reason* it was going to be called the hentacle. ;> And he’s certainly keeping his mouth open enough. Unless he can physically bite through it he’s not going to get it loose — if he tries to pull it out or drag her with it, she can just make it longer. As long as Max and the others can keep him from escaping they’re good to go.
The ‘forceful intrusion’ method of Hentorb choking has the added bonus of helping power up Dabbler!
Except V could grab it and yank Sydney forward into the shield hard enough for a K.O. at this point.
Nah, she just keeps making the hook longer when he pulls. So far we’ve seen no limit on its length, and it can clearly be REALLY long, since she grabbed Anvil with it after V threw her into the air.
“Sets orbital sign cannon on full auto”
FIRE!
Here’s your sign.
Noticed you’re not using ninjas. How much did that satellite cost you?
He didn’t need so many ninjas since he set up the orbital station…Since he only needs a limited number of crew to operate it, he was willing to sell off the rest of his ninja clan. I used my personal fortune made my Brain Bleach ™ franchise to pay for it.
Thank you, Dr.
I think someone needs a time-out!
That’s it! Trap him in a chronal-stasis field!
Non-violent attack & it’ll keep him from powering up any more. Dabbler might have one that she could ‘port one from her lab…
Well, it’s *some* kind of hope…
Sadly, Maxima may have been correct but she was certainly premature… if you’re going for an overcharge attack, the opponent MUST be near capacity! As Vehemence is only now at orange, she should have waited for red.
OTOH, if you fail to overcharge, you’re probably going to be really sorry you tried it.
The problem in this situation. Is, without an alternate plan, he has to be overcharged. So Maxima has to keep hitting him.
We’re assuming he can be overcharged. Max is probably just going to go for the brain. Beheading will PROBABLY slow him down.
While usage of “gruntled” to mean “happy or content” is growing, the original meaning was “angry or cranky”. “Dis” was used as an intensifier to indicate extreme crankiness. It’s kind of like the “flammable” versus “inflammable” furforall.
Yup, a ‘gruntled’ employee is still not a happy camper (nothing that ‘grunts’ is ever happy)
Not even pigs?
Specially not pigs (ever seen Miss Piggy?)
Poor Kermit.
His grin is now back for real. And it’s armored! There’s absolutely no hope for us.
I guess we now know where the bond villain ‘Jaws’ got his winning smile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaws_(James_Bond)
This just gets sillier with every page: So far, this TOTALLY UNHEARD of villian is:
superstrong
superfast,
nigh invulnerable
can grow his body
regenerates WITH armor
“suction cup” himself to the ground
AND…..a trained and battle savvy Max goes for a takedown, not a kill! And then stands there while he regenerates instead of flash frying him the rest of the way.
Blech!
You forgot to include Magic Pants on your list!
He’s got magic that centers around violence, and as Dabbler said, people with that brand of magic can change the tide of wars on their own. It’d make sense to have all that.
This comic go about a golden girl withe super powers, A succubus, that is not evil and a comic girl withe balls of cores its Silly and unheard.
Thanks to Dave, we’ve heard of it now.
;)
If they were both uniformed soldiers on opposite sides during wartime, she would have gone for the kill from the beginning. Unfortunately, this is a civilian law-enforcement setting, and Max has to play by those rules, meaning, she has to try EVERY possible non-lethal method first, even when doing so puts her at a severe disadvantage. Plus, the regeneration is a “new trick” that Vehemence JUST REVEALED.
Since this is a comic book format, we don’t know how long Max “just stood there.” She could have been surprised for a split-second, or she could have been rushing at his head while he insta-regenerated.
Lastly, nothing makes criminal or civil lawyers happier than when duly appointed law enforcement kills someone. Civil lawyers, especially those for relatives of the deceased get to sue multiple parties. The law enforcement personnel on site, the police chief (or top ranking law enforcement officer), the city/state government, and maybe the district attorney.
That’s assuming law enforcement doesn’t get indicted on charges for the death.
Case in point. New York City. Mayor Bloomberg signs into law that police MUST arrest every person selling cigarettes without immediately paying taxes to the city (as well as having all sorts of other licenses and permits). A near seven foot, over 300 lb man, who happens to be black, decides he’s going to do just that. IE, sell cigarettes to random people with no license, permit, or paying taxes to the city. I mean, there’s no way white police will arrest a black man right after Ferguson, right? WRONG.
When the police see him selling cigarettes, and move to arrest him, he decides that it’s a good idea to resist by flailing his arms like a gorilla, and the police are forced to restrain him. They try various methods until, out of options, they use a choke-hold (which is against policy). Not knowing he’s asthmatic, they continue the hold until he FINALLY STOPS STRUGGLING. Unsurprisingly, he dies. Now, after hearing all the available evidence, and seeing the video, the Grand Jury decides not to indict, and the family is suing. Need I remind you that NY is infamous for having one of the highest tax rates in the US because it is in near bankruptcy?
Sorry, I don’t buy the “must try every method”. For goodness sake, she punched him through a bridge and ground a pillar into his head.
I think that’s sufficient.
She didn’t try tickling him either. When is the “every method” answered?
And I’m not even counting the stuff the rest of the team tried…..SUCH AS SHOOTING HIM IN THE EYE! Which may or may not be lethal….they couldn’t have been sure.
So, as I said…..this is silly.
Oh, and I forgot. They stood around long enough that others could make comments….so, yeah, she stood there.
If you watch a fight such as MMA or boxing (which I don’t actually do), you’ll notice that when they hurt someone, they don’t stop.
They continue the attack. Max stopped and delivers a warning instead of going for the take down?
Not any fighter I’ve ever heard of.
Comic universe has comic book rules. Yes, she might have been able to use his preoccupation with regrowing his arm to remove his head and other extremities. But that’s simply not how it’s done. In the real world, MMA figthers, as a sport, keeps punching and kicking people who is down. (Or at least it has happened). In a comic book universe, someone who did that would be labelled evil, criminally insane, or at least ‘Not COOL, Bro!’
I know what you’re saying but you can’t tell us what a great fighter Max is and how she’s killed other supers and then have her make bad assumptions, silly mistakes, etc.
But to me the most irritating feature is that V is UNKNOWN. IF he’s gone through similar efforts in the past…so he would be able to KNOW HIS CAPABILITIES…then how is he unknown?
Argh!
He might be extra-dimensional, or from another planet.
Fire, it was said before that any of the fights he’d gone to were ‘underground’. Rule 1 of Fight Club, you don’t talk about Fight Club. Rule 2 of Fight Club, YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB.
Second, he’s never had this much Vehemic energy before to exhibit every one of his abilities, such as the growing or anchoring him to the ground. He’s stated this himself that he’s never grown before.
Third…I uh…don’t have a third. P=
Sunnuva…that was supposed to be First. Could have sworn it said first.
Third, autocorrect must die?
So ARC doesn’t keep track of Fight Clubs? And if no one ACTUALLY talks about Fight Club, then NO ONE would ever know about it. Including V.
And if he’s never had this much energy before, how does he know he can do it?
Real cops in the real world don’t go this far to avoid killing a suspect.
Also a cop who kills someone under shady circumstances is more then likely to get off without prosecution, even in high profile cases, because prosecutors don’t like prosecuting cops and will avoid doing so unless the cop went absolutely murder crazy.
If you are talking about the cops that put the obese sickle cell afflicted criminal face down, that’s enough to kill some one by itself as is sickle cell afflicted in small unpressurized aircraft.
You should feel better knowing that 3 days after the Ferguson liquor store robber was killed a white teen ,named Dylan Taylor, wearing headphones was shot in the back by a black cop with no mainstream media coverage. In fact a black muslim serial killer of Gays was caught 2 weeks after Gentle Mike beat up the liquor store clerk, if the races were reversed it would be skittles squared.
Actually now that I think of it, [i]everyone[/i] can regenerate and it makes [i]everyone[/i] stronger. It’s how muscle buildings work anyhow.
transforming into hulk colossus.
I hope maxima coulkd still bigbang his brain to the sun…. but then he will regrow that too?
I would suggest using Death Toll as human shield. He did drain Anvil’s kinetic energy, so maybe he can make V lose his hate-fuel as well?
First. They have to slap him awake. While he’s unconscious, people can beat the crap out of him and his power won’t do a thing
2nd: Would he help.
Why do you think his powers only work when he’s awake?
Because I’ve seen this discussion covered in at least 5 of the previous panel reply sections? lol
Most of what we’ve seen indicates he has to be conscious of an attack to block it, though I suspect he has danger sense as an ncillary power.
Even if it would work, cops cannot use a subdued perp as a human shield. He’d be within his rights to sue Arc-SWAT afterward.
…Unless they ask & he agrees to try for a lesser sentence in exchange for his help. That would keep the lawsuits off their backs.
Im pretty sure that with a good lawyer they could show that due to his powers he was not in any real danger, and deny him any lawsuit.
Like when he was in no danger when ARCSwat multi-attacked him to overwhelm his Nemesis Power?…
So… he’s Cell from DBZ
Hmmm…..by chance is he magnetic now?
Fuck, you jinxed it. It’s gone below $30,000 again.
That’s a mean time to cancel support for someone, whoever did it.
or even $3,000.
Woops :P
I’d be supporting you myself, but all my money is in papery form, and Pateron wont accept that, no matter how hard I push it into the screen.
Yeah it’s going to bounce around quite a bit, I just hope it slowly keeps trending upwards.
Well i can’t help with the 30,000
but i can do my share for the 3,000
thanks for pointing it out
Tickle him in submission
V’s got a really big bucktooth there in panel 2 (topright one, in case you’re not sure). It’s also visible in the first panel, but it’s much more visible in the second. It’s fixed in later panels though.
Just pointing it out cause I work near a dentist, and seeing the similarities with a tooth tumour poster makes me squirm. D:
I am gruntled.
I’m not sure if I’m disgruntled or ‘gruntled’. Maybe just ‘errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr’.
I submit that with a little “Boom” in the right place, Maxima could actually kill him. If he grows back stronger, and could survive having his head separated from his body, why not let Maxima decapitate you? His arm grew back in time for a speedy Maxima to get caught by it, why not go for a total body regen?
Maybe he doesn’t know, and doesnt want to take the risk. But I would bet if she popped his skull and blew apart his brain, THAT couldn’t be regenerated, particularly if, as seems to be implied, his regeneration is under some level of conscious control.
On a more meta note, it’s funny, after the last page just about everyone agreed V was down for the count. He may have lots of vehemic energy, but healing is a peaceful skill, so to heal, he would have to inefficiently use lots of vehemic energy.
Now everyone is agreeing that Max really should have seen this coming, and how the regeneration is clearly very violent, and thus the healing is actually powering him up more (I think he’s spending energy to make a more durable replacement).
I’m thinking now we might see Sydney discovering what one or both of the other two orbs do. It will be a little bit Deus ex Machina, but the orbs have already been established, so it won’t be completely out of nowhere. It would be more like Sydney transitioning to her own unknown powered up stage, V’s sure done it enough.
Although I still like my idea of trying to use one to block his trachea; if nothing else it might shut him up.
You beat me to it.
That is why…if the circumstances are so extreme that you have to actually blow body parts away, go for the kill. Instead of the arm….. should have gone for the head.
This is why civilians and cops are told to shoot center of mass…not to wound. If the threat is deadly enough to use lethal force, which is what she did….then its time to stop the threat.
Or, V could actually beat Max, tip his hat (after he reclaims it) and just leaves. Maybe with a comment like “That is enough for the Bank” or “Thank you. If you are ready for a rematch, let me know”.
Violence may power him up, but he is still very polite and doesn´t seem to be much of a killer
^ Ths ^
Exactly, V just wants to have a good fashioned brawl. He heard of her brag of being the top level, and wanted to take that title for himself while having a good time doing it. Personally, I think Maxima is just reacting a little over the top, as her position is being threatened. Though, you can’t put it against her too much, as her nigh invulnerability and military history haven’t lent her the familiarity of taking a few friendly punches that do something besides busing the knuckles of the attacker. Besides from the two nose boops that Maxima has taken
In hindsight I do like the regeneration ability, as it provides a way for V to fight as often as he likes, while maintaining his classy appearance when he is not fighting. Which leads to the question of can he use a lower form of regeneration that dosen’t overly strengthen the parts, and just do basic regen? Is he just consolidating some of the energy that he picked up this encounter to permanently upgrade some parts?
Also I expect him to discuss this topic in roughly ten years, but where does the emotional energy normally go? What are the enviromental downsides to emotional energy drainers?
That’s a possibility that has floated around here before. Maybe he has other plans in the works that just required this kind of powerup to accomplish. For that to happen, he’s also got to have a real good idea on what it’ll take for him to escape, even before he arrived.
I don’t know if he did heal himself, per se. He regenerated limbs, which isn’t quite the same. When you get cut, the blood coagulates, a scab forms and then a cicatrix is made when the scab falls off your body. That’s healing. When you lose a limb–well, that’s it. The limb doesn’t grow back. He also stated that regeneration makes him stronger. So I’m thinking that further attack is out of the question.
By definition in RPG’s that have Regeneration, they also make sure to define the difference between that & Regrowth; regeneration is healing, Regrowth is for replacing tissues separated from the body. Unfortunately, a lot of people mistakenly interchange those two words.
What if…with Sydney being on her meds likely this whole time…one of the two mystery orbs can’t function due to her being medicated, and once her drugs wear off, the orb can suddenly be activated and it gives her psychic powers or the ability to perceive or control time. She could then somehow manage to revert him back to before he absorbed all his power and give them the chance to take him out, or she herself travel back in time and prevent them from powering him up. Or if she gains incredible psychic powers, she could somehow manage to trick him or convince him of the illusion that he’s in some magic candy land where everything is happiness and rainbows and his power drains.
Or she force feeds him her meds and mellows him right the hell out of a fight.
I… don’t think you know what Adderall does to people who aren’t ADHD. It’s a strong stimulant. A really strong stimulant. That’s why it sedates ADHD tendencies, but if someone without that disorder takes it they start being ADHD, basically. It’s strange. Though, the thought about one of the orbs being medicated along with her ADHD is pretty cool.
It doesn’t really make them “start being ADHD.” While some people who have ADHD do experience hyperactivity, that is only a certain portion of the spectrum. There is also ADHD without hyperactivity. Adderall is a really strong stimulant, but if someone without ADHD took it they would really experience something similar to drinking a whole lot of coffee or taking speed. The hyperactivity portion of ADHD actually comes from the body attempting to correct other issues by amping itself up, which is why stimulants help out and often have the affect of mellowing out someone with ADHD because their body no longer has to do all the work of attempting to amp itself up naturally since there are chemicals doing the work.
ADHD = Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ADD = Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD has hyperactivity as one of its prerequisite symptoms. You have to be hyperactive to have ADHD. Without that, you’re ADD.
I was trying to simplify for people who don’t study abnormal psych.
As far as I’m aware, the DSM5 got rid of ADD, it is all under ADHD now and can be inattentive, hyperactive, or both. ADHD is now actually Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Note the slash). Basically, it is all ADHD.
See, as a student, I can’t afford the new DSM, so this is news to me. Thanks.
The same ones who decided to get rid of “Manic Depressive” because it was too depressing and renamed it “Bi-Polar”?
DSM isn’t a group. The DSM stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (of Mental Disorders). It’s published by the APA, the American Psychology Association. DSM 4 and 5 were published to condense extraneous disorders so that psychologists weren’t arguing over whether someone was bipolar or manic-depressive, ADD or ADHD (apparently), that kind of thing. This is a good thing. It means more validity in the field.
Actually, I think part of your first sentence makes a lot of sense. Maybe the function of one of her mystery orbs has been stifled or suppressed while Sydney’s on her meds. Since it seems her meds are wearing off now, it would be a prime situation for Dave to reveal one or both orb-functions.
I’ve seen some people suggest one of the unknown orbs being a powersapper. I think this might be the case and I believe it will be the Green Orb.
Second to last panel sums it up quite nicely. :)
Something about Sydney’s chin in the last panel looks odd. I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Probably just distracted by Gothamer’s bewb
Pardon me if this has been discussed before, but do V’s armor plates look somewhat similar to the shapes that can be seen in Sydney’s Shield?
Not so much really. Dave mentioned that he was trying to stay away from making V’s armoring look like Colossus from the X-Men. To me, it looks like that traditional banded-armor look, but he also added seams around each band to break up the banded pattern.
When Sydney’s shield is taking a hit, there’s a straight-out hexagonal pattern.
I don’t see the problem. Blowing off his arm obviously puts him off his stride for a second or two. Long enough for Maxima to blow off his head. So instead of a one-demand for surrender, she does a one-two. One, blow off the arm that’s fending her off, two, blow off the head.
And if he can regenerate his head with his memories and personality intact, I’m going to lose my willing suspension of disbelief.
He just got a LOT stronger, which apparently includes tougher. No guarantee Max CAN blow his arms off now.
I agree that it would suck for Our Heroes if even blowing his head off doesn’t kill him, but there’s PLENTY of precedents for that in the literature — Wolverine, Cell, and any being that has a major “energy being” rather than material component.
(Offtopic)
Hey Ryk, just wanted to let you know: I enjoyed Grand Central Arena, but absolutely adored Digital Knight. Thanks for writing them.
My pleasure. The vastly expanded and revised Digital Knight, _Paradigms Lost_, is now available. (It includes two new adventures and many additional sections.
To be fair, if the regeneration is semi-autonomous (that is, like breathing, it can be stopped conscously, but goes automatically when not being focused on) and magical in nature, I would completely understand it being able to bring his head back with full memories and faculties intact. It would work not from the biological or genetic information in his cells, but rather a sort of universal overpattern of “This is the being of the one who calls himself Vehemence”- which would include not just the physical but the mental and spiritual.
Let’s get off the subject of Vehemence’s overpoweredness and focus on the real problem. Sydney’s meds are possibly wearing off, we’re all fucked!
Actually, most of the focus on Sydney’s meds wearing out was pretty early in the comments. Keep up with the program, dude!
;)
Maybe I am just reading too much into this, but I don’t think he plans on doing much more. As DaveB said what really makes him this universes contender with the likes of Hulk or Superman is all of his powers AND his intelligence. This is a guy who has been content to just wander around living his life and occasionally getting supercharged by things like riots or maybe heading towards a war zone (because lets be honest spending a week in central Africa would probably accomplish what this fight has done for him.)
All this and that the big reveal of his plan was simply that he kinda caused/facilitated the fight to power up, otherwise he expressed no other motivation. So my theory is that he is only here because it was a quick and easy way for him to get to experience just what his powers can do as he (as stated by him) has never gathered this much energy before. Basically I think he might just fight for a little bit and then call it quits or he has some additional reason as to why he needs to be this supercharged.
I suppose it just feels like he is too alright of a guy to be TRULY evil for the sake of evil, seems more like he is a school teacher who just happens to have this type of power and wants to see just what all it can do.
You may well be right. I think he IS evil, but I don’t think “Just coming to beat the crap out of a super team” is his real evil plan. It may be “Get the super-team to juice me up and past the next couple levels of power, so I can tip my hat to them and go off to start my REAL plan in motion.”
Um, where did his hat go anyway? It should be laying around here *somewhere*…
I’m sure he’s kept an eye out. If he exits on HIS terms, I’ll bet the last thing he’ll do is grab his hat.
Because “any plen vhere you lose het… iz bad plen.”
And any fight that gets you a new hat (even if it’s second-hand) is a good fight.
;)
He took off his hat, coat and shirt before starting to fight. They don’t fit anymore but they are piled neatly nearby.
The guy who can go toe toe with Hulk or Juggy, huh? Max is indeed screwed. Welp, let’s see how laughably easy Sydney will end this.
Also, hope those extra panel lines on his arm won’t drive you insane, Dave. :p
Wait a minute. Left arm metallic? Left eye glowing? If he had white hair, he would be Cable from Marvel (X-Men)… Snicker. So now he is Hulk-Cable-Dr.Strange with Captain America politeness…
Time to look for an “embiggener” setting on the Lightfoot ball.
i think the next plan is…. Run away?
It would be interesting if Halo/Sydney could project her shield on other, not only on her self. Maybe that would be an efficient way to contain Vehemence.
ATLANTIS WILL RISE
Sorry I don’t get the reference :/
Inside joke. Read the past comments. For every comment suggesting she use the shield to choke him, another trophy gets dumped to the sea to raise Atlantis. That’s how frequent this idea pops up. :p
we get this at least once a comic
At least three times, really.
It did slow down for a while.
For a while there, it was more like 3 to 5 times per page of comments.
Oh sorry :(
I didn’t really thought it was an original idea, but that it comes up this often oO
Some of us at least realize that not everyone is going to want to read through 4 or 5 (or more) pages of commentary before posting. It just sort of comes with the territory around here. That’s why bleh called it an “inside joke.”
I will admit, I swore I saw Dave say something about this regarding whether she can pull the shield trick at all, others have said Dave said something on this, but if it’s there, I can’t find it. :p
Because you apologized I shall not give you your sign.
The ones that come back to back are particularly funny. :P
Can’t reply to your comment about Dave Saying it so replying here. If I remember correctly he said it during one of his streams
Huh… well, either way, works for me. :P
for one we dont know quite how the shield orb works for all we know it works like a keystone bridge.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_%28architecture%29" title="keystone"keystone
The link code is >a href=link/a< with the marks reversed so that the open ends point towards the code and away from the title text.
OK, using something Electronbod reminded me about earlier
Enter: <a href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_(architecture)” title=”keystone”>keystone</a>
And the result will be: keystone
(and it’ll be interesting to see if I got all that right with neither a preview nor any way to edit a post…)
Yeah, the point about keystone arches is that if you stack them right, you don’t even need mortar to keep the archway up by itself & it still supports a lot of weight above it.
I’d just like to add my speculation that one of Sydney’s unknown orbs is a “regeneration/revive” orb and we will find out about it when something unfortunate happens to Sydney during this fight. It could even be a fight ender, as V has expressed a fondness for Sydney and may be dismayed if she is seriously injured unintentionally during the fight. If it even makes him pause for a second, it may be enough.
In short, I think Sydney’s in for a whupping, and unknown healy orb will spring into action to save her. Either that or the previously mentioned powerdrain will occur. Either way, I’m thinking we’re going to see the reveal of one of the unknown orbs (although that may just be wishful thinking)
I hope not. I want more buildup for that. I think it would be more interesting right now to see what the upgrade to her commball did.
Either/or, Dave will reveal when he’s up to it. He’s already got at least a rough idea as far out as a few pages ahead of us. I can imagine him sitting in his chair, alternately laughing with us or at us for some of the sh*t we come up with.
As for drawing metal hands, try hexes. It works, even if it’s a bit more tricky. I once watched a young lady draw something like this, and it looked awesome.
I get the feeling that the final takedown will be somewhere around Christmas at this pace…
New Years at the earliest, and even then it will be too soon :(
EXCELLENT.
I (and others) had been wondering about this, specifically because of how cavalierly he was treating things like losing an eye and teeth, and his pristine body condition.
Now we know. And now the combat needs to be resolved by either a *COMPLETELY* overkill attack — if Maxima can do that and not kill everyone else around her — or by some new tactic that Sydney (presumably) comes up with.
And yes, Sydney, Vehemence DOES have an AWESOME set of powers. I really, REALLY like this guy as a villain. I hope he ends up NOT dead simply because someone like this should stay around as a constant “Jeez I really HOPE we don’t have to fight him again” concern for any superhero group.
In some of the RPG games I’ve played, my favorite motto was, “Overkill is much better than underkill, any day.”
Nuke’em from orbit, till they glow, then shootem in the dark.
Insofar as Vehemence VS Vegita… err, I guess that depends on whether (A) Vegita decides to do the “slowly scale up”, and/or (B) Whether Vehemence is really more an energy being (as the sparklies for his regeneration might indicate) so you can’t just kill him by blasting him.
The problem is that if you play on Dragonball level you are on a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SCALE than even most superhero universes. Even the WEAK characters in DBZ can destroy PLANETS if they want to (Kame-Senin blew up the moon relatively early in Dragonball, and according to most people’s interpretation he’s so weak compared to everyone else now that he couldn’t even survive being AROUND their battles). The powerful characters rip DIMENSIONAL BARRIERS apart through sheer badassery. Vegita throwing what would be a casual blast at Vehemence would be something more powerful than Maxima can probably EVER throw; these guys can afford world-shattering conflicts because they can wish everything back together afterwards.
First dragonball series started as a slapstick comedy first season had many things in it that were out of scale (even for DB scale) I think it become a more serious series when a henchmen of Maoh Piccolo killed Krilin. For a reference point though we knew Frieza was capable of destroying planets with a single energy blast that does require little charging and he was second big bad boss of DBZ after Vegeta (and he could be rated last on bid badbosses levels since vegeta became a good guy, Majin Boo is a complex case)
Loving panel 3, and you did a great job with his metall-organic arm
Also, it looks like the power lines burnt away the blood flowing from his eye in panel 6 (or, at least, the look of the blood flowing down either side is cool :) )
The mistake here was that she went for his arm instead of his head… He seems to require the use of his mind to use any of his powers at all. Mind over matter, no brain, no mind. No mind, no matter…
Is it just me or is Vehemence throwing up the horns in panel 3 with his regenerating arm?
I see that as the energy is just beginning to form & shape into what will become his fingers. we’re seeing it as just a “snapshot” while it’s in process of shaping.
I’m sorry, but I’m highly offended by you using that last panel as what appears to be a joke. As someone who has had to deal with this, that isn’t funny, and it makes me sick. You wouldn’t make fun of Peggy for her missing leg, would you? You wouldn’t make a joke about a cancer patient. No, I’m sorry, but that joke was not okay.
It doesn’t look like a joke to me. It looks to me like it’s serious. Not everything Sydney says or does has to be a joke. I’m assuming she has to take meds to help her focus, since she seems to be a bit scatter brained. If they’re wearing off, she’s going to start getting distracted, and that’s what Harem’s commenting on. It’s not a joke, it’s just dialog…
And with it wearing off. Adrenalin can both make it wear off faster and seem to replace it as well.
It didn’t really read much as a joke to me. I dunno, as someone who also has to deal with this type of thing, it sounds like a comment I might actually make myself in a similar situation. Maybe that’s why it reads differently for me.
Touchy. I have ADHD too, and back when I was on my meds, I would inevitably lose focus as my meds wore off. DaveB has ADHD too, I don’t think he’s making fun so much as speaking from experience. And if he is making fun, he kinda has that right. Let’s not go comparing ADHD to cancer.
Also he totally made a ton of jokes about Peggy’s leg. Her NAME is PEGGY.
. . . Is it sad that I just now realized that Peggy bit?
Not really… I’m sure most didn’t catch that.
Other than that, yes, Dave most certainly has poked fun of Peggy and her missing leg, so the rant is very misguided…
A little ADHD can have a huge impact on your diet…
As another ADHDer, I do not have any problems with that panel. the timing places it where you WOULD place a joke, but the feel of it isn’t all that joke like. A little humorous in the overall setup (ie, when we need her to be able to focus on the fight, her meds are wearing off and she’ll be at her maximum distractibility), but not a joke per-se. And I’m OK with that.
ADHD can be one of those things that you can have laugh-or-cry moments with, and laughing at it a little helps more I think.
Of course, his depiction of ADHD isn’t perfect, it feels rather exaggerated even for an extreme case. but this is a universe where really extreme things exist. and ADHD can actually be combat/danger friendly in the right setting (More likely to see things out of place when otherwise trying to focus on something like hunting, and any other settings where noticing something other than your goal can make you aware of danger).
My wife was bi-polar most of her life & had to be on meds. whenever they started to wear of, I was the one who had to deal with it as well as helping her to deal with it too. I wouldn’t make fun of people who are bi-polar, but then we’re not talking about real people in the comic, are we? This IS a piece of fiction, ya’ know. the whole point of fiction is to have fun with it, but save the reality checks for reality, huh?
In the next week:
Vehemence explain how use the regeneration power and the power to increase other powers using violence…
“In the start,I suffered bullying to learn ballet as kid. For this first learned to generate, create and regenerate my ballet’s pants every time the bullies provoked me, but with the power of the pants and bullying, I developed other powers…”
Ok, I figured it out.
That symbol on his forehead looks like an “on/off” symbol. Smack him RIGHT THERE, and he’ll shut down! (/sarc)
Well, he has those same kind of marks on his hands, arms & shoulders too…Maybe even somewhere under his pants that we didn’t see (even though the Grrls did). Perhaps that might work if you can guess the right combination or sequence of switches…
I’m always super impressed with how quickly you update. Like I come to the site with very little hope of a new page yet there it is! That’s a heck of a lot of details in such a short amount of time!
Mondays & Thursdays…Be there or be square. ;)
It’s, uh, always Mondays and Thursdays at 7 am EST.
6am cst