Grrl Power #286 – Aaaand scene
I’d liked to have one more row of panels showing Vehemence slumping to the ground, reverting back to his original size, his armored arm clanking off in strips, showing a regular arm underneath, but yes, the fight is finally over. It feels slightly anti-climactic to me in some ways, but really, the only viable options at this point given their resources were to kill him or talk him down.
I’ll have to do a port mortem on the fight, sit down and reread the whole thing and see where I could have edited it. I certainly didn’t intend for it to last 86 pages. (Actually 107 pages if you count all the double sized pages.) I probably should have cut the Death Toll stuff as it didn’t add anything to the fight that didn’t happen again on a larger scale with Vehemence, and there’s probably a few more things I could have taken out or saved for later to lower the page count, but besides it running longer than I would have liked, I think it went mostly ok, especially seeing how it was my first fight. (And will probably be the only one for a while.) I’ll be glad to get back to the slice of life stuff though, which is really what the bulk of the comic is supposed to be about.
Edit: To clarify: I didn’t mean to imply that I was going to go in and cut pages out of the comic, just that I’d be a little more critical about future pages and make sure they really contribute something, especially if a scene is taking a while to get through. The Death Toll pages did add stuff, mostly humor and as some have pointed out, it showed the team that Sydney’s genre savvy has some value to the team.
This is probably the last double page I do for a while (watch me make a liar out of myself in the next 10 pages :P ) Originally the double pages were intended to let me blow the panels up so I could to better looking action, but mostly what happened was the double pages wound up having 12-18 panels which meant I was really doing 3 pages a week and just posting two of them at once. Sure I like getting more comic out there for everyone, the problem is when I do 3 pages a week, it’s 12-13 hours a day, 7 days a week of drawing, and that leaves me time for little else. I’m sure many of you have noticed the vote incentive has gotten a bit stale for instance, or that my “What I’m Reading” widget has been on the same book for the last 2 months. I’d like to get back to doing more peripheral stuff like the vote incentives, cause they let me expand the world outside of just linear story telling, and the occasional piece of fan art or guest comic would be nice as well. I’ll also need some time to run back through and got to my big list of fixes, mostly art stuff like Maxima’s sudden change in rank, before I can put the book together and set up a kickstarter for that.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
Dabbler gets revenge.
With a sleep spell? (that’s what she’s doing right?)
Are they not going to drain his power somehow? There’s no way they can just keep him sedated for the next 80+ years can they?
Yes, that’s sleep spell
Or a coma spell…
I expect that V’s stored power will wear off or simply dissipate given time. Just like the charge in any battery.
given Dave’s comment under the page that’s probably exactly it.
Given the hypothetical description of this happening immediately after the last panel shown, it seems possible that he loses stored power if he falls asleep (I guess it’s hard to find something less violent than slumber). Or it’s just that the spells he’s cast end if he loses consciousness and the power will drain away gradually.like evidence that, as someone speculated in comments earlier, it’s not that he has both the powers to cast spells using vehemic energy and to regenerate and grow stronger, but that he knows how just like the fight aura and grounding spell and thus can’t do it unless he’s powered up.
Does the sleep spell involve dreaming of Dabbler? Would 80 years of that be so bad?
Yin for the win!
Yang… was a dick :P
You mean ying? :P
Yorp :-)
Like Id, Ego, SuperEgo there should, indeed, also be: Ying, Yang, Yorp :)
Yin Yang Yorp Yowza!
Yabba dabba ying!!!
…I think it’s only a matter of time before someone tries to turn this into some kind of a scat-style song…
Don’t tempt me. After all, I wrote a song about bladder stones, sung to the tune of Godsmack’s “I Stand Alone”. Turning this into a scat-style song shouldn’t be too difficult.
I wrote the song after a friend of mine (whose favorite snack food is white bread soaked in milk) gave birth to a bouncing baby bladder stone.
“It was a small stone”, he said. “I could barely see it.”
Then, sotto voce:
“I just wish I could barely feel it.”
Not having ever had a bladder stone myself, I can’t imagine how painful it was. Though he did add that he had a new respect for women during childbirth. (He’s probably right. Passing a bladder stone is probably about as close as a human male will ever get to *that* particular experience.)
Yay! Back to slice-of-life with an occasional dollop of plot!
Now I’m seeing Achilles eating his steak-with-aioli again.
Due to a slight mix-up he gets his steak with Sydney’s aioli! He had not remembered how much pain actually hurt until then. “So that is what everybody is so scared of? I see. How do I make this pain go away?! Please?” “Try some milk or another fatty liquid, like mayo or sour cream, but the full-fat type.”
Heatwave’s chicken sandwich with mayo also suffers from this mix up and so Heatwave also suffers. The mix-up is only discovered by the kitchen staff when Sydney points out that her veggie burger is pretty bland. “I though I said to mix the super-suicide sauce with the mayo, but this is just mayo.” “I will check with the kitchen to see what happened. Um, sir is there something I can get you?”
Heatwave would be able to tell something is wrong because her bread would be turning to toast as it sat on the plate. Achilles might notice his steak is charring, unless he likes it well-done.
Wonder how long till Maxima learns not to distract the ADHD super-oh shiny!
Funny enough, it was Maxima who was getting sidetracked here, not Sydney.
And strangely enough, as a reference to the Yin/Yang eastern philosophy, Sydney was correct, while Maxima got it mixed up with American slang terms.
Woot kickstarter!
Double woot – can’t wait.
A worthy ending
Overall, a very satisfying page for ending the fight.
Out of everything Sydney said on this comic page, I’ve got a problem with one thing in particular:
“Ok, cool it, Jiggles. You don’t have to flaunt them all the time.”
O.o
I vehemently disagree with that statement.
Still DaveB, my compliments, for new readers it isnt too long(rereading was fine). The only thing that is annoyingly long for new people is the endles discussions of fans to read on every page :)
Yes it feels a little bit like an anti climax, but then again there were only 3 valid options 1) kill, 2) diplomatic solution(current one) 3) wear him down to basic power level and sedate him forever.
#3 was quite unlikely and probably hard to achieve ash shown in todays first panels. 1) would be a deliberate choice to entirely remove him.
2) suits good guys the most.
I don’t see why the discussions would be annoying. Part of the fun of superhero comics/shows/movies is the number of discussions about them. and variety of topics.
That said. I kind of like this particular villain.
It’s not annoying because they happened. But when you deal with the same discussions, with the same people, with the same kind of responses, going on for dozens of posts, every single time a new page is posted…
I never said the discussions would be annoying, just that they would be annoyingly long.
Dave did over 200 pages now? lets say 500 comments per page on average.. thats 100k comments to read through… some which are rather lengthy.
Imagine going back and reading all comments on every page ;-)
that was meant for Wilder125
New fans read the comments? Like ALL the comments??!
Pull the other one. X-P Ha I say!
And they shouldn’t have to. It just amused me cause we’ve seen a lot of evidence that they don’t even try. Though there probably is a certain class of lurker, like myself, that has to tell themselves not to go down there and waste time on page after page of old comments on a popular web comic I found late in its life… I often fail to listen to myself.
I only read “live” discussion threads. Otherwise, I’d just end up thinking of and occasionally posting the last word to three year old disscusions, which is a ludicrous waste of time.
Even current disscusion threads are hard to keep up with. I’m only writing this because I literally have nothing better to do.
“I’m only writing this because I literally have nothing better to do.”
That’s the spirit that drives all internet discussion everywhere! ^0^ Welcome. :D
What can be better than philosophical discourse and witty company, all set in an environment with pretty girls, some of whom like flaunting themselves all the time?
…And for the distaff readers of the comic, plenty of hunky guys without shirts.
Yes we do.
He he.
Nice to know.
And I wouldn’t say no to a Dragnet-style rundown of the various bad guys, and what happened to them after the dust settled. Wouldn’t even have to be right away. Would make a neat vote incentive. Just mug shots and narration boxes. Easy-peasy(-ish).
Most of them can claim to have been under vehemence’s control and will walk but will now be under surveillance.
Good idea. :)
+1
I want to know what’s going to happen to the hairdresser guy. xD
He was funny.
If Arianna has anything to do with it, he will have a “sponsered” shop in the ARCMALL .
Probably a light sentence. I don’t think he even had the chance to swing a fist once. Considering what all the team went through, they’ll probably be lenient in their reports for him.
What would be really funny is for Sydney to walk through the prisoner processing area, in Arc, glancing at the lesser-seen minor villains, as she walks past. Then stopping dead…
“Dad?”
Good one. Although I can almost see a ‘few’ of the villains (such as Shadow Boxer)
Wincing or looking pale and worried as she wanders by.
And Lee…. well whatever happens he’ll probably NEVER be taken seriously as a villain EVER again. By anyone. That particular bit of news will travel the prison grapevine.. and every OTHER grapevine faster than light. Poor guy may end up having random giggles had at his expense.
This would actually be really cool. Dragnet is a great series. Although maybe it would be better if it was placed in the “Characters” section rather than interrupting the story to put it in? Or maybe Dave could make a “Gallery of Rogues” in a noir-style theme, like Maxima mentioned when she Hadouken-ed the tank.
Would make a good vote incentive.
Slash comic/trade bonus material.
I think we have seen enough people to officially launch ‘Grrl Power, the card game’.
My Jabberwocky attacks your Anvil!
“My Anvil ignores your Jabberwocky and continues eating the ice cream.”
Having a page (or two) of small(ish) panels showing what happened after the fight with the losers (pretty much everyone not ARCHON) would be a nice wrap up and good fun cool-down (specially if DaveB puts that ‘duh-dun-dun’ in between the panels, as a vertical separator)
I apologize in advance, but I just <had to do this…
https://www.televisiontunes.com/Dragnet.html
I *KNOW* I heard this somewhere before, sounds sooooo familiar.
Dragnet theme is highly parodied even today. I have not seen an episode on TV in 10 years, I would be surprised if someone younger then 20 had seen the show. Yet, it is still parodied (or parodies of parodies). I have a few episodes on DVD
Dragnet was a great show. Based on real stories from real police.
“Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”
:D
I was thinking a Guardians of the Galaxy line up but your idea is better if time consuming for Dave.
“One choice sets a terrible precedent.” :)
Sydney is so genre savvy, and it’s interesting to see how all these pros from Dover are listening to the newbie. Nothing succeeds like success.
Oh damn… I always identified myself as a geek, rather than a nerd… but missing quotes like this makes me feel “normal”…………. yuck! :(
Can someone please tell me where this is from before this quote haunts my dreams?
I don’t believe Sydney was quoting someone else, but that Gecho was stating that Sydney’s line highlights her genre savviness.
Problem is, I’ve heard this before somewhere.. .in a movie, or a game, perhaps.
Looked it up as a quote on the web and was ONLY ONE listing.
This page.
It’s original.
tiny remark: at the end of the previous page Sidney already asks for V to be lifted. In the first panel today she asks for it again… might be her thinking alound first and then properly requesting it. But maybe that should be made a bit more clear.
Seems to me that she is just clarifying her previous instructions.
DaveB, the Death Toll stuff gave precedence that Sydney could come up with good plans, thus providing Max the reason needed to follow Sydney’s lead to stop V. Otherwise, Max might have tried to shoot his head off or something if she didn’t trust Syd.
I agree, it introduced Sydney being the only one that takes time to think (easy for her since she’s not doing much anyway, and is in a shield)
Sound reasoning.
Agreed thrice. Death Toll is necessary for the buildup of Sydneys credibility and to justify the warmth of her welcome back to base in the early pages , and as part of V’s intro. Keep him.
Meh, skull masked supervillains justify themselves.
I’m one of the pro-action readers. Have as many battle pages as you want, author, and I’ll never complain.
I agree with keeping Death Troll.
Sydney came up with the plan to neutralize him as well.
And did THAT plan with minimal damage or issues for the team.
Showed how quickly she CAN think on her feet. And the WAY she defeated him gave everyone in the team a good laugh.
I think that the Death Toll sequence was an important part of this arc.
Given Sydney’s solving that riddle and now finding the solution to this almost insolvable dilemma we now know:
SYDNEY IS THE BRAINS OF THIS OUTFIT!
A terrifying notion indeed.
Maxima is an expert at unconventional warfare. Sydney is an expert at comic convention warfare.
Halo is the one who can sit thoughtfully in the middle of the battle, even face to face with the big-bad, and be in little to no danger. She can also produce her own intel with comm orb and some fairly strong interaction via molestorb. She has a sweet suite of powers, well suited to strategy.
How long before someone in government decides to weaponise vehemence?
Lots of supers suddenly out of the closet now, or to be so very shortly, so that “someone” will probably have to take a number and wait in line.
I am sure someone somewhere might like to “copy” and “use” V’s abilities in some manner but, for the more subtle, there are lots of other much cooler things to figure out. Opal’s portals, for example.
Vecktor , and DR will also be looked at heavily.
DT stupid clone.
KA-BLAM .
Wait a second…Wasn’t your clone born as an only child?
O.o
nah, I do 10 per batch minimum
I thought the replimat only did 6 packs to cut down on genetic drift…
Depends on your security clearance.
It also depends on your computer programming.
meh… you’re ALL amateurs… The Sontar do clones in batches of MILLIONS !!!
Storm Troopers, the original* clone army.
* Hey, it was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Do you mean figure out his powers and put them in a machine of some kind like is suggested below? Seems like if they had enough of a handle on super power science to start making mechanical super clones they would have already have done so. The government has had access to and knowledge of them for decades longer than the general populace.
Or do you mean lobotomizing Vehemence and putting controls in his skull to stimulate what is left of his brain? Thus actually turning him into an actual push button weapon? That seems like a thing a government somewhere might be looking into for difficult to reform or control super villains. (maybe even the heroes if it goes really well)
They better make sure they perfect it, before Maxima finds out. She has indicated she does not approve of such things. I am guessing molten research facilities would happen, without seeking any guidance up the chain of command.
Or, depending on circumstances, molten chain of command.
Or weaponize Sydney’s lunch…
A bit more anticlimactic than I would have liked but still a good way to end the fight
I could see why you or Dave or anyone would find it that way. For me, though, I don’t feel it that way. Something about the last three panels having that calming effect. Also, Dabbler rubbing her hands on his head…
I’d shave my head bald too, if Dabbler would do that…Especially if she’d wax & buff it.
I’m going to assume they fix Vs still crushed throat correct? Only reason he was still surviving was because he was burning energy to create oxygen so he doesn’t suffocate. Drop his power level and he doesn’t have enough v energy to keep himself alive not being able to breathe normally.
I’m thinking it’ll regenerate by itself given time. Should help reduce V’s stored power to a more manageable level in the process.
Yeah, it’s possible that “automatic” regeneration will take place, once Sydney’s noose is removed & V still has enough of a power pool for it. Survival instinct is imbedded way down in the most hinderparts of the brain & a little thing like the conscious mind being asleep won’t stop it from kicking in.
If he deflates as fast as Dave says in his underblog then he either can’t maintain the less natural things he cobbled together with his powers when unconscious or he can’t hold onto his power pool when unconscious (might explain why succubi don’t rule the multiverse). Which makes yours a very good question. I guess they will have to run a line down his throat and put a bomb in his head while he’s out. Then let him have a little juice to regen when hes awake? After informing him of the bomb(s) in his body…
The real question is: If his arm is a construct of his power that falls apart after his power stops acting on it (which proves he fibbed a bit about his regen making him better parts since it wasn’t really a permanent replacement and his real arm is under it. Its basically just magical power armor.) then do we need to go find him a blanket, pair of sweat pants or a fig leaf like pronto?! :O
it was said the panels fell off not disappeared they are real and solid just lacking proper mounting so the pants don’t need replacing just a belt to hold them up.
Good point. Guess I was envisioning an entropy kind of thing like some undead do when you dust them, etc…
So, what do you people think they’ll do with him?
Going by what Dabbler said, I think she just put him into a coma.
Keep him under until his power level drops to a less scary level, which shouldn’t take too long.
Then give him a nice comfortable cell down a deep hole out in the desert. DEFINITELY not near or in any regular prison, which could be a terrific source of the kind of energy he uses.
Offer him a job in a mildly stressful fashion label. The stress of the normal employees will give just enough violence to give Veh enough power to be the best ever instant seamstress. Ka-Pants, Ka-Tuxcedo(sp), Ka-Shirt. There you are sir, a perfect outfit for tonight, that’ll be two punches and a roundhouse kick
+1
He could partner with the Barberian who can take care of the hair and grooming side of things.
I think you deserve a job in Arc Rehabilitation. Vice president of the career placement unit.
Is it wrong for me to want to see that in a spin-off series?
DaveB has talked about the possibility of doing spin-off series. He has a lot of content planned for Arc SWAT, so has to keep the main story focussed on that. So keep your fingers crossed, you may well get to see that, one day.
Especially if we find a way to accelerate Dave’s clones to maturity. Without loosing the whacky sense of humour. How are things going down at the labs, DR.REVENGE?
Let him drain then implant him with bombs and if Dabbler can figure it out a “vehemence monitor” to track his levels. If all that works out then solitary or prison with the super durable villains cause he might go BOOM.
i’d put him in a straight jacket with a thick metal ring around his waist and use 2 high powered electromagnets to keep him suspended in air for the duration of his sentence (one above and one below of equal strength pulling in opposite directions) he would be fed via a non metallic arm that extends from the wall holding a liquid meal of sorts…if he doesn’t like it then he shouldn’t have picked the fight and explained how his power works.
He is dreaming of fabulous Yings. I would assume that a Tantric powered sleep spell is rather pleasant. Perhaps even to the point that you can wake up whenever you want to, but no one ever wants to.
I love that state, because it allows lucid dreaming. Where I am in control. The writer and director of my own dream movie. Bringing in whatever luscious film stars I fancy. Growing a city-sized opulent castle out of the bedrock.
Then floating it into the sky, and shaping fluffy clouds into beds and making others permanently rain into my garden waterfalls, which flow into the swimming pools. And having all my favourite snax growing off the trees, perfectly heated or chilled, when I pluck them.
You have achieved full mastery of that art, when you can retain those capabilities when you wake up.
Given his power source, they’re going to need a single cell in the middle of a Buddhist monestary to hold him…
And all the Buddist Monestaries dont have those Monks practicing Kung-Fu?
Actually, Tai Chi might be the only martial art that stands a chance against V…
I can just see Vehemence gritting his teeth and shrinking a bit every time a monk shoos a fly out the window instead of squashing it.
Aikido would be another possibility.
Considering it is quiet possible to break any bone on the body with said martial arts intentional or not I think it is not a good idea to put him anywhere close to any martial artist practioning also don’t forget that he can simply extend his violence aura like dabblers lust aura so a prison with any living creature in a certain Radius is a no-no.
Except it’s not clear if he can do the aura thing all the time, or if it was just a bonus trick he could do with his overpowered mode the way the armored limb and whatnot were.
Resisting …. shrinkage … joke … *sigh* … … resistance failed :(
yep.. you Shorted it out… :D
V’s future probably involves a large bore IV needle and a 50 gallon drum of Ketamine.
I’m hoping to see Joel’s reaction soon. Even a single-page montage shoing his reactions to all the day’s events is probably more than Dave wants to deal with right now (maybe as a vote incentive or DA post sometime).
No doubt Joel’s reaction is specificly the kind of thing DaveB meant with slice of life stuf.
I’m very curious to see how Joel will look now that the art style has changed since we last saw him
Personally, I’m hoping Joel was so busy with work related stuff that he never actually turned the TV on, and thus is the only person in town who doesn’t know. Him continuing to not believe her (even if it only lasts until she turns on the news channel) would be hilarious.
I would love something along those lines. Mind you, he would have a hard time rationalising away the orbs rotating around his head.
I like to imagine Sydney using the commball to make an illusion, walk up to Leon as illusion, and trick him into thinking she’s a ghost
Sydney, using her great power, for great irresponsibility?
Yea, I can totally see that, now that you suggest it! :-D
Alternatively, 2 Sydneys next to eachother
but tubey would get lonely without his passengers
Honestly? i like the ending. Sydney makes a case that someone like V can appreciate. He’s had his glorious battle thats made the news, if not international news at this point. sure, he couldn’t kill maxima, but if he surrenders now, he might get another chance.
accepting his defeat is entirely in character with the genre savvy, amiable psychopath that Mr V was presented to us as.
I like how V looks so calm in the end. There wasn’t any shame, reluctance or anger – just acceptance. It’s oddly calming.
“Eh. I’ll do better next time.”
Game over. But at least he did level up.
Game may be over for now, but I’d bet he’ll be planning on a way to get more quarters into the video game to play another round…After he wakes up.
…to me as a reader that is.
Damn :-(
Trying again:
Ok, the cite tag is broken.
I do not use blockquote cite, in the format it appears below. I just use “blockquote” (in the angled brackets) and finish the sample text with the same but with a “/” after the opening bracket. The same as when putting in italics or bold text.
Testing a normal quote:
That was a <q> type quote. The cite parameter was ignored there as well. Now we know.
The voice of god explains it better.
Although, I do not know if the Megatron would approve of that turn of phrase.
I’d be fine with it but then I love lengthy stuff full of details about series I love. Lots of folk don’t. (they’re weird… )
That took long enough, yet no blaze of glory. Ah well, most importantly it’s finally over.
I find it overtly optimistic how they think they’re able to contain V for any length of time, considering how badly he alone outmaneuvered entire team + intel dept the whole time. All he needs is one super-prison brawl and then it’s 100-page slugfest again. No danger that “ashing the brain” option would see use.
No doubt Joel’s reaction is specificly the kind of thing DaveB meant with slice of life stuf.
I’m very curious to see how Joel will look now that the art style has changed since we last saw him
Stupid reply system, that’s not what I typed
You keep him in an isolated cell wi one guard, buried deep, with another guard watching on closed circuit from a distance with his finger on a button that floods the cell with sleeping gas.
He outmaneuvered the team because he was at Hulk level before they even figured out what he was. That was a one-time element of surprise, won’t happen again. Especially if they use this incident as an incentive to figure out as a team special tactics to deal with unusual cases. I mean there were as many as two where it took Sydney to figure out what to do differently, that’s some argument for a new training routine…
V put up a very could fight and could have won. In the end he lost because. . . he choked.
(runs away dodging hurled tomatoes)
*pours cooking oil in escape path* watch out for the trash bin on your way out…its full of rotten tomatoes :D
Making him slip on oil so that, in effect, you’re throwing the guy at a bunch of rotten tomatoes?
Nice play.
It’s better than that, he’s having a guy throw HIMSELF into a bunch of rotten tomatoes.
My thought would be that because magic is established in the universe of the comic that Dabbler could put wards on the outside of his cell to prevent vehemic energy from seeping in. And also do an Arrow style prison way off the beaten path with on one around.
Thorlas suggests magic which is indeed the solution to many odd ball comic problems though it would be cool if at least the humans could figure out how to contain their own. (Does Dabbler worry about lower civilizations getting access to her magic like she does her tech? Kind of similar issues aren’t they as the galaxy at large may have access to magical concepts we haven’t figured out yet?)
But some other questions are: Can V control his ability to take violence in? Can Gwen or if they must Dabbler cobble together some kind of Vehemence pool monitor to check V’s levels?
If those two are answered by yes then they just implant lots of bombs in him and tell him to keep his levels low.
If the answer is no to either of those then they stick him a mile or two beneath a barren part of the world with a bunch of bombs in his head and lots of remote viewing for guards stations way the heck away from him. (they can have guards near him but the ones with their hands on the big red button should be far away)
This is a ploy often used in fiction. Invariably by villains! For good reason. Just think about the consequences of an accidental detonation. I hope that anyone ordering implanting such devices braces themselves to expect a long prison sentence, for cruel and unusual punishment and possibly manslaughter.
Especially when other remedies are available, such as flooding the area with sleeping gas.
I wish they would have sent Harem for something like that so we could know if it works on him in powered up stages. If he gets enough power he could just Ka-Port the bombs out of his head anyway (or just will them out of existence. maybe turn them into stem cells?).
V is unusual, hard to control if he really believes he has a chance at all, perfectly OK with causing death to further his hard to understand goals (fun? to see if he could? eeesh) and as dangerous as Godzilla once he gets rolling. I’m thinking the rules are going to have to be stretched for super ARCH-villains if we are going to be able to contain them. That level is fairly rare though so perhaps a committee of congress or somebody could be put in charge of giving the OK to such methods with transparency. Probably need a committee like that to excuse the expense of holding them anyway. Much public outcry could be dampened by the fact that no one interviewing them could give a very good answer to, “Well, what would you do to contain someone who can to this and this AAAAaand this??” (or in V’s case Ka-ANYTHING really once he gets rolling) And I would drag anyone who challenged me up to the mike!
Anywho if they discover a problem with him it most likely means he already got a bit of power somehow… and then they would have to answer the question as to whether he can be knocked out when empowered on the fly. The only thing we know he is worried about when juiced is getting his head blown off by someone before he can power beyond their destructive abilities.
He’ll escape regardless. You see the video of this is going out to the people. Some of them will start a cult of V based on how he kept getting stronger and stronger the more violence was fed to him and his range kept getting wider and wider. They will believe that he is an angel/demi-god of purification sent by (whatever…) … and he will absorb all of man’s violence and reflect it back at them etc, etc… the usual apocalyptic religion thing. Long story short they will set off some horrible weapon on the ground just above him just close enough for him to feed but far enough away he doesn’t instantly die due to the shielding earth. So he can complete the cleansing or whatever.
You know, V isn’t the hardest to contain. I mean, how are they going to keep Opal locked up? She can vort herself out the instant she wakes up, no matter what they do.
Or how about Atomic Bombshell? She can blow herself and take the whole complex with her.
The only thing I think of for a wide variety (Mach the Knife?) of these guys is permanent sedation, but if your plan is to never wake someone up you might as well just shoot them, and that doesn’t seem to be their MO. Its a puzzler.
Dabbler might be able to whip up some sort of mind control tech, but that raises yet more moral questions.
You can tackle some of them one at a time (expensive prisoners… ).
Opal is probably a mage from some of the illustrations so Gwen, Dabs, and the adventurous scholar Zeph can maybe wip some magical restraints, anti magic field or some such.
Atomic Bombshell? Well, yeah, if you are totally OK with killing yourself your options go up dramatically. She didn’t look that nuts. No one died so she might even see the outside again so why kill herself?
Well, I’m getting some resistance to the idea but implants are probably the major solution for anyone who’s power doesn’t include reaching into themselves and removing it, super durability etc… But they don’t all have to be bombs, V is just special that way heh, the rest could get implants that track and sedate them when they show signs of powers or via remote if their powers are difficult to detect.
Implants are the cheapest solution for run of the mill non durability powers like Mach the Knife (whatever his real name is poor fella).
Those with super durability will cost a lot of money to build thick walls with devices capable of feeding them etc…
Its all doable and its all costly as heck I’m sure. Maybe all the allied nations will get together to fund shared international super prisons with special chambers etc… for all the major types. V will just have to be dealt with separately.
It really doesn’t need to be implants. They’re kinda impractical. There’s only so much sedative you could put in said implant, and then, unless it’s close to the surface of the skin (which would make it easier to remove), you’d need to operate on them to refill the existing implant or replace it. Then there’s the fact that their bodies might reject said implants, possibly leading to death, or cause various other medical issues. Wrist or ankle bracelets seem a lot cheaper, easier, and less morally questionable, if easier to remove.
The implants would be for those who have powers that would make it easier for them to remove external devices, render them non-functional or that could warp away to those that could help them quickly. You could use your external devices on those that couldn’t get them off or stop them working without hurting themselves but then you would have to separate their population from the others that might be able to help them.
You could run a line up to or near the surface for the refills. (hopefully they wouldn’t need to overuse them… )
People get lots of materials implanted in them every day. My surgeon didn’t even make mention of rejection of what he stuck in me as far as I can recall. That basically happens if they are allergic to the materials yes? I’m guessing they can check for that. If they turn out to be incompatible then I guess they would be up for one of those tailor made designer cells. Unless their power demands we try again with different materials.
Super incarceration is frankly going to be a nightmare of unique challenges for each prisoner. Perhaps Dabbler could use her advanced science to make safer implants that when removed from the individuals body automatically teleport to her lab? Sort of a stop gap measure till the authorities get a better idea of what they need and can build up to producing it.
Where is this lab that everything teleports back to? Is it going to self destruct when she dies? Cause if it doesn’t and its on earth then she has effectively willed her technology to her new earthling friends upon death.
or they can just put him in a cell a hundred miles below the surface with a few cameras on him and an elevator shaft that is rigged with explosives being the only way to get to him. if he does anything that even looks like escaping then they blow the shaft which would also drop the ceiling on him…they used a similar prison to contain the parasite. as long as he is kept away from the public then he has no choice but to serve his sentence…though i like my other suggestion too that is a couple comments further up…
Doesn’t the crust end around 25 miles down? I would think that would start to get a little warm at four times as deep as the crust of the earth. His range isn’t that long anyway even though Dave’s left it kind of vague for now.
I still think Maxima should have ashed his head.
Yeah, it would look bad on the news, but I bet even more bad guys would think twice before facing them, knowing it could end in a serious case of dead.
No, what it would mean is that any villains they met would know the ‘heroes’ would be going to lethal force rather than non-lethal take-downs so they may as well do their best to kill the heroes because it’ll be ‘kill or be killed’ rather than ‘as long as I’m not actually trying to kill anyone I can expect some mercy and restraint out of them’. While anti-climatic what we see here would encourage villains to not use lethal measures and to surrender when outmatched rather than feeling they should try and take out at least one of the good guys before they get killed. You want those who’d choose non-lethal given the choice to do so.
Yup, lots of tradeoffs.
I suppose the news would just show Maxima blowing his head off (or the moments lead up to it and the obscuring cloud right afterwards for the squeamish) over and over again and downplay the very long attempt to wear him down without killing him or the repeated calls for surrender. *sigh*
Luckily ARCHON has Arianna and Leon to spin things and manage how the public receives the information.
You aren’t going to ever spin executing a restrained prisoner to come off looking good.
He wasn’t succesfully restrained. He was still immensly strong, and they could only JUST hold him
In that case ARCHON would be in the right and it STILL would come off pretty horribly for their first action. But it would be amusing to see Arianna try.
Like Syd said, it sets a terrible precedent vis a vis OTHER supervillains.
Supervillains who might be significantly more likely to fight to the death or escalate if they think that there is a fair chance of being killed by Maxima.
Who are less likely to cooperate with the authorities in the face of extreme threats.
Capping a dude needs to be a very last resort and to be seen as one.
Lemme remind you: the death penalty never stopped crime.
I did a study on that for my Master’s program classes. While it is true that countries with the Death Penalty have less crime overall, it isn’t statistically significant and I couldn’t factor out cultural differences being the cause. In other words, I couldn’t prove it has an effect one way or the other.
Just out of curiousity Doc, did that researched result include a correction for the welfare of the country (or even better average happiness, but that value definition is still something being discussed amongst economists)?
Of course more interestingly: did crime increase after dropping the dead penalty?
> the death penalty never stopped crime.
Not entirely accurate. I will ask Lt. Rico to clarify: “The one thing I was sure of was that he would never again kill any little girls.”
yeah, but that doesn’t stop another guy doing it.
the statistical analysis shows, fairly consistently, that the death penalty has very close to zero effect on crimes of passion, and only a moderate (i.e. 5-10% reduction), short-term (i.e. 3-6 weeks) on planned crimes, IF the trial and execution are highly publicized.
100% effectiveness on stopping repeat offenses.
Well, the only thing I didn’t (and don’t) like about it is that Sydney is commanding everybody around and isn’t getting set in her place (yet?) by anybody. She saved the day, but still, assuming command like this in a quasi-military organization, somehow it feels very weird. (Unless she gets promoted to General at the end of the day…)
Her teammates have already seen Sydney make a number of very sound judgement calls in this situation. Including saving the life of their field commander and getting everybody else out from under that mind control thing.
While Max remains the one in charge, she has clearly has the brains to accept iinput from other people – always a good thing for a leader.
A sergeant in motion outranks a lieutenant who doesn’t know what’s going on.
She has a plan. It’s been working, as long as she’s executing it, she givens the next set of ‘order’ or instructions, if you would like to call it that.
IMHO it would feel totally different if Maxima had said something like “Sydney has a plan, for now, everyone do what she says”. Obviously, she never got the chance.
But, you’re right. Syd could do with a bit more “I’d like…” and “please”. She does sound rather bossy.
you dont go: “please”, “what would you think of…”, ” I’d like to..” during an active battle.
True. But the battle hasn’t always been that “hot”.
Still hot enough that you don’t have time for formalities.
She also hasn’t actually ‘commanded’ anyone like the complaints is before.
Rock, you are overlooking her other super power. Sydney has been projecting the overwhelming awesomeness of the unstoppable, all powerful “Mary Sue“.
The defining characteristic of a Mary Sue is that they have no flaws. Secondarily, everyone likes them. Sydney is weird, not super-well socialized, unable to focus, and has repeatedly put her foot in it socially (cf the pirate / one leg jokes with Peggy). She’s very competent, but she’s a long way from being a Mary Sue.
At least there was some build up to it and an increasing need for it.
TLDR version of below: There was a slow build up of confidence in Sydney’s abilities during the fight and in the end ONLY Sydney had the >>ability to think clearly<< or in direction of her own choosing. No one knew if Vehemence would unleash another aura in combination with a force push or something. Sydney was the only one with a mind that, if not experienced, could at least be counted on to keep thinking in a normal fashion… for Sydney…
_____________________________________________________
At first she couldn't do anything but unless attacked inside her shield. Then as the fight got riskier for the squishier ARCies she was allowed to be more active (I think Max was just expecting her to shield people behind her and draw fire but she actually was able to work up to attacks and take downs of opportunity) quickly gaining status as a full and useful member of the team despite being super green.
Then her protection allowed her to calmly note something about a dangerous enemy Max missed in the heat of battle. Sydney did started to get dressed down a little but Max, perhaps starting to sense the wrongness of the situation now that she had stopped simply reacting to the escalation, wanted to hear her idea. Max listen to her and following her advice after initially verbally slapping her down greatly increased her value as a leader in the eyes of Maxima and especially Max's crew of ARCies.
Finally, almost everybody is a mind slave to violence (or in Dabs case heavily under the influence but not outright lost to it) or completely negated like Maxima but Sydney. She was the only one who could plan or act. She took command, sent everybody a plan so they could act as soon as their heads cleared and negated V's effect. Despite Dave's comedic overuse of the talking is a free action trope sitting around arguing over who was in command when V could come up with some new anything-Ka-Power at any time would be suicidal (mission wise. In reality mostly just kill Maxima).
In the end we don't know if Maxima was resistant to V's vehemic aggression wave or was just pinned and already targeting V so Sydney is the only one we know can keep a completely clear head should V have tried to shake them off and refocus them on each other with a force push followed by a vehemic zombie wave. The rest might be able to keep some focus while the aura is on but only Sydney can be completely uninfluenced. Clearly once she was up and V was being manhandled Max could have blown his head at any time so maybe she was more willing to find try Sydney's plan to take him down.
Her plan is already in motion, having some success and she is the only one 100% resistant to mind control for sure. (though Max only learned of the full ramifications of this recently she also knew that before this only Sydney's plan was working) She seems like the one to be in charge failing some unaffected ARC support members beyond the vehemic aura's range piping up and providing commands. Which seems like a good back up plan they should work on for the future.
It’s not, ‘really’ a military organization. Its soldier cosplay, they have ranks and uniforms and such because they want them. Sydney isn’t in charge because she’s had 6 hours of being in Archon and in that time they’ve recognized her natural leadership potential and begun to defer to her, she’s in charge because results. Those results are due to the orbs allowing her to think when everyone else went berserk.
“It’s not, ‘really’ a military organization.”
Actually they are totally military in every way. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/953
And their ranks are MEANT to be real. Sydney is in charge cause she needed to be in that moment for lots of reasons but in the end mostly the mind altering thingie and they had built up just enough trust to let the person who needed to be in charge in that moment be in charge.
They aren’t though. The words are there, sure, but there’s nothing military about their conduct. If they were totally military in every way half of them would’ve been court martialled based merely on today’s actions.
They don’t act like soldiers, they act like the justice league. Which is totally fine, since they ARE the justice league. It also answers RockB’s question about why Sydney can be in charge. She’s got the orbs, she doesn’t need stripes on her shirt.
Its not like I don’t have my own issues with some of their behavior and Max’s in particular but I’m curious what you feel they should be court martialed for? I am not military so if you are I, and probably Dave, would be interested in your insights. And even if you aren’t I would still be curious to hear it.
Maxima’s threats to the reporter in the fake bank robbery would probably not be a problem, she was sufficiently indirect about it.
Harem’s leading the press to believe that Maxima sexually assaulted the perps in the bank robbery would see her dishonorably discharged.
Maxima’s assault on Harem in retribution for the above (repeated pantsings) would be the gold star in court martials. It would go down in the books. (Big Army is incredibly alert for superior officers using physical punishment to discipline on their direct subordinates.)
Anvil and Math’s fight would see whoever instigated it reprimanded, but likely not court martialled. (However a reprimand, any reprimand, is the death knell to your career track)
The scene where they investigated Sydney’s powers in the meeting room was wildly divergent from military protocol enough that its hard to guess who’d be disciplined. There’s literally no precedent for “describe your super powers, now I’ll attack your shield to see how tough it is, now reveal our covert operative to the alien ally” sort of clusterbleep. Someone messed up, but its hard to say who exactly.
The briefing was probably the best example. Revealing to the public that A: superhumans exist and B: we employ them in a combat capacity was undoubtedly the most significant public relations event in decades, maybe ever. People will tell their grand children where they were when it happened. It’s the single biggest event in…I can’t even think of an equivalent.
And Maxima subverted the intended messaging, such that folk’s takeaway is a beast in a military jacket snarling threats from the inside of her atomic fireball. Court martialled doesn’t even begin to cover it. Its an absolute debacle. I literally have trouble thinking of a real world equivalent.
But Archon aren’t worried about being brought up on charges, nor should they be. It would be crazy for their ‘superiors’ to object to anything they do.
I feel driven to note here that I make this comment from a place of love. I contribute to the patreon, and I greatly enjoy this webcomic each week. I just interpret it to be about a Justice League equivalent who prefers to operate inside a government. The gov, being composed of sane people, are fine with this arrangement (or, indeed, with almost any arrangement Archon may propose), and are wise enough not to rock the boat.
I do agree that the feel is non-military, as is the discipline. But, equally there are military units which have had a very relaxed off-duty attitude. Look at the antics that battle of Britain pilots got up to in the mess (as portrayed by Hollywood, but drawn from the actual culture).
In their case, it was because of flying back-to back missions, for every daylight hour, and having a very short life expectancy. When the fate of the entire country depends on such a group, behaviour that might seem outrageous, to an outside observer, is let off within the unit, and the locals, as being a good way to let down the hair.
Maxima has a lot of combat experience under her belt, and knew the way that things were shaping up for the world, with the advent of super powers. So she has deliberately created a unit which has a far more relaxed attitude than regular military units.
Why? Because of the shortage of potential recruits. Industry, entertainment and just living a normal life are far more appealing to many of the possible candidates. Others simply will not be of the right calibre.
Either having weak powers, ill-suited to police work, or simply having poor morals or a criminal record. Super powers can be tempting, and many might abuse them.
This is corroborated by the fact that Maxima has already had to recruit ex-vigilantes to the team. Likewise others have refused to even sign up as military personnel, but are strictly civilian consultants.
So what happens if you throw around court-martials and other military punishments, left right and centre? You end up with a deserted Archon HQ, and just a handful of disciplined troops. Not enough to do the job.
Maxima is taking a route which any sergeant-major would cringe at. But Hollywood shows us what happens in modern society when the talent is in short supply, but the demand for their services is high. The studios have to find ways to keep them happy.
Sydney then becomes the perfect poster-child for Archon recruitment. “No matter how oddball you are, we can find a place for you.”
So long as the results keep going the right way, Arianna can sell the relaxed culture and attitudes as positives, both for recruitment purposes, and to establish a mind-set, for the general public, that these super heroes are risking their lives, to protect us, so deserve to be cut some slack.
Anybody who has been strangled nearly to death by somebody bigger than a grizzly bear, can complain about lax discipline. Everybody else should should make allowances. Because if the heroes quit, then they might be experiencing that, in short order!
No worries. I figured if you were here at this late date you probably liked the show. You even read the comment section! That’s got to be the act of a real fan. ;)
I just thought I would get you to detail things a bit since Dave does want some level of realism in his comic but is learning as he goes. I thought he would appreciate your breakdown. You never really did say whether you were military at some point but it sounds like it and that would make it even more useful for the author. Which benefits us all.
I do disagree with them being a Justice League that chose to settle down under the governments umbrella for appearances. For better or worse the government actually collected all these yahoos together into this outfit. They all started out as individuals with many of them having no relation with others in the current group. They may become uncontrollable after the fact but the government made this Frankenstein monster. Maxima’s group didn’t come to them fully or even half formed.
All I know about the conference room debacle is it couldn’t be Sydney’s fault. She hadn’t even signed the papers to join let alone been trained yet. Many of the reveals were accidents that could have happened on the street as Dabbler isn’t a prisoner and her handler would follow her anywhere. But it does seem silly to put her in a room with an untested unallied new super on purpose. *shrugs* Hell, what if the new super was psychic? Probably should have limited exposure to some outside testing and evaluation area at first?
I have no rationalization for the briefing “debacle” not that you asked for one just kind of thinking out loud/comment as it were. That should have lead to something. Of course technically it just happened and apparently the general wasn’t there? He was probably back at base consulting with folk on what he should do from a PR point since if they court martial Max for this they instantly announce to the world that they have no control over the leader of their team. Maybe this win will negate it enough to save her bacon? Military does love to win right?
Can individual branches of the military set what is and isn’t an offense and what level of offense it is?
It does seem that a lot of leeway is being given to them because they are difficult to replace assets. Maxima being nearly irreplaceable at this time. They kind of have to back off of court martial on some offenses or they would quickly loose so many supers ARCHON would have trouble functioning. Of course what if no one reports it? Maybe if no one reports it the general can look the other way a bit?
But I think they’re superiors would object under certain circumstances. Basically if they refuse to actually perform their jobs or outright declare their ability to ignore the government. That’s probably a secondary reason why they have multiple divisions within ARC, to police themselves. Wouldn’t surprise me if there is a small ARCGHOST team even deeper in the black than ARCDARK for that very reason. (made out of members of the other three)
But maybe the real problem isn’t really all the supers in ARCHON or even ARCswat but Maxima and her main handler/superior officer. They kind of formed the nucleus of ARCswat around Maxima and the general. So all the “hands off” and lack of proper discipline etc… issues we are seeing stem from the routine these two developed to get things done over seas before they were plugged into the core of this new, very public, group. If the general gets properly burned over some of it then maybe we would see some changes. (maybe a future “Oh shit!” scenario where the general is replaced)
I’m grateful for your input and the thoughts it inspires. I was just thinking out loud here. Not trying to argue you down or anything. Its a great question: Now that the government chose to put these people together what can they possibly do to control them? Especially the strongest by far Maxima? (Many of the rest are vulnerable for long periods of time) Its good to get this question out there now so Dave can start thinking about it because I don’t believe he wants them to be uncontrollable and without consequences. Difficult to control maybe but I thought he really did want SOME military discipline and consequences to them if at all possible.
Of course, the main reason is that this is a comedy comic. And wacky odd-ball behaviour is pivotal to much of it. DaveB does not have the military background, to easily pull off a strictly realistic-feeling comedy, like M*A*S*H*.
So, given the choice between trying to make the comic feel more like a real military unit or having it full of wacky humour, I will opt for the laughs, every time.
Of course, if the feel can gradually become more true-to-life, without loosing the comedy, then that is a good thing. And, importantly, Dave has set up a realistic-feeling organisation, and setting. So the framework is sound, should he choose to experiment in that way.
Much of the reason why Col. Potter cut so much slack to the surgeons is due to the fact that these guys are saving lives & under tremendous levels of stress to do it. Potter even ignored a lot of complaints & reports from O’Houlihan & Burns that would indeed warrant Court Martial for Hawkeye, Trapper John & others, under more ordinary circumstances.
A good commander realizes that “by the book” isn’t the final word on everything, because the “book” can’t cover every single circumstance or situation…It’s impossible to pre-judge rules into a rulebook when the authors of that book can’t foretell the future or predict everything with 100% accuracy. Sometimes you just have to ignore “The Book,” & that’s something neither Burns or O’Houlihan could get through their thick skulls.
Of course this lead to some “Oh shit!” moments when the Majors tried to go over his head or some visiting brass tested the time limit on the surgical clowns self control.
I could expect to see some outside inquiries to the commanding officer of the asylum here cause unlike in all those types of military stories these ARCSWAT folks are based in the middle of downtown U.S.A., operate way out in the public eye and some of their behaviors are happening outside the base where the media might catch it.
Just wanted to add one thing: Noone ‘revealed the covert operative to the alien ally’. An outside party pointed in his direction, and the alien ally made it very clear she already knew about him.
Aside from Harem everyone else in the room probably already knew about it. And Harem would have figured it out by simply asking Dabbler. Secret was out, no point in pretending anymore
One little fact everyone seems to have overlooked.
ARCHON is not under DoD command
It is und the department of homeland security.
Which means even though they have a general in charge they ARE NOT military
They are a quasi-military unit tasked with the job of dealing with rouge supers and other such things’
Armies existed long before there were government departments to oversee them. And there are armies present in the world today which do not answer to such, but instead report directly to the head of state.
I think that the structure, equipment, training, hierarchy and purpose is what differentiates a military unit, Otherwise, in disarmament treaties, such as at the end of the World Wars, the capitulating nations could ‘disband’ their armed forces by the simple expedient of them ceasing to fall under their Department of Defence.
Ok, their traffic police might have an awful lot of tanks, but using your definition, they would not count as an army.
That’s pretty much exactly what the Japanese did after WWII — they weren’t allowed to have an army, so they had an absolutely HUGE and well-armed “police force.”
Speed limit enforced by TANK
Heh, I am glad that you picked up on what I was alluding to. They still had armed forces, despite, on paper, having disarmed. Mind you, I must confess that I was thinking more of their ‘coast guard’, which had an abundance of warships. I did not know they had done the same thing on land too.
Well, Arianna said they were under the D.O.D.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/953
Something to do with making it easier to transfer existing exceptional and or super military personnel among other things. At least that’s what she fed the press. So their oddness is just due to them being odd I guess and not the part of the government they are organized under.
My mistake.
But they are a NEW branch of the military, highly specialized and VERY hard to replace so traditional military disciple will not be enforced.
Cause if you piss one of them off all they have to do is say up yours when reenlistment time comes, or in the case of officers resign their commissions.
Then where would ARC be.
The original poster was talking about both discipline and if necessary Court Martial which might end with them being removed from service or possibly even jailed.
Basically he felt they weren’t “really” military BECAUSE they were impossible to discipline or suffer the removal of. He feels they don’t even keep their lack of discipline confined to the base but screw with the approved PR message at will. Etc, etc…
The original poster has a point. Right now they are about as military as their field commander and strongest member wants them to be and apparently she has happily gotten used to a lot of slack from her handler/commanding officer (who got taken with her to ARC) I wonder she will get a wake up call from some of the career military around her who isn’t as irreplaceable as her about how odd she truly is. (I’m sure she is somewhat aware of it but she still proudly considers herself fairly military from her comments to Sydney)
Anyone else notice where Maxima’s arm ends up in panel 5?
Around Veh s arm, while jiggas leg is also wrapped around Veh arm, even though it looks like something far more dabblers style
Ack! Maxima has electrical burns. They’ll take time to heal.
Still, a good ending.
Now comes the hard part: getting Sydney down without another adrenaline crash!
I doubt I’m the first to notice, (another page of comments to read through, but…)
I see Maxima’s throat is better.
Yeah loving the ending, Sydney basically offered him the same solution as Maxima (surrender or die), but put it in terms he could accept. Oh, speaking of role reversal, really love panels 9 & 10 where it’s Sydney getting thrown off track by Maximas “correct, but not really relevant at this juncture” correction. Maybe Sydneys crazy IS contagious :-)
Oh, if Sydney thought this was tough, wait till tomorrow morning where she turns up to the store, finds it surrounded by media and an unimpressed Joel asks “so, didn’t even have time to give me a phone call about all this?” ;-)
Remember, she did actual tell him she had these balls that gave her super powers
And he thought she was fibbing to him.
Sydney said that she doesn’t do “marketing” for the store…And even proves why on the very self-same page where Yorp was introduced!
;)
Wait, what? I think I missed that — what page was it?
Because she totally did market for them a couple of times — she ran out into the street yelling “Buy comics!” at a random stranger, and then at the press conference she used the hentacle…er, the lighthook to spell out the URL of the store.
The early incident (when she ran out onto the street, the same page Yorp was introduced) was exactly just that…How many new customers do you think Sydney drew in by yelling in the street? Not exactly good strategy for marketing, is it?
O.o
Marketing 101, a page of exceptionally fine vintage.
Oh, cool. I totally did not remember there being a dog there. Nice to meet you, Yorp!
*wags tail happily*
And the first lesson in Marketing 101 is how you don’t do it.
:D
Yeah and then Maxima snaps at Sydney when she IS thrown off track by her comment.
She’s going to take some time adjusting to commanding a small elite team of whimsical and unique super snowflakes, she’s too used to military discipline…
Dear DaveB,
Please don’t overwork yourself. We know that if you could, you would post 300 pages every hour. But you can’t. And it’s not expected of you either. While it’s okay to always press for self-improvement you should not over-work yourself regularly.
Ever since a comic artist I followed had to take a serious break due to mental health issues (mostly anxiety) I am very concerned for you webcomicers. I read a lot of webcomics. And it seems like every other page there are apologies for posting a few hours late or missing an update due to illness etc. And you sometimes apologized for not posting a double page.
It is nice and polite to say sorry for a delay or to let the readers know why there is no new update. That’s okay. Maybe I’m reading to much into it.
Anyway, I just wish to say that it is okay to not post double pages, to be a bit late with the update or to go on a break for whatever real-life reasons. And please don’t feel bad because of that ever. We know you are not doing those things because your are lazy or don’t care. Maybe you aren’t stressing because of these at all. But if you ever get harassed because of a late update or anything like that, please know that probably most of your readers aren’t angry trolls.
Also, I like this conclusion to the fight. I think a little bit of anti-climax can work quite well after a lot of tense action.
Take care
Screw this guy, we want 300 pages an hour!
Okay not really, I second the motion that you don’t overwork yourself. We have patience.
…
..
.
Not much patience I’ll admit! :D
+1
Perfect comment!
Couldn’t agree more!
Yeah, our lack of patience shows, whenever a new update is scheduled for posting…I’m surprised the server doesn’t crash.
O.o
That was an amazing battle.
I’m glad you didn’t cut anything from the pages that you posted and I probably would have the same opinion even if you had included all the other cut content and the fight had gone on even longer.
This is going to be an epic reread through the archives and an even greater book when the time comes.
Is it just me, or do Maxima’s fingers look a little…too long? Her glowing hand kinda seems a little slenderman for my peace of mind. Maybe that’s the point?
Anyway, well done Dave, I think this is a fantastic way to end the fight. Vehemence is, after all, quite a bright fellow, and in my opinion not a bad guy. I don’t think he actually ever intended to kill Maxima, his rhetoric was simply intended to spur the team into action more quickly, giving them a deadline (ba-dum-pssh) He maybe allowed himself to get caught up in the thrill of the fight, understandable given how violence is literally a kind of psychic drug for him.
Sydney was right after all: you can’t beat a team that’s using teamwork! They discerned the proper application of their combination of unique skills, just like solving any other problem.
I’m interested to see the prison cell they’ll put V in. Will Archon have a Triskelion of sorts? (Gallery of Rogues?) And if they do, will it be suitable to hold V? I don’t think that storing him beneath dozens of hyper-violent supers is the greatest idea. Or maybe Dabbler and ARC-Light could design some kind of psychic shield to prevent the vehemic energy from reaching him. Or maybe they could put the daycare right above his cell. Or something.
WAIT I just thought of something, possibly disturbing. What will happen to Vehemence’s pants!!??
Will they shrink with him? Will they remain the same? WILL THEY DISAPPEAR??
with Dabbler expressing disappointment because to paraphrase Dave’s “under-comic” remark when his pants went. “It’s growth was proportionate”
Well, at least he had the smarts to just drop. I mean, think about most villains for a sec, a large number of them would just keep fighting, even when they’re obviously beat.
And that’s why Vehemence is better than 99% of fantasy/sci-fi/superhero villains
Yup. Now can we NOT stick him in some asylum that he’ll just break out of every other week?
The franchises that do that simply lack the imagination to create new content, and have to re-hash old material. I do not think DaveB suffers from that syndrome. Of course, Arc will have to deal with containment, and the consequences when it goes wrong. But I cannot see them operating a revolving door policy.
Remember, when he heard Syd was at a bank robbery, his first response was to worry about the robber!
Joel knows Sydney well. Barring one little secret (the fact that she has balls).
Well, if he saw the press conference, he knows now…
;)
Are you making a book version of this?
SO has the word descended from on high.
He wants to bundle the comics in a comic book and sell it
Works for me. Should be interesting to see how they plan to hold him.
Comic needs more Jiggawatt in the future. Jiggawatt is awesome. Because screw that guy.
So just some constructive criticism but I am hoping that this will not be how every fight ends. I am not saying that this was a bad ending just that it will get annoying and a bit repetitve if Halo is the one bailing them out at the end of each fight. I get that she is kind of a Deus Ex Machina in a box type character but still I would like to see more from someone like Dabbler using more than just her breasts to bail everyone outnow and then.
It would only be a deus ex machina if she used a brand new power that came out of nowhere or another character came along & stopped Vehemence. She took a little time to actually plan the takedown and everything that was used against Vehemence she knew about prior to fighting him. I bet she will get a level up in a page or two and a new ability..
Deus Ex Machina might be the wrong word. I just mean that she seems to have a solution for every situation between her unstoppable super orbs and genre savvy.
This is usually called “Mary Sue”, don’t be shy, use the word.
Also this is exactly how I hope every major conflict ever is resolved from now on, by Halo being smart and peaceful solution ^_^
she is the protagonist after all!
although some spotlight for other characters is always good too, they got plenty of it in the fight with everyone else before V!
So, is Sydney going to have all the guys fawning over her? Even Amorphous? Is Heatwave going to be a good friend despite the fact that Amorphous switched to her? Is Sydney going to turn out to be an orphan with a tragic backstory?
Sydney is genre savvy, a comic book geek, and a bit of a rules lawyer. Maxima is willing to listen to what is clearly working. Sydney will shove her foot back down her mouth in 5…4…3…
Mary Sue is a bit harsh, to be honest. Sydney makes mistakes and does questionable things, like the hints that she misrepresented herself as to where she got the Amaz-e-balls. She’s also learning and developing and brings new things to the table.
I don’t see her as a Mary Sue because she does show flaws, real flaws rather than cute ‘flaws’ that just make her extra adorable. But you’re going to have the protagonist be at least competent in their area, which for Sydney is her genre-savviness.
I think the others will have their time to shine. Though eventually, when they start actually going out to missions that don’t start with all of ARC being attacked at a party, they will mostly likely start breaking up into smaller teams put together by Maxima (without Maxima always being a part of them) to deal with a particular threat leaving everyone not needed behind as a reserve to deal with any thing that might crop up in their jurisdiction (The United States and any allies willing to call on their help. Big beat they got there!). The smaller groups will lead to more opportunities for everyone to play a bigger role.
It will probably be normal for us to see a TV in the background displaying footage of Maxima and a sub group kicking major ass somewhere in the world while we focus on a different sub-group’s mission led by Super Hiro or whomever.
Eventually after her training and promotion Sydney may be on the fast track to leading such a smaller sub-group and then it would be natural for her to have the solution in the end since it would be her job.
Sydney’s meds are wearing off. Mental illness isn’t a superpower, its a very serious problem. I’m impressed with how well she’s managing things here, but its nothing at all to count on. Archon dodged a bullet there, and I’m sure in the wrap up they’ll emphasize this.
An outstanding fight scene!
Thank you for the time and effort.
This has quickly become my most anticipated comic.
I was hoping Vehemence would die. Well at least he can come back & die another time.
Ok for all the bad guys learned one thing from these fight and that’s maxima is the heavy hitter but halo is the brain take her out first. I wonder if dave b will put a what if in his book we could be fun
yeah..but taking Sydney out is easier said than done, as we’ve seen.
Honestly I wouldn’t cut out any of it. Every scene added to the world you’ve got going, so it just further enriched it for the readers. We’ve seen a million comics where the super team has to work together to stop some big bad, but there are not enough that show the team also dealing with the lower grade villains like we saw here.
I agree with Chaos I was going to say the same thing. Dont cut anything. it works and i like it.
Every time Dave actually told us what it was he cut out I wept for the loss of its awesomeness…. TT
well said… while i didn’t ACTUALLY cry, i felt the twinge inside too…
Dave, all we can ask is that you don’t cut anything from what you have posted online in order to make it fit some “standard size” version of a book… i’d rather have extra stuff inserted or even a bunch of blank pages in order to pad-out the space in the book just to get it up to the next size in that hypothetical “standard size plus one” category…. heck do a Kickstarter and offer more pages as a stretch goal…one thing though, DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST before offering it, you’d be surprised at how many campaigns get screwed over by biting more than they can chew… POSTAGE being the BIGGEST factor.
One easy way to do that research: email Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary and ask him. He’s got the whole “selling books and other physical goods” down to a science, and regularly posts details about it.
Hey, I loved the Death toll stuff! It was fun, and Sydney showed she could mount a good counter attack! Great cartoon David, thanks! And if the book is ever avaible in my country, I will sure buy it!
So this flashback is told by Sydney a few months later, riiight? Quite a long story without drifting away to Batman to much. And of course she did not exaggerate her own role, right?
The story is being told far into the future after a super villain attack left her in the Brain Remodulator too long.