Grrl Power #291 – And here’s the wind down
Whoops. Well, I’m a big dummy, set this to post at the wrong time. Oh well, enjoy the early comic!
A quasi montage page for you guys to wrap up a few items, including a little cheat by me to explain why the highway outside a restaurant at dinner time was curiously devoid of cars. (even though there should have been some on the first few pages of the fight. :P ) Oh, and in that panel, Sydney’s just doing one of her unnecessary truesight sweeps. That cop isn’t really an oni or anything. Also, I really like the idea that teleporters startling people. I don’t ever recall anyone jumping when Nightcrawler bamfed into a room. I imagine it’s happened a few times over the many years of comics, but not with enough consistency that I recall it being a thing.
Arguably this page would serve well as the final page in the book, but I have just a few more things to get to first. Nearly there though. It’s exciting! Of course, once book one is finished for realsies, I need to go back and make a bunch of corrections and set about getting the book put together for a kickstarter, which is utterly daunting since I already barely have any spare time. I think I may put out a call for a part time colorist, which I know was a milestone for the Patreon campaign, but it turns out finding someone good enough, fast enough, cheap enough and available enough is a tall order. I’ll make a separate post about that in the next few weeks I think.
I don’t have an update for the vote incentive quite yet cause I’m working on a Valentine’s Day Sex Drive piece concurrently. I’m trying something new with the coloring on it which may turn out nice but it’s taking longer than I’d like, but I’m hoping to have it done in time as well as the vote piece before the end of the month.
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.
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Nah, this would be a terrible page the end it on. In serialized media you always want to end on a question… either stated or implied. Or you could go old school and end thing with a victory scene (think ending of A New Hope). Or straight up silver age it with a ham handed: “Once again, the forces of evil have been stopped. Until next time… .”
That last is a given. As a possible ending to this chapter / book, this page works fine for me.
Noting too that there remain plenty of unanswered questions. Eg.
Does Sydney ever find out about the faked bank robbery, and what is her reaction?
What do the mystery orbs do?
What is the full (true) story behind Sydney’s acquisition of the orbs?
Who made the orbs and why?
What is Deus’s game?
What has been happening / will happen with Joel and the shop?
… And certainly several other questions I can’t recall right now.
Such as: Did Hex escape the squirrel or did she just pass by Greenland ?
*Message from Moscow*: WTF was that?!?!
I’ll answer this question too.
“Did Hex escape the squirrel or did she just pass by Greenland ?”
Squirrels killed Hex’s parents, and ever since that point, she has harbored a fear and hatred of them. She was part of a 10 person group to create the ultimate squirrel-fighting being, hence her hex orb things. But she still is traumatized by the event. Yes, she escaped…. but there will be a reckoning one day, and all squirrels shall pay a terrible price.
Contemporary “red neck” society is way ahead of her, having sponsored annual squirrel hunts and made a point of treating squirrels as a delicacy, suitable for a variety of uniquely North American dishes, for generations dating back to the early colonies.
But the intent is different. Your hypothetical rednecks do so out of tradition and as a survival method.
Hex does so for vengeance.
On that note of where the orbs come from, would this be the time to reverse course slightly to the place in the ocean where she got the orbs and maybe something from space or some other thing showing up and starting to look around for the orbs? I mean when you think about it something with the power of the orbs would be something that whoever created or lost them would want back. Also keep in mind that once their activated maybe they bond to one person of rather being and can’t be removed from them until they die, a good mad scientist in space or otherwise would make an item like this work for only one person after all.
Here, https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Aquapirate-348429237 this is when she found them… Now it’s been visited. Let’s move on.
Referring here – https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/793 , it is extremely obvious that Sydney is holding back some info (presumably significant) about how she acquired the orbs.
If it comes to that, one also has to ask WHY a scuba beginner was diving completely alone in what looks like mid-ocean (at least two major safety no-nos there)? Sydney got scuba training and went there for a specific reason (treasure-hunring?)
Most likely Sydney trained for scuba diving in preparation for her vacation, making sure that she had enough training and hours to do solo dives. Remember that this is a woman that gets things done in spite of her raging ADHD. I’m guessing that she has a guru or two (probably Dad) who helps her to write out plans, set budgets, and make schedules to help Sydney to stay on track. I’d be surprised if her smart phone didn’t have an app to help her with all of the above.
… Which still doesn’t explain why she was scuba diving ALONE and (apparently) in mid-ocean – which pretty much violates every safety standard for the sport.
Who said she went diving alone? All we know she is the only one who returned.
[chuff] – “and that’s one more off THE LIST!!”
There is that.
…. Though I imagine, if that had been the case, Questions Would Have Been Asked – and I daresay the matter would have cropped up in the background check that ARCHON ran.
Sydney never said that she was diving alone, there just may have not been anyone all that close to her in the water.
Why do you assume she is a beginner? The only mention of her diving is that she is fully licensed. She very well could have been diving for years.
… Because she is shown in the flashback actually having lessons.
Was that a memory or Max’s imaginings of what Sydney must have been like as a SCUBA student?
Memory, I believe.
We still don’t know how far back that particular memory was
Not long ago at all, given that scuba-training Sydney looks identical to recalling Sydney. Same shirt, even (she could have a closetful of identical shirts, of course).
That she took up scuba-training before her trip to …..um, Florida is, I think, significant.
Well the shirts were in the super-hero range, stocked by their shop. And Sydney did wear them as part of her marketing campaign. The well-thought through, non-knee jerk one, that is. So she probably did have access to more.
Although I doubt, with their financial state, that she would have multiple ones of each for herself. Worn and washed, does not give the impression of new, after all.
However, all that was just following through on one point that you raised, 7thsealord. I do actually agree with your assessment that it was a few months and no more.
We know that time-frame, from Joel’s comment about Sydney’s holiday. And we know that she had Tubey since her return. Ergo she must have obtained the orbs within that period. Where, and how, we have only imagined flash-backs to say. And Sydney’s hesitant, suspicious, statement.
If Sydney has been diving for years it would still be dangerous to be solo. That suggests some powerful motive or details omitted.
Or Sydney acted impulsively, on holiday. She has been known to do that. Assuming that she is as newly trained a diver, as the story implies, then her safety protocols are only as good as her training.
Of course, a good diving instructor will bring up the key safety points on many occasions, during a course.
INSTRUCTOR: Ok the first and most important safety protocol is…
SYDNEY: (Looking at the instructor intently, and thinking) He looks tired, I bet he was up drinking all last night. Man the trip here was rough, I wonder if he had as much trouble too? Sharks, did he just say sharks?
INSTRUCTOR: … but that is just one reason. So always remember rule number one!
(Some time later)
INSTRUCTOR: Ok, let’s summarise all the critical rules. As always number one is…
SYDNEY: (flinching, thinking to herself) Ow, did something just bite me? Oh, it was just the air tanks poking me. Man, I hope that they do not do that on a dive, it might distract me, from something important!
And with her build and looks it very well could have been several years ago that she had her lessons.
And if as we believe this is taking place in Texas then she would have plenty of ocean to practice her diving.
“one also has to ask WHY a scuba beginner was diving completely alone in what looks like mid-ocean (at least two major safety no-nos there)?”
Sydney is a rebel who plays be her own rules. Plus she’s not in the mid-ocean, she’s just off the Florida Keys.
“Sydney got scuba training and went there for a specific reason (treasure-hunting?)”
Sydney went there to find the remains of the Titanic. Yes, the Titanic was found in the North Atlantic south of Newfoundland, but Sydney never believed that story that was obviously planted by the Illuminati to hide THE TRUTH. Space pirates implanted a dream in her mind, telling her that the HMS Titanic could actually be found off the coast of the Florida Keys. It was all a ruse. A RUSE. And btw, the HMS Titanic that was found was NOT the real Titanic. There never was a Titanic. It was all a long-timed plot to hype the Leonardo DiCaprio movie. James Cameron takes a VERY long term view when it comes to hyping his movies.
There is “playing by one’s own rules” and there is stupid. Diving solo is stupid. Sydney is (as a general rule) definitely not stupid. Therefore, there must have been a pressing reason why she was doing so here.
And “just off the Florida Keys” is a very general term that covers a lot of territory, a great deal of it being ocean. Given that (AFAIK) we do not see land in the pics related to this, MID-ocean as in “definitely out of sight of land” seems more than appropriate.
https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Aquapirate-348429237
Land in the backround
She’s not in the middle of the ocean. She’s off the Florida Keys. You don’t see land in the comic pictures because it’s pictures of her UNDERWATER. On DaveB’s Deviantart page, you see land in the background when she’s over the water.
See anybody else around? Other signs of civilization?
If you magnify the image to 500 percent, you can see an Arby’s on the mainland. Which still doesnt prove that the land is inhabited since no one eats at Arbys anymore, but still…
In any case, you’re ignoring that she said she found them off of the coast of the Florida Keys, PLUS a picture showing land in the near distance, and keep insisting it was found in the ‘mid-ocean’ without any reasoning whatsoever. Stop it or I will reach through the internet and strangle you.
Yes, I probably over-stated with mid-ocean. How about middle of a very large body of water? Happy now?
HOWEVER, the rest of your diatribe lacks foundation.
Let’s take a look at – https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/793 , shall we? I refer you in particular to panels 1 & 2. If you don’t believe that something …. fishy is going on there, then there isn’t really much else I can say.
There is a picture of Sydney in scuba gear floating in mid-air, evidently having just made an acquaintance with the Orbs, and there are some islands in the distance. MAYBE they are part of the Keys but, given Sydney’s performance when talking about this (see above), I have doubts. Not like there any recognizable landmarks (any Floridans reading this, feel free to jump in and correct me). Not even a sign saying ‘WELCOME TO FLORIDA’. They are islands, possibly tropical, but that could mean anyplace from the Mediterranean to Queensland to Trinidad.
Where was Sydney really? I dunno. Right off the top of my head, a possible explanation is that she went on a treasure hunt (hence the scuba training beforehand) in the general area of the Keys, then wound up finding the Orbs in a place she KNEW she wasn’t meant to go. Cuban waters, maybe. Her reticence since presumably stems from worry that she could get into trouble for all this.
So strangle away, G. Or bite me.
It’s possible she is ‘Uh-ing’ and ‘um-ing’ because she is talking to pretty much everyone, and not because she is lying
Possibly. But the significant glances exchanged between Maxima and Zephan are a good indicator that they think something is up. Given their respective experience, I think we should take it that they felt it was suspicious. Over and above the complex interview situation.
Sydney has clearly shown, when trying to cover up the reason why she had the tube, that she is uncomfortable with, and not very good at lying.* It is something highly redeeming about her. But does mean that any skilled professional will see through such subterfuge, with little difficulty.
* To people she cares about or respects. She clearly was not bothered about playing the weak victim, when Shadow Boxer was trying to kill her. A bluff, in such circumstances, just makes her gleeful, rather than uncomfortable.
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All new newsletter subscribers get a free hat.
Agreed. This is a perfect ending page because we’ve come back to HER. we’ve re-referenced the fact that shes JUST joined a team of supers, playing with a team being new to her, teh fact that it IS a gov org who will be doing this more, and giving a good view of the orbs going into standby, reminding us all that they have a mind of their own and more questions than answers.
“Noting too that there remain plenty of unanswered questions.”
Fortunately, I’m here to answer all questions with 100 percent certainty.
“Does Sydney ever find out about the faked bank robbery, and what is her reaction?”
She knew the entire time. Arianna is actually…. her mother.
“What do the mystery orbs do?”
One helps her cheat at Pacheesi, but Sydney doesnt play Pacheesi, so she doesnt know that.
The other lets her see in the visible light spectrum. This is not very useful to humans, who can already see in the visible light spectrum, but it was designed originally for aliens who could not see in the visible light spectrum, so for them, it’s a superpower.
“What is the full (true) story behind Sydney’s acquisition of the orbs?”
Practical joke by spacefaring pirates who can’t see in the visible light spectrum. They liked the cut of Sydney’s jib, and planted them there for her to find.
“Who made the orbs and why?”
I told you – spacefaring pirates who can’t see in the visible light spectrum – pay attention! And the didn’t make them – it’s made by a corporation. All spacefaring pirates have them, it’s sold in any space-mall on their planet. It’s the space equivalent of a smartphone.
“What is Deus’s game?”
Pacheesi. See – it will all come together when Deus meets Sydney and Sydney battles Deus in a pacheesi game… to the death. The orb will finally become useful.
“What has been happening / will happen with Joel and the shop?”
What has happened – It has a failing business model
What will happen – It gets a TV show just like Comic Book Men and becomes massively successful selling souvenirs from the store, just like Cake Boss and Pawn Stars. I went to the Cake Boss bakery once, and their cookies sucked, yet I spent an hour on line to get in. It’s a better business model. I also went to the Pawn Stars pawn shop in vegas. Half the friggin’ store is selling Pawn Stars souvenirs, not pawn stuff. The Old Man doesnt actually come in there, it’s always crowded, so the whole show is blatantely untrue, Big Hoss and Chum Lee are jerks who just stand around taking pictures for $5 a pop, and Rick’s the only one who actually does ANY work. Also, they’re lying liars who lie.
A genre-savvy professional psychologist could offer therapy & counseling sessions to treat super villains suffering from “Post-Thwart Letdown Syndrome.”
;)
“I just can’t let it go… At night, I lie awake, SCHEMING! Plotting Vengeance! Doc, you gotta help me move on!”
“Have you tried holding the moon for ransom?”
-The worst doctor, solving the wrong problem.
“I just can’t let it go…”
Cue the Frozen soundtrack.
In infinite repeat for the entirety of their incarceration.
It’ll eitherhelp, or send them iver the edge to become a (harmless) quivering wreck.
“Hi Doc.. Sometimes I feel like a hero, trapped in a villain’s body,,,”
“…I must get access to that maniac’s mind-switching machine before he wreaks havoc with my body!”
Problem with closure?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Av2l4t0U4
I’m guessing that there’s room in the next couple of pages for some mysterious party to rescue V, giving him a snarky appraisal in the process.
I love Harem just holding out her hand before other Harem vorps in with the cups
Yea, clearly to grab the cup. But maybe also to be ready to shield her (other) face, in the event that there was another violent teleport reaction. He face is probably still smarting, from the first one.
Well done Sydney. I’m thinking she’s impressd the hell out of her teammates with her performance in this battle. And as for the higher ups I have to belive her ability to think and formulate a plan on her feet will have been noticed and marked down as a skill to seriously dedicate some developmen time to.
This would kind of be the perfect time for her to test the unknown orbs since she’s not in battle anymore and they did have the thought that one could be healing.
Character wise, but story wise not so much. We wanna move back to a semblance of normal, we should go a while longer before we find out more about those onscreen. I guess Sydney just trying and going “Meh, nope” would work, but I’d be surprised if their powers were as simple as that, simply because of the literary buildup of making them unknown.
More importantly, the “unknown” orbs can cushion future plot developments. I don’t think Dave would use them as “Get Out of Jail Free” cards, he’s a more talented story-teller than that, but it gives him some wiggle room to develop the story down the road.
He’s mentioned that he has the entire skill tree mapped out, so he definitely knows what the remaining two do already.
Yeah, Dave said that he’s got the skill tree mapped out, but…
The labels for those two orbs on the map might just be “Dues ex Machina”…
;)
Nah, I don’t believe that either.
For some reason I had Ice Cube’s, “It Was a Good Day” pop into my head. It starts real low on panel 2 and then the volume gradually raises until the refrain hits on the last panel.
A good choice / combination.
For music, I was thinking Van Morrison’s ‘Days Like This’, a great favourite of mine – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BteIwbKU_iQ
Remove the dialog from panel 4 and make the crescendo in panels 2 through 3 with that song. That would be the perfect “wrap up ” montage, like an episode of Cold Case.
I was thinking “Beer for My Horses” by Toby Keith and Willie Nelson. It seems appropriate for a group of victorious lawmen (lawpersons?)
So are we almost done with the flashback now lol. Iv been reading for years and just reread it all anr remembered all of this is a flashback/origin story.
How do you know? She could be recapping months of training!
If they skip the training and testing I will declare this to not be the slice of life comic I was promised! >:/
This is just day 1, and the present starts when she’s a corporal, not a recruit or whatever she’s called (I don’t speak military either). So there’s probably going to be a lot more flashback.
And at this point in the flashback Harem comes back and sits next to Sydney.
She says “I hear you own a comic book shop. How did you get into that business?”
Sydney replies “Well, let me tell you about that.”
* Cue second internal flashback within the flashback *
At some time within the bookshop flashback someones asks Sydney “So you now own a store with Joel, how did you two meet?” (and here we go again)
You can’t go more than four flashbacks down though, or you’ll get lost in the infinity of flashbackdom.
What makes you think you aren’t flashing back RIGHT NOW?
Mind… blown.
I don’t see how that’s very mind-blowing. After all, if you’re remembering something that you were reading in previous pages, that’s your own flashback.
If you’re remembering a time in your past when you’ve been reading Dave’s flashbacks within another flashback in the comic, you’re already “nesting” flashbacks.
:D
The implication was not that we are remembering things. It is that we are the ones living in the flashback, being recounted by one of us, from the future.
“Remember what you were doing the year before everybody gained super powers? It all started for me, when I was reading my favourite webcomic, and some guy said..”
Personally, if I were the storyteller, I would spice it up a little, for interest. I would be a dragon, or maybe a talking dog.
And towards the end of that, Joel asks her plans/hopes for the future. Which are to own a comic book shop and become a government-sponsored superheroine, shown via a suspiciously familiar looking dream-sequence.
“But Wait! There’s more!” ;)
Thank you, Mr. Popeil…
LOL!
ooh! Steak knives?
Knives so sharp & durable you can can a steel can & then slice tomatoes paper-thin.
Hmmm…I wonder where Mach the Knife shops?
Just realized that Sydney used the same reasoning for ‘drowning’ someone who doesn’t need to breathe air as waterboarders use (where you can’t actually drown from waterboarding) – the creation of the panic reflex from thinking you are going to drown. That plus the fact that the water limited his ability to see and hear them was really smart and answered a question I had about the redundancy :)
Redundancy is good when you’re fighting supervillains, particularly villains that have thwarted every previous plan.
Thwarting is a good word. Don’t get a lot of opportunity to use it.
Say what you like about Sydney…
…still, ya gotta admit …
…she gives good thwart.
I was thinking along the same lines.
Also I think there’s a fair distinction be between trying to torture info out of someone and putting the fear of God in them so they stop trying to actively hurt or even kill you. The former is unethical (as well as countereffective) and the latter less than ideal (but unfortunately occasionally necessary).
+1
I’ve been wondering, especially since it hasn’t been cover (yet). How will her co-owner of the comic shop react to her new job? :D
Also, magic jacket! Maybe just edit in a small pile of clothing next to Sydney that is the jacket?
The magic jacket thing is what caused me to start scrolling down the first place… needed to see if I was going to be the first. 8)
Maybe the jacket is Max’s, seen in the last panel here https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1167
Nope. Remember A-Bomb shredding the bottom hemline of Max’s jacket with her shaped-charges explodey-power? I don’t see any such ragged fringe on the bottom of that jacket. It’s likely to be someone else’s ARC jacket…After all, if Archon is going to issue jackets to the team, they’re quite likely to look pretty much alike.
Sidney tested one of the unknown orbs. It is now named: Ka-Jacket!
The only two people on the team close enough in size to Sidney to borrow cloths from are Harem and Peggy. I think it is probably Sidney’s own uniform jacket, ported in via Harem. Sidney choose to be a browncoat, naturally.
The big question is though, did she ever actually make the deposit? What happened to the bank bag? Did she just leave it/ forget it in the confusion of a bank heist before being whisked away to become a super hero?
The police took it. The comic store will get it back after it’s served its function as evidence.
She did not make the deposit ever – the money was left on the floor of the bank, where it was taken by Eduardo, a crooked cop with a gambling problem. That’s obviously a future storyline though, full of pathos and redemption.
1. Good planning indeed, very well thought out.
2. So…is day 1 actually starting to wind down?
1. +1
2. 1 *
* Boolean/a>.
Ooooh Nooooo!
Don’t get me started on And & Nand, Or & Nor! I’ve spent over two decades trying to unlearn what I learned!
Seriously though, it’s just the mathematics (Boolean Algebra) that helps mostly in configuring the control circuitry of security systems & other types of monitoring/response systems by computer.
I see everybody remembered my exposition on the benefits of caffeine and other stimulants to people with ADHD.
In my case, I love a good tea before I lay down to sleep. I get to sleep a lot quicker that way
I’ve read that stimulants actually don’t apply equally to all types of ADD. (And I also have ADD myself, though stimulants do affect me positively. And yet I’ve sworn to never drink coffee.)
Most types do benefit from stimulants (in regulated dosages, mind you) because it increases the uptake of dopamine receptors, which are otherwise, shall we say, “Understaffed”. For those unaware, dopamine is a neurotransmitter (it helps make your brain work properly), and a deficiency in dopamine makes it harder to concentrate on any given task(s)-at-hand, (the harder you try to concentrate, the worse it gets) — on top of that, and even worse, a deficiency in dopamine lessens the brain’s ability to regulate its actions.
In short, don’t be surprised if people with ADD frequently seem to come down with a bad case of foot-in-mouth-disorder. Also don’t be surprised if they aren’t aware of their own situation of foot-in-mouth-disorder.
On the plus side, the way our brains work is pretty nifty (we can’t actually multitask, but we’re damn close with the change-up), and, in the case human-society ends up reverting to a hunter-gatherer level of existence, we’ll be more likely to survive than people without ADD — we’ll see/smell/hear that prey before they do — and so will our progeny, because not only is ADD a dominant trait, it also removes some of the sensory limiters in the brain. (Which manifests in the form of wandering attention while in a boring-as-f*** school building/meeting/lab assignment, etc.)
(On the upside, I’ve got a theory that this dopamine-deficiency also means it’s much harder for us ADD-afflicted to get hooked into the dopamine-reward-based cycle of constantly checking social media. :P Unproven, empirically or otherwise, but it makes sense for me at least.)
Yeah, I’ve though that about hunter-gatherer too. In addition to ADD I’m hypersensitive to animal odors, both predators (like cats) and prey (like deer). In a primitive society useful but in today’s “civilization” it’s more like an affliction, manifested as allergies to pets and musky perfumes. (I’ve discovered rye partially suppresses this, which is how I manage to attend crowds.)
Studies on multitasking have shown that trying to switch between tasks that involve complex mental skills will cause a severe drop in performance over a set period. Say you do math homework for a half hour and then write a history essay for a half hour. If instead you try doing two minutes of math then two minutes of writing alternately for the same hour you will probably perform far worse. You brain needs to unload the mental task you are doing and then reload the new mental task you are switching to. This takes a certain amount of time to get all the pieces in place. You also lose any long chain of ideas or relationships you may have built up during your concentration the last time.
The only efficient rapid multitasking found by researchers are in learned physical skills stored as so called ‘muscle memory’. A factory worker can switch between assembly line tasks or a person can go from bike riding to juggling to dancing with no warm up time between. This was theorized that it comes from our primate heritage where if you were falling out of a tree you needed to be able to quickly grab onto a branch without having to remember how to do it.
Phew, thank goodness, I do not suffer from anything like that!
Not just ADHD folks find coffee relaxing. One or two cups will help me sleep rather than the other way around. Number three is when I start perking like an old coffee pot.
I like that Dave now answers us in the comic which is best for everybody really since so many can’t scroll through the comments to get the jist it seems but I do miss the early days when he was very verbose down here.
Nice ending.
And I get a new word I didn’t even know existed. “OUTRO” A kind of made up slang word but with the internet listing them and their definitions all the time it gives these slang words a lot more legitimacy much more quickly these days.
Though Dave spelled it wrong which made it take a bit to look up. (as much as you can spell a made up slang word wrong… *shrug* )
I would almost like to keep the day rolling with a harried call from Joel saying to get down there and help him deal with all the new customers! (he just couldn’t bring himself to close as long as he still has merch and they are still buying cause the finances are so bad)
To which Sydney replies: “This sounds like another job for HALO THE MIGHTY! Up, up and away!”
She’s fast enough if Max doesn’t see her go she might even get away with it too.
It’s actually a musical term from the 1970s based on the abbreviation intro (as in introduction). Oxford defines it as the concluding section of a piece of music or a radio or television program. Many of the songs in Jpop library are categorized as intros, outro, and inserts based on if they appeared in an anime and where.
Apparently the older word for that first part was “coda”? But didn’t ring as well with people as a made up something mirroring “intro”. (I could be snooty and say uneducated people but I would be talking about myself since I had never heard of either before this comic caused this conversation! X-P heh )
I like it as it is more specific then just saying “ending” as a shortened version of “ending theme” but I would like it more if it had come from a word that actually means ending, tail, finish, stop or something logical rather than just a slangy mirror for “intro”. But them’s the breaks humans aren’t terribly logical. Searching directly for it does bring it up though it still doesn’t seem to be anywhere near the popular choice yet (don’t think many even know it as a word). Folks are still using longer phrases like “ending theme” more commonly then this much handier shorter word “outro” but I can see it around the edges now that it has been pointed out.
But its pretty clear that even though I do occasionally search for things related to this words definition it would have been a good long while before I would have bumped into it enough to actually be aware of it if not for Dave’s usage here.
It is a part of my vocabulary, it just does not get used as often as “intro”. Which is quite fortunate, as you give an intro when introducing somebody or some subject. Whereas a hitman might give his victim an “outro” message, to make sure he knew why he was dying, slowly and painfully.
Except “outro” is not a new word. For example, the song “The Intro and the Outro”, from the ’60s.
And yes, he really does say “Adolf Hitler on vibes” 8-/
That first sentence about it was me saying that “outro” was new to me not necessarily that it was a new word. However, so far it does feel fairly new by my standards.
Sorry I grew up playing scrabble with a grandmother born in 1909 with a dictionary that was beginning to disintegrate. This outro thing would have been regarded as slang of a middling age by me and of a young age by her. Either way I’d have been forced to take it off the board as slang got no respect as a “real” word.
But since it officially (according to the online sources anyway) comes from at least the ’70’s I guess I would be OK with it being a word. A word I have never heard used before in my life which is nearly as long as the words itself… I guess the older word for one of the definitions now being given to outro was “coda” wasn’t catchy enough for the common folk so maybe this one will do better.
Its much shorter than saying ending credit music, ending songs, ending themes or whatever they seem to be saying commonly now whenever I go searching for such. Hmm, just used it to do a quick search for anime ending theme music in youtube and it worked, I got what I was looking for, but oddly only a tiny percentage of the first pages titles actually had the word outro used. I guess somebody in the comments must be saying that word and youtube does searches by comments as well as titles? Or someone used it as a hidden keyword. Anyway, I kind of like it as a word but the evidence seems to suggest it hasn’t become a well known word or at least not a word people are comfortable enough with to put in the title yet even though they are using on of its definitions and it would be shorter. That makes it feel new to me.
To keep up with technology they are adding these words or definitions to existing words as fast as they can it seems. I wonder though, if they should keep these words in a list somewhere and track them to make sure they stand the test of time? I’d hate to be stuck with remembering 100’s of new “words” that only saw usage for a couple of decades. (not talking about outro. I like that one and hope it catches on: Starts showing up in common usage.)
To me, “outro” seems like a simple coinage, something a professional in the music industry would use as the opposite of “intro”, which then became common jargon. I guess this happens quite a lot: another example is “proactive” (good), coined as the opposite of “reactive” (in management speak, bad).
I’m guessing these words sometimes make it out into the wider world, sometimes not. If there’s a profession where they can remain in use, they stay on the fringes rather than dying out. Which is similar, come to think of it, to a virus.
Ironically, the word “meme” was coined to refer to this idea, and it… spread into common usage!
As for a listing of new words, I expect there are some (or many) being maintained. Occasionally there is a news report here (UK) that mentions the latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary (ISTR some internet terms such as “selfie” were added recently).
And where I first heard “outro”: probably the song I linked to, which was played on the radio once in a while when I was young.
So the com-ball also works as an audio dish. cool.
Nnnno, she was just doing an unnecessary Truesight sweep.
It’s never unnecessary to do a truesight sweep!
*nods* Ninjas.
Not that it will detect them, but we have to try.
Remember to be alert!.
Your country needs lerts.
Or as Billy Connolly put it once: “The sign said ‘BEWARE’. So there I was, being ware…”
Cue the “Miller Time” commercial…
Curious, if this were a cartoon, then what would the outro music be?
Subduing the Trouser Serpent” by Dabs & The Succubi
Curious, got any links?
It’s not on the net yet. Leon’s still editing.
Leon wants to make sure that the backbeat is properly emphasized. It will need a good rhythm to…er, um…(horizontally) dance…to.
Benny Hill.
Only during a hyper-chase scene
That cloud is seriously distracting and should probably be moved higher, or removed entirely. Also, where did she get that jacket from? It’s nowhere and then suddenly jacket.
That cloud is reflecting the light of dawn. Dave wanted to indicate significant time passed between those last panels.
Naa, the light is accidental. If it were intentional, it would be lighting up the final panel, rather than the first. Unless they have been there into the morning, the montage skipped the day stuff, and then carried on into the next night.
It is just the orbs lighting up stuff next to them, like they always do. Dave really does need to either move the cloud up a bit higher, or tell it to stop reflecting the orb-light.
Or, my favourite, leave it as it is. Because… pretty.
You are not alone in asking that question, but it did seem obvious to me (and various other folks). Given the fact that we know Harem to be on orders to keep everyone equipped. And have just seen her looking after Halo, by teleporting in with coffee.
I think the useful feedback for DaveB is that he would have been better finding some analogue for montage music, first, before cuing the outro music. Then he would have to train us what that visual cue signifies.* Which would be fine for us longtimers. But anyone coming in new to the comic would have problems and..
Ok, here is what we do, we train giant spiders to eat the people who do not get it. Then, if those spiders get out of control, we breed huge hornets, that will paralyse them and lay eggs that will hatch and eat the spiders. Of course if they are too successful and need to find an alternative food source… well we will always have new readers, the comic is just too good.**
* On account that few things are so intuitive, that folks know them the first time they encounter them.
** Just don’t let on that it can also be too evil.
Next chapter? Hmm the paperwork…the PR fixes…physical therapy and healing…
Yeah, dealing with the Blowback… so Blowback as next book’s title?
Of course Dabbler’s corner on Blowback is gonna be wholly censored.
That’s one Dabbler’s Corner that would make for a good “extra” in the printed version. However, considering what my personal financial position is like, I’d rather put my vote in for something like a Vote Incentive that links back to an otherwise “hidden” page here.
Sydney has come a long way from being the girl who fear vommitted after her first super-fight. You know, 5 hours ago. ;-P
Time apparently is not just relative but extensile beyond imagination.
I feel like I have known Sydney for years witnessing her mature and gather experience through month of hardship while it indeed was but hours local time.
Super powers do exist as demonstrated by DaveB’s crayons. ;-)
Having Maxima test her shield strength to right up to “essentially invulnerable except for air supply” is probably a big comfort.
I note that Maxima kept a firm grip on Vehemence, at the end of the fight. You may have thought this was just to keep him restrained. But she realised that she may need a vomit-shield!
Technically, at the bank was not Sydney’s first “super” fight. Granted, she (unknowingly) was fighting a super, but she couldn’t make use of her own orb-powers either.
But there was a super fighting, alongside her. If I had been involved, I would certainly describe it as being my first super-fight. It gives the anecdote more punch, even though the listener may infer more from it, than is stated.
Aww, heart-warming end to the page. Love it.
I am going to be so very very tempted to apply for that part time colorist position.
Also, is it just me or is Sydney getting bustier? Maybe the super-hero physique starts to occur the more powers are used, in the people who wind up with them in a way other than being born to them? Sooo…the more she uses her powers, the taller/more muscular/bustier she gets until said physique is achieved? She’s certainly used them enough in this battle to have a visible impact if that’s the case.
I think that’s more of an evolving art style thing, especially since her first appearance in the comic is set six months after the current in-comic time.
This is true.
Also it may be perspective, I’m not good at judging such things but compare Sydney on page 8 to the one we see now and there doesn’t appear to be much difference, though there is on other early pages.
*wags tail*
Please do! I vote for that.
*holds up paw, excitedly*
XD I probably will, but I’d need to know more specifics first. I can GUESS some things from common sense, but…guess I’ll wait and see what’s said when he actually does open it up ^_^
Go for it! The extent of my computer-graphic skills consists of hand drawing & inking, scanning in the pic, then coloring with flood-fill.
Mine is at the level of ‘stupid mouse’, and ‘hope it doesn’t suck’.
Hey, there was a “VORP” right next to Sydney and she didn’t throw any punches this time! She can be taught! ;) Good Sydney! Have a cocoa, heehee.
Harem was taking a risk. She already has one body in storage with a bad injury!
That Harem’s probably already seen the Super-doc at ARCHON-HQ and asleep in bed (or distracting another Harem by being loopy on pain meds. Remember, she has to be “Active” to heal)
My logic had been that the doctor (or Harem herself, given she was tasked with that) would be triaging, and designate Harem’s broken wrist to be low priority. You never treat such before potentially life-threatening injuries such as the ones Shadow Boxer received. It may just be bruising, but location, location, location.
But, thinking about your comment, you are probably right simply by the fact that Harem could teleport to the doc, and gain exclusive treatment, well before any conventional ambulance or even air ambulance could.
And that would not be selfish or unprofessional behaviour, as she cannot take passengers with her. Plus her other bodies would still be looking after the injured. She would just be taking advantage of the lull before the storm, that the doctor would know is coming.
I’m hoping Halo’s high use of her orbs will level her up again tonight.
If blocking a single (although powerful) attack induces levelling up, I expect that this battle should. The problem/fun is that she won’t know what she gets.
you forget that they did some extensive testing of her shield in several different scenarios. there was the punching bag, the flight combo, beam blocking A, and beam blocking B so it’s not just the single attack that leveled it up but probably a combination of the testing and the major block. (posted before and after for the beam blocking so we can see how large her bubble could be and still block maxima’s blasts.)
We also don’t know how far through gaining a level the orbs were when she found them. If their former user left a decent amount of XP on them, Halo may only have needed to provide the last bit. Which either doesn’t explain why Halo started from an empty upgrade tree, or implies that level-up events are very rare (and by extension that the Orbs’ makers were very long-lived).
Personally I think that the tree was just filling out the stuff that she was gradually testing, over time. It was just that today, she had been doing a lot of stuff, in a short space of time, and so got to pick a bonus. The orb did give her a literal gold star, to place where she wanted, after all.
But, she sure deserves a second gold star, for her actions tonight. Maybe a couple.
Glad to see Sydney with a growing ability in planning. Now, she needs to extend her anticipation of how to keep Vehemence off balance with direct application of the OODA Loop in other confrontations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop
Max will know about this, because it was fairly common knowledge in the military 10 years ago. In fact, this should be a core portion of making ARCSWAT into the combined arms team that will make it greater than the sum of its parts. That will keep the comic evolving out of the comic book “hero thumps the daylights out of villians” headline standard, and into an expression of how highly talented individuals can change the world better as a team.
Well, even when Sydney’s not continuing her her training with ARCSwat, she’s also in training with her friends at the comic store…The superhero RPG is helping her think ahead.
:D
This comic shows the damage to the wrist computer/gauntlet. If she wants to give up the armor bonus and move to something else, I found an old concept design for the iWatch that is either really cool or really creepy. https://www.ciccaresedesign.com/2012/07/06/iphone-5-new/
That’s either really badass and a whole lot of nope!.
It looks menacing and evil. I want one.
Looks like a sub-species (or maybe even a super-species) of the alien Xenomorph Face-Hugger to me.
Must have!
to me it looks like it’ll fall of the first time i make a fist, or try to write with that hand… the tips of the arms are WAAAYYY too pointy to be comfortable, there is nothing really holding it in place if you move your hand in ANY other position than the one shown in ALL the pictures, and i’ll bet that those arms are NON-Replaceable, Manufacturer ONLY sourced items when they do break off… nope, not practical, not comfortable, not gonna happen.
actually it would work if they had a sort of ring in the palm section that all the “arms” connected to. then you could make a fist, write, do whatever so long as it doesn’t violently impact the device. the way the arms are is to make it so they fit nicely between your fingers without pinching when you clench your fist. it would have been better if they had a palm view showing a ring or strap that connects all the arms so it won’t slide off your hand too easily.
The Iphone 5 a.k.a. “The Scary Spider Claw”. They may as well make the default ring tone the sound of children crying. Because that is all they are going to do if they see it. Their low vantage point is perfectly positioned to get the full face-hugger angle.
“Hush hush dear. Or Dr Doom, over there, will rip your face off, with his claw!”
Would totally get one if they release it, and still use a simple basic flip phone that doesn’t even have a ringtone for text messages (which is all it is used for, refuse to speak on a phone if can avoid it)
So, I was very concerned about that cloud drifting across the sky. I thought something funky was going on with Halo’s orbs at first. It took a few read throughs for me to realize what it was.
Anyone else notice the jacket jump? In the last two panels Syd has a jacket. Did I miss something or….???
The caffeine calmed her down enough to where she didn’t notice a jacket being placed on her?
Just some time passing.
Dunno where else to put this, but when archivebinging on a sick day, I found that comic #11 and #155 are coming up Forbidden with an additional 500 error. Just so ya know.
They work fine for me.
….then the level up grid reappears.
And the whole team reacts to the surprised shout “Holy Ferret Balls!”
i think she used that one already today…i think she prefers to not repeat her swearing concepts per day.
Since Sidney used her orbs a awful lot does this mean she going to get a lot more upgrades.
We don’t know what Experience Point system the orbs use, so it is anyone’s guess as to when other upgrtades will arrive.
Aye, she used them to some degree before . She was just short of leveling up before the day started and then she took a few shots from Max and popped her flight orb’s tags.
Ayup, and that assumes that level-ups come from actual usage of the orbs. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is by far the most likely explanation, but other possibilities exist.
For example, if we postulate that the orbs are wtached over by some kind of unguessable extra-dimensional supreme overlord, then maybe the level-ups area are “rewards” to Sydney. Whenever she does something that Mr Overlord considers funny or sufficiently entertaining, he/she/it awards points. Sufficient points and a level-up comes.
If the orbs are some kind of mega-intelligence test set up by OTHER alien overlords, then level-ups come when Sydney has achieved a specific milestone on a preset line of progression (property damage achieved, new uses for her powers, etc.).
…. Or forget orb usage completely. Maybe level-ups are wholly TIME-based (“Congratulations unbeliever, you have had custory of the Sacred Orbs Of.Our Goddess for exactly 327 Bleems. Here is your reward.”).
What would be frustrating is if the orbs pop up the skill tree & add an audio message: “Congratulations. You have achieved the limit of Free Play. To continue, please insert 5 Quatloos.”
Ouch.
Imagine something like that happening in the middle of a battle.
At some date one of the unknown orbs lights up and starts explaining the scoring system to Sydney. She says, “Wait, you could have explained this at any time?” It replies “No, not at any time. Only when it was funny.”
I like that one.
*applies paw print, to ink pad, and stamps approval on the suggestion*
Sydney does not need to drop her shield for fresh air. She only need to reduce the radius and fly to another location and increase the shield radius for fresh air, but then who would have thought of that?
I can see that working if Halo turns the force field off and, using the embiggener, makes it re-form at a larger size. Which is what she must have done to enclose the crowd.
But if she wants to keep the force field up, whilst actively under attack, then that option is not available. If the opponent is staying close to her, then he may be trapped inside her force field. That worked with Vehemence, but she was taking one hell of a risk on her assessment of her bond with him!
Whereas if she managed to draw away from the opponent, but did not have the option of keeping fleeing until she lost him completely, then any lowering of the force field might be mis-timed to happen as an attack is incoming. And that is not a momentary risk, because the attack could be anywhere, within the expanded area of the force field. And still be a danger. Not just when it is right on the edge, as she happens to lower it.
So that would mean the only safe way would be to make the force field grow bigger, whilst still intact. Like blowing up a balloon. But, not being air permeable, that would just make her already stale air spread out over a greater volume. Adding altitude sickness to her carbon monoxide poisoning.
Of course, if she disengaged safely,* then you have a valid suggestion. The kind of trick that Halo needs to have up her sleeve. But, like she did for the above plan, she needs to think them through, three steps ahead.
* Such as dodging out of sight, or simply flying just far enough away to be out of reach, but not so far that she had to abandon her mission. When such options are available. They may not always be. Out in the car-park, for instance, there was not much to hide behind. And she was trying to keep Maxima alive. So if she had been suffering from stale air at that point, she would need a plan B or C to fall back on.
heh I saw Harems little skull hair band and it reminded me of Mines Bigger.
for m, it was the Eerie Cuties comic.
Same here, been reading Eerie Cuties (and all it’s related comics) for years now
Next comic…. TRICKED YA! V bursts out of the van and starts pummeling Max with Anvil.
Which would be about as effective as hitting them both with a marshmallow. Anvil’s kinetic absorption would soak it up.
If Arianna has any doubts about the best way to spin the prosecutions, and exemptions, to the press, she should consult the guy featured in this article. He is the Surgeon General of Spinmastery!
‘It’s not a bug, it’s a feature’ raised to the nth power. On top of that it makes me curious enough to want to buy one. My interest in computers started when you needed a soldering gun as a basic tool. Might be nice to try old school style again.
“We might use a component with more optical screening in the future.”
Yeah, right…Just so you have to spend even more on their stuff just to avoid problems with their “special features.” Madison Avenue out to Iteration X. ಠ_ಠ
Where did the coat come from I thought she didn’t have anything that fit.
She did not. But she is being helped by a teleporting girl with
fivefour bodies. And a lot of people back at Archon, who have just seen her, live on TV, saving both the world’s most powerful super hero and the rest of Arc-SWAT, probably. All Harem would have to do is pop into somewhere that they hang out, and say “Halo is getting chilly out there, does anybody have a size (whatever) jacket?” Folks would be falling over themselves to offer her their own! ** Even any cynical non-altruistic types, who may have slipped through the Archon screening. They will be planning on getting it back, when her own arrives, and then carefully putting it in long term storage. Along with an appropriate note of thanks, or whatever other provenance they can get their paws on. It will make a very nice retirement fund raiser.
Is that cloud….stalking Sydney? Or the start of another skill tree point maybe?
DaveB‘s comment on this, can be found in this chain.
Just a cloud.
A sentient cloud from Spy Murder Mountain (or is it ‘Murder Spy Mountain’? o_O )
Hey, Dave!
Okay, just noticed a mistake in the caption. Queue means a line of people. Cue is to signal the start of a performance. So you would cue the outro.
Depends if we are kicking it off now (cue to start)
Or adding it to the playlist (to the queue)
I believe it’s the former, since “queue” appears to be the predicate of the sentence.
But it did have to wait in a queue. Did you not hear the montage music, before the uplifting outro music?
You also need to get a cue before you can play a game of pool or billiards…
This page is fantastic. Just completely fantastic.
Not least because that jacket is absolutely boss. Perfect badass nerd look.
Yep, on all points.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1189
Now we know the next five villains. Recognize someone? I know he was less bloody there, but wow foreshadowing much
Actually, there’s 6 more after Vehemence (you’re forgetting Deus).
Don’t know who the evil religious priest(?)-guy is. Reminds me of Caleb from Buffy though.
One of them is that demon-god-thing that Dabbler beat and stole from
One of them is PROBABLY the Middle Eastern Super who fought Maxima to a standstill (and is presumed dead, probably something horrible happened to his face as a result of the fight with Maxima)
Don’t know who the group is – looks like some sort of secret illuminati-like shadow society (like the Light in Young Justice).
Don’t know who the mask girl is, but I’m going to call her Doodler because of what she did to her mask
I’ve also noticed, all villains seem to need to have a LOT of teeth, or triangular pointy teeth, other than the one person in the mask. Because as we all know, lots of teeth are evil. And triangular teeth are viciously evil.
Don’t worry. I’m sure Dave will provide a toothless supervillain at some stage, just for variety.
Or Math can practice his dentistry skills some more
If you are ever at dinner with Math and he says “You’ve got some spinach stuck in your teeth. Let me get that for you.” just say no thanks.
Especially if you are female.
He won’t be reaching for her teeth, that is for certain.
We don’t actually know that the person who fought her to a standstill was middle eastern. Just that there was one- it probably is, because she was in the middle east a lot (probably), but it might be some other random guy. And I’m looking forward to the demon arc because I want to know more about dabbler.
Panel five has Opal in it. look at the hair. I want to say the dude in panel 5 is the green haired telekinetic dude, but unsure.
I assumed that it could be Opal and Vekter (the green haired telekinetic), from when they first tipped their hands as being co-conspirators. But never bothered comparing images. They were in shadow, so the intent is to be mysterious. Therefore any similarities could well just be red herrings. Or it may be them.
In which case most of the villains, in the imagined montage, have actually made their appearance already.
I went to the start to figure out what was before the flashback and
wow art has gotten better
like WOW
I think it would be hilarious if we came out of the flashback, and found that the style reverted to that.
Reminds me of one of the pioneering colour movies, set during world war II. With a significant amount of it set in heaven. For artistic reasons, they chose to have part of the film in colour, and the rest in black and white.
They made a surprisingly different choice to the Wizard of Oz. Which worked very well.
Will you ever go back and put in those great pages that you describe like Seneca kicking Vehemence at a later date? Maybe as incentives or bonus for the book?
Please tell me by this time somebody has remembered to dig out Achilles.
They’re getting to him. Or they have gotten to him by now, but since he’s obviously going to be fine, physically, he’s just not being shown as part of the aftermath.
(Muffled) “I’m ohhhhh-kayyyyy…“
Achilles is still as invulnerable while buried under rubble, but he’s less aggravating about it…
Its hard to remember someone who can’t be harmed in any way, is only of middling use in any high powered fight and just sort of floats around being amusing. They don’t have to worry about defending him and they don’t probably think of him as being terribly helpful in a fight (why is he attacking with his bare hands when he has no offensive powers? I’d forget him too until I needed a shield!! LOL ) so his name probably gets relegated to the background when more interesting things are going down.
“…only of middling use in any high powered fight…”
I’d say Achilles is more than “of middling use.” Not many meat shields are reusable…
I can see many situations where Achilles would be invaluable. If Archon did not mention his invulnerability, at the press conference, then he would be the ideal cop to volunteer to be swapped for a hostage! Likewise if there is any extreme risk situation, with many unknowns, such as a suspected ambush, he is the ideal point man.
Plus he has awesome first-strike capability if deploying from an aircraft. No parachute required.
In that fight, he attacked with his bare hands, because he has 150% the strength of a normal human. So in hand-to-hand combat, he will easily beat anyone, but skilled martial artists. And it is a good tactic against glass cannons, and other supers who do not possess super-strength themselves. Albeit that he ended up fighting rock, rather than paper.
I imagine, like any cop, especially one in a military unit, he will have weapons. But the orders were to avoid killing, and he is not a skilled enough marksman to try any tricky disabling shots. Plus the aggro-aura (if Maxima is right, and I think she is), was enforcing the ‘no kill’ rule too.
But, yea, as far as usefulness goes, there are way more versatile and powerful members on the team. With less aggravating personalities. And he does not apply himself, at all. If he had even basic martial arts and decent weapons skills, he would become far more useful. Let alone undertaking explosive ordinance disposal training!
Answer and prediction time with Pander again, it seems.
“Please tell me by this time somebody has remembered to dig out Achilles?”
Achilles is forgotten and buried for 200 years. He’s dug out by an archaeological team, whereupon he teams up with a wisecracking robot and a sentient bio-engineered ostrich named Gyrax. With his mullet of power, he becomes Buck Achilles of the 23rd century.