Grrl Power

Sydney’s question isn’t entirely out of the blue. She’s referring to this conversation, in case you forgot. Even still, it is a pretty acute non-sequitur. She was just uncomfortable with how aggressive Max was being with Valen. She’s used to women being mostly pretty passive about it. Usually it’s the subtle torso twist away or […]

For those wondering when Valen got there, I think I only drew him on one page, right when they arrived. Oh, here too. He just never factored into the pages before now, and sometimes I have to be a little economical about how much background stuff I draw. But yeah, he was there, as part […]

Max probably could have forbidden Dabbler from being part of this questionable interrogation, but I guess she’s playing nice with either The Council or some sort of succubus etiquette. Like, when there’s some distasteful sexual task and there’s more than one succubus vying for the job, because let’s face it, “distasteful” is an entirely subjective […]

This is one of those pages that would definitely benefit from being able to flip to the next one right away, cause there’s obviously a bit of a jarring transition here, and who is that blonde? I mean, I think there’s a pretty big tell, but I wrote it, so I’m hardly a neutral observer. I […]

“But Dave,” you might ask, “didn’t Cooter literally explode?” Well, yes, but you know, it’s a superhero comic with a little supernatural stuff thrown in, so the possibility space is… wider. Not sure how Sydney assessed that Cooter was a hillbilly that quickly. I guess just assume he’s got that drawl which is hard to […]

Oh, Sydney. I do enjoy a good pun. I also like bad puns, so if future pun quality varies wildly it’s because my standards are all over the place. :) I realize with all the blood, it might be a little hard to tell, but in the second to last panel, that’s Wyrmil’s upper torso […]

Sciona’s wings are significant appendages. You can see why she wanted them back. When she says “apply enough force” she’s talking about a considerable amount, not something most supernatural creatures could casually generate. In a world of Supers and shaped charges, this does not provide adequate security, but the The Council has been relying mostly […]

So yeah, Sciona isn’t actually a dark elf (or a drow or a shadow elf etc.) I haven’t quite come up with a name for what she is yet, but I’m sure Sydney will ask someone about it sooner or later. And no, Sciona isn’t mannequin smooth, just pretend the lighting is at exactly the […]

I’m kind of sad that Sciona’s achieved her goal here, or at least one of them. I was getting used to drawing her with the orc body. It’s a pain in the butt to draw with the stitches and the scar all the extra details that take time to select and color and all that, […]

A lot of you guessed about work arounds to the death field problem, and if you didn’t come up with a solution as simple as this, it was probably because you wouldn’t have thought it could be defeated this easily. It is pretty bone headed, but in The Council’s defense, Sciona didn’t think of it, […]

Sciona must talk a good game. That or she was a lot nicer before she got most of her head chopped off. Also we don’t know how long any of these people have known Sciona, who seems to have been around for a while. At least longer than a regular human anyway. She is exploiting […]

I can just imagine Sciona waiting on the phone to set up an appointment; “If you’re calling because you suspect the company’s CEO of planting a mole in your organization, please press 1. If you’re calling because the company’s CEO was secretly trying to date you under the guise of business meetings, please press 2. […]

Short bodyguards are funny. Well, Vale isn’t short, she’s like 5’8″ or 5’9″ and always wears 2 or 3 inch heels… like those wide heels? I don’t know what they’re called. Chunky heels? They’re like the width of a regular boot heel, just higher. Like what Selene wore in the Underworld movies. It’s just that […]

Sciona is obviously good at long term planning, but there are simply some scenarios no one is going to predict, like an obtrusive billionaire and his squad of femme fatales showing up in the middle of your heist. Even if you could actually predict all possible outcomes, there are still limitations on preparation time, like […]

Sciona can reactivate the portal, but until then they’re trapped in the vault, which is why it was imperative they got the jacks in place right away. Also once the ceiling is down, there’s no empty space to pass through the portal into. Of course the first question anyone might reasonably ask is why isn’t […]

This whole time the Black Reliquary thinks it’s alerting the Council’s authorities there’s a party going on. I guess no one had invented parity checking when they built the vault. Not that it would have done any good in this case, other than the Vault knowing the alarms weren’t going through. Ancient death traps always […]

Thus ends the saga of Coot, cause you know, in the history of comics, no one has ever come back from definitely being dead like this. I mean, he blew up. He wasn’t caught in an explosion, he was the warhead. Sciona gave Cooter a potion to drink before sending him through the portal. Said […]

I get the impression from Cooter’s reaction that he may not have been fully informed about the plan. It’s almost like he’s been lied to about the group’s objectives from the start. Shame on you Sciona. It’s like you’re a bad guy or something. Building a vault to keep out all manner of supernatural creatures […]

As soon as the door opened, everyone standing beside Sydney and Ingsol should have been all “Ew, what happened?” but you know how comic time and dialog work. Spider-man can belt out a few paragraphs mid-punch. I guess that’s another of Sydney’s official unofficial abilities. Maxima cut Sydney off when she launched in to her […]

The Council isn’t immediately worried about Archon wanting to get their hands on anything in the vault, though there is a concern that they might claiming some sort of national security eminent domain. But of course, Archon exists because there are supers out there who operate in a more selfish manner, and would love to […]

Arc-SWAT was invited to the vault partially because The Council is allies with them even if they’re a little stand offish with them on occasion, but also because obviously they’re handy as bodyguards. Doesn’t mean they can’t be scared by their bodyguards. I think being scary is kind of a fundamental requisite for bodyguards. I […]

So just a reminder, this was originally intended as a double page, so if it seems a little incongruous that Ingsol mentions the whole weakness aura thing, and then Maxima immediately starts dismantling it, imagine that it someone might mention it on the bottom half of this page, i.e. Monday’s. Action pages are tough to comment […]

Sydney, did you ever think you’d be bored with the appearance of a giant… bone golem, I guess? In her defense it’s late, and this is the second giant guardian thing she’s seen this week. But don’t worry, this fight won’t last quite as long as the other one. Ok, so full disclosure, this was […]

I’m at the point where Sydney is with most TV and movies, in that I’m constantly on the lookout for the tweest (cough), the twist or the betrayal or whatever antagonistic thing the protagonists are going to have to deal with for the rest of the episode. It’s obnoxious even though I get an “I […]

It always bugged me in Buffy when the scoobys were looking up the latest demonic threat, they’d all be desperately scouring through stacks of books, and I always wondered why they didn’t scan them. Buffy was on the air a while ago, but it wasn’t pre-computer. Edit: As about 2 dozen people have pointed out, […]

So before there are 400 comments about what boneheads The Council is, I guess I should have a slight spoiler for the next page where Gault says that this vault was hardly the only thing reliant on this system. Still. Bit of an oops there. Something not covered on the next page is the fact […]

Everyone who has a secure location is probably going to claim that it’s one of the most secure ones in the world. It’s marketing. Just like everyone’s waffles or cheese blintzes or street tacos are World Famous. But in most cases, it’s fairly unlikely people in Zambia are all a buzz about Jose’s Street Tacos […]

For those of you wondering, yes, Sydney has taped her hand to the shield orb. I was going to include dialog to that effect, including how she suspects letting go of it at this depth would be pretty much instantly fatal to at least her, but I decided against it because it covered nearly all […]

Seems like Sydney is going to be involved no matter what the circumstances are. Luckily she just found out what the green orb does. It’s almost like I totally planned it that way. Yes sir. Maxima could probably get that deep on her own, but she doesn’t know, she’s never tried. The pressure wouldn’t be […]

So a lot of people were a little confused by the last page. I don’t blame them, after doing this comic for so many years, I haven’t had actually done many transitions. I mean the first nearly 300 pages were just consecutive moments all strung together. The intent of the page was that it was […]

Sydney had to sit through the rest of that class, and probably a few others, but fortunately you guys don’t have to. This scene obviously takes place in the evening. Bat vampires are just as vulnerable to the sun as person shaped vampires. As to the answer to the rest of Sydney’s questions, she’ll have […]

Is there a vampire movie from the last 20 years that doesn’t have a fast forward sunset in it? I haven’t seen the Twilight movies so they don’t count. As proper vampire lore anyway. The most unrealistic thing about this page is that Jabberwokky doesn’t have tattoos all over her arms and legs. She has […]

Not sure how Dabbler’s going to study the problem if they can’t be in the same room, but no one ever said being a super hero was easy. So here’s a case of bad planning on my part. It’s easy to miss, but Dabbler is covered in lipstick on this page, only Jabber’s lipstick is […]

Ah! Wall of text! My eyes! Maxima’s dialog was supposed to be all background text, like with the foreground stuff overlapping it, but I figured out how to make it all fit, and turned out to be kind of relevant. For those of you unfamiliar with Jabberwokky, here is her first appearance. And here’s the […]

Technically Sydney only exposed one fifth of Harem’s boobs, so she could argue that wearing an aggressive V-neck would be commensurate reparation. When Harem said “everyone,” Sydney pictured having to be on stage in the auditorium with the whole team there, select members of the press, and everyone who ever bullied her or she ever […]

Dave, going back to the wardrobe malfunction gag so soon? Yeah, but this one’s a little different? Sort of? Just go with it. This page and the next were one page in my head, but I started drawing it and I didn’t want the art to be the size of a postage stamp, so I […]

That’s Harem’s butt in the last panel in case you forgot she was wearing the ‘ol glory bikini. It seems from last page’s comments, you guys beat Max and Sydney to this discussion, and came up with a lot of similar ideas. This still assumes they’re even right about the orb, though it does seem […]

Actually that is a pretty fair question. The more powers you’ve got, the more earning potential you’ve got in the private sector. But in the military, I’m pretty sure you’re worth your pay grade. Of course, Sydney isn’t an E-0, she’s an ES-0, and makes more than a four star general. That might sound ridiculous […]

This page really could have benefited from another panel or two between the final ones. Max looking around inside the bubble as it engulfs her, then one of her taking off her mask for a test sniff of the air. It’s challenging cutting down the movie of Grrl Power I see in my head into […]

Ok, I will admit, that pool is ridiculous, especially considering it’s on like the 10th floor of the building. Actually, more like the 7th through 10th. I don’t think it’s probably even possible to do that. The weight might be manageable, but the outward pressure the water would exhibit on the walls would be considerable, […]

Woo, double sized page, and… well honestly not a whole lot happens on it, but if it had been a regular size page the art would have been tiny. Maxima may be the only Lieutenant Colonel to allow her recruits to cannonball her. In the jumping in the pool and making a big splash sense, […]

That’s the first thing most anyone would try, right? Sydney had tried to experiment with the unknown orbs in the shower and she stuck them in the toaster oven and stuff like that. (They didn’t get warm in the over incidentally) But it was all small scale stuff she could do in her apartment. The […]

Don’t forget that Varia has that thick Bostonian accent. It’s just that she’s not saying anything particularly afflicted by it on this page. I suppose I could have had her say “Can I ahr um, help you?” she doesn’t talk like JFK. It’s weird, panel 1’s POV shot seems really gratuitous, and it kind of […]

Maxima doesn’t like words like slut and whore because they’re less descriptive than they are judgmental. Also she hates there’s nothing equivalent for men. “If you ever need proof of the non-egalitarian nature of society…” she starts as everyone eyes the exit. She’s not a fan of slut shaming even if some women act in […]

English has the word “twice” and even the somewhat archaic “thrice” but there’s no words beyond that. Fource? Frice? uh… Sice? It’s odd having a sequence that caps out at three. Apparently this elite military squad’s schedule includes a 1 pm break for sunning. It’s kind of ridiculous I know, but given their public relations […]

So we jump from the curiously gloomy comic shop (one day when I magically have all the time, I may brighten up that page a bit) to the thankfully better lit Archon lounge, featuring Dabbler’s latest Sexual Detritus. Which would be a good name for a band I guess. So… I guess I didn’t quite […]

Sydney probably shouldn’t be telling anyone outside of the team about the visit with The Council, but the only information she’s given the two of them was that the team was doing something a few nights ago, (and everyone already knew they were having dinner at some place in New York) and a female bad […]

You know, I think Doctor Chuckles may be misrepresenting their purpose there to Coot. Also, for as paranoid a person as Coot most likely is, his paranoidar seems to be a little on the fritz here. I was trying to come up with the least offensive offensive term for Coot in panel 4. I didn’t […]

I wanted to quickly establish that Cooter is fundamentally dislikable, and the easiest way to do that is to hit up those stereotypes, but I have to admit, he’s kind of fun to write. Maybe I should write more jerks. Grrl Power tends to lack a lot of interpersonal antagonism among the main characters certainly. […]

Cthillia’s position is sound (yes, this same Cthillia. Like it’s such a common name.) but given the company she keeps, who knows? Probably 10% of the council is immortal, and another 20-30% has a considerably longer lifespan than humans. This is a bit of an odd page for this comic, only 4 panels and no wall […]