Star Power III: Fail to the Void!

[Traab]

Good point. You know, I just did an archive trawl and it sounds like aside from letting the federation know they are going to be attacked, they arent even going to TRY to do anything to help. Seriously, why dont the vorp angels rule the galaxy if it is generally accepted that there is no way to effectively fight them? You would think perhaps the federation would send at least something to the station to check for survivors or to comb the debris for anything they could use.

[Trazoi]

As far as I know the station still has comms, so they must have reported back to the Federation what happened. And there's one of the Vorp's prized stealth battleships just sitting there. It's pretty obvious if the rest of the universe could function off-page what their response would be.

Basically the only way the Void Archangel's plan and this entire story arc holds together is through everyone being collectively stupid.

[Traab]

As far as I know the station still has comms, so they must have reported back to the Federation what happened. And there's one of the Vorp's prized stealth battleships just sitting there. It's pretty obvious if the rest of the universe could function off-page what their response would be.

Basically the only way the Void Archangel's plan and this entire story arc holds together is through everyone being collectively stupid.

So if they can kill the chief the plan will work perfectly? Got it.

[slayerx]

Yeah, but equally dumb and almost as likely is vorplord telling her to do something later on, she balks, and he tries to threaten the station again and it will work, because she is playing a D&D game where the npcs cease to do anything when she isnt there in person, so the ship is obviously still waiting in front of the station to explode.

Well we already know that the npc's ARE doing something... though vorp's threat will remain because Danica herself thinks she's in a DnD game where the NPC's do nothing

And y'know, Dancia really could have taken the time to meet with the chief to appraise him of the situation; then, after insisting she must go, the chief would advise her to simply do whatever she must to stall for time while they disarm the ship... Vorplord doesn't know exactly how fast Danica can move, heck he was even surprised at how quickly she showed up.

And as mentioned a while ago, Vorp is an idiot for just leaving his ship there... he should either reclaim it or blow it up. He's just asking for his prized stealth technology to be stolen so that the federation may not only use it, but also develop ways to more accurately detect it.

Basically the only way the Void Archangel's plan and this entire story arc holds together is through everyone being collectively stupid.

This is true, though i do find a bit of irony... namely because the chief is actually being rather effective. Mookie has acknowledged that station security should not be run by ineffective idiots and shows it through the station security actually doing productive things... he gets some merit for that, but then he falls flat with Danica, VoidLord, Mitch and the federation.

[AgentPaper]

So...whatever happened to the legion of soldiers on that battleship? Or were those 4-5 guys Danica knocked out on the way in really the entire crew?

[Lord Raziere]

This is true, though i do find a bit of irony... namely because the chief is actually being rather effective. Mookie has acknowledged that station security should not be run by ineffective idiots and shows it through the station security actually doing productive things... he gets some merit for that, but then he falls flat with Danica, VoidLord, Mitch and the federation.

well here is a secret to storytelling:

sooner or later somebody has to screw up. stories, especially ones with heroes and villains and fighting, are almost always about when something goes wrong. because if nothing has gone wrong, there is no story. the only question is: how well written is the screw up?

they're screwing up, yes, but its not a screw up you can accept. its why often its the security guards and such are ineffective most of the time in fiction- you need the hero to do things or why bother with the hero? security guards will take care of it, and you might as well start writing about the guards themselves and make them the protagonists. the protagonist can only exist when most else is ineffective.

[AgentPaper]

well here is a secret to storytelling:

sooner or later somebody has to screw up. stories, especially ones with heroes and villains and fighting, are almost always about when something goes wrong. because if nothing has gone wrong, there is no story. the only question is: how well written is the screw up?

they're screwing up, yes, but its not a screw up you can accept. its why often its the security guards and such are ineffective most of the time in fiction- you need the hero to do things or why bother with the hero? security guards will take care of it, and you might as well start writing about the guards themselves and make them the protagonists. the protagonist can only exist when most else is ineffective.

This doesn't sound like any kind of good storytelling advice at all. Yes, in most stories the hero should, and will, ultimately triumph, but that doesn't mean that his plans go off without a hitch. He should be behind every step of the way right up until the end. That's what tension is all about, after all. It's the basic 3-act structure: Chase hero up tree, throw rocks at hero, get hero down from tree.

The villains should be out-playing the hero every step of the way, or at least more often than not. This means either competent antagonists, or at least powerful ones. Making the hero himself incompetent is generally bad storytelling, because people don't like to read about a guy who makes dumb mistakes all the time. Having the villains be incompetent only means that the hero needs to be even more incompetent to compensate.

[Lord Raziere]

This doesn't sound like any kind of good storytelling advice at all. Yes, in most stories the hero should, and will, ultimately triumph, but that doesn't mean that his plans go off without a hitch. He should be behind every step of the way right up until the end. That's what tension is all about, after all. It's the basic 3-act structure: Chase hero up tree, throw rocks at hero, get hero down from tree.

The villains should be out-playing the hero every step of the way, or at least more often than not. This means either competent antagonists, or at least powerful ones. Making the hero himself incompetent is generally bad storytelling, because people don't like to read about a guy who makes dumb mistakes all the time. Having the villains be incompetent only means that the hero needs to be even more incompetent to compensate.

yes but for a hero to exist at all, somebody has to have screwed up already. sure the hero is behind every step of the way, and sure they don't make mistakes and the villain outplays them, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about for THAT situation to exist, someone or something has to have screwed up for the problems to exist in the first place, because if everything was fine there would be no plot to exist in the first place for the hero go do anything.

and eventually, the villain always makes a mistake- also known as a screw up. its always a little one, that they could've avoided, maybe even easily, but they don't. and it leads to their ultimate downfall. because any good villain is inherently about tragedy and how they will eventually fail.

but for the villain to exist at first, somebody screwed up enough for that person to become a villain, and for the hero to exist, somebody screwed up enough to cause a situation dire enough for somebody to become a hero. its just assumed by default. if the guards were competent and the situation contained and dealt with easily, the hero never comes into existence, for the guards handled it. Batman would not exist if the Gotham Police easily took care of the crime in the city and caught the guy who shot his parents before he did it. therefore the guards need to be ineffective, for the hero to be effective.

in short, while I acknowledge what you say is true, you seem to be missing the point in that what you say can only be true in a world where heroes and villains can exist at all, which comes with a few requirements like the guards being ineffective.

[Trazoi]

The effectiveness or not of guards isn't necessarily critical; it depends heavily on the type of story. What is critical is conflict: the protagonist needs to want something, and is blocked by something, which causes conflict, drama, plot etc. And typically this blocking thing is the antagonist, who wants something that conflicts with the protagonist's goal.

Star Power flounders because these goals haven't been properly set. Danica seems mostly motivated by some generic superhero vibes that we're meant to assume apply because she's wearing a spandex suit. The closest we've got is a desire to protect the space station, but then there's the problem that the antagonists don't particularly have a good reason to threaten it - they just are, to artificially create drama.

[Kwatsu]

It's highly likely the Void Archangel will attempt to detonate the ship in front of Danica anyway, neatly bypassing any need to worry about oaths and such.

I don't know why--it's just a feeling--but I have an unshakeable intuition that such a scene would go like this:

Void Archangel: Now witness the POWER OF THE VOID!
*pulls out detonator*
Detonator: *click*
Detonator: *clickclickclickclickclick*

Weird.

[Doompuppy]

I don't know why--it's just a feeling--but I have an unshakeable intuition that such a scene would go like this:

Void Archangel: Now witness the POWER OF THE VOID!
*pulls out detonator*
Detonator: *click*
Detonator: *clickclickclickclickclick*

Weird.

I don't know. That story just isn't clicking with me...

[FrankLuke]

It's the kind of horrible "honor" that exists in garbage fiction like the Xanth series but I can definitely see Mookie thinking along these lines.

Yes. But I said it could be written well. That excludes Xanth as a reference.

[AgentPaper]

yes but for a hero to exist at all, somebody has to have screwed up already.

This simply isn't true. Yes, there needs to be a need for the hero, but incompetence and ineffectiveness doesn't need to be that reason. Guards can be competent and effective in what they do, but still not be strong enough to handle the monsters completely, creating the need for a hero. In fact, having your guards be strong and effective helps showcase the hero even more, because if those guys can't handle it, then the hero really has to be a badass to clean up after them.

A good example of this, using the specifice example of town guards, is Attack on Titan. In that show, the town guards (the town being the last bastion of humanity on earth) are competent and effective in their role: They have good equipment, good training, good morale, use sophisticated tactics, and generally do a good job of fighting off Titans, at least in small numbers.

When things start to go wrong, it's not because the guards made any real mistakes, but simply that the enemy is too strong and unpredictable for them to handle. This creates the need for the hero, which the protagonist of the series fulfills.

In short, nobody has to screw up to make a need for the hero, they simply need to fail. They can fail because of their own incompetence, but that is generally a sign of bad writing.

[Kato]

Oh look, the matriciding (?) countess' plan fails anyway and now she murdered her mommy for no reason at all... And this still doesn't explain how the **** the sentinels were destroyed. Maybe they started killing each other because each one wanted to rule the universe. But that would be just too interesting, I guess...

[Traab]

I got something different from that. She ordered everyone to attack, which means the sentinels will be literally shot in the back by a last ditch effort from the countesses troops, but her mom recalled HER ship at the last second, which means she basically abandoned her troops to die.

[Kato]

Well, that assumes there are two different forces fighting... I guess it's not entirely impossible but I took it she tried to order them to fight but the mother's order was followed because... well, she's the bigger shot.

[Doompuppy]

And once more Mookie does the thing that I might dislike the most about his writing (who do I kid? That's still a major tossup between half a dozen failings). He did it all over Dominic Deegan too... never foreshadow anything more than two panels beforehand.

The whole "Show old thing, show new connected thing next panel" all the time is so tedious. There's no pacing to it. There's no TIME for the reader to wonder about how thing A we just learned is connected to something else. It's the same vein as his atrocious "I really hope X doesn't happen." / next panel / "X happened!".

He really doesn't trust his readers to even remember things to the end of the strip/page, even less so the day/page before. It's there the next panel. Or the same panel. I'm sure he's done the same panel several times.

[Kornaki]

A business partner is changing the details of a contract? Woah, that reminds me of that one time I murdered my mother in a coup but she didn't die fast enough.

I read it as all the ships abandoning the fight. Possibly the empire destroys the Sentinels after the retreat for their insubordination.

Strange that Nurak-Nor feels the need to report that it is ready twice under different categories.

[AMX]

Strange that Nurak-Nor feels the need to report that it is ready twice under different categories.

You're assuming that it's actually a unique ship name.
Note that the countess herself is also named Nurak-Nor...

[Kwatsu]

I could probably take this (slightly) more seriously if the Countess and her mother didn't pull ridiculous expressions whenever something serious and moving is supposed to be going on.

...Can anyone make a montage? :)

[Mewtarthio]

I read it as all the ships abandoning the fight. Possibly the empire destroys the Sentinels after the retreat for their insubordination.

I figure that Mother pushed the button that activated the escape drive. Otherwise, we'd have to assume that the button is a special "give the order to retreat" button that must be pushed even after the order to retreat is given and which countermands an existing order to stand and fight. Which would just be silly.

My theory is that, as soon as the Countess's ship vanished, the Empire detonated the Starbreaker, wiping out all the babies, all the Sentinels, and probably all their own troops as well (because EVIL). Later on, the Void Archangel will detonate the Starbreaker himself in an attempt to take Danica down with him. He will only manage to conveniently wipe out every badguy who could trace the Last Sentinel back to Sigma Six (except maybe the Countess) because Danica will spontaneously develop a new superpower that lets her survive.

[Vinyadan]

Thanks to everyone who commented the slay! I am happy you liked it. Personally, I find incredible how much I enjoy doing them.

But now, I am waiting for VArcha saying something like "pray I don't alter them any further". Or Garth about head-body proportions

This issue is much better than the last one, at least from our point of view - there is something to snark on! The previous one was like shooting a fish in a barrel.

But I'd agree on the fact that the design of our marquises is way too cartoony to be taken seriously as vile killers - motherkiller! following roman law, she is now to be whipped, put into a sack with a monkey, a cat and a **** and then thrown in the waters of the Tiber - just look at their face in the fourth panel. Then compare it with this.

[Trazoi]

Did the Countess' ship jump into timeless space? My reading of the comic was it was the hatcheries that left, but it's unclear whether the Countess' ship left as well.

[Landis963]

The Countess has her tongue out again. If anyone cares to re-dub?

[T-O-E]

You're assuming that it's actually a unique ship name.
Note that the countess herself is also named Nurak-Nor...

The Nurak-Nor was the name of that vessel. The Countess who survived must have been a child who had not received her name yet.

Or, Nurak-Nor is an archmage who named a magic spaceship after herself.



Some thematic carryovers from DD:
-The caste seems to be intact.
-Villain is a racist.
-Effort is evil. Inaction is next to Godliness.
-The hero surrenders, purportedly to stop the villain from killing his or her allies but actually for no reason.

[Kwatsu]

The Countess has her tongue out again. If anyone cares to re-dub?

Yeah, how does she talk so coherently (ahem) with her tongue filling her entire mouth?

Though, it only seems to happen in moments of extreme stress, so maybe it's actually sentient in its own right, embodying the angry side of the Countess's personality and only able to incoherently yell until she gets it under control. I imagine it's actually kind of a faux pas for her species to get so angry that the tongue starts ranting on its own; the equivalent of humouring that annoying relative at family dinners.

[Vinyadan]

Yeah, how does she talk so coherently (ahem) with her tongue filling her entire mouth?

That reminds me of this:



The child who ate everyday at fast-foods

The image comes from Zerocalcare's 'La profezia dell'armadillo'. I suggest it to anyone who understands Italian.

[t209]

How would this comic be under these comic writers?
Grant Morrison- Nausea, Acid trip, or dada angels. Or better story despite weirdness.
Garth Ennis- Definitely better than that Garth but this Garth hates super hero.
Alan Moore- would make Danica a better person and showed her stupid world view.
Warren Ellis- Better story and Danica as Authority like hero.

[Kwatsu]

How would this comic be under these comic writers?
Grant Morrison- Nausea, Acid trip, or dada angels. Or better story despite weirdness.
Garth Ennis- Definitely better than that Garth but this Garth hates super hero.
Alan Moore- would make Danica a better person and showed her stupid world view.
Warren Ellis- Better story and Danica as Authority like hero.

Or under TV writers:

- Ronald D. Moore - the story focuses on the Chief and is about him battling the secret corruption at the heart of the Millennium Federation.
- Joss Whedon - Danica kicks butt and has snappier dialogue, but every love interest she has dies abruptly in a solar flare.
- Steven Moffat - Danica is saved by the Doctor, and then falls in love with Cumberbatch's Sherlock on the way back home.

[Gez]

Ed Wood: no difference, except it's actually made funny.