El Goonish Shive

Catholic guilt just isn't as funny since benedict. There are much much better jokes to use.

Germans are unfunny? Ridiculous! The Germans have a wonderful sense of humour! Watch this if you need proof.

As for why Shive doesn't want to draw porn, I imagine there's a lot of reasons. American culture tries to make sex seem shameful, and pornography even more shameful. He may not be comfortable sexualizing women, even fictional women. He may be even more uncomfortable sexualizing teenagers. And he may also be uncomfortable sexualizing his own characters - it may feel like pimping one's children, to some.

Also, most of his characters are just barely adults, and Dan would be what, early 30s by now? Yeeeeah, Comic-Book Time's a bitch.

More evidence that Shive is shadowing the boards

And Tedd addresses his concerns with Super Mario Maker in his own inimitable fashion and with limited art.

I get the sense that Elliot should train with Grace. Among other things, she has fought while flying, and she presumably knows on some level how to properly apply force when gravity isn't a concern.

I can think of at least one tactic that might help - try to burn off the magic in the area. For one thing, a griffon is an inherently magical creature, so there's a distinct chance that pushing to make a magical burnout could result in weakening it. Even if that wouldn't, though, its flight pretty much has to be magical (check out the section on winged flight in Required Secondary Powers for the rundown on why it's nigh impossible to be purely mechanical), plus it would remove any other spells it might have in play, so I think that would be Elliot's best move.

As for Ashley... if I were to guess, there's a banner hanging somewhere in the mall, and she's going to try to figure out how to get it to fall on the griffon.

Throw an energy bolt! Er, he can do that, right?

To my knowledge, this is the only projectile attack he's ever used, and that was improvised.

Although the food court should be around here somewhere....

edited 14th Sep '15 7:24:04 AM by TobiasDrake

Well, sort of. He hasn't dusted off tamashi gekido in ages, and it might be closer to a low-power Sphere of Destruction than a beam attack. That said, since we're talking about the idea of burning off excess magical energy rather than any attempt at direct offense, it might be good. It also might be useful if the griffon gets too close.

That definitely looks like a radial attack to me. Area of effect: everything immediately surrounding the user.

Might be helpful if the griffon gets on top of him.

edited 14th Sep '15 7:26:41 AM by TobiasDrake

It's been so long since that move has even been used in the comic; who knows what might happen if Elliot used it now? He could potentially hotshot it for much more power than it could muster before. Also, Shive's art was much more limited back then - it might actually be depicted as a sphere if it came out at this point.

Still, if we're just talking about burning off energy, the precise mechanics of it don't matter nearly as much as how much Elliot could burn while using it.

I feel like the solution involves using superior maneuverability to get behind the griffin and attack it from behind or something.

Bipeds do have a better turning radius than quadrupeds.

Very true if we're talking about purely terrestrial movement, but what about magic-assisted aerial movement? I'm not sure if Elliot has the maneuverability advantage at the moment (or, even if he theoretically does, if he knows flying enough to take advantage of it).

I suppose it's possible that the griffon has the ability to do a magical 180 spin rather than turning. I've never seen it before, but when magic's involved, nothing's out of the question.

To be fair, we actually don't know what kind of maneuverability Elliot has at speed either. I know I've been assuming that Elliot has maneuverability on par with Superman (particularly as Elliot seems fond of Supes in general), but I must admit that we don't have anything yet to back that up, even before the question of Elliot's actual skill with flying comes into play.

Am I going to turn into the local "complain about Shive's pacing" person? Because I find those last two panels annoyingly pointless.

It's a temporary position. I get next week.

Another thing Ashley could be going for is a fire extinghuisher- if she could target the griffin's face it could be a good distractor. Alternatively, a fire alarm could create a distraction and clear out the stupid bystanders with no survival instinct. Seriously, why are they still there?? They just saw somebody get smashed into a wall!

Elliot has one other advantage over the griffon, Depending on how its magic works, the griffon may have a wing vulnerability.

What's wrong with the last two panels? Ashley looks for a distraction/attack, and thinks she found one. It would be far worse to have her whip out whatever it is next page with no set-up.

As for what it is, my first thought was a fire hose.

edited 14th Sep '15 5:42:22 PM by Daremo

It's actually going to be a really big mouse toy. She figures that lions are cats, eagles are birds, and cats and birds both like mice. The perfect distraction!

@21166, @21167 Wait, I thought that was my niche around here!

I'll admit that there could be more going on in each of those panels, but I don't think this pacing is quite so bad - something is at least happening with Ashley in each of those. The amount is incremental, but at least it's moving forward (to me, the nadir was during the Magickal Cards tournament, when he once spent two regular panels and one splash panel just to depict a single punch that Sarah was imagining).

@21168 Why are there bystanders still around? That's an excellent question - just how much of Moperville is Too Dumb to Live? I mean, sure, there's always going to be some idiots who sit around and stay out in the open to record things, but it's not like it's impossible to observe and hide - keep in mind, Tensaided already said that he's currently doing exactly that. If anything, it seems like people are forming a crowd to watch.

I mean, I guess someone could be manipulating the whole crowd into watching, but yeah, we have a lot of really dumb people here.

@21168, @21170 Similar ideas, but I'm not so sure how well they'd work.

The big problem with a fire extinguisher is that it's not going to be effective as a distraction if the target is further than a few feet from you, and the aerial chase is well away from where Ashley could reach. Elliot could lure the griffon closer, but that seems like an extraordinarily risky move that he'd be unlikely to take.

A fire house would be more likely to be effective, but those things aren't always easy to control if you're a fit and strong adult, and Ashley isn't massive or particularly strong. She'd probably need help to use one effectively, and she's not seeking help at the moment, so I suspect that's not on her mind.

Also, in my experience, malls tend to have more banners than fire hoses, plus the banners (as they're typically advertisements) are much more visible and easily located than the fire hoses. I think finding a banner to throw in the griffon's face would be faster and require much less effort to use on Ashley's part.

@21171 "Why would anyone want a wind-up capybara?"

Shive likes to draw the things that most writers skip over. This usually manifests in the form of characters explaining things the audience already knows to each other, but this is another variant: characters coming up with the idea they're about to enact.

He needs an editor. If he wrote Batman, nine out of ten pages would be Batman meticulously setting up his traps, climbing into position to make his dramatic entrance, watching events unfold while monologuing internally about the best time to make his appearance, etc.

edited 15th Sep '15 7:13:36 AM by TobiasDrake

Hey, beats omniscient Batman.

Unspoken Plan Guarantee exists for a reason!