Awesome / Grrl Power

• During the press conference, Ariana explains supers have been around since the Lincoln Presidency. Sydney's Imagine Spot does the idea justice in awesome-levels.
• Arianna easily predicting exactly how the press will react to what she's saying on page 144. It's rather terrifying along with being impressive.
• We learn that prior to her position as the head of ARC-Swat, Maxima was deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan for a number of classified operations along with supporting the troops via mine-sweeping, scouting, providing aerial support, and dealing with indigenous supers. This of course prompts the obvious question:
  Reporter: They have supers in Iraq and Afghanistan?
  Maxima: Hmh. Not as many as they used to.
• While en route to the field demonstration site, Maxima covertly tests Sydney's speed, nearly hitting 400 mph without Sydney even noticing it.
• Maxima gets another one later on during the demonstration of each of the ARC-Swat team members' powers. As they're about to wrap things up- with her demonstration being the last- she takes a moment to deliver a message to any would-be super villains out there who think that their powers give them the right to do whatever they want, hurt or rule over others, or that they make them unstoppable. She emphasizes just how wrong they are with a punctuating blast of plasma energy that utterly atomizes the tank she had just shot-putted like it was a styrofoam football.
  Maxima: Since we're almost done here, I want to be sure I emphasize this. Superpowers are rare, and if you have them, chances are you're the only person you've ever met who has them. That isolation may have made you feel like you're the most powerful person on Earth. That you're unstoppable. That your power gives you primacy to hurt or rule over others. Well, I promise you...
  [chucks plasma ball at tank like a professional baseball pitcher]
  Maxima: We're more powerful.
  [cue MASSIVE explosion]
  • "OH, AND ONE MORE THING..." Maxima follows up previous massive explosion with an even bigger explosion—she might literally have nuked the test area. Sydney casually keeps the press and other supers safe inside her expanded shield. Maxima is outside the shield.
    Maxima: -They say superheroes are best defined by their gallery of rogues... I can promise you that our rogues will either be incarcerated... In traction... Or interred.
  • Minor one for Achilles when it's shown that he is also outside the forcefield with Maxima in the inferno, and all he's concerned about is that the marshmallows he brought along aren't surviving the explosion with him.
  • When one of the reporters objects to Max going full power to scare off villains, Maxima just laughs at the notion that she went full power.
• Nose Boop of DOOM aka Anvil steps up to the awesome plate.
• Sydney invokes Blind Without 'Em to trick the supervillain into thinking she's an easy target and then hits him with the orbs, in his orbs. Also a Funny Moment since she does it by channeling Velma in her act.
• Page 207 has Harem's teleport blitz to arm Archon. She shows surprising efficiency for someone who usually acts flirty and chill.
  • In the background we see Achilles yawning and blocking Eye Beams with his hand at point blank range. Badass.
• Math codifies the Badass Normal trope.
  Math: Let me tell you something, lady. There's no such thing as just human.
  Halo: That move was hella sweet, but there's no way she heard that second part.
  • The following page has Sydney in awe as Math delivers one Roundhouse Kick before engaging in Deadly Dodging of some Eye Beams, while also kicking a stray knife into the mouth of the beamer.
    Sydney: I can't believe I challenged him to a fight.
• Sydney beats a man with indestructible skin and unstoppable claws with logic: by bitch-slapping his own claws into his neck.
  Sydney: What? Clearly one of those statements was false.
  • Math had just been complaining about the fights being boring. Given how easily this guy was defeated by Sydney, she did Math a favor.
• One for the bad guys when Heavenly Sword bests Dabbler in swordplay and even deconstructs her sword skills as being too amateur.
  • Achilles then blocks her energy blade with his eyeball and admits he did so intentionally to make Heavenly drop her sword out of shock... which she did.
  • And when Peggy blows her kendo stick to bits, Heavenly manages a makeshift replacement and almost manages to seriously harm Dabbler.
• Both Atomic Bombshell and Maxima get one on this page, Bombshell for her explosion actually surprising Maxima in how it worked and managing to slightly hurt her, and Maxima for managing to still act completely unharmed and continue relaying orders in order to contain Bombshell.
• Vehemence throws Anvil into the sky so hard, she estimates 10 seconds before she'll land. She's proven wrong when Sydney's Lighthook grabs her and flings her straight back down onto Vehemence's head with enough force to knock him to the ground.
  • It also has the bonus, since Anvil absorbs kinetic energy, of powering her up further for any attacks Anvil wants to do. Teamwork!
• Maxima gets another one when she decides to take Vehemence on, one-on-one. He punches her with his full strength, which was sufficient to move a man who (thanks to his powers) weighed as much as a space shuttle. She is forced to take one step back (as well as a broken nose).
  Maxima: You made me take a step back. You are strong.
  Vehemence: Hah hah, what the fuck.
• The start of Vehemence's comeback in that fight starts when he goes through a concrete pillar Maxima was using to grind him down in order to punch her in the nose again..
• In a moment of heart-stopping bravery, Sydney uses her own shield to stop Vehemence's aggression aura in order to save Maxima. Of course, because she has to be inside her own shield, this puts her, an essentially normal human, in reach of the man who's looking at killing Maxima, who up until this point hasn't been seen having any trouble with anyone.
  Sydney: Please don't kill me.
• We get to see what happens when Maxima actually maxes out an attribute. As DaveB commented, it's a tribute to Vehemence's current toughness that his head didn't simply pop off with that neck punch!
• Credit to Sydney for her simply awe-inspiring plan! On her first night out as a legitimate hero, she winds up in a situation where she and one other are the only sane people in a fight against a massively powerful villain who's outdone their strongest teammate and is preparing to kill her. What does Sydney do? She looks back on everything that's happened to her in the past twenty-four hours, every detail, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and she put them all to use in a singular, awe-inspiring plan! From Dabbler's assets to Maxima warning her about collateral damage to friendly banter, she puts it all together in such a way that allows her to disable Vehemence and put him in a position to take him down! Permanently! All this... on her first night out. Not bad for a rookie.
  • As Harem notes during the denouement, Sydney took Math's "three steps ahead" advice to heart, as she had three valid reasons for wanting his head underwater during the final stage of the battle.
• Deus' prolonged exchange with Indinge Sr. is filled with these for both men. Indinge is naturally suspicious of "white men in expensive suits, especially the ones promising the moon and stars" after Deus insists that he be given the reins in economic matters in exchange for establishing Galytn's infrastructure. Deus, for his part, points out that the entire Galytn government is corrupt, up to and including Indinge.
  Deus: If I gave you a million dollars, I'd be surprised if a thousand of it was actually used to build a road. A vacation home for a foreman or a summer palace for you is. Not. Infrastructure.
  • When Indinge reasonably takes umbrage at such an open insult and threats, he tells Deus to leave now or be shot. It does not go well for Indinge after that.
    Deus: I prefer diplomacy to violence, but some people's belligerence inoculates them to reason. I suppose it's for the best. I was going to have to eventually remove you anyway. You're quite a horrid individual. A textbook despot. Your government thrives on corruption, terror squads, abduction, the lot, and the world will be an objectively better place without you in it.
    • Deus then caps the assassination off with one of the most Badass Blasphemous Boasts ever.
      Indinge Jr.: You... you are the devil!
      Deus: The devil, you say? Satan was cast from Heaven for loving God too much. I have. No. Such. Failing.
  • Deus then shows Indinge Jr. footage of his father's atrocities, convincing him of the merit in working with Deus mere minutes after assassinating Indinge Sr.
• When armed soldiers attack a Council meeting, Maxima disassembles a rocket-propelled grenade in mid-flight.
  • Her taking a bomb out of the base to explode (relatively) harmlessly leaves the rest to deal with an amped-up threat. As they're about to execute The Plan, Max gets back.
  • During the fight, Clover - a were-something - finally showcases that she's a were-Dire Honey Badger, and Honey Badger don't give a fuck.
• Anvil shows off just how much damage she can do when properly charged.
• Later, Maxima, Sydney, and Dabbler dismantle a defense mechanism in two strips, prompting a pertinent question.
  Ingsol: Uh... thank you, Colonel. But... I have to ask, vy didn't the veakness aura affect you and your team?
  Halo: Nothing gets through Mr. Bubble.
  Dabbler: (Motioning to an earring) One hundred thirty five percent resistance to debuffs.
  Maxima: It did.
  Ingsol: ... ....... Impressive.
• Vale finally takes action against Sciona after the latter smashed the newly-installed marble columns in Deus' office.
  • Then The Reveal that Vale is not a super.
• A two-fer as Maxima gives chase to Sciona.
  • First, Sciona actually manages to block a Maxima blast with her wings, deflecting the missile into a bridge, imperiling two dozen vehicles, including an "Emergency Cuddle Kittens and Souffle Delivery" truck.
  • Maxima is left with a Sadistic Choice of keeping the bridge steady or pursuing Sciona, whose wings have been set on fire by the deflected blast. She opts to do a quick-fix on the bridge and orders her team to stabilize it so that she can continue after Sciona.
    The Rant: Max is one of those heroes who actually has to think about whether or not to save the plane of people the bad guy shot down as a diversion, or go and tar the bad guy instead. Superman saves the plane every time. It’s a failsafe diversion. Max isn’t a psycho. She’ll usually save the people, but if the bad guy has a nuke strapped to their back and is heading to a major metropolis, sorry people on the plane, but there’s such a thing as superhero triage.
• During the fight between ARCHON and Sciona, she busts out some Eye Beams aimed at Maxima - who not only isn't harmed, but flies straight through to deliver a "Mother Fucking Punch" to Sciona's face, cratering the villain into a wall.
  • Even better is that sharp-eyed readers can make out a halo of orbs above the figure's head in panel 6, meaning that Sydney had interjected herself between Sciona and Maxima, causing a distraction for the former to provide an opening for the latter.
• Sydney gets another on Sciona's homeworld. Her shield orb managed to withstand an Earth-Shattering Kaboom, though just barely as it shows signs of damage before regenerating.
  Sydney: Okay, so my shield probably isn't totally invulnerable. Great learning experience. I would like to reiterate my desire to leave!
• Sydney's orbs get one with their ability to open Aetherium Causeways, why is this so awesome? Because the other ways of opening them either requires massive capital ships or sacrificing a thousand Psykers and Sydney's method fits in her pocket. On top of that, according to Cora, it's totally impossible to track where an Aetherium Causeway leads after it's been closed.
• There's something inherently awesome about the fact that Sydney got laid, in space, with an alien.
  • And that, when she realized the ship hadn't left yet, proves she doesn't judge all Alari by Sciona's stick. Not bad for a recruit who, give or take a week or two previous, didn't even know aliens really existed.
• Earth's supers showcase that no, Puny Earthlings are not at play when fighting off a Fel battlecruiser.
  • First, we have Heatwave target the grenades on the foot soldiers, causing a chain reaction as Stalwart absorbs a heavy blow before delivering a Kung-Fu Sonic Boom.
  • This is followed up by Dabbler asking Jiggawatt to swap to an alternating-current, a power that she isn't sure she even has... only to succeed, blowing a hole through the Fel defenses and allowing Goose and Seneca to deploy More Dakka.
  • And finally, a nonplussed Cora points out that they still have the cruiser itself to deal with, at which point Maxima casually asks if the Deflector Shields are one-directional. Cora confirms it, but clarifies that the Fel cruiser is meant to withstand broadsides from capital ships... cue Maxima blowing a hole through it, followed up with a coy "I always wanted to try that!" as Cora admits that Earth might have something of interest to other planets after all.
• After the battle, the US military is arguing that, since the Fel ship was downed by American troops on American soil, they should get salvage rights. Sydney, after hearing the extended argument that ends with the military threatening to impound Cora's ship if she intervenes, puts it succinctly.
  Sydney: So... you know... it's Wednesday. I'll be at the comic shop today. If you need me. For anything other than impounding Cora's ship. Like hell I'd do that.
• A group of aliens try to kidnap Maxima using a stasis beam, revealing that Ray is something of a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.
  • It's also the first showcasing of how genuinely effective Achilles can be when he can get hold of an opponent, as he can't be easily dislodged once he locks a grapple in.
  • Despite surprisingly-good planning on their part, the leader of the group is astonished that the battery on her stasis beam is draining so swiftly... and then Maxima slowly turns to face her while inside the beam.
    Lapha: What the... how... how fucking fast is she moving!?
    Dabbler: Fast enough to end this fight before you can blink, Torchy.
    Lapha: Crimoon! Where the fuck is that stasis pod!?
• Page #881 demonstrates some of Sydney's character development, being one of her most calm and rational moments in the series.
• The next page sees her returning to the battle site with the confiscated stasis pod in tow. She's had it wrapped in her lighthook since last strip, and since we don't see Crimoon again (not even restrained with the other prisoners), it appears that Sydney did indeed break him.
• When Concretia manages to sneak up on Halo and disable her orbs, Sydney reacts immediately by grabbing her gun and emptying the entire magazine into Concretia's skull. The military training is finally paying off.
• After being captured, Sydney seemingly uses Confusion Fu to trick her captors into fleeing. When injected with a truth serum, she goes full Motor Mouth, seemingly due to her ADHD meds interacting with the serum. Then, this page confirms that it was all stalling for time until her backup arrived. Despite all seeming evidence to the contrary, Sydney is actually good at her job.
• Cora reducing the villain who enslaved Concretia, drugged Sydney with the truth serum, and was planning on using a drug to wipe her memories that could have left her a vegetable, to Ludicrous Gibs.
• Arianna being the one to take down Hench Wench. How? By suspending her LLC on Ethical Grounds.
  Arianna: Hench Wench, I've discovered your LLC filing, and I have to say, It's too bad you're a criminal because this is a nice little devious contract. Honestly though, the crew you got to sign this are a bunch of dummies, since they obviously didn't have their own representation look it over. That said, I am hereby enacting federal powers granted to me as Archon's Head Council to suspend your LLC on ethical grounds until such a time as it can be reviewed by the New York Secretary of State.
  • And when Hench Wench tries to escape through a portal (she's subcontracted to a portal-using villain), her Villain: Exit, Stage Left seems to go perfectly... until she realizes Maxima had pulled her back out and is putting her in a Neck Lift.
    Maxima: I have Super-Speed, moron. You think a fadeaway sign-off is going to work? I can catch bullets.
• Despite the above, Hench Wench still manages to get away by portaling them both underwater, and escaping when Maxima is disoriented and slowed by the water around her.
• ARCHON lets Vehemence out to play to prevent him from dying from lack of vehemic energy. After some sparring with Maxima, he, quite expectedly, goes rogue and refuses to stop. In response, Maxima tags out and sends in Sydney. What's her plan? As he charges at her, she opens an aetherium causeway to Fracture Station and lets Vehemence choke, while holding up a sign asking him if he surrenders.
  • Poit.
    • Really. Vehemence should have quit when he had the chance. The last time Sydney took him out, she had help (and had just learned about some of his abilities). This time... she was by herself, had time to think, and smiling. No wonder Maxima agreed to keep her as their ace-in-the-hole.
• Maxima might not get along with Dabbler very well, but Thothogoth learns the hard way that referring to any woman as "slave" in Max's presence isn't so much "pushing" her Berserk Button but rather "mashing it with a 10-ton hammer".
  Maxima: The fuck did you just call her?
• Sydney "graduates" from ARCHON training and receives the ARCHON commendation medal for exceptional contribution to the squand and extraordinary bravery under extreme circumstances (presumably that time she was stranded on an alien planet).
• During a fight with The Arab, a super with complete control over sand, Sydney saves the day by glassing the entire desert. With all the sand in the region locked away beneath a layer of volcanic glass, the villain has no access to new resources and is taken out easily. Point to Sydney both for being clever enough to think of something like that, and for being strong enough to melt an entire desert into glass with minimal difficulty.

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