In pursuit of the criminal inventor Dr. Pretorius, Ishtar finds herself locked inside one of APEX Labs' experimental chambers!
With the strength of a goddess, Ishtar cannot be held by any man-made prison, but does the sinister scientist have a trick up his sleeve?
Ishtar in the Chamber of Doctor Pretorius, now in the member's section!
http://memberslogin.hipcomix.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=127010

Hi Cryptic !! What is this Irridite oil?? How does it work?? Since the Dr. thinks it can disrupt Ishtar's sex-based energy. What is orgone? Now i really can't wait for the next installment, to see how this trap works and to see what he has in mind for Ishtar, i especially want to see what role Brickhouse plays in this story!!

Just saw the cover for the next update, NICE!! Three updates in one month, WHAT A TREAT!! THANK YOU!!!
C.L.

I'm trying to really push and get a lot of updates at HIP Comix to make up for the previous months where I didn't do any:).

Irridite comes from Metrobay:

http://metrobay.wetpaint.com/page/Irridite

In Ishtar's case, irridite radiation is similar enough to her prana that her body and magical garments readily absorb it, but it does not provide her with power. So, effectively it exhausts her powers in the same way that overusing her prana does, but without her actually using her powers.

Dear Mr. Cryptic:

The part I like better is your masterful use of irony:

1. A superhero (who feels guilty about not sharing her secret identity with her husband) is married with a supervillain (who feels guilty because has a lot of temptations in his after hours work as a supervillain, but sincerely wants to be faithful to his wife) misses her chance to make up to him.
2. The supervillain who supposedly is a chess master devicing traps, has trapped the heroine only by chance. He planned nothing.
3. The supervillain is a supervillain, but he doesn’t feel like one… because he is an hypocrite.

And about the art, Oh my, Page 7, 9 and 11 are very erotic!
Great job, as always!

Glad you are enjoying it, Hector!

We'll learn more about Dr. Pretorius/Ron Carlson in this storyline. He was originally an honest and very successful engineer, but got in financial trouble and felt he had to become a supervillain to provide for his family (as shown in flashback in Victory City #14). In the past he has been more like hired help for other villains (like the Buzzard and Lord Prospero), so capturing a superheroine on his own may be a new experience (especially when that superheroine is Ishtar!).

Although he didn't plan to capture Ishtar, he did display resourcefulness in figuring out a way to fight her.

[quote="Mr. Cryptic"]Glad you are enjoying it, Hector!

We'll learn more about Dr. Pretorius/Ron Carlson in this storyline. He was originally an honest and very successful engineer, but got in financial trouble and felt he had to become a supervillain to provide for his family (as shown in flashback in Victory City #14). In the past he has been more like hired help for other villains (like the Buzzard and Lord Prospero), so capturing a superheroine on his own may be a new experience (especially when that superheroine is Ishtar!).

Although he didn't plan to capture Ishtar, he did display resourcefulness in figuring out a way to fight her.[/quote]

Hello Mr. Cryptic! Doesn't the Dr. pose an added threat to Ishtar!! It's been stated in the past forums lovemaking creates an emotional and spritiual bond that drives her to be submissive to her lover. Her willpower is strong enough that most of the time she can resist this impulse to submit, at least if she doesn't have sex with the same man too often. If she repeatly has sex with one man, the urge to become submissive would eventually become irresistable.

They have made love, so if they make love again her spirit will become more attuned to his, making it harder for her to resist her urge to be submissive to a lover!! making it harder for her to fight him!! Isn't this a big threat for her?? You made me think of this, after you were talking about the Victory City series! I remembered their last encounter and what happen when Isthar make love to a man. She's different in that way from the other heroes, she develop a bond to a male after lovemaking. I don't think it matters if the male is good or evil.

Isn't this a real threat Ishtar faces everytime she faces villains like the Buzzard, the Dr. and Lord Prospero, If she faces them several times and sleeps with them, the urge to submit to a lover will become to irresistable for her, and Ishtar will give into these villains in time, if she sleeps with these villains repeatly? Even without using spells, and devices on her, her love Goddess nature will make her serve them, of her own free will?? I know that none of them know about this secret.
C.L.

Those are really interesting points, C.L.! Another thing complicating all this is that Dr. Pretorius, at least last time, tried to not have sex with Ishtar, since he's married. We'll have to see what happens this time .

[quote="Mr. Cryptic"]Those are really interesting points, C.L.! Another thing complicating all this is that Dr. Pretorius, at least last time, tried to [i]not[/i] have sex with Ishtar, since he's married. We'll have to see what happens this time :) .[/quote]

Hi Mr. Cryptic!! I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen in this story, but i wouldn't be honest, if i didn't say i'm hoping there will be some sexual action in this story. Besides seeing what the Dr. will have Ishtar do when he enslave her. It's always interesting seeing what the villain will have Ishtar do or get from her. They've had her steal money, fight terrorist for them or tutor them in the ways of sex and magic.

It will be very interesting to see what the Dr. wants, money( most likely),power( likely) or to enjoy the love Goddess wonderful body( i hope so) he is married and he doesn't want to cheat on his wife, but he wasn't able to resist the sexy Goddess the last time. I just saw the new update and will be making some comments on it later. C.L.

Dear lotchj and Mr. Cryptic

Lochj has really good ideas! I haven't noticed that. But certainly, Dr. Pretorious is in this game only for the money (or so he would like to think) What will he do to Ishtar now?

I think this is a great comic!

I'm glad you are enjoying it! This plot is one I intended to do within the Victory City series, but that would have required me waiting a long time, after the Prospero stroyline concludes. I'm kind of using HIP Comix to tell stories that I really want to tell, but don't fit into the ongoing chronology of my "big plotline". It's liberating to be able to just tell a story when I want to tell it!

Dear Mr. Cryptic:

I am glad to know that you’re going to use this site to tell the stories you really want to tell, free of the constraints of continuity.

And this story about Pretorious trying to steal some stuff only to gain control of a freaking sex goddess almost by accident, is great!

It does seem like villains "getting lucky" is a common element in my stories, when I reflect on it. I think part of the reason why that is that I figure if a careful plan was all it took to capture Ishtar, then lots of villains would be capturing her all the time. Also, for me the greater the difference in power between the heroine and the captor, the hotter it is when she gets captured and or mind controlled. So that's why I've made Ishtar so frigging powerful (she's a queen of the gods!) and why she so often gets captured my non-powered villains like the Buzzard and Dr. Pretorius. If a weak villain has a lucky day, it makes it more plausible that he can take down a goddess like Ishtar.

I haven't totally freed myself of continuity. It's more that I've freed myself from chronology. This Victory Legion story takes place sometime after the Prospero storyline. That might cause some minor spoilers for the Prospero storyline, but nothing that is a big deal to me.

Actually, when I started "Tales of the Crypticverse" I was thinking that might be a reboot of the Crypticverse, but I changed my mind and now I'm counting it as in the same continuity. I do plan to get back to that too, but right now I'm inspired for this storyline and the Prospero story at MC Comix.