The sound FX “WHROOOM” overlapping panels 1-2 was meant to convey the roar of an icily gusting wind. A sound choice, I think, but I’m reasonably sure that I briefly considered instead using the peculiar sound that a very heavy snowfall makes—a soft but distinctive “hiss,” which would no doubt be familiar to readers from wintry climes. Problem is, I thought that rather off-the-wall sound FX might’ve mystified readers from more temperate—if not outright balmy—climates, so I didn’t bother to use it. 

Then again, this metaphorical scene was supposed to convey a sense of intense cold and numbing frigidity, with “the sound of snow” arguably being a distraction from that main point. Furthermore, gotta say that the snow-capped trees likewise detract from the overall sense of bone-chilling temperatures, as depicting a trackless, treeless, barren, truly arctic waste of wind-blasted ice and snow would’ve conveyed a stronger impression along those lines, I believe.

As mentioned earlier, this story—“The Guy on Ice Planet Zero”—is named after an two-part episode of the old Battlestar Galactica TV series. Well, the 1980-era SF references don’t stop there, folks! On this page, Thugboy is, of course, dressed like Han Solo on Hoth at the start of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. "Then I'll see you in hell! HYAAAH!”

As the “hover text” for this page notes, I’m perhaps a little too amused by this page’s literalized depiction of a figurative condition—that is, the frigid emotional state of the apartment, now that Emp is giving Thugboy the ol’ cold shoulder after their latest fight. I really should try to use this narrative approach again in a future Empowered story, in which a figure of speech is portrayed in a goofily literal manner. (I have a sinking feeling that I ripped off this storytelling trick from a manga, but I’ll be damned—in a frozen hell!—if I can remember which one.) 

-Adam Warren