Panel 2: Yeahp, King Tyrant Lizard’s dialogue pretty strongly implies that the Empverse has its own analogue to DC’s oft-derided Aquaman—yet that character is never again referred to in the rest of Empowered. In large part, that’s because I forgot entirely about this panel in the years that followed—but also because I grew increasingly disinterested in playing around with directly parodic riffs as the series rolled onward, and the idea of straight-up clowning an obvious Aquaman stand-in struck me as stale and boring. (Unless, that is, I devised a clever take or amusing spin on the character within the Empverse—but that never happened, given that I’d forgotten entirely about the “underwater thupergeek” before too long.)

Those of you who have doggedly read through the last 250-odd pages of commentary may have noticed that, during the Empowered vol. 1 commentaries, I’d constantly stumble across some obscure reference in an old page and chime, “Jeez, I’d forgotten entirely about that! I should revisit it in a future story!” Well, guess what? I’m pretty sure that I’ve forgotten about almost all those long-lost Emp Easter Eggs once again. Oops! Guess I should’ve been compiling a master list of “forgotten Empowered vol. 1 s**t that I should revisit someday,” huh? Well, I’ll consider making an effort to do so with this volume, for whatever that’s worth.

Another bit from panel 2: Nice “supervillain stomp” action, 2006-Era Me! For my money, “kicking superfoes when they’re down” is a sadly underrepresented bit of action choreography in superhero comics, though I admit that it does seem a bit too “down and dirty” for your average, upstanding good guy. Plus, trying to curbstomp a superstrong foe might be an exercise in frustration, given that a hero’s face would vastly more damage-resistant than any given curb’s concrete or pavement. Then again, this inconvenient fact sure didn’t stop the superhuman Kryptonians from pointlessly bashing each other against the comparatively fragile, delicate and breakable buildings of Metropolis in Man of Steel, did it? (Must admit, the tactical uselessness of beating superstong heads against superweak masonry—looks impressive, but accomplishes absolutely nothing!— bugged me almost as much as Snyder’s hilariously callous approach to urban mass destruction.)

-Adam Warren