A brief follow-up on my previous commentary’s riff about truly “being in the zone,” in terms of comics production. As I write this—from the treadmill, as always—on June 18, I’ve written and drawn 13 pages of Empowered vol. 10 so far this month while working on the book more or less on a full-time basis. Barring interruptions, I’ll probably finish a total of 22 or 23 pages by the end of June, which is not a bad monthly total for work on this stop-and-start-prone volume; as I said last time, I’m feeling pretty damn productive right now, even though I’m still averaging less than one completed page per workday.

Ah, but let’s compare and contrast my current progress with earlier accomplishments at the recent height of my powers, during the pellmell race through the climactic half of Empowered vol. 8’s “Spooky and Emp go to Hell” plotline. (Uh, SPOILERS?) During my last full month of work on that book, I wrote and drew 43 frickin’ pages worth of top-quality Empowered narrative. Such a ridiculous level of productivity is so far beyond my reach at the present moment that I might as well consider that pagecount as being the work of another artist altogether.

In truth, I’d be better off viewing “43pp-per-month” as a different artist’s achievement—or forgetting about it entirely, difficult as that might be. See, the danger of such brief interludes of anomalous productivity is that they can (dis)color your judgement—or lack thereof—when you’re confronted with looming deadlines. As you slide inexorably behind schedule, you’re in danger of peering at the calendar and delusionally thinking, “Well, if I crank out pages as fast as I did on Empowered vol. 8 for the next two weeks, I could still meet the deadline!” Example: I once wrote and drew 3 pages worth of Empowered vol. 6 in a single workday, a number that remains so ineradicably emblazoned in my memory that I’ll no doubt be boasting about that total—albeit in a faint, mumbling wheeze—on my deathbed. (For readers Of A Certain Age, “3 pages in a single workday” is burnt into my recollection like that red-hot brand searing the open can of dog food in the old Mighty Dog commercial.) Note, by the way, that pace of production is considerably faster than vol. 8’s “43pp-per-month” peak—but, of course, “3pp-per-day” was enabled by a once-in-a-blue-moon confluence of circumstances that was impossible to repeat. Nonetheless, the number still springs to my mind every g-d time I start falling behind schedule…

So, in closing: Comics creators should never wax optimistic when figuring out a production schedule. You should never, ever use your personal-best moments of peak productivity as a foundation for deadlines, because you cannot possibly count on recreating once-in-a-lifetime creative feats on a regular basis. Pat yourself on the back all you want for earlier achievements, but always skew pessimistic when puzzling out real-world scheduling of your upcoming comics work.

-Adam Warren