Panel 1: As you might recall from my commentaries during earlier appearances by Mellow Mr. Monkey, the stuffed animal’s supposed nightmare-suppressing abilities are based on a real-life childhood anecdote recounted by one of my nieces. Wellp, how time passes: a few weeks ago, my very same niece gave birth to a child who will, one hopes, someday enjoy  a similar relationship with a bad-dream-preventing cozy toy. This makes me a “grand-uncle” for the third time over, by the way; luckily, no one in my extended family watches Gravity Falls, or I’d possibly be labeled “Grunkle Adam.”

Panel 3: Will Mellow Mr. Monkey’s nightmare-preventing powers work for Ninjette? Rest assured, you’ll learn the answer later on in Empowered vol. 4.

Panel 4: Not 100% sure that a young man like Thugboy would be making a See Threepio A New Hope dialogue reference, but I don’t think it’s out of the question. (Then again, another decade has passed since I wrote this comic, making the reference slightly more anachronistic.) But who knows? I did, after all, buy my niece’s husband a Lego version of a Y-Wing fighter for his birthday last year, so perhaps (A New) Hope springs eternal.

-Adam Warren