Panels 1-3 still amuse me to no end, with Ninjette’s wildly fake gesture in panel 2 being a particular favorite. Note, of course, that the Caged Demonwolf’s desperate invocation of feminine hygiene products is a callback to the earlier story “Krak! Meow!”, in which the Blazing-Eyed Devilgoat thoroughly berated Thugboy for carrying out precisely such a late-night errand. Ah, but even an immortal, nigh-omniscient demigodling might well choose to indulge in such rank hypocrisy if it allowed him relief from the tension of witnessing a couple engaged in an especially ugly argument…

As this Empowered page’s “hover text” notes, I quite like the progression of Emp’s facial expressions in panels 5-7, which are in turn a callback to a similar sequence in the story “Diseased Wench”—as is Thugboy’s casual admission he loves Emp, which likewise appeared in that earlier chapter. For the record, several early readers of Empowered criticized Thugboy’s blurted declaration as a strategic blunder—or a tactical blunder, at least—on his part. I leave it to the reader to evaluate the wisdom of such an admission, though I should probably note that the real-life relationship from which this scene was rather directly harvested didn’t work out terribly well for either partner. (Oh, well.)

-Adam Warren