I’m vaguely bemused that the reasonably effective visual riff of “image reflected in Thugboy’s ridiculous mirrorshades,” seen several times in these early stories, has so mysteriously and completely disappeared from my Empowered storytelling vocabulary. No idea why this might be the case, but after so closely perusing these stories for this webcomic commentary, I definitely need to reincorporate some of these early tricks and techniques into my ongoing narrative arsenal. “Reduce, reuse, recycle,” as Jack Johnson so breathily—and annoyingly—advised.