Another chapter-break illo, with “metatextual Emp” once again addressing the camera, as she will often do during the short-story-driven Empowered vol. 1. Looking at this page, I’m mildly bewildered to realize that, nowadays, I rarely depict Emp twirling her hair around her index finger like this. A multi-purpose gesture that can note nervousness or happiness or even boredom, “hair-twirling” is something I should probably reintroduce to current Empowered stories. Then again, I’m saddened to admit that I rarely draw enough gestures of any variety involving Emp’s hair, which means I’m missing out on plenty of potentially interesting poses. “Sigh,” as Emp is wont to say.