Panel 1: And lo, several other M. Night Shyamalan movies are brought up. Again, hinging this sequence on a semi-obscure reference to his film Signs was not a particularly great idea. Then again, I’m not all that worried about using pop-culture references that could “date” a given story, as concerns about “posterity” I find to be a tad presumptuous on the part of comics writers. Still, best not to mess around with especially perishable and clearly short-lived pop-culture references in one’s work, I think. (For some reason, the example that springs to mind is the once-prominent use of the phrase “You are the weakest link,” which I vaguely recall was inauspiciously common in comics for a brief while.)

Panel 2: A slight violation, here, of the earlier-mentioned “unspoken rule” that the Demonwolf never uses anyone’s proper name, with “Mel of Gibson” being a marginal variation. I still think this was a bad idea, though, as the Devilgoat could’ve instead made an oblique reference to Mad Max or Lethal Weapon or The Year of Living Dangerously. (Just kidding about the last one, folks.) 

Panel 3: Another random artistic flourish in which Emp’s flowing blonde tresses are temporarily drawn excessively long, just for the hell of it. God forbid, of course, that her hair should ever grow long enough to potentially cover up her “toothsome rump,” as much as Emp might like it to do so. (Alternatively, for a bit of a Demonlupine flair, I could’ve used the rather more arch phrase “heaven forfend” instead of “God forbid,” here.)

Panel 4: Let’s hear it one more time for that distinctive “blush pattern” rendering inspired by the work of manga artist Mayoco Anno, folks!

Panel 5: Very bad idea for the lettering of the  word “AWE” to actually touch the lower border of the panel. Don’t do this, comics creators.

-Adam Warren