Panel 1: For some reason, I prefer the four-period ellipsis “....” to the three-period "...” used more commonly. Not entirely sure where I picked up that particular idiosyncrasy, but I consider it justified by the wildly varied types of such ellipses used in manga, which first inspired me to use this narrative riff. Some manga artists use not just four or more periods but multiple rows of such punctuation for this same purpose, preferring entire balloons stuffed with elaborate ellipsis variants to convey the same point of speechlessness.

Panels 2-3: Can’t go wrong with the ol’ “reflection in the glasses” riff, folks! (Second only to the evergreen classic of “reflection in blade held up by foreground character,” quite possibly.)

Panel 4: Note that the Demonwolf is using the somewhat rare singular term “cognoscente,” meaning a connoisseur or “person with special knowledge,” per the ol’ Merriam-Webster. I usually hear the plural “cognoscenti” used notably more often—or maybe the truth is that I use that word more often myself, as I’ve deployed it in a slightly arch manner for decades now. In fact, I’ve probably trotted out “cognoscenti” in these very commentaries on numerous occasions, in reference to the savvy and discerning Empowered reader. Not so much an issue of pretension, I think, as the fact that I simply love the word “cognoscenti” for reasons I cannot quite explain. No, really!

-Adam Warren