Nothing but “headshot” close-ups on this page. Don’t try this at home, kids! Even if you don’t consistently emulate artist Eddie Campbell’s alleged maxim about always featuring at least one full figure per comic page, it’s still a good rule of thumb to keep in mind. Alas, the squat, vertically challenged Empowered page format and my teeny original art size of 8.5” X 11” don’t lend themselves particularly well to full-figure shots, unless I draw either pagecount-consuming large figures or relatively small, cramped long shots with wee figures.

My own potentially complementary rule of thumb is this: Best to try to feature at least one close-up per comics page, even if it’s not a very large one. Otherwise, I find, your pages can be too remote and emotionally detached. (Of course, this page clearly fulfills that maxim with a vengeance.)

Panel 3: Note that I first encountered the idea of a chloroform fetish after stumbling across negative online reaction to an Empowered vol. 1 kidnapping scene that happened to eschew chloroform in favor of halothane. I thought the concept was too entertaining not to work into this often-kinky series, and thus was Chloroformaster created.

-Adam Warren