Panel 1: Note, with the second line in Treacherous Girl’s word balloon (“RECOMMEND AGAINST”), how my lines of hand lettering tend to slant upwards as the words go to the right. Just another wacky inconsistency of my idiosyncratic lettering, folks. In theory, I could rule out more consistent guidelines with an Ames Lettering Guide, but screw that, okay? That would be slow and tedious and miserable, three adjectives I strive to minimize in my work on Empowered.

Panel 2: In terms of shots that are rather more effective than I might have planned, gotta say that this image of a mummified, helpless Emp curled up and trembling after being zapped into submission skeeves me out a fair bit. That was probably the intent to begin with, but this seems a stronger image than a fairly goofy story like this would require. God knows Emp endures much—make that much—worse than this in the course of the series, but that generally occurs in contexts with more build-up or greater tonal complexity than this chapter. Oh, well.

-Adam Warren