Panel 1: I normally use the sound FX “KLUDD” only for superstrong punches being landed. TBH, a slightly “softer”-sounding FX like “WHUDD” or “SPLUDD” might’ve been more appropriate for Emp’s off-panel landing.

As I’ve mentioned before, I find myself annoyed by the very, very limited range of sound FX that “sound”—or “read,” more accurately—acceptable to the inscrutable, FX-analyzing algorithm in my head. Most of the ones I do like were cribbed decades ago from old Frank Miller comics, as he had a unique gift for coining ones that I can appreciate. So, I recently combed through a bunch of his older books looking for “new” sound FX I could steal, but found that I’d long ago strip-mined most of the viable examples. One interesting exception is the sound FX “WHUGG,” which does give a bit of the softer-sounding impact flavor I was describing above. However, one problem with “WHUGG” is that I already use similarly “GG”-based words for characters’ grunts and groans, which seems problematically flawed to my ear—or eye, whatevs. Oh, well.

-Adam Warren