Behold, a deeply problematic page indeed—or, at least, a page that brings up many still-unanswered questions! The presence of a player in the Lakers “away” uniform might be argued to imply that Emp’s never-named city has its own NBA team that just played the Lakers, though various superhero-universe improbable “No-Prize” explanations could be imagined.
Also problematic is the choice of a semi-recognizable Sasha Vujacic as the Laker in question. I vaguely recall that he’d recently signed a long-ish contract with LA when I drew him here—hence him seeming like a safe choice—but he might already have been traded by the time Empowered vol. 5 was finally published. Whoops! (UPDATE: Not quite, as vol. 5 came out in 2009, and ol’ Sasha lasted through the 2010 season in LA.)
Of course, you might well be wondering what the hell a Lakers player is doing in Emp’s apartment. (Or, more likely, you might not be wondering that.) In any event, matters will be clarified tomorrow!
-Adam Warren