Here, we begin a key production moment in the middle period of Empowered, folks! See, I recall quite vividly that I was able to write and draw pages 85 through 87 in a single workday, a record of productivity that would never again be reached. Three pages from scratch, finished in one day! Huzzah! Rest assured I will remember that number right up until the day I keel over and die.

Ah, but that’s the big problem with such a milestone of productivity, folks—the damn number lodges in your mind for years or maybe even decades afterward, always popping up as you slide behind schedule on a project. “Well, if I cranked out three pages per day—like I did that one time—for the rest of the week, I could get back on schedule!” Yeah, right, dumbass. 

Or, possibly worse, the milestone can torment you for years to come. I’m not likely to ever forget that I wrote and drew 43pp in a month during the hectic, crazed, and frankly exhilarating final arc of Empowered vol. 8. Nowadays, that number cruelly mocks me, as I never produced even half that number of pages during the nightmare grind that was Empowered vol. 11. 

-Adam Warren