Panel 1: For the uninitiated, that bit of Japanese is the (phonetic) hiragana for the vowel sound “A”, often used as an expression of surprise—though, come to to think of it, often with the extension character “tsu” following it. As I’ve said before, I used to be weirdly fond of copying by hand the specific hiragana font used in untranslated manga, though nowadays to save time I just used scanned examples.

Panel 3: I find myself amused by the idea that the hulking roboserpent Mechzacoatl is casually winding its way through the crowd at the Cape Karaoke bar; yeahp, that’s the curving wall of steel that Emp is pressed up against.

And lo, there’s the “jump scare booty” referred to in this chapter’s title.

Today’s Patreon update: Open slot in the weekly schedule today! Not sure what I’ll be posting, but something will go up today. I’ve been posting every weekday (sometimes multiple times per day) on this Patreon for over a year, so why stop now?

-Adam Warren