Back in the earliest days of planning Empowered vol. 8's climactic story I was still thinking of breaking the narrative up into chapters, as opposed to my final decision to format "Emp & Spooky's Bogus Journey" as a single, 110-odd-page epic. In that original version, our heroines' trip to Object 524 would've been one chapter, and their subsequent jaunt to the gates of Hell would've been the next chapter—and those chapters' titles would've been based on two lines from the Nine Inch Nails song "Only":

Now I am somewhere I am not supposed to be

And I can see things I know I really shouldn't see

Gotta say, this reminds me of the 2005 Marvel miniseries Livewires by Rick Mays and me, which opened and closed with chapter titles from David Bowie's great song "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)":

See these eyes so red

Red like jungle burning bright

Note that "See These Eyes So Red" would've been my preferred title for the Livewires collected edition, as opposed to the somewhat unfortunate "Clockwork Thugs, Yo!" (Alas, the long out-of-print TPB was solicited under that title without my input.) Speaking of said collection, it's now available in digital form from Comixology for $10.99, which is a dollar (well, almost) cheaper than buying the individual issues. Yay?

Today’s Patreon update: As it’s a Wednesday, time for the $5+ Patron tiers to get their weekly dose of commissioned “damsel-in-distress” content, along the lines of the same material that was eventually reworked into Empowered. (No idea as to exactly what that content might be at this time, though; these commentaries are written much further out from posting than are my often last-minute Patreon updates.)