As I've been detailing in this week's commentaries, after losing the last two weeks of work on Empowered vol. 12 due to a bizarre and largely unprecedented bout of drawing-hand pain, I've been forced to reevaluate my long-term plans for whatever time is left in My Brilliant Career.

For one thing, I clearly need to "go digital" in a more serious manner, as penciling and/or inking in analog media is just too g-d hard on my perpetually ailing drawing hand. In digital media, at least, you can mess around with sensitivity settings or the like to allow more delicacy and lower pressure when drawing, as opposed to the grinding intensity required for rendering this series, despite the fact that I use the softest viable pencil lead—Turquoise 5B 2mm leads, in case you're wondering. (Though, in fairness, I should note that this recent bout of pain was first triggered by using a harder pencil lead for some background technical drawing, which required a bit more pressure than my usual 5B medium.)

More on this matter tomorrow, folks!