As mentioned yesterday, this whole appalling scene is loosely based on a few real-life incidents that I witnessed during my long (if crappy) comics career. In fairness, though, gotta say that on some level I rather envied the sheer obliviousness of the real-life Ghost Writer analogues; I was thinking, "Man, it must be awesome to go through life so completely unselfconscious of what an absolute dork and/or clueless git you're behaving like." (Whereas I am almost always overwhelmingly conscious of what an absolute dork and/or clueless git I'm behaving like, if only in retrospect.)

Panel 3: In a change of pace from what I once drew before this, note Emp's prominent lack of canines in this nonetheless toothy shot, in a riff borrowed from mangaka Yuji Iwahara (King of Thorns, Cat Paradise), who for some reason boasts a freakishly high skill level at drawing cute girls yelling (to my eyes, at least). I would definitely buy a series from Iwahara titled, say, Nothing but Cute Girls Yelling Endlessly.

Today’s Patreon update: In an attempt to scratch out more worktime to complete the long-gestating Empowered vol. 12, I've switched over to a Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday Patreon posting schedule that won't feature the fixed content format I previously used. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

-Adam Warren