What's the inspiration for this page of Emp reeling as the emotional impact of hundreds of pages of alarming action abruptly settles over her, might you ask? Wellp, of all things, this moment was inspired by a seemingly anomalous scene from the end of the TV show 24's Season 2 (IIRC) finale, in which we see a brief but surprising sequence of Jack Bauer alone in an SUV and having an honest-to-God emotional breakdown after his daylong ordeal of violence, torture and betrayal (not to mention cougars threatening poor Kim, not that Jack actually knew about that).

I really liked the idea of addressing the fact that all this grinding, emotionally wrenching slog of cliffhanging mayhem had been endured by an actual human being, not just a cartoon character who could run this ga(u)ntlet without any psychological side effects. Thanks, 24 Season 2 Finale! (Er, unless that was Season 3.)

Next week on the webcomic serialization, we wrap up Empowered vol. 9 at last, folks!

Today’s Patreon update: Originally done as a means of scratching 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. So, who knows what today's post might feature? Could be Life Drawing or Distressed Damsels content (both of which are featured at least three times per month), or something in the Work Stages, Vintage Con Sketches or Design departments, or possibly something entirely new. Golly!

-Adam Warren