Panel 1: TBH, the two characters are sitting rather closer together than would be comfortable, but I no doubt wanted to cut down on how much space the shot took up while simultaneously maximizing their figure sizes.

Panel 4: Yeah, that slightly odd "handprint" visual riff doesn't quite work in this context, but what I had hoped to convey was some sorta dust- or color-based "fingers and palm" outline; that wouldn't quite have worked, either, due to the stylized, high-contrast rendering scheme I use to depict Emp's supersuit. (That would show up in a real-life photo, in theory at least.)

And yeahp, we just copy-pasted panel 2's artwork into this panel and tacked on new dialogue, as I wanted to maintain the image of Emp expressionlessly (non-)reacting to Ghost Writer while, of course, saving myself at least and hour or two of drawing time.

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