We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Our trio's costuming is pretty directly taken from the main characters of Atsuji Yamamoto's manga Sinbad, which came out circa 1989 and, it seems, might've had an English translation and reprint this year. Update: Ehh, looks like it won't be out until the end of the year (maybe).  

Anyhoo, Yamamoto's Sinbad was a personal favorite and oddly influential on me; I still dig up and read (well, "read," as my copies are untranslated) the four-volume set every year or two.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 1: Emp's rant kinda-sorta ties in (ha ha!) to a plotline I was once considering, which featured supervillains using unconventional tactics to take out superfoes—including the concept of public humiliation along these lines. (Never got around to that, for good or ill.)   

SUDDEN SCENE CHANGE IMMINENT!

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. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 4: Just didn't feel like using conventional word balloons here, so for Emp's latest Suprahuman Studies rant I rolled with my beloved "white text against a black backdrop," This even made my sadly deteriorating hand lettering look a wee bit sharper!

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Wellp, let us all bid adieu to ol' "O.B." as he departs our narrative and "This Calloused Damsel" nears its ending. He was definitely a lot of fun to draw, I must admit.

I also must admit that I quite enjoy the strangely evocative panel 4, featuring only sound FX and a twitching cat-tail as the scene closes out.

Next week on the webcomic, time for a brief "elevator speech" before we jump abruptly into yet another fantasy setting, though notably rather different than the previous fantasy milieu we witnessed; this one's based on a very obscure manga that nonetheless remains a personal favorite. Yay?  

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Wellp, as we head into the final stretch of the series (in its OGN format, anyway), I feel a wee bit of nostalgia as I look at the last major work I would ever draw (mostly) in pencil. 'Twas a good medium while it lasted—for most of 20 years, or perhaps 30+ years if you count the pencil-based con sketches I did in the late 90s and early 2000s. After years of experimentation, I seem to have discovered a viable new(-ish) art workflow that should carry me through the next few projects and, presumably, the rest of my career and existence; but that technique will never be as speedy and satisfying as pencil-based artwork used to be for me. Adieu, my beloved 2mm 5B pencil leads!

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. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 6 (lower right corner): In my desperate and ultimately unsuccessful quest to integrate realistic shading with stylized, cartoony faces, this time I shaded in Emp's masked features with pencil and then tried to smooth the uneven graphite down with a paper stump or tortillon. Didn't work out very well at all, but worth a try, right?

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 4: I used the rare "single period" balloon here to indicate that Emp had just stopped herself in mid-sentence. 

Panel 5: Ouch. That "DOZEN" looks like crap, probably because I used graphite shading inside the lettering that wound up getting darkened too much when the contrast level for the rest of the page's dialogue was adjusted in Photoshop. Clearly, I should've redone the text or erased the graphite shading inside it. (Oh, well.) 

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. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

My commentary discussions of the aforementioned "unfortunate reality" no doubt seem repetitive, as I'm probably revisiting the same topics again and again as I flail around desperately for text content every weekend regarding material that I often don't really have much to say about. Wellp, as we enter the final 50-odd pages of vol. 12 and of Empowered overall, I'm afraid you'll just have to bear with whatever commentary content I can muster, for good or ill. As webcomic serialization winds down, I'm simultaneously ramping up work on several new and very ambitious projects; not the best timing, I'm afraid.   

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, such as updates on fantasy test projects Crazy Witch, The Last Party and The Chaste and the Chained. Golly!

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Next week in the webcomic serialization, the pseudo-Kraken speaks before the narrative switches things up once again. If such abrupt storytelling jumps annoy you, dear readers, fear not, as this volume (and the webcomic serialization as a whole) will reach its ending in another few months, and you'll be spared any further such annoyances!

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 4: Enjoy an exceedingly rare appearance of thong-based underwear in this series (and throughout my entire body of work), folks! Yay?

Panels 5-6: Note that I do still rather enjoy doing sound FX, even if the rest of my lettering skills have deteriorated to the point of inadequacy in my own eyes.

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. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Ah, the fabled "two big close-ups" page layout, which I have long enjoyed ever since stumbling across the concept in, I think, Fujihiko Hosono's manga Mama, a romcom-turned-drama which might be described as "Maison Ikkoku if Kyoko were a single mother and all the humor dropped out of the final leg of the series in favor of a grueling emotional death-march due to the male lead's unfortunate choices." (I still love that part of the series, BTW, but its glum, slow-paced misery is quite the contrast with the energetic whimsy of earlier volumes.) 

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Panel 2: I'm reasonably sure that Ninjette's pose in this shot is based on a reasonably famous Boris Vallejo cover painting for one of the John Norman Gor novels. 

BTW, enjoy this scene's custom gutters, dear readers! (At least they were a great deal easier to draw than the pseudo-circuit-board gutters in the earlier "cyberpunk SF" scene.) 

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. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

In retrospect, I probably should've switched to a shorter serialized format very early on in the series, possibly even to a "floppy" issue-based format of long miniseries eventually collected into volumes; then again, I always found the quite peculiar Empowered format of 6.5" X 9"  (due to my notably "squat" letter-sized original artwork) highly unsatisfying as 32-page "pamphlets" (as opposed to the nice, thick TPBs) whenever I did one-shots, whether with my own artwork or that of Guest Artists.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Aaaaaand we're back to reboot-y shenanigans, featuring some (very) vaguely Lovecraftian cultish fish-folk who amuse me perhaps more than they should. (Can't say that I'm similarly amused by the whimsically tossed-off symbols of their alien language, alas.)

Next week on the webcomic, stand by for clarification of Kozue's tears!

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

ATTENTION READERS: Pay close attention to the "FINAL ACT OF REBOOTING NARRATIVE PAUSED" text at the bottom of the page, as that will be your cue that the narrative's about to switch back to either "This Calloused Damsel" (the sole remaining fragment of the original vol.12) or... something else.

Continuing the commentary thread from yesterday, the pencil art technique that I used for the series is no longer viable, despite many, many, tests with both analog and digital media. I did eventually find a type of pencil lead that allows for rough, first-draft sketching, as well as a specific Clip Studio Paint brush that digitally emulates some of the tones I used in analog graphite, but neither are suitable for heavy-duty, Empowered-style comic pages due to the stress that both techniques put on my drawing arm.  

More on this matter down the road, 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. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

As I noted yesterday, one aspect of "that unfortunate reality" was the fact that the pencil-based technique I utilized to draw the series for most of two decades soon became wholly nonviable as I ran out of the singular, irreplaceable type of pencil lead that made the artwork possible. As my afterword to this volume (written in 2022, by the way) will attest, for a while I thought that some form of digital media could replace analog graphite if the series were to continue somehow, but after years of experimentation that proved not to be the case. 

Continued tomorrow!

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

One major contributor to "that unfortunate reality" was the fact that, not far into vol. 12, I became belatedly cognizant that I was running out of the singular type of 2mm pencil lead that the series' last few volumes were drawn with, despite previously accumulating a large and very expensive hoard of said lead before the manufacturer stopped making 'em. (Well, technically the manufacturer did continue making those pencils, but changed their graphite composition in a manner that rendered them useless to me.) I was never able to find a replacement lead, despite years of fruitless (and also expensive) experimentation.

Continued tomorrow! 

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. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Then again, "that unfortunate reality" was already pretty clear years ago, as volume sales had been trending downward for well over a decade by that point. The fairly abysmal sales on Empowered vol. 11 in late 2019 should've been my cue to bring the graphic-novel format to a close and figure out some different approach immediately but, well, I was still somehow thinking that I could eke out several more volumes in the OGN series. This was, of course, a direly mistaken thought.

Continued tomorrow!

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

Next week on the webcomic serialization, Emp begins to learn more about her bizarre predicament from the Uncaged Demonwolf and Mannybots, while my commentaries will, I think, mainly focus on the aforementioned "unfortunate reality" underlying vol.12's troubled development and excruciatingly belated release. 

We continue serialization of Empowered vol. 12, which proved to be the final volume of the series in this specific graphic-novel format, though I was unaware of that unfortunate reality when I started work on the book.

And lo, thus do we head into the home stretch of "Empowered and the Never-Ending Reboot," a story originally worked up in 2018 as an Empowered miniseries to be drawn by a Guest Artist, but awkwardly bolted onto the remaining fragments from my original vision for vol.12 in a flailing effort to bring the series to a pause, if not a close. In fact, I probably should've just cut my losses, ditched the existing 50-odd pages of "damsel-in-distress" content from "This Calloused Damsel," and finished out the volume differently. ("Oh, well," as I will often say throughout this final stretch.)  

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. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, work-in-progress updates on developmental projects such as fantasy comics Crazy Witch, The Chaste and the Chained and The Last Party, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.