Panel 1's line of Cap'n dialogue is, in fact, a long-delayed payoff to a previous Rivet line from early on in Empowered vol. 10, in which he stated, "Well, I've been doing this ridiculous job for over twenty years, Havoc... and I'm still waiting to meet a real hero."
Shockingly enough, El Capitan's view of what constitutes heroism within the crapsack hellscape of the Empowered universe miiiiight just be at odds with some of the Jesuitical hairsplitting and half-second-by-half-second after-action analysis that's been unfolding in the comments over the last few weeks, I suspect. (More on this matter later, dear readers.)
Panel 6: Ehh, I felt like doing something different with Rivet's dialogue for part of this soliloquy, hence the inverted white-on-black lettering (which, IMHO, always looks better than my conventional lettering). As you'll see, this riff continues throughout the next page in a slightly more unusual form.
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 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.
-Adam Warren
