Panel 1: I rather like Emp’s hiking shorts in this sequence; too bad I completely forgot about ’em after this story. (Ah, but then we never see her hiking again, either.) The “belly shirt” seems a bit of a stretch in this context, but what the hell; then again, Emp sports a rather flatter belly in these early stories then she has in more current Empowered volumes, so maybe she should flaunt it, girlfriend.

Panel 2: Just noticed the amusing detail that Thugboy is wearing (long) hiking shorts as well. Wouldn’t be a huge leap to speculate that Emp bought both pairs of shorts for what she’d consider an adorable “pair look”—or “pea ruku”, to invoke a once-popular Japanese “import phrase.”

Panel 3: Thugboy’s “Rez-Boa-Dogs” T-shirt is a reference to one of the gangs from artist Oh! Great’s wonderful—if often batsh**t—manga Air Gear. In the future, his T-shirt selection skews off more into a gun- and military-related direction—on the rare occasions we actually see him wearing a shirt, that is, as I eventually decided to depict Thugboy in a near-constant state of Sawyer-from-Lost-worthy shirtlessness. (Both to provide some additional fan-service eye candy, and because I am shockingly, unaccountably bad at drawing baggy T-shirts.)

I like Thugboy’s dark sunglasses in this scene, which are a nice change of pace from his usual aviator-patterned “mirrorshades.” Not sure why I don’t play around more with his eyewear, given that he’d very likely have a taste for the more practical “tactical”-style eye protection that’s gained popularity in military-related circles over the last decade or so.

-Adam Warren