Panel 1: Yeahp, Lotus Node portals can manifest at any sort of angle, not just the vertical orientation we’ve seen earlier. For the most part, though, my assumption is that they’re too slow to set up and program—not mention immensely power-consuming to open—for the fun shenanigans of the videogame Portal or Void from The Incredibles 2 to be possible with Lotus Nodes. (Though I should note that the upcoming Empowered vol.11 does feature one brief scene involving a form of Portal Fu.)

I should probably clarify a point never directly addressed in the comic: Few—or possibly none—of the various miles-below-ground secret facilities used by Empverse superheroes were reached by digging or tunneling. Instead, the capes would pop a Lotus Node portal open into solid bedrock many miles below the Earth’s surface, then use superpowers (or ultra-tech weaponry) to zap or blast or otherwise clear out an underground space for themselves, which would afterward be accessible only by portals or superpowers (such as teleportation). Beats trying to build a secret lair on the surface, I’m thinking, though this does render the resulting facility wholly dependent on unearthly abilities or ultra-tech portal networks. (Ahem.)

-Adam Warren