Panels 1 and 3: Poor Ilya/ Dave's vocabulary has apparently seized up from sheer terror, which is a narrative approach I still appreciate a fair bit.

Panel 4: Note that the alien war machine boasts a "hammerhead" design riff not unlike the one seen on my 1992(3?) SimHell redesign of the starship Lovely Angel from my version of Dirty Pair. I'm fairly sure that I first picked up that riff circa high school in an obscure Rick Sternbach ship design from the 1979 Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology book. I was by no means a Star Trek fan at any time in my life, but I did find that book oddly appealing.

Note, BTW, that Rick Sternbach was a huge fan of the Dirty Pair anime, as I vaguely recall that ST: TNG features obscure planet-name references to Kei and Yuri and Mughi. (I rather doubt he was a big fan of the version that I worked on, but who knows?)

Panel 5 (and/or insert panel 6): Not a huge SPOILER to hint that this turn of events definitely isn't good.

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, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.

-Adam Warren