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.

I wound up increasing the contrast levels on this page from the printed version via Photoshop, as I thought the pencils seemed a bit too light. As I've noted recently, in the long run I'm almost—let me emphasize, almost—glad that the pencil-based art technique I used for Empowered is now lost to me, as that grayscale approach brought seemingly endless hassles with reproduction and printing that simply don't exist with a more conventional ink-based art style.