Phil and I worked together well on this one: his first draft was most of what you see here, but Tom, as mentioned, needed to be a bit more “clairvoyant” in this moment. I redid the third panel from a non-rhyming version, and Phil then revised the lines leading into it. They originally ended with Iwatani saying “I offer protection!” which would’ve made Tom’s “guess” in panel 3 savvy, but not demonstrably superhuman.

I wasn’t as strict about the meter of Tom’s rhymes as I thought I was– or possibly Phil tweaked them without an eye for meter, but I don’t remember, and looking it up feels petty. The general scheme is two little rhyme-lines building to a bigger third one: “Da da da da ection da da da da ection da da da da da da da da da da ection.” It’s a nice idea that sets him apart from other rhyming narrative in the book, like Bandit and Scipio’s Axemas tales.

Also, I’ve been meaning to say: that’s a really nice fusion of Countless Ones iconography and stylized art in the backgrounds. Looks vaguely Native American-inspired to me, but you might have to ask John.