Dang, ROFG E-Merl is scary when he’s got reason to be. This is one of two incidents where E-Merl’s blistering rage at the loss of Rachel threatens to turn him into something that’d horrify her. Now, I’m not endorsing the classic-superhero ethic of “don’t kill anyone ever.” Hell, E-Merl was killing Cultists as recently as three chapters ago with no real cost to his soul. But something about his plan to make a Molotov cocktail out of this one just for sitting next to him…well, let’s just say it was a good thing for both of them that Iwatani showed E-Merl his true face.

In the literal sense, anyway. Iwatani’s metaphorical “true face” is what we saw a few more pages back.

E-Merl’s panel 3 line was originally “Then acc’incidentally set y’on fire, but I won’t mean nothin’ by it, CULTIST…” Flo went with a little less cleverness in favor of a little more obvious pain.

I could come up with Mad Magazine-style silly names for our characters all the livelong day, but I’m especially fond of “Imitatey.” (“E-Mo,” which we used in our notes but which didn’t enter the text until much later, was one of Flo’s.)

Image from Scott Meyer’s Basic Instructions.