Example: When Agatha and the gang are fucking around inside the castle, there's a big pink airship sitting in the sky above Mechanicsburg, belonging to one of her adversaries. It's just holding position in the sky, nothing interesting going on.

Very boring assignment for its crew...except for old man Kraddock

Kraddock is old enough to remember when Mechanicsburg airspace was famously hazardous and is uneasy about lingering in it, even though it's been safe for two decades

why does this old man look so soft

Because the way Phil Foglio draws people makes them look a bit mushy

Cut forward past many, many misadventures within Castle Heterodyne

mushy...

Just as the airship crew is switching to the night shift, one of them spots a fire on the ground.

The Captain wants to report it to the town watch, but his employer, a dickheaded Duke, insists on radio silence. There's some tension.

And then the report comes in: another fire on the ground. And another. And another. and another, dozens of them all at once.

And old man Kraddok starts to absolutely lose his shit.

He's old enough to remember what's happening: it's the Torchmen. They have to climb as fast as they can, now, or they're all dead.

Please note that this is the first time the words 'Torchmen' have been uttered in the couse of the comic

The captain's much more concerned with the fact that his employer is waving a gun around, until a new report comes in: the fires are moving.

And he realizes: it is the Torchmen.

And, like, we have not been given any information about the Torchmen up to this point

We have no idea what their capabilities are

But Kraddock and the Captain's reaction to their awakening tells us all we need to know

We might not know the Torchmen, but we do have a sense for the Heterodynes at this point

It's simple stuff in concept but it's always really well executed

Anything that mechanicsburg is known for is probably going to be at least a little bit terrifying

but yeah the whole comic is FILLED with shit like this

it's non stop

The world feels way bigger than what we get to see

The look on the captain's face as he recalibrates himself to a world where the Torchmen are active again, and he's right in the middle of Mechanicsburg Airspace, is all-time

Europa feels lived-in

this is a place where things happen, and have been happening for hundreds of years