Vish hasn’t broken out a proper Gandalf-against-the-Balrog-style hold portal rune since he was three apples high.

Which is another thing that reminds me of all the stuff about WPK that didn’t get expanded upon and that now–staring down the end of this comic–I will probably not get to expand upon. I’ve never thought of WPK as a rough draft, but its plotting was definitely inspired by the manic energy that went into the early Fantastic Four comics, which means it’s full of loose ends and unfinished spaces. It’s surprising how much has the narrative changed in the telling–some characters’ roles massively expanded, others strangely reduced–and how much managed to get scooped up again for future use. (The action of that page, of course, takes place in the Temple of the Comet, maybe 300 feet above the action happening now, and with the same bricks used in the walls.)