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Jill continues to search for her father while also battling some old demons...

I'm sorry this episode is late - but hopefully you'll forgive me since it is a triple episode at 56 pages! I think it is my longest episode of any comic so far?

But honestly, I needed to take my time with this one.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts! 💖

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Zoe Storm

Oh heck yes ❤️❤️❤️

Gemma

Fantastic images and story. The close ups of Jill , the facial expressions you captured in this episode are amazing. I love the different nuances of thoughts that are explored and insights Jill’s old emotional wounds that she carried and experienced within her relationship with her dad. The line ‘even a pawn can take down a King was so spot on’ (great dialogue). Ultimately the building up to the big reveal, meeting her dad was so full of tensions. I certainly was got hooked into the emotional turmoil Jill experienced, all the fears, doubts, old wounds that she played out in her mind. It was amazing to witness the sense of relief, acceptance and love Jill experienced from her dad. The last few images were truly masterful, again, the facial expression, the body language and warmth conveyed all solidified and being realised within the loving fatherly embrace that Jill melted into in the last image. Beautiful!

Tiki D

So much character introspection, especially Jill's. Jill is really getting around everywhere, not just on the island, but her fans. The moment Jill reunite with her father is beautiful. I got a feeling that Jill will not just forgive her father that easily. She going have a lot of questions for him in a harsher emotional way. I am curious about Emily ever finding them or Connie in upcoming chapters.

Robertlouis

I appear to have something in my eye after the last few images… Wow, Emory, what an episode with an incredible buildup of tension. Wondering if Xu somehow second guessed that this outcome was possible. And Jill’s expressions throughout are absolutely masterful: steely and determined to begin with, then crumbling into doubt as the moment of reckoning becomes imminent. Superb and sensitive art. And then the reconciliation which shows that the rediscovery of his lost child, that reunion, is all that matters, son or daughter is immaterial. Jill’s joy and relief are palpable. Yes, I cried.

Ella Cherry

Yep… I actually got emotional. You’re amazing, Emory 💕 🥺

Ellen Mellor

I haven't finished yet but... Is Jill wearing Second Dawn branded jeans? Please, whatever you do, DON'T make them into merch!

Ellen Mellor

Now I've finished. And. Whoo. That was an ending. That was a tough one. The emotions in Jill's face hit me right in the heart and took me straight back to coming out to my dad - although I didn't have the pleasure of some fuckwit giving me horror stories right before I did that. I can't wait to see where this is going.

Maggie Heels

OMFG ❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️ I did a rookie mistake again and read this at work... with my buddy sitting almost next to me... and as I was closer to an end my eyes got wetter and wetter...

Maggie Heels

P.S. I was wondering if Emory will set it in written words or not, but I had in my head that Dad could have thought about something like "she's alive and this only matters" after saying "JACK" out loud...

Amber Caledonia

Mike is interesting. Captor with a conscience, at least thinking that he's trying to do better, but Josie's callout is pretty on point The member buying toys to try to do something "interesting" with them is a devious twist of how Jill-focused propaganda affects the whole place, and apparently another boulder on her conscience that isn't really her fault The last part is, of course, wonderful, but I'd be really doubtful Jill would be able to lie convincingly (especially considering his "party favors" - what kind of benevolent retreat for trans women would essentially pimp one out to a stranger?). Of course considering the flash-forward earlier we *know* shit's going down, buuut... cliffhanger'd as usual, and in the best way

Pelicanboss

I'm so in love with Jill. Every image of her was spectacular, like she's a real person. And TBH, I was a little teary at seeing the family reunion. E, you're the best!

Sam May

Is this the last one before a hiatus?

Crewchick

👖 💵 😂👍

Kris Greg

This was not the ending that I expected, & I'm happy about that. I enjoyed the nice, long buildup Jill is an awesome character. She's a strong survivor. I will follow this story to the very end.

Nolwenn (edited)

Comment edits

2026-09-14 23:00 I don't know if it's jill's "mise en scène"( staging?) or the details off the instants, but the lasts images ( when the father recognizes his child and the immediate hug after that) seam completly wrong. Like it's only jill's expectations and not what it'll really happen between them.
2025-09-19 10:43

LikeGender

Very good episode, many perfect pages. Probably this guard who helped Jack will soon be transformed and feminized again. I feel sorry for him. I didn't like Jack talking about it, as if the guard was going to be transformed because of him and he even mocked me. Jack, finding his father, will have to create a very good excuse for becoming a woman even knowing that his father will be in the human trafficking auction.

Jade Diaz

If Emory rug pulls those final 4 panels I will swear to all the gods above and below to revenge myself on her

Jade Diaz

Alex I really don’t see how you continue to equate people who are “nice” but **deeply involved** in human trafficking and mutilation as some kind of moral north stars

Emory Ahlberg

That would be cruel. I was going for what Tolkien called a eucatastrophe. ♥️ (not that I’m comparing myself to him haha)

Jade Diaz

Trying to imagine Josie running into all of the people who were on staff when she was on the island as a security guard. Trying to imagine all of the human projects that were “in flight” when Josie was created and perhaps seeing some of them returned to the island with Platinum Star members. We don’t get any of Josie’s interiority but how incredibly full of rage she must be.

Jade Diaz

It’s incredible to me that Jill literally has no idea her entire transition and life has been **entertainment** for these platinum star ghouls. And then one of them asks for a selfie? Jill should’ve punched that lady in her rhinoplasty perfect nose.

Jade Diaz

As usual the most beautiful and perfect art has no words. Emotionally wrecked. Simply perfect.

Tim

Does that make you and I, and all our fellow Platinum Star members, ghouls, Jade? Afterall, I do believe we subscribe to Emory's site largely for **entertainment. **

Jade Diaz

P.S. I’m just here for the articles.

Robertlouis

My thoughts exactly Maggie. It’s sheer relief at finding his child alive. The rest can follow in due course, and he’s almost bound to have some sort of reaction.

Robertlouis

Yep. You’re spot on about Josie’s opinion of Mike and anyone else, like Holly, who now regrets their participation in Second Dawn’s horrific activities. Regret can’t undo what they’ve done, and for their victims, like Josie and the countless others, forgiveness is impossible.

Robertlouis

As so often happens, Gemma, you render my comments superfluous. I agree with every word.

Emory Ahlberg

The key difference is that - despite my best efforts - Jill is not real… 😉and also she’s the protagonist and hero of the story you’re all enjoying. The Platinum Star members in the narrative don’t see her in the same way.

Robertlouis

What if….Mr Larson bids for Jill at the auction? Just saying. Bloody hell.

Emory Ahlberg

Jade's future is so bright she's gotta wear shades 😎

Crewchick

Wow, yet another emotion packed episode ending with another cliffhanger, though hopefully one of the more joyous ones in the series. Don't know where to even begin to talk about either Josie or Jill's emotional roller coaster in this episode. Josie seems amazingly grounded and stoic about her experience even after coming back for the competition as a competitor (even if that is only a cover). She admits she has not forgiven Mike or many of the others, but she does not seem possessed and driven by anger and rage. She seems almost detached from her emotions and focused almost only on the mission (with of course a few "breaks" for some emotional connection in the Hotel room). And Jill, we can see and feel her emotions churning and yet she too seems laser focused on what she needs to do. Can't wait to see how the reunion with Dad plays out and how they learn of his sister's presence on the island and how that reunion will go. Her sister at least knows what she looks like and some of her story, even if learned through the propaganda of the "Jack and Jill Show". We have gotten a lot of the emotion and back story in these summer chapters. I have a feeling we are headed to some very action packed chapters in the next couple of months ahead. We have already gotten some fore glimpses of it.

Emory Ahlberg

Can you imagine what's going through his head, Thomas??

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you so much, Maven! I really wanted this episode to feel special. 💕

Thomas Tolliver

Maybe. But that's definitely a tough one.

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Gemma, so much for this thoughtful comment. For Jill, especially now, so much of her journey is internal, and her expressions have to carry the weight of everything she can't say out loud. That reunion with her dad was a scene I've been building toward forever. It's the ultimate collision of Jack's deepest wound and Jill's newfound strength. Her fear isn't just about rejection, but about him seeing a stranger. So that final embrace needed to be pure acceptance, a father holding his child, period. It's the closing of a wound she's carried long before Second Dawn. 💖

Emory Ahlberg

That beautiful reunion is just the beginning, Tiki. You're right, forgiveness isn't a switch. There are years of pain and unspoken words between them to navigate.

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Robert! I cried writing it. Jack's old wounds meet Jill's new strength. Xu never knows the exact outcome, but he always sets the board. I think we'll find bringing her father there was a calculated test, a catalyst for this moment.

Emory Ahlberg

LOL - good eye. She definitely IS wearing Second Dawn branded jeans. 😁 But thank you for sharing that, Ellen. That moment is so universal and terrifying. I wanted to capture that feeling of holding your breath, knowing everything is about to change, for better or worse. 💖

Emory Ahlberg

Oh my gosh, Maggie, reading this at work is a high-risk maneuver! I'm so touched it had that effect on you. 😁 Your P.S. is exactly where my head was at for him. That first word, "JACK," is pure reflex. But in that split second of silence that follows, everything else just evaporates. The arguments, the expectations, all of it. The only truth left in the universe for him is that his child is standing right there, alive. That's it. That's the whole world.

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Ella! Thank you. Writing those moments always gets me, too. 💕

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Amber! Mike's the ultimate "just following orders" (for a paycheck) guy, and Josie's presence shatters that comfortable lie. His conscience is a more recent, inconvenient development... mostly brought on by what happened to Joey. And, yeah, that propaganda is a special kind of nightmare for Jill. Her survival gets weaponized, turning her into a blueprint for other people's torment. It's kind of a horrifying perversion of being a role model. And you're so right about that lie to her dad. How will that hold up? Was Soledad supposed to go there? If so, it's a flimsy, desperate gambit. But Jill's not a spy. She's just a daughter trying to shield her father from an impossible, horrible truth. 😬

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, F! 💖 I love her, too. I pour my heart into making her feel real. That reunion was everything.

Emory Ahlberg

Hi Sam... No, we'll be going up to the attack on Mr Xu... basically full circle to the beginning. But it's not too far off now!

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you so much, Kris! I think Jill's strength isn't just surviving the island, but about healing her past - if she can!

Kris Greg

I believe that the person that Jill has become will thrive if she can survive & get off of the island.

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you for reading so closely, Pedro! Jill has already seen it happen to Joey, so it definitely is on her mind. I think her challenge to Mike is to see if he'll let it happen again. We'll see if the lie she concocts for her dad will hold up... It's a shield made of glass, built to last only a moment. But, for right now, she's just a daughter trying to hold onto her dad before the world crashes down again. 💖

M Fielding

While I've followed this story from the very beginning, after this last episode I went back and read my way through all of it. I was struck by how much your journey as a writer and storyteller, mirrored Jill's journey, you, Emory, becoming so sure handed and clear with who these characters were and why, and Jill's identity gelling into someone very worth knowing and admiring. Those last few panels of this chapter were powerful the first time I saw them, but I was amazed at how much more they hit me when I reached them again after looking at the entire story. Mr. Larson's expression as he recognizes Jill, the honest joy in that recognition... wow, and to know this is not an ending but merely one hell of a new beginning. (btw - love how Larsen asking Davis "Where did they take my daughter!?" in Phase 9 part 10 now takes on an entirely new meaning.... lovely little easter egg....)

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you for this beautiful read, M. 💕 I've grown right alongside Jill. I'm so glad you caught that line from her dad—a seed I planted knowing its meaning would transform. That reunion isn't an ending, it's page one of their new story.

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Diana! Yeah, Josie's stoicism is pure soldier. The mission is her armor... if she stops moving, the trauma will crush her. Jill's focus is the opposite, fueled by her emotions and a need to protect everyone. So her reunion is about healing the past. The one with Emily will be about fighting for the future. We've spent a lot of time in their heads lately, building that foundation. Now it's time for the action. 😉

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Robert! What a terrifying thought. That's the sickest part of her new 'status,' though. She's graduated from being a product. Xu would never sell his masterpiece. She's not a commodity anymore, she's the brand, the living proof his sick vision 'works.' It's a whole new kind of cage.

Emory Ahlberg

Thank you, Jade. Some feelings are too big for dialogue. 💕

Emory Ahlberg

That's exactly right, Jade. I imagine her internal monologue is a constant tactical assessment. Every familiar face is a potential threat or a ghost to be compartmentalized. The rage is there, but it's not hot. It's a cold, disciplined thing she uses to fuel the mission. She's a soldier behind enemy lines, and every polite nod, every fake smile, is just her camouflage. She can't afford to feel.... she can only act.

KenCom

I'm surprised the fan girl in the elevator from Portland didn't try to get a quickie in elevator Portland is weird over here

Emory Ahlberg

Maybe she realized Jill was way out of her league, Ken! lol

Emory Ahlberg

I agree - of course, if she does, will Nikki be on her own? 🤔

stacy C

Oooh those last few scenes were tense :-0.....great stuff Em x