DISTRESSED DAMSELS: "When Pint-Size(d) Ninjas Attack," part 1

Behold, the first installment of a fairly lengthy and extremely goofy commissioned story from the early 2000s, featuring a suspiciously bondage-prone—yet still plucky and defiant!—iteration of Dirty Pair's Kei and Yuri unsuccessfully battling "the Pint-Size(d) Ninja Platoon."

You might recall from earlier con sketches posted here that the Pint-Size(d) Ninjas had previously been depicted distressing these damsels, in pieces probably dating back to the late 90s (judging by the facial designs):

Wellp, IIRC, one of my long-time commissioners was especially amused by those sketches, so in my spare time—over several years, mind you—I knocked out 25-odd pages of wee dumbasses struggling to capture Kei and Yuri.

A few words: 

This first page is unusually finished-looking—complete with perspective and sign lettering—so I suspect I went back and tacked it on after the fact. For the record, BTW, I prefer the story title "When Pint-Size(d) Ninjas Attack," so ignore the title emblazoned on that crossbeam.

Also, the Kei close-up in panel 2 indicates that this was drawn early on in the era of "minimal nasal indication," an artistic phase entered in desperation after the nose construction I'd been using through the late 90s had begun to spiral outta control.

Some long, long lower legs in the panel 4, gotta say. 

Panel 5 is surprisingly ambitious—look, an in-panel insert close-up!—for such a tossed-off story. Also, be aware of the Inexplicably Scottish member of the Platoon.

Some wonky figure drawing in panel 1, but one of the appeals of drawing these profoundly unserious and, significantly, unpublished stories was that I didn't have to agonize over sketching less-than-ideal artwork. 

Panel 5's Kei pose is a pretty solid concept; not sure why I never reused that for Empowered.

Decades later, I wound up using the "giantess" riff when the Potion-Shop Gnomes victimized the Hushed Half-Elf in a recently drawn  story fragment I don't care to dig up the Patreon links for. In an fantasy milieu, though, how would diminutive sorts like those Gnomes refer to an actual 20'-tall giantess in-universe? Hrmmm. 

Panel 2: Here, a strong dose of the dreaded Mysteriously Intermittent Post-Millennial Torso Glitch that would soon plague the early volumes of Empowered. The super-long legs in the last panel bother Present-Day Me just as much, I have to admit.

In next week's installment, Kei brings the pain to her would-be captors, valiantly struggling despite the tragic reality that she's stuck in a commission intended to showcase her sessy, sessy distress. You keep on fighting, Kei!

Tomorrow on this here Patreon: The K&Y kick rolls on as we continue serialization of Dirty Pair: Quick & Dirty, a notably more serious and canonical story of the Lovely Angels—well, canonical to my iteration of the characters, at least.