Not only is costumed crime fighter “empowered” saddled with a less-than-ideal superhero name, but she wears a skintight and cruelly revealing “supersuit” that only magnifies her body-image insecurities. Worse yet, the suit’s unreliable powers are prone to failure, repeatedly leaving her in appallingly distressing situations…and giving her a shameful reputation as the lamest “cape” in the masks-and-tights business. Nonetheless, she pluckily braves the ordeals of her bottom-rung superheroic life with the help of her “thugalicious” boyfriend (and former witless minion) and her hard drinking ninja girlfriend, not to mention the supervillainous advice from a caged alien demonlord watching DVD’s from atop her coffee table…
This is my first time reading a Adam Warren comic. And I must say I haven’t read something as funny an wacky as Empowered in ages, as most comics these days take the more serious route when it comes the the story and plot. For those of you who don’t know who Adam Warren is he is most famous for his comic book adaptation of the Anime Dirty Pair Flash.
He is also famous for pushing the boundaries between titillation and fanservice and he uses that combined with satirization and humor to create Empowered. He definitely enjoys drawing sexy women in various states of undress, not that I am complaining. But on the other hand he also pokes fun at the people who enjoy that kind of thing. So take note before I start the review that it may not be for everybody.
The first volume starts of comedic and pretty light hearted pretty much everything is played for laughs, from the cheesy super hero names like: Capitan Rivet, Sistah Spooky, Major Havoc, and Glorpp, and they all belong to a team called the “Superhomeys”. Empowered follows the adventures of a busty superheroine, who has a tendency to to get her costume shredded to tiny little pieces and ends up tied up bondage style by the bad guys. And the fact that her suite that gives her the powers doesn’t work 99.9% of the time doesn’t help either.
She also has a big self esteem issue, and complains about the fact that the skin tight costume makes her bottom look big. She also gets discouraged because she always ends up being captured and tied up by the villains, and the fact that she doesn’t get treated as an equal by the other team members of Superhomeys make it even worse. But after every setback she would picks herself up and try again, you really start to feel for her as she hits another set back only to stand up and try again.
But that changes when she meets a guy ironically a thug working for villain she was meant to defeat, who encourages her to keep trying and not to give up being a super hero. He lets her know the good qualities she possesses like courage and determination and the fact that she put her life on the line more than any of the other super heroes. There are some great scenes were the both of them are thinking of each other while on the job, which makes for some awkward scenes as they are discover and she ends up having to save him.
That is were we hit the controversial area, which gave the book its shrink wrapped and “explicit content” sticker. Sex and lots of it, there is lots of scenes of Empowered and her boyfriend having sex and its just not hinted at like in other comics but its actually shown. But in my opinion it is tastefully done and well depicted and not done just for the sake to titillate. I love the fact that he isn’t coy about the subject matter and the fact that he handles it like a adult without the need for toilet humor.
Warren also doesn’t hold back when it comes to other subject matters. Such as what to do about body hair when wearing a skin tight outfit to the number of superheroes who got their powers from sexually transmitted diseases. It seems like there’s no sacred cow he wouldn’t touch and that makes this comic even more special.
Later on during the story she makes friends with Ninjette, a martial artist who is sick of working for villains and needs a break. Ninjette who was originally sent to capture her decides to take her under her wing and train her to become a more competent super hero.
They are also joined by the “Caged Demonwolf” an extradimensional Lovecraftian like being whom Empowered imprisoned in an energy draining alien bondage belt. Demonwolf spends the rest of the book sitting in her apartment, watching TV making sarcastic comments on her actions in a typical villainous voice like: “Costumed wench! Insert the “Mad About You” DVD for my viewing pleasure!” and “Can I watch you filthy mammals copulate.”
And I have to mention Warren’s art here. He is acknowledged as one of the very first artists to draw in the Japanese manga style and it shows. He really has developed the style and made it his own, I love the layouts that he uses in empowered and his action sequences are always awesomely created . The one thing I totally fell in love with was the facial expressions and body language that he seems to excel at and uses in his comics, especially when it comes to the female characters. Good stuff !
This is a book I can definitely recommend to everyone. Under the surface of all the satire, silly jokes, sexy half naked chicks, is a good superhero comedy. A story about a girl developing her super powers and doing what she loves best being a super hero.