Story and Art: Adam Warren
Cover Colors and Yaoi Story (page 69): Emily Warren
Yaoi Story (page 67): Jo Chen superchica
Back Cover Colors: Jo Chen & Welt Jens for GURUeFX
Linguistic Assistance (pages 130-131): Marc Miyake
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
I barely read any ongoing comics before getting this gig here at ComicBuzz – used to get only mini-series and graphic novels -, so I’m falling down on a parachute into several titles. Empowered is one of them.
Volume 6 was my introduction to the world of Elissa Megan Powers, a.k.a. the superchica known as Empowered, and I couldn’t be happier with what I saw. The comedic take on the lives of superheroes, and particularly into the life of the main character, who has to deal with everything that being a superheroine entails, including being objectified and expressing her displeasement with it, is a welcome treat amid the nitty-gritty of other comics.
Heavily inspired by japanese manga both in visuals and storytelling, the story is wacky, violent, saucy and heartfelt all at the same time.
This volume starts with a botched attack that claims the lives of several of Empowered’s teammates. As the only one that comes out of it unscathe, she is blamed for the failure and has her bondage-clad pictures (she seems to be tied up A LOT), spread all over the media.
But then… The scorched corpse of one of those fallen heroes comes back to life. Later on, other heroes apparently resurrect as well, and the dreadful truth is revealed: thanks to the deals most heroes struck to gain their superpowers, their bodies can be killed, but their super abilities will live on in them, which makes them victims of a fate that is literally worse than death, by the hands of the villain Death Monger, who has been enslaving the super-dead to do his bidding. It’s now up to Empowered and her remaining allies to take him down.
Peppered through the volume we also find a few sexy times chatter, a fantasy league of superheroes, and my all time favorite, a PSA video for damsels in distress, including tips on how to increase your chances of escaping when tied up.
While I can’t say that the story left me wanting to backtrack into earlier issues to see how it all started, I will definitely be checking out the issues to come.
Overall: 7/10
Patricia Loupee is a collector of skills: wannabe tattoo artist, seamstress, sculptress, cartoon artist, and most importantly comic book colorist, inker and writer. Her work in the world of comics can be seen at indie titles by Red King Press, Correct Handed Productions, Phoenix Dreams Publishing and the Boston Comics Roundtable anthology Being True.
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