Empowered Volume 4 Review

Empowered Vol. 4
Dark Horse Comics
Graphic Novel
208 pages
$15.99 (2008)
ISBN 9781593079949

Contributors: Adam Warren

Synopsis: Empowered is a self-conscious superhero with a fragile hypermembrane super-suit giving her enhanced abilities at the cost of her self-esteem. It's super-flimsy, becomes unreliable when torn and fits ultra-tight giving everyone a free peek at all her nooks and crannies.  She's a laughing-stock in the superhero community for being regularly captured and tied up. Despite her abysmal reputation she manages to keep a plucky attitude with the help of her former minion boyfriend, Thugboy, and her best friend, Ninjette. 

When Sistah Spooky loses her
powers she becomes
Lil' Spooky

Emp and Thugboy help Ninjette recover from the brutal beating she suffered at the hands (and feet) of her ninja clan members in the last volume.  They were trying to reclaim her after she ran away several years ago to avoid a dreadful clan life (it's in New Jersey).  The sexual tension between her and Thugboy heats up while she recuperates at the apartment he shares with Emp. 

Meanwhile Willy Pete pops up again to jam his raging hot boner (literally hot enough to pop your skull like a grenade) into the skulls of more hapless victims. He's still pissed about losing to Thugboy and wants to make sweet love to his head.  Emp spends some time at the Suprahuman Medical Center and befriends a young boy who wants to be a supervillain. 

The superheroes have their own awards show and Emp is nominated for a Capey - 'Suprahuman Most Deserving of Wider Recognition', but something is fishy about the nomination - will this be a Carrie moment where everyone ridicules Emp? 

Pros: Warren's art is top-notch as ever, Thugboy and Ninjette being guiltily attracted to each other was hilarious, story was more coherent, nice ending, some color pages, Emp actually saves the day, and Sistah Spooky gets shown up

Cons: Digest-sized (like all those manga books filling the shelves at your computer programmer friend's house - you should tell him about the bald spot), black and white, price increase over previous volumes, Willy Pete is pretty disgusting

Mike Tells It Straight: I think this volume has been my favorite so far - Warren steps up his writing by giving us an actual story running through the separate chapters and resolving it at the end of the book.  It's a major improvement over the scattered storytelling of previous volumes and the slow progression of supporting character sub-plots.  Example is the Thugboy/Willy Pete showdown which has been agonizingly plodding along.  Willy Pete gets even more nasty in this book and it's time to give this loser his comeuppance already!

The sexual innuendo and beautifully drawn women are still a great draw, but Warren delivers a compelling tale to make this a successful series progression.   You'll need to be up-to-speed on the storylines from all the previous volumes in order to enjoy it, but Empowered continues to be an amusing read.

TO BUY and Recommendations:
   

Empowered Volume 3 Review

Empowered Vol. 3

Dark Horse Comics
Graphic Novel
208 pages
$14.95 (2008)
ISBN 9781593078706

Contributors: Adam Warren, Jo Chen, and Tomoko Saito

Synopsis: Empowered is a self-conscious superhero with a fragile hypermembrane super-suit giving her enhanced abilities at the cost of her self-esteem.  It's super-flimsy, unreliable and ultra tight giving everyone a free peek at her every nook & cranny.  She's a laughing-stock in the superhero community for being regularly captured and tied up. 

Ninjette and Thugboy help support Emp's fragile ego while she trains rigorously to become a more potent hero.  We witness the earth-shattering spectacle of 'superhero karaoke' as Emp gets sauced.  Next she gets kidnapped and used in a series of supervillain capture gadget infomercials.  A new rival emerges to steal Emp's spotlight - Ocelotina the 'capture-wench' gets tied up and her videos go viral!  Poor Emp is no longer the #1 super-hottie captive! 

Major Havoc gets turned down by a supervillain

Emp brings the Superhomeys some Japanese homoerotic doujinshi (yaoi manga - written by women for women and featuring men) starring her less-than-kind male teammates to completely mess with them.  More secrets of the suit are revealed along with Thugboy's 'anti-cape' past.  The deadly ninja assassins finally catch up with Ninjette and it's a killer battle to the finish!  Can Emp and Thugboy save their friend in time?

Pros: Warren's art remains high quality with some serious action pages at the end, Emp is hot and scantily clad throughout, Ninjette's excessive beer-chugging while maintaining a perfect physique is explained, less Caged Demonwolf tirades in all capital letters (cuz that gets old), origins of Thugboy and Ninjette are revealed

Ninjette receives a brutal kick to the face

Cons: Digest-sized (like all those manga books your niece/nephew are reading at your family reunion), black and white, price and page count remain the same as last volume (higher than volume one), Warren's inks over his pencils (thankfully few)

Mike Tells It Straight: What!? Another Empowered review? I may be showing an unhealthy bias towards this book due to two interests - 1) Japanese manga/anime and 2) hot chicks.  Warren delivers another volume of Emp's adventures with the same offbeat humor mixed with a healthy dose of T&A.  Emp's supporting cast continues to be the focus as both Ninjette and Thugboy's origins are revealed (for the most part).  Mixed with the humor are some serious situations and a brutally violent finale.  Not what I'm used to from our titular heroine's adventures and it caught me a little off-guard.  It gets dark, but overall a good (quick) read and I'm still psyched to check out the next volume.

TO BUY and Recommendations:
   

Empowered Volume 2 Review

Empowered Vol. 2

Dark Horse Comics
Graphic Novel
204 pages
$14.95 (2007)
ISBN 9781593078164

Contributors: Adam Warren

Synopsis: Empowered is a self-conscious superhero with a fragile hypermembrane super-suit giving her enhanced abilities, but it's flimsy and completely revealing.  She's the lowest-ranking member of the Super Homeys and a laughing-stock in both the criminal and hero community for getting captured/tied up regularly. 

Her self-image has improved a micron after befriending hard-drinking girl-ninja, Ninjette and dating reformed henchman, "Thugboy". 

In this volume we learn all sorts of keen information about the super-suit: it forms around Emp's hair follicles and if she doesn't shave her 'naughty bits' she'll wind up looking like a Brillo-pad down there, the suit enhances erotic pleasure, and it gives her x-ray vision.  We also learn Thugboy is on the run from a villain he betrayed and Ninjette kinda sorta has a thing for him.  All this and Thugboy explains why Emp's booty is righteous. 

This reminds me of a story about another sexy librarian :)

Pros: Warren's art is still action-packed (full o' speed lines) and Emp is one curvalicious babe with low self-esteem (just the way I likes 'em), chapter breaks are fewer and less lame, sexy librarian chapter rules!

Cons: Digest-sized (like all those Tokyo Pop manga volumes the nerdy high school kids were reading at Borders - before they closed Borders), black and white, less pages for same price as first volume (which was 248 pages), story doesn't progress too far in this volume, for the amount of beer Ninjette chugs she should be way less skinny, The Caged Demonwolf's talking in all caps and exclamation points gets old

Mike Tells It Straight: Warren delivers a solid second effort for his titular heroine.  We learn a bunch of stuff about Emp's suit and a few tidbits of her past.  I felt like this volume mainly set up storylines to be resolved in the next volume related to Emp's supporting cast.  The stories were still entertaining and good light-hearted comedy, but a little less interesting than the first volume (reviewed here Empowered Vol. 1).  I'm hoping the third volume makes up for it.

TO BUY and Recommendations:
   

Empowered Volume 1 Review

Empowered Vol. 1

Dark Horse Comics
Graphic Novel
248 pages
$14.95 (2007)
ISBN 9781593076726

Contributors: Adam Warren

Synopsis: Empowered is a self-conscious superhero and member of the super-group -  The Super Homeys.  She possesses a hypermembrane super-suit granting her enhanced abilities including stamina, strength, invulnerability, and energy casting.  The only drawbacks - it's skintight, completely revealing, doesn't work without skin-to-membrane contact (i.e. no underwear please), loses power when it gets ripped, and gets torn easier than the homecoming queen on prom night (oops!). 

Emp's typical night is getting hogtied and ball-gagged by a bunch of perverted villains with the Super Homeys eventually coming to her rescue.  Hopelessly unreliable due to the fragility of her super-suit, she can't get no respect.  She remains plucky despite the difficulty of her powers, but ends up dating a henchman dubbed "Thugboy".  She then becomes friends with a girl ninja named Ninjette and ends up with The Caged Demonwolf as a coffee table decoration. 

Pros: Warren's art is action-packed (lots of speed lines) and he is excellent at drawing curvy women, lots of pages, self-deprecating and sarcastic writing by Warren with many fourth-wall breaks

Cons: Digest-sized (like all that manga sitting on the shelves of Borders gathering dust - before they closed Borders), black and white, has too many chapter break intro pages, very corny, no nudity

Mike Tells It Straight: Empowered is a good read if you're looking for lighthearted comedy.  Her exploits are mostly failures and she's always self-consciously half-naked.  Warren crafts a humorous analogy to the insecurities and concerns of everyday life through his titular heroine. 

TO BUY and Recommendations: