Sunday Spotlight - Empowered

We generally deal with titles that can be enjoyed by everyone, but today we're looking at something that isn't really always appropriate for younger readers. Don't worry, it says NSFW right there on the cover so you have been warned. That being said, Empowered is an AMAZING book and if you're eighteen or older, you'll love reading it.



Empowered is a superheroine, but she's not exactly top tier. Her powers come from a fantastic suit and can give her flight and super-strength, but only when she wears only the suit. Unfortunately, the suit only works if it is one piece, and since it's extremely fragile, she ends up losing her powers at the most inopportune moments. This means she ends up captive to a lot of supervillains. A LOT. In fact, she's something of a joke in the superhero community (although she has become an expert on knot-tying). She has to deal with mockery from her peers, rope-chafing, low self-esteem and no respect on either side of the law. Things start to change when she meets Thug-Boy, a former henchman of a supervillain and there's an instant attraction. As they start a relationship, Empowered also meets Ninjette, a hard-drinking warrior from a ninja clan in New Jersey. With these two friends at her side, things are starting to look up for Empowered's life (although she still has to take a job as a bad impersonator of herself).

Adam Warren began Empowered as commissions for bondage fetishists, which is part of why Empowered ends tied up so often. Before too long, the character started to form as a parody of those commissions – what would a superhero be like if they continually got captured by villains? Surprisingly, Warren makes Empowered a well-rounded character, with flaws, hopes, and dreams. She has a strong motivation for what she does and the comic has grown into something much more than the sex gags it started out with. There's still a lot of sex in there (and including it makes Empowered and Thug-boy's relationship one of the more realistic couples in superhero comics) but it's more about the character dynamics and overall plots. There's very few comics that can be both hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time, but Empowered manages it.

This is definitely not a comic for everybody. The art style draws heavily on manga and leans hard towards fanservice (especially for bondage fetishists). However, it does have one of the most realistically human superheroines currently being written. She has concerns about her body - understandable, since she has to run around the city fighting crime wearing nothing but skin-tight latex. She loves her friends and will do anything for them. She hates her job and has to put up with idiot co-workers. Sometimes, she has fights with her boyfriend. She saves the world, but doesn't get the credit she deserves. For a genre rooted in power fantasies, Empowered is refreshingly down-to-earth, which is amazing since it's a series that has a man with a cinder block for a head as recurring character.

If you like superhero parodies, as well as heroines who overcome their own insecurities despite everyone telling them they're useless (and you're not bothered by too much sex-comedy), I strongly recommend Empowered. She may not be the usual 'strong female protagonist' but she is definitely one of the most relatable.

Empowered vol. 1 – 9781593076276 - $27.99 – 248 pages