I know Empowered not one of the higher selling books, but I've grown to love it. Part of the reason is because of the character of Ninjette, a New Jersey Ninja who's history is detailed in this title in a series of flashbacks each related to the number of beers she's had. Her father started her drinking at an early age, he was an abusive mean drunk. The issue also gives a good idea as to why Ninjette went from kidnapping Emp at their first meeting to best friends after a drinking session. It's as good of a character study as I've ever read.
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Empowered has generally been a good read, grwwing out of it's self-mocking fan-service beginnings to something much different. A lot of that has to do with the fact that Adam Warren has done a great job of showing us who his characters are and what motivates them. Ninjette has had a fair amount of exposure in this matter, but I remember from the last volume that even the caged Demonwolf had a moment of character depth and development. Truly one of the better titles out there when it comes out.
When I read the Caged Demonwolf's dialogue I can't think of anyone but Tim Curry.
Would the "self-mocking fan-service" part have been in the first trade? A friend of mine read that and said it was some of the worst comics he has ever read.
Randy Jackson said:
I haven't read Empowered for a while -- I think I have the first 3 or 4 volumes -- but I've enjoyed every one.
It's self-mocking fan service beginnings, Trav, are actually bondage pics that Warren kept being asked to sketch at cons. Empowered, the character and the concept, grew out of those. While the character work has deepened since volume 1, I'm sure, it's been in the stories since the beginning. If your friend didn't like that volume, I doubt he'd like subsequent ones. But you might want to check it out for yourself -- humor is pretty subjective.
Yes, I'd say that's the case. Empowered started as a series of shorts about a young female superhero who got her powers from a costume that frequently was torn from her body in every fight and who also frequently was captured and tied up by supervillains.
Over time, however, the series has grown out of it's original premise. There's still a fair amount of fan service and silliness, but there's also been a ton of character development and drama as well. Vol. 8 is supposed to be released in December, and I'm very much looking forward to it.
Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) said:
She still gets tied up easily, in fact short of the SA Lois Lane I can't imagine anyone who's been tied up in so few comic appearances, but she can be easily underestimated and save the day, I still think of her as the Charlie Brown of heroines.
She's been shown in the last handful of volumes to actually be tremendously competent, especially compared to some of her allegedly smarter and more powerful allies. She may get tied up frequently, but she does also saves the day frequently.
I think Dale Arden got tied up a lot in the Flash Gordon comic.
Thanks for the info guys!