Empowered Vol. 12 (Dark Horse, June 2023)

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shevek
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Most people on this forum are hopefully aware that one of the sexiest comic books (and comic book characters) of all time
is Empowered, aka "Empy", not-so-secret identity Elissa Megan Powers.

Created by Adam Warren (of Dirty Pair fame), this series has been publishing mostly in complete book form since 2007,
available in smaller manga-sized volumes due to its presentation as basically an American black-and-white manga-style superhero comic.
(The only single issue 'floppies' I've seen have been for the two mini-series - 'Soldier of Love' and 'High School Hell' - which were written by Warren but drawn by other artists).

If you haven't heard of Empowered, the basic idea is exploiting the tropes of damsel-in-distress. Empy wears an ultra-tight alien costume that gives her amazing powers, but this costume is subject to various levels of destruction which reduces those powers, making her vulnerable.
In addition, Empowered herself is often subject to peril situations such as bondage, gagging, and chloroform. From what I can glean on his Patreon,
Empy may have begun life under a different superheroine name (Emerald) who underwent a serious of DID drawings back in 2004, and then Empy
is the more fleshed-out version of that.

The other sexy part of the comic is that she's generally a pretty horny creature, and quite gorgeously buxom, so she has sex on the regular with
her ripped boyfriend, Thugboy. And if you're looking for other sexy female characters with tight costumes, they are in abundance here, starting with her best friend Ninjette (American girl who was raised by a ninja clan in Japan) and Sistah Spooky (sexy black nerd-girl with magical powers, who is somewhat of a rival to Empy).

Overall, this makes Empowered one of the longest-running and most consistent "bad girl" books on the comic shelf (and yes, it is well distributed - most comic shops worth their salt, who deal with Diamond, have Empowered on the shelf somewhere). You're not going to find too many other comics which are this sexy *and* deal so hilariously with superhero tropes on a constant basis (Clint Hilinski's 'Blue Bombshell' is somewhat similar, but I think closer in influence to the old Penthouse Comix, while Empowered clearly leans more on the manga side).

[I've put influences from Empowered personally into Heroineburgh. The most obvious one being Chlorina, who is the sexy female form of Adam Warren's pathetic villain 'Chloroformaster', whose raison d'etre is to subdue heroines with chloroform. Our villainess has motives which are a bit more complex, but it's the same general idea: 1) Render the heroine unconscious. 2) Conduct the evil experiments.]

But unfortunately, from what I've been gleaning from Adam Warren's Patreon posts (he posts them publicly on a certain other site), the sales of Empowered haven't been great lately. I'm not sure if the material is floundering in the current ultra-PC climate (I could see many a woke comics clerk wishing to ban Empowered from 'their' store), or if Adam Warren is simply not getting enough publicity and press for his work (which again, could be at least party due to reason #1 re the current 'shill media'). I'm not aware of him doing any public appearances, either - I mean, if he's not on the Con circuit at least to some extent, he's going to have a very low public profile. Whatever the circumstances, he seems to be relying more these days on his Patreon than on actual book sales (although I'm happy to be wrong about that, if corrected).

Nonetheless, he is soldiering on to complete what looks like an adventurous Empowered Volume 12, which will be out in June 2023, and as far as I know is still coming out on Dark Horse. Here's the synopsis, which seems right up this forum's alley:

"Costumed crimefighter Empowered discovers that she’s trapped in a surreal nightmare scenario as her superhero universe begins spontaneously rebooting itself over and over again, with each variation more twisted and bizarre than the last! Can our befuddled heroine somehow undo this inexplicable Neverending Reboot—while simultaneously steering her love life in a boldly polyamorous new direction with Thugboy and Ninjette, no less—or is this The End for Emp and her chaotically convulsing cosmos?"

I found the cover art for Empowered Vol. 12: The Neverending Reboot - lines by Adam Warren, and colors by Ryan Kinnaird.
Please don't share the art - just enjoy it right here, and wait anticipatingly for this volume to come out in June.
(I'll top this thread around that time, when I get the volume. But if you have your own fan opinions of Empowered, feel free to post now!)

Looks like it's gonna be a doozy! GO EMPY!
Empowered Vol 12 cover.jpg
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