Empowered Vol. 4

[digital_femme]

In honor of Adam Warren's Empowered one-shot hitting the shelves, let's take a look back at Empowered vol. 4!

Eight scans under the cut!

Comments

[From: kiplingkat]

I have so much unabashed love for Empowered. It is my favorite comic being put out right now.

[From: iskander]

Someone in this group recommended this title to me. Just sayin' SD causes people to buy more comics,not less. :)

[From: neuhallidae]

Motto. I never would have known about this series without SD.

[From: auggie18]

Wow. Everything I heard about this series made it seem skeevy and gross, but it looks pretty fun. I think I'll check it out.

[From: lamashtar]

..I was actually disappointed it WASN'T all about porn.

[From: sailorlibra]

There are bits of it that are skeevy, but as a whole, it's really a lot of fun.

[From: scottyquick]

Yeah, I bought the first volume after hearing Digital_Femme and JarodRussell love it so much, and the first third was skeevy and sleezy, but when Ninjette shows up, it becomes a lot more funny and the fanservice feels really fun as opposed to creepy, y'know?

[From: jarodrussell]

WHY IS IT NOT TOMORROW?

[From: toasty_fresh]

Okay, question: I've read very little of Empowered, but I've seen this "She's fat" joke repeated a couple times . . . how is this treated? Are other people like, "Yeah, you could lose some weight?" Are they like "You're not fat, stfd?" Is it handled well, basically?

[From: lysythe]

Well... she thinks she's fat, her boyfriend thinks her butt is marvelous but can't say so without getting the freeze-out because he often accidentally implies it's big while saying so, her best friend doesn't seem to think so and mainly emphasizes that it's really Emp going on about being 'fat' but helps train her in heroing and maybe a little loss of weight, her teammate-cum-worst-enemy just hates her 'cause Emp's blonde so she's probably talking about Emp's chubbiness because it hurts Emp, and the horndog teammates are generally of the (supposedly secret) consensus that she's hot.

[From: kiplingkat]

Basically, the "fat" thing is Empowered own insecurities, which play into how well her superpowers work. Her BF Thug Boy adores her and does not think she is fat at all, but Emp herself in very insecure about her body, especially given that the suit she is wearing is "thinner than a soap bubble"

[From: digital_femme]

Her boyfriend and friends think she looks wonderful. Her "frienemies" have a different opinion.

[From: darkblade]

Depends on the character her teammates on the "Super-Homeys" who are unashamed assholes (with a little more perversion they'd fight right in with The Boys-verse level assholes) perpetrate that because they are assholes but except for the only other woman on the team who really hates Emp all agree that she is hot but don't publicly admit it.

Some villians also use it though its hard to tell if they mean it or using it to throw her off her game.

Almost everyone else that I can think of off the top of my head is constantly telling her she isn't fat.

[From: dejadrew]

Basically? Empy got back. Reactions to that vary, as they do in life.

Her boyfriend LIKES big butts and thinks her ass is gorgeous, but can't say so directly because that would result in "OMG YOU THINK I'M FAT" and much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Her best friend would love to have her ass if it meant having the sweet boobs to go with it. Enemies and jerkwads, depending on the TYPE of jerk they are, will either drool openly over how "bootylicious" she is or mock her for being a "chubster."

So basically, Emp is a woman who is beautiful in a slightly non-standard way, and has to deal with all the crap that entails, internal and external. I think it's handled well, though I admit it can get a bit repetitive once in a while.

But everybody has that one little representative thing that's horribly wrong with us, you know? You look in the mirror, and you see that thing, and sometimes that's all you see. You fixate, you dwell, and it feels like everything and everyone in the world is drawing attention to your flaws. For Emp, her weight and her butt is that thing. So it's sort of right that it's repetitive, really. She can't let it go, and neither can anybody else.

[From: shanejayell]

"EAT HUMMER, DILLWEED!"

I love this book. ^___^

[From: ravenous_raven]

all in all, not sure how I feel about this so far. while Empowered's insecurities do make the audience sympathetic w/her, the whole character seems like one big massive fanservice. -_- lots of users seem to like her, is this the same s_d that ridiculed the fact that Cass (Cain)'s cup size went up whenever her suit got ripped? and this whole character's whole appeal of a frequently tied-up heroine w/even /more/ frequently ripped clothing gets no flak? o_0

still...
"And why do I have such a big butt as a grown-up?" *ahem* "I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE, YOU OTHER BROTHERS CAN'T DENY-" um, yeah, that's all of my rebuttal :D

[From: aegof]

The character IS massive fanservice. It's why she exists.

S_D's never had a problem with sex in comics, just where and when it shows up.

[From: nezchan]

I think I'm about the only comics fan in the world who's not totally taken by Empowered. Honestly, the above scans are the first ones I've seen that actually look at all appealing to me, but not enough to actually lay down money on.

But then, I wasn't very fond of most of his run on Dirty Pair and Bubblegum Crisis either, and thought he really didn't get the latter.

[From: nezchan]

Also, I want what the guy with the horrible mutant neck is eating. It looks tasty.

[From: strangerdan]

"RANSOMED BY CITY"
Yes! Yes! and Double Yes! for that Crime Mayor!

[From: mugiwara]

Wait, there are color pages in Empowered 4?

[From: mugiwara]

And BTW, does the one shot contain major spoilers about the last trades?

[From: darkknightjrk]

That does look pretty awesome actually. I might have to make it to the store tomorrow and at least look through this one-shot.

[From: blakeyrat]

I love everything but the constant sweatdrops on every character all the time. Most annoying anime cliche ever, and it's in almost every panel here... ugh.

[From: baihu]

All the talking about weight and butts and now I imagine Emp voiced and played by Renee Zellweger...

[From: mcity]

Son of a gun, that's who I've been imagining her as. Thank you.

[From: arilou_skiff]

Thugboy's neck looks positively Liefieldian.

[From: 404glitch]

He does love his .50cal Barrett.

Thugboy is the almost the only badass-normal in the group; the only other one that can claim that would be Maid Man (think Batman if he was Alfred).

[From: halloweenjack]

I think the thing that won me over to the series was the whole discussion about how she had to wax Down There because otherwise her bikini area looked like a Brillo pad through the costume--but then why didn't we see camel toe all the time? I giggled like a giggly thing what giggles.

[From: 404glitch]

Adam keeps trying to explain it in every successive volume, but it usually gets forgotten in exchange for actual story time.

[From: rhythmbandit]

Aww younger self... every hero/heroine should have some nice ass-kicking boots.