Empowered Volume 4 (v. 4) [Paperback]

Adam Warren (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Series: Empowered | Publication Date: November 11, 2008

Costumed crimefighter Empowered is briefly overjoyed to find herself in the running for one of the superhero community's annual Caped Justice Awards (or "Capeys") - only to discover that her nomination was merely a cruel joke by her obnoxious superpeers. But when the masked masses face a cataclysmic reckoning for such previous heartless hoaxes, can our perpetually struggling heroine overcome her resentment and save the day? And can she cope with the further problems posed by crossdressing vigilantes, dying wishes from preteen wannabe supervillains, telepathic "booty calls," a deeply depressed ninja, bedroom "cosplay" conflicts with her boyfriend, and even . . . Hummer® fu? Each volume comes shrinkwrapped with an 18+ advisory sticker.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (November 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159307994X
• ISBN-13: 978-1593079949
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious as ever, "Empowered" endears even as it titillates...., October 31, 2008

By 

W.Kim (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empowered Volume 4 (v. 4) (Paperback)

One of the first of the American manga-imitators, Warren's work stands out from the pack because of his writing, his own, personal knack for simultaneously celebrating, parodying and exploiting multiple elements of pop culture (superhero genre tropes, cyberpunk sci-fi techno-babble, good girl art, hong kong action films, etc.) often on the same page, and even in the same panel. (In this his work recalls' Harvey Kurthzman and Will Elder's gag-filled work for the early Mad Magazine and their "Little Annie Fanny" strip for Playboy Magazine). So long as you can tolerate (or better, enjoy) good-natured cheesecake and copious amounts of fan service without getting enraged, you're almost guaranteed a rollicking good time reading one of his books (Recommended titles include "Titans: Rock Paper Scissors," for DC Comics and "Grunge: the Movie" for Wildstorm Entertainment).

However skilled Adam Warren is as a comic writer, he rarely gets the accolades he deserves for his talent for creating endearing characters, and writing engaging adult-orientated romantic comedy. The first time I noticed these strengths was when I (belatedly) read his tragically truncated run scripting Wildstorm's "Gen13" (with Rick Mays providing pencils). Here Warren managed to make even the most uninteresting secondary characters, Burnout and Rainmaker interesting, and in the latter case, even compelling. It's true that the careful reader can find hints of these talents in his early work (even the utterly mindless delirium of his "Dirty Pair" adaptations) however the sheer amount of fan service, techno-babble and high-speed action he crams into his layouts usually obscures those strengths. Ultimately the problem was that comic book editors rarely gave him writing stints that were long enough for him to display this side of his talent as a writer....

... Until now, with the advent of Warren's presumably creator-owned "Empowered," published by Dark Horse Comics, home of mainstream writer/artists gone independent, like Mike "Hellboy" Mignola and Frank "Sin City" Miller. (May Warren reach similar levels of success: now that audiences are used to comic book movie adaptations, they might just be ready for a movie version of "Empowered," a faithful adaptation of which would go a long way to make up for the lackluster, "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," a well-meant dud if I ever saw one.) Though once again, the book is primarily a genre satire, and, as usual, Warren piles on the manga-esque fan service (primarily parodies of bondage art), the heart and soul of "Empowered," and the real reason (other than the assurance of irreverent comedy) I think readers come back for more, is his appealing characterization of his spectacularly inept, yet unreasonably enduring and good-natured heroine, Empowered (Emp to her close friends), and Warren's ability to convey a convincing of warmth and affection between the members of her primary supporting cast, which includes: the her ever-supportive boyfriend, Thugboy, a former professional Witless Minion-for Hire (by supervillains) who also hides a violent past as a killer of both superheroes and their adversaries, Ninjette, a usually upbeat runaway ninja princess (and borderline alcoholic) with a bounty on her head, and the dangerous, conquest-bent outer-space demon lord, who lies trapped inside a power-draining piece of space-alien bondage gear (a leftover from one of Emp's more embarrassing misadventures) that rests on the coffee table in front of the roommates TV set.

To sum, in "Empowered," Adam Warren's really at the top of his game, infusing the more recent volumes with a surprising and refreshing warmth (so long as you don't mind good girl art - something that declines in emphasis as the story goes on... sort of) as the relations between those near and dear to our plucky heroine take center stage in the third and fourth volumes. For those who can tolerate a lot of good girl-style imagery (which serves instead of stops the story) "Empowered"'s definitely worth a try. (For those doubting Thomas out there, who want to settle the issue quickly, I suggest starting with the third volume.)

Happy Reading Folks,....

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best volume yet, November 22, 2008

By 

T. Smith (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Empowered Volume 4 (v. 4) (Paperback)

Warren does not disappoint as Volume 4 of Empowered is the best one yet. The pieces of the story are pulling together, making the wait for Volume 5 almost too much to bear. His main characters are deep and complex, and it's always a delight when a particularly clever bit of foreshadowing in previous volumes pays off. His courage in mixing comedy and serious themes is admirable, and he handles this very difficult task well (the villain Willy Pete, a psychotic sociopath, is as utterly terrifying as the overwrought Caged Demonwolf is hilarious).
The incredibly clever names he gives the heroes and villains never stop, with double and even triple entendres. In fact, the sheer explosion of ideas in the book is matched only, in my opinion, by Masamune Shirow, creator of Ghost in the Shell. Make sure to examine the backgrounds at the Capeys...every little figure is wonderful and full of character.
Warren might not appreciate this, but I think Empowered is also a great soap opera...or at least an engaging love triangle.
I suppose one should mention the sex. Yes, despite what the major comic book companies have told you for 50 years, it is indeed possible for comics to have sex in them. (What would you expect when buffed and toned young folks are in close proximity to each other?) And very enjoyable sex at that--past titillating, but less than graphic. Warren's women...and men...are a delight to look at (well, my wife likes the men, anyway). The story "Elephants, Cups, and Canoes" show how a story can be funny, sexy, and and yet inexplicably tasteful at the same time.
Warren's freedom in going to a "straight to complete volume" format pays off in the storytelling, as well. Unconstrained by the requirement of fitting each chapter into 24 pages, he can take as much--or as little--space as he needs to tell the story he wants to tell. It also allows him to put in amusing little vignettes that either cast light on the characters or move the ongoing storyline forward even as he tells self-contained tales.
Warren is also clearly very well read, and the book brims with clever inside jokes. His dialog is sharp and snappy, and his voicings for various characters are consistent and clever. If the Caged Demonwolf doesn't make you laugh, nothing will.
The art, in Warren's trademark ultra-tight pencils, is crisp and clear. He seems to be able to draw just about anything with equal levels of skill, a rare gift for a comic book artist. His panel-to-panel storytelling is smooth and confident.
All in all, it is money well spent and a book that rewards multiple re-readings to catch all the subtleties.
In a just world, Empowered would be outselling tired old characters like Batman and Superman as they trudge through their hundredth similar plotline. We can only hope more and more people catch on to Empowered.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best satire of superhero comics takes it up another notch, August 8, 2010

By 

Whitt Patrick Pond "Whitt" (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Empowered Volume 4 (v. 4) (Paperback)

This is the fourth volume of Adam Warren's Empowered, which is absolutely one of the best satires on the comic book super-hero genre ever done. It continues the adventures of the main characters introduced in the first volume: the title character Empowered, the "hotness incarnate" yet insecure-about-body-issues super-heroine with the unreliable supersuit that leaves her vulnerable (and nigh naked) at the worst moments possible; Thugboy, her sweetly loyal and supportive former-badboy boyfriend; Ninjette, her fun-loving and totally kick-ass ninja girlfriend, and last but never least, the Caged Demonwolf, a cosmic demonic overlord imprisoned inside an alien bondage belt who offers priceless on-going commentary on the lives and doings of the other three (always referring to himself in the third person and never by the same name twice, and sounding like a cross between Skeletor and the anime-style version of Teen Titan's Starfire).

This fourth volume continues to build on the plot-lines set up in the first three, and we learn more about Thugboy's past, which it seems is a whole lot darker than he lets on. The satire continues strong, beginning with a special treat, a full-color story called "Who da Ubermensch?" where our heroine shows readers the more practical way to take out a supervillain with a vehicle. "General Hospitality" is a completely over-the-top spoof on TV-drama hospitals and on what a hospital for superheroes might be like, not to mention some hilarious sex-laced speculations on the part of the Caged Demonwolf when Ninjette moves in with Empowered and Thugboy to recuperate from injuries suffered in the previous volume. "Of Maids and Wet Blankets" introduces one of the funniest supervillains ever conceived, a guy with a highly useful power but who is also the biggest killjoy on the planet, so supremely annoying even his fellow villains can't stand him. "My Definition of Team-Up" brings back the flaming (literally) supervillain Willy Pete, previously only seen in Thug-Boy's nightmare flashbacks, in an unexpectedly jaw-dropping scene. Satire or not, this guy is absolutely the nastiest piece of work ever to grace the pages of any comic; he makes most other supervillains look like Walmart greeters. "Orbiting Spookums" is a funny and yet sweetly touching story where we meet Mindf[expletive]ck, a telepathic superhero who knows Sister Spooky far better than she is comfortable with. In "Of Wishes and Mayflies", Empowered agrees to a Grant-A-Wish foundation request for a boy with terminal cancer, only to find out that the boy, Manny, is an aspiring young supervillain and his wish it to tie up a beautiful superheroine. And as so often happens, unintended consequences ensue. (Note: Manny is a unique and fun little supervillain and I'm hoping he'll show up again in future issues). In "Bouncebackalicious", Empowered finds out that her nomination for the annual Capeys' Suprahuman Deserving Of Wider Recognition award is actually a joke, the Caged Demonwolf shows just how much insight he really has into Ninjette's and Thugboy's supposed secrets, Empowered's supersuit shows yet another hidden aspect, and Thugboy has a another nightmare flashback revealing yet another dark episode of his past. And all of these stories' plot elements feed into the truly kick-ass climax "Because This Is What I Am" where Empowered comes into her own at the Capeys Awards ceremony when she, along with Thugboy and Ninjette, manage to save the day when the ceremony turns out to be a trap designed to take out the entire superhero community, a trap planned by a most unexpected villain.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys satire, the superhero genre and far more realistic treatment of boyfriend/girlfriend (and in this issue, girlfriend/girlfriend) relationships than you're likely to find in any comic of the genre anywhere.