Product Description

After saving much of the superhero community from certain doom, costumed crimefighter Empowered is dismayed to find that, in the suspicious eyes of her caped colleagues, she's gone from being merely a 'pair of training wheels for supervillains' to possibly being a closeted supervillain herself! Worse yet, she's wrestling with envy and resentment that her roommate Ninjette and boyfriend Thugboy are now more popular in masks-and-tights circles than she is! Meanwhile, our stressed-out superheroine must also unravel an alien-spawned body-image conspiracy, overcome 'cosplay' dress-up disasters at work and in bed, and try to survive a potentially lethal confrontation with her teammate, Sistah Spooky!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66584 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781595822123
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

The most impressive volume of Empowered so far
In Volume 5, Empowered continues to be one of the most sharply written, charmingly irreverent and surprisingly heartfelt graphic novels on the stands. If you're smart enough to look past the shrinkwrapping and mature enough to not be offended by the occasional tongue-in-cheek sexual reference, you will find an unique and hilarious series to fall in love with. Honestly? If all the books with "Mature Readers" stickers on them were as thoughtfully and intelligently written as Empowered, comic book fans would be blessed. Hell, the characters in Empowered are so emotionally nuanced and fleshed out that a few of the writers at DC and Marvel could do well to take notes.

Empowered, Vol. 5, opens shortly after the end of the fantastic Vol. 4, hitting the ground running and only briefly pausing to catch it's breath. While I'd still recommend any and all new readers start from the beginning of this series, Mr. Warren sets the stage ably enough (including a thorough recap at the beginning of the volume) that I would say a new reader could pick up and enjoy this volume with no prior knowledge. This particular volume of Empowered mostly delves into the heart and souls of Emp's supporting cast, notably the troubled Sistah Spooky, all the while still adding considerable emotional depth and breadth to Empowered herself. Readers should be forewarned that, while Mr. Warren's trademark humor and cheeky irreverence remains solidly in place (The Caged Demonwolf is, as always, hilarious), this volume ends with a emotional, action-filled roller coaster of a story that just might break your heart. I know it sucker punched me in the best possible way.

Honestly, I cannot recommend this series highly enough. Please purchase this book - doing so sends feedback to the good folks at Dark Horse Comics that fans would love to see more of Adam Warren's smart, funny work in print. After Empowered, Vol. 1, getting a fourth printing, you'd think they might finally consider reprinting some of his earlier "Dirty Pair" volumes. Ah, well. Here's hoping.

Quite simply, this is Adam Warren at his finest. Empowered, Vol. 5, is the most touching volume of this wonderful series to date and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Here's to Volume 6!

Fifth in a great series. Can't wait for the sixth
Once again, Empowered gets herself into some unusual situations. Our plucky heroine shows that she has a heart of gold, even when dealing with enemies. This particular issue starts immediately after the end of the fourth, where Emp saves all of the supers at the Capey awards (sort of an Oscar award for super-heroes). Of course, no one witnessed Emp's heroic efforts, so she still gets no respect from her fellow 'capes'.

From this beginning, the volume proceeds through several different side-stories. We have an amusing episode with Ocelotina's TV show, where she teaches Emp about the uses of Duct Tape. Emp also has to save the super-cosplayers she works with. Finally, there is the opening story of a showdown with Willy Pete.

Throughout the book, I found a lot of little things that I really liked. Emp's sympathy toward the villain Anglerfish was a nice touch, and showed that she really cares. Ocelotina's stunt with the duct tape shows how she looks up to (and out for) Emp. We see a bit more of Ninjette's relation with her clan, too. We also find out a bit more about the suit too.

Throughout the book, we see Adam Warren's irreverent humor. We also see his creativity - some of his supers (such as Mindf**k) have interesting back-stories. He also shows his visual creativity illustrating the supers. Homunculous and Divangelic are both visually intriguing.

The one slow episode was "When Titans Make Love", which is a rather long story where the Demonwolf describes Emp and Thugboy's evening to Ninjette. Since most of the story is written in Demonwolf's overly wordy speech, it gets a little difficult to follow. Even Ninjette is mocking him with the same speech pattern at the end.

The final episode is a roller-coaster. You'll read it three times before putting the book down. Wow.

Wonderful Continuity
I started reading Empowered at a comic shop without really expecting much while I was stuck waiting.

Early in the first volume things picked up and I realized that there was fluid continuity to all of the seemingly one-shot gags when she captured the Demonwolf using some gear she'd been tied up with in a previous gag, and by time I stopped laughing at the absurd developments, I realized I had read through the first volume, so I purchased it, and had to wait for the rest.

By the time I had reached the fifth volume, I found that I had grown rather attached to the characters each for different reasons. Every bit of the story flows, from the Caged Demonwolf's rants about the remote control, to Sistah Spooky's and Emp's disparate body issues, to Thugboy's guilty conscience about the fact that his presence might draw Willy Pete to Emp, I couldn't put it down, and now I find myself stuck waiting for more.

I suppose the biggest compliment I can pay is that reading this has led me to try to hunt down all of Adam Warren's other works, just to try to further explore his sense of humor and characterization.