She's not a typical superheroine by any stretch.

Her powers come from her tight-fitting supersuit, which gives her various abilities and, apparently, works only for her. As she takes hits in battles, the suit absorbs the damage but tears and shreds provocatively, leaving her overexposed (and weakened) until it regenerates. She learned the hard way not to wear underwear beneath tight spandex. She's pretty sure her butt's too big. She gets captured a lot, and she's usually tied up until someone thinks to rescue her. She (deservedly so) lacks self-confidence, and even her super-powered teammates don't like her much. One describes her as a "chubby, half-naked white girl who spends most of her alleged superhero career bound and gagged." That sounds about right.

But there's something simply endearing about Empowered, the oddly named heroine written and drawn by Adam Warren, best known in the U.S. for his work on Gen-13 and the American manga feature Dirty Pair.

As Warren noted in an interview about the new series, "I've created a superhero book contaminated with manga influence, a book that could very well appeal to neither audience." Actually, I think it will appeal to portions of both, at least sufficiently to warrant a second and third book in the series.

The art is roughly textured, giving Warren's mangaesque lines an unfinished look that, surprisingly, works well for these short vignettes. There is also a lot of implied nudity, with key body parts blocked by draped hair, costume fragments and well-situated props, as well as suggested sexual activity that makes Empowered inappropriate for younger readers. (I've heard Dark Horse will ship the book shrinkwrapped to protect the innocent from accidental exposure to our heroine's charms.) Warren does avoid any explicit nudity or sex, however, although he does admit the book had its genesis in a series of privately commissioned "damsels in distress" (i.e., bondage) art.

The plucky star of the show isn't necessarily comfortable with her own origins, as she makes clear in one of several asides to the readers: "It is kinda skin-crawly to think that, right now, some guy with 'specialized tastes' might be getting, um, turned on by images of me all bound 'n' gagged 'n' distressed ... or even, ick, you-know-what-ing to those images...! ... Y-you're not like that, right? R-right?!"

And she is likewise quite aware that she's forced to parade around in a revealing outfit that ceases to work if she wears anything over or under it. "Stupid supersuit can stop a bullet," she fumes, "but it can't stop my boobs from bouncing around!"

OK, so you probably can tell what audience Warren is aiming for, and since the book is cute and funny and sexy, he'll probably get it. Or at least he should. Why not? Readers looking for a more empowered heroine have plenty of options out there on the shelves. Perhaps it's time one of them did worry a little bit about the kind of message her skin-tight and concealing-nothing costume is sending to her fans, foes and teammates. And, considering her vulnerabilities and her track record against the villains, Empowered certainly is a brave little cheesecake idol.

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
21 April 2007