Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Empowered volume 1 by Adam Warren::
by William the Bloody
Empowered is a twentysomething superheroine. It has always been her dream to be a superhero and now with her hypermembrane supersuit, that dream is a reality. Sort of. While her suit grants her the strength of ten men, provides limited invulnerability and enables her to shoot energy beams, it is also made of an unbelievably delicate membrane which can rip easily, and the slightest breach of integrity instantly causes an exponential decrease in super abilities. So, while her suit can stop a barrage of bullets, those same bullets, once stopped, will leave a tear in the suit and leave her vulnerable to attack and capture, which does happen. Quite a lot. One small rip from a nearby rose bush and it's cement shoes for Empowered. This plucky young heroine won't let the near constant humiliation of frequent capture deter her one bit. But you know, she could almost handle the malfunctioning suit if it weren't so delicate that she'd at least be able to wear underwear with it! But nooooo, it's so thin that anything worn under it is terribly apparent and anything worn over it causes it to stop working altogether, and all this doesn't really do much to help in the body image department. She's self conscious about her butt, but there's nothing she can do to cover it up when wearing her ultra-skintight supersuit.
The Good: I can't go on enough about Adam Warren's art. It looks to be only pencils here, but the lines are clean and have real depth. He also draws several "superwomen" in this comic and they all look different and unique (unlike, say, J. Scott Campell who pretty much draws the same woman body over and over again). In addition to distinct looks, the characters are all their own as well. Empowered started out, believe it or not, as a commissioned work to draw a superheroine all tied up. Yes, it's true, and this is never denied. But during the course of these mini comics which started out as solely a means for the titular character to wind up in bondage, she started to grow and develop as a person, and this is true, too. While it does start out completely silly, as it goes on and she continually gets herself captured and made fun of by her fellow superheroes for it, you begin to feel for her. You see how adorable she is and you want her to win. Her character develops, she gets some friends who are interesting and funny (even the cosmic "planet raper" who gets trapped inside energy absorbing chains and is left on Empowered's coffee table watching DVDs all day). Truly, the supporting cast helps to make this comic come to life and expand the fun.
The Bad: There was a bit more... um... sexiness in this comic than I had expected, even with the bondage premise. Sure, Empowered gets herself a handsome boyfriend and they, you know, have sex, as people in relationships are known to do (or so I'm told), but it was loads more soft core than I thought it would be. I mean, there's no graphic nudity or anything (Empowered's nipple region is always stealthily covered by strands of her hair and nothing more taboo than butt cracks of below the belt stuff), but it feels like at one point the sex stuff becomes the central plot and homour source. Granted, a lot of it is genuinely funny, but it might test some people's tolerance levels.
Overall, I really did enjoy Empowered volume 1. It took a few story arcs, but as the supporting characters come in, it really comes into its own. The story of her meeting Thugboy was especially sweet and cute, while Sistah Spooky's "secret origin" gives an honest answer to her constant hatred and belittling of Empowered. There is quite a lot of "pop culture" type humour that I like and Empowered and Thugboy's relationship makes me want to smile. If you can get past all of the "soft core" sexiness, I think you just might be in for a fun treat.
A
