Favorite Empowered Stories? (Spoilers!)

[dr3dg3]

Dark Horse's Empowered has been my favorite comic for many years. It's been a fantastic series so far and some stories stand even above their peers. I've made a list of my top 5 stories in the series so far. What are the favorite stories of some other Empowered readers?

5. Don't Let Them Bury Me; I'm Not (Quite) Dead

Here we get the first appearance of the superdead as volume 6's plot picks up. The conversation with Maid Man the story begins with delivers positive commentary for Emp as a part of the suprahuman community as well as a much-needed inspirational speech. It's a breath of fresh air to see Emp's friendship with a respected A-lister and to be presented with a silver lining in her notorious reputation.

Immediately after this insightful dialogue the superdead are introduced as a tragic minority of the suprahuman community. What really stands out to me during this story is how friendly Emp is to the superdead, despite their initial meanness toward her. The superdead quickly warm up to her some and seeing Emp begin to gather allies at last made this one of the most enjoyable stories so far.

Emp's past is also glimpsed into during this story. We get one of the rare scenes of Emp with her dad as well as her origin story. The unique yet oddly mundane origin of Emp's supersuit is a great reveal, and Emp's reaction is on point. The earlier flashback with childhood Emp familiarizes us with her fear of being buried alive. While deeper insight into Emp is always welcome, this flashback also provides an excellent set up that pays off in the volume's climax.

4. Distress and the Damsel (Or, Our Story's Exciting - If, Admittedly, Rather Lengthy - Conclusion)

This odyssey really marks a triumphant return for Emp after two volumes that focus mostly on other characters’ storylines. A legion of new supervillains is introduced and ultimately overcome by Emp. My personal favorites of these include Zappatista and Black Mechamamba, whose heated political squabbling escalates into amusingly violent supervillain infighting. The return of two major villains, however, proves to be a greater challenge for our heroine.

Deathmonger’s return was just as surprising to me as her true gender is. I’m glad she’s back in the Empverse and look forward to seeing what she may do in future volumes. Fleshmaster has become even more repulsive (both in appearance and character) and his demise is a satisfying one.

Manny also comes back to help his favorite superheroine and his emotional story comes to a close. He keeps Emp from being held in custody by the Executive Commission and also helps in saving her from Fleshmaster. Hope still lives on for him in the form of emulations uploaded to his combat mecha. They can still carry out whatever plans Manny had laid.

After surviving Fleshmaster, Emp goes on to stand up to the Executive Council and demands that Captain Rivet promote her to a full membership in the Superhomeys. This conclusion is Emp’s greatest victory so far, but afterward we see the heavy toll that the day has taken on her and her vulnerable human side shows through. It’s my favorite ending for an Empowered volume so far.

3. Good Girls

Ninjette’s first appearance may be short, but in relatively few pages we’re presented with the story of a skilled ninja who captures Emp but then begins an endearing friendship with her after the lazy thugs who hired her fail to show up. In this story Emp and Ninjette get their first drink together and it quickly escalates into a night of tipsy female bonding.

Empowered brings so much to the table, but my favorite aspect of this comic truly is the friendship between Emp and Ninjette, and Good Girls is where it all begins. Nine Beers with Ninjette, the fifth Empowered Special, provides a flashback of Ninjette’s first night at the bar with Emp from Ninjette’s perspective, which added the amount of depth that got Good Girls so high on my list of favorite Empowered stories.

2. Dire Peril

Emp’s apartment is my favorite place in the Empverse and Dire Peril begins with what I feel is the best of the many memorable scenes that takes place in it. Ninjette schools Thugboy on the Playstation while Demonwolf foretells “dire peril”, which quickly arrives in the form of Emp after a rough day at the job. Immediately after walking in Emp bursts into tears and is comforted by her friends, especially Demonwolf. Despite Emp’s understandable second thoughts on her career, Demonwolf dispenses some of his cosmic wisdom to rejuvenate Emp’s faith in herself.

While this beginning is sparse on action, we get a touching moment where we see how Emp is loved by others for more than just her superheroine alter ego. The self-confidence that she gains from Demonwolf’s insights is another positive moment that keeps me coming back to this story. On a side note, Thugboy makes some pretty hilarious facial expressions throughout this one.

The rest of Dire Peril deals with Ninjette disguising herself as Emp and beating fear into some minions to get her best friend some respect. This results in a fantastic action sequence and our first real action scene with Ninjette. The way the scene is “directed” is incredible and a great example of portraying intense combat in comics.

Dire Peril is a solid testament of what I feel Empowered should be because it has the humor, feels, and action that I have come to expect of it all in one story. It also showcases the plot’s four central characters as well as their bonds with one another.

1. Of Vocabulary Words and F**ked-Up One-Upmanship

For starters, volume 7 is my favorite volume so far. Emp herself has some great moments in this volume, even if it is more focused on Ninjette. Like I said earlier, the friendship between these two characters is my favorite part of the series and this story really emphasizes how strong it is.

The entirety of the story is a conversation between Emp and Ninjette. Earlier in the volume Ninjette got an idea regarding Emp’s distress issues and in this story confirms that Emp’s psychological state is more responsible than her suit is for the flakiness of her powers. Emp is less than convinced and continues to express self-doubt. This leads to Ninjette talking about herself in comparison and digressing into some very personal issues of her own, to the point of emotional outburst.

Of Vocabulary Words and F**ked-Up One-Upmanship is my number 1 story because it shows Emp and Ninjette at their most human and reinforces the strength of their friendship. Empowered has many strengths, but to me the character building in it stands above the rest. The really emotional moments that these characters have, such as those in this story, Dire Peril and Distress and the Damsel, are the ones that keep me so invested in this series.


These are my top Empowered stories. I’d really like to see what other Empowered readers think and what your favorite parts of the series are!

[Groovie Mann]

Adam Warren linked to this post on twitter. Little disappointed by lack of responses but whatever. Here's my top 5.

5. Say That I Deserve This-I found this to be one of the most incredibly intense stories in the series. I think it also is where I realized Empowered surpassed all other superhero comics in its way of connecting emotionally and really presenting what is at stake with superhero characters.

The Super-Homeys go after the mysterious Wily Pete without Emp who is hanging out with MindF-ck in the Space Station. However Wily Pete turns out to be more than they can handle and blasts the teams teleportation gate with enough power to blow a hole into the space station. Now Emp and F-ck have to try and escape but things are not looking too good for them.

4. Distress and the Damsel (Or, Our Story's Exciting - If, Admittedly, Rather Lengthy - Conclusion)-The OP wrote a nice bit about it. Very cool, fun ending to the recent volume.

3. Nine Beers With Ninjette-Favorite of the one shots with amazing art from Takeshi Miyazawa. Ninjette is a tragic character and her narration about how she associates certain beers with strong memories. Memories of her abusive father, memories of her friendship with Emp, and more was a roller coaster of emotions.

2. A Very Long and Very Uncomfortable Eternity-Volume 6 cemented Emp as my fave superhero book. Death Monger was such a brilliant villain and the twists on dead superheroes coming back was amazing. The finale of the volume having Emp leading her friend Ninjette, the emotionally distraught Sistah Spooky, and a group of super dead against Death-Monger provided big action and big drama.

1. Deflowered and Dispassionate-Nine Beers with Ninjette is a companion piece to this story from volume 7. A drunk Ninjette taking a bath while giving an origin story of sorts to the Caged Demonwolf only for the trapped immortal alien to drop his usual speaking pattern and voice to speak heartfelt to this woman he has grown quite attached to. he talks about how he can view every point in his existence simultaneously and can see Ninjette in various moments through her life. Its incredibly poetic.

I think Empowered gets a bad rep from some people because of the whole superheroine in distress the book was built on but the actual execution of Empowered is proof you can't judge a book by its cover. Its my favorite comic book.

[dr3dg3]

Thanks for the reply, and awesome picks!

I still remember the night I bought Nine Beers with Ninjette. It's a fantastic special and my favorite of those as well. The ending of that one really strikes chords with me and I would love to see more touching Emp/'Jette moments like it in the future.

Great to see another fan who has Empowered as their favorite comic book! Like you said, you certainly cannot judge a book by its cover and as my favorite of fictional stories I'm trying to raise its awareness upon my peers. While that's an ongoing journey, I hope at least that this thread can spark even more conversation among others who have read this wonderful title!

[DavidRA]

I love Empowered. My favourite story line was was 5 from the above. The superdead are a great creation, and I hope to see more if 'em in the future.

[dr3dg3]

As do I! They are a much needed contrast to the rest of the caped community and I am very happy that they have been in every volume since their introduction.

More superdead karaoke would be nice as well, especially if more Sleater-Kinney songs are involved! Liking a band that Emp likes also is more gratifying for me than it should be. x)

[TotalSnorefest]

Only really read one story, and flipped through a few others once. The one I read was Internal Medicine, which was a special/one-shot kinda thing Brandon Graham drew. Rather enjoyed that, although the colours looked unusually dark. Not sure if that was stylistic choice, or a result of the paperstock used for those special issues. Is the series usually so sci-fi heavy, or was that issue an anomaly?

A potential problem with something like Empowered is that it walks quite a fine line between giving knowing winks at the audience and falling into cheesecake territory. Luckily they mostly avoid that mostly by doubling down on the character relationships, there's a cool friendship at the forefront of it.

[dr3dg3]

I wouldn't necessarily say that Empowered is sci-fi heavy, but it gets a fair share of sci-fi from one of the main characters, the Caged Demonwolf, who is a cosmic alien entity. We also get a space station called referred to as the "d10", alien/mecha heroes and villains who get their powers from alien STDs or the notorious TeknoFetish company, and high-tech teleportation nodes, to name a few examples of the sci-fi influences. The comic is all about superhero culture in general, so sci-fi elements certainly arise as they are a longstanding part of comics.

Empowered walks a fine line indeed and I will admit that I originally got into the comic at 16 because of the titillating imagery, but quickly came to stick around for the strong character relationships you mentioned. Empowered and Ninjette make a great team, and Internal Medicine leaves me wondering if Emp still owes Ninjette a new katana.

Despite the dangerous cheesecake territory of the comic, Empowered has gotten some very nice reception from some feminists out there for the commentary it delivers and the strength of the characters, namely Empowered, Ninjette and Sistah Spooky. If anyone is interested, I recently dug up an interesting article about objectification in comics and how Adam Warren shows how harmful it can be in Empowered. It sites how he communicates how the objectification and poor treatment Emp gets from her own teammates takes a toll on her. http://fandomsandfeminism.tumblr.com...-earlier-today

It's great to see how this book has been able to succeed and grow from its sketchy origin of damsel-in-distress commissions. EMP 9 became a New York Times Best Seller in the graphic novels category and I hope to see it reach even higher in the future!

[millernumber1]

So, I toyed with the idea of making an Empowered Appreciation thread, but this thread seems like a good one to necro into the same general idea.

In honor of Empowered Vol. 10: Full Time Super Homey, I reopen the thread for discussion! (Hopefully enough people are impatient like me and went to the comic store and bought it, instead of waiting for the digital/regular bookstore stuff in two weeks).

Emp 10.jpg

My favorite Empowered story is definitely from volume 7, when the Demonwolf tells Ninjette what his perspective of her life is like. I tear up thinking about it. (Also, the true story of how terrible Ninjette's dad was).

Second favorite is probably the story of Manny, starting in an earlier volume, but reaching a climax, if not necessarily an end, in volume 9.

Have some linkage!

Read the first two and a half volumes for free, with commentary by the author/artist! http://www.empoweredcomic.com/

Buy the books! They're great!