Empowered vol. 9

Getting the collection of one-shots in “Empowered Unchained” earlier in the year was nice.  The fact that this latest volume of the main series is excellent even by the title’s normally high standards is better.  Things start off by picking up on the fallout from Emp and Sistah Spooky’s trip to Object 524 as the former is brought before a superhero tribunal to answer for her actions.  In addition to resolving some plot points and setting up more for payoffs later in the volume (and further down the line), we also get a vindictively fun flashback sequence as Emp tells a cape named Ghost Writer exactly what she thinks of his plans for a book about her exploits that focuses on her most humiliating and degrading moments.

That’s only setup for the meat of the book, which has the title heroine bouncing from supervillain to supervillain as they try to secure the location of Object 524 and its ultra-powerful cache of alien weapons for themselves.  What follows is a thrilling and near-perfect mix of action, comedy, and drama as Emp uses her wits and acquired knowledge of the supervillain community to turn every situation to her advantage.  All of it leading up to a climactic moment where we finally find out just what happened to young, terminal, supervillain-in-training Manny and dWarf/Fleshmaster after they disappeared at the end of vol. 4.  While all of these sequences require at least one moment of Emp getting captured and tied up, it’s still uplifting and terrifically entertaining to see her triumph over so many different bad guys all in succession.

My only misgiving about all this is that the only reason she has this advantage over her captors is due to her persistent status as victim.  It’s interesting to see creator Adam Warren spin this as a positive, but I’m still hoping the endgame for this series has Emp finally outgrowing that role.  Some might also take issue with that breakdown she has at the end.  I don’t.  We’ve known from the start that she’s not a scarily competent badass that can shrug off any trauma.  The fact that she needs some reassurance from her boyfriend fits right in with her established character.  Plus, who wouldn’t be on the verge of tears after a day like hers that also included a run-in with Death Monger.  All of this is excellently put together by Warren and will just make the wait for the next volume (Hopefully dropping in late 2016?  Maybe?) that much harder.