New York Cool: ‘Empowered’

(Rich Johnston is the man behind Bleeding Cool, the most uproarious comics site on the web.)

(Dark Horse)

There’s an new issue of the comic Empowered by Adam Warren out today from Dark Horse Comics. The comic that loves to have its cake and eat it. Because, yes, we get scenes such as the above.

But then it gets metatextualised as all hell.

A superheroine struggling with the fact that her very powers seem to defeat her — a costume that gives her superpowers but that tears very easily — at which point all her powers disappear. Combine that with a disastrous level of low sel- esteem, she is the opposite of the post-modern superheroine, the Buffy, the Tank Girl, the Tomb Raider — she is, in effect, a very weak superwoman.

Until you discover that she keeps on going. Finds new moments of inspiration. And, even when bound and gagged, never actually surrenders. And eventually, like the tortoise and the hare, wins. Wins big. It’s always wonderful. She is clever, resourceful and uses her reputation as a loser to give her foes a false sense of security.

She’s Emp, and she’s one of the best current comic book supercharacters. It’s a very subversive form of feminism and sexual warfare that totally and unashamedly gets unreconstructed heterosexual males to buy into these fetishistic images and then gives them a lesson in sexual politics while doing so.

Because, as she says, this sort of thing does seem to keep happening to superheroines. Wonder Woman is the classic, created by the inventor of the lie detector, William Moulton Marston. WW seemed to get tied up and gagged at a moment’s notice — and also liked doing the same to others with her truth-telling lasso. And Catwoman? She’s a walking gimp these days, with a zip to show off cleavage.

But maybe things are changing. This week, DC Comics has been showing off their Villains Month covers for September, where all the bad guys take control of the DC Universe. And all the heroes find themselves trussed up in a variety of poses. Batman even gets gagged! Gender equality!

Empowered doesn’t just stop there of course. She also tackles important memes concerning the portrayal of women in comics and comics culture, namely accusations of the famous Brokeback pose…

Empowered is an acquired taste. It can take a little while to get your head into the right space to be smothered by such sophisticated and ironic cheesecake. But once it clicks, this could be your favorite comic ever. Just … be careful trying to explain why you like it so much to anyone else.

Empowered Special: Animal Style by Adam Warren and John Staton is published today by Dark Horse Comics.

(Again, as we said, Rich Johnston writes for Bleeding Cool at www.bleedingcool.com. He’ll be a regular guest at lunchtime on Wednesdays.)

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