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community weblog
Sexy superhero comedy - except when it isn't
Effective parody must be at least as good as what it's parodying. Empowered by Adam Warren is a comic that begins as episodic cheesecake, but gathers characters, ideas, plot and feelings like an avalanche, becoming a dramatic and affecting superhero story that stands with the best of them. Originally published in print volumes by Dark Horse, for the past few years Adam has been posting it page-by-page for online reading with candid author's commentary. We're currently partway through the twelfth and final volume.
(content note: the early parts of this comic contain some transphobic jokes)
Warren's other notable comics have included the sci fi series Dirty Pair (based on the original 80s manga and anime) and many Marvel, DC and independent works. Adam Warren was one of the first American comics artists to engage with Japanese manga art and style in their work. His characters' dialogue and favourite flavour of sci-fi ideas are as distinctive as his artwork. Empowered grew out of a set of heroine-in-distress themed private commissions to become his biggest creator-owned work.
posted by Lorc on Jun 06, 2026 at 1:26 AM
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Okay, so, I've been looking forward to a lot of the things you've posted, Lorc, and this already sounds cool enough to pop it to the top of my Lorc Things To Read list, but:
with candid author's commentary
made me actually click over right now. I LOVE author commentary, people sharing whatever they want to about the creation process and their thoughts about the work and just whatever, and the few entries I've skimmed so far are fantastic.
Thank you so much for posting this, and the whole string of recent posts. I am really delighted at the prospect of diving into this.
posted by kristi at 1:40 PM
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Yeah, this is him re-examining pages he might have drawn 10-15 years ago so he doesn't hold back. He'll moan about past him forgetting how to draw waists, or changes in character proportions panel-to-panel that are *barely* discernable to the average reader. Or how his style and process has changed over the years, which techniques he used to swear by that were a huge waste of time. Occasional digressions into compromises he had to make, or anecdotes about the industry and his background in general. It's good stuff.
posted by Lorc at 2:05 PM
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[Content note added to post in consultation with the user.]
posted by mod_adrienneleigh at 2:16 PM
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I've enjoyed this. It's one where I really wouldn't recommend reading the comments; a couple of the regulars really lean into talking about the cheesecake.
posted by Bryant at 2:59 PM
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I haven't read Empowered (although I've read about it), but I loved his Dirty Pair books. They were fun trans-humanist silliness, that went way beyond the source material. Good stuff.
posted by Spike Glee at 3:09 PM
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I like empowered! It's horny silly ultracheesecake with as noted some serious character work in there too, but tbec there's a lot of attention to big fat titties as a core artistic value.
I also like the odd innocence with which every single swear word is censored, especially when there are two characters who swear so much half their word bubbles are blacked out like an SCP briefing
posted by Sebmojo at 4:31 PM
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Oh wow, I use to pick these up way back in the day. I always meant to get caught up, seems like the moment now as it's heading towards the finish line. It's been over TWENTY YEARS so I'm really curious to see how this holds up (and how it evolves).
Adam Warren has had the tightest penciling work in the business for decades. It's almost hard to imagine someone bothering to cover it up with ink!
posted by Rudy_Wiser at 3:59 PM
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