That's some good reading

Started re-reading Empowered Volume 3 last night.

I have a thing with Trade Paperbacks/Graphic Novels where I always read them twice. I dunno why I started this - I think it's cos so much of my stuff ends up packed away in boxes or fairly promptly re-sold on e-bay it helps me feel I've got better value for money out of it. It's a bit like watching both the dub and sub version of an anime - one time you can appreciate the story, the next you can look more at the art.

Anyway, the point of this post is to say I really think Adam Warren knocked it out of the park with this third volume of Empowered.

For anyone not in the know, here's the wikipedia article about Empowered. Basically it's one of those "If super heroes and villains were really real what would it actually be like?" ideas. A bit like the telly show Heroes, but a bit sexier and funnier and better and with Adam Warren's lovely art skillz.

I've been a fan of Adam Warren's for quite a while - his Dirty Pair stuff was around at the time I was first getting into anime and manga and I find his stuff quite funny and his techno-fetishistic-ness appeals too. You can get a look at what Mr Warren is all about by checking out his deviantart page here. He also pimps Empowered quite a bit, so you can check out stuff about it there.

Anyway, back to the point again - Empowered volume 3 is very good.

Empowered apparently started as a commission that developed into something more, and if you check out the books you'll see Volume 1 is lots of very short (2-4 page) stories. The stories have generally gotten more coherent and formed a single narrative arc as the volumes have gone on and with volume 3 we have some of the longest tales, but the thing I like is that they still vary in length.

Because the volumes are released as larger trade-paperback style it gives more of a freedom that allows each story to be just the right length, and I like that a lot.

Another thing I like is one of the characters - the caged Demonwolf. I guess the best description I could give of him is that he's a super-villain in a kind of Lovecraft-ian vain, but his essence has been trapped in an alien belt-like device that therefore renders him powerless. In fact, all he can do is talk and see via some sensors.

It's a little difficult to express quite what's so awesome about the caged Demonwolf, but think early Stewie from family Guy - arch super villain utterly trapped by his circumstance. It's the juxtaposition of pretensions of grandiosity with the mundaneness of reality.

He's not in volume 3 so much, but what is in volume 3 is very good, with some really meaty story arcs and some interesting character development, with few laughs and some genuine yaoi doujinshi too... Anyway, you should definitely check it out.