Reviews of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN VOL. 2 and MATT WAGNER’S GRENDEL OMNIBUS VOL. 1: HUNTER ROSE

While one of earth’s greatest heroes is wrapped up scrambling for cash to fund his school, one of the world’s greatest villains, a devil in black and white, stalks the streets as we catch up with the continuing adventures of the Westchester X-Men and discover a criminal mastermind’s most diabolical legacy.

Wolverine and the X-Men Vol. 2

After the brief diversion of Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega, we return to the regular series with volume 2. For those who missed it, the X-Men have schismed into two groups: Cyclops and his team at Utopia on the West Coast and Wolverine heading the Jean Grey School for the Gifted Youngsters in Westchester on the East. While Cyclop’s Extinction Team confronts world-ending menaces and alien supercriminals, Wolverine confronts the trepidations of running a school populated by superpowered teenagers and the reemergence of the Hellfire Club.

In this volume, Hank McCoy takes the class on a fantastic voyage into the mutant body, getting up close and personal with antibodies, the mutant gene, and a number of the ickier organs, all rather brilliantly illustrated by Nick Bradshaw. Meanwhile, Wolverine contends with the school’s money woes, desperately scrabbling for income from Worthington Industries, a prospect immediately shot to ribbons when the board of executives declares Warren Worthington (alias Angel, formerly Archangel) declares Warren mentally unfit to run the company (and as Warren sheds his clothes on the company HQ’s lawn, it’s hard to argue the fact). Officially hitting desperate times, Wolvie fetches his trusty bag of desperate measures and yanks Quentin “Kid Omega” Quire out of class, loads up in a rocket, and rides to the galaxy’s richest casino. And if thought they treated card counters harshly in Vegas…

Meanwhile, Kitty Pride is…pregnant!? OR IS SHE!? *dramatic music sting*

God, it’s been a long time since an X-Men book has been fun. Fun and not wrapped up in the overdramatics of persecution, prejudice, and people generally acting like assholes. Is a bit of fun adventure so much to ask from a comic book? Not that a bit of drama and tragedy is a bad thing, but when an entire book becomes saturated with it to the point that everyone is miserable and angsting about one tribulation or another…yeah, like any monotone, it gets boring eventually. The characters here aren’t exactly having the times of their lives either, but the overall tone is much more lighthearted and enjoyable. Wolverine and Kid Omega continue their authoritarian/anti-authoritarian rivalry while bonding over the joys of extraterrestrial gambling. Meanwhile, Kitty’s pregnancy gets her questioning her choices in life, the mistakes made and relationships past gone wrong. And as an alien menace invades the school, the students must summon the strength to be heroes — albeit, in Kid Gladiator’s case, the call to heroism means having your masculinity questioned by an uppity white blood cell. Following the events in X-Force, Angel’s delusions smack head first with reality, forcing him to question truths he thought immutable and dreaming of reconciliation. The book concludes with a one-and-done spotlighting Hank McCoy (and featuring the return of artist Chris Bachalo on pencils, always excellent), yet again battling between the beast and the brain as Sabretooth pushes him to the brink in yet another ploy by the Hellfire Club. Overall, it’s all very proactive and develops each character in a positive direction, rather than taking them down the twin roads Dick and Douche.

I suppose the harshest thing to be said about this book is that it avoids all those classic X-Men dilemmas too much. The school comes off as a far too insular a place and you yearn to see these characters interacting with the outside world with non-mutant humans. For a lot of the students, particularly the ones we follow the most like Kid Omega and Idie, how they’re viewed by humanity plays a large part in defining their character, turning Quentin into a lovably diabolical smartass and Idie into a self-loathing bag of neuroses. It just comes off as a lot of missed opportunities passing the series by.

But for what it is, Wolverine and the X-Men is one of the better books being published by Marvel at the moment, a publisher which, like DC, has been pursuing some rather questionable editorial pathways in recent years. When was the last crossover event when the good guys actually fought a villain rather than fight each other? While DC made the mistake of disowning their characters’ pasts with the September 2011 reboot, Marvel makes the mistake of letting their characters’ pasts bog down a narrative to the point that heroes end up bickering among themselves over the tiniest trifle while villains just fade into the background. This is why Wolverine and the X-Men feels so good to read; it’s just so refreshing after the same old overdramatic crap plays out for the hundredth time. Sure, it may not be the most revelatory of X-Men books but it compensates with sheer entertainment.

And now, a tangent…

Conundrum: Is it better to get more trades more often at the cost of fewer issues published per trade or get fewer trades less often but with more content per trade? At the moment, this is one of the key differences between DC and Marvel’s publications. While DC’s trades are being rolled out with at least a six month gap between each publication, each volume contains no fewer than six issues with at most eight issues. Marvel, on the other hand, have taken to publishing four issues per trade while occasionally upping that to five or six. Both companies give some leeway for the storylines to dictate the number of issues per trade so the reader isn’t left with all but the last issue of an arc missing or two halves of a two stories shoved together into a single book. It also shows how each company is willing to let writers decompress their stories. Peter J. Tomasi’s first story arc on Batman and Robin took a total eight issues to unfold and DC kindly packaged all eight issues in one trade. Meanwhile Marvel’s writers have been trending toward shorter storylines concluding in four to five issues. Both schools of thought have their advantages but, coming in at a scant four issues, Wolverine and the X-Men Vol. 2 feels underweight, especially for a hardcover release at its current price.

Nevertheless, the quality of the stories will leave you wanting more and it’s only a few months’ wait for volume 3. Personally, I really hope this title survives Avengers vs. X-Men with the same writer intact but, if not, I’ll heartily enjoy it while it lasts.

Reviews of previous volumes: Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega.

OMNIBUZZ

A look at the latest collections and omnibus releases

Matt Wagner’s Grendel Omnibus Vol. 1: Hunter Rose

Inspired by the European noir of Diabolik, Matt Wagner’s Grendel premiered in 1983 from Comico but soon moved to Dark Horse, serialized in Wagner’s own Mage series, after that company went defunct. As years passed, Grendel grew out of its pulp fiction roots into a treatise on crime and aggression, of the strength of the human will and its sublimation by the strong and corrupt. In short, an epic.

What better series to archive into an omnibus collection given its twenty year history, choppy publication history, and the sprawling nature of the work, covering the life and legacy of the world’s greatest criminal mind and the fallout from his vainglorious reign?

Grendel’s debut, Devil by the Deed, is a sophomoric work, indicative of Wagner’s young age (21 at the time of publication) and early exploration into the medium. It’s not so much a comic as an illustrated essay; indeed, the story takes the form of an article, or possibly book excerpts, of a third party recounting the famous criminal mastermind’s deeds. Wagner’s prose is overwrought at times, rarely broken up with dialogue, expositing constantly. Yet the story plays a key role in everything that is to follow. What we are reading isn’t a bildungsroman recounting the rise and fall, life and death of Hunter Rose but rather the legend of Grendel, mythologized like his namesake. What’s important isn’t the twists and turns and intrigue of Grendel’s doings but, rather, how these things build upon his legacy.

At face value, Hunter Rose is very much a Mary Sue, perfect in nearly every way, praised by those around him, unerring in nearly every deed and crime and kill. So Devil by the Deed barely builds upon him as a character, leaving deeper insights into his motivations to the speculations of the narrator. Thus, Grendel’s entire career from birth to death is expounded upon in broadest details, painting Grendel as mythically capable and unimaginably talented, doing most to set the stage for future stories than build a cohesive stand-alone narrative. Everybody knows the tale of Beowulf, whether they’ve read the poem or not, and they know the end before they’ve read it; how Beowulf dies is not important, but rather how he lived and what he stood for matter most. Similarly, it’s Hunter’s singular sense of utter superiority and the fruits he reaps of his latent talents and malevolent deeds that form the centerpiece of the Grendel cycle.

Effectively spoiling the entire narrative of Grendel’s life draws the reader’s focus away from basic narrative conventions — will he survive? won’t he? who will prevail over whom? — and forms something worthy of the Grendel title: a twisted and bastardized rendition of the Hero’s Journey. While Wagner’s prose tries terribly hard to evoke literary sensibilities, ultimately sounding pretentious, the story succeeds in establishing the Grendel mythos, building the framework for what will emerge from the collections to follow and the story to conclude Hunter Rose’s time as the devilish Grendel. What works most about Devil by the Deed is Wagner’s artwork, remarkable most in its composition if not the detailed artistry of each individual image. They complement each narrative passage well, doing more to evoke the necessary emotional resonance than the prose itself.

What follows, the collections Black, White, & Red and Red, White, & Black, compose the heart of what makes Grendel a remarkable work: short stories centered less around Grendel himself and more so those affected by his plans and plots. Those he hunts, those who witness his kills, those who cross him, those who track him, those who fear his name and quake at the thought of that double-bladed staff pointing their way. Each story unravels in its own unique style, assisted by the multitudinous talents of the artists on display here who all make the most of Grendel’s black and white with red spot coloring style.

The book closes with Behold the Devil, the longest of the stories, and one of the few with a full arc. Hunter Rose is in the middle of his career, expanding his reign over organized crime and arranging deals with foreign mobs. But Hunter Rose is feeling off his game as a strange presence stalks him; feeling as though he’s being watched, Rose finds himself uncharacteristically flinching at shadows. Meanwhile, a reporter and detective each find themselves on the trail of Grendel, skirting the edges of his criminal empire but unable to penetrate it. And with Hunter preoccupied by this strange menace, they may just get the advantage of him. The story builds to the ultimate challenge to Hunter Rose’s self-made brilliance, calling into question his own capability and uniqueness in a world suffused with banality.

The biggest fault to be laid against this book is in its publication. Dark Horse has elected to release these omnibus editions in paperback only with glued binding. Given the number of pages, snapping the spine is absolutely required to fully enjoy any double-page spread. As well, the nature of the binding and the quality of the paper makes the book awkward to hold. To top things off, while several of the collected works here were originally published in standard 7” x 10” comic book format — namely Behold the Devil, the longest, piece which easily dominates the book’s page count — all have been reduced to 6” x 9” format. It’s not a book made for repeated readings nor will it have a long shelf life; while the paper itself is high quality, the book feels as though it will fall apart with time. The minimal amount of extras taken with the book price and the above grievances indicate Dark Horse doesn’t intend this to be an archival release so much as a definitive collection of every Grendel story targeted at new and curious readers. However, given the quality of the stories here and the sheer amount of them and the reasonable price, those unfamiliar with Grendel have no excuse not to pick it up and discover a true masterpiece of sequential art.

Grendel Omnibus Vol. 1 is a must-read for any fan of noirish, literary comic books, classic pulp fiction, and unconventional storytelling.

Reviews of DRIFTERS VOL. 2 and SCOTT PILGRIM VOL. 1: SCOTT PILGRIM’S PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE COLOR EDITION

Jack of All Trades’ first manga review, along with a series inspired by the tradition and styles of Japanese comics, beginning with the follow up to Kouta Hirano’s breakout series Hellsing, and following up with the revamping of a popular indie series courtesy of that mystic northern land known as…Canada.

Drifters Vol. 2

Mangaka Kouta Hirano is best known for his series Hellsing, an ultraviolent supernatural action manga about a clandestine English organization dedicated to fighting vampires — you know, before the sparkly variety took the fore in teenybopper soap operas, when vampires were actual goddamned monsters. Following up that popular series, Hirano took a left turn at the genre crossroads, exchanging the supernatural for historical fiction dosed with a heavy pinch of sword-and-sorcery fantasy. Drifters introduces us to a world where earth’s most famous, or notorious, historical figures are abducted moments before death and employed in an ongoing war between two mystical forces vying over a fantasy kingdom inhabited by elves, orcs, and trolls. A far cry from the Nazi vampires of Hellsing yet no less action-packed, bloody, and coated with Hirano’s trademark goofball humor.

In the first volume of Drifters, we met time-displaced historical figures Shimazu Toyohisa, legendary warlord Oda Nobunaga, and Nasu no Yoichi. Those unfamiliar with Japanese history need not fear; their identities and historical relevance unravel in short snippets of dialogue (though any passing fan of anime or Japanese culture will no doubt recognize the name Nobunaga). Hirano cares more for the legend of these characters rather than their literal historical relevance or factual biographies. The same carries for his depiction of notable Western figures like Hannibal, Roman general Scipio Africanus, the Wild Bunch, and Jeanne d’Arc.

PREVIOUSLY, ON DRIFTERS: Japanese warrior Toyohisa, upon the moment of his historical death at Uto Hill in the Battle of Sekigahara, finds himself transported via a magical doorway to an otherworldly realm inhabited by strange races and imperialistic humans in Western garb. Finding himself in the company of the legendary Oda Nobunaga and the enigmatic (and androgynous) Yoichi, Toyohisa soon learns that he is a “Drifter” in this universe, a human pulled from our earth by a mysterious being to be used as warriors against the forces of the Black King. The Black King wages a war of conquest and absolute destruction for any and all human beings, waging war with his “Ends”, similarly time-displaced historical figures who have been bent and twisted by their past into super-powered monsters.

With all the players in motion, this volume puts aside setup and dives straight into the action as Drifters Nobunaga, Toyohisa, Yoichi, and agent of the Magicians’ Guild Olminu aim at forming their own army in opposition to the Black King’s as well as the conquering empire of Orte. With no true warriors unallied to any nation or superpower to be found, Nobunaga reckons they’ll just have to create some new ones. With that, they descend upon a small village of elves, despondent serfs of the province’s duke. Then, Toyohisa does what he does best: embroiling the spirits of the weak into pyres of righteous anger, and soon our heroes have a contingent of archers lusting of the blood of their oppressors.

On premise alone, this series seems doomed to failure. The elements at play here are just too disparate and contradictory. Either write historical fiction or write fantasy. Sure, Nazi vampires work perfectly for the B-movie action schlock Hirano clearly gravitates toward but this is just too out there of a premise. But Hirano pulls it off with spectacular, ridiculous flare. Once you see the Wild Bunch firing a Civil War-era, hand-cranked Gatling gun into an oncoming army of orcs, one can’t help but nod with approval and say, “You’ve done it again, sir.”

Drifters works best when it’s at its most bombastic and outlandish. And, thankfully, those moments come…well, actually they never stop. A scene never passes without some level of bombast streaking across the page, whether it’s the characters screaming into each other’s faces, butting heads over their clashing backgrounds or approaches to tactics, or the action scenes which systematically set out to top each other every time. Hirano makes no pretense about writing high drama or crafting nuanced characters. Naturally, every character makes up for their lack of depth with bombast and lunacy. Nobunaga, especially, stands out as the magnificent bastard of the group while Toyohisa, the more traditional, straight-laced hero type, avoids the boring, blasé trap that similar characters often fall into — mostly by being the most badass warrior to ever grace Japan. Chopping down a tree with a single sword swipe not part of your regular exercise routine? Pussy! And Yoichi…Yoichi like the creep factor, using his very feminine appearance to give his teammates the heebies. His scene training a group of elves at archery

This is a series that turns the dial to eleven, letting up only to lull the reader into a false sense of security. Think you’ve got a grip on what this series is all about? Fuck you! Japanese fighter plane mowing down mounted dragon cavalry!

The awesome…so…blinding…

In keeping with its standard manga publications, Dark Horse released this volume in standard 5” x 7 ¼” format unlike the higher quality oversized releases you get with Viz, especially those under its Signature imprint. The cheaper paper stock also dilutes the inking, rendering blacks dingy while the white of the paper fails to stand out as well as it should. As a result, Hirano’s more intricate penciling can look muddied. A shame given Hirano’s impressive penciling, at its best after sharp refinement in the latter volumes of Hellsing.

Nevertheless, Drifters remains an exciting, action-packed series with a lot of character, moments of awesome, and fantastic artwork if, albeit, published in an admitted disposable format. Any fan of the lavishly ludicrous narratives comic books can offer need to read this series. There are just too many moments of insane awesomeness to pass it up.

Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life Color Edition

Scott Pilgrim, following the criminally underappreciated film adaptation by Edgar Wright, sees a second life with the release of hardbound, colorized editions of the original comic series. Previously published in Manga-style digest format in black and white, the Color Edition expands the page format by an inch in either dimension while colorist Nathan Fairbairn fills in the gaps.

Unlike most manga that makes it over to the West, author Bryan Lee O’Malley thankfully eschews most of the tropes of the shonen fight manga that get the most attention from publishers. Most…but certainly not all. In fact, that’s part of what makes Scott Pilgrim a breath of fresh air for a genre grown stale and homogeneous; you’re not liable to find the depth of character and theme in Naruto or Bleach that you’ll find in Scott Pilgrim. It’s all the lunatic fight sequences you expect from Dragon Ball Z but with all the character and charm sorely missing from those books.

For the uninitiated, our story begins in the far off land of Canada — Toronto, to be exact — where Scott Pilgrim is dating a high school girl. The age difference only makes this kinda creepy and Scott’s complete inability to initiate anything more…intimate with Knives Chau, the high schooler in question, makes the “relationship” all the more pathetic and sad, at least in the eyes of Scott’s bandmates and friends. Things get complicated when Scott starts dreaming of a strange-haired girl on roller blades and even more complicated when he meets said girl in real life, growing instantaneously infatuated with her. Ramona Flowers, the girl of Scott’s dreams (see what they did there?), just moved to Toronto and, like Scott, is coming off a bad breakup. Worse, unbeknownst to Scott or Ramona herself (you should really read your emails more thoroughly, Scott), the lass carries a stable of Seven Evil Exes hell-bent on ruining any new romance Ramona may find…and heaven help Scott when she finally gives him a glance.

Even early on, the themes that will define Scott Pilgrim begin to emerge. Primarily, Scott stands as the epitome of any twenty-something young adult growing well beyond adolescence yet repeatedly failing to mature in any real sense. Scott doesn’t have a job, his friends look down on him, his relationships are pitiful, and, in general, Scott isn’t the most likeable of protagonists. He’s thick in the head, a bit callous (though never malicious…most of the time), and has a hard time of facing the consequences of his own actions. The full nature of his character won’t emerge until later volumes, so Scott comes off a bit more likeable here: an underdog down on his luck, looking for simple escapes from the madhouse that is…normal life.

The larger format and the coloring are well worth purchasing the series all over again. The coloring doesn’t elevate the art into the upper strata but, more importantly, complements O’Malley’s simplistic art style. Colorist Nathan Fairbairn opts for more realistic, muted shades early on, though as the plot becomes ever more fantastical and outlandish, the brighter, blooming shades come out, especially with the debut Evil Ex battle. But most of all, the coloring helps distinguish characters with greater ease — O’Malley’s art style gives all his characters similar kidney bean heads, making distinguishing similar looking character difficult in the original black and white books. As well, the inking is a lot cleaner compared to the original volume and certain backgrounds have been cleaned up and given more splashes of detail. Faults in the artwork generally stem from O’Malley’s lack of refinement in the early stages of the series, lacking the energy and punch of the pictures, panels, and layouts you’ll find in later on, as well as a few instances of off-model characters and wonky expressions.

Currently available in hardcover, the book comes in library binding format with the front and reverse covers printed directly onto the hardback rather than the dust jacket format of most hardcover releases. This is a minor quibble and the book doesn’t suffer for it — personally, I prefer the dignity and regality a dust jacket brings but, then again, “regal” and “dignified” don’t exactly describe Scott Pilgrim. Pages are printed on high quality pulp paper stock rather than glossy, giving the inking and coloring a more organic feel as well as tying the book to its digest format roots. The book also comes with a good amount of extras, including an afterword by O’Malley, sketch galleries, and various bits, bobs, and ephemera.

Scott Pilgrim is perhaps one of the most noteworthy comics to emerge in the past decade, and I don’t make that statement lightly. In the same way that Edgar Wright’s comedies set a high standard for all other comedies, Scott Pilgrim set the bar for indie comics and what they should aim to achieve. The sad fact is you don’t find nearly as much thoughtfulness or craftsmanship of narrative in most comic books as you do in Scott Pilgrim. Here, every character walks away likeable and distinct in their own way, they experience arcs and exit a different person than when they entered. Suffice it to say, if you haven’t experienced this series yet, go. Find it. Love it. You’ll not be disappointed.

Superheroines rule the day as we look at two of comics’ most fearsome femme fatales…well, one of them at least — Emp is getting there. Specters, spooks, and the screams of missing children haunt Batwoman, Kate Kane, in her New 52 solo series. Meanwhile, the continuing adventures of Empowered give pause for Emp’s best friend Ninjette, fearsome ninja princess from New Jersey, to take center stage, squaring off against a squad of rival ninja, her reproductive rights as the ultimate stake.

Batwoman Vol. 1: Hydrology

Born out of the pages of 52 and codified in her own lauded Detective Comics arc, Batwoman: Elegy, Kate Kane, the latest heroine to bear the Batwoman moniker, proved immensely popular due in no small part to the writing of Greg Rucka. Taking inspiration from the real life story of Dan Choi, Rucka crafted a character out of the most basic of superheroic elements: inspired by personal tragedy, a person with the drive and the ethos to serve a greater cause than themselves takes up the mantle of the Bat to fight crime. In Kate Kane’s case, a cadet in the USMA at West Point, daughter of a U.S. Army colonel, is ejected from the academy for violation of then-current Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Ever the restless soldier, unwilling to live a life without service, inspired by local Gotham hero Batman, Kane assumes the title of Batwoman and joins the caped crusader’s mission to extinguish Gotham’s corruption.

But with the departure of Greg Rucka from DC for Marvel, the pertinent question here becomes, can Batwoman maintain the same level of quality established in Elegy without Rucka’s penmanship? In his place, artist J.H. Williams III has stepped up to fill Rucka’s shoes with help from W. Haden Blackman, and, together, they keep the momentum going.

Hydrology continues the story of Batwoman where Elegy concluded, Kane investigating the disappearances of children from Gotham’s Hispanic neighborhoods while still recovering from the revelation of her father’s lies and the apparent death of Alice, Elegy’s villainess. Complications emerge with the arrival of Kate’s cousin Bette Kane, alias Flamebird, former Teen Titan, who Kane takes under her wing to train as a sidekick. More complications arise as a new criminal organization, Medusa, infiltrates Gotham (oh, good, as if Gotham didn’t have enough of those already). Yet more complications surface when the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO)’s director takes a particular interest in Batwoman…and discovering the face beneath the mask.

Normally, I don’t spare quite as many words for a book’s artwork as I do for its writing — not for a lack of appreciation, mind, but more for my story-oriented approach to most art. But here it’s nearly impossible to separate story from visuals, as is true of nearly everything J.H. Williams III touches. His images could drive even the weakest plots, but thankfully Williams and Blackman weave a compelling tale driven by Kate’s mentoring of Bette, budding relationship with Detective Sawyer, and collapsing ties to her father.

It’s a bit much to balance all at once but our writers give adequate attention to main and secondary characters alike. However, this dedication to character comes at the cost of trimming the primary plotline down to a sliver. Surprisingly little time is dedicated to Gotham’s missing Hispanic children despite clearly occupying a large share of Batwoman’s mind. But the plot never runs too thin, thankfully; we get just enough, just not as much as we would like. Our main antagonist gets the least character development of all, thus the eventual climax lacks the investment gained from a more fleshed out villain.

Inevitably, this six issue volume consumes itself mostly in setup for future issues — a problem perhaps remedied best by introducing Director Bones and Cameron Chase at book’s end, teasing them for future issues while dedicating more time to Kate and Bette’s teamwork investigating the missing children and Medusa. As is, Bones and Chase, of the book’s hefty stable of secondary characters, contribute the least to the book’s overall plot (which pains me to say because I love Director Bones and his lovable bastard characterization here).

All the while, Williams assembles panels like panes in a stained glass window, each image assembled into a vibrant suite, demonstrated best in his two-page spreads, like Detective Sawyer’s investigation of metahuman massacre and yet another of Williams’ favored bat-symbol arrangements.

Each character’s narrative voice shapes the images around them: observations form zooms and x-rays, psychoses swirl and warp borders, and moods determine style from Kate’s clean, classically rendered life unmasked to Batwoman’s dark, realistic mode suffused with elaborate, slick, and grimy shades and complex panels. Colorist Dave Stewart adds wondrous layers to Williams’ already phenomenal pencils. From every angle imaginable, Batwoman leads the pack in artistic merits, embarrassing all other books achieving less. You won’t find a more gorgeous volume on the market from DC or any other publisher.

The combination of a great character and superlative artist subdue whatever minor narrative hiccups that arise in this volume. In the end, you’ll be yearning for more: more Batwoman, more adventure, more J.H. Williams making sweet, sweet love to your retinas. Unquestionably, for any fan of Batman or Bat-Family characters — hell, any fan of superheroes or sequential art — this is a must-read.

Empowered Vol. 7

Sexy fun times return with a heaping dose of ninja in the ongoing adventures of a girl and her superpowered long underwear.

I love Empowered. It’s possibly one of my favorite comic books, certainly the one I look forward to most whenever I hear a new volume is on its way. In fact, Empowered holds a special place in my heart because it helped bridge the gap between my lifelong manga fandom and mainstream comic books. It seemed to fit in with that exceptional form of comic like Kick-Ass or Watchmen which comment more on the style and form of comic books rather than conforming to them. What surprised me was how the book, rather than subvert or reject typical cliches of the genre, embraced them, making them a part of the book’s fictional culture. Your usual damsel-in-distress in Empowered’s world is not merely the over-abused trope we know it as but a subculture, complete with its own set of standards, mores, slang, and even sub-cliches.

Classifying Empowered as a satire, as most are prone to do, seems somewhat inappropriate if for no other reason than it avoids descending into the gross negativism and cynical pessimism consuming other comic book “satires” like Preacher or The Boys (or anything by Garth Ennis, for that matter). It strikes me more as an affectionate parody, poking fun at superhero tropes without condemning them outright, akin to The Venture Bros. Moreover, Empowered manages to remain consistently fun and entertaining with no pretense about making broader statements or declarations as you might see in other books striving for the subversive and meta. Ironically, by focusing on the characters and their own self-conscious quirks, a book about tights-wearing superhumans and villains with giant punctuation marks on their heads seems more down-to-earth and packed with universal messages about human nature, vigilantism, and the potential for coexistence between superhumans (or “suprahumans” per Empowered terminology) and normal humans than most books foisted under the “dark and edgy” banner.

Oh, yeah, and then there’s the sex appeal. Probably the thing Empowered is most known for. After all, the title character has her origins in a series of commissions for damsel-in-distress bondage art (believe me, she’s come a long way since then…a long, long way). And volume seven continues that fine tradition with plenty of near-nudity, nipple pasties, baudy discussions of superhero sex habits, and Emp’s signature, leave-nothing-to-the-imagination supersuit. (And yet f-bombs and other familiar four letter words still get censored for some reason despite the book’s obviously M-rated content.)

For the seventh volume of the series, we pause our leading lady’s ongoing plotlines to focus on supporting character Ninjette, kickass ninja princess from New Jersey. Per multinational ninja clan tradition, clan royalty, princesses especially, serve key roles in keeping the clans alive via arranged marriages — though this carries with it the unfortunate implication of turning young girls into little more than breeding stock for the…less bountiful ninja clans — a prospect with which Ninjette is none too keen. Having bested Ninjette in previous volumes only to be curbstomped by Emp, the Ayakami ninja clan return to settle the score by capturing Ninjette, horribly mutilating her, and sending her back to her clan to meet her fate, only this time ‘Jette is ready with a surprise counterattack of her own.

At first, the sudden change of focus away from our title character seems like a gyp. After all, these books aren’t exactly released month-to-month — the next time we see these characters may be a year and a half to two years away — so dangling plot threads keep a-dangling, wrapping up only ‘Jette’s ninja clan rivalry chicaneries. But this volume serves a different overall narrative purpose.

Warren’s typical brand of satire and humor are in full force here, as well as the sudden dramatic shifts common in later volumes, but overall volume seven feels lighter than volume six: it’s a breather episode, a chance for the characters to recover from the events of volume six, distance themselves from the tragedies, and regain some measure of sanity. While ‘Jette’s conflict takes center stage, flashbacks recount the fallout of Death Monger’s siege and we get plenty of our leading lady as well as all our favorite secondary characters (though not enough Strapping Buck, who deserves his own spin-off, in my humble opinion…He’s a dear that walks like a man and has super strength! And his name is Strapping Buck! You can’t tell me that’s not awesome! FEAR THE DEER!). Taking some pressure off Empowered gives us a buffer for the dark waters alluded to in Vol. 7’s final pages: mainly, the return of Willie Pete and revelations of Thugboy’s past finally coming to light.

Warren’s pencil work remains excellent, improved by the switch from pulp to glossy pages. The higher contrast removes the dinginess from the shading and makes each panel look less muddled and over-detailed, problems repeatedly plaguing previous Empowered volumes. As well, Warren finds a superior balance for his typically verbose dialogue. Dialogue balloons no longer crowd out panels and the Caged Demonwolf’s speech has been toned down to just the right level, just enough so he never tips over into the obnoxious (an unfortunately common occurrence in previous volumes). Warren’s balance of drama and humor also improves with each volume with Vol. 7 nimbley mixing the dark, the comic, and the darkly comic: karaoke night with zombie superheroes, ‘Jette’s tragic recollections of her father, Emp’s continued bumbling attempts to understand her supersuit’s capabilities, all work to make you care for these misfits characters and their parodic romps.

If you’re not into this series yet, pick up the first volume and give it a go. You’ll find a smart, humorous book filled with compelling, lovable characters and crackin’ good jabs at superhero-dom. If you’ve read the past six volumes already, what are you waiting for? Seven brings the same magic and humor, a lighthearted prelude to the foreboding shadows hinted at for volume eight.