By Laramie Martinez

You all should know, I have never read Empowered. Yes, I have heard of it and I have read many an article about it, but I have never actually picked up a copy. Maybe it was because I thought of it as essentially bondage hentai, , it’s free on the internet. But with Empowered and the Soldier of Love I finally took the plunge. And I while I still have no idea what Emp’s super suit does, I still had a good time. Check out my full review below.

What I liked about this particular issue is that it didn’t have a whole lot of back story I needed to learn. The basic rundown is this: Empowered is a superhero with a Ninja friend and they are part of a superhero team. Trouble comes to the city in the form of a villain who likes to make people fall in love and have an abundance of sex, like some kind of evil cupid. If you’re a fan of the series, I’m sure this book is funnier for you than it was for me. I could tell this book is riddled with jokes based upon various “will they, won’t they” romantic story arcs and some absurd pairings. But even without me understanding all the ins and outs, I still found most of the book pretty funny.

 I especially enjoyed the new villain and her side kick pangolin. Heads up for all of you who don’t speak Spanish, most of what she says is untranslated, so have Google translate handy. Her dialogue isn’t necessary to enjoy the comic, but if you’re going for the full experience, check out Duolingo.

The artist, Karla Diaz, is mostly known for doing webcomics. Her style suits the comic, it had all the right amount of fun, humor, sexiness. From what I’ve seen of the main series art, fans won’t be disappointed. There are some interesting panel shots and I enjoyed the comedy it brings to the book.

That’s it for empowered, I have to say, it was ok. I’ll probably read the rest of the series. I only have one question. Is her suit really made of stretched out versions of this? Fans of the series let me know.

Score: 3/5

Empowered and the Solider of Love #1
Writer: Adam Warren
Artist: Karla Diaz
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics