And now, time for another commentary excerpt from the decade-old, defunct prose experiment I Am Empowered, which was a Year-One-ish exploration of Emp's earliest days as as a superhero, told in Twitter-formatted first-person narrative for reasons that will eventually be explained:
I AM EMPOWERED
Chapter 1: MY STUPID NAME, AND MY EVEN STUPIDER SUPERSUIT (pt.2)
More on my amazing yet also amazingly crappy supersuit later. Best to wrap up this meandering explanation of the "Empowered" supranym, first.
Three months ago, I somehow managed to claw my way onto the roster of this city's foremost team of superheroes, the mighty "Superhomeys".
When I formally joined the Superhomeys as an Associate Member—a superpowered intern, pretty much—they needed an official "supranym" for me.
The cape I idolize most, Superhomeys team leader Capitan Rivet, assured me, "Don't worry about devising a particularly cool supranym, miss."
Pointing to the CAPITAN RIVET logo on his chestplate, he chuckled and admitted, "This field is chock full of ridiculous names, believe me."
In all the many years I'd dreamed about becoming a superheroine, somehow I hadn't spent very much time thinking about my superhero name.
So, in front of My Favorite Cape In the World—I'd changed my allegiance from Awesome Girl, after she heel-turned to villainy—I blanked out.
Stuttering and stammering before a wonderfully patient but still on-the-clock Capitan Rivet, all I could think was, "Time to get EMPowered!"
So I blurted, "Maybe you could just call me 'Empowered', sir?" Added for extra approval-craving: "That wouldn't be too stupid, would it?"
El Capitan must've thought it WAS an awfully stupid supranym, but shrugged and kindly noted, "No one's used it before, I can tell you that."
Ta DAAAH: Thus was a fledgling superheroine saddled with the less-than-ideal but pleasingly hopeful-sounding superhero name "Empowered".
What I Didn't Know Then: Shortly, I'd discover that "Empowered" wasn't always the most accurate possible supranym one could imagine for me.
Flashforward to me bound, gagged, and slung over Grape Cape's shoulder as he guffaws, "'Empowered'? Really? Kinda ironic, don'cha think?"
Close-up on my masked face, eager to properly berate Purple Dumbass for quoting that awful—and etymologically flawed—Alanis Morrisette song.
Of course, I can't say a word in protest, thanks to the gag he slapped on me. Hard to speak truth to (super)power with a duct-taped mouth.
My often-crappy career as a superhero might be monetarily poor—hello, snowballing student-loan debt—but it certainly is rich in Cruel Irony.
Here's the dealie: As I grew up, I developed very strong—if not fanatical—convictions about what the role of the female superhero should be.
A Real Superheroine, in my view, should be a self-actualized badass, should be strong but caring, should put feminism into action—literally.
A Real Superheroine shouldn't be a mere token, shouldn't defer to male privilege, shouldn't (ahem) wear a degrading, sexualized costume.
Then again, perhaps my irritating college experiences should've clued me in that my gleaming ideals might end up at odds with grubby reality.
Background: As a Suprahuman Studies major in college, I constantly sparred with my doofus-y male peers over superheroine costume trends.
<End of excerpt>
Tomorrow on I Am Empowered excerpting, brace yourselves for a strong dose of College-Age Emp's strongly held sociopolitical views, folks! Meanwhile, the entirety of the defunct project can be perused under the I Am Empowered hashtag at my account below:
Today’s Patreon update: Originally done as a means of scratching out more worktime to complete the long-gestating Empowered vol. 12, I've switched over to a Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday Patreon posting schedule that won't feature the fixed content format I previously used. However, my vast archive of years of Patreon posts—extensive Empowered previews, vintage con sketches, work stages on covers, "damsel in distress" commissions, life drawings & much, much more—remains available for Patrons' perusal.
-Adam Warren