Yeahp, after going a good 50-odd Empowered vol. 3 pages without getting tied up, Emp faces two long-ish stories that are very heavy indeed on the ol’ “DiD”—that is, “damsel in distress” imagery, a polite euphemism for certain forms of bondage content. Brace yourself, folks!

Interesting issue regarding these “Metatextual Emp” title page as, nowadays, I’m rather averse to slapping this many word balloons on a page. Not sure how I would handle Meta Emp pages presently, as I left ’em outta the recently released Empowered vol. 10, save for the closing double-page spread of the issue—in which Emp, Thugboy and Ninjette reacted with considerable alarm to the book’s last act, of course! And Empowered vol. 11, which will consist of a single, very long story with only one title page, will likely be just as free of Meta Emp content. 

Speaking of Empowered vol.10, check it out for yourselves, folks! Note that vol.10 is only out in US and Canadian comic stores right now, and won’t be available from Amazon and conventional bookstores until July 5th; same deal for the digital form of the book, as available from Comixology and Dark Horse Digital.

-Adam Warren