EMPOWERED: HELLBENT OR HEAVENSENT in progress

Behold, a page in progress from Empowered: Hell Bent or Heaven Sent, the upcoming one-shot installment of my ongoing "sexy superhero comedy" series! I wrote the story, and contributed thumbnail sketches like the one below to accompany the script:



Howeva, Talented Guest Artist drew and colored this actual page, which we're seeing here "in progress", with only flat colors added so far. An interesting look, really, as Ryan's so well known for his luxuriously rendered colors. (Note, by the way, my thumbnail's panel lurking in the lower right-hand corner as placeholder art.) I thought it would be interesting to show Ryan's artistic process, just for the hell of it.

Ryan's handling the bulk of Hell Bent or Heaven Sent's color artwork, which along with some B&W pages drawn by me adds up to a full 30 pages of bold and brassy story. Here's the book's cover, featuring Ryan's art:



And here's one of the issue's B&W pages, as drawn by me:



This "floppy"-format installment of Empowered is due out Dec. 19th from Dark Horse Comics: [link] Here's the book's scintillating solicitation copy:

This time around, the "sexy superhero comedy" ensues when costumed crimefighter Empowered makes an ill-fated visit to a top-secret dumping ground for ultra-tech "superdebris" and wrecked "villainware" left over from cape-on-cape battle. Can our heroine and her hapless teammate, cyborg-with-a-secret Mechanismo, possibly hope to survive when the junkyard begins nano-spawning an apocalyptic cheesecake plague of flirty but lethal "cyber-angels" and sensual but savage "devil mecha"?

But wait, here's even more text that I wasn't able to fit in the solicitation copy:

Hell Bent or Heaven Sent also includes: Literally superhot genderswapping! Fire-breathing jealousy and piercing blue eyes as more than just figures of speech! Jet-propelled mecha body-boarding! Grotesque mastication by 100-foot-tall giants! Hot angel-on-ladycape action! Desperate navigation of a hellishly unhelpful help menu! Emp suffers the agony of high heels! The imminent threat of searing, fiery extinction looms nigh! All this, plus something very, very gross is none-too-subtly hinted at!

Anyhoo, this December one-shot's available for pre-ordering at your Local Comics Store right now; I'll see if I can dig up its Diamond ordering info, if that would help out. Note that Empowered: Hell Bent or Heaven Sent will not be available in collected trade-paperback form for quite some time, if ever. If all goes well, and these Guest Artist one-shots sell decently enough, this issue will be included in a special collection of one-shots... but that won't be happening for several years at best, I'm afraid. So, yeah, pre-ordering this one-shot is a Big Frickin' Deal, as most comics stores aren't likely to stock very many copies (or any at all, in some cases) unless you specifically ask 'em to.

In the interests of floggery, I might as well mention the current Emp product on the shelves:



This is Empowered Deluxe Edition Vol. 2, which collects volumes 4 through 6 of the series in a big, bold, brawny, 656-page $59.99 hardcover printed on pretty, pretty paper (and including a fair chunk of bonus material): [link]

This weighty new tome's already on the shelves of your Local Comics Retailer, and should be be available in conventional bookstores shortly. Alternatively, you can order it from Dark Horse's online retail site here (for 20% off): [link]

Note that Empowered Deluxe Edition Vol. 1, which collects volumes 1-3, as seen below:



...is already on sale at your Local Comics Retailer or bookstore, in theory at least, or can be ordered online from Dark Horse: [link] or Amazon: [link]

In closing, I must of course paste in the requisite general-purpose Emp-related floggery: Print copies of Empowered's first seven volumes (and a pair of one-shots in comics format) can be found on the shelves of your Local Comics Retailer or bookstore, or online at Dark Horse's retail website [link] or on Amazon.com [link] .

All the existing Empowered books can be purchased rather more cheaply in digital form as well, via the Dark Horse Digital store: [link] Note, however, that these Empowered Deluxe Editions will remain a "print-only" proposition, alas.