EMPOWERED: HELLBENT OR HEAVENSENT page, done(-ish)

Behold, the final (though still unlettered) version of a page by Guest Artist Ryan Kinnaird from Hellbent or Heaven Sent, the latest installment of my ongoing "sexy superhero comedy" series Empowered. This "floppy"-format 32pp book is due out on Dec. 19th and can be pre-ordered right now from your Local Comics Retailer; its Diamond Previews ordering code is OCT120041, if that helps. Alternatively, you can pre-order the one-shot from Dark Horse's retail website here: [link]

Here's an earlier version of the page, with flatter colors and no lasers, speedlines, and other such FX:


Anyhoo, I thought it would be kinda neat to show Ryan's artwork in progress, as seen "before and after" with this previous page from Empowered: Hellbent or Heaven Sent :


As you might guess, Ryan's version of the robotic Superhomey "Mechanismo," here (the red guy) is a 3D model. Note how Ryan distorted the model's eyes in the last panel, to give an otherwise expressionless character a comically startled expression... I'm vaguely saddened to admit that I've never thought to use such an approach on mecha characters. Nice! Amusing side note, though: Ryan's 3D model of Mechanismo is much, much more complicated and detail-intensive than my original depiction of the character. For consistency's sake, when I drew a handful of B&W pages for the book, I had to base my rendition of Mechanismo off Ryan's new, modified design, as seen here:



...and lemme tell you, that was surprisingly challenging. "What is WITH all this g-d detail? Yeesh!"

So: I'm writing the entirety of Empowered: Hell Bent or Heaven Sent, plus drawing 7-odd B&W pages myself, as I just mentioned. Howeva, the majority of the one-shot's artwork—for a bold, brassy total of 30 story pages—will be drawn and rendered in luxurious full color by ~RyanKinnaird, as seen on the cover art here:



Here's Empowered: Hell Bent or Heaven Sent'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: Mysterious new powers for Emp's suit revealed! Fire-breathing jealousy and piercing blue eyes as more than just figures of speech! Adventures in cybererospace! Jet-propelled mecha body-boarding! Hot angel-on-ladycape action! The imminent threat of searing, fiery extinction looms nigh! All this, plus something very, very gross is none-too-subtly hinted at!

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



Again, this "floppy"-format installment of Empowered is due out Dec. 19th from Dark Horse Comics: [link] If you're an Emp fan, I respectfully urge you to let your Local Comics Retailer know that you want a copy, as the success or failure of this latest effort will affect whether or not other projects like this one ever see print.

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]

-AW