Sexy EMPOWERED librarian, p.1

The first of two pages from “Smart Girl,” a story appearing in the second volume of Empowered, the “sexy superhero comedy” book I write and draw for Dark Horse Comics [link] . As of the present day, the series features five 200+ page volumes, with a sixth hitting the shelves in September 2010 (and further books on the way thereafter).

The repro quality’s a bit lower than normal, here, as I had to level-adjust on a 120dpi jpeg, instead of a 600dpi greyscale scan, as I normally do; also, I wound up relettering all of the wonkier word balloons seen here for greater clarity in the final version.

Several folks on the secret Empowered emailing list (who first saw these particular pages a few YEARS ago) pointed out to me that I went too far with Emp’s admittedly over-the-top “Sexy Librarian” cosplay, and in fact had lost much of the less overtly provocative appeal of the “cute chick with eyeglasses.” This is defensible within the context of the story, I feel, given that the tastes of the Empverse’s “supervills” (whom she's supposed to be baiting, here) are rarely what one would define as “subtle” or “refined”...

You can see more Empowered stuff (including more Sexy Librarian images) in my gallery here: [link] Case in point: A full-color image of Librarian Emp, cosplaying with her boyfriend...

...and said illustration in its published context, on the back cover of Empowered vol. 3:


You can find Empowered on the shelves of your Local Comics Retailer or bookstore; if you don't see any of the volumes, your retailer would no doubt be happy to order 'em for you, in order to, y'know, make some money. You can also order the books online from Dark Horse's retail website [link] or on Amazon.com [link] .

Side note: Had a bit of a close encounter with a black bear whilst out for a walk, last night... Nothin' too scary, as the critter in question didn't fully emerge from the woods until I'd strolled well past it. Still, gotta love that rural lifestyle...