In this week's listing of the comic shops' 100 top selling manga of 2015, you might have noticed a book whose original language was English rather than Japanese (making it not "manga" by the definition of many, but that's beside the point for the moment). That book was volume 9 of Empowered by Adam Warren, an acclaimed comic author creating manga-inspired comics since 1989's Dirty Pair: Biohazards and 1994's Bubblegum Crisis: Grand Mal.

Coincidentally, Dance in the Vampire Bund author Nozomu Tamaki paid tribute to the comic this week.

Dark Horse, who publishes the comic describes it

Not only is costumed crimefighter "Empowered" saddled with a less-than-ideal superhero name, but she wears a skintight and cruelly revealing "supersuit" that only magnifies her body-image insecurities. Worse yet, the suit's unreliable powers are prone to failure, repeatedly leaving her in appallingly distressing situations . . . and giving her a shameful reputation as the lamest "cape" in the masks-and-tights business. Nonetheless, she pluckily braves the ordeals of her bottom-rung superheroic life with the help of her "thugalicious" boyfriend (and former Witless Minion) and her hard-drinking ninja girlfriend, not to mention the supervillainous advice from the caged alien demonlord watching DVDs from atop her coffee table . . .



From Adam Warren-writer/artist of the English-language Dirty Pair comics (the original "Original English-Language Manga" before OEL was cool), and writer of Livewires, Gen13, and Iron Man: Hypervelocity-comes Empowered, a butt-kicking, bootylicious superhero lampoon that raises the bar for long-john lust and low-brow laughs. Remove all previous notions of superhero entertainment from your puny mind . . . and prepare to be Empowered!









A while back Warren shared a sketch a day on Twitter and deviantART, including pieces of Gurren Lagann's Yoko, Empowered's eponymous heroine cosplaying as Yoko, and Evangelion's Rei.

some were

From Warren's comments:

Behold, a sketch of Yōko (from the Gainax anime Gainax anime Gurren Lagann) which I'll be dropping off at the San Diego Comic-Con in only a few short days. The "YOKO(?)" in the title, alas, refers to the fact that dA's titling doesn't allow for proper macron usage (that is, "Yōko").



By the way, here's a likewise SDCC-bound pencil sketch of Emp, the eponymous heroine of my "sexy superhero comedy" series Empowered, cosplaying as Yōko*:





*Or, as I dubbed her for that sketch, "Yohko", using a somewhat archaic means of rendering the Japanese "long O" in English**; the macron ("Yōko") version is, of course, much more pleasing. Zero props, however, to the folks who claimed "Yohko" was a misspelling of "Yoko"; nay, "Yōko" is the way to go, kids, to clearly indicate the long O in her name (ヨーコ).



**Still, "oh" was preferable to the other (non-macron) ways often used (back in the day) to indicate the long O, such as "oo" or "ou".









As the latest part of my effort to post a new (to you) piece every (week)day, here's a very old sketch of Evangelion's iconic Rei Ayanami, drawn circa '96 for inclusion in a long-ago dojiinshi "Sketchbook" of mine put together by very kind friend of mine. For a sketch from the Olden Days of Yore, it's not bad, really; most of my random drawings from that timeframe have held up rather less well, I have to admit.



Medium (I'm guessing, here): 2B lead, probably—as the original's much more lightly penciled than my modern-era sketches, which usually feature 3B or 4B—on linen-finish cardstock, definitely.







This illo is referenced from a long-ago photo shoot I did with the verra same friend; if you look through my gallery, you can see plenty of other examples using this ref material. Kinda random to see Rei wearing the outfit, but what the heck





This one's a random, 2000-era sketch of (my version of) Dirty Pair's Yuri and Kei in their younger (mid-teenage) years, circa AD 2137 or so. Yuri's wearing a top with video-displaying fabric, while Kei's sporting temporary-tattoo-ish imagery rendered by William-Gibson-esque "melanin stenciling"; in my take on the DP's universe, genetic upgrades like Kei and Yuri can vary their skin's pigmentation levels at will.



Can't quite recall for certain, but I think that Kei's top is loosely based on some odd fashion trend from the turn of our century, possibly from one of Li'l Kim's many wacky outfits. Note that grown-up/ grown-out adult Kei would presumably find this top's integral pockets to be of rather less utility, storage-wise. (Ahem.)





Anyhoo, here's a scan (sadly, from an especially crappy photocopy) of a 2000 sketch of Dirty Pair's Kei and Yuri, presumably on the beach. The illo's more than a tad wonky, but I kinda like the shadow patterns on the DP's bodies, so what the heck...





From a long-ago ('96? '98?) time when I was hoping to get other artists to draw Dirty Pair comics I'd write for 'em*, here's a design sheet I worked up for Kei and Yuri's body proportions.



I originally tried to draw the DP 8 heads tall, but as the years went by, I grew tired of drawing the elongated, spidery legs that an 8-heads-tall hottie's proportions require, and switched to a more reasonable 7-heads-tall (or less) scheme. Also semi-interesting: The '96-era Kei and Yuri sport narrower hips and thicker waists than I'd customarily draw nowadays.





Behold, a sketch of Emp and Sistah Spooky* from Empowered, my "sexy superhero comedy" series published by Dark Horse Comics. Per a request, they're dressed in the "smartsuits" I designed for Kei and Yuri in my miniseries Dirty Pair: Run from the Future. Note that Spooky isn't kidding about the fact that the costume she wears in the Empoweredcomics...







Behold, a sketch of Emp (heroine of my ongoing "sexy superhero comedy" series Empowered, published by Dark Horse Comics) cosplaying as the immortal Mai Shiranui from the Fatal Furygame/anime/manga/etc. franchise. As is common in these cosplay sketches, Emp has misgivings about other heroines' choice of costumes.

2001 sketch of Shirow Masamune's leading ladies, Deunan Knute from Appleseed and Major Motoko Kusanagi fromGhost in the Shell. Scanned from a photocopy, so the reproduction's not the best you could hope for; then again, it's an old sketch, so who cares.





Tamaki is also doing his own American super-hero homage Don't Meddle With My Daughter! (and hentai spin-off Don't Meddle In My Daughter!), about a second-generation super-heroine.

And, he recently posted some Force Awakens homages





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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.