ABSTRACT
For more than seventy years, superhero comic books provide readers fictional, fantastical stories about our world, other worlds and alternative dimensions. The typical narrative involves superheroes who start as established heroes, saving others and planets in the ultimate battle of good versus evil; although characters do get stronger over time, they still are treated as heroes by fellow superheroes and citizens. However, few stories highlight a lead character who starts as disempowered and overcomes difficulties to become empowered. Adam Warren’s graphic novel1 Empowered features the self-titled superhero Empowered (Emp for short) who transforms from a literally gagged and bound, unconfident, disempowered individual/lack-lustre superhero into a confident, empowered woman and superheroine.
