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The satirical style of the comic, both the written and the visual, assist the subversion of the traditional superhero tropes and work in unison to make Empowered a somewhat unconventional comic. It highlights tendencies in superhero media, which in turn reflects attitudes of postmodern society. This is done through the use of sociolinguistic variation, the characters, the visual language and the meta-textual layers.

The written style has several interesting elements that create the specific tone of the comic. It features a myriad of different dialects and variations of the English language. They are sociolects that function as an indicator of the character's’ status and social class and their relation to Emp. Sociolects is the variation of speech or register associated with a certain societal group. This use of language contributes to the subversion of tropes.

Many of the villains in the comic, such as the ones featured in the chapter That’s What

You’d Think59_{, exhibit a certain sociolect. The villains in this chapter speak English but use many}

‘slang’ words and terms such as “Fresh outta” and “littler”. The villains also ‘drop the g’ in words like “Bein’ ”. The hierarchy of language is established in these scenes. Their language variation and their appearance represent the lower social class that they are a part of. Emp’s English is a primarily standard version of English, although still colloquial and she uses some slang words such as “teensy”.

59 _{Warren, 2007, p. 16-19}

However, the language variation from villains to heroes is still evident, which further helps to situate their social status in the comic, along with the visual representation. The comic presents the thug almost as the everyday man, and there are several instances of thugs confronting elitism, or a perceived elitism. On page 19, the thugs are insulted at Emp’s attempt to trick them: “That’s it, go ahead and look down on the rest of humanity, you elitist,

posthuman snobs..” Although this is just one view-point, it presents the superheroes as

markedly set apart from the rest of humanity, and as aloof. In the end, the villains make Emp feel guilty, even though she is captured and tied up in an attempt to be heroic. This portrayal of the thugs comes off as humorous and challenges the idea of clear cut good and evil. In this way the use of language contributes to the subversion of typical superhero tropes and conventions. The comic does this to humorously comment on these conventions, and so casts them in a somewhat ridiculous light. This is part of an overall technique employed in

Empowered in order to highlight social issues, such as objectification. Emp’s costume is an

obvious example, but the portrayal of both the villains and the heroes are also instances of references and dissection of traditional superhero tropes.

Most of the superheroes are organized into a group that functions like a company, the “Superhomeys”, where Emp is an associate member. Additionally, Emp has studied “Metahuman studies” and has wanted to be a superhero since childhood. This presents the superheroes almost like superstars, and there is no secrecy around their existence. Instead the heroes are either reviled or admired, and Emp even has a job dressing up as “Empowered”. Because the heroes in this universe have become more integrated into society and in a very commercial way, their virtuousness is diminished.

The superheroes are not all valiant and kind and although the idea of keeping superheroes as god-like paragons of good, has receded in recent times, Empowered occasionally portrays them as more mean-spirited and laughable than normally seen. There are superheroes who have been created by STDs60_{, and others that have extremely impractical}

powers. For example one member of the Superhomeys, ‘Heavy Artillery, is a human with a big

artillery gun instead of a head, and one other member has big concrete blocks for hands and head61. This presentation of the heroic characters builds up the satirical style of Warren’s comics.

Furthermore, the comic contains allusions to specific things that occur in superhero media, but it subverts expectations and casts these in a new light. For example, while on a mission Emp decides to ‘try out’ a car-throw which is a classic hero move seen in many comics and movies.62 Emp, true to the style of the comic, does not do this successfully like her in- and out-of-universe colleagues. At first she only manages to rip off a part of it, and then she pulls a muscle when she throws the car. The satirical element of the passage is being strengthened by what happens next after Emp has thrown the car: She’s being confronted with an elderly couple, looking for their car, which is exactly the car she just threw. This is a stylistic coherent way of showing Emp’s problems with her superhero career, and calls into question how a typical superhero is seen in action, which in its very nature is not representative of reality. How often is a hero directly confronted with the owners of the property he or she just used to to save the day with?

This satirical style builds up a tone, that manages to humorously critique the modern portrayal of superheroes, especially female supserheroes. This also emphasizes the idea that

Empowered is a critical commentary.