This week on War Rocket Ajax, we're pleased to welcome Empowered creator Adam Warren to talk about his career in comics, from Dirty Pair to Gen13 to his current sexy super-hero action-comedy series of graphic novels. He'll tell us why his career has focused on heroines and the awkwardness of doing bondage commissions that led him to Empowered -- And you can listen to the whole show, right here at ComicsAlliance!War Rocket Ajax #115: Laid Low with Adam Warren

(WARNING: Contains NSFW language)

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On this week's show, Chris and Matt break down the appropriate times to wear -- and not wear -- pro wrestling, comic book and rock band t-shirts. It's kind of a rock-paper-scissors sort of thing. Plus, it's the return of the poetry of the Thrasher magazine letter column, as we find out that you can't be stupid and ride a skateboard.

When Adam Warren joins the show, the conversation turns to his history of almost exclusively writing (and drawing) female leads in the course of his career:

The "easier sell" thing was a nice side effect, actually, but it's like... When I first started drawing the Dirty Pair, for one thing, I couldn't draw and I certainly couldn't write women, period, so I figured I'd better learn. That's kinda what Dirty Pair initially was for me. All those hundreds of pages of unpublished stuff were me trying to figure out how to handle both the drawing and the writing end of that.

After a certain point, I kind of noticed that I've always tended to find female leads more interesting. I'm automatically more interested in a female lead than doing something with a male lead. Particularly coming from the manga background, a lot of the shonen manga, the men tend to be the least interesting characters. It's particularly a problem I suppose nowadays with the "harem manga," where the male leads are deliberately boring so that the otaku can project themselves onto them, or whatever. I guess that's the intent of the more boring character in harem stuff.

But yeah, there's just a long period, and it's still going on now, where I'm just more interested in trying to write a female lead than a male one, for the most part. It wasn't really a conscious decision, it's just something that tended to happen. I don't tend to make a big production out of it like "Ladies, ladies, look at me! Look at me with the strong female characters! Anyone notice? Anyone? Everyone! Look at me!" I'm not a big fan of that whole thing.


Find out more, including his early influences and his time at the Kubert School in this week's episode!


Show Notes:

Follow Adam Warren on Twitter, and check out his DeviantArt page!

Find out more about Michel Fiffe's DEATHZONE!

Krispy Kreme and Money Maker Mike's "Best Friends" is your new favorite song:

Chris's Rec: Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron, by Kim Newman


Matt's Rec: Fez, for XBox Arcade

Comics Reviewed:


Wolverine and the X-Men #11: "It is the classic example of the series that gets derailed by a crossover, by having the obligation of having all this different stuff in it. There's huge chunks of the middle of this comic that I'd be fine without. Nick Bradshaw's art in this book is great; I think he did a bang-up job, especially considering what he had to draw."

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39: "There's some neat stuff. Brian Reed wrote this issue, and it's a really good sort of look back at some old Spider-Man stories without being a complete rehash."

DEATHZONE!: "As a fan comic, Deathzone! is not for sale, but there are 300 copies available if you buy a print from Michel Fiffe's Etsy store, which I suggest you do. The printing and the art are really nice. It's really good, and it's a great little tribute."

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