PATREON EXCLUSIVE: EMPOWERED vol.12's "saucy AF" cover and solicitation copy! (Patreon)

Ehh, I believe that the book-market solicitation info (which is usually three or four months ahead of direct-market solicitation) for Empowered vol. 12 should be coming out fairly soon, within the next month or so, as the book's long-pending release is currently slated for March 2023. (That will be almost a year after I finished work on the book, but who's counting? That's just how things can roll in publishing, especially if you took years and years to complete the g-d volume as I did.)

So, I figured now would prrrrobably be an okay time to reveal the volume's fairly provocative cover illo and solicitation copy to you kind Patrons. However, until the book-market info "goes live" online, howzabout keeping this our little secret for the time being?

Anyhoo, here's the book's solicitation copy:

Costumed crimefighter Empowered discovers that she’s trapped in a surreal nightmare scenario as her superhero universe begins spontaneously rebooting itself over and over again, with each variation more twisted and bizarre than the last! Can our befuddled heroine somehow undo this inexplicable Neverending Reboot—while simultaneously steering her love life in a boldly polyamorous new direction with Thugboy and Ninjette, no less—or is this The End for Emp and her chaotically convulsing cosmos?

Line art on the cover by me, coloring by my bud Ryan Kinnaird:

Note that, for the very first time, that "PARENTAL ADVISORY" label is actually part of the cover artwork proper, rather than being a sticker applied to the printed volume's cover. (Hilariously enough, due to a potential technicality, it is entirely possible that a separate sticker may wind up being applied over the ADVISORY on the artwork regardless.)

So, yeahp, finally decided to steer right the hell into the whole "threesome" dealie, after having a bit of an epiphany about the intra-character dynamics involved. Yay? (Emp's rationale for this choice within the story is more than a tad dubious, but undeniably very Emp-like and character-appropriate, IMHO.)

I'll set up a separate Work Stages post for this illo down the road, as a helluva lotta work went into this piece by Ryan and me; the image you're seeing is the seventh draft of the colors, for one thing. Yikes!

NEXT TIME ON THIS HERE PATREON: This Friday will very likely something in the Distressed Damsels vein for the $5+ Patron tiers, I'm thinking. Could we see rough pages for Rose & Lily imperiled by Hushed Half-Elf's potion-shop gnomes? Or more material with alternate superheroine Emerald, perhaps? Or something else entirely? Dunno!