Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Barry Kitson
Reviewed by Slewo

What is Empire, you might ask? While the premise in itself may not be entirely new at first blush: evil wins, the supervillains rule the world. But unlike a lot of counterpart stories, the execution is brilliant. Mark Waid and Barry Kitson have done great work together before such as Legion of Superheroes, but Empire is most definitely their best work together.

Empire is currently getting a breath of new life on Thrillbent’s digital comics platform, but its been quite awhile since Empire came out over 10 years ago, so the new trade is an excellent intro into the story of Golgoth. The premise of Empire is simple: Golgoth, the preeminent supervillain of the world has almost entirely eliminated opposition towards his quest of world domination. The series is a great example of the minutiae of how a world run by a supervillain would actually work, while it has plenty of backstabbing, the characters aren’t simply expies or cardboard cutouts, they’re fully realized characters. From Golgoth, to his daughter, or even characters we spend brief amounts of time with, the series has an endgame and doesn’t waste time attempting to reach it.

The characters in Empire are all varied. Even using readily identifiable archetypes, the characters all have quirks of their own. Golgoth himself, while we don’t enter his thoughts most of the time is fully realized despite being a complete dictator, as are the people surrounding him. Barry Kitson also deserves major praise as well for the construction of the comic. While archetypes are an easy way to communicate what characters fit role/function and where they might be headed, having an artist who understands to communicate what type of character they are, while giving them their own identifiable look is an asset, and Kitson does a phenomenal job creating his own unique look in Empire.

If you’re looking to jump into the second volume of Empire on Thrillbent, looking for another Mark Waid/Barry Kitson collaboration, or just want an awesome supervillain story, this is the book for you. Having the second volume of Empire out there, now more then ever is the best time to give the original volume a try.

4 out of 5 Booms