Comic: Empire

When I used to work at Quest many a year ago, I had the benefit of working within a five minute drive from the Game Parlor, one of my local gaming stores. About once a week I'd find myself heading out for lunch and I'd pick up a comic or magazine from the Parlor and then hit up the pizza joint just next door and read while I ate.

One such day, I was looking through their lot of comics (they have a very bizarre selection of comics there - I don't know what the rational is behind some of the things they stock) and happened to find one that stuck my eye. I didn't want to read anything that was part of a series or had any connection to anything else, so this one fit my bill pretty well.


Empire was originally put out in 2000 by a new company that folded after only two issues. Eventually, in 2003, DC Comics picked up the title and finished off the mini-series. Despite being part of the DC line, it had no connection whatsoever with the DC Universe.

The premise was pretty simple: what would happen if the greatest super-villain in the world actually succeeded in taking over the world and there were no superheroes left to challenge him? The result is a massive, global empire in which Golgoth, the yellow-headed guy you see on the cover, rules over everything. He has a council of other super-powered people, all of whom are kept in line by a drug he controls called Eucharist that gives them massively-boosted abilities, but it's highly addictive. While the subordinates would not dream of trying to cross Golgoth, they have no real love for each other and constantly try to get a leg up on each other.

Golgoth is never seen out of his armor, and it's revealed pretty early on that he has a daughter and that his wife is dead. Whether that had something to do with his rise to evil-ness is never really discussed. The story isn't about how Golgoth took over the world - it's about what happens now that he has it.

Overall, I was very impressed with the story. There are several twists and turns you don't see coming. Seeing how Golgoth deals with the life he now has is pretty interesting, and getting hints throughout the story that things are actually even worse than you first thought when evil rules everything is just fun. That it's a self-contained story is perfect. There's not a large investment of time or anything to get the whole story. It's one of the better books on my comic shelf, and one that I keep going back to.