History ComicBook / Empire

* AddictionPowered: {{Inverted|trope}}. Golgoth keeps his minions controlled by feeding them an addictive super-powering drug called Eucharist. The inversion comes in that [[spoiler: the drug comes from the hero Endymion's blood. His superhuman biology creates other people's addictions]].

* HeelFaceMole: Lucallan does this to the Greenland Resistance. With Devastating results

* CrusadingWidower: A villainous example, as it's implied that, as ruthless as Golgoth was in his early career, his marriage to Allorea tempered him. The way Endymion tells it, Golgoth becomes a full-fledged NoNonsenseNemesis after Allorea's death.

* AllWomenAreDomsAllMenAreSubs: Partially applied; only men are shown as subject to [[ColdBloodedTorture the gentle ministrations]] of Tumbril and his leather-clad female assistants (and Xanna and Grieze during their off-hours).

* PyrrhicVillainy: Golgoth wins, but it's heavily implied to be a hollow victory since he's lost everything that's important to him in the process, and it's highly unlikely that his empire will survive him.

Empire is one of the few comics to do DarkerAndEdgier right. The art is immersive and the story, though grim, is a very competent look into how a world ruled by super-villains would actually work. The first two issues were published in 2000 by Gorilla Comics, a brief-lived imprint of Image Comics. After Gorilla folded, the series was picked up (in 2003) and completed by DC Comics, although the events and characters in it are distinctly separate from the main DCU.

* EvilIsDumb: The entire series is a comprehensive, horrible aversion.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Lucullan. The whole {{Malaproper}} thing is a front to make people underestimate him (and it works, too). It's not entirely an act for him, though, giving how he fumbles with his words when apologizing to Golgoth for failing to gain any information or technology about the resistance's alien benefactors in Greenland.

* DarkSecret: Golgoth's is not what you would expect: Halfway through his crusade to become master of the world [[spoiler: it hit him how hard it was going to be maintaining control and realized he no longer ''wanted'' the job. The murder of his wife drove him to finish it off but Golgoth has lost his taste for conquest and would much rather give up. But he knows it's only his iron hand keeping order of the globe, without him, the world falls into chaos and thus must keep up the illusion of the ruthless tyrant to hold the planet together.]]

* VillainWOrld: [[CaptainObvious Duh!]]

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Or in this case, their wives and daughters. Crucial to Golgoth's backstory and character arc.

* CrusadingWidower: A villainous example, as it's implied that, as ruthless as Golgoth was in his early career, his marriage to Allorea tempered him. The way Endymion tells it, Golgoth becomes a full-fledge NoNonsenseNemesis after Allorea's death.

* TheFaceless: we never once see Golgoth's face, even in flashbacks; it's implied that he hasn't removed his mask since his wife died.

* PsychoSerum: What Eucharist withdrawl does.

''Empire'' is a comic book by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson about... well, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A totalitarian [[TheEmpire Empire]] has conquered most of the world, led by the power-armored super-scientist [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Golgoth.]] The world's greatest superheroes are all dead, and the last bastions of freedom are cut off, outmatched, and being overrun. Nothing can stop Golgoth's drive for total world domination.

''Empire'' is a comic book by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson about. . . well, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A totalitarian [[TheEmpire Empire]] has conquered most of the world, led by the power-armored super-scientist [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Golgoth.]] The world's greatest superheroes are all dead, and the last bastions of freedom are cut off, outmatched, and being overrun. Nothing can stop Golgoth's drive for total world domination.

* PyrrhicVillainy: Golgoth wins, but it's heavily implied to be a hollow victory since he's lost everything that's important to him in the process.

* ColdBloodedTorture: Loads. Xanna, Grieze, and Tumbril all do it as a recreational activity.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Lucullan. The whole {{Malaproper}} thing is a front to make people underestimate him (and it works, too).

* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: A CrowningMomentOfAwesome after Lucullan has been chewing out Golgoth for neglecting his empire.