Alan Moore Month - Supreme

Supreme: The Story of the Year
Written by Alan Moore
Art by Joe Bennett, Rick Veitch, Gil Kane and Various. $26.95 USD

Supreme: The Return
Written by by Alan Moore
Art by Chris Sprouse, Rick Veitch, Matt Smith, Jim Starlin, Ian Churchill, Rob Liefeld and Various. $24.95 USD.
Published by Checker Book Publishing Group.

For a period of the early-to-mid-'90s, Alan Moore was relatively inactive in comics, working intensely on his novel The Voice of the Fire, sworn off working for DC Comics and Marvel Comics as well, due to two different offenses. But he hadn't lost his love for writing comics, and probably was looking for lighter work after the novel, so the success of new publisher Image Comics was good timing for him. The superstar artists who had formed the company were none of them particularly acclaimed writers, nor did they have a lot of time for it with all the art they had to produce and business decisions to make. The prolific Moore took several assignments and probably successfully pitched others, and soon he had written some Spawn and Youngblood related miniseries, as well as taking on the monthly WildC.A.T.S. book. His work on that series made for good, intelligent superhero comics, but it was his work on Supreme, briefly at Image and then moving to Awesome Comics, that is arguably more interesting.

Maximum Press/Awesome Comics began essentially when Image co-founder Rob Liefeld was ousted from the group; one of the reasons given was that he was already using Image talent for his own imprint, anyway, so they were being paid from the Image till instead of Rob's. Supreme was, for its first eighteen issues, merely a more violent, but very obvious, ripoff of Superman, followed by attempts by various creative teams at Thor-level god-clashes, spacefaring, alternate realities...none of it particularly successful. Moore came to the character with a different plan and the permission to throw out everything that came before. Moore sought to restore the sense of wonder to '90s superhero comics that had delighted him as a child reading such things as '50s and '60s Superman titles, with their time travel and aliens and endless varieties of Kryptonite. So, Moore's mission was twofold: to make this blank Superman knockoff interesting and different enough to stand up on his own two feet, and to mix in the contemporary superheroics with some short stories that attempt to recall the innocent thrills of those Silver Age Superman stories.

In The Story of the Year, Moore gets started on both goals right away, giving Supreme an instant history and structuring the story as a "three-part novel", which was how Silver Age comic books used to format their full-issue stories back then. Supreme is revealed to be part of "The Supremacy," both an idea and a place containing all the past versions of the character, each arriving on this world the moment they are written out of history by some capricious aliens who control such things. Of course, most readers will instantly get that Moore is writing some delicious metafiction here, referring to the endless revamps and "new directions" corporate superheroes undergo in their careers. There's the Golden Age "Original Supreme", drawn in a Joe Shuster style; there's a jive-talkin' African-American woman Supreme, a future version (Supremax), etc. Joe Bennett is and was merely a competent artist, but he works hard for Moore with decent character designs, and a good shot of the city. One impediment to enjoyment here that will stand out quickly is the lousy coloring and/or production. It's hard to say how much of the graininess and murk is due to Checker scanning printing pages and how much is just the gung-ho use of computer coloring in its infancy at that period, but it's very noticeable.

Every good hero needs a good villain, and so we have Supreme's own Lex Luthor, Darius Dax, who also exists in nearly all the same realities as Supreme. There's a Supergirl type, Suprema, and even a caped dog, Radar. Moore has a ball coming up with clever, though sometimes slight, variations on Superman's shtick, with the Fortress of Solitude becoming the Citadel Supreme, Kryptonite becoming Supremium, and more. There's even a kind of "Reverse Flash" named Emerpus, who is Supreme's opposite, and depicted as a negative image. Throughout the series, Moore indulges himself with flashback stories in every issue, almost all illustrated with a sure hand and a loving feel for the era by Rick Veitch. Highlights include tributes to Mad's Will Elder and "Supremelvin!," which can't quite top the Kurtzman/Wood, "Superduperman!" but comes pretty close. Coming up with a good six-page short is really just as tough as writing a twenty-two pager, so while the inspirations for the characters are obvious, credit to Moore for adding a lot of value, effort and fun to the issues.

Still, if it was just a retro homage/spoof, a la Moore's own 1963 miniseries, it would be an enjoyable but somewhat hollow exercise. Thankfully, Moore does make an effort to turn Supreme and his alter ego, Ethan, into worthwhile characters. He doesn't do anything surprising, really -- Ethan is a nice guy touchingly unsure of himself around women, particularly a coworker, Diana Dane. Unlike Lois Lane, Diana is not pushy, though her line of work also pushes her uncomfortably close to Ethan's secret identity. She's a comic book writer; he's a comic book artist, and he admits to knowing Supreme. This is a fun choice of occupations, as Moore then gets to express what he dislikes about the state of the industry circa 1997, with the heroes being made as dark and bloodthirsty as the villains, the magic of the characters taken away from children and remade as something less, appealing only to the aging, hardcore fanbase. It's even more enjoyable when one realizes that Image and Awesome -- Liefeld himself -- were some of the culprits. In contrast to hot writer Billy Friday, the Jimmy Olsen lookalike at the same comics company who puts the character of Omniman through a number of '90s-style grim-n-gritty machinations, Diana is simpatico with Ethan, wanting to preserve the heroism and essential goodness of superheroes but still treat them seriously, still try to make them grow. Moore's revenge at what's happened to superhero comics is to put Friday through the kinds of dark tortures typical of many of the popular British comics writers of the time.

Bennett doesn't last very long, actually, but he's replaced by a number of fill-in artists for an issue or two who aren't that different. It's not until issue #50 when Chris Sprouse steps in, instantly demonstrating what the book could and should look like. At least up to this point, Veitch's flashback stories are always delightful, and he shows he not only does good Golden and Silver Age Superman imitations, but there's also an affectionate tribute to Jim Starlin's cosmic comics of the '70s.

The art returns to mediocrity in the modern stories for the rest of the volume, but at least the story picks up steam with the clever return of Darius Dax and the release of Supreme's other enemies. One of the best scenes is near the end of the book, as Ethan and Diana discuss the plotting of the Supreme comic and a possible romance. It seems like Ethan might finally make his move, but when Diana unwittingly points out his own lack of respect for her with his keeping his identity a secret, he can't go through with it. Good stuff, and a potent reminder that for all the imagination and verve of those great old stories, there was also a lot of cruelty to Superman's treatment of Lois.

The Return collects the last four issues of Supreme, followed by its six issue relaunch as Supreme: The Return. The reason for two series is that after #56, Awesome didn't have the money to continue for over a year, returning in May of 1999. Moore's scripts were already completed and some artwork as well, but it would take until June of 2000 for the series to finish. Now that the lengthy Story of the Year is concluded and all the players are established, Moore shifts his focus for shorter stories and stories focusing on other characters besides Supreme. #54 finds the fictional Omniman made flesh, battling with Supreme as the result of Szazs, an otherdimensional imp much like Mr. Mxyzptlk from the Superman books. Moore then resolves the fate of Judy Jordan, Ethan's first love, a tragic casualty of Darius Dax until Supreme reanimates her as a Suprematon, one of the robots who guard the Citadel. It's a nice story, as she has to come to grips with this non-life, and Supreme is as fallible as anyone, coming up with the best solution he can, but it's not good enough, at least until she finds love with S-1, the most soulful Suprematon, the one most like her love, Supreme. They go off to make a new world for themselves. As with so many Moore stories, people -- or facsimiles of people in this case -- find each other during trying times and try to make the best of it.

After an enjoyable altered history story, it's on to round up the other foes for several issues, The Televillain, Optilux, Slaver Ant and Korgo. Moore dates the book a bit for the Korgo story, and sacrifices the story for a cheap shot, but it's a pretty funny one: Korgo (a Genghis Khan type) takes over the White House and takes Hillary Clinton for his wife, only to quietly beg Supreme to punch him out and take him back to prison, as he can't bear her ("Gods, I thought I was ruthless!"). Sprouse does excellent renditions of the President and First Lady, and his Supreme is, well, supreme, bulky but not overly muscled.

That would be his last issue, other than what appears to be a hastily drawn two pages, though, as the rest of The Return is filled out with other artists of varying degrees of ability. Jim Starlin does a full issue, a smart and very funny Darius Dax story, wherein Dax encounters Daxia, a villain's version of The Supremacy, with the counterparts to all the heroes seen in #41. With this new knowledge, Dax realizes he may not be unique, but he's encouraged by the fact that his conflict with Supreme is destined, perhaps a necessary part of every reality.

Matt Smith draws two issues, one a kind of spoof of Batman and Robin, only set in a world of light, kind of Moore's take on the bottle city of Kandor. It's amusing, but the issue is more notable for Veitch's Kirbyesque flashback story, and a few pages back in the Supremacy, though Jim Baikie is not well suited for straight superheroics, or the romance involved in the scene, for that matter. Romance of a different kind occurs in the next issue -- one of the best stories -- as Radar longs to feel the kind of love blossoming between Supreme and Diana Dane (who discovered he was Ethan), and goes for a fling supreme of just a few seconds, during which he impregnates hundreds of dogs. It's silly in a Silver Age sense, but of course the subject is adult, and Moore is able to even get a poignant moment out of it, writing Radar with more dimension than many writers are able to with their human characters.

The final two issues are a mixed blessing, crystallizing the best and worst of the series. "The Return of the Supremium Man" is a smart story, tying up Darius Dax and Billy Friday plot threads as well as fitting very well with the flashback story drawn by Veitch, but Ian Churchill is just a wrong choice as artist. His Supreme, and everyone else, is insanely overrendered, and only makes the elegance and simplicity of Sprouse and Veitch more evident. Then, the series concludes, appropriately enough, with "New Jack City" which is not much of a story, but is a warm, issue-long tribute to the imagination of the late Jack "King" Kirby. Veitch draws everything except Supreme, as Liefeld insisted on doing this. Consequently, there's an odd contrast in styles on every page, but it must be said this is one of Liefeld's better efforts, as he doesn't have to do anything but draw Supreme floating or standing around. He clearly has studied Sprouse, for the face and hairline are more like Sprouse's rendition than the way Liefeld drew the character before.

Moore essentially just has Supreme land on a strange world and encounter imitations of famous Kirby creations, from the Newsboy Legion to Guardian to Doctor Doom and one of those crazy monsters from Marvel's monster comics. Then there's a Sgt. Fury and Fighting American imitation, some Kirby Krackle, and it's on to the Fourth World saga and something like Asgard. It's when Supreme meets the "King" that he gets to talk explicitly about his pet theory of "Idea Space," though this was already basically explored throughout the series. Kirby is described as an "Imagineer," a guy who commuted to Idea Space every day, farming the space for produce (characters, concepts) for others to consume (the company, the readers). Veitch has in this story one of his finest showcases as an artist, constantly changing the giant head of Kirby from human into one of many distinctive Kirby artistic effects, such as the crackle, the bust of white-hot power, the inventive mechanical constructs. The story is both a tribute to Kirby's artistry and a hopeful eulogy, imagining that after shuffling off his mortal coil, Kirby is now free to create without stopping, without the limitations of an aging body. Though Kirby's experience with the Superman mythos was brief and not part of the elements that show up as prime influences in Supreme, the quality of the tribute precludes any complaint about where it's found. It's a fitting end to an imperfect but often quite rewarding book, a valid and mostly successful attempt at bringing back the magic to superheroes. It might have been nice had the funds been there to keep going, but it seems that with these two volumes Moore was able to tell most of the stories he had to. Not only that, but it led to an even better Moore/Sprouse collaboration, Tom Strong, while Moore got to rethink the Wonder Woman knockoff, Glory, into the far superior Promethea. One just hopes that eventually these stories will be reprinted with recolored artwork and better reproduction, although I understand the original film may be lost. Shame.

Christopher Allen