Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities SUPREME by Alan Moore and now Warren Ellis

Guys, I just realized, Liefeld's Supreme is pretty much the answer to Superboy-Prime. Both are bitter about the fact that they were replaced by "impostors" and both are pretty much no better than homicidal maniacs.

Dang, issue 66 was a step back for me... I didn't enjoy Suprema's beating. Still gonna continue, if for no other reason than to see old Supreme get the freakin' asskicking he deserves eventually.

So I decided to finally, at long last, order Supreme: The Return on amazon.com. I kept looking for it at comic book stores and even a local convention but just couldn't find it. But enough is enough! I MUST read these stories.

To kick it off, I'm rereading Supreme: Story of the Year. I'm two issues into it and once again blown away by how awesome it is.

The return of Supreme the series helped spur me on to reread, though also my continued dissapointment with DC Comics made me feel I needed something to make me feel better about comic books.

I also saw Eric Larsen said #68 will be the final part of his run, and he'll be leaving the series. Apparently this story wraps up in #67 and then #68 will be an 80 page issue with short stories for Squeek, Sister Supreme, Lion-headed 50's Supreme and a bunch of others. I think that's pretty cool! It also shows Larsen really does "get" the Moore Supreme run IMO.

Not sure who is taking over next, but Supreme won't be cancelled.

I was just coming to post the link to that:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/08/28/erik-larsen-leaves-supreme/

So, yeah. This may be a good thing. I'll stick around for sure now (who can resist an 80-page giant??). I'm curious to see what comes next for the SUPREME-verse.

And yes, well done on the TPB order! Moore's run is one heck of a thrillride.

It's been 4 months since an issue of SUPREME hit the stands... this kind of crap is part of what earned IMAGE so much badwill back in the day. I think the next issue is slated to come out next Weds, finally.

But then I got to thinking about it...

WHAT IF... *part* of the delay is because...

they've gotten ALAN MOORE to COME BACK?!?!

With DC's new 52 steadily going into the crapper, THAT would be the coup of 2013!!

That would be the greatest thing to happen since...Alan Moore first took over Supreme!

Can you imagine?!!

But I do think Alan Moore thinks very poorly of Rob Liefield personally, so I'm not sure if it could happen. Still, Image publisher Eric Stephenson seems to be one of the best people in comics and could just be the guy to get it done. And Rob likes $$ enough to know when to back away and let people make it for him.

Uggggh, the last 2 issues have been really annoying. I am glad Larsen is gone now. I'll give the new creative team only ONE issue, if I don't like what I see I will thereafter reserve this 4 bucks for a Marvel NOW title.

I just caught the last two issues and have to agree. The last issue, especially, was incredibly frustrating because it was clearly a rush job done at the last minute. The art on half the pages was just outright terrible. It’s almost like Larsen did some rough layouts and then was told no one would be finishing his art, so he did a fast inking job to try to pass it off as a finished issue.

This storyline had a lot of promise and its ridiculous that Larsen is leaving before its even done. This says a lot about Eric Larsen to me, since I don’t buy his stuff usually. (And I won’t now). I really wish someone could come in and deliver a great Supreme series. I’m with Lash—my tryout phase for the next creative team has shrunk drastically.

Well, with so few new comics that interest me, and with my back issue collection pretty much complete, I had a little extra cash which I invested on "Supreme: The Return." (Haven't found "Story of the Year" yet, but I'm still searching.)

Of course, it's absolutely wonderful. It's "1963" taken to the next level. Moore was and remains an unparalleled genius of writer.

I might have kept putting it off, though, if not for this thread sticking in my mind. My thanks to Lash for starting the thread, and to Cobie and NC and Sarky and everyone else who posted here.

And you never know, there may even be a Supreme fanfic from yours truly in the future, maybe a Panic in the Sky homage.

I'm glad that the thread stuck in your mind. Supreme is something I've not read since it came out. I wasn't in early, as I do remember getting at least a few back issues. I've no idea how much of the run I have. I'll need to dog them out.

As I'm not a huge Superman fan, I remember them being really well crafted, with great flashbacks in different styles. I imagine that Morrison kept a run fairly close by when he was looking for inspiration for All Star Superman.

Do I remember a Moore Youngblood correctly? It might have lasted all of two issues? A character called Doc Rocket springs to mind. She was a speedster.

Good point. I hadn't thought of that. For all their feuding in the media, Moore and Morrison really are creative kindred sprits, although IMO Moore gets it right more often. But I did like Morrison's All Star Superman.



Yes, the financing fell through and then Moore and Liefeld had a falling-out.

Shows how much attention I pay to comics in the media. I had no idea they were feuding. Honestly, they are all whiny enough to be moaning about anything or anyone given half a chance. The liefield one being a case in point (I had to look it up).

All-Star Superman was really good. But Moore used to do those sorts of plots effortlessly. While Morrison may have more detail and more continuity ties to it, Moore's is purer and more naturally imaginative. Moore has probably had another half a dozen ideas while Morrison is looking out a '60s Bat-Comic reference.

Which isn't knocking either creator, just appreciating the differences each brings to the medium.

And we have the latest star creator about to put his imprint on Supreme. Personally, I won't be reading it because I've been over this guy for a long time, but I'm curious what the rest of you think.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/04/21/warren-ellis-to-write-rob-liefelds-supreme/

Well the first couple of paragraphs are a variation on the movie Prince of Darkness for a start.

I had a quick peek at his bibliography floppology comicology...

I've read the early stuff (I enjoyed Lazarus Churchyard)missed all of the marvel (unless he wrote that Sentinels story for Excalibur) and picked up again with Transmetropolitan, Stormwatch/Authority and Planetary. I've also read Strange Kiss, Fell and Global Frequency.

I've read a fair bit of Freakangels, although I always have to go and watch Children of the Damned afterwards.

So, he's clearly someone whose books I've picked up over the years, without being a follower of it.

I think it will be of a decent standard, with at least a few interesting ideas to start things off. Beyond that?

Of the work of his that I've read, the only thing that I think holds up to multiple reads is Global Frequency. I think Stormwatch, what little I read before I gave up on it, actually seems more dated today than what it set out to replace. The Authority, while an improvement, is very much of its time, too, although having the two big guns be a gay couple was a good idea and way ahead of its time.

From what I remember, Stormwatch had a decent idea of cape comics. Letting them change the world they were in. But it didn't really have any pay off. Stormwatch were replaced by the Authority and DC wimped out of taking it to the next level once he had deeparted.

The superhumans that Stormwatch went up against were the precursors of the Doc Brass team at the start of Planetary. Again, some good starting ideas, but the tail end was saved by the art.

The Hitch art on the Authority is probably what made the Ultimates a hit, and I only have to look at a cinema to see how that ended up. But it was Ellis that wrote those giant action scenes that Hitch would take to that title.

I've never reread Tranmetropolitan, and there's a chance I was buying out of sheer habit.

I don't think I've read anything of his recently. The floppology didn't go up that far.

I don;t have a lot of interest in Supreme. But there are DC & Marvel shaped gaps in my buying at the moment, so if I see it, I might take a look.

The lack of payoff is indeed a recurring problem with him, especially when he's writing something that lasts longer than just a few issues. That's why I'm not optimistic about Supreme.

Did this ever happen?!?!

I loved Stormwatch. Jackson King, Winter, Diva and Flint were all great characters.

Then came all that Jenny Sparks / Authority stuff. Ugh. Snarky Brits. So over that.

I’m actually super-pumped about Warren Ellis coming on Supreme! I’ve really grown to like Ellis’ work over the years, though I’ve mainly read little one-shot stories or very brief runs of his (never reading a long term run that “went the distance”). What I have read by Ellis that I really liked a lot was some of his actual prose work outside comics, which I thought was a lot of fun, with a mixture of all kinds of dark humor, relevant commentary and wonderful characters.

All that aside, I really like Supreme as a franchise, and I love how Rob Liefeld—of all people—allows other creators to come to his creations and gives them 100% total free reign. No matter what you say about him, the guy has a lot of guts. Or perhaps “smarts” is the better word, since he’s letting creators people continually call visionaries and geniuses come on and make him boatloads of money.



I can’t believe I never posted about this! This did indeed happen, though it was some time ago. As expected, I was mesmerized by the brilliance of the Return, and loved just about every facet of it. Moore really had a lot of fun on this one, and I loved the usage of the various Supreme villains, which got more of a chance to shine here.

Moore also added more romance to the second volume and did it entirely in a slightly-but-only-just updated silver age type way, which was just full of charm.

Another thing that set the second volume apart was the more steady involvement of the amazing Chris Sprouse, who is really one of the best artists in comic books for the last 30 years and deserves much more credit than he ever gets outside of Legion fandom.

Sigh. If only Moore could have done a 30 year run on Supreme or something. It was so damn enjoyable. For me, I think it will be the ultimate failsafe switch for whenever I start to get REAL disheartened by modern superhero comics. When I was at my lowest ebb some years back, reading Moore’s Supreme pulled me back from the brink, (and the last few years of creator-owned comics kept me enthralled with the medium).

So I naturally picked up Supreme: Blue Rose #1 and #2 and have to say I am really impressed so far! The story is tight and interested and feels like its building to something really substantial.

I love the very serious, modern story-telling take that does not shy away from utilizing Alan Moore Supreme ideas like Darius Dax, Diana Dane, etc. There feels like there is an undercurrent of respect to that work while making sure this is doing its own completely separate thing.

And that redhead has to be Zayla Zarn, Future Girl, right?

It's funny: I got this and Multiversity at the same time, and while Multiversity left me feeling VERY underwhelmed, Supreme: Blue Rose has me really interested in the how Warren Ellis is going to explore the concept of the Supremacy, and how time / continuity / reality / whatever continually will reboot itself. *If* both series end up exploring the same themes, then this one is already clearly the better one (but I have no idea where either one is going just yet).

Moore did something amazing by introducing the Supremacy; Larsen came in and gave a very straight-forward 'typical comic book writer' approach to the concept, in a way a company writer in the 70's and 80's might have approached it. And now it looks like Ellis is ready to play with it more dramatically with the sensibilities of Vertigo / modern Image / 90's Wildstorm / etc. Above it all, there remains a sense of fun and whimsy, even if it is much more subtle than anything we've seen before with Supreme.

The art by Tula Lotay is incredibly lush and beautiful as well. There is a lot going on with the backgrounds, panel arrangement and all around unusual choices in colors and "scatches" (which you'll see what I mean when you read the issue). All in all, it leaves you feeling that this is a very original and unique take on any superhero than what we're currently seeing (or have seen).

I have to get the first issue. My boss only ordered one copy when it first came out and I'm STILL waiting on the reorder. I was able to pick up the second issue. I'm still trying to understand some of what's going on. but I have to say, and I admit this is kind of trivial, I liked the inclusion of the Evening Primrose character in the Professor Night segments. I'd been driving myself nuts looking for an image of her from the Alan Moore issues, and I like how she appears to be a mix of Poison Ivy with some hints of Catwoman and Nocturna. I wonder if I could commission Tula Lotay to do a retroengineered design of how she might've looked in the Alan Moore issues.

Wow, I thought this was more like some surreal re-imagining or something. Dismissed it as a "hard pass". The fact that it is, if I'm reading this correctly, more of a continuation is intriguing.....

Sarky, when I saw her, I immediately thought of you and your post asking about her! I actually think the whole Prof Night interludes are brillaint so far!

Lardy, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you jump on board as this is no reimagining (though could possibly get surreal). It's hard to say what the whole story is so far but Darius Dax, Prof Night, Future Girl and others are there if you have a keen eye.

This has been one of the best things I've read this month.