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dantastic's review
5.0
I've had my eye out for this for the better part of a decade and even had a couple dreams about finding it at a convention. When it popped up on ShopGoodwill a couple weeks ago, I put a pretty high bid on it and was relieved when I only had to pay $16 plus postage for it.
Like a lot of guys my age, I was a rube when Image Comics formed and started churning out books. I read 10-12 issues of Supreme and wasn't impressed. Eventually, Alan Moore got a writing gig on the book and thirty years later, I've finally read it.
Okay, so describing this without spoiling too much is going to be hard. Supreme has amnesia and finds himself in The Supremacy, a place outside of time where all the versions of Supreme go when there are Revisions in reality. Ethan Crane, Supreme's alter ego, is an artist working at Dazzle Comics. As he regains his memories, he relates the tales to Diana Dane, his co-worker and potential love interest as a villain's scheme slightly unfolds.
That doesn't make it sound that interesting but, boy howdy, it is. Supreme's tales are drawn in a 1950s style and the whole book is a very meta love letter to Superman. It's a very fun book and I don't see how anyone could think Alan Moore hates comics after reading this. It's quite clear that he loves comics, even all the goofy ass crap. Instead of trying to explain away all the Silver Age silliness, Moore unapologetically rolls around in it like a dog on something disgusting.
There are classic homages all over the place. Supreme started life as Kid Supreme so a lot of Silver Age Superboy stuff is there, like the robots, a Legion of Super Heroes homage, and a Supreme Hound. As he ages, we get Alan Moore's take on the old Justice League/Justice Society team ups, homages to the EC Comics, and even Moore's take on a very Spectre like character. Much like in 1963, he makes it feel like there's a whole box of comics out there I need to read.
I feel like I'm underselling this. It reminds me of All-Star Superman in some ways and feels like an extension of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow in others. This is one of those books I expect I'll discover something new every time I read it. There are references to all sorts of golden and silver age stories and I know some of them went right by me.
Five out of five stars.
Like a lot of guys my age, I was a rube when Image Comics formed and started churning out books. I read 10-12 issues of Supreme and wasn't impressed. Eventually, Alan Moore got a writing gig on the book and thirty years later, I've finally read it.
Okay, so describing this without spoiling too much is going to be hard. Supreme has amnesia and finds himself in The Supremacy, a place outside of time where all the versions of Supreme go when there are Revisions in reality. Ethan Crane, Supreme's alter ego, is an artist working at Dazzle Comics. As he regains his memories, he relates the tales to Diana Dane, his co-worker and potential love interest as a villain's scheme slightly unfolds.
That doesn't make it sound that interesting but, boy howdy, it is. Supreme's tales are drawn in a 1950s style and the whole book is a very meta love letter to Superman. It's a very fun book and I don't see how anyone could think Alan Moore hates comics after reading this. It's quite clear that he loves comics, even all the goofy ass crap. Instead of trying to explain away all the Silver Age silliness, Moore unapologetically rolls around in it like a dog on something disgusting.
There are classic homages all over the place. Supreme started life as Kid Supreme so a lot of Silver Age Superboy stuff is there, like the robots, a Legion of Super Heroes homage, and a Supreme Hound. As he ages, we get Alan Moore's take on the old Justice League/Justice Society team ups, homages to the EC Comics, and even Moore's take on a very Spectre like character. Much like in 1963, he makes it feel like there's a whole box of comics out there I need to read.
I feel like I'm underselling this. It reminds me of All-Star Superman in some ways and feels like an extension of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow in others. This is one of those books I expect I'll discover something new every time I read it. There are references to all sorts of golden and silver age stories and I know some of them went right by me.
Five out of five stars.
rebus's review
4.25
A loving tribute and a scathing satire at the same time, Moore dazzles by showing us what was great about comics and what became horrible about them, the former being as a gateway to science and critical thinking, the latter that they devolved into boring, self referential retellings of origin stories to appeal to new generations (who really no longer needed the pro war propaganda that always lay under the surface of the medium since its inception during WWII).
He manages to sneak in the history of repression that came about after EC comics broke barriers, and how that turned the super hero industry into almost pure garbage in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and how any attempts then at relevance were marginalized (the comics from DC that dealt with race and heroin in the late 60s and early 70s, replete with the genius realism of Neal Adams' artwork).
He also pokes fun at our obsessions with wanting more and more heroes, how the only way to tell them apart in alternative timelines was by minor costume differences. The modern framing of that story even has the reader obsessing about which character is which in that very story, a doubly post modern jab at tropes and fans. He makes sly social commentary by having the 90s heroes make fun of the 70s contradiction between spiritual enlightenment and the hedonism of the time, while the supposedly good heroes turned out to simply be cops and fascists who were always fighting for the material greed of the privileged and entitled class (his worldview later turned upside down with the Watchmen TV series, which was a false piece of virtue signaling and fake multi-culturalism that was merely suggesting that people of color become cops and support the establishment, the opposite of what Moore has always been trying to impart about our fascist society).
There's also a delightful depiction of dating and sexual mores over the decades--pay no attention to the crank on this site who says he/she could never stand Moore because of his depictions of women--that is frank and honest and wholly feminist in nature.
Not quite a masterpiece, but it's way smarter than 99% of the comics produces since 1990.
He manages to sneak in the history of repression that came about after EC comics broke barriers, and how that turned the super hero industry into almost pure garbage in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and how any attempts then at relevance were marginalized (the comics from DC that dealt with race and heroin in the late 60s and early 70s, replete with the genius realism of Neal Adams' artwork).
He also pokes fun at our obsessions with wanting more and more heroes, how the only way to tell them apart in alternative timelines was by minor costume differences. The modern framing of that story even has the reader obsessing about which character is which in that very story, a doubly post modern jab at tropes and fans. He makes sly social commentary by having the 90s heroes make fun of the 70s contradiction between spiritual enlightenment and the hedonism of the time, while the supposedly good heroes turned out to simply be cops and fascists who were always fighting for the material greed of the privileged and entitled class (his worldview later turned upside down with the Watchmen TV series, which was a false piece of virtue signaling and fake multi-culturalism that was merely suggesting that people of color become cops and support the establishment, the opposite of what Moore has always been trying to impart about our fascist society).
There's also a delightful depiction of dating and sexual mores over the decades--pay no attention to the crank on this site who says he/she could never stand Moore because of his depictions of women--that is frank and honest and wholly feminist in nature.
Not quite a masterpiece, but it's way smarter than 99% of the comics produces since 1990.
rickklaw's review
4.0
Not surprisingly, Alan Moore has scripted several excellent metafictional texts. Among his best and least know example, Supreme: The Story of the Year re-creates [author: Rob Liefeld]'s Superman ripoff. In his initial story, Moore introduces the Supremacy, a place outside of reality that serves as the home for all previously retconned1 versions and variants of Supreme. Intriguing characters such as Macrosupreme, Son of Supreme, Sister Supreme, Suprememarch, Supreme White, Supreme Gold, Sally Supreme, Scrappy Supreme, and even a Squeak the Supremouse litter the story landscape. As new each "revision” occurs, the then-current Supreme is “canceled from existence” and journeys to the Supremacy. Moore successfully uses this idea to re-envision the previously dull character, giving it relevancy as far more than just another Superman clone.
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