Supreme (comics)
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Supreme is a fictional superhero created by Rob Liefeld. He was originally a violent, egotistical Superman-archetype, but was rebooted by Alan Moore to pay tribute to the classic Silver Age Superman mythos, as guided by Mort Weisinger. Moore's run would later be collected as two trade paperbacks by Checker Book Publishing Group: Supreme: The Story of the Year and Supreme: The Return.
Alan Moore's work on the series won the 1997 Eisner Award for Best Writer.
Contents |
[edit] Character History
[edit] Original Supreme
[edit] Youngblood
Supreme was originally introduced in issue 3 of Rob Liefeld's initial Youngblood limited series as a flip book story, and he was later spun off into his own series, which Liefeld occasionally worked on. Supreme's history varied from story to story; at one point, he was an extremely religious angel of vengeance, who cited scripture to justify his actions. At other times, Supreme considered himself to be a god, especially after defeating the Norse god Thor and taking his mystical hammer. Although considered to be the most powerful being in the Liefeld universe, Supreme had his share of defeats, including being killed in the cross-title Deathmate Black series (published by both Image and Valiant Comics), losing his powers in Extreme Prejudice, and being brutally killed by Crypt in Extreme Sacrifice.
[edit] Origin
The character was eventually given a more comprehensive treatment in The Legend of Supreme, a three-issue miniseries by Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming. In the story, a reporter named Maxine Winslow investigates the "origin story" of Supreme. As the story unfolds, we learn that in 1937 Ethan Crane shot and killed two men in retaliation for the rape of a fifteen year-old girl. Crane was subsequently shot by two police officers, but he survived and was sentenced to life in prison. In prison the government offered him a chance to participate in an experiment to enhance human beings, hoping that unlike the six previous guinea pigs, he would survive.
Unfortunately, Crane perished like the others; but unlike the others, he came back to life. The outside world was strange and new to him. Making his way to a church, he found sanctuary given by Father Beam. He soon discovered some of his new abilities and took the name Supreme. Hearing about the ongoing war in Europe, he decided to do his part. Not much was revealed about Supreme's work in World War 2, but it is known that he joined the Allied side. After the war ended, Supreme felt that he had done his part, playing a good Samaritan to human society, and left the Earth. In reality, the accidental death of Father Beam in his hands drove him away.
[edit] Exile
Supreme spent decades in space, fighting against various threats on the side of an alien race named the Katellans (the race of Gary Carlson and Erik Larsen's Vanguard), but he eventually returned to Earth in 1992 to find a greatly changed human society, complete with genetically enhanced superpowered humans that could be found in teams like Youngblood and Heavy Mettle. Supreme became the field team leader of Heavy Mettle for a short while, but soon left the position after defeating the villain Khrome.
[edit] God Complex
As Supreme fought the Norse god Thor over the possession of the enchanted hammer Mjolnir, another character by the name of Enigma acquired another Supreme from an alternate timeline, to be kept in storage in case Supreme was defeated. Supreme did not lose, so the other Supreme was kept in suspended animation. Supreme eventually appeared to die during an assault on humanity by Lord Chapel, but in actuality he ended up stranded on an alternate Earth. He spent several years there, powerless, until the alternate Supreme originally removed from this reality by Enigma returned and was overpowered by the original Supreme. The original Supreme managed to switch bodies with the alternate Supreme, thus restoring his powers. After various events involving Probe, Supreme's daughter from the future and Enigma, the original Supreme, the alternate Supreme, Probe and Enigma all worked together to defeat the evil god Loki, whose machinations had been the cause of the various shifts between realities. In the end of Supreme #40, loose ends had been wrapped up and Supreme and Probe returned to Earth.
[edit] Alan Moore's Supreme
Alan Moore was asked by publisher Rob Liefeld to write further adventures of Supreme. Moore agreed, on the condition that he could throw out everything previously done with the character, as he felt the comic was not very good.
[edit] The Story of the Year
Beginning with issue 41 of Supreme, Moore began developing a new approach to comic storytelling and the concept of the superhero. His Supreme was a complex comic, containing layers upon layers of metafiction, each issue containing further comment on the nature of comics history, storytelling, and the Superman mythos. While Moore's plotlines were characteristically complex, there was an element of simplicity in Supreme's actions and personality. The clichés of the superhero genre often went unquestioned and were more often than not purposely embraced, but with awareness and fun. This deliberate lack of irony was a new approach for Moore. He stated in interviews that it was also something of an apology. He had become famous for deconstructing superhero characters in various dark ways: now he was setting about reconstructing the genre.
This new version of Supreme had a secret identity as Ethan Crane, a mild-mannered artist for Dazzle Comics, who received his powers as a result of a childhood exposure to a meteorite composed of pure Supremium, a meta-element that can alter reality. When not saving the world as the archetypical superhero, Crane illustrated the adventures of Omniman, a Supreme-like character going under a relaunch with a change of writers.
[edit] The Supremacy
Moore did not simply ignore the events of the previous issues – he turned them into a central part of his Supreme storyline. In Moore's first issue, Supreme returned to Earth from space and discovered that not only was he living in the most recent "revision" of reality, as it is an ever-changing story, but that there had been many previous versions of himself. Retired Supremes lived in another reality, dubbed the "Supremacy" by its inhabitants, an afterlife for characters whose stories had come to an end.
Supreme first suffered from amnesia, but quickly learned that his returning memories were "backstory" that was gradually being filled in. As Supreme himself mused while visiting the site where he first gained his powers: "Maybe I really did just pop into existence a few weeks ago [...], but standing in that hole I felt something. I felt a long, peculiar life well up around me, and even if my life is a tale the Universe wrote only yesterday, it started right there, in that ditch." As Supreme's memories "returned", the flashback sequences to Supreme's childhood and previous adventures were told in the comic style of the era, reflecting different periods of comics history.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Suprema and Radar
Supreme now also had a sister with identical powers, Suprema, and a superpowered dog, Radar the Hound Supreme who was as intelligent as a human being, though he still very clearly had a canine mindset; these two characters were clear references to Superman's cousin Supergirl and his dog, Krypto, though it's worth noting that they were still distinctly different from the characters to whom they paid homage.
[edit] Darius Dax
Darius Dax was also introduced in this storyline. He was a Lex Luthor-styled evil genius who begrudged Supreme. He died twice in the series. The first time, he died in prison of lymphatic cancer caused by exposure to Supremium. Before he died he transferred a copy of his consciousness to "micro-machines, no bigger than dust mites" which he concealed in a book. He mailed this book to Judy Jordan (a Lana Lang analog) just before his death. When she opened the book, she inhaled the dust and the copy of Dax's consciousness was transferred into her brain after her own personality was erased. Dax used Judy's body to trick Supreme and trap him in his own prison. Dex went on to abandon Judy's body in favor of a super powered android body. Still unable to beat Supreme he merged the android body with Supremium.
He died again after he merged with the Supremium. He was sent to a place similar to the Supremacy, called Daxia. Every version of Dax before him lived in Daxia, including Darius Duck, Daxor, Daxian, Doomsdax, Mad Nazi Scientist Dax and "Grim" Serial-Killer Transvestite 80's Dax. The combined intellect of the Daxes let him cheat death once more and return to the land of the living.
Moore's work on the book continued until Supreme #56, at which point the series ended. It was then followed up by the six-issue series Supreme: The Return, until it was abruptly cancelled as well. Moore had written an additional two issues which were never published[citation needed].
[edit] Other Villains
- Optilux
- Korgo
- Emerpus, the Reverse Supreme
- Gorrl, the living galaxy
- Televillain
- Master Meteor(Supremium-man)
- Shadow Supreme
- Slave Ant
- Vor-Em
- Satana
- Bikini Blonde
- Cyber-zerk
Some of the villains Supreme fights are actually enemies of the Allies:
- Hulver Ramik
- Atomo
- The End
- Florax, the dominator
- Prismalo, the painter
During the saga, some villains from Professor Night's rogues gallery were introduced:
- Jack-A-Dandy
- Lounge Lizard
- Evening Primrose
- Fake-Face
- The Walrus and the Carpenter
[edit] Upcoming return: Supreme Sacrifice
In 2006, Arcade Comics is publishing Supreme's return by Robert Kirkman and Rob Liefeld. It will not complete Alan Moore's run. Supreme Sacrifice does include aspects created by Moore including the Fall of the Supremacy. More specifically, it will deal with Liefeld's original 90's Supreme and his forced retirement in the Supremacy.
[edit] Other Supremes
[edit] Kid Supreme
First appearances:
- Supreme (Vol. 2) #9 (1993) (Charles Flanders)
- Supreme (Vol. 2) #19 (1994) (Danny Fuller)
- Supreme (Vol. 2) #42 (1996) (Ethan Crane)
There have been three versions of Kid Supreme:
The first one was Charles Flanders, a boy who could tap into Supreme's powers. He became Kid Supreme, Supreme's wartime sidekick, though his relationship with Supreme was not one of equal partners – rather, Flanders was more of a pet than a friend to Supreme.
The second original version of Kid Supreme was a teenager named Danny Fuller. He was caught at ground zero of the battle between Supreme and Union, and received super-powers in an explosion that occurred during the fight. He found that he had become invulnerable, super strong and capable of flight. As Danny was a fan of Supreme and super-heroes, he decided to become one himself. However, after a mistake of Danny's indirectly led to a man's death, he moved back home to his grandparents to live a normal life.
Both the Charles Flanders and Danny Fuller versions of Kid Supreme were removed from existence after the Supreme continuity was rebooted by Alan Moore, though they still exist in the Supremacy. However, Moore's version of Supreme featured numerous childhood adventures of Kid Supreme, a teenage version of the adult hero.
[edit] Lady Supreme
- First appearance: Supreme (Vol. 2) #5 (1993)
The biological future daughter of Glory and Supreme, named Probe, although she once believed that she was a test tube baby until Glory told her the truth. This character was removed from reality after the Supreme continuity was rebooted by Alan Moore, though she still exists in the Supremacy.
[edit] Collected Editions
- Supreme Madness TPB - collecting Supreme #12-18
- Supreme: The Story of the Year TPB - collecting Supreme #41-52 (Checker Book Publishing Group, 2002, 332 Pages, ISBN 0-9710249-5-2)
- Supreme: The Return TPB - collecting Supreme #53-56 and Supreme: The Return #1-6 (Checker Book Publishing Group, 2003, 258 Pages, ISBN 0-9710249-6-0)
[edit] See also
[edit] External Web Sites
- International Hero Page
- WeirdSpace - Fictive characters page on Supreme created by Rob Liefeld
- WeirdSpace - Fictive characters page on Supreme created by Alan Moore
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