There is such a thing as a comic that has everything: good writer, good art, interesting story, but still manages to be pedestrian. Supreme Power is one of those comics. It’s good, but it reminds me of leftovers: not quite the same taste, but filling nonetheless. The main problem is just that I’ve read this comic before, several times.
The basic conceit of this series is a “real-world” reworking of the Squadron Supreme, itself a group of heroes patterned on the Justice League. So the whole series has a twice-baked feeling already: a grim and gritty take on Marvel’s take on DC Comics’ Justice League. Toss in a little Watchmen and you’ve got a comic that would be right at home in the mid 1980s.
Of course, being the Naughties (that is, the 2000s), the storytelling is long and drawn out: not a lot of story to tell, but an extremely leisurely pace makes it drag even more. I know that J. Michael Straczynski is a good writer: Babylon 5 had its moments. And Supreme Power is well-written. The glacial pacing, though, would drive me insane were I reading this monthly.
“Contact” is a collection of the first six issues of the comic and covers the secret origins of Hyperion (Superman), Dr. Spectrum (Green Lantern), the Blur (Flash), and Nighthawk (Batman). Of course, the stories all seem familiar, but with a twist: this Superman was raised by an American couple, but it’s all an elaborate hoax: the parents are actors, hired to play the role by the government. The Blur is like the Flash, only with commercial endorsements (somewhat like Booster Gold). Nighthawk is like a racist Batman: he only helps black people. Etc. Etc.
So we have the by now typical story of “What if the Real World had Superheroes.” And as I’ve mentioned, I’ve read more than enough of such stories already, some much better than this (Watchmen, of course, and Kurt Busiek’s Secret Identity (not to mention his Astro City)). And Supreme Power is good. JMS weaves a great story in here, and Gary Frank’s art is very nice looking here. I can see how new readers would be attracted to this: everything old is new again to many of them. But I just can’t get excited by it.
Does that make me a bad person?
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 18th, 2005 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Marvel Comics, Random Musings, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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