TOM'S SEEMINGLY OCCASIONAL REVIEWS--MAY 31, 1997

WHERE HAS TOM BEEN? It’s May. It’s the end of the school year so, as I’m sure you can imagine, I’ve been writing tests, grading papers, averaging grades . . . the whole teacher-thing. However, now that school is actually done, I should be able to stay on top of the ol’ website. George and I are working up a “Spinning the Rack” on comic book shops, and I’ve got tons o’ comics to review so bear with me, with us, and Tom and George’s Home Page will continue to supply you with all the comics-related opinions you can stand.

I can’t believe I’m about to do what I’m about to do, but there’s no way around it. I am actually going to recommend a comic book that is published by Rob Liefeld’s Maximum Press (soon to be Awesome Entertainment . . . if it isn’t already); that title would SUPREME, which, since issue no. 41, has been written by Mr. SWAMP THING . . ., Mr. MIRACLEMAN . . ., Mr. WATCHMEN himself--the great Alan Moore, who is also Mr. FROM HELL, Mr. BIG NUMBERS, and Mr. WILDC.A.T.S, among other things.

Over the course of a mere eight issues, Moore has taken Liefeld’s bargain-basement version of SUPERMAN and turned it into a must-read book. How?, you may be asking yourself, and the answer to that question would be by doing away with everything that has gone before, but with a twist: everything that has gone before still happened but has been wiped away by one of several periodic events called “revisions.” In other words, Moore’s take on Supreme is the latest revision, and the previous versions of the character and his supporting cast members have been sent to a sort of Valhalla for Supremes called the Supremacy. There one will find the Golden Age Supreme (drawn in the classic Joe Shuster style); the 1960’s Supreme (portrayed in a style that smacks of the legendary Curt Swan); the 1970’s black female Supreme, Sister Supreme (who speaks in stereotypical Luke Cage-jive talk); the 1980’s grim-and-gritty Supreme (armored up and very Dark Knight-y); and on and on. Moore has established the writer as the dominant force in Supreme’s universe, a place where the comics creator’s whims have very real effects on the characters’ lives. It’s one step beyond what Grant Morrison did with ANIMAL MAN a few years ago, and the premise give Moore a unique pulpit from which to deliver commentary on the comic book industry.

Once the Supremacy is established in issue no. 41, the main plot of the series becomes Supreme’s quest to fill the gaps in his memory, something that, according to the 1960’s Supreme, must be written in before the current incarnation can remember it. So, as Supreme seeks out old friends and foes, Moore writes his past, and we, the readers, are treated to some terrific flashback sequences that are homages to different eras in comic book history. For example, in issue no. 44, Supreme reflects on the last case of the Golden Age hero-team, the Allied Supermen of America. In this story, three evil spirits--the Morgue-Minder, the Tomb-Tender, and the Old Hag . . . obvious nods to the hosts of E.C.’s classic horror comics--take members of the team from 1949 into the future of the 1950’s to see where society is headed and how ineffectual and outdated they will be there. Rick Vietch and Bill Wray handle the art on each of the “future sections” and wonderfully ape the E.C. artwork of Graham Ingels, Johnny Craig, Jack Davis, Harvey Kurtzman, George Evans, and others, but the highlight of this issue is a sequence involving a seemingly insane world that is a wonderful take-off on Wally Wood’s classic Superman parody, “Superduperman,” from MAD no. 4. Obviously, this issue deals with the “death” of the super-hero comic book in the 1950’s, when science fiction, horror, and crime comics--most notably William C. Gaines’ E.C. Comics--usurped the marketplace. Other great flashback segments include issue no. 46’s Vietch-drawn Suprema--Supreme’s little sister--story that’s inked by classic Supergirl artist Jim Mooney and issue no. 48’s gallery of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA homage covers that feature the 1960’s incarnation of the Allies--Supreme, Professor Night, Glory, Die-Hard, Mighty Man, Super Patriot, Mer-Master, and Space Hunter--rendered by Vietch in a style that owes much to the extraordinary work of Murphy Anderson.

In my humble opinion, Moore is using SUPREME not only to comment on the comics industry, but also to return comics to what he--and I, as a matter of fact--feels they should be: a good deal of fun. He even takes a few shots at the influx of pretentious British comics writers--of which he was one--over the last few years through the character of Billy Friday in SUPREME no. 45. Am I the only one who finds it a bit ironic that both Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, the writer behind DC’s incredibly successful JLA, want to make comics fun again when they were two of the talents who helped steer the DARK KNIGHT-fostered grim-and-gritty movement back in the 1980’s? Ah, well, I guess I should just be happy that they’re bringing back the spirit of the Silver Age of Comics.

My biggest problem with SUPREME is the lackluster modern-era artwork by the likes of Mark Pajarillo, J.J. Bennett, J. Morrigan, and Joe Bennett. Their linework on the characters is far to fine and insubstantial, and the backgrounds are either generic or non-existent. Not one of them produces work that seems to mesh with Moore’s excellent scripts. Then, there are the covers, which are most often the work of either Rob Liefeld or Stephen Platt. They’re terrible, terrible, terrible! Did I mention that the covers are terrible? Liefeld’s best effort so far has been issue no. 47’s cover, an homage to Frank Miller’s cover for WORLD’S FINEST COMICS no. 285 featuring Supreme and Professor Night in the Superman and Batman poses, respectively. It isn’t as horrible as the other issues’ covers, but, since it’s Liefeld’s artwork, the anatomy is terribly skewed.

So, where does this leave us, mes amis? Buy SUPREME for Alan Moore’s five-star ( * * * * * ) stories and Rick Vietch’s five-star ( * * * * * ) flashback sequences, and bear with the half-star ( 1/2 * ) modern-era artwork and covers. From what I understand, early issues of Moore’s run are getting hard to find and steep in price; in fact, I paid over $5.00 for a two or three of the issues, but I got a variant cover edition of issue no. 41, Moore’s first, from American Entertainment for a mere $3.00. Fortunately for us latecomers, Awesome Entertainment will be publishing a series of trade paperbacks that will collect two issues of Moore’s SUPREME in each book for $5.95; the first of these collected editions is supposed to be in stores in June. Then, if you get hooked on Moore’s stuff, you can pick up JUDGMENT DAY, a three-issue mini-series in which he completely revises Liefeld’s entire comic book universe, affecting the likes of Glory, Youngblood, Prophet, and others. Apparently, Moore will be establishing a history for and mapping out the future of Liefeld’s universe, and he will be aided in his efforts by artists Dan Jurgens, Dave Gibbons, Kieth Giffen, Terry Dodson, Chris Sprouse, and Gil Kane, among others. Yeah, I can’t believe it either, but I intend to pick up this series, just to see if Moore can make any more of Liefeld’s creations readable.

I picked up a few issues of SUPREME when I was in line to see writer Chris Claremont (the dreadful SOVEREIGN SEVEN) and artist Greg Land (the NIGHTWING mini-series, SUPERGIRL) at the Great Escape in Louisville, Kentucky. Land and I chatted for a few minutes, and he autographed my copy of NIGHTWING ANNUAL no. 1 ( * * * * 1/2 ). If you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably unaware of the fact that this year’s DC annuals sport a banner reading “Pulp Heroes” and deal with a variety of themes that were typical of the pulp magazines of the 1930’s--”Strange Adventures,” “Suspense Detective,” etc. Typical annual fare? Nope. Not by a longshot. First of all, these stories are actually in-continuity tales, a rarity for DC’s summer annuals. No Elseworlds. No dystopic futures. Just good, old-fashioned extra-length tales of the DC heroes you know and love--the stuff good annuals are made of. The NIGHTWING ANNUAL’s theme is “Young Romance,” and it features an excellent story by Devin K. Grayson, a young woman who has demonstrated her considerable writing talent in the pages of THE BATMAN CHRONICLES, her best effort being a nice short story starring Dick Grayson and Donna Troy. The annual opens, oddly enough, with Dick (Nightwing) Grayson’s marriage and is pretty much a roller-coaster ride of romance, murder, and intrigue from that point on. Grayson seems to have a knack for Nightwing and the various characters in both the Bat- and Titans-universes. There are some wonderful moments between Dick and Donna and Dick and Barbara (Oracle) Gordon in this story that prove that Grayson has a handle on what we Nightwing fans appreciate. She seems to understand what we love about Dick and Donna’s very special relationship, and she obviously knows we want a romance between Dick and Barbara (Oracle) Gordon. She manages to tease us with that on pages fourteen and fifteen.

Like the story it illustrates, Land’s artwork is exquisitely rendered. He draws bright, beautiful wedding scenes, rough-and-tumble action sequences, and gritty crime scenes with equal aplomb, making me wish that he’d take Scott McDaniel’s place as artist on the monthly series. However, I understand that we can look forward to more of Land’s artwork on an upcoming BIRDS OF PREY one-shot, as well as a Nightwing/Huntress mini-series (also by Grayson).

What more is there to say on the subject of NIGHTWING ANNUAL no. 1? It’s excellent comic book fare, as are all of the “Pulp Heroes” annuals I’ve read thus far: SUPERMAN ANNUAL no. 9 ( * * * * ), WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL no. 6 ( * * * * 1/2 ), and AQUAMAN ANNUAL no. 3 ( * * * * ). You must realize that this is a big step for me; I’ve not been thrilled with the quality of DC’s annuals for a number of summers--not since they decided that they must connect all of them in some lame manner, “Bloodlines” being the worst example of this disturbing trend--so it’s quite refreshing to actually be looking forward to the rest of the summer annuals.

The arrival of a new “Batman” film in the nation’s theaters invariably brings the arrival of even more Bat-related projects than usual to the nation’s comics shops, and, of course, this summer is no different. Two years ago, when “Batman Forever” brought Two-Face and the Riddler to cinematic life, we were treated to two very good Prestige Format one-shots, TWO FACE: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT ( * * * * ) and THE RIDDLER: THE RIDDLE FACTORY ( * * * 1/2 ). However, at $4.95 each--plus the expense of the movie adaptation--reaping the Bat-harvest was a pricey endeavor. Still, as bad as that was, this year’s gonna kill truly devoted Bat-fans. Since “Batman and Robin” will introduce no less than four new characters to the movie mythos--Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Bane, and Batgirl--DC will release no less than four $4.95 Prestige Format one-shots, one featuring each of the aforementioned characters, as well as the obligatory movie adaptation. That’s a whopping total of $24.75 for those of you keeping track at home. Quite the chunk of change, eh?

BATMAN: POISON IVY ( * * * ) by John Francis Moore, Brian Apthorp, and Stan Woch is a nice follow-up to Moore’s “Hothouse” two-parter (with P. Craig Russell art!!!) that ran in LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT a few years back. It delves deeper into Ivy’s fragile, damaged psyche, further developing her as one of the most tragic figures in the Batman’s rogues gallery and is a tale worth reading. Worth $4.95? Probably not, as Apthorp’s artwork, while at times lovely, is nothing overwhelmingly special. This could’ve been published in a cheaper format, and I may have appreciated it more. In a forthcoming column, I’ll take a look at BATMAN: BATGIRL, which, being a longtime Barbara Gordon fan, I must admit, I’m really eager to read.

Take care!

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Tom's Previous Reviews--May 2, 1997

Check out what Tom picked out of the pile o' comics a mere fourteen days ago!

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