Reading pre-Moore Supreme - Supreme #33

 

Supreme issue 33 came out in November 1995. Eric Stephenson was the writer. Penciled by Joe Bennett and Karl Alstaetter. Inked by Norm Rapmund and Eric Cannon. Lettered by Kurt Hathaway. 

Oh yay... another company wide event. What's this one called? Oh. Right. Babewatch. 

Hang on a sec, I need to give myself a pep talk. Okay, Mike, you can do this. Yes, this is a stupid comic even in normal circumstances. Yes, it's terribly written, pretty badly illustrated and lacks any redeeming value. And yes, Babewatch is pretty much the bottom of the barrel in terms of immaturity. But you're only about 8 issues away from being done with this and then I never have to pretend there were any comics before Alan Moore's run. Now get out there and recap this issue! 

Okay, sorry about that. We start the issue with Kid Supreme staring at herself in the mirror and then pull out to see Amnesia Supreme shocked by her appearance as well. They get into a bit of a shoving match for the mirror before Amnesia Supreme gets mad and flies up through Kid Supreme's roof. At which point Kid Supreme thinks, "Great. A woman for all of five minutes and he's already got PMS."

 

Hooboy. This issue is a struggle. 

Amnesia Supreme flies off into space to ditch Kid Supreme while Kid Supreme goes off to check on Original Kid Supreme, who has also turned into a woman. Which is when Amnesia Supreme returns and says that the change has cleared her mind and she has figured out that she's not Supreme. 

She then tells about how Star Guard (the Supreme "children" from the future) fought some battle in our recent past and lost. Supreme went searching for an alien device that could defeat their foe. Probe, the telepath, refused to flee without her brother Val-En. She switched souls with his body and when an explosion killed everyone else, only his body remained. 

Probe/Val-En flew to Earth where people were fighting Hell Lord Chapel. Probe/Val-En pitched in, but he was obliterated and his atoms were blown across existence. But don't worry, they reformed over Tokyo back in issue 24.

Hang on. I need another second. This makes absolutely no sense and is such a stupid explanation for how we got Amnesia Supreme. But this nonsense is what passes for plot. Fine. Fine. Fine. Let's just finish this stupid thing.

So Probe/Val-En concludes that she is Probe and intends to stay that way. Thanks Babewatch for such an empowering tale of feminism!

But Kid Supreme wants to know where the real Supreme is and we cut to the alien "Earth" we saw last issue where two guys are talking about the Supreme we see there. Balthazar and Lord Ardath conclude that even though Supreme is sure this isn't Earth, he can't fly on this planet and is powerless to leave. 

Balthazar leaves and Lord Ardath goes and talks to Supreme. Ardath tells Supreme that he abandoned this Earth and much has changed since. But they're going to throw a parade in his honor, which sets Supreme off.

Ahh... there's that senseless rage that was missing from this comic!

As Ardath leaves, he thinks that he also hates Supreme and that one day Supreme will be dead!

Um... ok. So that's where it ends and thank god, we're one step closer to being done with this run. 

Reading pre-Moore Supreme - Supreme #32

Supreme issue 32 came out in October 1995. Eldon Asp (likely a pseudonym for Eric Stephenson and friends) was the writer. Penciled by Brian Denham and Jeff Johnson. Inked by Norm Rapmund and Eric Cannon. The framing sequence was written by Stephenson. Penciled by Karl Alstaetter and inked by Eric Cannon. Lettered by Kurt Hathaway.

In the 0 issue, we saw someone who looked like Supreme, smells like Supreme and is Probably Supreme shot into space in a tube. Well, the tube has landed on a planet that looks like Earth and Probably Supreme is investigating.

We cut to Chi on his world, last seen in the Supreme annual. Chi had hired an assassin to kill the Religious Fanatic Supreme and that Religious Fanatic Supreme had vowed revenge. Chi gets a message that says "Soon. -Supreme". Chi gets some girl named Tohreen and his armor. 

We then get a little recap of the annual story, before we see Religious Supreme show up at Chi's doorstep. 

Religious Fanatic Supreme shows up and he and Chi start fighting. As they're fighting, Religious Fanatic Supreme chases Chi into a tunnel inside a waterfall where he sees the mangled form of Father Beam, the priest Religious Fanatic Supreme killed in Legend of Supreme. 

 

Beam accuses Religious Fanatic Supreme of being a sinful murderer. Religious Fanatic Supreme realizes that Beam would never equate the sinner with the sin and that it must be Chi, who Religious Fanatic Supreme then incinerates. 

Religious Fanatic Supreme then flies off. How that links to the story of Probably Supreme on the planet like Earth, I have no idea. But I guess they wanted to finish off that subplot from the annual, which I guess I appreciate. That said, Religious Fanatic Supreme will still show up one more time. 

On not Earth, Probably Supreme gets a ride in a hover farm truck toward Capital City and the farmer tells him that it is Earth. 

 Meanwhile, Amnesia Supreme is flying around Washington, DC, when Kid Supreme shows up. Just as Amnesia Supreme is about to tell Kid Supreme that he is not Supreme, they both turn into women. 

 

Yeah, this whole Eric Stephenson run is really off to a great start.

 

Reading pre-Moore Supreme - Supreme #0

 

Supreme issue 0 came out in August 1995. Eric Stephenson came on as the writer. Penciled by Todd Nauck. Inked by Norm Rapmund, Robert Lacko and Eric Cannon. Lettered by Kurt Hathaway. 

When most people think of a 0 issue, they think of a story that happens before issue 1. In Eric Stephenson's mind, it's a story to catch up readers to a very specific point... in this case to after issue 31.  What!?!

For those who don't know, Rob Liefeld plucked Eric Stephenson out of his fandom to write Youngblood. He eventually became the editor of the Extreme books while writing some not particularly good ones. He was Moore's editor during the Awesome years. And later he became the editor in chief of all of Image.

The issue begins with a car driving down a stretch of road. 

In the car are Amnesia Supreme and his guide, Jack Simon. Jack Simon is a reference to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the creators of Captain America. Jack takes Amnesia Supreme to an abandoned military compound in the desert. Jack tells him this is where Supreme comes from, but for Amnesia Supreme, he has no memory of this place.

Jack says he's a former journalist turned comic book writer and that he's here to tell Amnesia Supreme about the myth of Supreme, but that Amnesia Supreme is not actually Supreme. 

Jack was initially hired by the Smithsonian to research Supreme's involvement in WWII, and his monstrous acts, which we've seen illustrated before. He tells Amnesia Supreme about Dr. Wells and his experiments, pretty much following the story told in Legend of Supreme. That at some point Supreme disappeared and popped up fighting in Germany. 

Jack started writing comics in the post-war era about Glory, Die Hard, etc., but the people wanted comics about Supreme. As he investigated, he found that Supreme hadn't escaped Dr. Well's lab, he had been stolen and moved to a lab in Arizona... the one they're at now. In Arizona, a computer recorded everything about Supreme to be able to recreate him.  

Jack then jumps back to tell about Supreme returning to Earth, as we've seen in the last 31 issues of this comic, up until Supreme was killed by Crypt and the body disappeared. 

Despite telling us very little that is new, Amnesia Supreme demands, "Why should I believe any of this? You're a comic book writer!" 

Jack tells him that he kept investigating even as the government confiscated his evidence. But then Amnesia Supreme showed up. But that only makes the mystery more confusing. According to Jack, either the real Supreme either didn't return from space or he did and now he's gone again. 

Amnesia Supreme has had enough and I'm pretty much with him at this point.  

We then get an epilogue on an alien planet where a battle-scarred Supreme is loaded into a tube and shot into space. 

 

So, I guess I get that Stephenson wanted to make sure new readers were caught up on all the backstory. A problem is that the backstory of Supreme has never been all that interesting or important. And it definitely doesn't work as a 0 issue.

And it doesn't matter because we'll never see Jack Simon again. Oh well, maybe Stephenson's run gets better from here. 

Narrator: "It doesn't." 

Reading pre-Moore Supreme - Supreme #31

 

Supreme issue 31 came out in August 1995. Gary Carlson was the writer. Layouts by Zebra MacPherson. Penciled by Todd Nauck and Brian Denham. Inked by Norm Rapmund. Lettered by Kurt Hathaway. And Jim Valentino has come on as the editor.

We start the issue with a few stray disciples left over from Darkthornn's invasion party. Much like the N's in his name, he's got too many disciples to keep track of. Anyway, Amnesia Supreme shows up and some random person shouts "We're saved! It's Supreme!" Clearly they haven't been reading the same issues I have, because when people see Supreme, they usually wind up dead or mostly dead.

Amnesia Supreme makes short work of the disciples, but ends up with a bleeding eye. Dexter Cortex signals him and offers to help with his wound. 

After surgery, Amnesia Supreme ends up sporting a pretty fashionable patch and Cortex suggests he take a vacation. As Amnesia Supreme flies off Cortex makes a remark about how Amnesia Supreme is not the real Supreme. Apparently he read the epilogue to the last issue, too. 

Amnesia Supreme goes on vacation to a cabin in the woods with Original Flavor Kid Supreme. Over a campfire, Original Kid Supreme tells Amnesia Supreme about the old days and how Glory used to love Supreme in the 40s. He then dreams about Glory.

Meanwhile, Original Kid Supreme pulls up Maxine's report about Supreme's origin from Legend of Supreme. When he goes to tell Amnesia Supreme, he sees a furry girl on the sleeping Amnesia Supreme, manipulating his dreams. Original Kid Supreme shoots the girl.

 

That upsets some nature guy names Equinox, the last forestal, the furry girl's father. 

He uses nature to fight Amnesia Supreme and that goes on for a bit before furry girl pops up and says she's all better. She asks Amnesia Supreme to stay with her, but he declines. The end.

 

And that's the last issue of the Gary Carlson run. I can't say that the Amnesia Supreme run has really been all that interesting and Kid Supreme has been pretty damn annoying, but I kind of liked this issue and it wasn't all bad. Anyway, we'll deal with the last arc before Moore coming up next.

Reading pre-Moore Supreme - Supreme #30

Supreme issue 30 came out in July 1995. Gary Carlson was the writer. Penciled by Joe Bennett. Inked by Norm Rapmund. Lettered by Kurt Hathaway.

And now the shocking, appalling, amazing conclusion to Supreme: Apocalypse!!! 

yawn

We start off on Darkthornn's world, with Darkthornn telling D'Arcangel that he intends to send his army to Earth to destroy it. 

 

Meanwhile, on Earth, Kid Supreme, Amnesia Supreme, and some Tick-like guy named Vangaurd beat up on Darkthornn's disciples in the skies over Washington, DC. 

On the ground, Roman, Troll and some others fight as well, while Glory holds onto Darkthornn's baby, which he wants to kill to unleash some intense power or whatever. 

There's a lot of talk about energy and transferring it from one planet to another and one person to another, but it never makes a ton of sense.

Anyway, Prophet shows up and does Prophet stuff to the disciples.

Back to the fascinating conversation about energy. Apparently Dr. Wells, on Darkthornn's planet, is siphoning off energy and sending it to Prophet, but it soon overwhelms him. So he shoots it off at Amnesia Supreme, who absorbs it and starts glowing. 

The stolen energy closes the transportation device that is bringing disciples to Earth. But another transport opens and Amnesia Supreme comes through and starts fighting Darkthornn. 

Darkthornn claims to be Supreme's evolutionary superior which makes Amnesia Supreme wonder what Darkthornn knows about the mystery of Amnesia Supreme's true origin, which distracts Amnesia Supreme long enough for metal tentacles to shoot into his eyes. 

Darkthornn starts sucking the energy out of Amnesia Supreme but Dr. Wells shows up and "reverses the polarity" of the energy, which technobabble technobabble technobabble causes Darkthornn to blow up.

Only Amnesia Supreme survives the explosion and returns to Earth. He tells everyone that he thinks Darkthornn and Dr. Wells are dead. And he kisses Glory because that's what you do at the end of a company-wide crossover.

We then get an epilogue to a faraway world (but not Darkthornn's faraway world) where a guy who looks very much like Supreme is in a prison cell.

Things are about to get really confusing. 

Reading pre-Moore Supreme - Supreme #29

Supreme issue 29 came out in June 1995. Gary Carlson was the writer. Penciled by Cedric Nocon and Joe Bennett. Inked by Norm Rapmund. Lettered but not associate editored by Kurt Hathaway. 

Oh boy. Another company wide crossover. My favorite.

Welcome to Supreme Apocalypse part 1 of 5. As usual, I am not reviewing the issues of the other series because I value what little of my sanity I have left, so we'll see if this makes any sense.

We start the issue with Amnesia Supreme and Kid Supreme bursting into some underground lair where the Baptist and his cult are about to stab another sacrifice. 

Before they can stop him, he stabs her in the name of Darkthornn (the extra N is for who cares). While Amnesia Supreme is beating up on the Baptist, the sacrifice gets up, pulls the blade out of her chest and stabs Amnesia Supreme in the back.

We cut to some planet where Darkthornn is being tortured by D'Arcangel. 

It turns out that this little torture play fills up their power supplies. As Darkthornn prepares his army to teleport to Earth and do Darkthornn stuff, D'Arcangel comes and says the power generators are going nuts.

Back on Earth, Kid Supreme tries to get the blade out of Amnesia Supreme's back but instead, it breaks and continues to drain the victim. 

Then three random people called Berzerkers show up and start helping Supreme. So Kid Supreme does what comes natural and starts fighting them. 

Turns out they're freedom fighters from Darkthornn's planet. And they were created by Dr. Wells--the same Dr. Wells who created Supreme and Prophet! They decide that maybe Wells can help Supreme. They teleport away and even though Kid Supreme was told to stay, he follows them. 

While in transport, something goes awry and Kid Supreme ends up in Darkthornn's throne room, where he learns that Baptist gives the blade handle to Darkthornn. Dun dun!

Just as the Berzerkers are about to try to remove the blade from Supreme, some of Darkthornn's disciples show up and we get some more fighting. As that goes on, Amnesia Supreme starts to fall under Darkthornn's control.

Somewhere and somewhen else Prophet goes crazy in "battle lust." Yeah, ok. And he starts beating up his compatriots... whoever they are. They use something called a black box to help Prophet link up to some satellite that provides Prophet with information and power. 

When Prophet calms down, they find out about Darkthornn and that Dr. Wells is on Darkthornn's planet, so they teleport there to help.

To find out more, you'd have to read Prophet and Glory... but that's not happening. So we'll see where the story stands next issue, instead.  

Reading pre-Moore Supreme - Supreme Annual #1

 

Annual #1 came out in May 1995. The plot and pencils are by Keith Giffen. The script is by Giffen's Legion writing partners Tom & Mary Bierbuaum. The inks are by Charles Adlard. We're told on the credits page that this story takes place before Supreme #1.

They didn't really need to tell us that since the very first line of the story is that this occurred probably around 1960. Supreme finds a world that has been torn apart by an automated mining operation. 

Supreme finds a little sentient crystal life form calling for help, and--this being the Biblical quoting Supreme of Legend of Supreme--starts quoting scripture to himself to help. 

He destroys the mining machine and flies off. Unbeknownst to him, he was being recorded.

We cut to a world filled with strange and interesting plants. A servant approaches "Noble Chi" and tells him about Supreme destroying the mining operation. Chi then calls in someone who can deal with Supreme.

On an alien world, we a big armored guy kill the last warrior of a world, and mostly be bored. Afterward, he transforms back into a human, who we learn is Herr Vergessen, and goes to visit Chi, who hires him to kill Supreme. 

Vergessen knows Supreme and we flash back to WWII where Supreme captured him and seemingly killed him with his laser eyes. But apparently, Vergessen is much harder to kill.

Vergessen tracks Supreme to a planet of commerce and promises to kill Supreme and parade his head around on a pole. It's nice when old friends get to catch up.

Vergessen explodes and as the smoke clears, we see he has become a big rock guy. They fight some and then Vergessen becomes a crystal creature, like the lifeform Supreme found on the mining planet. They fight some more and Supreme quotes some scripture. 

Eventually they take the fight to space with Vergessen becoming electricity, driving Supreme into a star. Even that can't kill Supreme. So Vergessen decides to transform into the one thing in Supreme's mind that he thinks can kill him. But as Vergessen transforms, he realizes too late his error... 

Supreme thinks nothing can kill him. So Vergessen transforms into nothing and is gone.

Supreme decides that he will go after the man who hired Vergessen and on his planet, Chi receives the message: "Soon. -Supreme" And then we get the caption "Not quite the end!"

I wanted to like this story and I get for the clever twist they were trying to go for with Vergessen becoming nothing, but it needed another pass or two on the script to make the twist feel earned. 

Anyway, the story will continue in a future issue of Supreme. But this isn't it for the annual. We get a backup story by Len Wein, penciled by Shannon Denton, inked by Norm Rapmund and lettered by Kurt Hathaway.

Back in France in 1943, Supreme is tearing apart some German soldiers when Superpatriot, Glory and Die Hard show up to recruit him. They help Supreme out but of course, Supreme is never grateful. They still ask if he'll join The Allies. Supreme scoffs but when he finds out that they're on a mission to liberate a town and fight a bunch of Nazis, Supreme is in.

They go and start fighting the Nazis and helping the townspeople when Supreme goes up, rips some bombs off an overflying plane and drops them on the town, killing Nazis and civilians alike. 

When Glory tries to rebuke him, he grabs her and kisses her before flying off. And The Allies decide they don't need him.

The end.

Oof. That was pretty bad. It's so weird how the Supreme writers are all over the map on Supreme in WWII. Was he a hero? Was he a ruthless killer? Did Glory and he like each other? Was he an ass and Glory hated him? There is no consistency. Then again, Giffen is writing his own version of the character who is completely different from the way Hathaway wrote him. It's very weird and frustrating.

There was talk of Wein doing more Allies stories, but they never came to fruition, and if this is what they would be like, good riddance.

We then get a couple of pinups and we're done.