However, in Wizard Magazine, Awesome was fully promoting their comics, including this half of a two-page ad:
This trade paperback would never come out. This Alex Ross painting would eventually be used as a Wizard giveaway. And Supreme with Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse would only come out for one more issue, and certainly not monthly!
Tucked away in the issue was a two page spread on Supreme, featuring a wonderful pin-up by Chris Sprouse:
Most of the "article" is devoted to what Moore had already done with Supreme, but they interviewed Moore (presumably before he found out Awesome was toast and bailed). This was just as he was finishing up his scripts on what would become Supreme: The Return #3-6 and Supreme #63. He even talked about his plans for #64 and what might be beyond:
SUPREME'S ROMANCE with Diana Dane takes a step forward in April's issue #59, when Supreme takes Diana on a tour of worlds. "He takes her to Prisimworld, which is made entirely of light," Supreme writer Alan Moore says. "Then they go to the year 2150, where they meet the female Fighting American IV. And then to the Supremacy, where all the other-continuity versions of Supreme and Diana exist. All the Dianas get together and have a little coffee morning to compare notes, something which makes Supreme slightly nervous.
All of Supreme's affection for Diane doesn't sit too well with his best friend, however. "In issue #60, Radar, who's been feeling left out, basically reaches dog puberty, and goes out to find his own love life," Moore says. "Those two issues will be a little lightness before #61, which is a fairly mind-bending encounter with the alien Supremium Man."
After that, Supreme will find a new civilization deep in the Himalayas with extremely familiar overtones in #62, which will serve as a break before stuff starts to hit the fan with issue #63. "Supreme #63 will be called 'Revelations,'" Moore says. "It will feature the return of a major villain, an interlude and dark clouds gathering for #64, which will be at least double-sized and features a massive war between two different cultures that has been building for a little time now."
And after that? "Right now, #64 may be my last issue," Moore notes. "It all depends on whether or not I can find a new line of stories I feel is interesting and worth developing. There's one possibility that [Moore's friend, writer/artist] Rick Veitch and I are talking about, so we'll see where that goes."
The rumors I've heard suggest that Moore planned to have the Supremacy and Daxia fight in issue #64 with Talos's world and Radar's world eventually joining the battle and shifting the balance to help the Supremes to win.
Rick Veitch and others have talked about Moore's plans for a third year, with the idea of Supreme exploring inside the supremium meteor. One rumor I heard, which Veitch confirmed, suggested that Supreme would have run into other superman figures from comicdom, perhaps like Moore's own version of Marvelman, etc.
One final fun little nugget from the Wizard article: they asked Moore about issue #50, Sprouse's first issue:
Rick Veitch and others have talked about Moore's plans for a third year, with the idea of Supreme exploring inside the supremium meteor. One rumor I heard, which Veitch confirmed, suggested that Supreme would have run into other superman figures from comicdom, perhaps like Moore's own version of Marvelman, etc.
 |
| A fun little comicstrip found at Alan Moore World |
SUPREME #50-The beginnings of the Supreme/Diana Dane relationship, featuring Supreme recounting some of his more colorful relationships. "One of the better balanced issues so far," says Moore, "and [penciler] Chris Sprouse's first issue, which I thought looked wonderful."
It's hard to read this and not get nostalgic for what an amazing run it was and get wistful for how it all ended so badly.
It would seem THIS wonderful art for SUPREME cover (A. Ross) (and interior pages correctly made, without the dot scan/Moiré patterns) would have made a true bestseller. Instead, the tpb set that was made was not supreme after all.
ReplyDeleteI also went a few years ago and quickly got the #63 issue - and it was only good, it was just not great art but as you certainly pointed out we are very gratified to even have the Moore script made and done as a full issue, even after years of wait. It was adequate, at best.
Lately I'm trying to read/re-read middle sections in JERUSALEM (great one) and PROVIDENCE (good, is it classic? I slog through the commonplace book text sections and they seem the most important and I am not enjoying myself).
The early Moore creations and Supreme-era do warrant blog posts and discussions as you have here on this blog!
AjenoD
-
SWB
Yes, I often wonder if a nice TPB that was still in print wouldn’t have cemented Supreme’s reputation as one of Moore’s best series, in the way that Tom Strong and Promethea are now.
DeleteI have a hard time with Providence. I think the two Lovecraft books before it are well-made horror stories, but I just have a hard time making Providence gel as more than a travelogue through Lovecraft’s America. Maybe I need to read it again.
The one recent one that grows on me the more I re-read it is Crossed + 100. There’s a lot happening there about the nature of stories to inspire us about our future, and how that can make us lose track of the horror in front of us. It’ll be a while, but I think someday that one will get a reappraisal.
ReplyDelete(There are so many good collections and Moore titles I have on the shelf it is hard to find means to re-appraise and read them over anew!) I think you might be right about CROSSED.
Several Moore titles (from L.G. and even original THE COURTYARD collection) were horrible in the execution that I would even disallow to read again or keep for my shelf. CROSSED was so carefully done that even with the horror elements, the fact it is also science-fiction and speculates on how we overlook the horror in front of us, may cause this collection to ask for re-appraisal as more time passes. I thought over it for some few days.
- SWB
"One rumor I heard, which Veitch confirmed, suggested that Supreme would have run into other superman figures from comicdom, perhaps like Moore's own version of Marvelman, etc."
ReplyDeleteMoore briefly mentioned in that in an interview in Kimota! The Miracleman Companion (on page 23), when he was asked if he had any other ideas for Miracleman after #16. He said:
"I did have a vague idea that at one point, I remember talking to Rick Veitch: "Wouldn't it be cool if we maybe did a run of SUPREME where Supreme decides to journey to the absolute limits of reality?" Not just to the end of the universe but the limits of reality to try and find out about the nature of this strange form of reality that his universe existed with these constant revisions and the existence of Supremacy and things like that. And I got some mad idea--I don't know how I would have tied it in--that wouldn't it be cool if Supreme reached some place at the end of the universe and went into this room and there was Miracleman and maybe Rick Veitch's Maximortal and two or three other kinda clones of existing super-heroes, all trying to find the answer to the same problem, "Where are we? What are we?" That was the last time that I actually thought maybe it would be fun to have Miracleman turn up in a story. But that's never going to happen."