Welcome

So a long time ago (the mid-1990s), the greatest writer in comics agreed to take over the writing duties for Image Comics' Supreme. He would radically reshape the character, the book, and due to forces beyond his control, a whole comic book universe. And it led to an award-winning run of comics, three additional titles (among several proposed) and ultimately led to the genesis of Moore's much better known America's Best Comics. And then it all went out of print and was forgotten by way too many.

Having gathered quite a bit of information about Moore's Supreme and Awesome runs, I decided to create a home for the forgotten Awesome. Over the course of a year, I put it all together here.

Each week I did a main "Weekly Reading" post that was a read-through of that issue. I followed that up with a couple of other posts about topics from that Weekly Reading or whatever else I came up with to talk about. You'll find the lost Youngbloods in the Youngblood section and the fan-edit of the last Supreme in After Awesome.

Below is the archive of posts broken up by book. Thanks for checking the site out!

Book 1: Supreme: The Story of the Year

Book 1: Judgment Day

Book 3: Supreme: The Return

Book 4: Youngblood

Book 5: Glory

Book 6: After Awesome

Book 7: 1963

Book 8: Night Raven

Book 9: A Small Killing

Monday, October 22, 2018

Professor Night timeline

If you'll allow me to pause our normally scheduled programming, Rich at Niteone9999@gmail.com has sent me a timeline for Professor Night's adventures, which seemed like a pretty handy tool. I'll let him explain more.

The timeline comes from a combination of references and appearances of Professor Night and Twilight, combined with some deductions and a dash of Fan-Fic. Since the esteemed Mr. Moore patterned Professor Night after the Golden Age Batman, some of his dates and references match up with info relating to Batman (for example: Lady Day/Shona Shane makes her first appearance the same year as Batwoman/Kathy Kane). Professor Night's age and year of birth is determined by the fact that he was 13 when he teams up with Kid Supreme to battle The Famous Monsters Mob (Supreme 52b). Since one of the mobsters is wearing a Frankenstein mask patterned after the creature's first appearance in 1931, and since Taylor wouldn't call himself "Professor" until at least he graduated college, but is Professor Night in 1940, we can work backwards and establish that he is 13 no earlier than 1931; giving him a birth year of 1918. I also chose to include bits of the "alternate History" from the fan-completed Youngblood #6 that helped add to Professor Night and Twilight's history. Any questions, let me know.  Enjoy!

 

Professor Night Timeline

1910
Pratap is born in India

1918
Taylor Kendall is born to his parents at Kendall Manor outside of Star City

1920
Ethan Crane is born and is given up for adoption by his natural parents; Ethan is soon adopted by Joe and Joanne Crane, the kind owners of the General Store in Littlehaven

1921
Taylor (3) is diagnosed with a rare form of the genetic disease, Porphyria’s Complaint, forcing young Taylor to avoid daylight completely. The disease greatly weakens Taylor during the day, but at night his strength returns to its full level; Taylor’s parents confine him to Kendall Manor

1925

Ethan Crane (5), while playing in the woods with his dog, Radar, comes across a glowing white meteor and succumbs to its energies; Young Ethan is pulled to safety by his dog, Radar, who also succumbs to the strange white energy; Both Ethan’s hair and Radar’s fur are turned white; Days later, Ethan and Radar begin showing signs of fantastic superpowers; Donning a white and red costume and dyeing his hair black when using his powers in public, young Ethan Crane becomes Supreme-mite, helping the local townspeople with amazing feats

1927
Taylor Kendall (9)’s parents are “lost in the night”; Taylor vows to train himself to be an instrument of justice, using the night as his weapon; Taylor’s grandfather moves into Kendall Manor to supervise Taylor until he comes of age; Confined to the Manor during the day, Taylor begins sneaking out of the Manor at night to train


1928

Taylor Kendall (10) ’s cousin, Philip Kendall is born to Taylor’s Uncle and his wife; Ethan Crane (8) changes his identity to Kid Supreme and continues to fight crime and protect the town of Littlehaven

1930
Taylor Kendall (12), after spending years reading detective magazines and training himself, takes on the identity of The Midnight Mask to fight crime and criminals in the night; Taylor spends his nights sneaking out of Kendall Manor to battle criminals in Star City

1931

Taylor Kendall (13), as The Midnight Mask, meets Kid Supreme (11) and the two take down the “Famous Monsters Mob”; After the adventure with Kid Supreme, Taylor begins exploring the caverns running underneath Kenall Manor to establish an underground headquarters

1933
Sally Crane is born; Her birth parents place the infant girl up for adoption and Sally is handed over to an orphanage

1936
Taylor Kendall (18), upon the death of his grandfather, fully inherits the Kendall Family fortune along with Kendall Manor; Taylor utilizes the money and resources to enhance his crime-fighting career as he begins his college studies

1937
Taylor Kendall (19), while on an adventure as The Midnight Mask in India, meets and works with Pratap (24) on a dangerous rescue mission; The two become allies and friends; Shona Shane is born

1938

Ethan Crane (18) tells his adoptive parents that he’s decided to leave Littlehaven; His parents announce that they have decided to adopt a young girl, Sally (5), to keep them company in his absence; Ethan changes his identity from Kid Supreme to Supreme and leaves Littlehaven to take a job in Omega City; Supreme builds his floating Citadel Supreme to be his headquarters and sanctuary high above the city

1939
Having graduated from Star City University, and fully embracing his role as guardian of the night, Taylor (21) changes his identity to Professor Night; Taylor Kendall creates his headquarters, The Halls of Night, in the caverns underneath Kendall Manor, accessed by The Sinking Salon, an entire room that descends into The Halls of Night

1940
Professor Night (22) joins with Supreme (20), and other heroes of the time, to form the Allied Supermen of America

1941

Supreme returns to Littlehaven to celebrate his sister, Sally (8) ’s birthday; The family is confronted with a glowing white humanoid apparently made out of the same material as the meteor that gave Supreme his powers; After dispelling the creature, the family notices that Sally’s hair has turned white; As the weeks go on, the family realizes that Sally has gained the same powers as Supreme and Radar, the Hound Supreme; Sally decides to battle evil, like her big brother, and adopts the name Suprema, patterning her costume after his

1942

With the US at war, Ethan Crane (22) joins the Army; As Supreme, Ethan battles the Axis powers overseas

1950

The Allied Supermen of America disband; Taylor Kendall (32) recruits Pratap (40), an old ally and military expert, to work as his advisor and butler in Kendall Manor and in his headquarters, The Halls of Night

1951

Linda Kendall is born to Taylor (33) ‘s cousin, Philip Kendall (23), and his wife

1952

While coincidentally travelling on the same airline flight together, Taylor Kendall (34) and Ethan Crane learn each others’ secret identities when the two change to their heroic identities to stop terrorist hijackers

1954
Linda Kendall (3) is also diagnosed with the Kendall family’s rare form of the genetic disease, Porphyria’s Complaint, forcing her to avoid daylight completely. Like her “Uncle Taylor” (36), the disease greatly weakens Linda during the day, but at night her strength returns to its full level

1956
Inspired by Professor Night (38), Shona Shane (19) trains herself and takes on the identity of Lady Day, seeking out and becoming partners with Professor Night; Professor Night and Lady Day battle injustice and evil together in Star City, becoming close partners; Linda Kendall (5) ’s parents are killed in a car accident; Taylor Kendall takes in his young “niece”, Linda, as his ward and adoptive “daughter”; The decision to take in Linda causes friction between Taylor and Shona

1957
Professor Night (39) and Lady Day (20) continue to work as partners, battling criminals in Star City; Linda Kendall (6) discovers that her Uncle Taylor is Professor Night and asks him to become his partner; Seeing her natural abilities and untapped potential, Taylor Kendall begins training Linda to be his “perfect partner”; After disagreeing with Taylor’s decision to train his “niece” to become a new partner, Lady Day breaks off her partnership with Professor Night and begins to work alone

1958

Linda Kendall (7) becomes Twilight, the girl marvel, and close partner of Professor Night (40); Professor Night and Twilight battle a number of villains while protecting Star City; Professor Night discovers that his base in The Halls of Night, in the caverns under Kendall Manor, may actually be connected to the mythical Underworld and he begins to explore the caverns further

1959
Twilight (8) meets and teams up with Suprema, who, because of her powers, is aging slower and is still physically an early teenager; The two girls solve a case together and become friends

1960

The Allies form; Professor Night (42) joins the team of heroes

1965

Twilight (14) and Suprema, sister of Supreme, join with other sidekicks, Skipper, Lamprey-Lad, Glory Girl, Dark Finger and Dandini to form the teen superteam, The Youngblood

1967
After a final team-up with Professor Night (49) and Twilight (16), Shona Shane (30) retires as Lady Day to pursue a career as a lawyer

1968

Supreme leaves the earth to seek out “the mysteries of life”; In deep space, Supreme soon confronts the mystic being, Jack O’ Lantern, and the resulting interaction leaves Supreme with no memories of his past; After the encounter, Supreme continues to travel through deep space

1969

Suprema leaves the earth to “marry” a living galaxy to spare the earth from destruction; After the loss of Supreme the previous year, and then Suprema, Professor Night (51) and Twilight (18) mourn the loss of their friends but vow to continue to battle evil together to honor them

1970
After an evening meeting with The Fisherman and his sidekick, Skipper, and returning home to Kendall Manor, Professor Night (52) and Twilight (19) are struck down in the Halls of Night by The Slaver of Souls, an old adversary of The Allies; Unable to revive them, Taylor and Linda’s bodies are carefully looked after by Pratap (60) in the Halls of Night

1992
Supreme returns from space after 24 years but finds himself on an alternate Earth with his own personality and personal history altered

1996

After battling through multiple versions of Earth, Supreme finally returns to his home world, re-establishing his base in the Citadel Supreme hovering over Omega City, now named Omegapolis; Supreme continues his never-ending battle for justice and truth as his true memories of his life and history begin to return

1997

Supreme finds and rescues his sister, Suprema, from her marriage to the Living Galaxy; Professor Night (52) and Twilight (19), after being cared for by Pratap (87) for years, are revived by Supreme and the reunited Allies; After recovering, Professor Night and Twilight resume their crime-fighting careers and their life together in Kendall Manor and The Halls of Night;

Months later, during the “Judgement Day” event, Professor Night reunites with Shona Shane (60), now a lawyer; Twilight, with input from Taylor, changes her costume to something more appropriate for the times; After working together again for the year, Professor Night suggests Linda join Suprema on the newly formed Youngblood team to “fight crime with other people”

1998

Twilight (20) joins the newest version of Youngblood and leaves Kendall Manor to live at Youngblood Headquarters

1999
After teaming up once again with Professor Night (54) on a case, Twilight (21) moves back to Kendall Manor to live with Taylor

2007
Pratap (97) quietly passes away at Kendall Manor; Taylor Kendall (62) and Linda (29) take his body deep into the caverns beyond the Halls of Night to be buried

2010
Encouraging Linda (32) to continue to fight evil as Twilight, Taylor Kendall (65) “retires” from his role as Professor Night, choosing to spend his time reflecting and exploring in The Halls of Night and the caverns beyond

2015

Twilight (37) is captured. Taylor Kendall (70) comes out of his retirement in The Halls of Night to once again become Professor Night to track down and rescue Twilight; After rescuing Twilight and recovering together in The Halls of Night, Professor Night decides to remain active and assist Twilight in battling evil and injustice in Star City

2018
Taylor Kendall (73), as Professor Night, and Linda Kendall (40), as Twilight, continue to battle evil together; When not called to action, the duo spend their time together in The Halls of Night

2023
Taylor Kendall (78) finally chooses to retire once and for all; Linda Kendall (45) takes on the identity of Professor Night

2030

Linda Kendall (52), as Professor Night, battles evil in Star City while Taylor Kendall (85) continues to advise her from The Halls of Night

1 comment:

  1. Any chance you can post what comics you used to assemble this timeline?

    ReplyDelete