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

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Reading pre-Moore Supreme - Supreme #36

 

Supreme issue 36 came out in February 1996. Eric Stephenson did the story. Jim Valentino did the script and layouts. Pencils by Joe Bennett. Inked by Norm Rapmund. Lettered by Kurt Hathaway. 

Eric Stephenson's run sure didn't last too long did it before Valentino stepped in, did it? I know Valentino was part of the effort to bring Moore onto Supreme, reportedly telling Moore that they wanted him to do whatever DC wouldn't let Moore do with Superman. So I think Valentino is trying to tie up all the loose threads on Supreme to make way for Moore to take over with a clean slate. And boy does this comic need it, because it's become a mess.

We start with Probe in outer space, her costume in tatters but somehow magically covering the necessary tiny bits. Recovering from the fight with Shepherd, she was able to telepathically get the location for where he last saw Supreme in outer space.

 

Also, she's coming to the realization that she doesn't feel pain the way she did before taking over Val-En's body, and coming to the conclusion that maybe the pain has only been psychosomatic. So, hoping to get some training on using her Supreme-like powers, she flies off toward Supreme. 

Back on Earth, Kid Supreme is in the middle of a student and teacher brawl. He's wondering why everyone seems so enraged and fighting each other. 

 

We then cut to Sith, one of the Keep, who is doing something with the former Youngblood member Psi-Fire to make the whole world brim with hatred. 


Kid Supreme discovers some Latina girl with shock powers who is killing one of the teachers at his school. 


He's too late to save the teacher and after knocking out the girl, feels really guilty. As he's walking away, she wakes up and vows to kill him.

On other Earth, Old Bearded Supreme and Trench Coat Constantine are examining Supreme. They think he might be a clone or something, but we find out Old Bearded Supreme no longer has his super powers. He says that his captor made this world into a perfect prison for him. But that Supreme offers Old Bearded Supreme the means to defeat his mysterious captor.


He proceeds to put his personality into Supreme's body, giving himself his powers back.

 

I will say Valentino's characters do go on and on, talking/thinking a lot but not saying much. And rather than tying things up, it seems like they're just getting more complicated.

Oh well. Only a few more issues left.