Squadron Supreme?

[kevinbastos]

Anyone read it? Is it worth it?

And related - anyone selling some copies or a trade? Saw the HC with Gruenwald'd cremains - around $80. Too much for a curiosity.

[BruceReville]

Which Version of Squadron Supreme

[kevinbastos]

The OLD one.

I picked up the later TPB's for $3 on FCBD.

[BruceReville]

First incarnation I liked - Second -- Eh

[kevinbastos]

For ten bucks shipped, I will try it out. Maybe write a comparison to Watchmen. One of my all-time faves. Gives me an excuse to re-visit. Plus - read before Watchmen and the new Before Watchmen, too.

[iggy101us]

I read the old one and I like it. I have a copy of the TPB (without the ashes) but I am keeping it because I will re-read it some day.

[kevinbastos]

I read the old one and I like it. I have a copy of the TPB (without the ashes) but I am keeping it because I will re-read it some day.

Thanks - but I saw it on ebay as a set shipped for under $11. For that, I figured it could be easily read and enjoyed.

[Cyberstrike]

I thought the original version was OK. It presented some good ideas but the execution left much to be desired. IMHO The JMS written Supreme Power series was one of the best "realistic" superhero series in recent years.

[Lightning Strike]

The OLD one.

I picked up the later TPB's for $3 on FCBD.

The old one is fantastic!

[Doorman]

I enjoyed the J.M.S. run ... until he up and left the book (he's got an annoying habit of ditching books midway, eh?) ... on a cliffhanger, no less! grrrrr

[Lightning Strike]

I enjoyed the J.M.S. run ... until he up and left the book (he's got an annoying habit of ditching books midway, eh?) ... on a cliffhanger, no less! grrrrr

Well, when Hollywood comes calling he's going to drop everything else. More money in it for him. I don't think he's that great of a writer anyway

[Cyberstrike]

I enjoyed the J.M.S. run ... until he up and left the book (he's got an annoying habit of ditching books midway, eh?) ... on a cliffhanger, no less! grrrrr

Well, when Hollywood comes calling he's going to drop everything else. More money in it for him. I don't think he's that great of a writer anyway

Well he's better than the late Mark Gruenwald was on Squadron Supreme/Supreme Power. Grunwald didn't know how to tell his story, and threw in more characters than he needed by the end of his series I didn't know who was who (and other than Hyperion and Nighthawk I really didn't like any of the other characters) and disappointed by the ending to the whole thing.

Also IMHO Midnight Nation is the second only to Watchmen to being the greatest comic book series of all time.

[grendeljd]

I thought the original version was OK. It presented some good ideas but the execution left much to be desired. IMHO The JMS written Supreme Power series was one of the best "realistic" superhero series in recent years.

I have yet to read the original, but I should. I agree with Cyberstrike - the JMS stuff was a really great read, and I love Gary Frank's work on it. To bad it all got de-railed eventually by Howard Chaykin. >Guh!!<

[I really hate to say that too, no offence to HC or fans of HC].

[Cyberstrike]

I thought the original version was OK. It presented some good ideas but the execution left much to be desired. IMHO The JMS written Supreme Power series was one of the best "realistic" superhero series in recent years.

I have yet to read the original, but I should. I agree with Cyberstrike - the JMS stuff was a really great read, and I love Gary Frank's work on it. To bad it all got de-railed eventually by Howard Chaykin. >Guh!!<

[I really hate to say that too, no offence to HC or fans of HC].

I love Chaykin but now of days I try to treat his works has a guilty pleasures.

If you ever say anything bad Jim Starlin and we might have problems.

[kevinbastos]

I did get the copies - and I am planning on adding them as a sidebar to my reading - paralleling the Watchmen versus Squadron Supreme - and then Before Watchmen to the SS chronicles.

[kevinbastos]

I did get the copies - and I am planning on adding them as a sidebar to my reading - paralleling the Watchmen versus Squadron Supreme - and then Before Watchmen to the SS chronicles.

[grendeljd]

I thought the original version was OK. It presented some good ideas but the execution left much to be desired. IMHO The JMS written Supreme Power series was one of the best "realistic" superhero series in recent years.

I have yet to read the original, but I should. I agree with Cyberstrike - the JMS stuff was a really great read, and I love Gary Frank's work on it. To bad it all got de-railed eventually by Howard Chaykin. >Guh!!<

[I really hate to say that too, no offence to HC or fans of HC].

I love Chaykin but now of days I try to treat his works has a guilty pleasures.

If you ever say anything bad Jim Starlin and we might have problems.

no worries, I love me some Starlin

[ian_house]

I've always been interested in trying the Roy Thomas era of Squadron Supreme as I loved what he did with the JSA at around the same time over at DC. Is this the era you are talking about? Worth checking out? Anything like Thomas' JSA?

[Cyberstrike]

I've always been interested in trying the Roy Thomas era of Squadron Supreme as I loved what he did with the JSA at around the same time over at DC. Is this the era you are talking about? Worth checking out? Anything like Thomas' JSA?

In one word: no.

The late Mark Grunewald wrote a 12 issue maxi-series that showed the Squadron Supreme having failed miserably at stopping a powerful villain that after they did defeat him, now their world is on brink of total collapse. The team makes a deal with the citizens and what is left of the governments of their world give them a year and they use all of their powers and technology to create an Utopia and the world agrees. One of their members Nighthawk (a Batman like character) thinks that this is a bad idea and quits the team and rallies forces to stop them. There are some good ideas in this series the team invents a device that essentially brainwashes the villains to become heroes against their will. One of the heroes uses it to brainwash a girl he is in love with but she loves another man to love him and only him and their are complications with that. Nighthawk finds a way to reverse the brainwashing device and frees the villains. Some of them side with him and want revenge for what the Squadron did to them, while others now having a taste of what it's like to be a good guy side with the Squadron and of course a major fight breaks out. During the fight Nighthawk convinces Hyperion that the Utopia Project was doomed from the beginning because in order to make it work they would have take a lot of people's rights and Hyperion realizes that he was right and Nighthawk dies of a heart attack shortly there after and at the end Hyperion disbands the team. It was Marvel's take on "realistic" superheroes it's good and came out before Watchmen but it's no where as good as Watchmen.

The Mark Grunewald series has been reprinted in TPB, the first printing of the TPB has his ashes mixed in the ink and is hard to find (the later printings do NOT have any of his ashes mixed in), and there also is a hardcover Omnibus hardcover reprinting all 12 issues and a single issue of Captain America (which was also reprinted in the TPB) and a graphic novel called Squadron Supreme: The Death of a Universe (I think that is the title of it) which is NOT collected in the TPB.


A couple years ago JMS revived the characters in Supreme Power for Marvel's Max Comics line. This time the characters are far more complex and some characters like Nighthawk and The Whizzer (I think he's renamed as the Blur) are black and Nighthawk is more like the Punisher than Batman and doesn't trust white people because his parents were killed by memebers of the KKK. The Blur wants to be rich and famous. Hyperion has been basically kept by the government since he was found in rocket ship as a baby and has been trained to be a secret weapon for the USA. Doc Spectrum is a military man with alien rock stuck in his hand that possesses him and is basically the army's way to keep Hyperion in check. The story deals with issues such as racism, politics, and a host of other controversial issues. There were also 3 six issue spin-off mini-series Doc Spectrum, Hyperion, and Nighthawk. The series was later canceled and restarted as Squadron Supreme and was moved to the Marvel Knights line and I guess JMS was having deadline problems (or maybe was having problems with Marvel's suits) and he left the series. I think there was a crossover with the Ultimate Universe that had Ultimate Nick Fury getting stuck in this universe and he ran the team for a while before getting back to the Ultimate Universe. You can find most of the recent Supreme Power/Squadron Supreme and their assorted mini-series in TPB and HC.

[Doorman]

I was really digging JMS' run on the series. It's got a great "slow build" feeling but it never really paid off. After the book was relaunched (changed from MAX's Supreme Power to Marvel's Squadron Supreme), he quit the book - left us on a cliffhanger, no less.

There was also a Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs Nighthawk mini series ... and then, more recently, Supreme Power came back as a four issue mini series under the MAX imprint. It serves to continue JMS' run.

[ian_house]

I've always been interested in trying the Roy Thomas era of Squadron Supreme as I loved what he did with the JSA at around the same time over at DC. Is this the era you are talking about? Worth checking out? Anything like Thomas' JSA?

In one word: no.

The late Mark Grunewald wrote a 12 issue maxi-series that showed the Squadron Supreme having failed miserably at stopping a powerful villain that after they did defeat him, now their world is on brink of total collapse. The team makes a deal with the citizens and what is left of the governments of their world give them a year and they use all of their powers and technology to create an Utopia and the world agrees. One of their members Nighthawk (a Batman like character) thinks that this is a bad idea and quits the team and rallies forces to stop them. There are some good ideas in this series the team invents a device that essentially brainwashes the villains to become heroes against their will. One of the heroes uses it to brainwash a girl he is in love with but she loves another man to love him and only him and their are complications with that. Nighthawk finds a way to reverse the brainwashing device and frees the villains. Some of them side with him and want revenge for what the Squadron did to them, while others now having a taste of what it's like to be a good guy side with the Squadron and of course a major fight breaks out. During the fight Nighthawk convinces Hyperion that the Utopia Project was doomed from the beginning because in order to make it work they would have take a lot of people's rights and Hyperion realizes that he was right and Nighthawk dies of a heart attack shortly there after and at the end Hyperion disbands the team. It was Marvel's take on "realistic" superheroes it's good and came out before Watchmen but it's no where as good as Watchmen.

The Mark Grunewald series has been reprinted in TPB, the first printing of the TPB has his ashes mixed in the ink and is hard to find (the later printings do NOT have any of his ashes mixed in), and there also is a hardcover Omnibus hardcover reprinting all 12 issues and a single issue of Captain America (which was also reprinted in the TPB) and a graphic novel called Squadron Supreme: The Death of a Universe (I think that is the title of it) which is NOT collected in the TPB.


A couple years ago JMS revived the characters in Supreme Power for Marvel's Max Comics line. This time the characters are far more complex and some characters like Nighthawk and The Whizzer (I think he's renamed as the Blur) are black and Nighthawk is more like the Punisher than Batman and doesn't trust white people because his parents were killed by memebers of the KKK. The Blur wants to be rich and famous. Hyperion has been basically kept by the government since he was found in rocket ship as a baby and has been trained to be a secret weapon for the USA. Doc Spectrum is a military man with alien rock stuck in his hand that possesses him and is basically the army's way to keep Hyperion in check. The story deals with issues such as racism, politics, and a host of other controversial issues. There were also 3 six issue spin-off mini-series Doc Spectrum, Hyperion, and Nighthawk. The series was later canceled and restarted as Squadron Supreme and was moved to the Marvel Knights line and I guess JMS was having deadline problems (or maybe was having problems with Marvel's suits) and he left the series. I think there was a crossover with the Ultimate Universe that had Ultimate Nick Fury getting stuck in this universe and he ran the team for a while before getting back to the Ultimate Universe. You can find most of the recent Supreme Power/Squadron Supreme and their assorted mini-series in TPB and HC.

Dude thanks for taking the time for giving me the low down on the series, much appreciated! Sounds interesting, another thing to keep an eye out for, particularly in trade by the sounds of it (Marvel's collections seem far better than DC's methods).

[Xtianhardy]

I also enjoyed JMS's run on Squadron Supreme.

In some ways JMS's run on Squadron Supreme actually reminds me of Valiant ("real world issues," small number of characters, interaction between multiple books, dead is (mostly) dead).

It was a real let down at the time when he quit writing the books, leaving the story incomplete. That being said, I especially liked his characterizations of Hyperion, Nighthawk, and my favorite: Doctor Spectrum.

If you can find the Doctor Spectrum mini-series I highly recommend picking it up. It's essential reading if you're interested in JMS' run and it's a great read on its own- tells you everything you need to know about the character and leaves you wanting more, like a good comic should.

[Cyberstrike]

I also enjoyed JMS's run on Squadron Supreme.

In some ways JMS's run on Squadron Supreme actually reminds me of Valiant ("real world issues," small number of characters, interaction between multiple books, dead is (mostly) dead).

It was a real let down at the time when he quit writing the books, leaving the story incomplete. That being said, I especially liked his characterizations of Hyperion, Nighthawk, and my favorite: Doctor Spectrum.

If you can find the Doctor Spectrum mini-series I highly recommend picking it up. It's essential reading if you're interested in JMS' run and it's a great read on its own- tells you everything you need to know about the character and leaves you wanting more, like a good comic should.

I liked Nighthawk but it's extremely violent (and kind of disturbing) especially what he does to the villain Whiteface in the final issue.