Where are the REAL Squadron Supreme?
I love a good multiverse story. I love seeing stories of characters being used from other Earths. I find that these stories can be fun and incredible if they’re done right. What I have a problem with are various versions of the same characters being created for other universes. Things start to get confusing as to what Earth this or that character comes from which is why we have the K.I.S.S. method (Keep It Simple Stupid!).
I certainly don’t think we have enough books being made to cover characters from alternate Earths. It seems to me that there has always been a great focus spent on characters from the MAIN Earth, but when an attempt is made, for whatever reason, it just doesn’t seem to work out. With so many underused or dead characters, is it really that hard to move them to another Earth to be used to flesh out the characters of that universe?
Sadly, I think that is just one of the many things wrong with the Squadron Supreme. For example, we have Mark Gruenwald’s great 12-issue miniseries, some 1-shots and a 2-part Exile series that seems to have tied up any loose ends from this universe (from the info I have/I haven’t read the Exile issues and can’t believe it finished in JUST 2 issues). But, I can see where Marvel Comics would want to close the book on this Earth in order to preserve the work done here (probably should have happened sooner than it did). Then, of course, we have this Supreme Power/Squadron Supreme mature reader universe which, as far as I’m concerned, doesn’t exist. I know many enjoy Mature material, I don’t and do not acknowledge what transpires within these pages. For me, it’s just another failed attempt to do something great with these characters.
Secondly, what I think is bad, is the fact that the writers have mirrored the characters’ origins to the Justice League from DC Comics. Which is a mistake on so many levels (right, Kallark…I mean, Gladiator?). Why would you mirror Superman’s origin and give it to Hyperion? Why would you give Power Princess an origin similar to Wonder Woman when you don’t need to? These characters can have traits of other characters, but couldn’t we come up with a slightly different slant when it comes to their origins?
Take Hyperion, for example – we know that he’s an Eternal, so put the focus on that. Dump his secret I.D. and his Superman-like origin, give him a god-complex and make him a herald for his people who plan on taking their “rightful” place as rulers of a planet they left to flourish. How about Power Princess? What did the Kree intend to do when creating her people? Were they occupying a secret outpost for a Kree invasion? Were they nothing more than objects to be used to create more Kree warriors? What of Kyle Richmond? Can a rich business man with a single piece of an alien substance called Argonite stand against a so-called “god” and his incoming group of Immortals? Are there other individuals he can find to help stand against this and any other threat that comes? Can a Kree warrior and a Skrull co-exist on the same team? And just who is Golden Archer and Lady Lark an imitation of (like we don’t know)? Can’t we just come up with an unique way of looking at these characters?
Third, the book needs to be done by and in a similar fashion to Avengers by Kurt Busiek/George Perez or JSA by David Goyer/Geoff Johns/Steve Sadowski. Great writers + great artists = a GREAT book! Add in the heroes and villains who are either not being used or dead in the Marvel Universe, and you have the ingredients of making a unique Earth S and universe in its own right. When will we see a REAL original interpretation of the Squadron Supreme? Will this be the definitive and final version of the Squadron Supreme for Marvel? Only the folks at Marvel Comics know for sure. You can bug Joe Q. about it.
I’m sure he will appreciate me for it!
As always, your comments are appreciated.
Next Week: WANTED!…UNION!
Stephen Hatfield
contact@comicattack.net
Interesting. I wish I knew more about these characters so I could comment more intuitively. However, I will say this: Gladiator is cooler than Superman.
Andy wrote:
You got that right!
Oh my! I always thought the whole idea behind the Squadron Supreme was to purposely mock the DC characters. Now I am not a reader of the original series. I however am a huge fan of the Max line and the short cut mini that followed. I will never talk about the Ultimate crossover or the 12 issue arc that just finished. Marvel should have left them dead after JMS left.
Anyways, jumping on board with the Max line is what made this enjoyable. I could careless for DC characters but having them presented with a twist like that and having it adult made it enjoyable. Then again I agree with Andy, many characters are cooler than Superman and Hyperion is just an extension of how Superman would probably really act.
Bottom line to me is that the Max version showed us what the DC universe could be like in the real world and was a damn good read. I will always be wanting more.
Now onto point #2 I want to make. The person over at Marvel who decided that introducing the “Marvel” cast into the latest version of the series needs to be smacked. One who wanted to see the Marvel characters when it’s a “DC” mock verse and two why did you let them take over the book. Now I might be the only one who read this series but the overall lack of attention to detail was astounding. Towards the end there were blank word balloons! Oops! Do we not have a proof reader at the comics powerhouse? Okay now I am getting started on my Marvel hate so I will end it there.
This book’s cheesy-ness reminds me of the Plastic Man cartoon from the 80’s.