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Supreme is an oddity when it comes to 90s boom creations. Sure he got 40+ issues before Alan Moore took over and revamped the title into a critical success. I read maybe the first 3 issues of that run. Skipped the Moore run. Then finally in 2009 or 2010 thanks to Inter Library Loan I got the two TPBs from Checker Books that reprinted all of Moore's Supreme run.
I was surprised at how good it was. Having read most of Moore's previous work at Image,and only really enjoying 1963,Supreme was a love letter to Silver Age Superman. And much better one that the IMO Highly over rated All Star Superman.
Thanks to no one wanting them and their reputation of being total crap,plus the early stuff having huge print runs,over the course of about 5 years I managed to get a full run of the pre Moore Supreme.
It was not long after finishing that run that I saw the solicits for the Supreme Blue Rose mini series. My plan at the tiime was to just get scans of each issue. Then grab the TPB once that was out. Got the scans read and loved it. Then forgot to grab the TPB until sometime in summer of 2023.
Written by Warren Ellis and with amazing art from Tula Lotay. And that art. Pastels and this chalk or crayon like texture to most of the colors. The art fits the odd nature of the story.
An out of work reporter is hired to find out about a plane crash in Littlehaven. Hired by a man with the same name as Supreme's lead villain,a Lex Luthor like mad scientist.
Using the Supremacy idea that Alan Moore created(The Supremacy is a pocket dimension where all the previous versions of Supreme live.) Warren Ellis creates a story that reads like David Lynch and Jordorosky teamed up. And Vince Mcmahon/Hulk Hogan No Holds Barred style spent a weekend in a hotel with a typewriter and possibly some chemical help and created this insane story.
A story that not only keeps all the previous Supreme stuff in cannon but adds to the concepts Alan Moore came up with in the other Extreme/Awesome comics he wrote.
Being only 7 issues, and having not read it since it was coming out monthly,I had forgotten how unlike most modern comics this isn't a fast read. Even with more than a few pages that are either double page splashes,that look amazing. Or sometimes 3 or 4 pages of no dialogue,just gorgeous art that tells the story.
From what I can see as of writing this is the newest Supreme stuff. One good thing about how Warren Ellis wraps up this mini is the next creative team can take what happens here and build on it. Or just ignore it and either way works.
Now I am not sure how well this reads to anyone that at least doesnt know the basics about Alan Moore's Supreme run. This re-read,which I did in a doctor's waiting room one cold rainy day,I noticed how much stuff from the pre Moore run is referenced.
Looked and unless you just gotta have the issues it is much much cheaper and easier to order this as a TPB.
Supreme Blue Rose gets a B+.
