First Impressions: Supreme #64

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Supreme #64 
Written by Erik Larsen
Art by Erik Larsen & Cory Hamscher
Image Comics


Review by Frankie Rodriguez


INTRODUCTION

   Supreme, for all intents, purposes, started out as an allegory and even older copy of Superman. Under Rob Liefield's Extreme Studios, Supreme became something far different than the Man of Steel ever did. He had all the powers. He had a kind of weakness similar. But Supreme was kinda of  .. .well, a douchebag at first. He was arrogant. He was very blunt. And he had no problems proving how powerful he was. And then things changed. Supreme had gotten  younger some how. And then ... Alan Moore arrived. And he turned the Superman allegory on its ear.

  Moore's legendary run was cut short by one ... ONE issue ... until now. Extreme Studios is back with a vengeance as they brought back Prophet, Bloodstrike, Glory and more in their relaunch. And one of the things they did was bring back Supreme with Erik Larsen and Cory Hamscher doing art for the now FINAL Alan Moore issue. Now, we start with Erik Larsen's reign with the character. And with dozens of Supremes out there ... what will he do now?


FLIPPING THROUGH:

   So yeah. This issue starts with Supreme ... multitudes of them ... being attacked by multitudes of his arch nemesis, Darius Dax. And this is pretty insane. Kind of working as an allegory for continuity while fixing it, we find that the Supreme's are getting slaughtered by the Darius Dax's; with the original Darius Dax leading the charge. And while a LOT is happening this issue, the ending ties up things extremely well . .. with the return of the ORIGINAL Supreme that we have not seen in years!

   With the Original Supreme's return, he takes care of most of the Daxes and even the other Supremes (oh, I am sooooooooo not spoiling that). And we see everything ... different kinds of Daxes ... including a duck Dax to a Mouse and Lion Supremes.


WRITING:

    I have to applaud Erik Larsen. He inherited one heck of a big, convoluted mess. A very, very big mess. And yet, he was able to keep the readers engaged on the Supreme Al Moore established long enough to give him a proper send off while bringing us another Supreme with a cleaner slate. Larsen, in his first issue of Supreme, actually respected enough of the writer's work before to spend the issue closing out that danging plotline and bring it to a satisfying conclusion; while opening up possibilities for a brand new beginning. THAT is GREAT writing.

   It was great seeing how the different Daxes were different yet similar in their own way. The fact that Diana had an evil alternate was also interesting and how they were both utilized. Still, Larsen made the issue work, no matter how chaotic the issue looked. That seems to be the downside of this issue. While it is chaotic, brand new readers might be scratching their head if they did not pick up the previous issue.Still, Strong characterizations while honoring what was past and setting up a new beginning in one issue. Very well done Mr. Larsen.


ART:

   Larsen and Cory Hamscher did a great job illustrating this issue. While the style is more classic cartoony with some finishes, it still worked well. It was appealing cause it was a style you don't see too often in the Big Two anymore. Yet, with the multitudes of kinds of characters and the carnage that ensued (Seriously, someone got their head punched off and another person was blasted through their chest) these two made it work and work well..

   There was enough detail to make the characters feel threatening when they needed to be but funny when they were supposed to be funny . The inking and finishes were nice and clean. The colors helped the issue out well. And while some panels may seem lazy due to background panels, all those panels without backgrounds actually let's you focus on the event that is happening. Good move by Larsen and Hamscher.

OVERALL IMPRESSION:

    The only thing that really hurts this issue is the lack of knowledge about Supreme but that all changes by  the end of it thanks to Larsen. It is brutal yet fun. And That is something that I find that I enjoy about comics like this and Invincible. That they are brutal, make statements about comics or things in life yet still be entertaining.

    As gruesome and gory as this issue was at times, there was definitely that signaling that this was an end to an era and a beginning of a whole new one. A clean slate for Larsen to build on. That fact that he took the time to do this was great and shows respect. The over all chaos might put off readers but I would still suggest getting this issue cause it closes out Moore's run nicely while opening up what Larsen can (and will) do next.

 Supreme # 64 gets a 4 out of 5. Very strong issue. Fun. Might be a little confusing if you are new but still a fun time to be had by all.