rebus's review
4.25
A loving tribute and a scathing satire at the same time, Moore dazzles by showing us what was great about comics and what became horrible about them, the former being as a gateway to science and critical thinking, the latter that they devolved into boring, self referential retellings of origin stories to appeal to new generations (who really no longer needed the pro war propaganda that always lay under the surface of the medium since its inception during WWII).
He manages to sneak in the history of repression that came about after EC comics broke barriers, and how that turned the super hero industry into almost pure garbage in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and how any attempts then at relevance were marginalized (the comics from DC that dealt with race and heroin in the late 60s and early 70s, replete with the genius realism of Neal Adams' artwork).
He also pokes fun at our obsessions with wanting more and more heroes, how the only way to tell them apart in alternative timelines was by minor costume differences. The modern framing of that story even has the reader obsessing about which character is which in that very story, a doubly post modern jab at tropes and fans. He makes sly social commentary by having the 90s heroes make fun of the 70s contradiction between spiritual enlightenment and the hedonism of the time, while the supposedly good heroes turned out to simply be cops and fascists who were always fighting for the material greed of the privileged and entitled class (his worldview later turned upside down with the Watchmen TV series, which was a false piece of virtue signaling and fake multi-culturalism that was merely suggesting that people of color become cops and support the establishment, the opposite of what Moore has always been trying to impart about our fascist society).
There's also a delightful depiction of dating and sexual mores over the decades--pay no attention to the crank on this site who says he/she could never stand Moore because of his depictions of women--that is frank and honest and wholly feminist in nature.
Not quite a masterpiece, but it's way smarter than 99% of the comics produces since 1990.
He manages to sneak in the history of repression that came about after EC comics broke barriers, and how that turned the super hero industry into almost pure garbage in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and how any attempts then at relevance were marginalized (the comics from DC that dealt with race and heroin in the late 60s and early 70s, replete with the genius realism of Neal Adams' artwork).
He also pokes fun at our obsessions with wanting more and more heroes, how the only way to tell them apart in alternative timelines was by minor costume differences. The modern framing of that story even has the reader obsessing about which character is which in that very story, a doubly post modern jab at tropes and fans. He makes sly social commentary by having the 90s heroes make fun of the 70s contradiction between spiritual enlightenment and the hedonism of the time, while the supposedly good heroes turned out to simply be cops and fascists who were always fighting for the material greed of the privileged and entitled class (his worldview later turned upside down with the Watchmen TV series, which was a false piece of virtue signaling and fake multi-culturalism that was merely suggesting that people of color become cops and support the establishment, the opposite of what Moore has always been trying to impart about our fascist society).
There's also a delightful depiction of dating and sexual mores over the decades--pay no attention to the crank on this site who says he/she could never stand Moore because of his depictions of women--that is frank and honest and wholly feminist in nature.
Not quite a masterpiece, but it's way smarter than 99% of the comics produces since 1990.
rickklaw's review
4.0
Not surprisingly, Alan Moore has scripted several excellent metafictional texts. Among his best and least know example, Supreme: The Story of the Year re-creates [author: Rob Liefeld]'s Superman ripoff. In his initial story, Moore introduces the Supremacy, a place outside of reality that serves as the home for all previously retconned1 versions and variants of Supreme. Intriguing characters such as Macrosupreme, Son of Supreme, Sister Supreme, Suprememarch, Supreme White, Supreme Gold, Sally Supreme, Scrappy Supreme, and even a Squeak the Supremouse litter the story landscape. As new each "revision” occurs, the then-current Supreme is “canceled from existence” and journeys to the Supremacy. Moore successfully uses this idea to re-envision the previously dull character, giving it relevancy as far more than just another Superman clone.
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