Supreme Update: some sketches from Turini

Just some links you guys might wanna check out:

An Italian website hosts some sketches of the squadron supreme from Marco Turini. Some of them are inked, some colored.

But all are pencilled!

See, now I know how to characterize Turini's art.
The coloring is a bit too comic book-y. It doesn't achieve the refined tone that Gary Frank and Jon Sibal had, and is more appropriate for a book like Grimm Fairy Tales. The lines on the body are too smooth and don't seem to have any contour.
I really dig Turini's pencilling, but that single preview page really took away the detail from the pencilling.

The anatomy is, well, chunky to say the least, but Hyperion's last pose and Doctor Spectrum's pin-up look pretty cool, despite the chunky.Something that's annoying: Why is the Blur so muscled? It always irks me when people draw so much muscle tone on speedsters. They're speedsters! Their muscles should be prominent in their legs!

ALSO: The new series will be called "Squadron Supreme Returns." Intuitive enough, right?

All Things Supreme: Chaykin's Squadron

I swear, I need to marry you, Newsarama. For all your idiotic message board ranting, you've given me what no other website has given me.

Joe Straczynski's "Go get 'em." to Chaykin and Turini on the Squadron Supreme.

I am so happy.

We're done with looking at Straczynski's Squadron, but that only means we get to look at the upcoming Chaykin and Turini's squadron.

Marvel.com's released some cover art and a preview page here (it may have updated even more by now).

The cover's by Pornface McGee, but I don't recognize any tracing here, so I'm fine with it. Who is everyone, though, because none of these people are part of the Squadron yet!

The preview page there, well, it's definitely a change from Frank's realistic and mature style. I'd expect this kind of work from something like Grimm Fairy Tales, and it's definitely a step down from Frank.

Still though, the writing should be able to redeem the art if it falls short. You may know Howard Chaykin for, basically, war. Currently, he's working on a WWII miniseries with Garth Ennis. He was charged with a three-issue revamp of the Blackhawk series as well as a critically acclaimed series called American Flagg! (the exclamation is part of the title.)

With those kinds of books behind his helm, maturer but still fun kinds of books, Chaykin sounds like a reasonably excellent fit for the Squadron.

As for the art, you can find Turini's website here, with links to his blog, his art, all sorts of stuff. A lot of it's erotica, but I like his pencils. They're not too heavy; they're fairly expressive and they're very fine. The coloring is surreal-ish, but I know that the Squadron won't be getting that kind of coloring. I hope Marvel sets him up with a fine inker, because I don't want heavy lines on my Squadron.

Here's to the future guys.

P.S. If you missed some posts, here they all are:

All Things Supreme
INTRO
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
OUTTRO (this very post!)

All things Supreme: Straczynski's Squadron (pt3)

And here we are, in the third part of our whirlwind tour of the Supremeverse. Part 1 is here and part 2 is here, if you feel the need to catch up. Today, we're looking at the non-DC-analogues, who are very fun in their interaction with each other. They were designed as a post-Supreme Power addendum to the Squadron, and it turned out -- great. Arcanna Dr. Fate? Dr. Light? Dr. Arcanna? DC Analogue: none! Alias: Arcanna Jones Powers: manipulation of reality (unstable and unreliable, but very, very powerful) Character traits: intelligent, confident, curious, nurturing Let it never be said that Straczynski doesn't know how to write female characters. First you have the psycho-sadist (Zarda), then you have the soft-spoken alien (Kingsley), and now you have Arcanna, a physicist with a PhD. She wrote her own book, in fact, titled Quantum Physics: the New Reality. Not too much to say about her, like everyone else today. She joined the Squadron, essentially, to learn more about her powers of reality manipulation. She's a very smart character, and it's always fun to hear her talk.

Emil Burbank

Hey look, it's another sadist, except he's not psychotic. darn. DC Analogue: Lex Luthor??? Except he isn't rich Alias: Emil Burbank Powers: superintelligence Character traits: conniving, sadistic, cautious,

Emil Burbank is a genius, but a creepy genius, but an awesome creepy genius. He ended up killing his parents and driving his sister insane just for the hell of it. He joined the Squadron not out of any sense of justice (The Blur), or to make something of his life (Doc Spectrum), or because he's curious about his powers (Arcanna), but just as an "experiment." To see what would happen. Life is a game to him, and he knows how to take advantage of it.

He's so creepy, but it's a cool kind of creepy.

Shape

Man, Shape is great.

DC Analogue: zuh? Alias: Raleigh Lund Powers: impervious to any physical trauma Character traits: mentally deficient, simple-minded, child-like

Shape is so great. He used to be a janitor, because he wasn't smart enough for anything else (because he's mentally retarded). But then the government's all, "Hey, this guy has powers. Let's put him on our team."

Shape is great.

Inertia a grayish past with a light heart DC Analogue: none? Alias: Edith Freiberg Powers: Impervious skin, superstrength, I think she absorbs energy too Character traits: easygoing, sad, broken(ish), friendly, light-hearted, volatile, quippy Man, I love everyone today, and Edie here is no exception. Her dad was a Christian bigot/hypocrite, and she ended up leaving her small town and leaving him. She was traumatized when a bunch of boys raped her in grade school, so I think she covers up all the trauma with good humor. You really have to admire that. She doesn't let her past hold her down, and her sense of humor is great. I didn't really get why she joined the Squadron, other than she has nothing better to do with her life. She's very easygoing about what the regime tells her to do, but she does do it.

Sigh. So overall, the four characters today have a fantastic dynamic together and by themselves. It's a really great cast that made the original cast of Supreme Power even more exciting. There were other characters too, but they had passing notes and had no field work behind them (because one's a living nuke and the other's a shrinking guy). With that our look into Straczynski's and Frank's squadron comes to an end. Can you identify each person here?

If you have any questions, or maybe you're curious about something I mentioned but didn't fully talk about, don't be shy! The Squadron was a work of art, and I'd love to talk my mouth off about it. Upcoming we'll talk about Chaykin and Turini's credentials for the Squadron, and I talk my mouth off about that. For the curious, here's Straczynski's catalog of the series and its spin-offs at World of JMS. Here's the Wikipedia for the series. And here's Marvel.com's catalog of the series. Mike Deodato is actually cited as the artist for issues 8 and 9, but those issues were never released (I didn't think he was a good enough follow-up to Gary Frank anyhow).

All Things Supreme: Straczynski's Squadron (pt2)

Welcome back to our look at the Supremeverse. Celebrating Chaykin and Turini's announcement for the Squadron, we're looking back at Straczynski's Squadron. If you missed the first part, don't be afraid to make with the clicky.

So do I have your attention now? Feel free to take a seat, stretch your legs and let's see if I can't sate your Supreme fix for the Squadron today.



Doctor Spectrum
Army hand with a heavy heart
DC Analogue: Green Lantern
Alias: Joe Ledger
Powers: Unknown control of a crystal that's bonded to his hand
Character traits: obedient, incredibly competent, empty

Doc Spectrum seems to be just a military puppet on the surface, but that's ignoring his heavy, albeit less-than-competently-written, past.

His dad walked out on his family; his mom was a prostitute; his stepdad was abusive, and he was bullied at school. This was what I meant by "less-than-competently-written," but I suppose you're allowed to have one domestically rank past in a superteam. Ultimately, without a family or friends, this resulted in a feeling of emptiness in his life, and he realized that his life didn't have much point to it.

So he joined the army.

I think that's the heart of why he so doggedly obeys the U.S. regime -- because he has nothing else to live for no one else to turn to.

Except for maybe a second personality. Apparently, the crystal embeds a latent second mind in Joe, which occasionally manifests itself, as when Joe said,

"The children. . . the children must not fight."

when Hyperion and Zarda were fighting.

We haven't exactly seen this second personality fleshed out yet, but Chaykin will no doubt work on this.

Oh! A really big part of Joe currently is that he's fallen in love, perhaps to fill that void in his heart. Sigh.




Kingsley
skewing the fish-human ratio for the Squadron since 2003
DC Analogue: Aquaman
Alias: Kingsley (a name given to her by Doc Spectrum)
Powers: telepathy, ability to breathe underwater
Character traits: innocent (to the ways of man), loving, soft-spoken

Kingsley's name is a story in itself. She never even had a name until Joe gave her one -- Kingsley. There is no doubt that the two have a special bond, and yes, this is the love that I was talking about when we were wrapping up Joe.

I don't have much to say about her, except she can't (chooses not to?) talk, and instead has a telepathic bond with Doctor Spectrum. Their love for each other is really sweet.

And in Joe's case, it's really desperate.

Nighthawk
And you thought Batman was a jerk
DC Analogue: Batman
Alias: Kyle Richmond
Powers: being a jerk, talent in several martial arts, being rich, having lots of toys
Character traits: hateful, vengeful, occasionally compassionate

So, Nighthawk's parents were killed when he was a kid - by a bunch of hick white supremacists. The last thing that his dad told him was,

"Hear that, Kyle? That's a nighthawk. See, most hawks hunt during the day, but their prey, well, that means their prey can see their shadow. But a hawk that hunts at night, well, you can't see its shadow. Can you?"

That's a very good line that adds depth to Nighthawk's origin. That's smart writing right there.

So Kyle became rich and hunted down criminals. The way that Gotham belongs to Batman, Chicago belongs to Nighthawk. The two differ though, in that Nighthawk has absolutely no compunction about killing. He will murder any criminal on the spot if he feels they deserve it. I'm pretty sure he's murdered every criminal he's met as well.

Currently, Nighthawk isn't at all a part of the Squadron. Since he doesn't have any superpowers, the government doesn't think of him as much but --

So that's it for today's batch of supremeverse characters. I gotta admit, today's wasn't as strong as last time's, but that's partly because I didn't get to show any of Nighthawk's brutality. And we didn't get to see Zarda today. That's really too bad.

Tune in next time for our wrap-up of the main players in the Supremeverse, and thereafter we'll have a small follow-up to look at the upcoming creative team.

All Things Supreme: Straczynski's Squadron (pt1)

So, as I said in a previous post, it's time for the Squadron Supreme to steal the spotlight!

In celebration of the news that Chaykin and Turini will be taking over the Squadron, it's important to take a look back. It's important to take a look at Straczynski's foundations for the Squadron.

Today we look at Hyperion - the hero without a home; the Blur - our Everyman and Princess Zarda - our kill-happy psycho! Wheeeeeee!

Hyperion
The hero without a home
DC analogue: Superman
Alias: Mark Milton (I'm sure his middle name also begins with "M")
Powers: "Flash" vision; supersonic flight; super-strength
Character traits: somewhat naive, strong in his beliefs, losing his faith in America, isolated/lonely

Supreme Power is Hyperion's life story as a child. The alien who became Mark Milton crash-landed into a remote agricultural area in America, and, he was taken in not by any mild-mannered couple, but by the government under Jimmy Carter's presidency.

He was raised in a bubble, conditioned for American beliefs, and before you knew it, Mark Milton was running errands for the regime, all the way up to the Clinton era. And sometimes, these regimes called for the use of coercive means.



Slowly realizing that he was being exploited, Mark lashed out (to the point of a 10.5 on the Richter scale!), but eventually returned to working for the government -- with his own agenda, this time.

Which brings us to the present. We haven't seen too much of this agenda implemented yet, but I bet we will when Chaykin takes it up again.

Mark's generally had feelings of isolation. Living fenced off from society, his first interactions with people his own age was as a teenager, and even then, it was surrounded by guards. Later on, the death of his "parents" was faked, and the feelings became worse.

They became better, though, when Mark learned that there were other superpowers out there. The two big ones are his friendship with Stanley Stewart AKA The Blur, and the relationship (romance?) with Princess Zarda - her alias is currently Claire DeBussy. We'll be covering these two fellers today as well.

Currently, Mark is the leader of the Squadron Supreme, but he's still subordinate, of course, to the one-handed (uni-ppendaged??) and balding General Alexander.



The Blur
Our Everyman
DC Analogue: The Flash (duh.)
Alias: Stanley Stewart (Stan the Man!)
Powers: superspeed
Character traits: humble, average, thoughtful

Stanley here was living in a rural home with his mom (his dad died), when it just so happened that Mark's ship landed around that area! Spores from the ship infected Stanley, among others, and made him super super-sick, until he miraculously recovered - with superspeed!

Supreme Power saw the rise of Stanley from a small-time errand boy to a high-profile superstar. Sports companies flocked to his personality for endorsements, and he became a media sensation. Despite all the fame and fortune, though, his mom was always his top priority.

Currently, Stanley is a small part of the Squadron, if you can call its conscience small. On their mission to Africa's Salawe province, Stanley's the first one to bring up, "Has anyone bothered to ask the natives what they want?" He may be representing America in the Squadron, but he's one of the most personal members on the Squadron.

Princess Zarda

Our kill-happy she-psycho

DC Analogue: Wonder Woman
Alias: Currently Claire DeBussy. We never know her real name, beyond Zarda.
Powers: super-strength, flight, regeneration
Character traits: insane, sadistic, delusional (maybe?), confident

I love Zarda so much. She knows who she is, and she'll never lie about that to herself or anyone else. She knows what she likes; she knows where she wants to be in life, and she's working to get there. She knows how to enjoy life to the fullest too.

You gotta respect that.

She also is (thinks she is?) that Mark and she are the last of their kind, and that they were sent to Earth. . .

"To rule. To kill. To conquer."

It's very convoluted, and it's unclear whether they're the descendants of Greek Gods or just aliens or what have you. Also, one of Zarda's followers said that she came to liberate woman from Man's world (WW reference?).

Yes, it's established very clearly and very early that Zarda's mind is unstable. This is due to one of her powers - regeneration. She can absorb and pretty much disintegrate any human she touches to heal any of her physical ailments, from minor cuts to outright body decay. The thing is, she also kind of absorbs different personalities in the process!

Currently, Zarda is the Squadron's lovable insane sadist.

Never change, Zarda. Never change.

So, that does it for today's post. This is me signing off and saying Zarda is awesome.

If you have any questions, if anything's confusing you, feel free to speak up! The Supremeverse was one of my first comics, and it's just wonderful, you might say supremely so, that I get to share it with you.

Next time, we'll be looking at the Supremified Green Lantern, Aquaman and Batman, but not before I go through this week's review in comics!

All things Supreme: Straczynski's Squadron

Sometimes I just love you to bits, Newsarama.

Over here, they reveal that Squadron Supreme will be seeing the light of day again!

The Squadron Supreme was originally Marvel's take on, "What if the Justice League took over the world - to protect it?" maxi-series by Mark Gruenwald. There were analogues to Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Batman, Green Lantern, the whole shebang. It was awesome.

Later on, in 2003, Joe Straczynski and Gary Frank modernized the characters with an 18-issue maxi-series (Supreme Power), which then became an ongoing series - Squadron Supreme! It, too, was awesome, but was put on hiatus as of issue 7. It hasn't been touched since, much to my dismay!

As the link said, Howard Chaykin and Marco Turini will be rebooting the series, and although they won't be continuing off the cliffhanger that was put on hiatus, I am no doubt excited out of my mind.

In celebration of the news, I'll be doing a few posts (three to four) on Straczynski's Squadron!

What was so beautiful about the seriesesses was the organic, respectful and smart characterizations. However much the story was about these current events in the world, they always came back to who these people were, and these people were heroes in real life. At the very surface, they're merely DC's superheroes, but from the very start, these characters take a life of their own. Simply amazing.


The first part, starting after this week's reviews, kicks off with the Supremeversions of: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash.

In the second part, the Supremeverse takes on: Green Lantern Aquaman, Batman.

The third part sees some original, non-Supremified characters, but that doesn't make them any less awesome.

So, to conclude this post, as Green Lantern Alan Scott might say:

And remember, if you're confused by anything Supreme over the posts, don't be shy! Ask!