Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

J Michael Straczynski’s reworking of the old Marvel Comics Squadron Supreme continues with the new title Squadron Supreme (replacing Supreme Power). Straczynski also continues his long-running collaboration with artist Gary Frank in these issues, with the exception of issue six which is penciled by Juan Barranco.

While I’m a big fan of Gary Frank (and have been since his work on Incredible Hulk many years ago), I found Barranco to be a more than adequate replacement and the styles are similar enough that I didn’t find the change at all distracting.

Issues 1 to 6 don’t seem to be broken up into the story-arcs that have become commonplace in modern comics. Instead they are telling a single, largely seamless, story and while there are plenty of things happening during the issues, the lack of any obvious focal element in the plot does make you feel that the comic is drifting somewhat.

I’m sure that part of the appeal of this series for long time comics fans is looking at how Straczynski handles the Squadron Supreme characters compared to how they were portrayed in their first limited series which tackled similar issues. The original Squadron Supreme limited series happened before I was heavily into comics so I only have very vague memories of the characters and can’t fully speak to how they compare.

One thing is obvious though, the tone of this series is very dark. Several of the Squadron have major personality dysfunctions. One is clearly a sociopath and a couple of them may be evil aliens (or something). I’m all in favor of comics that explore something beyond the simple black and white of heroes and villains, but right now Squadron Supreme has an air of darkness that can be a little depressing. Every now and then it’s nice to see a character that is clearly a good guy. I think in the Squadron’s case that man may well be Whizzer who seems to be acting as the Squadron’s conscience right now.

The biggest weaknesses in the story seem to be its similarity to Straczynski’s previous comic series Rising Stars. Another irritation is the fact that the military seems to be portrayed as consistently power hungry. A bit of variety on that front would be nice.

Overall though this is a good series which is able to do something a little different to what we see in the mainstream Marvel universe where superheroes are commonplace.