The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1120: Supreme #15, July 1994

A welcome return of Pedram Shohadai, or Pedi, to the pages of Supreme. I'd mentioned in his earlier issue (#11) that his art style is far more McFarlane Studios than it is Extreme Studios, which is probably why he ended up drawing this issue. It looks awesome. Inside, anyway. I'm not a big fan of the Jeff Matsuda cover. One detail of his art that I really appreciate is that he actually draws a mouth under Spawn's mask:

I also am eating my words, virtually speaking. When posting a link to yesterday's comic on Facebook, I snarkily wrote "Ah, I see. A series of pointless superhero vs. superhero battles. Okay then." But today's issue is just a sit-down with Spawn. Supreme lands in the alleys and begins telling Spawn his life story, how short-changed he feels that people got worse in the time he was gone. There's some interesting stuff going on here in that Spawn actually knows that the story Supreme is telling is not true. Or perhaps it's the other way around. Perhaps Supreme's version is true, and what Al knows is wrong. Either way, we're getting a bit more background on Supreme - and for perhaps the first time, he's developing character. I've spent 14 issues trying to figure this character out, and one conversation with Spawn clears a lot of things up.

Of course, old Al tells Supreme to suck it up, everyone's got it rough, and he sold his soul to the Devil. Supreme is upset by this and flies away.

I have to say that, overall, this is the best this comic has ever been, in that I felt like I'd had a satisfying reading experience that added something to the overall narrative I'm following in Supreme. But this was a really good comic, not just a really good issue of the series. I was bemoaning the fact yesterday that the character just seemed to bounce around all over the place without having any real reason behind anything. Today's issue gives us the beginnings of a reason. Could it be that Kurt Hathaway came to the same conclusion, and so gave us this gem?

And will this trend continue?

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1073: Supreme #11, March 1994

So what is it that makes comics from Extreme Studios so popular? They are pretty much regarded as some of the more poorly-executed superhero comics ever. And on top of that, their popularity had a significant effect on superhero fare from the Bit Two. Witness titles like Justice League Extreme, or early 90s Avengers. The narrative and visual aesthetics are taken up by the major publishers, even though, as with the Image stuff, it produces some egregiously terrible comics.

I suppose the other question this begs is why on Earth I'm finding them so engrossing. Honestly, they seem to be comics written for very stoned people, something I cannot publically condone, at least not until this July when it becomes legal here. The visuals, though, are just the sort of mad, stylized pictures that entertain the stoned brain. Add to this that there's really very little story and the comics come to resemble the crappy chocolates that satisfy a very definite, though slightly embarrassing, craving.

What I should point out is that this aesthetic is not Image-wide. Each of the studios has a particular look and feel unique to itself. That's one of the reasons today's comic stands out a bit. As part of the "Extreme Prejudice" crossover (which I feel is really riffing on some of the Marvel X-Men crossovers of the same period), there actually substantially more attention paid to building the story, such as it is. The formation of a new team of Newmen provides world-building that is also innately tied to the events of the crossover. From a very basic level, there actually seems to be some plot attached to the action. The other thing that sets the comic apart is the interior art by Pedram Shohadai, or Pedi, as he is credited. An unfortunate choice of pen name, I think. His art is very much more in the style of the McFarlane Studios side of Image, so seeming Supreme and his allies in this style is a bit odd. Interestingly, one of the only other full comics drawn by Pedi is an upcoming issue of Supreme that features the hellspawn himself.

It occurs to me that I still haven't answered my original question. I'll keep pondering on it.

To be continued.