Comic of the week - Squadron Supreme - Review

This is a review of the Squadron Supreme trade, containing issues 1-12 of the Squadron Supreme maxi-series and captain America #314, all written by Mark Gruenwald with the majority of the issues pencilled by Bob Hall and some by Paul Ryan, with one issue a piece pencilled by John Buscema and Paul Neary.

 

This book is almost always mentioned as one of the comic medium's most influential works, so naturally my expectations were quite high going in. But being reasonably unfamiliar with the Squadron, apart from one appearance in Avengers, and the story's somewhat slowish start, it did take me a couple of issues to really become engaged, and to learn enough about the characters to care what happened to them. But after 3 or 4 issues the characters begin to deal with more and more unconventional subject matter, in terms of super hero comics of that time and even now. The story starts to gather pace and real jeopardy, both of which continue to build and build right up to the exquisitely paced final issue and to a conclusion which is not only satisfying but powerfully highlights the unidealistic real world drama throughout .

 

 

 

The Squadron initially comes across as a cheap imitation of DC comics Justice League, Hyperion is a lot like superman, princess power is a lot like wonder woman, the whizzer is a lot like the flash and so on. They exist on earth but not the earth of other Marvel characters like The Avengers or The X-men, they exist in a parallel universe, I like to think of it like the intersection of a Venn diagram between the Marvel and the DC universe. And it's initially fun to pick out the often obvious similarities between the Squadron members and the Justice League. Which is an effective early lure which gradually hooks the reader into a story containing physical and moral implications to risky for a flagship series like the Justice League.

 

If you've read books, like The Authority,House of M, Kingdom Come, or Identity Crisis I'd strongly propose reading Squadron Supreme, this is where all those ideas originated. To many this is the birthplace of the post-modern comic. It was originally published in 1985 so some of the artwork and coloring looks dated and frankly the panels are hit and miss throughout the book, but for the most part it doesn't take away from the story, especially in the second half.

 

 

I'd be a strong advocate for this book especially if you want a little more from your super hero comics, and are willing to forgive and be patient with some dated dialogue and artwork you wont be disappointed. I know this book doesn't get the same amount of recognition as Alan Moore's highly acclaimed Watchmen which was released around the same time, and don't get me wrong Squadron simply isn't quite at the level of Watchmen but in many ways its not far off.

The next comic book of the week will be The Flash-The Dastardly Death Of The Rogues.