Squadron Supreme [Paperback]

Mark Gruenwald (Author), John Buscema (Illustrator), Bob Hall (Illustrator), Paul Ryan (Illustrator), Paul Neary (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: 4 and up

Collects Squadron Supreme #1-12, and Captain America #314.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (September 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078510576X
• ISBN-13: 978-0785105763
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.5 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #294,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic book, September 3, 2003

By 

Steven E. Higgins "vacuumboy9" (Florissant, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Squadron Supreme (Paperback)

Once upon a time, there was a superhero team that decided fighting crime wasn't enough. They finally realized that, if they really wanted to make a difference, they'd have to combat the ills of society, things like war, poverty, famine and disease. So they took over and started going about rebuilding society from the ground up, trying to turn their world into a utopia.

If the concept sounds vaguely familiar, it should. For years superhero comics have been exploring such moral questions as these, all the way back to the famous story "Must There Be A Superman?" In that tale, the man of steel wrestles with the fact that by doing so much to help society he might actually be holding them back from striving and succeeding on their own. In the end Superman decides that he will help the people of Earth with problems beyond their means like earthquakes and supervillains, but for the rest of it we were on our own.

Not so in the 1985 Marvel maxi-series Squadron Supreme. In this book, the heroes decide that we humans need someone to make decisions for us. So they usurp the government's power, take over America, and start fixing things the way they see fit. Now that description of the book makes it seem like these heroes are bad guys, but they're not. They're good people, heroes with the best of intentions. But you know what they say about the road to hell, right?

Pretty quickly one of the heroes speaks out against the rest of his team. He objects to the ideas of these heroes, stating that by taking control away from the common man, they are trampling on all the freedoms America stands for. But this hero is voted down by the rest, who say that a few of the individual's rights lost are nothing in the face of what will be gained by society as a whole. So this hero resigns from the team and starts planning a way to show the Squadron Supreme the error of their ways. And that hero is Batman.

Well, actually it's Nighthawk, but it might as well be Batman. It is well-documented that writer Mark Gruenwald was a huge fan of the Justice League and that, when he created the Squadron Supreme at Marvel, he was openly aping the DC team so he could play with the other company's toys in his own backyard. Even reading the names of some of these heroes you can see obvious parallels. Hyperion, Power Princess, Amphibian, Whizzer, Dr. Spectrum-the list goes on and on.

But Gruenwald takes the characters and makes them his own, drawing on the archetypes we're familiar with and taking their personalities to the inevitable conclusion. Each character stands out from the creation they were originally carbon-copied from. Golden Archer's obsessive love for Lady Lark stretches into darker corners than Ollie and Dinah's relationship ever did, and Nuke's youthful impetuousness is at times incredibly destructive, a far cry from Firestorm over in the JLA.

Apart from making the characters his own, Gruenwald similarly pulled no punches with the plot and showed that even the actions of superheroes have very real consequences. This story is mired in tragedy and heartbreak; as the story unfolds over the course of a year in this utopia, members of the Squadron Supreme quit the team, are forced out, and even die. The inevitable conclusion to the story is very much a predecessor to the widescreen action style we see in comics of today, yet its violence is not sensationalized or especially bloody. Characters are killed in horrific ways in this melee, not just for a cool fight scene but for a logical purpose, to drive the theme of the story home for the reader.

Dozens of stories since 1985 have taken this idea and run with it, and I freely admit that those books, books like Kingdom Come or The Authority, did the concept a bit better than Squadron Supreme does. The art here is uneven and juvenile at times; the dialogue is similarly a bit cheesy, as characters break into long speeches to debate the larger moral issues behind their actions without a hint of subtlety. But still this work is groundbreaking and many stories of today owe Squadron Supreme a great debt of gratitude. For this reason, and for many others, this book is worth your attention.

Unfortunately this graphic novel has never received the credit it so deserves to its initial release coming at almost the same time as Watchmen's. But with the new series Supreme Power by J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank on its way in August (supposedly set in the same universe and involving the same characters), now this story might finally be recognized for the paradigm-shattering masterpiece that it truly is.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Squadron Supreme is indeed a "supreme" endeavor, October 2, 1998

By 

M. Faries (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Squadron Supreme (Paperback)

The late Mark Gruenwald was well known at Marvel Comics for his writing and editor positions (and lesser known for the occasional artwork he drew). Among his BEST works was Marvel's "Squadron Supreme." Originally established as a team of villains from a mirror universe (who occasionally guest starred in "The Avengers" and "Thor" in the 1970s) the Squadron Supreme were knock-offs of rival DC Comics's Justice League. Hyperion=Superman, Whizzer=Flash, Lady Lark=Black Canary, Nighthawk=Batman, etc. In the 1980s, writer J.M. DeMatteis wrote an intriguing storyline in "The Defenders" which brought back the Squadron Supreme. This time, the team featured additional members (borrowing again from some of the "Justice League" characters and adding a sense of warped nostalgia for comics fans). Following the success of their appearance, Gruenwald and Co. launched a 12-part mini-series which focused on the plight of the post-"Defenders" appearance Squadron Supreme. The mini-series was *outstanding*. The characters were given more depth and background. Subplots and mysteries abounded. Artist Paul Ryan blossomed into a mainstream artist with his pencilling work (and let's not forget Bob Hall's contributions). From issue #1 through #12 of this limited series, you wanted the Squadron Supreme to have a permanent place on the comic book store shelves. The stories were VERY well-done. And ironically, DC Comics's effort with its "Justice League" comic (at the time) paled in comparison to "Squadron Supreme." If you're a long time Marvel fan--even a DC Comics fan--take the time to purchase this compilation of issues #1-12 of the Squadron Supreme mini-series. It is a strong testament to why Mark Gruenwald is sorely missed in the world of comics. Rest in Peace, Mark.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Now I get it, November 9, 2000

By 

Babytoxie (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Squadron Supreme (Paperback)

When this series was originally released, I didn't give it much attention and wrote it off in 4 issues. I saw it as a pale parody of the Justice League of America, and I only focused on my theory that Marvel was trying to copy DC's greatest heroes. After reading Waid and Ross' Kingdom Come years later and hearing the references to Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme, however, it all came together. I had to buy the collected edition.

Reading the Squadron Supreme storyline all at once, it's amazing that this was a sleeper. It may have been due to several factors, ones which led me to give this book 4 stars: the varying quality of the art (all of it good, but some much better), the cheesy Stan Lee-styled dialogue (sometimes hilariously so), or the outrageous melodrama (too many upstanding heroes wearing their emotions on their sleeves). Whatever the case, the overall storyline is exceptional, and Mark Gruenwald deserves much more attention for this story than he gets. There are WAY too many similarities between SS and KC, and I can't continue to give KC the fanatical praise I once did - Gruenwald did it first.

This is a fairly realistic treatment of a pseudo-JLA, showing what might happen to the world if a group with that kind of power existed. For all the potential that the real JLA has, they're held back by history, popular culture, and the editor's fear of alienating fans. Squadron Supreme has no such boundaries, and the result is a real treat. Don't waste your time reading (or more appropriately "looking at") The Authority. This is the way to go.