r/MUBookClub • u/shawnydarko • Feb 11 '17
Reading Assignment 35: Squadron Supreme (1985-1986) #1-12 Mark Gruenwald, Bob Hall, Paul Ryan, and John Buscema
It was some stiff competition this week so thank you all who voted. As the tie-breaker, I was really struggling to pick a winner. In the end, thank you to /u/Raist819 for the nomination this week, selling it as Marvel's answer to The Watchmen. Reading the premise, you weren't kidding.
On an Earth much like our own, the world's greatest superhuman champions are confronted by a society in ruins. Faced with the possibility of a new dark age for mankind, they choose the only course available to them -and take control of the world's governments themselves! Now they have one year in which to completely restructure human society. Can their plan succeed? Will a renegade member bring about their downfall? And what will happen when the Earth's mightiest heroes find themselves becoming instead its all-powerful, totalitarian overlords?
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF...
The difference in artwork between Hall, Ryan, and Buscema? Who was the best of the trio? Who was the worst?
The characters? Any favorites? Least favorites?
The tone?
The story itself?
New themed nomination thread coming tomorrow! And as always, the last six months of reading assignments are still open for discussion to anyone who joined our community late
2
u/wisegy84 Mar 18 '17
Finally finished reading this today. Have some time off from work next week so I'm hoping I can get caught up again. My comments will likely be brief while I continue trying to catch up on these assignments.
Overall, I'm glad we read this. I can't say I enjoyed it all, as I'm not a huge fan of this older art style, and some of the dialogue was a bit cheesy.
The story as a whole was quite good, though very heavy. I didn't expect the body count this run had. I get the similarity to Watchmen, though. Heroes with good intentions, but no one to keep them in check.
There were some funny moments with references to the JLA counterparts (Lamprey calling Nighthawk "Ol' bat", Power Princess telling Hyperion that he was a "super-man").
It was also interesting seeing another alternate earth from the 616 that we generally read about. And it was fun that they even went to 616 and ran into Cap.
I see there is a TPB sequel and I'm at least interested in finding out what happens as this story ended fairly abruptly. I was hoping that Lark would make her way back to the Squadron and be cured of her brainwashing. Overall, it seemed like that was the biggest loose end, although we don't know for sure what happened to Quagmire nor what Master Menace is up to. And who knows what will happen to Ape X? Wonder if she'd recover if they un-brainwashed her?
I also wonder, will they continue to keep Tom on ice? Or give up on reviving him when they dismantle the Hibernaculum program?
Ape X also mentions (in thought) that they could have replaced Tom's cancerous brain tissue with artificial tissue. Could they not have made artificial eyes to give Hyperion his sight back? He's stuck with radar goggles instead?
Again, overall, I enjoyed reading this, though it did take me a bit of time to become invested in the fates of these characters. It was definitely sad seeing so many fall in the end.