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Supreme (collected editions)
Supreme: Blue Rose
Unemployed reporter Diana Dane is hired by a mysterious intelligence broker to solve the biggest mysteries of 21st Century what fell on the town of Littlehaven, and who or what is "Supreme?" Collects BLUE ROSE #1-7.
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2015
8 people are currently reading
569 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,972 books5,772 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews
September 29, 2015
Out of context this panel doesn’t really make a lot of sense, does it?
Well, reading it within the body of this graphic novel, it still leaves the reader panting for clues.
Here’s another one:
Funny thing, this was in my fortune cookie the other night along with the lottery numbers that will make you millions and the Chinese pronunciation for “Sir, you are stepping on my foot!”.
Trapped?
Metaphorically?
Literally?
An Existential conundrum, no?
I can appreciate that Warren Ellis is trying to bend the conventions of graphic novel story telling. It was nice that the folks at Image let him have carte blanche with this comic, but Warren give the reader a few clues. Throw us a bone or two. A plot line that has legs here or a compelling character there.
It’s a fever dream of sci-fi multiverse (GAHH!!!) conventions combined with some of the most hallucinatory (read: oddest) art I’ve ever seen.
Ellis’s possible inspiration:
The art:
Sadly, my library must have tossed out the 3D glasses that were supposed to come with this volume. I’m sure this page is on someone’s refrigerator door somewhere.
You wish.
Bottom line: This is not without its merits, even the art has a hypnotic quality to it; however, I would only recommend this to my friends whose tastes run into the Esoteric or who do copious amounts of drugs.
My wife was just telling me this the other day.
Well, reading it within the body of this graphic novel, it still leaves the reader panting for clues.
Here’s another one:
Funny thing, this was in my fortune cookie the other night along with the lottery numbers that will make you millions and the Chinese pronunciation for “Sir, you are stepping on my foot!”.
Trapped?
Metaphorically?
Literally?
An Existential conundrum, no?
I can appreciate that Warren Ellis is trying to bend the conventions of graphic novel story telling. It was nice that the folks at Image let him have carte blanche with this comic, but Warren give the reader a few clues. Throw us a bone or two. A plot line that has legs here or a compelling character there.
It’s a fever dream of sci-fi multiverse (GAHH!!!) conventions combined with some of the most hallucinatory (read: oddest) art I’ve ever seen.
Ellis’s possible inspiration:
The art:
Sadly, my library must have tossed out the 3D glasses that were supposed to come with this volume. I’m sure this page is on someone’s refrigerator door somewhere.
You wish.
Bottom line: This is not without its merits, even the art has a hypnotic quality to it; however, I would only recommend this to my friends whose tastes run into the Esoteric or who do copious amounts of drugs.
My wife was just telling me this the other day.
March 25, 2015
Supreme: Blue Rose is the strangest superhero comic I’ve ever read.
Though, to be fair, this is a superhero comic in name only and if you read this cold, you’d never guess that’s what the series originally started out as. It’s more of a psychedelic mystery post-modern take on superhero comics. And yes, it’s as tricky to read as it sounds. In this book Warren Ellis gives Grant Morrison a run for his money as king of the nutjob comics!
Freelance journalist Diana Dane is hired by billionaire Darius Dax to look into a plane crash in a small town in upstate New York. Except it wasn’t a plane that crashed – was it a person? Who and where is Ethan Crane?
That’s about as succinct a summary of the book as I can do because, and I’ll be totally honest, I had no idea what was happening at any point in the story! Supreme is Image’s Superman ripoff, created in the early 90s by Rob Liefeld and given a complete makeover by Alan Moore a few years later. I’ve tried to track down the Moore/Supreme books but couldn’t find any copies anywhere that wasn’t going for stupid money so, while I wanted to, I’ve got no background on Supreme the character. I’m guessing characters like Diana, Darius, Doc Rocket, and a half dozen others are significant but, outside of this comic, I’m not sure.
What Blue Rose reads like instead is a series of unconnected art-film scenes. A man wearing a blank helmet stands on the sea looking at a spiral staircase leading into space while a woman in a pretty dress listens to a dying writer talking to her from the future. A Doctor Who-type show’s characters come to life, Diana’s chauffeur drives her through the time road of space, and the ghost of Supreme haunts a mysterious town called Omegapolis. Doc Rocket is from somewhere in time and wears a modified astronaut suit that gives him superspeed, a man with a scribble for a face is following Diana, and Darius Dax is interested in finding out where Ethan Crane is, though why is a mystery. Supreme never once appears in costume, instead appearing as his alter-ego Ethan Crane briefly a couple of times.
This next part of the review isn’t really a spoiler as it’s just my interpretation of what Warren Ellis was going for with the book and I’m probably wrong anyway because this odd tale went waaay over my head. It seemed to me that Ellis was commenting on the nature of superhero comics, how different writers come along and offer up their own version of the character and what that might be like to experience from the characters’ perspective.
For example, Liefeld created Supreme and then handed it over to Alan Moore (could there have been a more opposite writer?), and with each new writer, Supreme was written in a totally different way. Then along comes Ellis with his own very spacey take on the character and, by the end, all that talk of finality references the fact that Ellis’ Supreme is over, ready to be rewritten by the next writer.
I’m not sure if that was the whole point of the book as it seems a bit slight to base an entire comic around the very obvious commentary of different writers taking over a superhero comic. Superhero comics are all middle-story, they never really end, and everyone reading them knows this, so an arty story around that seems a bit weak. Otherwise, I couldn’t tell you what on earth the point of the book was!
While Ellis’ script comes off as far too abstract to be called enjoyable, Tula Lotay’s art is completely gorgeous throughout. The character designs are sharply realised, and the landscapes are frequently breath-taking. The splash page of Supreme’s ruined space station floating with the Earth as backdrop is something out of HR Giger’s imagination, haunting, gothic and beautiful all at once. The theme of communication disruption and an invisible world in chaos is depicted as colourful lines zig-zagging throughout the pages as alternate reality Ethan Crane tries to speak to Diana across time and space. The effect is unsettling but pretty.
Even as a huge Warren Ellis fan, I’m not sure I’d recommend Supreme: Blue Rose to others. Here he’s neither witty, fun or as compelling as he has been in titles like Transmetropolitan or Freakangels. Instead this is Planetary Ellis taken to the nth degree and the effect is his most complex comic to date. Blue Rose is intellectual and arty but cold, unengaging and completely baffling, which makes it very easy to put down despite the lovely art. I found it interesting because it’s so weird and because it does something creative with the superhero genre, but it’s very hard going, especially if you’re not familiar with the character. It’s worth a look if you’re after a challenging comic.
Though, to be fair, this is a superhero comic in name only and if you read this cold, you’d never guess that’s what the series originally started out as. It’s more of a psychedelic mystery post-modern take on superhero comics. And yes, it’s as tricky to read as it sounds. In this book Warren Ellis gives Grant Morrison a run for his money as king of the nutjob comics!
Freelance journalist Diana Dane is hired by billionaire Darius Dax to look into a plane crash in a small town in upstate New York. Except it wasn’t a plane that crashed – was it a person? Who and where is Ethan Crane?
That’s about as succinct a summary of the book as I can do because, and I’ll be totally honest, I had no idea what was happening at any point in the story! Supreme is Image’s Superman ripoff, created in the early 90s by Rob Liefeld and given a complete makeover by Alan Moore a few years later. I’ve tried to track down the Moore/Supreme books but couldn’t find any copies anywhere that wasn’t going for stupid money so, while I wanted to, I’ve got no background on Supreme the character. I’m guessing characters like Diana, Darius, Doc Rocket, and a half dozen others are significant but, outside of this comic, I’m not sure.
What Blue Rose reads like instead is a series of unconnected art-film scenes. A man wearing a blank helmet stands on the sea looking at a spiral staircase leading into space while a woman in a pretty dress listens to a dying writer talking to her from the future. A Doctor Who-type show’s characters come to life, Diana’s chauffeur drives her through the time road of space, and the ghost of Supreme haunts a mysterious town called Omegapolis. Doc Rocket is from somewhere in time and wears a modified astronaut suit that gives him superspeed, a man with a scribble for a face is following Diana, and Darius Dax is interested in finding out where Ethan Crane is, though why is a mystery. Supreme never once appears in costume, instead appearing as his alter-ego Ethan Crane briefly a couple of times.
This next part of the review isn’t really a spoiler as it’s just my interpretation of what Warren Ellis was going for with the book and I’m probably wrong anyway because this odd tale went waaay over my head. It seemed to me that Ellis was commenting on the nature of superhero comics, how different writers come along and offer up their own version of the character and what that might be like to experience from the characters’ perspective.
For example, Liefeld created Supreme and then handed it over to Alan Moore (could there have been a more opposite writer?), and with each new writer, Supreme was written in a totally different way. Then along comes Ellis with his own very spacey take on the character and, by the end, all that talk of finality references the fact that Ellis’ Supreme is over, ready to be rewritten by the next writer.
I’m not sure if that was the whole point of the book as it seems a bit slight to base an entire comic around the very obvious commentary of different writers taking over a superhero comic. Superhero comics are all middle-story, they never really end, and everyone reading them knows this, so an arty story around that seems a bit weak. Otherwise, I couldn’t tell you what on earth the point of the book was!
While Ellis’ script comes off as far too abstract to be called enjoyable, Tula Lotay’s art is completely gorgeous throughout. The character designs are sharply realised, and the landscapes are frequently breath-taking. The splash page of Supreme’s ruined space station floating with the Earth as backdrop is something out of HR Giger’s imagination, haunting, gothic and beautiful all at once. The theme of communication disruption and an invisible world in chaos is depicted as colourful lines zig-zagging throughout the pages as alternate reality Ethan Crane tries to speak to Diana across time and space. The effect is unsettling but pretty.
Even as a huge Warren Ellis fan, I’m not sure I’d recommend Supreme: Blue Rose to others. Here he’s neither witty, fun or as compelling as he has been in titles like Transmetropolitan or Freakangels. Instead this is Planetary Ellis taken to the nth degree and the effect is his most complex comic to date. Blue Rose is intellectual and arty but cold, unengaging and completely baffling, which makes it very easy to put down despite the lovely art. I found it interesting because it’s so weird and because it does something creative with the superhero genre, but it’s very hard going, especially if you’re not familiar with the character. It’s worth a look if you’re after a challenging comic.
October 12, 2015
Ok. So this book. I might give a summary, if I knew where to begin, or where to end. It is, I'm fairly sure, a sort of meta commentary on the revisions and retcons that can define a comic book character. Which is, I'm sorry to say, such a banal observation that it doesn't really sustain a book. But I did find myself strangely fascinated by the earnest weirdness of it all. It may not have all that much to say, but it tries really damn hard to say it. Which is all aside from the fact that this is one of the most arrestingly beautiful comics that I can ever remember reading. If every single word in this book flies over your head, or if you get and hate the story, your life will still be better for having looked at it.
March 31, 2018
When it comes to Image Comics, it seems to be the current king in terms of publishing creator-owned comics that not only have been critically acclaimed but achieving record-breaking sales, i.e. Saga. Although most of the publisher’s bibliography rarely features superheroes, mostly to avoid the competition with Marvel and DC, Image began with superhero titles such as Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. However, Image is very strange when it comes to superheroes, not least from Warren Ellis and Tula Lotay’s Supreme: Blue Rose.
When unemployed investigative reporter Diana Dane is hired by Darius Dax, the head of the organisation National Praxinoscope Company, she is sent to the town of Littlehaven to find out what fell out of the sky on to the town and how one Ethan Thomas Crane is associated with the incident.
Based on the above summary, that is as coherent as I can get with what is going on with Blue Rose. In typical Ellis fashion, this is a mind trip that is driven through the writer’s need to create a new scientific language as Diana’s journey from New York to Littlehaven blurs between dream and reality, past, present and future and there’s even interdimensional travel. It’s fair to say that Ellis is not trying to entertain his readers, but really challenging them and certainly by the time when you reach the climax, which gives some explanation of what is going on, you are still left baffled by individual sequences and what role does certain characters play into the labyrinthine narrative.
Similar to Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis has his own unique approach to deconstructing the superhero genre, especially if you read Planetary which delved into the pop culture of the 20th Century and how the telling of those stories have shaped humanity. In the case of Blue Rose which is the latest interpretation of Rob Liefield’s Superman rip-off that went through various renditions, including one by Alan Moore, the book seems to be a commentary on how a superhero can be re-interpreted in the hands of different creators and even as far as publishers rebooting a whole comic book universe for a new generation. Although Ellis’s meta-approach to superhero multiversity is not far off from Grant Morrison’s The Multiversity, Ellis is more interested in human beings interacting with the meta-physical than superheroes behaving in the “real world”.
One has to give full plaudits for Tula Lotay for illustrating all seven issues of a complicated narrative and co-created a superhero comic that looks like no other. Rarely showing figures in spandex, Lotay’s beautiful yet loose colourful artwork presents a world that mixes the familiarity with the surreal and although there are a lot of pages are too abstract, but they are just visually stunning.
Having not read any Supreme comic prior though aware of his publication history, I found Supreme: Blue Rose to be an interesting if baffling approach to superheroes that doesn’t either entertain or isolate the reader. If you want something as close as David Lynch telling a superhero story, this Warren Ellis comic will entice your curiosity.
When unemployed investigative reporter Diana Dane is hired by Darius Dax, the head of the organisation National Praxinoscope Company, she is sent to the town of Littlehaven to find out what fell out of the sky on to the town and how one Ethan Thomas Crane is associated with the incident.
Based on the above summary, that is as coherent as I can get with what is going on with Blue Rose. In typical Ellis fashion, this is a mind trip that is driven through the writer’s need to create a new scientific language as Diana’s journey from New York to Littlehaven blurs between dream and reality, past, present and future and there’s even interdimensional travel. It’s fair to say that Ellis is not trying to entertain his readers, but really challenging them and certainly by the time when you reach the climax, which gives some explanation of what is going on, you are still left baffled by individual sequences and what role does certain characters play into the labyrinthine narrative.
Similar to Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis has his own unique approach to deconstructing the superhero genre, especially if you read Planetary which delved into the pop culture of the 20th Century and how the telling of those stories have shaped humanity. In the case of Blue Rose which is the latest interpretation of Rob Liefield’s Superman rip-off that went through various renditions, including one by Alan Moore, the book seems to be a commentary on how a superhero can be re-interpreted in the hands of different creators and even as far as publishers rebooting a whole comic book universe for a new generation. Although Ellis’s meta-approach to superhero multiversity is not far off from Grant Morrison’s The Multiversity, Ellis is more interested in human beings interacting with the meta-physical than superheroes behaving in the “real world”.
One has to give full plaudits for Tula Lotay for illustrating all seven issues of a complicated narrative and co-created a superhero comic that looks like no other. Rarely showing figures in spandex, Lotay’s beautiful yet loose colourful artwork presents a world that mixes the familiarity with the surreal and although there are a lot of pages are too abstract, but they are just visually stunning.
Having not read any Supreme comic prior though aware of his publication history, I found Supreme: Blue Rose to be an interesting if baffling approach to superheroes that doesn’t either entertain or isolate the reader. If you want something as close as David Lynch telling a superhero story, this Warren Ellis comic will entice your curiosity.
October 18, 2015
Crazy story, where postmodern and theoretical physics terminology dominate. Alan Moore had his hand at this one once, I am told (by Sam Quixote, ok!) and this is a reboot, obviously. The basic theme is that conventional notions of time don't exist, and since that is the case, "revision" is always possible. Reality is being reinstalled. Maybe, as Sam and others have claimed, it also has something to do with the various comics ideas about rebooting comics superheroes. Like the very idea of rebooting Supreme!
An unemployed Manhattan journalist named Diana Dare, going nowhere but who is cute and likes to do investigative journalism, is hired by a rich guy named Darius Dax to investigate what fell on a small town, and why. The payout for her? A million bucks. She takes the bait, natch.
Diana is a journalist but she is also the reader, essentially, us, as we all try to figure out what the heck is going on, what this is all about, and at the end of the first volume, she and we do not know much. She meets several vague and mysterious and super smart and/or crazy but certainly confusing people in her investigation. We learn not to trust Mr. Dax. Why not? Dunno. Well, as with postmodern approaches to fiction and The New Physics, You Don't Trust Anyone or Anything. Unreliable narrator? Unreliable EVERYTHING in this postmodern cyberpunk metafictional world. It's a crime story, and reality itself is up for grabs.
Big question: What and who is Supreme? What is Ethan Crane about? Dax? What are all those red V things all over the place?
This volume represents mostly world-building, getting us comfortable with something we haven't yet experienced. There's more questions than answers, for sure, so they (this creative team) are hoping we are intrigued enough to hang in there and read the next volume. Me? Honestly, it is over my head, really, at the moment. But I am good with that. And why? Because the art is so good, really wonderful, completely unique, trying to give you the sense of not knowing what reality is in any given situation. Several pages are just these wild paintings, great work. Gorgeous painting.
There's these little inter-calary sections, basically tableaux, with quotes in every frame; who knows what that is about. Maybe it's just more about breaking things up, putting you on edge as you question what is going on. I'm okay with those, too, for the moment.
And I wait (somewhat) patiently because Diana (our fellow investigative reporter) seems patient (for no obvious reason other that the payday would be pretty good). It's certainly more interesting than the narratives in most superhero comics. But I can see why a lot of people seem to hate it, too. I mean, what the hell is going on? Is it just pretentious crap Iy might just be. It's a lot of work to ask we readers to do, and we are not confident at this point they (the creative team) even know what is going on. I'll read the next one.
An unemployed Manhattan journalist named Diana Dare, going nowhere but who is cute and likes to do investigative journalism, is hired by a rich guy named Darius Dax to investigate what fell on a small town, and why. The payout for her? A million bucks. She takes the bait, natch.
Diana is a journalist but she is also the reader, essentially, us, as we all try to figure out what the heck is going on, what this is all about, and at the end of the first volume, she and we do not know much. She meets several vague and mysterious and super smart and/or crazy but certainly confusing people in her investigation. We learn not to trust Mr. Dax. Why not? Dunno. Well, as with postmodern approaches to fiction and The New Physics, You Don't Trust Anyone or Anything. Unreliable narrator? Unreliable EVERYTHING in this postmodern cyberpunk metafictional world. It's a crime story, and reality itself is up for grabs.
Big question: What and who is Supreme? What is Ethan Crane about? Dax? What are all those red V things all over the place?
This volume represents mostly world-building, getting us comfortable with something we haven't yet experienced. There's more questions than answers, for sure, so they (this creative team) are hoping we are intrigued enough to hang in there and read the next volume. Me? Honestly, it is over my head, really, at the moment. But I am good with that. And why? Because the art is so good, really wonderful, completely unique, trying to give you the sense of not knowing what reality is in any given situation. Several pages are just these wild paintings, great work. Gorgeous painting.
There's these little inter-calary sections, basically tableaux, with quotes in every frame; who knows what that is about. Maybe it's just more about breaking things up, putting you on edge as you question what is going on. I'm okay with those, too, for the moment.
And I wait (somewhat) patiently because Diana (our fellow investigative reporter) seems patient (for no obvious reason other that the payday would be pretty good). It's certainly more interesting than the narratives in most superhero comics. But I can see why a lot of people seem to hate it, too. I mean, what the hell is going on? Is it just pretentious crap Iy might just be. It's a lot of work to ask we readers to do, and we are not confident at this point they (the creative team) even know what is going on. I'll read the next one.
February 2, 2019
Here's something I never thought I'd say about a Warren Ellis book. This book is awful! I've never been so disappointed in a book as I generally think everything Warren Ellis touches is golden. I get what Ellis was trying to do, trying to establish characters that are becoming self aware that their reality (or comic) is getting another reboot. It's already happened to Supreme a couple of times and he's only been around for 25 years. The problem is that it's implemented in such a surreal, metaphysical way that it just doesn't work. It reminds me of some of those 90's Vertigo comics that just spouted a bunch of metaphysical bulls#!t without containing an actual plot. Tula Lotay's art is quite pretty. Although it does have all these swirling wind? [shrugs shoulders] lines that are somewhat distracting.
September 29, 2015
I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
4 extremely confused stars.
Way back in the early/mid 90s, Image Comics published a series written by Rob Liefield (and later Alan Moore and Erik Larsen) called “Supreme”, which was one of Image’s central characters. He's a superhero loosely based on Superman, with a journalist girlfriend (Diana Dane) and an archenemy (Darius Dax).
While I was familiar with these characters (I think I still have the original issues in a comic box in my attic), none of this is apparent in this reboot/reimagining of this once-popular character. For “new” readers of Supreme, I imagine all of this would be extremely confusing as to what was going on and who these characters were. As an “old” reader of Supreme, I was confused as to how a basic superhero comic became a sci-fi heavy dream-sequence story.
I’m glad I read this in a single volume, as I’m not sure I would continue past issue #1 if I was reading the monthlies. In actuality, by chapter 4, the storyline was starting to fall into place, and the big picture came into focus.
In a simplified version of what happens in the story, time itself occasionally has to be “revised/rebooted”. This volume picks up after a failed revision has created a remarkably unstable time continuum. Characters from the (long) past, (far) future, and all sorts of alternate versions are appearing and disappearing throughout the book. All the characters are confused, even the main characters who should know what it going on. It’s a huge mash-up of multiple storylines layered over each other (sort of like a normal DC summertime run, like Convergence or The Multiversity). The concept of the universe/time resetting, with a few people actually remembering the previous version (Star Trek reboot, anyone?), and the battle to set it right, is actually pretty interesting the way it played out. The problem with this book is that this wasn’t really presented well, especially with the two-page parenthetical stories of Professor Night in each chapter. All in all, the reader is left just as confused as the characters are.
The art was mind-blowingly gorgeous, but rather than aid the story, it distracted. Even still, the art is part of the reason for such a high rating. I'm not sure if I'd recommend this to anyone, except maybe completist Supreme fans (is this even a thing?).
4 extremely confused stars.
Way back in the early/mid 90s, Image Comics published a series written by Rob Liefield (and later Alan Moore and Erik Larsen) called “Supreme”, which was one of Image’s central characters. He's a superhero loosely based on Superman, with a journalist girlfriend (Diana Dane) and an archenemy (Darius Dax).
While I was familiar with these characters (I think I still have the original issues in a comic box in my attic), none of this is apparent in this reboot/reimagining of this once-popular character. For “new” readers of Supreme, I imagine all of this would be extremely confusing as to what was going on and who these characters were. As an “old” reader of Supreme, I was confused as to how a basic superhero comic became a sci-fi heavy dream-sequence story.
I’m glad I read this in a single volume, as I’m not sure I would continue past issue #1 if I was reading the monthlies. In actuality, by chapter 4, the storyline was starting to fall into place, and the big picture came into focus.
In a simplified version of what happens in the story, time itself occasionally has to be “revised/rebooted”. This volume picks up after a failed revision has created a remarkably unstable time continuum. Characters from the (long) past, (far) future, and all sorts of alternate versions are appearing and disappearing throughout the book. All the characters are confused, even the main characters who should know what it going on. It’s a huge mash-up of multiple storylines layered over each other (sort of like a normal DC summertime run, like Convergence or The Multiversity). The concept of the universe/time resetting, with a few people actually remembering the previous version (Star Trek reboot, anyone?), and the battle to set it right, is actually pretty interesting the way it played out. The problem with this book is that this wasn’t really presented well, especially with the two-page parenthetical stories of Professor Night in each chapter. All in all, the reader is left just as confused as the characters are.
The art was mind-blowingly gorgeous, but rather than aid the story, it distracted. Even still, the art is part of the reason for such a high rating. I'm not sure if I'd recommend this to anyone, except maybe completist Supreme fans (is this even a thing?).
October 11, 2015
I adored this book, so so so happy that I discovered Tula Lotay's artwork through reading The Wicked + The Divine and decided to chance buy this. It's amazing!!
The is a really weird story about alternate time, people who fall out of their time, and a load of other utter craziness. If you don't like to be confused then you won't like this, but quite honestly it wasn't as confusing as I had been led to believe and the whole way through I was utterly enchanted by the artwork which is flawless. I think that Tula Lotay is a phenomenal artist and the way that she composed many of the scenes and images within this made it a fully 5* book. It's a weird, weird story, with sci-fi elements, but it's the artwork which makes it wonderful.
The story follows the character of Diana Dane as she is recruited to find out about a rather mysterious incident which happened many years ago. The incident is connected to various people both in her timeline and other timelines and to figure out what's happening you have to be open to seeing and going through some weird and wild places and scenes. There's also a TV show which is very odd and possibly more than it seems (?) and some other characters who are very beautifully drawn and interesting to read about.
On the whole this is a peculiar book which certainly won't appeal to everyone but for me this was perfection both in the odd storyline which made me think and the picturesque character and scenery which Lotay managed to conjure up. It all feels very otherworldly and alien, yet very beautiful and magical too. I just adored it and was hooked throughout from page 1. I would highly recommend this if you've read and enjoyed Pretty Deadly by Emma Rios and Kelly Sue DeConnick because it has a similar mis of stunning art meeting odd storyline which seems to really work for me :) 5*s and if there's any more in the series I'll 100% be buying it!
The is a really weird story about alternate time, people who fall out of their time, and a load of other utter craziness. If you don't like to be confused then you won't like this, but quite honestly it wasn't as confusing as I had been led to believe and the whole way through I was utterly enchanted by the artwork which is flawless. I think that Tula Lotay is a phenomenal artist and the way that she composed many of the scenes and images within this made it a fully 5* book. It's a weird, weird story, with sci-fi elements, but it's the artwork which makes it wonderful.
The story follows the character of Diana Dane as she is recruited to find out about a rather mysterious incident which happened many years ago. The incident is connected to various people both in her timeline and other timelines and to figure out what's happening you have to be open to seeing and going through some weird and wild places and scenes. There's also a TV show which is very odd and possibly more than it seems (?) and some other characters who are very beautifully drawn and interesting to read about.
On the whole this is a peculiar book which certainly won't appeal to everyone but for me this was perfection both in the odd storyline which made me think and the picturesque character and scenery which Lotay managed to conjure up. It all feels very otherworldly and alien, yet very beautiful and magical too. I just adored it and was hooked throughout from page 1. I would highly recommend this if you've read and enjoyed Pretty Deadly by Emma Rios and Kelly Sue DeConnick because it has a similar mis of stunning art meeting odd storyline which seems to really work for me :) 5*s and if there's any more in the series I'll 100% be buying it!
March 11, 2015
The 1990s saw a rash of metafictional superhero comics by British writers - Grant Morrison's Flex Mentallo and Animal Man, Alan Moore's Promethea, and Moore's original run on the Rob Liefeld character Supreme. Supreme: Blue Rose is Warren Ellis' late contribution to the genre - the constant revisions and reboots of the modern superhero given a typically Ellis-ian science-fiction gloss. Themes from Ellis' short-lived newuniversal project bubble up here too. For all the familiar - even mildly nostalgic - postmodernist and hard science trimmings, this is also a very contemporary comic: protagonist Diana Dane is a former journalist turned freelancer, constantly having to ask herself what it means to live your best life in a disrupted, unstable world, even before those terms acquire more sinister meanings.
Even if the thought of another Warren Ellis comic about m-branes leaves you cold, Blue Rose is worth reading for his collaborator: Tula Lotay's languid figurework makes for a beguiling, attractive comic. But it's her expressionist approach to colouring and design that makes Blue Rose so spectacular - layered tendrils of colour and type overlaid onto the art to fully realise the dreamlike, provisional world the story exists in. The story in Blue Rose is one of sufficiently advanced science: Lotay's art is what makes it indistinguishable from magic.
Even if the thought of another Warren Ellis comic about m-branes leaves you cold, Blue Rose is worth reading for his collaborator: Tula Lotay's languid figurework makes for a beguiling, attractive comic. But it's her expressionist approach to colouring and design that makes Blue Rose so spectacular - layered tendrils of colour and type overlaid onto the art to fully realise the dreamlike, provisional world the story exists in. The story in Blue Rose is one of sufficiently advanced science: Lotay's art is what makes it indistinguishable from magic.
May 27, 2016
Hmm. So two Ellis books in a row, and I'm certainly not disappointed. My brain almost hurts, so that's a sign one way or another. In this case, think it's a good thing, means I was trying to go with it.
I read from Sam's review that this is some sorta soft/total reboot of Supreme, which was the Superman of Image comics, created by Rob 'Deadpool' Liefield. If that's the case I think it would shed more light on things.
However, from reading it standalone, I feel like those who said its a discussion of the reboot/retcon/altering of timelines and origin stories are onto something. (Seasana and Jeff maybe?)
There's an examination of the circumstances surrounding a mysterious event, and the character sent to investigate starts to find some strange shit, and combined with the spatial distortions and 4th dimensional type shit going down, it could be her own reality altering around her or weaving together the fabric of time.
Then it gets a little more tied into the more obvious, like the teammates of Supreme, or whatever, one who's in the future, in a "safe zone" from the calamities...and who keeps reaching out to save teammates...but everyone isn't complete, and missing knowledge causes confusion and huh?
Ya....
I read from Sam's review that this is some sorta soft/total reboot of Supreme, which was the Superman of Image comics, created by Rob 'Deadpool' Liefield. If that's the case I think it would shed more light on things.
However, from reading it standalone, I feel like those who said its a discussion of the reboot/retcon/altering of timelines and origin stories are onto something. (Seasana and Jeff maybe?)
There's an examination of the circumstances surrounding a mysterious event, and the character sent to investigate starts to find some strange shit, and combined with the spatial distortions and 4th dimensional type shit going down, it could be her own reality altering around her or weaving together the fabric of time.
Then it gets a little more tied into the more obvious, like the teammates of Supreme, or whatever, one who's in the future, in a "safe zone" from the calamities...and who keeps reaching out to save teammates...but everyone isn't complete, and missing knowledge causes confusion and huh?
Ya....
September 13, 2015
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
No, I didn't like it. The only thing that saved the rating a little bit was the artwork that I felt had something to it.
I'd try to explain what exactly was happening, but since I'm not sure myself, I can't promise anything. Diana is hired by a very wealthy man to investigate a mysterious crash. Oh, and something with alternate universes.
Apparently this is a reboot/continuation from a series from the '90s that I didn't know existed until really recently. This might be the reason why I didn't understand the story and only thought it to be very chaotic and all over the place. I recently read the first volume of Trees also by Warren Ellis and although that was also chaotic at points, I liked it a lot better.
Would not recommend this one.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
No, I didn't like it. The only thing that saved the rating a little bit was the artwork that I felt had something to it.
I'd try to explain what exactly was happening, but since I'm not sure myself, I can't promise anything. Diana is hired by a very wealthy man to investigate a mysterious crash. Oh, and something with alternate universes.
Apparently this is a reboot/continuation from a series from the '90s that I didn't know existed until really recently. This might be the reason why I didn't understand the story and only thought it to be very chaotic and all over the place. I recently read the first volume of Trees also by Warren Ellis and although that was also chaotic at points, I liked it a lot better.
Would not recommend this one.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
July 16, 2015
Supreme: Blue Rose is so weird and different and I loved it.
It was kind of confusing to me at first but I still was enjoying it even though I didn't really understand anything.
The whole story was crazy different and I had a lot of fun interpreting the story.
The art is beautiful. It's my favorite thing about this graphic novel because it's just so insanely beautiful. Seriously, if you have any interesting in art, get this graphic novel. I would love to have pages of this book as prints to put all over my walls.
Overall, I really enjoyed Supreme: Blue Rose. It was different and beautiful and just fantastic.
It was kind of confusing to me at first but I still was enjoying it even though I didn't really understand anything.
The whole story was crazy different and I had a lot of fun interpreting the story.
The art is beautiful. It's my favorite thing about this graphic novel because it's just so insanely beautiful. Seriously, if you have any interesting in art, get this graphic novel. I would love to have pages of this book as prints to put all over my walls.
Overall, I really enjoyed Supreme: Blue Rose. It was different and beautiful and just fantastic.
November 17, 2015
This volume collects Issues #1-7.
I'll be the first to admit that most of the time I was reading this graphic novel I was clueless as to what was going on. There seemed to be stories within stories, and multiverses, but somehow I simply got lost, and could not find my bearings. Is that what the authors intended? So, not one I'd recommend, though I did find the art interesting.
I'll be the first to admit that most of the time I was reading this graphic novel I was clueless as to what was going on. There seemed to be stories within stories, and multiverses, but somehow I simply got lost, and could not find my bearings. Is that what the authors intended? So, not one I'd recommend, though I did find the art interesting.
June 22, 2021
Už dlho som nečítala niečo tak divné a predsa fajn istým spôsobom. Napriek tomu, že to, z čoho to celé vychádza, poznám len okrajovo, som si to neskutočne užívala, a môže sa to z veľkej časti úžasná kresba Toly Lotay. Takže aj keď som bola miestami totálne stratená, ani trochu mi to nevadilo, kvôli tomu, na čo som sa pozerala. Asi to neodporúčam nikomu, kto nie je hardcore-fan Supreme, ale vďaka kresbe to naozaj stojí za to vziať do ruky :) 3,5/5
July 5, 2015
I love timey-wimey stories, the timey-er and wimey-er the better. If my mind isn't being completely blown by parallel time lines and order of events diagrams, I'm not interested.
Amen, sister.
So obviously I loved Supreme: Blue Rose. And like most time-centric stories, there is just not a good way to summarize the plot. Like... At all. Especially considering how surreal the art and storyboard styling is.
Every pane is beautiful.
And it's interspersed with what I assume are images that are supposed to be from the Professor Night tv show.
By the end, I just wanted to keep reading and I was a bit disappointed when I read around because it looks like this is the only run for now. It's apparently a re-introduction of a superhero series called Supreme and I really hope they continue to release more episodes. I could see this being an amazing long-running, confusing as hell series.
Copy courtesy of Diamond Book Distributors/Image Comics, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Amen, sister.
So obviously I loved Supreme: Blue Rose. And like most time-centric stories, there is just not a good way to summarize the plot. Like... At all. Especially considering how surreal the art and storyboard styling is.
Every pane is beautiful.
And it's interspersed with what I assume are images that are supposed to be from the Professor Night tv show.
By the end, I just wanted to keep reading and I was a bit disappointed when I read around because it looks like this is the only run for now. It's apparently a re-introduction of a superhero series called Supreme and I really hope they continue to release more episodes. I could see this being an amazing long-running, confusing as hell series.
Copy courtesy of Diamond Book Distributors/Image Comics, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
October 13, 2015
This was interesting. It's not the greatest thing Ellis has ever done, but it's far from his worst. The whole volume is like a Warren Ellis version of the first issue of Alan Moore's run on Supreme many years ago. We have allusions to events getting rebooted and continuity being rewritten, with some characters being aware of the revisions. It's all wrapped up nicely in casual jargon-dropping of terms from the bleeding edges of physics and string theory and whatnot. It just wouldn't be an Ellis book if it didn't blow your mind at some point. Considering that his name is in the title, Supreme is barely in this book. It all works, though, and this seems like a fascinating prelude to some seriously good Supreme comics, hopefully also written by Ellis. And drawn by Tula Lotay, who did a bang-up job on this book. The artwork is lovely.
April 14, 2018
Amazing concept art, I love everything, colors, sketchs, backgrounds. So my ⭐⭐⭐⭐ are from that, but the plot won't attract me..will read the next...
Read
October 20, 2015Supreme began as Rob Liefeld's terrible, 'extreme' Superman knock-off, before Alan Moore took over and used him to tell the greatest Superman story never told, one which incorporated the endless revisions to which a long-running superhero is subjected as part of the story. Here, Warren Ellis builds on that with a story of what happens when a revision doesn't quite take - imagine reality failing to install a software update. Which sounds very bad-Ellis but no, he's had a real resurgence lately, of which this is very much part. Supreme himself barely features; instead we follow his Lois Lane analogue as she pieces together the traces of his failure to instantiate. It's a metaphysical, metafictional mystery story with only glancing ancestral links to superheroics, though replete with its own equally brilliant and crazy ideas - a heavenly city crashing to Earth, a bridge to the Moon, the reprogramming of reality. All of it is given unity and life by the astonishing art of Tula Lotay; I can't imagine another single artist who could have carried off the mundane, the strange and the science-fictional so well, whilst also keeping it entirely clear that they're parts of the same bigger whole.
April 18, 2016
Absolutely fucking gorgeous.
Such a unique and interesting story. I didn't have high expectations when it came to this graphic novel but I enjoyed reading it so much. The characters are really diverse and the story is extremely captivating. And don't even get me started on Tula Lotay's beautiful art. Wow. Just wow. It's apparent from my rating that this tragically lovely graphic novel wasn't exactly perfect but take my word, it was absolutely entertaining and noteworthy. Well, except the art - this element was perfect.
Such a unique and interesting story. I didn't have high expectations when it came to this graphic novel but I enjoyed reading it so much. The characters are really diverse and the story is extremely captivating. And don't even get me started on Tula Lotay's beautiful art. Wow. Just wow. It's apparent from my rating that this tragically lovely graphic novel wasn't exactly perfect but take my word, it was absolutely entertaining and noteworthy. Well, except the art - this element was perfect.
August 15, 2017
This was totally weird, totally meta, and totally confusing. However, I REALLY enjoyed it. Also the art is next level and truly the most beautiful comic art I've ever had to pleasure to see.
I won't try and explain the plot because I really don't have a clue. You should definitely check it out for the art though. Just wow. It's better than the art in Saga (did I really just say that?).
Received for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I won't try and explain the plot because I really don't have a clue. You should definitely check it out for the art though. Just wow. It's better than the art in Saga (did I really just say that?).
Received for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 9, 2016
One of those "I have no idea what the hell is going on, but I don't care because the art is outstanding" type of scenarios. Truly, a lot of fun to go along with Ellis for the ride here, if you enjoy dreamlike time altered storylines shrouded in the surreal. Tula Lotay's art, just ... wow!
March 7, 2015
2.0 for the story, 5.0 for the art.
May 19, 2018
Maybe it is just because I read no other Supreme stories, but this makes very little sense. I get that this is a multiverse (Hello headaches!) and it gets reset. The question that's never answered is why or how the bleed-through happened. The story itself is pretty engaging, though the characters are not completely there in terms of development. The art is pretty good, the colors make it kinda trippy. Do not read this when you are tired!
September 8, 2021
The artwork is amazing, but the script is quite all over the place. I abandoned this at around the 100 page mark. Warren Ellis tries a little too hard to craft a very intricate and complex story here, but it's either executed poorly or I'm just too daft to get it. I absolutely loved the first few pages with the introduction of Enigma, after that it's a proper jumble.
November 3, 2023
In which it takes Warren Ellis six interminable issues to accomplish what Alan Moore did in one entertaining issue. Ellis reboots SUPREME to tell us that SUPREME is going to be rebooted, I think?
And why hasn’t the last Alan Moore story and Erik Larson’s continuation of the the series been reprinted/ collected and this story (?) has?
And why hasn’t the last Alan Moore story and Erik Larson’s continuation of the the series been reprinted/ collected and this story (?) has?
October 11, 2019
I finally found the concluding two issue/chapters, and have to reread the whole thing, but, hey. Artist Tula Lotay rocks, and Ellis always provokes. So, here is a sideways take of Superman aka Supreme, with some gorgeously rendered comics art.
Recommended.
Recommended.
October 14, 2020
2.5 stars but rounded up because the art was stunning.
July 5, 2015
Embrace the Weirdness
If you are a fan of the comic book superhero Supreme, created by Rob Liefeld in 1992, rebooted by Alan Moore and later re-rebooted by Erik Larsen, then this TP, which is supposedly a new story arc for Supreme, might be of special interest to you. I'm not that familiar with or into Supreme and his many, many manifestations, so what insider bits there are, (like, say, "the Supremacy"), may have gone mostly right past me. I imagine at some point someone who really knows Supreme will weigh in.
In the meantime, for the rest of us civilians, the larger question is whether this TP is worth the effort. I think it is, although it takes a while to get into its flow. The book collects the seven issues of the Blue Rose arc. If you follow the reviews for the individual comics what you see is fairly patient and good humored readers falling away bit by bit as the series progresses and gets weirder instead of clearer. While tolerant of table-setting in the first two issues and willing to go along with a lot of dense and incoherent plotting and action in the next issues, readers ultimately fell into three groups. The first group gave up because the series wasn't worth the effort. The second group appreciated the weirdness for its own sake, understood just enough to stay connected, and then went with the flow, (like a "Twin Peaks" effect). The third group really liked and admired the drawing and stayed with the series mostly because of the artist, Tula Lotay.
Because this is a one-volume collection I worked my way through it. It isn't like every month I had to decide whether to go in on one more issue. Having anted up it made sense to stay in until somebody won the pot. The Lotay drawings are stunning; no doubt about it. They're good enough and interesting enough to excuse a lot of gobbledegook.
Actually, by issue/chapter Four you have a chance to see the big picture, figuratively and literally. Literally, Lotay pulls out all of the stops at this point and some of her panels are just stunning. The fluid color work that surrounds the arrival of the character Doc Rocket matches some of the best drawing I've seen anywhere. On the figurative side of the big picture we finally get some guidance. MILD SPOILER - HAH, HAH. Occasionally time has to be "rebooted" or "revised". This story starts after a failed reboot that has created a remarkably unstable new time continuum. Characters from the past, from the future, and from alternate versions of both are all popping into and out of the storyline we are following. Those characters are as confused as we are and the most stable characters, who should know what's going on, are confused themselves. That's why we get bits and pieces and threads of multiple stories all tripping over each other and layered over each other. Sometimes things seem to clear up and sometimes it all gets dark again, sort of like watching patchy fog cover and uncover a street scene.
So, if you tough it out are there rewards at the end that clear up what just happened? I suspect that different readers will have different answers to that question depending on their level of tolerance for ambiguity and quantum/timeline/multiverse doubletalk. I found the reveal to be good enough to justify the effort, even if maybe not as coherent, compelling or satisfying as some other similar books I've read. On the other hand, there were some scenes, some bits, a few characters, and some sharp dialogue that was so much better and more interesting than the usual run that that tipped me over into a definitely positive final reaction.
You pretty much have to take a chance here because no sample is really going to give you a fair sense of the book. As I say, I felt that it got better and more interesting as it went along, and I ended up happy that I had experienced it, but I wouldn't argue with someone who decided to give up. At least that's how I feel in this quantum reality; maybe I'll feel otherwise after the next reboot and revision, or once I've been reversioned. (Oh, and the twelve thousand year bridge is fantastic in every sense of that word.)
Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-forty-days Adobe ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.
If you are a fan of the comic book superhero Supreme, created by Rob Liefeld in 1992, rebooted by Alan Moore and later re-rebooted by Erik Larsen, then this TP, which is supposedly a new story arc for Supreme, might be of special interest to you. I'm not that familiar with or into Supreme and his many, many manifestations, so what insider bits there are, (like, say, "the Supremacy"), may have gone mostly right past me. I imagine at some point someone who really knows Supreme will weigh in.
In the meantime, for the rest of us civilians, the larger question is whether this TP is worth the effort. I think it is, although it takes a while to get into its flow. The book collects the seven issues of the Blue Rose arc. If you follow the reviews for the individual comics what you see is fairly patient and good humored readers falling away bit by bit as the series progresses and gets weirder instead of clearer. While tolerant of table-setting in the first two issues and willing to go along with a lot of dense and incoherent plotting and action in the next issues, readers ultimately fell into three groups. The first group gave up because the series wasn't worth the effort. The second group appreciated the weirdness for its own sake, understood just enough to stay connected, and then went with the flow, (like a "Twin Peaks" effect). The third group really liked and admired the drawing and stayed with the series mostly because of the artist, Tula Lotay.
Because this is a one-volume collection I worked my way through it. It isn't like every month I had to decide whether to go in on one more issue. Having anted up it made sense to stay in until somebody won the pot. The Lotay drawings are stunning; no doubt about it. They're good enough and interesting enough to excuse a lot of gobbledegook.
Actually, by issue/chapter Four you have a chance to see the big picture, figuratively and literally. Literally, Lotay pulls out all of the stops at this point and some of her panels are just stunning. The fluid color work that surrounds the arrival of the character Doc Rocket matches some of the best drawing I've seen anywhere. On the figurative side of the big picture we finally get some guidance. MILD SPOILER - HAH, HAH. Occasionally time has to be "rebooted" or "revised". This story starts after a failed reboot that has created a remarkably unstable new time continuum. Characters from the past, from the future, and from alternate versions of both are all popping into and out of the storyline we are following. Those characters are as confused as we are and the most stable characters, who should know what's going on, are confused themselves. That's why we get bits and pieces and threads of multiple stories all tripping over each other and layered over each other. Sometimes things seem to clear up and sometimes it all gets dark again, sort of like watching patchy fog cover and uncover a street scene.
So, if you tough it out are there rewards at the end that clear up what just happened? I suspect that different readers will have different answers to that question depending on their level of tolerance for ambiguity and quantum/timeline/multiverse doubletalk. I found the reveal to be good enough to justify the effort, even if maybe not as coherent, compelling or satisfying as some other similar books I've read. On the other hand, there were some scenes, some bits, a few characters, and some sharp dialogue that was so much better and more interesting than the usual run that that tipped me over into a definitely positive final reaction.
You pretty much have to take a chance here because no sample is really going to give you a fair sense of the book. As I say, I felt that it got better and more interesting as it went along, and I ended up happy that I had experienced it, but I wouldn't argue with someone who decided to give up. At least that's how I feel in this quantum reality; maybe I'll feel otherwise after the next reboot and revision, or once I've been reversioned. (Oh, and the twelve thousand year bridge is fantastic in every sense of that word.)
Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-forty-days Adobe ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.
July 10, 2015
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
How much you enjoy this series (completed and fully collected in this graphic novel) really comes down to patience: author Ellis is going for his most inscrutable and the artwork is pretty (if trippy) enough to almost distract from the story. So it is a title into which you need to invest time either rereading, reading slowly, researching the world, or digesting the concepts. Because what we have is a ditty based in a world (Supreme) published over a decade ago, containing a lot of time manipulation and enough metaphysical hooey to induce a headache.Story: Although based upon The Supreme series created by Liefeld in the 1990s - and then added onto by Alan Moore and Erik Larsen later - this takes familiar characters such as Probe and Ethan Crane and focuses on the metaphysical aspects of time needing to be revised periodically or it gets messed up. So while those new to the Supreme world won't know the characters and may get lost, those invested in the series may wonder why the focus shifted from a Superman-like story to a nebulous, stream-of-consciousness free-for-all in which characters appear and disappear as time 'revises'.
The lure here isn't so much Ellis' inscrutable story as Tula Lotay's appropriately trippy artwork. The women are beautiful in a Varga pin-up kind of way and suitably conflicted. Where the men are very Superman-stolid, the women provide the heart and emotion of the story. The hard tech of sci fi balanced by the pathos of the women finding their roles/paths in a slippery present. Layers of textures overlaying the artwork provide a suitably dreamy milieu in which for the women to interact.
If you're unsure about whether to pick up Supreme: Blue Rose, read the blurb/synopsis again. If it intrigues you, you'll love the series. If you think it says nothing and want to ask, 'where's the summary and what's it about?', then likely you'll be frustrated with how little is actually laid out in a straightforward manner in the story.
For me, honestly, this is a true 5-star book, intelligently written and beautifully illustrated. Yet I was very unaffected by the story and too often found myself drifting or checking to see how many pages were left. I chose Supreme: Blue Rose on the strength of how much I've enjoyed Ellis' previous works; I wanted to read it despite (or perhaps in spite) of the uninformative description blurb. So, although I read it through, it's not something I want to invest that much time into exploring as it needs/deserves. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.
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