Supreme Power, Volume 3: High Command

Supreme Power (Collected Editions) #3

by J. Michael Straczynski (Writer), Gary Frank (Illustrations), Adam Kubert (Illustrations)

In their first adventure as a team, Hyperion, Blur, and Nighthawk - the newly formed Squadron - have a long-overdue showdown with the super-powered serial killer who's been terrorizing the nation But will they live long enough to stop him? Plus: What does the most powerful being on the planet do when he finds out he's been manipulated, and that his whole life is practically a lie? How will Hyperion react, and what does that mean for the rest of humanity - and the government that's organized these deceitful machinations?

Collecting: Supreme Power 13-18

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction, Science Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2005

About the author

Joseph Michael Straczynski is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison.
Straczynski wrote the psychological drama film Changeling (2008) and was co-writer on the martial arts thriller Ninja Assassin (2009), was one of the key writers for (and had a cameo in) Marvel's Thor (2011), as well as the horror film Underworld: Awakening (2012), and the apocalyptic horror film World War Z (2013). From 2001 to 2007, Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four. He is the author of the Superman: Earth One trilogy of graphic novels, and he has written Superman, Wonder Woman, and Before Watchmen for DC Comics. Straczynski is the creator and writer of several original comic book series such as Rising Stars, Midnight Nation, Dream Police, and Ten Grand through Joe's Comics.
A prolific writer across a variety of media and former journalist, Straczynski is the author of the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019) for HarperVoyager, the novel Together We Will Go (2021) for Simon & Schuster, and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021) for Benbella Books. In 2020 he was named Head of the Creative Council for the comics publishing company Artists, Writers and Artisans.
Straczynski is a long-time participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984. He is credited as being the first TV producer to directly engage with fans on the Internet and to allow viewer viewpoints to influence the look and feel of his show. Two prominent areas where he had a presence were GEnie and the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the comic books Supreme Power #1 to #18 covering the first three volume in this series. J. Michael Straczynski's super take on a Squadron Supreme reality giving a much more realistic approach to a world seeing its first generation of super powered beings appearing. What would the most powerful being in the world do if he finds out he's been manipulated and played by the American government all his life? The newly formed officially sanctioned Squadron has its first big case. Four Stars, 8 out of 12.

2017 read

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another great one as we see Hyperion, Nighthawk and Blur team up to fight some metahuman who has been killing pick-up-girls (you know what i mean) and well we see the team working together for the first time and an insight into each of them and interesting stuff between Hyperion and Nighthawk and finally American govt responding back and targeting Hyperion destroying his credibility and employing the meta human criminal thus showing their evil side and the bizarre politics of it all and how its affecting Hyperion and plus the various subplots in between and the big expose and the action of Hyperion in the end!

Its fun stuff and makes for a great read. The art is again amazing and can't wait to read the next volume!

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 – 3 stars

The government ups its game against Hyperion, attempting to discredit him in the eyes of the public and attack him where they feel he is weak. They also seem not to have learned anything from the fiasco that has been their involvement in metahuman affairs up to this point and still think they can play god with inhumanly powerful pawns. Not too bright, but I’m afraid the estimate may not be too off the mark for how governments would respond to the possibility of controlling ‘easy’ power that superheroes (and villains) present.

All in all I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the lack of pay-off in this concluding volume of what I think is the first story arc of Supreme Power. So we have Hyperion coming to some important decisions about who he is and how he will relate to his adopted world at the same time that the government thinks they can use some old school methods to rein him back into the fold. He certainly leaves them with a message that they can’t ignore, but I still feel like the story didn’t move very far forward from where it began, though I guess what we didn’t get in plot we did get in world building and stage setting. Most of the other characters are still pretty peripheral at this point and merely serve to point out the different ways in which superhumans are willing to relate to their world and the ‘normal’ people it contains.

I’m curious about the ultimate end to which all of these ‘heroes’ are headed, and the fact that they’re riffs on some of the most iconic superheroes in the industry adds a level of interest, but I have to admit that having been given so little pay-off in what has amounted to 18 issues of the monthly series (which now branches off into character-specific volumes that may or may not continue the ‘main’ storyline to any great degree) is making me dubious. I will likely come back to see what’s up, but right now I think I need a bit of a palate cleanser from the ‘dark age’ of superheroes.

[Differengenera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting this series to be trash, because most comics are and this one in particular was yet another one doing the Watchmen thing: 'what if Superman was *actually* real?' Every comic writer who has taken on this question seems to have missed the point of what Moore was saying when he put Dr. Manhattan in Vietnam, and has treated the reality American military might with a glib edgelordist nihilism, and I'd be thinking here of the likes of Mark Millar, Garth Ennis and some other guy whose name I can't remember. The edgelordism is not 100% absent here, but it feels earned by its broader critique and the fact that it actually felt like it was taking imperialism seriously. I'm aware that I'm talking about a superhero comic here.

The quality does dip at a few points, the felt need to iterate through the IP without evident payoff is a problem, the Olympian origins of the Wonder Woman analogue, the version of Batman being into Malcolm X is good until it isn't, but I don't know, it was nice to read one of these things and feel like I was getting something out of it as opposed to wasting an hour I'll never get back. Maybe I'm concussed.

[Brian Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

6 issue storyline concludes finally after 18 issues.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, so if you're going to experiment on people to possibly give them superpowers, I suppose I can see why you may want to use death row inmates. I mean if they die in the experiment, they were sentenced to die anyway, right? But what happens when the experiment works? Why, you end up with a superpowered serial killer, of course. Whoops.

Hyperion, Nighthawk, and Blur team up to battle said killer, and things end up just as you'd expect. Hint: in these types of stories, you can NEVER trust the government!

Overall, my reviews just don't do this series justice. There's something to be said for consistency in creative teams, as this series had the same writer and artist throughout, and it really made the series flow.

Some of the best superhero comics I've ever read, although with more sex and violence than usual.

[Soteralzobooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.2 (from J)

[Jedhua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Info: This collection contains Supreme Power issues #13-18.


ABSOLUTE RATING: {3+/5 stars}

STANDARDIZED RATING: <3/5 stars>



In the previous volume, we discovered that the fallout from an internal military conspiracy led to the escape of a homicidal convict who has been using his enhanced abilities to kill prostitutes all over the country. So now, Nighthawk, Hyperion, and the Blur do some digging to locate this killer, so they can finally put an end to his rampage. But while on a solo stakeout, Nighthawk unexpectedly finds himself face-to-face with the killer – vastly outmatched, and caught without backup. Meanwhile, the military continues their scheme to bring Hyperion back under their control, and come up with a new, more subtle strategy to accomplish this end.

In my review for the previous volume, I shared with you my hope for this volume to be the greatest one yet – possibly even achieving four-star status. Sadly, as I'm sure you can see, that just didn't happen here. For me, the two main problems were the loss of momentum midway into the story, as well as the unsatisfying and abrupt finale. It's strange: although the book's second half reads like Straczynski had to quickly wrap things up due to a sudden cancellation of the series, I could find nothing online to verify these suspicions. So now I'm sadly left to ponder, probably in vain, what possibly could have inspired this misguided approach.

Basically, this book is split up into two arcs, and it's the second one that spoils the set. Strangely, the climax is situated in first third of the book, and there's a much better cliffhanger in issue #15 than there is at the end of the story. From there, everything just fizzles out, and things gradually build toward a premature ending that left me feeling shortchanged. While it's cool that Straczynski closes off in a way that makes his universe seem a whole lot bigger, I don't think he should've moved ahead without expanding on familiar characters/variables and tying up the loose ends that we readers were already invested in seeing resolved. Still, each of the 3-4 subplots involved in this arc were reasonably intriguing, with the highlight being the meticulous campaign the one-armed general was waging against Hyperion. Weakest of all was probably the romance between Joe Ledger and Kingsley: it surely felt as if there was a valuable story buried somewhere within it, and I'm sure the writer could have sold it if given the opportunity, but the one-sided dialogue, and JMS' failure to show exactly why Joe was so enamored with Kingsley, greatly diluted its impact.



[More often than not, this kind of unbalanced C-3PO/R2-D2-esque conversation doesn't really work for me, and I much prefer both characters to plainly participate in an exchange. As it stands, this just needlessly diminishes Kingsley to a status where it feels like she's merely an external facet of Joe's character – and conveniently provides him with a silent vehicle to express his inner thoughts. But even Joe's characterization could do some work: I can see hints of pain and loneliness within him – which would explain and volumize this romance substantially – but there was scarcely any time to build on this at all.]

But on the plus side, issues #14 and #15 were easily the best of the lot, and each very entertaining in different ways. The first one was more action-oriented, and was thrilling enough for me to consider it the single most enjoyable one in the entire series. Those of you who were waiting to see Hyperion finally cut loose will have the opportunity to do so here, and it's a showdown I think is guaranteed to satisfy: aside from folks like Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis, I know of very few writers out there who're able to capture the sheer majestic calamity of an omega-level superhuman throwdown quite as brilliantly as Straczynski does here. It's a visual treat that's equal parts horrifying and dazzling, and I congratulate penciller Gary Franks for so skillfully bringing the writer's vision to life on the page. And for issue #15, it was the ominous ending, as well as the superb scripting, that ultimately stole the show. This issue showcased some of the series' very strongest writing, and was chock-full of clever, insightful dialogues – especially outstanding was the taunting exchange between the general and one of his prisoners.


[Buckle up, folks: this one's gonna be a doozie! And you outta know it wouldn't be too much of an Ellis-y moment without some good ol' collateral damage, amiright? So my sincere apologies to all of you punk-ass more casual fans of wholesome and escapist comic book stories, or whatever the fuck y'all are into. Because I'll tell you something: this sure as shit ain't that.]




[Honestly, Nighthawk's my favorite character in the series. He's like a Batman 2.0 meets the Punisher. Think about it: he's got a badass costume, a badass attitude, some badass skills, and a super-badass vigilante motivation. It's like the guy just can't help but exude badassery! And seriously, it's no exaggeration to say that he's one of the coolest dudes I've ever come across in a comic book. Why the hell Marvel would later let him fade away is beyond me...]

In summary, my main problem with High Command is that there just seemed to be so much more left to explore before the end, and the feeble teases in the last issue didn't do enough to satisfy me. Perhaps instead of building up toward a continuation of the series, JMS should have instead focused on developing an ending strong enough to stand alone on its own merits. But while Supreme Power proved unable to live up to my first reading, or to finish on the strongest of footing, I don't for a second regret revisiting it. The series had some of the most convincing treatment of what real-life superheroes I've ever come across, and during the very few times the action got going, it *really* did get going. So right now, I look forward to reading Straczynski's follow-up volume, and hope that he can at least maintain the respectable level of quality he established here.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supreme Power started out as the story of the JLA born into a modern world and what the government might do about that. By volume 3, the answer is obvious: it's Kingdom Come. "High Command" is a delightfully apocalyptic superhero story, but the difference between this and classics like Kingdom Come itself is that we get to see every event that leads us from Point A to Point B.

Supreme Power also appears to be the story of the JLA coming together, but if that was ever the actual intent, this volume is a bit of a failure. There's some wonderful bits in the first three issues where Hyperion, Nighthawk, and Blur work together, but then they scatter apart again. Similarly, the link with Zarda in the previous volume is utterly dropped, with Zarda herself going largely missing. This is part of the uneven plotting that unfortunately dogged this entire series (and would only get worse as JMS became increasingly flaky after this volume).

As a three-volume story, Supreme Power is quite interesting — on its own; as a new incarnation of the JLA; and as a new incarnation of the Squadron Supreme. Sadly what could have been was then squandered by JMS' inability to stick with a comic and by the ineptitude of those who followed.

But these first three volumes are still worth reading. They don't exactly end, but the ending nonetheless is a nice punctuation. (An ! to be precise.)

[Mary Overton]

Addictive escapism ... much like eating cotton candy or watching sit-com reruns for hours ... at the last page I felt bloated, dizzy, and on the downhill slide of a sugar crash.

[Brett Milam · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a god-like being decides to not play by the constraints of your sandbox anymore, don’t be upset if more than sand gets in your eye. After a five-month layover, I finally read the conclusion to the Supreme Power comic book series, and it didn’t disappoint. The third volume is 2005’s Supreme Power: High Command, released by MAX comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics. Written by J. Michael Straczynski, with art by Gary Frank, and ink by Jon Sibal and Mark Morales, High Command continues the gnarly, grisly storytelling about Mark Milton aka Hyperion, an unmoored Superman-inspired figure. Mark isn’t bound by the government anymore, though; in other words, he knows they’ve been lying to him to make him the “perfect citizen.” The government also been lying to the public, who doesn’t know Mark is of alien origins.

Where we left off from the second volume is Nighthawk (the Batman-like figure who hunts down racists and Nazis in particular) trying to bring Stewart Stanley, a Black speedster, and Mark, together to hunt down a suspected superpowered serial killer, who has been killing largely Black sex workers. The government used material from Mark’s alien ship to experiment on convicted murders in prison. One of those people, Michael Redstone, was a National Guard washout who became a serial killer. What a macabre, but fascinating story beat: what if a serial killer had the powers of a superhero? Well, in a sense, all superpowered villains in comics are serial killers on a scale serial killers couldn’t dream of, but nonetheless. Earlier, I emphasized Stanley’s Blackness because there’s a compelling subplot between him and Nighthawk: Nighthawk is a militant, righteously angry Black man, who sees himself as the “field Negro” and Stanley as the “house Negro,” which obviously upsets Stanley. And Nighthawk, of course, sees Mark as another white man representative of the system. Even so, these three manage to work together to capture Redstone. In order to do so, Nighthawk proves his Batman-like bona fides by taking a pounding from Redstone before Mark saved the day and Stanley finished it. Then, Doc Spectrum, who is working for the government, takes Redstone into government custody, whereupon, the new leader of the government faction in control of wrangling these superpowered beings, General Richard Alexander, turns Redstone — again, a serial killer, who also killed dozens of people mere hours ago — into a government asset. Instead of the U.S. military toppling governments overseas, he wants Redstone to do it. (I don’t know how the government will control him once he’s “unleashed” on a country … But whatever, it’s messed up!)

General Alexander knows he can’t do anything to physically harm Mark; after all, his predecessors tried just that. But mentally, he can by ruining Mark’s reputation. It was the government who propagandized the American public into believing Mark was a hero and it’ll be the government who uses propaganda to turn the public against Mark. They do this by outing Mark as an alien being, which makes the public frightful of Mark, even when he’s still doing heroic things. The government is also requesting, lest they face legal consequences, other superpowered beings turn themselves in to work on behalf of the government (continuing their sly humor, as President George W. Bush announces this, Bill and Hillary Clinton are at home frustrated because it’s Bill who turned Mark into a public hero under his presidency; it was hilarious). I believe in subsequent series, this “team” is known as Squadron Supreme, who are tasked with capturing Hyperion.

At the end of the third and final volume, Mark writes a letter to General Alexander, delivered by Stanley, warning him about coming after Mark. To prove his point, Mark smashes into the Earth from space (somewhere in the Arctic, I believe) causing a 10.5 on the Richter scale level explosion. I have to say, that was pretty bad-ass!

Overall, I quite enjoyed the 18-issue series (collected into the three volumes I read), with these superheroes inspired by DC characters, but put through a more mature lens (MAX Comics comes with an “explicit content” warning label). If you like superheroes, but are looking for a slight twist on the usual formula, you can’t go wrong with Supreme Power.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mostly solid ending to one of the better Max / Ultimate comics. While the opening hints at a Justice Leaguesque formation between some of the characters we met, we end up with an evolutionary leap in the characterization of Hyperion. In many ways, this would have been a killer origin story for Mark Waid's Irredeemable Digital Omnibus, Volume 1, as we have a hero trying to do the right thing get so utterly wronged that he has to rethink his behavior.

The other characters, sadly, get pushed to the background to such an extent that what progress they've made as characters become completely irrelevant, and we don't get to see the ending of anyone else's story. Blur is the only character who has any sense of resolution.

This book certainly doesn't stand on its own, but as the final arc of a three part story, it's almost excellent.

I recommend it to fans of Irredeemable, The Mighty, Powers, or Rising Stars.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/3

A violent and messy end to the serial killer story, sort of. And of course, the new General in charge is a manipulative piece of work.
I really like the Blur, he's a good guy, and I'm still rooting for Mark. He's really done everything right here and is being punished for it.
Nighthawk is kind of a dick (is this how non Batman fans see Batman?) & everyone else is just doing much of the same as in Vol.2.
There isn't much for me to recommend here. It's a little Superman meets Irredeemable. Maybe if I was interested in the other characters (Joe, Blue-Fish-Lady, and Princess Crazy) I would look up the rest of the series, but I'm OK ending it here.
Mark is in a better place with the General, and I don't really care about them becoming the Squadron Supreme or wtvr.

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finale col botto per la miniserie Supreme Power.
Straczynski e Gary Frank fanno un'ottimo lavoro nel portare a termine le prime trame imbastite nei precedenti numeri. Lo scontro con Redstone è ben orchestrato, ma è soprattutto il finale, con Hyperion che colpisce letteralmente la Terra provocando il terremoto di maggior magnitudo della storia a lasciare esterefatti.
Come a dire a tutti gli scrittori di super eroi: occhio a costruire bene il vostro personaggio, altrimenti vi sfuggirà di mano la logica della storia.
Ancora 4 stelle per questo albo.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am enjoying these graphic novels. They are a touch confusing in some places but I like the Superhero against Government angle and the X-Men/The Boys feel to them. I don't like the women always undressed part of Graphic Novels like this as half the time there is no need for it but I am looking forward to finding out what happens in the next one.

[Matej · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat uninteresting conclusion to a promising series. I definitely liked the first volume much more than this one.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what to say... I read and loved this back when it was a monthly and I freakin' hate that it got discontinued.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 3 out of 5]

An open-ended finale to a very exciting story.

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This whole series was so good. Really sad it to end. I would have loved to read more this and awe the great Frank art.
Really sad to see this one end.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like reading this series has been a whole waste of time. There are so many loose plot threads in this book it is unbelievable. I also don’t know how this got dragged out to 18 issues.

[Cyril · Rating 4 out of 5]

solid as the rest but the ending wasn't that satisfying
4 stars

[Eleanor With Cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite thing about this series is Hyperion, Nighthawk, and Blur in conversation. Each of them is a complete person, each of them is likable and cool (occasionally from different angles), each of them is right, and they disagree with each other and get in fights. Joe Ledger and Kingsley are sweet, if possibly odd.

Zarda annoys me because she's so focused on being beautiful. All the women in this series are obsessed with being beautiful (Zarda), innocent and childlike (Kingsley), or sex workers. (Except for the federal agent pretending to be Hyperion's birth mother, who has a minor part and in the end hurts Hyperion for the government.)

Ignoring that, though, this is a neat series. It's also an interesting take on superheroes looked at in parallel with Rising Stars, Joe Straczynski's other superhero comic. I wish Supreme Power had either more of an ending or more sequels though.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if power corrupted a superhero, or the government decided to manipulate superheroes to their own use. Straczynski does a fantastic job telling the stories these questions pose. Well above average art and exceptional story and characters make these pure please to read. High recommended

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally, someone other than The Sugarhill Gang tackles the topic of Superman in the bedroom.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better volumes in the Supreme Power run. The darker tone, slaughter of innocent, give it a harder edge.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The decent writing and nice visuals cannot make up for the fact that, at the end of 18 issues, nothing is resolved, and it ends on a cliff hanger inviting you to read not one but two new books.