Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, Supreme: Blue Rose

Detective Comics 768-775

Batman: Gotham Knights 27-28, 31

Batman 600-607

Birds of Prey 41, 43

Batgirl 27, 29

Nightwing 68-69

Bruce Wayne: Fugitive.  I hate these crossovers with issues that only touch on the main plot for a few pages.  I’m cutting Birds of Prey and Gotham Knights 28 as complete wastes of time.  (I’m also going back and cutting BOP and Robin from the last Murderer arc for the same reason.)  Detective also takes a plunge in quality with a lame Triad drug gang story with some mutated guy with wings.  I’d totally cut it if Josie Mac wasn’t the backup story.  

Things get a little better towards the end of the arc as things come into focus and the team finally figures out who the real murderer is.  It all ends rather anticlimactically, and the Sasha Bordeaux wrap up is a let down as well.  (I never bought that either of them was in love with the other.)  

At the end of the day, neither the Rucka or Brubaker runs are as good as I remember.  It’s okay, they’re about to move on to Gotham Central.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes (Except for the ones I’m cutting)

Rating: Anywhere between Didn’t suck and Nice.  (Boring/Disliked for the ones I cut)

Supreme: Blue Rose 6-7

I’ve been sitting on the trade since my old comic shop closed down at the beginning of the pandemic.  (I bought it on the cheap.)  Now I can see how the cryptic but alluring first five issues finish up.  

Wellllll...It’s still weird.  I still don’t really understand it.  But I still like it.  I definitely want to come back to this in another few years.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Supreme: Blue Rose

Supreme: Blue Rose 1-5

I strongly disliked this the first time I read it.  It was Warren Ellis at his weirdest, and it might have been around here (along with James Bond, Injection, and Trees) that he stopped being a must-buy for me.  (I quit buying this not knowing how many more issues there were.  Turns out there were two.) I came into the reread fully expecting to cut it afterwards.

It’s no longer getting cut, the art by Tula Lotay is far too beautiful for that, and the story makes just a little bit more sense.  But it’s still too weird to be good. But this story about parallel universes and those struggling to make sense of this ‘revision’ is intriguing enough that I just took a break to read the last issue that I found posted online.  And that’s satisfying enough that I’m strongly tempted to buy the last two issues right now....Hmm. After shipping, buying them would cost as much as getting the whole trade from Amazon. Putting that on hold for now.

Anyway, the madness all makes sense after reading the ending.  Also, there are a couple of things that really stood out:

Lotay’s work is ethereal with a hint of Mike Allred eyes.  Her depiction of Zayla Zara is absolutely arresting:

I love his turn of phrase at the end: "I would not want to have been without her face in my mind."

Allred.  They both draw heavily lined eyes with striking irises.

Her colors greatly remind me of the video game Gris, which I just finished playing (highly recommend!):

I don’t know what’s up with the Professor Night comic within the comic, but it bears a striking resemblance to Penny Arcade’s purposefully nonsensical Twisp and Catsby:

Blue Rose is haunting me far more than I would have imagined.  I think I really am going to buy the trade. What a startling turn of events this is.  Puzzlement.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Stormwatch, Supreme: The Return

Stormwatch 0-3, 8, 25

I wonder if this read so well only because of everything that comes after; Knowing that all of this culminates in Warren Ellis’ epic finale, followed by the industry-changing Authority colors this in a different light.  On its surface, this is another generic Image superhero team.  It differentiates itself from the rest by running under the auspices of the United Nation, and fielding an international roster.  Granted, stereotypical accents are the only thing really marking these characters as ‘international,’ but it’s still something.

Splash "comrade," "neh," and "mio amico" into your dialogue and you have instant diversity. 

The enemies of the opening arc, the Mercs, are even more generic:

I can't read a southern accent without thinking Rogue.

But there’s something both tragic and nostalgic about seeing this lineup for the first time - By the end of Ellis’ run, Battalion’s the only one still alive.  And yet, it’s nice to know that these characters are destined to break out of their restrictive early-Wildstorm days and become a part of some the best mainstream comics ever.  

Worth remembering: Issue 25 was published after issue 9, as part of Image’s “jump ahead to the future” event.  I don’t know if the other participating titles ever followed through, but Stormwatch actually filled in the continuity between the gap in a reasonable fashion.  I used to own this run, don’t remember when I jettisoned it. I kind of regret it now.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Supreme: The Return 1, 4, 5

This came during the time when Rob Liefeld somehow paid Alan Moore enough money to write for Awesome Comics.  It gave Moore the opportunity to write the Superman stories denied to him after his acrimonious break from DC. It’s a ton of fun as he channels his inner Silver Age, creating goofy, tongue-in-cheek setups.  He hooks an intergalactic conqueror up with a Clinton-presidency era Hillary Clinton (after besting Bill in single combat). A massive litter of super-puppies wreak havoc on the city after Radar discovers sex for the first time.  

Moore writes some noteworthy hilarious lines, and also tosses in a throwaway response that’s either funny or hilarious.  I still can’t tell.

Issue 5 tilted too far into Silver Age minutiae that bored me.  That one’s getting cut.

Regret buying: No (Yes for 5)

Would buy again: Yes (No for 5)

Would read again: Yes (No for 5)

Rating: Pretty good (Boring for 5)