ARC Graphic Novel Review: Supreme- Blue Rose

Author| Warren Ellis  Artist| Tula Lotay  Rating| 3.5 Stars

Edition| eGalley courtesy of Image Comics via Netgalley  Release Date| July 14th, 2015

Buy Links| Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Book Depository*

I received a copy of Supreme: Blue Rose from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever read the Supreme comic series from Image Comics?  Apparently, it's one of their original and central characters.  He's a superhero based off of Superman, with a journalist girl friend Diana Dane and an arch enemy named Darius Dax.  Did I learn any of that from this comic, a reboot and reimagining of the once-popular character?  Not in the slightest.  Rather, my head was spinning the entire time, absolutely confused about what was going on and who these characters were, and why nothing was explained.  I had to do extra research to figure out that it was even a reboot and get background on everything.  And while this helped certain characters click into place, it left me even more confused as to how a superhero comic became a sci-fi heavy dream-sequence-esque story.

The fact that it's confusing shouldn't be all that surprising, since it was written by Warren Ellis.  I read  the first graphic novel from his Trees series earlier this year and was not satisfied.  It, too, tackled some weird and confusing ideas.  Apparently, me and Warren Ellis just don't click.  I'll probably end up reading something else he's written eventually, but for the most part I think I'll stay away for now.

I think this is the only part of this new series.  The way it ended (if you can call it an ending) made it seem like everything was over now.  If there is more in the series I'll be hesitant to pick it up- unless it does go back to being a superhero comic.  After having looked up and learned about the Supreme character I'm interested in giving those comics a chance.  I couldn't find anywhere to purchase, them, sadly, but I shall keep on the look out.

If you're familiar with the characters you might be willing to pick this book up.  If you're unfamiliar, you might be willing to pick this book up.  Either way, you'll be confused, and probably disappointed if you were a fan.  The fact that no characters are given explanations and random people like Professor Night are just thrown in there really set me off balance.  What the heck was even going on with him?

And what the heck was even going on with the plot?  I mean, I'm not really sure I can describe it.  Diana is hired by Dax to look into this thing that landed in a town that shouldn't exist and she discovers all these people who know her and are from a different universe.  Apparently, the universe resets every so often but something went wrong this time so it's a battle to set it right.  But what's so wrong with reseting the universe?  I'm not sure.  I'm not sure if it was even being looked at as wrong. There was no clear problem in the story.  Though the concept of the restarting universe and certain people remembering it was interesting.

I feel like it would translate well to television- as long as they spent more time fleshing everything out.  And, while I never watched Fringe, just from what I've heard of it, this gives me a similar feeling.

This would probably be a very good story if I gave it a reread.  It twists with your head, but I'm thinking that there are more answers than I thought lurking in the early pages.  Problem is, I'm not willing to give it a reread.  I don't have the time, nor the interest.  Perhaps someday I'll pick a copy up from my library and try it for another spin.

And then there's the art.  Which is mind-blowing gorgeous.  If this were an art book, five stars.  But it wasn't.  Rather than aid the story, it really took away from it.  It distracted me while leaving me in awe.  I wish it had helped the story rather than hinder it, honestly.  However, the art is part of the reason for such a high rating.

If you're curious, add it to your goodreads shelf here.