Supreme at MARVEL!...(Unfortunately, It Didn't Happen)

Circa 2005...

It appears late last year, Rob Liefeld attempted to persuade Marvel to publish Supreme from Marvel's ICON imprint, stating that Millar helped the pitch and promised to write the first arc. Liefeld states he also discussed the possibility of publishing Alan Moore's Supreme stories at Marvel with a different artist for the whole run. Marvel turned him down. Liefeld reports this was over a naming conflict with the property "Supreme Power" from MAX. It should be noted that Marvel are happy to publish the "Powers" book from Icon however. It is likely that such a move would have created considerable hostility from "Supreme" writer Alan Moore, who has opposed his work being published by Marvel, and "Supreme" artist Rick Veitch who claims that Rob Liefeld has neither returned original art or compensated him for losing it. Full circle for today's column, I believe. Neither Marvel, Rob Liefeld or Mark Millar responded to e-mail enquiries before publication. Rick Veitch declined to comment.

Marvel/Alan Moore/Supreme

Posted: Aug 5, 2005 1:34 PM

Rob Liefeld went to Marvel to try and get the Alan Moore Supreme stories reprinted but Marvel declined because they have a Supreme Powers book,then again Marvel does stories for Powers in the Icon imprint and that doesn't conflict with Supreme Powers so what gives?

Well Marvel would not know a good idea if it bit them on the ass.

Checker already reprinted these (in 2 volumes), and AFAIK, they are still widely available, so why do this???

Because there were about 5 or 6 other Alan Moore Supreme stories that were never completed... the scripts were written, but they were never produced... there are also a load of Youngblood, Glory, 1963 and a few other scripts that Alan wrote that were never published...

Supreme rules. And yes i know, this is a meaningful contribution.

The Checker reprints aren't very good quality, either, they're not very clear and they didn't even collect the covers! (Although the Alex Ross fronts were VERY nice!)

I hold out hope for some sort of special edition... Supreme was really good!

Both Supreme and Supreme Powers are alternate versions of Superman/JLA, so Marvel has their "parody quota" filled.

Also, Powers is written by Bendis, one of Marvel's top stars, so it makes sense for Marvel to pull all of his stuff under them. Rob, hasn't been on good terms with Marvel for a decade, why should they want to go out of their way to make a deal with him?

Urgh... is Liefield planning on writing new stuff for marvel or just finishing off the art for the Moore stuff? If Liefield's wanting to write more, I may have to jump off a bridge.

It had something to do with the deal that they had for a few covers, Rob writing the 4 issue X-Force: Shatterstar mini and drawing the 4 or 5 issue X-Force mini earlier this year... I think Rob also wanted to work into the contract that Marvel would publish (if the pencils were completed) the unpublished Supreme scripts that Alan Moore had worked on...

find that bridge brother... he already wrote a 4-issue X-Force: Shatterstar mini (that was the prequel to the X-Force mini published shortly before) for Marvel this year...

Before Alan Moore leaves there has to be a way to keep the greatest comic writer from leaving,can anyone think of a way?

My personal opinion is that Joel Silver should do a public apology on Extra or the E!Channel for his assinine comments of Moore's endorsement.

If Joel Silver allowed himself to be publicly stoned by Alan Moore and friends... well that almost makes up for the BS endorsement of V for Vendetta... but DC still needs to make some serious appologies for LXG and From Hell...

To be honest... I'd like to see a chance for Alan Moore to take his toys (ABC) over and play in Marvel's sandbox for a little bit... put ABC as part of the Icon imprint (until he gets tired) and then let him work on a MAX book or whatever it is that he wants... leave him total editorial control... it would be a true Coup for Marvel...

As of now... I think DC has to do some serious bridge-mending for Alan to stay any longer...

I have a feeling that I'm gonna get flamed pretty huge for this...

I like it. But I think if DC gave Alan full creative control over ABC along with the rights to the Watchmen that would be a start LOL.

I am pretty sure that Alan did have nearly total editorial control over his ABC books... but I may be wrong...

Moore doesn't seem to have much love for Marvel either.

I don't see anything DC needs to apologize for, they (or Warner) didn't make either movie.

Both were made by 20th Century Fox. From Hell wasn't even published by DC (I think it was Kitchen Sink or Top Shelf?) I believe both properties were sold directly from Alan Moore to the studio.

You are right about From Hell... forgot about who published it...

As for LXG... well... even though Warner didn't make the movie, they still owned the property and had licensed the film rights and DID have a degree of editorial control over the film... the same way that Marvel did with Corben's Fantastic Four film and the 2 old Captain America movies from the 70's or 80's... as well as the Generation X movie... there were a few times that they pulled the plug on a movie that was licenses because of how much it offended the creators....

and if they didn't have any editorial control over the film, well... that is something they they need to appologize for... NOT having it written into the contract...

DC and Wildstorm don't own LXG, they were merely the publisher.

On the masthead it states that TM and Copyright are held by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. They made the choice to sell the material, and would have had the ability to negotiate how much involvement they have with the movie. Moore has often stated he doesn't want to deal with Hollywood. Apparently he didn't WANT to have any interaction with the producers.

By no means am I defending the movie, I didn't like it. But Moore took no steps to ensure control and basically let them do whatever they wanted.

Offer him bags and bags of money.

Try this: Reprint the Supreme stories he did with Liefeld also let Rob & Alan put the Allies out FINALLY, plus the whole lots of money thing might not hurt.

Yeah... other than Supreme not having anything to do with Wildstorm/ABC/DC... that might work... and since all of Supreme and the other 1963 books were part of either Image or Awesome and never part of Wildstorm or ABC, that doesn't really help either...

Already done.

Checker Books reprinted the Alan Moore Supreme stories in 2 volumes. Both are readily available at most comic book stores (and I've seen them in B&N, et al).

Check the other thread about Marvel and Alan Moore... there were handfull of other Supreme scripts that Alan wrote (along with Glory, Youngblood, 1963 and a few others) that never saw pencils (and thus publication either)

Playing devil's advocate here for a moment, I think the original poster was indicating that they should be reprinted in chapbook format... but you are right... Checker Publishing put out Supreme: Story of the Year and Supreme: The Return in TPB format (great read if you never had the chance to check them out)... there was supposed to be more books from Alan and Rob from Awesome before it went belly-up... and I know Rob said something about the possible legal implications of publishing them under the Arcade banner... so who knows...

though as I previously mentioned, this won't solve the DC/Alan Moore split since Supreme was first owned by Rob and NOT by Wildstorm... and since none of those books were ever published under Wildstorm I don't see that being any way to entice Mr. Moore to stay with the publisher...

Just spent the week re reading Supreme, many laughs and gasps at Moore's brilliance along the way.

It does irk me that the series was never completed, along with Big Numbers and 1963 80 page giant. A few years back I got a magazine with art from big numbers 3; and just yesterday saw on an alan moore bibliography that there was a two page synopsis of the 1963 80 page giant in Overstreets Fan #16; Does anyone know anywhere this would be online? or if they have a copy that they could scan and email to me or something. Likewise if theres any leads on anything similar for the six odd issues of supreme that never made it off the drawing board... Looking forward to seeing Alans wrapup for Tom Strong and the Tommorrow Stories specials...seems thats it for his ABC work and presumably for comics in general (although it seemed he'd given up on mainstream comix back in the 90's with from hell and lost girls...now look!!

There have been some rumours about Alan Moore doing work at Marvel (something to do with the "King" tease from Joe Q and a letter written as part of the Watchmen series where Alan uses the pen-name of King)... but as of now, that is totally unsubstantiated speculation so don't read any more into that than the conjecture that it stems from... and to add a little conjecture of my own, I wouldn't be suprised (if this rumour is true) if Alan attempts to take his ABC books under Marvel's Icon imprint... but that is only if the rumour is true...

On the subject of the unreleased Supreme scripts, as far as I and most others know, they have not left Rob Liefeld's possession since Alan got paid for them... and as of yet, I have never found them posted online anywhere or even xeroxed copies at conventions... so it looks (to me) as those scripts just may never see the light of day... *sad*... unless Rob decides to have someone lay down some pencils for them...

I think Moore might do a Captain Britain mini series or do the New Excalibur after Claremont.

Marvel declined to do the Supreme project which is a shame because Supreme is better than Sentry and would have kicked @$$ in the New Avengers.

I know I have a better chance to hook up with Allysa Milano and Rebbeca Herbst from General Hospital but I got to ask,could Alan Moore do a Supreme mini series for ABC with Liefeld doing the art?

Anything is possible. Moore had more stories in his Supreme run planned out. I think with a definite end in mind. But Liefeld's output is rather slow, and AM seems not to be very fond of his art, so a team up would be unlikely. Plus, AM is retried from mainstream comics, so as much as I'd LOVE to see more Supreme from him, it'll never happen. So now I've just contradicted my opening statement!

I would love to see Supreme in ABC especially in Top 10 season two.

SuperboySenior:I'm a Xman stranded in the DCU and X Force is envious

I think Supreme in his own book done by Alan Moore will be a

great read as long as Liefeld,Lee,or Ian Churchill do the art.

I think if Liefeld let's Alan Moore write for Supreme it would be great also,you could have a Captain Marvel/Supreme crossover in ABC. Don't hold your breath.

Capt marvel??? Why does Supreme have to get stuck with that chessy second rate trash? Give Supreme his own book, and watch him rip at the very fabric of the comic medium. Also, whats with all the supreme topics on the board? Hes my favorite comic character, but i feel its getting a tad redundant.