"...she's dreaming of Him!"

All-New SUPREME Debuts In YOUNGBLOOD #4

By Chris Arrant, Editor

August 23, 2017 07:58am ET

Chad Bowers and Jim Towe's Youngblood has been reinventing some of the core characters and concepts created by Rob Liefeld, Alan Moore, and others over the years in the Extreme Universe, and in last week's Youngblood #4 they debuted new versions of both Supreme and Youngblood.

Newsarama talked with Bowers and Towe about the events of the most recent issue and what's to come down the line.

Newsarama: Let's talk about Supreme. Can you fill us in on the backstory of Suprema before we get into the events of this issue?

Chad Bowers: Absolutely! So Suprema - or rather, the hero formerly known as - is the kid sister of the Extreme Universe’s most powerful man, Supreme. Like him, she gained superhuman abilities at a young age, including flight, super strength, speed, and invulnerability after being exposed to a strange meteor made of Supremium. She spent her adolescence saving the world, until she was abducted by a living galaxy, who kept her locked away for some forty years. Supreme eventually remembered he had a sister (it's complicated), rescued her, and brought her home, where soon after, she joined the second iteration of Youngblood!

Fast forward a few years to the present, and the problem is she's the only one that remembers any of that stuff, and even she's not 100% if it’s real. What she does know, however, is that she no longer answers to the name “Suprema”… now she's Supreme.

In Youngblood #4, we reveal she's been doing her best to keep a low profile in her hometown of Littlehaven, but she can't help but stand out. Hearing of her exploits through the superhero grapevine, Vogue reaches out to Supreme, and offers her a spot on the new team as its resident powerhouse. She accepts, believing Youngblood’s mission to find a missing person overlaps with her own goals of finding some answers about her past.

Nrama: Jim, let's bring you in here. Any sneak peeks or things you can say about your plans for a new costume for this new Supreme?

Jim Towe: Since her outfit got wrecked in Youngblood #2, she's been running around in old, oversized Youngblood handy-me-down gear. I found the costumes to be a perfect place to inject a little bit of realism into our story. Superhero comics have a weird habit of rarely changing their heroes' looks. I'd find it hard to believe that anyone in our cast has a closet full of duplicate outfits! There's actually a handful of Supreme designs sketched out already - expect to see multiple cool looks for her in the future!

Nrama: This issue hints that Suprema saw a vision of the original Supreme, and he bequeathed the mantle of Supreme to her. Where is the original Supreme in all this?

Bowers: Supreme’s predecessor has been erased from existence along with every other iteration of Supreme since or before him.

Nrama: It also mentions the Supremacy, an old Alan Moore concept of a pantheon of Supremes from other dimensions. Is this one and the same?

Bowers: What we showed you in Youngblood #4 has a lot in common with Moore's Supremacy, but I'm not sure I'd call it “one and the same.” Not anymore.

But the Supremacy is maybe Moore’s greatest contribution to the Extreme U. An otherworldly retirement community for Supremes who've been replaced with newer, more era appropriate revisions of themselves - it's genuinely one of the best ideas in comics! I think what I love most about the Supremacy is that's it's not populated but sad old Supremes who've lost their powers, but rather those who acknowledge they've outlived their effectiveness, and realize it's time to move on. Supreme’s never been just one man, but instead, it's this living, breathing concept, ever changing and evolving, to better stand against whatever’s threatening reality. The universe always knows what kind of Supreme it needs, and this time it’s a woman.

Nrama: Seeing Supreme glide down in this town, I couldn't help but be reminded also of Joe Keatinge and Sophie Campbell's Glory run. Is that just me?

Bowers: That's a huge compliment. Jim and I are both fans of Sophie and Joe’s Glory, and while I don't think either of us meant Supreme’s big moment as an intentional nod, I'll absolutely take it!