Broken Frontier

Mark Milton, a.k.a., Hyperion separates himself from the rest of humanity in the Arctic while General Alexander assembles a team of supers to take him out.

Supreme Power is on hiatus until Spring 2006, when it will relaunch under the Marvel Knights banner. While many have thought this to be a mistake, which would result in a watered down version of what has sometimes been a hardcore, real world take on superheroes, the PG-13 (or PG+ at Marvel) rating should entice a wider audience to join the book. Between Supreme Power: Nighthawk and now the Supreme Power: Hyperion miniseries, we’re seeing a setup for that upcoming series.

This issue has very little to do with its title character other than placing him as a plot motivator. Hyperion is trudging through the cold wastelands of an Arctic setting all alone. Meanwhile, General Alexander interviews and recruits a small team of special individuals (an evil genius, a large impervious dolt, a reality-shifting vixen and a radioactive killer), all of whom have a common enemy with the General: Mark Milton. Hyperion’s arrival on Earth kick started an upswing in the numbers of "special" powers among the global population. Many of these specially powered people either don’t like what they’ve been given, or they have something to prove.

I enjoy J. Michael Straczynski’s writing more often than not. This is one of those times that I do. His comics often take longer to read than most other books on the shelf for one. He also shows great affinity for complex scientific themes, but explains these themes in a way that the reader doesn’t always feel like he/she is reading a dissertation. I especially enjoy his character development in Supreme Power. It takes a little longer to get to the point, but the payoff is a cast of characters that the reader can more easily identify with. General Alexander is particularly well developed to the point that he may be one of the most interesting characters introduced into the Marvel Universe in quite some time.

Dan Jurgens is the penciler here, and I have to say that I’ve seen better from him. Looking the issue over for the second time, though, it appears as though he is not totally to blame for the somewhat uneven work. Klaus Jansen goes a little overboard in trying to create a darker mood to go with some nefarious or even downright strange situations in the script. The result is less than stellar, though not so distracting as to take the reader out of the story.

This is entirely a set up issue. It is a very good one, too, that manages to introduce some potentially menacing characters for the Squadron Supreme to encounter. Though the art doesn’t particularly impress, this is certainly a book that any fan of Supreme Power should consider.