SUPERPOWERS PREVIEW BOOK

[MattBrady]

Can’t make it to San Diego to pick up the SUPERPOWERS Preview book from Dynamite, showing off the characters from the upcoming Alex Ross/Jim Krueger project?

We’ve got you covered. Dynamite has provided Newsarama with the contents of the book for your viewing pleasure.

Last week we spoke with Ross and Krueger about the project, as well as the characters, and Ross walked us through a few of the highlights:

“Well with someone like the Black Terror, he is, despite appearances, not simply a skull-emblazoned kill-em-all type character. He is, in fact, a sort of, “pirate superman”, a black-clad Captain America or Superman -- a variation on those themes. He is not simply, by motivation or behavior, the Batman archetype.

“The Green Lama holds the classic appearance of knowledge embodied in a super hero, whether by magical or religious means, and as a lama hews to a religious base, an eastern philosophy serves as both the drive and the empowerment of this character. He also fills in all the various mystical roles of characters like your Dr. Strange's, Dr. Fate's, Spectre's, etc.

“In the case of the ‘Devil, he embodies, frankly one of the coolest, slickest “looks” in comics history and one of the most dramatic reasons to create such a series as Superpowers is to get a character like this back into the thick of publishing. His return to comics is important to me, as one of the most dominant pieces of graphic design -- something I think ultimately is the forebear of so many modern costume designs, in particular, probably the most attractive costumes in comics, Spider-Man's, holds some historical allegiance to the forerunning of The ‘Devil.

“Now, somebody like Samson is a character I have always thought of as being your primal kind of Thor/Superman/Hercules archetype, that I have always wanted to see more done with. I have always imagined doing something with a character archetype fitting that role, so, picking up this guy from the 40's and doing the type of things we are doing with him now is great for me. He is literally blinded like the biblical Samson and holds some of that weight in his appearance and in fact on the cloak he wears is the letter - which if you read Hebrew which is read backwards - it's the first letter in the Hebrew name for Samson.

“The Crusaders are based upon the American Crusader -- another great Superman/Captain America type character from the 40's, who could do all those fantastic things, flight , superpower, etc. In our modern interpretation of how time has gone on in the series, there is a certain amount of reproduction of both the bodies and the abilities of some of these classic superpowers that are put in play for our government and army as an elite force, almost like an stealth squadron of supermen. These men are called Crusaders based upon that old 40's hero.

“The F-Troop are taken from the 1940's long-running Frankenstein comic strip and we’ve applied to him the more serious interpretation. We're showing super heroes historically and how they would have a presence in our modern world, and his particular appearance, evoking the fact that he's himself been a replicated, if not imitated, work based upon the original doctor's design; so it must be something used for sort of a quick and dirty army where the bodies of dead soldiers are recycled for an additional, later purpose.”

Click on the thumbnails for larger versions.

[Kid Devil]

Wow, looking great!

[Nepthys]

i dunno...feels so generic....i think i read stuff about the green lama when i was little and he's kinda cool looking, but the rest seem so retread. a bunch of white guys wearing the same archetypal superhero/adventure costumes...what makes these guys different from the Blonde Phantom, or Green Arrow, or Blue Beetle, or....

i know Alex Ross is an automatic sell for some people, but i need more than his art to get behind this....

[cncoyle]

I think this looks like a lot of fun. I'm really digging the retro look--it's so kitsch it's cool.

One nitpick: Does the American Spirit's flag have 15 stripes?

[joekelly007]

i wonder what earth these guys are on in the DC multiverse....

[bigdaddyhub]

Very very nice. This looks really good. I can't but help think "What would Alan Moore do with these guys?"

[turk9]

So, they are going to call the original Daredevil, 'Devil? Seems odd since this character had the name first, but I guess this is like the Captain Marvel situation. I'm sure the legal argument is being considered.

This is actually the first I'd heard about this project, so I'm at least intrigued.

turk

[The_Adventurer]

Originally Posted by Nepthys

i dunno...feels so generic....i think i read stuff about the green lama when i was little and he's kinda cool looking, but the rest seem so retread. a bunch of white guys wearing the same archetypal superhero/adventure costumes...what makes these guys different from the Blonde Phantom, or Green Arrow, or Blue Beetle, or....

i know Alex Ross is an automatic sell for some people, but i need more than his art to get behind this....

I think the generic look is intentional. These guys are meant to be foils for certain specific archtypes.

[Kevin T. Brown]

Originally Posted by Nathan

I think this looks like a lot of fun. I'm really digging the retro look--it's so kitsch it's cool.

One nitpick: Does the American Spirit's flag have 15 stripes?

It's not easy to count because of the folds, but I'm counting 13 stripes.



Anyway, I'm definitely on board for this book. The Alex Ross art is just the icing on the cake.

[Jim Beard]

Originally Posted by bigdaddyhub

Very very nice. This looks really good. I can't but help think "What would Alan Moore do with these guys?"

"Terra Obscura"

Jim

[Peasily]

They should call Daredevil: Devildare, or Daredemon, or some variation, if they aren't allowed to call him Daredevil within the book.

[Acroyear]

I'm on board just to see if anyone can come up with a plausible explanation for how 'Devil manages to avoid stabbing himself with that pointy belt of his.

[ParisCub]

I would very much like to know who will illustrate this.

[Bugaboo-X]

Originally Posted by Acroyear

I'm on board just to see if anyone can come up with a plausible explanation for how 'Devil manages to avoid stabbing himself with that pointy belt of his.

That's what makes him daredevilish. No one else would risk it.

[I am MODOK]

Love the Scarab. But as a Blue Beetle fan, I would!

[Spy_Smasher]

Originally Posted by bigdaddyhub

Very very nice. This looks really good. I can't but help think "What would Alan Moore do with these guys?"

Really? 'Cause he already worked with a lot of these guys at ABC. They are all public domain -- you could write a Black Terror comic if you wanted. As for what he did, it was all pretty forgettable.

[END]

That looks awesome - I'm so getting this when it drops!!! Nice to see some major players take this direction...nice!

[clumsyjedi]

Originally Posted by Spy_Smasher

Really? 'Cause he already worked with a lot of these guys at ABC. They are all public domain -- you could write a Black Terror comic if you wanted. As for what he did, it was all pretty forgettable.

I thought the stuff that appeared in Tom Strong's book, with most of the heroes in stasis at the North Pole and Tom Strange leaping from planet to planet to enlist the help of his counterpart was pretty cool, but yeah, the Terra Obscura series' which were scripted by Peter Hogan(?) were pretty lame.

[Jeremy Holstein]

Originally Posted by Jim Beard

"Terra Obscura"
Jim

Or the Tom Strong story which used many of the same characters. Both great reads.

[Colonsus]

Originally Posted by Nepthys

i dunno...feels so generic....i think i read stuff about the green lama when i was little and he's kinda cool looking, but the rest seem so retread. a bunch of white guys wearing the same archetypal superhero/adventure costumes...what makes these guys different from the Blonde Phantom, or Green Arrow, or Blue Beetle, or....

i know Alex Ross is an automatic sell for some people, but i need more than his art to get behind this....

Yeah, generic is exactly the word I was looking for, too. The market is too flooded with teams full of cheap rip-offs of bigger heroes already.

[jsf]

Cannot wait for this!!

Love to see what they've got planned for these GA characters!

[chrishaley]

Does anyone know the story on "The Scarab"?

[thefrogman]

Like all Alex Ross stuff I'm gonna wait for the trade... if there is one. And if there isn't... I'm going to be a very angry comic book nerd.

[Kid Vorpal]

I just love how he snuck Captain America into that group of patriotic heroes charging out of the American Spirit. Now that's a good use of shadows.

[glennsim2003]

Is it just me, or does Pyroman seem to have electrical powers?

Doesn't Pyro mean "fire"?