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Squadron Supreme by Guess Who

A_M_Swallow

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</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
>I was just wondering if you could give us a status report on all your
>projects?
>

Jeremiah: shooting 201 currently.

Spider-Man: writing issue 49.

Midnight Nation Trade: supposedly out shortly.

Polaris: news could come soon, things are looking very positive.

Squadron Supreme (retitled Supreme Power): script 1 in, writing 2 now.

Other coolnesses in the works...more soon.

jms


[/quote]

I have never read the Squadron Supreme comics but someone may like them.
 
What are they about?

This is the first we've heard of him doing a project named "Supreme Power." Honestly, I'm glad he changed the name, because "Squadron Supreme" just smacks of "Saturday-morning cartoon," unless that's what it actually is...

...any other information, anyone, on this project?
 
If his Polaris project gets any more secret, no one will know when it airs! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I wish I got into comic books. Sorry, "graphic novels" or whatever. But I didn't even get into them when I was a kid.
 
The "Squadron Supreme" is a group of superheros, analogs of the old DC "Justice Society of America" from the 1940s. (The Squadron was introduced in Marvel comics The Avengers, so they could hardly use the real names or costumes of the originals.) Roy Thomas, then the writer on The Avengers had a fascination with the superheroes of the 1940s, the heroes of his youth, and frequently re-introduced old Marvel characters into the "modern" Marvel universe. He had previously used the Justice Society as the basis for a group of supervillains, The Squadron Sinister. The Batman doppleganger, Nighthawk, and several other characters appear in both groups, bad guys in one universe, heroes in another.

Apparently some of the Marvel and DC writers and editors got together in the late 60s or early 70s and decided to have some fun with each other's characters, without pissing off the corporate types by actually having them guest-star in competing books. (There were later several real cross-over stories between the two universes, beginning with a team-up between Superman and Spiderman.)

I don't know what happened with the DC end of the idea, because I wasn't following DC comics very much at the time (except for Jack Kirby's titles.) Anyway, the Avengers somehow met up with the Squadron because somebody opened a door into a parallel universe, where the Squadron was Earth's defenders. I don't remember the story very well. I think it was the usual superhero cross-over plot: Two heroes (or teams) meet up unexpectedly, each thinks the other is the bad guy, they fight to a draw, realize they've both been duped by a super-villain, join forces and then pummel him. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I'm pretty sure their original appearance was a two-parter, the first story set on our Earth, the second on theirs. They came back for a couple of other guest appearances.

At some point there seems to have been a Squadron Supreme mini-series. This was a much darker and more adult story, as such minis have increasingly become over the years, and made some serious changes to the group and their backstory. I believe they have also made several other guest appearances in various Marvel books, including return engagements with the Avengers.

There is currently a great deal of speculation as to which "version" of the Squadron JMS wants to write, and how he's going to deal with the continuity issues.

Regards,

Joe
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Other coolnesses in the works... more soon.

[/quote]

This is, of course, the key line in the entire post. JMS in full tease/Vorlon mode. (OK, I can't imagine Kosh using the word "coolness" either, but you know what I mean. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif)

Regards,

Joe
 
"Polaris" interests me. The name definitely denotes something SF, but it's generic enough to defuse speculation.

The other thing that interests me about Polaris is the fact that Sci-Fi seems to be giving JMS the full runaround. He seems to be doing a LOT more to get Polaris on the air than he did for Rangers.

I'll be waiting to hear more, of course.
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
He seems to be doing a LOT more to get Polaris on the air than he did for Rangers.

[/quote]

I don't know what you base either of your comments on. TV series development often takes years. JMS first conceived what became Babylon 5 in 1987. He sold it to Warner Bros. around 1992. Circumstances beyond his control kept him from shooting the pilot and getting it aired.

Polaris seems to be starting life as a series proposal, period. Rangers began as a "let's do something in the B5 universe and see where it leads us" project. So, because the development process is more protracted, JMS mentions it more often over a longer period of time than he did Rangers. But I don't see any evidence in his posts either that Sci-Fi is giving him the runaround (they're looking at lots of possible series ideas, and they have internal corporate politics to deal with) or that JMS is "doing a heck of a LOT more" for Polaris than he did for Rangers. In both cases he has made his pitch and written his scripts. In the case of Rangers he produced the pilot film. That's about all he can do. The final decision on doing the series is in the hands of others. (Namely those who will be writing the checks.)

The real difference is that Rangers was on a much faster track to production, being based on an existing universe and under the control of another studio. With Polaris JMS is going through the full development process that he went through at Warner Bros. when he was putting B5 together. As with B5 he's commenting on this process from time to time on-line. This hardly constitutes evidence that he's putting more effort into Polaris.

Regards,

Joe
 
I didn't actually mean most of what you thought I meant, Joe.

While what you said is true, I did say "seems," which can also mean "look like," or "appear to," not only "is." To us mere mortals, the information JMS gives us makes it APPEAR like he's doing more work for Polaris - a script here, a script there, a redraft, more pitches, the studio back-and-forth etc., etc. We didn't get much of that for Rangers, for which he basically said, "Yay, we're doing this, I'm writing a script, the Channel's behind it, the dailies are kickass, yay!"

I never said anything about EVIDENCE that he was doing a lot more. After all - what do I know about this, anyway? I live in cow country!

And I didn't say "a heck of a lot more."
 
The item that is missing from JMS's posting is the film of his comic books. Hopefully this means that he is in secret negotiations with the studio (or has handed the entire thing over).

JMS and Sci-Fi appear to be putting a lot of work into Polaris. Can any one remember at what time of year actors are recruited?
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
The item that is missing from JMS's posting is the film of his comic books.

[/quote]

He said several months back that another writer had been called in to "polish" his Rising Stars draft. That's pretty much S.O.P. in Hollywood, which is why so many TV writers become TV producers instead of writing feature films. TV is considered a "writer's medium", (more correctly, a "producer's medium") Film belongs to the directors, thanks more to the success of Alfred Hitchcock and the rather silly theories of some French film critics than from any genuine "primacy" of directors in the intensely collaborative film making process. So there's a good chance that he doesn't know a heck of a lot about what's happening with the film. Writers are rarely tolerated on film sets, much less invited to them. The actors and directors hate to be reminded that they are speaking someone else's words and telling someone else's story. Makes it harder to convince themselves that they deserve all the credit if the film becomes a hit. (If it is a flop, of course, they'll all blame it on the lousy script. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif)

Regards,

Joe
 

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