Alan Moore Obscurities: Supreme - The Return (#53-56, The Return #1-6) PART TWO

"You are right master.  I must face up to my responsibilities" - Radar

So it's the year 2000 and Alan Moore is riding high again.  With multiple awards for his work at America's Best Comics, which include such classics as Top Ten, Promethea, Tom Strong and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, he is going through a Golden Age that I would argue tops even his era of work at 2000AD and DC in the 1980's. From Hell has finally been collected and brought out of obscurity in the process, Lost Girls is getting wider attention.  And somewhere else, published by Rob Liefeld's collapsing company Awesome Comics, his run on Supreme finally breathes it's last and ends... no1curr.  As I said in the previous part which looked at the first five chapters of this compilation, once the twelve issue Story Of The Year was concluded, Moore seemingly didn't know what to do with the character.  So we got clumsy and mean-spirited meta, random pop-cultural references and scattershot satire as he tried to hook the series onto something, anything that he could find that worked. However, by the time these five issues were published Moore was gone from Awesome and the initial ABC comics line-up was starting up under his close supervison.  It took over a year to get these  five comics drawn and put out and lacking Chris Sprouse and Al Gordon to give it a unified if not very good look these last few don't flow with any visual coherence and it all ends very abruptly - more on that in the conclusion.  So here we are, please enjoy the dying gasps of the Image dominated 90's style with this look at issues #2-6 of Supreme - The Return.

We begin with a revisit of the fate of Supreme's arch enemy Darius Dax as chronicled in The Story Of The Year.  He decided to merge with a chunk of Supremium to increase his power but ended up being thrown back in time becoming the original meteorite that gave Ethan his power back in 1925.  And then nothing.  Until we see him coming round on the floor of a street confronted by a black man spouting jive so bad I can't even bring myself to type it out, he's the "Daxman" and he's accompanied by a metal man with a human face called "Daxor" and a large bearded man called "Original Dax".

Darius gets up, wondering where he is, he's told he is in Daxia where all Daxs who are "rubbed out of continuity" go.    Now annoyed Darius snatches Daxs Daxor's molecular disruptor from him. He calls them dopplegangers and threatens them but gets shot in the back by "Darius Duck".  After a brief argument amongst themselves they have Daxor use his levitation field to take him to the "Daxadrom".  Waking up Darius asks why he is in a world dedicated entirely to him, but is told he'll get his answers from the person highest in the pecking order.

Welcome to Daxia.

That turns out to be "Maxi-Dax", sitting on a throne attended by men dressed as Supreme.  Darius says he looks like he did before he died of cancer.

Maxi-Dax: "Cancer?  Heh heh.  Is that how modern viilains die?  In my day, we usually fell into the reactor of our own destruction!"

He takes Darius to the balcony and shows him hundreds of versions of him which Darius thinks is a utopia.  Maxi-Dax says the place only came into existence sixty years ago, before that it was a limbo dimension.  When Maxi-Dax calls over Original Dax, Darius takes offence saying he is the original.

"You and a thousand others" laughs Maxi-Dax, they all share the same date of birth of 1917 but all different 1917's. Orginal Dax says he doesn't remember much of his childhood and he became a crime boss in Omega City in 1939.   But Supreme used to spoil his fun, although this Supreme got his powers from a magical belt.  He killed Original Dax and sent him to an all white dimension, but with bits of the city floating in it.  Everything connected with him got crossed out "like someone had second thoughts about my existence."

Then another Dax joined him a couple of years later and more kept coming.  Darius says "you're talking as if reality was some sort of story, being constantly revised."  Maxi-Dax says he catches on fast.  He was a Dax who's Supreme was an alien from the planet Supron and fighting him made him especially ingenious.  When he came to limbo in 1966 he organised building Daxia using the planet he had populated which had come with him as raw material and his Daxinoids as the workforce.

He tells Darius that they don't know why all this happens, all they can do is pool information with all the new Daxs as they arrive.  He takes Darius to a limosuine where they drive to the "Salon Du Dax".   On the way Maxi-Dax tells him that although Darius believes he was born in 1917, actually he only sprang into existence around 18 months ago according to their sensors.  "You're saying my entire existence before 1966 is.. is retrospective?" says Darius disblievingly.  Maxi-Dax says not to let it bother him, "retro's very big right now, didn't you hear?"

More Daxes.

They go to a table with several other Daxs and Darius tells them the story of how he ended up merging with the Supremium and becoming part of a time loop that created Supreme. They realise that Earth is now currently without a Dax.  Darius asks if he could just go back.  Maxi-Dax says that he's dead and it would be "a breach of continuity logic."  The others say it could shatter all the rules of existence and lead to chaos and universal disorder.  They then all "hmmmm" thoughtfully.

Maxi-Dax decides they will do it.  They summon as many Daxs as possible to the Plaza of Pestilence to observe. Darius then worries some cosmic law might cause him to "wink out of existence altogether".  Maxi-Dax says that's why they are letting him try it out first.  Darius Duck has brought his "prototype dimensional doorway" with him.   They use the energy of "Doomsdax" to power it.  They set coordinates to his secret hideout in Omegaopolis. They bid him farewell and Darius steps through and arrives safe and sound.

Back to life, back to reality.

Grinning evilly, he activates the hideout's computer and requests to know what Supreme has been up to lately.   And all his stuff in the hideout is in perfect working order.  Darius says that now he knows that where there is a Supreme there must be a Dax and this has inspired him to redouble his efforts to find Supreme and kill him.  The chapter ends with Ethan (Supreme's alter-ego) looking distracted at work and shivering.

Then he says to Diana Dane (she writes the comic - Omniman - that he draws) that he thought she and Supreme got along quite well when they met.  He says he can ask Supreme to take her on a tour of the Citadel so she can get a feel for the world of a male superhero which she's been struggling with.   She agrees to that and Ethan is happy again.

Diana is now being shown around the Citadel by Supreme.   She is marvelling at all the cool stuff he has.  She is especially impressed by his garden which has plants from other planets growing in it.  Then he takes her to the large crystal which is Amalynth, where people turned to light by Optilux end up.  Supreme says they can visit, as he hasn't been for a while. Using special helmets their minds can manifest in there, so they suit up and enter.

They appear, both of them now in superhero-style costumes which seem to be the look in Amlynth.  Supreme says he has property and a cover identity here, he's "Rolyat Ladnek" and she can be his visting cousin "Adnil Ladnek".  They drop down and bump into a man who knows Supreme, he tells them they sentenced Optilux to "hard refraction life in our photo penitentary".

The man mentions they have been having trouble with "beam bandits", Supreme pulls Diana away as she asks what they are.  Beam Bandits apparently steal payloads of data which are currency in Amlynth.   Supreme doesn't have his powers here, but he's got some gadgets back in the Citadel which he is using to alter their images so he can become they can become "Dr. Dark and Duskwing" and they fly up to take on the bandits.

Crimefighting in Amlynth.

They fly up and Supreme confronts them,  when they refuse to come quietly Supreme makes him and Diana turn invisible.   Diana disarms one of them as they start panicking.  She shoots one of them as a warning and the others surrender without a fight. "I knew you'd see the light eventually" puns Diana.  Supreme says she was terrific and they drop the criminals off at the penitentiary.   They decide to return to their bodies on the Citadel after that.

Next Supreme decides to show Diana the League of Infinity's Time Tower as Suprema is still looking for Slaver Ant and Radar is in a bad mood.  He decides to show her the future as there is less chance of paradoxes that way.  He picks the 22nd century as it's not a place he's been to before.  They enter and the art style changes to a pulp Silver Age one.

They immediately observe two women in superhero costumes called "Fighting American IV" and "Speedgirl."  They are fighting a gang of Middle-Eastern Terrorists wearing fezs, but they outnumbered then a young Supreme called "Supremax" appears to come help.  Also everyone is speaking ridiculously.  Supreme finishes them off and impressed Supremax says:

Supremax: "Zow! That was the Disneyest thing I've ever nashed.  You Tysoned a whole squad of shriners!  What Rubiks me though, is why you're wearing a set of seekays just like mine!"

Alan, I thought we talked about this.  No one likes it when you make up future speech.  It makes it look silly.   Anyway Supreme introduces himself as Supreme from the 20th Century.

Supremax says he's his great grandson.  Supreme stutters that he's not even planning of having children.   But before they can talk more a man -  "Baxter Frunt" working for "Damien Dax" - who is conjoined twins stuck together back-to-back arrives saying that he can wipe out Supreme's line with one blast. Diana however chips in saying why doesn't he explain his origin to her?

Straight to the point Diana.

He starts to tell her then she asks if his anatomy has everything doubled. And when he affirms this she kicks one side of him hard in the nuts leaving him groaning on the floor.  When the heroes congratulate, Supreme lets slip her name is Diana.  Supremax recognises the name and says he has seen her picture in his mom's "digi-vision album".  This baffles Diana and Supreme decides it's time to leave.  Supremax bids them farewell saying it's not every day he gets to meet his ancestors.

Supreme picks up Diana and flies back to the time door saying " it's as if whichever way you travel, the past ends up knowing the future's business."  They arrive back into the Citadel and Supreme decides to treat her by taking her to "The Supremacy"  which is a dimension where Supremes from continuities that no longer exists end up.  They fly through the portal and arrive there.  They immediately bump into 50's Supreme and another Diana Dane.  She decides to take current Diana on a trip to meet other Dianas while Supreme heads off to watch the "Supreme-Bowl".

Diana is having a hard time realising there are other versions of her, 50's Diana introduces her to several other Diana's meeting in a snack bar. They include a black one, the "Sister Supreme" from the 70's, "Traumatised grim 80's Diana", Queen Diana from the 60's and finally "Diana Duck."  Diana realises they're from what she thinks are parallel dimensions where she is Supreme's girlfriend.  They ask if hers had made his move yet.  There is some banter about nobody liking strong career women which leaves Diana confused.  50's Diana decides to take her shopping.

Later Supreme is looking for his Diana, they meet and Diana has bought a few things.  Then 50's Diana spots her Supreme who has snorted Supremium and turned into a balloon.  She angrily drags him off after saying goodbye to Diana and Supreme and Diana return through the portal back to the Citadel.

He offers more of a tour, but Diana asks if he is doing all this to get her attention.  He looks suprised then says "well yes actually. What do people normally do?"  She takes his head and plants a tender kiss on his lips.  They deepen the kiss as he responds, then they break apart with Supreme saying "Oh God.. I've wanted to do that for so long".  She asks why he didn't and he says he was worried there might be repercussions... and the shot widens to show a miserable looking Radar (Supreme's superdog) listening to them.

Diana takes Supreme in hand.

Next chapter begins with Diana and Ethan, with Diana complaining that Supreme hasn't been in touch, at work when their editor Carl comes in.  His dog is heavily pregnant and about to give birth.  But she wasn't pregnant yesterday.  The dog starts giving birth and as the puppy is born it suddent shoots away like a small comet out of the office and into the sky.

Realising what this means Ethan leaves and changes into his Supreme identity.  As he hovers in the air he sees a lot of superfast, flying puppies trashing the city.  Several get together to raid the museum for dinosaur bones.  Angry now, Supreme flies to the Citadel.  Suprema is back and asking Radar help her find Slaver Ant.  But he says he's been a "bad dog" and he's going on a long walk to Betelguese, "don't bother refilling my dog bowl."

He flies off and not long after, Supreme arrives.  Suprema wants to know why he's angry with Radar, and Supreme says that after seventy years "Radar has discovered sex."  Suprema expresses her disgust then asks how he'll find him.  She thinks the flying puppies sound adorable though, but Supreme points out there are hundreds of them, not house trained.  He locates Radar and zooms off, shortly he returns holding Radar by the scruff.

Radar confesses his rapey night out.

Radar admits that he had sex with over three hundred female dogs.  His humping lasted around a fortieth of a second, "but it felt meaningful at the time."   What prompted it was him overhearing Supreme's kiss with Diana.  Suprema scolds him then decides to leave them to sort it out and goes to looks for Slaver Ant so they can brag about their conquests to each other.  She slams the door as she leaves.

Supreme says he doesn't understand women, Radar agrees saying the are both "in the doghouse".   They debate what they can do with a city full of flying puppies.  Some are currently using transatlantic cable as a dog chew.  Radar can hardly believe his "whelps" would behave so badly.  When they fly down to the city, the puppies are now looking like year old dogs.

Radar sends out a very loud command to them and they all congregate close by.   Radar is going to take them to a new planet of their own.  He's going to call it "Fidor" to signify faithfulness.   As all the dogs leave, Supreme says goodbye then says to himself that next time he visits they need to do some "surgery supreme" on him.

Ethan finishes the story to Diana, apparently they contacted Talos and he made them mechanical hands and they built Fidor for themselves.  At least that's what Supreme told him.   Diana grumbles that she has heard from him more than she has.  Ethan says Supreme maybe needs time to think.

Diana tells Ethan about all the cool things she saw, The Supremacy especially interested her.  She says it's exactly like when comic book continuities get revised, and that opens up a lot of possibilities for Omniman.  She's decided to incorporate the Supremacy idea into the comic.

Diana takes Supreme in hand.

Ethan says he really likes it. She says she is pleased with the idea but upset about the situation with Supreme.  Actually she's angry.  Ethan says Supreme wouldn't want her to be angry.  She says why doesn't he get in touch, everytime she think she is getting somewhere he run away.  Ethan doesn't say anything, just stares at her And she suddenly realises he is Supreme and says quietly "Oh. I get it."  Which brings this chapter to a premature end.  The rest of it is a filler story done Silver Age style about the League of Infinity which is so twee and boring I am just going to skip and carry on with the slightly more interesting Supreme storyline.

The next chapter starts with Billy Friday, the postmodern comicbook writer, who Supreme had committed to Miskatonic Asylum after a series of wacky events caused Billy to lose it slightly.  He is waiting to use the phone and when he finally gets to use it, he calls Diana.  He's being let out the next day and he is planning to call in to the office as part of his rejoining society.

He asks what the noise is in the background and we cut to her saying it's just the TV as Ethan strips off to reveal his Supreme costume.   She has to break the news to him that he didn't win any Eisners.  And she brings the call to an end.  Supreme stands over her and she says "so... here we are then."

Supreme says that she's taking it all well, she says she actually in shock still. She wonders why she, why nobody realises that Ethan is Supreme.  He says that's just the way things are for him, "part of my story" he concludes.  But she recognised him, and she says maybe that means she's part of his story too.

Meanwhile Darius Dax is talking with his computer which is called "Torquemada".  They are discussing how across all the realtities there is a version of him in conflict with a version of Supreme, "...it's almost as if our conflict was the sole reason for reality to exist... any reality!"  Torquemada says there is another constant across each reality - Supremium.

He muses that Supremium was synthesized by Supreme in the sixties, twenty-five years later he fused with it becoming Supremium Man. Then he fell back through time to 1925 where the meteorite gave Supreme its power and no Supremium exist outside of this time loop.   But Torquemada says there is an alternate world source of Supremium, Supremium Man Mk.1.  Dax says he remembers him from the 1930's, he was a teenager from an alternate world obssessed with collecting Supremium.  Back then he was called "Master Meteor."

Retro Master Meteor.

We then get a retro flashback.  A young Darius Dax has completed a machine to destroy Kid Supreme when suddenly a young man comes through a portal.  The being recognises the younger Dax and remembers to tell him he's called Master Meteor.  He introduces himself as an expert on Supremium and collects all different kinds which have different powers.  For example Emerald Supremium promotes growth in organic life.  Sapphire Supremium affects probabilities. Amber Supremium alters time and so on. 

Dax notes he doesn't mention White Supremium, and Master Meteor says that's what he's here for.  He knows it only exists in a narrow time-loop, "I suspect it's the point all Supremium originates from!"  Dax decides to show him where some is and they fly to Erwin Wells lab, Erwin tries to stop them but Master Meteor makes his lawn grow and traps Erwin in it.

Inside Master Meteor chips a small piece off the chunk and while he does so it turns his hair completely white. Then Kid Supreme and Radar arrive to stop them.  Master Meteor uses Sapphire Supremium power to make the house fall in on them, but that doesn't hold them.   He tries to trap them in a Ruby created bubble, but that doesn't work.  Finally he uses the White Supremium which starts to kill Kid Supreme and Radar.  Dax eggs him on but Master Meteor says he can't kill them now, it will cause a time paradox.

But then all his Supremium samples start flashing at random.  It starts to affect his mind. He stammers that he was in an asylum and had mental problems.  Supreme was the one who had him committed and now he wants revenge, but he must take it when Supreme is an adult to avoid a paradox.  And he activates his Amber Supremium and steps through a portal into the future.  This leaves Dax at the mercy of Kid Supreme and he gets a punch in the face for his antics and the flashback ends.

Dax digs out his Enigmatron while he wonders if he's part of another paradox and he is Supremium Man Mk.II as well.  He fires it up and watches.  At Dazzle comics a portal has opened and Master Meteor has come through it from the time of the flashback. Diana and Ethan arrive and Master Meteor suddenly confronts them calling himself Supremium Man.  Ethan hurries off and gets changed into his Supreme costume while Supremium Man rants about his vengeance.

Supreme and Supremium Man square off, but then Billy Friday shows up.  Supreme yells to keep him away from the Supremium, he doesn't want Billy exposed to it and mutating again.  When Diana tells him to stay away from the dangerous super-villain, Billy comes closer saying that actually villains are "plausibilty and differently moral". He asks to talk to him like he did in group.

Billy and Supremium Man merge.

He introduces himself to Supremium Man, while he talks about all the villains he met Supremium Man is panicking about the reaction his Supremium is having to Billy.   Billy takes Supremium Man by the hand.... and suddenly Billy disappears but his mind is transferred into Supremium Man's body.  He can hear Supremium in his head though and blames Supreme for deliberately trying to destroy his mind, but it hasn't worked "my personality is completely stable! In fact both of them are!"

He seems to be struggling though and says his Supremium collection is ruined as the White Supremium has burned out and it no longer exists in this reality.  So using the Amber Supremium he makes a portal into the time-loop and goes back in time saying the sentence he finished in Dax's flashback.  Later Diana and Ethan go to Ethan's apartment. She's surprised he has one when he has a Citadel in the sky.  He says he likes being round real people sometimes. Diana says she hopes that includes me and has he got over what repercussions their relationship might have. He says after last night he doesn't have any anxieties, he's Supreme dating the most beautiful girl in the world, "have I forgotten anything?"  End chapter with a close-up of the issue of Omniman they are working on.

The next and final chapter is one long tribute Jack "King" Kirby, a man of incredible imagination who created so many iconic characters for Marvel and DC and who at the time of when the scripts were obviously written had recently died.  With this finally struggling out in 2000 it was a little further away from his death.  Anyhoo, the story is that Supreme has got a call that something large has appeared in a Himalayan valley and he's gone to investigate. When he reaches to city and enters the mists he is drawn in a Kirbyesque style by Rick Veitch, but hilariously the couple of pages at the start and end are drawn by Rob Liefeld.  A man who never met his publishing dates, who showed no understanding of anatomy and page layout and whose credited characters were actually made who they were by other artists and writers that followed.  He is the anti-Kirby.

Anyway, through the mist Supreme finds a bunch of mechs and a whole city, it's industrialised but has statues of Roman Gods looming over Brooklyn Bridge.  I'll say now, I think all the characters he meets are pastiches of Kirby created ones, but I couldn't recognise some of them so forgive me for that.

While lost on thought his reverie is broken by "The Little Tough Guys" who he asks why they are there.  They say they are here because of the Monarch's will.  Then a man dressed in blue with a bin lid for a shield appears called "The Custodian", he says he and the Little Tough Guys are on a mission so Supreme should get lost. Supreme says he'd be glad to help, so he is told they are after "Dread" a master of science and sorcery he's currently "planning to awaken a diabolical monster who will destroy the Earth!"

"Dread" summons a monster.

Suddenly the monster "Baragoom, the creature that walked like a thing!"  Dread is with them and orders then to cower before his might.  Supreme starts beating up Baragoom and it starts to try and escape through the mists.  Supreme chases it but when he comes out of the mists it's World War II and "Sgt. Strong's Dambustin' Dogfaces" are ready to leap into action against a giant Nazi robot, which the various heroes there like "The Battlin' Yank" are also fighting.

Supreme says he's not needed here, so Sgt. Strong directs him to the East treeline, where he'll find what he's looking for.  So Supreme travels through to a post-apocalyptic world.   Supreme asks where he can find the Monarch, one of them tell him he's also the "All-Father, the source of our existence".  He needs to go beyond this world into the realm of the Gods themselves.

Then a being that is a humanoid cricket called "Davey Krikkit" offers his services as a guide to Supreme.  He'll take Supreme to the Sapphre Stairway and the Celesital Palace beyond.  As they travel, Supreme asks how all this could have just come into existance in one day.  Davey just says that's the Regeant "creates a whole...universe before breakfast like it was nothing!"
Supreme asks if the Regeant is one of the Gods they are off to meet, but Davey says he's much more important than that.   After flying up high and observing all the cities, they fly even higher and are confronted by a huge armoured man who wants to know what business they have here.  Davey says he's escorting a outlander who's looking for the monarch.

The armoured man takes them to "the grand trial of the proto-deities.  They will decide your fate, as they decide the fate of all who live." What does he mean by "proto deities" asks Supreme.  They are the basic models, the original essences of Earth's Gods, whether Norse, Greek or Egyptian.  They reach the council and Davey bows and scrapes. Supreme says he's just here because he's curious.

The Gods say that if he wishes to know the ways of things he truly needs to see the Creator.  It asks Supreme to get on his hands and it will deliver him there. Davey says goodbye, and Supreme is lifted up to a tunnel and walks foward to see...

Hail to the King baby!

... Jack Kirby's big giant head.  He tells Supreme to call him "King" and then asks what he wants.  Supreme asks what he is.  Kirby tells him about the world of ideas, and Supreme says he has access to a realm called "idea space" and Kirby says the name should be punchier like "the psychoverse" or the "cognitive zone".  But he calls it home. He used to commute here when he worked everyday.  He farmed ideaspace for produce, "they call us Imagineers".

Back then he was a part-timer in the World of Ideas but now he's a full time resident.  He physically died but that doesn't matter.

Kirby: "It ain't the physical stuff that's important.  It don't last, you know what I'm sayin'?  What's important is the idea of a thing.  See, all we are is ideas."

When Supreme queries thing, Kirby says that the ideas people have about you and the ideas we have about ourselves well what else makes a personal identity.

Supreme asks if being in Ideaspace limits him in any way.  Kirby says that actually he's free and not limited by a body with pens, brushes and hands, "it all slows you down."  Even on a good day he could only manage maybe nine or ten pages.  Subtle jibe at the Image creatives whose worke suffered from hugely slipped scehdules, including this very comic.

Now he is in the world of ideas they can just pour out of his mind.  Supreme asks what he's doing in his world.  Kirby says he spent a lot of time in worlds like his, he likes the excitement, magic and costumes in them.  So he's come on a quick holiday.  Supreme thinks he can do no harm where he is.  Kirby then calls him a "Wylie" and when Supreme doesn't understand, he says that it's after a guy called "Phil Wylie" who wrote a book called "Gladiator" which introduced the whole Superman archetype, which is Supreme.

The mists starts to cover Kirby up as he says he never created a Wylie, although he handled a few.  He starts thinking up an idea that there were two words, one good, one evil.  And then they have a war.  Supreme says that's unlikely in his world.  As the mists finally claim Kirby he says that he'll never know what might yet happen in his world.  Then the whole area disappears leaving Supreme back outside on the edge of the misty valley.

Supreme flies back home and has dinner with Diana while still in Supreme gear and she teases him, saying she's seeing another guy at work, a nerdy guy called Ethan.  She then discusses the comic they have put together with her trip to the Supremancy working well with Omniman.  She thinks this will be a pivotal issue.  She teases him again saying she thinks this Ethan might be gay, because he's not laid a finger on her. Grinning Supreme looks at the comic and she asks if the Supremes of the Supremacy won't mind me basing this issue on them will they?  He says of course not, "I mean how could a comic book affect the Supremacy?"  And he holds her close saying "now about this gay thing..." And that brings this volume to a close.

And we end on a page of shitty Liefeld art.  How appropriate somehow.

There is of course the infamous issue #63. The next script was written but never drawn until a few years ago.  The numbering returned to what it would be if The Return had been numbered normally. This was meant to kick off a new run of Supreme but it stumbled and fell pretty much straight away.  I do own #63 but I am so bored of Supreme and I have quite a lot to say about it that I shall cover it at a later date, probably when I do a round up of some of his one--shots. Anyway with that all done, once again this was a real chore to get through.  The artwork is downright distressing in places and gives the series no real consistent look.  The flashback stuff once again is good stuff by Rick Veitch, but otherwise it's just a mess.  And it also makes me wonder again just who these comics were aimed at.  The younger "90's kids" would probably think the retro bits are stupid and lame, while older readers would be put off by the atrocious Liefeldian art in the rest of the comic.  The epic stretched out release sechdule couldn't have helped and as I said in the intro Moore had moved on leaving Image and Awesome comics, which finally died before Moore's run could conclude, far behind. The tribute to Jack Kirby is touching though, I do like the idea he lives on imagining strange new worlds and populating them with hereoes and villains on a whim.  Some nice Kirbyesque drawing from Veitch as well.  So that was Alan Moore's last published work for Image (apart from #63), work he probably felt he'd left far behind.  Typical of his work for Image, there is always a feeling of barely hidden contempt for the audience in this mainstream stuff, mostly I think born of frustration, that to keep food on the table he had to work in the mainstream again to fund his passion projects From Hell and Lost Girls which struggled to find indie comics that lasted long enough to run the whole storylines. This isn't quite the last of his Image work, there are a couple of minseries I am hunting down on Amazon which will likely appear on here later in the year.  But Supreme is indicative of Moore's attitude, he started strong with The Story Of The Year arc, then didn't quite know what to do next.  So it looked like he was setting up for another "revision" so the next writer could reinvent the character how they wanted. But back then this is all we got.  Mediocre.

Alan Moore Obscurities: Skizz (2000AD #308-330)

"Gimme a break.  This isn't a film Loz, this is Birmingham!" - Roxy

Of Alan Moore's three series for 2000AD, 1983's Skizz is the definitely the least remembered and little celebrated by those who do remember it.  Skizz was Moore's first on-going strip for 2000AD with art by the talented Scot, Jim Baikie. Lacking the cult humour of D.R and Quinch (which I have covered) or the thematic richness of The Ballad Of Halo Jones (which I shall be covering), even Moore himself at first found little to commend about the adventures of cute alien who fell to Earth and who found himself trapped in the grim circumstances of the working class during the early years of Britain under Thatcher.  Moore was given the brief to write the series when E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was due to come out, by the time the series debuted in the UK, E.T had become a a huge hit and on course to become the much beloved classic it is regarded as today. Alan Moore despised the strip pretty much from the off, describing it in an interview that November as "that horrible E.T. rip off I did for 2000AD, you've got this cuddly little alien that everybody likes who's having a really bad time on Earth 'cos everyone's beating on him 'cos he's little (that's the plot so you needn't read it)." Quote from Hellfire, reproduced in Magic Words: The Extraordinary Life of Alan Moore by Lance Parkin. But is Skizz deserving of Moore's ire when looked back on today? Let's see shall we?

We begin with the alien who will be christened Skizz in trouble in his spaceship as it passes Earth.  He ends up having to make an emergency landing.  His ship addresses him as Interpreter Zhcchz and tells him the ship is going to self destruct with him inside it to prevent contaminating of a backwards, "restricted development" planet.

Skizz's ship goes Boom.

Zhcchz manages to persuade his ship to let him go by shedding all his technology except his exo-suit and he is allowed to leave.  His ship goes boom and Zhcchz finds himself on the outskirts of Birmingham circa about 1982. Horrifying.  He staggers into the city repeating to himself:

Zhcchz: "I am interpreter Zchhcz of the Tau-Ceti Imperium and I am not afraid."

He is afraid though.  There is too much oxygen making him feel dizzy and the gravity is to light so he keeps falling over.  The buildings are alien to him and he wonders "what can they be like, the creatures that built these horrifying monuments?"

He stumbles upon a pub fight that has spilled onto the pavement.  He notes that the planet's inhabitants are some kind of evolved ape, the fight frightens him and he runs.  He keeps running until he reaches suburbia.  He looks for a place to shelter and secretes himself in a nearby shed and feels "safe at last."

We are then introduced to "Roxy", a teenage girl who is living in the house Zchhcz is sheltering in.  A boy called Darren is calling up to her, hoping he can take advantage of the fact her parents are away to get off with her.  She sends him away with a flea in his ear.  Later in bed, she hears something moving downstairs. 

Roxy discovers a terrified Skizz.

She grabs a poker and goes to investigate and finds Skizz in the shed.  After her intial surprise she approaches him saying she won't hurt him and he reaches out and holds her hand.

Roxy: "You're not from around here, then?"

Roxy brings the terrified Zchhcz into the house.  He hides behind the sofa while wrestling plays on the TV and thinks of all the aggression he has seen so far, and of Roxy - "why should this one be any different?"

Roxy offers him some coffee which he takes, then drops, recoiling from the heat.  She shouts at him for making a mess and he cringes away from her.  She apologises and calms him down and ruminates that he's obviously from space and cleverer than humans, "we never seem to meet any stupid spacemen" she says.

She thinks he's too puny and nervous to be an invader and asks his name.  She repeats her name to him and his interpreter skills start to kick in and he repeats, "Rrrahk-see" back at her, then tells her he is called "Zhcchz" and takes off his helmet so she can see his lips.  She dubs him "Skizz" which is what I shall call him now, as that is how the other characters refer to him.

"Skizz" introduces himself.

He sleeps downstairs that night and in the morning Roxy, realising it's a weekend and that she doesn't have to go to school spends some time with Skizz trying him with breakfast.  He eats some toast but has to run and throw it up.  She wonders if baby food might be better for him.

We then cut  to the antagonist of the story, a bespectacled government investigator called Van Owen, (who has a clipped, posh accent hence some weird spellings in stuff I quote from him) out with a team looking at the scene of the explosion where Skizz's ship self-destructed.  He demands a sniffer dog because he believes something walked away from the crater.

Back with Skizz and Roxy, trying him on muesli has made him sick as well, and Skizz worries he won't be able to eat anything here. Van Owen gets his sniffer dog but it can't find a trail.  Then Van Owen sees tracks left by Skizz and says there is a "three legged space monster... and it's slep in the middle of Birmingham."

Van Owen (right)

Roxy goes out and buys baby food and runs into her friend Loz who has an older, unemployed man called Cornelius with him who is a blatant expy of Yosser Hughes from "Boys From The Blackstuff", right down to the catchphrase, "I've got my pride."  Loz offers Roxy a lift home and she takes him up on the offer.  On the way they are stopped by Van Owen who asks if they have seen an escaped animal.  They all say no, and he lets them go.  Back at Roxy's, Loz offers her help if she needs it and she thanks him and goes inside.

Roxy feeds Skizz the baby food and he doesn't throw it up.  He sleeps on the sofa feeling very unwell.  Roxie goes to school and finds that creepy Darren told everyone he spent the weekend at her place, she confronts him and smacks him one.  Then as the lessons go by she worries about Skizz.  When she gets home she finds him unconcious and calls Loz, telling him to bring Cornelius and the van.

Loz and Cornelius.

They arrive and she shows them Skizz, she has some half-formed idea about getting him to the hospital.  Skizz wakes and watches as Roxy and Loz discuss what to do with him.  Loz advises her that they need to get him proper medical help and cites the film E.T. as an example of what to do.  He says in E.T. they handed the alien over to the authorities and "they didn't hurt him.  They wanted him to get better."  Although he admits he didn't see the whole film. He calls the hospital and soon Van Owen and his goons show up in protective gear.

They also take Roxy, Loz and Cornelius into custody.  Cornelius freaks out and hurls a policeman through the window.  They have to tranquilise him.  Later when he has recovered, they quiz him about Skizz but he says nothing except that he has his pride and do they need a pipe-fitter?

Van Owen goes to talk with Roxy.  He accuses her of habouring an alien spy for three days, "did it ask about our satellite defences?  Ennything about out politics?"  Was it threatening and that's why she won't talk.  She just asks him what he has done with Skizz.  Van Owen says he is elsewhere.

Van Owen being a prick.

#He tells her they won't be pressing charges against her, Loz and Cornelius.  She says he doesn't frighten her.  He says she is fifteen right?  A minor, and her parents are in the room next door, yanked away from their holiday.  He shows her into their room and when her father asks her to account for herself she just says "Beam me up, Scotty."

We then get images of Skizz dreaming he is safe and sound on his home planet.  Actually he is hooked up to a machine that has got the virus he is suffering from under control, and "he's going to live."  As he dreams, Van Owen and the other scientists observe him.  Roxy meanwhile is feeling guilty about handing him over to the government as is Loz.

Loz is in the local pub and is shown a copy of the local newspaper with the headline "Space Monsters In Birmingham" which fingers Loz, Cornelius and Roxy as involved. Skizz's dreams turn to nightmares and he cries out, Van Owen says:

Van Owen: "Get a language machine installed in there.  I want the thing talking English in two weeks and after than... It's all mine."

Skizz is put through an English teaching course.  He is shown images and what to say when he sees them.  When he sees the symbol for a female he says "Rahk-see".

Skizz learns English.

Over at Roxy's house her father is furious that Skizz's existence and their link to it has been leaked to the press.  Roxy says she didn't tell anyone it must have been a neighbour.  She yells at him that Skizz was:

Roxy: "... a damn sight more human than you'll ever be!"

She storms off to school where people tease her over the article.  Even her teacher makes an alien joke at her expense.  Back with Skizz, he says his first sentence, "Yuu urrr veee aylens!"

In the local pub a reporter bothers Cornelius about Skizz.  He gets angry and smashes a glass against the bar and the reporter beats a hasty retreat.  Days pass and Skizz masters English, so van Owen starts interrogating him.  When Skizz says he crashed on Earth because it was the only planet in the solar system that could support life and he had to make an emergency landing because his ship was failing, Van Owen refuses to believe his reason why.

Don't bother Cornelius if you know what's good for you.

Van Owen asks how he managed to learn English so quickly, and Skizz says it is because he is an interpreter.  Van Owen quizzes him about Roxy and asks what she told him about their national defence and the army.  Skizz sadly says he now knows why Roxy said that Madness was better than The Police.  Roxy sits brooding at home then rips up the newspaper article and thinks to herself:

Roxy: "Hang on Skizz, hang on.  I'm coming."

Roxy, Loz and Cornelius meet up, Roxy wants them to help her get Skizz back.  Loz isn't keen and Cornelius worries that it would affect him being able to get a job.  What about your pride, appeals Roxy, which makes him mad. She apologises to him:

Roxy: "I'd be alright if I knew what they were doing to him.  They could be doing anything couldn't they?  I sit at school and think about all the things they could be doing to him and he's screaming.  They'll break him and send him mad."

Cornelius then says he probably won't ever get a job so he'll help her as he feels sorry for Skizz, like him there is plenty he doesn't understand.  Loz reluctantly agrees as well.

Skizz about to be operated on.

Skizz meanwhile is on an operating table.  Van Owen wants a scientist to cut Skizz out of his exo-suit because its military applications could be vast.  Under protest the scientist cuts and is electrocuted by it and killed.  Van Owen immediately blames the death on Skizz.

At the local snooker club, Loz starts rallying support to help get Skizz.  He speaks to a radical friend of his who did some work at the army base after "trying to smash the system from within."

Skizz tells Van Owen that his people's technology has advanced so far that they don't need weapons, the only things they have that could be compared to weapons are "snuffers" which destroy suns.  This shakes Van Owen and he leaves Skizz for now.  Skizz thinks that he won that round but then becomes sad that he had to use the threat of destuction to "take pleasure in that single instant of awe and fear in the face of an enemy."  As he sits in his cell he thinks:

Skizz: "He had managed to seize a small, pathetic victory... but the game had been lost. Lost forever."

The "Snuffers".

The plan to rescue Skizz goes into action.  A couple of giant stuffed wallabies are stolen from a nearby warehouse.  A bunch of leaflets are distributed about a protest at the army base.  Three dozen rats are liberated from the university labs.  The local laundry delivery man is locked in the toilet and not discovered for three hours thanks to a bribe given to his co-worker by Loz.

The protest goes into action, while the guards up front deal with them round the back a car stops to"ask directions", the guards open the boot and all the rats run out, the man driving says they have plague.  With protesters and rats running amok, the laundry van is waved through, it has Loz and Cornelius in it.

Operation: Rescue Skizz!

They disguise themselves as doctor and scientist and Loz tells the guards he's here check on Skizz because of the plague danger.  He is given the key to Skizz's room and they take him away in a laundry cart, leaving a stuffed wallaby "sleeping" in the bed so no one notices he is gone for a short while.  They make their escape in the van while someone on a scooter drives away with what looks like Skizz riding pillion, but when Van Owen and his goons catch up, it's another stuffed wallaby.

Roxy waits anxiously then Loz and Cornelius arrive having switched to Cornelius's van and she is reunited with Skizz in the back.  He tells her "it is good to see you."  Van Owen organises an armed police manhunt with instructions to shoot Skizz's rescuers much to the disgust of the senior cop there.  Loz meanwhile says they need to get Skizz out of Birmingham then they can tell the wider media about him which should make him "untouchable".

Skizz: "That is good... I have.. grown tired... of people touching me."

Skizz and Roxy reunited.

They keep driving until the reach Roxy's house, she goes inside and tells her angry father that she's doing the right thing like he told her too.  He demands, "isn't family important?  Isn't the law important?"  Cornelius then throws a chair through the window and points at the sky:

Cornelius: "Look up there!  Look at it!  There's nothing as important as that!  Not even pipe-fitting!"

Cornelius and Roxy leave in the van with Skizz.  Loz meanwhile has returned to the pool hall where Van Owen tracks him down and tries to threaten him before realising Loz's friends outnumber him.  Loz tells Van Owen to get lost, but Van Owen says he remembers what type of van Cornelius drives and that they shall be on the lookout for it.

Roxy is freaking out a bit, going on the run from family and school and she isn't sure she can be an actress without O'levels. "I quite fancied being a star" she says.  Skizz apologises saying he has denied her the chance to be a comet. "Star" corrects Roxy, but she says that although she wants to be a star, Skizz is from one and that makes him special.

Uh oh...

As they head out of Birmingham an armed police unit spot them and start to follow.  Loz meanwhile is mobilizing the local population to help out.  Roxy tries to comfort Skizz saying they can help him get home as they have got as far as the moon themselves.  Skizz tells her his first lie, "I have nothing.. to worry.. about."  He realises there will be no happy ending for him.

Loz tells Roxy's dad that she is in danger from Van Owen, so he agrees to come along to be another "witness".  The van hits the Spaghetti Junction which Skizz thinks looks like an abstract art piece.  The police catch up with them but Cornelius rams them.  Van Owen authorises shoot-to-kill but Loz and friends catch up and block the police so the van can escape.

Van Owen is a sore loser.

But Van Owen grabs a gun and shoots out the tyre which causes the van to flip.  Cornelius climbs out raging mad and goes to attack, but Van Own shoots him.  This shocks everyone, even the police there.  Roxy attacks him but Van owen knocks her back with the rifle butt, Skizz attacks as well, but Van Owen brushes him off too.  Roxy and Skizz sit on the ground, Roxy protecting Skizz saying she doesn't want him to die.

Then suddenly lights appear in the sky and other Skizz like aliens descend from a huge ship overhead and apologise to Skizz for taking so long to come and get him.  Van Own tries to shoot Skizz before he can leave, but Cornelius, who is still alive picks him up and hurls him over the edge of the raised up portion of road they are on.

Skizz's people come to a last minute rescue.

Now it's time for Skizz to leave, he shakes Loz's hand, and gives Cornelius a big hug.  Roxy says "no words Skizz" and gives him a kiss and then he is beamed away and the ship leaves.  Once aboard, one of his fellow aliens ask what the "monsters were like."

Skizz: "They were cruel and ugly.  There was so much despair.  And so much love... Some of them have style and some of them have their pride... and some of them... some of them are stars."

Awww, all of my feels.

And that brings the book to it's end.  Well, I found this to be an utterly charming tale.  Yes it's a derivative mash-up of E.T. and Boys From The Blackstuff, but it has likeable character work on its side. With Roxy especially feeling very like a proto-Halo Jones as a young and ordinary woman thrust into extraordinary circumstances and stepping up, as well as being a strong female character in her own right.  There's something very sweet about a whole community coming together to help the outsider and defying the authorities in doing so.  The art by Jim Baikie is excellent, he has a lot of story to cram into a limited page count but he manages it without it feeling over-busy.  Skizz is something of a punching bag it's true, but he is drawn in such a way that you can't help feeling sorry for the trials he goes through and the ending, though cliche, is the sort of happy ending I like in my comic books every now and then.  Alan Moore himself looked more kindly on this strip later in his career citing the ability to build characters, structure a longer running plotline and work with Jim Baikie as making it worthwhile in retrospect. Skizz will always remain one of Moore's lesser works, but it's one worth seeking out as an important step in his early development as a writer as it whetted his appetite for doing (in his words) "something better".

Alan Moore Obscurities: Deathblow - Byblows (#1-3) and Spotlight On Majestic (#1)

"There is a thing I cannot face and retain my sanity" - Majestic

Well it's time to dip in for the last time to the cornucopia of crap known as Alan Moore: Wild Worlds, a collection of his work for Wildstorm, one of the Image studios he worked at during the 90's.  A book which has given us such wonders as Voodoo and the Spawn/Wildcats crossover, two of the worst comics I have looked at.  Deathblow: Byblows isn't quite as bad, it's not ghastly and offensive like Voodoo and doesn't suffer from the atrocious art of Spawn/Wildcats, but it is the epitome of him not given a shit in a "shut up and give me the money I need to eat while I finish From Hell" type of way. Admittedly Deathblow - a Jim Lee creation -  isn't great material to work with, but this was a side story that could have seen a much more interesting story be told, instead it's leaden, perfunctory and grotesquely padded .  Even artist Jim Baikie seems to be putting less that 100% into this mini and he's one of my favourite UK artists.  However not everything in the collection is totally worthless as I shall also be taking the opportunity to look at Spotlight On Majestic which is but one issue, but so much better than everything else collected in Wild Worlds.

DEATHBLOW: BYBLOWS - Who is Deathblow? Deathblow is a a man. A man who wore shoes and had a face. A man whose parents were killed by terrorists so he joined the Navy SEALs.  His real name is Michael Cray and he was a member of something called Team 7 and yadda yadda yadda superpowered regenerative abilities.  He was killed in a crossover that literally no one cared about although he has reappeared in The New 52 Universe now DC own the rights to all the Wildstorm characters.  But this mini-series in not in fact about this boring character, it's about some newly created boring characters one of whom I think went on to appear elsewhere in the Wildstorm-verse, I dunno, Wikipedia isn't being very helpful here.

Jim Baikie does both the pencilling and inking on this mini.  Now when he's drawing UK comics I can't praise his art enough, check out the images from his work on The New Statesmen for example.  But here it feels like he's tried to tailor his style to the guns, muscles and T&A-tastic Image look.  It's still pretty decent to look at, but not his best by any manner of means. Mind you Moore hasn't given him much to work with either.

Techno Egg births Geneveive McBaldy

Anyway, the story begins with a woman who looks like Hufty from The Word (and if you get that reference, hey weren't the 90's cool?) being born from an egg on a mountaintop.  Her name is Geneveive Cray which she finds out from the dog-tags round her neck.  She is immediately attacked by a wildcat which she kills and skins to fashion a stylish dress and hat.  Then she sets out to explore the weird landscape.

Geneveive finds another egg and is attacked by a cyborg called Klaus Cray, who punches her in the face.  They both grapple and end up falling in a river.  They then plunge over a waterfall, Geneveive manages to grab a branch and Klaus's gun which he has lost hold of.  She pulls herself onto the shore while he is swept away.

Geneveive takes the first of several blows to the head.

She accidentally fires the gun and this brings a young man out of the bushes, he introduces himself as John-Joe Cray.  He says there is a town nearby where he got his clothes from and he'll take her there.  They walk for a while, then night falls and John-Joe builds a tent out of large leaves.  Genevieve has a strange dream where she sees a man laughing at another man who is passed out drunk, and she wakes with a start.

They walk past another egg, but the person inside has been decapitated.  Geneveive builds a pyre round the egg and sets it alight.  Then they walk on to the town.  As they walk John-Joe asks if she is curious at all about their situation.  Why they are all called Cray?  Why they can all speak English?  Who is decapitating them?  Geneveive just says "clothes", wow what a forthright, dynamic and interesting character she is.

That's a lot of blood...

They reach the town which John-Joe says he named "Providence".   As they venture forth someone on a roof fires at them.  The man is called Damon Cray, and he rants and raves at them accusing John-Joe of changing his hair colour and them trying to trap him.  Klaus then bursts onto the scene and smacks Geneveive round the head again.  Then he uses a chainsaw to attack the building Damon is on to bring him down.  Damon manages to flee and Geneveive knocks Klaus out cold with his gun.

They bind Klaus and hang him upside down.  Then Geneveive finds a clothes shop and puts on a fancy dress and hat, and arms herself with two pistols.  She and John-Joe bed down again and she has another confusing dream.  She is woken by John-Joe yelling that he is being attacked.  A baboonlike humanoid is looming over him, Geneveive leaps up and punches him.  The baboon says he is trying to save her life, and that John-Joe killed Klaus, who has indeed been decapitated.

Klaus is tied up while Geneveive dresses all fancy like.

John-Joe flees and Geneveive chases after him.  He says he doesn't want to hurt her, but then she is bashed round the head, again, by John-Joe's identical twin (apart from his blonde hair), Joe-John.  They leave her unconcious in the street and when she wakes up the baboon introduces himself as Caleb Cray.  They both set off walking  (man there is a lot of walking in this comic) and come across Damon's decapitated head on a stick.  But it is not the work of the twins, it is the work of a man wielding a huge axe, who calls himself Judgement Cray.

He tells them both about his six severed heads on sticks, which now includes the twins who he also killed off-panel.  He plans to make Caleb and Geneveive the seventh and eighth.  Geneveive tries to shoot him but gets punched in the head again (no wonder she can't speak).  Caleb leaps to her defence and gets slashed for his trouble.  She tries to shoot him with her pistols but the silly woman forgot to load them.  She throws a pistol at Judgement's head and temporarily stuns him so she and Caleb can get away.

Mr. Head Choppy.

They reach a fallen tree over a ravine and Geneveive crosses it.  But Caleb stays on the other side and kicks the tree away to prevent Judgement coming after her.  Judgement attacks Caleb and chops his head off.  Geneveive runs away and we get three pages with no text at all, which oddly is boring and annoying to trudge through.  About this time in a negative review I would post a lolcat:

Not helping Clippy!

Oh even lolkitty is ennervated by the lack of plot in this comic. Back to Geneveive. She opens a hatch in the ground and we get another three pages of no text as she finds a laboratory and goes for a look around.  She finds some information that states that she and the others were "varient clones" of Michael Cray, deceased.  They were placed in a holodeck style enviroment and set up so they would fight and only one would survive.

Suddenly she is surrounded by scientists and security guards.  The guards fire on her, but she uses a scientist as a human shield.  Then Judgement appears and starts chopping heads off.  When everyone but Geneveive is dead he goes after her saying:

Judgement: "I'm the real Cray.  When I shoot you this world will probably disappear and I'll wake up in what ever psychiatric home I am really in.

The real world.

Geneveive pulls a pipe out of one of the egg-pods and fires the high pressure liquid at Judgement.  The force of it breaks his back and kills him.  Then she uses the handy "hyper laser" to blow a hole in the ceiling and makes her escape.  She mugs a pimp for his bitchin' fur coat and disappears into the crowds outside a theatre.  The End.  Well, she may have run around in skimpy clothes but she made it to the conclusion without getting raped, herp derp derp.

SPOTLIGHT ON MAJESTIC - Ugh, that was unpleasant.  But time to park my snark and actually say something nice about something Moore did in this collection, a single issue focusing on Mister Majestic, Wildstorm's Superman analogue.  As well as the mini's collected in Wild Worlds, Moore did a two year stint on the superteam WildC.A.Ts.  I talked a little about them when covering the Spawn/WildC.A.Ts crossover earlier this year.  The C.A.Ts stands for "Covert Action Teams" and several of them were humanoid aliens who were fighting a galactic war with another set aliens and Earth was one of the battle grounds (Alan Moore's run was pretty good, and I will be covering it sometime next year). 

Mister Majestic.

Majestic was one of the aliens, but unlike the others he could fly, had superstrength, eye-lasers and was, as we find out here, immortal.  This issue has him as one of the only nine immortal beings left alive as the heat death of the Universe has killed everything else and how he faces the coming end with dignity and grace.  Alan Moore gets to wax poetic and the artists Carlos De Anda and Richard Friend do an excellent job with the cosmic aspect of the story.  Probably the best art of anything Moore did during his Image career and I don't mean that as backhanded a compliment as it sounds, I really think they do some good stuff here.

The story starts with Majestic standing over the last mortal life in the universe, "The Bush Robots of Vandor" as they die.  Now all that is left is Majestic and eight other immortals.  Majestic returns to where they all live, a space ship called "The Place."  There he meets Aptimatter who keeps a hyper-itelligent strain of syphilis in his blood stream called The Simberleen, "all life is sacred now."

The last of life is gathered in "The Place".

The others are Gemeth the Enlightened, The Red God Jujimoto, Lord Math, the Daemonic Duke Dantalion, Eucrastia (a female vampire), and Manny Weiss - the Wandering Jew.  Manny, Eucrastia, The Simberleen and Majestic want to keep moving while the others are content to stay in The Place and wait for entropy to claim them.  Aptimatter spends the night with Eucrastia and she takes the Simberleen into her bloodstream.  The next day they leave, Majestic carrying Manny and Eucrastia as they fly through space.

They come across something called a Dyson Sphere, which fellow nerds will know is a huge shell constructed round a sun and would have people living on the inside.  There is no one alive now.  While Manny and Eucrastia explore, Majestic constructs a spaceship for them to travel in.  Majestic uses his blood to keep Eucrastia alive and takes in the Simberleen as well.

Time passes. They come across a field of glittering, blue crystals.  Manny decides this is where his journey will end.  Majestic cuts him a fuel rod to keep him warm for a while before the cold claims him, and they leave him "sitting content amongst the eerie sparkle."

Manny leaves Majestic and Eucrastia to journey on.

They fly onwards and come across a planetary graveyard.  Majestic become thoughtful as they explore.  He was a warlord, his causes seemed noble at the time but now he realises even if he never fought the wars "this last darkness would not be remotely changed".  Eucrastia asks "what about love?" He muses that he never had time for it, too caught up in his conflicts.

Eucrastia: "Love is not war.  Love is not struggling towards a goal, towards a point.  Love is the point."

They keep on flying until there is nothing but blackness.  Majestic cannot replenish his blood fast enough to keep Eucrastia alive, so she just asks that she hold him while she finally dies.  Before she can, energy tentacles wrap themselves round the ship.  Majestic tries to fly them away, but they grab Eucrastia as well and pull her in.  Majestic follows her into what can only be described as a giant space vagina.

A meta "God" perhaps?

Inside is a huge, bearded head (Alan Moore?!).  He turns out to be Colt, a fellow member of the WildC.A.Ts many aeons ago, an artificial being.  He has a lot to say, but basically he's turned himself into a giant, galactic sized super-conductor which he believes can be used to reignite the universe.

Colt: "A single thought reamplified and echoed could set the whole universe ablaze!".

So Majestic thinks a thought:

Majestic: "Everything is so empty, so dark.  Involuntarily a thought occurs.  It is the right thought. 'There really should be light'.  And lo there is.  And the evening and the morning are the first day."

And the story ends with Majestic, Colt and Eucrastia bathed in bright, white light.

The End and The Beginning...

So, two very different sides of Alan Moore's writing here.  Deathblow: Bibelots is tedious, dreary, half-arsed and lazy.  It is full of empty, useless pages, gives no challenge to the artist and reading it can't help make you think you wasted a quarter of an hour of your time.  Spotlight On Majestic is much, much better.  It's bold, imaginative, paints marvellous pictures with the words as well as giving the artists some real meaty and cool stuff to draw.  It has an elegaic quality about facing death head on and without regret and reiterates a theme of Moore's writing that love and sex are the most powerful forces in the universe and they would survive to the end of it, not war and conflict.  Now if you want to read these two stories, plus the excerable Voodoo mini, they are all also collected in The DC Universe of Alan Moore, which is well worth picking up because it collects all the odds and ends he did for DC before his falling out with them including his two seminal Superman stories and his Green Lantern short stories that have been so influential on the modern day Green Lantern series.  With those balancing out the sheer raw fail of Deathblow: Blowjobs and Voodoo that should be your preferred method of reading them, unless you really must read the Spawn/WildC.A.Ts crossover, in which case, Wild Worlds it has to be. Are you mad? Yuck.