"Superman Defeats Nihilism": Grant Morrison Loved an Obscure Alan Moore Story So Much They Almost Remixed It – Screen Rant

Summary

Everyone knows about Alan Moore's superhero epics like Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke, but one near-forgotten story from 1997 was recently listed by none other than Grant Morrison as one of their favorite obscure comics by the writer with the most impressive beard in comics history.

When answering reader questions in their newsletter Xanaduum, Morrison noted the story The Big Chill as one of their favorite Moore stories. Appearing in 1997s Wildstorm Spotlight #1, the story featured the Wildstorm hero Majestic at the end of the universe.

Comic Title

Wildstorm Spotlight Vol. 1

Story Title

Wildstorm Spotlight Vol 1.: "The Big Chill"

Release Date

February 1997

Writer

Alan Moore

Penciller

Carlos D'Anada

Inker

Richard Friend

Colorists

Steve Oliff, Olyoptics

Letterer

Michael Heisler

Editor

Michael Heisler

Coming from the creative team of Moore, Carlos DAnda, Richard Friend, Olyptics, and Mike Heisler, the story is about the literal end of everything, with Majestic and a few other immortals surviving as the universe approaches absolute zero and needing to find a way to survive this final apocalypse.

Also known as Mr. Majestic, the Wildstorm hero was a thinly veiled Superman copycat who first appeared in 1994s Wild C.A.T.s #11 by H.K. Proger and Jim Lee. The alien warlord Majestros hails from the planet Kera, a veteran of the Kherubim/Daemonite war that formed the basis of the original WildC.A.T.s series.

Wildstorm Productions is the comic book imprint behind the Wildstorm Universe, which includes WildC.A.T.s , Stormwatch , Gen , Wetworks , and The Authority. It was originally an independent company founded by Jim Lee in 1992 before becoming a DC Comics imprint in 1998.

The Big Chill takes place millennia after all of that, as an aged Majestic finds himself one of only a handful of beings who have survived the universe approaching entropy. Faced with the ultimate death of the universe, Majestic leads a handful of survivors out into the frozen universe to find some way to carry on.

After he loses his companions, Majestic is then confronted by his old teammate Hadrian, also known as Spartan from the original WildC.A.T.s team. The android Hadrian has evolved into a godlike being and explains to Majestic that, since the universe is approaching absolute zero, its now become superconductive. Using Majestics energy combined with his own, Hadrian explains that even the weakest impulse will be shot across eternity in an instant all it will take is a single thought to restart everything. Majestic thinks, There really should be light, and thus, a new universe is born.

Its an amazing one-shot coming from Moore, who many consider to be the comics' greatest writer, and Morrison is keen to sing its praises. Superman defeats nihilism! Morrison writes, Moores solution to the end of all existence at the Heat Death of the Universe, where Majestic exploits the properties of superconductivity at absolute zero to restart the Cosmos, is sublime. Moore certainly paints an evocative picture of the end of the universe in his descriptions, whether its black holes healing up into colossal scabs of lightless baryonic matter or nebulae contracted by the cold into snowballs barely larger than a solar system.

Morrison is so taken with the story that the writer once considered remixing it as an official Superman story. I entertained the idea of doing an expanded remix of The Big Chill as the Superman perennial adventure it deserved to be, Morrison writes in their newsletter, hoping for it to be drawn by a superstar artist like Jim Lee or Alex Ross. Morrison shares that the fire of enthusiasm soon faded, and they eventually abandoned the idea after producing a handful of notes and thumbnails for the proposed story. Although Grant Morrisons story never came out, Alan Moores Majestic story is one of the famed writers best little-read comics.

Source: Xanaduum

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"Superman Defeats Nihilism": Grant Morrison Loved an Obscure Alan Moore Story So Much They Almost Remixed It - Screen Rant