Superman Analogues: Apollo
185Case is back with another Superman Analogue! This week he's talking about Apollo from The Authority! He was part of a team that brought Justice League style big action to the new millennium, only now to be looked back on as a period piece.
Find the original thread here: https://twitter.com/CaseAiken/status/1072503573295087618?s=19
Original Text: Speaking of Ellis's work on the now defunct #Wildstorm universe, today I'm going to talk about arguably the most famous Superman analogue of that line, Apollo
Now, Apollo was introduced late in the Stormwatch run alongside his partner, Batman analogue The Midnighter. They then went on to be a foundational part of The Authority, a team dedicated to proactively making the world better and dealing with truly massive threats.
Apollo and Midnighter had been part of a secret program to make a very Justice League like team (common theme, you'll see) for wetworks operations. They were the lone survivors. Midnighter tends to get more coverage because everyone likes Batman, but Apollo was a gem.
For one thing, while his power set was pretty much just Superman's, he also had the solar charge component but on a very rapid scale. Long fights in the dark could deplete him and he could be back up to full charge in the sun in a few hours. A little "Birdman" like, I guess.
He tended to be the more moral voice on a group that walked on shades of gray. Though later books would skew the whole team darker.
Design-wise, he clearly had some elements in homage to Supreme, particularly the Chris Sprouse version.
He was also notable for being in a relationship with Midnighter. The best stories about the characters took this as a beautiful thing, though some immature comic writers played it for laughs. They eventually got married and adopted the living embodiment of the 21st century.
Being a team book, he never got the same focus that a solo protagonist would get, but The Authority was intended as a big action blockbuster version of a superhero book and that's what we got.
When the New 52 launched, they folded the characters into the DCU, but had a hard time figuring out where to position characters who were homages to existing DC characters. Plus they were given terrible redesigns.
See?
However, the character will always stand out for being a dynamic Superman, with a power set that allowed for huge iconic moments but also moments of weakness. Sometimes the value is in not reinventing the wheel, but refining it.
Image 1 – Original Design by Bryan Hitch
Image 2 – Stormwatch: A Finer World, Cover by Bryan Hitch
Image 3 – The Authority Vol. 1 #1, Art by Bryan Hitch
Image 4 – The Authority Vol 2 #3, Art by Dwayne Turner, Sal Regla, and David Baron
Image 5 – “Stormwatch: Zero” from Stormwatch: A Finer World, Art by Bryan Hitch
Image 6 - Apollo and Midnighter by Dustin Nguyen
Image 7 - Apollo, Trying to find the artist for this one
Image 8 - Authority Vol 1 #13, Art by Frank Quitely
Image 9 - Authority: World's End, Art by Simon Coleby
Image 10 - Under New Management Cover by Frank Quitely
Image 11 – Apollo (by Bryan Hitch) compared to Supereme (by Chris Sprouse)
Image 12 - Apollo and Midnighter Relationship Art by Darick Robertson
Image 13 – The Authority Vol 1 #29, Art by Gary Erskine
Image 14 – The Authority, Poster by Bryan Hitch
Image 15 – Stormwatch Vol 3 #1, Cover by Miguel Sepulveda and Nathan Eyring
Image 16 - Stormwatch Reset, Cover by Yvel Guichet
Image 17 – Apollo and Midnighter make their entrance in Stormwatch: A Finer World, Art by Bryan Hitch
Music by Bret Eagleston - www.breteagleston.bandcamp.com
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