AUTHOR: Moore, Alan

ARTIST: Charles Vess (illustrator); José Villarubia (illustrator); J. H. Williams III (penciller, inker, colorist, and cover artist); Mick Gray (inker and cover artist); Jeromy N. Cox (colorist and cover artist); Alex Sinclair (colorist and cover artist); Nick Bell (colorist); Todd Klein (letterer and cover artist); Alex Ross (cover artist)

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1999-2005

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2000-2005

Publication History

America’s Best Comics (ABC), established by Alan Moore in 1999, includes Promethea, Top 10 (1999-2001), Tom Strong (1999-2006), and Tomorrow Stories (1999-2002). WildStorm agreed to carry the line, prior to its purchase by DC Comics in 1998. Moore had previously severed ties with DC, but he agreed to continue with ABC, offering a limited run of his own writing for Top 10 and Tom Strong and a longer commitment to Promethea.

The first issues of Promethea appeared in 1999. Moore co-created Promethea with penciller J. H. Williams III, who contributed to all thirty-two issues as well as thirty-two installations of cover art. Mick Gray consistently provided inking for the work, with the occasional assistance of Williams, and continuous lettering was provided by Todd Klein. Jeromy Cox took on a majority of the coloring for the series, but notable contributor José Villarubia brought a hybrid of digital graphics, inks, and colors to four issues and two covers, presenting a “hyper-realistic” effect required by the plot. Williams also provided oil painting and collage to several issues of the comic, which was known for its groundbreaking stylistic choices and layouts. Issues ran from 1999-2004, without further sequences. However, ABC’s Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom (2010) comments on the fate of the Promethean apocalypse, concluding the series and having an impact on all the works in the ABC universe.

Plot

A fantasy work dealing with a female superhero, Promethea engages with the value and role of imagination in human history. The daughter of a martyred hermetic philosopher of the fifth century, Promethea is taken by her father’s gods, Thoth-Hermes, to live in the realm of the Immateria, a version of the human collective unconscious. Sophie Bangs, an ordinary college student in an alternate New York City of 1999, researches a recurring fictional science heroine known as Promethea and becomes the center of a controversial magical plot concerning the end of the world.

Sophie interviews Barbara Shelley, the wife of a former Promethea writer/artist, and undergoes her first psychophysical transformation as an incarnated version of Promethea through the magical use of poetry. An organization known as “the Temple” is trying to stop a new Promethea from taking her place in the world as a science hero. Inducted into her role and instructed in magic by previous versions of Promethea, Sophie also takes on demons sent by the Temple. When Barbara Shelley is killed in a demonic conflict, Sophie learns that Barbara’s soul has “moved on,” looking for her deceased husband, Steve, and Sophie chooses to follow her.

Sophie spends several months under the magical instruction of former science villain and magician Jack Faust before setting off into the Immateria. Meanwhile, her best friend, Stacia Vanderveer, and a previous Promethea, Grace Branagh, are left to serve as Promethea. Sophie-Promethea faces the lunar realm, Yesod, first, and locates Barbara there. They journey together, ascending the kabbalah’s “tree of life” via its spheres, encountering the power of language in Hod and the emotions associated with memory in Netzach.

Barbara and Sophie-Promethea move on to Tiphareth, the harmony at the center of the universe. There Barbara encounters her “holy guardian angel,” Boo Boo Ramirez, who then accompanies and advises them. As they approach Geburah, the realm of Mars, they slip into a dark version of the “tree of life” known as Qliphoth and have to be rescued by Boo Boo.

Sophie meets her absentee father, Juan Phillippe Estrada, in Chesed, who explains that he did not run out on Sophie’s pregnant mother but was killed when he tried to stop dealing cocaine. Sophie and Barbara must jump into the “abyss” beyond Chesed before washing up on the shores of Binah, the realm of the “mother,” where Sophie becomes a version of Promethea once more, wearing scarlet. There they encounter the dual “mother” of both revelation and compassion. She explains that Sophie was chosen to bring about the end of the material world, fusing it with the Immateria. Following this, Barbara transforms into her higher self, uniting with Boo Boo.

Barbara and Sophie-Promethea finally reach Chockmah, the realm of wisdom, and encounter the “godsex” that produces the universe. They head onward toward a “vision of God,” in Kether, still seeking Steve; entering the light, they understand the unity of the universe and all beings. Steve finds them there, and they elect to return to Earth: Barbara and Steve to reincarnation, and Sophie to her mission.

When Sophie descends to Earth, Stacia, in love with Grace Branagh, claims the Promethea role, and Sophie, Stacia, and Grace are obliged to face an Immaterian court of law to decide who will be the “true” Promethea. Following Sophie’s legal victory, they are pursued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Stacia is captured and shot, Jack Faust is incarcerated, and Sophie barely escapes to Millennium City with the help of her mother, Trish.

For three years, from 2000 to 2003, Sophie resides in Millennium City as Joey Estrada, gaining a boyfriend, Carl. Reluctantly, Tom Strong is enlisted by the FBI to find her in Millennium City and accidentally forces her into her final apocalyptic transformation as Scarlet Promethea. Returning to New York, she releases her friends from captivity and takes position at her mother Trish’s apartment. All the cities of the world begin to compress into one location, and all are “gathered” to meet with Promethea at her “fireside.” She tells them a bedtime story, revealing the story of human development and human potential. Following the event, some have understood the revelation, and some have not, but “life goes on.”

Sophie is released from her role as Promethea, and the Immateria, as well as the spirits of the dead, are now accessible to humankind. In a final “dance” with the reader, Promethea presents a wide range of scientific, philosophical, and religious parallels to concepts of the Immateria, enlightenment, and the development of human consciousness.

Volumes

Promethea: Book 1 (2000). Collects issues 1-6. Relates the historical origin of Promethea, Sophie Bangs’s first transformation, and her education by past versions of Promethea in the Immateria.

Promethea: Book 2 (2001). Collects issues 7-12. Barbara’s death prompts Sophie to agree to Jack Faust’s tutelage, and she is instructed in the tarot by her caduceus serpents, Mike and Mack.

Promethea: Book 3 (2002). Collects issues 13-18. When Sophie journeys into the Immateria to find Barbara, she delegates the Promethea role. Sophie travels through several spheres of the tree of life with Barbara, searching for Barbara’s deceased husband, Steve.

Promethea: Book 4 (2003). Collects issues 19-25. Both Barbara and Sophie undergo a significant transformation and reach the highest sphere of the “tree” to find Steve, before returning to Earth. Once Sophie is home, her role as Promethea is challenged.

Promethea: Book 5 (2005). Collects issues 26-32. After three years in hiding, Sophie faces her final Promethea transformation to “end the world,” followed by a final “dance” with Promethea that discusses the centrality of the imagination and its role in human experience.

Characters

Sophie Bangs, the protagonist and college student researching the recurring Promethea phenomenon, becomes the next chosen Promethea incarnation. Her appearance changes over time: At first she has bobbed hair and wears dark clothes; she becomes the redheaded, bespectacled “Joey Estrada” hiding from the FBI; in her final persona, she has long, dark hair in light-colored clothing.

Promethea, a protagonist and child of fifth century Alexandria, is taken by her father’s gods, Thoth-Hermes, into the Immateria, where she incarnates in human hosts with varying appearances. Her Sophie-Promethea incarnation appears in white robes with red edging, a gold breastplate, and a gold, winged headdress; she holds a luminous blue caduceus staff and has tattoos of a scarab and a Thoth in profile.

Patricia “Trish” Bangs is a protagonist and the single mother of Sophie. Regularly ridiculed for her drinking and one-night stands, she is later appreciated by Sophie and reunited with her deceased lover Juan Phillippe Estrada.

Stacia Vanderveer, a protagonist and lifelong friend to Sophie Bangs, is characterized by her daring clothing and alternating hair colors. She is particularly critical of lesbianism, but after becoming Grace Branagh’s single-body Promethea sidekick, the two embark on a love affair.

Barbara Shelley, a protagonist and wife to Steven Shelley, incarnates Promethea and later initiates Sophie into the Promethea role, before seeking her magician-husband in the Immateria. She appears aged, heavy, and dark-haired until her transformation after death in the Immateria.

Margaret Case, a protagonist, was the writer and artist of Little Margie in Misty Magic Land, a Promethea strip, from 1901 to 1920 and incarnated Promethea during that time.

Grace Branagh, a protagonist and cover illustrator for Promethea stories appearing in the pulp magazine Astonishing Tales from 1924 to 1938, became an incarnation of Promethea.

William “Bill” Woolcott, a protagonist, was the writer and artist of the Promethea strip from 1940 to 1970. He becomes an incarnation of Promethea and engages in a relationship with FBI agent Dennis Drucker but is later killed when Drucker realizes “Bill” is a man.

Steven Shelley was a writer and illustrator for a Promethea comic book from 1970 to 1996 who transforms his wife Barbara into Promethea through his work. Also a magician, he has long, light-colored hair, wears glasses, and has a slim frame.

The Five Swell Guys is a group of science heroes protecting New York, alternately friendly and hostile toward Promethea’s incarnations. The group includes Bob, transgendered Roger, psychic Kenneth, Marv, and Stan the mechanic, secret creator of the Painted Doll.

The Painted Doll is an antagonist and machine-based science villain capable of existing in multiple versions. He appears in a white suit and shoes with colored geometric patterning on his shirt and trousers. He has artificially white “skin,” rouged cheeks, and red eyes.

Jack Faust is a magician, protagonist, and former science villain. He aids Sophie in her magical studies at a sexual price and appears as aging, balding, and overweight. However, he is capable of creating a glamorous youthful persona when necessary.

Artistic Style

As co-creator with Moore, Williams established both the original designs and the artistic direction for Promethea. His firmly delineated style suggests both aspects of visual realism and traditional superhero comic illustration, with an emphasis on facial detail and expression. Aspects of photorealism are employed by both Villarubia and Williams to imply that the Immateria is “more real” than the human world of the comic. Villarubia does this through digital photography blends and Williams through oil painting and collage. Notable homage art styles are also introduced by Williams, such as the art nouveau poster style of issue 16, the dedication to Vincent van Gogh in issue 19, and the combination of wood-block and silk-screen accents in issue 21.

Promethea’s visual framing devices emphasize theme, such as a branching caduceus staff or tree of life, wherein panels radiate from this central structure. A reader’s sequential perception is challenged when dealing with the Immateria. This is illustrated by text and panels that can be read in more than one order or the required realignment of the page to read the text and follow the sequence, as in the “moebius strip” procession of issue 15. As the plot moves into the apocalyptic phase, there is also a heavy emphasis on mandala design.

Background and thematic color play a significant role in Promethea, particularly in the presentation of the kabbalah’s tree of life: Tiphareth introduces a gold theme, Chesed a blue theme, Geburah a red theme, and Kether a white-out effect; in this way, colors suit thematic content.

Text plays an emphatic, expository part in Promethea. Klein presents distinctive features for the speech of demons, monsters, or gods, while Promethean speech is presented more boldly than ordinary “human” speech within ornamental bubble designs.

In issue 32, Moore, Williams, and Klein orchestrate a detachable poster sequence that comprises, beyond the initial text and illustration of the sequential issue, a large facial portrait of a “first” Promethea in gold and red and a “second” Promethea facial portrait in blue and rose. This contributes to a sense of thematic unity in the work, wherein Promethea’s final “dance” is also expressed on a more universal scale.

Themes

Themes in Promethea are often presented as direct explications of key concepts through character dialogue. As a work composed around the assumption that the human imagination is closely connected to a realm of the collective unconscious known as the Immateria, Promethea emphasizes the positive role of imagination in the development of human culture and the crises of modern life resulting from imagination’s limitation and neglect. The final issue of the series presents information from science, history, and philosophy to support the case for imaginative knowledge of the self, bringing the rational ego and unconscious psyche into alignment.

A key supporting theme in Promethea’s discussion of the imagination is the role of magic. Magic is presented in various guises, from primitive formation of language to organized systems of cosmology such as the kabbalah and tarot. Magical knowledge provides adepts with a “map” of the Immateria and helps them progress toward a “vision of God,” suggesting that magical knowledge correlates with knowledge of the self.

Sexuality, family relationships, and friendships are each highlighted within the comic. As a work with a multi-incarnating female superhero, it explores aspects of female power, including sexuality and motherhood. Lesbianism is a recurrent topic, focused on central character Stacia Vanderveer, who is openly homophobic until “coming out” later in the series. Fractured family relationships and friendships are also rebuilt throughout the plot, until Sophie’s social unit, and many of those in the reborn postapocalyptic world, reflect harmony.

Impact

Promethea represents the rare appearance of a substantial female superhero, exhibiting aspects of pulp fiction and Golden and Silver Age comic heritage. She uses distinct force through the caduceus staff to disarm technological and demonic foes, and her garb reinforces her multiperiod and martial aspect.

Because the work essentially rewrites fictional reality, incarnating Promethea in various guises across time, it introduces a more consistent, fictional expression of a female heroic role than comic history might otherwise possess. Moreover, the multi-incarnating Promethea is presented as the “ultimate” superhero, capable of bringing about humanity’s destined apocalypse, signaling a radical shift in the female superhero role (no comparable male superhero is active within the work).

Alongside this contribution to the history of female superheroes, the comic also deals substantially with two concepts less frequently addressed in the superhero comic genre: magic and the role of the subconscious. Magical practice is particularly showcased, and the role of the imagination, via the Immateria, provides the framework for discourse on the subject of personal psychological unity. Promethea is not the first graphic work to introduce these subjects, but it is the first substantial work to emphasize them in combination.

Like Moore’s Tom Strong, and as part of the same ABC universe, Promethea reflects a nostalgia for the pulp literary contribution to comics history but also offers commentary on the sexist aspects of the female hero role in pulp literature. A similar emphasis on continuity in the female heroic role can be seen in Gail Simone’s Wonder Woman (2007- ) arcs, while a greater emphasis on female heroic roles in multihero works can be seen in Moore’s Top 10 and Matt Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man: Stark Dissassembled (2010) and Stark Resilient (2010- ). A focus on magic in a central, combative role also appears in the near-contemporary series Gravel (1999- ), written by Warren Ellis, suggesting there may continue to be a blending of magical and heroic motifs between fantasy and superhero comics in the future.

Further Reading

Bibliography