I am a big fan of J. Michael Straczynski & Gary Frank's SUPREME POWER series, so I had high hopes for the miniseries DOCTOR SPECTRUM: FULL SPECTRUM. But my hopes were definitely not met. Don't be fooled into thinking that FULL SPECTRUM provides essential insight into the events depicted in SUPREME POWER. Yes, it does provide background on Joe Ledger before the mysterious power crystal physically made itself a part of his life, but the events depicted in this story are fairly superfluous. Yeah, he had a tough life, and that's about it... well, gee. By the end of the story, I didn't feel that I understood anything more about Doctor Spectrum, the power crystal, or SUPREME POWER than I already did. Even then, it would have helped if Straczynksi and Frank could have handled this story, but they unfortunately farmed it out to Samm Barnes and Travel Foreman, who can't keep up with the standard set by the series creators. FULL SPECTRUM can definitely be skipped - you won't miss a thing.

This side edition to the Squadron Supreme rewrite, gives a good insight into the psyche of Dr. Spectrum.

J. Michael Straczynski's radical retooling of the Squadron Supreme, Supreme Power, has come off very well (with a few weak points), but this miniseries collected into a trade paperback seems almost entirely unnecessary. It's a very tired science fiction/comic book cliche: The protagonist falls into a coma/is trapped in a malfunctioning virtual reality world/falls under a spell/whatever, and has to face The Demons Of His Past. The plot device is a shortcut to developing a character, and like many shortcuts tends to often not be worth it. This book won some award at a Toronto comic book convention, so at least a few people liked it, but I would strongly recommend previewing it at your local comics shop before buying it. Much more worthy of purchase are the Nighthawk miniseries, by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon (very gory, very reminiscent of the work of Dillon's regular comics partner, Garth Ennis), and JMS' own Hyperion miniseries, which actually advances the plot of the Supreme Power series.