World Famous Comics: Spectre, The: Crimes and Punishments
Spectre, The: Crimes and Punishments
By: John Ostrander, Tom Mandrake Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 104 Publication Date: October 08, 1993 Release Date: October 08, 1993
God's Avenger The Spectre is a DC character who was early on subjected to what I like to call the apotheosis of comic superheroes. The most obvious example of this is Superman, who was created as a sort of generic strongman bully in the '30s and evolved into a cosmic messiah by the '70s. The Spectre was the ghost of tough-as-nails cop Jim Corrigan sent back from the afterlife with a mission from God ("You shall remain earthbound battling crime on your world with supernatural powers, until all vestiges of it are gone!!"). To accomplish this ambitious goal, Corrigan was given abilities which allowed him to destroy evildoers in rather grotesque fashions, such as shrinking men into skeletons and splitting into multiple bodies to beat them to a pulp. His powers seemed limited only by his imagination, and he was soon growing to planet size to squash supernatural demons and snapping his fingers to make criminals disappear in a burst of color (Golden Age Spectre Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Comics Archives)).
Corrigan's abilities were toned down when he joined the Justice Society, a superhero team of the World War II era. He got himself a joke-cracking sidekick and turned to punching bad guys in the face rather than burning them alive. Soon enough, writers ran out of ideas for the character--how can you write someone who can smash planets in his hands?--and let him fade into obscurity.
In the '70s, the Spectre was briefly revived in the "Wrath of the Spectre" miniseries (Wrath of the Spectre) by Fleisher and Aparo, returning the character to his roots as an avenging spirit. Once again the ghostly hero was dishing out poetic justice to sinners, melting their flesh and cutting them in pieces with scissors. The series was controversial and short-lived.
During the '80s the character once again suffered from the apotheosis problem. A Superman story depicted him protecting the entrance to Heaven from superheroes. He was featured in Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing" run as a truly cosmic being who had lost touch with his humanity, guarding the gates of Hell and unsuccessfully battling a dark Satanic creature (Swamp Thing Vol. 2: Love and Death and Swamp Thing Vol. 4: A Murder of Crows). Meanwhile, he appeared in the DC crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (Crisis on Infinite Earths), in which he literally single-handedly saved the universe from destruction. (And I mean literally: he arm wrestles for it.) This was followed by a solo series in which the Spectre was depowered considerably by God for his failures.
Then John Ostrander got hold of the character in 1992, and cranked him up to eleven. This collection is the first in Ostrander's criminally under-collected run, which lasted for 62 issues and brought the Corrigan character to a close after some seventy years. Ostrander managed to pull all of the disparate elements of the character together into a coherent narrative and pushed it forward by reinterpreting the Spectre as an aspect of the Divine Nature, specifically as the "Wrath of God." One might think that making a character a "part" of God would make him unwriteable, but Ostrander pulls it off magnificently by playing the two aspects of the character against each other. Jim Corrigan is the down-to-earth human side, and the Spectre is the wrathfully divine side: together they make one hero, but they are constantly at odds with one another. Ostrander uses this to consider theological and moral dilemmas: Is God a god of love? What is sin? Do we ever get the punishment we "deserve" for evil? What is the relation of dogma and divine reality?
Readers may not agree with Ostrander's conclusions on these questions--I certainly don't--but he asks them honestly and usually without trying to preach his own ideas. The problems of evil and of evil's prosperity are brought up, though of course never definitively answered. How could they be? Corrigan often wonders why he is compelled to avenge some evils and not others, and why in fact he is prevented from avenging some. If his mission is to battle evil "until all vestiges of it are gone," will his mission ever end? Ostrander studied to become a Catholic priest at one point in his life, later becoming Episcopalian, and the Spectre often has run-ins with Catholic priests both orthodox and heretical. Later in the run Ostrander unfortunately spends (or wastes, depending on your point of view) some time writing about the social concerns that concern him the most, especially in the "Haunting of America" storyline.
He ends the series on something of a deconstructionist perspective, ending Corrigan's story but leaving things open for the Spectre's future adventures. Attempts at revitalizing the character since then have been hit-and-miss, but they continue to this day. Ostrander's run is probably the best the Spectre has ever received, and you won't regret picking up this collection, nor any future collections DC might be convinced to publish.
My Favorite Spectre This here's a nice sample of my favorite Spectre series. Ostrander and Mandrake are the perfect match for this character. I'd love to see this series get reprinted in its entirety.
A great character and story, but incomplete. Ask someone who Batman or Superman is and they'll spout off to you a brief description and history of the character as if it were common knowledge. Ask someone who the Spectre is, and you're likely to get blank looks.
The Spectre is definitely one of DC Comic's more obscure characters, despite his current resurgence in the "Day of Vengeance" miniseries. The Spectre really hasn't appeared in many storylines. He had a pretty short-lived run in the ancient "More Fun Comics" series, appeared as a narrator in the popular graphic novel "Kingdom Come", and ultimately obtained his own comic series that ran for sixty-something issues. And though he was created to be an archetypical character like Batman and Superman, he never really caught on. Which is a shame.
This graphic novel collects the first four issues of the 1990's Spectre comic (the one I mentioned earlier that ran for sixty-something issues). This comic focused heavily on the characters and morally ambiguous situations because it's hard to put the Spectre into a fight where it would be realistic for him to lose. The Spectre, you see, is perhaps the single most powerful entity in the entire DC universe. And instead of trying to deny this, John Ostrander acknowledges this key element of the Spectre, and instead of trying to put him in situations where he himself is in danger, he puts him in situations where he must question his own effectiveness and how he uses the incredible powers that he wields. The comic is not very action-oriented, but instead involves more psychological battles than physical ones.
The story revolves around Jim Corrigan, a dead man that has wandered the Earth for more than fifty years as the frightening and ethereal Spectre, the embodiment of the Wrath of God. His mission is to inact vengeance and retribution for the murdered dead, but in the process also come to understand the nature of evil. He is tortured by his power, as he cannot rest until he fulfills his mission. After being involved in a mystery that ultimately results in the death of an innocent, a young social worker takes an interest in Corrigan, and he must examine the past and how he came to be the Spectre in the first place.
The storyline is a good one, and it gives a good insight into the nature of the Spectre as well as his slightly different alter-ego, Corrigan. One thing that is really enjoyable about the story is how Ostrander works around the Spectre's near omnipotence. The Spectre wields nearly limitless and unimaginable power in the real world, but when he enters the soul of another, he is almost entirely at their mercy. It leads to many interesting situations that examine the nature of the human heart and soul.
The artwork is quite good as well. It enhances the storyline by painting pictures of the surreal world that the Spectre resides in. Also note that this book is not for the faint of heart. The Spectre is not a hero like Superman or even Batman; when he combats criminals and those worthy of punishment, he generally finishes them off in the most gruesome and visually unpleasant way he can think of.
Though I really like the story and the main character, the book feels incomplete, something addressed in the foreword by the author. These first four issues are a great introduction to the Spectre, but they also start a plot arc that was not resolved for eight more issues in the original comic series, making the book feel like it just ends without a suitable resolution. The main point of the work is achieved, which is to establish the character of the Spectre and how he operates, but the finer points and subplots feel incomplete.
In the end, I really enjoyed the Spectre. He is definitely one of DC's most underrated heroes. However, the fact that this book only gives you a brief taste of what the Spectre is about pains me, since there are currently no other collections of comics from this series available. It's a crying shame, as I would certainly pick them up to read about the further adventures of one of the most powerful and most tortured heroes in comics.
There is a hereafter. There is Justice. The Spectre is both. While it was Frank Miller and his interpretation of Batman that got me back into reading comics after 20 years, it was John Ostrander's take on the Spectre that kept me reading- for 60 glorious issues. This collection contains the first 4 issues that established the basics and the tone.
The Spectre has always been an underrated character in the DC universe, inspite of the fact that he is the most powerful, and that he was created by Jerry Siegel (the co-creator of Superman.) Ostrander, and the artist Tom Mandrake, were the first to really do justice to the character.
Here is the Wrath of God welded to a human soul. This dual creature, part man, part immortal aspect of the Creator, is tasked to wander the earth confronting evil and avenging the unavenged dead. It is a task at which he must ultimately fail, or as the character admits: "For fifty years, that's what I've done. And the world is no better." You see, he was meant to confront and COMPREHEND evil, for when his mortal portion understood WHY men commit evil, then his soul would be freed and...another soul would be welded to that of the Spectre to serve penance. Morally, philosophically, theologically it is some pretty heavy stuff.
And when the Spectre shows his true aspect and power while proclaiming "There will be Justice! There will be Retribution! You must pay!" well, it still gives me chills. After all, this is the voice of the Wrath of God....
The Spectre is an awesome character.......... This graphic novel reprints the first 4 issues of the SPECTRE series by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake. They redefined the character for a new generation and did not throw out any of his previous history (he dates back to the 1940s). Ostrander is one of the best writers in comics and is not afraid to tackle controversial topics. The artwork of Mandrake is both moody and exquisite at the same time. They made an awesome team and this comic was the best one published by DC in quite awhile. The comic was voluntarily ended by Ostrander but what great stories he gave us (well over 60 issues of classic storytelling).
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