Wraith of the Spectre #4

The cover says “3 All New Classics.” Now before you label this an oxy-moron, let me explain. Due to the controversial nature of the Spectre revival, the series was pulled without warning almost overnight. There were still 3 scripts lying around waiting to be penciled and inked and then put to press before the cancellation. Almost 25 years passed with these scripts lying in a vault unused. Someone came across them and decided it was time to give them a chance to see print.

 So using DC’s prestige format (which was with new ultra white paper stock, a slightly higher price but no ads, and available is comic book store only) the powers that be got original series artist, Jim Aparo to pencil these stories. The only problem is that you really need most of the dozen or so stories that were published before these tales in order to understand what’s going on. So, DC decided to reprint the entire series as a 4-part mini, with issue #4 being comprised of the never before published tales.

 While I am glad those 3 tales finally saw the light of day, I wish there was a fourth tale. See, with the series being cancelled abruptly, there was a cliffhanger that was never resolved. It involved an investigative journalist whose been following the Spectre’s exploits for quite some time. Now, he’s been wrongly convicted of the killings that the Spectre has been doing. After escaping incarceration, the journalist does what he does best- he investigates. He discovers that Jim Corrigan’s girlfriend is somehow involved in this conspiracy and then the series ends.

There was a fourth tale in this book. It was a small 8 page story from House of Mystery (or was it Secrets?), inked by Aparo. It’s a good story and I’ve seen it reprinted several times before. Still, I’d rather somebody, anybody, at DC Comics have written up a small story to tie up all the loose ends. Talk about your missed opportunities.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.