DC Showcase Presents: The Spectre, Volume 1

This was a beautiful collection of stories starring one of the most mysterious and most powerful characters in the DC Universe. Originally a creation of Superman co-creator Jerry Seigel, the Spectre is the living embodiment of God's Angel of Vengeance. When police detective Jim Corrigan was brutally murdered, God has mercy on him, and gives Corrigan another chance as long as he willingly becomes the vessel for the Spectre to dwell.

Acting as 'The Voice', the Spectre eliminated evil doers in some pretty gruesome ways. That is until the coming of the Comics Code. At that point, the Spectre continued to battle evil, but he'd mellow out eventually, allowing Corrigan to take the baddies to prison instead of sending them straight to Hell.

It's those less violent stories that starts out this awesome collection. Basically neutered, the Spectre would star in a short-lived series helmed by Neal Adams (Batman Odyssey) that only lasted 10 issues. The character would then languish in lingo only appearing in the occasional Justice League of America or Brave and the Bold adventure. The Batman team-ups are reprinted in this collection, as are some Showcase Presents team-ups with Doctor Fate. (The JLA epics can be found in assorted volumes of their Showcase Presents collections.)

As rules on horror in comics was lessened in the 1970s, DC would attempt to reboot the Spectre in the pages of Adventure Comics. Written and illustrated by Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo, these are some of my favorite horror comics DC have ever done and they were gory! One issue has a victim cut to pieces with a giant pair of scissors and another have a baddie sliced to literal ribbons at a lumber yard. 

Based on the time period, these new Spectre stories were highly controversial and several issues never saw print until later on in a special 1988 miniseries called Wraith of the Spectre. Thankfully, that's not the end of the Spectre as he would appear in several issues of another horror title called Ghosts.

 In these stories, the skeptic hunter Doctor Thirteen would try to prove that the Spectre was a hoax! But each time Jim Corrigan or the Spectre get the best of Thirteen. I wish that storyline went longer than it did because they were some of my favorite episodes in this collection.

I have a few of these stories in other issues already- especially Wraith of the Spectre and Brave and the Bold tales. But this collection was filled with over 300 pages of material that was all-new to me- plus it was an awesome gift from my wife! I loved the whole thing. 

One little quirk- this book is listed as Volume 1. It shouldn't be listed as anything of the sort. There never was (and unless DC un-cancels the Showcase Presents line), there never will be a second volume. I guess that means I'll just have to collect the further Spectre titles from 1990-on in single issue form. I'm okay with that...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Flash: The Secret of Barry Allen (Volume 6)

After an attempt on the life of his wife, Wally West made a deal with the Spectre to have his secret identity become secret again. The deal comes with a catch. It not only made everyone forget that Wally is the Flash. It also made him forget too! Thusly Keystone City is without a protector and that means it’s open season for the Rogues!

As Wally regains his memory, he must face the consequences of his actions. His wife has left him. The Justice League is weary of their mysterious ally. In addition, Wally must learn to have faith in himself as his brings his city back under control.

Meanwhile, the events of Identity Crisis is unravelling in the DC Universe. Sue Dibny has been murdered and the terrible role Wally’s Uncle, Barry Allen played in the punishment of Doctor Light has been revealed to both the superhero and criminal communities. Can Wally continue to operate as the Scarlet Speedster knowing that his idol was flawed? Moreover, how will West be able to rectify his image considering how his deal with the Spectre has tarnished his own image as well?

I’m a huge fan of the Flash. However, it’s the Barry Allen Flash that I am so devoted to. I do not hate Wally west. It’s just that I grew up reading the classic Barry Allen Flash tales and that’s the one I am fond of. So when I found a trade that united both the Allen and West Flashes together,, I thought this to be a good starting point to determine if I want to get into the Wally West years or not.

Geoff Johns wrote this book. The man is a freakin’ beast when it comes to writing anything DC. (Okay, has he written for any other company?) With that being said, I knew that I would be in good hands diving into the West era. I was not wrong either. Johns crafts two very compelling storylines while blending the action in seamlessly with the events of Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis.

Artwork duties were executed by Justice League 3000’s Howard Porter. His style was pretty decent and the way he renders a Speedster on print media was adequate enough to make me feel like the Flash and other characters were animated on the static two-dimensional page. One thing I felt was off was Porter’s drawing of the Flash’s feet. Compared to the hero’s stick legs and very narrow hips, the feet look ginormous! Plus a little goofy.

I loved the covers by Michael Turner. He’s like the Tupac of the comic book world publishing works almost a decade after his untimely passing. However, The Secret of Barry Allen was from 2004-05, so that’s not the case here. Nevertheless, his covers are amazing!

I was really impressed with this trade. I think if I ever come across further volumes, I will definitely consider them- for the right price. But right now, it’s completing a run on the Barry Allen Flash books that’s my main priority. Once I complete that search, who knows? Maybe a run of Wally West tales is next?

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Scooby-Doo Team-Up #13

 Shaggy being brave?

  Scooby on a quest for rengeance... I mean, vengeance?
  
  Daphne able to do wicked somersaults?

   Something is up with the Mystery Machine gang and that can only mean one thing: the ghosts of the DC Universe have arrived. 

    When the Phantom Stranger comes to the gang's house on Halloween, the detectives are whisked away to a ghost town in the deserts of Nevada. Their mission: to find where all of the ghosts of the DCU have been disappearing to and who is behind their apparent ghost- nappings.

    Featuring a veritable Who's Who of DC Universe spooks, this issue was tons of holiday fun. Along with Phantom Stranger and Deadman, this issue features Kid Eternity, JEB Stuart (from the Haunted Tank), the Spectre and many more.

   The only problem I had with this issue was when it was released. The story takes place on All Hallow's Eve. So in theory, this book should have released prior to October 31st. Yet, Scooby-Doo Team-Up #13 was released just yesterday- November 4th. What is this, the Treehouse of Horror? Halloween specials should come out before Halloween- I consider that slight unforgivable.

    Despite the poor timing of when this issue hit shelves, I still consider it Worth Consuming and I rate it a 10 out of 10 stars. There's nothing wrong with the art or quality storytelling by Sholly Fisch and it's not the production team's fault this book didn't mean the Halloween 2015 deadline. 

Legends of the DC Universe #36

  The 'Destroyer of Worlds' storyline finally comes to an end with Hal reconciling with the Spectre entity and pulling a time-travelling trick that obviously was stolen from the Superman: The Motion Picture playbook. Also, what Hal does is kinda what got him in trouble as Parallax and was what resulted in his need to become the Spectre and find redemption in the first place. Talk about ironic switcharoos.

   This issue did help to clarify why it took so long to make Caul into a full-on bad guy. As I mentioned earlier, his reasons for taking down the Spectre was due to his inherent nature for self-preservation. This made him sympathetic. That was until he also destroyed all of creation after temporarily offing Hal Jordan. 

   In this issue, we learn that being a powerful psychic isn't all it's cracked up to be as hearing everyone's inner most thoughts is enough to drive anyone mad. So, in order to find peace without dying, Caul sought to quiet the voices instead and decimate all humanity.

    This was an exceptional ending to an otherwise hoo-hum story. There's a couple of great cameos and having some of Hal's family members finally realize it had been him trying to make contact with them through the other side was very touching.

   This story ends with a blurb that continues this story in the pages of Spectre #1. Normally, this would tick me off but the ending of the story didn't end on a cliffhanger. Had I have to grab that issue to discover if Hal lived or died from a burning building or something, that would be another story. But this tale was a teaser for the new series much like the old Showcase Presents: created to garner interest without tricking the reader into having to buy another series they otherwise might not have any interest to buy. Man, I miss the old days.

   If this overall story was any indication of the quality of the Hal Jordan Spectre series then I have no interest in collecting it. But if I was to find issue #1 in a dollar bin or grab bag, I would give that series a chance. But it's not something that I will be actively seeking to make a part of my collection at this time.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Legends of the DC Universe #35

   Finally, we're getting somewhere. 

   The power psychic Caul decides to put on some clothes and invites some of his former fortune-telling cronies from his CIA days to a seance. There he takes advantage of their unassuming nature and he destroys them. Now Caul is a super-charged battery of metaphysical energy and he's ready to take on the Spectre. 

    On the side of good, thanks to the spiritual guidance of Abin Sur, Hal Jordan's has finally been preparing for this battle as well. But when he renounces the power of the Spectre, he finds that he must battle Caul alone. Once free from the villain's snare, Jordan will discover that he's lost more than just his only chance for redemption.

   The action and adventure were better in this issue, mostly because there finally was some to enjoy. But the dialogue was lame and the art was even lamer. Though, I really like these painted covers. This one looks like it was painted by Dave (Sandman) McKean, but it's not. But I liked it anyway.

   Thankfully, there is only one more issue left. I don't think I can take much more of this storyline. It's not been one of my favorites in an otherwise superior anthology series.

   Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Legends of the DC Universe #34

Great cover- cruddy issue.

As Hal Jordan continues to find his purpose as the new Spectre, the psychic Caul continues to grow stronger. It's all leading up to a final conflict between the two powerful entities. But before this happens, Hal makes a few visits to old friends and family on earth. However, because of his spiritual status, nobody can recognize him and after they part, they soon forget ever meeting with him. 

   These not so great reunions only make Jordan feel more obsolete. While it makes for an interesting story thread, it doesn't do much to save this issue from being an utter bore. Plus, in order to boost Hal's confidence, he's now been paired with the spirit of Abin Sur. But just who is behind this supernatural pairing of Pinocchio Hal with Jiminy Cricket Abin isn't clear. Is it God? Fate? Hal's Imagination? It's not revealed. 

   What is revealed is that its Abin Sur whose been the narrator of this story all along. You think it's Hal but with the introduction of Hal's precursor, it's now clear that this tale is being recalled through the alien's perspective. But again, I'm not really sure what his role is other than being some sort of conscious guiding force to a weary Hal Jordan.

   As for as our mystery villain Caul, not very much is revealed about him either nor does he really do anything to progressive this story along.  We do learn that Caul was working for the CIA, but they let him go for being too powerful. Now, I'd think that the intelligence community would want to keep their heavy hitters around so I'm thinking he's also a bit of a loose cannon. As for his lack of contribution to the story's plot. He spends the first 4 pages doing naked yoga. Sure, it's a way to help him build up his macabre powers but it's about as unneeded a nude scene as there will ever be one in the history of comics. 

    This issue just wasn't my cup of tea. The art was fair. The coloring was bland. As for the story itself, it seemed stuck in neutral. Why this story needed to be a 4-parter is beyond me.

    Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Legends of the DC Universe #33

   This story takes place just after Hal Jordan became the Spectre. Riddled with guilt over the actions he committed as Parallax, Jordan seeks to redeem himself. Now as God's personal vessel of wrath, the former hero gets that chance. However, Jordan's piled up even more grief as he heaps vengeance over a myriad of souls. To Jordan, it's okay to reap justice over evil doers but since the Spectre-side of him has a bit of a mean streak in him, some of the methods employed are a bit too violent. This puts Hal at unease and he feels like his own humanity may be slipping away with each punishment.

    Thus, Jordan seeks out advice from God in the realm of Heaven. But he ends up meeting people from his past who have also transversed to the great beyond. Their words of wisdom seem to do little to ease Jordan's conscious and that's a very bad thing as a powerful psychic on earth named Caul has had a vision that he's not fond of. Thus, Caul is planning on destroying the Spectre before the spirit of God's vengeance gets to him first.

    I remember seeing this issue in stores when it first hit shelves and thinking 'So Jordan's the Spectre now..." I was glad that DC hadn't given up on the former Green Lantern. But I didn't buy this issue and so I haven't been very familiar with Hal's time as the Spectre. Finally owning and reading it, this opening chapter helped to fill in some of those gaps and it was great seeing some long past heroes from DC's Silver Age.

    But there's very little action in this issue and it moves at a snail's pace. Also, with the new character of Caul added to the mix, Jordan's trip down memory lane takes away from establishing the villain as anything more than a psychic seeking to prevent his own demise. Thus, Caul is a more sympathetic character as who can't relate to self-preservation? Maybe the next issue will give this mystery man a little more meat to make him more interesting and more villainous.

  Worth Consuming

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

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.

 

 

 

 

Wraith of the Spectre #3 (of 4)

Jim Corrigan finally gets his wish and becomes human once again. However, it takes a gunshot wound for the hard-boiled detective to finally figure out that the supreme bring has lifted his responsibilities of being the Spectre off his shoulders. This probably isn’t the best time for Corrigan to no longer be invulnerable as he’s attracted the attention of a deranged mob boss with a penchant for …Rubber Ducks???

I liked this issue very much; although the use of a rubber ducky to help a crime boss make his decisions is a little weird. Who does this guy think he is, Ernie from Sesame Street? The end to this series was fantastic and I won’t give away what happens. It’s that good.

Oh, and yes, you read that right- these four tales were the end of the reprints from the 1970s run of the Spectre in Adventure Comics. “But, this is issue 3 of 4- how can that be?” one might ask. Due to the controversial nature of the Spectre, especially in his sadistic methods of capital punishment, the Spectre was yanked before Michael Fleisher had the chance to wrap the series up into a neat little package.

If you ask me, the way the last story ended was sufficient to me. However, the people in the DC archive found 3 never before published scripts that were supposed to be in upcoming issues of Adventure. I look forward to reading those as I really love this series. Plus, the great Jim Aparo will be penciling them!

Ghoulish fun that’s Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Wraith of the Spectre #2 (of 4)

   I’d read the first issue a while back. I don’t think I’ve put its review up yet as I still have a massive backlog. However, for those of you who don’t know, Wraith of the Spectre was a 1988 miniseries that reprints the 1970s series that ran for about a dozen issues of Adventure Comics. This Spectre was a return to the golden age hero created by Jerry Siegel of Superman fame.

In the 1940s, the Spectre was a cop named Jim Corrigan who died and was raised from the dead. He was tasked with defeating all evil on earth and often employed some gruesome methods. By the 60s, the Spectre was more of a cosmic being and since he was like 1% away from being as powerful as the Almighty, his usage in the DC Universe was sparing.

Here writer Michael Fleisher and artist extraordinaire Jim Aparo turned the Spectre into ½ gritty cop drama and ½ EC Comics tribute. Spectre does some crazy things to bad guys, like turning them into wood and then slicing them with a buzz saw or into a giant burning Roman candle. I loved it!

For 1974 DC, the writing is superb. The art is even better. I love Jim Aparo’s work. Next to Neal Adams, I consider him the definitive Batman artist. Now, I can saw with much certainty- Aparo is the definitive Spectre artist.

I can’t wait for the next 2 issues!

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.