Tag: spectre

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The Spectre: Wrath of God

This is a review of Spectre: The Wrath of God, written by John Ostrander and drawn (mostly) by Tom Mandrake. What does it mean to be the Wrath of God? By definition, you’d see things in terms of black & white. If your host is an ex-cop who was murdered fifty years ago, you might be a tad out of touch. This is a problem, especially if you are beacoup powerful.

The Spectre, enraged at the death of his lover Amy Beitermann at the hands of a serial killer, decides to judge humanity. Translation: the Spectre is going to destroy the Earth as soon as he works himself up to do it. He’s opposed by the Phantom Stranger, who puts together a SWAT team (Doctor Fate, Zatanna, The Demon Etrigan) to stop him. He doesn’t include Madame Xanadu, which turns out to be a mistake.

If you want a snapshot of the hotspots of the planet Earth in the early 90’s, you will find them in this comic – the Spectre visits Northern Ireland, Israel, Brooklyn, and the imaginary country of Vlatava, where he shanghaies the opposing generals – just like that famous Superman comic, decades ago! Instead of urging the generals to settle the country’s civil war by fighting each other, he makes them watch while he kills every man, woman, and child in Vlatava.

This is serious Old Testament shit, and it has repercussions. The U.S. government retrieves the Spear of Destiny, a powerful magical artifact capable of killing the Spectre, and gives it to Superman. Unfortunately, the Man of Steel is vulnerable to magic…and the spear is imprinted with the psyche of Hitler.

John Ostrander is one of my favorite writers, and the trippy art by Tom Mandrake is great, so of course I recommend this graphic novel. Too bad the rest of this run isn’t available in trade or hardcover, because I’d snap it up in a minute.

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The Spectre Volume One: Crimes & Judgments

This is a review of The Spectre: Crime & Judgments, which collects the first twelve issues of John Ostrander (writer) and Tom Mandrake’s (artist) 1990’s run of the Spectre. It is no secret that I’m a huge fan of John Ostrander, the man responsible for the creation of Grimjack and the modern version of The Suicide Squad.

The Spectre is an older character who appeared in the Justice Society way back in the 1940’s. Basically, The Spectre is the Wrath of God. His purpose is to wreak vengeance on evildoers, and since he’s beaucoup powerful, he can do whatever he wants. The Spectre’s anchor/human host is Jim Corrigan, a cop killed in the 1930’s. Corrigan’s ghost still hangs around, even though sixty years have passed. Evil never sleeps, and neither does he.

My favorite issue of The Spectre features a trio of kidnappers who bury a child alive and die before they can reveal the child’s whereabouts. The Spectre storms into Hell and fights a devil for one of the kidnapper’s souls. When the kidnapper reveals the child’s whereabouts, the Spectre tosses him back into the eternal flames like a piece of garbage.

I don’t want to say a lot about the plot. If you are the type who’s easily triggered, I might skip this book. I myself had trouble reading the last four or five issues, but then again I’m a sensitive sort. The B-storyline features a character who mirrors the Spectre, in that he says he’s destroying evil. This character is also an enormous monster. Make of that what you will.

Great art, great writing. Highly recommended, especially if you like nihilistic horror.