![]() The covers were often so detailed and moody, I wished those same artists would do the interiors (hindsight being what it is, imagine Mignola on Spectre). The cover artists include Mike Kaluta, Jerry Bingham, Charles Vess, and Mike Mignola for a few issues. What really wows me about this series is the covers, which just seem too enticing to ignore. After that, the following artists all seem to use the same scratchy styke, with Gray Morrow almost making it work consistently. The art can be described as a roller-coaster with Gene Colan’s excellent pencils only present in 6 issues. One of my favorite issues is a gathering of such characters with Deadman busting Spectre’s chops, the Gentleman Ghost hitting on Kim Liang, and Dr.Fate being the new guy filling in for Kent Nelson. The Phantom Stranger is shown to be the farrier of souls that Spectre dispatches, and the interaction of the various magical characters in the DCU is very entertaining. This series doesn’t match up to Moench’s original Moon Knight run (heck, his later runs don’t either) but it does have inspired moments. The two eventually come to understand each other alittle more and stop playing chicken with their mutual destruction when their roles are reversed on a physic trip through Tarot card land. An issue is raised that Spectre doesn’t PREVENT murders, and that in his corporal form actually influences murderous intent. A running thread of the series is the resentment of their union the Spectre just wants to punish the guilty without interference and Corrigan wants him to cool it a bit. They fight minor demons and magic based villains sent by the CBRM, with Corrigan and Spectre bickering constantly. The main protagonist is the Cult of the Blood Red Moon, who are constantly trying to take out Corrigan and avoid the Spectre. Jim falls for Kim, and Madame Xanadu hooks up with…The Spectre. ![]() Corrigan tries to avoid reliance on the Spectre, choosing to save him for a last resort. Kim and Corrigan work in the upper floors of Xanadu’s fortune-telling shop. The longer they are apart, the weaker they become and so Madame Xanadu gives Corrigan an assistant named Kim Liang. Madame Xanadu facilitates all of this, and explains the new living arrangement Corrigan and Spectre must join at least once a day or both will die. Their approach reads like a TV pitch in a way Jim Corrigan’s body is found in a large, ancient vase and rejoined with the (reduced in power) Spectre. But in 1988, Moench and Colan tried to breve new life in the Spectre. Nevertheless, DC has committed to the power of the Spectre and often includes him in their major events (usually he’s in the background and depowered). What is ironic is that compared to Superman (who has been published continuously since his introduction, often in multiple forms together), the Spectre is immensely more powerful but has nowhere near the pages that Superman has. Originally conceived as a character who could fly, was invulnerable, and had limitless ways to punish those guilty of murder. The Spectre was created by Jerry Siegal (of Superman fame) and Bernard Baily in 1940. The Spectre even resents his reduced powerset in the series, which is just one instance of the irony that pervades it. Written by Goug Moench with art by Gene Colan, then Cam Kennedy, then Gray Morrow (yes, really) the series sought ground the Spectre to make his stories more dramatic and not make him appear overpowered. ![]() Clearly this guy had story-telling potential. Just before, the Spectre had helped punch-out the Anti-Monitor and merge the multiverse into one entity. In 1988, two years after Crisis on Infinite Earths had rebooted the DC Universe, A new solo series starring the Spectre began. In it we will explore the many important, influential and just plain rad titles that came out of DC Comics original line-wide reboot. If you’d like to skip this event but still need your DC fix, NBC has you covered with DC’s Post Crisis Rebirth. During the month of September, DC Comics will be doing a line-wide crossover event affecting almost all of their superhero titles.
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