These issues have, subsequently, been collected in a TPB.

Wrath of the Spectre

(1988 - four issues, deluxe format - DC Comics)

Writer: Michael Fleisher, with Russell Carly. Art: Jim Aparo, with Ernie Chua, Frank Thorne, Mike DeCarlo .

I don't have the complete mini-series, but I have a few issues of it, plus many of the original Adventure Comics issues, meaning I've read all but the stories that appeared in Adventure Comics #431 and 433.

In the mid-1970s, DC's perennial spook hero -- the Spectre -- was revived once again in the pages of Adventure Comics (from #431-440). At the time, his previous incarnation had made him more a cosmic super hero, battling otherworldly beings, often with his fists. As such, this revived character may've come as a bit of shock, supposedly returning him to his 1940s roots as a grim, wrath of God avenger. The Spectre now tackled crazy, homicidal villains whom he dispatched with his almost limitless powers in various grisly ways (pushing the boundaries of what the Comics Code Authority would permit). It was as much horror as it was super hero and actually achieved a certain notoriety because of that. When the series was cancelled prematurely, writer Michael Fleisher had already written three more scripts. A decade and some later, DC reprinted the entirety of the Michael Fleisher-Jim Aparo Spectre stories in four, 48 page issues in the mini-series, Wrath of the Spectre. The final issue even presented, for the first time, those three unused -- "lost" -- scripts, newly drawn by Aparo. (In the 1980s, prior to the glut of TPB collections, Marvel and DC reprinted a number of "classic" runs in prestige format, quality paper, mini-series).

I only had one of the Adventure Comics issues from back then (#434), but I always liked it for its grim, spooky ambience. Strikingly illustrated by the unusual, moody combo of Frank Thorne and Jim Aparo and it was an effectively dark story of supernatural shenanigans involving mannequins coming to life, building to the villain's suitably ironic demise at the Spectre's instigation.

Years later I managed to track down most of the other stories. And you know what? For the most part, they just aren't that good.

The Wrath of Spectre mini-series is accompanied by editorials extolling the brilliance, the "sophistication", of the series, and hammering home the theme that it was the protests from comics folks (fans and pros) that did it in. And yet, no one can point to any proof that the series' premature cancellation wasn't due to the official reason -- slumping sales. To his credit, at least scripter Michael Fleisher seems to accept that explanation. Reading these issues again, one can easily imagine that, after the initial novelty wore off, the audience lost interest.

To be fair, the Spectre often shared the comic with a back up feature, meaning the Spectre stories were often a meagre 10 or 12 pages ("The Nightmare Dummies and...the Spectre", the one that I liked, was the full 18 pages) and, when viewed as EC-style horror stories, as opposed to super hero adventures, I can view them slightly more kindly. But the fact of the matter is, these weren't great literature. Basically the stories were some nasty, sadistic villain (often with little if any motive) would kill some people, The Spectre's alter ego of cop Jim Corrigan would be called in to investigate; he would promptly switch to the Spectre and track down and dispatch the villain with alacrity -- given that he's a ghost with God-like powers, it's not like there was any suspense or obstacles for him to overcome. One can't even say he killed the villains in an ironic way that suited their crimes (the traditional notion behind stories of villains meeting their just desserts). Case in point, a villain's henchmen rob an auto show, killing spectators with poison gas...so the Spectre kills him by having a sea monster attack him. Uh....what? What's ironic about that? Irony is, I dunno, villain robs auto show, then is run over by a car while trying to escape. Or since the murder weapon was gas, maybe he is suffocated to death.

The reason the one about the mannequins worked reasonably well was because, a, Corrigan actually had to investigate, b, the villain was using supernatural powers so we could at least imagine he was a worthy foe and, c, his end was, at least nominally, ironic, relating to his crimes.

So if the stories were simplistic, and the endings rather arbitrary, that only left characterization. To be fair, Fleisher tried a little, throwing in an on again/off again romance with Gwen Sterling, and suggesting Corrigan was a bit bitter over not being granted eternal rest. But, really, I can't say the characters were well defined or interesting, nor do I think they were intended to be. It's pretty obvious the main point was to tell gruesome stories of villains being dispatched by the Spectre.

Ironically, the "lost" stories published for the first time in the final issue are actually a little stronger. The first story, a two-parter, actually has a plot that moves away from the EC rut. Throughout these issues, Fleisher had threaded a subplot about a reporter investigating the Spectre, though no one believed that the Spectre existed. Fleisher's intent with the reporter is unclear. The reporter character -- being a Liberal, critical of the Spectre's brutality -- threatened to add an extra level of philosophical discourse to the proceedings...but since no one behind the scenes seemed to have any objections to the Spectre's methods, I'm not sure that was the intention. Anyway, in this two-parter, the reporter takes centre stage and, by focusing neither on a one-dimensional villain, nor the Spectre/Corrigan, we actually have a protagonist we can be interested in (perhaps other stories should've done the same, treating the Spectre more as an enigmatic background character in his own series). The reporter is wrongly accused of one of the Spectre's murders, resulting in a story that is a little more unexpected than the rest. The final story, at 18 pages, also tries to be more like the Mannequin story I mentioned, in that the foe is supernatural, and there's a (bit) of a mystery. It's still not great, but it's O.K. The gruesomeness is also less pronounced, as if Fleisher was reigning himself in a bit (though, ironically, Aparo's wrap around cover for issue #4 is particularly bloody!)

Of course, the Spectre was intended to be on going, so it's not like these final stories resolve anything with the reporter, or Gwen, or anything.

The art varies throughout. Aparo is involved all the way, but sometimes paired with others (whether they're inking him, or he's inking them, isn't always clear). The final "new" stories have Aparo inked by his frequent late 1980s collaborator, Mike DeCarlo -- not the best choice for a spooky horror comic. Still, throughout the art is decent enough (though none matched the Aparo-Thorne collaboration on the Mannequin story).

In the end, these Spectre stories don't really justify the acclaim -- regardless of whether they were as controversial as they are claimed to be. Though one might wonder whether they influenced the later Crow series.
 
 

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