johnfr@dartvax.UUCP (John Freeman) (09/29/84)
(I refuse to type anything cutsie on this line for the line eater, I reufse...)
I noticed in the Ketchup Comments #1 that The Specter was mentioned...
as he is one of my favorite characters, I couldn't pass up the opporutnity
to comment (you lucky devils...)...
As a brief, and perhaps somewhat biased, summary of who/what the Specter
really is (in case there is anyone out there who in actually unaware):
He was originally a (tough-guy type) cop in a big city...he was snuffed
out by some mobsters...since this was awhile ago they put him in cement
and flipped him in the drink...when he went up to 'heaven' a 'voice'
said to him that all his work on earth wasn't finished, and he couldn't
enter until it was...asking what was expected of him, the reply was for
him to eliminate all evil from the face of the earth...now, the story
gets really confusing...When he first began, the specter was in some
way a seperate entity from his persona of Jim Corrigan, and this is
still the case, although not always mentioned (Re. Brave & Bold #199)...
sometimes they are used as one and the same...in the early days of his
career, he fought mostly supernatural things (dragons, wizards, ect..)
and even jo0ined the JLA (or JSA, depending which one you look at...)
A while back in JLA (perhaps about issue #130 or so..not sure), he
brought the entire JSA back from the dead, which was a rather impressive
display of his powers-he has also kept worlds from coliding, ect...
In DCCP #29, he had basicially no trouble with Superman, and we again
see the mysterious voice that represents his master (*ovbiously God,
but DC can never bring themselves to say so*)...
But, that's not what I really wanted to comment on about him...
(mighty long-winded non-comment, I'd say...)
There was a reference made earlier in the net to one of the escapades
that the Specter did during his 10 issue run in Adventure Comics some
years back...I still have all of them, and occasionally get them out
to just read through, as the stories and art are very well done...
There are no cosmic monsters or dragons in any of these stories, just
evil men; and boy oh boy, does the Specter ever eliminate them...
Some Examples:
The afore-mentioned instance where he changes a thief to wood, and
pushes him through a multi-bladed buzz saw...
He changes a swami to glass and *shatters* him...
Cuts one guy in half with a pair of expanded scissors...
and the list goes on...basically *gruesome* stuff, that puts most
stuff that is currently being mentioned on the net into the 'G' category...
To keep this ever growing article from getting too long, I'll just
say that I feel that the Specter-particularly as depicted in the set
of stories I just mentioned in Adventure-is one of the best characters
DC has going, and without a doubt, the most powerful...depending on
the story, he may or may not have *any* limits on what he can do..
But I don't honestly think that he could hold a book of his own...
if there were still a DC vehicle for forgotten, seldom-seen, and new
heroes like Adventure, I would like to see him again...
There you have it: More than you would ever want to know about The
Spectre, and didn't care enough to ask...as he is one of my
*favorites* I just couldn't resist commenting.
John Freeman
Dartmouth College
"Blast it! Up until now, the Rhino was one of my prime suspects."