The origin of the Spectre

[arbre_rieur]

A little under seven pages from The Spectre #0...









After incapacitating the Spectre force, Michael searches for a suitable human host for it. He finds it in Asia: A man named Caraka whose family was recently slain.





And thus did the Spectre's first human host come to be, but the first of many.



creator: john ostrander, creator: tom mandrake, publisher: dc comics, title: the spectre, char: spectre

Comments

[iskander]

Tom Mandrake was/is the perfect artist for the Specter.

[stig]

Funny, it's quite similar to what J. Aaron's been doing with Ghost Rider.

Also to Bendis' pitiful attempts at trying to make The Void seem like a threatening villain.

[q99]

Wow, it's pretty cool that the Spectre's first hosted version presented itself as an aspect of *Shiva* :) Interesting mythology mixing there.

[filkertom]

That's excellent. And, agreement with iskander, Mandrake was/is great for this sort of thing. Very much in tune with both the Spectre's storyline and real-world mythology. And Ostrander's simple, compelling logic as to why the Spectre must be bound to a human is perfect.

[theanswer]

For being a portion of God, he sure does get spanked around a lot.

[zordboy]

Yeah, but then there are also a lot of instances where the Spectre is about as powerful as you can get.

He restarts reality in "Zero Hour" (that was recently scanned), in JLAvengers Hal-Spectre was pretty critical in shoving the DCU and MU apart, in "Emperor Joker" (once the Joker's power was gone), Hal-Spectre again helped put the Universe back together.

Power levels being entirely dependant on the story, thy name is the Spectre.

In hindsight, it was a nifty idea to make him the Wrath of God, but it really lends itself to too many plot-holes. Some days he's uber-powerful, some days he's getting bitchslapped by zombie lanterns, and there's never really been much of an explanation for that crazy inconsistency (although author after author after author keeps trying). I don't think it was a great idea, no.

Contrast with the Phantom Stranger, who is ridiculously powerful but was never given a definitive backstory and is a stronger character because of it.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

When did we start talking about Wonder Woman?

Oh, "spanked AROUND."

[tahngarth.livejournal.com]

Ever since the 60's, too, when Denny O'Neill thought he was too powerful to have around and had him "die" for the first time in JLoA.

The disadvantage of being basically a walking deus ex machina.

[crinos]

Okay, this is some weird mythology.

We see from pretty much the get go that The Specter is being heavily tied into Christian lore and events; Sodom and Gomorrah, the taking of the first born of Egypt, the Birth and death of Jesus.

And so who is the first guy to be imbued with the Specters power? A Hindu man.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just seems a bit out of left field.

Also: Four armed specter: COOLEST FUCKING THING EVER.

[snugglebitch]

We see from pretty much the get go that The Specter is being heavily tied into Christian lore and events; Sodom and Gomorrah, the taking of the first born of Egypt, the Birth and death of Jesus.

Worse is that the first two aren't Christian mythology, they're Jewish and later co-opted by Christianity when it became a separate religion. If these are the facts of The Specter's existence, then, it implies that the Jews are wrong, the Christians are right, moshiach has already come and the whole history of the Jewish people is simply leading up to the inevitability of "the one true religion" Christianity (which, unless I'm misreading this, then goes on to be the "one true power" behind Hinduism as well).

[tahngarth.livejournal.com]

No, the DCU is more or less an "all your varying beliefs are true" playground. I can't talk too much about it because it utterly spoils the story, but the final arc of this series starts with the Spectre's God being suddenly gone from his Heaven, and Spectre going out looking for him. It's amazingly good, and fits together well.

[crinos]

Point, but still it is kind of jarring that It goes from the Specter being presented as a figure in the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and then suddenly making a left turn by having his host be a member of a faith that has nothing to do with The Abrahamic religions.

[cf105]

I actually like the thought that he is the literal God of Wrath for the Earth of the DCU and that he just isn't as powerful as the other gods hence the reason why he gets slapped around so often (wrath unchecked leads not to growth but a wasteland).

[xammax]

No, hes God's Wrath. hes not a god but a extension of the DCU's God. So should God wish he could kill all other religion in a moment or.... get spanked by zombie lanterns, Libra, Batman, what have you.

[tahngarth.livejournal.com]

While I agree that it can be a bit jarring, the whole premise of Ostrander's Spectre book was how the character relates to the universe as a whole, how religions in the DC U work and a lot of other cool stuff.

As heterogenous of an approach as that is, it really is a VERY readable book, and well worth your time.

[crinos]

Well I never said it was a BAD thing, just that it was a bit out of left field.

And again: Four armed Specter is METAL OF THE HIGHEST CALIBER.

[tahngarth.livejournal.com]

Ahuh, yeah. The full story of that poor guy is also a really good read. Dude got fucked over so much he makes Corrigan's life look like a bed of roses.

He did get to be METAL SPECTRE for a bit at least!

[pyrotwilight]

I do like how by saying he's from Shiva that Spectre implies all the religions are correct but interpret the Presence differently.

[ladymirth]

This.

[zordboy]

Yeah, I like that too, actually. And it solves the meta-religion plot-hole that Crinos talked about above.

[mullon]

This old school Spectre should come back and kick some Black Lantern ass.

[btravage.livejournal.com]

I thought that Eclipso was the one responsible for the Old Testement smittings.

[cainofdreaming]

Eclipso got outsourced after the flood, when he didn't want to stop before the job had been finished. As in everyone was dead, even Noah.

minor nit pick

[lissa_quon]

Wait...forgive my confusion but I wans under the impression Kali was a female deity, why is this dude here with the skull garland being called Kali?

Re: minor nit pick

[cricharddavies]

That picture isn't the best; the one where Michael shifts to take on Kali's aspect also has "her" looking more feminine, IIRC.

[kd_the_movie]

I love how Michael is like:

Micheal: "Hey man, new rules. You gotta be bound to a human now. Understand?"


Old Testament Spectre:".............................................FUCK YOU!!!!!!!" *shoots energy blast*