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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #51
24 May 1998
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
NEW FEATURE
I now have in my position a scanner. And I plan to have some fun
with it. I'm setting up a Geocities web site to house some stuff so I
don't overstay my welcome here on nic.com. In the meantime, I aim to put
up one new little cartoon each week with this column. These are, for the
most part, little things I did back in my art days some four or five years
ago. This week I'm starting with a cartoon I think I even submitted to
the COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE at the time. They chose not to print it.
Looking at it now, I can see why.
I can't send this out along the mailing list. So you'll just have to
visit the web site for this little extra doo-dad from now on. I'll let
you know when the sister site is set up.
THE SPECTRE
As I mentioned last time, I was fortunate enough to get the first 46
or so issues of THE SPECTRE on sale dirt cheap. This is the
recently-concluded DC series from John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake,
primarily. (There were a bunch of fill-in artists, but no fill-in
writers.) I've only read the first 36 or so issues as of right now and
this will be my attempt at a review, mixing in some philosophical comic
comentary along the way.
I love it. This is a great series.
First of all, this is not a Code Approved book. The fact that there
were letters printed in the letters column asking if the rumors were true
that the book would soon move to Vertigo should tell you that right off
the bat. This is a horror book. This surprises me. I don't generally
like horror. Yet two of my favorite books from DC right now are the SWAMP
THING reprints written by Alan Moore and this SPECTRE series. Both are
horror series. They include a fair amount of bloodshed, especially
SPECTRE. In fact, SPECTRE can get quite gross at times. But it's
intellectual horror. It makes you think. It can gross you out and
disgust you all it wants, but unless there's some sort of underpinning of
thought or characterization, it's all moot. THE SPECTRE is a
well-thought-out book.
It's the story of Jim Corrigon, a cop from the early 20th century
(1920s, I think?) who is killed and returns as the physical manifestation
of the wrath of God. Sounds corny, but it works so well. The series
works on a philosophical level to exemplify the differences between
vengeance and justice, mercy and cruelty, and so much else.
The thing that I like most about the series is the fact that nothing
is rushed onto the page. You're not given everything up front, nor are
you made to feel like you haven't been given everything up front. It's
suspenseful, in a way, without you knowing it. We learn about all sorts
of aspects of the Spectre at the same time Corrigan does. This stuff is
planned out. These are not retcons. This is a map slowly unfolding.
Furthermore, layer builds upon layer. The lessons of one issue are
not forgotten by the next, nor are the experiences. And when things come
together from issues previous, pages are not lost in recapping things.
The intelligence and memory of the reader are respected in that way.
I know many people would say that this locks new readers out of the
book. That how can DC expect to gather new readers without some sort of
easy entryway for new fans. I don't have the answer to that one. There
are subtle clues in the dialogue which spell out previous stories, but not
in their entirety. Usually, it's enough to jog the memory of the faithful
reader. Things are repeated. The origin of the Corrigan Specter is told
on numerous occasions, but never in such a way as to completely stop the
story while the origin can be recapped. Characters are known to think the
obvious to themselves in a couple of places as a means of exposition.
None of this is terribly ennoying though. It blends in deftly enough.
It almost follows the whole BABYLON 5 model of storytelling. (It's
not necessarily that Bab5 created this mode of storytelling. That's just
the most prominent example in my mind, as well as being a fairly recent
one that many people might be familiar with.) There are self-contained
stories taking place here. Yet they do build up on each other. There's a
definite story arc. Decision are not taken lightly nor are they forgotten
or brushed under the rug.
Another thing which excited me about this series is that I know it
ends properly. Some of the problems you normally have with series is that
the creative team eventually ups and leaves. A new team comes in and
starts in a completely new direction. Sometimes the old continuity is
retconned away or ignored. And there's never a satisfying conclusion.
Things cease to continue, but they don't end. I know Ostrander and
Mandrake pulled the plug on this series themselves. I know they had a
definite ending in mind. I rest easier knowing there will be, to use an
over-used term, 'closure.'
Ostrander also manages to make completely off-the-wall mythological
and religious situations sound and seem real. You try scripting dialogue
for everyone from Michael up in heaven to all sorts of minions of the
devil
down below. It works, often in a theatrical sense. (Given Ostrander's
theatrical background, this isn't too surprising.)
The only story which really threw me came early on in the second year
of the series. Mythology isn't my strong subject, nor religion. I got
quickly lost in the story of the first Spectre. If I knew more such
stuff, I've a feeling I could've gotten around it.
I shouldn't ignore Tom Mandrake's influence on this series. He inks
his own stuff. It's often loose, with lots of long straight lines. He
uses splash pages in the way they should be used. They're high points of
story-telling and dramatice moments which just couldn't be shrunken into a
fifth of a page. These are grand gestures and large moments. The splash
page is an exclamation point. Mandrake draws well both the every day
characters and the super-heroes and villains. He is given the chance to
do both, along with an assortment of mythological beasts. But they don't
all look alike. They're individuals. The supporting cast is easily
differentiated.
The point of all of this is this: If you get the chance, get this
series. It's a good example of how story-telling should be done.
And just to completely suck up to John while I'm at it: HEROES FOR
HIRE is a fun little title that he's writing for Marvel, and DC's THE
KENTS is a terrific book too, and another one which just recently
concluded its 12-issue run. Coming up next: MARTIAN MANHUNTER for DC.
-Augie
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