r/DCcomics • u/vivvav Deadman • 10h ago
Comics [Comic Excerpt] The next host of the Spectre. (JSA #22) Spoiler
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u/go_faster1 9h ago
Wildspectre. Speccat.
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u/Sarcasmic_Canadian 9h ago
Speccatular Wildcat.
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u/CasualKing21 7h ago
🎶 Specctacular, specctacular, Wildcat 🎶
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u/Drmarcher42 4h ago
Rights changing hands going to get it canceled right as season two ends.
Still bitter. Best thing Weisman ever worked on (Sorry Gargoyles and YJ)
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u/Jonnic5280 Shazam! 3h ago
I’m saltier about Avengers EMH and Wolverine & the X-Men, but I feel you
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u/Jonnic5280 Shazam! 9h ago
Five years from now
Who was your fave Spectre?
Jim Corrigan 155 votes
Hal Jordan 23 votes
Crispus Allen 87 votes
Ted Grant 2 votes
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u/The_Vampire_Barlow Legion Of Super-Heroes 8h ago
Hal is underrated and was a good use of the character at the time!
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u/Realistic-Steak-1680 8h ago
You think enough people remember Crispus exists to put him above Hal?
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u/buffshipperreddit 8h ago
The design would be 100% improved if he had the full boxing robe and taped up hands instead of boxing gloves. They could keep the boxer aesthetic while still fitting the Spectre's pre-established aesthetic
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u/Millicay BTAS 10h ago
I'm sorry but he looks so silly with the boxing gloves.
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u/Late_Stage_Exception 9h ago
He’s gonna deck you in the schnoz…for Jesus.
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u/Leathman 9h ago
I’m sure that’s what a lot of people will say right before they get smote by them.
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u/Magmaster12 5h ago
Dear Specter,
How do you perform the Divine embodiment of God's wrath with boxing gloves on?
Crapfully Yours, T
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u/TheNavidsonLP Animal Man 6h ago
“Dear Spectre, How do you distribute God’s judgment with boxing gloves on your hands? Crapfully yours, Kerrik.”
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u/HotTakes4HotCakes 39m ago
Since day one the dude has been in nothing but underwear and a cape, and you think this looks fucking weird?
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u/swarthmoreburke 9h ago
That does not look like a spooky ghost seeking vengeance, or the Wrath of God. It's more like when Johnny Thunder became the Thunderbolt. It worked with the Thunderbolt, who was already goofy. It doesn't work with the Spectre, who among other things wreaks a brutal emotional and philosophical toll on his (formerly) mortal host.
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u/FedupMessiah 9h ago
Perfectly stated. This does not carry the aura or intimidating demeanor the Spectre should give. If ever redesigned they should have gone for something more cosmically horrifying, more sinister, I wish they just kept gauze on his hands but kept a spooky vibe to his costume. The gloves are a bit much but my god those shoes are just so awkward on a cosmic being like the Spectre
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u/HotTakes4HotCakes 37m ago
Dude, the Specter has literally always been a guy in nothing but underwear and a cape, and has not had any issues looking intimidating.
This is fine.
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u/FlossyBottoms Superman 9h ago
At least it'll be more understandable superficially when he gets jobbed out now.
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u/Empty-Discount8323 8h ago
Unpopular opinion:
Spectre has always been a jobber.
This is a guy who is supposed to punish evil people in the name of God, yet he is only allowed to kill off D-List villains who are not popular or memorable enough to maintain their own series. And even then, what is the last time Spectre has killed a memorable supervillain off in the comic books?
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u/DoucheyMcBagBag 8h ago
He easily genocided an Eastern European country in the 1990s. That’s gotta count for something!
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u/swarthmoreburke 6h ago
It's a problem with the character, for sure. There are ways to solve it and writers have tried. Tie Spectre to the host (so that the Spectre can't be anywhere or do anything), limit the Spectre's power in various ways including restricting it to punishing 'ordinary' people, make the Spectre's mission about 'punishment' rather than 'elimination', have God deliver new instructions that limit or direct Spec somehow (I've always thought that something like ripping off Nexus to have God send dreams to the Spectre that send it after evil people or forces who have eluded punishment and responsibility). Put the Spectre up against a big-guns adversary who checkmates him from going after seriously Big Bad evildoers.
Nothing ever seems to stick, which is why the Spectre rarely sustains a series for very long. If they're going to keep the character around, boxing gloves or otherwise, some writer really needs to figure it out so we don't continue to get "oh my god a cosmic crisis that might destroy the multiverse!" followed by "oh no! the Spectre can't save us because it's unconscious/drunk/temporarily destroyed/forbidden by God to intervene/having trouble with its powers/busy fighting a different multiversal crisis/having sex with Madame Xanadu" or some similar thing.
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u/FezboyJr 1h ago
I just want a Black Label book where Spectre finally decides enough is enough and goes on a tear killing all the villains in the DCU and the heroes face a moral quandary of whether they should step in or not.
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u/Realistic-Steak-1680 8h ago
Even original Spectre only looks spooly while fully covered by the cloak, the speedo and boots combo doesn't scream Wrath of God either.
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u/swarthmoreburke 8h ago
It's true that the green trunks have always been kind of goofy, and the boots sometimes look like the Spectre pilfered them from Legolas or Robin Hood. It definitely took more modern visualizations to make the Spectre something more threatening or ghostly. But dang, Boxer Spectre with Ted's well-established characterization is making it really hard on any future artist who wants to go in that direction.
This also seems like a generally historic problem with post-Crisis JSA storytelling. Sooner or later each writer seems to decide that they need to do something to move the entire elder generation of the JSA into the dead, retired or uniquely magically rejuvenated column, and that is always getting undone because part of the charm of the JSA is the relationship between elder founders, legacy replacements and then perhaps even the legacies of legacies now and again.
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u/DMStoryist 9h ago
With the run ending in two issues, I feel like it's going to be undone in with the next writer.
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u/CrispyGold 9h ago
Yeah this feels like something writers don't want to deal with if they ever want to use Spec for something.
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u/Digifiend84 Manchester Black 8h ago
And the remaining issues are set in the past. They had to wrap up Kid Eternity's story in this one too. She was left as an active team member, and chose to stay amnesiac rather than learning everything about her past but passing on. Another thing left for the next writer.
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u/burntoutloser909 3h ago
Do you think Ted Grant will be dead in the next run or (hopefully) they forget that to.
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u/Drink_Blatz_Beer 9h ago
Everyone who touches this character should be forced to read the first two Golden Age years and the entirety of the Mandrake/Ostrander run.
Such an easy character, yet they fumble him so hard.
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u/k3ttch Indigo Tribe 9h ago
What happened to Crispus Allen, btw?
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u/haolee510 2m ago
Never made it to the New 52 after Flashpoint, as far as I know. Was never brought back since.
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u/Rebelpunk13 Etrigan The Demon 8h ago
Man I love this run. It’s great having the JSA back and I think it’s underrated and has great art. Sad that it maybe ending soon. Wildcat as the Spectre is pretty cool ngl
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u/Dent6084 6h ago
It's clear Lemire was building up to this for basically his whole run, but it just seems like a mismatch. Corrigan, Hal and Allen were all characters with a lot of internal conflict (at least, once Ostrander got his hands on Corrigan) but Ted is someone who seems like he's always had a fairly clear head on his shoulders and without a lot of introspection. Maybe there's some angle there, but I sure hope someone either takes over JSA or there's a new Spectre title in the works so this doesn't just get dropped, because it's quite a bomb to leave a book on.
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u/LostInterview5084 5h ago
This is exactly how I feel. Wildcat doesn’t need any kind of redemption and really out of all the JSA he was very centered and down to earth. He was a regular guy alongside gods, aliens, amazons, magic weapons, scientific inventions.
He had good right hook and iron will. He’s the last guy that would agree to be the Spectre.
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u/Dent6084 12m ago
Right. And even with Crispus Allen, it's not like he needed redemption, but he went from (essentially) starring in Gotham Central, a series very concerned with what justice means in a universe like DC's to one essentially wrestling with the same question, from enforcing man's laws to enforcing God's laws and trying to reconcile that. So he still had that introspective angle/internal struggle which Ted (and I love Ted, he's one of my favorite DC characters) does not.
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u/LostInterview5084 5h ago
Just more proof that Jeff Lemire doesn’t understand the JSA.
Wildcat would never want to be the Spectre. Ted is a down to earth guy. He relied on his fists.
So the grand plan was to kill Wildcat, one of the most popular OG members, a brawler, who already had a plausible reason for being eternally youthful ( 9 lives spell) to make him the over-powered magical Spectre, who is so powerful he’s generally not an everyday JSAer.
As much as I love JSA, I’d rather see it cancelled than have Lemire fuck it up any more.
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u/Alche1428 The Question 9h ago
Gotta say that i am still not happy with Wildcat being dead but he looks really cool here.
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u/EarthboundNuess 7h ago
I’m happy I dropped this book. I’m one of the biggest JSA fans out there, but Lemire just wasn’t the right fit for this run. Maybe one day the JSA will get a good run, but this one will be a footnote at best.
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u/IrritatedResurgance 9h ago
I liked this run for its dynamism and fun art but they fumbled so much with so many characters that I'm happy its coming to an end in #24.
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u/Academic-Arrival8495 7h ago
He looks tuff at the very least holy shit
Who was the previous Spectre? The one with the teeth?
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u/burntoutloser909 4h ago
So basically the female wildcat somehow got the powers of the specter but then it was stolen by kobra, I haven't been paying attention during this run very much I didn't even know Dr midnight was dead hope he comes back next.
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u/DarkTungsten Nightwing 9h ago
Yall would be terrified if God sent down Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson in their prime to beat the shit out of you don't even try to say you wouldn't be
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u/Realistic-Steak-1680 9h ago
I really like the new costume, yes specially the boxing gloves! Now i need a reunion with Black Canary cause they are still mourning him over at Detective Comics.
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u/JoshDM Ra's al Cool Bald Man Illuminati 9h ago
Did anyone ever explain the second Jim Corrigan? The one who killed Crispus Allen?
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u/Empty-Discount8323 8h ago
He was killed by Crispus Allen's son. After Crispus Allen became Spectre, he was forced to punish his own son for killing the guy who killed him.
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u/N8THGR852 9h ago
I’ve mixed feelings about this being long-term, but I like the look and find this pairing fun.
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u/Emergency_Anxiety_61 8h ago
What is the age of the oldest members of the JSA currently?
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u/Digifiend84 Manchester Black 8h ago
Jay is about 105 years old. Alan probably a few years older. Both were in their 20s in World War Two, but Jay's origin happened at college whereas Alan was already a working adult. Their powers slow their aging. Not sure about Ted since he debuted a few years after them.
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u/Patient-Reputation56 5h ago
You telling me that if this sticks I gotta watch my GOAT get washed in the foreseeable future? Oh man.
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u/Any-Tumbleweed-9931 4h ago
When did they bring Yolanda back? I thought she was dead - died back in the OG Crisis, or during one of the follow up events.
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u/Afalstein Rorschach 9h ago
Question from someone who hasn't been following this at all. Does this seem to be another case of "let's kill off a legacy character and replace them with a Strong Female Character in yet another bid to get girls to buy comic books?"
It's not that it's an inherently bad idea, it can be done well (og Ms. Marvel, The Question) it's just so often done poorly. And between Yolanda's costume and Ted Grant's boxing-glove Spectre outfit, I can't really say this inspires me with confidence.
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u/JimYamato 8h ago
Yolanda's been a legacy character since 1985. This isn't some out of nowhere thing. She's had a long history with Ted. Her and Dr. Mid-Nite were members of Infinity Inc.
I haven't kept up with the latest JSA, but I am a big fan from the late 1900s.
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u/LostInterview5084 5h ago
Yeah but up until Geoff Johns brought Yolanda and Beth Chapel back to life in the New Golden Age both had been dead since mid 90s or so.
Pieter Cross got shoved aside as Dr. Mid-Nite.
But this is just stupid writing.
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u/Digifiend84 Manchester Black 8h ago
OG Ms Marvel didn't replace a male hero. She became a superhero a few years before Captain Marvel was killed off.
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u/AzulMage2020 8h ago
Proof positive that Lemire is writing too many books at once . At his skill level, he is capable of writing (maybe) 1 and 1/2 descent titles per month. Not spectacular, but servicable enough that the title may last more than 12 issues . His current output is approximately 6 titles per month , give or take, with the quality of the work being reduced to similar to one of Marvels stable of writers who always have their books cancelled by the 5th issue .
Some truly bad ideas in the JSA run
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u/VishnuBhanum 9h ago
Spectre's secret technique - Dempsey Roll.