The Powerlessness of a God By Theodore Kemna
The Powerlessness of a God
By Theodore Kemna
I recently finished reading the first volume of The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake titled "Crimes and Judgements." This volume, first published as 12 issues between 1992 and 1998, tells a story following Jim Corrigan, aka The Spectre, a deceased hard-boiled 1940s detective tasked by god himself to be the embodiment of his vengeance, to take revenge on those who commit great sins or pose a threat to the earth, and is not allowed to pass onto heaven until he is able to "confront and comprehend evil."
Before this book, the character was seen as an almost unwritable figure in the DC Comics library, with such vast power, for example being able to destroy whole planets or incapacitate Superman without breaking a sweat, it was difficult for most writers to give any stories with him stakes and therefore keep the stories interesting. For roughly 52 years the Spectre was used mainly as a background character or plot device in other character's books, with rare attempts to have the character serve as a protagonist that failed to hold reader's attentions and were inevitably cancelled shortly after they began. This book changed that, eventually running for 62 issues and being both commercially and critically successful. This is largely due, in my opinion, on the writing of John Ostrander, who took a different approach to the character than other writers had, where rather than try to make the steaks bigger and bigger, he told stories that forced the character to make decisions between his role as god's vengeance and his (after)life as Jim Corrigan and themes that showed that even with the powers of a god, The Spectre is ultimately powerless in preventing anything that the universe does not wish him to prevent.
The Spectre engaged in combat, wielding a moon as a mace
This book presents these themes by showing the Spectre falling in love with a mortal woman known as Amy Beitermann, a woman with AIDs destined to be hacked to death by a serial killer within a few weeks. Throughout the book he works desperately to prevent her death, even though he is told many times within the book that "there's nothing anyone can do to change it... no force in heaven or hell." Corrigan's inability to change her fate is seemingly effortlessly juxtaposed by the great and cosmic battles that The Spectre engages and easily wins throughout the story, which only serves to bolster the climax and final act of the book, which even though I won't spoil I'll say provides a unique resolution to the issue without disregarding the overarching themes of the story. Themes of powerlessness are particularly relevant in our modern world, and even though we don't all have the powers of a god or peoples lives in our hands, many people will likely face the feeling of powerlessness at some point in their life, and I think this book, as stated above, does a good job in representing this.
Overall, The Spectre Volume 1 by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake is an excellent read that is able to thrive where many other authors failed and tell an intriguing story using themes of powerlessness with an almost all-powerful character. If this has peaked your interest at all I definitely recommend checking this book out.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog post. You did an excellent job providing background info on the story and the main character without alluding to a spoiler in the book. I agree with you on the theme of hopelessness individuals may experience throughout their lives, and I thought the way you connected that theme to the relevance of it in the modern world, was great. I will be sure to check this book out.
ReplyDeleteI think your blog post is outstanding! I think you did an amazing job explaining the plot of the story in the third paragraph. It really draws me in especially because I think everybody can relate to feeling powerless at some point. Your title also goes along well with your post, and overall this seems like a great read.
ReplyDeleteWow! This blog plost provides amazing details which intrigues me about this story. I love the comparison you made with how this writer approached 'Spectere' compared to previous writers. Because of the blog post, I know understand that readers don't just want a bigger conflict, but they want a conflict that actually matters to the protagonist.
ReplyDeleteI love that interesting picture you put in the middle of the post which shows how powerful 'Spectere' really is.
Ok, before I comment I need you to understand that I am INSANELY biased when it comes to this comment, as I love DC comics and like the Spectre. That being said, superb review of the story. Usually comic book events can be very difficult to explain due to convoluted plots, linkage of different arcs, etc. However, you explain the fundamentals of the Spectre wonderfully and give the reader a good understanding of the inner conflict presented in the series.
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The Spectre approves.
I find it interesting how no one knew how to write a story about The Spectre until John Ostrander came along to put his own spin on the character. The fact that it took 52 years to make a good book about The Spectre means a lot of thought needed to go into it to make the story interesting. Further, because The Spectre can do almost anything--but only at times when the universe wants him to--allows for the book to have multiple twists or moments when new conflicts arrive because The Spectre can no longer wield his powers (man vs. universe). Because of your blog post, I am now inclined to not only read this book but the whole series as well.
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