| Comic Review | Paul Milligan |
Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre #1 (of 3)
Writer: Will Pfeifer
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Colorist: David Baron
After
wreaking so much devastation during Infinite Crisis, The
Spectre realizes that it cannot function properly without a
human host in which to ground itself. Enter former Gotham
City detective Crispus Allen (former because he’s dead) who
is reluctant to take on the task of hosting the spirit of
vengeance. But if joining with The Spectre is the only way
to make a difference, does Allen really have a choice?
Detective Crispus Allen was, by far, my favorite character
in the recently concluded Gotham Central series. He was a
great detective, a good friend to his partner and an all
around solid guy. So you can understand how dismayed I was
when Allen was murdered in the final Gotham Central
story-arc by corrupt crime scene examiner, Jim Corrigan. How
ironic then that Allen was resurrected to become the latest
host for the all-powerful spirit of vengeance, The Spectre,
whose first host was a former cop named Jim Corrigan. Or
perhaps not ironic at all. More than likely it was a
carefully planned series of events by Greg Rucka (writer of
Gotham Central) and the editorial staff at DC Comics.
Whatever the case may be, I’m just happy to see Allen alive
and… well not alive… but around. And he’s the same solid and
inspiring character in death as he was in life. He’s not
whining about how he’s dead and he misses his family. There
are no long speeches about death and the afterlife. Allen
just wants to find a way to make his new situation work for
him. To be able to affect change in the world. In short, he
still wants to do his job. Enter The Spectre, who offers
Allen his only real chance to affect things and bring
criminals to justice.
I’ve long been a fan of series’ writer Will Pfeifer and to
see him tackling one of my favorite characters is a definite
treat. Pfeifer does an excellent job capturing the character
of Allen and takes him in a very interesting new direction.
And at the same time he makes me actually want to read about
The Spectre, a character I’ve never had any real love for.
Add in Cliff Chiang’s solid art-style and amazing
storytelling capabilities, not to mention his scary
interpretation of The Spectre’s wrath, and I’m definitely
hooked in for the rest of this comic and hopefully an
ongoing series, if the sales are good.
Though I’m not so sure about the whole Spectre-with-a-goatee
thing.
Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.
