Retro Review -- Fleisher & Aparo's Spirit of Vengeance!
First Impressions:
There was a series of comics by the incomparable Jim Aparo (the Shadow, Batman, etc.) in The Spectre, the spirit of vengeance and his alter ego, detective Jim Corrigan. The cover was well-done: giant squid with a giant eye, devouring the bad guys with the Spectre supervising his macabre work!
Michael Fleisher (Jonah Hex) wrote another great story, showing the various ways the Spectre puts the bad guys away.
Lead-in Story:
The Gasmen and the Spectre takes us to a car show where some guys in gas masks indiscriminately kill the spectators with poison gas. We then see the crazed Baron who thinks it's still World War II, wants a billion dollars or more will die.
Detective Corrigan volunteers to make the drop. And he's following by intrepid reporter (a look-alike clone!) Crawford of Newsbeat Magazine.
When he meets the bad guys, Corrigan becomes the Spectre. As bullets fly through him, he makes a drawing tool enlarge to giant size and impales two guys (EEEAAHHHH!!).
As the Spectre goes after Field Marshall Offal making a sea retreat, he grows a squid to giant size and "scrunch", one fine snack. And the lines are great: "some me will always choose the path of evil...! But beyond the shadows of their black souls burns the white-hot flame of unearthly vengeance...!"
Tame Aquaman Back-story:
Back story is a tame Aquaman tale -- when Aquaman considers a robot to take over his other duties, Aqualad, considering his king's behavior strange, goes for a swim but discovers a danger to the dome that only Aquaman can handle. Though Aqualad swims back and says he cannot handle the "hideous creature" alone, he disappears after page 3. Quite a plot hole!
Bottom Line - Sticker Shock!:
Love this stuff! The weird Adventure mags were published with numbers 431 through issue 440. This is a great collectible series to pick up, collectors. Overstreet Price Guide for 436 is $45.00 in near mint condition.