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Jackie Lucin Ms. Bell English IV/Period 6 8/27/2013 The Spectre History of Comic Books Comics have been around forever. The earliest known comic book is The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck which was originally from Europe tracing back to 1827. Years later it was reprinted in New York in 1831 in English making it the first comic book printed in America. Ever since then, comic book companies started forming rapidly. The most well-known are Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Top Cow Productions and many so forth. The most famous writers and artists in the graphic novel industry are Bob Kane and Bill Finger who created Batman and Jerry Siegel and Joe Shustler who created Superman. Graphic novels have had a huge impact in America, there is even Comic Con, which is a huge convention held in San Diego, CA where people dress up as their favorite characters and can go and meet anyone from mainstream all the way to indie graphic novels. Comic books are a new genre that is another form of visual expression and entertainment. Comic books, depending on specific ones are also very valuable if kept in perfect condition. One graphic novel Action Comics, No. 1 is valued at $1,500,000.00! That shows really how valuable and cherished comic books are to people. Even though comics have a geeky reputation they still have value and an interesting background to it. Superhero The superhero and comic book I have chosen is The Spectre, a dark hero that visits the Wrath of God upon evil men. The Spectre is attached to a soul of a deceased human and goes out

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to retrieve justice and vengeance for victims of crimes committed. In Spectres current form he is attached to the identity of Jim Corrigan, a NYC cop in the 1940s who was attacked by Gats Benson a mobster. Jim was shoved into a barrel filled with cement where he was then thrown into the river; he then later choked on liquid cement and died. Corrigan, unable to accept his death while the people who killed him remained free, God decided to have him merge with the Spectre entity and become the newest incarnation of the Spirit of Vengeance. Corrigan used his powers and abilities to return to Earth to attack Gats and other mobsters. The Spectres powers and abilities range from being able to control animals, weather, and object to fire balls and immortality. The Spectre can be injured by excess force of magic, such as the Spear of Destiny due to the blood of Christ. When the human host moves on, the current Spectre will be no more, and the human spirit and the Divine Wrath will separate. Certain limits forbid the Spectre from walking the mortal plane without a human host, Also the Spectre is incapable of judging singular individuals, if the individual has not done any harm Writer/Artists Bernard Bailey (1916-1996) was an artist, writer and owned his own comic shop in the 40s. He teamed up with Jerry Siegel to form The Spectre. Not much is known about him besides the fact that he also co-created the DC comic Hourman and he published his own company Baily Publications. Jerry Siegel (1914-1996) on the other hand is very well known and famous for creating Superman. Jerry Siegel was born in Cleveland, Ohio and the youngest of 6 children to Jewish Immigrants. His father was a painter and who encouraged for him to pursue his skills and later on when Jerry met Joe Shustler in high school, they together formed Superman .He is also

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famous for his other works Doctor Occult, Ultra-Humanite, and Lex Luthor. Although Spectre did not receive as much attention as it should have, it still has its fame and unique charm to it. Summary The Spectre comic is about Jim Corrigan who you already know that died and was resurrected as the Spectre entity, is a detective figuring out who is starting a fire epidemic happening in the city of Cliffland. A tenant has died in a recent fire and Spectre visits heaven to find out who started it. He eventually learns that a man known as the fire bug has been starting them. Spectre catches up to the fire bug in a long chase after him and the fire bug gives in and reveals a man named Nick Brant has been hiring him to do the evil acts of crime. At that same moment Nick Brant is threatening an innocent citizen, attacks him, and sets a blaze to his home. The Spectre shows up saves the man and chases Nick down in a long cat vs. mouse hunt and eventually catches up to him in the car but Nick manages to escape but finally gets caught. Spectre grabs a hold of Nick, learns about an evil Doctor, Mr. Cragg who owned the previous tenants building who has set up the fire scheme to get insurance illegally, then Spectre starts to read Nicks mind and learns about a lady with her baby in a burning building. Quickly, Spectre makes a dash for it and saves the damsel in distress and finally towards the ending Spectre, in his Jim Corrigan disguise, catches up with Dr. Cragg, confronts him on insurance fraud but gets attacked from a deadly explosive test tube that gets thrown at him. Suddenly Spectre appears and justice is served as he takes down the evil dour and everything in Cliffland turns normal again. Review Even though the Spectre traces back to the 40s, I feel that it still is an entertaining graphic novel to read. Its a shame that it didnt last as long because this had real potential and

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has a very well written story background. Its simple yet you can still feel the excitement in the story. The Spectre is different from the mainstream superheroes you see on TV and movies. It has a dark and sinister feel about it but at the end it is just another hero saving the world from injustice and crime. His super abilities have a wide range of variety making him powerful and having an advantage in almost any situation. Other characters in the story I feel also play an important role. Nick Brant and Dr. Cragg play a bigger role then the fire bug and tenant. They create intensity in the plot making you sit at the edge of your seat biting your nails and making you want to read more. I think Bernard Bailey and Jerry Siegel did a wonderful job at this comic. I wish they had the chance to make more sequels but despite its short lived fame and reputation it holds value and success. Education.jackie95@gmail.com

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Works Cited Bellis, Mary. "The History of Comic Books." About.com Inventors. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2013. <http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/comics.htm>. "Comic Vine - Comic Reviews, Videos, Forums and Wiki." Comic Vine - Comic Reviews, Videos, Forums and Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2013. <http://www.comicvine.com/>. "Jerry Siegel." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0796950/>. "Lambiek." Lambiek.net. Lambiek, 23 Sept. 2011. Web. 30 Aug. 2013. <http://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/baily_bernard.htm>. "The Platinum Age 1897 - 1938." History of Comics. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2013. <http://www.thecomicbooks.com/old/Platinum.html>. "Spectre." (Character). CBS Interactive Inc., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2013.