Talk:Spectre (comics)

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BWANASIMBA 23:21, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

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Contents 1 Article Title 2 Upcoming (November, 2004) events 3 Books of Magic 4 Gotham Central 5 The Spectre's powers 6 Image 7 Excessive Links 8 Publication history 9 References to Ghost Rider and Amalgam

[edit] Article Title

This page should be named The Spectre, with a redirect from Spectre (comics). The Spectre is the term under which this character is best known (much like The Flash), and the title his series are invariably named. So we should keep the definite article here. -mhr 16:44, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I disagree. This page is more about the Spectre the character rather than the specific series The Spectre, and one would not capitalize the definite article in running text. For example, quoting from the article, "Ostrander placed the Spectre in complex, ambiguous situations". —Lowellian (talk)

I disagree with Lowellian and agree with mhr. Covers and splash pages always name the character as "The Spectre," series in which the character stars are always titled "The Spectre," and whenever another character mentions him, he is called "the Spectre." It is never simply "Spectre." No, you would not capitalize the definite article in running text, but that doesn't change the fact that the definite article is always there. Check your example: "Ostrander placed the Spectre in complex, ambiguous situations." The character's name is "The Spectre" and the article should be retitled to match. Canonblack 20:28, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

Anyone want to mention his involvement in Kingdom Come?

[edit] Upcoming (November, 2004) events

Someone who is actively following the comics needs to remember to update this entry after the upcoming return of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern series.

[edit] Books of Magic

Spectre is related to Raguel god of vengeance in books of magic. He is one of the Archangels.

--69.255.16.162 21:49, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gotham Central

I would add the Kingdom Come involvement if I had the time. Are you guys aware of the crooked forensic cop in Gotham Central also named Jim Corrigan? Who also bears a resemblance to our dear avenging spirit? According to the previews, there is going to be a Day of Vengeance tie in in the comic and shortly before the conclusion of Day of Vengeance apparently he is going to be finally hunted down. Will he be the new Spectre? Was he always?

The comic drops subtle clues from time to time such as... the smoke from his cigarrette regularly forming a "S" and him mentioning that a part of him died. I'll go back in my issues, although I think it's too much work for something that is going to wrap up in just a few months.

[edit] The Spectre's powers

I'm thinking of adding a list of The Spectre's powers because I feel "divine mystical enhancements granting near omnipotent abilities" is too vague. From what I've seen and read, The Spectre's powers include intangiblity, flight, invisibility, the ability to inhabit and animate inanimate objects, the ability to sense the intentions of people in the place where they plan to carry those intentions out, the ability to absorb magic, the ability to change size, the ability to transform matter, knowledge of many secrets of the universe and its inhabitants, and, sometimes, the power to glimpse into the future. Did I miss anything?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Evernut (talk • contribs).

I like the current definition. It's intentionaly vague, which seems to fit into his range of abilities. And he can do a few more things, such as travel interdimensionally (trips to Earth-2 to Earth-1), split into multiple, concurrent versions of himself, access dimensions adjacent to the afterlife (but cannot go to his eternal reward yet), superhuman strength, prevent planets from colliding, fire very powerful energy (or force) bolts, etc ...

In his case, it would be meaningful to list his limitations, such as:

• Complience to "The Presence"
• Cannot create life from nothingness (has to use the "Ring of Life" and, even then, must ask for permission)
• Vulnerable to the Spear of Destiny
  • He used to be forced to bond w/ a person in order to operate on the Earth's plane. How he managed to operate w/o bonding w/ a human during the "Day of Vengence" storyline has yet to be explained.

AlGorup 15:14, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the input! I also remembered that he can merge with other beings (I saw an issue where the Hal Jordan Spectre was merging with the JLA members one by one to help them defeat some sort of alien creatures they were fighting). How about if I left the current definition in the stastics box, but added a section which began with, "The Spectre has divine mystical enhancments granting near omnipotent abilities. These include, but are not limited to, . . . " and then listed the powers and limtations we've just listed? Would that be all right?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Evernut (talk • contribs).

I would keep it as is. If you wanted to edit it, I would suggest "Divine mystical enhancments, whose scope ranges from the dictates of the Presence". Otherwise, if you get too specific, you'll either have to mention each & every power as seen from every comic that the Spectre appeared. That would be a very long list and under constant revision, as his capabilities have changed quite a bit over the decades that he was published. If I would guess, I predict that his current power level will again be limited by his recents actions in the Day of Vengence.

AlGorup 22:55, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

You have an excellent point. I'll leave it as it is.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Evernut (talk • contribs).

[edit] Image

According to Kelly Martin: "A cover image should only be used to illustrate an article about that issue. Do not use a full cover image to illustrate an article about a character." [1]
—Lesfer ^(talk/@) 03:21, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

That doesn't mean Kelly is right, though. Steve block The wikipedian meme 20:22, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

And here I am to apologize for assuming Kelly's statement was definitive. My mistake, sorry guys. DrBat, if you think the JSA cover image fits as a better illustration for the SHB than the current one, feel free to change it back. Regards and once again, sorry for my mistake. —Lesfer ^(talk/@) 20:54, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Excessive Links

This article has way too many links to unrelated items. For example, in the Modern Age Version section, I cannot see how links to Wrongful conviction, New York State, Atonement and the 1920s articles in Wikipedia are of any benefit to the readers of this article. The link to ethnic cleansing could be useful if it is a term that a reader is not familiar with, but the others are a bit overkill. Unless someone has a specific concern with keeping them in because they provide some information relevant to the article, I will remove them within the next month, to give everyone a chance to review and decide. Slavlin 22:35, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

I had noticed some of those when I made a pass through looking at the grammar and formatting. I took out a lot of redundant links in the main body, but left those as either 1) a redirect someone though important for additional background, or 2) a redirect for a word/phrase that was felt to be uncommon. As such I wasn't sure if they should be trimmed or not.

Given that the years are inconsistent, some decades linked, some note, I doubt there is a good reason to have those links.

As for the rest... it might be worthwhile to list the non-comic book industry & character links to see the feed back on which are reasonable and which are fluff. — J Greb 23:13, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Publication history

This article is in desperate need of Publication history. The lack is very apparent in the 1960's paragraph of the Silver Age section, when it's not even mentioned where the character was revived. CovenantD 07:08, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References to Ghost Rider and Amalgam

I would like to request that whoever keeps removing this information STOP doing so. This information is accurate, and as Amalgam ties the two characters together, it is worth noting. If possible, I would like to request that somebody remove the ability to remove this section from the Spectre, as it is annoying to see information which is valid and which has further information about the Spectre, or an alternate version thereof, removed and having to constantly restore it.

Warwolf 19:46, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Amalgam tied many characters together, such as Dr. Doom and Doomsday, Green Lantern and Iron Man, and others who were very little alike. The Spectre is omnipotent, while Ghost Rider is not. Spectre is a servant of God's wrath, GR is demon-possessed biker. Spectre oversees the DC multiverse and passes judgement on those he deems worthy of punishment. That makes him more like Marvel's Living Tribunal, who has been compared to the Spectre and even aided the Spectre during Amalgam Comics. BWANASIMBA 23:21, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

A few other points:

• Since the Amalgam "Speed Demon" characters are melds of three Flashes, Etragin, and two Ghost Rider, there is very little reason to include them in an article dealing with the Spectre. As such they should be kept to those articles.
• The "Night Spectre" character is, at best, an alternate, or "other", version. And at best, it deserves a minimal notation in this article. Personal prefernace would be something akin to the section in the Martian Manhunter. Like this:
  

The character won the ''1961 Alley Award as the Hero/Heroine Most Worthy of Revival'' and
the ''1964 Alley Award for Strip Most Desired for Revival''.

==Analogues==
*'''[[Living Tribunal]]''': The personification of comic balance in Mavel Comics universe.
*'''Night Spectre''': An combination character from ''[[Speed Demon (comics)|Speed Demon]]'',
part of the [[Amalgam Comics]] project joint published by DC and Marvel.

==Awards==

• The section equating Spectre and the Ghost Rider comes off as "fan specualtaion" unless it has citations explicetly mentioning that: 1) The Johnny Blaze character was created to echo the Spectre; 2) The Daniel Ketch character was created to echo the Spectre; 3) Writers deleberatly moved one character to more closely mirror the other; and/or 4) the title "Spirit of Vengeance" was appled to one character to under cut or tie to the other.

Thanks for listening — J Greb 23:41, 27 November 2006 (UTC)