Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Spectre

Okay, I said I would be working on the Bumble Bee painting today, but I got sidetracked. I had another exciting bout of insomnia last night. I stayed up until 3:30 am but I was not unproductive. One of the things I stared working on was this piece. When I got up this morning I jumped back on it.
I remember picking up Adventure Comics when the Spectre began his run headlining the comic. Jim Aparo was one of my favorite artists from that time and he was drawing the Spectre stories. These were the ones where the Spectre did horrible things to horrible people. Pretty tough stuff considering the Comic Code Authority of the time. There have been a few changes as to who the Spectre is but for me the Spectre will always be dead cop Jim Corrigan. You have to wonder though, what they were thinking when decided his costume should be underwear, booties, gloves and a hood, cape, high collar combination. Yikes!

This piece was done for fun and for those that might be interested, it will be auctioned on eBay starting tonight. My seller ID is: gene_gonzales.


7 comments:

akamalcolm said...

Very nice Gene! I love the detail of the skulls in his cape. After getting the Ostrander/Mandrake series I went back and found those Adventure issues you mentioned. Some great Aparo stuff there.

Gary M. Peiffer said...

Gene,

No wonder you have insomnia, this guy is a bit scary. I do like the skulls on the cape, agreat motif!

Gary

Karen said...

Did I cause insomnia by getting you thinking about the Spectre? Sorry! :D

Unknown said...

Wow, that's an awesome take on The Spectre, Gene!

I liked the Ostrander/Mandrake Spectre series a great deal -- but nothing beats the classic Michael Fleisher/Aparo stuff!

DC reprinted some of those stories as 'Wrath of The Spectre' some years back. Cool stuff, far ahead of it's time.

Gene Gonzales said...

akamalcolm - Thanks. I never read the Ostrander issues but I did just order the Wrath Of The Spectre TB that came out a few years ago.

Gary - Thanks! :)

Karen - Actually you mentioning the Spectre did make me come up with idea. :) But it wasn't the cause of my insomnia. :)

Jon - I used to have the original run of Adventure Comics with the Spectre. I didn't know about the TPB. But I have now ordered it. Thanks! :)

Craig Zablo said...

I never read The Spectre, but I do like your drawing a lot.

Gene Gonzales said...

Thanks Craig!