Today's Character: The Spectre
The Character: The Spectre is a Golden Age DC Superhero and founding member of the Justice Society of America, the WW2 predecessor to the Justice League. He's also an angel, sort of. This is where his powers come from. The Spectre is God's angel of vengeance and judgement, given almost unlimited holy power to exact justice on criminals. Often punishing them in ironic and creative ways. So how'd he end up palling around with superheroes in the 40s? I'll explain.
See there was this hard-boiled cop back in 40s New York called Jim Corrigan. Corrigan was your standard pulp noir protagonist, unwilling to put up with any bullshit, bringing in criminals no matter the cost, unable to say no to a beautiful woman even though she looks like trouble, etc. One day Corrigan tried to bring down some Mafia Goons, but like many honest cops taking on the Mob they got the better of him. So they sealed him a barrel of concrete and dumped his ass in the Hudson. But as Corrigan slowly drowned, God bonded his spirit to the Angel of Vengeance and sent him back to Earth. Why? Who knows, he's God. Mysterious ways and all that. Now Jim Corrigan's ghost walks the streets of New York, continuing his work as a cop. And when he must work outside the law, he punishes criminals as The Spectre.
The Pitch: Okay, first of all know I'm thinking of this as a Vertigo series. It's not necessarily connected to the regular DC Universe. But since the Spectre is one of those guys who's so powerful in regular continuity he only shows up in the most desperate situations, it's not much of a problem. Anyway, here's my idea. We start off much the same, Jim Corrigan 40's noir cop dumped in the river by mobsters. Once again God bonds the Angel of Vengeance to his soul and sends them back to punish criminals. It's just God didn't send them back to 1940s New York. He sent them to 1970s New York.
Now before anybody jumps down my throat, yes I decided that because that's what DC Animation did in the Spectre short from a few years back*. But it just works so well thematically. The 70s were a turbulent time in America, the morning after the high of the 60s. The baby boomers' utopian dreams had failed to come true, they had upset the base and left no foundation to stand on. The culture clash continued and it started turning violent with incidents like the Kent State shootings. The Cold War continued to drag on and so did Vietnam, despite its unpopularity. Nixon and Watergate had led to suspicion and distrust of Washington. It was a marked contrast to the 1940s, with its solidarity during the war and "All in this together" attitude. Where the government could do no wrong and the war was unquestionable. This is where we find Jim Corrigan, now a man out of time. But unlike Captain America who found his old school values at odds with the culture of the time, Corrigan is adjusting fine. He's still a cop, now he's just Dirty Harry. Still hard-boiled and willing to go outside the bounds of the law. The red tape and corruption in the police is worse now than in the 40s, so he just has to work harder to bring criminals to justice.
In addition, there was much religious upheaval in the 70s. People began to question long held religious traditions as the culture became more secularized. The worst kind of atmosphere for an in-the-flesh angel. And while God was dead, the Devil was making a comeback. Movies like Rosemary's Baby, The Omen and The Exorcist had people wondering about the Devil's influence in the world and almost in reaction to Christian decline, Satanism was becoming widespread. Which is where our villain comes in. And if the Spectre is an angel, our villain needs to be a demon. Enter Azmodus, a powerful Lord of Hell. Azmodus has come to Earth and taken the form of an Anton LaVey-style Satanist Church leader, gathering followers and spreading the influence of Hell on Earth. Which he's having great success with, playing into the nihilistic and hedonistic Party 'til Doomsday atmosphere of the decade. He's the only recurring villain of the series able to actually go toe to toe with the Spectre. Matching heavenly power with hellish power.
Plus, having demons and angels opens us up to use some of the great 70s horror milieu. Stuff like Amityville haunted houses, Wicker Man cults, and Christopher Lee style Vampires. Give our hero some more supernatural threats to counter balance regular crooks and mobsters (which also saw a resurgence in the 70s with movies like The French Connection, The Taking of Pelham 123, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and of course The Godfather).
Before I move on, just a quick note on how the Spectre himself would appear in this series. I'd want to get rid of his gloves, boots and swim trunks and see him like Alex Ross painted him in Kingdom Come, just a naked white dude in a big Todd McFarlane cloak. If his crotch has to be shown for any reason, he'll have a loincloth like this excellent fan art above. It actually makes him look more like a medieval angel. Jim Corrigan would of course dress normally.
By now, you've grasped my basic idea here. Dropping the old school cop/holy agent of God into the crime-ridden urban hellhole of 70s New York. This setting gives us great story opportunities. Imagine the Spectre involved in stuff like The Shooting of John Lennon or the '77 Blackout. The dirty punk scene at CBGB and Sid Vicious killing his girlfriend. And the Son of Sam killing spree. That's another thing, the 70s were when "serial killer" became a household term. Guys like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy were inspirations for Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. With these "creative" killers, wouldn't it be interesting to see the Spectre get creative on them? And while they weren't in New York, this was also the era of Charles Manson and the Jonestown massacre. More crime and violence tied to philosophy, tying back into the religious subtext of the character.Image to the right by Dean Trippe.
So that's my idea. Mixing the crime thrillers and horror movies of 70s cinema with the real world dangers of New York at worst and pitting them against our hero, Dirty Harry with the angry fist of God in his back pocket. A supernatural police procedural. Life on Mars meets The Exorcist.
*Which is a cool little short. I recommend it if you want to get a feel for the character.
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