"Crime and Judgement" Issue No. 4 (1992 Series)

John Ostrander: Writer
Tom Mandrake: Artist
Tom Mandrake: Cover
Todd Klein: Letterer
Dan Raspler: Editor
Digital Chameleon: Colors

Issue's introductory quote
(seen on splash page):
"The love of justice in most men is only the fear of themselves suffering by injustice"
--Francois de la Rochefoucauld

Issue # 4, "Crime and Judgments," is a continuation and deepening of biographical themes first explored last post in issue #3. In issue #3, we got a juicy ton of back story regarding the personal history of Jim Corrigan - seeing in flashback his abusive childhood, his rough-and-tumble career as a New York City police detective, and his romance (if such a word can be used for Corrigan) with Clarice Winston half a century ago. Issue #4 will go much deeper into the Corrigan character, defining and clarifying why the powers in Heaven sent him back to Earth after his murder and, most importantly, why he was chosen to be the Spectre. Further, this issue will also delve, via a rather harsh guided tour by the Spectre, into the soul of social worker, Amy Beitermann. Guys, this one's a whopper!

The Splash Page - Corrigan falls, Spectre rises

Last "iss" (as Stan (the man) Lee used to say), the Spectre transported Amy Beitermann through the spirit world of his past. The two had moved like ghosts, watching the murder of Jim Corrigan by the Gat Benson gang in 1930s New York ("Gat," for those that may not know, was prohibition-era slang for a gun). Issue #3 ended with Amy Beitermann, in spirit form, jumping into the river to follow the cement-filled barrel of Corrigan's coffin right to the bottom - and coming face to face with Corrigan as he died in screaming agony. Whereas issue #3 ended with Corrigan sinking to the bottom of the river (both literally and metaphorically); issue #4 begins with his "rebirth" as the Spectre, as his soul rises into Limbo to face his judgment after his death.

With Beitermann in tow, Corrigan joins others in Limbo; that place of judgment and where all souls go "that cannot relinquish the mortal world. The murdered dead, seeking justice, whose anger cannot let them go on." Even in this hostile place where souls scream for vengeance, Corrigan's fury seems cataclysmic. Standing atop a craggy mountain in Limbo as though preaching to the countless, naked souls swarming below; Corrigan demands to know the fate of Benson - demands Justice! A "voice" speaks to him, telling him that the mortal world no longer concerns him. Even as the Voice (more on this later) is telling him to let go of the world of the living, Corrigan and Amy watch the mortal scene playing out on Earth. "Down there;" we see Corrigan's finance, Clarice Winston and his partner, Waylon, being captured by the Benson gang. It becomes obvious that Benson and his men are going to kill them both after raping Clarice.

As Corrigan's rage becomes nearly incendiary, the Voice assures him that Benson will receive justice in the afterlife (no large surprise, this does very little to appease the raging Corrigan). Finally the Voice asks the big question: "Will you not trust God's justice unless you see it done?" to which Corrigan responds with his fists clenched and his teeth grinding together: "I've seen damn little of God's justice in the world! Mine I know exists!"

"Then you have passed your own judgment," says the voice with ominous simplicity. As streams of brilliant light and divine power cascade over Jim Corrigan's spirit, the Voice tells him that he is deserving of neither Heaven or Hell. He is commanded to walk the Earth as the Spectre - a kind of fulcrum for the wrath of all the murdered dead that seek vengeance.

In the most important moment in the series so far, The voice further tells Corrigan, who is quickly transforming into the ever-enlarging form of the Spectre, that he will walk the Earth confronting evil - and comprehending evil. The Voice commands: "Until you understand why people choose the paths they take, you will wander the face of the Earth, seeking to rid the world of evil -- A task you must ultimately fail." But Corrigan has not heard the last part. So eager is his spirit to reap the whirlwind of vengeance, he rushes back to the mortal world with his new powers. "Wait!" screams Amy Beitermann. "That's not fair. He isn't Listening! He doesn't understand!"

But it's too late. Corrigan, in full wrath, returns to Earth and kills the Benson gang in spectacular fashion (the destruction of Gats Benson is particularly intense - Corrigan/Spectre melts him, both flesh and bone, until the gangster is a puddle of pinkish sludge). But, in a horrible turn of events, his blind rage has caused such a terrifying vortex of violence that his finance, Clarice Winston, is killed in the maelstrom. We see bullets tearing through her bound body and, after the shooting is over and everyone is dead; we see Clarice's dead body hanging Christ-like by her tied wrists as blood forms a large pool under her.

Gat Benson - Judgment Day

"Is this justice?" asks Amy's ghostly presence in this memory of the past. "Is this what you came back to achieve?"

Panic stricken, Corrigan enters Clarice's dead body and, in a beautifully drawn page, follows the woman's spirit toward the light of Heaven. Clarice's spirit struggles with Corrigan, not wishing to return to the living, wanting only to ascend (Corrigan actually grabs the spirit Clarice by her ankle and hauls her back to the mortal world). Clarice's spirit re-enters her mortal form actually cursing Corrigan.

Amy, watching the events of the past with the Spectre, is horrified, feeling that Corrigan - for purely selfish reasons - has denied Clarice Winston the comforts of Heaven. She asks the Spectre directly if Clarice ever got to Heaven (the Spectre has been showing Amy past events). The Spectre can only answer, "I assume so. Such information is not always available to me." Amy becomes enraged by this answer, accusing the Spectre of the same blind ego and hubris that Jim Corrigan was guilty of in life.

"There is no justice unless you see it done?! It's not something you can trust to God, is it? Either Justice or Mercy!"

"Why should I?" demands the Spectre, quickly heating to a boil over Amy's defiance of his power and judgment. This is the second time in this issue that Amy will challenge the Spectre, and it will the the second time she will pay the price - and the cost of her uncompromising nature will be dear this time:

The Spectre lifts his arms and unfolds in the air above him a horrible, vaporous panorama of all of the "sins of Man." Scenes of carnage and death swirl around the pair as Spectre demands that Amy show him one example anywhere in the world of God's mercy or justice. He steps in close to Amy, and she begins taking backward steps.

"Today," he says to her, thrusting his chin at her, "evil is so prevalent that it can be found in everyone's heart. " He suddenly enters her being as a spectral vapor through her eyes (the windows of the soul). Her eyes go completely blank and her mouth goes slack (clearly, this is a rather violent violation upon Amy, done in anger. Later in the book, Corrigan will apologize for the this "assault" on her).

The power of the Spectre - Amy's "assault"

As is typical whenever Spectre enters the soul of a person, he enters a universe that is a particular creation of the mind - a world that reflects how the person sees (always at the center). Spectre becomes immersed in the world created through the prism of another's being. In previous issues, we have seen Spectre smash through the tangled, red, membrane-like vines and the towering fortress of a female character's highly Freudian, sexually frustrated nature (Judith Connelly in "Crimes of Passion" Issue #2); or seen Spectre plunder the high-testosterone, Hyborian age, barbaric fantasies of a corporate raider (William Martindale - "Crimes of Passion" Issue #2). In this issue when penetrating Amy Beitermann's psyche, the Spectre is forced to confront a chivalric inner world of white knights and Prince Charmings; Kings and evil witches. Amy Beitermann reveals her soul to Spectre as a "Once upon a time" fairy tale, complete with herself cast in the tale as the pampered and spoiled princess (Jewish Princess?).

Reading between the metaphors and symbols within this storybook history, we learn that Amy was the only daughter of a stable, happy couple until her father was killed in the Vietnam War ("One day, the king was called away to war in a far-away country. He never came back"). After that her mother, cast upon hard times, became unstable and promiscuous, finally taking her own life when Amy was in high school. Amy worked hard, graduated college, and went to work in New York City. She eventually met and fell in love with a co-worker, Ted James ("He was a handsome, smart - a real Prince Charming - and he made me feel like a princess again"). They married, but Amy quickly learned that Ted was far from faithful, having dozens of affairs ever after their marriage (he had numerous "dance partners").

After the dissolution of her marriage, Amy Beitermann entered into a bad period where she sought to hide from her unhappiness through numerous partners and sexual encounters ("I went dancing myself, with many different men, looking for another Prince Charming"). This promiscuous history leads to the most startling revelation in the series thus far: Ted, her former husband, had AIDS during their marriage and had passed it on to Amy who, in turn, infected many of her sexual partners with the virus - and many have since developed AIDS and died.

The end of "happily ever after"

"All these dead mean," says Spectre, as he and Amy stand among a littering of corpses, all grey and still in the ruined, grey palace of Beitermann's memories.

"And I am responsible," says Amy, head bowed. A wind, as if produced by her own shame, tears and tatters her royal, once-elegant dress.

Spectre, who is forever unambiguous when it comes to "sin," simply accuses Amy of murder. "Don't you deserve punishment?" he asks her, working himself into full-blown Spectre rage. "Had you used discretion in the first place, these men would be alive!"

Incensed and hurt, Amy demands the the Spectre look into his own soul. Spectre has just told her that evil lurks in everyone so, Amy reasons, it must reside in Jim Corrigan/Spectre as well. She demands he must also recognize the "violence, the anger, the hate - the evil" that dwell within himself. "Have you ever confronted that!?" she asks.

It is indicative of the growing influence that Amy Beitermann holds for the Spectre that he considers the question. So much so, in fact, that his rage dissipates. He transforms back into the human spirit, James Corrigan. "No," he says simply in answer.

Ever the social worker, Amy advises Corrigan, "Look past the Spectre. You are not just the Spectre. Look past your Father . . ."

Amy's words send Corrigan into his own hall of memories, where he remembers suffering the final beating from his father's razor strop (we learned last issue that Corrigan's father was physically abusive and a fire-and-brimstone religious zealot into the bargain). In his memory, Corrigan knocks his father down and takes the razor strop away from him. He beats his father savagely in return and then runs away from home.

The comic book ends with Corrigan and Amy returning to the mortal, present day realm. As they walk along the (East) river front in the soft night, Corrigan asks forgiveness for putting Amy through the terrible events the lay in her memory, making her relive them all (significantly, he refers to the forcing of his powers on her as an "assault." Truly, in many of the panels in this issue, Beitermann has appeared as wan and haggard as any victim of a sexual violation. The Spectre has, after all, "entered" her in a most violent way). Amy agrees to forgive Corrigan, if he will first forgive himself. "I don't think I can do that," says Corrigan.

Sure you can, says Amy. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone is human. "Even you, Jim Corrigan."

What a great issue!

"We're only human, after all."

The Cool Stuff Part I: Particular Judgment and the meeting with God

As I have said in earlier posts, this 1992 Ostrander/Mandrake incarnation of the Spectre dealt with the Christian/Religious aspects of the Spectre myth more directly that any other series. This brings an extra intensity, a fascination, to the storytelling. This Spectre run is fascinating in the same way, and for the same reasons, that Dante's Divine Comedy is fascinating, or Milton's Paradise Lost: It gives us a presentation of the classic Christian structure of the divine universe. Within this series we shall meet Satan; the archangel, Michael - see Heaven and Hell as literal landscapes - and even hear the voice of God or Christ. This series will also feature in later issues a Catholic priest (Father Richard Craemer, formerly of DC's Suicide Squad - also penned by Ostrander) as an ongoing character; and the character will be one of the most complex, believable and heroic men of God Comics has ever known. Whatever one's belief system - whether one thinks the Christian universe view is false, strictly mythological, or literally true; makes little difference with regard to the sheer interest and entertainment the series provides. Even if the reader is a fervent atheist, what we have here is a great graphic storytelling.

In this issue, for instance, we witness the moment when Corrigan's spirit ascends to Limbo for the Particular Judgment (for those that may not know - in the Christian Eschatology, the Particular Judgment is the judgment the soul receives immediately after the death of the body (the Final or General judgment comes to all souls at the end of days - the Apocalypse). While in Limbo, Corrigan hears, and actually speaks with, the Voice of God or perhaps Christ, the Son. Now, while writer Ostrander never defines the voice specifically by name, the circumstances leave little doubt who Corrigan is, at least conceptually, being judged by. Further, as I've mentioned elsewhere, writer Ostrander is a former theology student, so it is a also fair to assume he, at the very least, had a traditional Christian point of reference for his fine storytelling.

This all makes for great fun. To see page after page given to images of Heaven - or Hell - of souls ascending or descending, is thrilling what ever the belief system of the reader. We can love this issue, and series, for the grandeur of its ambitions - the epic nature of its scope.

The Cool Stuff Part II: Confront . . . and comprehend

Crucial in this series also was the moment when God passes judgment on Corrigan and commands that he return to Earth as the Spectre. His mission is to find and punish evil and, far more importantly as it will turn out, to understand the root causes of evil in man. God demands further that Spectre may not consider his mission over until all evil has been cleansed from the face of the Earth; "A task you must ultimately fail." What is significant here is that Corrigan does not or cannot hear the subtleties of this judgment - he only revels in the opportunity to punish evil with the powers of a demigod. In effect, Corrigan will behave throughout this series as though he were on a holy mission from God when, in fact, his judgment has the weight of Old Testament curse.

The Spectre and Corrigan, condemned for all eternity to be intertwined, are cursed by God. Not blessed.

The Cool Stuff Part III: The things made clear

Like a beautifully designed puzzle, several of the pieces begin to fall into place with this issue. First of all, we discover in one dramatic "flashback" the primary reason God found Jim Corrigan so suitable to the Spectre cloak. When we see a young Jim Corrigan beating his father with his own razor strop into unconsciousness; he tells his bleeding father, "I don't forgive, you hear me, pa? I don't forgive you. I don't forgive your God (Corrigan as a child was often beaten for his "sinful" ways)." As Corrigan beats his father, he does so to a chanting rhythm: "I . . . Do not . . . Forgive!" God has chosen Corrigan as the perfect wrath of God because he cannot forgive - he does not have the capacity to forgive even himself anything. Therefore, not only is Corrigan the perfect instrument for the punishment of Evil as Spectre, it is through endless punishment that Corrigan's spirit, dwelling within the Spectre, may learn the necessity of forgiveness (which is the real purpose of God's judgment upon him).

"I do not forgive!"

Likewise we discover the core of Amy Beitermann's need to believe in the power of human redemption - the sources of her belief in the potential for every human soul to move from darkness to light: Her own history is so filled with human devastation, wrought by her own choices, she must believe in forgiveness of sin. She has the weight of countless men's lives on her soul. She must believe her own "sins" are forgivable.

Also, we must not forget that Amy's HIV Positive status fits nicely into a very ominous part of the story puzzle, one that dovetails with the ongoing subplot of the serial killer known as "The Reaver;" who we know from previous issues is targeting young women with AIDS or have tested HIV Positive. Very ominous indeed.

Next: The Spectre battles an old foe in "A Rage in Hell." See you soon.