Day of Vengeance (Countdown to Infinite Crisis) | Bill Willingham

Day of Vengeance (Countdown to Infinite Crisis) | Bill Willingham | Is magic evil?

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Day of Vengeance (...

	Day of Vengeance (Countdown to Infinite Crisis) Bill Willingham DC Comics, 2005 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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An Insane Spectre Vs. The Forces Of Magic

The Spectre is the Wrath Of God, an immensely poweful entity charged by the Creator of the Universe with avenging the innocent and bringing righteous vengeance upon the evil. Unfortunately, despite all his power, the Spectre isn't the same as God, and can makes mistakes, even become corrupted. The being who served as the Spirit Of Vengeance before the Spectre was Eclipso, who went to extremes in his mission and became wholly corrupt, eventually becoming one of the deadliest villains in the universe. Early in the existance of Eclipso's successor, the Spectre, the forces of Heaven saw that the same thing could happen again, and came up with the idea of splitting the charge given to the Spectre by binding him to a mortal as an 'anchor'. Knowing mortals tempered Spectre's tendency to go overboard, and also enabled him to more directly be a part of the world.

Without going into even more of the character's epic back history, it's enough to say that "Day Of Vengeance" begins with the Spectre totally unhinged. He's lost successive human 'hosts' over the years as they went on to the afterlife or were de-bonded from Spectre; and all the Spirit Of Vengeance's efforts have been unable to stop evil from occuring. And thus we find in Day Of Vengeance # 1 a Spectre far removed from his original purpose: he's now a merciless creature of destruction, killing in retaliation not only for really heinous acts of evil, but for shockingly minor transgressions as well. Into this already volatile situation comes the new female incarnation of Eclipso (the Eclipso entity takes on the gender of whoever its current host is), who has decided not to take on the universe directly, but to influence the unbalanced Spectre into acting on her behalf. Eclipso convinces the Spectre - currently in so much turmoil that he's unable to communicate with the hereafter and is desperately searching for someone to give him his marching orders - that magic is the actual source of all evil in the universe. And thus the stage is set for possibly the most powerful single character DC has ever created to go to war against all magic, everywhere, seeking its destruction.

Numerous characters have sought to change the whole universe; the Spectre is one of the few who might actually be able to do so, especially with the also-incredibly-powerful Eclipso on his side. The Spectre's strikes range across the universe and through adjacent dimensions, and it's at a strange bar on the cusp of various realties - where numerous magical beings have flocked to find a temporary hiding place - that an unlikely group comes together as the Shadowpact to attempt the impossible by opposing the Spectre together. This group - Ragman, Nightshade, Detective Chimp (yes, seriously), The Enchantress, the Oblivion Bar's owner Jim Rook (aka Nightmaster) and its bouncer, Blue Devil - is in way over its heads, but much more powerful characters like Dr. Fate and the wizard Shazam are already involved; and who on Earth is Detective Chimp looking for in a small American town that he claims may be even More powerful than the Spectre??

The 6 issues of the Day Of Vengeance limited series reprinted here are awesome in and of themselves, but if you read only this you're missing out on a lot of the big picture, much more so than with some of the other crossovers. The most important books, by far, to have to go along with this are JSA #s 73-75, available in the Trade Paperback JSA: Black Vengeance, wherein the Spectre takes the fight to the Black Adam-ruled nation of Kahndahq. JSA # 77 (in JSA: Mixed Signals) is also marked as Day Of Vengeance, and it along with JSA 76 from the same volume (marked as an OMAC Project tie-in) actually figure into a few of the paths that were leading to Infinite Crisis. Blood Of The Demon #s 6 & 7 are also Day Of Vengeance tie-ins, although are not, in my opinion, quite as integral to the whole story.

Now, the problem of which order to read the books in, should one decide to get the whole saga: there really isn't a definitive answer, but that's because they've been put together on a flexible framework, where there are several points with the 6-issue Day Of Vengeance in which other events Could be inserted. For JSA 73-75, my best guess is that they happen fairly early, before the catastrophe of Hungary. But the Hungary angle enters midway through issue 2 of DOV, so reading them, say, after DOV # 2 and before # 3 means you're getting things a bit out of order (which isn't nearly as irritating as it must sound actually; a lot of comics nowadays tell their stories in non-linear fashion - DOV # 2 itself flashes back before DOV # 1 to show what happened before the Spectre's rampage began). JSA 73-75 theoretically could fit in between DOV #s 4 and 5, and that may be the order in which a lot of people would like to read them. JSA 77 and the Blood Of The Demon issues are at an indefinate place other than that they happen near the very end of the event. Of course, added on to this in the unneccesary difficulty within DC trade Paperbacks of telling exactly where one issue ends and the next begins - they all flow through like one big book without the issues being divided by cover reprints (like Marvel's collections and the collections of some other publishers are). That works great in collections like "Justice" or "Green Lantern: Rebirth" where it's all one self-contained story, but can be distracting in collections whose issues tie in to issues outside of themselves, or even collections that just reprint several distinct stories. Once you're used to it (most people reading this probably are) it's not hard to figure it out, but I imagine it's a pain in the neck for newer readers (although certainly not enough of a hindrance that it should drive anyone away).

"Day Of Vengeance" - either taken in its entirety or just counting the 6 'main' issues collected here - is a dark and electrifying big-scale epic, with surprisingly effective doses of humor injected liberally (I suppose that making a character named Detective Chimp a main player demands some humor, but I wouldn't have thought the comedic elements would fit well with the overall apocalyptic tone). Leading into Infinite Crisis, this was one of the best arcs from one of DC's most exciting times, and an extraordinary display of imagination (check out some of the 'alternate dimensions' affected by the happenings) and emotionally-charged action.

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Is magic evil?

After finishing Day of Vengeance and Villains United, one inescapable conclusion that quickly came to mind was that both were designed more as vehicles for their own respective monthly comics than as an integral part of Infinite Crisis. In regards to DofV, the basic premise of the Spectre's desire to destroy everything magic due to it allegedly being the root of all evil is a bit thin and only loosely ties in with IC. The cast of players, consisting mostly of D list characters, does have an entertaining chemistry and dynamic, although on an individual basis there are stronger elements than others, the most intriguing being Detective Chimp, Enchantress, Ragman, and Nightshade. The appeal of the team as a whole would have benefitted from a reduction in their ranks in order to further flesh out each member's personality, and also from the addition of some star power along the lines of Dr. Fate or Zatanna. This however might have detracted from the book's possible purpose, forming a group of no names for their own ongoing series. Bill Willingham's workmanlike script works well enough, although the overall mystical element could have been explored deeper. One problem encountered when writing about magical characters in general is the overall lack of knowledge by many fans as to the parameters of their powers. It is difficult to effectively write about someone as mighty as the Spectre and involve the reader in it when most really don't know what it takes to defeat him; the concluding confrontation between him and Shazam being a prime example of that. This story may not have tread on any new or exciting magical terrain, but overall was an enjoyable read which also planted seeds for the forthcoming series.

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Graphic SF Reader

This is partly an excuse to have a talking ape, but is also one of the hyped prequel mini-series before DC's mega crossover, Infinite Crisis. This one has magic as a theme, with a human hostless Spectre going all medieval on a whole pile of magic users arses, seeing them as corrupt and bad. He is looking at bringing in a new age of magic.

It is up to a motley band, The Shadowpact, ,to try and stop him.

countdown to infinite crisis

I've never been a big fan of the Spectre or Captain Marvel (Shazam!). But magic (and the spiritual world) play a big part of the DC universe, and apparently what happens in Infinite Crisis affects magic (though I don't know the IC story yet...that's coming up soon for me). It actually is a pretty good story, though it contains few DC folks I care about (though Superman is found in the beginning). Very important to understand the DC world after IC.

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Not too bad, but confusing

One of the lead-in mini series' to DC's Infinite Crisis mega event, Day of Vengeance finds a few of DC's older icons in some sticky situations. What happens when the Spectre, the Spirit of Vengeance in the DC universe, is seduced into destroying all the magic forces he can get his hands on? Nothing good, that's what! Since Hal Jordan came back from the dead and is a Green Lantern once again, the Spectre has been left without a human host, which leaves him vulnerable to attack from Eclipso. Soon after that, the wizard Shazam meets his demise, leading Captain Marvel and a host of other magically powered characters including Detective Chimp and the Phantom Stranger, to unite in an effort to take down the Spectre. The story is written by Fables creator Bill Willingham, and features some great dialogue as well as art, but the overall story is confusing. Not to mention that believing a being whose sole purpose is the punishment of the guilty getting so easily tricked into being an evil pawn? I don't think so. There's also a lead-in story from Judd Winick, which in itself isn't anything real special, although that shouldn't be much of a surprise. All in all, Day of Vengeance isn't the best of the Infinite Crisis tie-in's, but it's definitely not the worst (Rann/Thanagar War anyone?).

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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