Spectre Vol. 3 #14: Strange and Disappointing

John Ostrander’s Spectre is a comic I’ve been enjoying a lot lately and I read this issue today and I had very high expectations because the Phantom Stranger is a Character I really enjoy. So going into this I was hyped to see Spectre and Phantom Stranger clashing with some great Tom Mandrake art… Well… My first issue is Tom Mandrake didn’t draw this issue, Joe Phillips did. And his art was just not good. There’s one panel (see above) that looks like Spectre’s forehead is extending out of his head by 5 feet. Also Spectre and Phantom Stranger don’t meet once. It’s just Phantom Stranger telling a priest about the story of Moses. I would assume a priest would know the story of Moses… but I guess not? It’s literally just the story of Moses but narrated by Adam Strange. And there’s this random Ecpliso exposition at the beginning for seemingly no reason. Also the past version of Doctor Fate is there… For no reason. This just felt like bad filler that could’ve been an amazing battle between two great characters. Let’s hope #15 doesn’t follow the same trend.