#Spectre dc raven series

Constantine says he has some contingency plans, which I suspect we’ll see in the next issue, but for now, the little voice in the back of my head that incessantly intones: Trust in Tom Taylor is ebbing very faint because I confess I don’t feel like this is dramatically on par with the first two Years just yet. Maybe you’re sitting there, reading this and thinking: Ragman’s a lame character–cannon fodder–what’s the big deal? But at the end of the day this business isn’t so much personal as it’s about the pointlessness of it. It’s bad enough that two of my favorite DCU characters are siding in Superman’s camp (for which neither I can find logic), but then to do this to Ragman just out of the gate? And how is this justified? Ragman is at least as righteous as Spectre.

#Spectre dc raven series

But that doesn’t mean that the story must necessarily be just a series of catastrophic defeats (translation: this is bumming me out!). Not the dramatic “oh my God I can’t believe what just happened” way, but in the “Oh fer schnitzel’s snot, that was pointless!”Īnd I keep reminding myself that futility is our destiny in this saga–that our intrepid Resistance is doomed to fail. That’s kind of infuriating in the bad way. I’m all for death and carnage and there have been some heart-wrenching moments throughout this series, but this is the second time a character has been introduced and then unceremoniously obliterated having scarcely peeped a line or two. Okay, on the one hand I can stamp my foot and take my toys and go home pouting, but there’s something more disturbing going on here in the world of Injustice that’s becoming a trend with Year Three and I feel like I have to say something about it. I love this exchange, but having ethics is deadly in this book! Well that’s not really how it worked out here, is it? So let the Superman camp have Spectre and the Resistance can have Ragman and oh my God this is going to be awesome! Better still, here was a entity with characteristics similar to Spectre (if Spectre represents Old Testament justice in a Christian-leaning sensibility, Ragman represents it even more entrenched in the Judaic tradition). So you cannot imagine my surprise and delight when Constantine conjured him up to deal with Superman as the formerly Big Blue Boy Scout so justly deserves. I have long-loved Ragman as a (criminally underdeveloped, underused) character in the DCU (I still have his first appearances from 1976–yes, I’m old). Yes, ranting–and we’ll start with the bad to tell you why: The Bad But I should probably also warn you of much ranting ahead. I don’t want to poison your thoughts as your experience of this issue may differ radically from mine.Īll right, if you’re still reading, I am going to assume you’ve either read the book or don’t care about spoilers. If you haven’t read the issue, do so first. Because otherwise I was going to have to drop it all under a cut. The rest of this review contains implied SPOILERS. Raven’s astral image appears to Superman begging for help and despite Spectre’s cautions, Superman charges in to rescue the damsel in distress with Ragman lying in wait. 4 collects the Digital Firsts 7 & 8, “Raven’s Rescue” and “Ragman’s Souls” and the main thrust of the action is that Constantine, with Klarion’s help (and unbeknownst to Batman) has set a trap for Superman using Raven as bait. Why? What happens in this issue? Print issue No. Last review I am pretty sure I said: oh don’t worry folks, Etrigan will be back. There are some uneasy undercurrents in your plotting, the Spectre’s alignment is weirdly inorganic, Superman (yellow ring or no) has crossed the line into the land of the absolutely irredeemable, and now characters keep getting introduced and knocked off the chessboard in the blink of an eye. Something’s just not right and I’d like to try to understand what’s happening with you. We care about you very very much and I feel like it’s time for an intervention. I would like to take this moment today, dear Injustice, to say that you’re among friends.