186. Doctor Spectrum #1 to 6 ... Marvel ... Gary Frank ... cover artist

Hmmm let's do a quick history lesson here. Years ago, there was a superteam called Squadron Supreme from a different version of Earth. There the super powered folks are not that many but there they decided to use their powers for good as in actively and came to rule their world. Naturally pitfalls galore blossomed and they cross-over into our 616 Marvel Universe

When that maxi-series ended, there wasn't much more to be heard except the occasional guest appearances ... that is until this gentleman and Marvel decided to give it a new spin! And what a spin it was. They named it Supreme Powers and gave it several limited series and a maxi/ ongoing series ... that reads very well ... especially when the artist is Gary Frank. We loooooooooooove Gary Frank artwork

However, like all successful series, miniseries will be generated to flesh out certain characters and one of the main characters from Supreme Power is Doctor Spectrum. He is the guy who has a colourful crystal embedded in his hand and can use it to generate his super powers. He works for the govt and ends up giving the other main alien powered alien a hard time

So this miniseries intends to explore his origins

But it is such a major bore

Why?

Firstly it is the artwork. I don't mean to slam the guy but his art while adequate is quite boring and at times lacking in detail. Compare his with the gorgeous covers by Gary Frank and you will now what I mean ...

Then there is the storyline. It really does feel like decompression story telling. Basically it tells us that the government is running experiments to find out ways to use this special crystal they found in an alien spaceship. However, until our protagonist comes along, no one has survived

Unfortunately due to an incident (please read the book as we are trying to cut down on spoilers), our protagonist became entwined with this crystal and became unconscious. Now while the military tries to heal him, in actuality, the crystal is the one holding him back from waking up and instead takes him back on a psychological trip through his formative years. And that's the whole problem. Every single issue is a flashback to those incidents ... and in each issue in his real life, the poor doctor is trying to get the politicians not to pull the plug on Spectrum ... and that's it really

Lots n lots n lots of flashback with almost no plot progression - ARGH!

Ratings: 2/10