Title : Full Spectrum (Part #6 of 6)
Writer : Sara “Samm” Barnes
Penciller : Greg Tocchini
Inks : Mart Morales with BATT
Colors : Studio F
Letterer : Dave Sharpe (VC)
Editor : Warren Simons
This mini-series winds to an end, and can finally be appreciated in all of its six parts.
To be blunt, this mini-series just didn’t work. It wasn’t because the writer lacks talent (although reading her arc in Spectacular Spider-Man, one has to wonder), it was because the premise of the entire series was flawed.
The series covered the time while the main character (Joe Ledger aka Doctor Spectrum) was in a coma. I’ll say that again : a SIX-PART mini-series was commissioned and written covering the period while the main character was IN A COMA.
Now obviously, there’s more to the story than that. The series was clearly meant to add some depth to the character of Joe Ledger by filling us in on his back-story. The mechanism used to do this is the conceit of the crystal ‘exploring’ Joe’s psyche and past memories in order to evaluate whether they would make a good ‘fit’.
Problems :
(1) Any flashbacks to Joe’s past are interspersed with visions of the present, where army and medical types haggle over his treatment and fate. Stupid move. We know how this ends up – we’ve all been reading Supreme Power. It removes any suspense from the story – we know how that part of it will end up, and none of the characters seem intended to resonate significantly in the larger Supreme Power story.
(2) Six issues??? Six? I could understand one or two issues to flesh out the past of Joe Ledger, but oh boy, did this get dull after a while. Especially with the litany of story-telling cliches that were trotted out. Abusive home? Check. Love of his life what ended badly? Check. Conflict with others within the military? Check.
Anyhoo, if you stayed with this to the bitter end, I congratulate you, but there’s nothing really here that was new, bold or necessary to the larger story.
As for the art, it is serviceable, but you would have thought that the ‘taking place inside his head’ idea would have led to some wild, inventive and crazy visuals. No such luck.
JMS is listed as a creative consultant, but I think he should stop consulting, and get back to finishing the long-overdue next issue of Supreme Power.
