Wonderful! I'd been lowkey waiting on something Spectrum related to pop up here. (Spectrum is the big comic pull from Two Gargoyles Comics for me. I need more of this comic and its cast of hero characters!)
Also, can I just say how much I love the friends being honest-to-goodness Superhero savvy here? I know this isn't the first example in Superhero stories (Western and Eastern) to do this. But it still feels like such a breath of fresh air to see it. Them unapologetically teasing Richie with this in a good-natured way comes off quite funny, too.
The only thing that's missing from this scene, from my Superhero-brained perspective, is them openly acknowledging and teasing Richie on going from a (from my understanding) non-athlete/non-athletic male teenager before gaining powers to gaining an inexplicable-yet-conveniently jockular, muscular, hunky build after gaining them. 'Cause that's a trope, too, albeit one that feels less acknowledged in a meta sense (outside certain groups of Korean manwha, perhaps). And don't get me wrong: I love this trope, both for how it follows through on the wish-fulfillment aspects of Superhero/Vigilante characters and stories and also for how it just looks cool and beautiful on an artistic, aesthetic level. (And yes, this includes the types of male hero/anti-hero/etc. builds popularized in the 80's and 90's; I'd like us as a collective to stop pretending we don't love those designs.)
Bonus points for how this scene also does an excellent job of characterizing/re-characterizing both Kelly and Eddie, as well as characterizing/re-characterizing the trio's relationship/friendship with each other.
Wow! What an AMAZING comment; thank you so much!! I’m super stoked to be publishing SPECTRUM #3 here on Substack. Richie’s “transformation” isn’t intentional—it might just be artistic interpretation since this is a new artist working on this issue. And thank you for the Superhero Savvy comment—in today’s world, I think trying to have a secret identity would be maddening!
Wonderful! I'd been lowkey waiting on something Spectrum related to pop up here. (Spectrum is the big comic pull from Two Gargoyles Comics for me. I need more of this comic and its cast of hero characters!)
Also, can I just say how much I love the friends being honest-to-goodness Superhero savvy here? I know this isn't the first example in Superhero stories (Western and Eastern) to do this. But it still feels like such a breath of fresh air to see it. Them unapologetically teasing Richie with this in a good-natured way comes off quite funny, too.
The only thing that's missing from this scene, from my Superhero-brained perspective, is them openly acknowledging and teasing Richie on going from a (from my understanding) non-athlete/non-athletic male teenager before gaining powers to gaining an inexplicable-yet-conveniently jockular, muscular, hunky build after gaining them. 'Cause that's a trope, too, albeit one that feels less acknowledged in a meta sense (outside certain groups of Korean manwha, perhaps). And don't get me wrong: I love this trope, both for how it follows through on the wish-fulfillment aspects of Superhero/Vigilante characters and stories and also for how it just looks cool and beautiful on an artistic, aesthetic level. (And yes, this includes the types of male hero/anti-hero/etc. builds popularized in the 80's and 90's; I'd like us as a collective to stop pretending we don't love those designs.)
Bonus points for how this scene also does an excellent job of characterizing/re-characterizing both Kelly and Eddie, as well as characterizing/re-characterizing the trio's relationship/friendship with each other.
Wow! What an AMAZING comment; thank you so much!! I’m super stoked to be publishing SPECTRUM #3 here on Substack. Richie’s “transformation” isn’t intentional—it might just be artistic interpretation since this is a new artist working on this issue. And thank you for the Superhero Savvy comment—in today’s world, I think trying to have a secret identity would be maddening!