ADVENTURE COMICS #439 TWO-PAGE SEQUENCE ART by JIM APARO - "THE VOICE THAT DOOMED THE SPECTRE!"

Original artwork for Adventure Comics #439 pages 2-3 (DC, 1975) by the legendary Jim Aparo (pencils and inks). From Part One of the brilliant story, "The Voice that Doomed...the Spectre,” wonderfully written by Michael Fleisher. This epic tale provided a new origin for the Spectre as the Almighty answers Jim Corrigan's desperate prayer to be human once more. This action-packed two-page sequence is the opening scene as the violent terrorist group, the Symbiosis Liberation Army robs a downtown New York bank, murdering the bank manager in cold blood and taking Corrigan's beloved hostage in the process. In order to not endanger Gwen, Corrigan decides to pursue the fleeing villains as his awesome alter-ego, the Spectre and confront them later on in their hideout lair. These terrorists have no idea the trouble they just stirred up.

This sequence has it all - a stunning vertical splash panel of the terrorists stealing the bank loot and taking Gwen hostage, as Corrigan arrives on the scene and transforms into the Astral Avenger in the final two panels. Beyond any doubt, this is APEX Aparo artwork at the very pinnacle of his celebrated career. These sensational Spectre stories, which appeared in ten Adventure Comics issues (#431-440), mark the high benchmark in the legend of the greatest and most powerful supernatural superhero of them all, bar none. Fleisher's scripts were darkly grim, gritty and often most gruesome, which fit the Spectre's persona and ideology perfectly, and Aparo's artwork was simply breathtaking. The Spectre harbored God-like powers, operating as Judge, Jury and Executioner with the divine authority of the LORD GOD Almighty Himself. For sure, a watershed moment on the history of comicdom!