Why Does The Spectre Punishes Some and Not Others?

[Timothy Hunter]

I'm not the most prolific reader of the Spectre. I read the first 8 issues of Moench & Colan series, a scattershot couple of issues of the Ostrander & Mandrake run, but I suppose I still am not clear on how the Spectre works.

He is God's spirit of vengeance and one of the powerful beings in the DC Universe. I haven't read much of these stories, but from second hand sources, an mad version of him destroyed the Rock of Eternity in Day of Vegance, turned Doctor Light into a candle in Final Crisis Revelations, and destroyed Count Vertigo's home country in the 1993 ongoing.

So why doesn't he enact old testament justice more? Why didn't he cut Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot in half with a giant pair of scissors? Why doesn't he turn the Joker into a stack of playing cards?

[RobinGA]

The short answer is because he is a comic book character. The Spectre doesn't have the ability to interact with our world.

But it is an interesting question. There is evil in our world that will also exist in the comics that cannot be defeated.
At least will require someone other than a super powered being to defeat.

Roy Thomas did wrestle with this question in All Star Squadron. That Hitler's control of the Spear of Destiny meant that once
you crossed over to Axis territory in World War II meant you joined the Axis. It also served as a way of explaining
why Superman didn't just invade Germany in 1942, then tear the place apart.

I suppose the more philosophical question of why there is evil in the world? That all comes back to free will, which can be
a bitch. We can make this world a better one, but often we choose the darker path.

[Ascended]

Some random issue that might not have even been the Spectre's own book once provided, I think, the best reason; the Spectre can't bring old testament justice to someone who is still part of god's plan.

It's just meta-commentary saying "DC might use this villain again so the Spectre can't get involved" but it still works, I think.

[Gaius]

The same answer you'll get if you were to ask why doesn't Batman just donate all his money to charity and work with the Gotham municipal government on setting up social programs/government relief?

Re: the Joker, this was explored in an issue and apparently even God's Vengeance has to abide by the "insanity plea" misconception that DC likes to promote.

[Thor-Ul]

"God moves in a mysterious way".
I think this aspect was explored when Hal Jordan was the Sprectre and decided to go against Darkseid.

[Kaled]

If I remember correctly when God made the Spectre his hand of vengeance he put some kind of limitation on the Spectre. Originally Eclipso ( another series that needs to be collected) was the Hand of Vengeance. Eclipso was the Death Angel that past over Egypt in the last plague. It has been so long since I read it I forgot what caused Eclispso to be cast aside and replaced by the Spectre.

[Slaughter]

Some random issue that might not have even been the Spectre's own book once provided, I think, the best reason; the Spectre can't bring old testament justice to someone who is still part of god's plan.

It's just meta-commentary saying "DC might use this villain again so the Spectre can't get involved" but it still works, I think.

Wans't that brought up when Darkseid and the Spectre went a few rounds, The Spectre actually killed Darkseid... and then Darkseid promptly regenerated back to life?

[John Venus]

Because he wasn't meant to be a shared universe character. Or at least not in the same universe as the modern day Joker or most modern day genocidal villains.

Spectre is ultimately a revenge fantasy character.

[BatmanJones]

Because God.

[Godlike13]

Maybe he’s like conservation hunting, he’s there to help maintain a balance. Not obliterate injustice outright.

[Jim Kelly]

There is a code.

In the beginning, National didn't have a code, but early on in the 1940s they devised their own code which writers and artists had to follow and around then you see Spec being a kinder gentler soul. By the time wrong-way Corrigan returned in the 1960s, the Comics Code was in full force. In the early 1970s, the Code was revised and relaxed and that's when you begin to see a lot more horror in mainstream comics. So when Jimmy C. returned in "Weird" ADVENTURE COMICS (edited by horror-meister Joe Orlando), they got away with a lot more graphic scenes.