Spectrum #2
Written, Penciled, and Inked by Peter Simeti
Alterna Comics
Cover Price: $3

He should be dead. He thought he was dead. But Dr. Glass is somehow alive, although the medics in the morgue think otherwise. Glass awakens just before an autopsy is to be performed on him, and quickly escapes as he tries to remember the events of the night before, in which his lab partner was killed and his lab destroyed, all in the name of an experiment project called Spectrum. Now it appears, that very suit he was working on has become part of his body, and he realizes through the fog of his mind that his family is perilous danger. Meanwhile, the Sponsor, the financial backer of Spectrum, is setting out to tie up loose ends. His first task is to eliminate all ties to Glass, and using Glass’s cell phone, sets out to destroy anyone with a connection to Glass.

In Spectrum #2, Peter Simeti returns with his one-man created comic here as he picks the story up right where he left Issue #1. His parallel time running story focuses on Glass and The Sponsor, as one tries to protect life and one tries to destroy it, bringing back to mind the stances that each character takes on science and research in the first issue. The story primarily focuses on Glass, and much of the story is told via internal monologue.

After experimenting with multiple art styles in issue one, Simeti focuses on a very rough and sketchpad style here, paralleling the foggy and disjointed memory and chaotic thought processes of Glass. The Spectrum suit, which is hinted at being fused to Glass’s body, appears to follow in the footsteps of the Silver Surfer and the T-1000 from Terminator 2, though a single panel early on suggests that the suit has been damaged and that some of Glass’s skin is still exposed and horribly burned. Though a nice and clear full-page shot of what Glass has become would have been nice, the air of mystery still surrounding him propels us on to learn what he now truly looks like.

Simeti also introduces a new character into Glass’s overturned world — a shadow drenched man who appears just when Glass is at his lowest, who is ready to share all the answers. But those answers will have to wait for number three, and Simeti baits us pretty good with the promise of discovering just what is happening, ensuring that we’ll all meet again when the next issue comes out.

Available at the Alterna Comic Shop.