Spectators

Val has just been stood up by her date as she sits in her seat at a local movie theater.  Before she can be too disappointed by this, tragedy strikes and now she’s dead.  She’s also not moving on to wherever souls go after they die as she’s now just a free-floating apparition who can go anywhere she pleases.  Val isn’t going to be bored in her new life as a spirit, as she can just watch humanity keep on doing what it does for as long as she wants.  However long that winds up being…

“Spectators” was originally serialized by writer Brian K. Vaughan in his Substack newsletter with art from Niko Henrichon.  The two of them decided to use the money they got from that newsletter subscription outfit to deliver something that they’d really enjoy and wouldn’t be able to do elsewhere.  If you think that implies that this is something only for a niche audience, well, you might be on to something.  Anyone looking for a plot-driven epic with a clear beginning, middle, and end won’t be getting that here.  “Spectators” is a rambling collection of scenes that ultimately hangs together, but feels mostly concerned with the creators indulging themselves along the way as they pontificate and illustrate about life, the universe, and everything.  Mostly humanity’s weird relationship with sex and violence, though..

That might sound like a threat, but that’d only be the case if this was coming from lesser creators.  Vaughan and Henrichon are not, which means that there’s still lots of cleverness and imagination to be found in any of these scenes as Val and her fellow specters offer their commentary on their own lives and the lives passing before them.  Vaughn ensures all of that is entertainingly written while Henrichon really gets to show off his design chops as the story goes to some strange places while also serving up plenty of sex and violence along the way.  I’ll admit that I may have been expecting more from these two given their history, but “Spectators” is still pretty satisfying on its own terms.