At DC Comics, the publisher has been fostering a new slate of heroes with the ‘We are Legends’ publishing line. ‘We are Legends’ is made up of the mysterious title known as “The Vigil,” the scrappy “City Boy” and the magical “Spirit World.” “Spirit World” hit the ground running in the pages of “Lazarus Planet” as readers got to meet Xanthe Zhou for the first time and witness Batgirl, Cassandra Cain get trapped in the “Spirit World.” Thankfully Xanthe isn’t alone as DC Comics anti-hero John Constantine has teamed up with Xanthe to try and rescue Cassandra and return Xanthe to the “Spirit World.” Today we are going to explain why you can’t miss a single page of DC’s new “Spirit World” series!
Who’s this by?
Alyssa Wong is relatively new creator in the realm of DC Comics. Wong started at Marvel a few years ago on “Aero” #2 according to Marvel.com. Wong’s first credit Marvel work is listed as “Aero” #2 alongside writer Greg Pak and artist Pop Mhan. Following “Aero”, Wong worked on “Fearless” #3 with writers Zoe Quinn and Seanan McGuire with artists Alti Firmansyah, Claire Roe and Marika Cresta. In 2020, Wong launched a new volume of “Star Wars: Doctor Aphra” #1 with artist Marika Cresta. Wong’s “Doctor Aphra” series is still in publication at Marvel, issue #33 was published in June with Minkyu Jung contributing to the art in recent issues.
Artist Haining is credited as an inker and cover inker in 2018 for a comic book called “New Super-man” published by DC Comics. Haining’s next work is credited as “Lux” from Marvel and Riot Games from 2019. After working with other publishers, Haining returned to DC with “DC vs. Vampires: All-Out War” #2 in 2022 by Matthew Rosenberg, Alex Paknadel, Emma Vieceli, Alan Quah, Pasquale Qualano, Haining and Nicola Righi. Haining contributed a few more odds and ends at DC before illustrating the “Spirit World” sequence in “Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate” #1 with writer Alyssa Wong!
What’s it all about?
This is a new title about hero Xanthe Zhou in their pursuit to return to the “Spirit World.” Over in the pages of “Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate” #1 readers saw Cassandra Cain, Batgirl fighting a few vampires before getting sucked into the “Spirit World.” Now Xanthe has to rescue their friend and return to the “Spirit World.” Thankfully, DC magic master John Constantine is along for the ride to help out Xanthe in their quest.
What makes it so great?
The main aspect making “Spirit World” worthy of your time is the bold presentation of the story. Haining’s art suits Wong’s writing perfectly in order to capture all the heart and empathy that lead character Xanthe Zhou is able to evoke in their emotions and interactions with others. The mystical and wondrous tone is evoked so beautifully in the opening sequence where Xanthe introduces herself as a Spirit Envoy and shows off their powers to make items appear from joss paper.
Artist Haining renders emotion that is abrupt and nuanced from the line contributing towards the expressions. The “Spirit World” comic book has a great anime and manga influence with some of the line captured for character facial expressions. When Haining is able to depict Mr. Nguyen’s Good and Sundries the amount of detail packed into the objects in the room is absolutely stunning. There are nearly 10 cats bothering John Constantine in one panel and the amount of faces rendered in this page is just stunning.
Thankfully, the beautiful art is backed up by controlled and focused writing from Wong. In the sequence with Constantine and the cats from the debut issue, Haining recaps the events of the “Lazarus Planet” issue with a focused set of caption boxes that keep this series reading coherent. Thankfully the issue already has a subplot in the debut thanks to Haining and Wong’s focus on the character of Cassandra Cain. Cain is currently located in the “Spirit World” and the way that Haining and Wong subvert reality in these sequences is stunning. Cain’s fast allies including Po Po and Bowen are both intriguing characters that help flesh out this secondary story and expand overall focus in “Spirit World.”
Continued belowThe upcoming issues of “Spirit World” should serve to expand the focus of the series greatly as Constantine and Xanthe recently were able to crossover into the other world. Haining’s visuals become incredibly dynamic when crossing over and some of the art teased in the final moments is incredibly imaginative. The new character of Shen lent something fascinating to Cassandra subplot as well, leaning towards a sense of danger in the upcoming chapters of the comic book. Over in the third chapter of “Spirit World,” getting the chance to witness a large-scale battle in the “Spirit World” with so many cast members evoked a wonderful sense of payoff for the series. The third chapter of “Spirit World” also continues the focus on the other reality and featured yet another appearance from the mysterious Shen. If the first three issues are any indication of the rest of the series, readers are in for something special with the second half of “Spirit World.”
How can you read it?
“Spirit World” is a six-issue mini-series published monthly from DC Comics. The first collected volume of the series is on-sale Apr 02, 2024. Whatever you do, don’t miss the supernatural side of the DC Universe introducing the compelling comic book protagonist, Xanthe Zhou.
