Tonight marks the end of the WB/CW’s Supernatural, a show that exceeded expectations on many levels. While it was the spotlight for one of our We Want Comics columns last year, there were Supernatural prequel comics covering everything from Dean’s rise to follow in his father’s footsteps as a hunter to the decisions that led Sam to leave his family. So before we take a ride in the Impala one last time, let’s look back to where the Winchester family story began.
Cover by Tim BradstreetWritten by Peter Johnson
Illustrated by Matthew Dow Smith
Colored by JD Mettler
Lettered by Greg ThompsonThis graphic novel prequel to the hit CW television show written by series Executive Producer, Peter Johnson, gives readers an incredible never-before-seen look into the mythos of the series. After witnessing the murder of his wife at the hands of a demon, patriarch John Winchester begins a journey into the dark world of the supernatural, seeking a way to hunt down and kill the creature that took his wife. Can a newly widowed father balance fighting evil with raising his children? Discover what becomes of his two young sons, Dean and Sam, and how these formative events from their childhood will forever alter their destiny.
On November 2, 1983, at 11:27 PM, Mary Winchester died, at the hands of the demon Azrael. It is a moment that young Sam and Dean will not remember (though they meet their resurrected mother again in the show’s 11th season finale), and one their father John cannot get out of his mind. With two young children in tow, he sets off on a cross-country trip seeking answers for just what took his wife’s life. And while he does find some answers, they open up a Pandora’s box of more questions, setting the seed for Dean and Sam in their adulthood to take up their father’s cause.
Although the story is told from a variety of viewpoints, including that of young Sam and Dean, the focus is on John. He’s a man on a mission, even at the cost of the relationship with his young sons. The tortured soul that is John Winchester was well established on the series at the time of these prequel comics (2007), and this series underscores that characterization beautifully. Of course, it helps that this series’s writer is the show’s executive producer Peter Johnson, someone who knows these characters intimately, tapping into Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s portrayal to bring this story to life. While characters from the TV show do make an appearance here, such as your favorite psychic and mine Missouri Moseley and hunter Ellen Harvelle, the series doesn’t rely on the greatest hits of the show to tell a compelling story.
If there was one thing I longed for a bit more in “Supernatural: Origins,” it was more of a focus on Sam and Dean. We all know their father’s hunter lifestyle had an impact on their lives from a young age, but what we see here of this early time in their lives is fleeting at best. On one hand this makes sense given that the bulk of the story takes place in 1983, when Sam is still a baby and Dean a toddler. The story does jump to 1991 in a few spots, when the kids are presumably older and able to comprehend on some level that their lifestyle is not a conventional one. Outside of a backup story in the first issue where Sam wants to know how their mother died, and a moment in 1991 where Dean decides the family would be better off without him around, there isn’t much that explores this story from the youngest Winchesters’ point of view. Again, this is certainly a function of the time period, and there are three other prequel comic series that can explore Sam and Dean’s formative years. Thus this isn’t too much of a missed opportunity, but still a missed one nonetheless. Children are more resilient – – and more intelligent – – than adults often give them credit for, and no doubt these young Winchesters saw things that left an impression.
The artwork of this series takes the style Hellboy readers know very well: heavy shadows, minimal details, basic shapes as foundation and construct for the world. This doesn’t come as a surprise as artist Matthew Dow Smith has done work in the Mignolaverse on the short story “Hellboy: Box Full of Evil.” For the very dark horror tone of this story, it fits beautifully. It does come at the expense of recognition of characters, as comic versions bear little resemblance to their TV counterparts. Translating something from three dimensions to two is no easy task, particularly on a licensed property, but it appears there was nearly no effort put in to making John Winchester look a little bit like his TV counterpart. It’s a puzzling choice, given that this was published under one of DC’s imprints (Wildstorm), and DC was a part of the Warner Brothers family at the time of publication.
There are moments where this artistic approach works well. Its simplicity allows JD Mettler to play with color beautifully to show contrast: the spirit of Mary Winchester, the eyes of the hellhound. It’s also perfect for depicting the minimalism of the Southwest, where the back half of this story takes place: that vast emptiness where your eyes and your mind can easily play tricks on you. And it’s an amazing showcase for action from spatters of blood to gunshots to a fall into the abyss. A climatic recreation of Mary’s death by immolation, now with John as the victim, radiates its heat off of the page in similar but still distinct hues of orange. Leaning into the Hellboy aesthetic works well for the supernatural elements of the story, even at the risk of losing some familiarity in characters.
For 15 seasons, Sam and Dean Winchester sought the answers their own father craved, knowing how much that journey wrecked his mind and spirit. With “Supernatural: Origins,” we get a better idea of the scope of that torment. Lay your weary head to rest, John. Don’t you cry no more.
