Finding The True Magic Within: Reviewing ‘Specs’ #4

Sometimes horror can come from a more supernatural place, such as let’s just say, a pair of wish-granting glasses. Other times, and often the far more terrifying source, is from within ourselves. The horror of not being able to be honest and truthful about who we are with those we love and the world at large, or sometimes even ourselves. 

I’ve loved every single bit of this series and the way it’s navigated around the clear obvious horror that comes from being careful what you wish for, while very much actually focusing on the human emotion at the core of this story. In the end, the story that Kenny has been telling this whole time was not really about the wish-granting glasses and the horror they brought, but about what horror comes from the world they lived in and how it oppressed and repressed people in the worst ways. Kenny could not live as who he always knew he was inside, not even able to tell his best friend how he felt (until he finally could), and Ted just could not live very much at all because of the ever-present racism. 

One of the things that I’ve come to love about reading David M. Booher’s work is just how genuine and human everything feels. It doesn’t matter if its a story about these glasses set in the 80s or taking place on an old spaceship full of criminals with hearts of gold in our future, every character feels so real and solid and in just a matter of pages able to grab onto the reader and hold onto them till the story comes to an emotional ending for us all. In order to get to that strength, I like how the issue kicks off trying to finish off the supernatural element (quite literally they try to destroy the glasses) before swiftly moving on to the emotional core and leaving the supernatural/horror to the side mostly. I like this because the horror should not be something easily destroyed, and it still existing, being found later, and morphing to fit the times to tempt others is that chilling sort of ending I enjoy. 

Kenny narrates us through the rest of the issue, as he has been telling this story the whole time, from Ted turning himself in to going to trial (and getting off) to the consequences of one of Kenny’s wishes. Right here is where one could insert the heavily used memed moment from The Simpsons of being able to see the moment someone’s heart is breaking as we witness Ted leaving town, and realizing that his wish for Ted to be able to leave the town would have included him since he is part of the town. 

It’s here that the issue really hits its emotional peak because it leads to a scene with Kenny and Ted that the character has been waiting for since well before the first issue and readers have been waiting for as well. I’m not going to spoil this scene or everything that comes after in case someone is reading this before the issue, because it needs to be experienced. Booher could have chosen to go in a cliche or expected route with these moments and the end of these characters’ stories, but goes for things that are more realistic, deep, and even meaningful. After all the horror that was witnessed, there are moments that speak to how things can and sometimes do get better, even if it’s only in increments or not until we’re older and the times change.

In order to reach those emotional highs and create the horror/tension needed, one needs the right artistic team to bring that all to life in the most beautiful way possible. Enter Chris Shehan and Roman Stevens who have created something truly amazing and made me such a fan of their work, that I’ll for sure be picking up anything else that they work on after this series. I mean just the opening pages would be enough to consider this issue an artistic wonder, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg for this issue and the series as a whole. They created a whole montage of the boys attempting to destroy the glasses with various tools and did it with a backdrop of the glasses in a fire with all the action panels being done inside the lenses of three falling pairs of the specs…that’s just genius stuff right there. 

Everything is super detailed and has such depth and weight to it, enhanced by the colorful but also heavily shadowed and toned down almost real color palette choices that Stevens has made through each issue. 

I pointed at it in the last issue’s review, but Shehan has such a great sense of how to set things up and create visuals that tell you so much without having to tell you anything. From the montage to just the simple scenes of the boys talking either in the forest or later at the baseball diamond, having tons of great panel shapes and focus levels as well as presenting panels that are nearly identical in how people or things are placed but enough changes to make sure you know that it’s the subsequent moment of the characters/world. 

I really love the overall green sort of hue that Stevens has dropped into the series that crops up in almost any scenes where the conversation or moment has ties to or references the specs in some way. It adds that sort of supernatural type of feeling to those moments, whether they are overall emotional character conversation moments or bigger wish-related ones, allowing the scenes that are far more ‘normal’ just conversations (like when Ted reveals he’s moving or the final scenes) to go right back to very realistic toned-down natural color schemes. It makes sure visually that the moments stand out and we’re feeling that sort of supernatural/horror energy when they need us to acknowledge its presence. 

There are quieter moments here but there are also a ton of moments full of heavy dialogue, the boys have a lot to get out, and Jim Campbell is there to do that thing he does and makes sure that it all just flows so smoothly and never feels overwhelming even when it’s a giant almost wall of bubble text dialogue. We can feel and hear the characters and since we’re emotionally invested by this point, we want to hear more from them and seeing/reading more is never a bad thing because we want to spend as much time with them as possible. So Campbell lays it out in ways that it flows around the action or character featured in any of the panels so that we’re focused on that moment as well as the words keeping our eyes where they are meant to be at any given time. 

Beyond that, I like how there are little things that Campbell does that make sure that we can hear the various emotions in the voices of the character. Little bits of changes made to the font to make it so that when Kenny feels nervous and awkward we know it or when Ted is yelling for his friend to go, we feel the intense loudness that comes from that exclamation. Little pauses and inflections are just very much felt and heard because of the way they are presented on the page.

In the end, this has been such a powerful and character-driven adventure that hits so hard with the social and emotional elements. Kenny and Ted’s stories are over but the way that they might have resonated with others and spoken to issues that many have or will face (outside of the wish glasses…at least not that we know of) will continue to live on and impact people for years as the book continues to exist. I”m sad to see this story end but as I closed that final page of the issue I could say to myself and to you all as well, I was completely one-hundred percent satisfied. Sometimes that’s just the type of story and moment in time that we need. 

Specs #4 is now available from BOOM! Studios.