Tales of the Unexpected (2nd series)

(DC, 2006-2007)

Tales of the Unexpected ended in 1967 after an eleven year run before changing it’s name to The Unexpected. So the return of a classic series, even in an eight issue run, is something to be treasured. But with the added return of the Spectre and Doctor Thirteen, readers received a double dose of classics recreated.

Crispus Allen was a detective on Gotham City’s police force before taking a bullet in the back and becoming a ghost—a ghost who also happens to morph into the ultimate engine of vengeance men know as the Spectre. A new lease on a fine character, this time with a bit more grit and gore. A very graphic storyline not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

Doctor Terry Thirteen is the ultimate skeptic. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, goblins, esp, extraterrestrials, or zombies. Yet he is constantly being called out to investigate the paranormal and unexplained. Dr. Thirteen, The Ghost Breaker was first seen in Star Spangled Comics #122 back in November of 1951 and has popped up in the DC universe every now and then ever since. Now traveling with his teenage daughter, the Doctor continues to seek out the rational explanations of natural phenomena instead of the outlandish theories of higher beings and supernatural creatures. This usually brings him into denial when confronted by such personages as The Spectre or The Phantom Stranger. And hopefully we’ll learn how he managed to return from his own apparent death in the Seven Soldiers: Zatanna mini-series of 2005.

— Ron Black

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