Spirit World #1 - Comic Review

 

Once a decade or so DC will do an event that tries to introduce a number of new characters into the universe with their own series, hoping that the characters will take off. We've seen it done before with things like Millenium, Bloodlines, and Dark Matter. Invariably, most of the characters introduced in these events end up vanishing withing a year or two at the most as people just fail to gravitate towards them, preferring the staples of the DC universe. There have been exceptions, however, such as Hitman and Sideways; and it feels like out of all of the new characters introduced in Lazarus Planet Xanthe might be the one that will end up clicking with the most people.

Originally introduced in the Lazarus Planet: We Are Legends issue, Xanthe begins their own series with the first issue of Spirit World. The book picks up soon after the events of the one-shot, and benefits from having a couple of established DC characters join our new spirit envoy on their adventure. In the one shot Xanthe, Constantine, and Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) were fighting Jiangshi (Chinese hopping vampires) when Cassandra was sucked into the spirit world. Now, Xanthe and Constantine are trying to find a way to access the spirit world and save her, whilst Cass has to deal with the various spirits and creatures that are hunting her.

The concept is nice and simple to get your head around, which is handy as the book will be throwing some new stuff at the readers; so the simple plot helps. Xanthe is Asian, and their magic and the creatures that they interact with are very much inspired by Asian culture; as such, the book will land differently with different readers. For some, the concepts that are introduced in this book, such as burning paper offerings to make things appear in the spirit world, will be familiar, but for others they'll be brand new. As such, writer Alyssa Wong has a tricky balancing act to do, as she has to write a story that doesn't feel like it's slowing down every five minutes to explain things, whilst also keeping those new to these ideas up to speed.

Thankfully, Wong does a fantastic job at this, and the story balances out story, exposition, and character moments really well. Even by the end of the first issue it feels like we've got a pretty solid foundation for the kind of person that Xanthe is, and that we're going to be able to build upon this in any direction that Wong wants to take them. The very first scene of the book where Xanthe uses their magic to help out a little girl in the rain will instantly win people over to them.

Xanthe is also a queer character, and is a non-binary hero who uses they/them pronouns. One of two new trans heroes who was introduced in Lazarus Planet, Xanthe hasn't received as much attention as Circuit Breaker, who featured in the new DC Book of Pride whilst Xanthe didn't, but seems to be the more interesting of the two so far. The book doesn't make a big thing out of Xanthe's identity, and if you weren't really paying attention, or unaware of some things, you could easily miss the fact that they're referred to with they/them pronouns exclusively. There's a cute moment when the kid they help in the first scene thanks them and calls them older brother/older sister. The fact that it's just a part of Xanthe's world, that there isn't a big moment that needs to explain things, but it's just there, makes it feel a lot more natural and casual.

The book does some fun things with Batgirl too, who's trapped in the spirit world. Being stuck in a world filled with ghosts and monsters would be issue enough for most people, but it's made tougher for Cass as the denizens of that plain are drawn to the life force of living beings. Luckily, she runs across some allies of Xanthe who help her out. Granny Po Po comes across as a delightful old lady who is as worried about getting Cassandra warm and fed as she is keeping the spirits away from her, and oozes grandmotherly energy. Her assistant, Bowen, neatly falls into that stereotype of kind, kind of bumbling, sort of put upon, assistant who's definitely got a of potential hidden inside them. Both characters seem to be really nice, and the outfit that they give Cass to help hide her living aura is absolutely fantastic, and I really hope we get to see a lot of Cassandra in that costume in upcoming issues.

DC, as a whole, are getting better and better with representation and inclusion. There are more and more characters, and series starring characters, who don't fall into the category of straight white cisgender men; and it's great to see. We're getting more queer stories, more trans characters, more Black leads, and more Asian inspired magical characters. I love that DC is expanding and embracing new ideas and new identities like this, and it looks like Xanthe and Spirit World are going to be bringing not just some fun and engaging new stories, but a whole new side to the magic part of DC's universe. I can't wait to see what else it does.

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