09/07/10

Supernatural Origins

"Supernatural Origins" is a comic book series by that came out in  2007.  I did not purchase them when they came out but recently acquired them on ebay.  Here are my reviews per chapter:

#1:

This chapter features John Winchester struggling to find out what really happened to his wife.  Most of his friends think he is losing his mind and he starts to not pay as much attention to the boys.  Toward the end of the edition he meets Missouri a psychic who we see in season one and she starts him on his path.

#2:

The chapter starts out with John following Missouri's lead and him seeking out a man named Fletcher Gable for information about a tooth he and Missouri found by the corpse of one of John's friends (who was killed in edition #1).  Fletcher sends him to a graveyard but Mary's brother follows John.  John and Jacob (Mary's brother) go to the graveyard and find a hell hound who kills Jacob.  A stranger who is identified as a hunter shows up and urges John to put Jacob in the car John was driving (a station wagon) and to push it over a cliff.  John then takes Jacob's car, the Impala.  This is a sore subject with many fans as the Impala is speculated to have been in the series premiere but that is up to debate. 

#3:

Chapter 3 starts off with a fast forward to the future where an adolescent Dean tells a young Sam that he is leaving because he's tired of this life.  We then return to the story and the hunter takes John and the boys to the Road House where Ellen is introduced and she takes care of the boys while John and the Hunter meet up with another hunter who is chasing a shape shifter.  In the course of the hunt it seems this hunter is killed by the shape shifter and John's companion hunter points out the signs.  On the way to the Roadhouse John turns around and kills the shape shifter but Dean witnesses this and seems horrified.  John then takes Dean and Sam to stay with friends of his while he and his hunter companion go searching more.

#4:

This chapter starts with a flash back to John and Mary having a romantic moment.  Then it returns to the present time (for the comic) and John and the hunter are hunting a spirit of a doctor who kills and steals organs to keep himself "alive".  John kills the "doctor" despite his fellow hunter telling him to wait.  The hunter then takes John to meet Pastor Jim who uses his ability to allow John to speak with Mary's spirit but then the hell hound comes through the spirit and interrupts it. 

#5:

John and the hunter go back to visit Fletcher in this chapter and they talk about the tooth of the hell hound again and speculate that the numbers on the tooth are coordinates.  When they look on a supernatural map it leads to a cemetery at a four corners spot.  On their way they stop off at an antique store near the four points.  They are told about a place called "Fore Inn" which is supposed to be a place of supernatural events.  John points out that when the letters are rearranged it spells inferno.  On their way to the cemetery they see many images and hallucinations and the hunter almost dies but John saves him.  When they finally get to the Inn the hell hound shows up and John goes to attack but then the hunter tells him that the hound works for him.

#6:

After the cliff hanger episode of #5, we see John attack his fellow "hunter" but the hunter runs into the Inn and as John enters he begins having more visions and hallucinations.  Among these is he sees Sam and Dean's grave stones.  The hunter tells John that this had nothing to do with Mary's death but that he was trying to prep John for his destiny.  John then kills the hunter and the hound.  He leaves and goes to get Sam and Dean saying he'll never leave them again.

Review:

I've heard that the graphic novelization which is due out in April is meant to fix some continuity errors but I don't have a huge issue with the series.  I felt the first few chapters were better than the final two.  The whole the hunter being the master of the hell hound was anti-climatic in my opinion.  A lot is still unanswered and I don't know who the hunter was--was he really a hunter who domesticated the hell hound or was he a demon, like Ruby, who was "good" and on the side of the Winchesters.  The comic series is continuing and there are some more characters I'd like to have explored like Ellen and I'd like to have seen Bobby.