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Showcase Presents
Showcase Presents: The Spectre, Vol. 1
Originally written by Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman, in the 1940s, The Spectre is a ghost-like hero who was originally Police Detective Jim Corrigan. When Corrigan was killed in the line of duty, his soul was given a mission by a mysterious "voice" - to avenge evil in the world. This volume collects The Spectre's Silver Age adventures from the 1960s and 70s, during which his thirst for vengeance resulted in some rather grisly stories. These stories include artwork by Neal Adams, Jim Aparo and many others, as well as appearances by Batman, the Justice League of America and others.
Don't miss these grim tales of vengeance from the pages of SHOWCASE #60, 61 and 64, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #72, 75, 116, 180 and 199, THE SPECTRE #1-10, ADVENTURE COMICS #431-440, DC COMICS PRESENTS #29 and GHOSTS #97-99.
Don't miss these grim tales of vengeance from the pages of SHOWCASE #60, 61 and 64, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #72, 75, 116, 180 and 199, THE SPECTRE #1-10, ADVENTURE COMICS #431-440, DC COMICS PRESENTS #29 and GHOSTS #97-99.
592 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2012
10 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Michael Fleisher
552 books12 followersMichael Lawrence Fleisher's comic-book writing career spanned two decades in which he authored approximately 700 stories for DC, Marvel, and other comics publishers. His work on series such as The Spectre and Jonah Hex is still highly regarded, as is his work on the Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes. After a widely reported libel case his comic output declined, with his last published comic assignment appearing in the UK anthology 2000AD in 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 19, 2022
When detective Jim Corrigan is murdered, he returns to bring justice to evildoers everywhere as... The Spectre!
I'm a big Jim Aparo fan but I missed out on this omnibus before it quickly went out of print during the early days of the pandemic and the price skyrocketed. Fortunately, I recently discovered the B&N website was still selling it for cover price. Fuck off, gougers!
It's interesting to see the evolution of the Spectre as a character during the various runs. For the Gardner Fox penned ones, Corrigan and The Spectre operate as separate beings but in the Michael Fleisher stories and beyond, they are one and the same.
Since the stories were one and done and episodic, they tend to fall into patterns. The Gardner Fox stories all fall into the pattern of The Spectre being weakened, having to take refuge in Jim Corrigan's body to recharge, and figuring out how to beat his enemy. The Michael Fleisher stories generally have Gwen get into trouble and The Spectre show up and kill the bad guys by some gruesome means at the end.
There is an all star team of artists on this. Murphy Anderson, Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Ernie Chua, and even Jim Starlin take up the pencil, among others. In addition to Gardner Fox and Michael Fleisher, Paul Kupperberg, Denny O'Neil, Len Wein, and Zany Bob Haney take the writing reins, among others.
If this trade was only the Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo issues, it would be an easy five. I'd put their run up against the Wein/Wrightson run of Swamp Thing any day of the week. The Gardner Fox stories drag it down for me a bit. I think Paul Kupperberg's three stories continue the spirit of what Fleisher and Aparo were doing pretty well.
The Wrath of the Spectre omnibus is a must buy for Spectre fans and contains one of the best DC runs of the 1970s. Four out of five stars.
I'm a big Jim Aparo fan but I missed out on this omnibus before it quickly went out of print during the early days of the pandemic and the price skyrocketed. Fortunately, I recently discovered the B&N website was still selling it for cover price. Fuck off, gougers!
It's interesting to see the evolution of the Spectre as a character during the various runs. For the Gardner Fox penned ones, Corrigan and The Spectre operate as separate beings but in the Michael Fleisher stories and beyond, they are one and the same.
Since the stories were one and done and episodic, they tend to fall into patterns. The Gardner Fox stories all fall into the pattern of The Spectre being weakened, having to take refuge in Jim Corrigan's body to recharge, and figuring out how to beat his enemy. The Michael Fleisher stories generally have Gwen get into trouble and The Spectre show up and kill the bad guys by some gruesome means at the end.
There is an all star team of artists on this. Murphy Anderson, Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Ernie Chua, and even Jim Starlin take up the pencil, among others. In addition to Gardner Fox and Michael Fleisher, Paul Kupperberg, Denny O'Neil, Len Wein, and Zany Bob Haney take the writing reins, among others.
If this trade was only the Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo issues, it would be an easy five. I'd put their run up against the Wein/Wrightson run of Swamp Thing any day of the week. The Gardner Fox stories drag it down for me a bit. I think Paul Kupperberg's three stories continue the spirit of what Fleisher and Aparo were doing pretty well.
The Wrath of the Spectre omnibus is a must buy for Spectre fans and contains one of the best DC runs of the 1970s. Four out of five stars.
May 21, 2012
As a fan of the John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake Spectre run, I was curious how these tales had come out. I'd seen a few before, a couple in other Showcase reprint books, but never all of them. My general understanding was that Ostrander and Mandrake had somehow taken a 60+ year old character who'd gone through many different incarnations and then worked them all together into the premise of dead cop Jim Corrigan, wandering Earth as a ghost, who became the nearly unstoppable Spectre, a being who punished evildoers as harshly and as creatively as possible. This was fine for the 90s, but Showcase volumes cover the Silver Age, when the Comics Code prohibited such things, so what was the character like then?
In short, much gentler in every possible way. Corrigan was a (still living) cop who had the Spectre emerge from his body to fight supernatural evil, and rarely lethally. In some stories, the Spectre looks more like Corrigan's friend and roommate than anything else, riding shotgun in Jim's car, or lounging around in his apartment, and in one panel, more, as the Spectre decides to return to Corrigan's body for rest by climbing into bed with him. About halfway through this Showcase volume, the stories change to something closer to the 90s incarnation of a ghost of a cop who fights evil with ironic forms of capital punishment. A young woman in love with the dead cop and a Clark Kent lookalike reporter who's outraged by the violence join the cast. Then, for the final story, a "Brave the Bold" reprint, the creators maybe forgot all about what was said before and turned the Spectre back into the innocent Silver Age version for one last Batman team-up.
The artwork is often spectacular from artists as diverse as Murphy Anderson, Neil Adams, and Jim Aparo. And though the back of the book promises delivered team-ups with the Flash, Superman, and Batman, the volume also contains guest appearances by lesser-known DC characters Wildcat and Dr. Thirteen. Worth a look for Spectre fans to say the least.
In short, much gentler in every possible way. Corrigan was a (still living) cop who had the Spectre emerge from his body to fight supernatural evil, and rarely lethally. In some stories, the Spectre looks more like Corrigan's friend and roommate than anything else, riding shotgun in Jim's car, or lounging around in his apartment, and in one panel, more, as the Spectre decides to return to Corrigan's body for rest by climbing into bed with him. About halfway through this Showcase volume, the stories change to something closer to the 90s incarnation of a ghost of a cop who fights evil with ironic forms of capital punishment. A young woman in love with the dead cop and a Clark Kent lookalike reporter who's outraged by the violence join the cast. Then, for the final story, a "Brave the Bold" reprint, the creators maybe forgot all about what was said before and turned the Spectre back into the innocent Silver Age version for one last Batman team-up.
The artwork is often spectacular from artists as diverse as Murphy Anderson, Neil Adams, and Jim Aparo. And though the back of the book promises delivered team-ups with the Flash, Superman, and Batman, the volume also contains guest appearances by lesser-known DC characters Wildcat and Dr. Thirteen. Worth a look for Spectre fans to say the least.
December 5, 2025
I've read this material before in the Showcase black and white phonebook as well as the 1970s Adventure Comics run in the old Wrath Of The Spectre trade. This stuff holds up really well on the re-read.
1960s Spectre is decent, but it's the 1970s stuff that really cooks. It pushed the boundaries of the Comics Code Authority at the time and is a blast to read.
If you like Horror-tinged Superhero comics, give this one a spin.
1960s Spectre is decent, but it's the 1970s stuff that really cooks. It pushed the boundaries of the Comics Code Authority at the time and is a blast to read.
If you like Horror-tinged Superhero comics, give this one a spin.
November 26, 2020
Let’s be honest, we’re here only for the Fleischer and Aparo stories. The other stories are mainly filler to justify the omnibus format and collect all the Spectre appearances pre-Crisis (although the Neal Adams drawn issues are gorgeous).
But man, the Adventure Comics stories by Fleischer and Aparo (and Wrath of the Spectre issue that wrapped up their storyline years later, also included in this omnibus) are worth the purchase alone. Dark, funny and riveting, these tales show us what exactly the Spectre does in all his vengeful glory, which is disposing of (mass) murderers that cross his way in bizarre and often ironic ways.
Finally it must be said that the omnibus as such is a fine piece of workmanship, with a beautiful design that makes you proud to own it.
But man, the Adventure Comics stories by Fleischer and Aparo (and Wrath of the Spectre issue that wrapped up their storyline years later, also included in this omnibus) are worth the purchase alone. Dark, funny and riveting, these tales show us what exactly the Spectre does in all his vengeful glory, which is disposing of (mass) murderers that cross his way in bizarre and often ironic ways.
Finally it must be said that the omnibus as such is a fine piece of workmanship, with a beautiful design that makes you proud to own it.
January 21, 2018
This was a beautiful collection of stories starring one of the most mysterious and most powerful characters in the DC Universe. Originally a creation of Superman co-creator Jerry Seigel, the Spectre is the living embodiment of God's Angel of Vengeance. When police detective Jim Corrigan was brutally murdered, God has mercy on him, and gives Corrigan another chance as long as he willingly becomes the vessel for the Spectre to dwell.
Acting as 'The Voice', the Spectre eliminated evil doers in some pretty gruesome ways. That is until the coming of the Comics Code. At that point, the Spectre continued to battle evil, but he'd mellow out eventually, allowing Corrigan to take the baddies to prison instead of sending them straight to Hell.
It's those less violent stories that starts out this awesome collection. Basically neutered, the Spectre would star in a short-lived series helmed by Neal Adams (Batman Odyssey) that only lasted 10 issues. The character would then languish in lingo only appearing in the occasional Justice League of America or Brave and the Bold adventure. The Batman team-ups are reprinted in this collection, as are some Showcase Presents team-ups with Doctor Fate. (The JLA epics can be found in assorted volumes of their Showcase Presents collections.)
As rules on horror in comics was lessened in the 1970s, DC would attempt to reboot the Spectre in the pages of Adventure Comics. Written and illustrated by Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo, these are some of my favorite horror comics DC have ever done and they were gory! One issue has a victim cut to pieces with a giant pair of scissors and another have a baddie sliced to literal ribbons at a lumber yard.
Based on the time period, these new Spectre stories were highly controversial and several issues never saw print until later on in a special 1988 miniseries called Wraith of the Spectre. Thankfully, that's not the end of the Spectre as he would appear in several issues of another horror title called Ghosts.
In these stories, the skeptic hunter Doctor Thirteen would try to prove that the Spectre was a hoax! But each time Jim Corrigan or the Spectre get the best of Thirteen. I wish that storyline went longer than it did because they were some of my favorite episodes in this collection.
I have a few of these stories in other issues already- especially Wraith of the Spectre and Brave and the Bold tales. But this collection was filled with over 300 pages of material that was all-new to me- plus it was an awesome gift from my wife! I loved the whole thing.
One little quirk- this book is listed as Volume 1. It shouldn't be listed as anything of the sort. There never was (and unless DC un-cancels the Showcase Presents line), there never will be a second volume. I guess that means I'll just have to collect the further Spectre titles from 1990-on in single issue form. I'm okay with that..
August 8, 2025
During the first season of his radio show, The Shadow would end each episode by warning his listeners that "As you sow evil, so shall you reap evil. The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay. The Shadow knows!"
If the vicious criminals in the stories in this omnibus had only heeded that warning, they would not have incurred the gruesome Wrath of The Spectre.
In the 1995 horror movie The Prophecy, Thomas Daggett, failed seminarian turned homicide detective, asked the schoolteacher Katherine, "Did you ever notice how in the Bible, when ever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, He sent an angel?
Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood. Would you ever really want to meet an angel?"
In these classic controversial stories, God sent The Spectre as His Spirit of Vengeance, and I am sure the villains wished they had never met him.
Towards the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, as the Nazis were opening the Ark of The Covenant, Indiana Jones warns, "Marion, don't look at it. Shut your eyes, Marion. Don't look at it, no matter what happens!"
I would warn readers not to look at the final panels of these stories, but then they would miss the ghoulishly gory punishments The Spectre visited upon the vermin of the underworld.
If the vicious criminals in the stories in this omnibus had only heeded that warning, they would not have incurred the gruesome Wrath of The Spectre.
In the 1995 horror movie The Prophecy, Thomas Daggett, failed seminarian turned homicide detective, asked the schoolteacher Katherine, "Did you ever notice how in the Bible, when ever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, He sent an angel?
Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood. Would you ever really want to meet an angel?"
In these classic controversial stories, God sent The Spectre as His Spirit of Vengeance, and I am sure the villains wished they had never met him.
Towards the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, as the Nazis were opening the Ark of The Covenant, Indiana Jones warns, "Marion, don't look at it. Shut your eyes, Marion. Don't look at it, no matter what happens!"
I would warn readers not to look at the final panels of these stories, but then they would miss the ghoulishly gory punishments The Spectre visited upon the vermin of the underworld.
November 15, 2025
By far one of the best and more underrated Omnis out there with solid writing and artwork throughout. It's a shame the Fleisher/Aparo arc had to end as some of the best comic book writing and artwork was done here while the other works by Gardner Fox/Adams are pretty good too for an overall excellent collection of solid Bronze/Copper Age DC stories. Very highly recommended.
September 12, 2025
The Spectre was originally a Golden Age super-hero, created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily. First appearing in More Fun Comics # 51 (Jan 1940) he soon became a member of the Justice Society of America. It was an unusual origin story. Police officer Jim Corrigan was murdered but an entity called ‘The Voice’ refused him entry into the after-life and sent him back to Earth to fight evil. Jim Corrigan still has a body and a life of his own but he is inhabited by the Spectre, who emerges to fight crime with magic powers.
‘Showcase Presents: The Spectre (Vol. 1)’ starts with the Silver Age reincarnation of the character in Showcase # 60. Sadly, the Spectre is one of those significant characters who have never managed to maintain a long running series of their own, despite being an important part of the fictional universe they inhabit. This hefty volume therefore features several different styles of Spectre over the decade or so that it spans. The first 154 pages are largely unremarkable featuring the writing of Gardner Fox and the art of Murphy Anderson. This is interspersed with a couple of issues of ‘Brave And The Bold’ where the Spectre teams up with the Flash and the Batman with scripts by Bob Haney and art by Carmine Infantino and Ross Andru. These are all decent talents but not spectacular.
I have a love/hate relationship with Gardner Fox. I admire his cleverness and his prolific output but for a man who knew some science he often lets you down. For example, in Showcase # 84, ‘The Ghost Of Ace Chance’, the Spectre saves a gambler by entering his body and extracting it when he is thrown into a tank of liquid gas. The gangster’s spirit had just fled his body and moved into that of Jim Corrigan. So the disembodied detective is excluded from his own body. A series of near-catastrophes drains his energy, including an earthquake and a tornado. He fights the tornado by luring it with his cape like a bullfighter! This shows that the story was written for ten year-old boys. Fair enough, it was, but even they might have thought this a bit far-fetched.
There’s a short period of excellence because Neal Adams took over the art in The Spectre # 2-3, then both art and story in # 4-5. This is early Adams and interesting to see as he was to become a huge influence in the industry, a kind of anti-Kirby with his completely realistic approach. Unhappily, he didn’t stay long on the title and issues # 6-10 demonstrate a painfully slow decline into shorter stories with a number of different writers, clear evidence of a lack of direction. Even these issues are not without some charm, thanks largely to the interesting art of Jerry Grandenetti. Issue # 9 has a story titled ‘Abraca-Doom’ with script by Dennis O’Neil and art by Berni Wrightson, two other talents just starting out that were to achieve great things. This is not one of them.
Pages 368-546 are what really make this collection worth buying. In 1974, the series was revived by writer Michael Fleischer and artist Jim Aparo for a ten issue run in ‘Adventure Comics’. In keeping with the times, films were full of anti-heroes and fiction generally was getting darker, the Spectre became a bit nasty. Criminals were tracked down and died horribly. There’s a sub-plot of a love story between Jim Corrigan and a beautiful heiress and another of an ace reporter investigating the hero, appalled at his cruel treatment of evil-doers. The reporter is called Earl Crawford and bears a remarkable resemblance to Superman’s alter ego. Both art and story in this little run are excellent. Jim Aparo is definitely of the Neil Adams school but, for my money, his work here is even better. The good stuff continues in the next pages as he draws Brave And The Bold # 116, the next featured story. This is followed by a Spectre/Superman team-up in which the almost omnipotent disembodied detective teaches the Man of Steel a bit of humility and a valuable lesson.
‘Showcase: The Spectre (Vol. 1)’ winds down with a three-part run of Doctor Thirteen from Ghosts # 97-99, in which the paranormal investigator tries to prove our hero is a fake. It wasn’t bad. Finally, there are a couple of issues of Brave And The Bold # 180 and # 199 where he teams up with the Batman again in a magical milieu.. This is okay for the Spectre but I feel Bruce Wayne’s alter ego doesn’t really fit well in this context. However, the stories are okay and the art, by Jim Aparo and Ross Andru respectively, is good.
Overall, this curate’s egg of a ‘Showcase Presents’ accurately depicts the chequered career of an interesting character. When he was good he was very, very good and when he was bad he was not without some historical interest to persons curious about the history of the American comicbook
‘Showcase Presents: The Spectre (Vol. 1)’ starts with the Silver Age reincarnation of the character in Showcase # 60. Sadly, the Spectre is one of those significant characters who have never managed to maintain a long running series of their own, despite being an important part of the fictional universe they inhabit. This hefty volume therefore features several different styles of Spectre over the decade or so that it spans. The first 154 pages are largely unremarkable featuring the writing of Gardner Fox and the art of Murphy Anderson. This is interspersed with a couple of issues of ‘Brave And The Bold’ where the Spectre teams up with the Flash and the Batman with scripts by Bob Haney and art by Carmine Infantino and Ross Andru. These are all decent talents but not spectacular.
I have a love/hate relationship with Gardner Fox. I admire his cleverness and his prolific output but for a man who knew some science he often lets you down. For example, in Showcase # 84, ‘The Ghost Of Ace Chance’, the Spectre saves a gambler by entering his body and extracting it when he is thrown into a tank of liquid gas. The gangster’s spirit had just fled his body and moved into that of Jim Corrigan. So the disembodied detective is excluded from his own body. A series of near-catastrophes drains his energy, including an earthquake and a tornado. He fights the tornado by luring it with his cape like a bullfighter! This shows that the story was written for ten year-old boys. Fair enough, it was, but even they might have thought this a bit far-fetched.
There’s a short period of excellence because Neal Adams took over the art in The Spectre # 2-3, then both art and story in # 4-5. This is early Adams and interesting to see as he was to become a huge influence in the industry, a kind of anti-Kirby with his completely realistic approach. Unhappily, he didn’t stay long on the title and issues # 6-10 demonstrate a painfully slow decline into shorter stories with a number of different writers, clear evidence of a lack of direction. Even these issues are not without some charm, thanks largely to the interesting art of Jerry Grandenetti. Issue # 9 has a story titled ‘Abraca-Doom’ with script by Dennis O’Neil and art by Berni Wrightson, two other talents just starting out that were to achieve great things. This is not one of them.
Pages 368-546 are what really make this collection worth buying. In 1974, the series was revived by writer Michael Fleischer and artist Jim Aparo for a ten issue run in ‘Adventure Comics’. In keeping with the times, films were full of anti-heroes and fiction generally was getting darker, the Spectre became a bit nasty. Criminals were tracked down and died horribly. There’s a sub-plot of a love story between Jim Corrigan and a beautiful heiress and another of an ace reporter investigating the hero, appalled at his cruel treatment of evil-doers. The reporter is called Earl Crawford and bears a remarkable resemblance to Superman’s alter ego. Both art and story in this little run are excellent. Jim Aparo is definitely of the Neil Adams school but, for my money, his work here is even better. The good stuff continues in the next pages as he draws Brave And The Bold # 116, the next featured story. This is followed by a Spectre/Superman team-up in which the almost omnipotent disembodied detective teaches the Man of Steel a bit of humility and a valuable lesson.
‘Showcase: The Spectre (Vol. 1)’ winds down with a three-part run of Doctor Thirteen from Ghosts # 97-99, in which the paranormal investigator tries to prove our hero is a fake. It wasn’t bad. Finally, there are a couple of issues of Brave And The Bold # 180 and # 199 where he teams up with the Batman again in a magical milieu.. This is okay for the Spectre but I feel Bruce Wayne’s alter ego doesn’t really fit well in this context. However, the stories are okay and the art, by Jim Aparo and Ross Andru respectively, is good.
Overall, this curate’s egg of a ‘Showcase Presents’ accurately depicts the chequered career of an interesting character. When he was good he was very, very good and when he was bad he was not without some historical interest to persons curious about the history of the American comicbook
December 7, 2013
The Spectre is probably the hardest character I can think of to write. He is the most invincible superhero I've ever read of in comic dom.
Sure, Superman, Thor, or even the Hulk, among a lot of powerful types, have their implications of being indestructible, but half of the stories in this book are about how the Spectre can't really be destroyed at all, not even by some cop out kryptonite.
The Spectre's powers are really poorly defined, too. He's a spirit of vengeance/ghost that's placed inside the body of Jim Corrigan when Corrigan is killed, sent back to Earth to allow this Spectre spirit to take down bad guys. The "powers" consist mainly of just being able to do whatever he wants. He can grow large enough to make the Earth the size of a molecule in his green shoe, he can transform people and objects into death machines, he kills people instantaneously. It's insane, and mostly based on looking cool than being really climactic about who's going to win.
The stories get split into two varieties: fighthing villains with your basic "oh, he might kill me but I defeat him" structure, and a LOT of stories where evil people get their just deserts, with the Spectre killing them in some grisly way.
The actual fighting is rare, but actually quite good. Gardner Fox, a terrible 60's writer who among other things co-invented the Justice League of America, actually writes some awesome stuff here. A lot of super powerful demons who spread themselves across dimensions and actually theaten our hero. And there are a lot of issues of "Brave and The Bold" where the Spectre and Flash or Batman fight similar bad guys, with some great artwork by people like Ross Andru. Some great Neal Adams art and even his own scribing in "The Spectre" solo mag too.
But then Michael Fleisher (who is "best known" to me for writing the first three issues of a Man Thing reboot in the '80s and getting fired because it was terrible) writes these stories where bad guys kill people and run away. And then the Spectre shows up and is like "I'm totally going to kill you", and then picks a menacing end, like not just killing a bad guy mannequin magician, but turning that guy into a mannequin, like that. Almost no recurring characters, no super villains, and it's really cheesy with the catchphrases, like "Death always follow the Spectre", or "beware the Spectre"...
The latter gets really repetitive. I don't know why you buy a new "Adventure Comics" issue if it has the Spectre over the shoulder of another sweating bad guy with a gun.
They really should've given this guy a weakness, or a strong recurring storyline, or something. As it is, after a few issues of the trial run machine DC Showcase, he lost his own comic after 10 issues, his Adventure Comics run with Fleisher only lasted 10. His three issue with Doctor Thirteen, a "hoax buster" type, was terrible and lasted three underwritten issues thrown in the back of Ghosts magazine.
I really liked the way they wrote the Spectre solo mag, but it wasn't meant to be. Instead, most of his material has stuff on the cover like THIS IS TOO SCARY FOR YOU TO READ, or whatever. All weak weak flash, no substance (only scary because of some shoddy writing). But the strong moments still get a kind 5/5 from me.
Sure, Superman, Thor, or even the Hulk, among a lot of powerful types, have their implications of being indestructible, but half of the stories in this book are about how the Spectre can't really be destroyed at all, not even by some cop out kryptonite.
The Spectre's powers are really poorly defined, too. He's a spirit of vengeance/ghost that's placed inside the body of Jim Corrigan when Corrigan is killed, sent back to Earth to allow this Spectre spirit to take down bad guys. The "powers" consist mainly of just being able to do whatever he wants. He can grow large enough to make the Earth the size of a molecule in his green shoe, he can transform people and objects into death machines, he kills people instantaneously. It's insane, and mostly based on looking cool than being really climactic about who's going to win.
The stories get split into two varieties: fighthing villains with your basic "oh, he might kill me but I defeat him" structure, and a LOT of stories where evil people get their just deserts, with the Spectre killing them in some grisly way.
The actual fighting is rare, but actually quite good. Gardner Fox, a terrible 60's writer who among other things co-invented the Justice League of America, actually writes some awesome stuff here. A lot of super powerful demons who spread themselves across dimensions and actually theaten our hero. And there are a lot of issues of "Brave and The Bold" where the Spectre and Flash or Batman fight similar bad guys, with some great artwork by people like Ross Andru. Some great Neal Adams art and even his own scribing in "The Spectre" solo mag too.
But then Michael Fleisher (who is "best known" to me for writing the first three issues of a Man Thing reboot in the '80s and getting fired because it was terrible) writes these stories where bad guys kill people and run away. And then the Spectre shows up and is like "I'm totally going to kill you", and then picks a menacing end, like not just killing a bad guy mannequin magician, but turning that guy into a mannequin, like that. Almost no recurring characters, no super villains, and it's really cheesy with the catchphrases, like "Death always follow the Spectre", or "beware the Spectre"...
The latter gets really repetitive. I don't know why you buy a new "Adventure Comics" issue if it has the Spectre over the shoulder of another sweating bad guy with a gun.
They really should've given this guy a weakness, or a strong recurring storyline, or something. As it is, after a few issues of the trial run machine DC Showcase, he lost his own comic after 10 issues, his Adventure Comics run with Fleisher only lasted 10. His three issue with Doctor Thirteen, a "hoax buster" type, was terrible and lasted three underwritten issues thrown in the back of Ghosts magazine.
I really liked the way they wrote the Spectre solo mag, but it wasn't meant to be. Instead, most of his material has stuff on the cover like THIS IS TOO SCARY FOR YOU TO READ, or whatever. All weak weak flash, no substance (only scary because of some shoddy writing). But the strong moments still get a kind 5/5 from me.
October 24, 2023
The Spectre rules! This skips his still largely uncollected Golden Age run and jumps ahead to his Silver Age revival, which was 21 years to the cover date of his previous appearance. They seem to try to keep the premise of the Golden Age Spectre at first. The Showcase issues and the first issue of his series are okay if a little boring. Neal Adams comes in for #2 and stays a few issues. I enjoy the ones with Wildcat, now 20 years older and past his prime. I recently read some of his early appearances in The Comics Cavalcade Archives.
Things are good but don't get great until Adventure Comics #431, which ushers in the reinvented Spectre after a five year absence in 1974. Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo crafted a brilliant storyline of wrath and retribution. The Spectre deals out ironic deaths to criminals. This is pretty gritty stuff that pushed the Comics Code Authority to it's limit. There is an old, long out of print trade paperback which collects that series in color which I read years ago.
These black and white phone books are a love and hate thing for me. DC usually screws up the coloring in their collections, so this is something of a plus for them. They can also serve as poor man's Artist Editions books. I wish that DC would continue the Golden Age Archives and continue into the Silver Age and beyond.
Things are good but don't get great until Adventure Comics #431, which ushers in the reinvented Spectre after a five year absence in 1974. Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo crafted a brilliant storyline of wrath and retribution. The Spectre deals out ironic deaths to criminals. This is pretty gritty stuff that pushed the Comics Code Authority to it's limit. There is an old, long out of print trade paperback which collects that series in color which I read years ago.
These black and white phone books are a love and hate thing for me. DC usually screws up the coloring in their collections, so this is something of a plus for them. They can also serve as poor man's Artist Editions books. I wish that DC would continue the Golden Age Archives and continue into the Silver Age and beyond.
December 15, 2021
Spectre is one of those superheroes I really wanted to read his comics and today I did by reading around nine issues about his intolerance against the crimes happening in New York. This limited series 'The Wrath of Spectre' basically shows Spectre's rage and punishments he charged on the crooks. He didn't follow the no-kill policy like many DC superheroes. He believed in eternal damnation.
Spectre is Lt. Jim Corrigan, the detective who was killed by some thugs but returned as the dead man, a ghost blessed with immense powers to continue his fight against the crimes happening in his city. More than his typical origin story, I love his costume.
Coming back to this limited series, my impression amongst the comic writing staff involved is much of the contribution of Jim Aparo. But the issues about Spectre solving crimes as a detective are not really mind-blowing but simple. Each issue is limited to hardly 15 pages so the detailing of the hero's role as a detective is not broad.
Secondly, Spectre is one of the most powerful superheroes from DC but in these issues, he is fighting some typical crooks. So he doesn't have a tough villain against whom he really justifies his power. Maybe I will read in some of his story arcs that will prove his worth. Because I think in the Vengeance storyline before Infinite Crisis saga, he was fighting against the mighty magic heroes like Black Adam, Doctor Fate, Raven, and Shazam.
The Wrath of Spectre is a four-issue limited series that was published in 1988 that was actually a favour to Spectre followers who got to read Spectre's controversial issues from Adventure Comics of the mid-1970s in reprint form. The original source is the issues numbered from 431 to 440.
Spectre is Lt. Jim Corrigan, the detective who was killed by some thugs but returned as the dead man, a ghost blessed with immense powers to continue his fight against the crimes happening in his city. More than his typical origin story, I love his costume.
Coming back to this limited series, my impression amongst the comic writing staff involved is much of the contribution of Jim Aparo. But the issues about Spectre solving crimes as a detective are not really mind-blowing but simple. Each issue is limited to hardly 15 pages so the detailing of the hero's role as a detective is not broad.
Secondly, Spectre is one of the most powerful superheroes from DC but in these issues, he is fighting some typical crooks. So he doesn't have a tough villain against whom he really justifies his power. Maybe I will read in some of his story arcs that will prove his worth. Because I think in the Vengeance storyline before Infinite Crisis saga, he was fighting against the mighty magic heroes like Black Adam, Doctor Fate, Raven, and Shazam.
The Wrath of Spectre is a four-issue limited series that was published in 1988 that was actually a favour to Spectre followers who got to read Spectre's controversial issues from Adventure Comics of the mid-1970s in reprint form. The original source is the issues numbered from 431 to 440.
December 7, 2012
Quite disappointed with this. I understand this collection runs the gamut of Spectre stories covering many years with many writers and artists, but I felt few of these stories carried much impact.
The early Gardner F. Fox and Bob Haney stories are pretty much goofy fun, but don't really go anywhere or explore the possibilities of a character as potentially fascinating as The Spectre. Things pick up a bit when Neal Adams draws and writes some of the later stories, but not for long. Spectre's failure in issue #8 looks promising, but the writing then devolves into several "redemption-of-the-week" stories.
Beginning a little over halfway through the collection with Adventure Comics #431 (writing by Michael Fleisher and art by Jim Aparo), things get wild and crazy as The Spectre becomes more menacing and violent, really pushing the edges of a post-code mainstream comic. Yet again, none of these stories really deliver on the potential of how interesting the characters of The Spectre and Jim Corrigan could've been.
The best story comes from DC Comics Presents #29, "Where No Superman Has Gone Before," which shows us that even Superman has limits, albeit limits imposed upon him by The Spectre. Here we learn what Spectre is really capable of doing, why he can do it, and to what lengths he'll go. (It's also a great Superman story.) For me, this is the only story in the entire collection that takes risks with its characters.
The early Gardner F. Fox and Bob Haney stories are pretty much goofy fun, but don't really go anywhere or explore the possibilities of a character as potentially fascinating as The Spectre. Things pick up a bit when Neal Adams draws and writes some of the later stories, but not for long. Spectre's failure in issue #8 looks promising, but the writing then devolves into several "redemption-of-the-week" stories.
Beginning a little over halfway through the collection with Adventure Comics #431 (writing by Michael Fleisher and art by Jim Aparo), things get wild and crazy as The Spectre becomes more menacing and violent, really pushing the edges of a post-code mainstream comic. Yet again, none of these stories really deliver on the potential of how interesting the characters of The Spectre and Jim Corrigan could've been.
The best story comes from DC Comics Presents #29, "Where No Superman Has Gone Before," which shows us that even Superman has limits, albeit limits imposed upon him by The Spectre. Here we learn what Spectre is really capable of doing, why he can do it, and to what lengths he'll go. (It's also a great Superman story.) For me, this is the only story in the entire collection that takes risks with its characters.
November 11, 2013
i love both dc and marvel's big black and white collections - even the dull and boring ones are wonderful.
due to the nature of the spectre's publishing history this is a book that is filled with different writing and art styles.
it has some wonderful art by neal adams and jim apro (there was a time when i would have sneered at apro's art - but now i just gaze in wonder at his strong clean lines and ability to tel a story).
the writing is all over the place from gardner fox to neal adams to mike fleisher.
some of the stories are kooky some are scary.
it is a mishmash and all the better for that.
for anyone who loves classic comics.
due to the nature of the spectre's publishing history this is a book that is filled with different writing and art styles.
it has some wonderful art by neal adams and jim apro (there was a time when i would have sneered at apro's art - but now i just gaze in wonder at his strong clean lines and ability to tel a story).
the writing is all over the place from gardner fox to neal adams to mike fleisher.
some of the stories are kooky some are scary.
it is a mishmash and all the better for that.
for anyone who loves classic comics.
November 4, 2013
More like 3.5 stars, but that's not an option.
September 21, 2021
I bought this for the Jim Aparo, 70’s Spectre stories. I was surprised by the couple of Neal Adams stories. The rest was more or less the “meh” I expected.
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