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The Golden Age Archives
The Golden Age Spectre Archives, Vol. 1
When police detective Jim Corrigan was seemingly murdered by the criminal Gat Menson, his spirit was mystically returned to his body and he became the ghostly guardian known as the Spectre. This hardcover edition reprints the original 1940s stories of the spirit of vengeance as he battled both ordinary criminals and supernatural menaces. Included in this volume are the Spectre's first appearance, his supernatural origin, his first appearance in costume and the introduction of the infinitely powerful ring of life. Collects the adventures of the Spectre from More Fun Comics #'s 52-70
224 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2003
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108 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Siegel
623 books82 followersJerome "Jerry" Siegel, who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator of Superman (along with Joe Shuster), the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable icons of the 20th century.
He and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.
He and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 17, 2020
Not perfect, but if you're a sucker for golden age stuff like me you're going to appreciate this mixture of Noir (done when the style was NOT overblown nor employed by hacks who cannot write something good even if paid by word), horror and SF imagery. The Spectre/Jim Corringan is not a nice and friendly character by any mean, but none was during the Golden Age except for one and one only, so...
July 4, 2016
Retro Hugo Award Finalist:
"The Spectre"/"The Spectre Strikes!" (More Fun Comics #52/53, Feb/Mar 1940)
The nominated story introduces us to The Spectre, the ghost of hard-fisted police detective Jim Corrigan. When Corrigan is killed in action, a disembodied voice directs him to fight evil as an all-powerful supernatural being. Why Corrigan was chosen is not revealed. The Spectre has, as noted in the foreword by Jerry Bails, all the powers of the combined Legion of Superheroes, e.g., flight, super-strength, invisibility, telepathy, giantism, micro-reduction, duplication, and others (yet he has to manually sew his costume together). With all these powers, it really shouldn't take him more than a few days to wipe out crime, but somehow he continues his day job as a detective.
The remainder of this archive isn't much better. Jerry Siegel's scripts are generally inane and filled with wooden dialog. Bernard Baily proves that any schlub who could pick up a pencil could be a comic book artist in the so-called "Golden Age" of comics. The layouts are static and the drawings are crude.
The Spectre as a character has potential, but it is difficult to write believable conflict when he has unlimited powers. Later creators were sometimes able to make The Spectre interesting by taking him to his logical, violent conclusion, but Siegel and Baily were clearly not too concerned with doing anything other than entertaining uncritical readers (presumably, mainly children) in the most benign way possible.
This book is certainly interesting for its historical significance, but it is doubtful science fiction readers in 1941 would have nominated, let alone voted for, this comic book.
"The Spectre"/"The Spectre Strikes!" (More Fun Comics #52/53, Feb/Mar 1940)
The nominated story introduces us to The Spectre, the ghost of hard-fisted police detective Jim Corrigan. When Corrigan is killed in action, a disembodied voice directs him to fight evil as an all-powerful supernatural being. Why Corrigan was chosen is not revealed. The Spectre has, as noted in the foreword by Jerry Bails, all the powers of the combined Legion of Superheroes, e.g., flight, super-strength, invisibility, telepathy, giantism, micro-reduction, duplication, and others (yet he has to manually sew his costume together). With all these powers, it really shouldn't take him more than a few days to wipe out crime, but somehow he continues his day job as a detective.
The remainder of this archive isn't much better. Jerry Siegel's scripts are generally inane and filled with wooden dialog. Bernard Baily proves that any schlub who could pick up a pencil could be a comic book artist in the so-called "Golden Age" of comics. The layouts are static and the drawings are crude.
The Spectre as a character has potential, but it is difficult to write believable conflict when he has unlimited powers. Later creators were sometimes able to make The Spectre interesting by taking him to his logical, violent conclusion, but Siegel and Baily were clearly not too concerned with doing anything other than entertaining uncritical readers (presumably, mainly children) in the most benign way possible.
This book is certainly interesting for its historical significance, but it is doubtful science fiction readers in 1941 would have nominated, let alone voted for, this comic book.
October 17, 2014
Several Golden Age superheroes benefited greatly by their makeovers during the Silver Age era: The Flash and Green Lantern immediately come to mind. When The Spectre made a comeback in the late Sixties his appearance hadn't changed, but Gardner Fox & Murphy Anderson made the character a lot more multi-dimensional and palatable than his previous incarnation. Jim Corrigan now had a personality, where originally he was flat as a board with no sex appeal.
The Spectre Archives documents The Spectre in his early beginnings in More Fun Comics, and it's easy to see that the character took awhile to develop into a distinct entity. For the first half of the book Jerry Siegel's scripts are just generic crime stories with a little Shadow occultism thrown in. We're never fully told what all of The Spectre's powers are, so Siegel creates super powers that were never used previously or afterwards by The Spectre, a bit of a cheat. Bernard Baily's art is pretty stiff and static, lacking the fluidity of Bill Everett or the detail of Syd Shores.
Things do pick up by the second half where ordinary villains like gangsters are dispensed with and we're treated to space aliens, goblins and zombies - yes, they're still gangsters, but they're living dead gangsters.
The Spectre Archives documents The Spectre in his early beginnings in More Fun Comics, and it's easy to see that the character took awhile to develop into a distinct entity. For the first half of the book Jerry Siegel's scripts are just generic crime stories with a little Shadow occultism thrown in. We're never fully told what all of The Spectre's powers are, so Siegel creates super powers that were never used previously or afterwards by The Spectre, a bit of a cheat. Bernard Baily's art is pretty stiff and static, lacking the fluidity of Bill Everett or the detail of Syd Shores.
Things do pick up by the second half where ordinary villains like gangsters are dispensed with and we're treated to space aliens, goblins and zombies - yes, they're still gangsters, but they're living dead gangsters.
August 19, 2019
The Spectre has always been a favorite of mine. Specifically the mid-1970s comic stories written by Michael Fleischer and drawn by Jim Aparo. So, I thought I'd dash through this collections of the very first Spectre stories.
The forward well details the start of the series and the oddities of the character. All to point out, something forgotten in today's comics, that this is all in fun. It's silly science fiction.
The 13 tales are all good guy versus bad guy. With the bad guy able to do whatever the imagination of the writer concocts. All simple stories with outrageous ghostly marauding revenge to those who lurk in evil. All fun. These are really all comics should ever be.
The artwork is primitive to what was later seen in the late '60s through the early '80s. The effort to good storytelling is obvious and done as new ground is broken in comics artistry.
Note: I'm adding books of comics to my reading lot trying to keep my head in my work as a storytelling illustrator.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 out of ten points.
The forward well details the start of the series and the oddities of the character. All to point out, something forgotten in today's comics, that this is all in fun. It's silly science fiction.
The 13 tales are all good guy versus bad guy. With the bad guy able to do whatever the imagination of the writer concocts. All simple stories with outrageous ghostly marauding revenge to those who lurk in evil. All fun. These are really all comics should ever be.
The artwork is primitive to what was later seen in the late '60s through the early '80s. The effort to good storytelling is obvious and done as new ground is broken in comics artistry.
Note: I'm adding books of comics to my reading lot trying to keep my head in my work as a storytelling illustrator.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 out of ten points.
March 17, 2024
Police detective Jim Corrigan is murdered by mobster "Gat" Menson on the night of his engagement to his girlfriend, only to be resurrected as the ghostly entity known as the Spectre. Corrigan sheds his humanity in favor of being a crime-fighting hero, and the subsequent adventures of the Spectre have him taking on organized crime and the odd supernatural threat here and there.
The earliest Spectre stories were all contained within the pages of More Fun Comics, an anthology series that prominently became a Spectre focused book from issues #52-101. Collected in this edition are the first thirteen issues (More Fun Comics #52-70), which serve to flesh out Corrigan's earliest time as the Spectre. The stories are repetitive as was the fashion of Golden Age superhero comics, and the powers were ill defined. But there is a definitive charm to these early tales for sure, and a large reason is the charming artwork from Bernard Baily. The writing is also fairly pared down for a much older comic, making this a fairly easy read.
The earliest Spectre stories were all contained within the pages of More Fun Comics, an anthology series that prominently became a Spectre focused book from issues #52-101. Collected in this edition are the first thirteen issues (More Fun Comics #52-70), which serve to flesh out Corrigan's earliest time as the Spectre. The stories are repetitive as was the fashion of Golden Age superhero comics, and the powers were ill defined. But there is a definitive charm to these early tales for sure, and a large reason is the charming artwork from Bernard Baily. The writing is also fairly pared down for a much older comic, making this a fairly easy read.
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April 23, 2021I enjoyed seeing the covers and reading these old stories. I was floored how racist their one depiction of a black man was.
June 25, 2024
DC has been blowing out their DC Archives line of hardcovers out at half price through Diamond Distributors for over a year now. I picked this up at the beginning of the sale and finally got around to reading it. The Spectre effin' rules! I have read more than enough Golden Age comic books to know what is good and what is simply the novelty of reading old, obscure comics. I would rank this run right up there with any of the Golden Age greats, like Batman by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Captain America by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and the Sub-Mariner by Bill Everett. It is that good.
I love how Siegel inserts locales from his native Cleveland, referred to here as Cliffland, such as the Marquee Theatre, referred to here as the Markey Theatre. I also love the old-fashioned might makes right mentality of the Golden Age. Villains meet with unfortunate, and often gruesome, ends. The Spectre is judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one. I love the clothes, slang, cars, and street lights of the time.
The rampant sexism and unfavorable portrayal of minorities as elevator operators are bizarre snapshots of this bygone era. It's hard to believe how far we have come as a society in the last 70 years.
I love the rawness and innovation of the Golden Age of comics. These guys literally made up the rules as they went along. The Spectre is even referred to as “The Dark Knight” in one issue. I am not sure if it pre-dates Batman being referred to as the Dark Knight or not. If I had to guess, I'd have to say that it does not.
I am sad that this is the only Golden Age Spectre Archive available. Of course I now want All Star Archives Vols. 0-5 because The Spectre is in them. Does anyone know if he has solo stories or if he is part of the team? Are they worth getting?
DC Archives are a thing of beauty. High quality restoration, paper and sewn binding...what more could you ask for? It's a damn shame that DC has done such an about face with their hardcovers in recent years.
I love how Siegel inserts locales from his native Cleveland, referred to here as Cliffland, such as the Marquee Theatre, referred to here as the Markey Theatre. I also love the old-fashioned might makes right mentality of the Golden Age. Villains meet with unfortunate, and often gruesome, ends. The Spectre is judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one. I love the clothes, slang, cars, and street lights of the time.
The rampant sexism and unfavorable portrayal of minorities as elevator operators are bizarre snapshots of this bygone era. It's hard to believe how far we have come as a society in the last 70 years.
I love the rawness and innovation of the Golden Age of comics. These guys literally made up the rules as they went along. The Spectre is even referred to as “The Dark Knight” in one issue. I am not sure if it pre-dates Batman being referred to as the Dark Knight or not. If I had to guess, I'd have to say that it does not.
I am sad that this is the only Golden Age Spectre Archive available. Of course I now want All Star Archives Vols. 0-5 because The Spectre is in them. Does anyone know if he has solo stories or if he is part of the team? Are they worth getting?
DC Archives are a thing of beauty. High quality restoration, paper and sewn binding...what more could you ask for? It's a damn shame that DC has done such an about face with their hardcovers in recent years.
June 27, 2015
This volume's usually priced through the roof, but I finally managed to snag a cheap copy, and it's not disappointing. The Spectre, for those not in the now, is basically the vengeful right hand of the Almighty herself, having previously been hard-nosed police detective Jim Corrigan. Corrigan was allowed to come back after his murder to right wrongs in an never-ending battle with evil.
These tales are all by the creative team of Jerry Siegel and Bernard Bailey. Siegel, of course, is half of the team that created Superman, and Bernard Bailey was responsible for Hourman over in Adventure Comics. The strangeness of these old stories are definitely part of the fun, as these pre-Comic Code adventures can get a bit macabre, with the Spectre allowing a suspect to be eaten and swallowed by a far-flung space reptile, or causing one to melt like an icicle.
Great artwork and good stories for the era, this is an excellent read!
These tales are all by the creative team of Jerry Siegel and Bernard Bailey. Siegel, of course, is half of the team that created Superman, and Bernard Bailey was responsible for Hourman over in Adventure Comics. The strangeness of these old stories are definitely part of the fun, as these pre-Comic Code adventures can get a bit macabre, with the Spectre allowing a suspect to be eaten and swallowed by a far-flung space reptile, or causing one to melt like an icicle.
Great artwork and good stories for the era, this is an excellent read!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews