HISTORY

Jim Corrigan was not the first being to be the Spectre. (See Spectre v3 #0) Originally the Wrath of God was the being that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, the one that humbled the Pharaoh and killed the first born of Egypt. This Wrath of God was the horn blast that brought down the walls of Jericho and stopped the sun in its tracks for the battle. For centuries the Wrath of God punished and humbled mankind, until the son of God was born. At that instant, the Wrath of God was cast into limbo, for vengeance and forgiveness cannot walk the same earth together. When the son of god died on the cross, the Wrath of God exploded from limbo and sought vengeance on mankind. The Godhead had declared that since the son of God had walked the Earth, beings such as the Spectre must be bound to a human soul. The first Spectre to walk the Earth and perform its duties was Charaka. For Chakara's family was slain by Lady Beltane and Chakara had cried for justice! Kali appeared and joined with Chakara to become what we know as the Spectre. His soul mixed with the essence of the divine wrath. and became a killing ghost that seeked justice and enlightenment. For years, Chakara fullfilled his mission on Earth until others took his place.

Although the Spectre was dormant for centuries, he would soon emerge in the world of mystery men, the 1940's. (See Spectre Annual #1, v3; Secret Origins #5, v1; Secret Origins #15, v2) Police detective Jim Corrigan and his fiancee socialite Clarice Winston were captured by the criminal "Gat" Benson and two of his men. Corrigan was placed in a barrel that was filled with cement, and then dumped off a wharf into a river. Corrigan died and his spirit, now in a void, began travelling toward a streaming light ahead of him, but was somehow prevented from reaching its source. A Voice told that his mission on Earth was unfinished and that he was to return there to fight evil with the supernatural powers he now possessed. Back on Earth Corrigan's spirt confronted Benson, took his vengeance on him. However Clarice Winston was shot at the last moment but with his newly found power, Jim Corrigan gave part of his essence to save the woman he loved. Later, the Spectre killed the criminal named Rhami, who had hired Benson to murder Corrigan.

Corrigan worked on the police force while battling both ordinary criminals and supernatural menaces as the Spectre. (Eventually, the Voice allowed the Spectre to inhabit Corrigan's resurrected body, which Corrigan's spirt would leave to go into action as the Spectre.) In recent times, certain points of the Spectre's origin has been rewritten. With Jim Corrigan's new mission as an agent of God, he confronted the criminals as Jim Corrigan and not as the Spectre in his early days. It was not until his partner in the police force, J. Percival Poplaski (Percival Popp) who knew of Jim Corrigan's supernatural abilities created a costume for him. Jim Corrigan could now become one of the mystery men of the 1940's and he was now truly the Spectre. The following year, the Spectre helped other mystery men stop Hitler's attack on England and the United States and with Fate vouching for him, helped found the legendary Justice Society of America. (See Secret Origins #31, v2; All-Star Comics #3) The Spectre was a founding member of the Justice Society of America and a member of the wartime All-Star Squadron.

When the evil astral being Azmodus came to Earth and inhabited a human body, both Azmodus and the Spectre became trapped in their host bodies. Decades later, the Spectre was finally able to leave Corrigan's body when Azmodus' human host died, and the Spectre defeated Asmodus.

The Spectre's career has been checkered, mostly owing to the size of the mission he was given. Despite unimaginable power, the Spectre was unable to make a difference during the Crisis on the Infinite Earths & Zero Hour. During Zero Hour, Parallax attained enough power to battle the Spectre. The Spectre failed yet again to make any difference during the Final Night as it may have been God's will to allow the sun to be extinguished. However, the Spectre merged with Gaea to protect and heal the Earth while the sun was extinguished. The Voice reduced the Spectre's powers after the Crisis on Infinite Earth and gave him a new mission on Earth: the Spectre was now to attempt people from killing others and to avenge the spirits of the unjustly slain by punishing their murderers in manners befitting the nature of the crime. As Corrigan, he is now a private investigator in New York City. His office was in the same building as Madame Xandu's parlor. The mysterious lady is linked to the Spectre's destiny. Also added to Corrigan's life was Kim Liang, an assist charged by Madame Xanadu to keep watch over Corrigan's body while the Spectre was on a mission. This was over seven years ago.

In recent times, the Spectre has formed strong bonds with Father Craemer and often councils Jim Corrigan on the problems he faces as the Spectre. On some occasions, Corrigan takes his advice too literally, such as when Father Craemer wished that no one would be murdered on Christmas Eve. And New York was made safe for one night.

During the recent Genesis crossover, the Spectre found the gates of Heaven ajar while Heaven itself was empty. In an effort to find God, the Spectre encountered his version of God. After a short battle with "God", the Spectre returned to Earth, realizing that this being was created by Corrigan himself and the path that he chose. Corrigan was battling his own consciousness while questioning his mission. Father Craemer helped recover the remains of Jim Corrigan and organized a funeral for him to finally put his soul to rest. Those attended included the remaining members of the JSA, Superman & Swamp Thing to name a few. Once his funeral was complete, Jim Corrigan was split from the Spectre entity and was allowed into heaven.

Just Recently the Earth was threatened from an invasion from the 5th dimension and the JLA member Zauriel and JSA member Sentinel seeked out the Spectre for assistance. Beings from the 5th dimension had tied the Wrath of God to an alien planet in another dimension. (See v3 JLA #30) However, by freeing the Spectre, the Spectre would destroy every living creature on the planet so he used his powers to accelerate time on the planet. Thus causing the planets inhabitants to live their lives in seconds and when the last of their race died, Zauriel and Sentinel freed the Spectre. However by the time they returned to Earth, the Crisis was over and the Spectre continued to search for a suitable new host.

POWERS

The Spectre's powers were reduced after the Crisis on the Infinite Earths but he is still the most powerful human spirit on Earth. The Spectre and the physical body of Jim Corrigan have different personalities and can exist independently of each other. However, if they do not reunite within 24 hours. Corrigan's body will die. The Spectre is intangible, can fly, turn invisible, inhabit and animate inanimate objects, and sense the intentions of people in the place where they plan to carry those intentions out.

PRINCIPLE ADVERSARIES

• Azmodeus - Showcase #60
• Bandar - More Fun #70
• Beltane - Spectre v3 #0
• Black Doom - More Fun #66
• Deeja Kathoon - More Fun #67
• Dr. Cragg - All-Star #1
• Dummy, The - More Fun #92
• Head Man - More Fun #76
• Hjalmar, Dane - More Fun #97
• Kaiti Luigi - More Fun #78
• Kulak - All-Star Comics #2 & #27-29
• Maligno - More Fun #77
• Shadow, The - More Fun #64
• Shaitan - Showcase #61
• Spectrum - More Fun #80
• Oom - All-Star Comics #3
• Wotan - More Fun Comics #55
• Xnon - More Fun #60
• Zor - More Fun Comics #55

APPEARANCES

• All-Star Comics v1 #1-23 (summer 1940 - winter 1944)
• More Fun Comics #52 (Feb 1940) - First Appearance of the Spectre
• More Fun Comics #53 (Mar 1940) - Origin of the Spectre
• More Fun Comics #54 (Apr 1940) - Spectre in costume
• More Fun Comics #55-101 (May 1940 - Feb 1945)

• Action Comics #596 (Jan 1988)
• Action Comics #663 (Mar 1991)
• Adventure Comics #431-440 (Jan/Feb 1974 - Jul/Aug 1975)
• All-Star Comics v1 #70 (Jan/Feb 1978) - As Jim Corrigan
• All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant #1 (Sep 1999)
• All-Star Squadron #1 (Sep 1981) - Flashback to JLA #193
• All-Star Squadron #2-6 (Oct 1981 - Feb 1982)
• All-Star Squadron #7 (Mar 1982) - cameo
• All-Star Squadron #19 (Mar 1983) - Hallucination induced by Brain Wave
• All-Star Squadron #20 (Apr 1983) - Flashback to All-Star Comics #2
• All-Star Squadron #27-28 (Nov - Dec 1983)
• All-Star Squadron #30-35 (Feb - Jul 1984)
• All-Star Squadron #50 (Oct 1985)
• All-Star Squadron #51 (Nov 1985) - Flashback to All-Star Comics #3
• All-Star Squadron #59-60 (Jul - Aug 1986)
• All-Star Squadron #67 (Mar 1987)
• All-Star Squadron Annual #3 (1984)
• America vs. the Justice Society #2 (Feb 1985)
• America vs. the Justice Society #3-4 (Mar - Apr 1985) - Flashback Only
• Armageddon: Inferno #1-4 (Apr - Jul 1992)
• Batman #540-541 (Mar - Apr 1997)
• Books of Magic v1 #2 (Feb 1991)
• Brave & the Bold #72 (Jun-Jul 1967)
• Brave & the Bold #75 (Dec-Jan 1967-1968)
• Brave and the Bold #116 (Oct-Nov 1974)
• Brave & the Bold #180 (Nov 1981)
• Brave & the Bold #199 (Jun 1983)
• Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 (Aug 1985)
• Crisis on Infinite Earths #7-8 (Oct - Nov 1985)
• Crisis on Infinite Earths #11-12 (Feb - Mar 1986)
• DC Challenge #11 (Sep 1986)
• Fate #22 (Aug 1996)
• Final Night #1 (Nov 1996)
• Final Night #3 (Nov 1996)
• Genesis #3-4 (Oct 1997)
• Ghosts #97-99 (Feb - Mar 1981)
• Green Lantern Secret Files and Origins #2 (Sep 1999)
• Impulse: Bart Saves the Universe (Apr 1999)
• Infinity Inc Annual #2 (1986) - Flashback over Per Degaton's history
• Invasion! #1-2 (Holiday 1988)
• JLA Secret Files and Origins #1 (Sep 1997)
• JLA #31 (Jul 1999)
• JLA: Year One #12 (Dec 1998)
• Justice League America #31-32 (Oct - Nov 1989)
• Justice League Europe #7-8 (Oct - Nov 1989)
• Justice League of America #46-47 (Aug - Sep 1966)
• Justice League of America #82-83 (Aug - Sep 1970)
• Justice League of America #124 (Nov 1975)
• Justice League of America #193 (Aug 1981) - 1940s
• Justice League of America #220 (Nov 1983)
• Last Days of the Justice Society of America #1 (1986)
• Legends of the DC Universe 80-Page Giant #1 (Sep 1998)
• Martian Manhunter #1,000,000 (Nov 1998) - cameo
• Millennium #4 (Jan 1988)
• Millennium #8 (Feb 1988)
• Saga of the Swamp Thing Annual #2 (1985)
• Secret Origins v2 #15 (Jun 1987)
• Secret Origins v2 #31 (Nov 1988)
• Secret Origins v2 #50 (Aug 1990)
• Showcase #60-61 (Jan/Feb - Mar/Apr 1966)
• Showcase #64 (Sep-Oct 1966)
• Showcase #100 (May 1978) - cameo
• Spectre v1 #1-10 (Nov/Dec 1967 - May/Jun 1969)
• Spectre v2 #1-31 (Apr 1987 - Oct 1989)
• Spectre v2 Annual #1 (1988)
• Spectre v3 #0 (Oct 1994) - Origin of Spectre
• Spectre v3 #1-62 (Dec 1992 - Feb 1998)
• Spectre v3 Annual #1 (1995)
• Superman: the Man of Steel #54 (Mar 1996)
• Swamp Thing v2 #50 (Jul 1986)
• Underworld Unleashed #2-3 (early Dec - late Dec 1995)
• War of the Gods #2 (Oct 1991)
• War of the Gods #4 (Dec 1991)
• Wrath of Spectre #1-4 (May - Aug 1988)
• Wonder Woman v1 #242-243 (Apr - May 1978)
• Zero Hour #4 (Sep 1994)
• Zero Hour #1-0 (Sep 1994)