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Jim Corrigan

Jim Corrigan

226 appearances · Golden Age · 1940–2026 · 18 key issues
Who is Jim Corrigan?

A hard-boiled New York City police detective, Jim Corrigan was murdered and his soul refused entry into the afterlife. Instead, a divine force bound him to the mystical Spectre — the embodiment of God's wrath — transforming Corrigan into an nearly all-powerful agent of vengeance on Earth.

Few characters in DC's vast library carry the weight of history quite like Jim Corrigan, who first stepped onto the page in Adventure Comics #47 in 1940, making him a genuine Golden Age original with roots stretching back to comics' earliest heroic era. With 217 catalogued appearances spanning an extraordinary 86 years — from 1940 all the way to 2026 — he is one of the medium's most enduring figures, a testament to how deeply a character can embed himself in a publisher's mythology. His most frequent haunts include The Spectre, All-Star Squadron, and The Brave and the Bold, and he shares his pages with some of DC's most iconic presences: Batman, Bruce Wayne, The Flash, and the Spectre himself. Eighteen of his appearances carry key-issue status, which tells you everything about how seriously collectors and fans have always taken this corner of DC history — Jim Corrigan is not a footnote; he's a foundation.

Identity

Real name. James "Jim" Corrigan

Powers. As host of the Spectre: vast magical/divine power — near-omnipotence, reality alteration, intangibility, invisibility, flight, energy projection, size alteration; agent of divine vengeance.

Affiliations. Justice Society of America; All-Star Squadron; (in life) NYC Police Department detective

★ First appearance
More Fun Comics #52
Feb 1940

Trivia

  • Jim Corrigan stands as one of DC's earliest and most enduring posthumous superheroes, his body effectively shared with a divine avenger—a setup that defined the Spectre as a uniquely theological crimefighter in mainstream comics.en.wikipedia.org
  • The Spectre stories built around Corrigan made a dead detective a recurring member of the Justice Society of America, establishing him as one of the first supernatural figures folded into a superhero team rather than kept outside the genre's core ensemble.en.wikipedia.org
  • Following the Silver Age revival, DC used Corrigan as the Spectre's human anchor in stories that shifted him from a straightforward vengeance engine into a more conflicted, morally weighted character—a transformation that proved especially significant in later DC continuity.en.wikipedia.org
  • John Ostrander has written more of Jim Corrigan's comics than any other writer in our catalog — 45 issues.

Top series

Covers through the years — 1940–2020

Superman #7 1940
Superman #7
House of Mystery #156 1966
House of Mystery #156
Justice League of America #110 1974
Justice League of America #110
DC Comics Presents #38 1981
DC Comics Presents #38
Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #3 1985
Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #3
Congorilla #1 1992
Congorilla #1
The Spectre #62 1998
The Spectre #62
Green Arrow #17 2002
Green Arrow #17
The Brave and the Bold #17 2008
The Brave and the Bold #17
The Spectre #1 2014
The Spectre #1
Justice League of America by Brad Meltzer: The Deluxe Edition #[nn] 2020
Justice League of America by Brad Meltzer: The Deluxe Edition #[nn]

Appearances (151–226 of 226, oldest first)

52 (2006)
Bizarro Comics (2001)
Green Arrow (2001)
#17
DC 100-Page Super Spectacular No. 6 Replica Edition (2004)
DC: The New Frontier (2004)
#1
Solo (2004)
Bizarro World (2005)
Infinite Crisis (2005)
#2
Justice League of America (2006)
#0
The All-Star Companion (2000)
#2
Countdown (2007)
#47
The Brave and the Bold (2007)
Batman Collection: Neal Adams (2008)
#1
The Flash (2010)
#1
Batgirl (2009)
DCU: Legacies (2010)
The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2011)
Gotham Central (2008)
#4
Justice Society of America (2007)
#50
Justice League International (2009)
#6
Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga (2011)
#1
DC Comics Presents: The Teen Titans (2011)
#1
DC Universe: Legacies (2011)
Cover Story: The DC Comics Art of Brian Bolland (2011)
Justice Society of America: Monument Point (2012)
The Infinite Crisis Omnibus (2012)
Adventures of Superman (2013)
#2
Solo: The Deluxe Edition (2013)
Batman: Li'l Gotham (2013)
#11
The Spectre (2014)
#1
Wonder Woman '77 (2015)
#1
Swamp Thing (2015)
#1
Justice Society of America: A Celebration of 75 Years (2015)
Crisis on Infinite Earths Deluxe Edition (2015)
Flash by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar (2016)
Cerebus in Hell? (2016)
#0
Absolute Infinite Crisis (2017)
JSA by Geoff Johns (2018)
#1
Deadman (2018)
Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition (2018)
#1
Detective Comics (2011)
Alan Moore présente Swamp Thing (2019)
#2
Justice League of America by Brad Meltzer: The Deluxe Edition (2020)
Infinite Frontier (2021)
#0
Who's Who Omnibus (2021)
#1
The Other History of the DC Universe (2021)
Bizarro Comics: The Deluxe Edition (2021)
Dark Crisis #0 FCBD Special Edition (2022)
Nightwing (2016)
#94
Dawn of Justice Society of America (2024)
#1
Wesley Dodds: The Sandman (2023)
#6
DC Finest: Justice Society of America: For America and Democracy (2024)
Absolute Power (2025)
#1
Superman Space Age (2025)
More Fun Comics 73 (Facsimile Edition) (2025)
DC Finest: Batman: The Killing Joke and Other Stories (2025)
The Final Night (2025)
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen - The Deluxe Edition (2025)
Batman 1 (Facsimile Edition) (2025)
Supergirl (2025)
#7
Superman - Les Derniers Jours de Lex Luthor (2026)