The Spectre #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Spectre #1 (April 1987) marks the launch of the character's second self-titled ongoing series and represents DC's first sustained attempt to reposition the Spectre in the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths universe — a version deliberately stripped of his near-omnipotent power set and recast as a figure forced to operate on a more intimate, mortal scale. For the first time in the character's publishing history, the Spectre and Jim Corrigan were written as genuinely separate beings, capable of independent existence, a structural storytelling innovation that added dramatic tension the 1967 series never pursued. The issue also introduces Kim Liang and Winston Scullis to the DC Universe, establishing the series' core supporting cast, and frames Madame Xanadu as a pivotal occult mediator — a role that deepened her place in DC's supernatural corner. Published as a direct-market-only 'New Format' book without the Comics Code Authority seal, this debut was part of a wave of Copper Age titles — alongside Swamp Thing — that pushed DC toward a more mature, horror-inflected idiom for superhero-adjacent characters.
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The series emerged directly from the narrative wreckage the Spectre endured across several late-1980s stories: his defeat by the Great Evil Beast in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and his punishment by God in Last Days of the Justice Society of America left him depowered and stranded, providing writer Doug Moench — best known at the time for his Batman and Master of Kung Fu work but with deep roots in Warren Publications horror — with a clean post-Crisis premise. Under editor Robert Greenberger, Moench pitched the character as an occult private-detective story, resettling Jim Corrigan as a P.I. whose office sat directly above Madame Xanadu's parlor. Gene Colan, fresh from his celebrated run on Tomb of Dracula, was the penciller for the opening arc, with Steve Mitchell on inks and Michael Wm. Kaluta providing covers for the early issues; the book launched in DC's 'New Format' (24 story pages, back-loaded ads, improved paper stock, and early computer coloring), bypassing newsstand distribution entirely and exempting it from Comics Code oversight.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published April 1987 by DC Comics; written by Doug Moench, penciled by Gene Colan, inked by Steve Mitchell, cover art by Michael Wm. Kaluta.
- First appearances of Kim Liang (Jim Corrigan's assistant/'girl Friday'), Winston Scullis, and Louis Petrocci.
- Opening story arc title: 'Vessels,' Part 1 of 3 — the story begins with Kim Liang, guided by Madame Xanadu, retrieving Corrigan's body from an urn stored in a Grand Central Station locker.
- The Spectre is established as trapped in limbo following his failure during Crisis on Infinite Earths, with both he and Corrigan needing to renegotiate the terms of their bond to survive.
- For the first time in the character's history, the Spectre and Jim Corrigan are presented as fully separate beings capable of existing independently — a novel approach later reversed in issue #18.
- The series was a direct-market exclusive (no newsstand edition) and bore DC's 'New Format' seal, meaning more story pages, back-loaded advertising, and no Comics Code Authority oversight.
- Swamp Thing (Alec Holland) and Deadman (Boston Brand) appear in cameo flashback form, placing the series firmly within DC's supernatural continuity and acknowledging the pre-Crisis storylines that had depowered the Spectre.
- The series ran for 31 issues plus a 1988 annual, all written by Moench; as of multiple sources' writing, no collected edition of the Spectre Vol. 2 has been published by DC Comics.
Cast · 10 characters
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Reprinted in Swamp Thing #58 (1987), Hawkman #9 (1987)
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