Today in Comics History, January 3: My hunger burns a bullet hole, a spectre of my mortal soul (Happy birthday, Jim Corrigan!)

According to the DC Super Calendar 1976, Jim Corrigan, the Golden and Silver Age host of the wrath of God himself, The Spectre, was born today!


from DC Super Calendar 1976 (DC, 1975, letters by Ben Oda)



Corrigan first appeared the the Golden Age's More Fun Comics, in which the police detective was captured by the mob, drowned in a barrel of cement, and then left to die at the bottom of the sea. More fun, kids! More Fun!




from "The Spectre" in More Fun Comics #52 (DC, February 1940); script by Jerry Siegel; pencils, inks, and letters by Bernard Bail
Jim Corrigan is refused entrance to Heaven! Probably because of his couple of unpaid parking tickets.


The Spectre! Debuted in More Fun #52! Except...he really doesn't, aside from the cover, the symbolic splash panel above, and this "next issue" teaser panel. Well, it's fake-out first appearances like this that make a cameo first appearances in Incredible Hulk #180 worth all the bucks.



For those of you who, unlike Roy Thomas, couldn't afford a copy of More Fun #52, here's a brief history of Corrigan and the Spectre from his revival in 1966's DCU after being MIA in the comics for than 20 years.


"Origin of the Spectre" in Showcase #60 (DC, January 1966), text by Julius Schwartz, pencils and inks by Bernard Baily
(Or, you could hang around until the mid-eighties and see Roy revisit and expand on every Golden Age hero's first story in Secret Origins!)




from the appropriately named "The Secret Origin of the Spectre!" Secret Origins (1986 series) #15 (DC, June 1987), co-adaption and script by Roy Thomas; co-adaption, pencils, and inks by Michael T. Gilbert; colors by Carl Gafford; letters by Agustin Más
Had the Spectre gained startling new powers when he returned in '66? Sure! He'd gained the power to break the fourth wall!


from Showcase #60 (DC, January 1966), text by Julius Schwartz, pencils and inks by Bernard Baily
After a short (three non-consecutive issues) run in Showcase, Spectre finally hit the big time with his revival in Adventure Comics, cover-titled Weird Adventure Comics for the Grey-and-Green Ghost's issues. Well, maybe, but some of those Supergirl and Legion tales were also pretty weird, and they didn't merit a title change!

This is the well-known era of the nightmare ironic punishments dished out by Jim Corrigan's spirit, thanks to brutal scripts by Michael Fleisher. Turned into a tree and then chainsawed to death? That's the calling card of The Spectre!


from "The Nightmare Dummies and...The Spectre" in Adventure Comics #434 (DC, July 1974), script by Michael Fleisher, script continuity by Russell Carley, pencils by Frank Thorne, inks by Jim Aparo, letters by Ben Oda
New skills for the Spectre during this run included the ability to break into Mike Sterling's house and comics company cross-over universal newspaper powers!


So on this spooky January 3, let's all bid a heavenly happy birthday with God's terrible punishment for ghastly mortal sin on top to The Spectre: Jim Corrigan!