Editing Spectre (DC Comics character) (section)

===Golden Age version===
{{Main|Jim Corrigan}}
[[File:Spectre (DC Comics character circa 1940).png|thumb|upright|left|Jim Corrigan as the Spectre, as depicted in the character's debut in ''More Fun Comics'' #52 (February 1940). Art by Bernard Baily.]]
The Spectre debuted in ''[[More Fun Comics]]'' #52 (February 1940) when hard-boiled cop [[Jim Corrigan]], on his way with his fiancée Clarice to their engagement party, is murdered by thugs who stuff him into a barrel filled with cement, which is then thrown into a body of water. Corrigan's spirit is refused entrance into the afterlife, and is instead sent back to Earth by an entity referred to only as "the [[Presence (DC Comics)|Voice]]" to eliminate evil.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Benton |first1=Mike |title=Superhero Comics of the Golden Age: The Illustrated History |date=1992 |publisher=Taylor Publishing Company |location=Dallas |isbn=0-87833-808-X |url=https://archive.org/details/superherocomicso0000bent/page/126 |access-date=1 April 2020 |pages=127–128}}</ref>

The Spectre seeks bloody vengeance against Corrigan's murderers in grim, supernatural fashion. One of them was turned into a skeleton upon touching him. Corrigan soon creates his signature costume, breaks off his romance with Clarice, and continues to live as Jim Corrigan, assuming the secret identity of the Spectre whenever he is needed. He eventually turns down an offer to relinquish his mission to destroy all evil.

The Spectre soon is awarded charter membership in the first superhero team, the [[Justice Society of America]] in ''[[All Star Comics]]''. Jim Corrigan is resurrected in ''More Fun'' #75 (January 1942), after which the Spectre's ghostly form enters and emerges from Jim Corrigan, functioning independently of him. During the mid-1940s, the popularity of superhero comics began to decline and the Spectre was reduced to playing the role of guardian angel to a bumbling character called "Percival Popp, the Super Cop", who first appeared in ''More Fun'' #74 (December 1941). When Corrigan enlisted in the military and departed to serve in [[World War II]], in ''More Fun'' #90 (April 1943), the Spectre became permanently invisible, becoming a secondary player in his own series. The feature's final installment was in issue #101 (February 1945) and the Spectre made his last appearance in the superhero group the Justice Society of America at roughly the same time in ''[[All Star Comics]]'' #23 (winter 1944–1945).