Fleisher was good at giving The Spectre some personal stakes in these stories. Having Gwen take her newfound concerns to a phony spiritualist is a plausible way to tie Jim directly in to the Swami's plans, but I wish Fleisher had had the room to make the Swami's plans for Corrigan a little more sophisticated, like staging some kind of ritual that would "unfortunately" result in his death, but I guess if he already had Gwen's money and was planning to off her, too, it still holds together.
I assume the ghost's bow tie was to suggest that this was a spirit of someone long deceased, but then again, Aparo was attentive to current fashion, and in the early 70's, if you were one of the few who still favored the bow tie, a big one like that was what you'd find for sale at Sears!

Adventure Comics #435 (October 1974) "The Man Who Stalked The Spectre"


Synopsis: "Nighttime in New York, as the leeches of the underworld crawl forth from their slimy crevasses to rob the helpless and slaughter the innocent..."

These leeches happen to make up the Grandenetti gang whose target this evening happens to be a jeweller's shop, an innocent bystander they riddle with bullets, and the windshield of an approaching squad car. Crashing their car as they make their escape, the hoods split up with one of their members soliciting the attention of The Spectre when he decides to spontaneously heist some furs from a nearby refrigeration plant. Guess whose corpse the police discover moments later unnaturally frozen within a block of ice? Here's a hint - they find him with a look of stark raving terror plastered across his face.

One down.

Such a scene has become an all-too-common sight in recent months and according to Fleisher's narration, "New Yorkers have become accustomed to the bizarre. For most, the violent death of a fugitive killer is but a titillating interlude between the weather report and the Watergate tapes", but there is at least one fellow who has been keeping track of these unusual happenings within the city. Earl Crawford, a freelance magazine writer, looks over various clippings which should be familiar to anyone following these stories. 'SKELETON FOUND ON PLANE', blares one headline; 'MAN TURNS TO GLASS', screams another. Something is going on and Crawford wants to know what. Though his editor at Newsbeat doesn't want to attract the kind of attention a reporter hunting a story steeped in the supernatural is bound to garner, he begrudgingly accepts Crawford's offer that he cover a story on the Grandenetti's so long as it's on his own time and so long as he doesn't "tell the police department the real reason you're doing this!"



So Crawford is assigned the story and Jim Corrigan the responsibility of having the reporter tag along for the "day or two" it'll take to capture the rest of the gang. Corrigan, naturally, isn't happy being teamed up with 'Clark Kent' as he refers to Crawford (there is quite a resemblance) but manages to put enough distance between himself and his page when a tip off arrives informing them that Mitch Grandenetti has holed up at a toy store on Lexington Avenue that he's able to change into The Spectre.


Inside the store, Grandenetti is approached by his unwelcome visitor who brings to life a miniature Viking doll which grows in size and, with The Spectre's powers lending a hand, possibilities. Bringing his ax down upon the cold-blooded killer, the doll dispatches Mitch Grandenetti as the scene shifts to Jim Corrigan calling Crawford and the assembled officers into the store. Explaining that Grandenetti is "uh... gone", Crawford is horrified to discover a miniature doll of the criminal complete with ax imbedded in his head.

"The Force... i-it's been here! It's changed Mitch Grandenetti into... into one of these lead figures and... and killed him!"

Two down.

When Crawford visits Police HQ later that evening, the desk sergeant asks that he passes along a message to Corrigan advising him of where to find the last member of the gang. Knowing that he's next of "The Force's" hit list, Crawford immediately heads out to the old sawmill in which he's hiding out to warn the killer of the danger he's in. Crawford gets to deliver the warning but only to disbelieving ears. As a result, Crawford finds himself about to be used for target practices by the bloodthirsty animal when the flame lighting the candle Grandenetti has set up begins to flicker and take on the form of our hero. Once this metamorphosis is complete, another takes place as the astonished hood transforms into a block of wood, but The Spectre isn't done just yet.

"Oh (gasp) N-No! Not the saw! Y-You're not going to use the saw!"

Before Crawford's terrified eyes, that is exactly what The Spectre does as he feeds Grandenetti into the saw depriving his family of "s-something to... to bury".



This installment ends with Earl Crawford being one of the few to see The Spectre in action and live though he doesn't seem to appreciate that honour as he walks into the night to think about what he's just seen after he's had a drink.

Thoughts: I'm impressed that previous Spectre artist Jerry Grandenetti gets a shout out in this tale - despite only five years having passed since he handled the art responsibilities for his series those tales seem from another lifetime ago, nice to see Spectre lineage being maintained like that even if the continuity hasn't.  And yes, one of the Grandenetti brothers is named 'Jerry'.

Speaking of which, this is the issue in which Clark Kent joins the ranks of The Spectre's supporting cast. Earl Crawford actually, but he does look just like Kent hence the resemblance being remarked upon in this tale. Not sure why Fleisher decided upon this look (though it's possible, I suppose, that it was a quirk from Aparo who never shied away from sneaking celebrity likenesses into his stories and that Fleisher simply went back and edited Corrigan's remarks into his script) but I like it. People do have doppelgangers - a fact which comics tend to acknowledge only when they need to contrive a story around some secret identity mix-up shenanigans - so it's nice to see that sort of 'Hey, coincidences do sometimes happy for no good reason' approach undertaken here.

As far as intent is concerned, I doubt that Fleisher is following the earlier established edict that these tales take place on Earth-1 home of the Justice League of America and all which that entails. He's striving for such a degree of reality here (despite indulging in the occasional jokey line such as when one killer chides another that he's missing 'the Lassie show') that the idea that The Spectre operates within the same comic book universe as Titano or the Composite Superman just feels wrong. The same corner of the universe perhaps as The House of Mystery, but not Bat-Mite. In fact, I'd bet that Fleisher intended to create the impression that these stories are happening in the real world and any suggestion otherwise just undermines what he's attempting. For that reason, any mental gymnastics required to explain how Superman's Clark Kent identity being common knowledge in these supposedly Earth-1 (or wherever) stories presuppose that Fleisher desired that his hero be as common place in these tales of terror as he was in, say, the adventurous tales of wonder he found himself every month within the pages All-Star Comics which I feel does Fleisher a disservice.

Additionally, with Fleisher's narration suggesting that news in his New York runs the gamut from "Watergate" to "the weather report" and not, say, from "Starro the Conqueror" to "the weather report" suggests that things aren't as outrageous in his stories as the rest of the DC Universe.  And yup, "New York" is where Jim Corrigan is stationed.  No more Gateway and no more whatever half a dozen cities he ran through during the 40's anymore - New York.  Still, The Spectre doesn't seem to have forgotten his upbringing when he used to animate puppets and dolls during the days of yore and I'd like to think that as he brings that Viking doll to life to bring his ax down unto the head of his victim a wistful smile draws upon his face as he thinks "Gee, I sure wish ol' Perc were here to see this!"

As for Earl Crawford, I like the guy and Fleisher's thoughts on him are as follows:

"I feel my comics have always been characterized by a quality that is in short supply in comics and that is moral ambiguity.  I really don't like 'Good Guys vs. Bad Guys'.  I don't like heroes very much and I don't like villains very much, either.  I like my characters to be somewhere in between.  I had mixed feelings about The Spectre's role and I felt my readers would, so I felt there should be someone in the story who reflected the other point of view.  You root for The Spectre, but you also root for Earl Crawford.  Earl Crawford and The Spectre are both right in his own way."

Interesting that Fleisher should remark that he doesn't care for villains who are pure evil since his bad guys here are rotten to the core.  Gunning down pedestrians for no reason; idly dreaming of being "able to snuff me plenty 'a blue boys"; rewarding Crawford for his concern by promising to use his eyeballs for target practice - these aren't exactly characters shaded in grey.  Methinks that if Earl wants to convince The Spectre of the sanctity of life, he should start with an easier subject.

One final thought - it was nice to see The Spectre's toy store victim blurt out "H-Hey!  Th-that thing that's happenin'... i-it ain't p-possible!?  C'mon now!  Ya gotta admit it ain't p-pos-" just before his final THWACK!  You can plead for mercy with Superman or Batman, but with The Spectre, you're pleading with the very laws of reality to remain in place as they bend around you.  Probably what I'd do in his place.  Brrrrr!! 

My best guess is Earl Crawford.  I suspect that the chair and with it a hostage was part of the original art since you can still make out some of the scoring on the floor, but I guess short skirted damsel in distress sold better than Earl Crawford in the same pose.  To be honest, I actually winced when I saw the cover since my immediate thought was "Oh no, not another story with Gwen getting herself stupidly caught in a trap".  Thankfully, she takes a breather this time around.

^ One of the best creative teams of 1970s comics, and rarely recognized for being so strong.




Wow. Feelings are feelings, but the character's statement was rather selfish / shortsighted.




In a way, the episodic nature of these stories makes me think Fleischer was writing The Spectre in way similar to many a Warren story found in Eerie or Creepy, where it was common to see those "comeuppance" stories centered on characters readers could despise from the start, and possibly leave with a smile on the faces.



Perhaps the fact that Aquaman returned as a solo feature hurried the end of the "Weird" header of the title. As you point out, this was a venue for superheroes (one of the medium's key anthology / hero-launching books), and despite The Spectre being part of a wave of horror-themed DC characters/comics, Adventure's editors likely understood that they did not want to turn off readers who were always there for capes and cowls, hence the reprinting of Golden Age stories featuring the Seven Soldiers of Victory, Green Arrow, et al. I'm not certain if their presence alongside The Spectre was a sign of shaky confidence in the character to be a true headliner, or just good business.

I wonder who reimburses him for that.  

Actually, it'd be a nice recurring gag to have The Spectre continually changing valuable objects into instruments of death only for those items to later turn out to be Earl Crawford's.  "What do you mean you had no idea that Mercedes you turned into a slug belonged to me?!  Aw Come on, man!  You said the same thing about my grandmother's corpse last week!"

Brave and the Bold #116 (Jan. 1975) "The Grasp of the Killer Cult"

Author: Bob Haney
Artist: Jim Aparo

"Corrigan, I've had enough of your crazy meddling! Stay out of our way, or I'll ship your tail back to New York!"

Synopsis: A businessman, nightclub dancer, and dilettante have all been found dead in Gotham City during the course of the week - their method of execution: strangulation. Such a series of unusual murders has attracted the attention of The Batman and the fact that one of the killers - salesman John Weaver, though that's an assumed name - committed a similar murder in New York, has drawn New York cop Jim Corrigan into this web. Announcing his presence at the sight of the third murder where Batman and Commissioner Gordon compare notes, Corrigan lets it drop that he believes that members of The Thug cult - "a secret band of assassins in Old India" - are responsible for these killings and that ritual sacrifice is the all the motive these bandits require. Batman however, is skeptical.

"Hold it, Jim -- I've a hunch these murders are connected -- but all our suspects are Americans... not long dead characters in turbans!"

Gordon, likewise, doubts Corrigan's version of events especially when the visiting detective admits to being unable to lead the pair to Weaver seeing as how he "lost his trail when I came to Gotham".



Exit Jim Gordon laughing and The Batman not so sure what to believe given his knowledge of Corrigan's other identity. Corrigan however, has already determined his next move and in the guise of The Spectre, attends the funeral of Jennings the businessman being held that very day. Although the procession itself doesn't trigger any alarms, The Spectre does catch sight of "Weaver" keeping a low profile as he steals a pick-ax from a shed on the cemetery grounds. The Spectre confronts Weaver, forces his hands to meld with a tombstone behind which his target cowers, and as Corrigan, delivers "one salesman-turned assassin" to the office of Commissioner Gordon where he and Batman are still mulling over the case.

Though his catch claims to be a man named Henry Barnes and that he's never heard of John Weaver, nor was he at any funeral, Gordon attempts to extract the truth through a lengthy interrogation. Unfortunately, all that he can confirm is that this man indeed, is named Henry Barnes and that he lives where he claims to. Corrigan's counterclaim - that Weaver was attempting to steal an ax since such an instrument symbolizes "the 'tooth of Kali'" (Thuggee Goddess) and that by using the tool to dig up his victim's grave the ax would now be made sacred - doesn't wash with Gordon especially in light of the fact that the detective cannot provide the ax as evidence seeing as how it was dissolved by The Spectre when he appeared before Weaver (good going Spec!). For his part, Batman believes that Weaver will fail the requisite lie detector test, but guess what? He passes. Furthermore, Jennings' secretary fails to pick Weaver up from the line-up Gordon arranges and it looks as if Corrigan's theory has fallen flat on its face.

Starting from scratch, Batman pays a visit to the morgue to take a look at the body of victim Lola Lalanna. Informed that the body has already been claimed by her brother, Batman races from the building knowing that given the fact that Lalanna had no next of kin, he's on to something. Having arrived just after the dancer's corpse was claimed provides Batman with the opportunity to follow the body snatcher (who matches the description of the talent scout who was with Lalanna when she was murdered) to a field where her abductor begins digging a grave. Although he catches the culprit by surprise, Batman has not reckoned upon the fact that his target is armed. His act of impetuousness might have cost the masked manhunter his life if it weren't for the fact that his prey's gun fires only butterflies - a curious little quirk he has The Spectre to thank for. Having made his presence known, The Spectre explains that he's been keeping an eye on the morgue and like his crimefighting pal, tracked the second man to incriminate himself through this bizarre ritual involving a pick-ax and burial to the field in which they now stand.

With the villain dropped off at Police HQ and with Gordon now taking Corrigan's word as fact (thanks to Batman's encouragement) the commissioner still has to deal with a seemingly upstanding member of society swearing that he has no knowledge of any cult nor any tendencies towards criminal proclivities. Once again, a lie detector test backs up his claims of innocence. However, Batman has learned that this man, James Wilson and John Weaver both served together during the war and as such, prompts the Gotham goliath to records contained within the Gotham Armory... or would have, had these records not been previously removed. However, the folder in which said records were contained is marked 'The Dirty Dozers' which gives him and The Spectre (arriving late to the armory) a lead.



It's a slim one, but with Batman unable to get any further with Wilson than Gordon can, it's all the pair's got. Thankfully, it's enough. After a visit to Weaver's home turns up a photo of The Dirty Dozers from 30 years prior with Weaver, Wilson and the rest of this crew which did "special jobs in the CBI Theatre*" Batman is finally supplied with an answer to his earlier query of "Who in blazes were The Dirty Dozers?"

*ED. NOTE: DURING WORLD WAR TWO, THE CHINA-BURMA-INDIA COMBAT AREA WAS KNOWN AS THE CBI*

Still, there has to be more to it than that...

Arriving at a specially marked section of a road in Phansigar, Northern India, The Spectre rewinds time to bear witness to Weaver, Wilson, and the rest of The Dirty Dozers as they tear apart a cemetery to build a vital road as part of the war effort and in so doing, inadvertently cause the spirits of The Thugs buried there to take up home into their own souls. Apparently having lain dormant for these many years, those malicious spirits eventually decided to carry out the ritual murders using the hijacked bodies of these soldiers to atone for their transgressions unbeknownst to their resident hosts. As The Spectre learns of these secrets, The Batman trails Wilson in Gotham to uncover the same.



Finding Wilson attending a veteran reunion in an unspecified hotel, Batman watches as the pick-ax Gordon allowed the suspect to "steal" is presented to a giant statue of Kali. So intent upon witnessing this scene though is The Batman, that he fails to notice that his shadow leaves incriminating evidence of his presence at this ceremony. As a result, he is gripped by the possessed and therefore awesomely powerful arms of one of the team which threatens to crush the very life from him before the statue comes to life and speaks.

"Free the victim!   I, your Goddess, commands it! There have been enough sacrifices!"

And with that, each member of the team is freed from their terrible curse just as the Caped Crusader is freed from his impending fate.  When The Spectre arrives and informs his partner of the Dozer's backstory, Batman reminds the astral avenger that despite these men being manipulated into carrying out these killings, "innocent victims died... and in there are the men who caused those deaths, no matter how innocently!"  As Jim Corrigan, The Spectre suggests that their greatest burden will come from knowing to what purpose they were put to by Kali.

As a result, the story concludes with The Dozers entering a courtroom ready to accept whatever punishment the law deems fit to hand down.


Thoughts: So what is this exactly? It's penciled by Jim Aparo, written by Bob Haney, comes in the midst of The Spectre's Adventure run, and yet...

Haney has written The Spectre twice before and this is the second time he's teamed the ghostly guardian with the Cowled Crusader. The Spectre is on-model for those familiar with Fleisher's character both in terms of Aparo's artwork and the way in which Haney plays him up as a ghost longing for the embrace of a nice, warm grave, but one can detect several vestiges of his Silver Age incarnation still at play here. That turning back time bit is a feat which The Spectre exhibited during both the Golden and Silver Ages and yet would feel a bit too showy for his Bronze Age self - sort of like seeing the ghost of Abraham Lincoln make a rabbit appear out of a hat or something. This Spectre doesn't devise gruesome punishments for his foes which is for the best given the fact that they all turn out to be innocent of their crimes, but reading an Aparo drawn Spectre tale in 1974/75 in which he doesn't kill or even really harm anyone makes this issue feel like the answer to some interesting question about little known stories from classic runs. I can see this Spectre being the same guy in those earlier Brave and the Bold tales - despite claims to the contrary, Bob Haney knew when hipster dialogue coming from the mouths of stoic heroes worked and when it didn't and he never really indulged in it too much with Spec - and he feels, as I said, like Fleisher's guy despite those tales almost certainly taking place in a realm of its own.

One thing which really stands out is how Haney writes Gordon. Man, does he come down hard on Corrigan. The two met back in Brave and the Bold 75 and seem to be picking up where they left off. There, Gordon came across as a raving madman wanting to teach this "young fellow" how "an old pro handles it" as he rams police wagons in force fields while shaking his fist in the air. Here, he delights in Corrigan's presumed failure to get a lead on his killer, laughing uproariously at talk about "ritual murders", and generally using any excuse he can to shout and rant at the visiting detective about his "crazy meddling". I guess Haney figured that kids wouldn't dig an authoritarian figure like the Commissioner of police as hip and so played him up as the uncool and not with-it establishment. It almost feels as if Gotham needs a level-headed vigilante like Batman around to keep their lunatic commissioner from going off the deep end.

And man, a Batman-Spectre story drawn by Jim Aparo. Probably the two characters for whom Aparo is the definitive artist and here he is illustrating them both in one story during his prime. I actually feel like I'm in the 1970's; I can feel Batman's sudden bewilderment when he goes from knowing he's about to take a bullet to witnessing a slew of butterflies empty from the chamber of that gun; that docile look of terror on Wilson's face after he's just seen what The Spectre can do but can't wrap his head around the how. Glorious - all of it.

Not sure how this team-up would have gone down had The Spectre been given a real villain to square off against. I can't imagine Batman being too comfortable with him chucking people into buzz-saws, for instance, but at the same time, I'm not too comfortable with Batman's little "there are the men who caused those deaths, no matter how innocently" indictment since these men were mentally controlled by an outside force. Good thing that this story is taking place outside of Fleisher's world since I can't imagine "The Goddess Kali made these men kill those people" would play over there. It's a bit disappointing that there is no big climactic battle at the end of this story - Kali comes to life only to announce that she is satisfied with the killings already performed so everyone can just go home - but it does neatly get around addressing how Batman's code against killing can be reconciled with The Spectre's craving for vengeance. Just don't expect that cover to reflect anything going on inside the comic. Still, when the inside of the comic is drawn by Jim Aparo and written by Bob Haney, you're going to be entertained.