All-Star Comics #4 (March/April 1941)


 
Synopsis: Following the events of All-Star Comics #3 in which The JSA were informed of a scheduled meeting with the head of the F.B.I. (ostensibly J Edgar Hoover though his face is obscured when he’s not depicted from behind) the team arrive for their briefing.

“I’ve called you here to help the U.S.A. fight its internal enemies – spies and saboteurs! America – as you know – allows free speech and free press! But our generosity and liberality is being taken advantage of by undercover agents of foreign countries! Our loyal newspapers are threatened with bombings if they dare to print the truth about the totalitarian nations! Our munitions plants are wrecked, and innocent women and little children are often victims of the force of the explosions! They pretend friendship – and steal our defense secrets…”

He continues on about colleges “overrun with alien teachers and students, preaching hatred for democratic ideals”, “soapbox orators” doing the same, and “strongarm tactics” being employed against “helpless workers”. The Justice Society’s mission? “Your job is to rout out these rats! Stamp them from the U.S.A.!”

Each member is given a sealed envelope containing different targets. The Flash heads to Michigan and Wisconsin; The Green Lantern investigates the suspected sabotage of a radio station in Springfield, and The Spectre is to “proceed to Pittsburgh to investigate sabotage at the munitions factories there!”

Arriving at the city’s largest munitions factory where The Spectre senses “terrific evil brewing”, the Dark Knight (yes, that’s how he’s referred to) discovers a saboteur named Hans attempting to ruin the barrel of a gun with steel wool. Invisibly, The Spectre uses his magic to trap the spy’s hand within the mechanism which forces him to cry out for help. The steel wool is discovered, but Hans will speak only to “the proper authorities”. Unfortunately, Hans doesn’t get far for the car transporting him to the F.B.I. is ambushed and the spy is taken to his masters to account for his bungling. His claim that his hand somehow got stuck inside the weapon he was to sabotage is surprisingly believed by his boss, Dorgoff since The JSA’s success in taking down these fifth columnists is becoming apparent to the men, but Hans still has to answer for the fact that he was willing to betray his masters. A bullet to the chest takes care of that.

Present for these developments is none other than The Spectre who also takes advantage of a phone call Dorgoff places to his boss by slipping into the phone and following the call to… well, nowhere really since the call ends before the eavesdropping Spectre can reach the other end. By my count, this is about the fourth time The Spectre has attempted this trick and so far, it’s only worked once. You’d think he’d either hurry the Hell up or remember that he can read minds.

Nevertheless, he did learn from the call that The Forman Factory is his prey’s next target and sure enough, it’s close to that locale that our ghost discovers a saboteur about to blow up the buildiHowever, when the terrorist attempts to lower the plunger setting off the detonation, the plunger instead actually rises into the air at ever increasing speed carrying the thug into the clouds. Regaining his wits surprisingly quickly given the circumstances, the spy gloats to The Spectre that a hidden bomb is set to go off within the factory at any moment. Leaving his victim to presumably continue his journey into space, The Spectre rushes to the plant and reaches the bomb… just after the nick of time.

The explosive detonates, but you know what The Spectre does?  He reverses time. The bomb implodes as does the wall in which it was stored and The Spectre crushes it with his gloved hands.

With that out of the way, The Spectre returns to Dorgoff’s apartment only to find the schemer gone. No problem – The Spectre summons up a vision from the past, sees Dorgoff receiving orders to copy the army’s new gun plans, and trails the criminal to a restaurant where he is masquerading as a waiter to secretly take pictures of the documents through a miniature camera hidden within his lapel.

When Dorgoff returns to his masters with the film, they are unable to explain just why the developed pictures all contain that of “the face of a mystery man – a ghost!” The Spectre arrives to solve the conundrum. Freezing the men in place, he pulls that cool trick we’ve seen him pull before where he makes the top head of his target invisible so he can stare at his brain. Apparently, this isn’t just a bit of artistic license on the part of Baily either – the other people in the room can see his brain to if one of the spies “Holy Smoke!” is anything to go by. So The Spectre learns Fritz Klaver of Toledo is behind these machinations and wastes no time in heading off to that locale. Time however, plays a weird trick on him…

Exiting the room, The Spectre falls into the black abyss of space where a group of brightly colored orbs shoot rays at him. In response to his wish that he can get back to Earth to protect it from his prey, the Ring of Life appears upon his finger. With it, The Spectre destroys the globes and heads off to Toledo. At this point, the story transitions over to Hourman (and then Dr. Fate and then Sandman and then...)

When The Spectre arrives, he isn’t alone. The other members of the team have been successful in their missions and have also gotten a lead on Weaver. Reconnoitering at his home together, the team make short work of his men and prevent the mastermind from blowing up his home and them with it. A wish from Johnny Thunder results in the building flying to the lawn of F.B.I. headquarters to an astonished Hoover who applauds their “true American spirit”. Speaking on behalf of the group, The Flash responds that “any other American, given the opportunity … would do the same thing”.

Thoughts: Though I’ve bemoaned The Spectre’s recent hands off approach to dealing with criminals, I do appreciate the way he conjures up punishments which thoroughly screw over the guilty. From arranging to have a group of hoods rob a Policeman’s ball of all places last issue to trapping a saboteur’s hand within a gun barrel while clasping steel wool here, he really doesn’t leave any maneuvering room for these crooks to talk themselves out of the trap he’s set.

So again, The Spectre pulls the old “racing through the telephone wires to reach the big man at the other end” ploy and fails yet again. Not sure why Siegel is so sold on this method of transportation for The Spectre if he’s just going to pull the rug out from under him again and again. It’s a novel idea but perhaps prior to jumping into that receiver The Spectre should first command the caller to keep the call going for a while to ensure he actually gets to where he intends.  "I command you to waste 15 minutes making small talk about your Aunt in Spokane before asking for your orders!" 

Speaking of The Spectre’s inability to win those races against time, it was nice to see it confirmed that sometimes, the hero can’t quite make it in the nick of time before disaster strikes. Sure he’s got the ability to reverse time and it’s cool seeing a bomb actually implode upon itself, but this is a guy you can’t count on to be faster than a speeding bullet.

The Spectre finding himself pulled into the “occult world” at the end of his tale is, once again, a nice reminder that this is a guy who treads a fine line between the stability of our world and the unpredictability of the one just outside our purview. Where we might accidentally step off into dark shadows and alleyways, he has other realms filled with “Vampire globes” just waiting for him to make a misstep. These little jaunts into the unknown are often unexplained and it’s a nice direction for the series – a sort of confirmation that anything can happen when your hero has one foot in surreality.

A bit of a return to form for The Spectre in this issue where although we don’t actually see what happens to the spy riding that great dynamite plunger into the sky, it’s unlikely that The Spectre turns him over to the law with a stern lecture. That “Ta-Ta! Bon Voyage!” certainly doesn’t sound very promising. I kind of wonder if even The Spectre knows what happened to him.

So this was the first actual JSA adventure since their previous appearance was simply them sitting around telling stories about their personal cases. Pearl Harbour hasn’t happened yet and still it’s clear that a patriotic fervor lurks at the heart of this book. “For America and Democracy!” is their battle cry (a fact somewhat dampened by the fact that it’s given to them by Hoover, who, perhaps in this reality wasn’t the creature he was in ours) and it makes me wonder if we’ll see a more patriotic bent in The Spectre tales within this title or if in fact, he’ll retain that edge here which he seems to have lost in More Fun. Time will tell.

You know something - you're absolutely right about that detour.  I'm not sure if it's the fact that because it failed the last times that I expected it to have failed again or the way Baily sort of depicts The Spectre as flopping out of the wires like a deflating balloon (at least, to my eyes) when he draws these moments that made me think otherwise.  

Baily's decision not to exaggerate The Spectre's abilities has had me do a double take on a number of occasions where the character does something paranormal.  There's no puffing out of the chest on The Spectre's part - one moment he'll be watching a car go over a cliff; the next his arm will be about eight feet long reaching for it as if it's the most natural and casual thing for him to do.  One moment he'll sitting in the back of a car as ordinarily as anyone else; the next his head will be filling up the entire vehicle.  There's no suggestion or hint that something weird is about to occur - it just happens so naturally that the reader might think there's something wrong with them that they perceive such bizarre transformations as unusual or disturbing.

I'm not entirely sure that Gardner Fox did write these Spectre tales.  The All-Star Comics Archives Vol 1 certainly credits him with writing everything, but it seems like a crazy work load for Fox to be writing every story in this title and doing so in the styles of multiple authors.  Not saying he couldn't do this or even that he isn't, but wouldn't it be simpler to get Siegel to just write another seven page Spectre tale the same way Baily is pencilling one?  Martin O'Hearn writes in The All-Star Companion Volume 4:

"Did Gardner Fox write every story in All-Star Comics #3, or was the first JSA adventure cobbled together, at the last moment, out of the stories slated for a regular anthology issue?  It looks like the answer is neither.  In light of Craig Delich's idea that the issue was assembled out of various writers' solo stories, I've looked again at the writing styles.  He's right - there are indeed a number of writers involved.  The bare majority of those writers comprises, unsurprisingly, Gardner Fox."

He goes on to suggest that Fox wrote the framing sequence, The Flash, Hawkman, Sandman, Dr. Fate, and Green Lantern (the latter a character he wasn't known to have written outside of All-Star) and cites certain Fox-isms as referring to secret identities as "natural identities" as evidence.

"On The Spectre story, I was struck by the name of demon's Oom's home, Yzgartyl.  That echoed the later Bgztl, Phantom Girl's planet in Legion of Super-Heroes tales, as well as Mr. Mxyzptlk.  The Oom story is by the creator of The Spectre, Phantom Girl, and Mr. M., namely Jerry Siegel.  A sentence, "We battled mightly," uses the same sort of overkill adverb that Siegel would over-utilize in his campy work years later at Mighty Comics."  

Of course, this is but one person's opinion and he could be wrong (I will note that Roy Thomas describes O'Hearn as "one of the most diligent and respected 'ID detectives'" in his introduction), but I do think that All-Star #3's Spectre segment at least, was written by Siegel.

Your catching Siegel's phone wire travelling gimmick as a feat Fox would adopt for The Atom though, does make me wonder if that would continue to be the case going forward (meaning, I don't know if Siegel or Fox wrote All-Star #4).

As always, your thoughts and insights have proven invaluable, M.W. - thanks again!

More Fun Comics #66 (April 1941)


Synopsis: “Huge, Ravenous Monsters are Attacking Cliffland!” blares the radio. And so they are as Jim Corrigan and Chief discover when they check out the scene from the vantage point of the roof at Police HQ. “Huge” and “ravenous” are fitting descriptions of these building sized creatures. Pink skinned, pig snouted, with the mandibles of alligators and the pointed ears of bats, they’re an unforgettable sight. They rend and claw at the buildings but their real power seems to be in sucking people into their mouths – a trait which Chief discovers as he holds on for dear life and a fate he erroneously believes has befallen his compatriot who we know has actually rendered himself invisible.

Unfortunately, the beasts seem able to perceive The Spectre invisible or not and green rays emitting from “their eyes” (actually, a red dot between them) zap our champion who falls helpless to the street below. Suddenly, the behemoths are called away by the sound of a loud drum leaving The Spectre immobile and the city in ruins.

The Spectre regains his strength (after being trampled by a public who, remember, can’t see the invisible fellow laying on the ground) and follows their trail to the museum. Unfortunately, the trail seems to lead only to a dead end for The Spectre discovers no sign of his prey. Guess it’s time to head back to work as Corrigan.



Arriving back at the office where his boss learns of his survival (“When I saw those monsters were cutting up, I dashed into the street to do something about it!”) and his failure to have achieved this (“You stupid numbskull! I want results!) Corrigan decides to stop off at the home of Clarice Winston (last seen in More Fun #61). Told that she isn’t home, Corrigan immediately grows suspicious of this claim having heard her voice in the house. A quick look inside the mansion reveals that she and her father (and some third guy who isn’t identified) are being held at gunpoint by hoodlums looking to steal the senior Winston’s Ja-Set ruby. Corrigan and The Spectre become as two (“It’s your turn to take over!”) and when the red hot poker one of the crooks threatens Mr. Winston with turns to ice, you know he’s around somewhere.

The Spectre materializes in the room, shots are fired at him, he encourages them to waste their bullets, and indeed they do so… with one aimed at Clarice. For a guy who’s been in this spot before and either outright failed (in his first storyline) or found it to be a very dicey predicament to be in (such as when called away by The Voice and given the choice to either save Clarice or find eternal rest) and who also hasn’t always won those races against time (just last issue, for one) he’s very confident in his ability to save her. “Catching that bullet will be a cinch!” No, Spectre, it won’t – it’s never been a cinch.

Sure enough, “But that moment – terror stalks the streets of Cliffland as the marauding monsters return to perpetrate their nightmare of destruction! The Grim Ghost is instantly aware of the situation…”

The Spectre finds himself wondering whether he should catch the bullet or go after the monsters. Obviously a silly dilemma given how it should take an instant to save Clarice (and certainly less time it takes to wonder “What to do? Catch that bullet… or get after those monsters before it’s too late!?” as he does) but that’s the spot he finds himself in. Freezing the moment in time, The Spectre takes to the streets.

Finding that the police are already attempting to battle the monsters, The Spectre erects a barrier between his fellow officers and the otherworldly beings which prevents any sort of skirmish from transpiring. This only serves to convince Chief of his culpability in the matter since he seems incapable of acknowledging just how badly against them stand the odds. The Spectre on the other hand, is doing quite well. This time, their green ways bounce off his body as he tenses against their deluge. He tosses one into space; another is shattered into pieces courtesy of a Spectre-punch, and a third is chased to his lair (actually, there were four pictured on the page and by my math, this only accounts for three – not sure what happened to Number Four).

Anyhoo, the chase once more leads to the museum and once more, seemingly to another dead end. Catching sight of one the paintings however, gives The Spectre pause. “The clouds! I could swear they’ve rearranged themselves slightly! But…”

At that point, an attendant enters, tells him he has to leave since the museum is closed (no mention is made of The Spectre’s appearance or the fact that he is The Spectre – just “Hey! It’s past closing time! You’ve got to leave!”) and when he attempts to throw him out bodily, he gets a shock – two shocks actually, since he then gets to witness The Spectre flying into the painting which had caught his eye.

So inside the painting, The Spectre watches as these creatures march towards the sound of a beating drum. The drum leads to “a strange, metallic world of monsters ruled by a man!! What a man! A face as evil as Satan – fiery pits as foreboding as a flaming pit – a conglomeration of all the qualities that make up a repulsive, unclean thing!”

A pretty apt description actually. Eyes which seem destined to drop off the sides of his face, an upturned, twisted nose, distorted leer etched on his face and from it the deranged oratorial ravings of Adolf Hitler.

“Our emissaries have returned from their destructive mission to the material world! They tell of a happy race – of an abundant world! - Of all that we do not possess!  You hear? A world possessing the blessings that we lack! A world of substance – of reality! A cursed fate decreed that we should never be born – but merely live in a nightmare existence!  I tell you, beauty is now within our reach! But first we must mercilessly crush the human beings who populate the world we covet! Then alone will we break the bonds of the twisted imagination of the prehistoric artist who visualized us! On – on to the destruction of humanity!”

Cue The Spectre’s timely arrival.



However, this mad despot has abilities of his own – namely access to black magic which might exceed The Spectre’s own talents given the simple fact that this distorted being’s power exists “beyond all understanding, because it never existed!”

The Spectre disappears in a cloud of black smoke not of his devising. Just when it appears that he is doomed to be swallowed up by the cloud, a light breaks through the smoke and our hero emerges. Announcing that good is more powerful than evil, the dictator demands that his minions turn on the good guy. The Spectre easily dispatches them by turning them into “a torrent of oily fluid” as the mad man makes a run for it.

From the museum, the attendant watches as both he and his opponent fight. The man changes into one of the beasts and the horror of this proves to be enough for the attendant who takes the painting off the wall and prepares to destroy it. As he is about to do so, The Spectre flies to freedom, burns the picture himself, and heads off to the frozen tableau he created at the Winston household. Just in time too, since his spell has worn off and that bullet races towards his former fiancée.

The discharged bullet flies back into the chamber of the thug’s gun, the crooks make a dash for it, The Spectre gives chase, and outside the home, turns into a giant and blows them through the front doors of police headquarters. Somewhat fanciful, but effective. The Spectre flies away from the Winston home, leaving a ‘FAREWELL’ message impressioned upon the sky.

“I do hope we meet again!” remarks Clarice.

Back at Police HQ, Chief demands that Corrigan head to the museum where The Spectre is rumored to be caught up in something or other.

What an ass.


Thoughts: What an issue!

“I find that I don’t really miss the more ruthless Spectre because Siegel and Baily were still delivering the pulpish Weird Tales kind of stories that I think are the core of the concept” M.W. Gallaher wrote in response to my criticism of the more tepid personality I felt had been foisted upon The Spectre as recent offerings. I’d be surprised if this tale doesn’t encapsulate exactly what he means.

With the very second panel, this story is moving at breakneck speed. Buildings in rubble, buildings being knocked over, giant creatures ravaging the city and we’re halfway through page one. Even the way they suck people in through their mouths shows imagination. Three issues in a row of guys in robes and all of a sudden Siegel and Baily hit us with these composite creatures made up of pigs, goats, alligators, bats and these are just the underlings!

The mastermind behind all of this – a being who lacks reality, whose magic is unstoppable because “it never existed” – looks like something out of an EC horror comic ten years in the future. There’s no restraint in either Siegel’s or Baily’s depiction of this subhuman creature which is likely why one can readily accept that he’s capable of commanding these demons. Again, by leaping into his tale with such carnage, Siegel ran the risk of leaving nowhere to go but down with the rest of his story. However, the mad despot, the world inside the painting makes those opening scenes of chaos seem like a quiet introduction by comparison.

In my review of All-Star Comics #3, I mentioned my appreciation for those little reminders that in The Spectre’s world, the supernatural sometimes hides in plain sight. A gargoyle, for instance, might actually have once been Oom, from the dark side of the moon. Here, that richness continues in the form of a centuries old painting which houses the gateway between realities. One should conclude a Spectre adventure with less confidence in the stability of reality than they started with.

An odd time for Clarice Winston to return to these pages since her sub-plot has nothing to do with the main story. The bit with the bullet racing towards her has been done before and like I said, The Spectre having to freeze time so he can deal with this problem is just silly, but it is interesting that she actually seems enamored with the guy at the end of the story. “I do hope we meet again!” she remarks.

Something I’m not quite clear on – Jim Corrigan summons The Spectre as if he’s a separate entity before the latter enters the Winston home. Had The Spectre lost his battle or been trapped in that painting, what would have happened to Jim Corrigan who, when last we saw him, was apart from his alter ego. Would he have been just fine? Would he have eventually perished? What was Corrigan doing while The Spectre was off in another world? I doubt we’ll get answers to these questions, but still, they’re there.

A fantastic addition to the lore – the type of yarn that best showcases what there is to love about the Golden Age of Comics – weird, distorted villains; a nice blend of the fanciful and disturbing in terms of plot; author and artist working in tandem to top what they just came up with one panel ago; creative ideas flying at you in rapid fire succession. And all in but ten pages. What an era… 

More Fun Comics #67 (May 1941) 

Synopsis: Money is literally flying and melting away in Cliffland without explanation. When a good old fashioned robbery does take place, bullets simply pass through the culprits. Chief gives The Spectre the blame and Corrigan the assignment. When an APB goes out reporting a robbery in progress at The Gentry Galleries, Corrigan follows the lead.

Though The Spectre saves the life of a guard – and it’s pretty funny too since the image we’re presented with is that of a crook pointing a gun at the guard and the dialogue reads: “I’m going to shoot you!” “Don’t!”. It’s as if Baily simply drew the scene and said “Hey kids! Fill in the empty word balloons and get a prize!” and this is the response he got from some five year old.

Anyhow…

Right – The Spectre saves the guard, but the crooks take it on the lam. They get in their car, The Specte stand before them, and they… vanish. Guessing that they’ve escaped into another dimension, The Spectre gives chase. However, a black, amorphous cloud presents itself and warns him not to meddle in this matter. With that, The Spectre is transported back to our reality and Jim Corrigan heads back to headquarters.

Though he reports his failure in capturing The Spectre, the odds seem to be edging closer to Chief’s favour in when Deeja Kathoon enters his office and announces that having “dabbled in the occult” he thinks he can achieve this. A séance is held, Corrigan prepares himself for some amusement, and Kathoon mutters an incantation which surprisingly, succeeds in manifesting The Spectre. Furthermore, the man of darkness finds himself unable to move and “helpless”. A temporary state as it turns out for once Chief snaps the cuffs on his quarry, The Spectre snaps them and dissolves. Rejoining Corrigan (who realizes how close things got for him) The Spectre decides to keep an eye on Kathoon.



When The Spectre arrives at his home, he finds the seer in the midst of summoning a group of spirits whom he’s forced to commit robberies for his benefit. When The Spectre impersonates one of these spirits he is tasked with the job of procuring the Begoona Ruby for Kathoon. The Spectre swipes it from The Laurey Museum but upon presenting it to Kathoon, finds that he’s not the only one who possesses a supernatural intuition. Seeing through The Spectre’s disguise, Kathoon manages to place the ghost under his mental command.

“These are my orders! Destroy the city hospital! Let everyone see that you are to blame!”



Though resisting the urge to comply with the command, The Spectre finds himself unable to do little more than shout “No! No!” as he prepares to do exactly as ordered.

Meanwhile, Kathoon is ordering his spirit minions to loot the city dry. Though reluctant, they comply out of fear for what the magician might do should they disobey. Clearly, this Kathoon is a powerful one. Speaking of which…

The Spectre fires a barrage of death rays at the city hospital. Once again, the Ring of Life shows up to provide the deux ex machina we’ve come to expect during moments such as these and the rays bounce back. Unfortunately, The Spectre isn’t prepared for this turn of events and when hit with the rays, shrinks back to Spectre size, is rendered unconscious, discovered by the police, tossed in the back of a paddy wagon, recovers, and escapes.

Catching up with Kathoon who is… I’m not quite sure actually. When last we saw him, he had the upper hand and was reveling in the wealth his spirit slaves had brought to him, so he’s not really escaping or anything. He is however, flying around in a pretty cool spacecraft which I guess he bought or something, I don’t know.



Regardless, The Spectre smashes into the vessel, Kathoon is killed, and the battle picks up without missing a beat only now it’s between The Spectre and Kathoon’s spirit. Pretty cool, in fact. Whatever advantage Kathoon had over The Spectre while amongst the living however, seems to have been squandered in death for the villain manages no defense against his pursuer. Pleading for mercy, Kathoon finds The Spectre to be in an uncharitable mood when our champion tosses him into a nearby nebula. The missing wealth is returned courtesy of The Spectre’s will just in time to close the tale with Jim Corrigan once again promising not to rest until he’s captured Chief’s selection for the role of Public Enemy Number #1.

 

Thoughts: Capturing The Spectre is a fool’s errand for a police officer as Siegel has not only illustrated on a number of previous occasions but twice in this issue as well. Once when Chief slaps a pair of cuffs on him and again when the police toss his unconscious body in the back of a police van. I could understand if Siegel wanted to imbue the strip with some comic relief and used these sequences to fill that role, but he plays it straight and the series suffers for it. Obviously, the police can’t exactly turn a blind eye to The Spectre (though we’ve already seen him welcomed into the offices of the F.B.I. in All-Star) but as a recurring theme, it has long since grown stale.

I suspect that Siegel himself is simply going through the motions here and including these moments to pad out the issue and/or maintain a certain continuity from story to story without having any interest in the idea himself. My reason for assuming this is because I suspect that if he cared more for the idea, he would have realized that this tale contained all the ingredients it needed to actually derive some tension from the police vs. Spectre conflict. So far, Chief’s approach to capturing The Spectre has been slap a pair of cuffs on him and hope that he forgets he can snap them in two. At no point, does he ever seem to consider consulting a seer or someone with an understanding of the paranormal. Had he approached Kathoon in this issue to help capture The Spectre – a tactic which almost works as it turns out - he would have demonstrated some level of intelligence. As it is, Kathoon has to offer his services to Chief who seems content to just wait for The Spectre to show up and wrap his arms around him or something stupid like that. It would have been nice for Siegel to have introduced Kathoon in this manner rather than once again reminding us of how impotent the police are in this matter.

And, yes, Chief still doesn’t have a name giving further insight into how much Siegel thinks of him. My guess is that he would have named him something by now, but worried that any kid out there sharing that name would be bullied for having the same name as such a lousy character and left him nameless.

Kathoon is of that rare stock which believes that his own mortality shouldn’t impair his ability to go up against a supernatural figure such as The Spectre. In fact, it’s interesting that he has better luck against the ghost whilst among the living than when he dies and what a great idea that is! Without missing a beat, Kathoon is a living, breathing human on the run from The Spectre. The Spectre destroys his ship, killing him instantly and in the very next panel, Kathoon is still on the run, but this time as a ghost! The Spectre might as well have simply knocked him into another room for all the inconvenience this creates for the villain. Oh, and then he gets tossed into a nebula! Being killed twice in about five seconds has to be some sort of a record and a nice demonstration of The Spectre’s efficiency – he’ll kill you and then he’ll hunt down your ghost!

That softer, gentler Spectre we saw rear his end not too long ago seems to have stepped off to the side in favour of something resembling his original self. Not sure if Siegel is sneaking these stories past his editor or relying on the idea that by killing people who come back as ghosts, he isn’t really killing them, and by killing their ghosts, again, hey, they’re ghosts anyway.

Bernard Baily giving the money which flies off in this issue little, tiny wings is a nice Bailiean touch although I do wonder what the deal is with that crook at the start of the tale is. I mean, Kathoon is commanding spirits dressed in robes whereas this guy is your typical tie wearing, hat tipping ne’er do well – where did he come from? I really do wonder if Siegel is writing these tales at such a quick pace that he’s forgetting these relatively minor details from one page to the next. I kind of wish he’d take more of this unleashed ‘making it up as I go along’ approach and chaining himself less to these already well worn concepts such as The Ring of Life and ‘Let’s have the police try to billy club The Spectre this time around’. Sure, you don’t know what The Spectre can do from one panel to the next sometimes and you might not even be able to keep track of minor details here and there, but when Siegel gets an impulse, he’s almost always on the money.

You certainly can't blame the covers for the Spectre's relatively weak popularity! I really dig the starburst highlight behind his head on the first two issues. The looming giant covers are really appealing (and reflect the character's capabilities, unlike Sub-Mariner, whose covers surely led some disappointed kids to think he could grow to giant size). That mirror reflection cover on issue 65 is magnificent, and I like the tone work on the Spectre's skin on several issues, especially issue 67.
But I've really got to praise that shot in the corner bullet, with the Bela Lugosi pose! That pose was my first exposure to the character, as seen on Ben Cooper Halloween costume boxes in the days of my youth. I never found the costume--it didn't exist--but that image was unforgettable! It appears to be copied from Baily's work, but doesn't exactly match the image used in the corners of More Fun Comics:

And of course, it was reinterpreted by Murphy Anderson and integrated into the 1960's logo:

This image appeared in The Spectre story reprinted in Jules Feiffer's The Great Comic Book Heroes and may have been the inspiration for the Ben Cooper box. That book was the go-to for commercial artists looking to swipe a comic image in the mid-60s. (I think that Superman image was in there as well.)

All-Star Comics #5 (June-July 1941)


Synopsis: Crime has slowed to a halt across America. “No more robberies or murders…” muses Doctor Fate and “I haven’t broken up a racket in so long I’m getting the jitters!” laments The Green Lantern. For his part, The Spectre has been disappearing and reappearing in a cloud of smoke “just to stay in practice!”

Things are about to pick up for the team however…

Word has come through to the underworld via the mysterious and revered (at least by criminals) Mr. X that the moratorium he’s placed on crime will soon be lifted. So mysterious is Mr. X that no one could place a face to his name; so revered is his name that mere mention of it triggers thirty seconds of respectful silence amongst the racketeers. When his orders come through then that each member of this syndicate will take on one member each of The Justice Society, they don’t hesitate to jump at the task. And that’s the set-up for this installment…

After The Flash, Sandman, Doctor Fate, Hourman, and others handle their adversaries quite capably, The Spectre’s tale begins.

Materializing through a wall in Cliffland (and startling a passerby at the same time), The Spectre seeks action. Relying upon his Corrigan identity to achieve that, he learns of a gambling den at the Dudley Club which he proceeds to raid. However, upon his arrival, the club is empty but without any sign of the proprietors having attempted to conceal its purpose. Additionally, a challenge is issued on the wall of the den.

“CLOSE THIS PLACE, COPPERS – BUT JUST TRY AND STOP ME FROM OPENING ELSEWHERE AGAIN! The SPECTRE”

Sure sounds like something The Spectre would say.

So The Spectre is blamed for a crime he hasn’t committed. But who exactly did sacrifice a perfectly good den of iniquity to pull the frame-up? A gangster named Baretti, that’s who. Following his orders to get The Spectre (who Baretti doesn’t believe really possesses supernatural abilities) the goon plans to get his target when he inevitably attempts to clear his name.

When word gets out that The Spectre is about to open a new gambling house, Corrigan gains entry to The Lucky Club as his invisible alter-ego. Rigging the games so that they’ll pay out despite Baretti doing the same so that they won’t, The Spectre’s presence is suspected. Baretti lets his men in on his plan for dealing with this obstacle by unveiling a rigged chair which will lock the dark ghost’s neck in place when he sits in it. More than that, Baretti demonstrates how it will work. Bad move – once the contraption locks itself around the gangster’s neck, Baretti finds that it won’t release despite the efforts of his men. Guess who materializes at that moment?

“I can disintegrate you. I can leave you dangled on the tip of a crescent moon. I can dispatch you into the black pit of Lythorp! But I have other plans for you!”

Whatever those plans are, they get no further than extricating the hood from the chair, making him hover in midair, and then setting him down so that he can take a swing at The Spectre’s torso which separates so that the punch completely misses him. But suddenly, The Spectre begins to transform into Jim Corrigan and he doesn’t know why.

We readers are then let in on a little fact – one of the thugs in the room is wearing a ring “which contains strange properties that nullify the powers of The Spectre”.

With a last bit of effort, The Spectre/Corrigan manages to blank out his face so that the hoodlums won’t learn his true identity. Figuring that he must be human after all, Baretti orders his men to take The Spectre for a ride. The men comply, shoot the faceless Corrigan, toss his body out of the moving vehicle, and at this point, The Spectre emerges “freed – from the spell of that ring” (it isn’t explained how he learned that it was this ring which caused his sudden transformation when the text made it clear he was just as confused as the others). Anyway, he goes after the car and tosses into the largest tree I’ve ever seen.

Back at The Lucky Club where news of his opponent’s victory has reached his ears, Baretti concedes that The Spectre likely does have supernatural powers. Figuring that if the police don’t get him, the gamblers will, Baretti seems ready to distance himself from directly going after his objective.

Sure enough, gamblers do show up at the club intent upon robbing the patrons to get back the money they believe the house has stolen from them (I guess that part of Baretti’s plan did go through at some point after all despite The Spectre’s interference). The Spectre arrives, forces the armed men to return their ill-gotten gains, and takes Baretti for a ride of his own. Depositing him inside a subway train which he’s turned into a rocket, The Spectre informs Baretti that they’ll be circling the universe for the next 10 000 years or until the hood confesses. Baretti confesses. Unfortunately, it turns out that he doesn’t know enough about Mr. X for The Spectre to catch that particular mastermind and he heads off to rejoin the team.

A Green Lantern adventure follows and he has no more luck than any of the others in tracing Mr. X down. The group gets together and announce their failure to one another. However, an observant reader (or even an unobservant one) would have noticed that a meek, little man has been cameoing in each of the hero’s respective stories. Sitting in a tree here, asking for a light there, or asking for a postage stamp as he does in The Spectre installment. They’re brief moments, but they’re there. When the same little man passes the team’s way again to head into a nearby police station, the group wonder just what such a mild looking fellow could be reporting. They follow him in to discover



Before the team’s startled eyes and slackened jaws, he continues. “Just when I had a good living set for myself with incomes from all organized crime, you all had to come along and smash my rackets! You’ve taken my livelihood away! So now I’m going to jail – to live off the state! Good day, gentlemen!”

And with that, the case comes to a close.

Thoughts: Well the first thought which occurred to me is what happened to Jim Corrigan’s yearning for achieving everlasting peace once he’s completed his mission as The Spectre? Once again, that mission, as outlined in More Fun Comics #52 is clarified as such:

“Remain Earthbound battling crime on your world with supernatural powers, until all vestiges of it are gone!!”

A pretty hefty order and it seems to carry a lot of latitude with it – I mean, loitering and jaywalking are crimes, aren’t they – but The Spectre’s “No excitement. No nothing… This is beginning to bore me beyond words!” attitude expressed at the start of his chapter sounds like a guy who loves being The Spectre.

I suppose if it gets in the way of a good story, then details such as this fall to the wayside, but as a core concept of the character it’s a shame to see it go. My favorite performance in film has to be Lon Chaney Jr’s depiction of the tormented Lawrence Talbot in 1941’s The Wolfman. Chaney nails the anguish, the burden, the look and attitudes of a man who comes face to face with his destiny and sees only a horrific nightmare staring back at him and there should be something of these qualities present in Jim Corrigan even if in a reduced capacity. This approach may have been abandoned after a few early entries, but this seems to be the first time Corrigan confirms that ‘Hey, this Spectre gig isn’t so bad after all!’

Speaking of un-Spectre like attitudes - that ‘Just try an’ stop me coppers!’ message left at The Dudley Club signed with The Spectre’s John Hancock. You’d think even The Chief would admit that ‘Yeah, that… doesn’t sound like something The Spectre would say’. And man, for a ghost, The Spectre’s really setting the bar pretty low.

Baily continues employing a nice blend of humor and horror in these tales. The Spectre floating through a wall as a passerby jumps in the air with exaggerated exclamation points darting from his head; The Spectre’s enlarged head promising all sorts of devious fates for Baretti as the gangster himself is drawn with every hair on his pointing straight up. Even The Spectre giving a doorman a kick in the pants for getting flip with Jim Corrigan is amusing.

Though Baretti’s gimmicked up chair isn’t going to hold The Spectre, I do appreciate the fact that there is some skepticism about just what The Spectre is being expressed in these tales. All too often, characters in comics seem able to just absorb information from the very stories they’re in, becoming inexplicably privy to details that the reader has from looking on at these proceedings from the vantage point of being a reader. Nice to see it established that there are still those whose attitude is ‘Yeah, we just don’t know what to believe about this guy’. Baretti’s ploy to let the police and angry gamblers deal with The Spectre is also a clever tactic since ghost or not, I certainly wouldn’t want to be a criminal going up against someone with the track record of this guy.

Some nice bits of weirdness:

- The Spectre dividing himself in half when Baretti throws a punch at him.
- Jim Corrigan’s featureless face when he involuntarily changes out of his Spectre identity.
- That tree The Spectre throws that car into looks like it’s about 50 feet wide. Man, The Spectre isn’t just going to throw you into any tree…
- The Spectre could read your mind to get the knowledge he seeks, but he’d rather you let him take you on a 10,000 year ride around the universe first.

All in all, a fun little tale.