Who was the first host to "Spectre" from DC comics you ever read about?

[MajorHoy]

In another of my "Who was the first ________ ?" threads, we (okay, "I") now want to talk about The Spectre. But this one is slightly different since we'll focus on who's body (if anybody's) the character of The Spectre was sharing/inhabiting at the time.
Choices are:

* Jim Corrigan (Golden Age Spectre premiering in 1940's More Fun Comics)
* Hal Jordan (Silver Age Green Lantern; became Parallax before becoming The Spectre during 1999's Day of Judgement)
* Crispus Allen (Gotham City police detective, killed in Gotham Central #38 by a Jim Corrigan; becomes host to The Spectre in connection to 2005/2006's Infinite Crisis)
* Nobody (at times, The Spectre was not connected to a "host body")
* Mister Mxyzptlk (apparently, he impersonated The Spectre in Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Three)
* other (please explain in a separate post)

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Corrigan. The Ostrander/Mandrake series from the 90's is one of my all-time favorites.

[SJNeal]

Corrigan, during the Ostrander days.

Damn DC still needs to finish collecting this series...

[Trey Strain]

Why does anyone accept the "host" concept? The Spectre is not a parasite who needs a host, like a tapeworm does. He's Jim Corrigan.

[MajorHoy]

Why does anyone accept the "host" concept? The Spectre is not a parasite who needs a host, like a tapeworm does. He's Jim Corrigan.

Then how was he Hal Jordan?



How was he Crispus Allen?

[MRP]

Corrigan sometime in the 80s (I think I saw him in Crisis first, then the Swamp Thing issues, an issue of Secret Orgins but I jumped on with the Moench series and quickly started picking up the Fleisher/Aparo Adventure issues as back issues. The Ostrander series is still my favorite, perhaps one of my top 5 mainstream super-hero runs of all time.

Never cottoned to Hal Jordan as host, but like the overall concept of the spirit of vengeance being grounded to learn its own lessons from its host. Corrigan's stoy ended with the Ostrander series for me though. The story had its ending, came to a resolution and its denouement the way stories are supposed to, and there is no more need for more Corrigan stories.

-M

[Adekis]

Why does anyone accept the "host" concept? The Spectre is not a parasite who needs a host, like a tapeworm does. He's Jim Corrigan.

Then how was he Hal Jordan?

How was he Crispus Allen?

I mean to be fair, from what I can recall in the few Golden Age comics I read, there wasn't really a sense at the time that the Spectre "possessed" Corrigan or that Corrigan inhabited a predetermined role, more like he was just chosen to haunt the wicked and did so with aplomb. Can't fault someone for disliking this-or-that retcon. For example, I'm not too fond of "Parallax" being an outside influence rather than just a series of choices Jordan made, personally.

Wasn't Corrigan referenced as a sandwich in Kingdom Come?

Yeah, the stripe in his hair was represented by bacon and the cloak was represented by lettuce, or something like that. That was pretty damn funny.

The first Spectre I recall was "nobody", he was just the Spectre. This may not actually be true, he may well have been Corrigan, but I don't remember him having a host, I just remember him showing up and being all spooky. I got the impression, accurate or not, that the Spectre existed independently of any human being.

I will say, I really like the Hal Jordan Spectre though, honestly. Very underrated. And the Corrigan moment in Kingdom Come where Spectre takes off his hood and reveals that he's not so above it all after all, that's honestly very touching.

[Jody Garland]

Why does anyone accept the "host" concept? The Spectre is not a parasite who needs a host, like a tapeworm does. He's Jim Corrigan.

Because a series that many regard as the best Spectre story ever told, John Ostarander's series, introdubed and used the series. It also fits with his first appearance better than if he were just Jim Corrigan, considering how the wording regarding using the Divine's Power was worded.

On topic, I started reading during Infinite Crisis, so I was reading a host-less Spectre first.

[CaptCleghorn]

I'd seen the character in old ads, but the first I ever read a story was the Fleisher /Aparo Adventure Comics stories.

[Jim Kelly]

It was Jim Corrigan. I'm not 100% certain when it was, but I'm guessing it would have been in SUPERMAN No. 252 (June '72)--that was the 100-Page Super Spectacular with the flying heroes cover by Neal Adams--and the Spectre story in that was untitled but it was reprinted from MORE FUN COMICS No. 57 (July '40)--by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily, Spec battles Zor.

[PLG1962]

For me it was Jim Corrigan

[Nine Crocodile]

Jim Corrigan, specifically Adventure Comics #440.

[Johnny]

Jim Corrigan. I'm not that familiar with Crispus Allen and Hal as The Spectre was just weird. The Mxyzptlk Injustice thing was interesting though.

[The Darknight Detective]

Jim Corrigan, specifically Adventure Comics #440.

Same here, though it was #332 for me.