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

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  • Jim Corrigan (Golden Age Spectre premiering in 1940's More Fun Comics)

    77 82.80%
  • Hal Jordan (Silver Age Green Lantern, became host to The Spectre in 1999's Day of Judgement event)

    9 9.68%
  • Crispus Allen (Gotham City police detective, becomes host to The Spectre after Infinite Crisis)

    2 2.15%
  • Nobody (at times, The Spectre was not connected to a "host body")

    4 4.30%
  • Mister Mxyzptlk (apparently, he impersonated The Spectre in Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Three)

    0 0%
  • other (please explain in a separate post)

    1 1.08%
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  1. #1
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Default Who was the first host to "Spectre" from DC comics you ever read about?

    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)

  2. #2

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

  3. #3
    Relaunched, not rebooted! SJNeal's Avatar
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    Corrigan, during the Ostrander days.

    Damn DC still needs to finish collecting this series...
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  4. #4
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    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.

  5. #5
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    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.

  6. #6
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trey Strain View Post
    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?




  7. #7
    Extraordinary Member MRP's Avatar
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    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.

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  8. #8
    (Formerly ilash) Ilan Preskovsky's Avatar
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    Jim Corrigan sometime in the 90s. I'm sure Corrigan would be the answer for most people. The other versions of the Spectre all had very short runs and didn't make much of an impact, as I recall.
    Check out my blog, Because Everyone Else Has One, for my regularly updated movie reviews.

  9. #9
    Mighty Member Jody Garland's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trey Strain View Post
    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.

  10. #10
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    I'd seen the character in old ads, but the first I ever read a story was the Fleisher /Aparo Adventure Comics stories.

  11. #11
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CaptCleghorn View Post
    I'd seen the character in old ads, but the first I ever read a story was the Fleisher /Aparo Adventure Comics stories.
    And as for the host?

    See, Owe, Double are, Eye, Gee, Aye, Enn spells Corrigan!

  12. #12
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    SECRET ORIGINS No. 5 (November-December '73) published the full origin story of the Spectre--from MORE FUN COMICS 52 and 53. That was about a year after the first Spectre story that I read. And from that origin, I didn't get the sense that Jim Corrigan was a host. He was killed and then revived and given the mission to be the Spectre. It even shows him sewing his costume.

    But I never fully understood the whole concept, since Jim also existed independent of Spectre sometimes. It's a weird adventure comic.

  13. #13
    Reader of Stuff Hilden B. Lade's Avatar
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    When I started out reading DC comics Hal was the Spectre in-continuity (a few years before Geoff brought him back as a Green Lantern) but the first comic I read that actually featured the Spectre was Kingdom Come which had Corrigan as the host.

  14. #14
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    SECRET ORIGINS No. 5 (November-December '73) published the full origin story of the Spectre--from MORE FUN COMICS 52 and 53. That was about a year after the first Spectre story that I read. And from that origin, I didn't get the sense that Jim Corrigan was a host. He was killed and then revived and given the mission to be the Spectre. It even shows him sewing his costume.
    That was then.
    But, like many things from the Golden Age, later writers decided to "evolve" the concept into something more/larger. (Look at how Golden Age Hawkman wound up being not just a reincarnated Egyptian prince named Khufu, but later also was reincarnated as the Silent Knight (Brian Kent) in medieval times; the 19th century Western hero Nighthawk (Hannibal Hawkes); and who knows who else.)

  15. #15
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    At present, Jim Corrigan (Golden Age Spectre premiering in 1940's More Fun Comics) is leading with 28 out of 32 votes.
    The other responses are:
    * Hal Jordan (Silver Age Green Lantern, became host to The Spectre in 1999's Day of Judgement event) = 2 votes
    * Crispus Allen (Gotham City police detective, becomes host to The Spectre after Infinite Crisis) = 1 vote
    * Nobody (at times, The Spectre was not connected to a "host body") = 1 vote
    Last edited by MajorHoy; 09-10-2018 at 08:31 AM.

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