The Wrath of The Spectre!

In the 1970's, DC Comics resurrected one of their darkest and most powerful characters, The Spectre. In the 1940's Jim Corrigan (as created by Jerry Siegel and artist Bernie Baily) emerged as one of DC's first detective/superhero characters. His stories were dark even for the Golden Agee, a time when comics were less censored and unafraid of telling edgy stories. In the 1970's he was brought back in this series, masterfully written by Michael Fleischer and drawn by Jim Aparo. These stories were groundbreaking in that they were considered very violent for the time. This series established The Spectre as one of the darkest and probably the most vengeful of all superheroes.

Beginning with the 12-page "The Wrath of ... the Spectre" in issue #431 of Adventure Comics, writer Michael Fleisher, and artist Jim Aparo produced 10 stories through issue #440 that became controversial for what was considered gruesome, albeit bloodless, violence. Joe Orlando plotted these stories with writer Michael Fleisher, and they emphasized the gruesome fates of criminals who ran afoul of the Spectre. The Comics Code had recently been liberalized, but this series pushed its restrictions to the limit, often by turning evildoers into inanimate objects and then thoroughly demolishing them. Jim Aparo's art showed criminals being transformed into everything from broken glass to melting candles, but Fleisher was quick to point out that many of his most bizarre plot devices were lifted from stories published decades earlier in various Golden Age comics.

This series made me an instant fan of The Spectre and I became someone who sought out the work of Michael Fleischer (his 1970's Jonah Hex run needs to be read by all). And then, of course, there's the art by Jim Aparo. Anything with Jim Aparo's immortal name attached to it is instantly going to be good. Anyway, this series was printed in trade paperback in 2005 and went quickly out of print. DC just released an omnibus of this run (with some supplemental material), so it's available again. If you're a fan of darker heroes, like horror comics or ghost characters, you should definitely check out this run.