Comic Title: More Fun Comics #52
Publisher: DC (Detective Comics, Inc.)
Address: 480 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Cover Date: February 1940
Approx. On Sale Date: January 2, 1940 Copyright Date December 28, 1939
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1940
Until 1958 DC did not report actual on sale dates to the copyright office
The publication dates listed in LoC records are NOT release dates.

Frequency: Monthly
Cover Price: $0.10
Page Count: 64
Editor: Fredric Whitney Ellsworth

Title: (The Spectre:Introduction)
Pages: 10

Feature(s):
Spectre (of Earth-2)

Writer: Jerry Siegel
Artist: Bernard Baily

Reprinted In:
Secret Origins #5 (1973)
Golden Age Spectre Archives Vol. 1 HC (2003)
Weird Secret Origins #1 (2004)
DC Universe:Secret Origins HC (2012)
DC Universe:Secret Origins TPB (2013)

Feature Character(s)

• Spectre (Jim Corrigan; next appearance in More Fun Comics #53)

Supporting Character(s)

• Wayne Grant (a friend of Corrigan and detective; next appearance in More Fun Comics #53)
• Clarice Winston (Jim Corrigan’s girlfriend; next appearance in More Fun Comics #53)

Villain(s)

• Gat Benson (next appearance in More Fun Comics #53)
• Benson's men (next appearance in More Fun Comics #53)

Other Character(s)

• Louie (a stoolie; no further appearances)

Comments:
This story relates the origin of the Spectre, though he only appears in costume in the splash panel.

This story continues in the first story of More Fun Comics #53.

This story was not originally titled; the title shown here was given on the contents page of the Golden Age Spectre Archives Vol. 1 in which this story is reprinted.

Synopsis:
Detective Jim Corrigan receives a tip from a stoolie about a robbery at a fur store. He single-handedly breaks up the robbery, earning the ire of gang boss, Gat Benson. Benson has Corrigan and his girlfriend Clarice kidnapped. Corrigan is then sealed in a wooden barrel of cement and thrown off a pier.

After his death, Corrigan’s spirit is stopped from entering Heaven by a bodyless voice. The voice tells Corrigan that he must remain on Earth to battle crime with supernatural powers.

Corrigan awakens in the water next to his dead body. He rises up with newfound powers bounded only by his will. Hearing Clarice scream from the docks, Corrigan enters the warehouse to dispose of his foes.