![]() ![]() For centuries the Wrath of God punished and humbled mankind, until the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The Divine Wrath was the blast that brought down the walls of Jericho and stopped the sun in its tracks. It was the Primal-Spectre, the Spectre Force, that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, that humbled the Pharaoh and killed the first-born of Egypt. The Primal-Spectre stripped Eclipso of his rank and privileges and tore him asunder, with Eclipso's power imprisoned in the black diamond known as the Heart of Darkness. When Eclipso fell to evil, it was the Primal-Spectre's duty to deliver punishment. For that, Cain sought revenge on the Spectre, and through him, on the Presence. This Primal-Spectre was the one who punished Cain for the murder of his brother Abel, laying a mark upon Cain lest any should kill him. Perhaps Aztar's wish was heard millennia later, Jim Corrigan, the Spectre's then-host, saw a vision of Aztar's transformation, buried deep in the Spectre's core. The Wrath of God entered into Aztar, burning away everything he had been, transfiguring the remnants of his form into the Spectre Force. Aztar accepted with regret, hoping that some fragment of what he once was would be allowed to remain. Aztar's memory and consciousness would be wiped from existence. The Presence's judgment on Aztar was that he would become a vessel for an aspect of the Divine - the Divine Wrath. He prostrated himself before Michael, acknowledging his wrong-doing and his responsibility for what he had done, offering himself up to whatever punishment the Presence chose to impose. Aztar came before the gates of Heaven, where he was met by the archangel Michael. In time, one of the demons, a creature called Aztar, came to repent his rebellion, seeking forgiveness from the Presence legend in Hell has it that he was a prince among the damned. As punishment, they were cast down into Hell, where they became the beings that mortal men knew as demons. A rebel band of angels led by Lucifer Morningstar attempted to wrest control of Heaven from the Presence. Three seconds after creation, there was a rebellion in Paradise. ![]() Among them were His Wrath, called Eclipso, His Mercy, called the Radiant, and His Vengeance, called the Spectre. ![]() At His direction, certain of these aspects were charged with certain functions and duties. Such was the Presence's nature that His aspects had names and identities of their own. Without proper character development and being unable to establish an engaged readership, the series was cancelled in issue #31 without even developing a proper ending to the series.In the beginning, there was the Presence, the One Above All. The last arcs of the run are notoriously bad, as they abandoned most of the initial supporting cast members and introduced new, odd characters to fit a new narrative between crime and supernatural stories. The series struggled to develop interesting storylines and soon it became clear that writer Doug Moench was the only creator committed to the project, as the series didn't have a regular artist for the second half of the run and there were also editorial changes. This sudden change also marked a change in direction in the stories, which shifted from the supernatural and became more oriented towards regular criminals and mysteries. However, this novel approach was soon reverted in issue #18 where Spectre and Corrigan started sharing the same body as they previously had. For the first time in the character's history, Spectre and Corrigan were separate beings, capable of existing without the other. The series was mildly successful during it's initial storylines, which were heavily focused on the supernatural aspect of the Spectre as well as the conflict between Spectre and his human host, James Corrigan. There were also a small number of minor supporting characters, none of which achieved any significance. Madame Xanadu became the primary supporting character of the series, as she guided Spectre until a romance was developed between the two. As a consequence of these stories, Spectre is stripped down of his powers and sent back to Earth where he could no longer deal with cosmic threats and instead, was forced to deliver retribution to mortal evildoers. The series started following the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #50, in which Spectre played a prominent role. It was completely written by Doug Moench and illustrated by several artists throughout the run. ![]() The Spectre was an ongoing series featuring The Spectre. ![]()
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