Jim Corrigan

James Brendan "Jim" Corrigan is a fictional character that have appeared in numerous comic books published by DC Comics.

The first Corrigan initially appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' #52 (February 1940), a deceased cop acting as host to the cosmic entity the Spectre, and was created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily'' #149 (May 1972). The character was created by John Albano and José Delbo. He later became a regular supporting character in ''Black Lightning'' beginning with #4.

The third Jim Corrigan appeared years later in issue #12 of ''Gotham Central'', a series about the Gotham City Police Department. The character, created by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, and Michael Lark although similar to the first Corrigan in being a police detective, again is not related to him and served as a red herring of who would become the new Spectre. This Corrigan is later revealed to be a corrupt, self-serving malefactor who murders his colleague Crispus Allen; Allen then becomes the host to the Spectre.

Jim Corrigan appeared in a live-action portrayal by Emmett J. Scanlan in the television series ''Constantine''. Stephen Lobo also portrayed the character in the Arrowverse crossover ''Crisis on Infinite Earths''. In animation, Roger Craig Smith provided the voice of Corrigan in the TV series, '' Batman: Caped Crusader''.

Fictional character biography

''More Fun Comics'' and ''All-Star Comics''

Jim Corrigan began his career as the Spectre in the early 1940s. After being murdered by crime boss Gat Benson, Corrigan refuses to pass into the afterlife. In response, the archangel Michael bonds Corrigan to the Spectre, the embodiment of God's wrath, and returns him to Earth to battle crime and wrongdoing.

As the Spectre, Jim Corrigan returns to the mortal plane as a partial human, where he proceeded to rain his vengeance on Benson and his accomplices. In the process however, Jim's fiancée, Clarice Winston, was mortally wounded. Using his newfound power, he was able to return Clarice to life, but later ended their relationship to spare her any further pain. He also broke off with his partner, and became more of a lone agent, trying to distance himself from his mortal ties, although he retained his job on the police force.

As the popularity of superhero comics began to decline in the mid-1940s, the Spectre suffered as a result. He was reduced to playing the role of "guardian angel" to a bumbling character called "Percival Popp, the Super Cop." Introduced in #74, December 1941 (aside from a head-shot in a one-panel preview at the end of #73's Spectre story), he was a would-be civilian sleuth who, in his words, latched onto Corrigan "of all the detectives on the force because it appeared to me that you are the most intelligent of the lot! You and I ought to be an unbeatable combination, sir!" In the following story, the Voice allowed the physical body of Jim Corrigan, still in cement at the bottom of the river, to be resurrected with the Ring of Life, which had helped the Spectre out of some jams in a few previous stories. The Ghostly Guardian found that he could emerge from Corrigan and maintain a separate existence. In ''More Fun'' #90, April 1943, Jim Corrigan ''per se'' was completely removed from the feature — he enlisted in the military for World War II service — and the Spectre's reduction to guardian angel status was complete; he even became invisible to everybody but Percy.

As the Spectre, Jim Corrigan ran with the JSA, but he was replaced in 1944, and afterwards Jim Corrigan and the Spectre disappeared from the DC Universe for more than 20 years.

''Spectre''

When the Spectre was revived in '' Showcase'' #60, (January–February 1966), Jim Corrigan played an important part, as editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox made significant use of the resurrection of Corrigan's body depicted back in ''More Fun Comics'' #75. While the Ghostly Guardian crossed from one mystical plane of existence to another fighting occult menaces, Corrigan, now a captain of Gateway City's police force, was fighting his own battles against a more mundane criminal element. However, Corrigan often got involved in the Spectre's conflicts. In that first story, another spirit, named Azmodus, possessed a small-time criminal, and while the two astral beings engaged in cosmic combat, the two mortal men slugged it out.

In ''Showcase'' #64, September–October 1966, when the Spectre took possession of the body of a dying man, Ace Chance, to preserve its spark of life after his soul had departed, that spirit found the living but soulless Corrigan and entered him. With Chance's physical form hospitalized and on life-support, the Spectre found he could not re-enter Jim. Ace had no desire to give up this body and began romancing heiress Mona Marcy. After Chance was put back into his proper body, Corrigan wondered what he was going to do about Mona, who had no idea who she had really been dating. In fact, a year later the Spectre was awarded his own comic, and in #2 (January–February 1968), Jim asks his astral alter ego for a little privacy, as he has a date with Mona.

While she was not mentioned again, things became more involved for Corrigan. This series established that prolonged separation from his corporeal body diminished the Spectre's energies, and more than once, Jim's will power could keep his spirit form from entering him. The latter instance found Corrigan pinned down by criminals he was after, and his demands for the Spectre's help resulted in the tired spirit acting harshly and hurting an innocent man in the vicinity. Shortly after this, the Spectre was chained to the Journal of Judgment and Corrigan made no more appearances in this era.

Bronze Age

The next time Jim Corrigan was seen was in the brief but controversial Spectre series in ''Adventure Comics'' #431–440 (March–April 1974 – July–August 1975). Here, writer Michael Fleisher, ably abetted by atmospheric art from Jim Aparo (Frank Thorne

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