Gwendolyn Sterling

Back in 1974 The Spectre began his run in Adventure Comics with issue 431. Though a short run (ending in issue 440) this startling series returned the Spectre to his original merciless war on evildoers. As he had been toned down from his original 1940s conception (like many costumed heroes) readers were shocked and intrigued by the gruesome poetic justice he delivered. Being a literal ghost charged with destroying evil he had no qualms about sending evildoers to the other side, in fact he relished the thought they would really get what was coming to them when they wound up in hell. For those who think these stories far too black and white I would recommend John Ostander's 1990's take on The Spectre which expanded on both the character of the Spectre as the Wrath of God and its human host and his efforts to deal with a world full of shades of gray. But that's got nothing to do with his love life. While he wasn't being The Spectre the late Jim Corrigan spent his time as a police detective. He'd been doing it since the forties and didn't have anything else to occupy his time. Which was how he came to meet Gwendolyn Sterling. Jim first met Gwen in Adventure Comics 432 while investigating the murder of her father. Being a sucker for the taciturn, brooding type and needing a shoulder to cry on she fell for him. Jim brushed her off but the loneliness of his undead existence were getting to him and he found himself drawn to her. Things climaxed when one of her father's killers tried to use her as a hostage and was promptly turned to sand when Jim assumed his Spectre form. He told Gwen to forget him but she couldn't and he didn't really want her to or he could have made her literally forget him. On to issue 434, mannikins were coming to life and killing people. At least that's what the survivors reported but the police didn't believe a word of it. Except to Detective Corrigan who was a bit more inclined to believe in the supernatural. Checking out the Monarch Mannikin Co. he ran into a weird old mannikin maker named Zeke who referred to the mannikins as his friends and felt they were perfectly justified in killing people who ignored them. Almost everyone laughed at the old coot but Corrigan found him suspicious. Until he was distracted by an unwanted visitor.
One of Gwen's problems was that she was far too trusting when people told her they could solve her problems with Jim. First a fake Swami and now a demented mannikin maker. But read the rest for yourself.

The Spectre arrived and made quick work of the animated mannikins (just how Zeke managed it and why he had suddenly gone homicidal remain unanswered questions) at which point Zeke made a bad mistake. The Spectre might have made it quick if he hadn't threatened Gwen.
The last we see of Zeke he's melting while the workers watch unaware of his grisly end. Since once againthere was no culprit or evidence what happened to him another open case wound up in Corrigan's files. And once again Gwen demonstrated she could stand watching the Spectre's version of crime and punishment as she didn't give up on her efforts to date Jim Corrigan.

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