Comic Title: Showcase #60
Publisher: DC (National Periodical Publications, Inc.)
Address: 575 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Cover Date: Jan/Feb 1966
On Sale Date: November 25, 1965 Newsstand Date November 25, 1965
Source: House Ad, Our Fighting Forces #97, Page 30

Copyright Date November 15, 1965
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1965

Frequency: Bi-monthly
Cover Price: $0.12
Page Count: 32
Editor: Julius Schwartz

Title: "War That Shook the Universe"
Pages: 24

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

Writer: Gardner F. Fox
Artist: Murphy Anderson

Reprinted In:
Adventure Comics #491 (1982)
Showcase Presents:The Spectre TPB (2012)
Spectre:The Wrath of the Spectre Omnibus HC (2020)

Feature Character(s)

• Spectre (first Silver Age appearance; last appearance in Wonder Woman #243; next appearance in Showcase #61)

Villain(s)

• Azmodus (a spirit demon; no further appearances)
• Paul Nevers (the host of Azmodus; no further appearances)
• Rocks Parker and Tuffy Copper (rival gang bosses; no further appearances)
• Various gang members (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Millicent Olcott (an heiress; also called Myra; no further appearances)
• Stefan Miklos (a psychic; no further appearances)

Cameo Appearance(s)

• Shathan the Eternal (as a statue)

Comments:
This issue contains a one-page text feature entitled: "Origin of the Spectre".

Synopsis:
Police detective Jim Corrigan investigates the missing fortune of the deceased millionaire Ebenezer Olcott. A psychic is employed to help located the money, and a séance is held. During the séance, the Spectre is released from Jim Corrigan's body where he was imprisoned for twenty years.

The Spectre's release is timely as gangsters try to kill Corrigan with explosives. Spectre intervenes by protecting Corrigan. Jim then traces the money to a warehouse where the gangs responsible for the murder attempt are hiding out. With the Spectre's help Jim defeats the gangs and locates the missing money, which the crooks had stolen.

Spectre then begins investigating the cause of his imprisonment inside Corrigan. Before finding an answer, the Spectre is drawn back inside Corrigan. He manages to tip off Jim to a man named Paul Nevers who is connected to his predicament.

Jim tracks down Nevers and discovers the man has been possessed by an astral entity called Azmodus. The spirit tries to force Jim to shoot Nevers, but fails. Spectre and Azmodus are then able to leave their hosts.

Azmodus explains that when he came to Earth twenty years earlier, both he and the Spectre were trapped in their hosts because Earth could not support two astral entities such as them. When Azmodus's host died, Azmodus returned to the astral world of Tholagga. This coincided with the séance where Spectre was released. Azmodus then obtained a silver bullet which if used against his host would enable him to roam Earth freely. He then possessed Nevers.

The bullet's mere presence on Earth allows both Spectre and Azmodus to emerge from their hosts simultaneously. They battle on the astral plane, while Corrigan fights Nevers. Spectre and Azmodus are evenly matched. When Corrigan defeats Nevers, Spectre is able to triumph over his opponent. Spectre then leaves Azmodus trapped without power in non-space, while he returns to Earth.