Comic Title: Spectre #1
Publisher: DC (National Periodical Publications, Inc.)
Address: 575 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Cover Date: Nov/Dec 1967
On Sale Date: September 21, 1967 Newsstand Date September 21, 1967
Source: Direct Currents, Wonder Woman #173

Newsstand Date September 21, 1967
Source: House Ad, Wonder Woman #173, Page 20

Copyright Date September 21, 1967
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1967

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

Title: "The Sinister Lives of Captain Skull"
Pages: 23

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

Writer: Gardner F. Fox
Artist: Murphy Anderson

Reprinted In:
Adventure Comics #494 (1982)
Showcase Presents:The Spectre TPB (2012)
Spectre:The Wrath of the Spectre Omnibus HC (2020)

Feature Character(s)

• Spectre (last appearance in Brave and the Bold #72; next appearance in Brave and the Bold #75)

Villain(s)

• Captain Skull (a spirit being; no further appearances)
• Sir Guy the Cruel and his army (a robber baron and his men; no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Joseph Clanton (a diplomat; no further appearances)
• Several astral energy beings (no further appearances)
• Lady Aline (a princess; no further appearances)
• Emperor Commodus, Paris, and Helen (a Roman emperor, the prince of Troy, and a greek woman; no further appearances)
• Achilles (no further appearances)

Synopsis:
When ambassador Joseph Clanton is shot by an assassin an experimental technique is used to save his life. However, the procedure allows the spirit of Captain Skull, Clanton's ancestor, to possess the ambassador's body. Powered by megacyclic energy, Captain Skull rampages in Gateway City.

Jim Corrigan and the Spectre take on the case. Skull's megacyclic energy is harmful to the Spectre, so the Ghostly Guardian is unable to touch his opponent. Instead, he creates a time vortex leading back to Skull's original time period. The Spectre hopes to force the spirit back into his original body.

Captain Skull thwarts the Spectre's plan by traveling even further back in time. He takes over the body of robber baron Sir Guy the Cruel, his own ancestor. The Spectre stops Skull from conquering a castle, but the spirit flees further back in time.

The chase leads Captain Skull to inhabit the Roman emperor Commodus, who fought as a gladiator, then Paris of Troy. To defeat his opponent the Spectre charges his own body with megacyclic energy. He is then able to force Captain Skull back into his own time and into his original body. With Skull defeated, Joseph Clanton's body is returned to its rightful owner.