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 and Ernie Chan spelled him on the pencils once and twice, respectively, when his schedule became too tight), took the Spectre back to his earliest days. As in the first two years in "More Fun Comics", the hero and his civilian identity were simply two guises of the same entity. Nevertheless, Corrigan's "life" did get interesting. Now a lieutenant in New York City, Jim was investigating the murder of wealthy businessman Adrian Sterling and met the victim's daughter Gwen. Despite his assertions that romance was out of the question for him, she fell in love with Corrigan. In saving her life from her father's murderer, he had to reveal his true nature. Gwen fell under the influence of a medium, told him about Corrigan's situation, and asked him if he could restore the detective to life. Unfortunately, he was a con artist that the department, and Corrigan in particular, were investigating, and he took advantage of what he presumed was the woman's mental illness to trap and kill Corrigan. As he was already dead, the plan backfired horribly.