More Fun Comics #60 (1940)

Using a dimensional portal, an unseen entity steals a gold shipment, plus the entire express train on which it is riding, and three or more plainclothes Cliffland policemen, including Jim Corrigan's friend Wayne Grant. A giant image of the Spectre flickers into existence at the same spot, then vanishes. Policemen on the scene mistakenly conclude that only the Spectre could have done this amazing theft. The next morning Jim Corrigan gets assigned to the case. He invisibly flies toward Consgrove, the site of the train theft, but before he even leaves town he is instinctively attracted to jewelry store robbery. The robbers are escaping in a car, which vanishes into a dimensional portal, flying thru featureless black space, with the Spectre chasing close behind. They soon arrive at a huge globe, and inside the globe, the Spectre sees the missing express train, and several buildings. He enters the globe, and observes as the jewelry robbers report to their master, Xnon, who is very pleased with their bag of loot. The Spectre then spots the abducted gold guards, toiling as slaves under the lash of a taskmaster. The Spectre teaches the slave driver a harsh lesson, but is interrupted by Xnon, who is amazingly able to see the invisible Spectre. Xnon has a Power Rod, it's a mind-control weapon, and with it he compels the Spectre to become visible. He then commands the Spectre to return to Cliffland and massacre an assembly of police! Struggling against the compulsion to commit mass murder, The Spectre flies toward the earthly plane, and arrives in Cliffland during a police parade. The Spectre lifts a finger, and fiery bolts leap forth, shattering the pavement! He misses the marching cops, but his next bolts strike closer and closer to them. At the last instant, the Spectre's own body explodes! An invisible force yanks the Spectre away from the scene, into black space. There the Spectre converses with The Voice, describes his present situation, and asks for help! In reply, a ring appears on the Spectre's finger; it is the Ring of Life! It immediately removes Xnon's mind-control "spell". Spectre flies back to the Fourth Dimension, turns invisible, and invades Xnon's lair. Xnon now is unable to detect him, as the Spectre places a Spell of Indifference on the villain's thugs, and loads the kidnapped cops and the stolen gold aboard the stolen express train, and conveys all of it to Earth. Cops in Cliffland are completely puzzled about why the train-stealing Spectre would return the train, but Spectre returns at once to Xnon's sphere, and confronts the super villain. Xnon's mind-controlling Power Rod is ineffectual; and the Spectre explosively destroys the mighty globe and all its criminal inhabitants. Xnon's metal armor enables him to survive this cataclysm, but a moment later he's fighting the Spectre hand-to-hand, and losing. The Spectre causes Xnon to be imprisoned inside the heart of a meteor, which then flies away at an astronomical speed. Later on at Cliffland Police Headquarters, Jim Corrigan and Wayne Grant and the Chief have a conversation about capturing the Spectre. Grant is not so sure the Spectre is bad, and the Chief sets aside that question; he still expects Corrigan to arrest the Spectre, and Corrigan vows to do so.