The Ring of Life was a ring often given to the Spectre.
History
In late 1940 the extradimensional tyrant Xnon used alien super science to place the Spectre under his command, then sent the Ghostly Guardian back to Earth on a mission of murder. The Voice stopped the Spectre, and gave him a talisman called the Ring of Life, which broke the mental dominance of Xnon. The ring vanished from the Spectre's hand when its work was done.[1]
Not long afterward, while embroiled in a struggle with the ancient sorcerer Kulak of Brztal, and his many minions, the Spectre petitioned The Voice to again give him the Ring of Life. With this, he subdued and disintegrated Kulak, and scattered his essence to the myriad corners of the Multiverse. And again, the ring vanished.[2]
Some time later, the Spectre made use of the Ring of Life to banish the murderous ghost of executed felon "Trigger" Daniels,[3] then used the same technique to banish the murderous ghost of murder victim Elmer Watson.[4] After each of these uses, the Ring vanished.
When the spiritualist Deeja Kathoon gained control over Detective Corrigan's Astral Self, and commanded him to destroy a hospital, the Spectre resisted with superhuman resolve and, with the Ring of Life, was ultimately able to break the necromancer's spell. The Ring vanished.[5]
A common gangster named Baretti somehow got control of the Ring of Life, and with it was momentarily able to stymie the Spectre, shortly before his own violent death. The Ring vanished after the Spectre hurled Baretti's gang's car into a tree, killing them all. The ring disappeared from the dead hoodlum's finger.[6]
In February 1942, the Ring of Life next reappeared in the extradimensional resting tomb of the evil alien sorcerer Kulak, who used it to restore his own eldritch power.[7] Doctor Fate himself was unable to wrest the ring away from Kulak while he was defended by the Astral Avenger. Fate ended up flung through an infinite series of alien dimensions.[8] Sargon the Sorcerer was able to expel Kulak from the Earth-Two universe by touching his famous Ruby of Life to the red gem in the Ring of Life. Vengefully Kulak sent the Spectre to attack the world, but Sargon was able to locate and retrieve Doctor Fate from an infinity of oblivion, and Fate was able to attack Kulak in his own dimension. Still, Kulak seemed to be winning, until he unwisely placed the Helmet of Fate onto his own head, and instantly vanished. The Helm of Nabu and the Ring of Life vanished with him.[7]
The Helm of Nabu would not be seen again until 1963, but the Ring of Life would be, later in 1942, the means of restoring life to the body of Jim Corrigan.[9]
See Also
- Appearances of Ring of Life
- Item Gallery: Ring of Life
- Images featuring Ring of Life