(More Fun Comics 070, 1941)
I got some gripes about Bandar and they're not really Bandar's fault. But let's start with who Bandar is: the source of a mysterious spectral figure that keeps bamboozling the Spectre and killing former members of the Crimson Circle Mystic Society.
Jim Corrigan goes deep cover and joins the Society in order to get to the bottom of what the heck is going on and discovers that they're just a bunch of dupes that society leader Bandar hypnotizes and makes steal for him. The former members are being killed - by Bandar's astral form, it turns out - not to preserve some sort of mystic secret, etc., but to keep them from possibly remembering their actions and blabbing to the fuzz.
The Spectre eventually solves the problem in his own inimitable way: by destroying Bandar's human form so that his astral self is doomed to wander forever. Efficient!
Now for the gripes:
1. While I appreciate the consistency of the "ghosts are chalk-white figures in a purple/grey hooded robe" design, it does get pretty samey after a while and there have been quite a lot of ghosts in 1941's Spectre adventures.
2. When I started reading this story I got pretty excited about the Crimson Circle Mystic Society (or the much cooler Order of the Crimson Circle, according to their signage) being the villain and Bandar is a bit of a step down from that.
I acknowledge that those are unfair and subjective reasons to dislike a character so here are a couple of subjective things I liked about this tale to balance the scales:
1. Bandar is an example of a trope that I don't really know the name for - monster of the week? Basically, an antagonist who is able to enact a complete runaround on the very capable protagonist because they don't know what the Deal is and thus can't effectively counter the Deal. In this case, the Spectre can't stop or catch Bandar until he figures out that he's not actually a ghost but an astral projection. It's just a fun way to make what would on paper be a mismatched foe work.
2. This story marks at least the third time that Jim Corrigan is murdered while on a case, a fun recurring bit.
So: Bandar!
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