The ghost represents our fear of death, but more accurately our anxiety over unfinished business. Because ghosts refuse to accept death, they are able to pursue revenge or work toward a final task. The tragedy of ghosts is that they often repeat the same mistakes, failing to learn why they died in the first place.

Most cultures believe in ghosts and the concepts of haunting, resurrection and possession. However, when apparitions appear in myth or literature, their primary role has been to give guidance to the living since death brings a different perspective on mortality. The shade of Achilles in The Odyssey, Hamlet’s father and Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol provide crucial information to the protagonists.

In the Pulp Era and Golden Age, several crime fighters adopt ghostly imagery to add mystery to their personas (1933: Phantom Detective; 1936: Phantom; 1949: Ghost Rider), but two “resurrected” characters dispense justice from beyond a presumed grave: a Texas lawman (1933: Lone Ranger) and a big city detective (1940: The Spirit), both cut down in the line of duty.

The first true-ghost protagonist was an avenging angel dedicated to eliminating evil from the world (1940: Spectre). The reanimated corpse of a businessman (1944: Solomon Grundy) with no memory turns to crime to regain his perceived loss of wealth. An infamous highwayman (1947: Gentleman Ghost) doomed to remain on earth until his immortal foes are vanquished. Due to the Comics Code Authority ban on supernatural themes, ghosts appear through the lens of science fiction. Superman faces criminals (1961: Jax-Ur and General Zod) from the Kryptonian past imprisoned in the aptly named Phantom Zone.

The late Silver Age debut of the ghost of a murdered trapeze artist (1967: Deadman) who faces drug smugglers and his own killer directly challenged the Comics Code Authority. With the relaxation of the code in the Bronze Age, supernatural ghosts returned: a demon who possesses a motorcycle stuntman (1972: Ghost Rider), a mummified Egyptian prince (1973: N’Kantu) and a mindless revenant controlled by a mystic amulet  (1973: Zombie).  The Ghost Rider character remains very popular and serves as the template for the anti-heroes of the Modern Age: an indestructible force (1989: The Crow) suffering from guilt and melancholy and a servant of hell (1992: Spawn) with extensive magical powers. As undead creatures, they question the morality of their actions as they cling to the last vestiges of their humanity.