The Spectre, Vol. 1

When ambassador Joseph Clanton is shot by an assassin an experimental technique is used to save his life. However, the procedure allows the spirit of Captain Skull, Clanton's ancestor, to possess the ambassador's body. Powered by megacyclic energy, Captain Skull rampages in Gateway City.

Jim Corrigan and the Spectre take on the case. Skull's megacyclic energy is harmful to the Spectre, so the Ghostly Guardian is unable to touch his opponent. Instead, he creates a time vortex leading back to Skull's original time period. The Spectre hopes to force the spirit back into his original body.

Captain Skull thwarts the Spectre's plan by traveling even further back in time. He takes over the body of robber baron Sir Guy the Cruel, his own ancestor. The Spectre stops Skull from conquering a castle, but the spirit flees further back in time.

The chase leads Captain Skull to inhabit the Roman emperor Commodus, who fought as a gladiator, then Paris of Troy. To defeat his opponent the Spectre charges his own body with megacyclic energy. He is then able to force Captain Skull back into his own time and into his original body. With Skull defeated, Joseph Clanton's body is returned to its rightful owner.