The Spectre was completely written by Doug Moench and illustrated by several artists throughout the run.

The series started following the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #50, in which Spectre played a prominent role. As a consequence of these stories, Spectre is stripped down of his powers and sent back to Earth where he could no longer deal with cosmic threats and instead, was forced to deliver retribution to mortal evildoers. Madame Xanadu became the primary supporting character of the series, as she guided Spectre until a romance was developed between the two.

The series storylines focused on the supernatural aspect of the Spectre as well as the conflict between Spectre and his human host, James Corrigan. For the first time in the character's history, Spectre and Corrigan were separate beings, capable of existing without the other. However, this novel approach was soon reverted in issue #18; where Spectre and Corrigan started sharing the same body as they previously had.

The series not only had  supernatural elements, but also focused on everyday criminals as well as mysteries.