Earl is a freelance journalist working for Newsbeat magazine in New York City. He was investigating the odd deaths of various murderers believing that a strange occult power was seeking revenge on these murderers. Earl has an uncanny resemblance to Clark Kent. So much so that Detective Corrigan even mistaken Mr. Crawford for Clark Kent.
Earl Crawford was suppose to be a supportive character in the Spectre series in Adventure Comics. However, the sales were lagging causing the Spectre to be cancelled from Adventure Comics. Earl only appeared in two Spectre stories but was slated to appear in three more issues. Those three unpublished stories were finally released in Wrath of the Spectre #4.