The Spirit Archives, Vol. 1 by Will Eisner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is first volume of Spirit reprints in DC's 8 year effort to reprint the entire run of Will Eisner's classic comic series. The Spirit was published as 7 pages in a 16-page syndicated comic book inserted syndicated throughout the country.

This book contains the first six months of Spirit strips. The strip start out ordinary enough with the origin of how Denny Colt was assumed dead and decided to become a masked crime-fighter living in the cemetery. There are several leaps in logic (not uncommon in Golden Age comics) but you just have to go with it.

Within the month, the strip shows signs of what it will become: Weekly installments of the Spirit began with beautiful stylized splash pages/panels. The stories took on a variety of themes from detective stories, crime melodramas, to a bit of light comedy, counter-espionage as America ramped up its defense, and even some monster science fiction. Eisner took the Spirit in all sorts of interesting directions.

The art is really top notch, particularly for the era. You not only have some eyepopping splahes, there are some great angles and so many nice touches that make the stories visually interesting.

Not all the stories work, and there's one plot arch that Eisner's unwilling to commit to. The Spirit becomes wanted for murder and is hunted by the police. However, the police make little efforts to contact him and it seems the plot point is practically forgotten some weeks, particularly as he remains chummy with Commissioner Dolan. It's summarily resolved later in a way that feels like the neglected point is just being put out of its misery.

I should also talk about Ebony White. This book was released in 2000, so there was no discsussion of the character in the intro. Ebony is very stereotypically drawn and his dialogue is also stereotypical. However, it should be noted that Eisner treats the character with respect as he shows himself to be quick-thinking, resourceful, and brave in an era when the "cowardly manservant" stereotype dominated portrayals of blacks in culture. How that balances against his appearance/speech portrayal and is weighted for the time period the stories were written will be up to everyone's individual judgment.

Regardless, these are historic strips that represent the beginning of a long and fruitful career for Eisner's creation, The Spirit.



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