The Spirit #21

The Spirit is a comic book that started before my time. It was created by the legendary Will Eisner for a comic book that was inserted in newspapers along with the Sunday funnies.

This was apparently a time when newspapers were interested in providing service to their readers, as opposed to the continual shrinkage of the comics page (or pages) - you know, the feature that newspapers could use to attract more readers. But that's a different rant.

The comic was, quite simply, a masterpiece of clever writing and outstanding art, and stands today as some of the best work ever done in the history of the industry (especially Eisner's post-War efforts). It has lost nothing with the passing of time, although we must admit that, sadly, like so many comics created at that time, it included an offensive racial visualization of characters such as Ebony.

The series finally ended in the '50s when comic books fell out of favor and Eisner moved on to other business interests. I first learned about the character in the pages of Jim Steranko's History of Comics Vol. 2, wherein he devoted a chapter to the character and reprinted a classic story.

Sometime later, Kitchen Sink started publishing magazine-sized reprints of The Spirit, and I tracked them down faithfully. The Spirit has continued to be published since, though mostly as reprints of earlier runs.

That changed a couple of years ago when DC struck a deal with Eisner to reprint the classic stories in a series of Archive Editions (which are highly recommended), and to create new stories based on the character. They wisely handed the creative duties over to Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone, who turned in a terrific run, worthy of the master himself (or at least in the right ballpark).

After Cooke left, the series ended up in the hands of two talented pro writers - Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier. And I have to say, it's surprising to see these two pros struggle so mightily - and mostly fail - to get a handle on The Spirit. I mean, what gives? These two have done some amazing work, both together and separately - so why is their work on this comic so flat? Perhaps they're constrained by the "done-in-one-issue" format. Perhaps it's editorial interference. Who knows?

It's not entirely their fault - the book has suffered under an ever-changing roster of artists - some excellent (it's always nice to see work by Mike Ploog and Paul Smith, for example) and some just average. This issue's team of Chad Hardin and Wayne Faucher, for example, make no effort to provide anything more than the most basic layouts - almost every panel is a medium-range, eye-level "shot," with no variety, no closeups, no establishing shots - in other words, none of the visual flair that was Eisner's trademark.

Of course, not every story can emulate O. Henry (or Eisner) in twists or cleverness, but most of Evanier and Aragones' stories have just been straightforward mysteries or, with this issue, an uninspired adventure story that's designed to show us how much punishment The Spirit can take - which begs the question, how much can the reader bear?

DC, please - pick an art team and stick with it, and give your writers some more leeway - or I'm afraid The Spirit will once again fade away (if just for a while).

Grade: D+