Green Hornet '66 Meets The Spirit #2

   I generally enjoy these little nuggets of nostalgia - the crossovers between different icons from the past.

   The Green Hornet was a classic TV show that tried to bottle the success of the Batman TV show, and while it wasn't a huge hit, it was certainly entertaining (I was a fan), and it's famous for the fact that martial arts icon Bruce Lee starred as GH's assistant Kato.

   Here the duo team up with The Spirit - which is a bit of a twist, since he only appeared in the comics, and by the '60s he wasn't being published anymore.

   This issue makes a reasonable attempt at mimicking the style of the Spirit stories, as it tells the story of an unusual, delusional man. His story plays out alongside the action / adventure part of the program.

   My biggest complaint here is that, like another recent Spirit mini-series, it only features that hero in flashbacks - he doesn't actually appear in the here and now.

   Oh, there's a version of him running around here, and there's a good twist there - but I'd rather see more actual Spirit content in my Spirit mini-series.

Grade: B

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Will Eisner's The Spirit #12

   One of the comics that seems to be flying under the radar has been this return to the classic hero created by the legendary Will Eisner - The Spirit.

   Eisner left a difficult mark to live up to - he was the gold standard for comics, and his work on The Spirit looms large in the history of comics.

   The best compliment I can pay to this 12-issue series by writer Matt Wagner and artist Dan Schkade is that it feels like a continuation of Eisner's work.

   The character designs are spot on, the art is wonderfully expressive, it's revived (in a modern way) many of the classic characters, weaves a compelling story that holds you to the very end, and it actually creates a new villain for the hero to face - one worthy of his incredible rogue's gallery!

   In this case, it's former Nazi Mikado Vaas, a kingpin of crime whose name strikes fear in even the most deadly criminals. The Spirit first escaped and then captured his deadly daughter Sachet - and this issue features the showdown between Mikado and the Spirit.

   It's a raw knuckles fight against an army of henchmen - and a heck of a lot of fun.

   Don't get me wrong, this story isn't the same as a traditional Spirit tale, which was usually more of a concise O. Henry-style tale. This is more modern, more action and humor and relationships - but I have to think Will would have enjoyed it.

   As will you.

Grade: A

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The Spirit #2

   I continue to be thrilled that Will Eisner's The Spirit is back - I just wish the issue included more actual Spirit content.

   Here we continue the mystery of the disappearance of the man behind the mask, as a (mercifully updated to the present) Ebony White and his fellow investigator, Sammy, try to track down their long-absent mentor.

   The search takes them from The Spirit's secret lair to the latest hiding place for one of that hero's most diabolical foes.

  And we do get to see the Spirit in action - if only in a flashback sequence.

   The story by Matt Wagner is sharp, with great dialogue, and the art by Dan Schkade manages to evoke the master, Will Eisner, without being a slavish imitation.

   So far, this series has me hooked - here's hoping the resolution of the mystery is worth the wait!

Grade: A-

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Will Eisner's The Spirit #1

   I've written before about my love for Will Eisner's seminal, legendary work on The Spirit, a hero who first started as a long-running comic book that was (believe it or else) inserted into Sunday newspapers in the 1940s and '50s.

   The character has lived on in reprints over the years since (including a magazine line from Warren, comic books from Eclipse, and Archive Editions from DC Comics), but his appearances in new adventures have been hit-and-miss, with the best being Darwyn Cooke's take.

   Now the character, happily, is back in a new series from Dynamite.

   Or is he?

   The premise of this opening story is that The Spirit has been missing for two years and is presumed dead.

   For this who came in later, the hero is former detective Denny Colt who almost died fighting a mad scientist and works with police as an "independent contractor" (of sorts) to catch the bad guys the law can't touch.

   But if you don't know anything about the character, this issue, written by Matt Wagner, does a terrific job of bringing you up to speed as it re-introduces the supporting cast, their relationship with The Spirit, and sets up the opening storyline.

   And yes, it includes Ebony White, the African-American sidekick who was (sadly) depicted in the manner of a racial stereotype in the original run. The new team fixes that, don't worry.

   The artwork by Dan Schkade walks a fine line between evoking Eisner's work with being too slavish - and without being too cartoony. It's good work, though perhaps it suffers slightly in comparison to the original work by Eisner, a master of creative layout, design and mood.

   It's great to see the character back in action, and here's hoping that the series continues to honor Eisner and his most famous creation (now celebrating his 75th year).

Grade: A-

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Rocketeer & The Spirit #1

Crossovers can be a bit of a mixed bag, but when they work, they can be a lot of fun.

So far, this one is working nicely. (Of course, it features two characters I love.)

It doesn't hurt that Rocketeer & the Spirit: Pulp Friction includes some wonderful characters, as the casts from both series collide (literally) in this mini-series.

Mark Waid creates a dandy little mystery to lure The Spirit, Commissioner Dolan and Ellen to Los Angeles, where they run into Cliff (Rocketeer) Secord, Peevy and Betty.

The heroes "meet cute" (natch), fight and then team up - but it all happens in a fun, clever way.

Kudos also to the legendary Paul Smith, who provides art that manages to feel Eisner inspired without being a direct copy. His women are sexy, his men heroic (or comical), and the storytelling clear and clean.

So far the story isn't really styled like a Will Eisner / classic Spirit story - it's more of a straightforward, Rocketeer-style superhero adventure.

So far, I'm enjoying it - the series is off to a fun start!

Grade: B+

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The Classics - The Spirit #1 (1974)

Who the heck is The Spirit?

That's what young Chuck would have been asking when seeing this magazine in 1974 - if he hadn't read Jim Steranko's two-volume History of Comics. A significant chapter in that fine work sings the praises of The Spirit - a comic book character I had never seen or heard of before.

The Spirit is actually police detective Denny Colt. He is (apparently) killed while foiling the plot of an evil scientist, but somehow he returns to life, dons a small mask and dedicates his energies to fighting crime as The Spirit.

Perhaps my ignorance was because The Spirit's last adventure was printed in 1952, almost a decade before I started reading comics. Perhaps it's because no local newspaper (as near as I can tell) ever carried The Spirit section, the comic that was included in Sunday newspapers around the country.

Thankfully, Steranko had tipped me off, so I eagerly grabbed this magazine published by Warren - an odd addition to its line of horror comic magazines.

Am I glad I did! The magazine includes a lushly-colored section in the center, and a total of eight stories starring the Spirit.

The star of the story isn't actually The Spirit - it's the ingenious stories by creator / writer / artist Will Eisner, who applied cinematic principles, created new styles and art forms for the comics page, wrote incredibly clever stories, loaded them with terrific characters, set it all up so the format could handle any kind of tale - action, tragedy, comedy, romance - and mixed it all together to create an amazing body of work.

These magazines are probably a bit tough to track down these days (though certainly not impossible), but thankfully these stories are all available through DC's Archive reprint series.

Even the earliest stories are a lot of fun, but it's the post-World War II tales that really pushed the envelope and demonstrated the potential of comics.

I don't think it's humanly possible for me to give this work a high enough recommendation. It changed comics forever, and (assuming you can forgive the depiction of The Spirit's sidekick Ebony, a clever black kid regrettably drawn in the minstrel style that was popular when the strip started) it's a must-read for all comics fans.

Grade: A+

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First Wave #6 (of 6)

I hate it when a series I like is canceled.

But I can't really say that about First Wave. I like the characters involved, and this story was good, the art was terrific - but it took far too long to get through it.

The first issue of this six-issue series was published a year ago, and given the long gap between issues, when I opened this final chapter I realized that I had almost no memory of the five previous issues - and that's always a bad sign.

But the concept was strong. The idea was to lump the pulp characters (Doc Savage, The Avenger) and other non-super-powered DC characters (Batman, Rima, The Spirit, The Blackhawks) into an alternate reality more in tune with their pulp origins.

This story included elements from early Doc Savage stories - the country Hidalgo and his recurring foe, John Sunlight - and added in giant robots, dinosaurs, a hidden city.

It was a worthy effort, but it all ends up in a hodge-podge of fights, explosions and swordplay.

I think this would have worked better if it had been published monthly - but now the line has apparently been canceled, so we'll have to wait for the next incarnation of these classic characters (except for Batman, natch).

I really like the art by Rags Morales (with Rick Bryant and Phil Winslade inking) - his characters are powerful, kinetic and sharply sculpted.

It's a shame this series (and the First Wave line) didn't catch on - it was a worthy effort at giving these characters a proper vehicle for their adventures. Hopefully the next attempt will be more successful.

Grade: B-

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The Spirit #1

It's funny that a character who was so often roughed-up in his comics adventures has been just as badly thumped by the companies who have carried on his stories.

The Spirit (Denny Colt) was created by the great Will Eisner in 1940 as a man who apparently died and came back to life. He wears a simple blue mask and a regular suit and fights the bad guys in Central City.

His adventures continued for a dozen years, and from time to time he was brought back again in (mostly) reprints of his classic adventures. And, I should note, that the last half of those dozen years resulted in some of the best comics stories ever told - Eisner was a genius.

While (mostly) stellar under Eisner, The Spirit hasn't always had as much luck under other creators.

At least not until 2007, when the character was revived by DC Comics and placed in the hands of Darwyn Cooke, who produced about a dozen outstanding issues. After that, the character fell on hard times again under an assortment of writers and artists who seemed to think the comic should be either a sitcom, a murder mystery, or both. (And don't get me started on the movie - a sad misfire of an idea.)

Now the Spirit is back in a new comic and a new line - DC's First Wave series, which takes non-superpowered heroes from comics and the pulps and places them in their own "reality."

DC has wisely turned the comic over to two outstanding talents - writer Mark Schultz and artist Moritat. The issue's only failing is that it has to spend so much energy setting up the characters and the conflict (but at least they didn't go through the trouble of recapping his origin). Basically, The Spirit is fighting to uncover the plans of the Octopus and his family of crime.

The art is quite good - moody and dramatic, detailed and intense - excellent work. But so far the comic is just a good start - we'll have to see how the story goes from here.

The backup story is also a treat. It's a short Spirit tale as written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by the great Bill Sienkiewicz, and it's much more in the style of the original Spirit stories - short, lean, creative and expressive, it's a neat "done-in-one" tale of love, hate and revenge.

So this issue's off to a good start, with a few reservations - but it's great to see this character back in the hands of writers and artists who "get it." Here's hoping for more of the same in the months ahead!

Grade: B+

The Spirit #27

It's always sad to see the mighty laid low.

But that's been the case with The Spirit in recent months. After a tremendous start by Darwyn Cooke, the newest version of Will Eisner's classic hero was placed in the capable hands of writers Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones - and the result has been, surprisingly, average at best.

Instead of being a home for creative stories and stunning art, the comic was a model of middle-of-the-road comics, with each story being the "murder mystery of the month," with bland art and sitcom stories. Very disappointing.

Now, like a blast of fresh air, we have a three-issue mini-series-within-a-series written by the producer of The Spirit film (and numerous other comics-related movies), Michael Uslan.

The stories in the two issues so far have been fun, focusing on the women in The Spirit's life - Dr. Silken Floss last issue, and adding Lorelei this time around. The stories give a glimpse of Denny Colt's past, and both comics have heart.

The art is a lot of fun, too. The art by Justiniano and Walden Wong is a lot of fun, especially whenever Lorelei is on the page. Some of the characters don't quite look right, but that's a minor quibble - every issue should have such striking art.

The comic still isn't up to Eisner, of course - or even Cooke - but it's a big step in the right direction.

Grade: B

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+