For the most part noir-ish Darwyn Cooke’s The Spirit might be, but essentially it is noir with a twinkle in its eye, says Luke Williams…
The Book: With his masterful storytelling and flair for noir style, the late Darwyn Cooke was uniquely suited to reintroduce Will Eisner’s beloved comics creation,The Spirit, to modern audiences.
Now, Darwyn’s The Spirit comic stories are collected in their entirety for the first time in this oversized hardcover collection, presented within a beautiful slipcase. Designed by Sean Phillips, who also oversaw the Eisner-winning Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition – Last Call, to which this book is a companion in size and scope. J Bone, Cooke’s long-time collaborator, provides an introduction.
Also included in this definitive version of Cooke’s The Spirit is a gallery featuring all the covers, two variant covers from a Rocketeer/The Spirit crossover, and several never-before-seen drawings.
Collects The Spirit #1-6, #8-12, and Batman/The Spirit one-shot
The Review: Assuming there are some who have never heard of The Spirit, he is Denny Colt, a PI who came back to life after he was apparently killed by one of his enemies. After his resurrection, Denny fights crime as a Police sanctioned vigilante, hiding his true identity behind a skimpy domino mask and blue suit.
Starting off as a superhero / crime strip in a Sunday newspaper in the early forties and developed from that to become a testing ground for creator Will Eisner’s experimentswith the comic form. As the strip evolved, the Spirit himself would often only appear as a framing device for Eisner and his studio to tell a range of stories from a host of genres. The Spirit became synonymous with inventiveness and a sophistication that was hitherto unseen in American comics. It cannot be overstated how influential the strip is on generations of creators, particularly those of the Simonson, Miller, Chaykin era.
Since then, a startling range of creators have worked on the Spirit in some form or other. Kitchen Sink Press were responsible for most of the reprint volumes that were available in the 1980s and 90s, but also released a well regarded anthology of original material title in the late 1990s, featuring Alan Moore, John Wagner, Paul Chadwick, Carlos Ezquerra, Dave Gibbons, Eddie Campbell etc, while more recently Dynamite released a series written by Matt Wagner and drawn by Dan Schakde. In between though, was a series written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke for DC Comics.
Scott Dunbier’s first major collection under his new Act 4 imprint, this volume collects eleven of the DC run from 2007 (issue 7, not present, was by Walt Simonson, Chris Sprouse and Karl Story), plus the Spirit /Batman crossover; in a beautiful, oversized Sean Phillips designed, slipcased hardback volume, with covers, prelims and a self deprecating introduction from inker / embellisher J Bone.
Cooke’s version of the Spirit has been modernised. Although not completely obvious, it’s set in modern times, rather than the mid 20th century setting of the original. It’s suitably noir, but more “superheroey” than the latter day Spirit strips from the original run.
All the supporting cast are present and correct, Commissioner Dolan, his daughter Ellen, Ebony, P’Gell, Sand Serif all make appearances. The eleven issues can be read individually, although there is an overarching plot. The final story sees our protagonist take on another police sanctioned vigilante, Batman, this time with Jeph Loeb on scripting duties, with lots of appearances from the flying rat’s rogue’s gallery, but without feeling like they have been shoehorned in. Eisner’s creation manages to remain slightly goofy, while poking fun at his more serious Gotham City counterpart.
Cooke is, or rather sadly was, a natural successor to Eisner. Each page is beautifully composed and laid out. Like Eisner, Cooke can switch from comedy, to pathos, to menace within a few panels without feeling forced. Like Eisner, his line has a joy about it. He was a master of the medium and oversizing the strips means you can study the art in more detail, and linger.
For the most part, noir-ish it might be, but essentially it is noir with a twinkle in its eye. Compared with Cooke’s other well known work – his masterful Parker adaptations, this is quite light hearted – Parker is straight out nasty. But that emphasises Cooke’s range. He’s known for his retro, open and appealing art style, but that belies sophisticated story telling techniques.
What else to say? In this, one, handsome volume, we have two legends represented. Great comics and a wonderful tribute to two titans of the industry.
Luke Williams
• Darwyn Cooke’s : The Complete Spirit: Connoisseur Edition is available from all good bookshops | ISBNX 978-1534334090 | Buy it from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Buy it from
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• Act 4 Publishing is online at act4publishing.com
• Details of Will Eisner Week – Official Site
An annual celebration every March celebrating comics, graphic novel literacy, free speech and the legacy of Will Eisner
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Brought up on a diet of Commando, British Boys Annuals and Asterix, Lucas Williams’s day job limits his reading time. Luckily for everyone else this also restricts his writing time.
Categories: Comics, downthetubes Comics News, Features, Reviews, US Comics
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