Number 2190: The Spirit: comics noir

Postwar was a time of cynicism and concern about atom bombs, about the Russians (hmm, we’re still thinking about them today!) and about comic books leading children into a life of crime. Thank goodness they could show crime stories in the Sunday newspaper funnies. One assumes that if kids were reading crime comic books then they were probably reading “Dick Tracy,” and if they got it in their town, “The Spirit.”

Chester Gould used a lot of black in “Dick Tracy.” He also used sadism and torture. The violence might have driven some people to read Dick Tracy for the forbidden thrills. Pulp magazines were full of the same thing, but presumably not available to youngsters. Today’s posting, a Spirit Section from August 24, 1947, calls to mind the more gruesome of Dick Tracy’s adventures, and one-ups Gould. Eisner shows a bloodied crook, tied up, then shot in the head by the Octopus. Since I have been re-reading Dick Tracy lately, I’m showing a page from The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, where we see a torture device set up by the Brow, then used on a young girl. Both the sequence from Dick Tracy and the bloody killing from The Spirit might have been more than a concerned parent would have wanted a young child to see.

But, I am not a young child and after all we’ve been together with crime comic book stories I assume you are also mature enough to look at this sort of thing.

Something else about this Spirit episode: It one-ups Gould in its use of black ink. It sets a perfect noirish mood.

The Grand Comics Database credits Will Eisner for the script and the artwork, except where Jerry Grandenetti drew backgrounds.

Pappy's Sunday Supplement Number 12: The Spirit

We skipped our monthly Sunday Supplement feature last month. I was busy  hosting out-of-town guests (my grandchildren) all month. I barely got my regular postings done.

Today we have a very early Spirit Section from the Will Eisner studio. It is from June 30, 1940, which makes it the fifth Spirit story to appear. In it we look back at health care in America, 1940-style. It begins with a dose of pathos, a doctor’s pronouncement, “Your wife has a week to live,” and the prescription is to take her to Arizona. The husband is broke, so he gambles to get the money to take her. That turns out bad, so the Spirit steps in. In this early story we see the Spirit clean out the gambling joints with his gambling skills. He apparently has a skill-set we weren’t aware of. He also pulls a gun. We are used to a Spirit who uses his fists.

Chuck Mazoujian, using the name “Ford Davis,” drew the 4-page Lady Luck story. Mazoujian went into the Army, and I found a page of his drawings of soldiers in training in the February 9, 1942 issue of Life. When his time in the Army was done he went into advertising.

Another top artist, Bob Powell, who spent his whole career in comics, did the Mister Mystic story. I confess, I looked at it but didn’t read it.

Another early Spirit Section, #7, from 1940. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 1762: The sewer Spirit

The Spirit #1 (1944), is a collection of Sunday newspaper stories published during the time creator Will Eisner was at war. Occasionally Eisner found time to help out. This story, called “Yellow-Eyes Janus” by the Grand Comics Database, and “Manhunt” on the inside cover of the actual issue, is credited to Eisner and Lou Fine, with the writing by Eisner. Some of Eisner’s ghosts were better at his style than others, but there is a lot going on in this episode that tells us he worked on it. The scenes in the sewer are vintage Eisner.

The story originally appeared May 2, 1943.

A six-week Spirit daily newspaper story, from the Real Free Press Daily Spirit. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 1727: Sam, sci-fi, and the Spirit

Sam is an everyday working man, going home one night to his apartment and finding...monsters. And not just monsters, but metal monsters from another planet, checking out Earth so it may be invaded a thousand years hence. What is an ordinary guy like Sam to do? He goes to the authorities but no one believes him. They even throw him in the mental ward. But then he gets the Spirit to buy in to his story...

Originally published in the weekly Spirit Comic Book Supplement on February 3, 1941, this is an example of author/artist Will Eisner’s unique blend of fantasy, as a break from his usual stories of crime and criminals. He used this type of tale occasionally, and I admire how his vision transcends what would be just another alien invasion story.

Years ago in an article about Eisner I saw this panel from the story:

It was forwarded by the newspaper to Eisner through his partner, Everett “Busy” Arnold. An anonymous reader had clipped the panel and attached it to a note, saying if he saw something like this again he would cancel his subscription. I wonder if the reader was offended by the reference to the crucifixion of Christ, or that the Christian is in a strait-jacket.

This reprint — with that panel still intact — is from Police Comics #40 (1945).

Number 1704: Jim Warren gets into the Spirit

Jim Warren’s revival of Will Eisner’s The Spirit in 1974 was another attempt to bring that moribund character back to life. After the end of the Spirit Section in newspapers in 1952 there were several attempts to bring back the character, but none of them were ongoing in the sense of Warren’s handsome newsstand magazine reprints. The Spirit was announced in Eerie #54, with these pages, the inside front and back covers of that issue.

Harvey Kurtzman may have gotten the ball rolling with his reprint of a classic Spirit story in Warren’s Help! in 1962. You can see it in this 2010 posting from Hairy Green Eyeball.

There was also a Rich Corben-colored “Christmas Spirit” story in issue #54, which I thought of posting, but won’t, Christmas being  months past. So I am showing the color Spirit story, “Bucket of Blood” from Eerie #55. That issue was cover dated March, 1974, and The Spirit #1 was cover-dated April, but my recollection is they were on the stands at the same time. I could be wrong. Memory is often flawed, but I also recall we fans were forewarned of the Warren Spirit in the fan press of the time.