THE SPIRIT: BOOK ONE

Writer: Darwyn Cooke

Year: 2007

Publisher: DC Comics

Pages: 192

The Spirit is a strange beast. A light-hearted, done-in-one series about a police detective with little character development throughout and not-good art. It’s not a formula to last, but somehow it did (for 32 issues at least, which is pretty good in today’s market and the bad press generated by the film probably didn’t help matters)

For anybody not familiar with The Spirit, he’s a superhero created by Will Eisner way back in 1940. Real name Denny Colt, he would fight crime with the help of police commissioner Dolan. The Spirit was a big hit and a regular feature in over 20 Sunday newspapers throughout the 40’s and early 50’s.

            When Eisner died, DC comics acquired the rights to the character and gave him a monthly book, (as well as compiling the original strips into 26 archive books!) the first six of which are collected here. This book has a lot of good and a lot of bad qualities to it. The gorgeous cover art suggests a dark brooding noir comic but the interior art is very cartoony, maybe a bit too much for it’s own good.

The actual character of the Spirit is the books strongest point, with Denny’s tough, but jokey and fun-loving attitude making him extremely likable. He’s still a ladies man and has his own gallery of on-again, off-agains, most notably with the daughter of his boss, Ellen Doran, who at least is a real character here and hasn’t degenerated into the eye candy she will become later in the series. The other regular character is Commissioner Dolan himself who primarily acts as a foil for the Spirit.

            The storeys here have interesting premises, but the execution is left wanting. The arch-nemesis of the book, the Octopus, is completely wasted in his one brief appearance and other villains are likewise throwaway. The action is quite good and well paced at times but the very wordy nature of the book can make issues drag on, especially if read in a single sitting.

            The strongest single issue of the book is no. 3, which details the Spirit’s origin as an enemy long thought dead returns. This is dark, brooding and contains an excellent inner monologue. The flashback sequence has an altered art style and the open ended nature leaves the reader guessing how the story will play out.

(The simple enough Origin has Denny confront some thugs in a water treatment plant, gets shot and falls into their vat of “nerve gel” which reanimated his dead body three days later. Denny then used his deceased status as a cover to become the Spirit)

            This volume also has the one-shot Batman/The Spirit #1 which aims to introduce the Spirit to the rest of the DCU. The poor pacing and sub-par art really do ruin what should have been a great moment for DC Comics. I really tried to love The Spirit, but the best I was able to manage was “It’s okay”

The bottom line.

A very mixed bad, with heavy handed political “subtleties” thrown in. Unless you’re a fan of the character (which I am) there’s really nothing to recommend here, though the series improves in time.

Next stop.

The Spirit: Book two