Will Eisner's The Spirit - An Overview

Although not as popular as superheroes like Batman, Superman or Spider-man, and not as well remembered as comic strip characters like Dick Tracy or Charlie Brown, The Spirit, as created by Will Eisner, is still an icon in the history of American newspaper comic strips and printed media.

In 1939, with the success of Superman and the explosion of the Golden Age of Superheroes, Everett "Busy" Arnold, then publisher of Quality Comics, set his sights on newspaper Sunday supplements, knowing that many newspapers were now having to compete with the then brand-new medium of comic books.

Will Eisner

Arnold went to Will Eisner late in ’39 and enlisted him to find a way to include a comic book in the newspapers. This opportunity made Eisner eventually leave his own publishing concern, the Eisner & Iger studio. Arnold asked Eisner to develop a superhero but Eisner was not interested in superheroes anymore, having created many “costumed characters” at Eisner and Iger. Instead, Eisner developed a detective hero. Eisner was more interested in human interest stories. The strip covered nearly every genre and would spin genuine mysteries, dramatic crime fiction yarns, horror tales or just humorous and cartoony stories.

It was “Busy” Arnold who suggested the name of this new detective hero. He believed that a ghost or supernatural character would be popular. Eisner later realized that he didn’t care about the name and The Spirit debuted as a comic strip (known later as “The Spirit Section”) in the Register and Tribune Syndicate on June 2, 1940 and would run until 1952. Eisner would serve during World War II and, as a result, had many art assistants, ghostwriters, inkers and editors that took over The Spirit’s adventures when he was away. Jules Feiffer and Gerry Grandenetti were the unsung heroes of the strip during the war years.

The Spirit was the heroic persona of a detective named Denny Colt, operating primarily in an urban locale known as Central City. In the very first story, the hero was supposedly murdered by the villainous Dr. Cobra. It was later revealed that Denny Colt was put into suspended animation while trying to capture the arch villain. Believing him dead, the authorities buried Denny Colt in the Wildwood Cemetery. Upon waking up, he shared his existence and secret with his friend, Police Commissioner Dolan. He established an underground base at his own grave site and used his new-found anonymity to begin a war on crime. His costume was simple detective garb, a blue business suit, red necktie and blue fedora hat. He also wore a blue domino mask and gloves for further anonymity.

The Spirit had many great supporting characters, chief among them Commissioner Dolan and his daughter Ellen, who served as something of a love interest for the hero. The hero also had a sidekick, Ebony White, by all accounts the first African-American sidekick. Ebony was a minor (his age is in dispute but he was probably about 14 years old) who, while driving a taxi, acted as The Spirit’s chauffeur and aid.

Ebony White

Eisner drew criticism for his depiction of Ebony White because the cartoonist chose to portray him as a racial caricature. Ebony was typically drawn with large eyes and thick lips and used a speech pattern that stereotyped the uneducated and minority groups, as in a minstrel show. Interestingly however, Eisner was praised by some people of color for including Ebony in the strip at all and for giving visibility to a black character. Ebony was also praised for being treated with respect and admiration by the other characters in the strip. As the strip went on Ebony would become more intelligent, sometimes solving cases all by himself. Ebony would later be phased out of the strip entirely, succeeded by the white, blond junior detective, Sammy Strunk. Whether this was a reaction to criticism levelled at Eisner is unknown, but Eisner did struggle with his characterization of the ill-fated sidekick later in his life.

The Spirit’s adventures would also introduce many femme fatales. Eisner created many strong, intelligent, crafty women, the most famous being the seductive P’Gell and the beautiful Sand Saref. Women like these would routinely bedevil the hero by seducing him or trying to escape justice after engaging in some criminal scheme. 

The Octopus

The Octopus, the archenemy of the Spirit, was a criminal mastermind and master of disguise who never showed his real face. He could, however, always be identified by his distinctive black gloves. He was responsible for some of The Spirit’s most famous cases.

Though the strip would fade from view and be largely forgotten by later generations who never read it, later reprints have kept the strip and character alive. The most famous reprints were done in the 1970s by Warren Publishing and later by Kitchen Sink Press. More recently, Kitchen Sink Press published a series of original non-Eisner Spirit stories, dubbed “The New Adventures” in the mid 1990s with work by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Neil Gaiman, Paul Chadwick and Kurt Busiek.

DC Comics has reprinted the entire Spirit strip in the hardcover Archive Editions. A “Best Of” collection was presented in 2005 also by DC Comics. DC also began an ongoing series, The Spirit, in 2007. The stories were written and penciled by Darwyn Cooke with later writers and artists taking over after the first dozen or so issues. It ran through issue #32 (ending in 2009), with most stories being a single 22-page story.

Other publishers, including IDW and Dynamite Entertainment have also dipped their hands into The Spirit mythos, each publishing limited series and a new ongoing series respectively.

The Spirit Movies 

In 2009, there was a big screen adaptation written and directed by Frank Miller. It bore little resemblance to Eisner’s great creation and was largely rejected by fans of the comic strip. Before that, however, came a 1987 TV movie that, while a little cheesy, had heart and at least tried to approximate the comic strip’s weird humor. It is, at the very least, worth a watch.