Grand_OoF
06-13-2010, 03:51 AM
Hey again Foxkei!
Comic Extravaganza rolls on, and as promised, this time we're going to take a look at The Spirit!
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"I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead. Also, my city won't stop screaming."
WAIT! WAIT NO!
Okay...seems I need to be more specific.
A Grand_OoF! Review:
Will Eisner's The Spirit
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BOO! I'ma ghost!
Stats:
System: DC Comics
Genre: Pulp Adventure, Comedy
Players: 1 reader
Rating: Recommended for teenage audiences and older due to violence and mild language.
So first off, most of you probably only know The Spirit based on the movie. Which I admit I liked (mostly because I went in with exceedingly low expectations), but in subsequent viewings, I'd also be the first to admit that it really is a bad movie.
And that's because it's Frank Miller's The Spirit. It is not Will Eisner's The Spirit.
I could literally do a whole article on how big a schlock Frank Miller is and how he gets a free pass by many comic fans because of his earlier works. But I'll save that for another time. Additionally, I'd rather talk about a man you should know if you consider yourself any sort of self respecting comic fan, and that's Will Eisner.
Will Eisner was one of the men who really helped revolutionize the craft. He helped make comics be taken seriously, expanding beyond the expectations that the industry had on them at the time. He also helped introduce the concept of graphic novels. Oh, and his name has been given to the prestigious Eisner Award, which is awarded to comics that take great creative strides in the field.
Eisner is most known for The Spirit, which he originally created back in the 30s or so. And although The Spirit movie was a sexist, sloppy Sin City rip-off, the actual comic was anything but. It gave women roles of power, and The Spirit's black side kick was a smart, street wise, hard working and loyal assistant. That's pretty damn progressive for the 1930s, in spite of his name and the original design. Also, The Spirit wasn't really super powered. All he was was a sharp dresser and a big ass kicker.
So as you can imagine, Frank Miller dropped the bomb on doing a proper modern update. Fortunately, DC Comics did a much, much better job, putting Darwyn Cooke on the job (Cooke was responsible for the awesome, critically acclaimed DC: The New Frontier).
This book actually contains seven stories, so I'm going to keep this review a tad more brief. All the specifics are going to be under the spoiler tab, for reasons of length and...well...spoilers...for those who are interested.
Also, every story is broken up for convenience.
1. Ice Ginger Coffee
The first story is pretty simple and a quick one shot. Basically, the lovely reporter Ginger Coffee is kidnapped by a local thug called “The Pill”, who apparently can melt people with his bare hands. Ginger was on her way to breaking open a story on a crime cartel, when she was sold out by her own secret witness and was kidnapped.
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The Spirit, being the awesome ass kicker he is, is on the case. The majority of the comic serves as a chase scene, as Spirit tracks down Ginger and helps make their escape. There's some nice pacing and action, along with some great dialogue between Ginger and The Spirit. Sad to say, Spirit gets no nookie this time, but truthfully it's probably better he's not the ladies man he was in the movie. I also appreciate that they brought back Ebony, and even poked fun at his name.
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Overall, this was just a fun, action packed, brief story that really sets the tone for the series. And it's fantastic for doing so. The idea of a whole comic being a chase sequence is fairly unique, and it allows for some good pacing and action.
One thing I want to make a shout out to real quick is the art. I just love it. It feels sort of old school but for some reason also reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoon. Additionally, I want to point out that like a cartoon, each separate story also has these stunning opening spreads. Here's the one for Ice Ginger Coffee, as well as a few others.
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Aren't those just stunning? They really manage to capture the mood of each story. The first one feels so frantic and fast paced, as we see a silhouette of The Spirit brushing past a series of flashing lights. Meanwhile, the second just has this excellent play with shadows, and helps capture the isolation that is hinted at throughout parts of that story, as Silk Satin and Spirit wander around in a desert.
2. The Man Eater
This story continues with the more light hearted, action feel of the first comic, and actually focuses on an old school villian, the beautiful but dangerous P'gell. It starts out somewhat innocently enough, when an over the top middle eastern fella named Hussein Hussein (yes, seriously). It turns out he's the envoy of Prince Farouk, Prince of some made up middle eastern country, and he's trying to get the Prince a date. P'gell agrees, while The Spirit watches. After a cute scene with Ellen Dolan (who was the nurse in the movie, if you saw it) The Spirit tries to keep an eye out on the Prince, thinking that P'gell perhaps might be in danger since the Prince has a nasty record of human rights violations.
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But P'gell brushes The Spirit's warnings aside, marries the prince (hey we only have a couple pages here) and rushes off to live happily ever after.
...Except it turns out that one of the thousands of people the prince put to death was P'gell's former lover, one doctor James Moussad, who had tried to help fight against a staged epic cleansing. P'gell had staged the whole relationship with the explicit intent of getting close to him and killing the bastard. The Spirit breaks into their hotel room, fighting past guards to try to save the Prince. But P'gell succeeds, as The Spirit catches up with her far too late. Tearfully, P'gell recounts the whole story before she knocks The Spirit unconcious when he tries to arrest her.
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And so the story ends with Hussein Hussein and The Spirit, off to go grab a drink.
The things in this story that I particularly like is that it does have a rather good twist, all things considering (albeit perhaps a predictable one). Hussein Hussein is sort of a low point, since he's kind of a lazy character idea and clearly stereo typical. On the other hand, he's also pretty amusing and charming, and outwits The Spirit on more then one occasion in the story. The thing I like the most though is that Ellen Dolan (who was reduced to essentially a bit role in the movie) is given her full role as The Spirit's one true girlfriend, as the pair try to enjoy a night in together. But I also like that she's fully aware of Denny's costumed double life and even tries to help him out, doing research for him and helping out in little ways where she can. Considering how much emphasis was wrongfully put on Sans Serrif in the movie, it's nice to see Ellen back in the spot light.
Though it's no surprise that happened, since Frank Miller apparently hates the nice girls.
3. Resurrection
This comic takes a noticeably darker turn right from the start, where we open to see Spirit and his buddy Commissioner Dolan (who's Ellen's dad, btw) coming in on a massacre of some Central City triads. One single survivor wearily explains that the killer was a man by the name of Alvarro Mortez. Sprit, left speechless, flees the scene and heads to the cemetery, where we get an excellent spread of him digging up a grave. It seems Mortez is someone associated with Denny's past...before he died.
The rest of the comic serves as a flash back, showing a time when Denny was working as a cop for the Central City police force, friends with Commissioner Dolan and still dating Ellen. The three are about to sit down for a lovely dinner when Denny gets a call. It turns out Denny's hot on the case of some terrorists who are going to pump chemicals into the water.
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Denny gets up in a hurry and rushes out the door, where he meets Ebony for the first time. He rushes to the scene and confirms his findings and calls Dolan for back up. Unfortunately, Ellen, worried sick, calls Denny which reveals his location to the gang, and all hell breaks lose. Denny breaks his way in, fighting off a thug who is apparently Alvarro. The insuing battle results in the destruction of the chemical plant, causing the gang's leader to shoot Alvarro and Denny. Denny falls into a puddle of the leaking chemicals, but before the gang leader can finish him off, Alvarro shoots him in the back for trying to kill his own ally.
The thug then turns his attention to the dying officer, ready to finish him off too, but then death clutches him, and he and Denny lay in a puddle of the mysterious substance. Denny quickly follows suit, and the two lay sprawled out on the floor, lifeless and empty.
Denny is placed in his family crypt, but suddenly emerges back to life, reborn. He meets up with Dolan and explains that he wants to continue to fight crime, now as the vigilante who can do what the police can't. He also meets back up with Ebony, who had fled the scene, and the two strike up their now famous friendship.
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As the comic draws to a close, we come back to the present where The Spirit has finally reached a coffin. He flings it open to reveal it is empty, and the name on the tombstone is Alvarro Mortez, confirming his worst fears.
This story isn't one of my favorites, but it does a lot of things well. While it is different from the original origins (and is closer to the movie in that regard), it is pretty interesting, and does at the very least flesh out Denny's relationships more. There are two particularly cool things I like about this story. The first of which is that all the art during the flash back sequence is washed out and has a strange colored look to it. It helps make it feel like the comic is in a haze, like a long forgotten memory that we're struggling to pull back to the front of our minds. The other thing I really like is this story sets up what I believe to be The Octopus, The Spirit's arch nemesis. Of course, we never actually see The Octopus (just like in the original stories), so there's currently no way to be certain, but that's my theory.
SPEAKING OF THE OCTOPUS...
4. Hard Like Satin
Our comic opens with Silk Satin (another returning old face) escorting a dreary Spirit through the desert along the Mexican/Texas border, bickering back and forth, when suddenly they fall through the ground and into a tunnel, where they both pass out.
Where we then flash back to a few days earlier, where Spirit and Ebony are hot on the tail of a speeding car, which turns out to be driven by...
HEY! Hussein Hussein! Welcome back!
So yeah, he's back, and it turns out he's running guns and money. This is bad enough, but they also found the calling card of an organization called The Octagon, a terrorist organization. Hussein denies involvement, but it doesn't matter because lovely Ms. Satin of the CIA shows up to take our boy in. Too bad in the ensuing argument between her, Commissioner Dolan and Spirit, he slips away and escapes while he's being escorted by CIA operatives. Probably should have made sure he was cuffed.
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Spirit tracks him down to a strip club, but before he can get any answers, the two are ambushed and Hussein is spirited away. In the next scene, we see him being beaten by an unseen assailant, none other then The Octopus, who informs Hussein he's going to trap Satin for him, after he beats him a little more.
A few days later, it turns out Hussein has fled to Texas. Satin is following hot in pursuit, lead to believe by a message that Hussein will surrender if she comes to his rescue, as he fears for his life. But much to her chagrin, Spirit's there too. The two agree to live and let live, as they meet Hussein who drives them out to a desert on the Mexican side of the border. It seems Hussein has tricked them again, and The Octopus is waiting for them, with plans to kill all three of them. But Hussein rigs the car to explode, allowing them all to escape...
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Which is when we come back to Silk and Spirit, lying in the hole. She smacks Spirit around a bit to wake him up, but when he doesn't come to she starts to panic and...becomes strangely sentimental. She leans in and gives him a full on face suck, which even SHE is confused by.
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This wakes The Spirit up, and Hussein emerges from the shadows (...perv...) where he provides them a key for their cuffs. But The Octopus has also caught up with them and starts opening fire.
Silk mans up and starts carrying the injured Spirit out as the three try to flee, but Octopus isn't giving up. So she leaves Denny to Hussein's care and creates a cave in, crashing down on her and Octopus. Spirit and Hussein manage to get away, but they're both afraid their friend didn't make it.
But as the comic closes, we discover that The Octopus lives, emerging from the ground and plodding off, ready to plot his next scheme. Shortly after, Silk emerges as well, a confident grin on her face.
For the most part, I love this story. The Octopus makes his grand appearance, and man, Silk Satin is just BAD ASSED. The only thing that bothers me in this story is her sudden change of heart. She spends the first half of the comic bickering with Spirit, but then when she thinks he's dead...she makes out with him? What the hell?
Aside from that, it's a great story. Which is good because we're coming up on the two weakest stories in the book.
5. Media Man
Dolan and The Spirit are once again at a crime scene, this time for traditional mobsters. Once again it sounds like Mortez is up to no good...
...But F**K THAT SH**, CAUSE THERE'S AN ANIME SPIRIT BILLBOARD ACROSS THE BUILDING FROM THEM!
...Yes. This is our set up.
Back in The Spirit's lair, he and Ebony are watching an anime commercial, in which The Spirit is fending off evil with...Spirit Brand Pork Beans.
It turns out the entire thing is a plan cooked up by another old school villain, Mr. Carrion, who has a pet vulture named Julia that he is WAY...WAY...too attached to. Spirit goes to deal with this guy and demand he stop using his name and image...but this guy hasn't done anything wrong so The Spirit leaves in a huff.
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...This is the evil plan? To get kids fat and use The Spirit to do it? What the fu-...?
Oh, wait, another old school villain,a Russian named Cossack, shows up, apparently learning about the operation from one of Carrion's lackeys. Seems Cossak wants to lace the beans with an unidentified narcotic and get the kids addicted and make loads of cash.
Carrion suddenly develops a conscious and refuses, prompting the muscular bear wrestler to beat the crap out of him. Julia escapes and finds The Spirit and Ebony, pulling a Lassie and prompting them to follow her back and save Carrion. The two show up and start kicking ass, taking down Cossack (with a little help from Carrion himself).
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Of course, Carrion escapes, And the comic ends with Ebony and Spirit dragging out Cossack and his gang from the building, engulfed in flames, watching as it burns away the abomination that is Spirit Brand Pork Beans.
I give this comic credit, it's concept is kind of amusing. But it's a really weak story. It's schizophrenic for one, with a plot that jumps back and forth in its focus and primary villain, and there's really no development, and while it is amusing, it's a pretty weak idea, and towards the end feels off coming like an after school special
6. Almost Blue
...Except Almost Blue actually pretty much IS an after school special
Our story begins with Spirit and a bald blue lady showing up and emerging through a cloud of smoke. Spirit asks what happened and we get a recap of our story's main antagonist...I think...August “Almost” Blue. The blue lady quickly recaps August's childhood, pointing out that he was a musical genius and prodigy, but was pushed by his mother to the point where he snaps and claims he'll never play again. His mother dies and he decides to leave his past behind, deciding he wants to become an emo punk musician.
...Oh, this is looking good.
Blue enters Central City and is witness to a huge blue meteor. He thinks little of it at the time, but finds a band of lovely young women struggling to make an impact on the music community. Blue joins their group and they instantly become sensations, attracting the attention of Rico, their soon to be manager.
In spite of being successful and winning the heart of the pretty blonde in the group, Blue still wants to be an emo and goes for a brooding walk one day...as I guess emos do...and discovers the strange blue meteor he saw a few days back. His angst causes it to rain, which forces him to use the meteor for cover. The running water soaks up the minerals and it begins to drip down on him, causing some sort of stimulated reaction.
We finally cut back to Spirit, hanging out with Ellen, as the two talk about how he feels like he's hit a dead end on Alvarro Mortez's case, but Ellen points Spirit to the fact that Rico, Blue's band's current manager, is actually Mortez's brother. Ah ha! The plot thickens.
We cut back to Blue, who is high as a kite and sporting blue skin and meets up with his worried band mates. When they ask him where he's been, he takes them back to the meteor, where the three of them are also transformed into smurfs. Or na'vi. Or whatever.
The band comes back, but now Blue decides he wants to play, and sing. His angelic abilities catching the crowd off guard. Seems things are looking up, as Spirit investigates Rico and discovers its a dead end. But although Rico hasn't been in contact with his brother, he's still a dick. He swipes the meteor from the park and uses its addictive properties to get control of the group, specifically Blue.
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Yadda yadda yadda angst ensues and Blue seperates from the cute blonde, who I guess commits suicide. Rico kills one the band members (who he was dating), causing him to get back Spirit back on his case. Spirit shows up in time to break up a fight between Rico and Blue, but Blue sicks the crowd on him, claiming he's being repressed.
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Spirit promptly beats the crap outta the punks, but Blue gets away with Rico, pointing a gun at his head. Rico takes Blue to the meteor, which apparently is...combustible? Blue spouts his regrets about being an emo dick, especially to his girl, then shoots the meteor or something and it blows up, killing them both, just in time for Spirit and the remaining blue girl to arrive, taking us back to the beginning.
Honestly, this story sucks. It's a weak premise with uninteresting characters. I don't really care about any of them. On top of that, the whole thing is again not sure what it wants to be. Is it a story about drug abuse? Is it a story about art? Is it both? Why even try to connect it with the Alvarro Mortez story point? The whole thing is just bogus.
Fortunately, the next story is much better.
7. Batman/The Spirit.
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This Eisener award winning story is a quick, fun little one shot in which everyone's favorite caped crusader meets up with The Spirit. It opens with Spirit bursting in on a criminal operation, making a run for it from a rain of gunfire. Sadly, aside from causing collateral damage, his plans don't amount to much as a limo with Cossack, Carrion and the Octopus drives away. Meanwhile, in Gotham, Batman and Robin are chasing after the Joker and Harley, who have stolen a plane and are making a quick getaway. Batman clings on to the plane and tries to stop them, but Harley hits him with a blast from her gun and he's launched back into the Batmobile. The plane, carrying pretty much the entire Batman rogues gallery, has escaped.
Seemingly unrelated, Commissioner Gordon introduces a not yet crippled Barbra to his new love interest...P'gell? Damn Gordon, you the man. He informs Barbara that he and P'gell are going to a police convention in Hawaii, which, coincidentally enough, so is Commissioner Dolan. In the airport, Dolan runs into Poison Ivy, who flirts and hypnotizes the man into her new travel companion. Batman and Spirit do some research and it turns out that all their criminal friends are off to Hawaii as well.
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Uh oh. This can't be good.
Our heroes make a break for it, and try to warn their friends while they attend a costume ball, but Batman is interrupted by P'gell, and The Spirit is sidetracked by Catwoman. They both tell the costumed heroes they're actually with the FBI. Batman doesn't seem to buy it, but plays along. Meanwhile, The Spirit seems to buy Catwoman's lie...because he loves himself some good tail...and he agrees to meet up with her. Meanwhile, Octopus organizes the villains for their devious plans, including putting an end to The Spirit.
Spirit arrives at the meeting place, but before he can get jumped by the assembled bad guys, Batman pulls him into the shadows to try and warn him. Sad to say, Spirit doesn't take this well, and he begins to scuffle with the dark knight. In the commotion, Spirit flicks on a light to see what he's doing, which rouses the bad guy's attention. Scar Face and a gang of thugs open fire, forcing the heroes to flee, but they walk right into an explosion.
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Scar Face riddles the downed bodies with bullets to make sure they're dead. The villains cheer, and Scar Face tells the others he'll watch the bodies while Cossack and Killer Croc grab some body bags. But in reality it turns out Scar Face is the boy wonder, who helped stage their deaths!
The plan is blown however when Cossack and Croc come back and see their friends are still alive. Fortunately, they're easily dealt with thanks to Spirit and Batman's combined forces. The use a little interrogation techniques to find out just what is going on. Later that night, we see most of the villains climbing onto a boat, ready to watch the show from a far. It turns out Commissioner Dolan is being honored, and Commissioner Gordon is giving the speech. Sadly, the place is rigged to blow, and Dolan is under the control of Ivy, who's told him to put a bullet in Gordon's head. But as Dolan squeezes the trigger, a “Pow” flag shoots out. Gordon isn't sure what's going on, and neither do the villains watching from afar, but Gordon offers to press a remote Dolan is holding, which it turns out is the remote trigger for the bombs wired to the hotel. Gordon presses the bomb, and everyone is engulfed in a flash of light...
...and confetti.
Yes folks, it turns out Commissioner Gordon was actually the Joker in disguise, who, being the Joker, said “F**K YOU OCTOPUS!” and decided to just do things his way. Harley rolls out a cart which has a bagged and tied up Robin and Octopus, which the Joker plans to riddle with bullet holes. Of course, they're also sitting atop a pile of explosives, just to make sure they die. Harley cracks a joke and...strangely enough...Batman starts laughing.
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The tables have turned! It turns out Spirit is dressed up as Batman, and Batman is dressed up as Spirit! SNAP! Joker and Harley are thrown off guard, giving our heroes an opportunity to deal with the confused villains. The villains on the boat are less then pleased, but before they can shoot off and make a getaway, it turns out Superman has showed up to haul the boat off to jail to help out Batman.
Batman and Spirit untie Robin and The Octopus, who it turns out is just Commissioner Gordon. Sadly, the Octopus has escaped, but everyone else is safe and the other bad guys are being taken into custody. Our heroes say their parting words and leap off into the night, ready to go kick some more ass.
This story is a bit goofy, with way too many “OH BUT I'M ACTUALLY...WHAT A TWIST!” used in the story. But in spite of that, it's goofy in a fun way. It's nice seeing this tip of the hat to old school comics and the two heroes actually work pretty well with each other, Batman being dark and serious and Spirit being charming and wise cracking. The idea was actually really neat, and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more stories like this.
The art is still by Cooke, but for some reason it seems a bit more retro. This is not bad by any means, and its very enjoyable, but I had become accustomed to the art of the last few stories, so it's just a bit of a change, and I definitely liked his art better when it was more developed.
This collection of Will Eisner's The Spirit is a charming, enjoyable and a nice honor to the comics of old, while keeping things updated for a modern audience. There's a few bumps in the road, as a few of the stories lack the pacing or impact story wise. Additionally, some of the new characters made up for this new collection are a little on the forgettable side, the notable exception being Hussein Hussein. But the comic's wit, humor, action, intriguing stories and lovely ladies generally make up for the few fumbles that the comic wanders into. Clearly, Cooke knows how to manage that old school feel but keep everything nice for the new people. He truly succeeds at making an honorable rendition of Will Eisner's work.
And Cooke succeeds in the art department as well, as his style is just fun, using a variety of different techniques and ideas (especially for the opening spreads), but also trying to keep an old school feel and reflect the same laid back style the comic was clearly going for.
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Not quite pulp, not quite old school, not quite action, and not quite a comedy comic, this modern rendition of Will Eisner's classic mixes in a lot of ideas and for the most part succeeds with great gusto. If you haven't been scarred by The Spirit movie and are looking for something new to read...give this collection a try. Truthfully some of you probably won't jive with everything the comic does (like the tongue in cheek names) but it's worth a look and if you enjoy any of the genres listed above, chances are you're going to love it.
+ Charming and witty throwback to yester-years and Will Eisner
+ Wonderful art style that feels retro
+ Some intriguing plots with some intertwined points
+ Pretty good amount of cute girls
+ 7 stories in one package.
- Some of the stories are pretty pointless and fumble in delivery
- A few of the newly made up characters are sort of forgettable or uninteresting
- It's retro style and humor won't appeal to everyone
Grand_OoF! Awards Will Eisner's The Spirit a B-
Special Award: The Cheesecake Award
Goodness gracious, do we got some strawberry topping around here? Cause there sure are a lot of lovely ladies in this thing. I mean...DAMN.
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Just...DAMN.
NEXT TIME...:
Comic Extravaganza keeps on ticking, and next time we let things get a little DARK with Marvel...old school style.
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Comic Extravaganza rolls on, and as promised, this time we're going to take a look at The Spirit!
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"I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead. Also, my city won't stop screaming."
WAIT! WAIT NO!
Okay...seems I need to be more specific.
A Grand_OoF! Review:
Will Eisner's The Spirit
http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp332/NintendoFB19/100_0704.jpg
BOO! I'ma ghost!
Stats:
System: DC Comics
Genre: Pulp Adventure, Comedy
Players: 1 reader
Rating: Recommended for teenage audiences and older due to violence and mild language.
So first off, most of you probably only know The Spirit based on the movie. Which I admit I liked (mostly because I went in with exceedingly low expectations), but in subsequent viewings, I'd also be the first to admit that it really is a bad movie.
And that's because it's Frank Miller's The Spirit. It is not Will Eisner's The Spirit.
I could literally do a whole article on how big a schlock Frank Miller is and how he gets a free pass by many comic fans because of his earlier works. But I'll save that for another time. Additionally, I'd rather talk about a man you should know if you consider yourself any sort of self respecting comic fan, and that's Will Eisner.
Will Eisner was one of the men who really helped revolutionize the craft. He helped make comics be taken seriously, expanding beyond the expectations that the industry had on them at the time. He also helped introduce the concept of graphic novels. Oh, and his name has been given to the prestigious Eisner Award, which is awarded to comics that take great creative strides in the field.
Eisner is most known for The Spirit, which he originally created back in the 30s or so. And although The Spirit movie was a sexist, sloppy Sin City rip-off, the actual comic was anything but. It gave women roles of power, and The Spirit's black side kick was a smart, street wise, hard working and loyal assistant. That's pretty damn progressive for the 1930s, in spite of his name and the original design. Also, The Spirit wasn't really super powered. All he was was a sharp dresser and a big ass kicker.
So as you can imagine, Frank Miller dropped the bomb on doing a proper modern update. Fortunately, DC Comics did a much, much better job, putting Darwyn Cooke on the job (Cooke was responsible for the awesome, critically acclaimed DC: The New Frontier).
This book actually contains seven stories, so I'm going to keep this review a tad more brief. All the specifics are going to be under the spoiler tab, for reasons of length and...well...spoilers...for those who are interested.
Also, every story is broken up for convenience.
1. Ice Ginger Coffee
The first story is pretty simple and a quick one shot. Basically, the lovely reporter Ginger Coffee is kidnapped by a local thug called “The Pill”, who apparently can melt people with his bare hands. Ginger was on her way to breaking open a story on a crime cartel, when she was sold out by her own secret witness and was kidnapped.
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The Spirit, being the awesome ass kicker he is, is on the case. The majority of the comic serves as a chase scene, as Spirit tracks down Ginger and helps make their escape. There's some nice pacing and action, along with some great dialogue between Ginger and The Spirit. Sad to say, Spirit gets no nookie this time, but truthfully it's probably better he's not the ladies man he was in the movie. I also appreciate that they brought back Ebony, and even poked fun at his name.
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Overall, this was just a fun, action packed, brief story that really sets the tone for the series. And it's fantastic for doing so. The idea of a whole comic being a chase sequence is fairly unique, and it allows for some good pacing and action.
One thing I want to make a shout out to real quick is the art. I just love it. It feels sort of old school but for some reason also reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoon. Additionally, I want to point out that like a cartoon, each separate story also has these stunning opening spreads. Here's the one for Ice Ginger Coffee, as well as a few others.
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Aren't those just stunning? They really manage to capture the mood of each story. The first one feels so frantic and fast paced, as we see a silhouette of The Spirit brushing past a series of flashing lights. Meanwhile, the second just has this excellent play with shadows, and helps capture the isolation that is hinted at throughout parts of that story, as Silk Satin and Spirit wander around in a desert.
2. The Man Eater
This story continues with the more light hearted, action feel of the first comic, and actually focuses on an old school villian, the beautiful but dangerous P'gell. It starts out somewhat innocently enough, when an over the top middle eastern fella named Hussein Hussein (yes, seriously). It turns out he's the envoy of Prince Farouk, Prince of some made up middle eastern country, and he's trying to get the Prince a date. P'gell agrees, while The Spirit watches. After a cute scene with Ellen Dolan (who was the nurse in the movie, if you saw it) The Spirit tries to keep an eye out on the Prince, thinking that P'gell perhaps might be in danger since the Prince has a nasty record of human rights violations.
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But P'gell brushes The Spirit's warnings aside, marries the prince (hey we only have a couple pages here) and rushes off to live happily ever after.
...Except it turns out that one of the thousands of people the prince put to death was P'gell's former lover, one doctor James Moussad, who had tried to help fight against a staged epic cleansing. P'gell had staged the whole relationship with the explicit intent of getting close to him and killing the bastard. The Spirit breaks into their hotel room, fighting past guards to try to save the Prince. But P'gell succeeds, as The Spirit catches up with her far too late. Tearfully, P'gell recounts the whole story before she knocks The Spirit unconcious when he tries to arrest her.
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And so the story ends with Hussein Hussein and The Spirit, off to go grab a drink.
The things in this story that I particularly like is that it does have a rather good twist, all things considering (albeit perhaps a predictable one). Hussein Hussein is sort of a low point, since he's kind of a lazy character idea and clearly stereo typical. On the other hand, he's also pretty amusing and charming, and outwits The Spirit on more then one occasion in the story. The thing I like the most though is that Ellen Dolan (who was reduced to essentially a bit role in the movie) is given her full role as The Spirit's one true girlfriend, as the pair try to enjoy a night in together. But I also like that she's fully aware of Denny's costumed double life and even tries to help him out, doing research for him and helping out in little ways where she can. Considering how much emphasis was wrongfully put on Sans Serrif in the movie, it's nice to see Ellen back in the spot light.
Though it's no surprise that happened, since Frank Miller apparently hates the nice girls.
3. Resurrection
This comic takes a noticeably darker turn right from the start, where we open to see Spirit and his buddy Commissioner Dolan (who's Ellen's dad, btw) coming in on a massacre of some Central City triads. One single survivor wearily explains that the killer was a man by the name of Alvarro Mortez. Sprit, left speechless, flees the scene and heads to the cemetery, where we get an excellent spread of him digging up a grave. It seems Mortez is someone associated with Denny's past...before he died.
The rest of the comic serves as a flash back, showing a time when Denny was working as a cop for the Central City police force, friends with Commissioner Dolan and still dating Ellen. The three are about to sit down for a lovely dinner when Denny gets a call. It turns out Denny's hot on the case of some terrorists who are going to pump chemicals into the water.
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Denny gets up in a hurry and rushes out the door, where he meets Ebony for the first time. He rushes to the scene and confirms his findings and calls Dolan for back up. Unfortunately, Ellen, worried sick, calls Denny which reveals his location to the gang, and all hell breaks lose. Denny breaks his way in, fighting off a thug who is apparently Alvarro. The insuing battle results in the destruction of the chemical plant, causing the gang's leader to shoot Alvarro and Denny. Denny falls into a puddle of the leaking chemicals, but before the gang leader can finish him off, Alvarro shoots him in the back for trying to kill his own ally.
The thug then turns his attention to the dying officer, ready to finish him off too, but then death clutches him, and he and Denny lay in a puddle of the mysterious substance. Denny quickly follows suit, and the two lay sprawled out on the floor, lifeless and empty.
Denny is placed in his family crypt, but suddenly emerges back to life, reborn. He meets up with Dolan and explains that he wants to continue to fight crime, now as the vigilante who can do what the police can't. He also meets back up with Ebony, who had fled the scene, and the two strike up their now famous friendship.
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As the comic draws to a close, we come back to the present where The Spirit has finally reached a coffin. He flings it open to reveal it is empty, and the name on the tombstone is Alvarro Mortez, confirming his worst fears.
This story isn't one of my favorites, but it does a lot of things well. While it is different from the original origins (and is closer to the movie in that regard), it is pretty interesting, and does at the very least flesh out Denny's relationships more. There are two particularly cool things I like about this story. The first of which is that all the art during the flash back sequence is washed out and has a strange colored look to it. It helps make it feel like the comic is in a haze, like a long forgotten memory that we're struggling to pull back to the front of our minds. The other thing I really like is this story sets up what I believe to be The Octopus, The Spirit's arch nemesis. Of course, we never actually see The Octopus (just like in the original stories), so there's currently no way to be certain, but that's my theory.
SPEAKING OF THE OCTOPUS...
4. Hard Like Satin
Our comic opens with Silk Satin (another returning old face) escorting a dreary Spirit through the desert along the Mexican/Texas border, bickering back and forth, when suddenly they fall through the ground and into a tunnel, where they both pass out.
Where we then flash back to a few days earlier, where Spirit and Ebony are hot on the tail of a speeding car, which turns out to be driven by...
HEY! Hussein Hussein! Welcome back!
So yeah, he's back, and it turns out he's running guns and money. This is bad enough, but they also found the calling card of an organization called The Octagon, a terrorist organization. Hussein denies involvement, but it doesn't matter because lovely Ms. Satin of the CIA shows up to take our boy in. Too bad in the ensuing argument between her, Commissioner Dolan and Spirit, he slips away and escapes while he's being escorted by CIA operatives. Probably should have made sure he was cuffed.
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Spirit tracks him down to a strip club, but before he can get any answers, the two are ambushed and Hussein is spirited away. In the next scene, we see him being beaten by an unseen assailant, none other then The Octopus, who informs Hussein he's going to trap Satin for him, after he beats him a little more.
A few days later, it turns out Hussein has fled to Texas. Satin is following hot in pursuit, lead to believe by a message that Hussein will surrender if she comes to his rescue, as he fears for his life. But much to her chagrin, Spirit's there too. The two agree to live and let live, as they meet Hussein who drives them out to a desert on the Mexican side of the border. It seems Hussein has tricked them again, and The Octopus is waiting for them, with plans to kill all three of them. But Hussein rigs the car to explode, allowing them all to escape...
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Which is when we come back to Silk and Spirit, lying in the hole. She smacks Spirit around a bit to wake him up, but when he doesn't come to she starts to panic and...becomes strangely sentimental. She leans in and gives him a full on face suck, which even SHE is confused by.
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This wakes The Spirit up, and Hussein emerges from the shadows (...perv...) where he provides them a key for their cuffs. But The Octopus has also caught up with them and starts opening fire.
Silk mans up and starts carrying the injured Spirit out as the three try to flee, but Octopus isn't giving up. So she leaves Denny to Hussein's care and creates a cave in, crashing down on her and Octopus. Spirit and Hussein manage to get away, but they're both afraid their friend didn't make it.
But as the comic closes, we discover that The Octopus lives, emerging from the ground and plodding off, ready to plot his next scheme. Shortly after, Silk emerges as well, a confident grin on her face.
For the most part, I love this story. The Octopus makes his grand appearance, and man, Silk Satin is just BAD ASSED. The only thing that bothers me in this story is her sudden change of heart. She spends the first half of the comic bickering with Spirit, but then when she thinks he's dead...she makes out with him? What the hell?
Aside from that, it's a great story. Which is good because we're coming up on the two weakest stories in the book.
5. Media Man
Dolan and The Spirit are once again at a crime scene, this time for traditional mobsters. Once again it sounds like Mortez is up to no good...
...But F**K THAT SH**, CAUSE THERE'S AN ANIME SPIRIT BILLBOARD ACROSS THE BUILDING FROM THEM!
...Yes. This is our set up.
Back in The Spirit's lair, he and Ebony are watching an anime commercial, in which The Spirit is fending off evil with...Spirit Brand Pork Beans.
It turns out the entire thing is a plan cooked up by another old school villain, Mr. Carrion, who has a pet vulture named Julia that he is WAY...WAY...too attached to. Spirit goes to deal with this guy and demand he stop using his name and image...but this guy hasn't done anything wrong so The Spirit leaves in a huff.
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...This is the evil plan? To get kids fat and use The Spirit to do it? What the fu-...?
Oh, wait, another old school villain,a Russian named Cossack, shows up, apparently learning about the operation from one of Carrion's lackeys. Seems Cossak wants to lace the beans with an unidentified narcotic and get the kids addicted and make loads of cash.
Carrion suddenly develops a conscious and refuses, prompting the muscular bear wrestler to beat the crap out of him. Julia escapes and finds The Spirit and Ebony, pulling a Lassie and prompting them to follow her back and save Carrion. The two show up and start kicking ass, taking down Cossack (with a little help from Carrion himself).
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Of course, Carrion escapes, And the comic ends with Ebony and Spirit dragging out Cossack and his gang from the building, engulfed in flames, watching as it burns away the abomination that is Spirit Brand Pork Beans.
I give this comic credit, it's concept is kind of amusing. But it's a really weak story. It's schizophrenic for one, with a plot that jumps back and forth in its focus and primary villain, and there's really no development, and while it is amusing, it's a pretty weak idea, and towards the end feels off coming like an after school special
6. Almost Blue
...Except Almost Blue actually pretty much IS an after school special
Our story begins with Spirit and a bald blue lady showing up and emerging through a cloud of smoke. Spirit asks what happened and we get a recap of our story's main antagonist...I think...August “Almost” Blue. The blue lady quickly recaps August's childhood, pointing out that he was a musical genius and prodigy, but was pushed by his mother to the point where he snaps and claims he'll never play again. His mother dies and he decides to leave his past behind, deciding he wants to become an emo punk musician.
...Oh, this is looking good.
Blue enters Central City and is witness to a huge blue meteor. He thinks little of it at the time, but finds a band of lovely young women struggling to make an impact on the music community. Blue joins their group and they instantly become sensations, attracting the attention of Rico, their soon to be manager.
In spite of being successful and winning the heart of the pretty blonde in the group, Blue still wants to be an emo and goes for a brooding walk one day...as I guess emos do...and discovers the strange blue meteor he saw a few days back. His angst causes it to rain, which forces him to use the meteor for cover. The running water soaks up the minerals and it begins to drip down on him, causing some sort of stimulated reaction.
We finally cut back to Spirit, hanging out with Ellen, as the two talk about how he feels like he's hit a dead end on Alvarro Mortez's case, but Ellen points Spirit to the fact that Rico, Blue's band's current manager, is actually Mortez's brother. Ah ha! The plot thickens.
We cut back to Blue, who is high as a kite and sporting blue skin and meets up with his worried band mates. When they ask him where he's been, he takes them back to the meteor, where the three of them are also transformed into smurfs. Or na'vi. Or whatever.
The band comes back, but now Blue decides he wants to play, and sing. His angelic abilities catching the crowd off guard. Seems things are looking up, as Spirit investigates Rico and discovers its a dead end. But although Rico hasn't been in contact with his brother, he's still a dick. He swipes the meteor from the park and uses its addictive properties to get control of the group, specifically Blue.
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Yadda yadda yadda angst ensues and Blue seperates from the cute blonde, who I guess commits suicide. Rico kills one the band members (who he was dating), causing him to get back Spirit back on his case. Spirit shows up in time to break up a fight between Rico and Blue, but Blue sicks the crowd on him, claiming he's being repressed.
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Spirit promptly beats the crap outta the punks, but Blue gets away with Rico, pointing a gun at his head. Rico takes Blue to the meteor, which apparently is...combustible? Blue spouts his regrets about being an emo dick, especially to his girl, then shoots the meteor or something and it blows up, killing them both, just in time for Spirit and the remaining blue girl to arrive, taking us back to the beginning.
Honestly, this story sucks. It's a weak premise with uninteresting characters. I don't really care about any of them. On top of that, the whole thing is again not sure what it wants to be. Is it a story about drug abuse? Is it a story about art? Is it both? Why even try to connect it with the Alvarro Mortez story point? The whole thing is just bogus.
Fortunately, the next story is much better.
7. Batman/The Spirit.
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This Eisener award winning story is a quick, fun little one shot in which everyone's favorite caped crusader meets up with The Spirit. It opens with Spirit bursting in on a criminal operation, making a run for it from a rain of gunfire. Sadly, aside from causing collateral damage, his plans don't amount to much as a limo with Cossack, Carrion and the Octopus drives away. Meanwhile, in Gotham, Batman and Robin are chasing after the Joker and Harley, who have stolen a plane and are making a quick getaway. Batman clings on to the plane and tries to stop them, but Harley hits him with a blast from her gun and he's launched back into the Batmobile. The plane, carrying pretty much the entire Batman rogues gallery, has escaped.
Seemingly unrelated, Commissioner Gordon introduces a not yet crippled Barbra to his new love interest...P'gell? Damn Gordon, you the man. He informs Barbara that he and P'gell are going to a police convention in Hawaii, which, coincidentally enough, so is Commissioner Dolan. In the airport, Dolan runs into Poison Ivy, who flirts and hypnotizes the man into her new travel companion. Batman and Spirit do some research and it turns out that all their criminal friends are off to Hawaii as well.
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Uh oh. This can't be good.
Our heroes make a break for it, and try to warn their friends while they attend a costume ball, but Batman is interrupted by P'gell, and The Spirit is sidetracked by Catwoman. They both tell the costumed heroes they're actually with the FBI. Batman doesn't seem to buy it, but plays along. Meanwhile, The Spirit seems to buy Catwoman's lie...because he loves himself some good tail...and he agrees to meet up with her. Meanwhile, Octopus organizes the villains for their devious plans, including putting an end to The Spirit.
Spirit arrives at the meeting place, but before he can get jumped by the assembled bad guys, Batman pulls him into the shadows to try and warn him. Sad to say, Spirit doesn't take this well, and he begins to scuffle with the dark knight. In the commotion, Spirit flicks on a light to see what he's doing, which rouses the bad guy's attention. Scar Face and a gang of thugs open fire, forcing the heroes to flee, but they walk right into an explosion.
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Scar Face riddles the downed bodies with bullets to make sure they're dead. The villains cheer, and Scar Face tells the others he'll watch the bodies while Cossack and Killer Croc grab some body bags. But in reality it turns out Scar Face is the boy wonder, who helped stage their deaths!
The plan is blown however when Cossack and Croc come back and see their friends are still alive. Fortunately, they're easily dealt with thanks to Spirit and Batman's combined forces. The use a little interrogation techniques to find out just what is going on. Later that night, we see most of the villains climbing onto a boat, ready to watch the show from a far. It turns out Commissioner Dolan is being honored, and Commissioner Gordon is giving the speech. Sadly, the place is rigged to blow, and Dolan is under the control of Ivy, who's told him to put a bullet in Gordon's head. But as Dolan squeezes the trigger, a “Pow” flag shoots out. Gordon isn't sure what's going on, and neither do the villains watching from afar, but Gordon offers to press a remote Dolan is holding, which it turns out is the remote trigger for the bombs wired to the hotel. Gordon presses the bomb, and everyone is engulfed in a flash of light...
...and confetti.
Yes folks, it turns out Commissioner Gordon was actually the Joker in disguise, who, being the Joker, said “F**K YOU OCTOPUS!” and decided to just do things his way. Harley rolls out a cart which has a bagged and tied up Robin and Octopus, which the Joker plans to riddle with bullet holes. Of course, they're also sitting atop a pile of explosives, just to make sure they die. Harley cracks a joke and...strangely enough...Batman starts laughing.
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The tables have turned! It turns out Spirit is dressed up as Batman, and Batman is dressed up as Spirit! SNAP! Joker and Harley are thrown off guard, giving our heroes an opportunity to deal with the confused villains. The villains on the boat are less then pleased, but before they can shoot off and make a getaway, it turns out Superman has showed up to haul the boat off to jail to help out Batman.
Batman and Spirit untie Robin and The Octopus, who it turns out is just Commissioner Gordon. Sadly, the Octopus has escaped, but everyone else is safe and the other bad guys are being taken into custody. Our heroes say their parting words and leap off into the night, ready to go kick some more ass.
This story is a bit goofy, with way too many “OH BUT I'M ACTUALLY...WHAT A TWIST!” used in the story. But in spite of that, it's goofy in a fun way. It's nice seeing this tip of the hat to old school comics and the two heroes actually work pretty well with each other, Batman being dark and serious and Spirit being charming and wise cracking. The idea was actually really neat, and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more stories like this.
The art is still by Cooke, but for some reason it seems a bit more retro. This is not bad by any means, and its very enjoyable, but I had become accustomed to the art of the last few stories, so it's just a bit of a change, and I definitely liked his art better when it was more developed.
This collection of Will Eisner's The Spirit is a charming, enjoyable and a nice honor to the comics of old, while keeping things updated for a modern audience. There's a few bumps in the road, as a few of the stories lack the pacing or impact story wise. Additionally, some of the new characters made up for this new collection are a little on the forgettable side, the notable exception being Hussein Hussein. But the comic's wit, humor, action, intriguing stories and lovely ladies generally make up for the few fumbles that the comic wanders into. Clearly, Cooke knows how to manage that old school feel but keep everything nice for the new people. He truly succeeds at making an honorable rendition of Will Eisner's work.
And Cooke succeeds in the art department as well, as his style is just fun, using a variety of different techniques and ideas (especially for the opening spreads), but also trying to keep an old school feel and reflect the same laid back style the comic was clearly going for.
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Not quite pulp, not quite old school, not quite action, and not quite a comedy comic, this modern rendition of Will Eisner's classic mixes in a lot of ideas and for the most part succeeds with great gusto. If you haven't been scarred by The Spirit movie and are looking for something new to read...give this collection a try. Truthfully some of you probably won't jive with everything the comic does (like the tongue in cheek names) but it's worth a look and if you enjoy any of the genres listed above, chances are you're going to love it.
+ Charming and witty throwback to yester-years and Will Eisner
+ Wonderful art style that feels retro
+ Some intriguing plots with some intertwined points
+ Pretty good amount of cute girls
+ 7 stories in one package.
- Some of the stories are pretty pointless and fumble in delivery
- A few of the newly made up characters are sort of forgettable or uninteresting
- It's retro style and humor won't appeal to everyone
Grand_OoF! Awards Will Eisner's The Spirit a B-
Special Award: The Cheesecake Award
Goodness gracious, do we got some strawberry topping around here? Cause there sure are a lot of lovely ladies in this thing. I mean...DAMN.
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Just...DAMN.
NEXT TIME...:
Comic Extravaganza keeps on ticking, and next time we let things get a little DARK with Marvel...old school style.
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