Will Eisner’s The Spirit #1
Writer: Darwyn Cooke
Artist: Darwyn Cooke, assists by J-Bone & Dave Stewart
Publisher: DC comics
Price: $2.99
Will Eisner’s The Spirit is being created by Darwyn Cooke for DC comics. What Cooke and his collaborators, J-Bone and Dave Stewart, do here is nothing short of meeting a very high standard on possibly the most anticipated and critically analysed job any creator could ever have. Cooke and Co. both excel at not mimicking the source material, but using the characters and style to tell tales as if The Spirit was a new character and this shift to the creator’s strength and modern audience’s lack of history, while not sacrificing the style and craft of Eisner’s tales, works perfectly.
No one has taken out The Spirit out for use in a story for any long duration since Eisner finished the series in the early 1950’s. Darwyn Cooke is a brave man who has the talent, skill and sense of wonder to make The Spirit work. The series opens up with a news brief about a missing TV reporter. After the info of the case is given to the reader, then the title page shows up. Cooke displays his artistic sense in a very different title display than what Eisner would do, but it hits like a Spirit title page should; fade into the background, yet stand out distinctly. The story then cuts to the police brass being sore about the masked hero - The Spirit - searching for the reporter. Then we cut to the action of the mob man who was being investigated by the reporter revealing the kidnapping plot and the rescue and confusion of said reporter by the Spirit. The story concludes with a happy ending that feels genuine, yet there is enough mystery so that new readers are compelled to read more.
The plot for the first issue establishes the mood of the book. Cooke establishes a storytelling approach that takes modern concepts and characters that shouldn’t work today and makes them plausible using storytelling devices to build up the drama and escalate the workingman charm of The Spirit. The updating of classic supporting character Ebony in particular not only updates the appearance but the status of character; from not only being sidekick, but partner in full standing to the lead. In the modernizing of Eisner’s characters Cooke has kept the heart and soul intact yet brought his sense of whimsy to work.
The art is signature Darwyn Cooke. The men look dashing, the women look cute, the villain looks strange, and the design work is near perfect. For the record for as long as The Spirit by Darwyn Cooke comes out every other comic will look lacking in its vicinity. The fun and surprise comes from Cooke’s use of the signature credit page intro. That was going to be the sign if Cooke was able to keep up and be a successor worthy of The Spirit and Cooke measures up.
The Spirit for a long time was the defining work of comic book legend Will Eisner. In the classic 8 page tales, Eisner defined and built upon the language of comics that make them as they are today. Over the past 25 years various creators have drawn and written homage to the classic Spirit. What Darwyn Cooke brings across with Will Eisner’s The Spirit is that he knows that he cannot be Will Eisner, but the spirit of intent matters more than mere aping of style. Everyone should give this book a chance and be amazed of the simplicity, skill and heartfelt adoration for quality that Will Eisner’s Spirit gives.
Alasdair started writing when he was nine, powered by a hefty diet of '80s cartoons, Doctor Who and Icepops. He's quite tired by this stage but has written a lot of things for a lot of people, including Fortean Times, Neo and Surreal.