The Best of the Spirit
Product Details
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up–This reproduction of a classic goes back to the heyday of comics, and it's full of complex characters, plot twists, and classic storytelling. While this comic never obtained the status of some of the publisher's series like Batman, it is no doubt excellent in every way and will keep the interest of any comic-book readers who give it a try. Typical of DC comics, the illustrations are dark and full of energy, perfectly complementing the text. Its only real drawback is that the art looks dated, which will turn off some readers who want a fresher look.–Scott La Counte, Anaheim Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Balk at acquiring DC's $50-per-tome series reprinting all of The Spirit because, well, you've just never read the strip? Then this paperback showcasing the strip's essence in 22 vintage stories is your book. The earliest 2, "The Origin of the Spirit" (1940) and "Silk Satin" (1941), respectively introducing the hero and a recurring character, aren't as visually adventurous as Eisner's work after his World War II hiatus from The Spirit. Still, they already demonstrate two of Eisner's strengths in the skewed perspective and the bold, anti-naturalistic color juxtapositions of virtually every panel. In the 20 postwar stories, playing with perspective is subordinated to point of view, and expressionistic lighting justifies the clashing hues. If the changes dissipate the low-rent-cubist elan of the early stories, Eisner compensates with special effects--panels in monochrome and dichrome, special styles of panel framing, visually bracketing one stream of action within another, photo backdrops--and seldom uses any one device throughout the story. Not as easy to see but no less virtuosic than the artwork is The Spirit's complex tone as a piece of pop art that indulges and satirizes the improbabilities of crime comics but doesn't countenance any carping about the heroic and social virtues its protagonist exemplifies. Maybe you do need that big, pricey series. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Customer Reviews
Great artwork, great storytelling, short stories... and an inexpensive sampler of a classic comic book!
I had never heard of THE SPIRIT until I saw a trailer for Frank Miller's film version. Curious, I went online to see what the book was all about. What I learned was that THE SPIRIT was a detective-type comic written in the 1940s. It was said that Will Eisner, the creator, had raised comics to an art form and that he was ahead of his time. I am inclined to agree.
I purchased this "Best Of..." collection to see for myself why THE SPIRIT was so celebrated. The book is great. Each story is a mere seven pages long, but each story is filled with mystery and suspense. The artwork is terrific. It has style! I love the cover artwork for each story. It incorporates the words "The Spirit" into an image that sets the tone for the pages ahead. Eisner uses the panels not only to advance the plot, but to create a mood. Many of the narratives have a sort of "Twilight Zone", Rod Serling feel.
The stories in this collection are thoroughly enjoyable, even after sixty years. The stories aren't too dark or mature-themed, but there are gunshots and fatalities. As I write this, Frank Miller's movie has not yet been released, so I cannot compare it with its source work. But where the film seems to have a colorless, Sin City-like quality, the comics are very colorful. There are dramatic shadows, yes, but it's not a black-and-white book.
I encourage any curious readers like myself to check out this inexpensive "Best Of..." and discover THE SPIRIT for themselves. This sampler left me wanting to read even more of the adventures of The Spirit!
Terrific!
I'm new to The Spirit but decided to read about it before I watch the movie. I wasn't really expecting anything because I've read some comics from the Silver Age and they were not too good. The writing was very dated and the stories very uninteresting. Much to my surprise, this was not the case with The Spirit. I can tell why they would call this the Citizen Kane of comics since, at the time, these stories must be quite revolutionary. Some of these stories are just as good if not better than the current or more recent comic book stories and the artwork is quite beautiful and would put to shame a lot of the more current renown artists. If you enjoy beautiful women in your comics, look no more. The women in these stories are very beautiful and would make Lois Lane, Mary Jane Watson, or Gwen Stacy look average in comparison. My favorite story which I found quite touching is the last story on the origin of Sand Serif who is possibly the most beautiful woman in all the Spirit stories. It's ashame a certain actress that looks nothing like her is going to play her in the movie. Given these stories are quite old, I'm am extremely impressed overall by the quality of writing and artwork. Highly recommended!
Four-color fisticuffs
I love Will Eisner's creation "The Spirit", but let's face it: when it comes down to buying all 26 volumes of the Archives at $50 a pop, I'm not THAT big of a fan. Luckily, I can purchase the affordable trade paperback THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT, containing 22 classic stories from 1940 - 1950 that I feel serve as an excellent overview of the series. Contents include:
"The Origin of the Spirit", in which criminologist Denny Colt becomes the titular masked hero. This is a fairly typical origin for a Golden Age character, though the storytelling is much more refined - and the art, cleaner - than what was usually seen during that period.
"Introducing Silk Satin", "Meet P'Gell", and "Death of Autumn Mews", which showcase Eisner's trademark bombshells.
"Life Below", "Two Lives", and "The Story of Gerhard Shnobble": tales of the city and how it affects its inhabitants, a theme which would be used to great effect in Eisner's groundbreaking graphic novels of the `70s.
"The Last Trolley", "Wild Rice", "The Last Hand", and "Sand Saref": hard-boiled crime.
And one of my favorite comic stories of all time: "The Killer", which shows a double homicide through the eyes - literally - of the guilty.
And of course, there's more! This collection shows that Eisner was a pioneer of the comic medium, and perhaps its earliest master. His experiments in narrative, layout, perspective, color, and photo-collage show that he was decades ahead of the game, influencing a number of Silver Age writers and artists who were considered "originals" in their own right... and short of Jack Kirby, NOBODY can draw a fight scene better than Eisner. As far as the reproduction goes, it's just fine for a $15 trade format, and I don't see any recoloring of the Spirit's sidekick Ebony, as mentioned in another review; however, the Spirit does have a blonde white kid named Sammy as another sidekick later on.
In closing, please note that the more recent movie tie-in trade collection, FEMMES FATALES, reprints quite a few stories contained in this volume. If you have THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT, there's really no need for the other book.
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