The Spirit Is Willing

On this day 70 years ago, a new super hero made his first appearance.

He had no powers, per se--couldn't "cloud men's minds" or "leap tall buildings in a single bound"--beyond the ability to throw a mean punch and to take one (or several) in kind. He wasn't a wealthy playboy with a tricked-out car and a huge cave full of gadgets. he wasn't even super-smart, though he was usually smarter than the crooks he was chasing. He was "just" a cop, presumed dead (hence his appropriate non de plume), who hid out in an abandoned crypt beneath Wildwood Cemetery (also appropriate).

His name, when he was "alive," was Denny Colt. Now? He was "The Spirit."

Will Eisner was 23 years old when he created The Spirit for a 16-page Sunday newspaper supplement (eight pages were devoted to The Spirit, the other eight to one or two other characters/stories)--something like a weekly comic book crossed with the Sunday funnies--but was already a veteran of the fledgling comics field. He started off writing and drawing the strip himself, but was drafted into the army after about a year and a half and had to hand those duties over to others while he served. (He still wrote and drew as much as he could, but his duties soon made such contributions impossible.)

When Eisner returned from the army in 1945, he resumed writing and pencilling duties, but with a completely different perspective and energy. His layouts were more experimental, his storytelling more mature and varied. Sometimes the stories were action-packed, sometimes more comical. Sometimes The Spirit was a supporting character in his own strip, with the lead given over to either the regular supporting cast or to one-time-only characters. Always, Eisner's pages looked and felt different--in hindsight, more advanced--than much of the work of his contemporaries.

The Spirit, as a character, was more tenacious than most most super heroes, and often took a beating in the service of justice. (Most men in masks didn't sport nearly as many bruises and abrasions as Denny Colt.) As a comic, The Spirit was more tenacious than most as well, hanging on until October 1952--or, two or three years after most super hero comics had either been cancelled or converted into horror comics (example: Captain America's Weird Tales, which didn't even include a Captain America story in its last issue).

Eisner went on to other pursuits, most significantly becoming a pioneer of the "graphic novel" format in the 1970s, with many stories based on Eisner's own life (his Jewish upbringing, life in the tenements of Brooklyn, his army experiences, etc.). However, The Spirit, true to his name, continued to haunt and fade in and out, popping up in short stories (by Eisner) in various publications, reprints of issues of the original run, and attempted revivals.

There were even a couple of movies based on Eisner's creation--a now-obscure made-for-TV effort starring Sam Jones (from the much-loved 1980 Flash Gordon remake) and a much-reviled big-screen attempt by (previously) much-respected comic-book writer/artist Frank Miller.

It's the comic-book version of The Spirit that still prevails, though, especially now that the complete original run of the comic (plus the short-lived daily Spirit comic strip and various latter-day stories) has been collected in hardcover by DC Comics (which also published a monthly Spirit comic). Eisner gave his blessing to this long-term project (in wound up as a mammoth 26-volume set) and continued to produce graphic novels until his death in January 2005 at the age of 87.