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279th out of 1,498 books
—
3,013 voters
The Best of the Spirit
by
Will Eisner,
Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author)
Universally celebrated as one of comics' most influential creators, Will Eisner broke new ground with nearly every project he undertook during his long and extraordinary career. But none was more ambitious, innovative or ahead of its time than the weekly serial he launched in 1940 - THE SPIRIT!
Over the twelve years of its initial publication, this legendary strip revolutio...more
Over the twelve years of its initial publication, this legendary strip revolutio...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
November 1st 2005
by DC Comics
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The best part of Will Eisner’s The Best of the Spirit, is, of course, Neil Gaiman’s introduction. It is as amazingly written as any of Neil Gaiman’s commentary and taught me about the history of comics and Eisner’s contribution. While Eisner is no Gaiman (who is?), the collection makes clear why he is long been considered a master and forefather of the medium.
Because Eisner began with the newspaper strip, the dimension he was restricted to forced him to get creative within the spatial boundarie...more
Because Eisner began with the newspaper strip, the dimension he was restricted to forced him to get creative within the spatial boundarie...more
Classic nostalgia read, good stuff. It's always fun to come back to Will Eisner's working/middle-class Batman character slugging his fedora'ed way through the economic doldrums and urban hellscapes of the late 1940s. There's this amazing, unique post-war feeling to all the comics after the first couple early ones. The stories and art are hard-bitten yet optimistic, bloody but not gory, grim but innocent. It makes you feel like a little boy being flattered into believing you're a tough he-man typ...more
I had read a story or two of the Spirit when I was younger, and I remember being underwhelmed by it at the time. After reading Eisner's Contract With God, however, I decided to give the Spirit another shot, and I'm glad that I did.
Eisner is a very visual storyteller, and he displays a mastery over the panel in his art. He quite liberally brings in elements from children's books, classic art, and other sources; he shows a total mastery over the texture of the drawings he's creating, and controls...more
Eisner is a very visual storyteller, and he displays a mastery over the panel in his art. He quite liberally brings in elements from children's books, classic art, and other sources; he shows a total mastery over the texture of the drawings he's creating, and controls...more
Hmmmm...rented this to get some perspective before film came out. I think I enjoyed this book mainly as a kind of history lesson about the development of the comic book/graphic novel medium. It's a collection of 7 page comics that, back in the '40s, were inserted into the Sunday paper.
It was interesting to see the stories told in such a quick order (not really much in the way of cliffhangers; each story was entirely self contained). Because the stories were so quick, though, for someone who has...more
It was interesting to see the stories told in such a quick order (not really much in the way of cliffhangers; each story was entirely self contained). Because the stories were so quick, though, for someone who has...more
Sep 30, 2011
Angel
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
comic book and graphic novel fans, readers who like well written short tales.
This was excellent. When folks say, "they don't make them like this anymore," they mean work like Eisner's. The man was way ahead of his time, and it is evident in this sampling of his series The Spirit. In brief, this is the story of a common man who becomes a crime fighter. He has no special superpowers or fancy tights. What he does have is integrity, tenacity, and good detective skills. Working with that, Eisner gives us a bit of everything. We get noir; we get detective and police stories; w...more
Nov 30, 2008
J.P.
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
film noir fans, mystery fans, comics geeks
Fantastic film noir-like storytelling, original characters (P'Gell, Commissioner Dolan, Rat-a-Tat) and equal parts action and humor converge to make the Spirit, to quote the jacket blurb, "the Citizen Kane of comics". This is NOT kiddie superhero stuff or a geeky fanboy graphic novel. Will Eisner, groundbreaking artist, was swinging for the fences here and most of the time, he hit them. The Spirit has the flavor and snap of the best 1940s/1950s mysteries.
Read this book before the film adaptation...more
Read this book before the film adaptation...more
Probably not for casual readers, but this is really interesting from a historical perspective. Eisner wrote The Spirit comics back in the 1940s, and it's clear that he revolutionized the medium. He's experimenting along the way, and this is a collection of his best efforts.
These noir crime stories are quick, 7-page episodes. It's a little jarring for the modern reader who's used to drawn-out plots, cliffhangers, and complex continuity. The characters are a little flat, but you could easily spin...more
These noir crime stories are quick, 7-page episodes. It's a little jarring for the modern reader who's used to drawn-out plots, cliffhangers, and complex continuity. The characters are a little flat, but you could easily spin...more
Will Eisner was an unquestionable innovator of the comic book form. He was one of the few, in the early days of modern comics, who wanted to say in the form and expand on it rather than use the work of comics as a way to get into a job considered more high brow or classy. His work is iconic. Every artist and writer today is still referencing his body of work and using it as a personal baseline.
There's a reason for this: 90% of The Spirit, as collected in this Best of, is timeless. There are good...more
There's a reason for this: 90% of The Spirit, as collected in this Best of, is timeless. There are good...more
The blurb on the front cover calls this "The Citizen Kane of comics." It's an accurate assessment in several ways. These stories were revolutionary when they were first published as newspaper inserts in the forties, but their gradual influence throughout comics makes them appear merely above-average to today's reader. They're best consumed in context. In an era with remarkably crude comics, these selections read extremely smoothly, the equal of comics created thirty or forty years later. In some...more
This was surprisingly good. It's my first reading of anything Spirit-related. I was expecting it to be more hype than substance, but wouldn't you know it, many of the stories are clever and all feel incredibly modern. After reading about the early days of comics (50s and earlier) I got the impression that it was mostly all trash, just thrown together for money. Granted, everyone usually throws The Spirit and Will Eisner in there as an exception to the rule, but, cynic that I am, I couldn't belie...more
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I can't believe how amazingly modern Will Eisner's illustrations look. That coupled with his eclectic storytelling make for a collection of highly entertaining comics. I think my favorite in the collection is Two Lives, which only shows the Spirit for a moment. Eisner's ability to make a comic that can incorporate so many different characters and still seem connected is another talent the man has. I haven't read a story he has done that I didn't find appealing.
Oct 05, 2008
Erik Erickson
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
graphic novel historians, anyone looking for visual inspiration
Great stuff from a master in the medium. Visually inventive and ahead of its time. I disagree with other reviewers comments it's completely misogynistic. The Spirit gets beat up a lot and several of the most clever and independent characters are women. One of the few 'negative lights' you see them portrayed in that most of them are "bad guys."
The stories are fun and the character's genesis is fairly unique, although I think I know where the name Cobra, for the evil forces from G.I. Joe, may hav...more
The stories are fun and the character's genesis is fairly unique, although I think I know where the name Cobra, for the evil forces from G.I. Joe, may hav...more
An amazing collection of some of the best of Will Eisner's The Spirit. The late Mr. Eisner had a talent for telling a story so concisely yet rich with detail and meaning. He was to comics what da Vinci was to art. Not just an artist or a story teller but also an architect and teacher in his medium. Maybe the praise may seem a bit grandiose but he is very important to the history of sequential art (a term he coined).
So I've read a few Eisner books, all post-Spirit tomes of witty but overwrought moral tales. Always appreciated why he was important but never loved him. But the Spirit, his less weighty work. Amazing!
It's just like with classic Hollywood, the "important" pictures about "big" issues are ponderous and thick while the dirty, cheap and fun pictures carry much more weight and meaning in their shadows and sideways glances at the truth.
Eisner's storytelling in the Spirit is incredible. There is no fat...more
It's just like with classic Hollywood, the "important" pictures about "big" issues are ponderous and thick while the dirty, cheap and fun pictures carry much more weight and meaning in their shadows and sideways glances at the truth.
Eisner's storytelling in the Spirit is incredible. There is no fat...more
This would rate 5 stars on storytelling and art. I liked it a lot less after seeing the only black character used as comic relief. Every other character was interesting, thoughtful, and dynamic, even the women, but Eisner departed from his obvious ability to understand human nature for a cheap laugh. It was unworthy of the writer and out of place in otherwise great graphic art.
a very interesting read. what Eisner did with The Spirit was groundbreaking. working class hero. focus on secondary characters. complex portraits of womyn (aka femme fatales). views of the underbelly of a city. The Spirit is not my favorite superhero ever. but i appreciate what Eisner was trying to do to craft a believable new kind of hero.
Klassikkoaukkojen kursimista. Ei kuitenkaan suuresti sytyttänyt. Onhan tämä taitavaa, näkemyksellistä ja nautittavan kokeellista työtä alusta loppuun ja vaikuttanut vahvasti sarjakuvataiteeseen. Dekkarisarjis vain ei ole minun juttuni. Eisnerin Talo Bronxissa sen sijaan on.
Tässä laitoksessa myös Neil Gaimanin mitäänsanomaton esipuhe.
Tässä laitoksessa myös Neil Gaimanin mitäänsanomaton esipuhe.
I've enjoyed and admired Eisner as a figure in comics for most of my life, and recently read his Contract With God trilogy and was amazed by it. But up until now, I'd only ever read one or two Spirit stories. I now know I need to read much, much more of The Spirit.
Eisner's Spirit is an outstanding comic, especially for its time, but it's also timeless in its brilliance. Eisner moves deftly between thrilling but routine adventure stories and incredible character studies. He experiments with narra...more
Eisner's Spirit is an outstanding comic, especially for its time, but it's also timeless in its brilliance. Eisner moves deftly between thrilling but routine adventure stories and incredible character studies. He experiments with narra...more
A fabulous collection of vintage Spirit tales from the 40s and 50's. Never read these before but thoroughly enjoyed them now. Eisner's influence on comic books is well recognized and the stories in this collection still seem fresh and reminded me of recent fare like Sin City.
The Spirit is a super-detective rather than a superhero. He seems omniscient, popping up suddenly to get the bad guys, while keeping the reader in the dark about the details. The stories in this book are really fun to read and I will definitely be revisiting them in the future.
Yes, this is classic. Yes, the art is magnificent. Yes, Eisner did ground breaking stuff with his career. Yes, this noir as hell and that is cool as hell.
But there is just too much text to today's standard. Makes things pretty heavy to read.
Timo
But there is just too much text to today's standard. Makes things pretty heavy to read.
Timo
Oct 16, 2009
Brenton Nichol
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
fantasy-and-adventure,
comics-graphic-novels
I wanted to read some Spirit strips since the film is looming nearer, and found this at work. Eisner's Spirit comics are fantastically noir, evoking a beautifully sprawled, decaying city, the likes of which must be populated by legions of Philip Marlowes prowling the alleys and clones of Tom Waits smoking and drinking behind pianos in all the dive bars. The art is definitely dated and yet at the same time uses some very cool shadowing, framing, and coloring that obviously inspired legions of des...more
I'm not going to go into the sevverely daunting task of criticizing or reviewing Will Eisner's Spirit. What I will say is that I respect it for what it did for comic books and that it was good for its time, but it just isn't my cup of tea.
I'd heard of The Spirit, and specifically, its important place in comic book history, but I always suspected it would be kind of a letdown. It was, but not in the way I'd suspected. The letdown had more to do with how few comics have been able to show the same inventiveness demonstrated by Eisner, or even develop it further.
The Best of the Spirit is a tour de force demonstration of what a skilled artist can do with the combination of words and pictures. Eisner doesn't need to lean on graphic sex...more
The Best of the Spirit is a tour de force demonstration of what a skilled artist can do with the combination of words and pictures. Eisner doesn't need to lean on graphic sex...more
Will Eisner é um dos meus autores prediletos, tenho grande admiração pela sua habilidade de story telling.
Tenho a versão em espanhol desta compilação, foi um grande achado em um sebo de santiago.
Tenho a versão em espanhol desta compilação, foi um grande achado em um sebo de santiago.
I took this out before I learned how much of a trainwreck the movie ended up being. Honestly, I can’t imagine seeing the movie after reading this, because The Spirit clearly was something special.
This is absolutely terrific stuff and, as a sampler, it only makes me want to read more, as well as makes me comprehend even better why Nicholson Baker is such a nut about preserving old newspaper pages printed in color. The lettering, especially, is just awesome; Eisner does a different thing with the title of the strip each time. What I like most is how generally light-hearted it is as a strip. Even in the middle of dramatic stories, there are moments of levity, and there are plenty of quizzic...more
Despite the half a page of a really bad depiction of a black person in this, I love The Spirit and this is a great collection of him. The introduction by Neil Gaiman's a nice read, very sincere of course, and has a few cool little facts I didn't know before.
I've read most of the Spirit comics and these selections would be my picks as well
Normally, I'm a big Will Eisner fan. But, I am seriously not ok with the depiction of African American people in this compilation. Granted, this book is a reprint of comics originally printed in 1948, and these grotesque stereotypes are only in a handful of panels out of this entire book, but the images are truly awful. Eisner draws African Americans with gigantic lips, has them use inarticulate slang and even has one African American character refer to the Superhero "Spirit" as his "master". Go...more
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WILL EISNER was born William Erwin Eisner on March 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. By the time of his death on January 3, 2005, following complications from open heart surgery, Eisner was recognized internationally as one of the giants in the field of sequential art, a term he coined.
In a career that spanned nearly seventy years and eight decades — from the dawn of the comic book to the advent of d...more
More about Will Eisner...
In a career that spanned nearly seventy years and eight decades — from the dawn of the comic book to the advent of d...more
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