The Spirit Archives, Vol. 5

The Spirit Archives #5

by Will Eisner

The Spirit continues to battle foreign menaces and domestic villains in the fifth volume of this all-inclusive collection of Spirit Sunday strips. With creator Will Eisner serving in the army during World War II, this full-color hardcover edition features the work of his immensely talented assistants including Jack Cole creator of Plastic man. Reprinting the strips from July 5 to December 27, 1942, this book includes the classic tales, "The Royal Flush Gang," "Ebony meets Frankenstein," "The Return of Scar Cainam," "Espionage in Egypt," "The Mock Invasion," and "Improve Your Memory in Ten Easy Lessons."

Genres: Comics, Adventure, Crime, Comic Strips, Thriller, Graphic Novels

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

William Erwin Eisner was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series The Spirit (1940–1952) was noted for its experiments in content and form. In 1978, he popularized the term "graphic novel" with the publication of his book A Contract with God. He was an early contributor to formal comics studies with his book Comics and Sequential Art (1985). The Eisner Award was named in his honor and is given to recognize achievements each year in the comics medium; he was one of the three inaugural inductees to the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this volume seemed a little lackluster to me. One of the main reasons is likely the conspicuous lack of Will Eisner on most of these stories. As the introduction states, Eisner was in the army, and forced to hand the book over to Lou Fine, Manly Wade Wellman, and several others. He tried finding time during his stint to at least keep writing the Spirit, but it didn't work out. There's a distinct sense of marking time throughout this volume. Those who have read some of the choicer stories, say, from the Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Comics, or the Steranko History of Comics, will be disappointed. The one story with the pink elephants is arguably the single worst Spirit story I can recall reading. Fortunately there are some not-so-bad stories as well to dull its sting. As the saying goes, it gets better.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like The Spirit's sidekick Ebony White, slithery sexy vamp Silk Satin and police Captain Dolan's daughter Ellen flashing her panties on every other page, you'll like this one. The supporting characters get more face time than The Spirit but they're so cool you won't even mind. Another keeper from Will Eisner.

[Ángel Javier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitivamente, sin Eisner esto no es lo mismo. Jack Cole, el creador de Plastic Man, lo intenta, pero simplemente no está a la altura de la tarea, como tampoco lo están (de hecho, todavía menos) los diversos guionistas que no pasan de trazar tramas ramplonas e historias más simples que el mecanismo de un botijo. Por otro lado, la caricatura racista (básicamente, Ebony, como es obvio, pero también su grupo de amigos), que ya era difícilmente soportable en manos del maestro, se agrava todavía más cuando está a cargo de historietistas menos capaces: en estos cómics, Ebony pasa de ser un chaval espabilado, un ayudante capaz, a pesar de sus espantosos rasgos y su detestable manera de expresarse, a poco menos que una molestia y un alivio cómico de pésimo gusto. Todo hay que verlo con los ojos de la época, claro, pero hasta el propio Eisner se disculpó públicamente en su momento por haber puesto su granito de arena a la hora de dar alas a estos estereotipos raciales, lo que le honra, pero no evita que, contemplados desde una óptica moderna, den mucha vergüenza ajena.

[Ángel Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuando Will Eisner fue reclutado, la serie de The Spirit no fue discontinuada, sino que se contrató a varios guionistas mucho más mediocres que el gran Will, y a un excelente dibujante, Lou Fine, que, sin embargo, no estuvo a la altura de su predecesor. Tal vez fuera porque trataba de mimetizar al máximo posible el estilo de Eisner, pero no es el magnífico Fine de Black Condor el que nos vamos a encontrar aquí, sino a un sosias bastante afortunado del creador del famoso criminólogo metido a héroe. Aun así, el apartado gráfico sigue rayando a un buen nivel, es en el literario en el que el cómic se resiente. Demasiadas tramas simplistas, de buenos y malos, con Spirit como centro de la acción, al contrario de lo que ocurría cuando Eisner se encargaba de su criatura. En fin, sigue mereciendo la pena leer estos archivos, pero hasta el final de la guerra, no recobrarán su pasada gloria.

[Mark Stratton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eisner’s absence due to The War is telling. There were some ham-handed stories in here, something Eisner avoided.

To be fair, there were a couple of decent episodes as well.

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Profoundly racist, even when in context. Unenjoyable.