The Spirit Archives, Vol. 15

The Spirit Archives #15

by Will Eisner

Collects stories from classic Spirit adventures in which a murdered detective fights crime from beyond the grave.

Genres: Comics, Comic Book

196 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1947

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

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second Printing

Eisner is back from war for long enough to be in peak form again- especially in the flair of the art!

[Brandt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: This rating takes into account the Ebony White problem, which I have discussed elsewhere. We are getting close to the point where Eisner phased the character out of the strip, although one could argue that given attitudes toward race in 1947, there was no way Eisner could be "woke" enough to not have a stereotypical black minstrel type character in The Spirit. I am not attempting to excuse Eisner in this regard, but given that I have acknowledged this problem, my rating reflects how I feel about the collection if Ebony wasn't an issue. If you think this invalidates my rating and review of this collection, that is fair.

I am running out of superlatives for the work of Will Eisner on The Spirit.

The easiest way to address this review would just be to link to my review of the previous volume and tell you to read it and apply it to this volume as well. Will Eisner in 1947 (this volume and the previous volume entail all of The Spirit stories from 1947) is a comics creator at the height of his abilities. As one reads The Spirit Archives containing the work from 1947, one can see Eisner, now two years out from the end of his military service has not only become with comfortable with holding the reins on The Spirit but he is willing to take chances, being at the forefront of comics innovations that readers in 2019 just take for granted (splash pages, multi-week (or issue) story arcs, etc.) As I've stated previously, the best stories are always the ones where the Spirit himself is not the focus. Even though the strip is called The Spirit Eisner never felt beholden to making him the focus every week. This attitude is indicative of Eisner's willingness to take chances with the comic form, often with amazing results.

As stated in the previous review, there is a reason the comics industry awards are called the Eisners. While reading this volume, I imagined what it might have been like had Eisner done work on Superman and Batman. How great would that have been? But I don't think superheroes interested Eisner in the slightest--those stories weren't interesting to him (even though I would argue if it weren't for Superman, there wouldn't be an attempt to even do something like The Spirit) and for Eisner, the story was always the most important part of the strip. (Although let's not downplay Eisner's artistic chops, which were also excellent.) Quality storytelling always leads to quality comics. Eisner was one of the first to realize this, and comic readers should appreciate him for this reason alone.

[Michael Emond · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is hard to describe the joy reading these brings me. This collection (we are told) is full Eisner after he returns from the war (some archives have fill in artists and writers) but I suspect he had help from his stable of artists.
There is such joy in the inventiveness of the art. Even today the fluidity and beauty and his ability to tell a complex story in 8 pages cannot be matched. Nobody draws rain like Eisner :).
There is such joy in the creativity of the stories. Every story is so unique. And even though it is framed with The Spirit there are different viewpoints, narratives, and often the Spirit is a secondary of very minor character. Eisner just loved telling stories.
I can't say any jumped out as "classics" but I loved them all. This was the beginnings of cartoons as a story telling medium and Eisner was a master and advanced the medium in a way nobody else has done since him.
I think my fav stories are the ones where The Spirit is blind and we get introduced to a new character - the rookie policeman Sam Klink. The Spirit always shines better when he has more supporting cast to bounce off of because - oddly - there isn't that much character development in him over the years.

Overall - I loved it. I wish I had all the Archives to read but they are very expensive and hard to find now.