The Spirit Archives, Vol. 4

The Spirit Archives #4

by Will Eisner

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

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Comic Strips, Superheroes, Thriller, Fantasy

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

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 3 out of 5]

This is the last of Eisner before he leaves for WWII. It's nearly all him for the first @75% then other guys the rest of the way.

[tony dillard jr · Rating 4 out of 5]

October is almost here. That means I can let myself read Halloween and other horror themed titles throughout the whole month. But I can't wait. I'm like a kid waiting for Santa to arrive. I needed a fix and I needed it quick.

I decided to go with an unread volume of Will Eisner's Spirit Archives. With its noirish tone, creepy villains and the fact that the Spirit lives in a cemetery, I felt like I could scratch that Halloween itch without breaking my self-imposed reading guidelines.

The stories in this volume were originally published from January-June, 1942. Pearl Harbor shocked the country and America is now at war with Germany and Japan. Thus, elements of the war are beginning to creep into the strip. There's spies and saboteurs galore. The Spirit has been enlisted by the Army as a G-2 level agent, called from time to time to put down the fascist secret agents operating in the shadows of Central City.

These enemy agents are pretty well organized. That's because of workings of their leader, the mysterious master of disguise, the Squid. I can't find evidence of this, so all I can do is conclude that the Squid is an an early version of what will become the Spirit's arch-enemy, the Octopus. But for all I know, they might be the same guy. You never see either's true face. Both wear purple suits with matching gloves. Only the Squid is an operative of Adolph Hitler whereas the Octopus was his own boss and the unofficial leader of the city's underworld.

The controversial Ebony White really shines in a few stories. He develops a robotic figure that helps uncover espionage on an Army base. Plus he shows real bravery and loyalty sticking up for not just the Spirit but Commissioner Dolan and his daughter Ellen.

There's a love triangle afoot as British agent Silk Satin returns on several occasions to help the war effort. Satin almost succeeds in permanently stealing the Spirit away from Ellen during a particularly intimate mission in which The Spirit and Satin must play parents to an innocent little baby. A babe who just happens to be the exiled King of Balkslavania!

The artwork makes me jealous. I wish I could draw that spirited (no pun intended.) Eisner's hands could put so much life into a panel. It's not just a comic book. It's a living breathing world with so many untold tales behind every door and darkened window, just begging to be revealed!

I want the whole collection. I don't care about the order. Will Eisner's Spirit is my comfort food for when I long for an entertaining, creative read on a chilly night with a faithful cat and warm blanket. Perfect fall weather reading.

[Scott Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last of the pre-war Eisner volumes. The art has improved over the previous volumes and the story telling has as well, although it is still a ways from the post-war stories. Some of the plots are engaging but there are weird fantasy elements that stick out unpleasantly: a soldier that can talk to animals, a man whose face changes without any explanation, the Spirit's coat acting as a parachute after he falls out of a plane. But the humor has gotten better and Ellen is slightly less annoying than before. (Silk is still pretty soppy though, and the love triangle between her and Ellen gets played way too often.)

[C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to think that Batman was my favorite of comics. But ever since my father introduced me to The Spirit, an even earlier masked crime fighter, Batman went out the window. This is a collection of short, 7-page stories of The Spirit's many adventures. Unlike other comic books I've read, the Spirit does not repeat itself much. Along the way, we get many pleasant surprises, such as the story in which Commissioner Dolan's dreaded aunt visits (she tries to marry lovely Ellen off to the Spirit, and singlehanded takes down the leader of a certain gang- so that she could marry him); or the story in which Will Eisner is kidnapped by a gangster who wants to try his hand at comics. Sure, some of the stories are slighltly repetive, but on the most part, they are fresh and fun. Will Eisner also makes full use of the comics form. The pictures, though not exactly master pieces (we are, afterall, talking about comics), are well thought out, and make up a large part of the humor and fun. I don't recall ever enjoying the pictures so much, except for Calvin and Hobbs.
Lastly, for a history geek like me, it was interesting to see how WW2 was portrayed by the writers. Comics do have some historic value, you know. :p

[Stewart Tame · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eisner is in top form with this volume. Among other stories, it reprints "Suicide and Saxophones", one of the all-time great Spirit stories. The supporting players--Dolan, Ellen, Ebony--all get their chance to shine, with the Spirit taking more of a supporting role in their tales. While it was quite mild by the standards of the time at which it was written, Eisner's use of racial caricature does give the modern reader pause at times. Yes, Ebony White is a fully realized character who becomes more than just a comic foil. I still find myself, at times, wishing that Eisner had modified the character design even just slightly. It's not as bad as some contemporary work, true, but it's not fun being reduced to that level of argument to defend the artistic merits of something that shines in all other respects. Likewise, there's some pretty awful stereotyping of the Japanese, "The Devil's Shoes" for example. Yes, we were at war, but still ... Part of it may simply be the cartoony exaggeration inherent in Eisner's stories, which tends to play into sterotypes. In any case, as long as you can get past all that, the payoff is a collection of fine stories, representative of some of the best of Eisner's early work.

[Benn Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the storytelling may not necessarily be as innovative as the ones in the early issues, this is still some fun, first rate comics in this volume of "The Spirit Archives" series. Admittedly, there are some panels where it's not clear what exactly is going on and the casual racism seen in such characters as Ebony White, Piedmont Q. Midas and the various German and Japanese characters. (It's especially embarrassing when in the story, "The Devil's Shoes", the Spirit pulls up the corners of his eyes and says, "So solly." :$ D:<) Still, this is a fun highly entertaining work by one of comics greatest practitioners.

[Tankboy · Rating 2 out of 5]

And we enter the war years. The quality declined and Eisner's impending departure and then exit to enter the army took its toll on The Spirit's story and art