Despite what you think of Frank Miller’s big-screen flop adaptation, DC Comics has done Will Eisner right with its Darwyn Cooke-steered reboot of his blue-suited, red-tied, fedora-wearing masked hero. THE SPIRIT: BOOK TWO collects seven issues’ worth of proof … well, make that six. I’ll explain later.
If there’s any artist destined to draw Denny Cole — aka The Spirit — it’s Cooke, whose pen excels at retro. His tough guys look tough, his bad guys look bad, and his sexy women look sexy. The only element of Eisner’s original that Cooke doesn’t retain is the minstrel-style treatment of black sidekick Ebony White, and I think we can all agree that’s for the better.
BOOK TWO is bookended by a pair of anthology issues: a summer special and a holiday special. The former include stories of a diamond theft (by Walter Simonson) and a chase through a sweltering tenement (by Jimmy Palmiotti) that are very much in Eisner’s style of “Action! Mystery! Adventure!” and, of course, humor. But curses to Kyle Baker for making The Spirit say “Off the heezy fo sheezy!” In a word, no.
The latter special starts with another diamond tale — this one involving a caged tiger at the zoo on Halloween, penned by novelist Glen David Gold. It’s great up until the ending, which remains a head-scratcher for me. Dennis O’Neil gives a good graveside dig, while Gail Simone turns in a tale with nearly no dialogue.
As for the single-story issues, the best is one in which The Spirit has to defuse a time bomb left underground Central City by supervillain The Octopus. There’s a two-part tale involving a zombie curse that gives Ebony — now called Eb — a starring role, and a touching look back at The Spirit’s love/hate relationship with the sultry Sand Serif.
The only story that doesn’t really work is “Death by Television,” a satiric goof framed like a YouTube video, with thinly veiled versions of talk show stars Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Rosie O’Donnell, Stephen Colbert and others, in which their boob-tube brethren are being murdered. It’s a bit too MAD magazine-ish for me, in a series that usually plays smarter. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• BATMAN/THE SPIRIT by Darwyn Cooke
• THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT by Will Eisner
Related posts:
- Batman: Ego and Other Tails
- BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Spirit
- 6 Holiday Anthologies to Get You in the Christmas Spirit
- QUICKGASM >> 12.4.06
- Free Comic Book Day 2007 Roundup
