The Spirit (comic)

 I can only assume that someone at the legendary Golden Apple comic book shop in Hollywood first turned me on to The Spirit, as I did not know about him before Kitchen Sink started releasing the reissues. Will Eisner was still alive at the time (he passed in 2005) and was involved in these comics and created/ wrote/ edited/ what-have-you new material for the series, from essays on drawing and writing to new artwork to new stories to explaining the processes on the old comics.

Eisner has an incredible artistic style with a emphasis on layout that has not been surpassed or even equaled by anyone that I have seen, but he has been highly influential over the years. His characters leap off the page, punch through panels, fall through the air and defy the laws of physics and two dimensionality. His narration is often poetic - sometimes literally - and always clever, with interesting plot twists and terrific dialogue, even while creating some unrealistic and, at times, downright funny situations. 

Unfortunately, since the series began in the 1940's, there are some extremely un-PC characters, dialogue and situations, which can be difficult in the 21st century, but if you can get past that, the overall quality is pretty darn fantastic. The female characters tend to be strong, independent, intelligent women, though, who often out-fox the Spirit at his own game, which was pretty progressive for the time.

There are times when his schedule demanded that he turn over some work to assistants and the quality wanes a bit - except when the assistant was Wally Wood, whose work on the Spirit is mythical, if brief. But when Eisner was at the drawing table, he couldn't be beat!

The Spirit comics has been reissued in numerous formats over the years (I have a whole different series that I am going to get to once I have finished these Kitchen Sink magazines) and while I'm not certain what is currently available, I am certain that anyone who digs sequential artwork should explore Eisner's work.