The Spirit

The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday edition of Register and Tribune Syndicate newspapers; it was ultimately carried by 20 Sunday newspapers, with a combined circulation of five million copies during the 1940s. "The Spirit Section", as the insert was popularly known, continued until October 5, 1952. It generally included two other four-page strips (initially ''Mr. Mystic'' and ''Lady Luck''), plus filler material. Eisner, the overall editor, wrote and drew most Spirit entries, with the uncredited assistance of his studio of assistants and collaborators, though with Eisner's singular vision a unifying factor.

''The Spirit'' chronicles the adventures of a masked vigilante who fights crime with the blessing of the city's police commissioner Dolan, an old friend. Despite the Spirit's origin as detective/criminologist Denny Colt, his real identity was rarely referred to after his first appearance, and for all intents and purposes he was simply "The Spirit". The stories are presented in a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and reader expectations.

From the 1960s to 1980s, a handful of new Eisner Spirit stories appeared in Harvey Comics and elsewhere, and Warren Publishing and Kitchen Sink Press variously reprinted the newspaper feature in black-and-white comics magazines and in color comic books. In the 1990s and 2000s, Kitchen Sink Press and DC Comics also published new Spirit stories by other writers and artists.

In 2011, IGN ranked the Spirit as 21st in the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of all time.

Publication history

In late 1939, Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, publisher of the Quality Comics comic-book line, began exploring an expansion into newspaper Sunday supplements, aware that many newspapers felt they had to compete with the suddenly burgeoning new medium of American comic books, as exemplified by the ''Chicago Tribune Comic Book'', premiering two months before "The Spirit Section". Arnold compiled a presentation piece with existing Quality Comics material. An editor of ''The Washington Star'' liked George Brenner's comic-book feature " The Clock", but not Brenner's art, and was favorably disposed toward a Lou Fine strip. Arnold, concerned over the meticulous Fine's slowness and his ability to meet deadlines, claimed it was the work of Eisner, Fine's boss at the Eisner & Iger studio, from which Arnold bought his outsourced comics work.

In "late '39, just before Christmas time", Eisner recalled in 1979, "Arnold came to me and said that the Sunday newspapers were looking for a way of getting into this comic book boom". In a 2004 interview, Eisner elaborated on that meeting:

Eisner negotiated an agreement with the syndicate in which Arnold would copyright the feature but, "Written down in the contract I had with 'Busy' Arnold— and this contract exists today as the basis for my copyright ownership— Arnold agreed that it was my property. They agreed that if we had a split-up in any way, the property would revert to me on that day that happened. My attorney went to 'Busy' Arnold and his family, and they all signed a release agreeing that they would not pursue the question of ownership." This would include the eventual backup features, "Mr. Mystic" and "Lady Luck."

Selling his share of their firm to Iger, who would continue to package comics as the S. M. Iger Studio and as Phoenix Features through 1955, for $20,000, Eisner left to create "The Spirit Section". "They gave me an adult audience", Eisner said in 1997, "and I wanted to write better things than superheroes. Comic books were a ghetto. I sold my part of the enterprise to my associate and then began The Spirit. They wanted an heroic character, a costumed character. They asked me if he'd have a costume. And I put a mask on him and said, 'Yes, he has a costume!'"

The character and the types of stories Eisner would tell, Eisner said in 1978, derived from his desire

The character's name, he said in that interview, came from Arnold: "When 'Busy' Arnold called, he suggested a kind of ghost or some kind of metaphysical character. He said, 'How about a thing called the Ghost?' and I said, 'Naw, that's not any good,' and he said, 'Well, then, call it the Spirit; there's nothing like that around.' I said, 'Well, I don't know what you mean.,' and he said, 'Well, you can figure ''that'' out—I just like the words "the Spirit."' He was calling from a bar somewhere, I think... d actually, the more I thought about it the more I realized I didn't care about the name.""Will Eisner Interview", ''The Comics Journal'' #46 (May 1979), p. 37. Interview conducted Oct. 13 and 17, 1978

''The Spirit'', an initially eight (and later seven) page urban-crimefighter series, ran with the initial backup features "Mr. Mystic" and "Lady Luck" in a 16-page Sunday supplement (colloquially called "The Spirit Section") that was eventually distributed in 20 newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies. It premiered June 2, 1940, and continued through 1952. From 1940–1950, Busy Arnold reprinted ''Spirit'' stories under his Quality Comics banner, first individually from 1940–1947 as one of the features in ninety-two issues of '' Police Comics'' (#11–102), and from 1944–1950 as twenty-two issues of an associated ''Spirit'' comic book with several stories per issue. From 1952–1954, Fiction House published five issues of their own ''Spirit'' reprint comic book, continuing this process.

Eisner was drafted into the U.S. Army in late 1941, "and then had about another half-year which the government gave me to clean up my affairs before going off" to fight in World War II. In his absence, the newspaper syndicate used ghost writers and artists to continue the strip, including Manly Wade Wellman, William Woolfolk, Jack Cole and Lou Fine.

Eisner's rumpled, masked hero (with his headquarters under the tombstone of his supposedly deceased true identity, Denny Colt) and his gritty, detailed view of big-city life (based on Eisner's Jewish upbringing in New York City) both reflected and anticipated the '' noir'' outlook of film and fiction in the 1940s. Eisner said in 2001 that he created the strip as a vehicle to explore various genres: "When I created The Spirit, I never had any intention of creating a superhero. I never felt The Spirit would dominate the feature. He served as a sort of an identity for the strip. The stories were what I was interested in." In some episodes, the nominal hero makes a brief, almost incidental appearance while the story focuses on a real-life drama played out in streets, dilapidated tenements, and smoke-filled back rooms. Yet along with violence and pathos, the feature lived on humor, both subtle and overt. He was shot, knocked silly, bruised, often amazed into near immobility and constantly confused by beautiful women.

The feature ended with the October 5, 1952, edition. As ''The Comics Journal'' editor-publisher Gary Groth wrote, "By the late '40s, Eisner's participation in the strip had dwindled to a largely supervisory role. ... Eisner hired Jerry Grandenetti and Jim Dixon to occasionally ink his pencils. By 1950, Jules Feiffer was writing most of the strips, and Grandenetti, Dixon, and Al Wenzel were drawing them." Grandenetti, who penciled as a ghost-artist under Eisner's byline, said in 2005 that before the feature's demise, Eisner had "tried everything. Had me penciling 'The Spirit'. Later on it was Wally Wood", who drew the final installments.

Fictional character biography

The Spirit, referred to in one newspaper article cited below as "the only real middle-class crimefighter", was the hero persona of young detective/criminologist Denny Colt. Presumed killed in the first three pages of the premiere story, Colt later revealed to his friend, Central City Police Commissioner Dolan, that he had in fact gone into suspended animation caused by the villainous Dr. Cobra's experiments. When Colt awakened in Wildwood Cemetery, he established a base there (underneath his own tombstone). Using his new-found anonymity, Colt began a life of fighting crime wearing a simple costume consisting of a blue domino mask, business suit, fedora hat, and gloves (plus a white shirt and red necktie). While elements of this basic costume occasionally vary (depending on the Spirit's circumstances and where he is in the world), he is always depicted wearing his blue domino mask and blue leather gloves. The Spirit dispensed justice with the aid of his assistant Ebony White, funding his adventures with an inheritance from his late father Denny Colt Sr. and the rewards from capturing various villains.

The Spirit originally was based in New York City, but this was quickly changed to the fictional "Central City". Not tied to one locale, his adventures took him around the globe and even to the Moon. He met eccentrics, kooks, and femme fatales, bringing his own form of justice to all of them. The story changed continually, but certain themes remained constant: the love between the Spirit and Dolan's feisty protofeminist daughter Ellen; the annual "Christmas Spirit" stories; and his archenemy the Octopus (a psychopathic criminal mastermind who was never seen, except for his distinctive purple gloves).Eisner, Will (2015). ''Will Eisner's The Spirit: A Celebration of 75 Years'' DC Comics. () p.215

Ebony White

Eisner was criticized for his depiction of Ebony White, the Spirit's African-American sidekick. The character's name is a racial pun, and his facial features, including large white eyes and thick pinkish lips, are typical of racial blackface caricatures popular throughout the "Jim Crow" era. Eisner later admitted to consciously stereotyping the character, but said he tried to do so with "responsibility", and argued that "at the time humor consisted in our society of bad English and physical difference in identity". The character, who was consistently treated with respect by the strip's fellow cast-members, developed beyond the stereotype as the series progressed, and Eisner also introduced such African-American characters as the no-nonsense Detective Grey who defied popular stereotypes.

Ebony debuted as a resourceful taxi driver in the first "Spirit Section". He became a mainstay of the strip and a principal member of the Spirit's supporting cast until Eisner phased him out of the narrative in mid-1949 and replaced him with another assistant, a Caucasian boy named Sammy. Ebony's last "starring" role in a Spirit story (a semi-regular event in which he was the focus of the story rather than the Spirit himself) was "Young Dr. Ebony", published on May 29, 1949.

Sammy first appeared in "The Ballgame", published July 31, 1949, part of a six-episode arc set in the South Seas, in which Ebony does not appear. Sammy returns to Central City with the Spirit in "The Return", published August 14, 1949, and is welcomed into the cast by Ebony, Commissioner Dolan and Ellen Dolan. Ebony makes two wordless, one-panel appearances in the next two installments, "The Candidate" and "White Cloud" (August 21 and 28, 1949) before making his final appearance in five panels of "Lurid Love" (September 18, 1949). After this (and apart from one final mention of his name in the text-based splash page of "The Inner Voice", published November 6, 1949), Ebony left the strip without fanfare or explanation, and Sammy functioned as the Spirit's assistant for the strip's final three years. An adult Ebony appears as an office worker in a one-off Spirit story that appeared January 9, 1966, in the ''New York Herald Tribune''.

In an accompanying feature article in issue of the ''New York Herald Tribune'', Eisner's former office manager Marilyn Mercer wrote, "Ebony never drew criticism from Negro groups (in fact, Eisner was commended by some for using him), perhaps because, although his speech pattern was early Minstrel Show, he himself derived from another literary tradition: he was a combination of Tom Sawyer and Penrod, with a touch of Horatio Alger hero, and color didn't really come into it".Mercer, Marilyn, "The Only Real Middle-Class Crimefighter", ''New York'' (Sunday supplement, ''New York Herald Tribune''), Jan. 9, 1966; reprinted in ''Alter Ego'' #48 (May 2005)

Other characters

* Dr. Cobra is a mad scientist whose chemicals and machinations inadvertently help Denny Colt become the Spirit.
* Darling O' Shea is the richest and most spoiled child in the world.
* Hazel P. Macbeth is a witch with a Shakespearean motif and apparent magical powers. (''Vide'' Macbeth.)
* Lorelei Rox, an apparent siren, appeared in a September 1948 strip and subsequently in 2000s DC Comics Spirit stories. (''Vide'' Lorelei rock.)
* Mister Carrion is a morbid con man with a pet vulture named Julia. (''Vide'' carrion.)
* The Octopus is the archenemy of the Spirit. He is a criminal mastermind and master of disguise who never shows his real face, though he is identified by his distinctive purple gloves. In the second issue of the 1960s Harvey Comics ''Spirit'' comic book, his name is given as Zitzbath Zark. The first name is a pun on sitz bath.
* P'Gell is a femme fatale who perennially tries to seduce the Spirit to a life of crime at her side. She seduces and marries wealthy men who invariably die in mysterious ways, and uses their money to fund her crime empire in Istanbul and expand her influence and control over the underworld. After moving to Central City to find the Spirit, she continues her modus operandi of selected marriages with the cream of society, even gaining an ally in the form of Saree, the young daughter of one of her deceased husbands. In the 2000s DC Comics version, P'Gell was once a young socialite in love with a doctor, working in Third World countries, and turned to a life of crime when he was killed. (''Vide'' Pigalle.)
* P.S. Smith ("Peppermint Stick" Smith AKA Algernon Tidewater) is a silent, baseball helmet-wearing associate of Ebony. Always sucking on a peppermint stick and appearing to be 6–8 years of age, the wordless ''P.S.'' is capable of almost-superhuman feats (always played for comedic effect) and serves as Eisner's comic embodiment of anarchy and disruption. ''P.S.'' first appeared in ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' as the star of a silent pantomime strip appearing underneath the main ''Spirit'' story, before Eisner introduced the character within the main strip (as ''Algernon Tidewater'') in 1941. The character was renamed ''P.S.'' in his first postwar appearance in May 1946.
* Officer Sam Klink is a brave, big-hearted but not particularly bright member of the Central City Police Department. A regular member of the postwar ''Spirit Section'' cast list, Klink is a loyal aide to Commissioner Dolan and a frequent ally of the Spirit.
* Sand Saref is a childhood friend of Denny Colt, and knows he is the Spirit. Working in espionage, she usually ends up on the opposite side of the law from him. She appears several times, always involved in some criminal scheme. (''Vide'' sans serif.)
* Silk Satin is a tall, statuesque brunette with a white streak in her hair, originally an adventuress who later reformed and worked as an international troubleshooter for the insurance company Croyd's of Glasgow. In later stories, it is revealed she has a daughter, Hildie, who motivates her to stay on the straight path. In the 2000s DC Comics revival, she is a smaller, more slender, blond CIA agent.
* Silken Floss is a nuclear physicist and a surgeon, who acts as the accomplice to the Octopus.

"Ev'ry Little Bug"

The song "Ev'ry Little Bug" (with lyrics written by Eisner) appears regularly between 1946 and 1950. The initial lines of were first uttered in the story "Poole's Toadstool Facial Cream" (June 9, 1946). By the end of 1946, all of the lyrics had appeared, sung by various characters. In 1947, Eisner collaborated with his World War II service friend Bill Harr, who composed a melody for Eisner's lyrics. The complete song appears in the April 27, 1947 "Spirit Section", here titled "Ev'ry Li'l Bug", with Ebony credited within the storyline as its composer. In the story "Wiffenpoof" (June 29, 1947), real-life operatic singer Robert Merrill was depicted singing the tune. Shortly afterward, the Robbins Music Corporation of New York published "Ev'ry Little Bug" as sheet music, with an image of Ebony on its cover page. After three more appearances in the strip, "Ev'ry Little Bug" remained dormant until 1987, when music producer John Christensen assembled a recording featuring five versions of the tune, released by Kitchen Sink as a picture disc with an exclusive Spirit/Ebony image illustrated by Eisner on one side and the original art for the sheet music on the other. The record featured actor Billy Mumy playing guitar on some tracks.

Song appearances

*June 9, 1946 – "Poole's Toadstool Facial Cream"
*July 7, 1946 – "Dulcet Tone"
*October 13, 1946 – "The Heart of Rosie Lee"
*December 15, 1946 – "The Van Gaul Diamonds"
*December 29, 1946 – "Hubert The Duck"
*February 2, 1947 – "The Cosmic Answer"
*March 16, 1947 – "Hoagy the Yogi"
*April 27, 1947 – "Ev'ry Li'l Bug"
*June 29, 1947 – "Wiffenpoof"
*August 17, 1947 – "The Picnic"
*March 27, 1949 – "The Dummy"
*April 30, 1950 – "Wanted, Dangerous Job"

The Spirit and John Law

Several Spirit stories, such as the first appearance of Sand Saref, were retooled from a failed publishing venture featuring an eyepatched, pipe-smoking detective named John Law. Law and his shoeshine-boy sidekick, Nubbin, starred in several adventures planned for a new comics series. These completed adventures were eventually adapted into Spirit stories, with John Law's eyepatch being changed to the Spirit's mask, and Nubbin redrawn as Willum Waif or other Spirit supporting characters.

The original John Law stories were restored and published in ''Will Eisner's John Law: Dead Man Walking'' (IDW Publishing, 2004), a collection of stories that also features new adventures by writer-artist Gary Chaloner, starring John Law, Nubbin, and other Eisner creations, including ''Lady Luck'' and ''Mr. Mystic''.

Assistants and collaborators

Like most artists working in newspaper comic strips, Eisner after a time employed a studio of assistants who, on any given week's story, might draw or simply ink backgrounds, ink parts of Eisner's main characters (such as clothing or shoes), or as eventually occurred, ghost-draw the strip entirely. Eisner also eventually used ghostwriters, generally in collaboration with him.

Jules Feiffer, who began as an art assistant circa 1946 and later became the primary writer through the strip's end in 1952, recalled, "When I first worked for Will there was John Spranger, who was his penciler and a wonderful draftsman; better than Will. There was Sam Rosen, the lettering man. Jerry Grandenetti came a little after me and did backgrounds, and Jerry had some architectural background. His drawing was stiff but loosened up after a while, but he drew backgrounds and inked them beautifully. And Abe Kanegson, who was my best friend in the office, was a jack-of-all-trades but mostly did lettering and backgrounds after Jerry left. Abe was a mentor to me."

Eisner's studio also included:''Spirit, The'' (Register and Tribune Syndicate, 1940 Series)
at the Grand Comics Database

*Art assistants: Bob Powell (1940), Dave Berg (backgrounds, 1940–41), Tex Blaisdell (1940–41), Fred Kida (1941), Alexander Kostuk a.k.a. Alex Koster (1941–43), Jack Cole (1942–43), Jack Keller (backgrounds, 1943), Jules Feiffer (1946–47), Manny Stallman (1947–49), Andre LeBlanc (1950), Al Wenzel (1952)
*Inkers: Alex Kotzky (1941–43), John Belfi (1942–43), Don Komisarow (1943), Robin King (year?), Joe Kubert (1943–44), Jerry Grandenetti (1948–51), Jim Dixon (1950–51), Don Perlin (1951)
*Letterers: Sam Rosen (1940-1942), Martin De Muth (1942-1947), Abe Kanegson (1947-1951), Samm Schwartz (1951), Ben Oda (1951-1952)
*Colorists: Jules Feiffer (1950–52), Chris Christiansen (1951)
*Ghost artists (pencilers): Lou Fine and Jack Cole (variously, during Eisner's World War II service, 1942–45), Jerry Grandenetti (1951), Wally Wood (1952)
*Ghostwriters/writing assistants: Toni Blum (1942), Jack Cole, Manly Wade Wellman and William Woolfolk (variously, during Eisner's World War II service, 1943–45), Klaus Nordling