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April 1976 - Warren's Spirit magazine may be my all-time favorite format for Will Eisner's classic creation.
There's something charmingly cruddy about the cheap paper and hyperbolic ads in the back that just seem to work for me, in a way that the glossy, high-quality DC Archives series do not.
Apparently, I'm in the minority on this, because Warren's Spirit series was never that big a hit, only lasting sixteen issues. Even now, copies of the magazine can be found eBay for just a dollar or two, which is astounding considering how much great material Warren crammed into any given issue.
I don't see any point doing reviews of the stories, since what the hell could I have to add? So let's just show the always-superb, always-inventive splash pages Eisner gave us with these nine stories:
The final story, "The Story of Gerhard Shnobble" is a classic even by The Spirit's lofty standards. According to TwoMorrows' The Warren Companion, Eisner himself revised the story a bit for its reprinting in Harvey's even shorter-lived 1966 Spirit series, and that is the version reprinted here.
Needless to say, an excellent issue!
The second issue of the wonderful Spirit series produced by Warren in the early 70s. I think for my money, this was my favorite format for The Spirit--as nice as DC's Archive series is, there's something about reading Will Eisner's stories on grubby newsprint that helps set the mood.
This issue contains eight Spirit stories--"Heel Scallopini", "Powder Pouf", "Fallen Sparrow", "Merry Andrew", "Mortimer J. Titmouse", "The O'Dolan", "UFO", and "Silken Floss, MD", all but one in beautiful black and white. Like the newsprint mentioned above, I think these stories work even better in black and white--the grey tones are superb (of course), as is the artwork itself (ditto). The one story in color--"Mortimer J. Titmouse"--is nicely colored, but I think it shows how much better the rest look in black and white.
I'm at a loss here to say anything else because, what self-respecting comic fan doesn't know Eisner was about the best there was? His stories are so full of atmosphere, great characterization, and breathtaking storytelling that they still hold up, half a century after their first appearance.
So instead of yapping further, I'll just show some of Eisner's trademark splash pages from this issue. They speak for themselves...
