The Spirit and Commissioner Dolan are entering a room through a very large set of doors. They are both wearing tuxedos and their arrival is being announced by a butler.
The Spirit from April 14, 1946. Art by Jack Spranger, Will Eisner, and Bob Palmer. Letters by Martin DeMuth.
On the left, the cover reads “and thief is caught…and the doors clang shut…and Mr. Solid Citizen sighs snugly…a bellyful of safety…but wait!! Who has jailed the crookling mind?? Do the Turnkeys claim the thoughts?? Does the Warden count the thinks…as they pile up each day crowding the little cells?? NAH!! I’m a hothouse of steel they sit thinking, growing thoughts like weeds… What do they think about…penance?? Cost to the taxpayer!? NAH!! They think about ESCAPE.” The word “escape” blends into a whirlpool that forms a tunnel leading to a small prison cell. The bars to the cell form the word “Spirit.”
The Spirit from April 13, 1947. Art by Will Eisner & Jerry Grandenetti.
Will Eisner
Will Eisner
It wasn't easy to get a job during the depression and it wasn't a sweatshop. Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, Lou Fine, Reed Crandall, Nick Cardy, George Tuska, and many others not as famous might disagree with you.
The first page shows a large, shy-looking misshapen man wearing clothes that are too small. On the left, it reads “Life never was pleasant for “Pinhead”…He was never quite like other kids…and don’t know why? Because “Pinhead” was a MONSTER!”
The Spirit from April 6, 1947. Art by Will Eisner & Jerry Grandenetti, with letters by Abe Kanegson.
I mean, daaaamn. And if you look at the top of the image, you can see the original cover of A Contract With God.
Will Eisner serving us an incredibly hot and horny Spirit.
Will Eisner
On the first page, the Spirit is standing on the left. His shirt is open and torn at the sleeves. He tells the story of Peter Kerrigan, who in 1690 planted the pot of gold he got from leprechauns in the ground. On the right are several panels of three men trying to open a metal door with dynamite. When it explodes, a beautiful red headed woman steps out to great them.
The Spirit from April 3, 1949. Art by Will Eisner & letters by Abe Kanegson.
The first page is a close up of the Spirit’s hands typing on a typewriter. Behind the paper is a window and we can see a cemetery. The paper reads “As I write this, I am sitting in my Wildwood Hideaway. Sammy is asleep and the night outside is wild and stormy: very much like the night on which I first saw him. Yes, it was a storming, lightning swept night when he first appeared on the road to Wildwood and whether he was real or not, to this day I do not know…”
The Spirit from April 1, 1951. Art by Will Eisner.
On the first page, Commissioner Dolan changes the calendar from March 31st to April 1st. Then Byline bursts in and collapses as if he’s been shot. What appears to be blood is streaming out. Dolan shouts for someone to call in ambulance but it turns out to have been an April Fool’s joke by Byline.
The Spirit from March 30, 1947. Art by Will Eisner & Jerry Grandenetti, with letters by Martin DeMuth.
The spirit /will Eisner
The first page is a large headshot of the Spirit with the logo on top and “by Will Eisner” underneath. He is wearing his mask and fedora.
The Spirit from March 30, 1941. Art by Will Eisner and letters by Sam Rosen.
Will Eisner arguably did it twice, first with The Spirit (two-fisted adventure comics), then with A Contract With God (comics about basically anything serious).
March 27, 1940 – Black Condor debuts in Crack Comics #1 (cover dated May 1940).
He was created by writer Will Eisner and artist Lou Fine.
#DCComics #BlackCondor #FreedomFighters
The first page is a large headshot of the Spirit with a bandage over one eye. In the background is the ocean and the silhouette of a woman on a make-shift raft made of logs and a small sail. The Spirit is recalling that he is wounded, that he is marooned on an island, that it all started with the “Jewel of Gizeh,” and that somewhere on the island he was shot.
The Spirit from March 26, 1950. Art by Will Eisner & letters by Abe Kanegson.
Our own Mike Rosen appeared on Art Focus to talk about the Will Eisner exhibit that we are currently hosting! www.kboo.fm/media/132657...
Baseball Comics #1 (1949). "Starring Rube Rocky of the Major Leagues." The cover shows Rube after just having thrown a pitch.
Cover by Will Eisner.
One of the more famous images from the Spirit, the front page features the view of a factory and other buildings at night, with a lit up trolley car moving in between them. Several pieces of paper blowing in the wind form the words “The Spirit by Will Eisner.”
The Spirit from March 24, 1946. Pencils by Bob Palmer and John Spranger, with inks by Palmer and Will Eisner, and letters by Martin DeMuth.
Earlier this month, I was a panelist on the Will Eisner Week “Comics vs. the Fascists" panel. If you missed the panel when it was live, now you can watch it HERE: www.ariekaplan.com/now-you-can-... @dannyfingeroth.bsky.social @deanhaspiel.bsky.social @klg19.bsky.social @carlgropper.bsky.social
At the bottom of the page, the Spirit is swimming by a treasure chest and a bunch of fish. Above him, it reads “The Spirit. In the month of March 1642, there put out of the harbor of Cadiz a bold adventurer, one El Lobo Navarro…He sailed due west, and was sighted not long afterwards off the Virgin Islands…That was the last seen of El Lobo…the “Wolf”…Back in Spain his family, refusing to believe him dead, sought for a clue to his fate…a search which lasted for three centuries…until the recent Civil War in Spain wiped out the last Navarro, ending the three hundred year quest. Recently, there occurred in Central City an episode which in my file is labeled “The Men Who Time Forgot”…here is perhaps the answer so long sought by the vanished house of Nevarro…by Will Eisner.
The Spirit from March 22, 1942. Art by Will Eisner & letters by Sam Rosen.
• Will Eisner Color Treasury • The Art of Will Eisner • Will Eisner's Gleeful Guide to Communicating with Plants To Help Them Grow
Mail call! A trio of older Eisner books.
Over three panels, a mound of snow melt’s away under the sun, revealing the Spirit logo underneath. “Each year around March 21st (in the north temperate zone) the sun enters the sign of Aries. At this period the position of the Earth’s axis is at a 90 degree angle to the sun, and the day and night are equal the world over. This year, on Sunday, March 20, at 5:49pm EST, the vernal equinox will begin. From this point until the summer solstice, when the sun attains its greatest northern declination, the first of the four seasons occurs…and it is called…Spring…”
The Spirit from March 20, 1949. Art by Will Eisner and letters by Abe Kanegson.
Three men are digging a tunnel underground. From their conversation, we learn they are trying to meet up with another tunnel at some point to sabotage its construction. If that company does not finish in time, then their boss will get the new contract. Unfortunately for them, when they do reach another tunnel, the Spirit is there waiting for them.
The Spirit from March 21, 1948. Art by Will Eisner & Jerry Grandenetti, with letters by Abe Kanegson.
Nadine Takvorian holds her debut graphic novel "Armaveni," currently featured in the Cartoon Art Museum's Emerging Artist Showcase exhibition
Shaenon K. Garrity presenting her latest graphic novel "Steam," illustrated by Emily Holden
Mel Hilario, Lauren Davis, and Katie Longua with their recent graphic novel "Agent Cupcake"
A selection of graphic novels spotlighted at the Cartoon Art Museum's Will Einser Week celebration including 'Armaveni,' 'Steam,' 'Willowweep Manor,' and 'Agent Cupcake'
Thank you to an incredible group of talented artists who came together last weekend to showcase their latest graphic novels for our Will Eisner Week celebration. And here's to a happy Women’s History Month from CAM to all women comics creators and animators, both past and present! #comics
Nylon Rose is standing next to a bust of the Spirit. She is leaning on it with her arm, and it looks like a corner of the bust has crumbled apart. In her other hand, she appears to be holding a mallet.
The Spirit from March 17, 1946. Art by Jack Spranger, Will Eisner, and Bob Palmer. Letters by Martin deMuth.
A gangster welcomes two notorious European crooks who want to work in America but they are still waiting for their third companion to arrive. The image shows the two European crooks sitting around a desk with the gangster at the bottom of the page. Above them in a picture of the Spirit wearing a top hat and above that is the logo for “The Spirit by Will Eisner.”
The Sprit from March 16, 1941. Art by Will Eisner & letters by Sam Rosen.
The Spirit by Will Eisner. Batman writer Denny O'Neil was a big fan of Eisner. Many of my favorite Batman stories as a kid were written by O'Neil and clearly influenced by Eisner. So you could say I was an Eisner fan before I knew who Eisner was.
