Customer Reviews

The Spirit Archives, Volume 11

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3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
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First off, Will Eisner had nothing to do with most of the stories in this volume. Most of the stories in this volume are fairly dull and predictable, the wonderful wit and humor of The Spirit being replaced by pretty lame one-liners. Not exactly bad, but not memorable.

This volume is notable for the return of Will Eisner in its final two stories. Fresh out of the service following World War II, he offers up a couple of humorous stories that point the book back to its roots with style and wit.

This volume of The Spirit Archives reprints the comics from the second half of 1945. Spirit creator Will Eisner was in the Army during World War II, so the comics from that time period were done by other people. Most of the comics in this volume were drawn by Lou Fine. He was a good artist, but he was no Will Eisner. The strips he drew here are okay, but they some of the weakest Spirit comics ever. However, Eisner did get out of the service in time to do the last two Spirit comics of 1945, which saves this book somewhat.

Will Eisner was drafted to join World War II and left management of The Spirit production to others. After getting his honorable discharge from the Army, he returned to the production. While only the last few stories are Eisner's actual work, the rest of them are still great, even if they personally lack Eisner's charm.

Will Eisner is the only comic book artist to ever have his work shown in a museum of art. His most important work is the Spirit. The Spirit Archives series has brought together all of his work, that was printed in a weekly newspaper insert. However, after the work found in volumes 1 and 2, Eisner was called to active duty and served in the army during World War II. The Spirit carried on, but it was drawn by other artists. Eisner's work does not pick up again until the stories found in Volume 12 of the Archives series. The work in Volumes 3-11 is fine, but it is not the work of Will Eisner.