Customer Reviews

The Spirit Archives, Volume 21

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eisner hits his stride in this volume. Mixing humor with the hard boiled crime action we have come to expect from the Spirit. Outstanding is a parody of a Spirit section done within one of the stories, and a story about a man who must be the first for the opening of a new tunnel. And don't worry this volume does not skimp on the Femme Fatales Eisner is famous for.

Another great Archive from the master writer/artist, Will Eisner, as this series begins to wind down and end soon. Features a good mixture of named villains, crime and adventure stories that carry the tongue-in-cheek humor and irony trademarks that made Eisner the genuis he was.

Eisner is a Graphic Story telling genius. I own all the Spirit Archives and starting with #21 the character of Ebony White is missing. I know this just reprints what was already done in the past, but because of the loss of Ebony the stories in this volume seem lacking. To some Ebony may seem like a "Step and Fetch-it" stereotype (which he is to a degree) but the character is so much more than that. He is the Spirits partner and companion, a troublemaker, comic relief, but also a true hero in his own right. It is sad that he is missing in this volume. This is probably an inevitable and understandable change made due to the social pressures of the times, but to me it is devalues the book. This volume is better than the few books re-printing the Eisener absent stories during the war years, but it is not a high point in the series to me. More of a medium point. I do not know what happens in future volumes, but I am hoping Ebony returns. In either case I will continue to buy these until the entire series is completed. Eisner is just that important of a graphic story teller.