Customer Reviews

Spirit Archives, Volume 5

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

 

 

Some corrections need to be made to some of the other reviews of Spirit Archives. All the stories in volume 5 up to the end of August were written and laid out by Eisner, who also probably did some pencils, and perhaps even a little inking. Most of the penciling was done by Lou Fine and inks were by Fine and various assistants. The excellent and visually stunning story of August 23, 1942 was scripted and pencilled by Eisner and inked by Fine, who also signed his name in the last panel, the only time he signed a Spirit story. It is as good as anything Eisner did before the post-war period. Manly Wade Wellman wrote the next 3 stories and also the October 18 story and these 4 were penciled by Fine and inked by John Belfi. Eisner also wrote and did layouts for the remaining stories through November 8 plus the December 13 story and his hand is clearly present in the art. Other stories were written by Wellman or Bill Woolfolk, penciled by Fine and inked by various staff artists at Quality Comics. So there are 10 stories out of 26 that Eisner didn't have anything to do with, but they were done by talented writers and artists who hadn't yet become jaded with the chore, something that seems to me had happened by two years later. So don't pass on this volume. There is some truly excellent writing and art by Eisner here. If you liked the first 4 volumes, you are going to like this. If you like Eisner, this is not to be missed.

Comprehensive writing and art credits for the whole run of the Spirit, unfortunately lacking in the Archives themselves, are available on the internet.

I just want to correct a previous reviewer. According to Cat Yronwood's Spirit Checklist, Will Eisner did the scripts and layouts for 20 of the 26 stories in this volume, with the finish art being completed by Lou Fine and other Quality Comics staff. The bulk of this volume is Eisner and a must have.

They have the Eisner award for a reason. Here is the best place to see it. This series is fantastic!! Buy one you will want them all.

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.

This book covers The Spirit Sunday comic strip from July, 1942 to December, 1942. Spirit creator Will Eisner had been inducted into the Army in May of 1942, so he didn't draw any of the comics here. He managed to contribute a few scripts, but not too many. Scripts were written by Manly Wade Wellman, Alfred Bester, William Woolfolk and possibly others. Most of the artwork was handled by Lou Fine, who was no Will Eisner, but was a great artist in his own right. While this is not the best of The Spirit, it was still one of the best "masked crimefighter" comics of the time period.