The Spirit Archives, Vol. 3: July 6 - December 28, 1941 [Hardcover]

Will Eisner (Author)

Book Description

Series: Spirit Archives | Publication Date: January 1, 2001

Continuing the comprehensive and chronological reprinting of Will Eisner's most famous creation, the Spirit, this full-color hardcover edition contains the Sunday strips that originally appeared in newspapers from July 6 - December 28, 1941. Reflecting the current affairs of World War II, the Spirit joins the fight against real world evil as he travels to Damascus and goes up against Nazi spies in occupied France. Also included in this volume are the returns of Silk Satin, Dusk, and the Christmas Spirit.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563896761
• ISBN-13: 978-1563896767
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 0.9 x 10.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #139,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

WILL EISNER was born William Erwin Eisner on March 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. By the time of his death on January 3, 2005, Will Eisner was recognized internationally as one of the giants in the field of sequential art, a term he coined.

In a career that spanned nearly eight decades -- from the dawn of the comic book to the advent of digital comics - Will Eisner was truly the 'Orson Welles of comics' and the 'father of the Graphic Novel'. He broke new ground in the development of visual narrative and the language of comics and was the creator of The Spirit, John Law, Lady Luck, Mr. Mystic, Uncle Sam, Blackhawk, Sheena and countless others.

During World War II, Will Eisner used the comic format to develop training and equipment maintenance manuals for the US Army. After the war this continued as the Army's "PS Magazine" which is still being produced today. Will Eisner taught Sequential Arts at the New York School of Visual Arts. The textbooks that he wrote based on his course are still bestsellers. In 1978, Will Eisner wrote "A Contract with God," the first modern Graphic Novel. This was followed by almost 20 additional graphic novels over the following 25 years.

The "Oscars" of the Comic Industry are called The Eisner Awards, and named after Will Eisner. The Eisners are presented annually before a packed ballroom at Comi-Con International in San Diego, America's largest comics convention.

Wizard magazine named Eisner "the most influential comic artist of all time." Michael Chabon's Pulitzer-prize winning novel "Kavalier and Clay" is based in good part on Eisner. In 2002, Eisner received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Federation for Jewish Culture, only the second such honor in the organization's history, presented by Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman.

You can always find more information about Will Eisner at www.willeisner.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A series on the verge of exploding into brilliance, May 13, 2001

By 

Steve Miller - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Spirit Archives, Vol. 3: July 6 - December 28, 1941 (Hardcover)

In the third volume of "Will Eisner's The Spirit Archive," the weekly Spirit stories from the "comic book section" newspaper supplements are almost at the point where they are truly masterpieces. In Vol. 4, we get to 1942 when all the elements finally congeal into the stories that still stand head and shoulders above most of the work being done in comics today, 60 years later. This volume is still not a 5-star effort, but it is an excellent read that is full of stories that holds up nicely six decades later

While Will Eisner's The Spirit has been reprinted multiple times over the decades, these DC volumes are the first time the series will be printed in proper order and in its entirety. It is fascinating to read these stories and watch as Eisner and his assistants find the format and styles that would make comic book history.

Although each 240-page volume sports a US$40 price tag, I think these are items that belong on the shelves of every aspiring comic book creator and any person who fancies themselves a serious fan of the artform. Will Eisner's 'Spirit' series is where much of what we consider the basics for good graphic story telling was first used.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where Eisner really begins to take off, May 11, 2003

By 

Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Spirit Archives, Vol. 3: July 6 - December 28, 1941 (Hardcover)

What's so astonishing about these stories is how variegated and simulatneously superb they were week after week after week--it's astonishing to think of Eisner generating not only such sophisticated and variegated material (almost no single story reads like any other--he changes the tone again and again and again, from sentimental to suspenseful to humorous to scary), but that he did so on a weekly basis. This collection shows him already at top form, and collects some of the most famous of all the SPIRIT stories, including "The Oldest Man in the World" (justly celebrated by Maggie Thompson in ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME) and "The Jewel of Death" (previously reprinted in Jules Feiffer's book on superhero comics).

Anyone interested in comics at all should buy these just to study Eisner's incredible storytelling technique: in just a few pages every week he could shorehorn in an amazing amount of material. His stories often show astonishing sophistication in narrative compression, and his use of sophiticated layouts and angles seems not just to be informed by film noir but actually to predate its greatest advances. Look, too, at how deftly he delineates character: the Spirit, Ellen, Commissioner Dolan, Satin, and Ebony (who is really the star of the strip at this point) are shown to have complex and multilayered personalities, far ahead of anything done before Eisner (or, some would even say, since).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage and vital..., March 29, 2005

By 

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Spirit Archives, Vol. 3: July 6 - December 28, 1941 (Hardcover)

This third volume in The Spirit Archives collects the comics from the second half of 1941. Despite what another reviewer says, Will Eisner was not yet in the army, and was still writing and drawing the feature. The Spirit would not reach it's peak until after World War II, but it was still head and shoulders above just about any other adventure strip at the time. Will Eisner, may he rest in peace, was one of the greatest cartoonists of all time. Highly recommended.