The Christmas Spirit!

The Christmas Spirit is a collection published by Kitchen Sink and gathers up Eisner's holiday tales. The gimmick is that during this singular holiday, The Spirit can take a break as a greater spirit takes over and works its tiny miracles. Eisner began these stories in his very first year on the strip and continued them right up until he was drafted. After his return they began again, creating some of the best stories from the venerated series. Below are the splash pages for the stories in this collection. 

"Joy" was written and illustrated by Will Eisner for the December 21st, 1947 installment of The Spirit Section. By this time, Eisner had produced many "Christmas Spirits" as these stories were dubbed, but this one was different. It's presented as text on single panels. Always an innovator, Eisner's technique here is exquisite and typically the story is full of character and spark. In a mere seven pages Eisner unfolds a modern fable, a tale of child who finds the land of his dreams.

This was the very first Spirit story reprinted by Warren Magazines in Eerie #54. It's a very odd choice, since it's so atypical of a standard Spirit story. Certainly, folks seeing The Spirit for the very first time must've been quite surprised by subsequent tales which hewed closer to standard comics format. Jerry Grandenetti is credited with the backgrounds on this story. Abe Kanegson did the lettering. This version has lush colors by Rich Corben.

"Joy" is just that, a story to fill your heart with the proper seasonal feeling. Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. Thanks for stopping by.

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