The Spirit Archives Volume Twenty-Seven!

Following on after DC's long run of The Spirit archive editions, Dark Horse Books in conjunction with longtime Kitchen Sink owner Denis Kitchen put out a twenty-seventh volume in the style of the DC books which gathered together the nine issues of The Spirit - The New Adventures. After many years of trying to talk Eisner into allowing other creators to play with The Spirit's universe, he at last convinced him of the idea in 1998. Some of the best comic men of the time took a dip in those Central City waters. 

The debut issue of The Spirit - The New Adventures features three tales by the super-star team of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, who also produced the cover. "The Most Important Meal" features Dr. Cobra who tells his origin story. "Force of Arms" offers up a possible clue to the identity of The Octopus. And the final story "Gossip and Gertrude Granch" tells us what really happened to Dr. Cobra's muscle-bound assistant. These stories all are connected in strange ways with that subtle Moore magic. 

The second issue offers up a cover by Will Eisner Mark Shultz. Under it is "The Return of Mink Stole" by Neil Gaiman and artist Eddie Campbell and combines a Spirit story with one torn from the realm of Quentin Tarrantino which propels a timid writer into a shady story of theft and more. "Sunday in the Part with St. George" by Jim Vance and artist Dan Burr has The Spirit race to the aid of a woman dangling from a flagpole where he meets an old enemy. "The Sphinx the Jinx in the Game of Life" by John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra features a hapless chap just released from jail but doomed by fate to return. 

The third issue features a striking cover by Brian Bolland. The first story "Last Night I Dreamed of Dr. Cobra" by writer Alan Moore and artist Daniel Torres is a strange affair set in a distant future in which Central City is the site of an archeological endeavor and in which strange discoveries are made. "Ellen's Stalker" by Mark Kneece and artist Bo Hampton features Ellen Dolan when she is at first saved then pursued by a man who imitates the look of The Spirit. 

The fourth issue sports another new cover by Will Eisner, this time with the assistance of William Stout. "The Samovar of Shooshnipoor" was written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by his partner on Astro City Brent Anderson. It features Sand Saref in a tale in which she tries yet again to manipulate The Spirit in a bid to gain riches. This issue also has a pin-up by Moebius of The Spirit looking a lot like Humphrey Bogart. "The Weapon by Michael Allred, Matt Brundage and Michael Avon Oeming has The Spirit fighting Nazis and their robot allies on the docks of Central City. "Dr. Broca Von Bitelman" by Mark Schultz and artist David Lloyd features Satin and a mad doctor and his deadly "Super-Beetles". 

The fifth issue features a cover by Paul Chadwick and John Nyberg and is a key scene from the issue-length story titled "Cursed Beauty" by the same team. This one deals with a gorgeous woman who leaves the scene of a murder naked save for a barely concealing overcoat. There are lots of twists and turns in this story which also showcases Ebony White in a key role. 

The sixth issue features a gritty cover by Tim Bradstreet. The first story titled "Swami Vashtibubu" was written by John Ostrander and drawn by Tom Mandrake, and has The Spirit go around in drag to knab a gang of fraudsters led by a murderous couple. "Baby Eichbergh" by Scott Hampton on both script (with assistance by Mark Kneece) and art tells of a terrible kidnapping which features a strange quartet of good Samaritans. 

The seventh issue features a cover by Peter Poplaski. Under it is a story titled "Golf Anyone?" in which Commissioner Dolan cajoles The Spirit onto the links for a game to relax him, but of course that only ends in the duo finding more crimes to solve. A long-missing cast member shows up unexpectedly. "The Pacifist" was written by Eddie Campbell and Marcus Moore and drawn by Campbell and Pete Mullins and tells the tale of a bullet with ambitions beyond that for which it created. "The Ghost of Tiger Traps" written by Jay Stephens and drawn by Paul Pope features a trio of boys including Sammy and P.S. Smith as they try to get to the bottom of a notorious gangster who seems to rise from his grave. 

In the final issue we get a cover by Mark Nelson. The story "Sweetheart" was written by Joe R. Lansdale and drawn by John Lucas. This issue-long adventure features a naked woman who refuses to stay dead and in the morgue despite repeated attempts. It's a ghoulish ending to a strange series which seemed to want to update The Spirit for a modern audience. 

In a later edition of this same volume put out by Dark Horse a story originally intended for the series by Gary Chaloner was added. In the meantime, Chaloner had adapted it in his John Law edition reversing the order of things with the epic Sand Saref tale from so long ago.  

There are lots of very good stories in this volume and I recommend it. But if you're looking for the same jolt you got from those classic Eisner tales, beware as the creators here go off the reservation as they should have done when given the okay. Eisner only limited them in two ways -- The Spirit could not be married nor could he be killed. As we've learned killing The Spirit is virtually impossible. It's been fantastic this past year reading these classic tales. I'll have wee bit more to say on this year-long odyssey later. 

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Night Raven - From The Marvel UK Vaults!

Where Brooding Darkness 

Spreads Its Evil Wings 

The Night Raven Stings!

That is the mysterious and ominous message left by Night Raven after he's put an end to some injustice he comes across in his nightly patrols in the big city. It's the olden times of crime run wild in the streets as honest men and women must pay protection to keep the wolves from their throats. Extortionists, robbers and murderers prowl the night, but they are not alone. The Night Raven is an avenger in the style of the classic pulp heroes who hidden behind his mask stalks the villainy that makes civilized life so difficult. His adventures are gathered together in Night Raven - From the UK Vaults. 

Created by Dez Skinn, the character's adventures were written by Steve Parkhouse and drawn by David Lloyd. Lloyd had yet to create his masterpiece V for Vendetta when this strip started in the back pages of Hulk Comic in 1979. The stories are short punchy events told in three-page snapshots. In the earliest yarns the Night Raven, who is given no origin nor any secret identity, puts stop to gangsters seeking them out in their haunts as they play cards or hide. He hunts them down when they try to run protection scams on innocent shopkeepers and murder to enforce their terror. In later tales he is hunted down by a paid assassin but is able to win the day barely in the end. Lloyd drew all these tales, but artist John Bolton takes over when Night Raven goes up against a "Dragon Lady" and her deadly Tong. As masterful as Bolton is, Lloyd's version of the character is definitive to my eye. Borrowing shtick from the pulp hero The Spider (slapping deadly brands on the foreheads of criminals), this comic book character is in the grand tradition of The Shadow. 

I first read the adventures of Night Raven in the 1990 Marvel Graphic Novel which gathered his first adventures from the pages of Hulk Comic numbers one through twenty. It's a slim read, coming in at a mere sixty pages. Since that time a new graphic novel has been created as well as other appearances of Night Raven as a guest star. But this is clearly a character who works best in his original milieu, the savage streets of a city writhing with crime. 

I didn't really have much of an idea what had happened to the Night Raven in the prose pages of many British publications. The idea of a comic was abandoned and driving right the roots of the character, his nightly adventures were presented in prose form with spot illustrations. These are grity stories, deep in character. Stories are told form multiple viewpoints, almost never Night Raven's. We see his deadly struggle against crime as things get more brutal. We learn that he is poisoned by his arch-enemy but that the poison also gives him immortality but at the cost of immense pain. We follow Night Raven through the decades, as he struggles to keep his sanity and fulfill his mission. There are stories by the likes of Alan Moore and Jamie Delano, among others. These were of surprising quality as I'm used to dismissing text in comics, but here are solid noir tales that would've been welcomed in many a pulp magazine back in the day. 

I came to this collection because of the great comics, but I recommend it mostly now because of the outstanding short stories. 

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The British Are Coming!

"The British are coming! The British are coming!" Most American learn that in grade school in their earliest lessons about the American Revolution. We listen to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and that cements the myth. Most likely Revere didn't say that, but what the heck, it's a good story. (At least from the Amercian perspective.) And good stories are what's up here at the Dojo this January, and they all are either created by Brits or are set in Britain in some way. I know several of my regular readers are British and I expect to be taken to task for getting some things wrong. Help a meager colonial out fellows when you can. This first month of 2023 the British are here. 

Below are some of the wonders I hope to cover during this frosty month. 

Miracleman is the recreation which was launched (like V for Vendetta) in the pages of Dez Skinn's Warrior magazine in the early 80'a. This is Moore's quite vivid and compelling reimagining of the characters Marvel Man and his extended family which was itself a British take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family developed when the latter ceased to be published but the British audience wanted more. These comics come with "Mature Content" labels for good reason. This features the artwork of great talents like Garry Leach and Alan Davis among others. 

British comics don't come much tougher than Judge Dredd, the breakout star of 2000AD. I'm reading Dredd's earliest yarns, and I hope to rewatch the two Dredd movies. They are very different as most already know.  One is really good, and one is really not. 

Another dark character is Night Raven. Created by Steve Parkhouse and David Lloyd, this enemy of organized crime serves quite well as a precursor of sorts to the later V for Vendetta. I not only have the collected comic vignettes, but here are copious text stories featuring this pulp-inspired enemy of evil. 

Marvel had a unit in Britian knocking out comics on a weekly basis, and in an attempt to add some specific new British content to the mix the word went down to create Captain Britain. I've always had a soft spot for the vintage, red-costumed Britian and the stories written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Herb Trimpe have a zest which is undeniable. 

The original British hero from Marvel was the Black Knight by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely. I adore these stories, gems of 50's storytelling from those halcyon Atlas days before the Marvel Age descended upon us all. The Black Knight is a part of the Marvel mythos and has even shown up in recent movies. I hope to see much more of him there. 

Supermarionation is a mouthful, but it describes the exceedingly strange but exceedingly entertaining work of Gerry Anderson and his team who take puppets and make heroes out of them. There's a delightful goofiness to these 60's and 70's efforts which give them charm which exceeds their narrative limitations. I hope to review all five of the core series in order and a few movies besides. 

And I want to close out the month of January with a look at Night Raven, a British pulp hero. Night Raven had some dandy comic adventures drawn by David Lloyd and later by John Bolton. But the majority of Night Raven adventures, grim and dark are actually pulp stories by the likes of Jamie Delano and even Alan Moore. 

All this and whatever else I can shove in is coming in January. Hang on to your MopTops amigos as it's British Invasion month at the Dojo! 

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V For Vendetta!

I do believe that I will make reading V for Vendetta an annual event. I was very much taken with my most recent reading of this dystopian comics classic. The world it envisages of a fascist state established as a result of fear strikes very close to home these days. Demagogues are amongst us always but for some reason their bellows of hate and rage have found purchase in the minds of too many of my fellow Americans. Our best instincts are being blunted by idiots who are all sound and fury, but that seems alas to be enough for many. 

V for Vendetta is in my estimation Alan Moore's finest work. I know that Watchmen gets enormous attention and deservedly so, but it's always been this more relentlessly somber tale that's captured my fancy first and foremost. Perhaps it's because it all seems so exceedingly real. V for Vendetta first ran in the magazine Warrior, where Moore partnered with David Lloyd created a dour vision of Britain run by Fascists and standing up to them was only a single man who refused to be just a man and instead became a symbol of revolution.

The story survives because it found a home at DC Comics where thanks to the success of Watchmen, it has remained in print. I prefer it, but I think it doubtful this dour tale of a dark tomorrow would be so readily available if Alan Moore wasn't such a bankable name.

Despite the fact that Moore wouldn't put his name on the film version, the movie is exceedingly entertaining, if a bit more hyperbolic than the relentless comic story. But those are variations I think fitting to the form. V for Vendetta was written many years ago when it seemed that regressive forces were seizing command of both British and American society, a retrograde movement which fought against the future, a future filled with the promise of greater liberties for a broader range of peoples. 

The story is about staying true to one's self when doing so is not just upsetting but possibly dangerous. Dangerous times are on us again alas and the words about Guy Fawkes have a resonance in these grim times. 

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot:

I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

In these dystopic times, when leaders lie with abandon and plunder with little opposition, it might be moment indeed to reflect on such Second Amendment remedies. I don't recommend such drastic action, but we must always remember we are the masters of our own thoughts and so our own deeds. Two plus two is four and must ever be so. As the story tells us, the "last inch" of our freedom is our own integrity to know what truth is and hold fast to it. 

More thoughts after this handsome cover gallery. 

Despite the election and installation of a new President a year ago there has been no full repudiation of the behavior of the previous four years. We have not turned aside the hateful rhetoric and behavior of leaders intent on making "America Great Again" or to turn it on its head "America White Again". That's really what it's about in the rough and tumble, a longstanding racism which permeates American culture and always has done since the very birth of the nation. 

Even open violent attacks on bedrock democratic institutions in the light of day are diminished by some rabble rousers as merely "political rhetoric". Perhaps these folks imagine they operate in the tradition of V, but they attack our institutions not to afflict the powerful but to abet them in their crimes.  Demographics will eventually change the destiny of this land, but alas this pitiful land will go kicking and mewling into that future.  

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