The DC Spirit - First Wave Part Two!

Following the mini-series The First Wave, The Spirit is awarded a second DC series which begins with a new number one. The first issue features an alternative cover by Mark Shultz who also writes the first three issues. Ladronn is the primary cover artist and does a magnificent job for most all of the series. The interior artist is Moritat who gives us a gritty but potent and atmospheric Central City, just right for crime. The Octopus is in this one but reimagined as the mysterious leader of eight crime families. The tone is more serious as The Spirit must fight for his life and the lives of his allies. In this one Ebony White is reimagined as a woman, a tough and sassy young lady who gives as good as she gets. The Spirit is also assisted by a what I dub the "Central City Irregulars", a gang of street kids who feed him info. Commissioner Dolan is presented as somewhat more corrupt police man but one finds his way in a dangerous environment. Ellen is present and empowered as well. 

David Hine takes over as the writer and remains steadfast alongside the artists for most of the run. We get some hard-hitting stories about drugs and their deadly effects. 

In the first nine issues of this run each issue also included an black and white short story back-up by a wide range of talents including writers Denny O'Neil, Harlan Ellison, Michael Uslan, Marv Wolfman, David Lapham, Brian Azzarello, Jan Strnad, Walter Simonson, and Paul Dini. The artists were Bill Sienkiewicz, Kyle Baker, Justiniano, Phil Winslade, Mike Kaluta, Eduardo Risso, Rich Corben, Jordi Bernet, and Mike Ploog. 

Hine and Moritat continue with their ongoing saga of The Spirit's battle against The Octopus gangs. The mystery of the Octopus is never solved though, and I guess we'll just have to live with that. 

Matthew Sturges and Victor Ibanez step in for one issue which offers up a light-hearted romp all about the tragic death of a cartoonist and original art. 

John Paul Leon steps in on the art for the penultimate issue. 

The final issue features a trio of short stories in black and white by writers Howard Chaykin, Paul Levitz, and Will Pfeifer. The artists are Brian Bolland, P. Craig Russell and Jose Luis-Garcia Lopez. The comic looks magnificent. 

I'm not aware that any of these issues were ever offered up in trades, but they should be. The black and white stories would make for a true-blue all-star offering of some great Spirit stories. And that wraps up The Spirit's stay at DC in new stories with a single exception produced in conjunction with IDW. But more on that later. 

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The DC Spirit - Darwyn Cooke!

When DC was finally able to move forward in 2007 with new adventures of The Spirit they picked Darwyn Cooke to take up the challenge of continuing Will Eisner's magnificent creation. It was a superb choice as Cooke's animated-inspired style blended nicely a noir feel with a modern sense of comics storytelling. 

They kicked off the series with a booster when they crossed over The Spirit with Batman in a Cooke-drawn one-shot. Jeph Loeb wrote this roller-coaster story which featured not only the two heroes but most of both of their rogue galleries who had joined forces during a convention to do away with the twin heroes. 

The series proper began with an updated setting. This was a modern but weary Central City in which The Spirit still battled the baddies with the help of Ebony White (redesigned to remove his stereotypical aspects). Ebony was shown as a sharp assistant, who helped the out-of-step Spirit with modern technology such as cellphones and other aspects of the information age. J. Bone was tapped to ink Cooke's stylish pencils which in the tradition of Eisner played with the storytelling. Ellen Dolan was the love interest, though it's made clear she loves Denny Colt. We are also introduced to a new savvy female television reporter named Ginger Coffee. 

P'Gell makes an appearance and is up to her usual attempts to come by wealth through a bit of romance and a bit of criminality. 

The Spirit's origin is slightly revised to include a hood named Elvarro Mortez who ended up with Denny Colt immersed in Doctor Cobra's weird suspended-animation solution. Whereas Colt was put into a crypt and so was able to get free of his internment, Mortez had a more cruel resurrection. This story formed a spine which flowed in the background of the many of the stories going forward. 

Silk Satin returns, but this time she is made a member of the C.I.A. and Homeland Security and is a very capable ally. 

Cooke was all too ready to play with the graphics, well within the tradition that Eisner had established decades before. 

Cooke supplies the cover for the "Summer Special" but we get stories by Walt Simonson and Chris Sprouse, Jimmy Palmiotti and Jordi Bernet, and Kyle Baker. Truth told, The Spirit always seems more at home in these shorter stories. 

The Octopus also returns, as mysterious but perhaps even more deadly. This Octopus does not play around nor seems particularly entertained by The Spirit's shenanigans. 

Cooke gives us some fantastic and sharp satire when he looks at the landscape of television news shows which have become hotbeds of misinformation and so put the society at large at risk. Something we are contending with even more today. 

The Mortez storyline comes to a finish when a horde of zombies descend on Central City and it's up to our hero and his friends to save the day. It's a very close thing. 

Cooke wraps up his run on the series with a fantastic retelling of the Sand Saref story, giving it a modern polish while staying very true to Eisner's original intent. 

Cooke leaves off with the cover for the thirteenth issue which is a Christmas issue. Inside we get a Halloween story by writer Glen David Gold and artist Edwardo Risso, another story by Denny O'Neil and artist Ty Templeton, and a third by Gail Simone and Phil Hester. 

Darwyn Cooke was a top-flight choice to create some fun but still engaging Spirit stories. He created a continuity which alas would largely be ignored by the talents who followed him. His act was a strong one indeed. 

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