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The Spirit Archives #17
The Spirit Archives, Vol. 17
Collects stories from classic Spirit adventures in which a murdered detective fights crime from beyond the grave.
- GenresComicsComic Book
196 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1947
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About the author
Will Eisner
761 books534 followersWilliam Erwin Eisner was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series The Spirit (1940–1952) was noted for its experiments in content and form. In 1978, he popularized the term "graphic novel" with the publication of his book A Contract with God. He was an early contributor to formal comics studies with his book Comics and Sequential Art (1985). The Eisner Award was named in his honor and is given to recognize achievements each year in the comics medium; he was one of the three inaugural inductees to the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 25, 2019
Note: This rating takes into account the Ebony White problem, which I have discussed elsewhere. As I discussed in my review of the previous volume, it is obvious that by the end of 1948 Eisner was phasing Ebony out of the strip (I think he might appear only three or four times in this volume) but he is still here, and still a stereotypical representation of a black minstrel. This review takes in account how I would feel about the volume if there wasn't an "Ebony White problem", but as you will soon read, African-Americans aren't the only group that Eisner presented in a stereotypical and demeaning way. If you feel that my review is invalidated by not considering "the Ebony White problem" that is completely fair.
As someone who has been reading through the complete Spirit Archives (with the exception of Vol. 10...I need to actually go to the library to read that one and it's from the era when Eisner was in the army and the strip was ghost-written and the quality took a hit), it's been obvious that once Will Eisner re-assumed control of The Spirit in late December 1945, he was working at a level where the quality of his work was surpassing that of his peers. However, even the best storytellers will trip up from time to time, and unfortunately, while I knew it was coming, I'm sad that it happened.
I'm not sure if I should talk about the stuff that bothered me that could be shrugged off as being superfluous, or the thing that really bothered me. Let's do the superfluous stuff first. When reading Will Eisner, and knowing that he considered the story to be the most important part of his comics, it's a bit disappointing that two of the strips in this volume are adaptations of the works of Ambrose Bierce and Edgar Allan Poe. I remember that when I was reading Creepy my least favorite strips were always the adaptations of someone else's work. I viewed adaptations like I view a band that does nothing but covers. To me, artistic expression, be it written, drawn or musical, is at its best when it is an original expression of artistic production. If you are going to tell me how good Will Eisner or Archie Goodwin were as comics writers, I want to see what they produce, not Poe (who I consider seriously overrated) through their prism. In addition, this volume contains a "wrap up" strip of the previous year's strips. I think we can all agree that "clip shows" on television are the worst episodes of a series, and trust me when I tell you that the comic version is no better.
But the thing that really bothered me about this volume is a strip where a criminal escapes into the mountains after coming into a fortune in ill-gotten gold in the strip before. Hungry and thirsty, the criminal, Quaife (I think that's his name) runs into a Native American who is seeking help. Quaife, being an asshole, refuses--at which point the Native American (dressed in stereotypical "Indian" clothes) places a curse on Quaife that eventually leads to the outlaw's death. As if the "curse" wasn't bad enough, the first moment we see the Native American, he greets Quaife with a stereotypical greeting of "How" and frankly I just cringed. As I argued in my discussion of the "Ebony White problem" I have a feeling that Eisner likely was not conscious of his choice of putting a black minstrel in his comic--as Robin DiAngelo explains in her book White Fragility , whites are so socialized to not consider race that often they don't, and given Eisner's times, it is likely this is the case. This does not excuse it. And the fact is that the moment I saw it, I knew how it would play out and frankly that bothered me. I understand that it is the result of essentially a different time, but as I have noted, by 1949, Eisner phased Ebony White out of the strip. So at some level he knew. This does not invalidate Eisner's abilities as a storyteller in total, but it would be so much easier to to enjoy The Spirit if this shit didn't happen often. But it does.
As someone who has been reading through the complete Spirit Archives (with the exception of Vol. 10...I need to actually go to the library to read that one and it's from the era when Eisner was in the army and the strip was ghost-written and the quality took a hit), it's been obvious that once Will Eisner re-assumed control of The Spirit in late December 1945, he was working at a level where the quality of his work was surpassing that of his peers. However, even the best storytellers will trip up from time to time, and unfortunately, while I knew it was coming, I'm sad that it happened.
I'm not sure if I should talk about the stuff that bothered me that could be shrugged off as being superfluous, or the thing that really bothered me. Let's do the superfluous stuff first. When reading Will Eisner, and knowing that he considered the story to be the most important part of his comics, it's a bit disappointing that two of the strips in this volume are adaptations of the works of Ambrose Bierce and Edgar Allan Poe. I remember that when I was reading Creepy my least favorite strips were always the adaptations of someone else's work. I viewed adaptations like I view a band that does nothing but covers. To me, artistic expression, be it written, drawn or musical, is at its best when it is an original expression of artistic production. If you are going to tell me how good Will Eisner or Archie Goodwin were as comics writers, I want to see what they produce, not Poe (who I consider seriously overrated) through their prism. In addition, this volume contains a "wrap up" strip of the previous year's strips. I think we can all agree that "clip shows" on television are the worst episodes of a series, and trust me when I tell you that the comic version is no better.
But the thing that really bothered me about this volume is a strip where a criminal escapes into the mountains after coming into a fortune in ill-gotten gold in the strip before. Hungry and thirsty, the criminal, Quaife (I think that's his name) runs into a Native American who is seeking help. Quaife, being an asshole, refuses--at which point the Native American (dressed in stereotypical "Indian" clothes) places a curse on Quaife that eventually leads to the outlaw's death. As if the "curse" wasn't bad enough, the first moment we see the Native American, he greets Quaife with a stereotypical greeting of "How" and frankly I just cringed. As I argued in my discussion of the "Ebony White problem" I have a feeling that Eisner likely was not conscious of his choice of putting a black minstrel in his comic--as Robin DiAngelo explains in her book White Fragility , whites are so socialized to not consider race that often they don't, and given Eisner's times, it is likely this is the case. This does not excuse it. And the fact is that the moment I saw it, I knew how it would play out and frankly that bothered me. I understand that it is the result of essentially a different time, but as I have noted, by 1949, Eisner phased Ebony White out of the strip. So at some level he knew. This does not invalidate Eisner's abilities as a storyteller in total, but it would be so much easier to to enjoy The Spirit if this shit didn't happen often. But it does.
May 21, 2022
These were many of the stories that made me a fan when Warren publishing started their magazine reprints. I didn’t have the funds when these archives were first published, but I’ll gather them slowly now.
March 21, 2018
Still great stuff. What more can I say about Eisner and the Spirit at this point?
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October 5, 2024again not the exact edition that i read but this is the closest one on here so
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews