SUPERHERO

With his domino mask, blue suit, red tie, blue fedora hat and gloves, Denny Colt aka The Spirit was what one newspaper in the 1940s referred to ‘the only real middle-class crimefighter’.

Created in 1940 for a strip in a Sunday newspaper by pioneering comics writer and artist Eisner, The Spirit did not find his spirit until Eisner returned from service in World War II (decent but uninspiring ghost writers kept the strip going in his absence).

This selection of ‘action, murder, mystery’ released in the media hullabaloo of Frank Miller’s new film adaptation of some of the Eisner-penned Spirit adventures is a good place to start for those unfamiliar with the iconic superhero.

For the sake of context, 1940’s ‘The Origin of the Spirit’ is printed here and looks fairly ropey alongside the sophistication and singular wit of what follows.