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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Kitchen Sink Press!

The Spirit was popular and well-remembered by fans of the 40's and 50's comic, but its place was cemented by the copious reprints over the decades. Many folks have reprinted Spirit stories, such as Harvey Comics, DC Comics, and Warren Magazines, but no publisher did more to promote the character and in doing so promote the work of Will Eisner than did Kitchen Sink Press operated by Denis Kitchen. Kitchen Sink produced the two "Underground Spirits" in the early 70's and later was on hand to pick up the reins after Warren let go, even maintaining the numbering of the magazine series. Eventually Kitchen Sink became the go-to place for old Eisner material as well as new, and even quite a bit of scholarship about the Spirit by Cat Yronwode. The Spirit was Kitchen Sink's best seller for many years and arguably made the other projects possible. 

But through it all, Kitchen Sink was a publisher of underground and just barely above ground comics such as Snarf, Bizarre Sex, and XYZ Comics among others. The company produced hits such as Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and one of the sexiest comics ever in Omaha the Cat Dancer. It was the publisher of work by Don Simpson with his first hit Megaton Man and his later more personal Border Worlds. Kitchen Sink produced other vintage material such as Steve Canyon and Fearless Fosdick and Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book.  

Here is a brief cover gallery of some of the strange and wild stuff they produced. 

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Monster Comics - King Kong!

Under this luscious Dave Stevens cover is a wild and wooly adaptation of King Kong by Don Simpson for the Fantagraphics Monster Comics label. The Stevens cover is considerably more on the classic model than Simpson's art, but that's not necessarily a criticism. 

It is lively and true to the source material. While it's seemingly an adaptation of the novel like the 1968 Gold Key adaptation, I see elements, especially in the later chapters where the film version comes into play. The escape from Skull Mountain in particular feels like it's from the movie and not the novel, though given the way the rights to Kong have been divided over the decades I understand why they wanted to say it was the novel.

Don Simpson is a favorite artist of mine. His artwork is muscular and vivid, a nice mix for the mighty Kong. Having said that, his King Kong is a wee bit too cartoonish for my tastes. More of a character than the Gold Key adaptation in which he's a big bluish ape, this Kong is a personality through and through. That's good, but the face sometimes seems a bit too funny for the right scary effect.

Another thing is the update of the characterizations. Denham is more of an ass in this one, and Driscoll calls him out several times in the story. Driscoll here is a more modern man, less noble but no less brave. Ann Darrow's plight is undermined a bit by her becoming aware of Driscoll's attempt at rescue much sooner, thus limiting her isolated time with Kong, and the horror that isolation instilled. 

Simpson is known for his babes, and he draws Ann here as one. She's sexy, but not as much the innocent as in the other versions I've seen. I have less empathy for the humans in this version and more for Kong, and perhaps that was Simpson's intent. His Kong might seem a bit goofy looking for some fans, but looking at the original film it's easy to see where Simpson derived his expressions. 

The NYC stuff is very good, and the ending is abrupt, but then so it is in the original. Actually, the pacing of this one hundred-and-thirty-five-page adaptation is hurt a bit by the way it's spread over six issues, one too many I'd reckon. The first chapter runs thirty-five pages and gets the action all the way to Skull Island and introduces Kong. Then we get four issues of the chase and escape in the jungle followed by a single issue dedicated to the New York events. This is a solid adaptation by an excellent talent. 

Still the outstanding covers for the series not only by Dave Stevens but also by Mark Schultz, Bill Stout, Ken Steacy, and Al Williamson are superb.

(Mark Schultz)

(William Stout)

(William Stout)

(Mark Schultz and Al Williamson)

(Ken Steacy)

This story has never been collected to my knowledge. If you want to read it, you have to hunt up the original issues. Collections weren't as frequent in the early 90's as they are today, but then one wonders why this has not been collected by someone in the intervening three decades. If the King Kong folks were unhappy with it, I've never run across that information. I'd love to know. 

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The Coming Of Conan The Cimmerian!

As can be evidenced by many a post here, one of my favorite characters is Conan the Barbarian. I was the ideal age when the Marvel comic hit the stands and almost at the same time or even perhaps before (I forget) I found a copy of Lancer's Conan the Conqueror in my local library. Since then I've read and followed the creation of Robert E. Howard here and there and most everywhere.

When I first got hold of Ballantine's trade paperback edition The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, I was most pleased the stories were presented in the order in which Howard created the stories. I've never read them in this fashion, so it's been fascinating to watch the development of the character as Howard came to fully realize the aspects of the character which he claims came to him almost unbidden and demanded the stories be told. It's a great yarn, but these collections reveal that Conan is the product of a professional writer who is trying to make a sale in tough economic times and casting about for a formula which will win over his reluctant editors.

These earliest Conan stories showcase the barbaric hero as an seasoned adult in "The Phoenix on the Sword", a story of his kingship in Aquilonia derived from an unsold Kull story title "By This Axe I Rule", or a callow and reckless youth fighting in the far North as a mercenary who encounters a goddess and her bloody brothers in "The Frost Giant's Daughter". This latter story along with "The God in the Bowl" did not sell for Howard, but he did find a sale with "The Tower of the Elephant", a story of Conan's thieving days in Zamora which firmly established the character as something of a hit for Weird Tales. This was soon followed by "The Scarlet Citadel", another sweeping story of Conan as king which would later inform the only Conan novel. "Queen of the Black Coast" shows us Conan the freebooter who finds true love in the warrior goddess Belit, a story which showed the true potential for the character. "Black Colossus" is a trim Conan story, now an established character finding the sure-footed barbarian battling black magic in remote parts of Hyboria.

What followed are a trio of tales written in quick succession which establish a formula for Conan which include remote ruins, barely-dressed babes, and creepy magical monsters. "Iron Shadows in the Moon", "Xuthal of the Dusk", and " Pool of the Black One" are rip-snorters, but rather predictable stories with some dandy moments. "Rouges in the House" offers up a vivid portrayal with Conan getting side characters worthy of him and a most memorable monster to battle. "Vale of the Lost Women" and "The Devil in Iron" finish off this collection in fine form. Conan is firmly established, and Weird Tales has an ample supply. Howard has a bonafide hit on his hands.

This volume has some dandy behind-the-scenes documents, drafts, and such which show how Conan came to be, the result of work and some inspiration, not the more mythic origin Howard sometimes touted. We see really in this volume how one of the iconic heroes of the modern culture came to be.

The artwork in this volume by Mark Schultz is vivid and enhances the pure pulp feel of many of the stories. 

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