Spirit Archives: my personal POV

[JeffDyer]

I consider DC'S The Spirit Archives to be among the finest reprint collections in comics history. I remember going to antique shops and buying random issues of Kitchen Sink's black and white Spirit comic...which I adored, by the way. I always dreamed of owning the ENTIRE set of "The Spirit" and figured it would never happen. But then DC announced THE SPIRIT ARCHIVES!!

I was there the day Volume 1 came out. I snatched it up eagerly, having never read much of the Pre-WWII Spirit. It was, admittedly, rough in places but still filled with energy and very very fun. Then came "the lull" as I think of it- roughly Volumes 7-11, where the series was probably at its lowest ebb. I admit I struggled to read some of those volumes, but I still wanted to hang in there and have a complete set. Finally...Volume 12! Eisner returns, post WWII! This is when the true Golden Age of The Spirit began! (there were a couple stories at the end of Volume 11 which merely teased me along for the 12th volume).

Volumes 12-23 were stunning. Some of the greatest comics I've ever read in my life. Just wonderful stuff. I can't do them justice. If any of you out there haven't read these books, you simply must. Required reading I would say for all true comics fans.

A personal note: back in 2004 (I think) I emailed Denis Kitchen and asked if I could send my SPIRIT ARCHIVES Volume 1 to get it signed by Mr. Eisner. Mr. Kitchen (thankfully) obliged. I paid postage of course, mailed it off...and a couple weeks later the book came back to me...personally signed and even personalized. It reads "To Jeff- with great regard for your abiding interest...Will Eisner" on the title page of Volume 1.

Simply put, that is perhaps my most cherished book in my entire collection. Thanks, Denis Kitchen! And of course...thanks, Will Eisner!

DC did a wonderful job on THE SPIRIT ARCHIVES, from Volume 1 to Volume 26. It was fun to read all the more recent stuff. I also picked up Volume 27, the "final final" volume with the New Adventures. Obviously, it's a different thing altogether, but still enjoyable.

So now it's done. All 27 volumes. What an amazing accomplishment! Thanks for letting me ramble on about this wonderful series of books!

Jeff

[jugyan]

Hi Jeff...
Man, am I burning! You've got some cajones to get it up and send out for one of what surely must be one of Willy's last john hancocks. WOW!
I love the Spirit as much as you, and though that signature might well be worth a pretty penny, if I were you I would keep it till the day I passed.
What a souvenir, and good on you for being gutsy enough to ask and get it from the legend himself!
I went through what you did in the thrill and chase of tracking down the old b&w Spirits. I spent many a trip in comic dungeons in New York City in the nineties fulfilling my quest. Now that I have a family with little butts to wipe and diapers to change, I finished off the Kitchen Sink list with help from Ebay and the internet...But some of my sweetest issues are those got on the prowl in the Big Apple ten or more years ago...GREAT STUFF!
Keep writing on this site! Any more stories? Your tales and commentary are very welcome here. Calum and I could use someone to shake us up a little bit!
Nice to have you!

[JeffDyer]

Hi again!

Yeah, Spirit Archives 1 signed by Eisner will never part from my collection, God willing.
I kept that email from Mr. Kitchen because I'm a comic geek. Anyway, I just went back and checked. I emailed Denis requesting the Eisner autograph on April 28, 2004. I know I sent the book to Denis almost immediately after he said yes. I got the book back, presumably in early to mid May 2004. And 7-8 months later, Mr. Eisner left us.

I actually met (briefly) Will Eisner at Chicago Comic Con in, I think, 1995 or 1996. He was a guest of honor. I got Spirit Casebook signed personally by him, when I ran into him (not literally!) on the convention floor. Also attended Will's discussion on his illustrious career. Wish I could remember more of what he said.

Finally, I have an Eisner pencil sketch of the Spirit. Bought it off eBay.

This is a GREAT site, by the way! I didn't know about it until yesterday, when Mr. Kitchen pointed me in this direction.

Take care!
Jeff

[Calum]

hi Jeff, yes, i have exactly the same attitude as you, and i agree about your preference of which Spirit material is best too. I've even gone so far as to avoid books 6 through 10 on that basis!

Now, one thing you could do for me Jeff is detail what is actually inside the final volume please, and what state it is in. ie: does it have the whole Outer Space Spirit? Does it include the final unfinished scripts and breakdowns that were serialised in the Kitchen Sink magazines? I'd love for all that to be in one book. Does it contain the 1963 Spirit that was published in Alter Ego magazine (i bought the Alter Ego reprint book, purely for the five pages of Spirit, only to find they had been omitted due to DC's plans to include them in an archive book)? What else does it have? I already have the two Harvey issues, but it might be nice to have the Harvey non-reprint Spirit material in a proper book as well... What does volume 26 have actually? Any interesting stuff in there? I believe it was going to be the final volume originally, no?

[JeffDyer]

Sorry I'm so late with this- I don't have the book in front of me, but here's my best recollection of the contents:

It's divided by decade- starting with notes on a final unpublished Spirit story.

There are a few short stories from the 1960s.

There are TONS of covers.

There are posters and such.

There is the Eisner part of the Spirit Jam.

There is the final Spirit-Escapist story.

It's a nice book- I'd say it's worth it, even though there aren't a lot of stories.

JD

[Calum]

thanks for this, much appreciated.

so it doesn't have the outer space spirit in it (the final fifties stories)? i have the Outer Space Spirit book, but it's black and white of course.

Only the Eisner section of the Spirit Jam, eh? it's a pretty poor story anyway for reading, but i suspect it'd be even less entertaining with most of it missing!

sounds like there might be a couple of covers i've not seen from the 70s and 80s, and probably those five pages from Alter Ego are in there, and the Escapist story of course, but i suspect that's about it, that i haven't got... hmm.

Thanks again, Jeff.

[JeffDyer]

Ok, I'm back...with my copy of SPIRIT ARCHIVES 26 sitting right in front of me. Here's the play by play...

The "Outer Space Spirit" is in Volume 24, in its entirety. Nice story. But on to Volume 26...

pp 1-8- title pages, contents, etc.

pp 9-18: The 1950s- the never published October 12, 1952 "Flying Saucer" Spirit story- features thumbnail pages and the script

pp 19-24- The 1960s- "Stop Lindsay" Spirit story

pg 25- Harvey Comics Spirit ad

pg 26- Harvey Spirit cover #1

pp 27-33- Harvey "Spirit" origin story

pg 34-35- Spirit Lab

pg 36- Harvey Spirit cover # 2

pp 37-43- Spirit story- "Life Story of the Octopus"

pp 44-45- Spirit Lab

pp 46- the 1970s title page

pp 47- "Snarf" cover

pg 48- Spirit magazine cover

pp 49- "The Criminal" one page story

pg 50-52- 3 one-page Spirit stories

pg 53- Spirit magazine 2 cover

pp 54-57- "The Capistrano Jewels" story with P'Gell

pp 58-62- "The Invader" story

pg 63- Spirit coloring book cover

pg 64- Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom Spirit poster

pg. 65- Comic Book Price Guide '76 cover with Spirit and other cast members

pg 66- 1975 San Diego Comic Con program book cover with Spirit

pp 67-99- The Spirit Portfolio- features Eisner intro, 10 full color painted full page prints, plus about 20 full page sketches and preliminary designs

pg 100- Crime in the comics National Cartoonist Society ad

pg 101- Spirit #17 cover

pg 102- "The Interview" by Eisner and Denis Kitchen

pg 103- Spirit # 18 cover

pg 104- #19 cover

pg 105- #20 cover

pg 106- #21 cover

pg 107- # 22 cover

pg 108- Eisner Vault by Eisner and Kitchen one pager

pg. 109- 1980s title page

pg 110- #23 cover

pg 111- #24 cover

pg 112- # 25 cover

pg 113- # 26 cover

pg 114- #27 cover

pg 115- #28 cover

pg 116- #29 cover

pg 117- Spirit Jam cover

pp 118-120- Eisner pages of Spirit Jam

pg. 121- #31 cover

pp 122-131- more covers

pg 132- "Everything and the Kitchen Sink" poster

pg 133- Superman and Spirit poster from Superman #400

pp 134-137- Spirit and Cerebus story

pp 138-151- Spirit Kitchen Sink covers 1-14

pg 152- Will Eisner's 3-D Classics cover

pg. 153- Dallas Fantasy Fair promo piece

pg.154- 1986 retail poster

pp 155-166- covers 15-26

pg 167- Australia comic convention promo

pg 168- San Diego Comic Con promo

pg 169- Comic Book Legal Defense Fund promo 1987

pg 170- 1988 AIDS back cover Spirit image

pp 171-206- covers 27-62

pg 207- Christmas Spirit cover

pg 208- Batman and Spirit 1989 (Batman's 50th anniversary) image

pg 209- Batman and Spirit from Batman #400

pg 210- the 1990s title page

pg 211-235- covers 63-87

pg 236-237- bookplates from Spirit Casebook and All About P'Gell

pg 238- 1993 unused bookplate

pg 239- 1991 San Diego Comic Con promo

pg 240- 1992 Capital City trade show promo

pg 241- 1993 San Diego Comic Con program book

pg 242- Hero Illustrated #7 wrap around cover

pg 243- 1994 "The Yellow Press" one page story

pg 244- unpublished 1996 Scottish Spirit illo

pg 245- the 2000s title page

pg 246- 2000 Comic Book Expo painting

pg 247- 2001 poster from "Comics- An Original American Art Form"

pg 248- page explaining Spirit-Escapist story

pp 249-254- Eisner's final story- "Spirit-Escapist" from 2004

pg 255- Spirit sketch, waving goodbye

and that's all, folks!

A huge book filled with tons of neat things. If you're a Spirit fan, this is a must own, in my opinion!

Jeff

[Calum]

wow!

thanks for that incredibly detailed overview!
looks like i have at least half of that, but to have it all in one book would be incredible.

So i wonder what's in book 25 then if Outer Space Spirit's in book 24! curiouser and curiouser...

[JeffDyer]

Calum, SPIRIT 25 is the complete daily strips. All black and white. Not a bad volume. I'm a completist, so I picked it up...but it's probably one of my least favorite SPIRIT ARCHIVES. I just prefer the 7 page story format, rather than the daily strips. I think it ran for about 2-3 years.

Jeff

[Calum]

well! i spent ages tracking down three (so far) of the four Ken Peirce Spirit Daily books! Still, to get it all in one volume...

Wish i had a couple of hundred quid to spend on this, i'd be buying Spirit and All-Star Comics archives like there's no tomorrow!