The Best of The Spirit

WITH AH IMTbODUCTU,
BY /ffMf YOM
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BEST-SELLIHC AUTHO&"
NEIL CQIITIQN
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Denny Colt, a young criminologist,

believed to have lost his life in a fight against crime,
was buried in a state oj suspended animation.
He awoke one day in Wildwood Cemetery,

determined to carry on his struggle...
his true identity known only to Police Commissioner Dolan.
He is feared by criminals of all stripes as the SPIRIT!

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SPIRITliiVwinJMmiMMBW^l'llBJWIflW^ltii^lJii*!-^^'
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DC COMICS
Scott Nybakken Editor-Collected Editions
Robbin BrOSterman Senior Art Director
Paul LevitZ President& Publisher

Georg Brewer VP-Design & DC Direct Creative
Richard Bnining Senior VP-Creativc Director
Patrick Caldon Senior VP-Finance & Operations

Chris Caramalis vp-Bnance
Terri Cunningham vp-Managing Editor
Stephanie Fierman Senior VP-Salcs & Marketing

Alison Gill VP-Manu/actunng
Rich Johnson VP-Book Trade Sales
Hank Kanalz VP-General Manager, WildStorm
Lillian LaserSOn Senior VP & General Counsel

Jim Lee Editorial Director- WildStorm
Paula Lowitt Senior VP-Business & Legal Affairs

David McKillipS VP-Advertising 6- Custom Publishing
John Nee VP-Business Development
Gregory Noveck Senior VP-Creative Affairs
Cheryl Rubin Senior VP-Brand Management
Jeff Trojan VP-Business Development, DC Direct

Bob Wayne VP-Sales
Throughout the run of The Spirit,
Will Eisner was assisted by many

talented individuals, among them
John Belji, Phillip (Tex) Blaisdell,
Chris Christiansen, Jack Cole,
Martin DeMuth, Jim Dixon, Jules Feiffer,
Lou Fine, Dick French, Jerry Grandenetti,

Ahe Kaenegson, Jack Keller, Robin King,
Alex Kotzky, Joe Kubert, Andre LeBlanc,
Marilyn Mercer, Klaus Nordling,
Ben Oda, Bob Palmer, Don Perlin,
Bob Powell, Sam Rosen, Aldo Rubano,

Sam Schwartz, John Spranger,
Manny Stallman, Manly Wade Wellman,

Al Wenzel, Wallace Wood, and
Bill Wooljolk.
The Author and publisher wish to
thank them for their vital contributions.
THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT. Published by DC Comics. Cover and compilation copyright © 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction copyright © 2005 Neil Gaiman. All Rights Reserved. Originally published as individual weekly comic sections,
Copyright 1948 by Will Eisner. All Rights Reserved.
THE SPIRIT, images of Denny Colt, Commissioner Dolan, and Ebony are registered trademarks owned by Will Eisner.
The DC logo is a trademark of DC Comics. The stories, characters and incidents featured in this publication are entirely fictional.
DC Comics does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories or attwork.
DC Comics, 1700 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. A Wamer Bros. Entertainment Company
Pnnted in Canada. First Pnnting. ISBN 1-4012-0755-3
Cover illustrations by Will Eisner.

Cover color and interior color reconstruction by Jamison.
Special thanks to Bill Blackbeard, Director of the San Francisco Academy of Comic An, and Diamond International Galleries
for loan of source material, and to Denis Kitchen.
Publication design by Amie Brockway-Metcalf.
TQBLE OF
CONTENTS
Introduction by Neil Gaiman 7
THE ORIGIN OF THE SPIRIT 11

Original publication date: June 2, 1940
INTRODUCING SILK SATIN 19

Original publication date: March 16, 1941
THE LAST TROLLEY 27

Original publication date: March 24, 1946
THE POSTAGE STAMP 35

Original publication date: July 14, 1946
MEET P'GELL 43
Original publication date: October 6, 1946
THE KILLER . . : 51
Original publication date: December 8, 1946
LIFE BELOW 59
Original publication date: February 22, 1948
WILD RICE 67
Original publication date: April 4, 1948
THE LAST HAND 75

Original publication date: May 1 6, 1 948
THE STORY OF
GERHARD SHNOBBLE 83
Original publication date: September 5, 1 948
LORELEI ROX 91
Original publication date: September 19, 1948
TWO LIVES 99
THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

OF 1948 107
VISITOR 115
Original publication date: February 13, 1949
SATIN 123
Original publication date: June 12, 1949
THE STORY OF RAT-TAT,

THE TOY MACHINE GUN 131
TEN MINUTES 139

DEATH OF AUTUMN MEWS 147

Original publication date: October 9, 1 949
FOX AT BAY 155

Original publication date: October 23, 1949
THE EMBEZZLER 163

Original publication date: November 27, 1949
SAND SAREF 171

Original publication date: January 8, 1 950
BRING IN SAND SAREF. 179

Original publication date: January 15, 1950
TH€ SPIRIT: ON INTRODUCTION
It isn't yet easy or comfortable for me to write
about Will Eisner. He was too important, and making notes

for this introduction reminded me how much I miss Will
Eisner my friend, and rereading the stories in here reminded
me that 1 miss Will Eisner the storyteller, the craftsman, the
dreamer, the artist. Which is probably the wrong place to

start something that is an unabashed celebration of part of
Will Eisners work, but it's nonetheless true.
When Will Eisner died he was as respected and as

revered around the world as he would let us respect and
revere him. He was a teacher and an innovator. He started
out so far ahead of the game that it took the rest of the world
literally sixty years to catch up.
Will's life is, in miniature, a history of American

comics. He was one of the very first people to run a studio
making commercial comic -books, but while his contempo-
raries dreamed of getting out of the comics ghetto and into
more lucrative and respectable places — advertising,
perhaps, or illustration, or even fine art — Will had no desire
to escape. He was trying to create an artform.
There are arguments today about whether or not

Will was actually the first person to coin the term "graphic
novel" for his book of short stories A Contract With God, the
book that kicked off the third act of Will's creative life. There
are far fewer arguments about what Will actually did in the
1940s with the Spirit stories, or about the influence Will had
on the world of comics all through his creative life — and
that his stories had too.
I'll step forward here: I bought my first copy of

The Spirit in 1975, in a basement comics shop in South
London. I saw it hanging on a wall, and I knew that, whatev-
er it was, I wanted it. I would have been about 14. It was the
second (and final) issue of Harvey Comics' Spirit reprints,
and reading it on the train home I had no idea that the sto-
ries I was reading were thirty years old at the time. They were
fresher and smarter than anything I'd seen in comics —
seven-page stories that somehow managed to leave out
everything that wasn't the story, while telling wonderful tales
of beautiful women and unfortunate men, of human fallibil-
ity and of occasional redemption, stories through which the

Spirit would wander, bemused and often beaten-up, a
McGuffin in a mask and hat.
I loved The Spirit then. I loved the choices that

Will made, the confidence, the way the art and the
story meshed. I read those stories and I wanted to write
comics too.
Two or three years later I stopped reading comics,

disappointed and disillusioned by the medium as only a
sixteen-year-old can be, but even then I kept reading The
Spirit — I would go to London and bring back copies of the
Kitchen Sink reprints, and the Warren reprints, and read

them with unalloyed pleasure, such that when, as a twenty-
five-year-old, I decided it was time to learn how to write
comics, 1 went out and bought Will Eisner's Comics and

Sequential Art, and pored over it like a rabbinical student
studying his Torah.
Twenty years later, Will Eisners work on The Spirit

makes me remember why, as a respectable adult, 1 wanted to
write comics in the first place.
The joy of The Spirit, as soon as it had become

what it was going to be, which was more or less once Eisner
came back from the war in 1945 and reassumed control of
the comic (published as a Sunday supplement in newspapers
at the time, an avenue that allowed Eisner, who was always a
wise businessman, the creative control and ownership he
could never have had at that time on the newsstands) was
not in the words, nor in the pictures, but in the smoothness
and the brilliance and the willingness to experiment of the
storytelling. In seven pages — normally less than sixty
panels — Eisner could build a shon story worthy of
O. Henry, funny or tragic, sentimental or hardbitten, or
simply odd. The work was uniquely comics, existing
neither in the words nor in the pictures but in the
place where the words and the pictures come togeth-

er, commenting on each other, reinforcing each other.
Eisner's stories were influenced by film, by theatre, by

radio, but were ultimately their own medium, created by
a man who thought that comics was an an form, and who was
proved nght — but who might not have been quite so right
f he had not built such a solid body of work, both in

The Spirit and in the work he did from 1976 until his
death, and if he had not taught and inspired along

the way.
A lot of the delight in The Spirit is in watching
Eisner invent and discover new ways of telling stories —

the use of white space and panels to represent freedom and
captivity in one story, the echoing, reflecting dual panels in
another, the use of the murderer's point of view in a
third. The stories in this book are, in addition to being

astoundingly entenaining, a lesson in how to tell
stones in comics form. "ACTION MYSTERY ADVEN-
TURE," the panel on the top right of each Spirit
splash page tells us — and to those three things one

could add humor, craft, pathos, wisdom, and the most
beautiful (and dangerous) women in comics.
In a world in which the idea of graphic novels —

big, thick collections of comics that have heft and value — is
becoming widespread and accepted, bookshops, librarians
and individuals want to know what the imponant books are,
to know which books are vital to have on their shelves. There

are a few books that no self-respecting collection of graphic
novels should be without, after all — Maus, for example, or

Watchmen, or jimmy Corrigan, or Bone. I'd like to suggest that
this book, as an example of what the young Will Eisner could

do, should be added to that set and guaranteed a place
on those shelves. The postwar Spirit was a masterpiece, in
the strict sense of the word — a piece of work that demon-

strates that a young journeyman has now become a master
of his craft.
If you enjoy these tales there are more where they

came from — many more, I'm happy to say. DC Comics has
been publishing The Spirit Archives for several years now, and
the material in the book you are holding is a selection from
those volumes: a few early stories to give you context, and
some stories, as good as, as interesting as, as exciting as,
other Eisner Spirit stories. Which, if you're looking for
ACTION MYSTERY ADVENTURE, not to mention the rest, is
pretty much as good as it gets
NEIL CQimQN
OCTOBER 2005
Creator and writer of the internationally acclaimed comics
masterpiece The Sandman, Neil Gaiman is also the author of the
New York Times best-selling novels Anansi Boys and American

Gods and the co-writer, with director and longtime collaborator
Dave McKean, of the ]im Henson Productions film MirrorMask.
Among the many awards he has received are the Hugo, the
Nebula, the World Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award.
Originally from England', Gaiman now lives in the United States.

CDMIC ACTION
BOOK THE ORIGIN OF THE SPIRIT ITli|£terij
ADVENTURE
SECTION
THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT II

. — ^
.
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*± (GAME'S UP, DR. 11

P*bV COBRA I'M r >^ 5
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Bill
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1 -L.
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it
/SUDDENLY.
AGILELY, WITH THE SPEED OF A CLAW-LIKE FINGERS CLOSE AB0U1 WITH A DEAFENING HISS, 1UE L IQUID
PANTHER.DR COBRA LEAPS. . DENNY'S FACE... OFF BALANCED GUSHES OUT IN AN EXPLODING
IS HURLED AGAINST WE WALL.ME STREAM/ DENNY IS CAUGHT IN IT...
FIRES BLINDLY. INSTINCTIVELY HE THROWS HIS
HAND OVER HIS FACE . . . .
12 WILL EISNER
. k
DRENCHED IN WE UQUID DENNY t AND BEHIND WEM, DIMLY OUT- A FEW MINUTES LATER, A SIREN
SINKS TO WE FLOOR. DR.COBRA
. . LINED BY WE STRANGE LIGHT SHATTERS THE QUIET OF THE
DRAGS HIS AIDE OUT THROUGH CAST BY THE EQUALLY STRANGE NIGHT AS DOLAN AND HIS MEN
ASECRET PASSAGE. . CHEMICAL j 7HE BODY OF DENNY ARRIVE ON THE SCENE. . . .
COLT LIES RIGID. . . UNMOVING/
THIS MAN'S DEAD HEART FAIL

ALL RIGHT/RIGOR URE DON'Tl
J MORTIS HAS SEEM RIGHT/
THERE'S BEEN A ALREADY SET N0...HEWA5
SCRAP/ LOOK// IN/ I'D CALL IT A GREAT KID...
THAT'5 DENNnVlNG GET TWE ^M HEART FAILURE. LIKED
IN THE POOL [CORONER, 1 - '
IjTw -v Mr
NO SERIOUS HIM
OF WATER/ Lkellv/^ WOUNDS,
V3*/^/7r—ill?
m^y^f\ ^^k ^Bwf^L

' r*««
1*3
1 \W
B'UviV't u Ai^^^B
£>^P kj
THE FOLLOWING NIGHT, IN A SUB- AN HOUR

URBAN CEMETERY A FANTASTIC LATERAT
SIGHT MEETS THE EVE. POLICE
A
HEAD-
QUARTERS,
IN COM-
MISSIONER
DOLAN'S
OFFICE...
THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT 13

/HOW THEN, THERE'S A 816 ^-J lAND LET YOU SEE MV FACE??Tj TUB SPIQIT LEAVES ASQUICKLV \
REWARD OUT FOR THE CAPTURE [HARDLY// BUT FOR \bm\t\ZmÂW AS SILENTLY AS uFcAME . .
14 WILL EISNER
\
THE SPIQIT FOLLOWS THEM INTO TELL ME, WHERE 15 1 T YOU'RE L YIN6/BOTU OF
THE HALF-LIT TOMB. UE DOES NOT DR.COBRA HIDING? YOU! WON, LI5TEN TO ME, /OU
NOTICE'ANOTHER FIGURE SLIPJfL RAT5/ WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES^
SILENTLY BEHIND HIM... DON'T DON'T_. TWEL1/EJWE SPIRIT WILL 6ET
KNOW.../ 1 KNOW,® .DR. COBRA WHEREVER ME 15. .7
SWEAR HONEStf HOW, BEAT IT?
.DON'T/

OUR SCENE SHIFTS TO WE WATERFRONT.. A F06 ROLLING IN FROM TUE SEA BLANKETS
. TUEN/6UT, r
SHROUDING IN A CLOAK OF GREY MIST TUB EVIL WAT LURKS UNDER THE QUAYS !
3 J^m^j^y^^^^^^^ VTWgpifiHri
:
16 WILL EISNER
Ww\
J®
CDMIC ACTION
mm
5ELTIDN
SILK SATIN
ADVENTURE

, —
WELL.WMATS THE STALL? WE OPERATE MUCH \BROTWEr) THE "^ NOPE WES A . . .
ALL I KNOW IS THAT MORE SMOOTHLY. FROM / SPIRIT. ? S. REAL 6UV

. . I . . .
VOU WANT ME TO \f OH, WE STEAL. ONLV IN SWHAT> HAW.. THE AIN'T ATRACKCOP, BUT )
INTRODUCE YOU TO /J DEAR THE BETTER CIRCLES.) T SPIRT OF /HE'LL <
AMERICAN POLICE && ME, NO.. WE ONLV WISH TO 'HEARD UUSTlCE, SP°WN A SUV
,
METHODS DO /WE DON'T

. . .
KNOW THE J ABOUT TLL WASER..) LIKE A BLOOD-'
yEZ WANT A <f WORK LIKE CLEVEREST , \

7 VOU &UVS FUNNY.. ——-'HOUND. . .TO UfiH
COUPLE OF YS THAT DETECTIVES.' ' V'&OT
TOMMV SUNS? worry about
nothin'to
EXCEPT THE
SP/RiT.
H
^
INTERESTING .QUIET, "ASPHALT HAD A BIT OF A SCUFFLE
9 /...T ZINK WE DOWN AT THE PIER
,
CHAR, WOT . .
SORT OF A MUS' <SET RID MET "CORKY".. HE

ROBIN HOOD OF THIS SPIRIT TOOK A SHOT AT Y HERE S
OF THE BEFORE WE ME I KN/FEO hUMA
. . . THE
y RAZOR,
METROPOUS PULL, AS VOU AND MOPPED A .
HAW. V, ZS UOB • TAXI _—< 60ME IODINE

. . .
^ HOOD? . AND STUFF.

HE AIN'T
f
THERE'S THE
^LITTLE \ BEeeAR ...
y
tr "dl
X* \
\^J
A
-J-^^[J^-
^jiCg^Sa
20 WILL EISNER
22 WILL EISNER
5r-
i *^ jk\ " '
'|
1
1^
^^T^k^ m
/'dear Me NOW CUTS r

. .
A PAIR. OF LOVB BIROS

1
A FEW MINUTES LATER THE

TALL FIGURE OF THE SPIRIT
fS SEEN PUSHING HIS WAY
ACROSS TH£ CROWDED
DANCE FLOOR
OUTSIDE ON THE EMBASSY MA. .HA.. MA .. THE

GROUNDS .. GREAT SPIRIT . . .
THE 6-R-E-A'T SPlPJT.l

TRAPPED BY A
TRICK AS OLD J TO
AS THIS ONE } THE
/ I
HIDE-
OUT CEORIC/
Bfl^
r THG SPIRIT MUST

BE KILLED/ SO %
WE'LL DRAW LOTS
TO SEE WHO DOES
THE BLOODY W0«K
... HBRE..P\C<
AND REMEMBER..
THE LOSER GOES
THROUGH WITH IT
24 WILL EISNER
.
ON A HIGHWAY HEADED TOWARD

THE CITY LIMITS..THPEE GLUM
PISUPSS SIT SLUMPED IN A
spee&NG cap...
O POLICE DONE PINO

ONLY TWO ... THE OTHER
AM EITHER. DROWN OR.
ESCAPE... SOLLY, NOW
AIN'T THAT SUM PIN'...
THREE BIG CROOKS . .
26 WILL EISNER
CDMIC ACTION
BOOK THE LAST TROLLEY mipterq
ADVENTURE
SECTION

City to Raven's Point is only thirty
<he trolley-run from the heart of Central
X *SiSS3S?es and can hardly ^called A Great^venture....
a/k*iTYaAcK.,.a/kttTy^^
Until 3 a.m.... the trolleys come and go, getting emptier and emptier as the night
grows deeper.... then, the last trollcy-"The 29 Car" -clatters through the sleeping
metropolis, rattles noisily across Central River Bridge, and with its cargo of human
flotsam dickety- clacks for the Raven's Point barns.... From here until the end of the
line there are no stops ~ it is the dullest part of the trip/
28 WILL EISNER
30 WILL EISNER
LAST NIGHT, BEFORE WE WERE THEN I CALLEP THE SPIRIT fiCT
TO CRACK THE BANK, I STOLE POLICE HEAPQUARTERS ANP
$100,000 AND BROUGHT IT TIPPEP HIM OFF.... AT THE J
OUT TO RAVEN'S POINT.... I BANK I WAS REGARPEP AS , )}
USEP THE OLP CASUALLY QUITE THE HERO....
FOLPEP NEWSPAPER....
BES/DE, I'M THE
MEAD TELLER....
V-VERYWELL...IF...IF
YOU GIVE ME TWENTY-
FOUR HOURS, ON MY
HONOR I'LL GET IT
FOR YOU .... ITS AT
'
RAVEN'S POINT

32 WILL EISNER
YOU WON'A
HAVE TO.'
TWS IS THE
ENPOFTWE
LINE... RAVEN'S
POINT/

wfTT»-WTt
SPIRIT
..,.*»
CDMIC ACTION
BOOK THE POSTAGE STAMP
Adventure
SECTION
34 wknhi^,\xSh. cw}_s$w pari s£ tfa ato, iuâftiiMsiLifi|.'
totk-mad ceuM cencslu€.

*
MOTHER SAIDNEVEB TO
PLAY PEEK-A-BOO WITH /
+
SORRY LADDlE-BUCK, BUT ) BUT WERE*
NOT
STRANGERS.
I KNOW, FOR INSTANCE, THAT TWENTY- POUR
HOURS AGO YOU R PARTNER, SKINNY BONES,
KNIFED YXÂFTER YOU TWO WERE DUMPED
DULCET INTO THE RIVER BY THE SPfPfT!1 KNOW, TOO,
THAT YOUR RACKET IN THE BLACK MARKET
WAS UQUIDATEO BY THE SPtPfT.'
OCTOPUSSIE, OU
YOU SHOULD BE ON THE
RADIO WITH THE QUIT
KIDS/
f NOW- MERE'S MY
[proposition \^M
1 ÂNDMINE'^^f
r
HERE'S 1 HA, HA, HA.YOU HAVE THE
FREOSE REQUIREMENTS
FOR MY LITTLE PROJECT/'
HEPE, BUY SOME CLOTHES
ANO BE AT POLICE HEAD
t ^^^^1 P^^Sftfl K P^\I QUARTERS BY
NIGHTFALL/
y>^^^Bv^~^\ ^^^
r 3 W^^^l^ y
/ /y'-^^!
I^/?fc/
36 WILL EISNER
I THGUGM"r,.THAT
is, we're holding
^ WELL, FREE
hep., sorry
SKINNY BONES CANT STAY
Jl
FOR KILLING rf^FOR SCENES OP
VOL!.'." ^*- JOYOUS *
LIBERATION'

E
rXT IS SEVERAL HOURS LATER-VOU A»E IN A

PLANE, BOUND FOR GERMANY.. I SLUGGED
VOU TO PREVENT >OUR FOULING AN AFFAIR
THAT IS IN THE UN/TEONAT/ONS f UENB{. m
AND THAT IS WHY I WAS ABLE TO
s .GET VOU ABOARD/
38 WILL EISNER
J A
PERHAPS.' ( SO UNTIL VV£ A AAA, JUST

^JT MORE MOMENT- RETURN
LIKELY WE'LL
Y MEEEMPMFV THE LETTER. IT'S
MEET AGAIN..,
TUE OCTOPUS
GOING TO
AMBASSADOR
My
15 STILL AT
LARGE.'
SsS-
rn
Rv*
«i2P^x
_ ^^1*2.
i
F^
C^Sj
//IS.
^xM
*.
40 WILL EISNER
3fou \iea unit iimcltfui G9tv-
Gum. TfrnfotctooT® iJtaTgAdj,

Af«* JtJWlJl'JinlOCTOPUS!

ACTION
MEET P'GELL
AUVEHTURE

»
f)& you Wwow, 3urktf\| sk*4nzJ a neuirol

course tmfcil <*\m&sk. tk* end of the ttfor, ufUcn
vkc broke off u>itb ike ioKering Ktfick/ Ai
w« c\>ety spy and counterspy endowing I
$a*>ciuaty m
Istanbul u>a* eougkfc
-flourukr'ina like a-fWk on *n$ baack...y?$.
tnere I suddenly i»i o ko*iile
uidfc, too,
Ue-
country ovte* my
ku#ban3 vume o^Wr ikan
Hans 'Dammfc,4of Maz« in tW at€a —
,
heu)
iobc
OAMtikW
'--*e> 1 >ou«Wi ike am) of tke

notorUw*£mtl P*tiV— tV»«
d*o\ex in mM —
3Uv»* *>e u>ere married --• and 0*1 our

k?M*ym<wn *of tened by tn* moan
,
J -ah<;m '- romance, £m%\ skated

u/ikU me hi* greoi 5ecrci
44 WILL EISNER
&vs& doyo SPIRIT
\akcr Z>Ua
5t£f fed mto my ww •<

looted -for Vise, milwdu) or\3 RwtfricA —
46 WILL EISNER
kpu stupid
pools you
,
Blunderers//

48 WILL EISNER
AtO ±o. MO\t eon find me omy afternoon in kinc co/Gfc of D&tanbui, unfch my 3aox
nudbond/VlcoJC, **fomg tea onb keeping an age open £>r a «mmj to turn an nonaek. p»A«i«r.
...y?o «e, ivhat tt>ith a bribe Hew arv* a bad gamble tnera, our fortunes owmMtd..temoorojri\y~

4
m i
Z
>^H|^
SPIRIT
t0*f&
*
H I
CDMIC ACTION
THE KILLER ni4Ateri|
SECTION ADVEHTURE
)Ccor3ind to statistics, millions of Americans read millions of the most

carefully written crime and crime detection stories in the world/
Expertly told «••• and prepared, after exhaustive research- the best
of these are, in effect, lessons in crime and criminal psychology/
yet could yo\x sitting in the trolley or bus or subway at night, pick
,
out fhe killer sitting opposite you?
•••TAKE THE MAN SITTING COME-COMl WITH US f*ST

opposite us now/ test HISPLEASANT PACE, DOWN
YOURSELF! THROUGH THE DARK CORRIDORS
OP HIS BRAIN TO THE FATTHiST
CORNER OF HIS MINO

1
THERE TUCKE O AWAY

IN A
WRINKLE OF MEMORY
mm CONFOUND
YOUR LA2V HIDE .'ONLY
SIX BOXES PACKED SINCE
NOON ••• ARE YOU N£V£R
60NNA FINISH?
yES/ MISTER JAMES.'
ER'-I-I MEAN, NO,
MISTER JAMES.'
LIES THE
SEED... PLANTED
IN1942 ...
FED BY SPLEEN
AND spite...
NURTURED FOR
HARVEST
YEAR..-
STILL MAKIN' \:U WORKIN' AS HARD AS I CAN,

THE SAME OLOL MARY/ I BEEN WORKIN'
MY HEART OUT AT THAT DRU066
JOB SINCE I WAS TEN —
PUSHED AROUND PAY
AMD NISHT! I'M FED UPff
I'M OUITTINS- I'M LEAVING
TOWN —
52 WILL EISNER
••But you're justa
Punk Shipping clerk to
me Heya you cant
QUIT/ I'LL BLACKBALL
54 WILL EISNER
I'LL LEAVE >OU fl
M ^- ^-^ 5. ~f^/*"i /£"^!^**~i
5™t
'
^*~""""~^r
^â||B
Hô BfûJ 1
^^^^S- V*JH
J^J A '^VB^
^^M^to\ \ '^&»*-^^fcw H V //laR • —
^F* Mr/
If YOU THUSS ARE «3k^
11
^=»iM|f
H
PLAYIN6 THIS
ALL WRONG----
YOU'LL NEVER /
™
PPPP-V BEAT THE RAP/ ^^^
LUCKY 2 LAMMEP/ .
SAP LET THE SPIRIT

JUMP HIM- NOW THE
SPttllT'S CUTTIN-
HIS ROPES ON
WILL EISNER
CDMIC ACTION
LIFE BELOW ITlil^terq
EECTIDN ADVEHTURE

And
0o remote
i* th« thought nonsense /the YEAH. -HEY, KLIN*..,
.
1
o£ bmeath. the i tr«t <?
life WORM WAS SHOT t+ |T'$ • - GET US A STAFF CAR. it*
that In the chill rainy MONTH* AGO, AND t> RAINING AGAIN WE'RE TAKING TATTLER
iwn of December £6,1947, POLICE SAW HIM FAIL >> LET'S TAKE A TO CELL &LOCIC*lO FOR
police commie eioner Pol&n INTO A SEWER H6 WAS L STAFF CAR FINGERPRINTING-
laughed when" Tattler" J«aw WASHED OUT TO SEA / TO THE CELLS, HURRY.. THIS RAIN IS
eaid "The Worm" would come, BESiDES,THE AREA POLAN. <Hy r»'s
SURROUNPEP.AFL*/ li/ YES/
itotn the grave to keep him from
fquxxling ahout -where the fcxnk
i$
COULPN'T GET AT YOU- m SiR. j
money wm hidden.
P-B-0UT
^ iWV
A WITOIM
NOTHING TO FEAR, ^ ( I ..X.I KICNOW. <J\ COVlPf
TATTLER. ..YOU'RE IN ^-—-vB-BUT THE twnf '
/p^yfk
THE POLICE HEADQUARTERS) WOlM
COURTYARD f __—-ÂINT PEAP-
HE'LL COf^
FROM BELOW-
TOdETME
jEv""
5jT. IF
^
^fe
lllili
Wjk
3*
fl\
*&%&
Zgk
fi^
p^^ i
HL
And «o h*ea-Tv the da.y .. r
the temperature wae
dropping, and the rain
wae now enow, falling
in heavy *" lake«.
60 WILL EISNER
.
..And 50...
in tfu fiUnce of
ih* <rity fcencxih. . .

\&LiP*
/
^- Zf/Ji
Pis
**^~~4rr^
L__-^^l\
@
1 %Lm*^
o^VJJ ',^^^^î\i'^\
62 WILL EISNER
YAHH-.-VGOT
ME.-WHYNTCHA
KILL ME NOW.
'CAUSE VU
NEVER. FIND
vr way oirr
H* «A HA HA
fiWAN-KUL
WE, WHY ,
DON'TCHA.'
It WA* Junr midnight of 43u 24» m of P«cember, 1947... a. cxumfall 0re*4*r Uum th# Mizaa-rd of 68
tad falUn. and Ui« city Uy jw*tr*U under 25.6 inch«* of rticvr. railroad* yrerc halted power
. .
line* down..cir$ a.rwd truck* lay aka-ndoned in In* «lr«et#. tne once bu«y metropolis lay inert «.nd
*ilent under « ehroud of nhitc.^^ Atop the masvhole cow «Und« * 2>i ton truck... immovable..

k >%»
ljtW it? 6&T 10
TH/£ inmmA
t
CAN'T Wûpj
HtfpBfl ifi^H
NoVV/^P^j
KflS^îl^
K 'jHfi^>J^«i®~
rl
1
Rwf/^j^ ^î Ê^J
BS» -93^4 %/^WnM
|gjg]
TH-THANW...T >T WAE JOT A I
\i"i
y-v'fAjrePME ^pleasure, i ,
F'UM PROWNIN'../ AffURE VOU.'
HMM...MOW WE'RE
STUCK WERE .
WONPER WHAT
COULP EE MOUPIN6
POWN THE UP..
TWO WATER
MAIN$ HAVE EUR5T,
*R...AMP WE'RE OPENING X
THE POLICE PORAUTORlEfJ
^^Milp
&'*&"**!£
TO «TRANPEP _V T
*fg J^6
COMMUTER*. iT^TV ^Jgf
^
-S W5\
-/
'^V. ^T"'
64 WILL EISNER
.
On tXft morning of l\ve 27**, iVw city with mllituy precision rnovâl m*0« «c|uspaMni into ike <tz*ctt
Aovd bogan til* million -dollar job of Atfw removal ... life l><$An to r*0ii» iW Umy#, fixui tiling Lcm$ Vuricd
«umUt Uu clrift* began to mow. -•>
$o/v\K>Ne ,
to see
^YOU.Sl*... Ji
f
^*^ ^% y[ 1
-i»-.
nriUusv 46 hou« tKc temporxtwe dr&yptd ....xnA allwm and btiow Ui« city
• •• » #oft riin. rrutlUdi ike enovr, «*via£ th-t normal abov* .
city million? of dollar?-.-

I
Si
« Bra
"ir
i{JX
^*iy WpW^WT^
SPIRIT
h . , . , .
ACTION
WILD RICE mifbterq
ADVENTURE
*> (a>t « FjSnEr,
f* lA Wti ketft km,

a*id tliis is the short story o£ her life
O ice Wilder WM ill ith this terrible £o at intervals she

7 would try to escape.
|\ born to wealth ff choking fire within
Yet even thoug
, her, she grew up... At first she attempted
«ne had all that wild unmanageable
, to run off . . but she was
money could buy, unable to explain caught .Then she tried
che Celt caged . . • the trapped feeling stealing. but her father's
Yes, trapped in a that throttled her. money covered her.
world o£ gold and But the web of Sometimes the "feeling"
jewels that made circumstance kept left her, and she
an invisible cell closing in on the appeared sweet... but
about her... She strange , lonely girl . soon the madness would
just had to escape. now caUed'Wild'Rice return . . . like the tide.
At last. ..by the

M time she was Q
^ nthe
the evening of
reception
24 years old, the however, the
inner fires seemed slumbering
to subside... and volcano burst
; though they lay within her, and the
coals force of it sent her
5f like glowing
within her She , flying from the
surrendered. Her dance propelled her
. .
father arranged a from her husband's

profitable marriage arms and upstairs
and a wedding day- to her room...
was set.

68 WILL EISNER
.
NBXT PAY. THE SPIRIT?? OH , I'LL GLADLY

YES, I'VE HEARD OF PAY THE MONEY IF I HOPE IT WON'T BE
y&, MC. WILDER, HIM -..I'M WORRlEP ONLY THEY PONT NECESSARY MR -WILDER
,
I KHOW YOU DON'T SlCfc ABOUT MY UTTLE HARM HER.../ •WHOEVER PULLED
WANT PUBLICITY ON GIRL... SHE'S ALL I HAVE THIS "SNATCH* IS OUT
i THIS KlPNAPPlNG- IN THE WORLP. ANP Of- HISELEMENT.. WONT
> THATf way lM THIS MORNING I GOT BE HARD TO NAB
' ASKING THE SPIRIT THIS NOTE...
TO HANPLE DEMANDING
IT../ RANSOM
THEY
f 50,

MEANWHILE.
WffiBtA
WF' ' /^ffijnEfiKa Jv* V '\ .^T
^^ ^ / / «" // / //if ^H
Pî
VOU MEAN.. Rice
WILPER 1$ THEÎIZL BANDIT"
THE PAPERS HAVE BEEN
SCREAMING ABOUT ?
THEN IS SHE OR ISN'T
SHE fclDNAPPEP?
70 WILL EISNER
WELL, A* I SEE IT, YEAH... they
YOU HAVE NO CHOICE AT ALU WON'T SHOOT
...COMMISSIONED POLAN WHILE THEIR PAL
HAS SURROUNPEP THIS THE SPIRIT IS IN
PLACE WITH A SOUAP OF, HERE... IT'S
POLICE ARMEP TO / 6***. EVERY MAN FOR
THE TEETH / HIMSELF NOW...
Y'R,
ONB PPG1
in
72 WILL EISNER
COME ALON6,
RlCE -WITH YOUR
FATHER? INFLUENCE
..YOU'LL PROBABLY
BEAT THE
ROBBERY CHARGE
ANP BE FREE

Xs
.
CDMIC ACTION
BOOK THE LAST HAND ItiijAterij
ADVEHTURE
SECTION
Among thoaewho know

death best, there persists
a belief that when your
number is up... well,
your number is up.. .and
that is that. For in the
gambling hall of life, the
game of crime is fixed...
and the percentage
favors... death.
WIT >OU SAY, HOW PO YOU

KNOW WHEN YOUR NUMBER'S
UP?
WHY, IF A 0UY KNEW WHEN
HIS NUMBER WAS UP, HE
COULP QUIT AMP STAY
AHEAP OPTWE SAME
OK/Cf OKAJ\..OKA%
LET U* TAKE, FOR INSTANCE
J. Roll o Dycc,i«.
HE PARLAYEP A TWO- CARP PRAW
INTO A TEN-(3RANP JACKPOT ANP
JCJUEP JtfS JftflfMB FOR THE
kitty. . . . wow ru5ht there rouo
khew number was up... but,
his
Since his luck was in, he
gatherep up the roll anp „
puyep -just ohb more hanp"
....he scooped up his roll anp
playep it 1co-to-one...he
took it on the lam.

MP fO...WE FIND BOLLO PVCB IN
CENTRAL CITY THE NEXT MQZNIN6..
WToT
>ê elderly :
"
fte wan da
fep 77? »£/]t
l
&Wtl!')C ?777ir'
?(-'hurst ir^f i, "*i
^...TMAT JOB W1U. «6P /W6

UMPER COVER FOR A FEW
PAY? ANP WHEN THE MEATS
,
_ OFF; I'LL CROAK THE OLD GAL

> ANP TAKE HER WAP WHICH
WE SURELY HAS...^*
LOOKS LIKE ITS HER
NUMEER THAT'S
\J?t
76 WILL EISNER
6AMUM6

78 WILL EISNER
Y-YA f'fUtlB THBRS...
TH6« AiNT NOSOPY
Hf BE BUT Y-K5U
AN-AN' MB 22
80 WILL EISNER
>^s_
COMIC THE STORY OF GERHARD ACTION
BOOR SHNOBBLE
ADVEHTURE
5ECTIDN
-*zz
EFORE WE BEGIN THIS STORY WE WANT TO

MAKE ONE POINT VERY CLEAR..
THIS IS NOT A FUNNY STORY?'

WE MEAN TO YOU A SIMPLE ACCOUNT OF
GIVE
GERHARD SHNOBBLE... BEGINNING AT THE POINT
WHEN HE FIRST DISCOVERED ME COULD FLY.
NO LAUGHTER...

TEAP OF FALLING,
*.J^GRACEFULLY H£
FLE1V TO EARTH
84 WILL EISNER
fc:
WHILE SERHARP SHNO80LE 8LUNPERS
SAPLY THfZOUGH THE STREETS...
HOLY SMOKE,
SPIRIT.. YOU GOT
SOMETHING
THERE..WEHADA
REPORT THAT A
HELICOPTER
LANPEP ON THE
ELECTRIC
BUILPlNtS LATE
LAST NI0HT/
WELL WHAT ARE

WE WAITING FOR ?
LET'S 6ET THERE
-THAT'S W^ r r AM ..
Ô^Py WlTH N o TALE/v r

ONLY I CouLp VO
, p ^
gOMETHiN<5 $tG..THAT'p^
SHOW THEM /
SURROUNP THE
SUILPlNO.MENl..
THE SPIRIT IS
GOING UP AFTER
THEM.
86 WILL EISNER
88 WILL EISNER
Rather shed a tear
FOR ALL MANKIND...
FOR NOT OU£ PERSON IN THE

ENTIRE CROWD THAT WATCHED
HIS BOW 8EIN6 CARTED AWAY... KNEW
OR EVEN SUSPECTED THAT
ON THIS PAY GERHARD SHNO0&LE
HAD FLOWN.
<,

t HaMtHWWlHMMIBIMMWBBBIBM6MI<HBBBiBi^<W*lHftrtll<Wi****J*****8il
COMIC ACTION
BOOK LORELEI ROX mi|£teri|
ADVENTURE
5ELTIDN
^•^^ ^B ma-
*^ ^1 Bf &1 86
"SOCIAL ^| V^^. A

T WAS ON JUST SUCH A NK5HTAS THIS THAT
^LAOCyMARGUETT ARRIVED BACK IN
1 AMERICA FROM EUROPE-. THIS TIME HE HAD
WITH HIM A WAR BRIDE, ONE LORELEI ROX
BLACKY HEADED IMMEDIATELY FOR THE
ROADHOUSE HE OWNED SINCE BEFORE THE
WAR... THE REST IS EASY TO RECONSTRUCT..
fCw^-î
HBY/.'
CUT OUT WW M^1
M UGH..
> THAT ^M W
screwy ^^F
A
fMm
'
A
wtta voice!
ENOU6H
W jffSM/m
SINC5IN' AN'
W~~-mBmjM
-LissEN... ~4
A T'DRIVE YA
NUTSf
I'M TALKIN' MWv|
T'YA r J^lU^^^M
1 "5? \ 1A/WWa|
*$&
m
92 WILL EISNER
8LACM MARQUETT WAS SMART... HE
ONLY PULLED JOSS LIKE THAT A80UT
ONCE EVERY TWO MONTH?. AFTER
EACH HAUL HE'D WAIT WHILE THE f
POLICE RAN AROUND IN QRCLBS AND GOH*. M
GOT TIRED INVESTIGATING...
THEN ONE NIGHT...
...YES.. I THOUGHT I HAD THE ... IT WAS CLEAR NOW THAT I HAD TO DO IT THE HARD
ANSWER... BUT I WAS WRONG- GETTING MYSELF KILLED,
WAV... LIKE
IT WASN'T GOING TO BE AG EASY FOR INSTANCE.
AS ALL THAT.

£ROSS- COUNTRY DRIVING IS A TOUGH PHEN AS I BEGAN THE LONG
, And suddenly began
i
^hearing
JOB.. THE MONOTONY. THE UNBROKEN 'CLIMB UP ROUTE 5, THE
9
!
a
music...
HUM OF THE MOTOR.. ALL FORM A HARMONIC VIBRATION strange kind of music
SORT Of- HYPNOTIC INFLUENCE... NATURAL TO MOST TRUCKS ...pitched high. -and vet
. SOON I FOUND MYSELF THINKING
. ON HEAVY PULLS BEGAN TO blending with the
THAT NOTHING WAS GOING TO PULL MY HEARING... *singlng"of the tires-
HAPPEN ON THIS RUN...
I KEPT SLOWING DOWN GOT LOUDER AND

THE TRUCK SO THAT I
IT
LOU PER
MIGHT BETTER HEAR .AND IT SEEMED "R
.
THE MUSIC- ME OUT Of MY TRUCK
94 WILL EISNER
.THE MUSIC WAS FADIN0 ..
MY HEAD WAS CLEARING...
THE SHARP PAIN OF THAT I ..I LOOKED UP. AND THERE BEFORE ME STOOP THE ANSWER... ">^P
SECOND BLOW CUT LIKE _ *--» ^ <s ?£
A KNIFE THROUGH THE
COBWEBS IN MY BRAIN..
>tfw

YEAH.. YEAH.. YEAH.
©IMME PAT CHAIR,
/lG6T I
LORELEI- PlS ONE'S,
GOT A HEAP LIKE
/ you lure the
( PAZEP PRlVERS CONCRETE...
V UPHERE-ANP KILL
/> THEM... A. .COZY.-
( HIJACK GIMMICK...
\>V^> w^wVV
vf
^v^*»-
r you MUST
DICE OlTTIN' .
r^Slr?' .HIT, SUCKER.?
^kvv/y
>^-^S ^r'vjj
o
yip®!
jik^v#
1 lfk^ Ifcv
^ B^& ^11
^^
^ *~
w\
p^
^
i felt moke than heard,
Blacky prop to the
floor... i triep harp to
keep going.. but i was
96 WILL EISNER
SNARUN6AND SPITTING WITH RAGE. SHE
RETREATED BEFORE ME... SUDDENLY
SHE EMPLOYED HER LAST WEAPON AND
SE6AN HER WILD, MAD, UNBEARABLY .
PITCHED SIN6IN6.

«— t-
•owl p
CDMIC ACTION
TWO LIVES Ifliltferij
SECTION ADVENTURE
you T^T WHAT

y BREAK FOR A
'nothing BUT THE
HIGHER JUSTICE'
gjSBBS^
...AN OPPORTUNITY TO OBSERVE TWO LIVES...
AT THE SAME TIME...
The sad. affair of

^
The somewhat less gad affair 1
CARBOY T. GRETCH CRANFRANZ QWAYLE
Time: Now Time : tfanr
Plaoe : Cen-tra-1 City Jail Place : Cerxtrtl City «u>urt>6

100 WILL EISNER
%-THl€ <5UV J * THl£ <5uy J
©IVES MEJ <5lVES ME
tAN IDEA.. M CLAN IDEA-. 2
hi
U.m!Yv7
^ v.
'1
CvVl
__i-^
•£ ^ >J}7
102 WILL EISNER

OoT$-
.SORRY..

K ,
TizALa^m u ft
I WANT A Hmm... AH fE$! I..BR..HAVE THE
TICKET TO LET ME SEE VERY PLACE FOR TOD...
THE MOST TAHITI... > - IF YOU'LL JUST WAITA
OUIET, MOST THE •< MOMEHT, I'LL CALL AND

REMOTE PLACEJ CORAL MAKE THE. .AH. ARRANGEMENT^
•
YOLI CAN .ÎSLANDS
C NOW, WHAT SHALL THINK OF...T IWO JIMA,
I DO FIRST?? * FREE OF -*~\ OR..OR.
WOMEN, FREE
OP ECONOMIC
PROBLEMS.
TRAVEL
AGENT
AT POLICE HEADQUARTERS.. AH-eft. I'VE FOUND

'THE VERY PLACE FOR
POLICE
HBLL.O- .YOU IDEAL LOCATION, •
' HBADQUAfZTERS- YET OUIET, REMOTE, <

.THIS IS THE AM*
'
AND FREE OF ALL "*+ J

TRAVEL AGENCY. THE THINGS YOU
CARBOY ©RETCH OBJECT TO... e*.TH El
HAS JUST WALKEDy A5ENT SAYS HE'LL 8E
IN HERE f RIGHT OVER.
^//A HA HAH* I CAN'T UNDERSTAND

(STATE PRISON ? r ALL
,>* HA HA HA HA «< RIGHT,
f WHAT A PERFECTLY WISE GUY. I
YES, INDEED.. THE
VERY ANSWER TO
MY PROBLEM NOW . . .
\ f 72 IT. HE SEEMED SO
. .
GLAD .
p. ^J
IT
THAT'S
THE WAY
IS WITH
V CAPITAL IDEA r/ > GIT . WHY DIDN'T I TH&SE CONVICTS
HA HA SPLENDID tTK INSIDE/ THINK OF THIS ..SOMETIMES *
THOUGHTS BEFORE...? I THEY FIND LIFE OH
COULD HAVE THE OUTSIDE FAR
GOTTEN IN TOO COMPLICATED...
MYSELF f M ~Y~
AND STRANGE AS
IT SEEMS,
THEY'RE <?LAD TO
i* £? COME BACK HERE
^ * ' -*
«•
LI
104 WILL EISNER

. .
FEW MINUTES LA TER. OH, SO 7W£/lfi YOU ARE / IT'S REALLY A SHAME,
A .
TRYING TO ESCAPE AGAIN, THOUGH, THAT A NICE

OFPICER- I'VE PON'T TRY TO TBHt YOU'RE COMING RIGHT * LITTLE MAN LIKE THAT
.COME TO GIVE <5IVE ME THAT HOME... AND ARE YOU > HAS TO BE STUCK
'MYSELF UR STUFF/ NOW, GOING TO GET IT/ WITH THAT OL' BATTLEAXE
YOU <30 BACK FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE...
TO >OUR WIFE WHY, I WOULDN'T SENTENCE
" WORST CRIMINAL
AND BE A OOOO A
HUSBAND TO ^Z
HER. AFTER ALL,
SHE <5AVE YOU
1NP ZO...A6 WE SAID. .
WHO AMONG US CAN ACCURATELY SAY WHAT ISA PIT PUNISHMENT ??

OR... IN THE WORD'S OF HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, GILBERT $ SULLIVAN'S EARNEST MlKAPO OF JAPAN...
^> My object all sublime

I shall achieve in time
To let the jnunighxnent fit the crime
The punishment €it the crime •% . .
"^^n
CARBOY T. GRETCH PAGE 7

T
CRAN FRANZ QWAYLE PAGE 7

SP IR T
I
1
.
CDMIC ACTION
CHRISTMAS SPIRIT OF 1948 mifMerq
BECTIDN ADVENTURE
nd on this day
those who all the year
are grasping , and seek riches
from, others ,
pause for one brief moment

and become kind, human,
generous beings...
all that dreamers "believe
men. should be . .
r so the legend runs.

. .
And so it came to pass

one year not too long ago
,
a heavy Snow fell upon the land . .
and from Central City in the south

to State Prison in the north
the little lights twinkled on.
And it was Christmas.
108 WILL EISNER

m^M *o no ho J
Sl^^ ***** ^C
«
l
«1 10 \
gvjr
t^S^> <J^T_ ^S»^r*^^

Wtm

O.K..O.K.'tlL
GO ALONG WIP
rr...youASTF'R
IT AN' YR <50NMA
GIT IT/
IWAMTMY *^
^
fPggPoMFoR
110 WILL EISNER

IB
THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT III

112 WILL EISNER
! I
II

£ U he^^C*ad chronologically)
l^L presented are available
SOMETIME to us tt
because The Spirit, long on the trail of these two, arrived
BETWEEN on the gcene within the hour...
THE HOURS O
Z'AOANP 2:5
ON THE
AFTERNOON C
FEBRUARY 12
TWO GUNMEN
CRACKEf
ANC
'COMBO' NATW
WAUCEP MT(
THE
CENTRAL BAN
WITH THE .
INTENTION
COS
ARMEP
ROBBE
.
IT'S A PHOTO
F Ml$5 ÔSMEK...
JsSSL
]? 'HI*,
^ A<?
/$HE 6ULP WA$ THE TELl Pff
•
TELLER NO. 3 ONLY A YEAR.

:.-..,..
DREW PISTOLS'.
THET WOULP
HAVE
'
SUCTEEPEP
IN THEIR PLAN
HAP NOT AN
EXPLOSION
OCCURREP
AT THE SPOT
UPON WHICH §2 9
THEY STOOP.
<5ETME
H«2 HOME T Bap.
ADPRESS. H-0'
MOT B-A-D/
'1*
IF
It was dusk when
The Spirit at last P- NOT A
found, the STICK OF
beautiful Miss FURNITURE,
Cosmek's apartmei IN HERE .
PlP 5ME
PLAN TO
LEAVE
TOWN?
~V
HELLO, POLAN GBT ME A

. . .
HELLO, SPIRIT.. NIMBUS
PEPARTMENTAL CHECK ON 19 CLEAN...NO CONNECTIONS
MR. NIMBUS ... HE WORKS WITH ANY SUBVERSIVE
THE WEATHER"
3SJ IN
PUREAU... ANPCALL
" GROUPS... NO ARRESTS
OF ANY K1NP-. WORKING
ME SACK.. r AT THE BUREAU A' «-*-< OH,
w YEAR... A EUROPEAN /NOTHING,
METEOROLOGIST. .( I GUESS.
PERSONAL HABITS BUT -
STEAPY... WHAT'S BEFORE
f HE GOT TO VO I CALL IT
-
WITH THIS? A PAY,
I'M GOING
TO VISIT
"/ LOOKOUT POINT
BEACH FOR A
.4^ LAST CHECKUP
&
V\

118 WILL EISNER
LISTEN TO ME. ..THERE'S NOT
MUCH TIME, AND YOU'LL HAVE TO
TAtCE MY WORD FOR IT ALL... I AM A
MART/AN AGENT OF INTELLIGENCE..
THERE 15 ONE OTHER SUCH AGENT /
ON EARTH.. THE ONE I CALL •»!.. /
MY JOB WAS TO GET INTO THE ^/
BANKING SYSTEM AND MAKE N
REPORTS YESTERDAY, WHEN
. . .
THOSE TWO MEN TRIED TO ROB US,

THEY SPOILED- EVERYTHING... I KNEW
MY IDENTITY WOULD BE DISCOVERED
IN THE POLICE INVESTIGATION
THAT WOULD SURELY
FOLLOW. SO...
sut?7
'$4
^3
^L
Y^f ~yî
Wi fQ
VL

-
YOU HAVE NO HERE ON EARTH

lOEA WHAT IT'S I'VE FOUND THAT
like there.. ALL THE WARM
efficiency EMOTIONS..
scientific LAU6HTER..LOVE.
research from YES, EVEN TEARS
Birth to death., ARE FREE FOR
we are flesh EVERYONE -
BUT UP THERE,
SUCH EMOTIONS
APE CRIMES /
NOW.. TO. GO
BACK TO THAT,
AFTER IVE KNOWN
THIS WONDERFUL
LIBERTY.... IT. 4
IT'S LIKE A ,
14VIN6 PEATH
120 WILL EISNER

YES,SlR...<?OS#,MR. NIAABU5.
you're positively uncanny,
the way you predict
the weather so
• accurately...
ever
since you jo/ned the
department a year
a<so, we haven't
BEEN WRONG OHCB If

SSBSBHE1 KmmiiaaGiBga&itatBuiiitfiiLtiiixrjr
%f
^^-^y
/'_
mi
• AND SHE STEPPEP IN.YVINPBLOWN ANP
.
BEAUTIFUL.. WITH AN A6ELESSNESS THAT MAPE

ME THINK OF SORCERY...
<5*™p

.
1\
AN INSTANT LATER I'M MARRIED NOW... TO
BXSV, KURT VAN BRECK HE'S ..
SPIRIT \ÊASY ...IT'S SEEN AN IMPORTER.. WE MET

DARLING / ALONG TIME, I'LL " SCOTLAND. LAST
IN
i
•
<{ ADMIT.-BUTBYTHE
IT'S WE MOVED TO
YEAR
BEEN RING ON YOUR —
T, PUERTO OUE IN THE
SUCH A k. LEFT HAND, YOU > BARBADOS. YOU'D
LONG / SHOULDN'T BE J.
- LIKE KURT. HE'S
TIME / THROWING YOUR
... BEEN A WONDERFUL
"N
ARMS AROUND JUST STEP-FATHER TO
AMY MAN?, MY DAUGHTER
HILDIE.
THE FLIGHT FROM CENTRAL CITY

^NEXT WEEK, MY
HUSBAND KURT
^ TO PUERTO QUE IS USUALLY
.WILL BE TRIED SJ PEACEFUL BUT TODAY A HEAVY
. .
> FOR THAT *-s CONCENTRATION OF CLOUDS

PILED UP ON THE HORIZON LIKE
MURDER... AND I
need your help A GATHERING HORDE BEFORE
to prone him AN ATTACK. -I WAS TRYING TO
INNOCENT /•/ PIECE THE STORY TOGETHER..
^THE VICTIM'S NAME

WAS SIR CLIVEDON PERCH
HE WAS A BRITISH DIPLOMAT
WHEN HIS BODY WAS WASHED
ASHORE, KURT WAS
7 ARRESTED
^p __!^^r... MOTIVE?
M - /
x\
AS THE PLANE LANDED
DEEP IN THE INTERIOR,
I COULD SEE THE LIGHTS
ON ONE OF THE PLANTATIONS
ILLUMINATING THE BLACK
JUNGLE THAT COVERED
PUERTO QUE.
124 WILL EISNER

I STOOP ON THE SPOT
WHERE SIR CLIVEPON HAP
BEEN FOUNP MURPEREP...
AMP AS THE SHARP WINP
WHIPPEP THE TREES. I
HEARP A SOFT SI&HIN6
BEHINP ME, LIKE A CHILP
CRYING....

..
THE WORLD TURNED SPIRIT... A r THEN IT WAS YOU I

HEARP CRYING. ."YOU
BLACK AND GREEN. A .
OH. .ARE YOU )
.
WERE POWN HEKE

.
HOLLOW ROAR FILLED MS ALL RIGHT ? J

HEA P AND T FELT AS IF I HILPIB-'. i was so y _ WATCHING ALL ALONG.'
WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF WORRIEP... THOSE WERE A
A HURRICANE .
THOSE YOUR STEP-OTHER'S
..IDIDN'T KNOW HOW AWFUL MEN/ MEW, WEREN'T THEY ?
RIGHT I WAS. .
ANSWBR MS,
HILPIE ' -FOR
R MOTHER'S
vL D
126 WILL EISNER

I HEAPED
BACK UP
THE
WINDING
ROAP..-
THE WIND
WAS
STRONG
AND A
GENTLE
FAIN
BEGAN
TO FALL...
BUT THIS
WAS NOTHING
TO THE
STORM
RAGING
WITHIN
ME

.
WE HARPLV MERCIFUL you STA-i >

HAD TIME TO HEAVENS HERE WITH
THINK ON THIS ÂTIN,
AWFUL NEWS HILDlE \S OUT KURT -
WHEN THE THERE.- .1 VSeOT I'LL

HURRICANE TO HELP HER / FINP
STRUCK BELIEVE ME. • HILDlE i
WITH A TROPICAL NO MATTER

SUDDENNESS WHAT I'VE PONE
THAT DOUBLED . I LOVE THAT
ITS FURY-.. CHILD'
SUDDENLY, I
HEARD A SHOUT
FROM KURT...
'< "'
5ATIN... AN ISLAND BESIEGED BY A
HOLD THE MONSTROUS STORM, AND ON
> FORT... '*""-< WITHOUT IT, THREE MINIATURE FIGURES....
I'M FOLLOWING SHOUTING A CHILD'S NAME INTO
KURT t THE CRAZY WIND THAT FLUNG
OUR WORDS BACK AT US.
AND THEN
£ATIN •'
^53sbJ
^^rV
)
UOOK, *<KwSK z
7
OUT//
wM .
y^sH 'HI
^fcT~" v\^fc\\/ I. r^^v
^3l
^ XfJR^
Bkl^L>1 l ^jmks. #y
!^J>2^Bv /
^9^~.
128 WILL EISNER

—
A primer for adults containing instructive

,
and pleasant little moral tales. The juvenile

reader is also invited to peruse these pages.
Written illustrated. and

, ,
fully annotated by
0)?U iVsweR.
£*
t K
JL

, .
nd even though,
His is Rat -Tat everybody
pretended he
was real , Rat-Tat
knew.
Rat- Tat is atoy

machine gun
eep inside, he V&ieYr.

11 day long He knew he was
Rat- Tat would merely an
go... imitation .
ÂTA TAT
I
y
and the little
, . . nd Rat-Tat'S great-
boys would go. . I L est dream was
that some day
he might become a
real deadly weapon, like
Max the Chopper,
132 WILL EISNER

.
o Rat- Tat became

a gang-gun_
junior grade of ,
course
noi in the con-

fusion , Rat-Tat
found himself a
member of the awful
CarbunRle mob.
member, ye<z... but

only a junior 'mem -
*
ber~. for, let us face

it , Rat-Tat was after
all only a toy -

. ,
hrou^h the rain and

storm through the
,
smoke and. flame

ran Rat-Tat and the
little kid.
ow Rat- Tat knew

what it meant to
be hunted-
1 iding in alleys
cowering in sewers,
-this was not at all
Adventure,danger.. the kind of
every thinf he had, always life he had
longed for was now his. expected.
hat night, two

broken hearted
criminals huddled
together and cried each
other to sleep.
But he was scared I
134 WILL EISNER

o,thenext -night , ell.sir.-atlhat
Rat-Tat ibund him
self at the secret
hideout . . . when all
of a sudden...
oily gee IDo you

know who it was?
oor Rat-Tat— lie

could, only watch..
tithe couldn't ./he just nd liope £br the best

couldn't. f. which wa^ none too
goocL

.
ow everything was h dear, -yes... lie is

spoiled. ... the bad up and fighting 5
Carbunkle boys
were getting even
worse.
oor Rat-Tat worried

only harder.
oor Rat-Tat was

JI I [simply at his wits*
\ /know
endL He just didn't
what to do.
golly... y'<sorr/\
GET UP... THEY'RE
GONNA KILLYA'
f only there were

something he could
ait,- wait a do.. .if only he were
moment . . . tine real?
Spirit was getting
136 WILL EISNER

,
ith.every ounce lien the flames

of energy in his were out.,.
-plastic tody,
Rat-Tat triedL
nd tried,..
nd ZRflSP. nci that day, Rat-

Tat was as VeaV
as any |un lie nad.
ever known . .
nd. much to ever y-

one's surprise
(inducting Rat-Tat's)
. * anci sort o£ JjladL

he was only a toy

XlUill'I'I'ViW
I -J
jM -
. .
ACTION
#V ifc TEK^JVirNLX^TES 4>•»
$--
\0CK- A mi|Merq
ADVEHTURE
It "will take ycru ten minutes . . . gt very short time in any man's
to read, this story.. lifetime
But these ten minutes that you will For they are the last ten mimxtes
spend, here arean eternity for one man. in Freddy's life.

The time
is now
10-31
140 WILL EISNER

The time
is now
10:33
r/C
*TlCK
Tick
TICK
TIC*
1
TICK
Tick
'fR6PDY...yOL
, ARE ONE
flO HO. MA* I PiP/SlY
pom TOUCH MEAN IT ..seU&B
SUMMER. 1/<5H
I NEEDED DOUGH TO
LEAVE TOWN I'AA SICK O
. . .
THIS BLOCK -.A FRESH

START. THAT'S ALL
. .
1 WANT...

The time
now is
CHOCOLATE ._)
rr—3TT£ e «Ee.. JL,
^
( WHY AIN'T yOU)
'
/> SWEET LIKE <

(PREPPY, MILTY?y
9
ft * \1
m
TICK riCK
M ^L~- \^B
£
O.K..O K.' SO ^ LOOKS LIKE ^
PREDDY'S A BLOOP.. LET ME
eoov soy/ \WIPE IT OFF... J
SO 1 AIN'T/
NOW, CUT
IT/
^J^
<^T\«i &
V
^m y*Q wj> rL
p^. B
v^ft B
Wk
142 WILL EISNER

1
The time
now is
f.SOUK MONEY?") ^YErt THANKS..
8^/^ /-v^Jil. —
^^
1 ^^B *ia -
ril
^T^-t)
144 WILL EISNER

The time
now is
<\6K tic*
"3
fcM^J
^>^7 ilu
Iwl 1
» njB!"
»»»«
/ ^^ Jv""
/ g^.

,
ACTION
DEATH OF milMerq
AUTUMN MEWS ADVEHTURE
To the north, of Central City, on a

hill overlooking the bustling metropolis
lies abandoned. Wftdwood Cemetery.
Here hidden in the tangled weedy growth
,
is the hideaway of" the Spirit. Accepted

by the police as a friendly 'outlaw* and
feared by the underworld, his true _.
identity is still a mystery.

Who is really the man behind the mash?

I
f WHAT'S \ / OH...CR.. Y
THAT, ] ;k NOTHING... \
SAM/VW f JY JUST A
CIRCULAR, y
SPIRIT... v'
Mi
#f3T
jA^vk^k
yBt^t/A
148 WILL EISNER

ÂUTUMN.
JUST CALL M£ ^
^ %...t/H-
^l...eouy...
Mk r
\
5AMMY..
YES,PEOPLE WHO
PONT KNOW ME
YOU'RE PlFFfeUNT ) THINK OF ME
N' I THOUeHT, , f AS A SLINKY
r APVENTUKES&
b miss mews... J
INSTEAP OF THE
SWEET SEWILPEREP
LITTLE COUNTRY
^, (JrlRL THAT ^
I AM... Jfl
L > ^3 *^
T> fî
E&ml
Kit fly
WKCttj/J^^J^lm^^Lk
/I V 1
>^^^ vviv^B
L J E*Jr
^.WHY PO you YOU'rB,
THINK HE WEARS
A MASK? ANP ,
WK0H6!
ANOTHER /
you'ite
THING... WHAT <
POES ANYONE
KNOW OF THIS _
\ LYIN&I
l I'LL
SPIRIT'S PAST*
HE'S A CROOK, PROVE

? ...THg SPIRIT A
CKOOK! wHy
..
PO0S HE WEAR
150 WILL EISNER

MEAMWHILB...
WHAT YOU '
WANTECJSIK?
OENNTcoff
MURDERED
Centra} C
Denny Co
Prominen
youn^spc
criminolot
was slain
night by
criminal
Dr Cobra''
JZ}UWOQD CEMETE1
THE SPIRITS €EOZ£T

•
HE &utP TOLP ME
FILE...
NEVER TO OO IN HERE/
...&UT NOW I HAFTA...
I OUST HAFTA f

'
^ HELLO, SPIRIT? THIS IS ' THINK ITOVER, SO!)

AUTUMN MEWS... I HAVE SOME CRIME FISHTER '
INFORMATION THAT MlSHT T'LL 5E AT THE you *>

INTEREST YOU/ UNLESS PAILV 6L03E WERE
VIR6IL IS RELEASEP IN ONE CITy PESK JUST USIN6
HOUR... I'LL TELL ALL THE TOMORROW MS... i
NEWSPAPERS THAT THE AT IO A.M.f GIMME <

spirit is pgNNy COW*/
PACK }
THOSE
PAPERS f
™\
Â
152 WILL EISNER

ThrmpF
e« HULLO.. *T HAflA
THIS IS POL AN.. J YES...
WE'RE
WITH YOUR
TERMS /WE'LL
SPRlNS VIRGIL
IF YOU RETURN
THEEVIPENCE..
PUT IT ON THE
NORTH WALL
OF THE POLICE
(SARA6E IN
O.K... THEN
WE'LL STAY
PARTNERS
TO THE ENP...
C'fiONAHp
ME, -

7 W* 0'>f^
THE SPIRIT-
now is the season tor the&nc •
Now in the fields there

gather the hunters
Who eager yet cautious,
,
approach the wily heast.

For -what is more crafty J
than the fox at bay...? g
:•:•:•:!:•:•:•:•:•:

The city is quiet
now... the rain has
stopped... and the last
echo of shooting
has long since
caromed off into
the alleys around
52 Hunter Place-
On the ghs-fcenino;
streets behind the
still- twitching
victims gather the
police, like hunters
in the fields.. while
on the top floor of
52 Hunter Place ,in his
lair, Reynard, the fox
waits. -at hay/''
156 WILL EISNER

. .
£gYNARD #
1 enter now irrto the poi*t* f coMB OUT
staM of -my ex-
final
10
carefully murdered
n
myself as a ma««1olle*
This i* the openynt «J*p'
the preparation
&r the
real -purpose of tmS
'
what are the reactions
of a -perfectly sane
ma^
• •I SAY, MR. SPIRIT. T HMM/MM... THEY'VE 5TOPPEP

WOULP YOU PLEASE CALLING OUT TO ME... LET'S SEE..
BE GOOP ENOUGH TO POOR BOLTEP... STAIRS SMASH EP.
STOP THIS INFANTILE ^ ENOUGH FOOP FOR 3 PAYS...
ATTEMPT TO WHEEPLE ENOUGH AMMUNITION. THEY CAN'T
> ME INTO COMPLIANCE.. POSSIBLY GET TO ME EXCEPT
YOU ARE A CONSIDERABLE THROUGH THAT WlNPOW..
ANNOYANCE, ANP YOU'RE FIHE/ NOW. . . WE'LL SEE.
INTERFERING WITH MY
TRAIN OF THOUGHT...
PO ZTOP CALLING,
WILL YOU T
SPlRlT.r HE'S A HE MIGHT TURN

MANIAC/ WE CAN'T THE GUN ON HIMSELF
WAIT ANY LONGER... IFYOU USE TEAR <3AS,
THERE'S NO USE POLAN... MADMEN
LOSING ANY MEN. LIKE HIM OFTEN KILL
GOING TO
I'M THEMSELVES RATHER
USE TEAR GAS/ THAN BE TAKEN '
>

« . ! .
umeumig; '
.
10:04 ...The police

are strangely silent
10:05... I feel a little
They are waiting
for
me
me -waiting for
. . .
to do something...
1 remorse for the families
of those men 1 killed
but in an experiment of
this magnitude, people
.
are unimportant
61- BZ...
&- 6-4.. * THAT LAST BLAST. -*^- W

> <
.he HEMU^THAVE
&$••• 66-.
67- 68.- KILLEP THE WllUfr
W 69-
J
^
rar
Ht^JS*
ft A i
Dl 1
158 WILL EISNER

1 HAffAHA ... ^ BAH? HIS
GIVE UP, ME... TRAPPEP? MUTTECIN6 120..12l\ v% A Nt?No,v -
j
I
REYNARp... OF COURSE... BUT ANNOYS ME... 122.. <JT" FOLKS. >VE J
*YOU'RE NOT A. I...IMAFOX.. S RATES ON k

123.. 124.
fhaVEA
STUPIP...YOU \ WHEREAS A MY NERVES...f 125.. £> l0vSM LAP/-
CAN UNDERSTANP YOU TOO ARE ' I'LL TURN ON 126- X *US* H 'LPA •
]
THAT YOU'RE >- TRAPPEP- < THE RAPlO-

^ TRAPPEP r ' ANPYOU-.. >
PROWN OUT 127
19 YOUR <
YOU'RE LIKE THE r THAT

129- H0ME-MI55
BUS ON MY ^ CURSEP TUSP?"
TYPEWRITER- COUNTING:
»'gROOKLY/V."
lout* rr *
mpLEtt'-
wELL, WfiU...."
l%BT»/ vffifrî
letter y&ipr&
w\r jM ahahaHAhaha
Y^&sz*%$*%w\
glw*€ffl\
...ANDVOW,NUSS TUSS, ^"~ A <&eN/6RAL en<3im££ ..AY£AR$ S-UPPLY^^
HgRE IS TW£ LIST OF PRIZES
iOU WILL wlsi IF ioO <
vacuum a6ANBfl- A
Of HAMMgRFtU^
^ b
MONAha^ G RAPE An d
PLUMpeE5EKvE A ...
^
AWSW£R TM£" PHANTOM ^ PERSIAN g ue$ ANP
" UACtcpoj/ TOWEL $ET..AFH> pAg
r uOU/5_
XE replICA <
GlUTEP<5EPFiRS TAlPî
.
*" T- A NEVARUB
CLBAN/^g poUS H W T
TSK-'NOWICAN'T
TypE MY NOTES.. MY
RNPIN6S. WHAT •
SHALL IPO... what?.

- LONGHAND' .
I'LL WRITE THEM ^
LON<5HANP r
160 WILL EISNER

..GOTTA... CALL
POLAN...TIMEIS
UP...PON'T ^m ,
y-
p.
9UOOT,
POLAN...
HOLD IT/
^J
-^H
if/
\
X^fefcl
H
t AMSWER-.
rA00WER
vrÂ^^
J*t|P\^H! Sfc
^^DOl-AM ^^^^1
!*. V wHEW...
[©CS'""'^
BtV 1 JJ
^J Mn
\Am^>MM

v^>
**'"*"'
--***»* JlllL*~ I WlJ
ACTION
THE EMBEZZLER mi^terq
ADVEHTURF

} . .
leave the office at five every afternoon and ta"ke the subway "home.
I
" East Central City 1532 Sawyer Avenue , Apartment E-IO
Home" is uptown ... , . .
(that's five flights up... there is a self-service elevator..
164 WILL EISNER

.
tH*
I WON'T POSTPONE IT... I'LL GO

TO TUB OCULIST TODAY /
DOCTOR... EVERYTHING EXACTLY, MR. STET-'

IS YOU'VE HAP SPELLS IN
WILL VOU BLURRED...
WONDER
&UNP ? THE PAST, AND THEY WILL
BECOME MORE FREQUENT
PLEASE TURN I
why they IN THE FUTURE /
ON THE LIGHT... TURNED NEED AN
YOU'LL
THE LIGHTS OPERATION VEKY SOON
I CAN'T SEE r . OUT. . ...OR THE SPELL WILL
NOW THE COtWE AND WILL NOT
LIGHT PASS '
HURTS MY
EYES...
WHAT'S
THIS
THAT THE
VOCTOR
IS
SAYING *

OPERATION
ALL THAT
MONEY...
MOW CAN
I EVER
AFFORD
IT?
...ALL
THAT
MONEY...
NO DOUBT —
J THE
l
ABOUT IT.. .EC. ^ BANKS

AHgM...MR.STET/>' HAVE
COMMISSIONER FILED A )
DOLAN WOULD /COMPLAINT

LIKE A WORD ) ..THERE'S
WITH VOU T ^- A
yi
^
SHOJ?TA(3€
166 WILL EISNER

THIS l€ W giGM...
LET MIAA GO,
1
'YOU
POLICE |
HEAPQUARTERS.
WHY
PIP THEY
1
govs...
FOR now: A HEARP,-«1
r
[
HIM,
STET '
BRlSGME , VCAN <50 J

HERE...? NOW, BUT "1
I'M PON'T LEAVE 1
NOT A TOWM r A
CROOK- f (THE EVIDENCE
WW AMI W (
V AGAINST YOU IS |
HERB 2
fc&S^ts ^vt v) jb
-. STRON6J
vSJ^— i ' V
J|r5 J f^'iV i\
F^r
1
V IW T- 1
*B ^^
pfel
EÔflpj
/"/ ^viin^N
WHY PIP I COME BACK.

OH, YE<=> I'VE GOT TO
. . .
TELL MR. PARRISH...

I'VEGOTA
SPELL AGAfNf
...PARRISH IS
COMING AFTER ME...
GOT TO KEEP AWAY
F(?OM HIM... THIS
SPELL MAY NOT LAST.
...oorro*r£fr
MOVING- -AWAV
FROMH/M...
168 WILL EISNER

IT WAS THE SPIRIT ALL THE YOU KNOW ..TO THE I HEy...^/W,MR.STET/
WAV, STET / HE CHECKED ON EXACTLY WHAT HOSPITAL, - GOIN' HOME LATE,
OLD MAW PARRlSH ANP I MEAN, SPIRIT/ DOLAN / AIN'TCHA? HBHrie«..Boy,
FOUND HE HAD A >... THE *5,000.. THAT * HAVE I GOT SUMPIN'
SHADY RECORD... WE YOU FOUND IT MONEY T'SHOW VOLT .'.HERE...
CAME BACK HERE TO *" YOURSELF/ IS. .BR-. LOOKIT THIS PICTURE
QUIZ HlM/TWAT'S /«?* .WHERE
IT... REWARD I TOOK OF ME K.IO
WHEN WE FOUND YOU SOIN' WITH MONEY-.- HERMAN...
THE MISSING MONEY THAT DOUGH 2 R-E-W-A-R-D »H
N PAKRISH'S FOR
OFFICE r CAPTURING *'-4
PARRISH /ISN'T
THAT RIGHT DOLAN
..I * '
DIDN'T EXPECT
ANY REWARC?
,1 DIDN'T *
&i REALLY DO
THE "*
CAPTURING
7
r
I'M MOT BOASTlN',
Y'KNOW?...BUTDID YOU
1 how'va like that.' he
gimme the brush-off.
, EVER SEE A KlD MORE ...some guys are
> NOW,
r PHOTO -GEENIC?
I WANT YOUR
real snobs...
y' KNOW 2
HONEST OPINION..

^ ,
.
-y x
?U-
T? —T"~A"V rUi \ ~
^\hirlh /"J l*s rs

R
r"
"
^ >.\ v »i
'^'
k\Y.
ii
If
'/t-**i
LL
1
^r nTXf kVii
THREE AAA-
THE RAPlATORS IN COMMISSIONER
POLAN'S OFFICE HAP L0N6 AGO
CONKEP OUT...
^/ ANP THOSE OF US
WHO COULP NOT (50 HOME
i
/^ s^.
WAlTEP...
TRlEP IN VARIOUS WAYS
TO IGNORE THE PAMP COLP
MAPE EVEN WORE UNBEARABLE
ftfflfeV BY THE JANUARY RAIN . ,
/
:_Ji I
6 t
5 IX HOURS ASO
X M PATROLMAN FlSK FAILEP TO REPORT.
...HIS RELIEF
ON THE LONELY WATERFRONT BEAT
WAS UNABLE TO PINP HIM
i
1 \ /,
6
*~A but the search continues..
ANP HERE IN HEADQUARTERS
WE CAN ONLY WA\T...
*V <4)t\i £?Sa^
-ftjl

L
VOIAN
|
SP6AKIN6-
F_
~ f
3s k
M'i-MJl tes*
^4rm>*i»
<d fc
A.. L3HT
•^ J^Ff^H
IP ^ll\S*;M W \' m \V/ M
»/
l^Ô
* m» ^ /i r kv ill
V i*i\~n Vm
lfc=-\\. .'
i
II W
v
IB 7£lr\J£
IT V
ft
>K_^
vl
^V H' Ml
<
k.L
4 1
>-E?4
1 ill £_J J ILLy^l
172 WILL EISNER

...I WALKEP--- WITHOUT PURPOSE... WITHOUT HBBP... FOR
IN MY POCKET WAS A PIECE OF CRUMPLEP PAPER THAT,
LIKE SOME MA61C LOOESTONE, SWEPT ASlPE THE VEIL
OF MEMORY AMP BROUGHT TO MY MIND THE DARKEST
CORNERS OF MY LIFE. I WANTEP TO BE
ALONE ...TO THINK BACK... TO REMEMBER-

I WALKED LOST IN MEMORY - MY MINP SENT RACING BACK IN TIME BY A NAME SCRAWLEP ON A
CARP-"GANP SAREF ". WITHOUT THINKING, T fOUND MYSELF BACK IN POLAN'5 OFFICE AGAIN-.-
.
AN^ OTHER CASE

. . . ANY . . . ^B
OTHER CRIMINAL WOUL-C? HAVE
SENT AAE OUT AFTER WM jM
L\KE A BLOOPHOUNP .' ^W
BUT NOW OOT TO THINK-.
IF \T
I'VE
WERE ONLV ANYONE
gUT SHE r ^^
M ]
^HoiX^ H bv r^l
"^5? iWH L<^^\
rllll
JA
1
fr
"3a 3DUOq
I
I
° wl B^S >:
:1il \ \ ^
&n if ^ MkJI bi
^ F//?£f M£T 54/VP WWE/V I WA5 A AT/£? IN THE SLUMS OFFICER SAREF WAS A SQUARE, BRAVE COP... ANP
Of CENTRAL CITY'S LOWER EAST 'SIDE. I WAS HE TOOK IT UPON HIMSELF TO LOOK APTER MY
LIVING W'TH MY UNCLE AT THE TiME- HE WAS A POOR UNCLE WHO WAS A PATSY FOR THE PETTY
,
HAS-BEEN FIGHTER,. AS FOR SAND... HER FATHER CROOKS THAT INFESTED OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
WAS A COP. .
BUT ONE PAY _.
v' W =-- [A^^B

^ffise^
THE CROOKS FLEP, LEAVING MY POOR BEWILPEREPl.
GRIEF STRICKEN UNCLE STAN PIN 6 OVER THE
CORPSE OF HIS GOOD FRlENP-
HE PiP THE ONLY THING HIS PUNCH\
BRAIN COULP TELL HIM- HE KILLEP HIMSELF
ON THE SPOT.
174 WILL EISNER

.
. WE TRlBP TO CONTINUE AS PALS--

. /JZCWf ACW, $ANP WAS
BUT TUB STRANGE TRAGEPY BEGAN CAU6HT IN THE UNDERTOW
TO HAVE ITS EFFECT ON US. .
OF SLUM LIFE.. , ANP SHE
PIPN'T KNOW QUITE HOW
TO HANPLE IT...
COPS. .COPS.. I HATE
'eM..HArE'£M.'IFM TROUBLE If MMPF.. THINKS
FATHER WASN'T A COP, YOUR SHE'S fHKRTJUST
HE'P NEVER HAVE BEEN FATHER BECAUSE SHE'S GOT
KILLED BY YOUR. WASN'T A FOLKS ANP I HAVEN'T.
TWO- BIT CROOK OF GOOD ENOUGH I'LL SHOW EM I CAM
AN UNCLE/ COP-- IP HE WAS, BE IMPORTANT
HEX? UV SAVED too r
MY UNCLE
FROM..
WAIT, MISTER.- HE STOLE V^ WHAT? ^

LET HER ALONE A PA/R OF /( PENNY COLT J
HERE'S YOUR
EARRINGS... I. .EP.
EARRINGS
OFFICER.
V $T6AUN'? <s
/ I'M ASHAMEP
' OF YE. PENNY.
I Took WV NOW <?IVE
BACK ANP GO
'EM
.
, 'LON<5 with y
> YE... IF YE <
^T"^^Z\ / VO IT AC5AIN \
Iw
jpst
I'LL HAVE TO .
LOCK YE UP '/
fP^^^S.
Hi /-r r yt9 TJp?
ANP PON'T
THINK YOU HAVE
TO TAKE CA<ZE OF
ME OR PROTECT ME.
IHATBYOV
I HATg ioMl

AFTER THAT, SANP PASSEP OUT OF MY LIFE
COMPLETELY... TILL ONE NISHT I SAW HER WITH
SNAKEY HYDE, A SMALL-TIME RACKETEER. THE
COPS WERE LOOK1N6 FOR HIM. J HAP TO WARN
HER...
HER WAY WAS A RU66EP ONE.. IT MY PLAN MISSEP FIRE. . . SHE . .ANP THE LAST I SAW OF HER
.
BECAME KNOWN AROUNP TOWN WARMEP SPANGLESINSTEAP.f SHE WAS SAILING FOR EUROPE
THAT SHE WAS SEEN WITH WITH ONB OF THE MOST
CROOKS... SHE COULPN'T (SET z
NOTORIOUS GAMBUNG RlN&S
A PECENT JOB, ANP ENPEP UP f HE SHOULP > /CO?S, EM AROUNP...
AS HATCHECK GIRL IN A KNOW... HE'S AN f USSEN,
GAMBLING JO/NT CALLEP AIDE IN THE I PEARlE.. A
SPANGLES CAPE... THE LAST COAANUSSlONERfeA WE'RE
TIME I TRIEP TO HELP HER... S OFFICE r j-J (5ETTIN' OUT
. OP THE 4
LOOK, SANP... COUNTRY
IKÔW YOU PON'T RK3HT NOW.
WANT TO SEE ME... A THANKS
BUT YOU OUGHT X FOR THE
£^^ggf( C'MON !
TO KNOW.. .THIS <fl> TIPOFF,
PLACE IS GOING PENNV.
] I
TO BE RAIPEP.
.%'
\i
176 WILL EISNER

AMERICA WAS WELL IN THE WAR...SANP HAP ACHIEVED AN INTERNATIONAL BACKGROUND..
AS FOR ME. I WAS WITH AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE AND I COULD ONLY FOLLOW HER
. .
PROGRESS BY NEWSPAPER CUPPIN6S ...BELIEVE ME -MISTER THEY TOLD A LOT...

,
THAT 6IRL REALLY SOT AROUND r

POUCE EMERGENCY
WARD 4
QUIET
PLEASE
OPFRATINC
A LIBERTY SHIP MERCIFUL

WAS SUNK THERE SIX MOTHER .
YEARS A60...ITS ONLY MACHREE.'
CAROO WAS A ANP SOMEWHERE
CAPTUREP NAZI IN THE CITY
GERM WARFARE TANK SOMEONE'S
CONTAIN IN© PEAPLY RUNNIN'AROUNP
VIRUS.. mo THAT LOOSE WITH IT
WAS WHAT THEY WERE GVLpr
PK56/N6 OUT OF THE
R/VER BEP /
180 WILL EISNER

AH... My PEAR SANP.
you are as zhrewv
AS yOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.
TOGETHER, yOU ANP I
l> ... WE GOULP £E
r RULERS
OF /Vty
COUWTRy.
I 6BT
lO THOUSAND
* SANP.. Ye*
REMEMBER? fLBfS
BUT
.
00,000
FOR THE
WIPOWOF
TUB COP
YOU *HOT
LAST .
NI(5HT/
i-
^

182 WILL EISNER
184 WILL EISNER
M J
NO... NO PICE, PENNY... WE'LL MEET )

A LITTLE WHILE AGO IV » A6AIN... <
ANP MAYBE p—
HAVE JUMPEP AT THE
OFFER, BUT I SEE 4VR.B ^NEXTTIMEy^J^
NOW ITS IMPOSSIBLE. • BUT
> YOU'RE A COP, ANP
yOU V HAVE TO TURN *AtfP
ME IN... I'M TOO PEEPLY
• INVOLVEPlN THIS..
ALLl ASK 1$ A
FIVE-MINUTE HANPlCAP. <» f/« v c^
1
B^^^ '
JgN
£f |pE3 K
B^J^j^^ kAT ^p""""
s^^^\^

—
PIP !J
F>'
—
-Xi
Vc*-
WILL EISNER
One of the most celebrated creators ever to
work in comics, Will Eisner crafted a legacy
that spans almost the entire history of the
medium. Beginning with his formative days in
the 1930s, when he honed his skills on a series
of weekly newspaper strips, Eisner consistently
expanded the field's boundaries throughout his

long and distinguished career. In the 1940s
and 1950s, he revolutionized narrative
sequential art with his internationally famed
series THE SPIRIT while at the same time

creating an innovative new company dedicated
to applying the accessibility of comics language
towards educational and commercial purposes.
He revolutionized the medium once again in the
1970s, creating the contemporary graphic novel

form with his groundbreaking title A Contract
With God — a form he continued working in

throughout the 1980s and 1990s and into the
new century. Beyond this purely creative work,
Eisner also wrote and drew the influential
analytical and instructional volumes Comics

and Sequential Art and Graphic Storytelling and
Visual Narrative. He passed away on January 3,
2005, shortly after completing his final work:

the historical study The Plot: The Secret Story of
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
If you'd like to learn more about Will Eisner,

visit his website at www.willeisner.com.
OLSO QVQILQBLE FROm DC COmiCS
WILL EMEU'S THE SPIfelT ARCHIVES
The complete run

of Will Eisner's
THE SPIRIT, collected in
chronological order and
reprinted in full-color,
hardcover editions.
THE WILL EISNEH COMPANION

THE PIONEERING SPIRIT
OF THE FATHER OF
THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
By N.C. Christopher Couch

and Stephen Weiner
The first comprehensive
and authorized overview of
Will Eisner's unique career,
featuring critical and historical
essays, in-depth examinations
of pivotal works and much,
much more.
TH€ DC COmiCS QRCHIV€ EDITIONS
Re-presenting historic comics characters
and their stories as they were originally seen.
ALL STAfe COMICS ARCHIVES

Volumes 1-11 (Featuring the adventures of the
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA)
BATMAN ARCHIVES
Volumes 1-6 (The Dark Knight's early adventures from
DETECTIVE COMICS)
THE BLACK CANARY ARCHIVES

Volume 1 (The Golden and Silver Age adventures of the
Blonde Bombshell from FIASH COMICS and more)
THE BLACKHAWK ARCHIVES

Volume 1 (The Action Aviators' adventures from
MIUTARY COMICS)
THE COMIC CAVALCADE ARCHIVES

Volume 1 (Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and more)
THE D( COMICS UNTIES ARCHIVES

Volume 1 (A collection of DCs Golden Age greats)
THE GOLDEN ACE FLASH ARCHIVES

Volumes 1-2 (The original Scarlet Speedster's adventures from
FLASH COMICS
THE GOLDEN ACE GREEN LANTERN ARCHIVES

Volumes 1-2 (The adventures of Alan Scott, the original
Emerald Gladiator, from ALL-AMERICAN COMICS and

the GREEN IANTERN quarterly)
THE GOLDEN AGE SPECTRE ARCHIVES
Volume 1 (The Astral Avenger's early adventures from
MORE FUN COMICS)
THE (OLDEN ACE SANDMAN ARCHIVES

Volume 1 (The adventures of Wesley Doddsjrom
ADVENTURE COMICS)
THE PLASTIC MAN ARCHIVES

Volumes 1-7 (The Pliable Paladin's adventures from
POLICE COMICS and PLASTIC MAN)
THE Sft POCK ARCHIVES

Volumes 1-3 (Battle tales oj Easy Company from the pages of
OUR ARMY AT WAR and more)
THE SHAZAM! ARCHIVES

Volumes 1-4 (Captain Marvel's adventures from WHIZ COMICS,
CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES and SPECIAL EDITION COMICS)
SUPERMAN ARCHIVES
Volumes 1-6 (The Man of Steel s early adventures from SUPERMAN)
THE SEVEN SOLDIERS OP VICTORY ARCHIVES

Volume 1 (The Golden Age adventures of Law's Legion)
WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES

Volumes 1-4 (The Amazing Amazon's adventures from
SENSATION COMICS and WONDER WOMAN)
To find more collected editions and monthly comic boohs from DC Comics,
call 1 -888-COMIC BOOK for the nearest comics shop or visit your local bookstore.
Visit us at www.dccomics.com
>M*aK«feaH»e*a'******M'nMIIBt,M
"One of the most original and
literate of all comic-books."
— PETE HAMILL, authol
DOWNTOWN: MY MANHATTAN AND
A DRINKING LIFE: A MEMOIR
'Truly a thing of beauty."

— THE ARIZONA REPUBLI
'Will Eisner is a genius."
—
BRAD BIRD, director o
THE INCREDIBLES AND THE IRON GIAP
Universally celebrated as one of comics' most influential creators, Will Eisner

broke new ground with nearly every project he undertook during his long and
extraordinary career. But none was more ambitious, innovative or ahead of its
time than the weekly serial he launched in 1940 — THE SPIRIT!
Over the twelve years of its initial publication, this legendary strip revolutionized
the cartooning medium, creating new methods of storytelling, developing new
depths of characterization, and demonstrating to both readers and professionals
alike that comics could truly be an art form.
In honor of Eisner's unprecedented achievement, DC Comics is proud to present this
new collection showcasing the highlights of his classic creation, painstakingly recolored
and restored to its original glory. Reprinting 22 episodes from THE SPIRIT'S original
run, THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT also features an appreciation by best-selling
novelist NEIL GAIMAN, author of Anansi Boys, American Gods and The Sandman.
ISBN 1 4012 0755-3

The Best of The Spirit

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The Best of The Spirit

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WITH AH IMTbODUCTU,

THE CITIZEN KQNE OF COITIIC/." - U/B TODQY

ABT Wll a to?? oonco ohop

Denny Colt, a young criminologist,

He awoke one day in Wildwood Cemetery,

He is feared by criminals of all stripes as the SPIRIT!

Paul LevitZ President& Publisher

Richard Bnining Senior VP-Creativc Director

Patrick Caldon Senior VP-Finance & Operations

Stephanie Fierman Senior VP-Salcs & Marketing

Rich Johnson VP-Book Trade Sales

Hank Kanalz VP-General Manager, WildStorm

Lillian LaserSOn Senior VP & General Counsel

Paula Lowitt Senior VP-Business & Legal Affairs

John Nee VP-Business Development

Gregory Noveck Senior VP-Creative Affairs

Cheryl Rubin Senior VP-Brand Management

Jeff Trojan VP-Business Development, DC Direct

Throughout the run of The Spirit,

Will Eisner was assisted by many

Chris Christiansen, Jack Cole,

Martin DeMuth, Jim Dixon, Jules Feiffer,

Lou Fine, Dick French, Jerry Grandenetti,

Bob Powell, Sam Rosen, Aldo Rubano,

Manny Stallman, Manly Wade Wellman,

The Author and publisher wish to

thank them for their vital contributions.

Cover illustrations by Will Eisner.

Introduction by Neil Gaiman 7

THE ORIGIN OF THE SPIRIT 11

INTRODUCING SILK SATIN 19

THE LAST TROLLEY 27

THE POSTAGE STAMP 35

THE LAST HAND 75

THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

THE STORY OF RAT-TAT,

TEN MINUTES 139

DEATH OF AUTUMN MEWS 147

FOX AT BAY 155

THE EMBEZZLER 163

SAND SAREF 171

BRING IN SAND SAREF. 179

It isn't yet easy or comfortable for me to write

about Will Eisner. He was too important, and making notes

dreamer, the artist. Which is probably the wrong place to

When Will Eisner died he was as respected and as

Will's life is, in miniature, a history of American

There are arguments today about whether or not

I'll step forward here: I bought my first copy of

ity and of occasional redemption, stories through which the

McGuffin in a mask and hat.

I loved The Spirit then. I loved the choices that

Two or three years later I stopped reading comics,

Kitchen Sink reprints, and the Warren reprints, and read

five-year-old, I decided it was time to learn how to write

comics, 1 went out and bought Will Eisner's Comics and

studying his Torah.

Twenty years later, Will Eisners work on The Spirit

write comics in the first place.

The joy of The Spirit, as soon as it had become

place where the words and the pictures come togeth-

Eisner's stories were influenced by film, by theatre, by

f he had not built such a solid body of work, both in

3Uv»* >e u>ere married --• and 01 our