Eduardo Risso — The Man I Love

Spirit #6, November 2010

Continuing our celebration of “Will Eisner Week,” with other creators’ takes on the beloved and influential character, The Spirit.

Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso follow-up their astonishing 100 Bullets Vertigo series with a fun short story featuring the Spirit.

Not all creators understand Eisner’s subtle and delicate balance between noir and (often dark) humor, but despite the strictly hard-boiled nature of 100 Bullets, the team captures Eisner’s spirit nicely.

(I know, we use that pun a lot. It will probably show up next year, too.)

Fun fact: Back in 2002 and 2003, I engineered the deal between DC Comics and Acclaim Entertainment leading to the development of a 100 Bullets video game. Acclaim was in financial trouble when the contract was signed, so unsurprisingly, the game never made into final production. (Acclaim ended up declaring bankruptcy and folding in 2004.)

It’s too bad — the development team was passionate and fully engaged on the project. Some early footage can be found on-line here.