The Spirit New Adventures #6, 1998
Continuing our celebration of the 80th anniversary of The Spirit, with additional creators’ takes on the beloved and influential character.
Tim Bradstreet — with Eisner’s blessing — redraws some of the Spirit’s backstory in Will’s style for the cover of The Spirit New Adventures #6.
The foreground? Bradstreet reimagines The Spirit a bit more hardboiled, a bit darker, less whimsical version of the character. And he sports possibly the greatest comic book trench coat ever.
(As you can see from the original vs. published cover, The Kitchen Sink trade design cropped much of the background.)
The complete collection of the New Adventures, which includes contributions by Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and others is available from Dark Horse Comics.
On June 2, 1940, Denny Colt made his debut… and promptly died.
Eisner introduced his detective with jaunty body language, lots of attitude and over-confidence, and a close relationship with Police Commissioner Dolan (and that was all in the first half dozen panels.) The cartoonist already knew his character well. Colt went off to capture the villainous Dr. Cobra and was found dead, drowned in a flood of toxic chemicals. After his funeral, Colt woke from suspended animation, dug himself out and assumed a new role as the Spirit, haunting Wildwood cemetery and keeping his city safe with Dolan’s connivance.
— Paul Levitz, summarizing the Spirit’s origin in his book, Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel
