The Spirit by Darwyn Cook

The Spirit. Written by Darwyn Cooke and Jeph Loeb and drawn by Darwyn Cooke. New York: DC Comics 2007.

This book collects the first six issues of DC’s new line of The Spirit with writing and penciling by Darwyn Cooke and the one-shot Batman/The Spirit written by Cooke and Jeph Loeb with pencils by Cooke. The Spirit was created Will Eisner and originally ran as newspaper insert in the 1930s and 1940s.

I think Cooke handles The Spirit well. To fans, the character is almost as iconic as the likes of Superman. However, Superman has been continually published since his creation with contributions for many writers and artists. The Spirit ceased publication over 50 years ago and has only appeared in reprints. This could pose a problem for some. Do you keep the character historical, do you modernize him, and how do you make it work?

Cooke handles it the way most comics with such long-lasting character do, he ignores it as much as possible. He has kept what is distinctive and great about The Spirit and his supporting cast and simply written and drawn very good new stories.



The Spirit stories are hardboiled detective tales with a touch of superhero adventure and a big dose of humor. The stories cover a wide emotional range, but the tendency is toward the lighthearted. This is in keeping with Eisner’s work and done well by Cooke, who seems to be involved in several detective-oriented comics projects.

Cooke’s drawing style differs from Eisner’s, though I suspect he could imitate Eisner well if he wanted to. Where the new Spirit resembles the old is in it use of design and layout. This is one of those things Eisner brought to The Spirit that made it great and that Cooke does very well. The layout and design element produces two things. First, it results in some stunning and interesting images. Second, and probably more important, it creates a strong integration of image, action and story. This is something all comics should do, but it is done especially in Eisner and Cooke’s Spirit tales. A great example is the first few pages of Batman/The Spirit. A visually interesting device smoothly transitions an opening dialogue to an action sequence. The action builds to an image that cleverly integrates elements from previous frames that is both a dynamic part of the action and static graphic that serves as something like title page. The effect is magnified because it is presented after the turn of a page.

The fans of the original Spirit stories will find much to enjoy in the new ones. For someone unfamiliar with The Spirit, but liking action-filled detective stories, you’ll find some of the finest here.