What is a “Hot Pants” pick? Quite simply, it’s a book that all five reviewers on this site believe is worthy of your time. It may or may not be one of our favorite books, but it’s that rare breed of comic that struck all five of us, with our different tastes, as a good read. The Spirit is our latest “Hot Pants” pick.
Few would have the balls to take on Will Eisner’s beloved icon, fewer still the talent to back it up. Darwyn Cooke is one of those few, and at five issues in, The Spirit is a consistently great read. The book captures the mildly goofy tone of The Spirit’s world, but it does so without becoming a comedy book. No, this is as much a crime and action book as it is a book in which names like Ginger Coffee, Ebony White and Silk Satin pass by without a disbelieving snort, where the hero can be a bit clumsy, even dim at times but still seem cool and competent most of the time. Even better, each issue of The Spirit is a self-contained story, shining the spotlight on The Spirit himself or, more often, one of his foes or foils. Cooke reintroduces The Spirit and his key supporting cast (Commissioner Dolan, Ellen Dolan and Ebony White) in the first issue, and over the course of the first five issues, has also added into the mix CIA hottie Silk Satin, femme fatale P’Gell, Russian mobster The Cossack, Middle Eastern con man Hussein Hussein and deadly villain The Octopus, not to mention the Spirit’s opposite number Elvarro Mortez. It’s a mark of how well Cooke has adapted to the sensibilities of Eisner’s Spirit and given them a modern gloss that I’m not even sure which (if any) of these characters are original creations, and which are Eisner’s legacy characters. What I do know is that The Spirit is chock full of interesting, quirky and fun characters, solid action plots and some of the best artwork in comics.
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This easily is the best comic book published each week.
You gotta love Darwyn Cooke!!!!
12 May 2007 at 2:05 pm
Quote…. I meant each month….
12 May 2007 at 4:46 pm
Quotei do enjoy the spirit. it’s such a fun book.
12 May 2007 at 8:05 pm
QuoteI’ve tried the Spirit and it just isn’t clicking for me. Sure, it looks beautiful, as you’d expect, but with the exception of Hassan the characters just strike me as superficial It might be because I’ve also recently read The Best Of The Spirit collection, so I’ve been spoiled. But Cooke’s incarnation just doesn’t have the Everyman wit, wisdom and empathy of the original. I dropped this as of last issue.
13 May 2007 at 7:57 am
QuoteThis book is almost but not quite what I want. The art is amazing. The characterization of the main cast is great, faithful to the original versions without being dated. And the anything goes storytelling guarantees this series will rarely be dull.
But every so often Cooke goes to places I don’t like, such as the bizarre Spirit Baked Beans story, or P’Gell’s dark origin. He tried too hard in the latter to be contemporary, and too hard to be satirical in the former, and I was dragged out of the story. Thus I remain just a little unsure where this book is going to go long-term. Also, it would take only a small adjustment to make this comic suited to all ages, and I think Cooke is missing an opportunity by keeping things as adult as he does.
Still, it’s a far sight better than most super-hero comics.
14 May 2007 at 11:05 am
QuoteSome good points in there, and this one in particular is the issue I most had (and still have) with his New Frontier material.
14 May 2007 at 5:10 pm
QuoteI think I’m one of the few wierdos who haven’t enjoyed this. The art’s amazing as usual, but the characters (with the exception of Hassan) just haven’t engaged me. It might be because I spoiled myself by reading The Best of The Spirit recently, but I don’t see much of Eisner’s Everyman wit and wisdom here. Instead Cooke’s chosen to do some awkward social commentary and concentrate on bizarre villains rather than Joe Schmoes. The book plays like a pastiche or reanimated corpse rather than a living thing.
15 May 2007 at 3:55 am
Quotethe sprit is a good comic it is NOT great. I read it I smile bUT IT’S nothing that I RUSH to buy like Johanh h
15 May 2007 at 1:03 pm
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