The Grooviest Covers of All Time: The Spirit by Will Eisner and Ken Kelly

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove loves, I tell ya, loooves Will Eisner's The Spirit. I fell in love with both Eisner's genius and Denny Colt's adventures via Warren's b&w reprint mag that ran sixteen issues from January 1974 to August 1976 (yeah, Kitchen Sink quickly took over publishing the mag, and we'll get to those later, don't ya worry). Most every cover of the Warren series was a masterpiece, but my favorites are those done by Eisner himself in partnership with fantasy/album cover painter extraordinaire Ken Kelly, issues 4-11. Why? Take a look and then you can tell me why, baby!

Black and White Wednesday: "The Winnah!" by Eisner w/Feiffer

Whaddya say we truck on back to the Golden Age via the Groovy Age today, Groove-ophiles? This one is a wonderful trip down Memory Lane for Ol' Groove. One of those cold, rainy days just before Christmas back in 1974. A little extra spending money made for a very interesting trip to book section of my beloved Mac's super-store. Yers trooley, mind you, was raised by parents who grew up in the 40s/50s and who had cut their teeth on comicbooks and radio shows. Hearing about the Golden Age of those two media was always a favorite pastime, and any time Young Groove got the chance to actually get his hands on any three-dimensional, real-life forms of those memories, said nostalgic stuff was seized upon with relish. So, on this day of days, I found the second volume of Pyramid's The Shadow reprint series (The Black Master--the first Shadow pb I ever saw--oh, those Jim Steranko covers!) and the sixth (again, the first I'd seen) ish of Warren's b&w Will Eisner's The Spirit reprint series. I don't remember much else about that day except a visit to my maternal grandparents and hearing Neil Sedaka's "Laughter In the Rain" on the car radio...

Being 11 years old, it took Young Groove a while to make it through that Shadow novel, but I devoured that issue of The Spirit right away. (The only Spirit story I'd ever read, up to that point, was the one reprinted in Jules Feiffer's Great Comic Book Heroes, but Ol' Groove doth digress...). That moody cover, perfectly setting up the first story in the ish ("Showdown" featuring a great battle-in-the-dark between The Spirit and his arch nemesis The Octopus) is still an all-time favorite cover (kudos to penciler Eisner and painter Ken Kelly). All the stories in that ish were cool: "The Wedding" and the "Job" being a romantic two-parter featuring supporting characters, "The Lamp", "Glob", "Wild Rice", "Taxes and the Spirit" (stories about a genii, a caveman, a kidnapped-rich-girl-turned moll--right in tune with the then ongoing Patty Hearst saga in the news, and tax collectors). You can see right there that this comic was very, very different than the usual reams of super-heroes and monsters. But my favorite story of the issue (and yes, it's still my fave) is "The Winnah!" by Will Eisner himself (aided and abetted by a young Jules Feiffer--hey, the guy who wrote the book that turned me on to The Spirit--whoa!). "The Winnah!" is the story of two brothers, boxers, the older one worshipped by the younger one, and neither of them very good at making life-choices. It was like watching a classic movie on paper--and the kicker? The Spirit isn't even in the story! He's only mentioned on the last page...

Man, does Ol' Groove ever LOVE The Spirit!

Black and White Wednesday: "A Time Stop" by Will Eisner

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Today we're going black, white, and blue as we take a look at a classic reprint of Will Eisner's The Spirit from Warren Magazines' far-out and truly groovy b&w mag of the same name. Issue #10 (August 1975) of The Spirit is an all-time fave. An extra-sized, extra-special summer special, it was chock-full of superior Eisner Spirit stories. One of Ol' Groove's faves is "A Time Stop" (originally published in January 1951), always made me wonder if Rod Serling read The Spirit (and Ol' Groove would just about bet his copy of Avengers #88 that he did), 'cause it's definitely the stuff from which a Twilight Zone episode was made!

Black and White Wednesday: "The Thanksgiving Spirit" by Will Eisner

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the U.S., so Ol' Groove thought he'd share some black and white Groovy Age gold via Kitchen Sink's May 1978 reprint of Will Eisner's "The Thanksgiving Spirit" from The Spirit #18 (originally published November 20, 1949). This is comix, baby! Thanks, Will!

Halloween Week! Black and White Wednesday: "The Fortune" by Will Eisner

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! What says, "Halloween" more than a spooky old house, a sinister storm, a sweet damsel in distress, an unseen psychotic killer, and The Spirit? Not much you'd say? You'd be right, baby! From Warren's The Spirit #11 (October 1975) here's Will Eisner's The Spirit in "The Fortune"!

Oh, yeah, "The Fortune" was originally published in The Spirit Section, May 11, 1947.

Black and White Wednesday: "The Christmas Spirit (of 1948)" by Will Eisner

Meeeeeerrry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Here's wishing all the very best to you and yours from Groove City! Hope your day is merry and bright, that you spend it with those you love, and that the Spirit of Christmas warms your heart and brings you true joy. And thank you, especially, for spending a few precious moments of this special day with Ol' Groove. It truly means a lot to me. You Groove-ophiles are the ginchiest! For our special day, let's go back to Warren's Spirit Magazine #12 (December 1975) which reprinted the classic "The Christmas Spirit (of 1948)" (which was originally published on December 19, 1948). Will Eisner truly was the master of the comicbook form. Here's just one morsel of proof...

Groovy Age Gold: "Assignment: Paris" by Will Eisner

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Here's a beaut of a Spirit story by the master Will Eisner (with colors by Michelle Brand) from Warren's Spirit #8 (April 1975, reprinted from The Spirit Section May 23, 1948). It's always a treat when Denny Colt takes on the glamorous P'Gell, so here's "Assignment: Paris"...and you're welcome!