Over on DRAWINGBOARD.ORG, there’s a character jam thread featuring THE SPIRIT. I’ve posted the piece that I did for the WILL EISNER TRIBUTE book published by TWOMORROWS a while back in the thread (and here as well). But this morning, I felt like doing another piece while warming up. I have always loved Will Eisner’s work– especially his SPIRIT character. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I was a kid and first saw the WARREN MAGAZINE reprints of THE SPIRIT comics back in the 70’s. Everything about Eisner’s work and the character itself instantly attracted and fascinated me. I read the magazines my father brought home over and over again until they were practically ragged out. One of the things I loved about THE SPIRIT was that although he would frequently get beaten to a pulp during his adventures, he’d always come back strong in the end. Eisner would really put him through the ringer. THE SPIRIT’S antagonists would bludgeon him, stab him, shoot him and throw him off of piers and buildings. He would often disappear for long periods of time after these beatings– but he’d always show back up at the end and save the day. That was part of the charm of the character for me. He was given up for dead in so many of his stories. Eisner brought such a feeling of danger and menace to his SPIRIT stories. They were such engaging reads.

There’s some fun stuff being posted in the thread…. go check it out.

That’s it for today.

This is Entry 279.

Mike