13 SPLASH PAGES — and then some more, and then some more…
The Spirit’s first newspaper comic book section, June 2, 1940, written and drawn by Will Eisner, and the last, October 5, 1952, written by Jules Feiffer and drawn by Eisner (pencils) and possibly Al Wenzel (inks).
By PETER BOSCH
I had a nice idea for the 85th anniversary salute to Will Eisner’s The Spirit comic book newspaper section (first published June 2, 1940). Here at 13th Dimension, we like the number “13” and The Spirit ran for 13 years, from 1940 to 1952. So, why not select my favorite splash page from each of the 13 years? Nice idea… except that there were 645 exceptional splash pages to choose from.
It was difficult at times during those first several years of the strip, from 1940 to 1945, to pick just one splash page per year, but I managed to do so. And those included years in which Lou Fine and Jack Cole drew the strip while Eisner was away in the service during World War II.
(Below are written and drawn by Eisner, unless otherwise stated.)
November 24, 1940
July 20, 1941
August 23, 1942. Inks by Lou Fine.
May 16, 1943. Written by Bill Woolfolk or Manly Wade Wellman. Art by Fine (pencils) and Quality staff (inks).
February 20, 1944. Writer: Undetermined. Art by Jack Cole (pencils) and Quality staff (inks).
December 30, 1945. Jack Spranger (pencils) and Eisner (inks).
However, the really difficult choices occurred post-WWII after Eisner returned to The Spirit. In my opinion, this was the starting point of the strip’s greatest period.
For 1946, I couldn’t settle on just one. I had to pick two and call it a tie.
March 24, 1946. Written by Eisner, but the artist for this splash was possibly Bob Palmer.
October 6, 1946. Spranger (pencils) and Eisner (inks), with Palmer also possibly working on the inking.
Well, as least I could smile and think of that as just a one-time occurrence. But then it happened again in 1947.
November 23, 1947. Backgrounds by Jerry Grandenetti.
November 30, 1947. Grandenetti backgrounds.
In 1948, it was three…
January 4, 1948. Grandenetti backgrounds.
February 22, 1948. Grandenetti backgrounds.
November 7, 1948
…and the same in 1949…
June 5, 1949. Script by Jules Feiffer.
June 26, 1949. Script by Eisner and Feiffer.
October 9, 1949. Pencils by Eisner and Grandenetti. Inks by both.
…and, incredibly, in 1950, too!
January 8, 1950
January 15, 1950
March 12, 1950. Script by Feiffer.
For 1951, it was a much easier decision because I focused on just one particular week, January 14, when Eisner did a seven-page Life magazine-style tribute to the past years, looking at the Spirit’s friends, his loves, and his enemies (a few pages of this are pictured here).
January 14, 1951. Script by Feiffer.
January 14, 1951. Script by Feiffer.
January 14, 1951. Script by Feiffer.
January 14, 1951. Script by Feiffer.
January 14, 1951. Script by Feiffer.
Just one more year (and one more image) to go. 1952. The strip was down to four pages a week, as opposed to 1940’s initial supplement of seven pages for the Spirit, plus four each at that time for other characters, Mr. Mystic and Lady Luck. Eisner was already starting to expand into other fields and turned the strip over to his assistants. But, oh, what assistants. Among the writers were comedy-legend-to-be Jules Feiffer and in the cadre of artists was rising powerhouse Wallace Wood!
August 3, 1952. Script by Feiffer. Art by Wallace Wood.
And then the strip ended. But it wasn’t the end for the Spirit. There were reprints of the strip in comic books in the Forties and the Fifties, but it was a pair of giant-size reprints (with some new material) from Harvey Publications in 1966 that introduced Eisner and the Spirit to a new generation.
In 1974, Warren started a regular magazine devoted to reprinting the postwar episodes of the Spirit, and Kitchen Sink took over the magazine mid-run. Other Kitchen Sink enterprises included a regular size-comic book series. And, in 2000, DC Comics started reprinting the entire newspaper weekly series in a 26-volume Archives set that also included The Spirit daily newspaper strip, which ran from 1941 to 1944. (A 27th volume was published by Dark Horse in 2009 featuring new adventures of the Spirit.)
Top row (left to right): The Spirit # 1 (Oct. 1966, Harvey); The Spirit #2 (June 1974, Warren). Bottom row (left to right): The Spirit #1 (Oct. 1983, Kitchen Sink); Will Eisner’s The Spirit Archives Volume #19 (2006, DC).
Will Eisner died January 3, 2005, leaving behind a magnificent legacy. Sadly, he did not get to see his creation still going strong in the 21st century in brand-new adventures, including these…
Top row (left to right): The Spirit #1 (Feb. 2007, DC), cover by Darwyn Cooke; Batman/The Spirit #1 (Jan. 2007, DC), cover by Cooke. Bottom row (left to right): The Spirit #1 (2015, Dynamite), variant cover by Alex Ross; The Green Hornet ’66 Meets The Spirit #1 (2017, Dynamite), variant cover by Ty Templeton. Cooke’s series will get an Artist’s Edition from Act 4.
— but I will leave those stories for a future historian to document 85 years from now.
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MORE
— A WILL EISNER SALUTE: 13 Lethal Ladies of THE SPIRIT. Click here.
— DARWYN COOKE: The WILL EISNER Stories Every Fan Should Read. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is due in 2025. (You can pre-order here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.
June 2, 2025
Peter, I’m always up for reading one of your deep dives into a past’s newspaper strip as golden as “The Spirit”. Thanks!
June 2, 2025
Thanks, Buck!
June 2, 2025
While I have a complete run of the Warren and Kitchen Sink SPIRIT magazine, the archives and Artist’s Editions, and the 75th and 80th anniversary collections, I was still a little disappointed that no 85th anniversary collection was solicited this year.
Do I have it bad, or not? Lol
Great article, by the way!
June 2, 2025
Thank you.
June 2, 2025
Been a SPIRIT fan since I read my friend Greg’s copy of Harvey’s SPIRIT # 2 back in ’66! Shouldn’t it be JOHN Spranger rather than JACK Spranger?
June 2, 2025
Hi, Steven. A number of sources, including GCD, refer to him as Jack…especially for this particular Sunday section…but seeing that “Jack” is a nickname of “John”, I suspect both were used in his career.
June 2, 2025
I still haven’t read a Spirit story. I just gawk at the artwork! And somehow I didn’t realize the original run was in newspapers!
June 3, 2025
I love the artwork, and had heard about the comic and Eisner’s influence, but by the time I finally read the comics, I was disappointed. They did not pull me in.