The original Spirit comics were kind of light-hearted "Mystery man" romps. He shared the old Police Comics book with Plastic Man before DC bought both of them.
Admittedly, All I've read of the Spirit were short funny bits the creator, Will Eisner, used in his "how to WRITE comics" book, Comics and Sequential Art.
He used a lot of visual elements that seem trite and corny now, but were revolutionary at the time. I think the Spirit was the first US comic book to use non-rectangular panels.
Sadly the stories ARE a product of their time [the '40s, etc] so there are some embarrassing characters like the Spirit's sidekick, a black boy rendered in then-acceptable fashion.
If you get a chance to seek out Comics and Sequential Art, check out his "Hippie Hamlet" sequence.
In re what's screwed up... Well, making him that GRIM is a start... It's like Plastic Man being portrayed by John Wayne instead of Jim Carrey.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Admittedly, All I've read of the Spirit were short funny bits the creator, Will Eisner, used in his "how to WRITE comics" book, Comics and Sequential Art.
He used a lot of visual elements that seem trite and corny now, but were revolutionary at the time. I think the Spirit was the first US comic book to use non-rectangular panels.
Sadly the stories ARE a product of their time [the '40s, etc] so there are some embarrassing characters like the Spirit's sidekick, a black boy rendered in then-acceptable fashion.
If you get a chance to seek out Comics and Sequential Art, check out his "Hippie Hamlet" sequence.
In re what's screwed up... Well, making him that GRIM is a start... It's like Plastic Man being portrayed by John Wayne instead of Jim Carrey.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll