Comics Fondle

On the snow covered streets, two men fight over a cigarette butt. They’re interrupted by a third, who then steals the butt for himself. These three men–the Squid, Mr. Fly and Hush–soon discover their common nemesis is the Spirit and plot against him. They visit Commissioner Dolan and inquire about a outstanding reward for the Spirit (predating the city’s acceptance of the vigilante). Once the trio levels, Dolan calls Ebony, who runs to tell the Spirit. The Spirit is unconcerned, but Ebony recognizes the threat and acts. He takes out an ad in the classifieds, selling information guaranteed to lead to the Spirit. The meeting place for the sale is a shack at the waterfront and more than just the original three get interested. Two of the Spirit’s other enemies read the ad and decide to go. They get there first and surprise Mr. Fly, who’s ditched both the Squid and Hush to get the information–and reward–for himself. Seeing these other two villains are ready to pay him, he gives them a bum lead. Then Hush arrives, pounds on Mr. Fly a bit, and tries to sell them different information. Before Hush can get his dough, they’re interrupted by another criminal, one who’s got the Spirit at gunpoint. They fight and the Spirit wins, only to reveal himself to be the Squid. He runs off with the bag of money, not knowing there’s a micro-sized atom bomb, which blows the shack to pieces. Ebony returns home to an initially nonplussed Spirit, who’s then a bit surprised by Ebony’s assurance there’s no trouble.

Here we have Eisner’s particular approach to villains. Unlike the “Batman” TV show of the 1960s or even the special mini-series of today, Eisner’s villains can’t get along. It’s not just one or two of them unable to get along–they can’t even get along enough to figure out whether or not they want to get along. The Squid tries to explain himself, but his fellow criminals don’t even give him the chance. What the Squid was doing dressed as the Spirit is apparently a question best left unasked.

Eisner’s got some really nice panels in this story, particularly when the three villains go to visit Commissioner Nolan, then the fight against the false Spirit in the shack.

Still, I’m two stories in to the issue and I don’t really have a good sense of the Spirit. I know criminals hate him and his friends love him, not much else as of yet.

collected in “The Spirit Archives: Volume 11” (Will Eisner)

Technorati Tags: Comic Book, Review, The Spirit, Will Eisner

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