Review: The Spirit #3

THE SPIRIT #3
Written by Mark Schultz; art by Moritat. Backup story written by Michael Uslan, F.J. DeSanto; art by Justiniano.

I know that comic book have a long tradition of putting stuff on the cover that doesn't happen inside the issue, but it seems to me this isn't really an acceptable practice with modern comics. Maybe I'm being unreasonable, but I expect covers to actually have some relation to the story inside. So far, all three issues of The Spirit have featured pretty cool covers that had absolutely no relation to the story. Maybe it's got something to do with the fake "retro" feel that the First Wave titles are going for. In any case, I find it dishonest and annoying. Fittingly, though, this third issue shows a bunch of hands doing a "thumbs down" gesture. My guess is that these represent the hands of the readers expressing how lame this book has been.

In this issue, Schultz' first (and last) story arc comes to a conclusion, while Moritat's art continues to get uglier and uglier with every panel. Next month, another writer is taking over the title, but Moritat continues on the art, so I doubt the quality will improve. I couldn't care less, because I'm dropping this title and never coming near it again.

I regret buying even a single issue of this series. It's been a total waste of money. If anything, it's taught me a valuable lesson in comic book consumerism: Don't put titles on your pull list without sampling at least one issue, especially if you're not familiar with the creative team. I'll never make that mistake again.

The backup black and white stories in the first two issues were not as bad as the main feature, but definitely not worth the cover price. This issue's backup is again the best thing within these pages, and probably stands out as the best of the three issues so far. The art is really quite impressive and the short story is simple, but effective.

Still, I can't recommend this based on one short back-up. My advice to you is to pretend this title doesn't exist and wait for its inevitable cancellation.

Quick reviews and previews

I haven't been doing a very good job of posting regular reviews of the comics I've read the past few weeks, so here's a catch-all update with quick reviews of a few recent issues. I'm going to save Return of Bruce Wayne #2 for a longer reviews, to be posted later this week.

BIRDS OF PREY #1

A good start to the series, if not exactly the mind-blowing first issue I was hoping for. Gail Simone starts putting all the pieces in place for her first story arc and does so competently. The in-story excuse for reuniting the team is refreshingly straightforward. Throwing Hawk and Dove into the mix feels a bit forced to me, and I suspect it was editorially mandated so the book could tie in to all the Brightest Day nonsense. Be that as it may, they only appeared in a few pages in this issue, so it's too early to judge whether they are going to fit in nicely with the rest of the team. The issue ends with a mystery villain, which is always fun. Looking forward to #2.

THE FLASH #2

Still really enjoying Francis Manapul's art and the lighter tone of this book. Let's hope that tone doesn't take a turn for the dark too soon, but with Geoff Johns writing and the connection to the apparently ironically titled Brightest Day, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. I think I remember reading some rather baffling complaints from fans who thought "nothing happened" in this issue. I'll never understand how these people's minds work. I was pretty skeptical about this title when I added it to my pull list, but so far I'm enjoying it more than I expected and have no real complaints.

THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1

I've never read any Legion stories before, so being introduced to so many characters and a completely different setting (i.e., the 31st century) all at once is a bit overwhelming. But not to the extent that I was completely lose or unable to follow the story. Again, this is a #1 issue, so I don't have a whole lot to say about it other than it sets things up nicely and now I'm looking forward to seeing where it's going to go.

THE SPIRIT #2

Hated it even more than the first issue! Wow, that art is ugly. In the first issue, I thought it was awkward in a few places. Here, it's just unpleasant throughout. The writing is just as bad. I'm really sorry that I committed to buying the first three issues before the series started. But thankfully there's only one more to go. I read a lot of comments about how the short black-and-white back-up stories are worth the price of admission alone, but I beg to differ. While I agree the back-up is the best thing about this issue, it's still just a back-up, and it's not strong enough to justify spending 4$ on. Not by a long shot.

DC LEGACIES #1

I was very much on the fence about this mini-series, which is supposed to tell the history of the DC universe from the Golden Age to the present. I decided to give it a shot mostly because I thought the art was nice. It opens with a lame framing device where some old guy is sitting in a rocking chair, drinking a cup of joe and talking directly at the reader, before we flashback to his childhood and he recounts his encounters with the first super-heroes. I thought this was extremely cheesy and unnecessary. The rest of the book is okay, but since we're getting the story from the perspective of these kids, we don't really get much insight into the "mystery men," who are of course the characters everyone is reading the book to find out more about. The issue ends somewhere around the time of the formation of the Justice Society of America, and by the time I got to the backup story, I had already pretty much lost interest. I don't think I'm going to pick up #2.

WHAT I'M PICKING UP THIS WEEK...

Definitely getting Sweet Tooth #10 and Red Robin #13. I enjoyed the last arc of Chris Yost's run on Red Robin. Now Fabian Nicieza is taking over and I'm looking forward to what he's going to do with the title. Tim Drake is still possibly my favourite character in the DC universe. My only complaint is that the Red Robin costume covers up too much of his head and makes him look like a second-rate Batman without the pointy ears. Tim Drake has awesome hair, and they shouldn't cover it up with that ugly cowl.

I may or may not pick up the first issue of Red Hood: The Lost Days. I am interested, but I might just decide to wait for the trade on that one. Same thing with the series of Joker's Asylum one-shots.

Last but not least, there's an original graphic novel called A God Somewhere coming out on Wildstorm that looks really good. There's a short preview here.

Review: The Spirit #1

THE SPIRIT #1
Written by Mark Schultz; art by Moritat / Co-feature written by Dennis O'Neil, art by Bill Sienkiewicz

(This review contains spoilers.)

It's always a bit baffling when you're immediate reaction to a work is mostly negative, but then you find out that the overwhelming majority of reviews were positive. This is what happened to me with the first issue of The Spirit. I came away from my first reading thinking it was poorly written and already considering dropping it from my pull list. Then over the next couple of days, I saw plenty of reviews online praising the book. Newsarama even called it "the best-written, best-drawn and best-packaged book out in the market this week." After a second read, my opinion of the book did improve, but I still have mixed feelings about it.

I was looking forward to this book for three reasons. First, although I've never read Will Eisner's celebrated original run on the title he created, I know it by reputation and was curious to see how DC would breathe new life into this character. Second, this book spins out of the First Wave mini-series and takes place in this alternate "pulp" universe, which sounds like a lot of fun and nice break from the continuity-heavy mainstream DC universe. And finally, there's the amazing cover by Ladrönn, which is dynamic and has an old-school Indiana-Jones-meets-Dick-Tracy kinda feel.

If only the issue had featured anything as exciting as the scene depicted on the cover. I know it's a long-standing tradition for comic book covers to feature scenes that are not even in the book, but I felt a bit cheated by this one, considering nothing comes even remotely close to it. I'm assuming the woman holding on for her life with The Spirit on the cover is Ellen, the police chief's daughter. She appears in four consecutive panels in the book, where she has an argument with her father in his office – that's it.

But let's forget about the cover and concentrate on what we do get in the book. The opening pages are by far the strongest, from the opening splash page that embeds the title into the shape of the buildings (a tradition apparently carried on from Will Eisner's classic series), to the brief but stylishly laid-out fight on page 3 (where the title is again embedded into the art, this time in the shape of the panels themselves), to the classic full reveal of our protagonist as he walks away from an explosion on page 4. It sets up place, character and mood remarkably well in a relatively short amount of space.

Unfortunately, the book doesn't keep up this pace. The next several pages deal with The Spirit collecting information throughout the day, first disguising himself as an old geezer and collecting notes from singing street urchins, and then paying a visit to police headquarters, where he eavesdrops on the aforementioned argument between Ellen and her dad, Dolan. The Spirit then goes for a walk with Dolan and they end up at a diner, where Spirit eats a hotdog (shown below in what is without a doubt the ugliest panel of the entire book - how does he talk with his mouth full like that?). The problem with this section is that although it's meant to establish the relationships our protagonist and his supporting cast, we learn almost nothing about any of these people. The conversation with Dolan goes on for three pages, but all we get are clichés about corruption and a rehash of things we already know. The art also starts to suffer at this point. Moritat's depictions of the cityscape are very good, but he sometimes seems to be struggling with the characters, especially their facial expressions and hands.



In the second half of the story, the crime families meet and express their frustrations with the Spirit. They've been trying to get rid of him for two years, so they've decided to hire a European assassin called Angel Smerti. No one seems to have met this guy, but they've all heard stories about how ruthless and deadly he is. This buildup takes us to the last scene, in which a hot woman arrives at the airport and convinces the customs officer that he neither needs to look at her passport nor check her luggage, simply by flashing her boobs at him and promising to make him "a very happy fellow." I guess this is supposed to be a convention of the pulp genre, but you could also simply call it a tired cliché. It's also extremely implausible and mildly offensive. And in case the readers haven't guessed it by now, the last page confirms it: Angel Smerti has arrived in Central City.

It's not a terrible issue, but it's not great either. Writer Mark Schultz has just two more issues before his run ends. Hard to say at this point whether that means the book is going to get better or worse, but a change of staff this early on certainly does not bode well for the longevity of the title. I've committed to buying the first few issues, so I'm going to keep reading until this first arc wraps up, but seeing as there are so many other titles I'm looking forward to this summer, I'm probably going to jump off after issue #3.

Bill Sienkiewicz's black and white art for the backup story is stylish and kinetic, and probably the best thing about the issue. Unfortunately, Denny O'Neil's writing doesn't live up to it. The story is a simple one, but that's not where the problem lies. It's the dialogue that is really cringe-inducing. Said during a gunfight: "The mask! Now I got him. Wotta target! Missed! I'll hit him next time, though!" Ugh.