It’s Christmas time again ….but this year lets have a little more Spirit. With the up coming Spirit film opening on Christmas day, I wanted to spread some holiday cheer and tell people

The history of the Spirit.

But before we can talk about the Spirit we must talk about the man behind the hero.

William Erwin Eisner: born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jewish immigrants — his father was a former painter, marginally successful entrepreneur, and one-time manufacturer in Manhattan’s Seventh Avenue garment district. Eisner attended DeWitt Clinton High School.

He drew for the school newspaper (The Clintonian), the literary magazine (The Magpie) and the yearbook, and did stage design, leading him to consider doing that kind of work for theater. Upon graduation, he studied under Canadian artist George Brandt Bridgman.

In “late ’39, just before Christmas time,” Eisner recalled, Quality Comics publisher Everett M. “Busy” Arnold “came to me and said that the Sunday newspapers were looking for a way of getting into this comic book boom,” In a 2004 interview, he elaborated on that meeting:

‘Busy’ invited me up for lunch one day and introduced me to Henry Martin sales manager of the Des Moines Register and Tribune Syndicate, who said, ‘The newspapers in this country, particularly the Sunday papers, are looking to compete with comics books,and they would like to get a comic-book insert into the newspapers.

(Alot of publishers at the time felt that the 10 cent comic books where out selling newspapers and some fear that comic books may kill the newspaper market)

‘ … Martin asked if I could do it. … It meant that I’d have to leave Eisner & Iger which was making money; we were very profitable at that time and things were going very well. A hard decision. Anyway, I agreed to do the Sunday comic book and we started discussing the deal which was that we’d be partners in the ‘Comic Book Section,’ as they called it at that time. And also, I would produce two other magazines in partnership with Arnold.

Eisner negotiated an agreement with the syndicate in which Arnold would copyright The Spirit, but, “Written down in the contract I had with ‘Busy’ Arnold — and this contract exists today as the basis for my copyright ownership — Arnold agreed that it was my property. They agreed that if we had a split-up in anyway, the property would revert to me on that day that happened. My attorney went to ‘Busy’ Arnold and his family, and they all signed a release agreeing that they would not pursue the question of ownership” This would include the eventual backup features, “Mr. Mystic” and “Lady Luck.”

Eisner creates The Spirit

The Spirit chronicled the adventures of a masked crime-fighter who fought crime with the blessing of the city’s police commissioner Dolan, an old friend. Despite the Spirit’s origin as a detective named Denny Colt, his real identity was virtually unmentioned again and for all intents and purposes he was simply “the Spirit”. The stories ranged through a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and expectations.

The Spirit, referred to as “the only real middle-class crime fighter”,the hero persona of young detective Denny Colt. Presumed killed in the first three pages of the premiere story, Colt later revealed to his friend, Central City Police Commissioner Dolan, that he had in fact gone into suspended animation caused by one of arch-villain Dr. Cobra’s experiments. When Colt awakened in Wildwood Cemetery, he established a base there and, using his new found anonymity, began a life of fighting crime wearing only a small domino mask, blue business suit, red necktie, fedora hat and gloves for a costume. The Spirit dispensed justice, funding his adventures with the rewards for capturing villains.

Will started drawing the Spirit as a traditional detective that he based on old pulp magazine. suit,tie and hat while in the middle of the design Will recieves a phone call from the publisher asking how things were coming along and ask if the hero had a mask

since all costumed crime fighters had masks ……

Will looking at he’s drawing said yes he does and started drawing a mask on the Spirit.

Because of this phone call the Spirit found his persona

The Spirit was based originally in New York City which soon changed to Central City, but his adventures took him around the globe. He met up with eccentrics, crazy, and beautiful but deadly femme fatales, bringing his own form of justice to all of them. The story changed continually, but certain themes remained constant: the love between the Spirit and Dolan’s feisty protofeminist daughter Ellen; the annual “Christmas Spirit” stories; and the Octopus (a psychopathic criminal mastermind who was never seen, except for his distinctive gloves).

so now that you have a taste for the Spirit take your want to the movies and see the film with an open mind and a big bucket of popcorn

one last thing go here and here

Tags: Christmas, Dan Gerrity, Denny Colt, Eric Balfour, Eva Mendes, Frank Miller, Gabriel Macht, Jaime King, Sam Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, The Spirit, Will Eisner