The Spirit #1 - Mobile Edition

DC Comics
The Spirit #1
By Hervé St-Louis
May 3, 2010 - 18:48

DC Comics
Writer(s): Mark Schultz, Denny O'Neil
Penciller(s): Moritat, Bill Sienkiewicz
Inker(s): Moritat, Bill Sienkiewicz
Colourist(s): Gabriel Bautista
Letterer(s): Rob Leigh
Cover Artist(s): Ladronn, Mark Schultz, John Kalisz
$3.99 US

A new killer has been hired by the Octopus to stop the Spirit, but hero is already in on the scoop and is preparing his moves. But will this new assassin prove more than a match for the Spirit? I’m not sure why this series was created. It seems to me that if the previous one by Darwin Cooke and Mark Evanier didn’t work out – and they were probably the best revival the character could get, why would this dumb down Spirit series work now? Is it because it removes the grey areas of the character? Is it because it’s now typical super hero fare? The reason is because it’s meant to fit with that new FirstWave line from DC Comics. Well, this reader doesn’t care. It felt like watching the Frank Miller film all over. I had the same sense of disconnect with the dialogue and the characters’ “acting.” This type of series is why so many people are afraid that big publishers like DC Comics can only rape and milk and original creation for its brand name only. It falls short of what I expected from the Spirit or what Cooke did in his last series. It’s not the Spirit. It’s a guy that looks like him that’s used to make naive readers pick up this comic book. The comic book is not bad, but it falls short of every expectations. Moritat is a great artist with a style quirky enough to qualify for the Spirit. That,s good because instead of trying to replicate other artists’ work that have drawn the Spirit, he brings in his own line, while making the character recognizable.
Rating: 7/10