Broken Frontier

When intrepid newshound Ginger Coffee threatened to expose a Central City Mafia don she got kidnapped for her trouble. The police are at a loss... who can save the day?

Will Eisner’s beloved hero in his trademark blue suit, fedora and domino mask is busting through to the 21st century courtesy of writer/artist Darwyn Cooke. This is a hero with a legacy on the line. Can he make it in the modern world?

TV reporter Ginger Coffee would do anything for a story. When she becomes the story, however, the stakes are more than ratings – they’re her life! By threatening to expose underworld criminal Amos "The Pill" Weinstock, Coffee made herself the target of a kidnapping. With the Central City Police Department clueless as to her whereabouts, it is up to the intrepid Spirit to track down The Pill and save Coffee. Now... if she just doesn’t get them both killed in the process...

Eisner’s original Spirit stories were only seven pages long so, by default, the pace was breakneck right up to the finish. Cooke has the luxury of a twenty-two-page comic but he still manages to match Eisner’s rocketing stories full of action. Under Cooke’s hand, the Spirit is as charming, wisecracking, and two-fisted as fans remember. If there is any complaint with the story it would be that Cooke plays it perhaps a little too safe here. Eisner’s stories were well known for being often quirky, or stretching the storytelling medium with innovative points of view. By giving readers a ripping adventure yarn Cooke has stayed true to the Spirit but he is not stretching himself or the character. Still, it is hard to blame him for keeping the story within certain bounds for the first issue. It is to be hoped that, as he grows more comfortable and confident he feels better able to add his own layers to The Spirit mythos.

One thing that certainly cannot be faulted, however, is his handling of the characters. The Spirit’s characterization is spot-on and the relationship between the hero and his cohort Ebony White is exactly as Eisner originally wrote the two. The trappings of Ebony White have changed by necessity in today’s culturally aware world, but the spirit of the character still shines bright.

Speaking of shining brightly – readers could not ask for a better artist to handle this title than Cooke himself. His style is part old fashioned and yet part modern as well. He grants the pages a sense of belonging to today and yet belonging to all times as well. His figures and faces are infinitely expressive and the humor and drama is etched in each line. Cooke has wisely left most of the characters alone, preferring to use Eisner’s own artistic style as a springboard for his own. The result is magic.

As an entertaining, done-in-one tale that bounces from the page with energy and enthusiasm, The Spirit #1 is a winner. There is some room, though, for Cooke to put his own, unique stamp on the character and I, for one, am looking forward to that day. In the meantime, a month long wait until the next issue seems far too long.