General "Will Eisner's The Spirit" (Dynamite) discussion

Just to consolidate some things here first:

(1.) Previous threads that may be of interest -
* [B]Dynamite Acquires Will Eisner's "The Spirit"[/B]
[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?11293-Dynamite-Acquires-Will-Eisner-s-quot-The-Spirit-quot"]http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?11293-Dynamite-Acquires-Will-Eisner-s-quot-The-Spirit-quot[/URL]

* [B]Matt Wagner Writes All-New "Will Eisner's The Spirit" Ongoing Series[/B]
[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?33036-Matt-Wagner-Writes-All-New-quot-Will-Eisner-s-The-Spirit-quot-Ongoing-Series"]http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?33036-Matt-Wagner-Writes-All-New-quot-Will-Eisner-s-The-Spirit-quot-Ongoing-Series[/URL]

* [B]Matt Wagner Brings Will Eisner's "The Spirit" Back from the Dead[/B]
[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?35007-Matt-Wagner-Brings-Will-Eisner-s-quot-The-Spirit-quot-Back-from-the-Dead"]http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?35007-Matt-Wagner-Brings-Will-Eisner-s-quot-The-Spirit-quot-Back-from-the-Dead[/URL]

* [B]PREVIEW: Will Eisner's The Spirit, #1[/B]
[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?45072-PREVIEW-Will-Eisner-s-The-Spirit-1"]http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?45072-PREVIEW-Will-Eisner-s-The-Spirit-1[/URL]

* [B]PREVIEW: Will Eisner's The Spirit #2[/B]
[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?51877-PREVIEW-Will-Eisner-s-The-Spirit-2"]http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?51877-PREVIEW-Will-Eisner-s-The-Spirit-2[/URL]

* [B]PREVIEW: Will Eisner's The Spirit #5[/B]
[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?63009-PREVIEW-Will-Eisner-s-The-Spirit-5"]http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?63009-PREVIEW-Will-Eisner-s-The-Spirit-5[/URL]

(2.) Previews to other issues -
* [B]PREVIEW: Will Eisner's The Spirit #3[/B]
[URL="http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-3-dynamite-entertainment-2015"]http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-3-dynamite-entertainment-2015[/URL]

* [B]PREVIEW: Will Eisner's The Spirit #4[/B]
[URL="http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-4-dynamite-entertainment-2015"]http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-4-dynamite-entertainment-2015[/URL]

* [B]PREVIEW: Will Eisner's The Spirit #6[/B]
[URL="http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-6-dynamite-entertainment-2015"]http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-6-dynamite-entertainment-2015[/URL]

* [B]PREVIEW: Will Eisner's The Spirit #7[/B]
[URL="http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-7-dynamite-entertainment-2016"]http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-7-dynamite-entertainment-2016[/URL]

* [B]PREVIEW: Will Eisner's The Spirit #8[/B]
[URL="http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-8-dynamite-entertainment-2016"]http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/will-eisners-the-spirit-8-dynamite-entertainment-2016[/URL]

My general feeling about this series so far:
I still can't get over how slow this series sometimes seems, even once we got The Spirit back into the story in the "present day". I think part of the problem for me is that back-in-the-day, Eisner packed so much into each weekly episode of the Spirit, but he also had tighter pacing with more panels per a page. (I first discovered those old Spirit adventures when Warren magazine had the Spirit reprint title, and then in the 1980s there were all those Kitchen Sink reprint issues.)
Here, Wagner and Schkade seem to spread out the action with fewer panels per a page over more pages per an issue / story, and it doesn't seem to move quite as quickly and smoothly. Maybe this series would have been better served by having the same amount of story & panels confined to just twelve pages and then a back-up feature with either new material featuring other Eisner characters (like a Lady Luck if DC doesn't own the rights?) or even a reprint of some Golden Age material.

(For a previous Lady Luck thread here, see:
[B]Lady Luck: Who currently has the rights to the character?[/B]
[URL="http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?53162-Lady-Luck-Who-currently-has-the-rights-to-the-character"]http://community.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?53162-Lady-Luck-Who-currently-has-the-rights-to-the-character[/URL])

[quote][img]https://www.dynamite.com/previews/C72513023508409011/Spirit09CovAPowell.jpg[/img]
[B]WILL EISNER'S THE SPIRIT #9[/B]
As yet another piece of the mystery surrounding The Spirit's lengthy disappearance is revealed, our heroes find themselves confronted with a violent attack at the hands of hired gun Pinky Fingers. The Spirit barely avoids the assassin's bullet... but are his friends so lucky, as well? Central City proves to be no refuge from the long and deadly reach of the international crime-lord, Mikado Vaas!
Writer: Matt Wagner
Art: Dan Schkade, Brennan Wagner (Colorist)
Cover Art: Eric Powell
Rating: Teen +
Genre: Crime Noir, Superhero
U.S. Cover Price: $ 3.99
ON SALE DATE: March 16[/quote][SIZE=1][URL="https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513023508409011"]https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513023508409011[/URL][/SIZE]

It's been very slow going , but it's been good.

Other than the Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman stories from the New Adventures series a while back, I am a relative newbie when it comes to the character.

If you can get your hands on

[img]http://i18.servimg.com/u/f18/18/91/37/14/femmes10.jpg[/img]
[B]The Spirit: Femmes Fatales[/B]

or any of the other books reprinting the old Will Eisner adventures, you might get a better flavor of how the character and his stories use to be written.

Is anybody aware of Dynamite releasing any new stories with [COLOR="#0000CD"]The Spirit[/COLOR] recently?

Most recent I'm aware of were [B][I]Green Hornet '66 Meets the Spirit[/I][/B] and Francavilla's [B][I]The Corpse Makers[/I][/B].

And I know there was the recent [B][I]The Spirit: An 80TH Anniversary Celebration[/I][/B] from Clover Press released last April, which reprinted ten stories from Eisner's original The Spirit run, so does Dynamite no longer have the licensing for The Spirit? :confused:

[img]https://i67.servimg.com/u/f67/18/91/37/14/51gjjd10.jpg[/img]

Along with Tom Strong, The Spirit is the closest thing to my view of the "perfect" comic due to the 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 and the way Eisner used to experiment with his art.