History ComicBook / TheSpirit

This page is for the comic series. For the 2008 film, see ''Film.TheSpirit''.

Currently licensed by Dynamite Publishing for a new series written by Matt Wagner, the creator of ''Comicbook/{{Grendel}}''.

* PinnedToTheWall: September 13, 1942 issue. A female villainess wants to play TheMostDangerousGame with the title character, but he refuses. She uses a bow and arrows to pin him to a door by his clothes so he can't get away. See it [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/spiritdiana2.jpg here]].

* UncleTomFoolery: Verging on outright EthnicScrappy.

Now licensed to Creator/DCComics, the series was written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke, who distilled elements of the previous series, and set it in the modern day. Creator/DCComics later rebooted the series to fit into their ComicBook/FirstWaveDCU universe, and is now written by Creator/MarkEvanier and Creator/SergioAragones, having taken over for Darwyn Cooke, and is set around the [[TheForties 1940s]] or [[TheFifties 1950s]].

* BewareTheSillyOnes: One of the most shocking examples of this in the Golden Age of Comics comes when the villainous political fixer Autumn Mews tricks comic relief foil Sammy into revealing the (unused!) secret identity of the Spirit in the classic story [[spoiler: DeathBySecretIdentity: The Death of Autumn Mews]]

* BewareTheSillyOnes: One of the most shocking examples of this in the Golden Age of Comics comes when the villainous political fixer Autumn Mews tricks comic relief foil Sammy into revealing the (unused!) secret identity of the Spirit in the classic story [[spoiler: [[DeathBySecretIdentity: The Death of Autumn Mews]]

* BewareTheSillyOnes: One of the most shocking examples of this in the Golden Age of Comics comes when the villainous political fixer Autumn Mews tricks comic relief foil Sammy into revealing the (unused!) secret identity of the Spirit in the classic story [[spoiler: [[DeathBySecretIdentity: The Death of Autumn Mews]]]]

* BewareTheSillyOnes: One of the most shocking examples of this in the Golden Age of Comics comes when the villainous political fixer Autumn Mews tricks comic relief foil Sammy into revealing the (unused!) secret identity of the Spirit in the classic story [[spoiler: The Death of Autumn Mews]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: One of the most shocking examples of this in the Golden Age comes when the villainous political fixer Autumn Mews tricks comic relief foil Sammy into revealing the (unused!) secret identity of the Spirit in the classic story [[spoiler: The Death of Autumn Mews]]

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_spirit_5636.jpg]]

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* BrickJoke: A very clever method of marking the passage of time in "Ten Minutes"; on the first page there is a little girl bouncing a ball in front of an apartment building, chanting, "A, My name is Anna and my sister's name is Alice..." Later in the story, we return to the same building, and the little girl is still bouncing the ball, chanting, "R, my name is Renee and my sister's name is Rachel..."

* RealTime: Eisner timed "Ten Minutes", which covers [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the last ten minutes]] of the life of a punk who shoots the candy store owner he was robbing, to take ten minutes to read. It even begins with the sentence, "It will take you ten minutes to read this story."

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: "[[AdolfHitler The Dictator]]'s Reform" actually begins with the disclaimer: "Any similarity to persons living or dead is entirely intentional."

The Spirit, which premiered in June 1940 and ran continuously until October 1952, was the brainchild of WillEisner, arguably one of the most important men in the history of comic books. Originally, it was created and distributed as a weekly insert for more conventional newspapers of the Register and Tribune Syndicate, rather than as a traditional comic. These stories have been reprinted by many publishers in numerous comic book and graphic novel series.

In addition to comics, the character appeared from [[WorldWarII 1941 through 1944]] in a conventional NewspaperComic strip, in a [[TheEighties 1987]] [[ThePilot TV Pilot]] ([[WhatCouldHaveBeen which did not produce a series]]) and, as of December 25, 2008, a theatrical release movie written and directed by FrankMiller.

Now licensed to DCComics, the series was written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke, who distilled elements of the previous series, and set it in the modern day. DCComics later rebooted the series to fit into their FirstWaveDCU universe, and is now written by Creator/MarkEvanier and Creator/SergioAragones, having taken over for Darwyn Cooke, and is set around the [[TheForties 1940s]] or [[TheFifties 1950s]].

** It is notably averted in the Darwyn Cooke reboot where Denny is portrayed as a ''shameless'' flirt, but is also in a (mostly) committed relationship with Ellen and trys hard to be faithful to her.

* CrossOver: With everyone from Franchise/{{Batman}} and DocSavage to {{Cerebus}} and ComicBook/OmahaTheCatDancer,

* DeadpanSnarker: Denny can get as snarky as [[SpiderMan another superhero from a rival company]] in battle, but in the reboot it's Ebony White who plays this to the hilt, delivering caustic comments while almost never, ever changing his dour expression.

** Averted with the Spirit in the reboot. Denny's unmasked face is show in the flashback to the night of his "death" and several times in the Cooke-helmed isssues in intimate moments with Ellen after.

* TheFaceless: The Octopus, and actually The Spirit himself as well.
** Averted with the Spirit in the reboot. Denny's unmasked face is show in the flashback to the night of his "death" and several times in the Cooke-helmed isssues in intimate moments with Ellen after.

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* ChristmasEpisode: Issue closest to Christmas nearly every year in the original run. Usually ended with a CrowningMomentofHeartwarming.

* TheCommissionerGordon: Commissioner Dolan

We currently have a [[Characters/TheSpirit Character Sheet]] under construction.

!!!Tropes:

* OddShapedPanel

* CrossOver: With everyone from {{Batman}} and DocSavage to {{Cerebus}} and ComicBook/OmahaTheCatDancer,

* DeathByOriginStory: The Spirit himself, though he didn't stay dead. He was put into a death-like coma for 24 hours and used being declared dead as an advantage. [[spoiler: Alvarro Mortez AKA 'El Morte' in the DC reboot is a better example]]. He was unfortunate enough to die TWICE before confronting the Spirit personally.

Now licensed to DCComics, the series was written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke, who distilled elements of the previous series, and set it in the modern day. DCComics later rebooted the series to fit into their FirstWaveDCU universe, and is now written by Creator/MarkEvanier and SergioAragones, having taken over for Darwyn Cooke, and is set around the [[TheForties 1940s]] or [[TheFifties 1950s]].

This page is for the comic series. For the 2008 film, see [[Film/TheSpirit The Spirit.]]

The Spirit does not have any super-powers nor does he have any special training. He is an excellent fighter, and survives mostly on force of will and luck. In fact, the strip is fairly realistic in that there are very few instances of extra-normal powers. People get hit and they bleed. People get shot and they die. (There are, however, over the course of over 500 stories, a few appearances of witches, a couple of aliens, one man who can fly and, when appropriate, Santa.)