The Spirit

The Spirit evaluation:

The Spirit [I], 22 issues, Quality Comics, 1944–50
The Spirit [II], 2 issues, Boardman Books (UK), 1948-1952 (repackaged by Denis McLoughlin)
The Spirit [III], 5 issues, Fiction House, 1952–54
The Spirit [IV], 2 issues, I. W. Publications, 1963
The Spirit [V], 2 issues, Harvey Comics, 1966-67 (each contained new Eisner work)
The Spirit [V], 2 issues, Kitchen Sink Press, 1972 (underground)
The Spirit [VI], 4 issues, Ken Pierce, 1978 (reprinting Spirit Dailies)
The Spirit [VII] Magazine, 41 issues, Warren Publishing / Kitchen Sink #17 on, 1974-83 (black-and-white magazine)
The Spirit [VIII], 87 issues, Kitchen Sink Comics, 1983-92 (post-WWII Spirit, complete)
The Spirit [IX]: The Origin Years, 10 issues, Kitchen Sink Comics, 1992-93 (reprints from the beginning)
The Spirit [X]: New Adventures, 8 issues, Kitchen Sink Comics, 1997–98
The Spirit [XI], 32 issues, DC Comics, 2006–2009
The Spirit [XII], 7th issue in Oct. 20, 2010, DC Comics, 2010–present

#1 to #16: Warren & starting from #17: Kitchen Sink. [twc,ober,ed]

The Spirit [VII] #1

April 1974. Warren. [twc,stu]

Spirit: “El Spirito”
7 pgs. s/a/r[The Spirit [I], Feb. 1, 1948]-Will Eisner. c-Richard Corben. Color.
New color splash page.

The Spirit [IV] #2

The Spirit Mag #2 cover overlay (1974): This art is Rich Corben’s first cover work on Will Eisner’s Spirit Magazine published by Warren Comics. He did greyscale paintings to enhance Eisner’s line work for publishing as a magazine. He only did two covers, issues #2 and #3, before Ken Kelly took over doing these collaborative painting enhancements. The number two cover was used for advertisement, but for some reason they published a very basic color job by Bill Dubay for the magazine when it was printed. The size of Corben’s art work was 12″ by 16″.

The way Corben worked is similar to how he colored some of his own line work at times. He has painted all the tones, light sources and shadow on one sheet. Corben would also hand-cut red lith’s. Together with a copy of Will Eisner’s lifework for the art and all the logos and mechanicals reproduced on a clear sheet for the blacks to be printed, this give the final look of Eisner’s line art merged into a Corben painting. This consists of four individual pieces: the art board has the production paste up of Eisner’s art touched up with ink, the logo and lettering. Richard Corben’s tonal painting on one sheet. Corben’s hand-cut red lith indicating shaded areas. And the top layer is all the 100% black line work and ares reproduced on a clear sheet placed over Corben’s painting to add the line definitions back to the painting.

This is the only one of Richard Corben’s Eisner collaborations that has been surviving from the time period! Below is a breakdown on the three art and contribution Richard Corben layers, plus the Will Eisner clear line work layer.

1) On Corben’s work for the piece, he first assembled the Eisner Spirit raw mechanical reproduced character images into a single cover composition and then ink in areas necessary to merge each Eisner section into a single finished image, mostly around the logo area.
1B) This resulting finished black and white image was then reproduced onto a clear overlay. That overlay could then be placed in perfect alignment above Rich Corben painting layer, which was meant to enhance and merge with Will Eisner’s reproduction line work.
2) Corben then did a tonal, black & white painting of the Spirit #2 image without adding anything that conflicted with Eisner’s inks, along with the added logo. View by itself, this Rich Corben ink and airbrush artwork looks like a 1940s version of Den.
3) Finally, Corben hand cut a Rubylith film layer outlining the sunset around the Spirit and Femme Fatale- Powder Pouf. These intricate artistic piece were a crucial part of high-end, mass-produced publishing during the Golden-Age of comic books, magazines and books.

*Richard Corben overlay technique over Willl Eisner art work.*

The Spirit [VII] #3

Aug. 1974. Warren. [twc,stu,ed]

“Spirit [VII] #3”
Front Cover Art-Will Eisner. c-Richard Corben. Color.

Spirit: “The Strange Case of Mrs. Paraffin”
7 pgs. s/a/r[The Spirit [I], March 7, 1948]-Will Eisner. c-Bill DuBay (?). Color.
Here was mention “The Strange Case of Mrs. Paraffin” should be colored by Richard Corben, but that is incorrect. The Warren Company (2001) says, Bill DuBay (?).

The Spirit [VII] Special

Summer 1975. Warren. $2.98. 80 pgs. 11″x8-1/2″. Guts: heavy weight. [twc,stu,va46]

Spirit: “El Spirito”
7 pgs. s/a/r[The Spirit [I], Feb. 1, 1948, The Spirit #1 (1974)]-Will Eisner. c-Richard Corben. Color.
New color splash page.

Spirit: “The Strange Case of Mrs. Paraffin”
7 pgs. s/a/r[The Spirit [I], March 7, 1948, The Spirit #3 (1974)]-Will Eisner. c-Bill DuBay (?). Color.
Here was mention “The Strange Case of Mrs. Paraffin” should be colored by Richard Corben, but that is incorrect. The Warren Company (2001) says, Bill DuBay (?).

Spirit: “Bucket ‘O Blood”
7 pgs. s-Will Eisner, a/r[The Spirit [I], June 16, 1946, Eerie #55 (1974)]-John Spranger & Will Eisner, c-Richard Corben. Color.

Spirit: “The Christmas Spirit”
7 pgs. s/a/r[The Spirit [I], Dec. 21, 1947, Eerie #54 (1974)]-Will Eisner, c-Richard . Color.

The Spirit [VII] #30

July 1981. Kitchen Sink. $2. [ober,wcbdb]

“Spirit [VII] #30”
Wraparound Cover Art-Richard Corben (partial jam).
Jam with Leslie Carbaga, Milton Caniff, Will Eisner, Denis Kitchen, Pete Poplaski, John Pound.

“Spirit [VII] Jam” [SYNOPSIS].
2 pgs: pgs 58-59. s/a-Richard Corben. B&W.
Part of jam story.

The Spirit [XII] #7

Oct. 20, 2010. DC. $3.99. 40 pgs. [id]

Spirit: “The Moon” [SYNOPSIS].
8 pgs. s-Jan Strnad. a-Richard Corben. l-Rob Leigh. B&W.