The Spirit #7: Three Tales are Better than One

[Aaron Kashtan]

This was a fun issue, with a lot of very good creators involved. I think my favorite story was the one by Kyle Baker, but Jordi Bernet's art was beautiful.

Which of the three stories did you like best?

[Jack Zodiac]

"Hard Cell" was great because we got to see an old school "tough broad" version of Ellen. And the art was dark and gritty and totally fitting for the story, and "Harder than Diamonds" was fun as hell and had some great art, but I think Palmiotti and Bernet's "Synchronicity" was the best of the three. Interesting detective story and perfect art. Definitely my favorite story this issue.

[Adem]

Like Zack I enjoyed Palmiotti and Bernet's story the best. I hope we get more of these "jam" issues because it was a lot of fun.

[ultramandingo]

..........."synchronicity " almost felt like a lost eisner script ( without the sunbathing ) - kinda wish baker did his in that " cartoony" plastic man style-
speaking o wich, dc needs to do the plas , spirit "police comics " x-over ! comon! it be worth it for the whoozy and ebony team up alone

[mgs]

I liked the second one the best.

It had the feel and look of something that Cooke was doing. The first story was a great story, but had none of the cartoonish look I think it needed to soften up the material a bit. The third story was horrible. Harsh, violent, it did not mesh into the 3 story book at all.

[stealthwise]

Baker's sucked, I've yet to read anything of his that was really that great.

[mgs]

Baker's sucked, I've yet to read anything of his that was really that great.

you didn't like or read his story about superman's babysitter in the Bizzarro trade?

[stealthwise]

you didn't like or read his story about superman's babysitter in the Bizzarro trade?

Have to re-read it, but I don't remember it doing much for me before.

[Aaron Kashtan]

Have you read any of his autobiographical stories about his family, the stories collected in the Kyle Baker, Cartoonist books? Those might be my favorite works of his.

[stealthwise]

Have you read any of his autobiographical stories about his family, the stories collected in the Kyle Baker, Cartoonist books? Those might be my favorite works of his.

I've read some Plastic Man, I Die at Midnight, the Bizarro Tales story, and most of his art on that abhorrent Captain America Truth mini.

[GoGo Yubari]

I loved Kyle Baker's Plastic Man series but I honestly could not figure out whether his Spirit story was supposed to be another style parody or not. It felt like either an incredibly subtle riff on the entire noir genre (and also possibly the work of Frank Miller), or just a bizarrely out-of-pace noir story in and of itself.

The first two stories, though, were wonderful and felt like they fit right in with what Cooke had been doing in prior issues. So two out of three isn't bad.

[sdunbier]

I've read some Plastic Man, I Die at Midnight, the Bizarro Tales story, and most of his art on that abhorrent Captain America Truth mini.

I love most of his stuff but some favorites are Why I Hate Saturn and Cowboy Wally. But I think my favorite book by KB is You Are Here--brilliant stuff. The Baker's is really good as well.

[The_Spirit]

The Palmiotti/Bernet story was by far my favorite. Especially the end when the Spirit gets..well.."dinged" right in front of that gorgeous girl, and still has the confidence to point and laugh at himself. How everything just came together in that story was classic Spirit. It slayed me how the dude played The Spirit's entrance in the building to his advantage and made the tough guy afraid.

Harder than Diamonds was great detective work on The Spirit's part, and Hard Cell was also the kind of dirt and grit story you saw Eisner doing at the very beginning of The Spirit's creation.

To me, this issue cooked from cover to cover, I was instantly hooked. Though, I've heard a lot of people say it was the weakest of the series thus far, and that the series itself is not living up to Eisner's work. I'm not sure how they can say that, because all the stories in issue #7 were classic Spirit, as are all of Darwyn Cooke's issues.

[Aaron King]

I honestly could not figure out whether his Spirit story was supposed to be another style parody or not. It felt like either an incredibly subtle riff on the entire noir genre (and also possibly the work of Frank Miller), or just a bizarrely out-of-pace noir story in and of itself.

This is kind of how I felt. The story seemed... rushed? I love Kyle Baker, but the story seemed a bit off in pacing and felt like a few different tones all mashed together.

The other stories were great, though.