The Spirit Trading Cards!

When Kitchen Sink had dibs on Will Eisner's The Spirit they came out with a number of entertaining items for the dedicated fan. Trading cards have been a tradition for well over a century and many of us can remember the fun of cards like the Mars Attacks set. In the 80's and 90's sets began to appear featuring all sorts of pop culture icons. Kitchen Sink stepped up and gave us a set of thirty-six cards featuring characters and situations from the long rich history of Will Eisner's creation. Here are few of them. 

The Spirit strip was a survivor in many ways and cards were just one more expression of how he kept ticking. 

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The Corpse-Makers!

Will Eisner's The Spirit is no more alas. Some creators are so distinctive and wedded to their creations that when that talent is no longer available the creation wanes and disappears. Whether this will happen to The Spirit following the death of Eisner remains to be seen.

Some decent Spirit tales have been crafted, but I've yet to find any that had the same distinctive character, the same specific charm. That's the case with one of the most recent as well -- The Corpse-Makers by Francesco Francavilla. But I was eager to see this one in its collected form because if any modern artist was mining the same Film Noir material that evoked the original Spirit it's Francavilla.

There are a few things I like a lot, and number one is the creamy artwork of Francavilla who has found a nifty way tell a tale in the dark. His atmospheric backgrounds are exquisite. His usually deft storytelling falls down a few times in this five-part yarn that spins along for too short a time. That pace is the biggest downfall of his story, it flies by and all five chapters are read in minutes.

Once again I am reminded why I don't buy new comics, the storytelling is just not sufficient in a given chapter to warrant the the effort. Even with five parts collected here, the experience fell a bit shy. Now that's odd to say since the original Spirit stories were concocted in a handful of pages with a hammer-like rhythm.

But in the end despite the twenty dollar asking price, I found Francavilla's Spirit a satisfying read, not as good as Eisner, but on its own terms a proper Noir. I do hate the title though and recommend "Crimson Coal" or even  "The Crematorium" as possible substitutes. It will make sense when you read it.

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Heroic Fashions!

Here's a real treat. It appears to be one of Steve Ditko's actual pages on which he sketches out his design for the updated Blue Beetle for Charlton Comics. This design by Ditko is almost universally hailed as one of the great superhero costumes, and remained virtually unchanged when the character was appropriated and moved into the DC Universe many years later. 

(The previous classic Blue Beetle look.)

In fact it wasn't until some years ago with the seeming demise of Ted Kord that the Ditko Beetle look was revamped again. This is a sturdy and reliable and downright handsome look which perhaps got its start on this very sheet.

The Beetle designs are very similar of course to this artwork which served as a cover for a fanzine. The designs here are for Captain Atom and it shows off his then-new blue, red, and silver costume, a replacement for the gold one Ditko himself created over a decade before. While this look for the good Captain is a fave of mine, it was not so well received by the fans in general and Captain Atom has undergone several changes since being blended into the larger DCU.

But to my fanboy eye, these are two of the great superhero costumes, two great looks, two great Ditko designs.

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The Mighty Marvel Trimpe Westerns!

The Dojo continues the Herb Trimpe celebration. Herb was always one of my favorite Bullpen artists and he still is. Famous for his definitive run on The Incredible Hulk soon after old Jadejaws got his title (for the second time), Trimpe went on to become a Marvel stalwart. He drew series as diverse as Ant-Man, G.I. Joe, Iron Man, Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD, Godzilla, Shogun Warriors and many more.

But one of the things I most remember Trimpe for was his delightful spate of covers for Marvel's western comic reprints of the early Bronze Age. Trimpe had a knack for portraying sprawling scenes of action with a strange ability to keep all the disparate figures in focus. Here's a heaping helping of some Trimpe classic covers. Enjoy!

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Phantom Eagle Day!

Herb Trimpe was born on yesterday's date in 1939. He was one of Marvel's mainstay artists in the Bronze Age. His version of the Incredible Hulk was the definitive version of the era. Trimpe had a style which worked well on lots of projects such as Godzilla and Shogun Warriors. The Power of Angels is one of the most powerful books written in regard to 9-11. 

It's pure happen chance that I picked up Marvel Super-Heroes #16 featuring the one and pretty much only solo appearance of "the Pulse-Poundng Phantom Eagle". He was an American of German heritage and who feared for his family who was doing his best under disguise to bring the German menace during World War I to an end. What makes the Phantom Eagle fly is the exquisite artwork of the late Herb Trimpe, an artist ideally suited for the task. Trimpe was in addition to being one of Marvel's most trustworthy and reliable talents, a flyer of just the kinds of planes featured in this comic.

Here is some of the original artwork from that story from so many years ago.

What a neat character. Phantom Eagle was one of the earliest comics I've ever chanced across when a mere tot. The story in Marvel Super-Heroes #16 by Gary Friedrich featuring the scrumptious artwork by Herb Trimpe really appealed to me. The story's absolute merits have diminished somewhat through the decades as adult critical judgment comes into play, but I still think the Trimpe art, especially those planes holds up magnificently. His attention to detail in this story is exceptionally keen. Airplane stories are hard to tell and keep the storytelling effective in a comic, but Trimpe does it very well in the Phantom Eagle's single outing.

The character popped up a few more times over the decades. Trimpe brought him back in the Hulk for a one-off adventure and later the Eagle appears in Ghost Rider. But that was about all she wrote (literally) for the hero who does get a nod in the Invaders as a member of the Freedom's Five, a WWI precursor to the Invaders themselves.

Then Phantom Eagle got dusted off a few years ago by Howie Chaykin and given a limited series. This isn't the charming Phantom Eagle I loved as a kid, this is a pretty wretched young man in a world far more brutal than the kid-friendly war pictured in the old Marvel comics. Men die horribly and for no good damn reason in this series, and Phantom Eagle is far from a hero. He's a self-centered buffoon for most of the story, but he does grow as tragedy strikes again and again. It's a decent WWI story, but it's not really a Phantom Eagle story. I'm afraid only Herb Trimpe and Gary Friedrich can tell those, and together they only told one.


I got to meet Trimpe and Friedrich a few years ago at Mid-Ohio Con, and they were both nice fellows. I went wanting specifically to thank Trimpe for decades of great work and I took my copy of Marvel Super-Heroes #16 to get it signed. Trimpe and Friedrich had adjoining booths and when he saw the comic, Trimpe shouted to Friedrich to take a gander a book I suspect they don't see a lot. I now have a precious copy with both signatures. I also took advantage to commission Trimpe to draw a portrait of Phantom Eagle for me. It's a great treasure and occupies a place of honor in the non-virtual dojo.

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