The Spirit Archives, Vol. 21: July 2 to December 31, 1950

Criminologist Denny Colt let the world believe he was dead in order to continue his war against crime as the masked vigilanted known only as The Spirit. Through his career, he fought some of the world's deadliest villains with nothing more than his wits, his fists and his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.

The blue-suit clad, fedora-wearing crime fighter created by Will Eisner starred in hundreds of newspaper adventure stories that thrilled readers, and Eisner's groundbreaking style utilized the comics format to its greatest strengths.

Eisner's masterwork continues through one of its greatest periods in WILL EISNER'S THE SPIRIT ARCHIVES VOL. 21, collecting stories featuring such classics as "The Moment of Glory," "The Wreck of Old 78" and "Camp Wachoobee."

These two volumes collect Eisner's landmark comic book The Spirit from 1950, its last great year (in mid-1951, Eisner turned writing and drawing over to assistants). Eisner is at the top of his game, switching effortlessly from noir melodrama to lighthearted humor, often in the course of a single story. With nary a dud to its tally, the year saw a disproportionate number of what came to be seen as peak moments. Volume 20 includes the saga of Sand Saref, the Spirit's childhood sweetheart, who turned to a life of international crime, as well as a serial taking the masked crime fighter to the Middle East in search of a jewel of immortality. In volume 21, the Spirit and a handcuffed prisoner make a harrowing trek across a sweltering desert, femme fatale P'Gell takes a post as a college French instructor, and an onomatopoeia-laden tale about a paranoid cartoonist shows Eisner's mastery of his medium. Flagg, Gordon