The Stop Button

Johnny Marston’s splash panel has a short blurb explaining the Spirit’s origin—of note because it’s a strip standard from now on. It’s also the first strip where the Spirit stumbles into an ongoing adventure.

Johnny Marston is a blue-blood fallen on hard times. Dad gambled away all the money, now Johnny’s wife is deathly ill and he can’t afford to get her out west, where the dry air will save her. With their last thirty bucks (not even), he goes gambling. Successes don’t turn out to matter because the gangster running the joint isn’t going to let Johnny cash out.

The gangster’s muscle beats Johnny close to death and they dump the corpse-to-be in Wildwood Cemetery. Luckily, the Spirit happens to be on a walk when he sees the body being dumped and can gather enough information to try to take down the gambling establishments. Ever opaque about the Spirit’s actual skills, Eisner and studio do not explain how someone can have a whirlwind night at the casinos without ever losing. Maybe it’s the Spirit’s blue top hat, which he dons for the outing.

There’s some great art. Not much in the way of fisticuffs, with gambling antics and a big car chase sequence providing the action this time around. There are still some fisticuffs, of course, but not only fisticuffs. The panel layouts with the Spirit getting interested in taking down the gambling dens and the car chase are particular standouts.

There’s also the Spirit getting mad at Dolan for the police department not coming through right, which is an interesting detail if a throwaway. And the last sequence, with a postal delivery person having to go to Wildwood Cemetery, is cute.

Outside the dumb luck factor—tying Johnny and the Spirit—being a tad slight (Eisner spends so much time on Johnny’s setup, he doesn’t have the space to tie them better), it’s a good strip. Sympathetic characters, determined Spirit, it works out.

And we get to see a little more of Spirit’s crypt lair. He’s at least got a bed down there.