The Stop Button

Eisner and studio tell one heck of a full story in these eight pages. The splash panel gives the Spirit origin and shows Wildwood Cemetery very close to New York City proper, with an airplane below the cemetery. But the story of The Black Queen’s Army begins with a stool pigeon getting shot dead and the cops unable to make an arrest. Even though gangsters from all over the country have been coming to Manhattan, no one can figure out what they’ve got planned.

Well, they’re going to rob the Federal Reserve Bank (or something) of a million dollars in gold bullion. And they’re doing it for that notorious female mouthpiece The Black Queen. Since her last appearance, she’s gone full Bond villain—note, the Spirit should’ve known she was the gangland mastermind but missed that one—and has a straightforward plan. Block the bridges, take the police headquarters hostage, and parachute hundreds of gangsters with Tommy guns into the city.

The visual execution of the mega-heist is sublime. Eisner doesn’t deal with the large-scale assault, instead zooms in on Commissioner Dolan’s losing fight for headquarters and the police radio’s message reaching the Spirit and Ebony. Also sublime this strip is the art. Eisner and the studio have gotten their line work down. They’re still a little sharp, but there are fewer of them and they’re doing more work. There’s some excellent detail in this one.

Including—awkwardly as ever—on Ebony’s caricature features.

Ebony’s a full sidekick this strip but doesn’t get anything to do except give the Spirit a conversation partner. He doesn’t even appear as the third act action takes over—oh, forgot—Spirit is putting together his flying car this strip. Thanks to the car he can get to Manhattan to save the day. The flying car stuff is ridiculous, but the rendering of it is so gorgeous it doesn’t matter. Eisner’s packing this strip. Dolan gets whole kidnap and rescue scenes, Spirit takes out multiple bands of crooks; it’s a full-on action comic. And it’s fantastic.

Eisner showcases the strip’s ability to do exciting—all in eight pages—and it’s glorious.