The Stop Button

The entire strip seems to be just a way to do a panel of Spirit with a Tommy gun taking out the mob. It’s a striking visual, and the strip itself is solid, but Gang Warfare is more like Gang Meddling.

The strip opens with the Spirit saving a gangster from getting rubbed out. Spirit helps him get away—to meet later in Wildwood Cemetery—and deals with the other crooks, then running himself to escape the police because he’s a wanted man (something the strip doesn’t exactly remember as much as not address).

The crook meeting the Spirit in Wildwood is just a way for the Spirit to meet the crime boss, who will then turn out to be the head of an anti-crime society organization. So, eventually, it’ll all be about Spirit trying to take out a corrupt businessman.

One with friends in city hall, which means Commissioner Dolan’s working both sides of the street. The mayor is sure his pal isn’t a crook, Dolan’s sure the Spirit wouldn’t steer them wrong.

Eventually, it leads to limited gang-busting action sequences, with more emphasis on Spirit (and Dolan) uncovering the boss’s guilt.

Ebony will have a fairly significant role in the resolution, since he’s the only friend the Spirit’s got (as Dolan can’t take too active a part; Spirit’s still wanted for murder, after all). It’s another of those strange “Ebony’s a cute character but looks like Confederate propaganda” vibes. The racism hurts the comedic sidekick potential.

There’s also a very strange sequence—entirely done in extreme long shot—where the Spirit pulls a gun on the crime boss in public, presumably to force a confession, only to immediately give it up when someone tells him such behavior’s illegal. For a thin strip, strung together between set pieces, Warfare does all right.