Pink Perkins brings back the two kid characters—revealed here to be the Tidewater children–who previously appeared in the “Hitler Goes Good” strip. They don’t get first names here; the family name matters because their dad is initially in trouble. He runs the Tidewater grocery chain, and the mob is shaking him down for protection money. It just happens the mobsters in the Spirit comic strip use similar threats as the mobsters in the Gumshoe Gus comic strip the kids read. And that comic strip is created by one Pink Perkins. He works at the Daily Beagle. So many names, all of them great, some of them eerily prescient for future developments in the comic book industry.
The kids go see Pink Perkins because Gus is a vicious killer of bad guys, and they think Pink writes Gus from experience. Gus also apparently beats his witnesses within an inch of their lives, which also contributes to a less-than-heroic ideal. Certainly less heroic than the Spirit, who will figure into the story eventually, and Commissioner Dolan, who Eisner and the studio also manage to fit in. The kids go see Perkins, leaving a note for their dad to explain, which leads Dad to think Perkins is a big tough guy, too; except the mobsters snatch the kids, which Spirit somehow finds out about and sets about rescuing them.
Meanwhile, the kids–well, one of them, the comic-relief one (who bites people) doesn’t talk—regal their kidnappers with tales of Gumshoe Gus’s toughness. And, being a superstitious, cowardly lot, the criminals believe the kid about Perkins’s demeanor. Now, Eisner and studio’s punchline for Perkins is he’s a risible scaredy-cat. It’s not a flattering characterization. Eisner gets some of the “life imitates art” meta, but entirely misses how Pink Perkins could be the obvious stand-in for the creator of The Spirit.
The mobsters go after Pink Perkins, while Dolan and Spirit both figure out the mobsters’ kidnapping scheme, down to where they’re holding the kids. At that point, with some peculiar exceptions, the strip plays like an early “Spirit vs. the mob” entry; they’ve even had one with a fight at a rural cabin before, though this time there’s a fainted man prop for the fisticuffs to move around.
There are good comedy beats thanks to the kids, and the strip generally survives how poorly it treats Pink. The art’s solid without trying for anything special; lots of familiar fight choreography, and limited locations. It’s all played for the humor, with Eisner treating the fisticuffs—at least until the very end (and even then not for long)—like a combination of added value and mandatory inclusion. Like the Tidewater kids aren’t enough to carry a strip on their own, Spirit needs to sock some thug into the side of the panel.
Overall, mostly successful. In some ways, a more traditional Spirit, but only since the “war’s almost on” Spirit doesn’t have as many entries. Yet.