It’s been ten years since comic great Darwyn Cooke left us.
Still, like all those loved and beloved, his presence remains, large and heavy and important and always welcome.
Cooke’s oeuvre of sequential storytelling works, those he wrote and those he illustrated, are always in circulation. New versions of older publications are constantly being found on comic book store and bookshop shelves, and original versions are on regular reader rotation – certainly at this writer’s household. I’m flipping through pages of his brilliant Catwoman of East End Omnibus hardcover right now.
Everything Cooke touched was brilliant. His works deftly walked the tightrope of irreverent and respectful, envelope pushing and, yes, sometimes envelope ripping, but always respectful to source material. The story was paramount in his comic book works. As was the creator’s interest in showcasing something new and entertaining.
And his work on The Spirit was no different.
Created by fellow hall of famer, Will Eisner, and first published as a Sunday newspaper insert back in the spring of 1940, The Spirit told the story of a masked Danny Colt, a private investigator who had a knack for throwing a punch – and getting tied up, sometimes literally, by a femme fatale.
The Spirit was a wonderful romp, a great and fun escape from the worry and horrors of World War II, a character that was able to last generations, albeit on the fringes of mainstream comic book publishing.
Still, The Spirit endured, and under the hand of the inimitable Cooke nearly two decades ago, the character was updated for a new millennium: racial stereotypes were dropped, the internet became a modern investigation tool, and The Spirit met up with other, similar, crime-fighting comic book characters like Batman and Doc Savage. And yes, the punches still flew and femme fatales still plotted mysteries with their jaw-dropping sexual poses.
Darwyn Cooke’s The Complete Spirit Connoisseur Edition
Written by: Darwyn Cook and Jeph Loeb
Illustrated by: Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone
Published by: Image Comics/Skybound
Today, publisher IDW/Skybound releases Darwyn Cooke’s The Complete Spirit Connoisseur Edition, a 332-page oversized hardcover that collects Cooke’s run on the early ‘00s monthly title, originally published via DC Comics. Included here are The Spirit #1-#6, along with issues #8-#12, as well as the Batman/Spirit one-shot. As a bonus, the book also includes a gallery of all the covers and variant covers of the series and a number of never-before-seen drawings by Cooke.
What a treat!
It might be a pricey book at nearly $100, but Darwyn Cooke’s The Complete Spirit Connoisseur Edition is powerful and wonderful noir-superhero reading. Importantly, it’s an added testament to a man who made an indelible mark, who left an everlasting heroic signature, on the comic book industry.
In The Complete Spirit Connoisseur Edition, Cooke’s spirit lives on.
We readers are lucky indeed.
Make the run to your local comic book shop or book store today and pick up the gorgeous Darwyn Cooke’s The Complete Spirit Connoisseur Edition today!
