The Spirit

Will Eisner has taken The Spirit in a somewhat different direction than other super heroes that I have had more experience with. Eisner made some interesting choices with the cast, specifically his sidekick, Ebony. I won’t go too much into that little gem since it has already been greatly discussed already. There are thing I actually like about The Spirit, not sure about the magazine as a whole, but I can appreciate certain things.
For instance, I’m not entirely sure just what the Spirit’s special ability is. He seems to remind me both of superman and batman. Like Batman, he doesn’t seem to have any special alien powers, he wasn’t in some radioactive accident, not was he a science experiment, (at least from what I can tell in this issue). He can jump in there and kick butt, but he doesn’t use gadgets like batman does, instead he uses his wit. He does a lot of out-smarting of the bad guys, instead of relying on powers or brute strength. I think he reminds me of superman only because he looks and dresses so much like Clark Kent, save the glasses.
I did notice that other that the up front and obvious racial stereotype, Eisner seems to keep The Spirit in line with Disney’s other cartoons in that it’s appropriate for the younger crowds. There no sort of language that could be considered inappropriate, and the violence is limited to mild punches, kicks, and tosses. They also try to add in some witless humor with the supporting characters like the chief of police, and the bad guys as well. In terms of the bad guys, this seems to keep their intelligence level down, so we as the reader never really feel that they are a challenge for the Spirit, and thus we don’t fear for his life. After all, who would be afraid of a bumbling idiot?