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[MarkWarner]

Last week's Sherlock Holmes was not a howling success. The mixed reviews went from "that was ok" .. to "diabolical" (which is my opinion).

But onward and upwards (or is it sidewards) to this week's book. I keep bumping across this particular issue of The Spirit with its very distinct cover. So when I was casting around for new reading and it hove into view for the umpteenth time it was the natural choice. I have absolutely no idea what is inside, so fingers and toes crossed.

The Spirit July 6, 1947 taken from The Chicago Sun can be found at https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=22024, and as there are just 8 pages it's a cover to cover job!

[Captain Audio]

The Spirit was always a class act. Never read one that I didn't like.
This is a good start of what should be a good story.

[paw broon]

In answer to the question on P.7, it seems the double header was v. the N.Y. Giants and you can find the results a fair bit down this page:-
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1947&t=BRO

As for the story, it looks beautiful, as it should.  Grandenetti's backgrounds, particularly panel 9 page 3 are excellent.  Some of the perspectives are seriously imaginative, e.g. panel 6 page 3.  It's all so well done and laid out. Eisner (& co.?) could produce serious atmospherics and arguably does some of the best rain in comics.
I have read this story previously, a few times, and I always felt not 100% sure what was going on. You see, it seems to me that The Octopus has the secret formula and the grenade should have simply killed poor Mr. Titmouse, and that seems to be not what happened.  And then, why would Titmouse still be walking the earth at large?  The fiendish Octopus would have bumped him off - he's had the formula for a while.  It all still seems a bit ambiguous.  But none of that matters as the story is, to my mind, a joy to look at.

[SuperScrounge]

The Spirit - I first encountered The Spirit as a kid when a friend showed me The Spirit Magazine, but I just couldn't get into it. These days I can see what he was trying to do and can appreciate them much more, even if I have problems with the story. (As Jim Henson said when he first met Carole Spinney, "I liked what you tried to do."  )

I liked the character study of Titmouse, but I feel the story kind of went south with The Octopus getting the plans for the bomb. Really, does he even need Titmouse at this point? No, not really. And unless this was continued in a future segment (was it?) the formula would have to turn out to be wrong because otherwise you have a villain with an atomic bomb which would just make him a little too powerful.

I did like the question about sports at the end though.

Jonesy - Cute.

[GregG]

I liked this one. The art work had a lot of dramatic lighting and angles. The dark subject matter, played for humor reminded me a little of Mad from the 50s.
I initially thought the girls in Jonesy were Betty and Veronica.

[paw broon]

Greg, I have to admit that I didn't even turn to P8 .  But I have now, after reading your comment about B & V.  and I agree with you.  Ther's just so much wrong with this 1 page story/joke, given attitudes today.  But that last panel is funny.  Well, it made me smile.

[Captain Audio]

have read this story previously, a few times, and I always felt not 100% sure what was going on. You see, it seems to me that The Octopus has the secret formula and the grenade should have simply killed poor Mr. Titmouse, and that seems to be not what happened. 

The paper with the formula can be seen to be partly torn down the middle when the octopus first grabbed it.
I would hazard a guess that the Octopus only has half the formula.

[paw broon]

That sounded right, Cap. but when I re-read the story, it seemed to me that if the Octopus only had half the paper, where was the other bit?  And I noticed again panel 8, our page 5, when The Spirit says,".....HE has told it to him".  So, it would appear that The Octopus does indeed have the formula.  I think all this sort of endorses what I said about ambiguity.  But it is still a great looking wee story

[Mazzucchelli]

I am pretty sure all users of this website and most comic fans all around the world have had at least at some point in their lives contact with Will Eisner

[narfstar]

What Mazz said goes ditto. While I liked the art I did not like the story as read in 2015. But if read in 1947 the story was much more poignant.

[bowers]

 I've never really understood if The Spirit was the hero or the comic relief for many of his stories. Along with an equally incompetent Commissioner Doyle, he seemed to successfully blunder his way through his cases.  Sidekick Ebony White, the usual villains, and lots of scantily-clad women completed the cast.
Eisner had quite a stable of artists and writers working for him on this feature, and the resulting product was usually very, very good.
In this tale, I think The Spirit was only a "host" for the presentation of Mr. Titmouse's short story. This format seemed to be repeated occasionally. I think it was used to give Eisner a venue for publishing some other short stories.
Good choice- I enjoyed the read. Cheers, Bowers

[MarkWarner]

So at long last I open the pages of a book I have been seeing for a few years.

Well I am very confused. I mean not my usual generally confused state that friends and family just accept as a norm. I mean the 8 pages of Spirit have caused a sudden bout of severe confusion and short circuiting in my brain. What went on? Hey ... I know what it's only 8 pages and I'll reread it and report back.

Hmmmm ... that cleared it up very slightly and I think this is actually a bit bizarre and wacky. I really do need to do a bit of investigation into this 

The one page Jonesy I understood and it was a minute of mild amusement, so that does!

Verdict: Sure I would have read The Spirit every week, which from the impression I get most people did! In fact I am going to read some more this week, simply to try and work what the heck is going on!

[Morgus]

I've seen the black and white reprints a few times,  but this was the first time I saw a colour version. Nicely done.