Interesting thread. I've been picking up the new Spirit stuff because I love Darwyn Cooke's work. However, I'm confused, in light of the recent Spirit/Batman crossover, as well as the whole old school meets new school sensibility. Is the Spirit supposed to be in continuity with the rest of the DCU?

I love the Spirit, but unlike many comics, I think MOST of it is stand alone stuff. Dive in anywhere, and enjoy.

I would be if it wasn't for the fact that Frank Miller is the one involved with it. Don't get me wrong, when Frank is on his game he can put out some good stuff - Dark Knight, being one of the most obvious examples ("300" is great fun and makes for a cool testosterone movie but isn't really a masterpiece especially since it's a shortened retelling of another tale) - but when he is off his game or figures he has carte blanche, well, it all falls to pieces pretty quick (e.g. - "All-Star Batman and Robin"). That alone would make me cautious with any person but really what it boils down to is this: he's just the wrong tone for the Spirit. Sure, some of the Spirit is "noir" but I just don't see Frank grasping the part of the Spirit that isn't like that - the part that separates the Spirit from the Mike Hammer stories - and we'll end up with a guy in a blue suit and domino-mask running around Sin City.

My first thought when reading this is "Oh no, think of what he might do with Silk Satin." Granted, I've only read the one issue with her in it but I liked her.

One thing I don't want to see is the Spirit running around with a bodycount that makes "Platoon" seem like a playground brawl. Eisner was always pretty good about the Spirit, himself, not directly killing anyone and, again, between Hollywood's love of violence and Miller's desire to make everything dark and full of prostitutes I worry it just won't be the Spirit up there. I could be wrong - I admit that - and I guess I should give the benefit of the doubt but, frankly (no pun intended), the guy's kind-of used up a lot of that "doubt" but churning out the same type of story for quite a few years now.

I'm with you on this. But then I think we covered this ground in the Spirit film thread that's out there.

By the way, you must have been happy to see Silk Satin make her appearance in the new series. Cooke just keeps showing his true love and appreciation of the characters in the way he is handling them. He just has their interactions down so well.

Really it says a lot about Eisner's ability that we feel Cooke is keeping up with the characterizations. "The Spirit" - original series - wasn't written at a time known for characterization yet the fact that we think of each of these folks as having very distinct personalities beyond the cliches is interesting and, as noted, a real testament to the Eisner stories.

Oh, I'm certainly in the camp that not enough can be said about the amazing work that Eisner did. To say he was ahead of his time is really not giving him enough credit. It's amazing how much current comics owe to him. Unfortunately, I don't think enough people realize the importance he had on the medium.
I remember the first time I read Comics & Sequential Art and was totally blown away at the man's genius. It's still one of my most used reference books.