The Spirit Section Weekly June 20, 1943 Lou Fine Klaus Nordling Bob Powell

$

22

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Title:

The Spirit or The Spirit Section or The Spirit Weekly

Issue #:

160

Publication Date:

Sunday, June 20, 1943

Publisher:

Eisner Studios and the Register and Tribune Syndicates

Contributors:

THE SPIRIT

Script: Bill Woolfolk

Pencils: Lou Fine

Inks: Robin King?

Colors:?

Letters: Martin DeMuth

LADY LUCK

Script: Klaus Nordling [as Ford Davis]

Pencils: Klaus Nordling (signed)

Inks: Klaus Nordling (signed)

MR. MYSTIC

Script: Bob Powell [as S. R. Powell] (signed)

Pencils: Bob Powell [as S. R. Powell] (signed)

Inks: Bob Powell [as S. R. Powell] (signed)

Contents:

Parrot Puggins (The Spirit) 8 pgs.

[No Title Indexed] (Lady Luck) 4 pgs.

[No title indexed] (Mr. Mystic) 4 pgs.

Char acters:

Spirit; Ebony; Ellen Dolan; Brenda Banks [Lady Luck]; Mr. Mystic

Comments:

CONDITION NOTES:

 
THE SPIRIT: The Spirit is a fictional masked crime fighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page,tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday edition of Register and Tribune Syndicate newspapers; it was ultimately carried by 20 Sunday newspapers, with a combined circulation of five million copies during the 1940's. "The Spirit Section", as the insert was popularly known,continued until October 5, 1952. It generally included two other four-page strips (initially Mr. Mystic and Lady Luck), plus filler material. Eisner was the editor, but also wrote and drew most entries—after the first few months, he had the uncredited assistance of writer Jules Feiffer and artists Jack Cole and Wally Wood, though Eisner's singular vision for the strip was a unifying factor.

The Spirit chronicles the adventures of a masked vigilante who fights crime with the blessing of the city's police commissioner Dolan, an old friend. Despite the Spirit's origin as detective Denny Colt, his real identity was virtually unmentioned again, and for all intents and purpose she was simply "the Spirit". The stories are presented in a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and reader expectations.

LADY LUCK:  Created and designed in 1940 by Will Eisner(who wrote the first two Lady Luck stories under the pseudonym "Ford Davis") with artist Chuck Mazoujian. Lady Luck is the alter-ego of Brenda Banks, a young Irish-American socialite heiress, daughter of a mine-owner. Her costume consists of a green dress, a large green hat, and a green veil in place of a mask. In some early versions representations of lucky charms hang from her hat brim. Like Denny Colt, hero of The Spirit, she does not possess any supernatural abilities. Lady Luck appeared in her namesake, four-page weekly feature published in a Sunday-newspaper comic-book insert colloquially called"The Spirit Section" (syndicated by the Register and Tribune Syndicate). This 16-page, tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book, sold as part of eventually 20 Sunday newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million, starred Eisner's masked detective the Spirit and also initially included the feature Mr. Mystic plus filler material. Writer Dick French took over scripting after these first two episodes. Later, writer-artist Nicholas Viscardi (later known as Nick Cardy) took over the feature from the May 18,1941 strip through Feb. 22, 1942, introducing Lady Luck's chauffeur and assistant, Peecolo. Though his Lady Luck stories were credited under the house pseudonym Ford Davis, Viscardi would subtly work in the initials "NV"somewhere into each tale. Writer-artist Klaus Nordling followed, from the March 1, 1942 to March 3, 1946 strip, when "Lady Luck" was temporarily canceled. After briefly being replaced by the humor feature "Wendy the Waitress" by Robert Jenny, "Lady Luck" returned from May 5 to November 3, 1946, under cartoonist Fred Schwab.

"Lady Luck" stories were reprinted in the Quality Comics comic book Smash Comics #42-85 (April 1943 - Oct. 1949),whereupon the series changed its title to Lady Luck for five more issues. Nordling providing new seven- to 11-page stories in Lady Luck #86-90 (Dec. 1949- Aug. 1950) with Gill Fox drawing the covers. Occasional backup features were"Lassie" by writer-artist Bernard Dibble and the humor features"The Count", by Nordling, and "Sir Roger", by Dibble or,variously, Bart Tumey.

MR.MYSTIC: Mr. Mystic is a comic series featuring a magician crime-fighter, created by Will Eisner and initially drawn by Bob Powell. The strip featured in four-page backup feature a Sunday-newspaper comic-book insert, known colloquially as "The Spirit Section". It first appeared in 1940,distributed by the Register and Tribune Syndicate.  

Along with the series Lady Luck, the Mr. Mystic strip followed the seven-page lead feature The Spirit in a 16-page,tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book sold as part of eventually 20 Sunday newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies."The Spirit Section" premiered on June 2, 1940 and continued through1952. Mr. Mystic ended May 14, 1944, by which time Fred Guardineer had succeeded Powell on the strip.

Unlike the newspaper series The Spirit or Lady Luck,Mr. Mystic was not later reprinted in standard comic books by publisher Quality Comics, and considered the least successful; it was the first of the three series to end.