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Spirit, The: The Corpse-Makers

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    Ian Jane
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  • Spirit, The: The Corpse-Makers



    Spirit, The: The Corpse-Makers
    Released by: Dynamite Entertainment
    Released on: February 1st, 2017.
    Written & Illustrated by: Francesco Francavilla
    Purchase From Amazon

    The first issue of this new series from Dynamite Entertainment start out on a cold and rainy night in the denizens of Central City. A hobo, with a fresh bottle of booze, heads into the slum to share his treasure with pal Carl, only to find that fifty-eight year old Carl Stevens is dead. The hobo with the booze? His name was Lenny King and he was the last man to see Stevens alive. The cops talk to Lenny, they examine the body, they check out the crime scene - there's no indication that there was any foul play. Dolan himself is on the scene, but again, there's nothing to work with here. Lenny had only left Carl alone for fifteen minutes, but in that fifteen minutes, it looks like he died of natural causes.

    Doyle sits in the car. The rain isn't good for his old bones. There he notices The Spirit hiding out in the back seat. Doyle, both disturbed and perturbed to see him, tells him the cops have got his, there's no case here. The Spirit splits, hoping into that old cab that his assistant Ebony drives for him. Ebony drops his boss off at the cemetery he calls home, then heads back into the city to hang out with his visiting cousin Vince who he hasn't seen in years.

    Cut to a dinner, Fellini's, where Ebony and Vince catch up - it's been a few years. They reminisce about old times but when Ebony asks Vince what he's been up to, well, he doesn't want to talk. Just as they're about to go catch a movie, a man pulls up in a car and tells Vince to get in. They have to talk. He tells Ebony they'll get a movie tomorrow and obliges. The guy in the car is named Mikey, and he needs a third man for the bank job he's got planned. Vince doesn't want anything to do with it but Mikey isn't giving the ex-con a choice. While this is going on, two hooded figures appear at the morgue, pay off the attendant, and make off with Carl Stevens' corpse while on the television the news anchor talks about Central City's energy crisis and what coal might do to help it while Mikey's robbery goes off…

    Written and illustrated by Francesco Francavilla, this initial installment of The Corpse-Makers is certainly off to a great start. Francavilla's shadowy and atmospheric art style is a good fit for Will Eisner's most famous creation (and this series a great way to celebrate the man's centennial!). The dark style that has become a bit of a trademark for Francavilla on titles like Afterlife With Archie really does work well here. Eisner's original series always had lots of nourish shadows and wild panel lay outs with quirky architecture and interesting locations. Francavilla's work emphasizes that part of Eisner's original run while very definitely putting his own stamp on it. The script also jives with all of this in a big way, presenting us with an appropriately macabre situation for our graveyard dwelling symbol of justice to investigate. Throw in a few fun pop culture references, some nice action sequences in the last few pages and some seriously great coloring and this first issue proves to be on that should get readers frothing at the mouth for the next chapter.





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