This is one of the better comic book team-ups in recent memory. I guess with Will Eisner’s death in 2005, his estate worked out a deal to have DC Comics publish new adventures. The Spirit working with Batman is an awesome and logical decision since both of these characters are similar types of superheros. Personally, I only “knew” The Spirit and where his creator Will Eisner stood in the lexicon of comic books; there’s even an award named after Eisner worthy of receiving (unlike the Grammys). My friend Steve Bryant’s book Athena Voltaire was nominated for one and I hope he won. Anyway, my opinion of The Spirit was non-existent because back when I really started to seriously follow comics there were only reprint collections from Kitchen Sink Press, a great publisher. Nice books but too rich for my blood, besides, I was younger then and the stories of the past didn’t appeal to me. Ron Killian (owner of The Turning Page in Milwaukee) was my first real comics sensei and he told me all about The Spirit so I always knew the gist of the story and Eisner’s influence on others I admired. Today, you’ll even notice his influence on modern movies like The Incredibles.
Now with that digression of history out of the way, how is this one-shot? It’s actually pretty good. The Spirit is a good foil for Batman because he’s a more happy-go-lucky type of investigator with some dumb luck. After some odd criminal activities in their respective cities, the characters’ paths cross in Hawaii for a police commissioner’s convention. It turns out that their numerous enemies are working together in a scheme which will leave most major cities wide open for an overwhelming crime spree if they succeed. The writers and artists also chose to go with the Post-War look for Batman’s gadgets and the overall appearance of the world giving the comic a similar look to the recently released New Frontier miniseries. It’s worthy of reading even if you’re just a casual comic book fan and I wanted to plug it because it’s the first really impressive Batman team-up since the Captain America story by John Byrne.