In this edition of The Full Run, we look over DC Comics’ Batman/The Spirit, written by Jeph Loeb with art by Darwyn Cooke, inked by J. Bone and coloured by Dave Stewart.
Unlike Superman or Spider-Man, the Spirit is a family business. Ownership of Will Eisner’s iconic character is not in the hands of a multinational conglomerate, but rather in the hands of Eisner himself or, upon his death in 2005, his estate. Having entrusted DC to painstakingly and faithfully reproduce the entirety of The Spirit’s original publication over 26 volumes, DC was granted permission to create their own Spirit stories. Naturally, they paired Eisner’s pulp-inspired masked crimefighter with their own – Batman. While this would seem like an obvious pairing, it also was the right one.
To bring this crossover to life, DC would pair Jeph Loeb with artist Darwyn Cooke. Loeb had written several iconic Batman stories, such as The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and had recently wrapped up the now-classic Hush. Meanwhile, Cooke had recently completed his own substantial project with his love letter to the Silver Age, DC: The New Frontier. Unlike those other 400-plus page stories, which were the two would be tasked with pulling off a single 48-page issue – a rarity in the post-2000 era of increasingly decompressed storytelling. And yet, Batman/The Spirit is alchemy. The talents of Loeb and Cooke, along with inker J. Bone and colorist Dave Stewart, would create one of the greatest single-issues of modern superhero storytelling that would culminate in being awarded the industry’s highest honor – named for The Spirit’s creator.
Batman/The Spirit opens with two action set pieces, each showcasing the titular heroes attempting to bring down members of their respective rogues galleries to no avail. This immediate fallibility of both Batman and The Spirit adds stakes balanced with whimsey. While readers can pick this issue up fully assured that the heroes will prevail at the end, Loeb and Cooke understand the journey to the resolution is the ultimate appeal of superhero storytelling. By giving the heroes fallibility, readers can expect that this adventure will provide the heroes a degree of difficulty – which is exacerbated by having to go up against their combined rogues galleries.
The bloated cast of villains would normally crush a full story arc, let alone a single issue story. But Loeb at this time had honed his ability to manage large casts via the aforementioned Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and Hush, and therefore manages to strike a proper balance across the 48 pages, giving each character just enough to make their inclusion feel warranted. An argument could be made for this story to focus on a straightforward team up of the heroes and their biggest villains (likely Joker and Octopus), but that would be rather predictable. And while that dynamic does play out to a degree, the boldness to expand the villain cast yields exceedingly fun results.
P’Gell and Ivy make an effective pair of femme fatales while Killer Croc and Cossack serve the dual roles of mob muscle and comic relief. Through these interactions, Loeb and Cooke showcase their masterful grasp of each character’s world.
Of course, it is the titular characters that draw readers in. While there was little doubt Loeb and Cooke would do the Dark Knight justice, it is their handle of The Spirit that is truly impressive. Serving as pilot for the solo title with the character, Cooke in particular showcases his mastery of the medium while offering up several visual homages to Will Eisner. There is the expected “THE SPIRIT” title page, the buildup to is perfectly executed in that it is not obvious that it will appear until it of course does. There are heavy shadows juxtaposed against cartoonish and expressive characters. In fact the only thing that doesn’t feel much like the classic strips is how prominent a character the Spirit actually is, but that is a minor quibble which goes against the very idea of this crossover comic.
Years after its publication, Batman/The Spirit remains a masterpiece of superhero storytelling. The team-up of two superheroes influenced by the pulps, along with their colorful cavalcade of enemies, remains as captivating today as it did in 2007. Loeb’s tightly scripted story and the beautiful visuals by Cooke, Bone, and Stewart make this one-shot highly recommended reading for fans of the medium at large, not just fans of cape comics.
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