In this edition of The Full Run, we look over DC Comics’ The Spirit #3, written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke, inked by J. Bone and coloured by Dave Stewart.
Darwyn Cooke’s The Spirit continues with an issue that sets out to boldly reimagine one of the Spirit’s beloved recurring characters, while also bringing back arguably their most well-known foe. The issue also takes a cue from some of Eisner’s best stories by having The Spirit take a back seat to the other characters, especially Satin. The result sees Cooke deliver an equally thrilling and progressive comic that defies the misguided perception of a certain group of online cretons that he agreed with their cause.
The Spirit #4 lets readers know right from the cover that the titular hero will be playing second fiddle to Darwyn Cooke’s reimagining of Silk Satin with an eye-catching cover. Featuring yet another homage to Michelangelo’s Madonna della Pietà, a longtime favorite of the comics industry, the cover signals to readers that The Spirit will be taking a backseat in this issue to Satin by putting her in the position of power. Denny Colt is typically a big, barrel-chested man, yet here he is being carried in the arms of Satin across a barren desert. This continues throughout the issue, with Satin taking charge while the Spirit expresses displeasure in not being the alpha.
However, Satin is not portrayed as an infallible Mary Sue. She has flaws to match her strengths. In short, she’s a well rounded character in a story that is progressive without preaching. And that is because Cooke appears to follow the Greg Rucka approach to female characters. In an interview with i09 (now Gizmodo), Rucka stated:
“Writers don’t write Men or Women or Dogs or Salmon. Writers write characters, and at our best, if we do it well and with care and with thought, we invest in those characters a spark of life, a realism and nuance that makes them believable and relatable. We seek to craft characters who inspire empathy, characters our audience will care for, and as a result, will care about what happens to them, and thus will share the journey we have charted. A story, after all, is the character’s journey.”
This approach is why Satin works so well in this issue. Her being a woman comes secondary to her being a character. And as a character, Satin shines in being one step ahead of The Spirit and Dolan while trying to bring down the crime organization known as The Octagon.
And this brings us to this series’ introduction of the Spirit’s arch enemy, the Octopus. Though technically he already appeared in Batman/The Spirit, that one-shot existed in a fully formed “Spirit Universe” where all of the rogues had previously done battle with the hero. This being their first confrontation, the Octopus remains true to Eisner’s original creation. Cold, calculating, and hands-on, the Octopus proves to be a formidable foe for The Spirit and Satin throughout this issue. Because of the timing of this issue’s release, it’d be an oversight to not compare it to Samuel L. Jackson’s interpretation from the maligned 2008 movie. Cooke presents the Octopus as bald like Jackson… and thankfully that’s where the comparison ends. Shrouded in shadows, readers never see what the Octopus truly looks like.
The Spirit #4 also marks the return of Hussein. Both a source of moral ambiguity and comic relief, Cooke continues to make this character just a delight to read. He’s apprehended for working for The Octagon, but then later helps our heroes escape. The unpredictability of the character would normally be chalked up to inconsistency, but the combination of the world’s moral ambiguity and his charismatic personality makes for an extremely likeable character at a time when others were going in a different direction.
Full of twists and turns, The Spirit #4 is another fantastic issue in Darwyn Cooke’s run. With a forward looking and progressive approach to both women and minorities, this issue successfully defied the “go woke go broke” crowd before that term entered the public lexicon. Both Satin and The Octopus are welcome additions to the series, and proof that Cooke can both skillfully update a past character for modern sensibilities and keep another true to their 1940s roots.
