The Spirit #26

Cover by the great Brian Bolland.

   

   

   Issue #26 kicks off a three-part story devoted to an integral part of the Spirit mythos- the femme fatales. The first dangerous doll featured is Dr. Silken Floss, the former high school sweetheart of Denny Colt before he became the Spirit. This is mostly an origin story that reveals why the former good girl devoted herself to a life of crime as the Octopus' right-hand man- er woman. It's up to the Spirit to tap into that now hardened persona in hopes of convincing her to help stop the Octopus from unleashing a deadly biological agent on Central City.

   This is all-new territory for fans of the Will Eisner hero. First, this marks writer FJ Desanto and artist's Justiniano's inaugural take on the Spirit. With a different tone and new art, I had to prevent myself from saying that this story was better or worse that Aragones/ Evanier/ and Hardin's run on this series.

   This issue is also the first chapter in the first ever multi-part story of  this series. Most of Eisner's original Spirit tales were single issue stories. Thus no cliffhangers. But that didn't mean that there wasn't a degree of continuity throughout the Spirit's classic first run. That's exactly what happens here as this issue has an ending, but there's also a set-up for chapter 2 of this storyline entitled 'Choices.'

   An okay story but it's one fraught with more questions than answers. Hopefully, more will be revealed in issue #27.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.