The Spirit #13

Okay. So this is a holiday book. It's only that the holiday covered in this book doesn't match the one on the cover. There are 3 stories in this issue with only the first issue being set during a holiday. And that holiday in question? Is it Christmas? Nope. It doesn't even take place in December. It's Halloween!

On that Halloween night, a gang of goons have just robbed a jewelry store dressed as The Spirit. Things are going good until they reach the tiger lion exhibit at the city zoo and the jewels have somehow wound up right next to a giant Bengal beauty.

Tale #2 has the Spirit helping out an elderly woman who is being targeted by literal grave robbers on the hunt for her uncle's missing inheritance. 

This issue wraps up with a story told entirely in symbols. There's a literary term for this; but I can't remember what that was. And I refuse to quantify it as emojis.

All 3 stories were good. I don't think I've ever read a bad story about The Spirit. There have been some that I had to read a couple times over as capers involving cons and double-crosses. That last story using symbols required a re-read but mostly because there are so many subtle elements that get lost when there are no words to be seen. 

Still, as much as I liked this issue, I feel gypped. That cover is a beauty done in conjunction with J. Bone (Archie Meets Batman '66) and the late Darwyn Cooke (The Twilight Children). And it's Christmasy, through and through. I would have been okay if only 1 of the 3 stories were Christmas themed or if the cover was Halloween themed. But I am unhappy with looking forward all year to this Christmas comic and discovering I should have read this in October. So I am gonna grade hard!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.