Sunday Spookies

You were promised Spirit this time, and we're going back to the beginning, to Denny Colt's origin as The Spirit.
Not very Halloween, is it? I mean, yeah - The Spirit is a spooky based name, but...
There must be some greater reason to visit this story at this time. Let's see if we can part the mists to peek into the future to illuminate our path...

Ah. I see. You all remember that time that he and Vampirella crossed paths, right?
If not, it would be good if his origin story was fresh in your minds, so let's look at a nice re-presentation of the original tale from Warren's 1970s Spirit Magazine-

Okay. Now you're all ready when we get to Vampi's tale. On Halloween.
Hang in there -
Next time, we'll get a little more Sunday Morning Funnies-ish

The Spirit by Will Eisner from The Spirit #10 (1975)

NOT The 3 Brothers...

Let's jump way back 80 years ago to 1937, back when Will Eisner was still calling himself William. In the dawning days of the comic book when they were still trying to figure out what to call these new critters, we find Eisner working on Funny Picture Stories.

Eisner gets top billing on the table of contents, even in those early days:

I love some of those other titles - Rocky Baird (Adventurer and World Tramp), The Swamp Rat, Battling Beau Brummel, Camera Of Crime....  7-11 Gang? Huh?
What the frell is that? 7-11 was still known as Tote'm Stores for another 9 years after this was published. So what's the 7-11 reference? Hmm...  we'll have to come back to that. But first - you know i can't pass up a good 3, so...

You may have noticed that Eisner was also credited for Silver Speed in the TOC. That's not a story, just a two page spread:

They had hockey outside of Canada 80 years ago? Hnh.

Meanwhile, back at The 7-11 Gang...
I went back and read it. The name is referenced 3 times:

That's all we get for an explanation of the name. So, either someone (Tony Basso? The editor?) just thought it sounded good, or they were an ongoing feature whose name was explained previously, or there's a forgotten cultural reference eluding me here.
Hmm....

The Brothers 3 by Will(iam) Eisner for Funny Picture Stories #4 (1937)

Uncomics 002 - Nationally Screwed

NOTE: The images for this article have been moved to our back room following the restructure of this site due to adult content. (Yes, that includes the Will Eisner pages) The text remains for you to decide if you want to go look at the pictures. Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post to view the artwork.

I've mentioned that part of my Comic Archeology projects is mining through old men's magazines. Some may think this an odd choice of place to look. So let's take a look at National Screw magazine, launched by ... shall we say carnally-infamous publisher Al Goldstein back in 1976.

Right there on the cover - an interview with Bill Gaines - the father of EC comics and Mad Magazine - and an all new comic from comics legend Wally Wood! Turning to the table of contents, the comic art sensibility is immediately evident, with artwork outweighing photos for the article images.

Flip through the magazine and you'll find abundant levels of art illustrations (including Don Martin!) and comic strips...

...the beginning of a four issue serialization of Wally Wood's new (at the time) Malice In Wonderland...


...and even photo layouts in comic book form...


...closing with a Norml ad featuring art by B. Kliban. (another day)

Comics are right there in the magazine's DNA every bit as much as flesh, fetish, and assorted filth.

But enough of all that. We'll come back to some of that later, but that's not why we're here today, let's jump to issue #3 for today's feature comic. In the turbulent 70s, everyone needed a little help to completely grok the ever-changing world around them.

Boundaries were falling, horizons were expanding, and there were no maps to this strange new social territory. Where could people turn for guidance? Who could teach us how to live in these times?

The even more legendary Will Eisner steps up to help with his all too brief guide to The Quality Of Life:

Will Eisner's work from National Screw #3 (1977) all other art from National Screw #1 (1976)