The Spirit Quality Index

View/download the "Spirit Quality Checklist"

The Spirit #18 (1949).
Scan courtesy of the GCD.

You too can read The Spirit—for free!

Cat Yronwode's Spirit Checklist was an invaluable help when I was writing the Companion's Spirit profile, though I'll admit, the book's profile on the popular character is very cursory. I elected to focus on Quality's other heroes (the book contains over 40 profiles!). I resisted going into detail on the Spirit primarily because he has already garnered so many (worthy) column inches.

The Spirit shared the spotlight with
Plas several times in 1943.

That said, I was left in the Spirit's thrall. And you can read it too—for free! Well, lots of it anyway. The original Spirit Sunday reprints are spotty at the public domain collection, Digital Comics Museum. Of course, DC's Archive series will cost you a pretty penny (though they're worth it). The cheapest way to begin reading The Spirit is to download the Quality reprints of Police Comics and The Spirit. In these titles, the character's Sunday adventures are well-represented through 1946, but they were not reprinted in perfect chronological order.

Warren's The Spirit #8 (1975) featured
all-femme fatale stories.

Using Yronwode's original research, I assembled the "Spirit Quality Checklist" as a starter's guide to the character at that publisher. If you care to read them in order, this list will help you to do that.  My version takes info from the original Checklist at Wildwood Cemetery (a site which has fallen into disrepair). The "Spirit Checklist" was updated and made into a handy PDF by Wes Tumulka. If you find yourself going ape for the character, there's the Eisner Companion, too.

Sadly, it was after 1946 when The Spirit's most lauded tales were written, and when Eisner and his assistants (don't be fooled, there were many) more finely honed the look of it. This post-war era is well-covered by Warren's reprints from the 1970s, a goldmine. Decent copies of those will run you $10 and up, but I was lucky and scored a huge run of them for a song on ebay. These had all been "stripped" (the cover titles clipped off). Warren's Spirit magazines were edited by Will Eisner, and even featured a couple of new stories and fun tidbits by him. These issues sometimes reprinted stories in thematic groups, like the "femme fatale" issue.

The Spirit Section's swan song was also reprinted in a book, The Outer Space Spirit: 1952.

Some issues of Quality's The Spirit contained filler material including "Jonesy" and "Flatfoot Burns."

STEPS:

1. To read digital comics, I use Comic Book Lover (Mac only). Also, Comical (Windows & Mac). What do y'all prefer?
2. View/download the "Spirit Quality Checklist"
3. Register and download specific issues of Police Comics and The Spirit. (And if you're nice, give a contribution to the site!)

RESOURCES:

• Spirit Checklist by Wes Tumulka (PDF)