The Spirit - More surprise sex than a barrelful of Dr. Light!

[seriousfic.insanejournal.com]

So, a quick refresher for those of you who weren't reading comics in the 1940s. The Spirit is the Spirit. Commissioner Dolan is his contact in the police force. Ellen Dolan is his daughter and the Spirit's girlfriend. However, as Everyone Is Straight For The Spirit, Ellen is frequently on the wrong end of a love triangle.





That's Ellen, in case you were wondering. If you were wondering about the polka dot neck tie... thing... then I cannot help you.



This is kind of what I picture happening if Tim Drake were real. Or being written by Devin Grayson.



Three hours of foreplay? No wonder the Spirit wears blue.

Comments

[menagerie.insanejournal.com]

Yeesh. Where can I find a lady like that? ^_^*

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

Why the hell is he gurgling after being kissed - oh no. Ooooooooooooooooh no. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

[merseybeatler.insanejournal.com]

Oh damn you AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Art Credits?

[peur_evol.insanejournal.com]

Is this Eisner, Cole, or what?

Nice fluid movement and expressive faces, either way....

Re: Art Credits?

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

It's Eisner, and/or his assistants at the time. I love this sequence--it shows Eisner's theatrical flow better than almost any.

Also, you can see a LOT of influence later on Kurtzman/Elder here.

[leikomgwtfbbq.insanejournal.com]

I have a girlcrush on Ellen.

And on Silk Satin.

Ahh, I miss nice, fun stories like this. Oh, comics, please change back to being at least a little bit fun!

[cmdr_zoom.insanejournal.com]

The expressions are just the right amount of cartoony.

[jarodrussell.insanejournal.com]

Notice how we never see his hands? He's totally not tied up for reals.

[meatwhichdreams.insanejournal.com]

Okay...wait, what? I'm trying to think of non-dirty explanations for this sequence and coming up with nothin'.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

This is one good reason why the movie's depiction of the Spirit as a ladykiller was ridiculous - as portrayed by Eisner, the Spirit was not so much enamored of women as afflicted by them. Every beautiful girl for miles around seemed to have the hots for him - he could barely walk down the street at times without being pounced on by a bevy of lovestruck beauties. The poor guy just wanted to do his job, but practically every time he turned a corner, a new girl would jump at him.
Mind you, he was not above enjoying this when the circumstances were right. The thing was, every time he consciously tried to take advantage of it - ask Ellen out on a date, for example - something seemed to go disastrously wrong - for example, another woman would try to force her affections on him, and Ellen would storm off in a huff. His love life would have given soap opera writers headaches.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

I think what's going on in some of these stories was Eisner playing with the usual gender roles of the time. Imagine if the Spirit in those scenes was, say Lady Luck tied up and about to be kissed against her will by some shady character. The scene as it is plays as funny because we expect the man to eagerly welcome kissing from any attractive woman, and his coy reaction triggers our sense of the absurd.

Eisner's many clever, unscrupulous women who are spies or criminals or con artists are appealing to us today, because we've come to see characters like that as not unexpected. I imagine back in the day, P'Gell or Sand Saref or the rest would be seen as slightly shocking.