Friday, June 30, 2017

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: The Spirit by Will Eisner and Ken Kelly

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove loves, I tell ya, loooves Will Eisner's The Spirit. I fell in love with both Eisner's genius and Denny Colt's adventures via Warren's b&w reprint mag that ran sixteen issues from January 1974 to August 1976 (yeah, Kitchen Sink quickly took over publishing the mag, and we'll get to those later, don't ya worry). Most every cover of the Warren series was a masterpiece, but my favorites are those done by Eisner himself in partnership with fantasy/album cover painter extraordinaire Ken Kelly, issues 4-11. Why? Take a look and then you can tell me why, baby!








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7 comments:

  1. SCALZOJune 30, 2017 at 12:41 AM

    These are really fun to read. And the covers are amazing. I had few signed by Eisner at SDCC. https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ_eOjljj_H/?taken-by=comixculture&hl=en

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  2. Rip JaggerJune 30, 2017 at 2:50 AM

    The Spirit #6 from Warren was my first and my real introduction to the character I have loved since. The story in Feiffer's The Great Comic Book Heroes was very early and not as impressive as the classics reprinted in the Warren issues. The covers are blockbusters as were many if not most of Warren's covers from this period.

    Rip Off

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  3. Paul HouserJune 30, 2017 at 5:03 AM

    Obviously an imitation of Mike Ploog! Rip off. (Everything is derivative)

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  4. ADDJune 30, 2017 at 11:21 AM

    The last two look more like Corben over Eisner. Did Kelly change his technique?

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  5. MarcusJune 30, 2017 at 2:21 PM

    I love The Spirit! Will was my professor at the School of Visual Arts for 3 years. We watched him draw and even ink. Nobody is better at storytelling. He was a great man.

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  6. Jeffrey GoodmanJuly 3, 2017 at 12:15 PM

    I had my Warren Spirit run bound into two nifty hardcovers. I prefer those two books to the Spirit Archives in all kinds of ways. A great run to be sure!!!!

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  7. UnknownJuly 4, 2017 at 1:09 AM

    I had forgotten the cover with Ebony. All the warren titles are somewhere in a box. Glad to have them. They were a doorway back into comics along with the "underground's!"

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