The Spirit Fan Club

From the mind of late comic book legend, Will Eisner, The Spirit chronicles the adventures of a masked vigilante who fights crime with the blessing of the city's police commissioner and old friend Dolan. The Spirit, started out as young detective Denny Colt. Presumed killed in the first three pages of the premiere story, Colt later revealed to Dolan, that he had in fact gone into suspended animation caused by one of archvillain Dr. Cobra's experiments. When Colt awakened in Wildwood Cemetery, he established a base there and, using his newfound anonymity, began a life of fighting crime wearing only a small domino mask, blue business suit, red necktie, fedora hat and gloves for a costume. The Spirit dispensed justice, funding his adventures with the rewards for capturing villains.

Despite the Spirit's origin as Denny Colt, his real identity was virtually unmentioned again, and for all intents and purposes he was simply "The Spirit". The Spirit was based originally in New York City which soon changed to Central City, but his adventures took him around the globe. He met up with eccentrics, kooks, and beautiful but deadly femme fatales (most notably P'Gell), bringing his own form of justice to all of them with the help of several companions like commissioner Dolan, Dolan's feisty daughter Ellen and Spirit's young African American sidekick, Ebony White.

The story changed continually, but certain themes remained constant: the love between the Spirit and Ellen; the annual "Christmas Spirit" stories; and the Octopus (a psychopathic criminal mastermind who was never seen, except for his distinctive gloves). The stories range through a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and expectations.

The Spirit first appeared in Spirit Section #1 (June 2 1940), a seven-page insert into American Sunday-newspaper comics sections. He currently appears in comic books published by DC Comics.