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Dynamite Entertainment continues its banner year with the news Tuesday that it has secured the license for Will Eisner’s iconic character The Spirit, with plans to launch a new series in time for the character’s 75th anniversary next year.
The Spirit—real name Denny Colt—first appeared in newspapers in June 1940, the creation of comic book great Eisner, who went on to create some of the first graphic novels in books like A Contract with God, Life on Another Planet and The Building. Beginning as a straightforward crime strip, the series went through multiple metamorphoses throughout its original 12 year run as Eisner and occasional helpers explored other genres and characters, all the while expanding (and establishing) the visual language of the medium itself.
STORY Dynamite Entertainment’s CEO on 10 Years of Explosive Comics
Since the conclusion of the original newspaper strip, the strip has been revived by Eisner himself in the late 1960s and early 1970s in comic strips and magazines. Both Kitchen Sink Press and DC Entertainment have both published series featuring the character by other creators, including a critically-acclaimed twelve-issue run by Darwyn Cooke in 2007-2008. Additionally, Frank Miller directed a Spirit movie in 2008 featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson.
In a statement accompanying the announcement, Dynamite CEO and publisher Nick Barrucci said that bringing the character to Dynamite was “a lifelong dream come true,” adding that it’s “a huge responsibility that we’ve undertaken.” No creative team nor schedule for the planned revival was revealed.
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