InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "wow, fantastic baby"

seriousfic (seriousfic) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-06-26 11:18:00

Entry tags:

char: the spirit/denny colt, creator: will eisner, title: the spirit

A blast from the past* *(1941)
~~Eight~~ Three pages from The Spirit Archives Volume 4, which is hundreds of pages long.

"A Dull Week" doesn't contain fun guest stars like Silk Satin or Sand Saref, but it does show Eisner's firm grasp on the form. All the storytelling elements he loved to play with are in fine form here, showing the comedic possibilities of the ensemble cast.

Although the clone that the Jackal made of Clark Gable considered many options to differentiate himself from the original, eventually he settled on hair dye.

I am not thinking about what Denny/Ellen make-up sex looks like. I am just not.

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	foxhack 2009-06-26 12:10 pm UTC (link)
	I love Ebony. Even if he is an awfully dated caricature of black people. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	seriousfic 2009-06-26 12:30 pm UTC (link)
	If Eisner had just drawn him with the same dignity as the rest of the cast and not given him the "y' don't hafta git' phonetic accent, I think he would've been remembered as fondly as anyone. Sure, he's portrayed as silly, but so is everyone, and he is just a kid. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	foxhack 2009-06-26 12:41 pm UTC (link)
	Well, I've actually met people who speak like that while traveling in the US of A. So I don't really think it's that bad. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	seriousfic 2009-06-26 12:45 pm UTC (link)
	Even that you could get away with, I suppose, although I'd draw the line at Ebony's supporting cast of black children who all talk like that. Ironically enough, Eisner eventually had Ebony receive elocution lessons, so they fixed the accent but I don't think they ever did anything about how Ebony was drawn. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-06-26 03:26 pm UTC (link)
	After Eisner got rid of Ebony for a while, he replaced him with a white kid named Sammy, who was drawn almost identically-- so much so that readers of black & white reprints wrote letters assuming that Sammy WAS Ebony. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	leikomgwtfbbq 2009-06-26 01:36 pm UTC (link)
	Same here. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	yaseen101 2009-06-26 01:59 pm UTC (link)
	This is the first time I've read Spirit but at first look I thought that Ebony was a well, don't call me a racist or anything but I actually thought he was a well a....monkey. dodges cannon balls, flaming arrows and hides from a crowd of angry of mobs with flaming torches (Reply to this) (Parent)

	parsimonia 2009-06-26 02:18 pm UTC (link)
	If this is an 8-page story then I'm afraid you'll have to reduce the number of scans to less than 3 full pages, in keeping with our posting guidelines, which state: no more than one third the length of any single work should be posted on this community. Thanks. (Reply to this)

	dr_hermes 2009-06-26 03:28 pm UTC (link)
	The Spirit takes more damage from Ellen than from three crooks. Maybe it was the fear of domestic violence that kept him from proposing to her. (Reply to this) (Thread)

psychop_rex
2009-06-27 01:32 am UTC (link)

If you ask me, it's sheer injustice that Ellen Dolan and the Spirit aren't the prototypical example of 'dysfunctional Golden Age couple', instead of Lois Lane and Superman. I mean, sure, Lois's relationship to Supes got mightily bizarre over the years, but at least she didn't BEAT SUPERMAN UP ON A REGULAR BASIS. I mean, it was far from unusual for her to declare her love for the Spirit, just as quickly declare that she hated him, deck him with a single blow, rinse, repeat, all within the space of a few pages.

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	schmevil 2009-06-26 05:05 pm UTC (link)
	You probably shouldn't see the new Transformers movie Oh? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	magus_69 2009-06-27 12:37 am UTC (link)
	There are two characters with ALL of the flaws of Ebony's portrayal and NONE of the redeeming aspects. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

psychop_rex
2009-06-27 01:40 am UTC (link)

Precisely - I mean, I haven't seen the movie, but I can guess. Ebony may have been racist in his basic design, but as a character, he ROCKED. He saved the Spirit's ass more times than one can count, he frequently laid his life on the line for his boss, he was innovative and quick-thinking, and while he WAS occasionally a bit of a coward, he never let that stop him from doing the right thing. I mean, if you read any of the Spirit strips at all, you'll quickly discover that he's a really terrific sidekick - one of my all-time favorites, in fact - but so many people are quick to condemn him based upon a single look. And really, racist humor is still as alive and well as it's ever been - the screaming, jittery, clownish black guy is a staple character in thousands of crappy movies. I don't see how those are acceptable, but Ebony isn't.

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