The Spirit Goes Underground

Long before any Showcases, Essentials & Archives, a lot of fans fondly remembered Will Eisner's staggeringly ahead of it's time 1940's newspaper strip The Spirit, and luckily some of them were in a position to scratch that fanboy itch. Like Jim Warren. And today, Denis Kitchen.
So let's look at Kitchen Sink's version, the period when The Spirit went underground.
Kitchen Sink Press was a successful Underground publisher, when Denis sought out Eisner, then long out of the comics business and publishing instructional magazine P.S. for the US Army, to see if he could get the rights to publish some old Spirit stories ( Eisner being one of the few Golden Age creators savvy enough to retain the rights to his character. )
Invigorated and excited by what he saw in Underground comics, Will contributed the above cover to Kitchen's Snarf in 1972, and later, this cover for Gamut.

Not just happy to donate some old Spirit stories to the Underground cause, Will also produced some new stuff, in keeping with this new audience, for a couple of books from Kitchen Sink. Here's the fantastic cover and new strips for the first book.

While the 2nd book was all about The Spirit's, and comicdom's, greatest femme fatale, P'Gell. This issue featured more reprints, alongside ( as Commissioner Dolan says on the back cover ) a newly drawn version of a 'lost' P'Gell story.

Then, after Jim Warren produced 16 issues of his own Spirit magazine, Will returned to Kitchen Sink to continue the series. Here's Will and Denis meeting up again:

And, to finish, some of the amazing wraparound covers from this run.

Will Eisner's The Long Hit

Here's a pitch perfect short story from a master of the form, Will Eisner. It's about two retirees who meet on a bench in Florida, and find they have a past in common.
I like to think Will came up with the idea on that very same bench, enjoying his own retirement in the Sunshine State, but whatever, nobody could spin a yarn like Eisner.

Will Eisner's Shop Talk

As promised in the Spirit At Warren post, here's some examples of Shop Talk, from Kitchen Sink's Spirit run. Herein, Will Eisner chats to fellow professionals and colleagues Gil Kane, Jack Kirby and Joe Kubert about their work, all in a relaxed, informal way, with the kind of shorthand you only get from one artist to another. Here's Will, Gil, Jack & Joe: