The Spirit #11 – Review

By: David Hine (writer), Moritat (artist), Gabriel Bautista & Pia Guerra (colorists)

The Story: The Spirit takes on Central City’s illegal immigrant problem, mafia style.

The Review: A good story can be told given any length.  In fact, when page or word limits constrain a writer, it forces the writing to cut the fat and keep only the material that works—which, given the babbling style of some writers, can be a very good thing.  But you can’t deny the benefits of getting more room for storytelling: it allows you to get better immersed in more detailed, richer settings and characters, and seeing how they evolve.

With the second feature now cut from the title, Hine has more freedom to deliver a more involved, plot-driven story, unlike the character pieces he’s given us before.  Not that those weren’t good, but they did end up relegating the Spirit to a kind of symbol in those people’s lives.  In this issue, the Spirit gets a sticky, but fairly clear-cut case, giving him a more active role in showing why he’s the hero of choice in Central City.

What’s more, the supporting cast also gets involved.  Usually Dolan gets relegated to expository duty, delivering the newest details of a case for his vigilante partner to tackle.  Here, Dolan’s balancing act as ally of both justice and crime lets him use his own brand of power to take down the human trafficking ring popping up in his city.  Kudos to Hine for getting Ellen involved by way of her ties to progressive community action groups.  In one issue, you get the vigilante, government, and citizenry working together to remove the same plague.

The addition of the Octopus’ manpower to their efforts is a surprising element, but great for bringing some character to these Zoot-suited bozos.  It goes to show that even in the crime world, there are degrees of despicable behavior.  You got to love Mr. Ovsack’s explanation of how he’s on the high road here: “Our drugs are clean, we don’t sell guns to kids, our girls are all over eighteen.”  But Hine wisely reminds us that mobsters are mobsters, as the factory explosion (with all the immigrant workers still inside) grimly shows.