WILL EISNER (1917-2005) Original Complete
7-page Spirit story
Title/date/description: "Darling and The Octopus" dated March
18, 1951 (#564).
Mastermind criminal The Octopus
has The Spirit cornered in the Florida Everglades but
he is captured by a surprise visitor to the swampy island ---the
world's richest (and most obnoxious) little girl, Darling
O'Shea. Just how obnoxious is she? A devilish-looking
Spirit in the last couple panels actually considers
letting The Octopus free to seek revenge on the brat.
That humorous aspect overrides the remarkable fact that the elusive
Octopus seems to finally have been captured and unmasked!
This is one the last Spirit stories
written and principally drawn by Will Eisner, who
very soon has assistants taking over more and more of the creative
aspects. The unusually lush and detailed backgrounds in this
story are probably by Andre LeBlanc. Bonus: The
final page here actually includes the original "Next Week"
footer at the bottom (these paste-ups are almost never attached).
Size/medium/condition: Drawn with brush, pen and ink on Bristol board
15" high by 22" high. Note that the highly detailed
"Spirit" logo on page 1 is not a Photostat---
it is hand-drawn and part of the original splash art. Signed
by Eisner on page 1. Overall condition is Excellent.
Provenance: Warranted
to be from the Will Eisner estate, which this agency exclusively
represents. Comes with signed Bill of Sale.
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