WILL EISNER. Original SPIRIT Art. Page 7
from "The Partner" (January 26,
1947).
The magistrate's immediate sentencing
of Joe Daws to death while the still-maskless Spirit drags
in the surviving Skinch mob is completely implausible (as would
be their coerced confessions, but let's not get too technical, shall
we?). Those plot contrivances don't detract from what is still a
strikingly drawn page ---the feathering in the next-to-last panel is
first rank Eisner--- with Dolan supporting the weakened Spirit.
And the briefly-reprieved Daws gets double-crossed by
the meekest mob member of all, as justice prevails after all.
Medium/size/condition/price: Brush & pen inks on Bristol board 14 1/4 inches wide
x 22 5/8 inches high. Rubber stamps and pencil notations at top and
notations in right margin and at the bottom, all outside the
image/framing area. Small stats of the title, page number and date are
stapled above the art, as was customary. Small dots of white-out. Four
lines of dialog in the next-to-last panel are a paste-over. Much more
intriguing is Panel 4 which (other than the balloon) is a paste-over.
That paste-over is partially loose (from aging rubber cement) revealing
part of a fully-inked alternate panel underneath. (In the portion
visible to us, a grimacing Daws appears to be slapping Dolan
on the head.) A collector who is also a curious comics archeologist may
want to carefully remove the paste-over to fully reveal the version
that Will Eisner drew, then decided, for whatever
reason, to re-draw nearly sixty years ago!
Provenance:
Warranted to be from the private archives of the Will Eisner estate
(exclusively represented by this agency) and further warranted to be
authentic. The art comes with a descriptive Bill of Sale from the
estate and agency.
Many Spirit fans would
love to own one or two vintage 1940s Eisner Spirit originals
but cannot afford a full 7-page story (averaging over $15,000). It was Will
Eisner's long-standing policy not break up his complete stories.
But on behalf of his estate we are able to offer single pages
from the several stories that were incomplete for various reasons.
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